Back frrom Japan!!!

Yes indeed. I am back from Japan....and super, super tired. And since I just got "great" news about my job now I am in a great mood.

Like seriously folks. I was gone from work for 3 weeks and the store nearly falls apart yet somehow I am in trouble. My life IS the Twilight Zone.

Putting that aside because I did vow to be a more positive person while I was in Japan (really I did so why is this happening XD) I have lots and lots to do folks. My brother's wedding is in 10 days, my house needs to be cleaned, episodes need to be watched/blogged, and I am only on Day Three of my Japan trip. Oh and my dinning room table looks like a booth at an anime convention.

But sleep is threatening all that. Oh and I want to watch all my crappy reality shows that I missed while I was gone. XD Such priorities people. But in between sleeping, fighting for my job, and putting my house back together I plan on blogging up a storm. So if you are interested in my recent trip to Japan posts shall be up as soon as I can get to them.

Also I plan on catching up on the anime episodes I missed while I was gone too. But that shall come after the Japan Trip posts so they can be fresh in my mind. XD Everything shall get caught up on, I just need time. And possibly a maid. But it is good to be home again with my fur babies so I am happy.

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Japan Trip Day 3: Fushimi Inari Shrine

Well hello there. This is a slightly drenched Tenchi reporting from Tokyo. While my husband watches the last bit of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (in English) I thought I might do a little bit of blogging. XD Sorry for being very late with all these posts. On to Day 3: Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Almost to Fushimi Inari Shrine. Or what I would like to call The Day of the Stairs.

Shopping leading up to Fushimi Inari Shrine. Fushimi Inari Shrine is one of the biggest/important Shinto shrines in Japan. And by biggest I mean....up a mountain and a great view of the city of Kyoto. There were tons of visitors on the day we went but it wasn't as crowded as I thought it was going to be.

Official entrance to the shrine. All these orange gates are called toriis and there are literally thousands of them all over the mountain. Most form little tunnels one walks under.

This is where the charms and protective items are sold. Most shrines have a place to sell such things but this has been the biggest one I have seen so far. Bought a driving protection sticker. XD

Lots of mini shrines all over the place. They are all dedicated to Inari who is the god of rice. And since Japanese people love their rice he is a very important god. Foxes are the messengers for Inari thus all the foxes everywhere.

Beginning of our long journey. First official torii on the route. Found some nice people to take our picture in front of the big torii.

View from inside the first path. Looks nice and lovely at first, just a normal path.

All the torii are donated by rich business men. I wonder how much each one costs.

I am pretty sure the donators names are written write here. I could be wrong though.

A place where you can draw a little fox face and leave it at the shrine.

If you go off the normal path there are other shrines not listed in the main route. However they are not as well maintained. I thought they looked kinda cool and creepy.

One could purchase little toriis and have their names written on them. Then you could leave it around any shrine of your choosing.

Little break area near a pond. Would have been a nice break area had the overwhelming smell of incense hadn't taken over.

View from the "top". There was still more top and this had a better view. And this point I nearly had died. Old ladies were passing me on the stairs. Stairs that were not even and falling apart and mog save me lord. Thank goodness this place had ice cream or I would have passed out. BRING FOOD AND WATER WITH YOU ON THIS TRIP!

More of the shrine. Feeling better since there were noms in my tummy.

There were several little shops on the way where one could buy tiny offerings for the god. Me I rather keep stuff as a souvenir. XD

Almost near the bottom!! WOOHOO Thank you lord I am alive. This way had different shrines and this one was to a froggie.

After recovering in our hotel room we decided to explode a little more. Only we quickly learned that streets are not what they seem. Some are "not important" thus are not on any maps. Some streets have no English and the ones that did weren't on our maps. And them some maps didn't even HAVE streets on it, let alone the names. So thus began our 65 minutes of being utterly lost in Kyoto.

Perhaps if we had a bike like most of the Japanese people we would have been alright. But since I have not mastered weaving in and out of real traffic and people traffic I think it was safer to walk.

And thus ends my Day 3 Japan Trip post. Please stay tuned for more (as it is going to rain more :( poo). Thanks for stopping by!

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Japan Trip Day 2: Wandering around Kyoto!

WOOHOO!!! I am alive folks. It just seems like yesterday we were traveling 3473847 hours to get to Japan and now our trip is halfway over. But that means we still have half the time left here in Japan yes?

Also my apologizes for not having any blog posts lately. I severely underestimated the amount of walking/traveling involved with this trip. AKA I am a tired Tenchi. But a happy one that will try to blog...something at least.

Behold the view from our hotel in Kyoto.

On Day Two of our trip we really didn't have a set plan. We were really jet lag and I didn't want to push it or waste a cool destination on us being tired. So all of these things are around the Hotel Gimmond Kyoto. Everything is within walking distance. And walking distance in Japan (and for people who are in shape) is 25 minutes of where ever you is. Okay. Enjoy our random pictures around Kyoto.

This was our hotel key. Each time we left the building we had to turn the key in. X__X Made me feel sorta bad bugging them all the time.

This small shrine was right next to our hotel. X__X Weird I know. All these huge buildings and businesses on either side and BAM here is a shrine.

But that was the fun part of Kyoto, the old really mixing in with the new. Saw a few people visit this shrine from time to time.

First vending machine purchase. And yes vending machines are EVERYWHERE! But we have only seen drink and cigarette ones so far. This drink wasn't really juice or soda. Almost like both.

Small house behind the hotel. A lot of houses on this street were combination houses and business. So little room to park your car.

This is what all the top of the streets look like. A complicated mess of wires and suchies.

The Japanese are very serious about their trash and separating it. Makes me worried I will mess it all up or something.

At least I will not starve. But ordering in a country where you can't speak the language AND you are a picky eater is fun. Pointing does not always ensure you will get what you wanted.

Hello Kitty pops up randomly at places. Not as often as I thought she was going to though. One is more likely to see something One Piece than Hello Kitty.

Some shopping centers are connected to subway systems or otherwise underground. This particular shopping center had a lot of kimonos.

It's like a scene from an anime! XD I have been saying that a lot lately, very dorky am I.

This is where most of the shopping action was. Huge long roads that intersection and leave you feeling confused.

And inside said shopping arcade was at least 5 different types of shrines and temples. Right next to the shoes and the noodle shops. X__X.

But after a while one gets used to the amount of shrines/temples around Kyoto.

Found a little anime shop. Places like to hang up pictures of things that they don't really have in their shops. Like everyone has the K-On!! petit nendoroid poster but WHERE ARE THEY?!

I love how this machine did the entire process so efficiently and cute. XD

The animes do not lie, crepes are extremely popular here. Actually pastries in general are super popular. It is noodle shops and pastry shops everywhere.

The KFC's do not have mashed potatoes so I hate them.

I think that is enough random pictures. I will try to post Day 3 soon. Thanks for stopping by!

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Lawson Convenience Store: K-On!! merchandise!!!

Greetings from Japan! It is currently variety/talento hour here so there are loads of things to watch on TV. But I am not sure if the shows are more entertaining or the commercials...

This post should techinically be included in Japan Trip Day 6 but it was too fun not to share now. XD As an avid anime fan and lover of K-On!! I thought I should post it now while the happy was still very fresh in my heart.

The bringer of the noms.

This is a Lawson. Not my picture and despite taking 127817 pictures so far none of them have clear view of a Lawson. It is basically a convenient store that sells a load of products for nomming on the run. As stated earlier this is not a place of overpriced food but one can get reasonable deals. Probably because there are like 23983 convenient stores all over Japan and one has to stay competitive to stay in business. Now what is the best way to stay above the competition? Offer fun free stuff of course!!

Pay no attention to that new Nendoroid!!! She deserves her own post...and I probably should have posted it first. XD

XO Do you see what I see? If you answer was a bunch of K-On!! goodies then wee you are a winner. If you answer is a bunch of stuff I didn't need well I am going to wonder why my mom is reading my blog. Also I am wondering why spell check is not picking up my wrong words. Sorry for any mispellings.

Everyone loves Mugi! Even new nendoroids!

While we were just walking around I spotted cuteness out of the corner of my eye. Now since this is Japan it was very specific cuteness as to get more of my attention. But out of the corner of my eye I spotted K-On!! cuteness. Clearly I must investigate. I saw this super cute fan but there was no price on it XO What to do what to do?!

Is it a surprise that I picked all the Mugi products?

The language barrier was not as bad at this store so I was able to understand what to do. You buy two products that have K-On!! on them and you earn the fan for free. I LOVE FREE THINGS! The husband is saying it wasn't free but THBBBT on him. One of the items was this nifty little tin.

No you may not nom them!!

The tin itself was empty. You then got to pick 9 little...chocolates I believe and put it in the tin and tada item one!

I picked all the ones with Mugi pictures first.

Second item for me!!!

At this store (as there are million Lawsons I think) was a bag of popcorn. The bag itself was not very full but at least it was is a product I know I will eat so that is a plus. Now...do I eat it or safe it for cuteness?

Another hidden surprise?

I didn't even notice this when I first bought the popcorn. What could it be?!!

No longer mint condition!

Whatever it is they really don't want people taking it off the bag! Probably to prevent theft but it really prevented me from opening it.

Victory at last!

Turns out it was a playing card for a K-On!! game. Wonder if it is special edition?

WANT TO EAT!!!!

At the next Lawson I really just wanted something to eat and the last store had no choco bread. But then I came across this. K-On!! choco bread, the most sacred of all breads!!!

Close up of the cute. Now to open or not open...

Isn't Mugi cute?! XD

Since I was buying the bread I had to buy another item to get a free fan. That is the best way to save money after all. This time I went for some breath mints. See very useful item folks!

Here is the fan I picked for the second batch. There are a total of 6 fans, one of each girl and one group one. Perhaps if one bought every single product they could earn enough to get all the free fans?

Picture of all my goodies!

For about 900 yen I got 4 products and 2 fans. In my book that is pretty good on the swag meter. The food (if I ever decide to eat it...) was reasonable priced and I got free stuff out of the deal. All and all a happy deal for me and I only looked like a partial dork when I danced with my fan.

According to the internets this is not the first time Lawson has had such promotions. But the other times seem to require more work (IE speaking the language and earning lottery points) so I am happy the deal is easier this time. What luck for me yes? So very happy in K-On!! land.

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