Day 9 - New Year's Eve 2017

It's past midnight now, but post is for the last day of 2017! It was a pretty uneventful year, but I don't consider that to be a bad thing. The biggest highlight for me was going back to Japan in July. The stay at Yamamizuki was definitely one of the biggest highlights of the trip. Getting lost during our Maricar tour was frightening, but gives me a good laugh thinking back.

In terms of hardships... nothing really significant. Injuring my knee took a toll on my squats at the beginning of the year, but within this year I was able to come close to what I was squatting to pre-injury. Despite not squatting as high, I feel more confident in my squats now compared to last year. I guess the final month of the school year (2016-2017) was stressful to say the least, but Japan definitely kept my spirits going during that time!

But enough rambling for one night. 2017 was uneventful, but once again a pretty good year. In terms of my new year's resolution... despite not making resolutions...

Wake up before 10 AM today...

PS: Oh, for the past.... 10 years now (methink), it has been a traditional at my house to play cards during New Year's Eve since we're pretty busy throughout the year to spend time with one another. We gamble with glass beads as "coins" while we play Black Jack. I had a terrible run this year... going "bankrupt" multiple times and having to borrow beads from my brother. However, I did manage to win the very last hand (with our version of "All In" where you put in everything you have) with a score of 21.

Hopefully that means I have some good luck despite the apparent hardship I'll be facing this year!

Thank you to all of you that read my blog posts and I hope you all have a Happy New Year! Starting April 7th, I'll be posting everyday to mark my last year in my 20's. It's hard to believe I'm close to hitting 30...

Day 8 - Last Haircut of the Year

Unproductive day in that I didn't get any work done. My excuse is, that it's the weekend! Last Saturday of the year!

After eating breakfast, I got my hair cut. Soon after that, it was off to the gym for another deadlift session. Since coming back to deadlift, I've been trying a wide-snatch-like grip to work on my back at the same time. It's relatively fine to bring the bar up with weight, but it does strain my back quite a bit.

After 5x5 of 255 lbs, it was off to 5x5 conventional 295 lbs. I haven't touched 315 lbs in a while, but I got the opportunity to see what my one rep max was for the day. By keeping my upper back tight, which I have never done so before, I was able to lift 345 lbs, which is a record for me. I guess those snatch deadlifts are helping along with Back Day Wednesdays. I finished off with 3 sets of 5 reps of 275 lbs sumo deadlifts. At this point, my lower back and hamstrings felt pretty fried...

After a couple more accessory exercises, it was time to head back home. Roads have been pretty slippery over the past couple days, but it was a relatively smooth ride home. 

After dinner, it was off to another episode of reverse. Since it was episode 7 of 10, major plot lines and twists were starting to unravel. I'm not sure if it's due to watching a lot of dramas/anime, but I'm starting to become better at predicting plot twists, and lo and behold (although I only realized 10 seconds before they revealed the plot twist) I guessed right! Embarrassingly to a degree, I was quite pleased with myself, since I'm usually horrible when it comes to figuring out motives. 

It was tempting to continue watching more episodes, but the lure of Ultra Moon was calling to me. 

I'll get back to work on Monday... or Tuesday...

Day 6 - The Last Jedi

I got the opportunity today to watch episode 8. Personally, I found it more enjoyable than A Force Awakens. The story line may have been simple, but I think it sets things well for episode 9. Maybe it's just me, but the humor in The Last Jedi seems reminiscent of a Marvel movie.

After that, it was back home to get some work done before heading to the gym for another leg day. I focused mostly on leg accessories (vastus lateralis if I'm not mistaken), before heading back home for the evening.

A few games of SC 2 to round up the evening before my daily dose of my jdorama sums up my evening. There wasn't much going on in episode 5 of reverse, but the cliffhanger ending was tempting me to start episode 6...

Self control... self control...

And that's Thursday! Hard to believe that break is almost halfway done... yet it seems to be going by slowly at the same time...

Day 5 - When did left turning on a red light become legal?

Woke up early, not because I was motivated to do work, but rather to get ready for my 8:00 dental clean up. For the past couple of years, I've had my appointments on the weekends so that it doesn't interfere with work. However, I haven't seen my regular dentist in a while (since he doesn't work weekends), thus booking an appointment slot for a weekday.

Like yesterday, it was hard to get my car started. I'm assuming it's due to the cold and that my battery has a minuscule 330 W of cold cranking power. Nevertheless, it was able to turn, thus allowing me to make it on time. The cleanup went like always, two units of scaling (I believe that means 30 minutes?) followed by polishing and fluoride treatment. Bite-wing x-ray and dentist check up at the beginning and shortly after scaling commenced, respectively. Fortunately no cavities! =)

After my appointment, it was off to drop off a friend at the airport before heading to the gym for back day. It was a short session due to me injuring my trapezius muscle. Rolling out again midway through my session helped, but being the cautious person that I am, I decided to skip a couple exercises.

At home, I completed another set of notes before heading out for the evening. I got the opportunity to try out a different Japanese restaurant: Tokachi in Dragon City Mall. It was better than I expected, and portion sizes were quite generous for the price. After a stop for bubble tea next door, it was off home.

Now in terms of the title... as I was driving to dinner, I saw the most peculiar scene. I was third in line, waiting to turn south onto Barlow Trail from 36th Street NE. Normally, the left turning light doesn't turn green right away, even though West bound traffic turns green. It's normally a pretty short wait (30 seconds or so), but the CRV at the front of the line turned left after seeing that there was no Eastbound traffic, despite the left turning traffic signal being a solid red... The taxi behind the CRV (2nd in line) thought it was alright to do so as well, so it turned left on a solid red as well! Ironically, as I pulled up to wait for the light, it turned green pretty much five seconds later.

Other than being out all day pretty much, I was able to fit in another episode of reverse. The more I watch it, the more I understand why it won the best drama award: it's a great suspense series with a main character that people can relate to. I'll most likely elaborate once I finish the series!

But that's it for now!

Day 4 - Squat day on Boxing Day

I cannot recall the last time I woke up early to go shop on Boxing Day. With the advent of online shopping, that's what I've been using mostly for goods on-sale during Black Friday/Cyber Monday or Boxing Day.

As such, I woke up and headed off to the gym for a grueling squat session. 10 sets of 8 reps of 225 lbs. It's been a while since I last felt as light headed as I did during those reps (especially between set 4 and 5). Nevertheless, they're were completed, though some sets had haphazard squats that borderline dangerous in my books...

Other than that, went home and continued on with Pokemon Ultra Moon before getting work done (making notes for my grade 9s and answering some email).

And onto sleep! Tomorrow will be a busy day once again!

Day 3 - Merry Christmas 2017

I meant to post for Day 1 and 2 (Saturday December 23rd and Sunday December 24th), but I've been too lazy.

As for the past few years, we had a Christmas celebration at one of my cousin's house. Each year has scrumptious food and drink with good conversations with people that I haven't seen in a while. As years go by, I feel like I'm getting less and less time to interact with others!

Anyways, after lunch, it was off home to relax for the rest of Christmas Day. I got in episode 2 of my most recent drama series: Reverse. It's a mystery/suspense drama about four men trying to move on from the death of their friend during a ski trip. It won an award at the recent Television Drama Academy Awards (I believe it's a magazine that polls people and experts) for being the best drama, thus stoking my curiosity.

It's pretty interesting so far, seeing that the screenwriter piques interest by having a mysterious stranger stir up the past with letters calling the four men murderers.

And that pretty much sums my evening! Off to sleep and onto Boxing Day! 

Last Day of November 2017

A blog post a month. Not too bad... I promise to get back to it daily when I turn 29 next year.

Life has once again reached a comfortable lull; work --> work out --> sleep and repeat. I've been plateauing in terms of weight loss and strength gain, but hopefully a change in my program would shake things up.

Other than that, I had my first student teacher finish her practicum. It was an interesting experience being a mentor. It's similar to teaching students, yet different since the student is a full grown adult. I admit I was initially wary of getting a student teacher because I heard horror stories from others before (which makes me wonder if my mentor teachers had a similar feeling of foreboding before they met me). Fortunately, things went smoothly throughout the five weeks she was here.

It's a little bit difficult to get back to teaching a full schedule again...

One last thing: I upgraded from my iPhone 5s. It has lasted through me throughout the years, including two trips to Japan, to Mexico, camping, falling on concrete, falling into a bathtub, and many more stories. Personally, I find it quite quick still, just that my rear camera hasn't been working since... end of April? It was pretty much after the camping trip with the grade 6s at my school.


It's nice to have a phone with a rear camera.

The tempered glass screen protector is a bit beat up, but once again, phone is in relatively good shape!

Late 6th year anniversary post

Six years and four days ago, I started this blog. I used to blog more frequently, but a mixture of boredom and a lack of time has made posts more and more infrequent. It's hard to believe that six years has passed. My initial intent with this blog was to improve on my writing, which I hope has improved somewhat over time. A rather stagnant blog, in that it hasn't evolved dramatically over the years, but it's something that I like for it keeps things simple.

I'll get back to it on a daily basis when I turn 29... which is not too far from now sadly. 

Anyways, it has been over a month since I started my first year as a grade 9 homeroom teacher. Like a couple years back where I got the opportunity to teach a previous grade 7 class grade 8 material, it felt a lot easier since I already had a bond with my students. As for my assignment this year, I have one grade 7 science class, three grade 8 classes and one grade 9 class. So far so good. I'm enjoying teaching grade 9 despite all the prep work that I need to do for it since I never taught it before. 

Other than that, life has been pretty ordinary. Routines are never bad, but perhaps I need to find some way to spice it up!

Till whenever I write again! =P 

Japan 2017 - Or should I say Kyushu 2017 - What I learned this time around and what I hope for future trips

Work started last week, but students don't start till tomorrow. I've been lazy in terms of blog writing for no apparent reason. Either way, time to start my reflection blog for this year's trip!

***

2016 was the first time since 2012 that I didn't leave Calgary to travel elsewhere. Wanting to save money for a house, it was a choice I soon came to regret for Summer 2016 was one of my worst summers in a long time. It didn't help that there was rain throughout most of the summer. I didn't feel ready to start work again back in August 2016.

Fast forward to around March of this year. I knew I had to travel somewhere, anywhere to be honest. With the goal of a house still in mind, I thought of taking a short week trip in Canada (either Vancouver or Toronto/Ottawa). Deep down though, however, I wanted to travel overseas, so my brother and I thought of a two week trip to South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 

With certain events going throughout the world, I was hesitant on travelling to countries that I had on my list, thus falling back to my initial plan of Canada 2017. Lo and behold though, come middle of May while I was bored at home, I found a seat sale to Osaka for around $800. Excited, I started playing around with dates to see what would work for my brother and I. After meddling with it for a couple days, and having a friend come join us, I realized that there was an 11 hour layover in Vancouver on the way home. Not wanting to spend all that time in Vancouver, I wondered what it would be like for a direct flight to Narita. 

Long story short, flying to Narita was about $1250, which was considerably cheaper than what I've paid in 2014 and 2015. With tickets booked at the beginning of June, I started planning for our trip. We initially had plans to visit the Tohoku region of Japan, along with Okinawa, but the distance between the two didn't make it plausible. Therefore, we stuck with Okinawa and Kyushu for a week, while heading to Okayama for a couple of days before returning back to the Kanto (Tokyo really for us) region.

Being that it was the third time back to Japan in four years time, I have to admit that it has lost most of it's novelty for me. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy going to Japan, and if I had money, I would do it yearly. Despite going to different regions for most of the trip, there weren't too many surprises. At times, I was confused to whether I was on vacation, or that Japan was where I normally lived. The big thing that reminded me that I was on vacation was the fact that I still cannot speak Japanese fluently, nor even conversational. As a side note, I swore that I'll learn basic-conversational Japanese after Japan 2015 before returning back to Japan... which obviously didn't happen in this case!

In any case, despite being to Japan five times over the course of my life, I have learned some new things this time around. This reflection blog will focus mostly on what I learned, rather than a recap since I believe that my daily blog posts are in more detail than what they used to be before. 

1) Get up early and get stuff done

Japan 2017 was 17 days in total (including flight to and back to Calgary). Japan 2015 was 34 days in total. Coincidence? Perhaps...

Despite this trip being half the time as the last trip, it felt almost as long. The secret was in waking up early daily to get things done. On average, I believe we got up before 8 AM and left our hotels by 9. True, many stores aren't open at this time, but this is one way to avoid the onrush of tourist. For example, we got to Okayama Castle right when it opened, meaning that we essentially had the castle and gardens to ourselves.

Not flocked with tourists as you can see

2) Supermarket meals are amazing... same with the bakeries!

For the last three days of our trip, we went to a supermarket located five minutes away to purchase dinner. Just like the T&T here in Calgary, many foods that have a short shelf life go on sale in the evening. We would usually go around 7 PM to grab prepared meals with at least 10% off from their regular price. True, selection is not as good late at night, but the taste is as good as most of the restaurants we went to. If I were to live in Japan, it would probably be cheaper and more efficient to go eat supermarket food than to prepare food myself. Convenience store food is amazing in itself, but supermarket food tends to be cheaper. Also, there tends to be more to pick from, both in drinks and food.

The Japanese may not be as famous as the French for their bread, but they make some delicious buns in my opinion. We managed to go to a couple bakeries this time around (around Kyushu and in Chiba), and each time I wasn't disappointed with what I got. Definitely something to try when you're there! 

This wasn't discounted, but it was a really cheap dinner

3) Spend at least a night in a ryokan.

I'm not sure why I never done this earlier. One reason could be price, for we paid over $300 CAD at Yamamizuki for the night. However, when you look at the price, it includes a humongous dinner and breakfast meal plan, which I would easily value the meals to be at least half of the price we paid (when comparing it to what I predict a restaurant would charge). Another reason could be the onsens themselves. Initially, I was wary of the idea of bathing nude in public, since that is not the norm in western society. You soon come to realize though, that it's not as bad as it seems. I was self conscious back in 2015, but I didn't feel that bad this time around. Keep in mind, you always have a towel with you, one that is just the right size to cover your private parts.

Onsen Tamago. So simple, yet so delicious. I would do it here if I weren't scared of our raw eggs.

Those are the three things that I learned throughout the trip this year, in which I recommend you give it a try. Now onto my list of things that I hope I'll be able to accomplish or try next time around!

1) Learn More Japanese

First thing that popped into my mind. True, I'm better now when compared to myself in 2014, but I still have a long long way to go. Duolingo has helped me tremendously in learning basic Japanese phrases, and I have started reading Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese ebook to supplement my learning. It would definitely help in more rural areas where English speakers are not as common. 

2) Take a walk super early in the morning

That was my goal this time around, to get up at like 4 AM, when the sun starts to rise, and walk around a busy city (ie: Tokyo) and see what it's like. Lo and behold, that never came to fruit for some reasons... 

3) Third time's a charm for Mt Fuji

Climbed to the summit in 2014, but failed in 2015. Little did I know, that the summit we reached in 2014 wasn't the highest peak for Fuji. There's actually a higher point that takes around 40 minutes to get to. Also, I didn't walk around the summit because I was too cold in 2014. NEXT TIME!

Japan 2018? We'll see what the future holds in store for me. I'm guessing most likely not... but it may turn out to be an another late planned trip like this years. 

Day 17 (July 26) - Goodbye Japan 2017

We pretty much lounged around in our room before checking out of our hotel. Like travelling to Japan this year, we were met with rain as we walked towards Shinjuku station. Unlike Calgary though, I find that when it rains in Japan, it really pours. Our bags were soaked, but fortunately, we were able to find an underground pathway that lead us to the station.

We booked seats on the Narita Express train to head back to Narita airport. Before boarding the train, we made one final ekiben (bento boxes at the stations) purchase. The ride, despite the rain, was relatively smooth to the airport. As we arrived at the airport, we returned our routers and head to check in via the self check in kiosks for Air Canada.

While checking in, my brother and our friend did not have a seat, since I’m assuming that Air Canada had overbooked for this flight. Worried, since we never had this situation before, we tried going to the Air Canada representative, but since we were four hours before our flight, they were nowhere to be found.

Filled with apprehension, we sat, waiting to talk to the representatives. As we checked in our luggage, they assured us that they were working on finding seats. We ended up going through security and settling for McDonalds as a meal (I really wanted to try out a Tsukemen place, but it was in a pre-security region and we just really wanted to get our seats on the plane ride back).

After a couple of nerve-wracking hours, we finally all got seats 5 minutes before boarding the flight. I was separated from my brother and friend due to the assumed overbooking, so I ended up being beside a large gentleman (thus squashed in my window seat) and a couple behind me with a shrieking toddler… Definitely a fun ride back to Calgary.

Going through customs in the new terminal was surprisingly quick compared to two years ago. After waiting for my mom to come pick us up, I did laundry and cleaned up my luggage. Not a large haul, but a trip full of wonderful memories. I’ll discuss it more on an overview blogpost later on!

Day 16 (July 25) - Last Day in Japan 2017 = Shopping

We got up late (around 8:30) since it was going to be a day filled with shopping. After breakfast and getting ready, we departed for Akihabara. We looked around the district once again, followed by a quick Takoyaki break before heading back to Akihabara Radio Kaiken, a store filled with otaku goodies. After purchasing a few gifts and spending a couple of hours strolling through the different floors and stores, ranging from cards to gundams, it was off to a new area that we haven’t been to before in Tokyo.

Ameyayokocho (aka Ameyuko) is located near Ueno station, thus being very close to Akihabara. It took us literally three minutes to get to Ueno, and an another three minutes to find Ameyuko. Ameyuko is a shopping arcade filled with goodies. There were stores selling vegetables, fruits, clothing, fake name brand bags and, most importantly to me, snacks. This one store… and I cannot read the name for the life of me, had aisle upon aisle of snacks. We must have spent at least 30 minutes browsing through all the different types of snacks that they had for sale!

Once we purchased our goods, we headed back to our hotel to rest up for a couple of hours. Near 8 in the evening, we headed out to the nearby supermarket to purchase dinner. Once again, discounted bento boxes!! I always picked up a couple small snacks that I haven't ate at all during the trip, such as pudding and grapefruit cups.

Our last full day before we head back home to Calgary.

Day 15 (July 24) - Mount Takao and the start of Shopping 2017

We got up early so that we could make our way to Mount Takao, a sacred mountain that is only an hour away from Shinjuku station. We started at said station, and traveled to Takao station. We had to transfer to the Keio line to get to the base of the mountain, which happens to be Takaosanguchi station. I was initially confused on where to go, since it seemed like the Takao station was purely a JR station, but we later found out that the Keio line was just a floor higher via a set of stairs.

The base of the mountain was cool, but gradually increased in temperature as the day went by. The hike itself wasn't too hard since we took a cable car halfway up the mountain. It prided itself as having the steepest incline of all cable cars in Japan at an angle of around 32 degrees. The rest of the climb took only about 30-40ish minutes. At the summit, it has been said that you’re able to see Mount Fuji. However, I had no luck in seeing the most famous volcano in Japan that morning.

After the hike, we went back down to the cable car and made or way back to Shinjuku. We waited about an hour at our hotel, since our room was being cleaned at the time. Once we got into our room, we dropped off our bags and headed out to find Ikinari steak: a steak house that distinguishes itself by having patrons stand up to eat. Interesting idea, but not something I would do often. For the price though, the steak was relatively good. No where near Saga or Kobe beef good, but still quite tasty. They had quite a number of condiments for you to use, such as mustard, horse radish and steak sauce. I'm guessing that having guests stand up have people leaving quickly (instead of sitting there to chat the day/night away) leads to increased revenue. We sure left right after eating, despite the restaurant not being busy.

After eating, we headed off to Ikebukuro to shop. First stop: Pokemon mart to buy some souvenirs. We bought a pack of Pokemon cards each and a couple more nanoblocks. Next it was off to Loft, Tokyu Hands, and Uniqlo before heading back to Shinjuku to buy food for dinner at the supermarket. I have I say that I'm beginning to be bored of Japanese food, due to the fact that I'm eating quite a bit more compared to 2015. To be clear, each meal is quite delightful, just that I'm craving a bowl of pho, or some other sort of cuisine.

Anyways, one more full day to go before we go back home!

Day 14 (July 23) - Kawasaki's Fujiko.F.Fujio Museum and Nakano

We woke up relatively late compared to our other days. We checked out of our rooms and headed to the station. One of us had to leave Japan early, so he went on his own to the Narita Express. The rest of us travelled to the Chou line to find a way to Kawasaki: place of the Doreamon (Fujiko.F.Fujio) museum.

The total train time was about 45 minutes so it wasn't too bad. There was a train to Shinjuku to Kanda, followed by an another line from Kanda to Kawasaki, and finally from Kawasaki to a station about a kilometre away from the museum. Here was where we learned how to order tickets from Lawson.

The tickets came from a machine that had very little English instructions. I was totally confused and it took us nearly 20 minutes to figure it out. I got frustrated and actually left the convenience store to search up more guides on how to purchase tickets. During my search, my brother and friend figured out how to purchase tickets. The part that I was stuck on (how to put a space between my name) was solved by pressing a "drill" button. Slightly embarrassed, we got the tickets and left Lawsons.

We had 3 hours to kill so we headed to lunch. There was Muten Kurazushi nearby so we went there for lunch. Comparing Kurazushi with Uobei, I have to say that Uobei has topped my previous favorite kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) place in terms of quality. However, Kurazushi makes one mean gyudon.

After that, we headed to the museum to wait for our scheduled appointment time. Our scheduled time was for 4 PM, but they let us in at around 3:30. Once inside, we got a chance to explore. I never watched Doreamon before do it wasn't too significant for me, but one of us did and I'm sure that it meant a lot to him. The exhibits mostly displayed the life of the creator, Fujiko F. Fujio, and his creations.

After spending time at Kawasaki, we headed to Nakano. As I found out in 2015, Nakano is home of rare otaku goods. It's like an Akihabara, but with rarer stuff in my opinion. I was looking for a SR Glaceon, but to no luck. My brother got me an Eevee toy though, so that was good! After Nakano, we went back to the hotel to check into our new room. It was a lot higher than our previous room.

Since there were only three of us, we got a room with two beds on the "main floor" and one located on a "second floor" or loft.

After checking in, it was off to Artnia Cafe since it's located 5 minutes away from our hotel. With nothing to buy, we headed to the nearby supermarket for dinner and breakfast.

A relaxing day nevertheless. Only a couple more days before we go back to Canada!

Day 13 (July 22) - Peater Pan and Maricar, Puns all around!

I initially woke up at 5:30, but I went back to sleep till around 7:30. After waking up, our relatives took us to a nearby bakery to purchase bread for breakfast. The name of the bakery nearby was called Peater Pan. (Pan is bread for Japanese. Not quite sure what Peater is... maybe to avoid copyright infringement).

The bakery was jammed pack with people. It was a decently big place for a Japanese store, but I was having troubles navigating inside. Afterwards, we grabbed coffee from their coffee dispenser before heading back to their house to eat.

I must have had at least 3-4 different baked goods (curry bread, red bean bread, pizza slice, pieces of a melon bread and sandwiches). Each piece was delicious and filling. After resting for a bit, we headed to the nearby mall to shop a bit before a tempura lunch at the station. Unlike the last tempura place that our relatives took us to, this one was dry tempura (one that I'm adjusted too).

After lunch, we said our goodbyes. Like always, it's sad to say goodbye, but I'm sure I'll be able to see them again soon.

The train back to Shinjuku was uneventful. We went back to our hotel and rested before heading back out to seek Maricar: the go-kart tour around Tokyo.

The place was relatively easy to find and that all the staff there spoke pretty fluent English. We got into costumes (I was Mario) and took pictures before heading to the karts. After a brief introduction to the karts, we headed off own karts and got ready to go for out tour around Tokyo. We were slated to go through a lot of the main attractions: Odaiba, Tokyo Tower, Roppongi, Shibuya and Shinjuku.

It was definitely a blast riding down the streets of Tokyo. Quite a few people waved at us, but the initial excitement died after an hour or so. Overall, it's nice to try, but for me, it'll be a one time thing. The karts were able to go at around 60-70 km/h. The thing that got me the most was the lack of knowledge of driving down Japanese roads. I should have checked the rules before attending such an event. Also, like any place, Taxi drivers can be quite aggressive. One last thing is the lack of safety equipment. Not wearing seat belts nor helmets in an open, low slung vehicle is initially exhilarating, but quickly replaced with a feeling of foreboding dread.

Near the end of our three hour tour, I got separated from my group, thus taking a wrong turn and got lost. I stopped on the Main Street for about 15 minutes, hoping that my group would track me down. After realizing that I may not be found, I mustered the courage to hail taxis and asked for directions. The second cab driver I talked to had enough English to point me in the right way. I found a place to do a U-turn and made my way back. By sheer dumb luck, or divine intervention, I found my way back to their office.

After waiting for about 10 minutes, my group arrived and we made our way out for sushi. Today will be a day that I will not soon forget. My overall impression of Maricar is positive, though I believe it's good as a one time thing.

Day 12 (July 21) - Yamanashi and Chiba prefectures

We got up at a relatively early time (what's new for this trip) and traveled to Shinjuku station to wait for our cousin to guide us around. After meeting up with our cousin, we took the Kaiji train to head to Yamanashi station. After arriving at the station, we waited for a restaurant to open up for lunch. Our cousin recommended a noodle dish, that is a specialty of Yamanashi, and one that our grandma used to make for her when she was younger. It was quite delicious, though I can't recall the name of the dish... Houtou if I'm not mistaken? It was like a hot pot, in that there was thick noodles, meat and vegetables. The server instructed us on how to cook the noodles, by essentially telling us that it has to heat at a certain setting (high) for an amount of time before turning down the heat and letting it simmer for a while. While the hot pot was cooking, my brother and I shared our trip pictures with our cousin.

It was a hot day, and eating hot foods made me quite sweaty, but it was delicious nevertheless. I realized that I have a soft spot for thinly sliced beef. It kinda reminded me of the beef slices that I get at pho restaurants, yet slightly different with the fatty beef that this hot pot used.

After lunch, we took a bus to the graveyard to pay respect to our grandmother and other relatives that passed away. The walk from the bus station felt a lot shorter than before, but it's always a nostalgic walk. There seemed to always be no breeze, with a strong sun shining on our backs, but a wonderful scene at the graveyard always awaits for us.

After paying our respects, it was back to the train station to go to Enzan, so that we can visit our grandfather at the nursing home. We stopped at a sweet shop before hand so that my cousin could buy snacks for us to share at afterwards with or grandfather.

At arrival, he wasn't in his room, so we waited for him a few meters away. Very soon, we saw him making his way to his room. He didn't know we were coming, so I hope it was a pleasant surprise for him! We sat there while my cousin talked and interepreted for us. Our grandfather seemed to be in good spirits, though he seemed shakier than before and that he has troubles hearing. If I'm not mistaken, he's 92 years old.

After eating the snacks, our cousin suggested that we take him out on a quick walk. Our grandfather seemed to like the idea, and so we went to walk a block or so outside. It was hot, but a very peaceful walk. The sun was starting to set, making the scene reminiscent in nature.

Soon after we returned, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the station to make our way to our cousin’s house. After 2.5 hours, we made it with our aunt and uncle awaiting our arrival.

Food was waiting for us, and we had a scrumptious meal of sushi, yakitori, chicken kaarage, potato wedges, fresh peaches, melons, edamame, and various other foods. Like 3 years ago, we conversed, but we didn't have to use our translator app as much as before. I'm still far away from being conversational, but my Japanese is slowly improving!

After dinner and some TV, we headed off to sleep. It was another long, but productive and meaningful day.

Day 11 (July 20) - Back to Tokyo

We woke up later than normal and enjoyed some leisure time before checking out of our hotel to head to Okayama station. We took a bullet train to Tokyo station, which took about 250 minutes in total. After arriving in Tokyo, we transferred to a Chuo line train to Shinjuku station. During the ride, I got myself an Ekiben (Train station Bento). It was simply amazing for the price I paid (under $13 CAD).

Our last hotel for this trip was located about 10-15 minutes away. It's in Kabukicho, which is the red light district of Shinjuku. I was worried about hecklers from previous experience, but since it was early (and the hotel being located away from most of the clubs), it was a relatively quiet walk. The hotel was relatively modern, and our rooms were located on the second floor. I noticed that there were a lot of foreigners in this hotel, compared to the other hotels we used in the past.

After checking in, we went to find Ichiran, a ramen place where you eat in booths so that you can focus on the flavour, rather than the environment. We were lucky in that there was no line up, though it became instantly busy once we purchased our meal tickets.

After ramen, we went to a conveyor belt sushi place called Uobei. It reminded me of Muten Kurazushi, except there's no conveyor belts in the premise sushi for you to pick up. Everything is ordered via touchscreen and sent via a conveyor belt. Pretty cheap and decent.

After our second meal, we ventured to Akihabara, and specifically Yodabashi to walk off the food that we ate. Yodabashi is one of my favorite department stores to visit due to the vast amount of technology/gadgets and gundams! I didn't buy any from Japan this time around, but it's always nice to see the new kits. Afterwards, it was back to our hotel after stopping by a convenience store to shop for breakfast.

We will be meeting our relatives tomorrow.

Day 10 (July 19) - Around Chugoku region

Since we only had the one day here in the Chugoku region, we made the most out of it. We started out at around 7:20 so that we can hit the gardens (Korakuen) and Okayama castle. Korakuen is known to be one of the top three landscapes in Japan, according to Japan-guide. The other two being Kanazawa's Kenrokuen, which we saw two years ago, and Mito's Kairakuen, which is on my to-see list. I'm sad that Ritsurin Koen in Takamatsu isn't considered to be a top three, despite it being my favorite Japanese garden to date. Korakuen is quite picturesque, and it was nice to see it first thing in the morning where there were very little tourists.

After the gardens, we went to the castle. Perhaps, since we entered it when it just opened for the day, it was early but there was practically no one in the castle. It was nice to explore at our own pace and without the pressure of moving onward because there's people behind you waiting to take a look.

After the castle, we headed to Onomichi, near Hiroshima city. It's a nice seaside port, though we didn't have time to do the Shimaumi Kaido bike path. We did however scoped out a sushi restaurant that was rated highly by Lonely Planet. It's called Hana Akari and the atmosphere was just as friendly as you can imagine it to be. The servers were beyond considerate and the patrons there were friendly to us foreigners as well. I even managed to have somewhat of a conversation with the older couple beside us via my broken Japanese and his pretty decent English. I learned about his family and he gave us recommendations of places to visit. Very friendly people indeed.

After walking around a bit more, it was off to Kurashiki to see the canals at thee Bikan Historical quarters. It was a nice quaint part of Kurashiki that was reminiscent of Kanazawa. There's a touch of history, while located within a more modernized part of Japan. Okayama is known for their peaches, so I tried a few of their peach snacks. The peach sorbet I had was quite delightful. Also... I think I must have had three different peach flavoured drinks throughout the day...

We returned to Okayama and rested for a bit before exploring Aeon Mall, a mall brand that is popular everywhere in Japan. We ventured to their restaurant floor and located an okonomiyaki restaurant. The okonomiyaki was pretty decent. The chefs cooked up the "pancakes" and placed it onto your flat iron grill in front of you to keep it hot. After shopping a bit at Tokyu Hands, it was off to shop at the mall’s supermarket for breakfast.

Off to Tokyo tomorrow.

Day 9 (July 18) - Back to Honshu! Onto Okayama!

We woke up relatively late since we didn't have much planned besides heading to Okayama.

Breakfast was an amazing feat, I believe we had at least 6 different dishes, ranging from grilled river fish to Onsen tamago rice. For those of you that don't know what Onsen Tamago rice is, it's essentially a soft boiled egg on top of rice. I would eat this daily for breakfast if I could! Overall, breakfast was amazing, and light! Like I mentioned before, there were a lot of dishes, but I didn't feel full after eating all that. After breakfast, we had one final bath in the hot springs before packing up. Out of the three baths we took, the morning one was my favourite. The serene atmosphere and the grey skies (perhaps because it would rain later that day) made everything feel very peaceful. Also, the weather wasn't hot yet, so that's a definite plus!

After checking out, we ventured around Kurokawa Onsen town. Kurokawa can essentially be traveled via a circle route, but we took a wrong turn elsewhere, leading us onto a highway and away from Kurokawa. After walking for nearly 30 minutes, one of us noticed that it seemed weird, so we GPS our way back. While we found our way back to town, the ryokan dropped off our luggage for us, just before the bus can take us back to Fukuoka airport.

Waterfall on the route outside of Kurokawa Onsen. Sometimes detours aren't too bad, even if you're not going to the right place!

We made our way back to Fukuoka airport, followed by taking the subway back to Hakata station. From there, we took a bullet train to Tokyo station. The train was busier than I expected, but we all managed to find seats. After about five hours of travelling (bus and bullet train), we arrived at our destination. Okayama seems like a big city, but doesn't seem as busy as cities like Tokyo. We dropped off our luggage after checking in before looking for dinner at a ramen restaurant at the train station. At the ramen restaurant, I had a demi-glace tonkatsu bowl, which is supposedly one of the key dishes in Okayama cuisine. After dinner, we stopped by the market nearby to stock up for breakfast. Convenience stores are great for shopping for cheap meals, but supermarkets are even better! Sometimes, we would find discounted meals, or get drinks at a cheaper price than convenience stores.

Just a travel day, but we're approaching the last half of our trip.