Japan [56K DIE]

[The Grim Squeaker]

Finally filtered, pictures from my 2.5 weeks traveling Japan in July .
After 2 days in Hong Kong, I flew into Tokyo where I spent a number of days, after Tokyo I went through the Hakone open air museum (a giant open museum founded by a religion/cult that sees art and beauty as a form of worship), Mt Fuji (which I climbed in a rainstorm at 12PM) the Japanese "alps" (pretty hiking area that was opened up by an Englishman), A bunch of small japanese towns, traditional Ryokans, Naoshima (artists island, containing one of the most amazing art museums i've seen in my life), an 18th century castle and finally Kyoto, traditional heart of Japan (and the former capital before the Tobunagawa shogunate).

Monk in Tokyo

Sushi restaurant

I was hungry . (Each plate was a small pile of Sushi on a conveyor belt)

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It really is that bendy.

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Tokyo building

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The young people's street in Tokyo

Japanese symbology

Bollocks and the Asian symbol. (It was on all the GPS location spots and temples).

It means love and/or tranquility or somesuch

Meows

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Tea ceremony pots

Stuff from a tea ceremony house

Condomania

Condomania. Middle of a super busy street in the fashionable part of town.

It's exactly what you think.

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Condomania shop

Bendy towers

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Tokyo fish market auctioneer

Tokyo fish market auction

The Tokyo fish market is the largest of the world (7 times the size of the Paris market!).
A fish can be flown in from Alaska, sold then shipped back to Alaska within 24 hours.
I was there at a 5AM auction (this is just one side of one hall)

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Fish tails

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Fish for sale

Butcher's Knife

Fish knife in the Tokyo fish market. (I went there at 5AM for the auction)

Tentacles

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Evil Japanese cat

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Aerial view of Tokyo from my hotel window

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Stained glass tower from the inside

Taken in Hakone. I then climbed to the top

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Hakone open air museum sculptures

Hakone gardener

Hakone open air museum sculptures

Hakone open air museum sculptures

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Monkeys

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the japanese alps

Hot springs

Hot springs inside the hotel. Also had a cold water pool

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Grass picker inside a town

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Creepy Bunny & Toys

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Chubby little kid

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Inside the astoundingly asthetic hotel in Naoshima.

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Anyone up for a Dresden files joke?

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Wall in Naoshima

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Wall in Naoshima

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Biggest gate in Kyoto! (Museum district)

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Imperial gardens. (the Kyoto one, not the Tokyo one)

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Rice pounding.
One man kneads the dough, the other one pounds it in between.
Good coordination

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Geisha on her way to work in Kyoto.

It's very important not get in there way on their way to work

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Geisha in Kyoto.
Taken in the traditional Geisha area, not the touristy one

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Geisha in Kyoto.
Taken in the traditional Geisha area, not the touristy one

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Ginza in Kyoto

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Rickshaw driver in a small town

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Geisha in Kyoto.
Taken in the traditional Geisha area, not the touristy one

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Golden engraving on a pillar

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Engrish on a Kyoto drink machine
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Buddha statue
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Nintendo's original location
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Again, this is only a small selection due to the short attention span of various Japan-haters. It's because of the robot toilets, isn't it?

[Samuel]

That can't be a real country... I have to travel more.

I was hungry . (Each plate was a small pile of Sushi on a conveyor belt)

In the US I think the system is called sushi boats.

The young people's street in Tokyo

Youth culture is that big in Japan?

[The Grim Squeaker]

That can't be a real country... I have to travel more.

I was hungry . (Each plate was a small pile of Sushi on a conveyor belt)

In the US I think the system is called sushi boats.

I know it from the UK, Sushi buffet . (Well, kinda. You pay according to the class and quantity of plate/sushi types you eat off a conveyor belt).

The young people's street in Tokyo

Youth culture is that big in Japan?

Not really, but in acity of 30 million people, the trendy young people's street is absurdly crowded on weekends. (It was also very close to a famous park with an old emperor's special garden's to his wife [Meiji period maybe?] and a bunch of counter culture people dressed up like Shinigamis, ghosts, anime characters, etc' (even more than in Akibara the electric city!).

[andrewgpaul]

So, how often did you need to dodge those little motorised cart things in Tsukiji?

I'm jealous; I only managed to see the top of the back of a geisha's head over a fence in Kyoto. Talking of which, is that gate the one the buses run under?

[The Grim Squeaker]

So, how often did you need to dodge those little motorised cart things in Tsukiji?

Not once

I'm jealous; I only managed to see the top of the back of a geisha's head over a fence in Kyoto.

We met a localized Israeli there and he took us to the Real Geisha district, not the tourist area. (We even met the best Geisha in all of Kyoto for about 7 seconds straight!)

Talking of which, is that gate the one the buses run under?

Cars, buses, tanks, whatever. It's seriously big . (You mean tyhe huge red one in the museum district, right?)

[Feil]

A clockwise-bending, 45 degree, black swastika on a white circle over a red background means one thing and one thing only. That thing isn't tranquility.

[Haruko]

What building is captured in that last image? It's so pretty.

[The Grim Squeaker]

What building is captured in that last image? It's so pretty.

Kyoto train station. Big and impressive and totally against the spirit of the town .

A clockwise-bending, 45 degree, black swastika on a white circle over a red background means one thing and one thing only. That thing isn't tranquility.

You do know that i'm a Jew, yes? It really is a common symbol over there in temples and even an indicator in the GPS. (It actually originated in India I think)

[Feil]

The Buddhist swastika is usually counterclockwise-bending and, so far as I know, always at 90 degrees, not 45. And it doesn't sit on a white circle over a red field. I like the photos, but you're being willfully blind here.

[Zor]

Rather interesting time youi had there, although i don't know what was up with all the dead sea life images. Anyway i did not know that Nintendo kept it's original local.

Zor

[andrewgpaul]

Thedirection of the swastika is irrelevant, I think - I'm sure I've seen it in both directions in a non-Nazi context. That particular combination of colours and the diagonal position, though - yeah.

Can't remember exactly where the 'museum district' is, but we went under that gate on the bus from Nijo-jo castle to Ginkakuji. Found another, smaller one on a side street somewhere in the eastern edge of the city, as we walked from Kinkakuji to Kiyumizu.

Not sure where the 'proper' geisha district is - we ended up on the west bank of the river, with a Canadian we found at the station.

[Big Orange]

Nice photos, I like the old Nintendo plaque.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Thedirection of the swastika is irrelevant, I think - I'm sure I've seen it in both directions in a non-Nazi context. That particular combination of colours and the diagonal position, though - yeah.

Allright, so every use of the Swastika is a sign that everyone hates the Jews, I find it personally insulting and take offence at other peoples cultures . (It's bettet stay at an extreme away from another extreme). I've never studied the history of the damn thing, thanks for the symbology lesson .

Not sure where the 'proper' geisha district is - we ended up on the west bank of the river, with a Canadian we found at the station.

We got there with an Israeli (localized chap), I can't exactly remember where it was, only it's a few blocks away from the "tourist trap" area (which has very few real geishas in it).

It's embarrasing that I don't remember the names of most of the places

[AniThyng]

Thedirection of the swastika is irrelevant, I think - I'm sure I've seen it in both directions in a non-Nazi context. That particular combination of colours and the diagonal position, though - yeah.

Allright, so every use of the Swastika is a sign that everyone hates the Jews, I find it personally insulting and take offence at other peoples cultures . (It's bettet stay at an extreme away from another extreme). I've never studied the history of the damn thing, thanks for the symbology lesson .

Uh, dude, I'm pretty sure that T-Shirt is definately the Nazi one, though probably for "coolness" sake, the way people wank Tiger tanks. An actual Buddhist swastika that I'm sure you've seen in temple's is kinda different and definately not black on a white circle on a red shirt (not that it stops ignorant westerners from going all "aaa, Nazis!!!").

[The Grim Squeaker]

Waer. I didn't buy any clothes there (Japan is STUPIDLY expensive), and lack knowledge of the youth's fashion