Weekend Away in Kobe – June 8/9, 2013

The second weekend in June I was lucky enough to have a 3 day weekend. I was also lucky that it was a sunny one – seeing as Japan has now gone into the rainy season and soon the days will become water filled and it will be hard to go out exploring.

I decided that I wanted to get off of Shikoku and picked Kobe to visit, as I hadn’t been to that city before.

From what I had heard and read about Kobe it was a great city if you enjoy shopping, but also a more interesting place for Japanese tourists than foreign ones – compared to Osaka or Kyoto. However I looked up the city and found that there are some interesting places to see.

I arrived in the city just after lunch and took a walk from the Shinkansen down to the Ikuta Shrine. The Shrine has an 1800-year history and it is a place of vibrancy and energy.

After that I walked back up to the Shinkansen station to take the Kobe Ropeway up to see the Nunobiki Herb Garden. The ropeway takes you to the top of the Herb Garden; here there is a confectionary and an observation deck where you can see to the port. It was a cloudy day, so the view wasn’t clear – but still it was beautiful to see the cityscape.

The Herb Garden was also a beautiful walk. It being a seasonal garden different flowers and herbs grow at different times. At this time in the year it was the roses that were the big draw, as well as the newly blooming hydrangeas (which are my favourite flower so I took quite a few pictures of them – I won’t be posting all of them). The smell in the garden was also lovely. It was a mix of herbs like dill and fennel, but also the flowers and it created this calm and enjoyable atmosphere.

From the herb garden I walked back down to where the shrine was, but this time I headed for the stores. I walked through the Motomachi District, which is a long shopping street. I didn’t do any shopping but it’s a great way to pass the time and to see the city. After window shopping it was back to the hotel.

The next day I was up early. I had a full day planned and wanted to get all of it in before having to catch the Shinkansen home.

I started out my day in the Kitano area. This is the northern part of the city and within it is the Ijinkan Quarter. It is a historical district that contains foreign residences from the late Meiji (1868-1912) and early Taisho (1912-1926) periods. Ijinkan refers to any foreign residence from that time, but it is more commonly applied to this area of Kobe.

I bought a pass that allowed me to see into the 9 major residences and allowed me to have photo taken dressed in clothing styled after that time period. The residences belonged to people from parts of the Western world including France, England, Panama and Germany as well as others. Each residence has been preserved and kept to show the difference between former resdents. It’s quite interesting to see how the foreign residences mixed in with cities that still contain many traditional Japanese homes.

After finishing in the Ijinkan I caught the bus to Kobe Port. The port is probably the most well known image of the city – with its tower covered in vermilion piping and the giant metal fish statue. There isn’t much to see at the port in terms of scenery but there is a view of the Inland Sea, as well as a nice walk to Mosaic, which is a market place. Though filled with modern stores now it preciously was a dockyard building.

I wasn’t up for much shopping, but I did stroll through the market before catching the bus back to the Shinkansen station.

I did get to enjoy the tasty Black Sesame ice cream.

Overall it was a fun 2 days in Kobe, and I enjoyed my time there quite a bit. I was glad that I chose to see the city before I leave Japan. 

All the Spring Flowers

Spring has been happening here in Japan since March, that’s when the plum blossoms began and the weather started to get warmer.

The first blossoms I saw were the plum blossoms in Osaka, when I was visiting with my Mom. I really loved the reds and pinks of those little flowers.

Then in April it was the Sakura – Cherry Blossom. I took a bike ride up to Hirose Park in Niihama and found a wonderful collection of cherry trees. I loved getting photos of the little white blossoms, as well as pictures of other flowers at the park.

I also did Hanabi (blossom viewing) with my JT Aki, her family, Bret and Angelina. It was nice to sit and enjoy some food under the cherry trees.

After the cherry blossoms fell with warmer weather and a few days of wind and rain, flowers began to sprout up and bloom all around Niihama and Shikoku.

Planted along the roadside in Niihama I found pink, white and red rhododendrons. As well as interesting tree blooms, petunias, peonies and other beautifully coloured flowers.

On my last day of Golden Week I took a trip to Takamatsu to visit Ritsurin Koen. A beautiful park filled with flowers and bright with the green of spring. I got to see the Wisteria and Iris and just experience a wonderful afternoon enjoying the sun and a nice walk.

Rainy Day at USJ – April 30th, 2013

The 29^th of April and the 3-5^th of May are Golden Week here in Japan. Golden Week is the time of year where are few different holidays occur following each other, so most people take the whole week off. So I was happy to have a nice beak from work for a week.

I decided that I was going to take a trip to Osaka to go to Universal Studios Japan. I invited my JT Yuko to come with me and she agreed. So on the 29^th of April we took the ferry across the Seto Inland Sea to Osaka. The ferry ride was ok, if not that comfortable for sleeping.

We arrived in Osaka at 6:30am on the 30^th and it was raining. I knew that there was a possibility that it could be raining, but that it would likely stop by noon. We waited on the boat until 8:30 and then caught a bus to USJ.

After getting into the park we both purchased ponchos to keep us dry, I picked the snoopy one and Yuko the Elmo.

We also picked up the fast pass, which was great for getting on the rides a little faster. It was really great for the Hollywood Dreams – Backdrop, because the line up was a 200-minute wait.

I also was able to meet Ernie, my favourite Sesame Street character. And Yuko's favourite cartoon the Pink Panther.

The rainy weather meant that there weren’t that many people at the park. The fast pass still came in handy, but we were able to go on all the rides at least 2 times without having to wait for too long.

Hollywood Dreams.

My favourite ride was the Hollywood Dreams roller coaster. They are currently doing a Backdrop, which is where the coaster goes backwards instead of forwards. I rode the ride 4 times, twice forwards and twice backwards. I also heard that had we come the day before they closed the Hollywood Dreams ride line at 11am because the line up was a 7-hour wait.

Still the scariest movie creature ever.

There are two rides that I had gone on when I visited Universal Studios Florida – they were the Jaws boat ride and the Back to the Future ride. All the others were different.

Heading into the Jurassic Park

After going on the rides, we also went to do some shopping. Well not a lot of shopping mostly just looking at the numerous stores and seeing the different movie labelled products, like food and treats.

Dino Bacon

Spider-MEN... playoff of the word ramen

Jaws Headband

An hour and a half before we had to go I decided to ride the roller coaster one last time. It was just as fun as it was all the other times, but then we had to run to catch the bus back to the ferry port to catch the ferry home. That was exhilarating.

Overall it was a great day at USJ and I had a lot of fun.

Film Review: Iron Man 3

So I haven’t blogged in a while, but nothing much happened in April. So I give to you another Movie Review, this time for Iron Man 3.

As those of you who read my Avengers review know I love Marvel movies (though not such a big fan of Captain America as compared to the others.) When I found that Iron Man 3 would be released here now in April I was excited to go. This is the first of the Iron Man films that I have seen in theatres and I wasn’t at all disappointed, in fact it might be my favourite of the trilogy.

Beware Spoilers Ahead!!!!

The film starts of differently from the other two, Tony is telling his story – it only makes sense when you see the after credits tag, which I won’t spoil.

Also the opening song is “Blue” by Eifel 65, which I haven’t heard in at least 10 years. It set the tone for the laughs of the film. The opening is also a flashback, which gives the spark for the whole story. I was so intrigued by the story that it was easy to forget that it was a “comic book” movie. The idea of Tony being traumatized by what happened in The Avengers and the terrorist plot was a nice adult theme.

The film was filled with quite a few comedic moments, balancing the drama quite nicely. Although it did seem like at points I was the only one laughing in the theatre, I think this is because some of the jokes when translated into Japanese subtitles don’t have the same impact. My favourite of the comedic moments is Tony’s interaction with the boy who’s garage he breaks in to. Though their funny moments do turn a little dark, it was great to see those moments.

There is also a lot of action. It seems even more action than The Avengers. The action at points had me tense because of the high speeds and the explosions and also the peril some of the characters were put in. My favourite action point was the display of suits that Tony has been working on.

Though the action and comedy were high, there was also a sadness underlying the whole movie. It made it seem more human and more real. A few moments I had tears in my eyes, though if I say when it will give away big plot points. Let’s just say that the reason Tony fights in taken away and you can see his pain.

The acting in the film was also phenomenal. The entire cast does a great job and there isn’t one weak link. Gwenyth Paltrow gives her best performance of Pepper Potts, again showing why Pepper is the perfect partner for Tony. Guy Pierce is great as the scummy business/scientist. Ben Kingsly as Mandarin gives a great performance as the bad guy, proving that he is quite the gifted actor even when not tackling epics like Ghandi or Schindler’s List. But the real star is Robert Downey Jr. He is Tony Stark and I don’t think there is any other actor who could have brought him to life in quite the same way. He plays the comedic moments with excellent timing, but it’s Tony’s darker moments where he really shows how great of an actor he is and how he will be around for years to come.

Though the film was dark and the plot build up intense the part of the ending can be seen to be a little cheesy, but it is easily ignored as Tony continues his story. It creates a nice ending to the trilogy – unlike the cheese-tastic ending that was The Dark Knight Trilogy, because that was a terrible way to end those movies.

It also provides a nice new starting point for Tony Stark in The Avengers films or if they want to make any more Iron Man movies.

Well I thought the movie was great and if you want a nice afternoon out to see a funny and action packed movie go see Iron Man 3.

5/5 Stars