Tuesday and Wednesday

Today and yesterday our program has been full with our hostess, Yukari-san, being such a wonderful... Well, hostess. Yesterday morning she came to our room, asking if we had any grand plans for the day. When we said no she said she could take us to the local aquarium/penguin park!

After leaving the aquarium Yukari-san drove us to the local shopping center and we went window shopping/ hanging out/ to the cd-store (I wanna buy Super Junior's newest album! -Mia)/ eating udon/ whatever you do in a mall. 

Wednesday

By noon we were out and about, going to see the Chinatown, Meganebashi ("glasses-bridge") and local shrines. We got our food from the Suupaa (=Supermarket) and elitistically ate ready-made meals.

A local shrine the name of which I do not remember

Chinatown

On top of Inasa-san

We didn't actually see anything so we had to take a picture in front of a poster inside the tower on top of

said Inasa-san.

Shopping

I bought a shirt which has a text in the back:

Better Than The Real Thing
It shows that the notion of the set of all those sets that do not contain themselves leads to a contradiction, was instrumental in the development in the modern logic and set theory. Critical thinking forms, therefore, a system of related, and overlapping, modes of thought such as anthropological thinking, sociological thinking, historical thinking, political thinking, psychological thinking, philosophical thinking, mathematical thinking, chemical thinkgin, biological thinking, ecological thinkign, legal thinking, ehtical thinking, musical thinking, thinking like a painter, sculptor, engineer, business person, etc.

In other words, though critical thinking principals are universal, their application to disciplines requires a process of reflective contextualization. As an example if any object in infinite gravitational mass were to exist, any usage of the formula to calculate the gravitational force would lead to an infinite result, which would be of no benefit since the result would be always the same regardless of the position of the mass of the other object.

I LOVE IT XD <3

Where we stay

s we have said our hostel is Nagasaki Kagamiya and we love it. Or I do at least, very much. So now we will FINALLY give some pictures for you from our surroundings for the past several days and until next thursday! The first is from the stairway to the alley where we live and from there downwards the pictures get closer and closer and the last two are from our front yard (*3*)~

RAINY DAYYYY

Today it rained for a change. Oh, I think I said it in the post I added this morning. Well, it was windy too. We went to the local shopping center Cocowalk and it was cooooool. There is a ferris wheel on the side of the building/ on the roof o__o

We went there with Mia and walked about around in circles, then sat a while in Starbucks. After that we went to collect Elina and Saana from that shopping district where we were yesterday and came back to Cocowalk to eat.

I tried to look for that adapter/computer's akkupiuha but never found any kind of shop selling those kinds of things. Well, I'll survive. For the moment.

We hanged around the upper floors with Elina and Saana and of course ended up in PURIKURA. Google it if you don't know. When we had taken our pictures and decorated them the local giigling and "kawaii"-shouting girls came to ask us to accompany them to their photos. To some we were just a decoration of sorts but Ami and Meiko were wonderful and even gave us half of the pictures! Sorry for the shitty quality but there is no light here so I'll take better pics later :<

Morning

It's ten in the morning here and it's raining. Again. Well, at least we're not in a hurry. (And that's what you get when you knowingly come to Japan during the rainy season.)

Yesterday we were supposed to go to bed early to catch up on our sleep deprivation but look how well that turned out: we spent over two hours in skype talking to our parents/families and Rosa. And when we got aroung to actually get some sleep IT DIDN'T COME. I rolled around for over an hour waiting to fall into oblivion and get rested but no.

Yesterday was actually the first day we went around at all, as the day before that we were spent and all we could do besides settling in in the hostel was a walk around the neighbourhood. Yesterday we went to the Peace Park and walked around in the rain. Some local ninth graders came, asking us to fill in some survey concerning the atomic experiments and whatever relating and I'm still embarrased not having remembered the dates when the bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Well, I knew Hiroshima's date but I wrote that I didn't and thank God we didn't have to put our names in it. At least I knew the year.

When we were leaving some cute kids walked past us and we got a class-ful of "Haroo!" and elementary kids waving. And one "Yo" which I prompted though, by saying it first XD. It was so cute.

We also went to the local Chinatown (they're everywhere I tell you) and walked around STILL IN THE RAIN, but when we found the local outside mall with a roof or whatever and could walk around without getting wet. We found the 100 yen shop and I bought very important stuf.

View from that shopping district/mall/ w/e ^ photos are now few and far between because it's RAINING (oh I said it already? Well, I'll say it again. RAINING.) so I don't want to get my camera wet kthxbye.

In the evening we went to the local supermarket and got food (finally) and speaking of it we're going to eat now n__n

Sorry for the kilometre-long entry but it's boring because it's raining hard and windy so... it's not very appealing going out now so we're pretty much stuck in our room.

Journey there

FRANCE

We just sat three hours in a plain. We’re now in Paris’ Airport, Charles de Gaulle. Boarding will begin any minute now. ANTICIPATION MUCH? I love being aboard on a plain and I get like HUGE kicks every time one takes flight 8)

Our plain from Helsinki was on time and our one to Narita (Tokyo) seems to be also. So no problem until now –our only worry at the moment is our luggage and whether it’ll end up in Tokyo or in Egypt.

It’ll be a lot of fun sitting in the same spot with the same crying babies around in an altitude of 10 000 metres for the next 12 hours.... Well, really, I don’t think it’ll be that bad, last time was fun atleast! We’ll be asleep for most of it anyway.

It’s so weird, I’m continuously like “Where did all the blonds go?” In Finland they’re EVERYWHERE. Here, we’re practically the only ones XD haven’t yet seen any beside us o__o

TOKYO

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand we have arrived in TOKYO, City of Destiny! The flight was longer and more uncomfortable than I remembered it to be and well. I have to say this. We went to Paris for nothing. NOTHING.

Imagine this. You’re in a plane, have been for over two hours. Before that you were on another flight, duration about three hours total. There you are, watching some stupid movie or whatever you enjoy doing in a contained space with a hundred other uninteresting passengers. Suddenly you decide to see the travel map which tells you where you are at the moment. And you are about 100 away from WHERE YOU STARTED EIGHT HOURS AGO.

Yeah, fuck me. Or us, rather.

So there went that morning and our journey could’ve been just that much shorter. But we flew over Mäntsälä, so everything is fine!

It took about an hour to realize the utter waste we had spent our morning. Well, not realize, but diss it and our decisions. Another hour went to Mäntsälä feat. Sininen ja Valkoinen!

But now we are in Tokyo, in a bus to be accurate, going from Narita to Haneda and we have all our luggage and even though we’re shit-tired (and its about seven in the morning here) and worn out –all is good. Because in under six hours we’ll probably be at Nagasaki Kagamiya and happyhappy (~n__n)/

NAGASAKI

We're here. After about 25 hours. And it's hard to stay awake. But we will! And we're off to go to 7eleven or some shop like that.

+I'll hurt someone someone if I don't get my computer's akkupiuha to WORK. It won't fit the adapter and RAAR. I is mad.

T O M O R R O W

Oh God, we're really leaving in about 24 hours! It's hard to believe and I'm -excited is not explanatory enough. I'm just compleately stressed about my luggage and am SURE that I'll leave most of anything important home. Or forget my passport. Or something of the like.

Anyway.

OH MY GOD. It's really hard to comprehend, I'm just picturing myself and Mia in the plane waiting for the small, cold lunch/dinner/something in between, having a fat man between ourselves and the hallway to the bathroom and having to suppress sudden explosions of excitement and refrain from running in the corridoors. Well, that's how I'm going to be at least, Mia'll probably behave better.

I'm also already picturing the time we're going to be for example in Kyoto's Rokuon-ji (the Golden Temple) and then suddenly it bangs to my mind that YEAH, I STILL NEED TO GET MY FLIP-FLOPS or something. Like, anticlimax much to that train of thought? XD

Okay, now really moving on.

Yesterday I FINALLY reserved our Nagoya residence Hostel Ann through Hostel World (because they didn't answer to our e-mail reservation and we had to pay 1,5€ to Hostel World as a process fee or something like that. It was my week's food money now I'm broke :<) and only our Tokyo accomodation is still a question mark~ But that depends on Akane also so no can do.

Today we'll go to Prisma and buy food (RUISLEIPÄ), and I'll go get my yen:s from FOREX and then the rest of the day I'll just walk around and be afraid of whatever I'll forget. AND then I'll go to say goodbye to my sister as she is in a horsebackriding camp some fifteen kilometres away. I thought she'd be at the airport to say our goodbyes but she won't be and I'll just hide in my closet and cry now. But I guess it's better as this way she won't see me going and probably it'll take a while for her to notice I'm really gone. I still notice though, and I miss her already, despite having seen her on Saturday when we took her to that camp. Of course there's a ton of other people that I'll miss but she's just -always there, you know, and it'll be hard when she won't be.

I'll stop now.

So, I'm really almost packed, I'll just have to get all my electronics in one place and decide what I'll use as my hand-luggage (?) bag and I'll be done! And find those flip-flops, of course.

But yeah, it's half six in the morning and my being bored has obviously correlated to the length of this entry. I'll just be on my way to eat lunch now.

Hello!

Oh, this is the firts time that I write to our English blog. Wohooo! :D I just decited to update this a little. I just booked our hostel in Kyoto. Now I have to wait for an e-mail from J-Hoppers Kyoto. I hope that the place isn't full yet. :o Anyway, we also have booked our hostel in Hiroshima. It's also J-Hoppers . ;D Those hostels sounded really nice so I'm exited to see if it's true. :D We noticed some problems with our hostel in Osaka so I hope everything goes ok and that we can change our time stayig there. That stupid hostelworld.com changed the days and now we would have to arrive to Osaka when we arrive to Hiroshima. -___- Stupid computers..

Oh well, after 6 days we are leaving to Japan.. I can't wait anymore! :D After that we try to update almost everyday!

But now I have to go..

I'll write again! ;D

~Mia

GRADUATION

We just friggin graduated. WE'RE OFFICIALLY DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL!

...And we've got cool hats.

I just had to say that.

So yeah, anyway. We got our official report card and all such stuff and celebrated home and in Helsinki Club (SAUNA CALIENTE!) and now my feet are dieing. I'm not even exaggerating. (You try walking around the clock with 4 inch heels and see how good you feel.) And now it's 3.30 in the morning, I've been awake for over 20 hours straight and I don't know if its night or morning...


But there was actually a point in this post! We got together yesterday (or well, actually the day before that as today is really already the sixth) with Mia and reserved our hostels in Beppu and Fukuoka! So now we are quite certain that our calendar will begin like this:

23.6. -leaving Finland
24.6.-1.7. Nagasaki
1.7.-3.7. Beppu
3.7.-7.7. Fukuoka

and then on to Hiroshima!

Travel course, accomodation version 1

Our course has now taken a shape like this:

• Nagasaki 24.6 - 1.7 (Elina?) accomodation: Nagasaki Kagamiya
  
• Beppu 1.7 - 3.7 (?) acc: Beppu Guest House
• Fukuoka 3.7 - 7.7 acc: International Hostel Khaosan Fukuoka
  
• Hiroshima 7.7 - 14.7
  
• Osaka 14.7 - 21.7 acc: Hotel Taiyou
  
• Kyoto 21.7 - 28.7 acc: Kyoto Globetrotters Hostel
  
• Nagoya 28.7 - 4.8
• Tokyo 4.8 - 17.8 (Akane?)

So far the list looks like this, but the only certain one is Nagasaki Kagamiya as it is the only one we've reserved. Changes are possible and probable, nothing is set into stone. These cities are mainly the ones we spend our nights in (in which we reserve our hostels in) but we will run around in the neighbourhoods and surrounding cities. We'll update the list as we change our plans. (The people in parenthesis are those who we're possibly meeting in those cities.)

So. Nagasaki Kagamiya. In Hostel World the running commentary is very positive (94% positive in fact) so at least my hopes are up! We'll spend seven nights there before moving on to Beppu and try to accustom ourselves to Japan without a greater culture shock. Last time I was in Japan two years ago I had NO culture shock whatsoever but well -anything is possible.

The cost of the hostel was 236.93€, divided by two meaning it's about 118€ per person.

MIA'S MOTHER, who helped us by paying the 10% booking charge (neither of us have Visa), WE SALUTE YOU.

Blog up?

And so-- the blog is made! Now we just need to find out how it works. Us blog-newbies took some time to decipher how to make a second blog and link it into the first one so we can write both in Finnish and in English.

The whole blog was meant to be made months ago but as both of us have been quite lazy with this it ended up taking this long. The point of the blog is simply to keep our friends and parents up-to-date with things happening in Japan, but it also serves as a reminder to ourselves so we can scroll about later on and be reminded of good memories.

Don't be shy to stalk or comment -we won't bite :D

Flight tickets!

We bought out flight tickets with Mia 20th of May 2010 from Ebookers. The total cost was 1643,82€; à 821,91€. The route there is actually pretty horrible: we're departing from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport at 7:35 a.m. and arrive to Charles de Gaulle at 9:40. In Paris we have to change terminals, but we have about an hour and 50 minutes to do this so it's probably going to be fine. The flight to Tokyo leaves at 11:30 local time, and we arrive to Tokyo, Narita Airport at about 6:30 local time. So far so good.

BUT THEN.

We have to change airports. Blow me.

So we run through the security checks (which are SOMEWHAT STRICTER than in most countries. I mean come on, fingerprints?), get our luggage and then try to quickly find the place where the bus to Haneda (Tokyo, domestic flights) leaves. We have a bit over four hours for this so and we (and hopefully also Ebookers) made out it's enough. From Haneda the plane leaves at 10:50 towards Nagasaki, where we should arrive by 12:40.

The whole journey takes a grand total of 23 hours and 5 minutes. IF the planes are all on time.

The way back to Finland will thankfully be a lot easier, as we travel to Tokyo during our 2 months' travel and we just have to board a plain in Tokyo and switch in Amsterdam.