Hello!~

It's finally time for another travel entry!! Yay!~
So, after visiting Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku for only 2 days, I was back on the main island (Honshu) in Okayama.
Because I've already been to the main attractions in Okayama city years ago, I went for some other sites this time.
First destination was: Kurashiki

Kurashiki is especially well-known for its various museums, but is also worth a visit because of the canal area and all the nice and old buildings around it!!
Welcome to the Venice of Japan?!

Kurashiki (Okayama) (April 2nd 2011):

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ZOOOOM! And sooo adorable, too!! I've rarely seen such a cute monkey!! (^-^)b

( Off to Canal City! XDCollapse )



Somehow you just can't get enough of this awesome atmosphere!

( Swan eggs, insects in hospitals and cherry blossom trees in side streets!!Collapse )

Next up is: Bitchu Takashashi (with Matsuyama Castle) and Kojima


As this is related to today's travel entry, let me have a short poll because I'm just curious: Chinese Zodiac

( You know you want to take part in the poll! XDCollapse )


That's all for today.
Thanks so much for reading!

P.S.: If anybody ever wondered, it took me over 2.5h to write this entry!!!!!! (x___X)

Hello!

I'm really sorry that my updates aren't as regular anymore as they used to be. I'm trying to update once a week, but it's tough!
I want to thank everybody who took part in the poll of my last entry. I was really surprised to see that most of you are perfectly fine with the amount of photos I post or even requested MORE (o___O'') ... are you guys crazy??!! *ggg*
Anyways, thanks a lot. Your feedback was really highly appreciated and thus welcome to another entry full of photos!

We're still in my first day of spring vacation. After leaving Marugame, I went to Kotohira which is only a short train ride away from it (~20min. for 350yen).
So now let's check out whether it's worth to visit Kotohira!

Kotohira (March 31st 2011):

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( Stairs, stairs and even more stairs!!!Collapse )



( While we"re at it, let"s even take more steps to the inner shrine! Muhahaha!~Collapse )

And that has been part 2 of my first day of spring vacation. As you can see I was already doing quite a lot of stuff (Marugame + Kotohira) in only one day. Expect more to come soon.
Next up is: Takamatsu (Kagawa)

Hope you enjoyed this post.
Stay tuned for more (even if it might take some time until I post again .. )

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!!!!

Hullo~
I hope you all enjoy your Sunday!

I left Shirakawago (Gifu Prefecture) by bus and went to Kanazawa (Ishikawa Prefecture). I ate yummie dinner and went to bed early.
I wasn't really lucky in Kanazawa as the weather was quite horrible, so the photos aren't that good this time.
Anyways here we go!~

Kanazawa - Day 1 (January 4th 2011):

( Oh, rainy daa~ys!~Collapse )



( The Castle Hunter is back!!Collapse )



Back outside. I really love the shape of those two trees in front of the castle. Perfect!!

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Not really good photos this time due to the weather and all, but I hope you still enjoyed it a bit at least.
Maybe you understand now why I personally didn't really enjoy Kanazawa that much and why it will never be in my top 10 list (^-^') ...
Next up: half a day in Kanazawa and half a day in Toyama (yay yet another castle!! )

Thanks for reading.
Bye~buu

The weather's been crazy lately. Snowstorm and all. Today it's dark and rainy.
And that's pretty much how my second day in Takayama started as well.

Takayama - Day 2 + Shirakawago (January 3rd 2011):

( TakayamaCollapse )



( Goodbye Takayama!Collapse )



( ShirakawagoCollapse )

I arrived in Kanazawa around 6pm, had a nice dinner and went to bed early.
The next day was rainy yet again (I told you I didn't have much luck with the weather this time ) - nevertheless I hope you're looking forward to my next travel entry.

Thanks for reading.

Let's straight go to the next travel entry!
I left Tokyo via highway bus. It took almost 6h to get to Takayama. Once we entered Nagano Prefecture there was suddenly quite some snow. Something I couldn't imagine coming from Tokyo where it was quite nice with sunshine and no snow at all.
The further we went, the colder it got. Once we arrived in Hida Takayama everything was covered in snow like WOAH!!! Not just a little bit but some meters of snow on the streets, the trees and everywhere!
It's not like I've never seen so much snow (actually we tend to have even more back home at times), but it was the first time in Japan, so I was really surprised!
It was already night when I arrived at my hotel. I barely made it, because the snow on the streets made it impossible for me to drag my luggage. At least my hotel there had an onsen (*__*) Paradise!~
And in places where it snows that much and where it gets quite cold they seem to have better insulation and they do have central heating it seems!! Thus far I thought they only have that in Hokkaido
During my long bus drive I found out that at that time keikazama was also in Takayama and I really wanted to meet her , but yet again we didn't manage in the end ;____; Too bad!

Although I arrived on the 1st of January I just dropped dead into my bed and so let's start with the next morning:

Takayama - Day 1 (January 2nd 2011):

( Sa ru bo boooooooo!~Collapse )



( Welcome to Chubu! The snow country!Collapse )



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Thanks a lot for reading!
Comments are appreciated.

Hello!~

It's my first day off in what feels like ages and I've been super busy even when not at work, thus the lack of entries. At least I try to keep my travel entries coming.
Thanks for being so patient with me
Anyways here we go~

Kawaguchiko - Day 2 (December 30th 2010):

As I already mentioned in my previous entry, I feared that the weather forecast would be true (cloudy/rainy the whole day ) and thus I got up extremely early (around 5:30am) because there was a slight chance that it would be still clear in the morning.



After a very short and cold night I woke up and saw this from the window of my hotel room. It looked better than I'd expected and so I ate my breakfast quickly and then left to take one of the first trains.

( Race against the clouds!~Collapse )



( Huh? Where"s Mt. Fuji??!!!Collapse )

Thanks a lot for reading and commenting!!

Hello again
It's time to post about all the things that I couldn't write about in the past few weeks as I was too busy.

About 2 weeks ago I took a study break and went to Miyajima because I didn't want to miss the awesomness that is autumn colors in Japan and the weather that day was so beautiful, too!!!
I shouldn't have gone on a Sunday, though, as it was crowded like WOAH!!! Even during my last visit during spring break (with beautiful cherry blossoms everywhere) there were not as many people! Kind of scary!
Anyways, I do not regret going! Although I don't have many photos without people in it they all turned out to be awesome (at least I think they are!!!).

Finally I have some time to share them with you!
Altough I sorted them out and it was only one day, I ended up with around 1000 photos! I'll just post the best of the best here. Still I decided to split it up into two entries. So here's part 1, please enjoy!

( This is better than any drugs! XDCollapse )



( Not enough colors yet?Collapse )



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I hope you enjoyed it and will be looking forward to part 2 - the second half of the day until after sunset
Not sure when I'll be able to put up the next part, hopefully soon. Still very busy (am I ever not busy? :( ...)

HELLO!!!!!!

Yes, I'm still alive and I'm finally back!!! Sorry for the long hiatus, but as most of you know I had lots of things to do these past few weeks.
NOW I'm finally FREEEEEE!!!! :D
Time to be happy right? NO!!!!!!

People who follow my Twitter probably already know this, but today the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) was held all over the world (and in some places it's not yet time - stupid time difference XD)
I've never taken the test before. Basically because the lower levels (previously 4kyuu, 3kyuu now N5, N4, N3) don't get you anywhere, but the higher levels (previously 2kyuu, 1kyuu now N2, N1) are considered as "business level Japanese" and can open you doors jobwise and stuff.
They changed the whole testing system for the first time this year, so all old study material and all knowledge from old tests won't help as much anymore.
Although I already passed the second highest level in mock tests over a year ago, I still haven't taken it until today.
Why? Because it's expensive and so I wanted to make sure that I would be able to pass it.

I missed the application deadline for the July test (also something new, only in Japan you can take the test twice a year now - previously you only could take it in December) and that's why I took it today instead.
I've already started preparing for N1 (the highest level and my ultimate goal) anyways.

I took this test because I was pretty sure that I could pass it.
Why I was sure? Well, I took tons of mock tests that introduced the new testing style and typical questions and all. (I also took the real N2 from July!)
My overall average was 81%.
For N2 there are 3 sections: (my average mock test percentage)
Vocabulary/Kanji (~82%)
Reading (~66%)
Listening (~92%)

( Some photos from this morning~Collapse )



Can you believe it's already December when you see these photos?? ^^;

( So, was it worth all the money, the long journey, the years of sacrificing my free time in order to study??? ............ NOOOOO!!!!! ;o; ..Collapse )

Everybody, please let me hear about your JLPT experience? Not only today's but in general!
How many people were there? Did you have any rule breakers?
Congratulations to all of you who passed 2kyuu or 1kyuu. You are awesome! (If we use the old grading system then I would have passed, too, though ;o; ....?!)

The funniest thing ever was that quite a lot of the people taking N2 in my room didn't seem to understand what the examiner said to them XD
Also, I was pretty much the only one who could speak fluently with one of the bus drivers.
Well, but who cares. I suck when it's actually really important. I deserve to have failed the test - that's how much I suck, I guess :(

It was a life experience today. Definitely. Not a good one, though. But, yeah.

That's enough for today.
I should feel crappy but I feel refreshed at the moment. Probably because all the pressure is gone now :) And I'm finally free to do other things again. Feeling like an idiot to have sacrificed so much of my free time on Japanese studies in the last few years, though.

I went to Miyajima when the autumn colors were most beautiful a few weeks ago. Please look forward to some awesome photos which will be up soon.
Also, I still need to post the surprise I keep talking about so often XD
But, it's a busy week, so we'll see.

P.S.: Oh and I don't wanna hear any "OH, I'm sure you passed blah" comforting sentences, k? I tell you I really, really completely failed the reading so unless they change their grading system I have no chance :(
P.P.S.: Actually I wanted to treat myself and finally watch the new Harry Potter in cinema, but now I'm not sure if I really deserve this :/ ....

Beloved bed here I come

Hello

As you know I'm super busy and will be extremely busy in November, so before this gets outdated, I thought I better post it NOW!!!
So, here's the last travel entry of my summer vacation 2010!~

This trip my brother and me did when I was already back at work. My brother stayed for a few days while travelling alone. Then, when I finally had a day off, we went on yet another trip together.
This time to a spot that connects Honshu (the main island) with Kyushu: Shimonoseki

Shimonoseki (August 19th, 2010):

( Let the journey begin!~Collapse )



( Where Honshu meets Kyushu!Collapse )



( Be aware: Blowfish invasion!!!Collapse )

After that we went back home.
My brother had to leave the next day. I think he really enjoyed Japan but did regret that he came during summer. Next time he'd love to come in spring which is a good idea, I think XDDD
Probably he won't have enough money to come again, though ;o;

And that's the end of my travel entries .... no, of course NOT!!! Just of the ones about my summer vacation 2010!!!
There's a small surprise awaiting you! Not sure when I'll be able to post about it, though.
Stay tuned.

Am off to bed now (x____x)/~