Gundamaniac

bloggings of a certified Gundam addict
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Archive for November 8th, 2007

Tokyo window washers

November 08, 2007 By: marvin Category: Stray Thoughts, Travels No Comments →

Wndow washer
Window washers in tokyo never had an encounter with any radioactive spiders, however they do seem to have ninja skills. ^^
Window Washer

UFO Catcher

November 08, 2007 By: marvin Category: Stray Thoughts, Travels No Comments →

ufo catcher
I never mentioned it in any of my previous posts before, however I seem to have an uncanny ability to catch a toy from these things at least once in each country. ^^
pooh for the win
a real shame that I didn’t try my hand on the gundam one on Palm shopping arcade at Mushashikoyama. ^^;
gundam catcher

Japan Day 4 to 5: Noto, Ishikawa

November 08, 2007 By: marvin Category: Stray Thoughts, Travels No Comments →

Ishikawa
Flew all the way to Noto Ishikawa via All Nippon Airways, ANA fo short. all of ANA’s flights in Tokyo originate from Haneda Airport, which is probably the only place you might find planes that look like this:
ANA Pikachu
ANA’s pokemon plane.
Although the time it took to travel from Tokyo to our final destination at Kagaya Hotel, Noto Ishikawa took almost 5 hours, it was well worth the trip. When we got to the Hotel, I was suprised that they even went through all the trouble of putting up our national flags. I felt as though I was a visiting dignitary. lol
Flags
The Hotel was a highrise building, however the atmosphere inside the hotel was like that of a traditional Japanese Ryokan. but what made this particular destination famous was its onsen bath. unfortunately I couldn’t take my camera into the bath area to take pictures, in fear that I might get chased out of Ishikawa by a hundred angry onsen bathers. but still taking a bath in an onsen is something one should experience at least once in a lifetime.
Here are a few rules to observe when going into an onsen bath:

Slippers/Shoes shouldn’t touch the tatami floor
Onsen usually require people to bathe naked, a basket is provided for folks to leave their stuff in outside the bathing area.
Shower and clean thoroughly first before entering the bath.
Don’t pee in the pool. ^^

Once we got to our rooms, I was taken aback on how the place looks like a traditional Japanese inn. I thought places like this only existed in the pages of manga such as Ranma 1/2, Ah My Goddess or Love Hina.
room
room
tatami
Each room is assigned to an attendant who looks after the occupants needs, sort of a butler I guess. and yes I am avoiding the word maid . ^^ She helps out starting with teaching the hotel patron to wear a Yukata, sort of a casual Kimono. Note that one can even wear this garment walking around town as well.
Yukata
accommodations also came with meals. and at the evening I was treated with dinner and a show…
Abalone
as soon as I poked this abalone with my fork I realised it was still alive. not to worry though, they left it there to show that it was really fresh before cooking it. I however couldn’t eat this anyway since I’m allergic to shelled seafood. oh well.
And finally the spectacular view from our hotel room. a clear contrast from the view from our Tokyo hotel room.
Kagaya View