UWAAAH!!!~
Has it really been OVER 1 (O.N.E.!) month since my last travel entry???

I'm really sorry about that, but most of you know why!
I'm still working on my new blog project and it's finally going into a good direction and I'm slowly getting there (still lots of work involved from now on, though!)
Also, in less than 2 weeks (HOMG!) I'm off to Germany!
Anyways, doing all that coding, changing/improving my LJ design seems like a piece of cake now (but I'm too lazy and still quite content with the layout anways XD)...

Enough of my blabbering let's get started, there's a lot to show and explain, so get ready!~

Bitchu Takahashi (Okayama) (April 3rd 2011):

( From Okayama to Takahashi: Raikyuji Temple and Hina Matsuri Exhibition )



And everything is so colorful!

( Bitchu Matsuyama Castle: the highest castle above sea level in Japan! )



As you can see, the main tower isn't really big at all.

( Read more... )

I hope you enjoyed this post.
Next up: Tsuyama (and then back to Okayama because I suck! )
I don't know when I'll be able to write the next travel post. I'm pretty sure that I won't have time before I leave for Germany where I'll stay for 2 weeks, so you might have to wait another month, but after that I'll be properly back, I swear! ;o; .....

I couldn't even finish this entry in one day! That's how busy I am.
Thanks for reading and being patient!

Hullo!

Finally another travel entry. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.

Takamatsu and Yashima (April 1st 2011):

( Let's start with Takamatsu Castle!~ )



( Next: Ritsurin Garden!~ )



Bamboo forest!!!! :3333
And you also could walk inside some of those houses as they're all small museums. It's the year of the rabbit and it's truly the cutest year out there, ne?! ^-^

( Off to Yashima! )

Next up: Kurashiki
Stay tuned and thanks for being patient readers!
See you next time!~

Hello everybody!

I hope you're all doing fine. As mentioned before I'm trying to cut down my online time which is ONE reason why I haven't posted often lately.
I'm changing some things in my life, but it takes time and keeps me busy (and thus away from the internet and esp. LJ). I'll post more about it some other time. A lot of stuff and thinking needs to be done.
Don't worry, once I've figured some of these things out, I'll try to post more regularly again. Hope you understand.

Although my spring vacation was just a bit more than 1 month ago, I barely can remember it now. I hope I can do a proper report nevertheless looking and my crappy notes that I took back then.
Hopefully the photos also will help my memory.

This time I didn't travel any huge distance at all and mainly stayed in the Chugoku area (the most famous prefecture there is probably Hiroshima, but I didn't visit there - this time). However, I started in Shikoku, one of the 4 main islands of Japan.
I've been to every prefecture there, apart from one: Kagawa! And so, I decided to visit it this time for good.
I started in Marugame (mainly because of the caslte, of course). It's supposed to be surrounded by lots of cherry blossoms trees which look awesome in spring (read: early April) - but this year ... everything is/was different!

Enough of my talking, here we go!~

Marugame (March 31st 2011):

( Marugame Castle )



( Nakazu-Bansho-En (Japanese Garden) )



Couldn't stop taking photos of that red bridge ;)

( Read more... )

Leaving Marugame to go to my second big destination of the day: Kotohira!
Quite hungry at that point, but eating had to wait!

Part 2 of my first day will come up soon in a separate entry. It's just too many photos to squeeze them all into one entry, I guess.

[Poll #1740971]
Thanks for reading and staying with me although I don't post so often lately.

Hullo~
I hope you all enjoy your Sunday!

I left Shirakawago (Gifu Prefecture) by bus and went to Kanazawa (Ishikawa Prefecture). I ate yummie dinner and went to bed early.
I wasn't really lucky in Kanazawa as the weather was quite horrible, so the photos aren't that good this time.
Anyways here we go!~

Kanazawa - Day 1 (January 4th 2011):

( Oh, rainy daa~ys!~ )



( The Castle Hunter is back!! )



Back outside. I really love the shape of those two trees in front of the castle. Perfect!!

( Read more... )

Not really good photos this time due to the weather and all, but I hope you still enjoyed it a bit at least.
Maybe you understand now why I personally didn't really enjoy Kanazawa that much and why it will never be in my top 10 list (^-^') ...
Next up: half a day in Kanazawa and half a day in Toyama (yay yet another castle!! )

Thanks for reading.
Bye~buu

It's time for another travel entry!

Still in Kyoto my friends and me decided to split up for that day as our plans were just so different.
I wanted to see as much as possible and they wanted to sleep as long as possible XD
Furthermore they wanted to go to a few sightseeing spots that I've already been to (Golden Temple etc.), so it was a good idea to split up for one day

Kyoto Day 3 (April 7th, 2010):

( Destination #1: The Imperial Palace (open for the public!!) )



( Destination #2+3: Ryoanji and Ninnaji )



( Destination #4: Kitano Tenmangu Shrine )

After eating there we went back home to our hotel and went to bed XD
The next day we went to Gion. Thus the next travel entry will be all about Gion

Thanks for reading!

Hullo~

It's been a while, but let's finally continue with my spring trip.
After leaving Onomichi and Fukuyama, I finally arrived in Kyoto where I met my friends from Germany and where I spent most of my spring vacation.
I've been to Kyoto before, so I've seen the main attractions already. But Kyoto has to offer so much that I guess even after going there for the 100th, there'll still be things you haven't seen/discovered yet!

Kyoto Day 1 (April 5th, 2010):

( Welcome to the flower and monkey paradise!!!~ )



One of these days I have to buy my own Tanuki! (*____*)v

( Give me money, so I can ride a rickshaw, too!!! :/ )



( Read more... )

And that was my first (not very busy) day in Kyoto.
Please stay tuned for day 2 when we went to the Philosopher's Path (with millions of cherry blossom trees ) and Ginkakuji, Kyomizudera (<- at night when it was illuminated!!)
Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments! They're appreciated!

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 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(゜-^*)⌒☆

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

Hey~ho (*゜ο゜)ゞ

It's photo time again ^-^
On my second day in Kôchi I had quite a strict schedule, but I was able to see so many awesome things that day.
Please enjoy the photos together with me (*__*)/~


( Godaisan: famous pilgrimage temple and Dr. MAKINO's (!) botanical garden )



( Katsurahama: shrine on a cliff, small aquarium and no food??!! )



( Time for dinner: raw tuna <33 )


The next day I got up really early, because I had to catch my bus. Yeah, that's right! I went not by train, but by bus this time!!!
Next stop: Naruto and the awesome whirlpools! (*__*)/

Hope I'll be able to post soon again *g*
Only 2 more days left anyway ;o; I wanna try to post them before I leave for Germany in a few weeks.

ヾ(=・ω・=)o☆バイバイ☆ヾ(=・ω・=)o

Yay v(≧∇≦)v イェェ~イ♪

Finally it's time for the photos of my great srping vacation 2009 (so far my second favorite vacation after my summer vacation 2008 in Kyushu).
As I have so many photos, I'll go by days. I hope you enjoy it (beware of all the sakura love! ψ(○ ｀∇´ ○)ψイヒヒヒ)

Okayama - Day 1 (April 1st, 2009):

( Saidaiji Temple and Okayama Castle )



( The awesome Korakuen Garden )



( Cherry blossom festival at the Asahi River .... and .... Alice in Wonderland??!! )


And that was my day 1 in Okayama. I hope you enjoyed it!!!
Okayama Day 2 wil follow soon, I promise!
Thanks for reading (〃⌒ー⌒)/どもっ♪

チャεε(・_・)ゞオッス!

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　

Hey there!

I FINALLY managed to sort and upload ALL of my vacation pics (and that includes the incomplete winter vacation photos as well). YAY!!!
So of course I'll start with the winter vacation now. Unfortunately my camera's memory card decided back then to delete all of my photos after a few days which is why I almost have NO photos of Tokyo and Aizu-Wakamatsu's first day.
The photos of Tokyo I got from my Japanese friend and ame_no_uta who I met there. Thanks again <33


Tokyo (28th of December 2008 - 2nd of January 2009)

( Tokyo and mocchi?! )



( Tokyo Dome and a NEWS concert?! O_O )



The 31st I spent together with my host family. I told them that I want to experienc a typical Japanese New Year's Eve and so that's what we did, with hot soba and all XD
And of COURSE I watched the Johnnys countdown live on TV. Awesome feeling ^^ (I had photos of that, too, but as you know ... *grwrskliehuorfw* -___-; ....).
On January 1st we all went together to do our "hatsumode (詣)" (first visit of a shrine) in the new year.



On January 2nd I left my host family and moved on to Aizu-Wakamatsu together with bf_nightingale where we spent 2 days.
I don't have any photos of the 1st day anymore as it was part of the evil plan of my stupid camera's memory card, so these pics have been deleted as well ;o;
What I remember clearly is that it was SUPER cold and there was a LOT OF snow x___X
The photos are by far not as breathtaking as my spring vacation photos, but I hope you enjoy them nevertheless ^-^/


Aizu-Wakamatsu Day 2 (January 3rd 2009)

( A lot of snow leads to memory loss? )



( Read more... )



I know the photos are not sooo interesting plus I have no information about anything at all, so I guess this was kinda boring, but I still wanted to post the photos.
Next time: Sendai / Matsushima photos and then I'll FINALLY start with my spring vacation photos (^-^)v


Ciaossu (^-^)/

And here is already the next travel entry (^^')> .....

So after Nagasaki and Kumamoto I went further down to Southern Kyuushuu this time. I visited Kagoshima (鹿児島) and stayed there for 3 whole days.

Kagoshima - Day 1 (August 14th, 2008):

( A looot of photos ahead, but it's paradise, so what? XD )



( The heat hell and aquarium. )



( And finally: Sakurajima - here I come (part 1 XD) )

I hope you'll be looking forward to more Kagoshima, Sakurajima pics XDDD


Bye~chu!~

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~

Okay,

I finally have some time (well actually not, but I just HAVE to do it ) to post pictures and a short report about my first day in Nagasaki.

Before I start a random note:

Exactly one year ago I came to Japan for the first time (back then for a 3 week vacation together with hesaki). Jesus, I can't believe that it's already ONE year AGO!!! Time sure is running (too) fast (as always).

There are some other things I'd like to blabber about, but that will have to wait until I have more time. Now I wanna get this entry done at least ;)

Enjoy


Nagasaki - Day 1 (August 10th, 2008):

In Nagasaki (Kyushu) I stayed 2 days and 2 nights. Of course I wanted to stay longer, but as I only had a 1 week vacation, that was not possible. I always wanted to go to Nagasaki, there are so many things and as I've already written in one of my previous posts, I really fell in love with that city. I envy all the people on my f-list that live there (I know there are some :D). Lucky you!
Anyway let's start the picspam ;)

( Atomic Bomb Museum and Memorial Hall )



( Ground zero, Peace Park, Catholic churches, Glover Garden )



( I loves to was random XD )


Okay, time to take a shower and get comfy. It's already evening here in Japan :)

Bye-cha!~