Hi everybody!

Hope you're all fine?
It surely has gotten cold recently - even here in Kansai.

I'm sorry that I haven't been around much, but as I told you in one of my previous entries it's the busiest time for me right now - until the middle of January.
It's mainly all good things, but I'm still insanely busy because of them!

My family came to Japan for (only) one week.
It was the second time for my brother (as some of you might remember).
I was busy creating a good travel plan for them. My brother mainly wanted to see Kyoto and Osaka as he didn't see anything of Kansai last time he came.

I could only spend 4 full days with them because of work. I even took one day off to have 4 consecutive days, but I also did day trips on my working days where I had to leave them in the early afternoon. Extremely busy and exhausting I tell you!
I was the first one to get up in the morning to make them breakfast, then guided them around, then had lunch with them, then rushed to work, worked for 8h, came back home to make sure they had everything they needed, made a list with train and bus times for the next day for the time I wouldn't be around so that they knew how they could come back to my apartment .... and was thus the last to go to bed. PHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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It was dangerous to pass Togetsukyo (the famous bridge) as there were so many people and cars ..... once across the bridge you could observe people taking boat tours, though! ^^



( moar photos!~Collapse )





All in all I hope they enjoyed Japan and the autumn leaves!



My printer stopped working and I was about to buy a new one, but my brother managed to fix it.
I miss having people around me who can do things I can't and can help me out when needed! ;____; .....


(......................................)



There's still some cleaning up, laundry and stuff to do now that they're gone, but I decided to take a break this weekend!
Before they came I was in a rush to finish booking all the flights for Okinawa ... and the hotels .... and I barely finished. It was 2am by that time and I had to get up at 4:30am to catch an early train to Kyoto and meet my family.

In 3 weeks I'm already off to Okinawa and right after that is a wedding of a former co-worker.

On top of that I also need to renew my ARC (alien registration card) - or rather get the new residence card ... and renew my visa ASAP!!!!!!!

I really hope I can relax in February for a bit. This year has been crazy!!!!


And how are you all doing?

Kisses~

Hello!

I hope everybody is alright.
I'm back from my short Osaka trip and it was SO REFRESHING AND RELAXING!!! The best thing I could have done! I'm so glad I went!
I enjoyed 2 stage plays with Ikuta Toma (I'll write in detail about those in a separate entry soon!). I met kanefunnn and we had a lot of fun, eating yummie food and talking a lot!
In those two days I was completely cut off of any news and I almost completely forgot what happened. Life in Osaka as well, went on as normal, it was great!

I left early in the morning on Thursday and arrived in Osaka around noon time. I had a quick lunch sitting in front of Osakajou Hall and then I went off to watch the stage play which took over 3 hours! Then I spent the rest of the day with kanefunnn
In my hotel (super tired) I quickly checked out options for the next day because the other stage play wouldn't start before 7pm, enough time for some sightseeing. The "problem" was that I've already been to pretty much everything in Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Kobe. I wanted to go to Amanohashidate (again!), but as I only had half a day, that would have been too short. In the end I decided to go to Uji in Kyoto (famous for its green tea ) and it was great!!
I took some photos in Osaka as well as in Uji to show you how normal life in the rest of Japan is! I hope that calms a few people down, though, things seem to have calmed down anyways?!
Enjoy!

Osaka (March 17th 2011) + Uji (March 18th 2011):

( Osaka! Long time no see!!Collapse )



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( Uji City in Kyoto!~Collapse )

Well, as you can see I've completely calmed down for now.
This trip was great! Things seem to have calmed down in general. I think and I hope they'll get the other reactors under control soon. They even found some people alive in the disaster zone. That's so great! ;o;
I think it's too early to say things are safe, but I stopped worrying for now and it feels good!
So many people I know left the country in the last few days, some were forced to by their companies or Embassies, it seems. (though you always can reject! )
I won't leave this country unless it's really necessary. I would have left Tokyo if I lived there and moved further to the Southwest of Japan as some people did. That's still cheaper and less drastic than buying an expensive plane ticket.
Funny thing is that some people who told me that I'm panicking to much have left the country already while I'm still here! XD
Anyways, hope everybody is doing fine and thanks so much for caring so much!!! ^_____^ You guys are GREAT!!!!

Hello!

After all that notebook-whining it's finally time for another travel entry.
Unfortunately the last one for now. But don't worry I just finished planning my next trip for August, so new travel entries will come sooner or later and with a bit of luck awesome photos of Mt. Fuji then :D

My last day in Kyoto I spent a little bit outside: Mt. Hiei
Famous for it's huge temple facility - which is on the top of Mt. Hiei and thus quite isolated. I was the only foreigner up there and there weren't a lot of tourists, so after the crowded sakura-season stress, that was a nice change and a nice end of my trip :)
Here we go!~

Kyoto Day 5 (April 9th, 2010):

( So, let"s climb up!!! :DCollapse )



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( Now, hurry up!! Run, Forest, run!!!Collapse )


And that was my Spring Vacation 2010. It was nice. Spring vacation in Japan is always great anyways (*___*)v
I hope you enjoyed it and let's hope my summer vacation 2010 will be just as good. It will be my first summer vacation in a long time in Japan, because last year I went back to Germany (^-^)>

Thanks for reading!

Much love friends!

Yay!!!
Finally time for another travel entry! <3
It is almost the last one, though. Only one more day left (;o;)

This whole day we spent in Gion only. It was quite a busy day, because three of us got a Maiko dress-up which took the whole morning until noon :D
We didn't walk around outside (only for a short toime to take a few photos) and were mainly in the studio.

Then, we met with our other 2 friends who got us tickets for the Miyako Odori (same day - late afternoon).

Kyoto Day 4 (April 8th, 2010):

( Gion, here we come!Collapse )



I fell in love with that tree!! (*__*)b
It's quite a famous tree in Maruyama Park.

( Miyako Odori - here we dance!Collapse )



( Gion at night is awesome!Collapse )


And that was my day 4 in Kyoto. One more to go.

Thanks for reading! (^-^)/

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!!)Collapse )



( Destination #2+3: Ryoanji and NinnajiCollapse )



( Destination #4: Kitano Tenmangu ShrineCollapse )

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!

For some reason I don't really feel like posting, but I promised, so here we go! (^-^)>
Maybe one of the most beautiful cherry blossom entries ever!!!
What do you think?

This time we decided to go to the famous "Philosopher's Path" near "Ginkakuji" (The Silver Temple), but we also stopped by at Heian Shrine and finally Kiyomizudera at night!

Kyoto Day 2 (April 6th, 2010):

( Welcome to the cherry blossom path!~Collapse )



( And there"s so much more!!! ^-^Collapse )



( Ginkakuji, Heian Shrine and KiyomizuderaCollapse )


And that's it.
Quite a long and image-heavy entry, I know.
Usually I would have split such an entry into 2 entries like I've done before several times.
I don't mind either way, but what about you? Some of you might have a slower internet connection, so this entry would kill your mind, ne? (^-^)'>

Please let me know what you think is better:



Thanks for reading.
Comments are love.
Taking part in the poll is very appreciated!

バイ(*￣◇￣*)ラ(*￣・￣*)ブ(*￣〓￣*)チュッ♪

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!!!~Collapse )



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

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



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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!

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 <3Collapse )



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!Collapse )



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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(゜-^*)⌒☆

Haaaa~ I miss Japan so much! *sigh* ....

Anyway, here´s our last day of the first week (yeah, that means there are still TWO weeks of photos lying ahead of you! XD ... ahem~).
As you already know we spent the first week in Kyoto with trips to Himeji and Osaka. For our last day in Kyoto and before leaving for Tokyo I wanted s.th. special.
So we also booked a room in an ONSEN!
I always wanted to go to one and experience an original Japanese hot spring! ^____^

We went to North Kyoto, Kurama:
There was also a pretty famous mountain called Hiei:

;P ... *coughs* *coughs* Sorry I guess I have to fangirl a bit XD KYAH!~
If they´re SO close, I really have to approve of them as REAL yaoi pairing, no? ^____^


Ahem~ ... anyway, on to the photos ^^;

( Kurama, Onsen, Matsu, Spiders, Milk and cute guys?! XDCollapse )



( Kimochiiiiii~Collapse )



( TeH rest! (^3^)~*Collapse )

Bye-cha!~

Okay,
finally I have some time to continue the Japan photo picspam!


Nijo Castle:

This was very interesting, although we don´t have much photos of it. You weren´t allowed to take photos INSIDE the castle which was a shame, because it was really impressive.
But the most amazing thing was the floor! It´s a ninja trick and it´s still working: When you walk over the wooden floor you hear the "twitter of nightingales". Those floors are therefore called "nightingale floors".
With this they knew immediately when an enemy was on its way ^-^;

( photos of Nijo-joCollapse )



( Osaka Castle + AquariumCollapse )



( Port of Osaka + Ferris WheelCollapse )

^____________________________^

But that´s now really all! XD