11/9 - Universal City and SMAP Bistro

So we finished all our rides and we saw most of the shows at Universal Studios Japan (with the exception of Waterworld, Wicked the musical, and some smaller ones).  We exited the park and made our way to JR station to head back to our hotel in Shinsaibashi.

However, we still had one more destination to cross off our checklist here at Universal City just outside of Universal Studios Japan.  It was the Takoyaki Museum.  All right.  It's not really a museum in the sense of exhibits and info.  This museum is a collection of different takoyaki (fried octopus balls) stalls and styles.  It also doesn't hurt to have huge cartoon drawings and statues marking the entrance to this "museum."  N and I, but particularly N, are fans of this great Japanese snack.  Takoyaki has its origins in the Osaka area, so it's only natural that a Takoyaki Museum can be found in Osaka.

We wandered around the shopping area of Universal City for a little bit.  That's when we came across a different food stall selling onigiri.  Onigiri is usually a simple combination of cooked rice shaped into a triangle, then half-wrapped in a small sheet of seaweed.  Well, this onigiri stall sold a variety of different onigiri with different sizes and shapes.  The one that got our attention was the Takoyaki Onigiri.  A whole takoyaki ball wrapped completely in a rice ball which is then completely wrapped in sheet of seaweed.  It looked like a giant bomb!

So we took our giant takoyaki onigiri ball back to hotel to snack on later.  We were already pretty full from the takoyaki we tried upstairs in the takoyaki museum.  We hopped back onto the JR train back to Umeda, then transferred to the Osaka Subway to get back to Shinsaibashi.

After a long day of play at USJ, we kicked off our shoes and turned on the TV to relax for the rest of the evening.  When we turned on the TV, we discovered SMAP Bistro was on.  SMAP is a five person idol group in Japan.  They are most famous for their J-Pop brand of music, but they also have a popular TV show.  Part of which is the SMAP Bistro.  Not to mention that a few of the members are headline actors in many TV dramas and movies.  N's Japanese tutor lent her a few episodes of SMAP Bistro for N to practice Japanese comprehension, so we were familiar with the show and were quite excited to be actually watching an episode on Japanese TV.

Every episode of SMAP Bistro has a celebrity guest judge.  In previous episodes, they have had actors, politicians, and even Jane Birkin. This night was a Japanese comedian.  Apparently, he's really funny because he has all of SMAP laughing, but we haven't the foggiest idea what he's joking about.  The idea is that one of the members, the shortest of the five, plays chef de maison for the Bistro while the other four are split into two cooking teams.  Each team must make a dish requested by their guest(s) or with ingredients requested by their guest(s).  It's actually a pretty fun show to watch even if you don't understand Japanese.  So what more can you ask for -- a great day at USJ, a giant takoyaki onigiri to split between N and I, and a cooking competition to end the night.

11/9 - USJ Shows and Parades

We got off Hollywood Dream, The Ride and realized we had hit all the major ride attractions in the park, with the exception of Spider Man.  Wow.  I don't think I've ever gone through an amusement park so quickly.

N has a thing for parades at theme parks.  The afternoon parade was supposed to pass by soon (soon as is in 30 minutes soon), so we found a spot along the curb side in front of the "Beverly Hills" shop.  Pretty soon, you could hear the music of the parade making its way to our location.  One by one, the floats passed by us with all the trademark characters at this park.  Snoopy was one of the first.  There was Woody Woodpecker.  Hello Kitty??  How did USJ steal her from Sanrio?  Hm...Pink Panther.  Elmo of Sesame Street and "tickle me" fame.  I guess when you're in Japan, you are in a totally different realm of copyright. Peanuts, Sesame Street, and Hello Kitty.  How does that all work together?

Once the parade was done, we went for a second loop around the park.  This time we went into to see the show attractions.  The first one along the way was Shrek 4-D.  Hmm.. 4-D.  So vibrating chairs, right?  Well not just that.  When you get to a scene with Donkey sneezing, he literally sneezes on you as water is sprayed onto your face.  That creates a lot of "ughs" in the audience.  Ugh must be a universal sound of disgust.  Also when a the wind is blowing, you feel the wind blowing.  And when spiders or rats run past your legs, you feel them run past your legs.  Now I just need a universal translator to figure out what Shrek just said to Donkey.

Just down the road from Shrek 4-D was Terminator 2 3-D.  Admittedly, after the 4-D experience, 3-D is not as cool, but we were treated to live actors running on stage pretending to be a young John Connor escaping all the machines.

Because we were doing a second loop of the park, we had to pass by the Spider Man ride again.  This time, though, we saw that people were lining up for the ride.  We were in luck, the ride was open again.  So obviously got in line.  In this ride, you sit in a car that moves from room to room and is similar to Indiana Jones in a way, but you also get the 3D aspect where Spidey sometimes lands on your car to protect you from all his unfriendly Spidey villains.  I'd definitely ride it again if I went to Universal Studios stateside.

Okay, now we had truly exhausted all the ride attractions that we wanted to ride.  We continued on our loop around the park and started snacking.  I found a place with this neat little waffle treats.  I felt a little peckish, so it was all good timing.

When we passed Jurassic Park, we noticed a few people having "Jurassic Legs" in and around the area.  Basically Jurassic Legs are giant turkey legs that you're supposed to eat like a neanderthal.  N couldn't resist and wanted one.  I had one too.  Look at the size of that thing!

With the night beginning to fall, that meant one more big show in the park and the Magical Starlight Parade. The show was a romantic Christmas stage show.  In Japan, Christmas is not so much of a family event as it is a romantic event.  It's almost on par with Valentine's Day for it's romantic value in Japan.  So the whole story of the show centred and two star-crossed lovers who fall in love, but are sometimes separated by circumstances.  But low and behold on Christmas Day, they find love with the help of Christmas angels.  It ain't no Nativity story, I tell you.

The show ended with the lighting of the giant Christmas tree overlooking the plaza and stage.  Plenty of photo-ops for star-crossed lovers here.  Man, that's a gigantic tree.  Nowhere in Vancouver have I ever seen such a huge Christmas tree.  I guess we too poor in Vancity.  We're busy paying our mortgages :P

We then made our way over to the "Main Street USA" section to grab a seat for the night's magical light parade.  Again, we arrived about half an hour or so before the show.  We tried to entertain our selves by watching people scream nearby on the Hollywood Dream ride.  Finally, the show was making its way to our section.  The parade kicked off with a giant Elmo in the lead.  Snoopy and Hello Kitty were in direct tow right behind Elmo.  Elmo's so big he covers up Snoopy in the photo.

After the initial trademark characters floated on by, different floats based on different stories came by.  First there were a whole set of Alice in Wonderland floats.  Then there were the Aladdin and Arabian Nights themed floats.  Lastly, there were the Cinderella floats.

All right, we were, at least I was, pretty "floated" out by this point.  It was time for one more ride on the Hollywood Dream.  We raced into the queue for the ride right after the parade passed us by.  This time I figured out how to choose my Beatles song.  "Get back!  Get back to where you once belonged!"

11/9 - Universal Studios Japan

Well, today was a play day at USJ, or Universal Studios Japan.  Of course, we started the morning with a Matsuya breakfast.  I wonder if the Matsuya morning staff are starting to recognize us.  It's a Monday morning, so we are caught up with some of the morning rush, but we find it curiously absent of salaryman having their breakfast.  We thought it'd be busier.

To get to USJ, we actually have to take a JR train today.  The JR train takes us directly to Universal City and the USJ entrance gate.  So we didn't use any of our special passes today.  We just paid cash at the ticket vending machines for our fares.  Also, because we'd be on amusement park rides for most of the day, I decided to not lug around my DSLR.  My shoulders needed a rest from all carrying all that stuff.  So we relied on N's little Canon IXUS for our shots this day.

We walked in from the Universal City JR Station to the giant USJ gate.  Again, it seems like Asia goes all out just before Christmas.  So USJ was all decked out in Christmas decorations.  And maybe you thought we had way too much Christmas back home.  I don't think so now.

So upon entry, we planned to head straight for one of the more popular rides to get it out of the way before the day got too busy.  We got to Spider Man The Ride, but found out that it was closed.  Grr... that wasn't a great start to our day at USJ.  So we settled for the Back to the Future ride next door.  Did you know that Christopher Lloyd spoke Japanese?  I didn't either.

After about a 30 minutes at Back to the Future, we just headed next door again to Backdraft. This is not as interesting because there's a lot of talking.  And since this was Japan, all the talking was in Japanese.  Ah, Ron Howard-san, genki desu ka?  I think Backdraft is a redo if I ever get to a Universal Studios in the States.

Just following the path, we then headed over to Jurassic Park.  This was a pretty fun ride with the huge water drop at the end.  We bought the el cheapo poncho from the vending machine.  USJ was definitely milking our money today.

After 3 rides, we were already feeling peckish.  We came across a little food kiosk that sold a Snoopy shaped bun.  It was very cute.  We bought one to share.  Of course, this experience would not be complete without a photo.  I was very curious as to the taste of the bun.  Once I bit into, I exclaimed, "It's a Chinese yellow custard bun!!!"  Seriously, it tasted the same as the yellow custard buns I can buy in the frozen food section of T&T, except that I paid extra for the stylishly black Snoopy nose, eyes, and ears.

All right, enough trademarked food then.  We made our way over to the Jaws ride.  It's funny how everything is decorated like a New England fishing town here, but everybody speaks Japanese.  Even our "boat guide" was a young Japanese gentleman who hammed it up with his giant "rifle" when the shark got really close.  Good thing he was expressive, otherwise, it may not have been so entertaining.  N got unlucky when some water got on her as Jaws "buzzed" our boat. 

As if there wasn't enough water involved with Jaws, we went next door to the Peanuts area where we came across Peppermint Patty's Stunt Slide.  It's basically an enclosed water slide where you ride a two person raft through the tubes.  Even though it was pretty similar to what you might experience in any waterpark, it was still fun for thrill.  How it's related Peppermint Patty?  No idea, but my pant legs were pretty wet after this ride.  Arrghh!

We grabbed some lunch in this Peanuts themed area.  N ordered the doggie meal, literally, complete with dog dish, but with human food.  I can't say that burger and fries were all that good, though.

After lunch, we went into the Peanut Gallery with whole bunch of Peanuts characters to take pictures with.  Birchwood School was there complete with Charlie Brown's teachers unintelligible speech.  I guess it doesn't matter what language his teacher speaks in, it never makes sense.

Once we finished visiting with the Snoopy and Charlie Brown, we headed to the only roller coaster at USJ - Hollywood Dream, The Ride.  This was obviously the big attraction in the park featuring the longest wait of all the rides.  Hollywood Dream features your choice of 5 songs to ride along with.  I originally wanted to listen to The Beatles, but screwed up and accidentally selected Enimem.  Not what I was looking for.  We would have to come back later.

11/8 - Back in Kyoto so soon

We hopped onto a green Keihan train to leave Uji for Kyoto.  We would have to transfer along the way, though.  We went back the way we came and actually did the train station transfers instead of walking the 20-30 minutes to transfer near Momoyama.  When we got onto the train for Kyoto, we were surprised that we would boarding the Ise-Shima Liner.  This is a fancier longer distance train coming in from Ise, which is 151 km away from Kyoto by car.  It looked very different from the regular urban trains that we had been riding.  It was more streamlined and had some very fancy seats in a first class area.  We weren't allowed on the first class car obviously, but the seats in the regular car were a little more comfortable to accommodate for a longer ride.  A train ride from Ise to Kyoto is 2+ hour ride.  Too bad we were only on this train for 10 minutes at most.  It would have been a nice comfy long distance ride.

We arrived back in Kyoto Station, but we were in a totally different part of this large train station and had to find our way back to the main entrance in order to figure out where we were.  Once we found the main entrance, we could re-orient ourselves and head into the underground mall for another round of takoyaki.  It was just as good as the first time.

After dinner, we wondered the mall for a bit, but there wasn't much that interested us.  So we went back up to Kyoto Station's Sky Garden.  To be honest, there wasn't much to see.  And you could see hand prints on all the windows that offered views of the city.  I didn't find it that impressive up there, plus it was feeling very cold this evening.  So went back down.  There was a piano recital going on in the large amphitheatre just on the way down from the Sky Garden.  There were all these school-age kids playing their songs.  I think we stayed for 3 songs.  Unfortunately, 2 of the songs were the same.  They must have the same piano teacher teaching the same piece.

And because it was nearly Christmas, there was a giant lit up Christmas tree that was just above the amphitheatre stage and could be seen by the milling transit riders below.  I think Christmas is more over the top in Asia than it is back home.  We just never see gigantic electric trees back home.

11/8 - Uji - the city of the Tale of Genji

We wondered along the Uji River and came across the local tourist centre.  We had been collecting rubber stampings all this time and we found the Rekishi Kaido stamp for Uji. Rekishi Kaido is a society that promotes Japan's historical and cultural resources to the public.  So their rubber stamps is one way to promote Japan's history.  I think it's a great way for kids to get excited about history.  Here's the website sample of the ink stamp we got, except they don't provide such colourful ink for the rubber stamps.

We crossed the a small pedestrian bridge onto a small island in the middle of the river.  There were a lot of boats tied up to the shore.  They looked like pleasure boats used to entertain guests for drinks and possibly dinner.  The island itself had a small park on it.  There was even a temporary Sunday Market set up.  But we obviously missed it because most of the stalls were empty and people were packing their goods away into their tiny Japanese minivans.

On the other side of the river, we made our way up a tiny incline towards another shrine.  It was very quiet in the shrine and in fact, the shrine was almost dead except for a couple of other tourists.  The sun was starting to set, so the autumn leaves looked beautiful in the sunshine.  But otherwise, I didn't think it was actually worth walking up to this shrine.

A little ways up past the shrine was a museum dedicated to the Japanese classic, The Tale of Genji.  Now I never read this novel, so I had very little reason to go into this museum.  I remember hearing about it in an Asian Studies class and that it is sometimes considered the world's first novel.  But other than that, I know very little about the story.  However, Uji and it's surrounding area is apparently featured in the story.  There is also a statue of one of the characters from the novel closer to the middle of town.

So we completed a giant loop around Uji by walking back to the Keihan train station.  The sun was setting and we were going to have to find dinner soon.  We decided that we would head back into Kyoto to grab a bite to eat and probably have some of that yummy takoyaki again.

11/8 - Uji - The Thousand Year Old Temple of Byodo-in

We got off at Keihan Uji Station.  Outside the train station, we were quickly greeted by the sound, smell, and sight of the Uji [宇治] River .  It was a very wide flat river.  Even though, the river runs through the middle of a city, it felt idyllic with cranes perched upon their legs in the middle of the river on one side of the bridge and a lone fisherman wading out into the river to ply his trade.

We crossed the bridge to the other side where there were more shops and restaurants.  As mentioned previously, we were hungry after walking for 20-30 minutes in the Momoyama train station area.  We found a small sushi restaurant in the tourist stretch of shops.

We both ordered Zaru Soba (green cold noodles), but we ordered different sides.  I had the assorted sushi side order while N ordered the inari side order.  We were really hungry at this point and happy to be sitting.  The price was actually very reasonable for these two meals.  I think we paid under ¥2,000 for both meals.  That's not a bad price considering we were right beside one of the most famous temples in all of Japan.

After lunch, we saw a line up for matcha green tea ice cream.  Essentially, the green tea ice cream came out of what looked like a soft ice cream machine.  Then their piece de resistance was adding fresh matcha powder onto the ice cream itself.  There was quite a line up here, so that peaked our curiosity.  Plus, after being inside Byodo-in for about 2 hours or so, we felt like having a snack.  It was the perfect snack for this warm autumn afternoon.

That famous temple would be the Byodo-in [平等院]. According to Wikipedia, this temple was built in 998.  This place is likely one of the oldest places I've ever been in.  The surround complex is beautifully manicured and is very peaceful.  There is a giant reflecting pond that surrounds the Phoenix Hall, which is the main building within the temple.  The Phoenix Hall was built in 1053 and is only accessible for an additional cost of ¥300 on top of the ¥600 for admission to the temple grounds.  We debated about it at first, but the building is almost 1,000 years old, so we thought it would be worth the price and the hour wait until the next session.

While waiting for our time to enter the Phoenix Hall, we went off to the very modern museum on the grounds of the temple.  The museum was great and did not cost an extra yen.  There was a wonderful CG rendition of the Phoenix Hall when it was in its glory.  The Hall houses a large golden Buddha, which isn't very golden in real life.  Plus the walls of the hall would have brightly painted and almost heavenly.  In another room, were the original statuettes that hung on the wall of the Phoenix Hall.  They were removed and moved indoors in order to preserve them.  And, of course, what museum is complete without a gift shop.  

Our appointed time of 3:15pm was rolling around and so we went back to the Phoenix Hall and lined up.  At 3:15pm a tour guide brought us across the tiny bridge across the pond to the hall.  We had to take off our shoes in a designated area.  There were even numbered spots for people to place their shoes for safe keeping.  I guess this way, it's easy to remember your number and come back for your shoes.  I also took note of the sign that said no photography.

Inside the Phoenix Hall it was very dark.  This was in stark contrast to the image that the CG rendition portrayed.   Obviously, time had taken its toll on this ancient structure.  The giant Buddha still sat in the middle of the hall with eyes peering over the pond.  Unfortunately, all the tour guide's explanation was in Japanese so we hadn't a single idea of what was going on, but just being in this ancient hall was impressive enough.  I would think a millennial celebration is in the works for 2053.  We'll see if I'm still kicking around then.

11/8 - Which way to the train station?

All right.  H here.  I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided not to follow the map as outlined on our Kansai Thru Pass.  We were on our way from Nara to Uji, but I saw that there was at least two transfers according to the Thru Pass Map.  However, I had seen on a different map somewhere that a station on the Kyoto-Nara Line was walking distance to a station on the Uji Line.  So why bother transfering twice when we could just transfer once with a small walk.

Hm.  Wrong decision.  We got off at Momoyamagoryo-mae Station on the blue line above.  According to the map, like on Google Maps below, it looked fairly close to walk to Kangetsukyo Station, but boy was it hard to figure out where the station was while on the ground.  No wonder the Thru Pass Map makes it look like it was really far.

We got out of Momoyama Goryomae station and walked east towards the main road.  However, that's where I couldn't figure out if I had gotten to the correct road or not.  So I decided to keep walking.  I found a set of train tracks thinking that it was our desired station.  However, I noticed that it was JR train station.  We weren't planning to travel on a JR train, so this was totally the wrong train station.  We would have had to pay extra if we hopped on a JR train today.

We double backed to the main road.  Road signs are so hard to read sometimes in Japan.  The road name on the map didn't correspond to the name on the street sign.  But this was the only main road, so we started to walk south.  There weren't many stores and the afternoon sun was beating down on us.  So needless to say, it was sunny and warm and I was anxious to find this station.

The busy road made it's way down the hill, but I still couldn't see the station.  I was starting to wonder if we were going the right direction.  When I finally saw a train running right beside a perpendicular road at the bottom of the hill, I felt we had found our desired station.  As we got closer, we could finally make out the station sign - Kangetsukyo.  Phew.

We crossed the busy intersection and we made our way into the station.  Double checked that we were on the correct platform (a very important detail) and waited for our train to Uji.

After an unexpected midday hike under the afternoon sun, we were really hungry.  Next station - Lunch!