7 days Japan Railpass

Well what should one do with a 7 days Japan Railpass... first I went to Hiroshima, to go to Miyajima and have a look on this famous red Torii inside the Sea. Well it had been great and really close to Hiroshima. But I didn't know that there are tame deers too like in Nara- it had been great and it had been really warm there on the island, I don't know why, but it felt like spring. Well it is almost spring, the first plum blossoms start blooming here and the birds are singing on warm days.

Hiroshima surprisingly is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen, it seems like they all wanted to forget the terrors of the past, any sign of it has been erased, except of course the Atomic Dome and the Peace Memorial Park. But these parts are also very beautiful. It's so beautiful there, the pretty bridges all everywhere, the houses matching together, the amazing green mountains, who appears blue at a distant, the green-blue sea water and the salty fresh air and the soft wind around you. But all the time something cold kept creeping my neck, underneath the beautiful surface stayed the darkness of the atomic bomb, especially when you were standing in front of the Atomic Dome and remember the things you've heard about the Atomic Bomb. It had been really cold then.


Next day I went to Tokyo to visit Annette, starting with heavy snow here in Kyoto, not that the snow remained, it melted before reaching the ground, but I went through a real small snow storm to the bus station. It was cold, but beautiful- I like snow, it's so rare in Hamburg. But the snow damaged my gift pack for Annettes birthdays. Then I got the slowest Shinkansen ever- never ever take a Kodama Shinkansen if you want to go from Kyoto to Tokyo, almost 4 hours, usually it takes between 2.45h and 3h with the Hikari. But the days had been great, talking, talking and talking first in company with a whole group of Ganguro boys and girls chatting loudly with each other in a sticky McDonalds at Shibuya and later in a restaurant. We fled after a while, my clothes had been full with cigarette smoke, awful. Usually it's not so bad when I had been in the smokers area.

At Tomisaka again the problems with my shower- I hate it, first it's a disgusting thing to stand in, then 2nd you have to fight with the gas heater to get hot water (or what should be hot water), 3rd you only have a small jet of water and 4th the water is so cold you started freezing under it and after you washed away the soap you run straight, naked and wet to your room, directly under the air condition to dry yourself with your towel, then you jump into your bed and wait to get warm again and after it you can dress yourself. But it's cheep, 1000 Yen per night and a good air condition and good location. Following day Annette and I searched for Vivienne Westwood- oh my god, it had been so embarresing, the adress we had was wrong and so we asked the people around and at the Koban station for Vivianne Westwudu, walked for 3hours through Harajuku and Shibuya and finally made it to the Shibuya Police Office. Luckily we got an adress there and went by taxi to the shop. Yes it had been a Vivienne Westwood shop-

BUT....... a shop with only mens clothes. Great things of course, but only men. We could not believe it and the nice shop assistent called for the adress of the ladies shop and so we went back to Shibuya and took another taxi. I could kill that driver.... he didn't drove us to the adress, just to 5Chome and said, well I'm sorry I don't know where it is, this is 5 Chome, you could ask at the Koban station. ARghhhh- this we could have managed ourselves and cheaper just by going with JR to Harajuku. Well after we asked again at the Koban we learned the shop is still some way ahead we decided not to search again for it and simply went to Takeshitadori. We spent all these hours for nothing...... Well luckily I found the CD store another friend has told me about and they had some nice stuff and after it I went to Kiddy Land and yes I must confess.... I bought a Naoto Teddy bear..... As long as the clothes are not fitting me I have to be satisfied with a teddy bear and after it fell in my bed.....

Saturday.... Kamakura day... it had been awful, no signs where to go and an awful map, although the people are very friendly and I managed to go to the Daibutsu and the Hachimangu shrine, but it had been so crowded. I wondered why the Japanese people always have time to go for sightseeing. I fled after a while, I don't like crowded shrines and temples, I had enough of them during the time here in Kyoto. Again I learned that the Japanese people don't know how to get to Fuji-san and so I decided to go to Shin Fuji- a Shinkansen station on the way to Tokyo, you can see the Fuji from the train there. My god such a long way with local lines, rapid lines and finally Shinkansen. I had been so happy when I arrived. It's not a tourist town, so I had no one to ask and looked around myself and climbed a parking house to the highest story to make some pictures from the Fuji san. It's really amazing to see it, you can't deny, Mt. Fuji is beautiful, no other word would describe it.

And then came the day I've waited for- the Stylish Wave Illusion. I must admit that I only know Moi dix Mois and D'espairs Ray, although I heard about Plastic Tree and Lynch, but I never heard their music. It had been so great, I had ticket number B 1116 and I made it to 2nd row, so Annette and I stood in the very front of Mana - it had been amazing- so wonderful. Pity the concerts had been so short, but it was great and a nice last concert for me during this stay here. My 26th concert in Japan ^^. And I must admit at the moment I'm mad about Moi dis Mois and can't wait for the DVD which will be released next week- the first one with Seth. I never watched Juka live, only on DVD, but I must say that I never heard the music with him as vocal often, he is not bad but in my opinion Seth fits better to Moi dix Mois and I like his voice more than Jukas. Juka had been to much the cute guy on the mic, Seth is a real Goth guy- I like it very much. Yes it had been great and I'm so happy Annette decided to go too, it's much more fun with your friends than alone.

The next day we went to the Yanaka Cemetery, a wonderful place, I will surely visit again and again when I'm back in Tokyo and after a last visit of Asakusa Jinja I went home to Kyoto and on the last Railpass day to Himeji castle- so beautiful, the Japanese Neuschwanstein I would say, if you have time to go there- go- it's worth it. Now I'm back home, finally and it's a rainy and gray day- well during the time I wrote this it had gone dark ^^. I'm so sad to go 'home' to Germany, of course I'm looking forward meeting friends, but Japan has become my home. Only two weeks left. It's unbelievable how fast time is running, 5 months.... but on the other hand it's good, the 6 months in Germany will flow by then too, but I will miss so much.