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A bit out of chronological order, but a few weeks ago a friend and I went up to Mashiko in Tochigi prefecture on a day trip package offered through JR. Tochigi itself is famous for several things, not least of which Nikko, an important tourist attraction and a generally interesting and beautiful place to visit (especially in the autumn, save the almost unimaginable throngs of tourists - a friend told me he was stuck in...
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Posted on: 03/13/2008 10:11 PM
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Haha, in all the years I've kept this blog, I don't think I've posted as many photos of myself as I have in this entry (and the previous one). Is the panda blog turning into a venue for indulging my inner narcissisist panda? Oh my goodness, look, I can never spell that word. Narcissist. Ha. That's it. Thank goodness for spell check. Clearly the thing to do when surrounded by snow is to make a...
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Posted on: 03/09/2008 03:03 PM
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I actually have been slacking a little bit when it comes to posting, not because I have a dearth of things to write about (quite the opposite, actually) but because a) I had a big test to study for earlier this month and b) after I finished that I became incredibly lazy and sloth-like because 1) it is the holidays and 2) it is cold as heck at the moment and this being Japan, my...
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Posted on: 12/26/2007 11:16 PM
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After our unsettling experience putzing around the smelly Gates of Hell, we cracked open the guide book and tried to figure out where to go next. "Hey panda, I've got an idea." piped up KC as we headed away from the noxious odors of the sulfur fields. "How about visiting these temples in Yamagata?" "Sounds good!" I mumbled absent mindedly, trying not to drive the Purple Elderberry of Doom off the side of a cliff...
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Posted on: 09/02/2007 12:31 AM
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Yes, yes I know, you all want to know (omg hi2u mistar presumptious panda!) what happened next after we left the stinky sulfurous gates of hell. I'm working on part II but at the moment have writers block and a busy week at work that has left me too exhausted to write anything. But here's some foreshadowing for you: it involves mummies. In the interim, a picture from us tearing up the road, purple eldar-berry...
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Posted on: 08/29/2007 09:03 PM
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If there is one thing that KC and I have learned from our past adventures, it's that neither of us are much of "planners" when it comes to travel. Our general philosophy is to tack down the intended time of departure and a meeting spot, then show up and hope that someone remembered to bring a car (and if it has sufficient fuel for the journey, then so much the better). Since this approach has...
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Posted on: 08/15/2007 09:03 PM
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As mentioned in my last entry, after expedia "you haven't got prayer of making your flight" dot com decided to (yoghurt) poop all over our carefully planned Mongolia expedition, my friend and I decided to make the best of a bad situation and go on a week long road trip to Northern Japan instead. The first shots from the 2007 Tohoku Road Trip We just got back a couple of days ago, so I'm still...
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Posted on: 08/06/2007 08:50 PM
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So as I had posted about a month and a half ago, I was supposed - supposed being the operative phrase here - to be leaving for Mongolia with my erstwhile travel companion this Friday. In a clear example of what my writing professors used to refer to as "foreshadowing" (or perhaps just "spoiling the ending"), let me just state here and now that we are no longer going to Mongolia. The closest I'm going...
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Posted on: 07/25/2007 09:57 PM
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So one of my lovely Kiwi readers (have I told yow how sexy I think the New Zealand accent is?) from the Land of the Long White Cloud left the following comment on my previous blog poast: this isn't really related, but can you post some more pics of your panda collection? the ones in the first photo of the post are soo cute :) Well, I've always been one to please the people, so...
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Posted on: 06/01/2007 01:39 PM
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So the weather here in Kanto has been slowly sputtering and lurching towards balmier conditions week by week. The fact that it has been an unusually warm winter - it didn't snow even once! - means that we can enjoy spring traveling a little earlier than usual. With that in mind, the lovely Kazumi - making her first appearance here on the pandablog - and I headed over to nearby Hakone for a day long...
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Posted on: 03/24/2007 07:59 PM
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As you may recall from my last entry, the French have somewhat of a laissez-faire attitude towards things like immigration or knowing who's in their country at any given time. In their opinion, procedures such as "passport control" or "customs" are really nothing more than minor irritants impinging upon their cigar-smoking, cheese-consuming time, not to be taken seriously, or perhaps even done away with all together if the fancy strikes. The British, on the other hand, regard the question of knowing who's entering their country as a matter of utmost import and accordingly, the immigrations queue for the train heading to London from France wound halfway down the terminal as at the head, friendly, but quite severe looking English inspectors dutifully examined, stamped and returned passports and papers all the while chatting to themselves in that delightfully undulating British accent that made the gate area sound very much like the opening scene from any Guy Ritchie film
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Posted on: 02/04/2007 10:30 PM
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Okay. So I should probably just change the name of this blog to "Watch Panda take pictures of shit at night", because once again this poast is sporting a bunch of night pictures - and it won't be the last one, je promise' (ooh, look at my two words of French!) So yeah, speaking of French, I got back from my Great France Adventure 2007 last Monday. Now rather than jamming everything into one massive...
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Posted on: 01/24/2007 10:00 PM
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Wow, so the first post of 2007, huh? I suppose it's a bit cheap that it's gonna be primarily a photo entry, but as previously mentioned I'm heading off to Paris this Thursday - Thursday people - and I've not done any packing yet. In fact, I should probably try and figure out where all my underwear seem to have disappeared off to over the past two weeks. I'll need them for my trip and...
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Posted on: 01/02/2007 06:32 PM
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We finally stopped to ask a kindly mechanic who looked quite busy doing some sort of power drilling/water cooled saw-milling thing which in retrospect we probably shouldn't have interrupted. He looked at our map for a second, then put to light all our confusion with one simple phrase:
mechanic: "You're on the completely opposite side of this map"
me: "Now by 'completely opposite side' you mean…?"
mechanic: (pointing the way we just came from) "Go that way"
me: "Hmm. This explains a lot."
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Posted on: 10/17/2006 11:02 PM
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Hard to imagine, but in about 24 hours I'm going to be smelling the fertile farm fields of Wisconsin for the first time in three years. It's just for a short time, then back to Japan before it even has a chance to sink in. What a strange and wonderful past three years it's been! It's sad to think about closing the door on this chapter of my life....
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Posted on: 07/26/2006 02:09 AM
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On the way back we passed by this random 35 foot tall statue of a Tyrannosaurs Rex growling fearsomely at a curve in the road, apparently as an enticement to come visit the nearby dinosaur museum. What is mildly amusing about this picture is the sign beneath the T-Rex's feet. It reads: "Are you driving safely?" And all I could think was "No, man, a goddamn dinosaur that just scared the shit out of me when I rounded the blind curve here! What do you expect!!?"
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Posted on: 05/06/2006 10:07 PM
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After our adventures frolicking in the "downtown" area of Takayama (population like 200) and running away in screaming terror from the stuffed knife wielding animatronic denzins of the "Eco TeddyBear Village", we looked at our cheesy tourist map and realized we still hadn't been to the "Hida Folk Village". The "Hida Folk Village" is basically a small enclave of old traditional Japanese houses which have been carefully preserved in their (more or less) original state. They are gathered together to form a village which is supposed to recreate how Japanese lived hundreds of years ago.
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Posted on: 04/22/2006 12:27 PM
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If you watch the video carefully, you'll notice that several times I accidentally cross into the oncoming lane of traffic. Fortunately there weren't many cars on the road, or else I'm sure we would have died. You may also notice that we very clearly don't know the words to the song. But that doesn't stop us, since if there's one thing living in a country where karaoke is the national past time has taught us, it's that even if you don't know the lyrics to a song, as long as you sing it in a funny voice and make exaggerated gestures, people play along.
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Posted on: 04/20/2006 06:39 PM
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....until I saw these. Oh my god!! This was the first of what would soon spin into an incredibly propitious string of Yokohama Chinatown panda spottings! These are steamed dumplings with are stamped in the shape of cute little panda faces! I squealed like a school girl when I saw them and ran over to purchase one. They were pretty steep (like $3USD each) but I was all set to plop down for them, when I saw to my disappointment that they were filled with chocolate and bean paste instead of delicious steamed meat. (Actually there were ones filled with meat - the one in the topmost poster for example - but they weren't so cute so I didn't buy them). My disappointment was soon alleviated, however, when just around the corner I spied... Oh my goodness, an entire store devoted JUST TO SELLING PANDA GOODS!! I was in heaven!! I rushed over to the store, brusquely pushing aside a small 12 year old girl and two old women who were in my way (pandas are endangered, old women and little girls are not so it's all good in my book). Had I found my mecca? I think I had!!
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Posted on: 04/10/2006 08:27 PM
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It's spring break! With no big plans in the works, my ever faithful travel companion and I decided that a quickie road trip up to Takayama in nearby Gifu Prefecture would be the perfect way to spend a Saturday. What's there to do over in Takayama? Well... Historic Japan Much of Japan is rebuilt and artificial - concrete slab box buildings and shiny glass paneled convenience stores blending into a modern ugly mess. But this...
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Posted on: 04/03/2006 04:50 PM
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It's spring break! With no big plans in the works, my ever faithful travel companion and I decided that a quickie road trip up to Takayama in nearby Gifu Prefecture would be the perfect way to spend a Saturday. What's there to do over in Takayama? Well... Historic Japan Much of Japan is rebuilt and artificial - concrete slab box buildings and shiny glass paneled convenience stores blending into a modern ugly mess. But this...
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Posted on: 04/03/2006 04:50 PM
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This picture was taken atop the mountain at Iwatayama Monkey Park (see below) by a man carrying a broom and a slingshot. We were actually just looking at the monkeys when he snatched the camera from our hands and shoved us over towards the couple of fanged screaming simians you see on the branch behind us. "You stand there. I take picture." "...b...but, those monkeys have fangs...!" we protest feebly. "You stand there. I take picture." he repeats, gesturing wildly with his slingshot. Our gaze flips back and forth between the fanged death monkeys and the almost too ethusiastic looking japanese man with a slingshot and a well worn looking broom. Monkey death? Or slingshot to the dome?
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Posted on: 02/28/2006 09:32 AM
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Monk central command. As mentioned above, taking pictures of the monks was strictly off limits, but we just couldn't resist a single furtive shot as we headed out the door of the "front office", one of the most surreal scenes I have seen since coming to Japan. Behind the counter lay a fully equipped business office with one major exception - it was staffed entirely by Zen Buddhist monks dressed in flowing black robes from head to toe. As we walked by, Yasu started giggling uncontrollably as one of the monks appeared to be having trouble with his computer and turned to another monk who was making photocopies for help. Together, the two of them hunched over the computer screen trying to sort out whatever it was that was going wrong ("no, try clicking there"), while all around them other monks answered phones ("Eieheij Temple, how can I help you?"), filed papers and rolled around on wheeled office chairs.
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Posted on: 12/31/2005 07:12 PM
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Made it to Tokyo and back in one piece. The presentation went well, which was good since I was afraid I was going to bore everyone to death! Will write more later on in the weekend. Sightseeing in Harajuku...! Monkah had a good time! If for whatever reason you're here looking for the handouts from the presentation, you can find them over at ishikawajets.org. Now listening to: "Jurassic 5 ft. Nelly Furtado - Thin Line"...
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Posted on: 06/11/2005 01:44 PM
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The sight that greeted me this Monday on my way to work... So winter still hasn't decided to release its icy death grip on the poor inhabitants of our prefecture, smack dab in the middle of what Japanese like to refer to as yukiguni - "snow country" - and glancing at the calendars to make sure our eyes weren't deceiving us, Tennis and I decided to go on vacation somewhere way, way down south,...
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Posted on: 03/27/2005 01:30 AM
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[Lots of photos in this one, so it'll be a while if you're on dialup] 7 cities. 3 hemispheres. 58 hours travel time (that's 2 1/2 days) 4 trains. 8 planes. 2 buses. countless taxis, cars and seemingly eternal hoofing. Several thousand dollars US. Unimagineable jet-lag. All in 10 days, which for perspective, is little over a week, and just barely so when you consider that nearly 30% of that time was spent in transit. Early morning sun through the airport departure gate......
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Posted on: 10/30/2004 11:31 PM
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The Umeda Sky Building Off to Osaka for 10 days to study Japanese. Hopefully my Japanese will improve. We'll see. Don't have much time to write, so enjoy the random pictars from this past weekend: Panda doing his best Johnny Depp impression and wielding his '9 whilst Yuki mugs for the camera Panda, a very drunk Nikki and Jenn shy from the camera flash. What JETs do in the inaka: Hold championship bowling tournaments....
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Posted on: 07/19/2004 03:39 AM
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Boy is panda sleepy! It's 2:30 am, and how have I spent my Friday night? Ironing. Look what my folks sent me from the US - THE GREATEST CEREAL IN THE WORLD.!! Yes. Ironing. Actually, not just any sort of ironing, but intense, in-your-face full fledged production type ironing - even including some spray starch for good measure. So what prompted this little sojourn into premature panda domestication? Well, panda, like all other recontracting...
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Posted on: 06/11/2004 02:45 AM
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i'm sorry for the lack of recent updates. a lot has been going on lately - i've had a lot of extra responsibilities dropped in my lap, as well as some personal drama that needed to be dealt with. Anyway, things are hopefully starting to get sorted out, and i promise some major updates to the site and the blog in the next couple of days. For now, enjoy some pictures from a recent weekend...
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Posted on: 03/17/2004 03:31 PM
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Back by popular demand - Mr.Handpanda belts out another karaoke hit! The JET midyear conference is tomorrow, which means I should a) be sleeping already b) have dealt with the fact that I have no clean clothes already c) probably have found the information sheet I lost earlier last week already. and people say I procrastinate!! *harumphs* Well I never! Anyway, I just didn't want to leave it a whole week without an update -...
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Posted on: 01/28/2004 03:31 PM
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First of, a big thank you to all the loyal supporters of the House of Panda (HOP) (or would "tHoP" be better? it sounds funnier, at least to me...) for your suport. I am happy to report that I am still alive after my little misadventure with a marauding Japanese press gang and have thus far avoided a life of conscripted servitude as a fake minister (see entry below if you don't know what I'm...
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Posted on: 12/10/2003 03:31 PM
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I made the mistake of heading out of town without checking to see if I had a full complement of CDs in the car. When I was about 10 miles out of town, I reached in the back seat, and to my horror, found only empty upholstery - instantly, my mind flashed back to the hurried rush to get out the door and on the road, and a quick passing glance, in which my...
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Posted on: 06/04/2003 03:31 PM
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