At the end of my second Hakone update I mentioned that I’d like to post some of the best photos I took of the artwork from 彫刻の森. (choukoku no mori – the forest of sculptures) Well I did some digging around and it looks like it’s OK to post them. I read a few legal things but they were very boring, but mostly I just found thousands of other blogs that have posted their photos. So I figure, hey, it’s free advertising for the park.

Still, I don’t want to go overboard. If you want to see how utterly mind blowing the place is (and it is pretty head exploding) you need to go. Ideally on a clear day after it’s snowed, but that’s pretty hard to predict since Japan’s weather is currently in ‘Mike’s trying to go outside! What do we have left? RAIN SOME SCORPIONS!‘ mode. Yeah, that’s a real phenomenon.

Anyway, click the photos to see the caption I spent over 15 seconds writing for your benefit! YOU INGRATES.

As you can see, it was pretty amazing. I hope this has convinced you to visit 彫刻の森 if you’re ever anywhere near Hakone! I hope this has also assured you that I do very rarely post things I promise to, even if it does take me nearly a month!

OK, photos from Kamakura will come tomorrow! Then I think I am caught up! Woo! It’s been a battle, but my mother leaves Japan tomorrow so I can go back to sleeping 21 hours a day!

Anyway, these are a collection of my favourite comments, questions and so on I heard from the kids at the junior school I volunteered at for the last two months.

Kid: Mike, because white people have big eyes, do you injure them a lot?
Me: Uhh…
Kid: Is it why Japanese people are better at blinking?

I can see the logic of the first question. I mean my eyes are huge, I’m always getting them caught on door frames, my desk, moving vehicles and so on. But before I was even ready to answer he hits me with another question. Damn, he got me there. I have to confess despite my infinite wisdom I had no idea who was better at blinking. Luckily I was saved by the school bell.

Kid: “Mike’s from England? But he doesn’t LOOK like a wizard?”

Yeah well thanks for rubbing it in you jerk.

Kid: Why do you have blue eyes?
Mike: Well you see…
Kid: It’s because of the sea!
Mike: What
Kid: Yep!

Again more powerful eye science from the little Einsteins. This girl was standing on my feet and staring straight up into my face for like 5 minutes, formulating this amazing series of questions. Still makes more sense than a Glenn Beck interview, to her credit.

Mike: Guys! Did you know England is actually floating above the world?
Kid A: Wow!!
Kid B: Oh No!
Mike: What is wrong Kid B?
Kid B: I wanted to go but I don’t  think we can afford a plane that goes up and away from Japan!

This one just blows my mind with cuteness. The kid assumed when you get on a plane you choose either to go around the world or directly up. When I pointed out that directly up is a rocket, he realized his mistake, and then asked me how much rocket tickets to England cost.

Of course, things got odd when I met his parent;

Mike: Oh hello Mrs. Kid B. How are y…
Kid B: Mum! Mike is from England! England is floating in the sky!
Mum B: …

Actually she was a pretty good sport and didn’t blow my cover, allowing me to continue my series of lies and hilarious ‘facts’.

Mike: Did you know Hello Kitty used to be a dog, but she got sick and when she woke up she was a cat?
Kid: Does that mean she chases herself whenever she remembers she is a dog?

The kid saw a hole in my logic in like three seconds. I was not impressed.

Finally, here is a slightly longer conversation, involving a good deal of people. I like it because it ended with the single greatest comment of all time;

Kid A: Mike come play soccer with us.
Teacher A: You better be careful, Mike is English and they are great at football!
Me: Actually I am pretty bad but I will try my best!
Kid A: Wait wait, if you’re bad don’t play with us.
Teacher A: Oh no poor Mike.
Me: All I ever wanted to do was get good at football. But it’s so hard.
Kid A: It’s not that hard. Just kick everything.

Yes, Kid A there summing up not only the rules of soccer/football, but also leaving us with frankly a wonderful outlook on life – kick everything. What better way to end this post?

Yesterday my mother and I bought two tickets on the Shitamachi Bus Tour, intending to travel from Tokyo station to Ryogoku, with stops at Nihonbashi, Ueno and Kappabashi on the way.

But then when we got to Ueno park we were greeted with the sight of literally thousands of people checking out the Sakura blossoms. So we stayed around there instead! Here are a bunch of photos I took. Just click on one and then use the left and right keys to check them out!

As you can see, it was pretty crazy! I took a lot of photos, which I will put in the gallery once it goes up again. It’s down at the moment whilst I work out which software I want to use. Once it’s up, I’ll link to it!

Today we went to Kamakura for the day and I took even more damn photos. So operation ‘MY BLOG IS EXPLODING’ will continue for a few more days!

Remember a few weeks ago, I posted about my trip to Disneyland? It seems that Japan’s weather gods or pixies or evil underground scientists or whoever really have it in for me because, despite being almost April, it snowed on our second day in Hakone, and when I say snowed, I mean it really came down. We had planned to head over in the cable car again like we did on our first day but when we saw the chaos, we had a rethink.

Things are going to get confusing time wise here so I’ll explain. Imagine four balls on the edge of a cliff. Well, time in Hakone works the same way. (100 points to anyone who gets this reference). We stayed in Hakone for three days in total. The first day was misty as heck (I wrote about it here) The second day was also pretty cloudy, and was the blizzard day. On the final day the snow had settled and made Hakone super beautiful. But let’s deal with day two first.

Day Two

In the end to get away from the snow we headed to the town of Odawara, which is pretty close to Hakone. There we first milled about the station and drank coffee number 5,182 and 5,183 of the trip. After that, we headed to Odawara Castle, which as you can imagine, looks amazing. At least it does when it’s not throwing snow at you on a dark, cold March morning.

I wasn’t allowed to take any photos inside, but as with quite a few of Japan’s castles (including Nagoya castle) the inside has been converted into a museum, which lets you check out the lives, religion and warfare of the people of the area from long ago. You can also get out onto one of the top parapets (is that the right word?) of the castle and check out the surrounding area, but it was cold as heck so we stayed out there for like 10 seconds.

Infact it was so cold we quickly made our way back to our hotel and stayed in the onsen for about 6 hours, with just one hour to eat. I practically dissolved.

Day Three

Waking up and looking out the window, I did not see the next logical step in the weather’s attempt to kill me (fire rain). Instead we were greeted by a really beautiful sight – Hakone covered in snow, under a beautiful blue sky. The whole place was awesome.

So we had a great idea. “Let’s go to the top of the mountain in the cable car! There will be nobody else there! Those cowards are scared of snow!” Turns out those cowards actually really like snow as the queue to get onto the cable car was about 3 hours. We were pretty disheartened, and were preparing to give up and go sulk in the onsen (again). But on the way back down I got chatting with the Japanese lady sitting next to me on the train, and she recommended the Hakone Sculpture Open Air Museum to us. I’m so glad she did.

We got there and the price to get in was about 2,500 for the both of us. That seemed pretty steep, but we took a chance. Turns out there are about 250 statues, four museums and a huge set of beautifully kept gardens up for offer. We went to a Picasso exhibition, a Henry Moore exhibition and loads of other things. The snow just enhanced the whole experience.

I wanted to upload the photos I took (I took about 150 of the park!) but I’m not sure if that’s OK or not. So here’s my super artsy photo of the Picasso building instead. Some of you may have noticed that the picture archive is currently dead. Once that comes up I may upload the photos into there – it really depends if it’s OK or not. (I assume it is, since everyone was uploading photos).

[19 Apr 2010] I totally posted them here!

I am now going to lay down some cold hard facts;

• The Hakone open air museum is the best museum I’ve ever been to.
• Snow is awesome and should be invited to all museums.
• Spending a total of 10+ hours in an onsen over three days does not seem to have any adverse effects
  (I’ll try to test this out in the future)

As you can see, we totally headed back to the onsen for the night before coming back to snowless Tokyo, thus ending our trip to Hakone, and also ending this blog post about it. I’m going to do some sleuthing regarding uploading photos of statues and so on. If it’s kosher, I may do another post with a handful of photos from the park. If you do get to Hakone, go to the park!

Yes, that’s right! We are for the most part past the cold, dark and depressing winter season! But we’re not yet into the hot, sticky and exhausting summer season! Yes, spring is here! Japan’s best season (at least in my opinion!) I’ve missed being able to leave the dormitory without thirty layers on. I’ve also missed being able to see past 5pm. (Although the copious amounts of alcohol don’t help)

Speaking of consuming alcohol, my mother is visiting Japan for nearly two weeks! (I’m going to get it for writing that). We have lots of exciting cross-country travel plans (more on them in a bit) but as it’s the first two days, we’ve been busy having lots of reunion parties and also checking out my local area. The first day was rainy, but it seems we’ve timed it perfectly as the beautiful pink cherry blossoms are just starting to open.

As you can see, they’re very pretty. They’re opening all over the region at the moment, which made the tour around the otherwise embarrassingly grey and drab area I live in a little more fun. It’s really amazing how fast Tokyo, especially it’s suburbs, lively and colourful, almost overnight, once the winter goes.

Anyway, we kicked off by wandering around Warabi. We visited the junior school I volunteered at (quotes from which are coming soon!) and put in some serious distance. Then we met up with Mako and headed to Sophia. Now I’d forgotten this but some of the departments, including mine, were holding their graduation so we got to see everyone dressed up in their lovely kimonos and suits to celebrate. We ran into two of the 4th year students from my circle. Here they are being far better dressed than me;

Nice! After that, we headed to the imperial palace, which I’ve visited before, although this time we couldn’t get inside. Still, I managed to take what is called ‘Japan’s most taken photo’. I think you can see why;

It really has everything you could ever need! The palace! A non-Japanese style bridge! Overhung sky! (I dare anyone to manage to get their trip to the palace to coincide with a sunny clear day!)

Today we had lunch with my friend Kanna and her super sweet little son Kazutoshi, and also headed to Asukayama park in Oji (I blogged about it back in ’07), expecting to catch a glimpse of a few early-blooming Sakura. Instead, we got a view at an entirely pink park, with hundreds of people in it. Yes, the Hanami viewing parties have started. (Again, I blogged about one I went to waaay back!) I’m hoping to get to one if I’m still alive after all the travelling I have planned doesn’t kill me…

Yeah, we have a lot planned. Big long lists are boring (even more boring than blog posts!), but in the next week or so I’ll be visiting Hakone, Kyoto (again) , Kamakura (again) , Chiba, Tsukiji Fish market (again), and even more exciting than all of them combined, Narita Airport! YEAH!

Anyway, that’s quite enough for now. I posted this so I could have a clear backlog as the next week is going to see a huge amount of posts. So to tide you over until the Hakone and Kyoto pictures arrive, here’s some more beautiful pink flowers.