Japan: Sky Diving at Fujioka [Day 9]

My stomach ached from anticipation. I want to gag from sheer fright.

October 3 was a Saturday. The big day. The day we were about to jump off an air craft. The finale of my 10-day Japan visit.

Japan: Ibaraki [Day 2]

Mikawashima Station (Tokyo) → Katsuta (勝田) Station: by train "JR Joban-Line" (80min by "Fresh Hitachi") → Katsuta Station bus terminal (East Entrance) → Bus stop "Kaihin koen nishiguchi (Seaside Park West Entrance)": by bus (17min)

guard my heart

What do you do on days when you hate yourself?
I ask that because I hate myself right now.
How could I have missed that budgeting?
I hate hate hate budgeting.
From the inputting to PowerOLAP, to everything after it.

Japan Kanto Area Itinerary

After poring over endless materials and websites about where to go in Japan, here's what finally transpired.

Day 1. Flew in. Narita, Tokyo. Akihabara

Day 2. Hitachi Seaside Park at Ibaraki

Day 3. Kawaguchiko. Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station.

Day 4.  Kawaguchiko. Fuji Q Highlands

Day 5.  Nikko. Kegon Waterfalls. Chuzenji Lake

Day 6. Nikko. Shinkyo Bridge. Lake Yunoko. Ryuzu Falls.
to Yokohama

Day 7. Yokohama to Shibuya. Akihabara. And Ueno Lost & Found Section

Day 8. Disney Sea

Day 9. Fujioka and Yokohama

Day 10. Flew back to Manila

Japan Oddities

This is a guest entry from none other than my Mr. R (Right!)

Enjoy folks!

Two Japanese oddities that totally make sense

1. Faucets on toilet bowls

Having heard of Japan's high-tech electronic toilet bowls with built-in bidets and heating, I came prepared. Anyway, my toilet bowl at home has a built-in bidet, although not electronically controlled. What did surprise me was the toilet bowls with faucets that run water into the tanks.

From our first accommodation (Guest House Wasabi)

Really odd. That is, until I realized that it allows you to use the water twice. You could wet your hands using that faucet then proceed to the sink to soap up and rinse. Meanwhile, the water that you used to wet your hands is stored for the next time someone uses the flush. In that way, the water is recycled instantly. Instant water savings, and given the water-energy nexus, energy savings as well. Sugoi!

2. Condensed milk in toothpaste tube

Not strictly a Japanese oddity as a quick Google search returns results from other countries, but I saw this first in Japan.

Picture from Google - but this is the same brand that Chabs (our host in Yokohama) had

Condensed milk is thick (viscous) so it makes sense to put it into a tube and squeeze it out as needed. Then you just put the cap back on. Convenient and clean. This stands in stark contrast to how we do it in the Philippines: our condensed milk comes in tin cans. We punch a hole then wait as the milk pours out very slowly. Inconvenient and messy.

Japan: Akihabara [Day1]

We went to the airport at 3am, MNL time, flew at 5am. Then arrived at 10am, NRT time.
I was directed to www.hyperdia.com by Chabs. And from there I started my itinerary. It's really helpful when you are in the country where the train maps are as daunting as these: