Day Trip!! Ebina - Fujigoko - Hakone

There is no better way to start the day then with freshly baked melonpan! Yama-chan our awesome guide took us to Ebina where this melon pan is sold along side with many other delicious Japanese delicacies just to buy this famous bread. He was worried that they wouldn't have cooked it yet even though when we showed up at 9am half of them were already gone.

Japanese melon bread is mouthwatering goodness in pastry form. I love this stuff, know that I didn't eat all four but I did have a bite of all of them. There are many different kinds of melon bread:

• Cantaloupe (original - I think this one is the best one) 
• Cantaloupe with chocolate chips (the one I bought)
• Honey Dew (definitely a gooder)
• Cantaloupe with melon cream inside (I can't have dairy)
• There are ones with real melon in it (yet to try)
• Pineapple (Hong Kong style)

But enough about melon bread onto the trip! First stop was Mount Fuji (Fujisan) it was a bit of a drive but the scenery itself was worth getting up super early. Obviously we didn't have time to climb the whole mountain so we drove to the half way point to climb a little bit to see the amazing view. Even the half way point was stunning beyond belief, we could see on for miles and miles and a huge sea of clouds (unkai-I hope I remembered that correctly)

Yama-chan showing us on the map where we were.

Here are some panoramas that I took when we reached the half way point! I learned tonnes of things from Yama-chan like why you always say hello (Konnichiwa) to every person you walk past. In the mountains it is easy to get lost so if someone has gone missing we can say we saw them at this point in the path because we acknowledged them with a greeting, and it is polite.

Hakone was awesome, we took the cable car (1800yen return)  up to the top and from there the lush welcoming smells sulfur. That wasn't the reason we came up here it was for onsen tamago (hot spring eggs) they are hard boiled in the springs. It is the main attraction here, the view is just a perk.

After we ate our eggs we got back  in the car where I took a nap and headed to a Shinto shrine. Where Asia and I prayed for good luck on our upcoming job search.

At Shinto Shrines in Japan you can donate money and get a fortune. After having our friend tell us ours we were told to tie them to a wall at the shrine. Mine is the one on the bottom left corner with the pink and purple. Sadly I have forgotten what my fortune told me. 

This day trip was awesome!! Thanks Yama-Chan for driving us around, I can't wait for our next day trip out with him.

Studio Ghbili Museum - Fan Fare

Oh man I don't even know where to start, we showed up the anticipation swirling inside. Since the date was set I have been bubbling over with excitement. It takes a bit of effort to get these tickets click here to find out how, first you have to get to a Lawson's and don't forget to have all your available dates in mind. Make sure to have back up dates as well since it is most likely booked far in advance.  The tickets come in intervals, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm....and so on though they are only 1000yen it is worth all the extra effort. The map is attached below if you need a quick over view on how to get there!

The museum it self is very beautiful, as soon as you step inside it is like a bit like stepping into one of Miyazaki's films.  Of course photos and videos are forbidden. I apologize in advance that there isn't a million pictures from the museum. This way they can control the traffic inside which is obviously needed since there are a lot of people wanting to attend this wonderful place.

The interior is  maze like with many rooms filled with all sorts of hands on, visual and amazing pieces of original works, stop motion animations and beautiful recreations of Miyazaki's work place. This colorfully created design leaves you breathless through out and very fun for all ages that are fans of Ghibli movies.

We were so happy to have spent the time to go in and look at everything in detail, in awe we were still able to enjoy everything even though it is all in Japanese. The short movie was wonderfully entertaining and you don't need to know the language to enjoy it fully.

The best thing I saw inside was stroboscope that shows how animation works, the dedication of the works inside were nothing short if jaw dropping talent. This piece had the motion of the cat bus at the top and Totoro and the little girl skipping rope. I couldn't stop staring at this wonderful installment within the first room we stepped into. There was even a cat bus room where you could play in the cat bus but it was for children only. *le sigh*

The gift shop was packed and things here were a bit over prices but don't worry there are lots of little tiny studio Ghibli places around in Tokyo where you can find legit items for sale. Which is were I am going to go to find myself some cute little Totoro things for my inner child.

Of course there is a Ghbili themed cafe!

Up top on the roof was the robot from Castle in the sky which was also found in Lupin. I couldn't believe that it was life size and it was there was a real one created for all of us to enjoy. This place was like a dream come true! I would totally go back again!!

Takaosan

The trip was a direct one hour ride from Shinjuku station to Takaosanguchi, it only cost 320yen one way a good deal for the long ride out there. The forecast for this day was suppose to be 40% chance of rain, lucky for me when I arrived there was no sign of rain to be had.

This weekend was a long weekend in Japan and the place was packed with tonnes of couples, groups and kids everywhere. I was happy to hear that we didn't have to cue for a ticket and we would be able to start our hike right away.

During our steady pace upwards we stopped to see the little shrines that were places along the path. Japanese people made sure to pray to each one as they passed them by. Also, I thought it was quite interesting that every person that passed you in the opposite direction would make the effort to acknowledge you by saying hi.

I really enjoyed all the tree routes. I was told that this path we had chosen was the same path that the monks took when they came to Takaosan to train.

The following were the best pictures that I took at the summit, I kind of thought that we would have gone a little higher but this view was pretty amazing. I did however feel a little left out that I didn't have an onigiri packed in my bag for the break we took at the top.Everyone had one, good ol' calories.

The climb down was very fun since there was temples along the way, the forgiveness wheel and fortune tellers. We didn't end up going to the all you can eat and drink place since it was so full, maybe next time. From there you can climb all the way back down or you can take tram/chairlift. The yellow tram is in a track and goes down at a very steep incline! Strange I have never ridden in anything like this before and it only took 5 minutes to get back down. :D

Fan Fare - Pokemon Centre

We came around the back entrance, missing the front door completely because we were instantly drawn to the giant Pikachu face on the wall. (See picture below)  From where I am standing in this picture kiddy corner from the door is a gaming room. I don't know why I didn't bring my DS but it might have been better that I didn't since I would have registered in the room and I would have never seen the light of day again. 

As soon as I walked in I saw nothing but stands of new Pokemon merchandise. Now the sad thing about this shop is that I thought it was going to look like the Pokemon centre in the game, you know the room where you heal your Pokemons. We have all been there a billion times, I wanted Jenny to be standing at the reception desk. I figured that it would have been a very fitting venue based on the game that the Japanese would have been able to replicate to a tee. I was saddened by the fact that I they didn't however I'm happy that I was standing here.

As for the plushies that were available they only had the starter Pokemon from all the games and the odd ones from the new version. My friend and I were quite disappointed that they didn't have all the Pokemon from the older generations. There are so many and they featured less than 200 of them.

Since the new X & Y (the new Evee type), the new game and the Mewtwo movie is the big rage at the moment pretty much everything sold in the store was based on these three events happening in the current Pokemon world.

I couldn't find Danny a Slowking, I didn't even see any of my favorite Pokemons from before Black and White.

They had no shortage of Pikachu everything, bentos, chopsticks, stationary, pillows, purses, wallets, dusters, sweat clothes, key chains and more.

You can choose a pokeball and hope that you get a good one.

Okay so here are some of the things I took pictures of that I thought were way cool. I really dig the 8-bit stuff but I don't think I could afford to buy them all. Also look a Charizard!!

Why does this section look like they are all doped up?

Kyle and I at the Pokemon Center.

Yokohama

Cup Noodle Museum: 

YAY Yokohama!! First off we headed straight for the cup noodle museum since it seemed like a logical place to hit up first. We were all under the impression that this place would have the longest line ups. Which wasn't incorrect after we arrived. There were quite a few people there.

Going through the Cup Noodle Museum in the right order is highly recommended, since we kind of went backwards through it.  We should have taken a closer look at the map that they gave us. First was nice that the movie about Momofuku Ando's life and accomplishments had an English (plus Korean, Chinese, etc.) audio guide which I really appreciated. Making the story all the more comprehensible.

Since the entirety of the museum is 97% Japanese it made it hard to truly enjoy the whole walk through. To my surprise it wasn't as large as I would have hoped but we had Japanese friends to answer any questions we had about the descriptions on the wall. The pictures were definitely cute though!

From there I was easily roped into making my own cup noodle. For 300 yen we were able to draw on it, put the noodles in (I even cranked it in the cup myself, finished by a cute 'DING' pick our soup stock, and 4 ingredients!

To finish everything off we got to place our cup noodle in an air bag attached to a string to carry around and serve as a protective barrier. Since most of the customers were children under the age of 10.

Mine is the one on the left!

All in all it took about an hour, I wasn't going to post my drawing but hey whatever we only live once. Enjoy.

Mine's the wolf.

Enough Cup Noodles? I don't think so there are 4 walls.

Vanish- Roller Coaster @ Cosmoworld

For 700 yen it is totally worth it, Japanese roller-coaster  ✓  

We were incited by the pictures all over the internet of a watery chasm that you just disappear into. If you like roller-coasters do it. Also when you go take someone that laughs like a maniacal super Mario, it will make your day. I will never forget that sound.

Yokohama Chinatown

If you like steam buns, soup dumplings or all you can eat Chinese food this is the where you want to be. I found massive and I mean massive steam buns that sell for 2100yen but they are the size of half a soccer ball. I don't know if they sell any but I was so tempted to buy one and see if I could take on the challenge. If you like any anything or everything panda hit up China town.

Red Brick Warehouse

Is it weird to say that this place smells amazing, or maybe I was having my second wind after Chinatown. Their food areas have samples of all sorts, imported goods and also bakeries. I love the smell of fresh pastries!! The other half is a shopping mall, with mostly overprices but interesting things to look at. The building itself has some history but I had already had a drink or two by this point and was ready to move along to the park. Wait I think I came from the park.

Yamashita Park:

The park here wasn't something that I would have talked about but I thought it was worth the mention since we sat around and smoked our friends hooka with panazz. On the Sunday that we were there they had some DJ talk for hours but eventually we found our little spot. In the pouring rain we sat until I was ushered home cause I drank all the wine.