Japan Trip 2010

Meia Gisborn SG

On 04/05 I took a train to Tokyo and bummed around there for a bit.

Waiting at the Shin-Osaka Station for the 8:13 a.m. Hikari 462 Shinkansen to take me to the Shinagawa Station in Tokyo.

Changed to a local train and made my way to Nakano.

Inside one of the covered arcades near the Nakano train station. This one was definitely less "touristy" and had a more local feel to it.

Inside the Shinjuku train station, supposedly the busiest in the world in terms of passenger traffic, during a non-peak period. I've experienced the station during rush hour on my previous visit, and it is not for the faint of heart.

Downtown Shinjuku on a wet and generally miserable day.

Arriving back at Shin-Osaka in the evening. This is the view from outside the train station.

Meia Gisborn SG

On 04/06, I ventured again into the Umeda district of Osaka in search of some manga-related merchandise at the Kinokuniya Bookstore there. The main store on the ground level of the Umeda Hankyu Station was huge but suprisingly didn't contain a manga section. The counter staff gave me a map with directions to another branch located on the 30th floor of the adjacent Hankyu Grand Building which sold manga exclusively. The following 4 pictures were taken from the observation gallery on that floor:

Some street-level views of the Umeda skyline:

SevenEleven SG

spring is beautiful indeed. i'll be going hokkadio in sep

Meia Gisborn SG

spring is beautiful indeed. i'll be going hokkadio in sep

I hear Hokkaido is extremely picturesque. Be sure to take plenty of pictures when you're there!

Meia Gisborn SG

The building on the left is the hotel at which I was staying (the Chisun Shin-Osaka Hotel); my room window was the second one from the left, third down from the top. The street-level restaurant on the right is the Nakau, where I had breakfast udon most mornings.

Minamikata Station, on the Hankyu-Kobe Line, a short walk south from the hotel.

Midosuji Ave. in the Shinsaibashi District of Osaka.

One of the alleyways perpendicular to Midosuji Ave.

Looking down the Dotomborigawa River from the Ebisubashi Bridge.

Hey, it's the Glico Man!

Meia Gisborn SG

04/08: My last full day in Japan.

Decided to head up to Kyoto (yet again!) to visit the Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum.

At the Shin-Osaka Station bright and early on 04/08 to buy a Shinkansen ticket for the short ride to Kyoto. One thing I noticed in the my two weeks in Japan: 99.9% of Japanese businessmen wear black suits; the 0.1% who don't are probably colour-blind.

Waiting for the Tokyo-bound Hikari 510 Shinkansen to take me to Kyoto.

A shot of the Shinkansen platform at the Shin-Osaka Station.

Just outside the Kyoto train station waiting for the bus to the museum. Yet another shot of the Kyoto Tower Hotel, but this time taken during the day. The hotel I stayed at on my last trip here is the one on the left with the two columns of windows: the Hotel Hokke Club Kyoto.

Riding the local bus to the museum.

Made it!

The entrance to the museum. The building is the former Nijo Station House and was actually in use until 1996, when it was relocated to the museum site.

The following pictures were taken inside the museum:

Inside the locomotive house looking out towards the turntable.

The walk from the locomotive museum back to Kyoto Station took me past the Nishi Honganji Temple.

The roof structure of Kyoto's fabulously futuristic train station.

On the platform at the Kyoto Station, waiting for the Hikari 511 Shinkansen to take me back to Shin-Osaka. This would be my last ride on a Shinkansen this trip.

the Bear SG

well, you had a great time there

great memories and great pics to remember them with

zora and my turns in a month's time... our first stop would be the Kaiyukan... then we'll go roaming around... planned places are Kyoto and Kobe.. i think...

p.s. although we'll only be there less than a week, we'll put up our pics in Club 30...

Meia Gisborn SG

well, you had a great time there

great memories and great pics to remember them with

zora and my turns in a month's time... our first stop would be the Kaiyukan... then we'll go roaming around... planned places are Kyoto and Kobe.. i think...

p.s. although we'll only be there less than a week, we'll put up our pics in Club 30...

Can't recall if you've already mentioned it, but will you be staying in one location and making day trips to other points of interest, or will you be hopping from city to city?

Do you think you'll be doing enough travelling on the Shinkansen to justify purchasing a one-week JR Rail Pass?

I passed on the aquarium on both trips to Osaka because I thought the 2000 yen admission fee was a little steep; in retrospect that was definitely a case of being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Let me know if I can help with the planning in any way.

lostintransition SG

Can't recall if you've already mentioned it, but will you be staying in one location and making day trips to other points of interest, or will you be hopping from city to city?

Do you think you'll be doing enough travelling on the Shinkansen to justify purchasing a one-week JR Rail Pass?

I passed on the aquarium on both trips to Osaka because I thought the 2000 yen admission fee was a little steep; in retrospect that was definitely a case of being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Let me know if I can help with the planning in any way.

the bear: if just going to osaka-kyoto-kobe....i think JRpass might be an overkill. you can just get the kansai pass if you really want...or just regular day passes would do too if you are just making single to-fro trips to the various places.

MG: the osaka aquarium is good. jpy2000 is ok la. nevermind....gives you another reason to be back (in fall i hope). but you've accomplished a lot in your most recent trip! i really enjoyed your photos

Meia Gisborn SG

Final set of images:

Arriving at the departure terminal of Osaka's Kansai Airport bright and early on 04/09, after a one-hour train ride from Shin-Osaka Station.

At the departure gate waiting to board my flight to Narita. Not a lot of passengers this early in the morning.

Flight JL052, a Boeing 737-800, registration JA320J. In the background, you can see the bridge that links the airport to the mainland.

Inside the cabin of the aircraft en route to Narita. The flight was about two-thirds full and I had the entire three-seat block to myself. We pushed back about 20 minutes late. Flight time was about an hour. The flight attendants, by the way, were extremely attractive!

Final approach into Narita. I managed to record the entire landing sequence in HD video.

Taxiing to the gate at Narita.

At the departure gate waiting to board the flight (JL010) to Chicago. The aircraft was a Boeing 777-346(ER), registration JA743J.

Prior to boarding the flight, I made sure I was armed with several boxes of Pocky.

At Chicago's O'Hare Airport, traversing one of the undergound walkways linking the main terminal with the remote one.

The deathtrap... er, I mean aircraft that will be taking me from O'Hare to Minneapolis.

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