After finally posting the grand camera comparison entry I have enough time to continue posting my actual travel entries.

We're still in Hiroshima. This will already be the last day. Well, officially I stayed one more day in Hiroshima, but spent the whole day on Miyajima, so that doesn't really count, I guess?
But don't worry, this is not the last Hiroshima entry as I had to split it into 2 parts (and you should get used to it, that'll happen with most other days as well ... took way too many photos this time! Spring is evil I tell ya!!!) (°-°'') .....
Without further ado, let's start :D

Hiroshima Day 2 (part 1 -.-'') (April 2nd, 2010):

( Read more... )



Next stop was already Hiroshima Castle (*__*)v

( You know, it's really difficult to pick preview pics when there are so many different flower pics to choose from XD ... )



( Okay, let's finish this! )

Up next: I went all the way up to the Peace Pagoda and stopped by at various temples and shrines on my way.
Please look forward to "Hiroshima Day 2 - part 2" (^-^''') ..... tbc


Thanks for reading.
Comments are love　(○゜ε^○)v ♪
バイバイノバーイ!!－＝Ξヾ(ヾ(ヾ(ヾ(ヾ(ヾ(*´▽｀)ツ

Hello~♪

This will already be the last travel entry of my winter vacation.
After leaving Nara, I went to Osaka for my last day for some shopping <3

Osaka - Day 1 (January 8th, 2010):

( I went fandom shopping, but before that .... )



( Read more... )



( Finally: Fandom Shopping (*_*) )


And that was my winter vacation 2009/10 . I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (although - as you know now - it wasn't the "luckiest" vacation I ever had).
In the end I still enjoyed it and managed to get some nice photos out of if (^-^)/❤



I think I want to update my "japan travel" tags. By now I have soooo many entries, that it needs further management. I'm not yet sure how exactly I wanna organize my travel entries. I'm open for any suggestions.
I might order it by city (Osaka, Kyoto etc. -> *japan: travel: Kyoto), by prefecture (*japan: travel: Okayama Pref.) or by area: Kyuushuu, Kansai (*japan: travel: Kyuushuu).
Furthermore it might make sense to also do something like: *japan: travel: shrines / *japan: travel: castles / *japan: travel: onsen etc.
What do you think?
Thanks for your suggestions and ideas (^-^)/

Hello,

this time is mainly a "castle entry". On my 3rd day I took a break from Nara and decided to go to Hikone and Nagahama for a day trip.
This was quite an unlucky day, though. You'll soon see why.

Hikone and Nagahama (January 6th, 2010):

( Welcome to Hikone City <3 )



After getting a map in both, English and Japanese, at the tourist information center, I already was on my way to the castle.
Just don't lose any time, hurry up - that's what was on my mind (^-^')>
Speaking of tourist information centers: I had a lot of interesting conversations with the people there in many cities this time. While other foreign tourists were standing in line for the only "tiny" "foreign tourist" counter, I went to the "normal" one, speaking in Japanese with the people.
Sometimes we ended up having a conversation about GOD knows what!!! That's another reason why I love travelling alone :) So many random encounters (^-^)>
I always get to hear that my Japanese sounds so "kirei" - they're talking about my pronunciation, but then I always try to tell them that I'm German and that the German and Japanese pronunciation are MUCH closer than the English and Japanese ones and that's why some English native speakers have a harder time learning proper Japanese pronunciation. It's not that I'm a genius or anything. I'm just lucky enough to have a mother tongue with a similar phonic system XD

Anyways ... let's continue:
The small mascot (on the right) in the picture above is, of course, the macot of Hikone. I became a fan of it IMMEDIATELY! It's so cute!! <3
It's called "Hikonyan", the Samurai Cat! XD

( Aaaand the Castle! )



( Read more... )

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this entry (^-^)>
Next will be my last day in Nara. Then, I left for Osaka.
Please stay tuned for more.

☆⌒(*^-゜)ノ~♪see you again♪~ヾ(゜-^*)⌒☆

Finally Nara!!
Although I spent the first half of the day in Kobe, I still had enough time to explore part of Nara park.
As this is only half a day (even less than that considering that after 5pm everything is closed) there are only a few photos this time.
I hope you enjoy this entry nevertheless. ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝ

Nara - Day 1 (January 4th, 2010):

( Read more... )



If you come from the Kintetsu St., then Koufukuji (興福寺) is usually your first stop (I passed by there at least 5 other times after that on other days XDDDDDD).
That first day there were a LOT of FOREIGN tourists!!! I think I've never seen so many foreign TOURISTS anywhere else! Maybe I'll get a real shock when I go to Kyoto in SPRING this year XD
I went into Tōkondo (East Golden Hall) (東金堂) which you can see on the left on this photo. The entrance fee was quite high, but the inside was full of statues and artefacts, so it was very interesting. I also bought a book with illustrations of the statues and explanations (well, actually 2 books, one in Japanese and one in English ^^; .....) - because it was interesting, but you weren't allowed to take photos of the inside.
In general, I had the feeling that Nara was kind of touristy and thus expensive (entrance fees etc.)

( Be aware of the deer! XD )



( No Shikaotoko?? :/ )

Wow, that was ... kind of short (^-^')> I could have posted photos of day 2 as well, but I kind of want to keep the days separate, hope you understand.
Hope you're looking forward to a longer Nara entry with more photos.
TBC!

(つ∀-)ｵﾔｽﾐ❤

Hello~
Now, here's finally Day 2 of my Kobe trip (^-^)
It was a very busy day. I went to a lot of different places which involved a LOT OF train rides. I wasn't very lucky later on - it was quite horrible ... but the day ended with a Happy End nevertheless ... I guess ;P

( Wada Shrine and the white snake! )



Byebye, Wada Shrine, there's still a lot more to see, so I had to hurry up XD

( Did you know that there is a castle in Kobe? )



( No cheese for me? Frozen body? But still a Happy End??? Huh??!!!! And what's the deal with the rainbow? )

Thanks for reading.
グッドナイト(つ∀-)Zzzzz

Important things first:

I went to the immigration office again and


I HAS A 3 YEAR VISA NOW!!!!!!!! HOMG!!!!!


After all that happened last year, I never ever thought I would be able to get a 3 year work visa, but I DID!!! And I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooo happy right now (*___*) .....
Actually ... now I have to rethink about my future, I guess. I didn't have any real plans yet, but I was like: Uhm ... so maybe I finish my next year and then go back home, but maybe I wanna stay longer, dunno ..... BUT THAT'S SUCH A GREAT CHANCE HOMG!!!
*calms down*

Anyway, I went there with one of the new teachers (who also needed to go to the immigration office for visa stuff), so I decided to do some sightseeing with him.
We went to Hofu City (防府市). It was not my first time there, but my first time that I actually did something else than shopping XD

( Welcome to Hofu! <3 )



( New cellphone??!! ↴ ↴ ↴ )



( Read more... )


A side note, I bought body OIL today and hope that it will help against my superdry skin (yah, Japanese winter dries you up) (ノ_-;)

An important note: As some of you know my laptop has been acting up a lot lately!
I really don't know what to do with it anymore! I don't even know anymore if it's hard- or software problems or both.
My laptop is 5 years old, I spilled water on it a while ago (October 2009), but everything seemed to be okay.
Last formatting was performed in April last year.
To describe some of the problems:

• Keyboard: When I try to type something, the keyboard often can't keep up, skips letters, switches to CAPSLOCK without me doing anything etc. It's not always like that, most of the time it happens after the laptop has been running for a while. Because of that it was a REAL HASSLE to type this entry!!!! AAARRRGH!!! (-___-')


• USB: That just happened yesterday, though. As soon as I move my laptop a little bit the two things connected via USB have to be "reconnected". Especially the external harddrive seems to get "kicked out" often now. Maybe the cable is broken? But then again .. hmm ...


• WEIRD: after that typing problem has been going on for a while the computer starts acting up even more up to the point where I can't copy things anymore (it will just highlight everything etc.) - which is usually the point when I restart it. After restarting everything it's okay for a while.


• WHAT TO DO: So I've been using programs like AntiVir, Spybot Search&Destroy, CCleaner etc., but they all can't find any problems, so that doesn't really help. I just have no idea what else I still could do. Should I just format and see what happens? And if it's still not working, buy a new laptop (without a German ä,ü,ö,ß - keyboard?) .... byebye moneyZ??!!!! ..... Any experts here that can help me maybe?? ARGH!!!

Okay, but all in all it was a good day and I wanna be happy for a while, has been very busy lately anyway, so I think I need that moment of happiness ..... *ignores that bitch of a laptop*

Thanks for reading, thanks for wishing me luck for today - obviously it really helped!

バイ☆⌒ヽ(*'、^*)chu

Hallou~ (；・∀・)/~

This might be one of the shortest "travel entries" I've ever made and it's even TWO days!!! (^-^')>
I left Beppu on the 31st (December) in the morning to go to Fukuoka where I met with one of my Japanese coworkers. She invited me to come over and celebrate "omisoka" (Japanese New Year's Eve) with her and her family as she thought it's too sad and lonely if I'm all by myself.
In Japan, the 31st is a very calm day that you're supposed to spend with your family (more like our Western Christmas).

We met at Hakata Station (please remember that you have to look for "Hakata Station" when going to Fukuoka by Shinkansen etc.) - there is no "Fukuoka" or "Shin-Fukuoka" station XDDDD
We decided to walk around in Fukuoka a little bit, go shopping etc.

Fukuoka - Day 1+2 (December 31st, 2009 + January 1st, 2010):

( A lot of yummie food this time (*_*)v )



( Read more... )



( Toma-kuuuu~uun!!!! *lol* XD )


After that they brought me to Hakata Station and I left for Kobe where I arrived at night.
Thus, next will be Kobe already. Hope you're looking forward to it (*_*)

(´∀｀*)ﾉｼ　ﾊﾞｲﾊﾞｲ☆⌒ヽ(*'、^*)chu

(=⌒ー⌒=)ノ~☆・゜:*:゜Hello~

It's finally time for the photos of day 3 in Matsuyama which was also my last day there. After that I went to Kochi and then to Naruto to see the famous whirlpools, but that's not the topic of this entry today XD

Matsuyama - Day 3 (April 5th, 2009):

Day 3 was mainly spent in the Dogo Onsen area and it was a long and very interesting day :) Enjoy~

( Be aware: too many photos today! XD )



( Approached by a middle-aged female guide!! Read the whole story! *lol* XD )





( Dogo Onsen and the very awesome Ishite Temple )



And that was my last day in Matsuyama. I'm sorry that it were so many photos this time! I already selected just a few (originally there were WAY more).
Ishite is an awesome temple! If you ever have the chance to go there, DO IT!! (*_*)
Next will be Kochi! XD

バイ(*￣◇￣*)ラ(*￣・￣*)ブ(*￣〓￣*)チュッ♪～

オッス＼(o￣∇￣o)/ ーーー♪
Hello again,

here's already the next photo post featuring my spring vacation 2009.
I'll show you my day 2 in Okayama.

( Sougenji and the Kibi District (tracing the Momotaro fable) )





( Read more... )

And that was my time in Okayama. I wish I had one more day for the Kibi district in Okayama ... but that was my crappy planning and thus my own fault.
Next photos will be from Matsuyama in Shikoku


バイ(*^ヽ^) ンー……ヽ(*^・゜)ノ~チュッ♪

Hello,

it's time for another vacation photo post - the last of my winter vacation. After that I can finally start presenting my cherry-blossom-full spring vacation photos XD
Anyway the last few days of our winter vacation bf_nightingale and me spent in Sendai (with a short daytrip to Matsushima).

( Rinnou-ji 輪王寺 )




( Sendai's Aoba Castle 青葉城 )



( Fitness shrine?! Loneyl Japanese gardens! How to wash your hands correctly feat. by McDumb! And why is Mr. Fuji always so shy? ;___; .... )



Alright, that's all. Hope you enjoyed it　ヾ(●⌒∇⌒●)ノ
Next will be the photos of my spring vacation, starting with my first day in Okayama city on April 1st, 2009. Hope you're looking forward to it.

Ciaoッス　(´∀｀*)ﾉｼ　

Okay,

now that I have my internet back, I guess it's time to continue with my photo posts of my August vacation. I'm sorry for the long wait. Hope you enjoy.
So after Nagasaki I went straight to Kumamoto (熊本) which is also in Kyushu.
Compared to Nagasaki it was still nice, but kind of boring (I said COMPARED, okay? ;P )

Kumamoto - Day 1 (August 12th, 2008):


( Kumamoto Castle )



( Former residence of Hosokawa Gyobu and Suzenji Park )



( Read more... )


And that's it. Hope you enjoyed the photos :)
Day 2 in Kumamoto was not .... really spent in Kumamoto as I went to see Aso-san, an active volcano. I hope you're looking forward to the next post (day 2).


Time for a coffee/sweet pan (I loves Japanese pan with its fillings <333) break :D


Bye~chu~

Hey there,

so here is my 2nd day in Nagasaki (Kyuushuu, Japan).

Nagasaki - Day 2 (August 11th, 2008):

On this 2nd day I tried to go to some places I couldn't the first day and there were still a lot of things on my "to-see"-list. Nagasaki is definitely a city where 2 days of sightseeing aren't enough!

( Temples, shrines, graveyards, random encounters, Chinatown )



( Dejima and Dr. von Siebold + I wanna be a cat! )



( Confucius Shrine, another Catholic church, port of Nagasaki + Mt. Inasa's AWESOME nightview! )


Anyway, that was my time in Nagasaki. I just went to bed pretty soon after that, and the next morning I already was on my way to Kumamoto (which will be featured XD in the next entry).
Hope you enjoyed it.

Bye-chuu~

Okay,

by now I think I won't manage to upload ALL of my Japan photos before I go there again XD~ *coughs*

Uhmm~ .... yes I haven't been around much lately. I'm sorry!!! I didn't have time for anything ;o; ...... I'll try and write some more updates in the next few days, okay?? :3
Hope you're all okay, f-list?! And I hope I haven't missed anything REALLY important (^^'') .....

Anyway I recognized that there were a lot of friends cuts lately and I think I missed some deadlines. This will happen in the near future as well, because I'm sure that I won't be around THAT often anymore. So if that's how it is and I miss your "friends cut deadline" or whatever, then feel free to delete me. It can't be helped I guess (^^'')

Soooo~ this time I have really gorgeous photos. I LOVED it there!~ Felt like Italy somehow XD

( Enoshima Island )



( Guess WHO was there again? XD )



( ... )





( Kamakura )



( Hase? XD )

Okay, that's it.


Hope you liked it and I'm really sorry that I don't update that often lately! ｍ(＿ ＿;)ｍ ゴメン!!

Hey, it´s time for the next photo session ;P
I´m sorry that I don´t update that often lately, but I´m so damn busy for various reasons (will blabber more about it soon - hopefully ).

Anyway~ FINALLY it´s time for my beloved Harajuku!
Actually the only place in Japan I went 5 times to!!! (^-^'') ..... although Harajuku is very popular among YOUNG people - I was definitely too old for that part of Tokyo, but I didn´t care XD ....
What I loved about Harajuku: Everything -> the weird + interesting people, the crepes, TEH IDOL SHOPS, TEH JOHNNY SHOP, SNOOPY! and ... EVERYTHING! XD ...

I hope I can give you a good insight with these photos, enjoy!~

( Welcome to Harajuku - one of the fandom paradises! )



( And idol shops like WOAH! )



( Try NOT to faint ... yet ;P )

Ooookay, that was long, sorry, but I really do love Harajuku.
What´s with you? Did you already fall in love with Harajuku (as well)??!!!

Bye-cha~

Haaaa~ I miss Japan so much! *sigh* ....

Anyway, here´s our last day of the first week (yeah, that means there are still TWO weeks of photos lying ahead of you! XD ... ahem~).
As you already know we spent the first week in Kyoto with trips to Himeji and Osaka. For our last day in Kyoto and before leaving for Tokyo I wanted s.th. special.
So we also booked a room in an ONSEN!
I always wanted to go to one and experience an original Japanese hot spring! ^____^

We went to North Kyoto, Kurama:
There was also a pretty famous mountain called Hiei:

;P ... *coughs* *coughs* Sorry I guess I have to fangirl a bit XD KYAH!~
If they´re SO close, I really have to approve of them as REAL yaoi pairing, no? ^____^


Ahem~ ... anyway, on to the photos ^^;

( Kurama, Onsen, Matsu, Spiders, Milk and cute guys?! XD )



( Kimochiiiiii~ )



( TeH rest! (^3^)~* )

Bye-cha!~

Hey, ho!~

Another of chochajin´s Japan picspams lies ahead of you XDDDD
This time I decided to post photos of Fushimi Inari (if you´ve watched "Memoirs of a Geisha" .. or whatever it´s called in America XD), you prolly already know it ^-^,
Besides Fushimi Inari there will be photos of Himeji, almost only of Himeji Castle. You´ll see that for example "Last Samurai" was shot there ^^; (although Shogun and one James Bond movie ... have forgotten the name though XD;; .... *coughs*)

Hope you like the selection of pics ^-^/
Enjoy~


( Fushimi Inari )



( ... and even more red stuff )




( Himeji )



( TEH castle!~ )

Okay, that´s all for now ^^/
Bye-cha~