My heart, it races

Mt Fuji. Hello.

Last weekend a whole group of us joined this tour to go see Mt Fuji. Mt Fuji is one of the biggest symbols of Japan. The active volcano is located in the Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Pref. which is just the next prefecture over from Tokyo.

The mountain is the highest in Japan at 3667 meters, and is snow capped a majority of the year. Even when I went last weekend (late May), the tour guide said that it had snowed the day before at the 5th Station. The mountain is only open from July for climbing because its just so damn cold but if you want to see it, you can travel to the 5th Station which is around the 2200m mark. I think it was approximately 12-15 degrees (round 1pm) even though it felt way colder when the clouds rolled in. Maybe it was because I was just in 2-3 layers instead of 100 layers. The bus was way hot so it was hard to balance between dressing for the 4-5 hours on the bus and then 2 hours on the mountain.

The location is very near to the popular hot spring destination of Hakone, and is visible from Lake Ashiya if you take the Pirate boat cruise. It's also visible from Gotemba Premium Outlet, if you happen to be making your wallet cry there.

The base of Mt Fuji is surrounded by forest, namely the Aokigahara forest which is a creepily popular place to suicide. I heard from a friend that March to April is the peak suicide season due to the end of the fiscal year being in March. (This also seems to be true for death by train cases. If you ride the trains and they get delayed due to 人身事故, passenger injury there is a big chance that it was a possible suicide attempt. The Chuo- Line is one of the more frequently delayed lines due to this.) From here its only up up and away to Mt Fuji.

We tried to take a selfie with Mt Fuji... FAIL


Super close up~ Steaming Fuji-san

And the clouds come rolling in~

Check out my newest vlog below:

Labels: Japan, Mt Fuji, travels

❤ "Mt Fuji. Hello." was Posted On: Wednesday 30 May 2012 @21:57 | 0 lovely comments ✿

Cat Walk: Japanese Butterfly

When I finally made a trip into town (because I live approx 40 mins away by train, I just can't be bothered sometimes), the girlies and I headed to Harajuku (aka hipster land) to do a bit of shopping. On every Saturday and Sunday there is this used Kimono goods stall which has the most gorgeous second hand goods; from Happi coats, Yukatas to full length Kimonos. So I got my grubby little hands onto this gorgeous reversible black and print Happi. Yes I did rock up to university wearing this! I felt like a butterfly or bird when cycling cause of the flapping sleeves!


Dress from Cotton On, Happi Coat from Harajuku.

Labels: Cat Walk, Japan

❤ "Cat Walk: Japanese Butterfly" was Posted @06:08 | 0 lovely comments ✿

Asakusa to Odaiba

Japan, the land of the temples. Late last month a bunch of furendos and I went to one of the oldest temples in Tokyo, Sensoji. It worships Kannon or Guan Yin (觀音), the Goddess of Mercy. The entrance is adorned by this huge vermillion and black lantern, known as the Kaminarimon or the "Thunder Gate".

We went on a Sunday, so it was completely packed and the smells from the roadside stalls were delicious!

Omikuji (おみくじ） is something I do every time I'm at shrine/ temple. Its a type of fortune telling, in which you make a little offering (usually 100yen) and you get your fortune. It ranks from Daikichi (大吉）(Good fortune) to Daikyou (Bad fortune)大凶. It does depend on the temple/ shrine itself. If you unlucky enough to get 'bad' fortune, you can tie it in the provided spaces and 'leave your bad luck behind.'

They usually also have personalised sections in the fortune sheet, such as; love, work, health etc...Some places like Meiji Jingu will have their omikuji in the form of poems.

With the crew: Henri, Chris, Benjamin, Jenny, Irene, Patrick and Jin (Photo: Irene)

Close to Asakusa, is the soon to be open Sky Tree. Apparently people have started reserving tickets up to 5 months before...

The Tokyo Sky Tree is the world's tallest tower and the 2nd tallest struture in world, at 634m, towering over the Tokyo Tower at 333m.

After loitering around the Asakusa area, we boarded the Water Bus, bound for Odaiba. This was the first time I had taken the boat and also gone to Odaiba. A day of firsts I guess! The boat heads down Sumida River which has a grand total of 26 bridges in a span of approx 27km. Something to do on the boat: wave to people and pretend you're on the Titanic! It's pretty interesting to wave at people on the shore~ One of my furendos was a compulsive waver! It was super windy so in a lot of the photos, we all had crazyy hair.

With the Rainbow Bridge (Photo: Irene)

It was about an 40 min journey from Asakusa to the man-made islands of Odaiba. It was first created to protect the Japan shoreline, but now have been converted to a large entertainment area. The famous Fuji TV studios are also located there. There are often 'all you can drink+ eat' cruises in the area,so foreigner who are absolutely smashed is not a rare sight (I guess). The area is marked by the famous Rainbow bridge (it lights up at night... we actually had to consider why they named it that...), which connects Odaiba to inner Tokyo. Odaiba is also a 20 something minute journey from Shinjuku by train, so its definitely convenient! GO GO GO

Once you get to the island, one of the first things you'll notice is, you've come to New York!!! (Cue: ♪ In New York~ Concrete jungle, where dreams are made of. ♪ )

Yea that is a miniature Statue of Liberty.

There is this cute like 'Showa' themed arcade/ shopping town in one of the buildings and it was where I found this. I think this was near the Takoyaki Museum. Which definitely reminded me of Namja Town in Ikebukuro!!

So that is Asakusa and Odaiba for now!

Loves ♥

Labels: Asakusa, Japan, Odaiba, The Crew, travels

❤ "Asakusa to Odaiba" was Posted On: Tuesday 15 May 2012 @03:16 | 0 lovely comments ✿

« Older posts | Newer posts»