Random post.

Posted By: Creator of Zsup

Its been 25 in Japan already, not a very long time away considering that my last trip was about 3 weeks in Malaysia. The trepidation of this trip was immense knowing that it was going to be much longer than this. Several reasons were the cause of that trepidation, the weather, the culture, the people, the uncertainty that even research cannot dispel. However, much of that fear has been expelled from my mind after experiencing Japan for almost 4 weeks!

First off, the weather has been hell on me, but thats mainly because I cannot stand cold. It gets EXTREMELY cold when it rains, regardless of the severity of the rain, and it gets real hot when the sun beats down on you (I for one would prefer hot, hence I believe I probably am better off staying in the tropics). I have seen snow here, and ice forming and all the beautiful things associated with temperate countries, but I have also experienced 3 days of continuous rain and several days of zero degree temperatures. However, it has all been a refreshing and excellent experience.

The culture has astounded me. The politeness, the verying degrees of acceptance we see in the people' s eyes, the plethora of sub-cultures and dressing that can be seen on the streets that are NEVER frowned upon. Japan is really a buffet for the eyes, even without venturing far from the city.

The people are the main topic for this post though. Japan has been renowned for its manners, the people's helpfulness, and overall the kindness of the population is immense. From my trip so far, I have met quite a number whom have gone out of their way to help me. First up would be the nice restaurant owner from Choshi, even though she did not understand our half baked Japanese or English, she still helped us to find a hotel with available rooms! Then on the train to Nagoya, a nice uncle stepped up to ask if we needed help, something that surprised me totally. After that, while we were in Nagoya, another old man stopped to enquire about our well-being, whether we had eaten, whether we had a room. Our next encounter would be in Kyoto, where a customer in an internet cafe was requested to help explain to us the rules and packages offered by the cafe, and he did so with much patience. He even struck up a conversation with us after, talking about Singapore and all.

One encounter which I would like to mention would be in JR Kyoto Station, a restaurant named PASTAMORE. We headed in to have a meal shared between us, but when we found out that the restaurant had rules for ordering, i.e. each person had to order 1 each, we thought of leaving the place because we couldn't eat so much. This was the point that the nice waitress asked us to wait for a moment, and she went to check with the manager for permission for us to order 1 set to be shared. she returned moments later with a smile and told us we could, whereupon we ordered our share of food and guzzled it down. She never had to go out of her way to do this, and just let us leave, hence I feel very strongly for their service. If you even have to have a meal in Kyoto, try this place out, prices are decent even for 1 person, the food is excellent, and service is no doubt extremely good.

The last one on the list but definitely not the least, is a middle-aged man who sold Takoyaki from the back of a Van at JR Kyoto Station Hachijo Exit. His hospitality is boundless from the first time we bought a box of 6 Takoyaki from him, which was when he inquired where we were from, upon knowing that we were travelling from overseas, he immediately went 'Service Service!' and promptly changed the box to a larger box and gave up 10 balls instead! This happened the next 2 times as well, without fail and he never ever gave us the feeling that he wouldn't have done so for repeat customers. I definitely recommend anyone and everyone who visits Kyoto, Japan to have a go at the nice uncle who sells Takoyaki. You can find him at night parked outside JR Kyoto Hachijo Exit, with his Lantern hung to a white van, sitting in there cooking his Takoyaki!


Aforementioned Takoyaki Van and uncle with me!

I believe we will only meet more of these kinds of people as we move on in our journey through Japan, so I look forward to having these encounters of the nice kind. They keep my spirit up even in the cold.

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Eating to travel or travelling to eat?

Posted By: Kimberly

My last food post was a while ago, and I figure it is time for another one before anyone thinks we might be missing out on one of the highlights of our travels!
We generally survive on convenience store and supermarket foodstuffs, and seriously, Japan isn't a bad destination for budget travel in this respect. Our biggest love so far goes out to the 210 yen curry rice package we made from Lawson's, which made for a fantastic breakfast and carbo load on a budget combi that has not yet been beaten.
But seriously, we have good memories of the trip thus far built on food, so here's some piccies and a few stories for you :)


Somehow we felt this was wrong at so many levels... eating Hello Kitty? Affixing it onto a... uhm...totem pole? But it did get a lot of kids to get a'licking...


Who can forget the Fertility Festival I posted about a mere few days ago, with its deluge of phallic-themed items? Obviously, phallic foods were big at the festival, and we had our share of it! While the previous post featured some sweet desserts (featured again here with Hello Kitty and Tigger affixed as charming decorations), it was the savoury sausages that caught our attention.

Speaking of savoury, the stunning flavours of Matsusaka beef steak on a stick is still lingering on my mental tastebuds. When we glimpsed this street stall opposite a used clothing store, just down the road from Osu Kannon temple, little did ZsupCreator and I realise that we were going for a life-changing experience. I am NEVER going to eat a satay without dreaming of this, for the rest of my life. The beef simply oozed rich meaty zsup, and rather than being just oily, the fat-rich meat was an explosion of COW-ness that I have only previously tasted on shiny plates, in restaurants that have solid reputations. I have tasted good food from street stalls before, but never restaurant quality, dream making stuff.

The next day, we passed by again on the way to pick up stuff for a friend, and the stall was not there. We wish we were not on a budget and had gotten more, the day before.

Nonetheless, our gastronomic odyssey continued...

We have also eaten loads of noodles. Soba, udon, ramen, instant, in broth, in soup, with miso, soy and pork bone stock. The LOT. And I have to say, we have yet to encounter anything we dislike. From train station shops, both on the platform and in the station, to restaurants in shopping arcades... even a museum dedicated to Ramen (in Yokohama). It has all been fantastic for Asian tastebuds that were honed on the likes of Myojo, Ramen, and world-class wonton mee/hor fun/bak chor mee and etc.




The three pix above are just a random selection from the many many bowls of noodly type foods we have scoffed along the way. I love the way that the udon is always smooth, never overcooked. I favour the textures of the soba, firm and not at all mushy, regardless of the outlet I'm purchasing from. Much respect to all the noodle sellers in Japan!


Special mention #1: Ramen street in Nagoya! Despite my dislike for the city, I must say I very very much appreciate the existence of this place. Hidden in a backalley of the JR station itself, the bunch of shops gathered here represent the various flavours of ramen available throughout Japan. We is loves this!


Special mention #2: Perhaps Yokohama's only real place of interest to me. The Ramen Museum has a nice display detailing the history and makings of the yummy noodle, and traces its development in Japan. This is of course done in Japanese text, making for slow reading and even slower translation in my Chinese-stunted mind. I count myself lucky that I even know the alternate language that allows me to guess at what the Japanese text is really saying...

Note to people who might venture here for the historically accurate and very excellent ramen concoctions at this place: It is popular with tour groups and queues for the little shops in there can run up to 1hr or more! Getting your hand stamped and returning in the evening at about 8ish will be good if you want to avoid queues, but this would mean less chance of sampling all the goodies at the various shops, since multiple queueing sessions before they close at 9 will be nearly impossible.



In Hikone, we caught sight of these biscuits in a convenience store. They were horribly overpriced, of course, but that's what you get for having Hiko-nyan gracing the surface of your food right? We chose not to eat it, but I felt like I would have liked to try it, just to bite off his head for fun!


Despite our tight budget for this trip, deprivation has not always been our lot. The plate of sweet goodies above is from Sweets Paradise in Nagoya, where we dug into several servings of cakes over the course of 80 minutes. The buffet is timed so as to facilitate the movement of the queue, which was really long. We would have liked to stay longer though, all the cakes looked amazing!

Food has also sometimes been a source of amusement for us, especially when we see tantalising shopsigns like the one above. While the pictures look really yummy, I doubt I would buy the stuff from reading the text...

This next picture holds the memory of a night in Nagano, being chucked out of a purportedly 24 hour Macdonald's that was really only a 22 hour Macs (they close from 3am-5am for cleaning) so that we ended up going next door to have a beef bowl to justify our taking up a new sleeping spot at 3am in the morning. With our brains scrambled from shattered sleep, we were faced suddenly with a bowl of stewed beef rice (familiar and tasty), and a chilled raw egg (????????) which we were told to simply stir into the meal. Chilled, so that it wouldn't cook even when mixed with the piping hot rice. With the risk of salmonella firmly stuffed into our one-week-old-socks, we tucked into this with positive comments of "MMM mmm MMMMMM". Kudos to ZsupCreator for scoffing the lot in his determination not to waste food in our impoverished travel conditions.


Better food memories exist in Yokohama, where we had our first Real Burger. McPork does not count - it is practically a sandwich. Everyone who goes to Yokohama should check out the lovely babes at Kua'Aina and have one of their luxurious cheese burgers. This is King of CheeseBurgerdom. Rivalling the portions of Carls Jr, and definitely floating around Uberburger and other gourmet burger stores' quality.


It was also in Yokohama that we had the chance to see a ninja chef literally whipping up a storm as he made the omelette in omu-rice a visual display of his skills. The above picture barely captures his mad skillz in creating an omelette of even texture on the pan, and does not at all show the very cool and accurate flips he makes every single time he creates a dish of omu-rice. We watched him do this nearly 5 times in an attempt to pick up some tips and maybe try this at home!

And now we're in Kyoto, and somehow the theme has shifted to rice rice rice! While it is not the only thing we are eating, it is definitely something we are happily indulging in every single day. From stewed beef/egg bowls to stewed chicken/egg bowls to curry laden plates... I am in happy rice heaven!
Not to mention, we picked up these adorable collectibles from 7 Eleven at JR Kyoto station! These little containers hold magic sprinkles which transform any bowl of rice, no matter how plain, into flavoursome chicken rice! I choose to believe that the seaweed bits constitute a healthy portion of fiber additive, while the powdery bits are practically a compressed whole chicken. Unbelievably tasty, and best for our budget living style!
Last, but not least, we have made passing acquaintance with this van-store-takoyaki-selling chap. Who has our gratitude for his generosity... immediately after hearing that we were tourists, despite our absolutely scruffy exterior, he said "Service, service!" and promptly upgraded our order of 6 takoyaki balls (for 200yen), to 10! Parked outside the JR Kyoto station at night - we have reliably visited him at around 9pm for the last two nights - he simply sits there in his van, opened at the back, with a HUGE red lantern hung on the open backdoor that doubles as a shelter for his customers.
There is so much more, obviously, that we haven't posted, the endless samples we have consumed - photos being impossible because we are constantly trying to avoid notice while scoffing down enough food for entire brunches, teas and suppers. In this way, I have been blessed to enjoy more flavours of mochi than I have ever eaten before in my life. Same applies to yatsuhashi, the cinnamon flavoured specialty from Kyoto. Resembling snowskin wontons, ZsupCreator has been downing it all with great relish.
There is more yet, that I have not posted... Kyoto is turning out to be a place that is putting more calories on me than I can work off. (Hint: Dinner today was a pile of sugar glazed mini croissants that I could not help but scoff one after another until I was accidentally too full to eat anything else!)
All this, I think, is one of the biggest reasons why I travel. I aim to eat at least one round of a proper Kaiseki meal before leaving Kyoto... I wonder which place would be best?

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Of goodness and sheer lousiness

Posted By: Kimberly

So now we're in Kyoto, and lodged in (yet another) internet cafe... I hadn't blogged about the previous one and planned to, so here's the presentation of both together...

I knew we weren't always going to be able to get as sweet a place as we did in Nagoya, or lovely as the Sendai peeps. But it seems things are swinging to new lows in Kyoto, where I have barely got more ability to access the internet than when I'm wifi-ing on my iPhone.

Grouse 1: So the first computer I had was so lagged out, I ended up changing to another computer. Sadly, the second computer has thus far failed to impress with its especially irritating keyboard (currently being mangled by my very persistent typing), backdated programs (archaic IE, no Firefox, Java mangle that *I* had to update for them) and refusal to upload my photos to Facebook after having stated that it was successful twice.

I recognise, incidentally, that the last could be Facebook's fault. But my travel companion is not facing the same nonsense, so I choose to blame the computer instead.

Grouse 2: Most expensive so far, and all I got was a "free" bath and a really old recliner. This is sad, because I know, Kyoto has a long, traditional history and a very popular tourist area. Still, they could do more about their obvious complacence in at least providing reasonable service for their freaking inflated prices. C'mon. It can't be that tough to give a good chair when charging nearly half extra all the previous places that DID give very excellent sleeping arrangements. *mumbles*

Incidentally, for Kyoto, we are putting up, ONE NIGHT ONLY, in Media Cafe Popeye, located along Kawaramachi Road. Never again. I'd rather go back to sleeping on the cold stone tiles of Forum Ippukudo. At least that didn't dig out my pocket to frustrate me.

And now, to recover my soul, I will point out that the space we had in Yokohama was actually not a bad one, all things considered. We stayed at a DICE outlet, near Shin-Yokohama station. It's not the nearest, but the nearest place charged a bomb for its location. A short walk of 200m provided us with an automatic "discount" of nearly 1k yen on the overnight package price. They charged the cheapest so far, but they had no shower facilities. Then again, it's not like we couldn't get access to that elsewhere (Thank you again, Milton!). However, the computers were reasonably swift, even if we had dodgy USB ports that shook in the casing. And we did manage to sleep quite well in the temperatures set indoors.

What impressed this traveller most, however, was their thoughtfulness in providing sanitary pads in the ladies' toilet. It's quite a nice thing to do, you never know when someone might have forgotten or run out, and it's not always easy to acquire it in the middle of the night, either - particularly in the middle of paid-internet-time. I also very much liked their non-contact pad disposer. You wave a hand over the sensor and the lid lifts, so that you can dump the stuff without actually touching the bin. Even better, the bin has a built in sanitiser and deodorant so that subsequent occupants of the toilet won't have to deal with the unsavory scent of used pads - something which is not at all rare in Singapore.

And yes, rarity as it may be, no photos for this entry because THE COMPUTER AT MEDIA CAFE POPEYE IS BEING AN ACCURSED BRAT.

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GP Yokohama

Posted By: Creator of Zsup

As some of you may know, our trip to Japan has allowed us to participate in a really special event for Magic: The Gathering, to be specific, the Yokohama Grand Prix.

So this post will detail my experience there.

The deck I was playing was rather new, and rather cheap, it was a Hive Mind combo Deck. During my playtests in Singapore with the group of friends that I play Magic with, the deck was really consistent, having the combo go off on turn 3 or 4 easily. However, as I entered Japan, some of that 'Magic' seemed to have faded, because I seemed to have more and more trouble with the deck when playtesting it here.

So then came Yokohama GP today. Where I was nervous, because I really didn't know what to expect or experience. Especially since I was playing in a foreign country where I did not speak the language, and considering that most of the way was plagued with vague hand waving and English words spouted with an impeccable LACK of grammatical accuracy.

So came match one. I was playing against a Japanese guy, who apparently was playing the same colors as me, Red and Blue. It was a really interesting match up during the first game because I mirrored him for laying the lands and playing the spells (He laid an Island and played Sleight of Hand, while I laid an Island and played Ponder), whereupon he started looking flustered and stressed. The next thing I knew he was throwing away two Blood Moons, and I concluded that he must have been convinced that I was playing the same deck as him. He eventually managed to see my hand using Vendillion Clique, and realised I was playing a Hive Mind deck, and so he prepared his counterspells. I lost the first game eventually because I was too hasty, playing two Pact of the Titans, and a Pact of Negation, which he countered his copies using Spellstutter Sprite, which promptly caused me to lose the game being unable to pay 10 mana during my next upkeep.

I learned from my mistakes and Sideboarded in 2 more Pact of Negations, and started the remaining two games. Which I won, being able to counterspell his Spellstutter Sprites and throw the Pact of the Titan with impunity. Sadly he had a really bad time with his lands, being stuck at 4 lands and 2 lands for the 2nd and 3rd game respectively. Which made me realise I really didn't know what he was playing, Faeries? Blue? Red? Didn't make sense at all.

I went on the my next matchup feeling all cool and calm as I won the first. Whereupon I was matched with a Bant Thopter Foundry deck. It was a terribly played match as I lost my first game due to a bad play. I had Tolaria West, Hive Mind, Pact of the Titan and Seething song in my hand, which I played without searching for a Pact of Negation, hence ending up having the Hive Mind countered and losing to a torrent of Thopters. The second game I learned from my mistake only to make another. I didn't have a Pact of the Titan in my hands when i played Hive Mind but I did have a Pact of Negation. I countered his counterspell once again and managed to put Hive mind into play, BUT lost during the next upkeep as I didn't have the mana to pay for my Pact of Negation. Stupid stupid me.

3rd match I came up against another Hive Mind Deck. O.o Which I lost terribly to, but it was admittedly wayy more consistent than mine. The player played Summoner's Pact along with the other two Pacts I played and won me twice on turn 3. My hands were extremely bad, with me either missing the Pact or Hive Mind entirely, resulting in me losing. First round was lost as I pulled off my combo but he had 2 Simian Spirit Guides to remove making him have enough Mana to pay, which he then conveniently slapped a Summoner's Pact to my face. Round 2 was promptly lost on turn 2, with Summoner's Pact once again. I consider it fair that I lost to him, because his lands were wayy more consistent, with fetches and shocklands. I was using cascade bluffs as I was on a budget, and as he pointed out, its a Turn 1 no colored mana which is the only downside. :D Played a couple more rounds with him while waiting for the paper of results, and I won once, which satisfied me, as it proved that I was NOT that lousy.

4th match was against Affinity. I won the first round against him, on turn 3, which he was rather surprised to see. Afterward, he took me down on the 2nd round easily, as I had no answer to his creatures, and sadly my combo refused to appear. The hand I had was rather ok, considering I had 3 Serum Visions, and I drew 2 ponders, but all that amounts to nothing without the combo pieces. 3rd round was lost as he killed me with a Man-land equipped with Cranial Plating.

Last match was in the loser pool, where I met up with a really nice guy who apparently played a treefolk deck. I won him easily with my combo on turn 3, and he had no answers. I was quite sorry for him, as the deck he played had no chance against mine even if my combo went off late.

After the last match, I headed over to the head judge and told him I wanted to drop out. I figured I had enough experience of the proper decks, and had more stuff I wanted to do for the rest of the night; taking into consideration the rest of the deck I would play with were would be having X-3 and below scores.

Overall this GP has been an excellent experience, and being able to know that my deck actually works, and proving that a budget deck can actually play in GP is great. Furthermore, coming out from the playing ground with a Jitte, and a Jap Mogg Fanatic is rather cool. My only gripe is this time there is no shirt. WTF.

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Ryokan Time!

Posted By: Kimberly

The place where the Snow Monkeys was located was definitely not a place we could camp, since we were expecting snowfall and ice and what not. Therefore, we planned for a minor implosion in our finances to experience one of Japan's finest cultural offerings - the Ryokan stay.

ZsupCreator located Suisensou, not too budget busting and within walking distance from the JR Yudanaka train station, at Yamanouchi Town. Booking a place was easily done via the 'net, and we had very little trouble figuring out how to get there from the online map and some very useful signboards in the town itself. Be warned that it's not exactly right next door to the station, but it's certainly not a terrible walk to make.


We were a little unsure of how far we actually had to walk, since Japanese tourist maps have a habit of making some things seem too near, and other stuff deathly far. We were very happy to see the signboard as pictured on the booking website, really.

The room was a simple traditional affair, as can be seen above. In particular, note the table-like object of cushiony blanketness in the foreground? That's a kotatsu, and fixed on its underside was a heater that we both used to keep ourselves alive during our time in this place. Both of us having been born and bred in tropical environments, we were VERY appreciative of the toasty warmth emanating from it, especially since the room was rather traditional in design. (Read: Chilly to the max). In the background, you can see the two piles of what was to later become our individual futons. We set it up so that we both had one side of the kotatsu heater to warm our futons while we slept in a parallel sort of arrangement. The blankets were very fluffy, and the futon was the most comfortable thing I have slept on since I left home, really!


We also had the opportunity to try having a traditional Japanese bath, with hotspring water to soak in. Obviously, there were no pictures because 1. I refuse to risk my rather un-waterproof camera, and 2. I don't think anyone wants risque photos of me, really. The only sad bit here is that it was an indoors bathhouse, so I haven't yet fulfilled my dream of soaking in the amazing rock enclosed, open air pools that I saw the monkeys use earlier...


We also decided to reward ourselves for a long long train journey, both to get to Yamanouchi, and for what was ahead, in Yokohama. The spread you see above is one person's share of dinner. I found the tempura and sashimi to be of much the same standard as regular restaurant fare, but I really appreciated the salt baked fish and extra firm tofu cube. The tofu came with little anchovies as the toppings, instead of the bonito flakes that we generally get served in Singapore's Japanese restaurants. While simple, the dinner was extremely filling and we rolled upwards later feeling like we had pigged out overmuch!

I took this photo with our hosts just before we left. That's the ladyboss and her mother right there! Her father declined to be part of the picture, although he was sitting on the sofa, hidden behind my fat backpack. As advertised, they really were very sweet people, very concerned about our welfare and comfort. I'd certainly recommend this place to anyone who's watching their pockets but still want to experience a slice of traditional Japan! :)

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Nagano and the Monkeys!

Posted By: Kimberly

So as I was saying earlier, our mini tour group did a split... group Museums and Tech went southwards, and group Naturel went a little north-ish towards snow country.

It's a very scenic train trip up from Nagoya to Nagano, although if you're going by local trains, watch out for the connections on the Chuo Line. At one point, the connecting train comes by only once every few hours!


The further we got from Nagoya, the more the scenery changed to something I actually enjoyed. I don't hate architecture, but I just love Mother Nature's work more... However, the thing about going to see Snow Monkeys in their natural habitat is that you really have to do it when the weather's best for them. With the result as what you see below.


We had loads of fun with snowscape photos, especially since neither ZsupCreator nor myself have ever had an opportunity to take any before. Our first time seeing snow falling was earlier this trip, as the train zipped us along to Nagoya (we took a wrong turn).

No regrets anyway, despite his expression there. There's a lovely heater waiting for visitors in the ranger's hut at the end of the walk up to the Monkey reserve - that's where we got our noses and ears back!

We spent a few hours in the company of frolicking (though mostly eating) monkeys. Here's one stuffing his face now, though he looks awfully fuzzy and cute!


There were lots of monkeys of all ages going around the place, though hardly any newborns since this is pretty out of season, I think. The youngest we saw was trotting after its mother, not clutched in her arms. There were lots of kiddies like these though, monkeying around with each other and snatching food or tussling all over.


It was the older monkeys, though, who seemed to really enjoy this bit. Which is what we actually DID come to see. Soaking in the hotspring pool, this particular oldie was diving into the water at intervals to pick up more nibbles.

Along the way to the Monkey Reserve, there were posters telling us to watch out for various wildlife, including wrens, squirrels and this particular one called the Japanese serow. We got lucky when one decided to visit the area with the monkeys, and came down to a mere couple of storeys above the walkway where everyone was standing. The moment it was spotted, all the cameras swung around and zoomed right in, completely ignoring the monkeys that they had been so focused on before.


I think we had more fun with the monkeys though, perhaps a little closer in kind? ZsupCreator is getting in touch with his deepest roots right there, and totally enjoying it!


Which obviously completely explains this subsequent picture, snapped on our way back to the bus stop.

All in all, I think group Naturel did have much fun, the monkeys were a fab attraction to be at. Despite our initial disappointment at missing actual snowfall, this was definitely more than made up for by the gorgeous snowscapes and icy melting springs!

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Rated R-21!!!

Posted By: Kimberly

Way back when we lost the ability to blog, just after we wrote our bits about Matsushima Bay and the Cool T-Shirt of Greatness, we went to the Tagata Jinja Hounen Sai.

Disclaimer: While the pictures might look decidedly pervy, the festival is really about celebrating and blessing people with fertility and good harvest and etc... so keep an open mind yea?


So they had all these themed artwork for sale... like clay pottery, ashtrays, even wood carvings... displaying these objects in the home is supposed to work like a charm for promoting prosperity of all kinds!
I also saw far too many kids and more than a few women chomping down on these sweet goodies... Yes, they brought young ones along to enjoy the fun. In fact, an entire horde of children were front-row viewers along the parade lines, led by people who appeared to be their teachers! I honestly cannot imagine anyone from MOE suggesting this sort of thing as a possible school excursion... o.o
Even the bell at the shrine was suitably themed. There was a sign that said No Photos, but it seems that ignoring it on festival day is all right, because loads of people were waving their Nikons, Sonys and Canons. Telescopic lenses included...


This was the Object of Much Veneration... they had teams of chappies toting it down the streets, while the crowd busied themselves with snapping photos manymany, waving their cups of free sake (distributed by a cart preceding this one) and trying to cop a feel since apparently stroking the OMV will bring showers of goodies in the coming year. For those who missed the giant one, they had a priest bring out a relatively smaller one measuring only a metre or so. He made sure that anyone who wanted to hug it and have photos with it, managed to do so.

Anyway, it was at this festival that Vincent finally joined our little tour group. He has been having many adventures ever since! We like to think that our mini OMV has been responsible in some small part for the luck we've enjoyed thus far...






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Quickie Update!

Posted By: Kimberly

We've been without internet for a couple days, and our group is currently travelling separately... MX is lost in the wilds of Osaka, while HY and I have been wandering around with monkeys and roasting ourselves in hotsprings.

We'll get around to proper posts in a while... but we're just back in tech civilisation, have walked two hours trying to find a decent place to sleep, and put all our photos into safe places like just a few seconds ago because the comps are running slow... now it's 2am so getting some kip is first priority... but our updates will be back as we snuggle into Yokohama for the next few days!

:)

On a side note, the Agion team has been sweet enough to post up my review of their tech tee... Read and remember to vote!

http://stinkatnothing.com/index.php/2010/03/3-months-of-backpacking-in-japan-live-updates/

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Gear Reviews.

Posted By: Creator of Zsup

This trip has been a minor experiment with my equipment. Almost all of which is new, and me being a virgin backpacker would like to share the pro's and con's of my equipment.

For this trip I have brought what would have equated to a soldiers full battle order and more. Perhaps equal in weight, but way better in quality. The stuff I have are, Vaude Astra 65+10 backpack, Marmot Phoenix Waterproof Jacket, Millet Polarstretch Mid Layer, The North Face Fortress Peak Full Gore-tex boots, The North Face Apex Bionix Gloves, Chamelius Sunglasses, Millet Axiome 32 bag, Sportiv Trackpants, Uniqlo midlayers and Heat-tech. Those are the items that I use most often.

In this post I shall review my gloves, boots, and bags.

First up, my gloves. The North Face Apex Bionix gloves.Supposedly water-resistant, breathable softshell which is ideal for cold excursions, with light insulation. Sounds good at the price of about 50 bucks. But it turns out that its unbelivably true. The insulations so light that it leaves my hands cold, even without the wind or rain touching it. As a result, the hands take far too long to warm up in the gloves. It is also not ideal for cold excursions, because it blocks wind like cotton blocks wind. The only thing I'm willing to give it, is the fact that its water-resistant, in fact almost waterproof, as I have worn it in the rain, held wet stuff, washed it, dipped it into water, and my hands are still dry.



Verdict? Not too happy with the gloves, as they are currently of little help to me in single digit temperatures. I would however recommend them to climbers who are expecting showers, or wet conditions.

Next, my bags. My Vaude Astra 65+10 is excellent. It comes with a rain cover, enough compression straps to ensure that all the stuff within it is locked down tight, and the bag fits really well, not to mention the hip belt positions the weight of the bag really well. I have no doubt that this bag is an excellent purchase at 180 bucks. My Millet however, is slightly disappointing. Its extremely light, just over half a kilo for a 35 litre bag is excellent, plus it comes with water bag compartment, straps, hip belt, and the main compartment with lid. It also came with two plastic back panel supports, which I removed so that I could squeeze the bag into my main backpack. On hindsight, this is starting to look like a seriously bad idea. It seems that the bag is unable to position weigh properly without the back supports; even though they are really just two plastic sticks. I have carried the bag for two weeks for in-city trips, and I must say that its a real pain to carry it. However at 52 bucks for such a cool bag, which would probably work really well with the supports, I can't complain.




Verdict? Vaude Accept 65+10 is perfect, great price, great look, great performance. Millet Axiom fails to perform, but I would still recommend it for light packers.

Lastly, are my boots. My lucky buy. The North Face Fortress Peak Full Gore-tex boots. These boots are fully equipped with Gore-tex waterproofing, leather outers which repel water, and a really nice insole. Best of all? I managed to get it under a hundred dollars, cost it was apparently a used pair. Not that it affected me at all. The boots have seasoned very well, and I have tried it time and again for its waterproofness, and Gore-tex has yet to fail. The leather uppers are extremely smooth to touch, and one can hardly expect it to repel water, but it does with class. The insole is amazing, as I have walked a whole day with these boots on (mind you these are not light, probably close to 3 kilos of shoe) and not felt even slight fatigue in the heels. So far in this trip, these boots have yet to fail, although they are starting to show signs of wear and tear; the folding area at the toes are starting to get worn down due to friction, but its no real issue, unless you mind staring at the upper absorb water, which at the end of the day fails to get past Gore-Tex.


Verdict? Perfect buy. Yet to fail, extremely comfortable, protects from cold, and is worth every single cent I forked out for it. Normal retail price may shock the tootsies out of you, cos its about 300 bucks for a pair.

With that, I end my first gear review post. The gear I have with me will endure 3 months of torture, with little washing and lots of use, perhaps I'll have problems with them, perhaps not, but I will update it here for all to see.

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Agion Coolness

Posted By: Kimberly

Righty... so for those of you following this blog for some time now, and who view my photos on Facebook (friends only, unfortunately, to maintain a little control over viewership and comments), you'd have noticed that we've pretty much been wearing the same clothes day in day out as we move from place to place. Do we smell funny? Maybe. Sometimes... but you know what? It takes super long for me to smell bad, thanks to a cool new t-shirt I'm testing.

I would like to say that I would have preferred to test this in the home environment, since nothing beats the tropics for testing anti-sweat stuff. But being the base layer or 2nd most base layer in a 5 layered outfit isn't bad for it either. I don't notice much smell getting out while the jackets are zipped up, but at certain times, when we get the chance to shed a couple skins... we definitely know where the clothes stand in terms of how badly they need to be laundered.


I'm amazed how well the treatment works. I was dubious at the start, but now I really wish I had my socks and underwear on this trip dosed with the same wonder chemicals!

Only half of it is treated, but hey, half the smell is good, you know. Having worn this T shirt pretty much nonstop for the last couple weeks, I can say that it has pretty much withstood what I've thrown at it so far. Longest record without washing it was four days. And at the end of those four days, I could tell exactly which side was chemically treated and which side I WISH had chemical treatment since the fragrance rolling off half of the shirt could knock out a skunk.

-.-"


After bath time, both sides of the shirt smelled the same again...

Rinse and repeat. Dashing around in the city, taking alternate day baths to save money, letting the sweat soak and marinate the shirts just to see what would happen...



This was one of those places which was so well heated inside that under all those layers, my clothes were totally damp. I didn't take off any layers until I really couldn't take it any more, partly to see how much the Agion could take, and partly because there wasn't really a convenient place to plant it.

Again, it gradually became more and more obvious which side of the shirt was needing more care to keep fresh.

Good stuff, this!

If I wasn't smelling fresh enough I would never have dared to take this picture. Two days without bathing, and I stripped off my jackets to do this photoshoot under a sakura tree in Hikone Castle grounds, one of Japan's National Treasures. There were visitors all around us, and nobody so much as sniffed when I walked by. I know this could be because they are a polite people, but I doubt it.

I have to say, the T-shirt really works well in more ways than just being so amazing that I haven't had to use my one other spare tee yet, keeping me carrying minimal clothes and less whiffy than otherwise. With the shirt on, my jacket layers aren't getting to stink as quickly as in my previous travels. To put it indelicately, it doesn't matter whether I've used any deodorant on my armpits, as long as I have the magic (half of the) shirt on.

It is also praiseworthy that the material of the test shirt is fantastic - it feels ultra good on the skin, and I very much like sleeping with the shirt on. A touch of comfort in the days of roughing out...

I think if I had Agion Tech's treatment on my clothes, I wouldn't bother with bringing more than two sets on any of my backpacking trips. One for in case it rains, the other for just wearing on, and on, and on! In fact, if they bottled and sold the stuff in a spray can, I'd probably douse all my clothes in it so I know I never have to worry about being smelly again!

In a couple days, we're headed for hotsprings and monkeys. I'm going to bring the shirt in with me to the sauna. I want to see how it holds up against sulphuric fumes!

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比內地鷄の親子丼 the best chicken rice ever~

Posted By: Max

比内地鸡的生活过得象凤凰一般,喝的是奥羽山脉雪融后的清水, 吃的是上等的天然饲料,在野外放养,自由自在,整整180后被宰杀(一般土鸡的三倍)

在日本有「鸡の顶点」, 「幻の地鸡」「日本一の美味鸡」等各种称号。是日本土鸡中最高级的一种。今天有幸在彦根市找到了这样一家餐馆

秋田比內地鷄 ,日本愛知縣彦根市 梦京桥

Hikone, Aichi prefecture, Japan

餐館设计是传统日本风格。在玄关需要脱掉鞋子才能进入,地下有加温设备,透过袜子暖脚,非常舒服。菊黄色的灯光配上jazz音乐,让店里很有情调。


店内所使用的烹调材料都各有来头。从日本關西的備長木炭,北海道的「海幸」盐,到秋田县大馆市比内町的地鸡,样样有名。
食材证书

因为来源有限,许多鸡的部位在目录上带有星号,说明有一人最多一只的限制。

 
我叫了招牌菜「比內地鷄の親子丼」1200¥



鲜美的鸡肉咬起来带有一丝甜味
半熟的鸡蛋加上海幸盐无可挑剔
有电视上那种升天的感觉



外观9分
味道10分
口感10分



有机会一定要来尝尝~~

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