Anything & Everything

Day Four BREAKFAST Convenience store-bought  bread in the hotel. No photographic evidence (bad habit - I'm working on it). SHINKANSEN AND EKIBEN The shinkansen  platforms to take were decidedly more confusing than the normal trains, but once our platform and leaving times were established, we allowed ourselves some time to buy ekiben . Short for eki bento  (train station lunchboxes), there are a wide variety available from convenience stores, as well as shops that sell only ekiben . The wide variety caters for different palates, budgets, and stomach size. Lucky shot of the bullet train The seats for shinkansen  are much more upright and straight-backed than aeroplane seats - however, the legroom is more generous, and the seats lean back further, allowing for a good sleep. The train ride took 2-3 hours, and during, we had lunch. Yakisoba pan  - fried soba noodles in bread. A little too heavy on the carbohydrates for our liking. Colo...

Day Three BREAKFAST Final breakfast in Toyoko Inn. The whole family agreed we would miss the hotel - and we did. Consomme soup, hot chocolate, mini chocolate croissant, steamed rice, seasoned vermicelli, konnyaku, broccoli, and the best meatballs ever HAKONE At Odawara station, we purchased the Hakone 2-Day Free Pass at  ¥ 4000 per person, which allowed us on all trains, boats, buses, and whatever transport was available in Hakone. The destination was Gora Station, and this is where the transport becomes confusing. One platform contained a multitude of tracks all leading in different directions - for some, connecting tracks could have two different trains. In other words, it was very easy to board the wrong train (which we did). After some questioning, we managed to head in the right direction and headed for Gora Station. Hakone is situated in a mountain area which reminded my family of Rotorua. As the train went up the mountain there came a vague smell of sulphur we...

I'm hardly the kind of person with the patience to sit down for a long enough time to watch a movie, much less a movie that's just over two hours in length. Nowadays it seems as if movies are growing progressively longer, and not necessarily in order to properly portray the themes or improve the storyline but more for the purpose of cramming in more witty deliverances or gore, or whatever the director decides will crank up more viewers (thus, revenue). This, along with my inability to hold still for more than a few minutes at a time, and my general indifference towards art is mostly the reason why I hardly watch movies. My ideal form of entertainment is portable, allows me to enjoy it at my own pace (much like - gasp - a book), or can be summarised into a concise YouTube video, or, even better, a six-second Vine. Nonetheless there are occasional movies which catch my attention enough to make me actively prepare for a two-hour sit-down. Often, they're animations ...

Before I confuse anyone, I should mention that I like prime numbers, mostly because it's an excuse not to share. Any sort of rating on my blog will be done on a scale comprised of prime numbers: 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 11 - 13 - 17 - 19 - 23

Day Two BREAKFAST Breakfast on Day Two was, again, in the hotel. Travelling on a budget with family often means any money saved is an added bonus. Breakfast Day 2: Seaweed salad, grilled salmon, konnyaku, sausages, seasoned seaweed, seasoned rice, and hot milk tea (with sugar) FUJIKO F. FUJIO MUSEUM Ten minutes' walk from Mukogaokayuen Station, I suggested yet again to forego the  ¥ 200 bus fare. The walk was similarly peaceful as the day before, but this one through a neighbourhood area, a look around gave an insight to how the Japanese live, with the tight quarters and masses of vending machines, right on the doorsteps of houses. As the museum sells tickets by allotted time period, we were asked to line up until the facilities were prepared for our session. Lining up outside the museum allowed us time to take pictures of the miniature exhibitions in the walls of the buildings. The Fujiko F. Fujio Museum is structured differently to the Ghibli Museum. Un...

Day One BREAKFAST The Tokyo hotel was the Toyoko Inn, a neat hotel despite the tiny rooms. Situated ten minutes' ride from the nearest station, a shuttle is provided that runs every fifteen minutes to and from Shinagawa station, a nice touch in addition to free Wi-Fi and an excellent breakfast. A self-service buffet, breakfast included pastries, or a more traditional Japanese breakfast consisting of rice and a selection of small dishes and soup, and drinks machines that dispensed hot and cold espresso beverages and milk tea within seconds, calibrated to fill the paper cups provided perfectly, a taste of what I would later see as only the beginning of Japanese technology. Breakfast Day 1: Rice with seasoned seaweed and umeboshi  (pickled plum - an acquired taste, of which none of us have), sesame sauce, seaweed salad, grilled salmon, konnyaku, steamed broccoli, and sausages GHIBLI MUSEUM The museum is about ten minutes' walk from Kichijoji station, a scenic ...