Youtube!

I have a youtube channel!!

Now obviously there aren't any videos posted on it as of yet, because, well, I'm not in Japan yet. But I'll be sure to let you all know when there is.

New book

Just a continuation from my last post. My new book on yakuza had arrived from the States bribing the total to 22 books and 4 iPhone apps aha.


Until next time, sayonara さよなら！d(^_^o)

Books!

I meant to make this post a while ago, but never got round to it. Also, sorry about any typos, I'm currently nursing a large burn on my left hand, so typing is difficult and painful at best.

But onto this post. I wanted to make a list of all the books about, in, of and related to Japan. So here they are:

Guide Books:
Live & Work in Japan by Erica Simmons
A Gaijin's Guide to Japan by Ben Stevens
Eyewitness Travel Japan
Japan: Reports from an Enigmatic Land by Gerd Anhalt
Insight Guides Japan
The Lonely Planet Guide Japan
Japan Through the Looking Glass by Alan Mcfarlane

Linguistics & Dictionaries
Japanese for Dummies
BBC Get By in Japanese
Eyewitness Travel 15-Minute Japanese
Oxford Pocket Kenyusha Japanese Dictionary

Fiction
Shogun by James Clavell
The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami (ねじまき鳥クロニクル
Nejimaki-dori kuronikuru)

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (ノルウェイの森
Noruwei no mori) [to be read]

Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa

History

Samurai Battles by Michael Sharpe

Samurai Armies 1467-1649 by Stephen Turnbull (Osprey series)

Samurai 1550-1600 by Anthony J Bryant

Philosophy
Hagakure: The Book of Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunemoto (translated by William Scott Wilson)
Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinsu of Taira Shigesuke by Thomas Cleary

Other

The Japanese Tattoo by Sandi Fellman

Autobiographical

Toyko Vice by Jake Adelstein

So that's a total of 22 books, plus a few on a wish list and one on order.

If anyone wants some information or recommendations from this list, feel free to ask.

Tokyo Side Trips

As you can see by my earlier posts, I'll be spending two weeks in Tokyo. However, I don't want to spend all of that time IN Tokyo. I think I'd go mad, so I want to head out to the surrounding prefectures too, get some space and relaxation. Thus I will be starting a series of posts about where I plan to visit outside. Please, if you have been to anywhere I mention, or know of somewhere else that is good, please please please comment on the post with some details. I'd love your help. So here's my places so far.

Niijima
So I found out about the island of Niijima from the afore mentioned StreetEnglishTV (Japan Travel Guide: Niijima Tokyo Surfing Island! 新島★). Niijima is a small volcanic island 163 kilometresfrom Tokyo Metropolis (wikipedia!) (about a three hour ferry ride), BUT it is still part of Tokyo Prefecture! What the hell?! Anyway, it looks like a warm tropical type island, and a really nice place to stay for a night or two to chill out away from the city. Gotta go there if I can afford to!


Kamakura
A prefecture south of Tokyo, it seems a lot more countryside-y, especially compared to Tokyo. I'm thinking a simple day trip will suffice for this one, and the main reason I want to go is the Kotoku-in, a Buddist temple with a 13m tall, 93 ton bronze Buddha!! You can go inside!! 


Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park
I can't go to Japan without at least trying to see Mt. Fuji. And this, I want to spend a night or two in the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, an area of outstanding natural beauty (or so I'm told. Please remember everything I say here so far is 2nd hand information. I haven't been yet!!)  If I remember right the Lonely PLanet Guide has some good 3 day trips for this.

Cancellations!

Right, that title may be a bit over-dramatic and make it sound like I'm cancelling the trip. But far from it.
It's just, as I think I have mentioned before, I will be taking Hakone , Nagano and Shikoku out of my plans. This is largely to save some money, but then I might end up there anyway, who knows!

I've also reversed the way I'm doing the trip. So now, it'll be something like this:
1. Tokyo
2. Nagoya
3. Nara
4. Kyoto
5. Osaka
6. Kobe
7. Hiroshima
8. Fukuoka
9. Tokyo (again).

So a total of nine weeks and eight cities. Though of course I will be branching out of the cities as well, to places such as: Hakone, Niijima (doubtful), Kamakura etc.

Yuuchubu

Now anyone who is interested in Japan will realise that there are a huge amount of videos on youtube about said country. Some are absolutely awful, made by people (mostly in the US), who have never been, or will ever go to, Japan. Generally you'll notice that these people often claim and believe that they are Japanese :/.
BUT! There are also some amazing guides and youtubers out there, so I'll be sharing a few of the ones I have found, starting with these two:
StreetEnglishTV and TokyoStreet TV. Two channels from the same man, Chris Gen, a 30 year old man living in Tokyo. He's a quarter Japanese, and either Canadian and American, I can;t be sure. Anyway, here's a link for his channels:
http://www.youtube.com/user/StreetEnglishTV
http://www.youtube.com/user/ToykoStreetTV.

So check those out, lots of good information, and often things that are off the beaten-track of Japan guides.

Rain Rain Go Away

I'm writing this post on a cold, wet November morning, and my mind cannot help but cast ahead to my trip. When I began my planning, summer seemed a good idea for several reasons. And at the time, my reading on Japan was not that large. So here I was thinking to go in Summer would be good, saving luggage space because I'd be warm and dry.
Then my reading continued, and it dawned on me. Far from being the hot and dry summer months that we have here in England (with any luck), no, Summer in Japan is the rainy season, or tsuyu. 
It's going to be hot and wet, as perfectly explained in Good Morning Vietnam:

I've seen videos on youtube and travel documentaries, and I can only come to one suitable conclusion about the rain in Japan. I am going to drown.

Until next time, さよなら
203 days, 21 hours 44 minutes and 25 seconds.