Japan - Scans

I have scanned some maps, brochures... that I got in Japan and might be helpful for the traveller (if you want one in a bigger size, tell me):

Tokugawa museum brochure

Osaka entertainment area map from a tourism office

Map of Nara with the main route written by a tourism hostess

Small map with the main services around the Tour Club hostel in Kyoto

A sketch of how to get to kooyasan drawn by a train employee

Map with the temples of Kooyasan written in kanji (useful to find them)

Hiking routes around Kooyasan in English and Japanese (useful to match the signs)

A kooyasan brochure from the tourism office

A Japan Rail Pass and a telephone card for international calls

Instructions for the traditional Japanese scarf

Some Japanese coins

Pictures of the hotel in Hakone I spent the night in. I was in that spring bath.

Sketch of the hotel in Hakone

A hand made picture I received from Mitsue

Postcards that I received from Mitsue, thanks!!

Japan - Day 14 - Tokyo -> Home!

From Roppongi, I took the first subway back to the hostel. I spent most of the morning sleeping. Then, I went to Akihabara for the second time, this time with money to spend!hehe! I bought two Manga figures from Saint Seiya for my sister and some material for drawing comics. I spent the evening in the hostel surroundings, savouring my lasts moments in Japan. Reading Manga, talking with the Japanese host, and walking the quiet streets of Tokyo. I was going to leave Japan after a wonderful trip. I was very satisfied and felt very lucky.

The following morning I wake up early and went to Narita airport. I arrived at Madrid with some delay. I had to take a taxi from the airport to catch my bus to Santander. I was VERY lucky because when I arrived to the Bus station, the bus was about to leave. The bus driver was very angry with me because I didn't have a ticket (I bought it through the Internet in Japan and didn't have a printer). I rush out to get the ticket from an automatic machine while he said bad words to me that made me feel at home (grrr).

In Santander, I took a taxi to my home. It is a strange feeling of safeness when you have been some time abroad and you go back to your home, your pillow, your bed...

Japan - Day 13 - Tokyo

The next morning, Mitsue had to go to work early. Although she suggested me to sleep a bit more I decided to leave at the same time. She prepared a delicious breakfast and gave me a lot of gifts!. I was a bit ashamed because the night before I gave her a simple postcard from Nara as a present. As she is a calligraphy artist she gave me one of her pictures. It was the kanji of 'bird' with the shape of a bird. She also gave me a traditional japanese scarf that can be used in a lot of ways. For example, to carry some drinks, cover your hair, etc..


She accompanied me to the station where I took a train to Tokyo. I left my bag in the hostel and went to see Ginza. I liked it a lot because of the high buildings and big stores. I bought two books there. One was a Manga (Japanese comic) which was written both in English and in Japanese. The other book was a kanji guide.

In Ginza I also went to see the Sony building. It is a big building with several floors that contain the newest products of Sony. Most of them have not been released yet. I asked the Japanese hostesses about the different gadgets. Sadly, they didn't know anything about Linux.

I also entered to the Ginza's yamaha store of music instruments, where I bought two harmonicas.

Then, I went to see two famous shopping centres and I took a picture of a Yoshinoya (one of my favourite places to eat)

After my tour in Ginza I went to Shibuya to meet two Spaniards and a Colombian that I had contacted to through the internet. We met in the famous statue of Hachiko "the faithful dog" and went to walk through the streets of Shibuya. We had a coffee in a Starbucks in front of the famous crossroad of Shibuya, listen some music in a big music store (where April Lavigne was going to present her new album),..

Then, we decided to met at night in Roppongi. I went to my hostel to leave some things prepared and in the way I entered a shop with used manga. I bought a lot of Mangas there because they were very cheap. Captain Tsubasa, Lupin, Super radical GaG family, Doraemon, Shin Chan. I chose those that were written with Furigana (the reading of the Kanji).

We took a lap in Roppongi but the most important discos were closed because it was Thursday. I wanted to go home and go out the following day to see the big discos that appear in Babel, but I finally decided to stay with the Spanish guy and we went to the only disco that we could found open, the Pure. It was a bad decision, I didn't enjoy that night very much.

Japan - Day 12 - Nara

After the breakfast in Kooya-san, I took the cable car down to Gokurakubashi, and then a train to Hashimoto. I wanted to go to Nara directly through JR, from Hashimoto, because it was free for me thanks to my pass, instead of taking a Private train to Osaka and then changing to Nara.

My idea was horrible. I saved some money but it was a long time in that local train, doing a stop in every single station, until I finally arrived at Nara.


In Nara, I was a fast and precise tourist. I went to the tourism office, got a sight seeing map and went to see the main temples and buildings one after one. I hadn't time for more because I had to leave Nara for Chigasaki.


Nara was small compared to Kyoto and the main tourist attractions were very close so it was not very hard to see them in two hours or so. The main buildings are the koofukuji temple were there is a five-storied pagoda and the Todaiji temple, with the largest Budha in Japan. Like in Kyoto, you have to pay a fee to enter. I paid to see the Budha, because it is a very important building.


After this fast tour in Nara, I went to Osaka by train, took the loop line and then the Shinkansen to Odawara, where I changed to the local train that would finally leave me in Chigasaki. It was a tough day, lots of trains. In Chigasaki, it was dark and raining, but I finally managed to get to Mituse's home with the aid of my GPS. I was completely soaked but Mitsue was very kind and helped me a lot.