Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Nippon Trip

"Ue o muite arukou
Namida ga kobore nai youni

Omoidasu haru no hi

Hitoripocchi no yoru..."


上を向いて歩こう-坂本九 
[Ue o muite arukou - Sakamoto Kyuu]
(The original Japanese song of the modern "Sukiyaki" song)


Well, sorry for the late updates on my blog. Now, it's time for me to tell something happening in Japan. There were lots of things I saw in Japan recently. Maybe this is just the first time I've ever been in Japan. Actually, my purpose to go to Japan is to looking forward to their culture or well, maybe the modern Japanese culture! It was like a week tour (around 28th May until 3rd June of this year). We went there two weeks ago by Malaysian Airlines (MAS), with our tour group. These photos that I will show in this blog are just the highlights of Japan, although my eldest brother and I took plenty of photos of it. It was pretty fun, I tell you. A MUST GO destination!


A takoyaki man. Looks quite handsome, isn't he?

Who he might be? Well, I guess he's one of the students who were eager to open a small business, for this case, a 'mobile' takoyaki stand (well, it's just a van, I suppose!) The fact is, the Japanese teens did this just for a living. Hmm... His skills of making takoyaki is considered good, indeed, but the problem is, that man spoke to me in Japanese! Wow, thankfully I learned a little of survival Japanese. That gives a little of ease of communicating with Japanese people. Very glad. I did fail a little to communicate with him, when we just want to ask for six of those. Well, I replied, "三つ(mittsu)", that means "three" in Japanese. Then the man was puzzled, and replied to me something like, "六つ(muttsu)", for six, and I nodded. Hmm.. "Mittsu" and "Muttsu". Pretty close, isn't it? That was because he sold it by 6's, 9's and 15's. Luckily he understood me! Very glad! I didn't understand what he's trying to say after that, but I heard him uttered like "ハンサム(hansamu). "Handsome" I suppose. Simply replied to him, "そうですね。(Sou desu ne.)", meaning something like "Is that so?" Then, we went off after buying those takoyaki. That's a little story of a 'takoyaki man'. He's such a nice person, I think.

Mt. Fuji and I

The next one, Mt. Fuji came into view, at last! Thank God. Well, I guess 富士山(Fuji-san) is such a 'shy' mountain. At one day, we cannot see the mountain, but at the other day, it appeared! Well, it's such a hard one to get a view of this little Mt. Fuji there. By the way, we, in a tour group, also went to just the 5th station of the tall mountain Mt. Fuji (3,776 m). It was a cold place to be. Love the weather. If you decided to get there, I would advise you to bring your sweater along. Freezing cold! :D

The background of Todaiji Temple; beside me is my eldest brother, Aris

Ah-ha! Another tourist attraction, which is, 東大寺(toudaiji), Todaiji Temple, in Nara. It is said that it was built around 8th century (don't know which year is that either). In the temple, I've also just seen a 大仏(daibutsu), the large statue of Buddha. Pretty huge from a view. By the way, we two brothers went and buy various souvenirs to bring back, but the pricing of souvenirs are relatively high, in comparison with my country, Malaysia. A cute little souvenir can cost as expensive as ¥1,000. That's an ocarina, a type of musical instrument. (Wish I could play well with that instrument) Then, outside the temple, we saw lots of deers walking around, and bows at you (if they've had the chance to). Pretty fun!

Ocarina. Rumors heard that this is used to call the deers in the deer park of Nara.

Lastly, I have had a tour group photo in one of quite an authentic 旅館(ryokan), a Japanese inn. Wonderful, isn't it? I first thought that it is NOT a ryokan at all. Tatami mats arranged nicely, with 座布団(zabuton), Japanese seating cushions... placed nicely; but somehow, the toilet is too 'high-tech'. I was puzzled. However, I asked our tour leader, Patrick about it. He said that a place like that is already considered as ryokan if it is arranged such and such, just like the one in my group photo. Glad to be the one who came to a ryokan for the first time.

The Shuriken family. Nah, just kidding! This is our group photo. Miss you all :)

Okay, that's it for now about my trip to Japan. Overall was a great tour to be. Wish I could go to Japan once more, but not too soon. Maybe 2 years from now. Until next time, sayonara, Japan. Miss you a lot... but, I have to continue studying in Malaysia next month. Japan in my dreams!

One of the Japanese programmes shown in Japan. Weird, isn't it? Another possibility is that this program may be an educational programme. Anyway, I like the way it is like in Japan. Sugoi!

P/S: Well, if you ever wanted to travel to Japan, but without knowing anything in Japanese (language), you still can survive there in Japan. Even though you know a 'little' Japanese, don't be ashamed of. Most of them will teach you and correct you, no matter you uttered anything in a wrong manner, even the wrong words! How amazing the Japanese culture is. So, don't get embarrassed about it. For those who are learning Japanese (日本語), Gambatte ne! Or you may chat with me in Japanese in my blog, if you want. :)


______________________
もし時間があったら、このブログに泊まってください。
どうもありがとうございます。
=D

5 comments:

  1. slm
    eh adnan,
    cm bes je ko g jpun
    ko g dgn fmli ke pe?
    jles ak,
    ak nk jmpe eichiro oda n tgk costum one piece
    hihu

    ReplyDelete
  2. @lin: jom!

    @fauzan:
    salam.. mcm2 tmpt aku pgi kt skitar tokyo.
    mcm akihabara, osaka, shin-osaka, tokyo, fuji-hakone... mahal la kalo nk wat tour, tp mmg sonok!
    hmm... nk gi akihabara gak tgk costume one piece tu... tp pgi tgk bnde len masa gi kt sana. xpe.. mmg nk plan gi sana 2 thn lg... xsabo! hehe~

    ReplyDelete
  3. ko uplod r lg pic byk2,
    ak da mkin xcitd nk g jpun, aitch
    ak if g jpun,
    plg nk tgk 1pis r,ps2 SNSD
    gee girl,
    hihu

    ReplyDelete
  4. malas giler... bukn ckit kita amek gmbr... bnyk giler.. mo smpi 3,000 gmbr lm kamera aku... nnt aku uplod lm friendster ye :)

    ReplyDelete

Jom komen di sini!
Let's comment through here.
こちらをコメントしましょう!どうぞ。