I'm an alien

I was told to collect my Alien Registration Card on the 29th, but as I intend to be in Hokkaidou by then, I tried goig to Kuki municipal office to see if they had it yet.
Amazingly, it seems they recieved it in this morning's post!
I happily took the card and went stright to the post office.
Why, you ask? Well if you have an Alien Registration card you can make an account with Yuucho bank.
I had no trouble making an account.

Oomiya & a Festival

I went to Oomiya with Yosuke this morning.
We bought preprepared lunches at Seven Eleven, walked into Oomiya park and ate at a bench.

We walked through the park some more, and left the park briefly to see the Gokoku shrine (litterally 'protect country shrine', it is devoted to those who died in war.)

We returned to Oomiya park and walked around a small Japanese garden, then went to see Hikawa shrine (both within the grounds).
A person who I think was the shinto preist of the shrine was emptying the collection box.

Offering collection!

We also went to the Munakata shrine.

After that we went to the Oomiya 'Book Off', a store dealing in figurines called 'Mamegyorai' (bean torpedo..?) and had a look at 'Game Workshop'.

We then went home, ate dinner and went to see Yasaka shrine's Summer festival. (Yasaka shrine is within the same grounds as Washinomiya shrine, which I visited previously)
That's right, before even 2 weeks have passed since I entered Japan, I've experienced 2 festivals!

It was a smaller scale than Tenousama, but it still had a good atmosphere and was fun.

Team Moscow reunite!

I went to Ueno to meet the people I became aquainted with at the airoport in Moscow again.

Shinobazu no Ike lake - There are a lot of lotuses.

We visited the Hanazono Inari shrine, which is within the park.

Hanazono Inari shrine - I was told it was known for 'matchmaking' couples, but I couldn't seem to confirm this on the internet later.

We had an extravagant meal in a chinese restaurant called 'Toh Ten Koh'.
Good view of Ueno park. It's also possible to see Sky Tree from here.

The view from the hotel window.

After the meal, one of the group had to leave for work.
We then went to Ameyoko market, where a further two of the group left to see Akihabara. Apparently they are going to check out a maid cafe.
The remaining 3 of us looked around Ameyoko.

We then returned to Ueno park and entered the Science musium within the grounds.
We watched a "360 degree video" about "Mantle and Earth's changes" and "The sea's food chain".
The experience felt a bit like floating, and it was very interesting.
The musium had various displays about earthquakes, and also fossils of various dinosaurs and plants.

On the train home, one of the signals on the line got hit by lightning. After waiting a long time in the train, I had to go back again in a differrent train and go home by a differrent route.
I arrived several hours later than I had expected.

Akiba again!

I went to Akiabara with someone I met on internet chat today. (hereon HK-san)
We got maps from a girl dressed up as a maid and went to eat ramen. Which was really delicious.
Apparently HK-san is a regular customer to a nekokissaten (cat cafe), so I decided to enter the store with him.
There were about 8 cats, and you pay for the amount of time you want to pet them.
I bought some green tea and petted the cats a bit. I was also shown a photo collection by one of the staff, showing the cats as they grew up.
After that we went around various shops, with a focus on figurine shops.
We also went to a Book Off and after gathering up varios manga I wanted I spent a little short of 100 pounds.
Thanks to the amount I spent, nationwide postage became free, so I made them send the manga to Yosuke's house.
We checked out a few more shops then headed home.

I ate a "homoben" (short for Hotto Motto packed lunch) unajuu (eel on rice with a sweet sauce)

Unajuu - Really delicious.

Distant relative

I found outthe other day that I have a distant Canadian relative in Japan (from here on J-san)
I went and met him in Narimasu today.
After promissing to meet the people J-san is currently working with in the evening, I went to Akihabara.
I used most of my time in the SEGA and TAITO arcades.
The UFO catchers were impossible (for me).
I tried various other games, but te one I found most interresting was a rhythmn game - Hatsune Miku Diva Project.
There is a piece of software called Hatsune Miku which uses a synthesised voice and regular people use it to create songs.
A compilation of these songs is being used in this game.
There's also a PSP version, making me want a PSP slightly.
I headed for J-san's place of work at 6, but I got a bit lost and ended up about 40 minutes late.
He introduced me to 5 CG designers. Everyone readly introduced themselves.
I appologised for being late, introduced myself and expained I do amature translation.
After that I sat in on a MAYA (software for creating 3D models and moving them with physics simulation etc) lesson they were doing and after that went to a nearby Izakaya (bar).
The were all great people, and one even gave me his business card and said he'd show me around Akihabara if our schedules match up on a day off.
J-san got on my train back with me and we got to talk a bit more.
I'd like to meet him again if I get the chance.
He seemed like someone who would be very fun to work with.

Nothing particularly special today...

I mostly lazed around, but I decided to make fish and chips for dinner today.
We wentto the fishmonger we met at the festival, but they had already started closing the store.
Even so, after we greeted them and explained what we wanted they still got us some cod out of the freezer. I was really greatful.

So, the fish and chips in question...

It looks good, and tasted nice too.

Yosuke said it was tasty.
That was all today!

Yokohama

Today I went to Yokohama and met for the first time with someone I came to know on mixi (Japanese facebook like thing)
I'll call him K-san from here on.
K-san is an official guide for the 88 temple pilgrimage and has apparently walked the island 5 times so far.
He said he will be able to walk about the first week of the pilgriage together with me.
He showed me around Yokohama today.
After greeting him, we got a map from the information building and walked to see the sail ship Nipponmaru.

Some members of the public who had volunteered were opening the sails.

Yokohama's Landmark Tower

Minato No. 1 Bridge - steam trains used to cross this carrying cargo

After crossing it, we went to the red brick warehouse.

It was made as a bonded warehouse. It's now composed of lots of shops.

We went inside and checked out the shops.
We next went to the NYK(Nippon Yuusen Kaisha - Japan Mail Steamer) Maritime museum.

(If I understand correctly)
The government run Kyoudou Un'yu shipping company and Yataro Iwasaki's Mitsubishi Zaibatsu were competing and furiously slashing prices in the shipping business.
In 1885 when Yataro died, the government feared both companies would collapse amidst the Meiji Restoration and forced a merger.
It was the NYK which was created through this merger.

We next went to a rest area by Yamashita park, and I talked to K-san about the 88 temple pilgrimage.
He bought along his Byakue and Wagesa (the white robe and stole) and showed me briefly how to wear them.
He also gave me some useful pamphlets about walking Shikoku and one about Hokkaidou.

We left the rest area and walked through Yamashita park to the boat Hikawamaru.

Part of Yamashita park

The luxury liner Hikawamaru - presently a museum

I walked around the boat while listening to K-san's explanations.

Accoridng to K-san, Japanese boats normally have a Kamidana (household shrine)

Finally I got him to take me to see a Shinto shrine which was nearby.

Ise Yama Koudai Jinguu

After reading wikipedia, I found that this shrine was moved here from Ise in 1870 so that the main Ise shrine could be worshipped from afar. The reason to do this was to secure a place for the Shinto religion here after the port was opened to foreign culture such as christianity.

We also visited a nearby buddhist temple.

延命寺

K-san recited some sutra here. It was quite something. I wonder if I'll be able to remember this sort of thing as I visit the Shikoku temples.

We then ate preprepared meals from a convenience store and talked for a while. I also promissed to contact him before entering Shikoku so we could arrange to meet.