The Land of the Rising Sun

Before arriving in Japan I had already spent $560 on a 21 day Japan Rail pass, which is nearly 80% of what I spent during an entire month in Laos.  To say I fear going bankrupt in Japan is an understatement.  I flew into Osaka and immediately set out to find a 7/11, because their ATMs accept foreign cards, unlike the ones at the airport.  After loading up on cash, I somehow stumbled into the red light district, making it the third country in the past four that I've accomplished that feat within my first hour of exploring; It's like a super power, apparently GigaLowe's are drawn to whores.   

The district is modeled after Amsterdam, with young women in windows dressed up like nurses, cowgirls, and any other slutty outfit you can think of that puts their ass...ets on display, while an older woman sitting nearby acts as her pimp.  Not gonna lie, they were the hottest girls I've ever seen.  Seriously, picture the sexiest woman you've ever seen, if she's not already Asian, make her Asian.  Then imagine 400 women hotter than her, being spread out in every direction.  Luckily the good looking girls aren't restricted to just the red light district, the women in Japan...woo hoo!  So many gorgeous women here and, on the whole, they age a lot better than the women in other countries I've visited (no offense, #RespectForWomen).  

Osaka was way different than what I expected, for instance a lot of taxi drivers wear bow ties, there are slot machine gambling halls lining alleyways, and gigantic underground shopping districts.  Heck, you can even get a tailored suit in the subway!  Of course, no sightseeing trip is complete without staggering past the legendary Japanese vending machines, which are stocked with beer, cigarettes, and saki!  The easiest way to get around is definitely the subway, which has lines running everywhere.  In order to purchase a ticket, you have to scan a pricing sheet and then purchase your ticket not based on destination, but on price.  I'm pretty sure it took me seven minutes to buy my first ticket.  Japan is absolutely amazing;  It was my destiny to come here, I felt it as soon as I started to explore.  I wasn't born here, but maybe I will be reborn here.

Saki, beer, shot glasses.  With booze and cigarette vending machines on every corner, how do Japanese kids stay out of trouble?

Each town seems to have their own special sewer covers

I spent my first full day in Japan wandering the shopping districts and trying to ease my way into the pricing.  For lunch I found a place with 5 dollar pizzas and an English menu, but the pizzas all had Italian names and no ingredient listed, so I just chose one I'd never heard of.  Turns out, I ordered a pizza that contained three ingredients: crust, sauce, sardines...no cheese.  Luckily I'm used to eating weird stuff, so I was able to overcome the smell of rotting fish and force it down.  In all fairness, it wasn't terrible, and being topped with over 500 sardines, it was probably a bargain.  The cheap pizza helped me accept the costs of riding the subway, $2.40 to go three stops, I ain't made of money.

My dinner was inevitably going to be better than my lunch, so I decided to just go for it and get something Japanese.  How does beef tendon simmered in miso sound?  I had absolutely no clue what to expect, but it was fucking delicious.  The tendon broke apart more easily than the beef in Carl Weather's stew and the miso had an incredible amount of flavor.  It was a reminder of why I gamble when I order food.  Sure you might get something that you don't like, but then again you might miss out on something amazing by ordering the same boring stuff over and over.  Live a little! For my midnight snack I got a random bun from Family Mart that somehow tasted exactly like Chef Boyardee Ravioli, which is absolutely a good thing.  I never used to think about it before, but I'm so thankful I have no allergies or food restrictions and can try all of these random things.  I never used to be grateful for anything, I'd just be pissed off if I couldn't do whatever I wanted.  Maybe I'm finally growing up :)....a little

For the first time in over a year, I have that Machu Picchu feeling

I usually prefer the wild to cities, but this is one concrete jungle I'm at peace with

Kyoto was the next stop on my journey, so I activated my Japan Rail Pass and went to temple town;  There must be thousands of them there.  The lady at my hostel was super friendly and as soon as I arrived she opened up a map and started giving me detailed instructions on how to get to each of the main temples.  This is why I decided to never purchase a Lonely Planet book ever again, they're unnecessary and often tell you the most mediocre places in the world are must see attractions or places to stay.  You're so much better off winging things, you get a more genuine experience.

The first place I visited was Kiyomizu-dera Temple, which was within 20 minutes of my hostel.  I knew Japan was a very crowded place, with one of the densest populations in the world, but you have no clue what it's like until you see it with your own eyes.  Every attraction you go to is packed, apparently temple hopping is the cool thing to do for school kids.  The temples in Japan are similar to the ones in Korea, in the sense that they have sprawling complexes, but the architecture is way different and there are often prominent displays of water.  

Japan = People Everywhere

I think like, the worst part of like, staying in Kyoto was like, the fact that there were like, a bunch of Americans that were, like staying there and like, they just couldn't, like stop sounding so stupid, like you know... I like, really don't miss home, like at all :p

Never take a day for granted...

Why does every Asian tourist step in front of my camera?

My next stop was Heian-jingu Shrine, which was also within 20 minutes of the hostel, but in the opposite direction.  So much cardio!  The shrine itself wasn't anything special, but for an extra $6 you could check out the gardens, which were actually pretty awesome and included a bunch of ponds full of coy fish and turtles.  The whole city is worth seeing in general, you really don't need a plan at all.  You can literally find a temple, shrine, or pagoda every 400 meters.  Most of the temples shut down at 5 PM, but a lot of the grounds stay open, so you can pretty much explore all night if you want to.

Orange is one of my most favoritest colors ever!!!

I found these hanging in an alleyway...
Then I ran

The next day I purchased an all day bus pass for $5, so I could visit the temples on the Western side of Kyoto, since I was staying on the Eastern side.  It's a pretty sweet deal since buses cost $2.30 every time you hop on, regardless of distance.  I think I rode the bus like 6 times, so it more than paid for itself.  I ended up visiting three different temples, with each temple costing $4 or $5, but none of the temple complexes were that large, so you could get through them in 30-40 minutes, while taking your time.  Therefore I decided to cap myself at three temples, because otherwise it was going to be way too expensive and let's be honest, once you've seen 5 temples in 2 days...That's more than enough. 


There's a really famous bridge in Kyoto called Togetsu-kyo, so I scoped that as well.  The river it overlooks is pretty cool, with the water being pseudo-dammed in.  I saw some ducks diving into the water and catching fish with some pretty insane success, one somehow caught four fish in a row, so much fun to watch!  It has a really peaceful setup, with benches lined up all across the river for anyone that wants to sit down and enjoy the view.   Japan definitely knows how to keep it zen.

There's always a temple house on the water...always

When the day comes that I finally own a house, I'm making it Japanese style... Geishas included

This is exactly the type of room I could start a cult in

They say the most beautiful things in life are also the deadliest. I suppose that makes me the most dangerous man to ever live

Togetsu-kyo bridge

In order to maximize my rail pass, I decided to take a day trip to Nara, which was less than an hour away via train.  The main tourist attractions are pretty much all in an area called Nara Park, so all you have to do is walk there from the train station and pop into anything that tickles your fancy.  Nara is also famous for their deer population, which roams around free.  There are vendors everywhere that will sell you cookies that you can feed to the deer.  I'm not sure how I feel about it, it's kind of cool I guess, but I'm not sure deer are meant to be domesticated and reliant on human support...And a diet of cookies can't be healthy for any creature.

A lot of the temple grounds in Nara Park are open, but you typically have to pay to go inside the temple, though a few are free.  There was only one that I really wanted to go to, Todai-ji, which houses a gigantic Buddha and seems to be the main tourist attraction.  Japan is super strict on the use of tripods, with most temples banning them.  I suppose I'll have to get creative (at bending the rules) to make some time lapses.  In addition to the temples, the park itself is quite stunning, so there's plenty to enjoy.

How bad am I at geography? I had no idea Nara was a city in Japan, I just knew it as a restaurant that sold me saki bombs and sushi

I like how the roofs of each story of  the pagoda are shaped like smiley faces, it makes me happy :)

You want to do what and where?!?!  Keep it down my deer, we're in public

Sometimes I'll just stare into the distance and  feel the shivers run down my spine.  I can't explain it, but I know I was meant to come here.

Todai-ji Temple was the largest wooden structure in the world until 1998, so it's now effectively the largest ancient wooden structure in the world.  This version of the building was finsihed in 1709, how crazy is that?

At 15 meters, this is the largest statue of the Buddha Vairocana in the world

I have a super ambitious plan for maximizing my 21 day rail pass, in which I'm going to attempt to see around 15 different cities, so after getting my fill of castles in Kyoto and Nara I decided to spend the next day visiting my first castle!  Himeji Castle is supposedly the most famous in Japan, but it's under construction until 2015, so you can't enter the main building, but you can still explore the surrounding complex.  To make up for this, the ticket is discounted by 200 yen.  I opted for the combo ticket which also gave me access to some gardens, (which I actually never found) so I didn't end up saving any money.

The design of the outer wall was quite impressive, they carved chutes below each window so they could drop rocks on any invaders that tried to scale the walls.  The castle also had a mini-museum that has some bad ass Samurai swords and armor in it.  I didn't see any signs restricting tripods either, so I made a pretty sweet time lapse of the construction on the castle, I cannot wait to actually put some of my time lapses into a video, they're gonna be sick!  Himeji wasn't my last stop for the day however, as I decided to take a Shinkansen train to Hiroshima.

I can't wait to compare this to some European castles!!!

How bad ass would I look in this armor?

I'm the king of the castle and you're the dirty rascal

The Shinkansen - Japan's bullet trains can travel between 240-320 kmh (150-200 mph), with experimental trains running even faster. 

Taking a bullet train in Japan is something everyone needs to experience, it's my favorite form of transportation by far.  It's so easy, you don't have to check your bags or go through security or any of that crap, you just walk up to the platform and wait until the train arrives exactly at the time it is scheduled.  Seriously, it's always on time.  Once you get onboard, you can stow your bags in a giant overhead compartment, sit down in your gigantic, cozy recliner and stretch your legs out, because you have spades of legroom.  Yao Ming could fit in these seats.  These Shinkansen are like 20 years old and are more advanced than any train I've ever been on.  The next set of Shinkansens are gong to use maglev technology... as in magnetic levitation.  Seriously!  There aren't going to be wheels, the trains will hover above the tracks through the power of magnetic fields.   Rumor has it there's a version that tops 500kmh (310 mph).

But anyways, before I go down the nerd vortex again... Hiroshima was the first city to ever be struck with an atomic bomb, but is now a self-proclaimed city of peace despite the devastation it faced from war. I despise war, I don't even like watching war movies, and get very uncomfortable around sad and depressing places, so I knew this was going to be a hard place for me to visit, but that's a story for another blog...

Random GoPros 

My first Japanese subway experience...and that's quite possibly armpit hair, not a shadow, protruding from my sleeve...I have a bit of a teen wolf situation going on at the moment

I love that there's a giant bunny holding a baton next to this dude

Kings of Leon - Molly's Hangover

If a fish came to me and told me he was going on a journey, I should say, "With what porpoise...No wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise." (Alice in Wonderland reference, drink!)

Some will bet against you, try even to prevent you.  But not many can stop you now, if you got a perfect plan.  Can they possibly try, I demand to know why they would doubt you.  In this hand, a thousand generations...

The Japanese love water, almost every temple you visit has a gigantic pond...or five

Bamboo Grove

Some things just look way cooler through the (fish) eye of a GoPro

Sika Deer are allowed to roam free throughout Nara and other parts of Japan.

The sky is so much cleaner in Japan than it was in Korea.  Look at those clouds, magnifico!

There are literally thousands of temples in the Nara/Osaka/Kyoto area and every one I caught even a minor glimpse of was packed with people...It's incredible

The Big Bad Buddha

I love Japanese architecture, I'm not sure there's anything about Japan I don't love.  I love it here...Can I stay?

I even like the museums!  This cartoon diorama of feudal Japan is ultra groovy

Who's this handsome devil?  I wouldn't mind kissing that man between the cheeks