Japan+Bali 2005
Extended instrumental all-plot remix.
Logan Airport, Boston, Thursday morning June 9. Before.
Shinjuku Station, Tokyo, Friday afternoon June 10. Arrival in rain.
Nishi Shinjuku Hotel. Nicer than we expected, actually. Electric toilet not shown.
Tsukiji Wholesale Fish Market, Saturday morning June 11.
Tuna. Only slightly radioactive.
Tsukiji shopping.
Sea turnip.
Fish frozen for easier cutting. Also works with cheese.
Now, see your net worth expressed in fish!
Snails need no translation.
Smoking on the job: fine. Cooking breakfast on the job: fine.
Grr, now we're thinking about breakfast.
Family business.
Sadly, these are not free samples for us.
Still more sea creatures.
Also available cut into convenient stackable discs.
Carefully.
The ubiquitous Mighty Car. Not sure if it runs on coal or steam. Possibly fish heads.
The semi-automat.
Disappointingly, whole plates of hot food not actually dispensed by vending machines in Japan.
Shrine porter, near Tsukiji.
Shrine almost ready to be ported.
Line for breakfast. Groups of Japanese people actually self-organize into snaking lines.
Daiwa Sushi, Tsukiji.
Voyeurism, Omote-sando, after breakfast June 11.
Knowing how much Japanese I don't know takes a lot of the fun out of nit-picking Japanese-speakers' English errors.
Architectural chaos, Omote-sando.
Tokyo default building style: the box.
Harajuku default fashion style: English of questionable propriety, plus skulls.
From right to left: haughty manikin; bemused B; scary pale man/woman stalking around upscale shopping mall in enormous sunglasses, enormous hair, and tiny leather Harley-Davidson bikini. Trail of gawking shopgirls not shown.
Unfortunate name. Can't report on taste.
Japanese schoolgirls shopping for trashy clothes, although a) as best we could tell they are required to wear school uniforms at all times anyway, and b) the uniform skirts are actually shorter than most anything else we saw Japanese women wearing in Tokyo.
From left to right: the Sony-Executive-as-Satanist look, the Stevie-Nicks-at-the-Salem-Witch-Trials look.
Takeshita Street, Harajuku.
Waiting for what will turn out to be the best ramen we have, Jangara, Harajuku.
Tokyu Hands, Shibuya. Possibly the greatest bizarro department store ever.
Saturday night June 11. Exhausted.
Architecture, Shinjuku.
Lining up an hour ahead of time for first choice of pachinko machines, Shinjuku.
Ueno Park, Sunday June 12.
National treasure, Ueno Zoo. Impossible to photograph without special equipment. Special equipment prohibited.
Otter comparison-shopping for camera-phones, Ueno Zoo.
Tigers and other cuddly creatures dangerous to provoke.
Sleepy tigers are boring.
Gorilla relaxing after daily scalp massage.
Excellent sandals. (Made in USA.)
Polar bears not fooled by painted "ice".
Make way for scoutlings.
Fried octopus balls covered in spicy mayonnaise. Healthful afternoon snack.
Why aren't there more asymmetrical cars?
Ueno Station.
Stray parade, Asakusa. In Japan, proper lifting technique involves not just bending from the knees, but also removing your pants.
Fake food, kitchen-supply and fake-food district, Kappabashidori.
More fake food.
Fake food in action poses.
Carp, Sensoji temple, Asakusa.
Sensoji pagoda.
Our fortune. "To start a trip is all right."
Are we supposed to tie any fortune here, or just the bad ones? Hopefully nobody will come untie ours and chase us down to correct our errors.
Purifying yourself with incense, Sensoji.
Skepticism at nothing in particular, Sensoji.
A brief session with the master.
And then snacks!
Nakamise-dori shopping arcade.
These are everywhere.
Goths browsing for swords.
Tourists trying too hard.
Cartoon bus, Asakusa.
World's coolest boat, Asakusa terminal.
Attempted dual self-portrait with giant golden turd in background.
Better exposure, but giant turd still blocked by g's head.
Failing for the eighth or ninth time. Trust us, that thing behind glenn's head is a giant golden turd on top of a building across the Sumida river from Asakusa.
Ticket machine made out of spare components from old Space: 1999 sets.
Cute mascots of dubious Expo we end up semi-passively not going to.
Tokyo Metro, Asakusa back to Shinjuku, Sunday June 12 evening.
Shinjuku at night.
Conveyor-belt sushi, Kabukicho, Shinjuku. Ate some unidentified things, and then wanted answer key.
We Will Rock You, the Queen Musical.
Drum Drum Revolution, overwhelming arcade, Kabukicho.
City bus to the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Monday morning June 13.
Ghibli Museum.
Laputa guardian robot, roof of the Ghibli Museum.
Mononoke-hime in stained glass.
Holding open patio door to circumvent rule against photography inside building.
Leaving the museum.
Hydrangea, Mitaka.
Lunch, Bar Del Sole, Roppongi.
Lunch (detail).
Portrait in empty shop-window, Roppongi.
Preparations for Tom Cruise's appearance at the world premiere of War of the Worlds, Roppongi Hills Arena.
Tokyo from above, Mori Center skyview, looking east from Roppongi.
Southeast to Tokyo Harbor.
Expensive addresses.
Consulting the skyview chart to figure out which direction we aren't seeing Fuji in.
Camera silliness, fourth of eight Mori Center gift shops.
Meanwhile.
Control panel, women's toilet.
Men's version lacks water-powered ejection-seat function and built-in satellite radio.
Mori Spider.
Mori Plaza water feature.
Atrium to nowhere, more Mori Center.
Roppongi as the lights come on.
Mori Center from below, Monday evening June 13.
Shinjuku Gyoen, Tuesday afternoon June 14. Tuesday morning shopping not photographed.
The mean turtle.
The cute turtle.
I really thought I'd find a better hat than this in Tokyo.
Taking close-ups as the exit muzak starts, Shinjuku Gyoen at closing.
Bridges in evening light.
Bridges in evening paint.
Cute truck, near the Park Hyatt, still Tuesday.
Tokyo Opera City, neighborhood whose name we don't know.
After a puzzling and abbreviated visit to the NTT Intercommunications Center.
Statuary mocking, part 1.
Statuary mocking, part 2. Apparently prescient of me to lose the hair.
Cacophonic street performance, Shinjuku, Tuesday night.
Wednesday June 15. Kamakura temple tour in the pouring rain.
Gate carving, Engakuji.
Kenchoji.
Kenchoji overflowing.
Kenchoji Shinji Ike, the mind-character pond. Yet another thing I couldn't read.
Apprently we are in the minimalist-religion district.
Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum, Shin-Yokohama, Wednesday evening after a lot more rain and some train adventures.
We like it here.
Proper loud slurping technique not yet mastered.
Nishi Shinjuku, Wednesday night, packing for Bali tomorrow. Kamakura Famous Chicken Purse visible at far right.
"Japanese-style" toilet, Narita Airport. Far fewer buttons, and for once no instructions.
Shan and Jon's rented semi-palace, Nyuh Kuning, Bali, Friday morning June 17. B lounging in gecko/chicken blind.
Shan explaining how big geckos can be.
Average residential doorway, Nyuh Kuning.
Ordinary guardian statue, random intersection of minor streets, Nyuh Kuning.
Preparing to pay toll through the Monkey Forest.
Failing to negotiate from a position of strength.
glenn fits right in.
Out of fruit, Shannon tries to sit inconspicuously still.
To enter the fabulously roccoco Temple of the Dead you must wear the only dull sarongs we saw our whole time in Bali.
Pavillion of the Dead.
Funny Japanese T-shirt of the Dead.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, wear no evil hat.
Dragon-Ostrich-Vulture of the Dead.
Water Spigot of the Dead.
Evolution, a self-portrait.
Monkey want glasses.
It's a dorky hat, but I'm glad I'm wearing it.
Monkey-phobic camcorderer on parapet will get theirs later.
Not flowers. Eggs. Don't know why.
If it were me, I'd worry that offering breath mints to the Gods would offend them. The Balinese are more confident.
The fakest-looking real flowers we've ever seen.
Gamelan Dial-Tone in full drone, Barong dance, somewhere south of Ubud, Saturday morning June 18.
Dear World, Please please please send more tourists. Love, Bali.
Barong dance reaches the memorable scene where Cornelius from Planet of the Apes puts on his pyjamas.
Barong monster on the way out to the parking lot to drive home.
Taman Burung Bali Bird Park, Saturday afternoon.
Again, glad for hat. Birds on arms left marks.
The fakest-looking real bird we've ever seen.
Is this for our benefit, or the birds'?
Jon leaves behind a little hair.
Fountain with flamingos.
The monitor lizard is not, technically speaking, a bird.
But do you want to climb down and explain that to him?
Hard distinction to draw when there's a cassowary in the next pen.
It's been at least two hours, time for another smoothie break.
B making the beginners' error of ordering something with no banana in it.
All directions in southern Bali given by reference to this KFC. The language of fried chicken is universal.
Saturday evening, Seminyak Beach, Kuta. Three of us enjoy being battered by the surf, one of us enjoys not being in the car on the way to Seminyak Beach, Kuta.
Sunset in Paradise.
One of our many gecko housemates, Saturday night. Nose to tip of tail, about a foot.
Rafter-dwelling chickens.
Sightseeing throngs, Candi Kuning. Sunday morning June 19, on the road to Pemuteran.
Serene if you find the right angle.
Scary from others.
B smiles wanly before braving the trip's most dubious meal, which all of us survive.
Slopes of Mount Batukaru.
Ngiring Ngawedung coffee purists, Munduk.
They make only 3kg a day. We clean them out until tomorrow.
Dear World, Please please please send more tourists. Love, Ngiring Ngawedung coffee zealots, Munduk, Bali.
Asia: rice and water and sun.
[Your body-part/traffic-sign caption here.]
Menjangan Island, mid-snorkeling-trip off Pemuteran, Monday June 20.
Temple built entirely of Rice Krispies, Menjangan.
B floating in a dreamworld, Menjangan coral reefs. Unfortunately-placed sunburn not quite visible yet.
Jon and Haki. Haki's immortal comment: "Big hair, big banana." And the Balinese know bananas.
Taman Sari Bali Cottages, Pemuteran.
Paradise, resort style.
Laughing at us, or with us?
Should-be-pristine beach.
One of the three porches, seen from one of the two bedrooms, of our palace "cottage", Taman Sari.
Seririt, Tuesday morning June 21, on the road back to Ubud.
Gitgit Waterfall, somewhere on Mount Batukaru.
Spice plantation, halfway down the path to the waterfall, somewhere on Mount Batukaru. Surreally out-of-place boombox disco music not shown.
The Offending Lunch, Candi Kuning. The language of improperly fried chicken is also universal.
Candi Kuning market.
One motorbike, two men, six geese. And four tourists in a Suzuki Katana trying to get a picture of them without killing anybody.
Wednesday morning June 22. Before coffee.
Enough temples, where's the supermarket?
If we could carry these back to Japan, we could pay for our entire trip.
You wouldn't find this much tuna for $0.50 anywhere in Japan. But then, you'd also never see it quite this color.
There's nothing funnier than another culture's fake pictures to sell picture frames.
No, I take that back.
glenn in ruthless bargaining mode. Total cost of a pile of stuff so big he has to buy an extra bag to carry it home, including the bag: considerably less than the T-shirt from Montreal he is wearing in this picture.
Fabric fabulousness. Goodbye to Bali, Wednesday evening June 22.
En route from Tokyo to Kyoto, Thursday morning June 23.
Waiting for the bullet train. Maybe we should actually read the guidebook section about Kyoto now.
Skinkhansen.
Kyoto Station, Thursday afternoon.
Voyeurism, Kyoto Station.
Important electrolytes and quite possibly added ingredient to prevent caking, Kyoto convenience store.
Kiyomizu-dera, southeast Kyoto. Sadly not pictured due to photography prohibition, the stop before this to see Sanjusangendo's 1001 statues of Kannon.
Purification, Kiyomizu-dera.
Roofs and hillsides.
The sleeping city.
Quiet gardens.
Quaint streets.
Old ways.
New ways.
Restaurant terraces along the Kamogawa river, Kyoto, Thursday evening.
Ryokan Rakucho, northern Kyoto, Thursday night. Still time for a quiet walk, out here away from the shops and Westernalia downtown.
Or maybe not.
Inexplicable rash in a shade of red the camera does not begin to do justice. Later research suggests an undetected assault by bamboo mites at our last-dinner restaurant in Ubud the previous night.
First aid, after much pantomime and guessing.
Kinkakuji, the Golden Temple, northwest Kyoto, Friday morning June 24.
Thus the name.
Karma as a carnival coin-toss.
Not nearly as much taking off and putting back on of shoes in Japan as we'd been led to expect.
Fortunes, Kinkakuji.
Tourist version not quite as spiritual.
Finally, a vending machine selling something other than drinks and cigarettes! And another excellent excuse to make fun of B for her inability to say "Cuppu Nooduru" like a Japanese commercial announcer.
Another foreign city, more funny small cars.
One last ramen break. Order by pointing.
Eat with glee.
The only non-food vending machine we saw.
Hinotori (Past), by Tezuka Osamu. Kyoto Museum of World Peace, Ritsumeikan University.
Hinotori (Future).
Surplus statuary depot, between Ritsumeikan University and Ryoanji.
Grounds of Ryoanji.
Just a suggestion.
Purification. Large not-so-meditative "Not for drink" sign not shown.
The definitive Zen rock garden, the definitive grin of a man enjoying near-total incomprehension.
15 rocks and raked gravel, it's always described as, but that omits these mossy patches the rocks are mounted in. Remember how those little green army men have bases attached to their feet so they don't fall over?
This is a miniature golf course in denial.
If you liked rock gardening, you'll love moss gardening.
One of these people may be less amused than the other.
Sadly, close inspection reveals that the two bottom rightmost items are not actually beverages.
Not that there's any lack.
From Ubud to Ubud, with only a few orders of magnitude of markup.