well that was it for kyoto, its alot more temples and shrines than tokyo, but after you have seen one you have basicially seen them all. i`ve been in osaka now for 3 days, when i first arrived i didnt really like it but its growing on me. more like teh real japan with not such a polished surface as tokyo.

i bought another sd card for my camera, have been to the aquarium here, 2nd largest in the world, so have lots of photos of that. have been to a water park and spa which was cool and didnt get to sun burnt. hightlight was finding a real indian curry house where the guy said if i phone in advance he will make me a proper byriani insted of the standard one on the so think we are going back tonight.

im back in a nice hostel again, last couple of nights ive been in a budget hotel, which is basically a room and thats it. met a few guys here 2 english and another canadian, the two english guys are from london but one is studying at leeds and seems we even know some of the same people etc.

expect lots of photos of fish to follow hopefully sooner than usual as this hostel actually has a computer that seems to work for more than 5 seconds.

me and a deer, i think its safe to say they are pretty tame.

temple shrine gate

big knarly statue

big temple

behold, the mega mac

rock garden, cant seem to arrange my teh photo order but you get the idea

again another drunk japanese guy chilling with the deer

some deer

some more deer

crunky choclate

this was the grounds around the rock garden

rock garden

Have more photos to upload,but doesent seem to be working atm, will try later, off to Osaka in the morning

The Japanese all have the biggest cameras, esp old people

This is us in our boat pulling up to another boat to get a beer

This is the Golden temple, no prizes for guessing why

Golden Temple again

This photo is for Ben, miniture VW surf wagons ftw!

Me feeding the local monkeys on what the foreigners call Monley Mountain

Monkeys chillin by their pool

This was the view atop Monkey Mountain

Most red gates ever

The place had them everywhere

Photo of K's House Hostel in Kyoto

Monkeys

The Bullet Train aka the Skinkansen that took me from Tokyo to Kyoto

Kyoto Tower, not quite as impressive as Tokyo Tower
The First red gate of many
Before teh red gate novelty wore off
Biggest Camera set up I have seen in Jpan to date

Arrived in Kyoto

Got to Kyoto with no probelms, Hostel is the best one so far, its basically like a hotel, just no private rooms.

Today we went to some massive shrine, with so many redgates, your basically walking through a tunnel. I got a few photos then my battery died and as we were in a rush, left my spare at the hostel.

Also I get 20mins of internet for 100yen, and there are no usb ports on these things, so unless I can find a internet cafe, you will all just have to wait abit to see Kyoto.

The bar here is also very nice, and 390yen a pint insted of 600yen. I think kyoto is an easy place to save some cash, temples shrines are free, bar is cheap and we have started only eating out once a day.

Im here for the next 5 nights, then might be going to Osaka but havent decided yet.

Japan week 1 over

Ok abit of a mish mash of an entry but includes photos of what I've done and where I have been in the past 8 days here. They are not in any order, but will try to remeber which day I was there.

First up today me and the 2 canadians i've been hanging out with decided to go to odiba, its a man made island with lots to see, 2 museums. The one we wanted to go to was the musuem of modern technology, which was sadly shut, and the maritime museum didnt look to exciting, aslo the ferris wheel was not running, but did check out a Toyota display.

Hers the Toyota F1 car, they had all the engines, wheels and tires etc on display aswell

Also had this racing supra that was pretty cool
Aswell as future electric concept cars

We got the monorail heading back to the hostel and when changing to the underground ran into this building which looks very familar to howls moving castle, so thought i'd take a pic.
This is the area I have been staying in Asasuka, its a local torist trap for foreigners and Japanese alike, but looks alot better at night.
Here is a shopping centre based around Venice, the clouds seem to more when you walk through, this is also in odiba and saw this today.


Yesterday I was up late so decided to head to Tokyo tower, on theway I found a Garden, it had just shut but these trees were outside, decorated with coloured paper, I think people right wishes or good luck messeges on them at certain festive times of the year.

Heres Tokyo tower from the bottom
And from insideI went in the tower at about 6pm, didnt have to queue and paid to go to the middle floor, you then pay again to go to the top, 7pounds overall and since im going once il make the most of it. I was up there 300mish for about 2 hours and watched the sun set. I have loads of photos, but you can see as it gets darker in these ones.



On one of the first nights we found a really cool small bar called stella, it does karaoke, dance floor, darts. To get a drink you need to get a ticket from a vending machine then give it to the guy behind the bar. I've been twice so far and have all ready made friends with the bar man Jack. Hes a south korean living in Japan for the last 11yrs. This is good as I get some free drinks and food from time to time.

Below is a new game we invented, its Jenga, but you have to use chopsticks and is quite challaging/competative after a few drinks.

Heres Jack, you can see the concentration on his face.
Heres a few pics from a boat tour I took before visiting Tokyo tower.
This was my vessel for the day
This is a massive bridge

On July fourth one of theAmerican guys wanted to celebrate me giving him his country back so we got some fireworks from a conveiniance store, yes you can buy fireworks anywhere here and 24hrs a day. This was the best shot before we had to stop as someone complained, even though we were down by the river.

Took a trip to Harajuku, some really good shops here, found a Thrasher shop, so had to pic up a shirt.
This is the park next to Harajuku, on sundays bands set up on the path and everyone can watch for free. The park was amazing, everyone just hangs out, does sport,sleeps or watches the entertainment.
This guy was nuts, he paints someone in the crowd while constantly dancing and mixing songs on his portable cd mixer. Hes so popular the park security had to move everyone forward as the area was compoletly blocked with people watching.
Heres something Ihad read about I wanted to see, Japanese men dress up like greasers and dance all day in the park, it was good to watch and they were pretty good, but probably the most random thing I have seen here so far.

This guy is my new hero


This is Roppongi Park/Plaza, has a cool iron spider statue

This is Shubuya, just infront is the famous crossing, the busyiest in the world, really needto get into teh starbucks in that building to get a proper photo.
This is theWorlds largest fish market, we got up at 6am to see the auctions but were still late, need to get there at 5am, the place is massive and chances of getting run over by a speeding kart are high, espcially when tired.
This is the Japanese parliment, where then next G8 meeting is being held, police everywhere, I took this photo through the gate.
This is just before reaching the imperial palace, you cant actually see the palace but when we got as close as we could its amazing how much open space is around it compared to how cramped everything else is.

Tonight we off out to play pool in Shubuya, we came across this pool hall last time we were there and decided we should go back properly. Tomorrow we are off to Kyoto on the bullet train, just over 2hrs, by coach I think its close to 8hrs.

I have lots more pics, will eventually upload them all when I get to a better computer. Everything is fine with me, probly spending to much money, but like I said this should calm down abit now im used to it here.