So, I suppose this will be some sort of a combined post of what has happened since we landed in Tokyo. I'm too lazy to separate the events.. not that I'd even be able to separate them, the past days just seem somehow.. merged together. Ahh, the mysterious power of alcohol.
Let's get started then, shall we. First of all, 15 seconds after the final security check up point at the airport we got noticed by some group from a TV show. Miikka was telling me "go go, they're coming this way, quickly now, let's get away", but too late for me to realise what was happening. And there we go, somehow we ended up on yet another TV show with me after no sleep on the plane, practically no hearing in my right ear thanks to the airplane & pressurising, and not having spoken Japanese in 7 months doing the interview in Japanese. I have no proper memories of what was being asked or how I replied, but they were laughing when I tried to be funny (on purpose, I think..), so all things considered it could have gone worse.
Unexpectedly everything went smoothly at the airport & after that this time. No opening luggage at the airport, no fuss with the new train lines, nothing. Oh, and our plane was equipped with Asahi! The only minus was that we watched Boredom Games: Catching Boredom on the plane. Hrrrhh.
Once in Asakusa, we proceeded to Sakura hostel to meet up with our friend Tomo and had some grub with her at Kitchen Jiro and then fell in a few-hour coma sleep. Revived for now, we went to Don Quijote for.. I don't even know what. Not really knowing what to do next, the only logical option was to surprise our local friends that have their own bars. The reactions were overwhelming to say the least. We also bumped into Anders, another Northener, at Hiroshi's bar. Unfortunately I had to tell everyone that night not to tag any pictures of us on Facebook as we were still abiding by our plan to surprise a certain Vietnamese-Australian-living-in-Japan friend of ours the next day.
Thanks to our other Australian friend living in Tokyo for managing to get him in the right place at the right time. The reaction we got from him was.. pretty much what we expected. "Whattt the fuck are you guys doing here?". As one might expect we continued with some refreshments - alcoholic beverages if you will - to celebrate this unexpected reunion. After all, it was a bar we were meeting up at. In case anyone ever wanders off to Kasukabe head to Lad's, it's cozy as hell.
Now, a few days later, I thought I'd pull myself back together and head to the gym in the morning. Except all the gyms in the area are closed on Mondays unless you want to join a gym with monthly memberships, which is expensive as hell due to the initial joining fee. So, I did the next best thing: headed off to the neared park/playground. The pensioners, kids and the kids' moms were looking at me like I was mental. Then again, it _was_ a children's playground, but as such one of the few places with poles etc. to do pull-ups, dips and other shit in. After a 1,5 week break from the gym, drinking for severals days straight and exercising in heavy sunlight, a 45-minute session was more than enough to get me worn out. Not to mention it was getting awkward with all the little kids playing around in the same Jungle-George track and their moms constantly staring at me.
All in all, we've spent more than we should have, we've drunk more than we should have and we've eaten more than we should have, but we've had more fun than two idiots can handle. And that's what this DumbassTravels is all about. And for my next trick, I'll finish my Salmari & go to the humongous french entourage in the next table and speak some Finnish ín a French accent. Huvastii / Au revoir!
April 14, 2014
April 5, 2014
Resurrection (?)
Well, it's about time I suppose.
I'll be trying to revive this old thing in case my new fellow students at the uni. are interested, and just to keep sort of a journal of what has happened because with my horrendous short term memory and the amount of bars we visit in Japan my recollections of events can get rather hazy over time. Then again, those two combined might cause me to forget to write anything down.. We'll just have to see how things turn out. Not to mention my love of sleeping & laziness might get the best of me when attempting to create a new blog post. My apologies in beforehand.
The closer the trip gets, the more we've been browsing the upcoming menus and campaigns of dining places in Tokyo. Being the all-devouring glutton that I am, I've got my work set in front of me. 10-decker hamburgers, 2kg curry rice plates, all-you-can-eat yakiniku.. You name it, I'll eat it. Or die savouring. We've also yearned the taste of chu-hai, one of the most devious drinks known to man. Tastes and goes down like soda, yet the 9% version gets you going like James May in a Bugatti Veyron after a few pints. And of course there's Asahi. Oh sweet Asahi, how I miss thee. Our plane better be prepared this time. On our last flight they had run out of Asahi and tried to offer us Finnish beer instead - after we had been waiting for a few cans of Asahi for several months. Oh the stewardess' expression when seeing our reaction to her telling they're out of Asahi. We must've looked like receiving news of our parents having just died in a horrible accident.
Still, we have faith and that's what keeps our spirits running high. Let us hope we stand fortuitous in our quest for some ice cold Japanese beer.
I reckon that's it for now, I'll return to posting once we get to our destination or something worth writing occurs. That might very well be having a beer @ The Oak Barrel within the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Sorry. :<
I'll be trying to revive this old thing in case my new fellow students at the uni. are interested, and just to keep sort of a journal of what has happened because with my horrendous short term memory and the amount of bars we visit in Japan my recollections of events can get rather hazy over time. Then again, those two combined might cause me to forget to write anything down.. We'll just have to see how things turn out. Not to mention my love of sleeping & laziness might get the best of me when attempting to create a new blog post. My apologies in beforehand.
The closer the trip gets, the more we've been browsing the upcoming menus and campaigns of dining places in Tokyo. Being the all-devouring glutton that I am, I've got my work set in front of me. 10-decker hamburgers, 2kg curry rice plates, all-you-can-eat yakiniku.. You name it, I'll eat it. Or die savouring. We've also yearned the taste of chu-hai, one of the most devious drinks known to man. Tastes and goes down like soda, yet the 9% version gets you going like James May in a Bugatti Veyron after a few pints. And of course there's Asahi. Oh sweet Asahi, how I miss thee. Our plane better be prepared this time. On our last flight they had run out of Asahi and tried to offer us Finnish beer instead - after we had been waiting for a few cans of Asahi for several months. Oh the stewardess' expression when seeing our reaction to her telling they're out of Asahi. We must've looked like receiving news of our parents having just died in a horrible accident.
Still, we have faith and that's what keeps our spirits running high. Let us hope we stand fortuitous in our quest for some ice cold Japanese beer.
I reckon that's it for now, I'll return to posting once we get to our destination or something worth writing occurs. That might very well be having a beer @ The Oak Barrel within the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Sorry. :<
December 13, 2012
Arrival
Oh sweet Mary Poppins & Garrosh Hellscream how I've missed this. I didn't get an ounce of sleep on the plane, threw up and almost passed out due to an instance of sudden hypoglucemia during the 'lights out' part of the flight and what not. And it was all well worth it. At this point I'd like to mention how knowing even a bit of Japanese can help with the customs officials. Just happens so that the official inspecting luggage at the end of my line was the same gentleman as last time, so he automatically just casually asked in Japanese "Japanese is ok with you right?", to which I simply agreed in Japanese. He then just asked a few questions such how many times I've come here now and what I'm gonna do this time, and ended with "Oh, is this all your luggage?" "Yes." "OK, have a nice trip!" without even asking me to open my bags. Even though I was carrying slightly more alcohol than the regulations allow.
The first thing I saw while waiting for the train was the spitting image of Japan that is in my head; a cute girl with huge headphones on, sleeping in a corner of the train. I just couldn't help but smile and think how simply happy & at peace I felt just being here out of the ordinary. It's always the little things that get me like this. Kids playing rock-paper-sciccors on the train, a girl sleeping on the train with headphones the size of her head, grannies at the local 100 yen shop arguing and laughing about the price of tangerines and on the side pondering & making fun of our height out loud thinking I can't understand them.
Speaking of which, on the train from Narita airport to Asakusa, I had a rather pleasant surprise. A few minutes after boarding the train I dozed off due to lack of sleep on the plane. When I woke up, I somehow thought I was still on the plane and Miikka was sitting next to me. Wrong. I suddenly realized it was some random girl sleeping and leaning on me, and I admit, I felt giggly inside, especially with Miikka staring at me funnily across the aisle. Oh and by the way, Miikka wasn't so lucky. Instead of a cute girl, he was forced to sit next to a rather angry looking elderly lady. I guess she wasn't a fan of foreigners (:<).
In any case, We got to our hostel around 1 pm, and got a warm welcome back as usual. After a solid dinner of udon noodles with Tomo nearby we went for a short nap to compensate for the jet lag and general lack of sleep. 2,5 hours later we managed to pull ourselves out of the beds and headed to the lobby for some more dinner, and consequently, a few beers. This is where the stories always repeat themselves: Every single time we decide it's best to head to bed early and catch the new daily rhytm. And every single time we fail. We came across a new acquaintance, Dave, who happens to have a T-shirt company 'Image in motion T-shirts' distributing mentioned products on Ebay. What makes the shirts special is that they all have unique pictures on them taken by his friend, mostly of old school rockers such as Ozzy Osborne, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Freddy Mercury. And when I say unique, I mean the kinda pictures that have never been released and you cannot find anywhere, so heads up people. You can look for the shirts on Ebay by the company name, Image in motion, the artist names, or the photographer John Shiner. You can also find John on facebook and become a fan.
As I was saying, our calls to head to bed early and have a good night's sleep never hold, and this was no exception. A few beers later we broke out te Salmari, a.k.a The Terror of the Japanese, and had a few too many shots than we probably should have. Many bars and beers and whatnot later, I think I finally hit the sack around 3 am. But not without losing something. Oh yes, that was no exception or surprise either. So far I've managed to lose my wallet and my bag in Japan, and they've all been returned to me in a day or two. This time it was my jacket's turn. I was at A.S.A.B., our friend Yu's new bar, and started to leave & put on my jacket. Which was when I noticed I simply couldn't find it. People then told me I didn't have a jacket on when I got into the bar. Hmmm. Interesting. I can only assume I left it somewhere else. This could be the latest Indiana Jones flick; Yacchan and the Jacket of Disappearance. Or perhaps Three Bars, One Jacket. Whatever. I trust it'll find its way back to me eventually.
And on that bombshell (thanks Jeremy, we wub you), it's time to end this time's blog. Good night people.
EDIT: Yes, I realise this is a bit late, but alcohol and sleep got the best of us :[
The first thing I saw while waiting for the train was the spitting image of Japan that is in my head; a cute girl with huge headphones on, sleeping in a corner of the train. I just couldn't help but smile and think how simply happy & at peace I felt just being here out of the ordinary. It's always the little things that get me like this. Kids playing rock-paper-sciccors on the train, a girl sleeping on the train with headphones the size of her head, grannies at the local 100 yen shop arguing and laughing about the price of tangerines and on the side pondering & making fun of our height out loud thinking I can't understand them.
Speaking of which, on the train from Narita airport to Asakusa, I had a rather pleasant surprise. A few minutes after boarding the train I dozed off due to lack of sleep on the plane. When I woke up, I somehow thought I was still on the plane and Miikka was sitting next to me. Wrong. I suddenly realized it was some random girl sleeping and leaning on me, and I admit, I felt giggly inside, especially with Miikka staring at me funnily across the aisle. Oh and by the way, Miikka wasn't so lucky. Instead of a cute girl, he was forced to sit next to a rather angry looking elderly lady. I guess she wasn't a fan of foreigners (:<).
In any case, We got to our hostel around 1 pm, and got a warm welcome back as usual. After a solid dinner of udon noodles with Tomo nearby we went for a short nap to compensate for the jet lag and general lack of sleep. 2,5 hours later we managed to pull ourselves out of the beds and headed to the lobby for some more dinner, and consequently, a few beers. This is where the stories always repeat themselves: Every single time we decide it's best to head to bed early and catch the new daily rhytm. And every single time we fail. We came across a new acquaintance, Dave, who happens to have a T-shirt company 'Image in motion T-shirts' distributing mentioned products on Ebay. What makes the shirts special is that they all have unique pictures on them taken by his friend, mostly of old school rockers such as Ozzy Osborne, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Freddy Mercury. And when I say unique, I mean the kinda pictures that have never been released and you cannot find anywhere, so heads up people. You can look for the shirts on Ebay by the company name, Image in motion, the artist names, or the photographer John Shiner. You can also find John on facebook and become a fan.
As I was saying, our calls to head to bed early and have a good night's sleep never hold, and this was no exception. A few beers later we broke out te Salmari, a.k.a The Terror of the Japanese, and had a few too many shots than we probably should have. Many bars and beers and whatnot later, I think I finally hit the sack around 3 am. But not without losing something. Oh yes, that was no exception or surprise either. So far I've managed to lose my wallet and my bag in Japan, and they've all been returned to me in a day or two. This time it was my jacket's turn. I was at A.S.A.B., our friend Yu's new bar, and started to leave & put on my jacket. Which was when I noticed I simply couldn't find it. People then told me I didn't have a jacket on when I got into the bar. Hmmm. Interesting. I can only assume I left it somewhere else. This could be the latest Indiana Jones flick; Yacchan and the Jacket of Disappearance. Or perhaps Three Bars, One Jacket. Whatever. I trust it'll find its way back to me eventually.
And on that bombshell (thanks Jeremy, we wub you), it's time to end this time's blog. Good night people.
EDIT: Yes, I realise this is a bit late, but alcohol and sleep got the best of us :[
December 6, 2012
Helsinki-Vantaa
Yes, we're finally at the airport. And consequently, the local pub. By pure chance, in case you're wondering. Just happens so that the chance's name is Miikka.
Anyhow, the beers here are freaking expensive. I bought a round for me & Miikka (2 pints of Foster's), and the total was.. 17 freaking euros. WTJesusF? Despite this little upset, Miikka bought a second round. Still F'n 17 euros. That's 34 euros for 2 beers each. Seriously, are the bartenders androids that consume liquid gold for fuel? The messed up thing is, I don't even care. We're at the airport and nothing costs nothing, and we're just fine with that.
Because. Japan.
Anyhow, the beers here are freaking expensive. I bought a round for me & Miikka (2 pints of Foster's), and the total was.. 17 freaking euros. WTJesusF? Despite this little upset, Miikka bought a second round. Still F'n 17 euros. That's 34 euros for 2 beers each. Seriously, are the bartenders androids that consume liquid gold for fuel? The messed up thing is, I don't even care. We're at the airport and nothing costs nothing, and we're just fine with that.
Because. Japan.
December 3, 2012
Japan, we're almost there (again)
starting to be that time of the year again. Tampios gonna travel, huh, Miikka? Yeah, tampios gonna travel. It's been way too long since our last (and far too brief) visit, so we saw it as our obligation to spend the the coming xmas & new year with our friends in Tokyo. So, our flight is 3 days away, and we can barely stay in our pants. Keep an eye out for some more idiotic TampioTravels action.
May 23, 2011
Zip @ Nihon TV
So, Friday was officially weird. First Miikka was ambushed by some people interviewing people in Akihabara, asking questions about Skype, World Heritage locations etc. Based on what Miikka told me, the incident went as follows in 3 simple steps:
1. Step out of the Akihabara Subway station
2. See a crew of cameramen & interviewers closing in on their prey: you
3. Get asked whether you speak English
a) answer ’yes’, get interviewed
b) answer ’no’, gtfo
Since Miikka isn’t exactly a fan of people interrupting his shopping sprees in Akihabara, he tried to get the interview over with as soon as possible.. to no avail. But, since I didn’t see anything in the news about people getting hurt in Akihabara, I can only assume the camera crew let him off to continue his shopping spree soon enough.
You’d think that’s pretty much the 15 minutes of fame for the day, right? Well, think again, Tim.
Once Miikka managed to get back to the hostel and we finished off the delicious Korean bibimpap above with Yuri, Tomo and Johrel, a group of people from Nihon TV - a Japanese nationwide network - popped up at our hostel’s front desk. I noticed Naoto, our friend and one of the staff members at Sakura Hostel, pointing at us while talking to them, and saying something about Japanese being OK.
The next thing we notice is them closing in on us, giving the cameraman a green light and saying let's begin. In Japanese. If I had had some time to prepare (the amount of discomfort a camera brings to me is ridiculous) by having a beer or two, things would've been a lot more relaxed, plus my Japanese tends to get better and more fluent with a few beverages as I stop worrying about grammar too much & so on. Well, in the end it went OK I suppose, since the guy listening to the interview behind us was telling us it was smooth, though from my point of view it was relatively awkward since they were using the kind of formal language I personally do not use or hear too much. Anyhow, the TV show is a morning show, and it will be out on May 19th on the Nihon TV channel (channel 4) at 7:15 am. Prepare for the worst.
EDIT: We managed to see the show at our hotel in Tokunoshima, seems like they only used about.. 5 seconds of the 15 minute interview, so nothing to panic over if you missed the whole thing.
May 18, 2011
Hello all!
Today I got a textmessage from Janne.
And he ask me to inform you all, that they are somewhere
on those little islands of Japan (don't ask, I don't know where).
And there are no internet connection near of them
or they haven't just found it.
So...
It could take time when Janne is writing in here again.
Patience.
-Pasi
(sorry my bad english, I hope it is still readable)
May 11, 2011
TampioTravels is living up to its name yet again. Yesterday we decided that it'd be best to hit the sack early, to compensate for the lack of sleep during the last 40 hours. Yeah, right. When did we ever do something smart?
So, we went to Samurai Cafe soon after it opened, to greet the friends we last saw 1,5 years ago. It's next to impossible to explain the staff's faces, but a mix of disbelief, joy, confusion and fear (of Salmari aka the Black Vodka) would be the best way to describe them. After the initial shock we got bear-hugged and seated at the counter, and we instantly started dishing out Salmiakkikossu - the terror of the Japanese. After a healthy 3 hours, the manager of our Hostel, Tomo joined us at Samurai Cafe, and we headed towards our friend Hiroshi's new bar near the Kaminarimon. The place was rather small, but very cozy, and the atmosphere was extremely laid back as everyone knew everyone. Somehow we bumped into a representative of Asahi, which was rather odd because he was the second one we met that night... I'm starting to suspect the bartenders at our regular bars are spreading the word about our beer-loving nature.
We decided to call it a night since we really needed the sleep, and thought it'd be smart to adjust to the new daily rhythm. Yeah. Right. We happened to pass by Samurai Cafe, and after seeing the people inside waving at us to come in, I managed to persuade Miikka to go in with me for just one more pint. Which lasted until 3 am. After the bar started closing down we figured we should really hit the sack. Hah. As if. Yuu-chan, one of the bartenders from Samurai Cafe, told us we couldn't quit now, and said he'd take us to a bar that's open until morning. Well, what can I say, it's hard to say no. So, off we went, to find ourselves in a bar held by two girls, who were drinking as much as the customers, which suited us just fine.
Finally, around 7 am we got out, and realized we were somewhat tipsy, and had no idea where we were. Sounds awfully familiar, right? Well, through a miracle, we managed to find our way back to the hostel after a 30 minute hike, and with the meals from Paku Paku we had bought 7 hours earlier, we were ready to finally dive into the fluffy hostel beds (which at that point horribly resembled my backpack.. which I later found out it was).
So, all in all, as usual, our plans never hold up. Even with 3 previous trips of experience, we still fail miserably at executing the plan. Or plans. Or even a hint of common sense. But what matters is we had fun. With old friends, new acquintancies, or just some rediculously cute Japanese girls, it was one of the parts of Japan we fell in love with years ago. As for now, we're on our way to fins an izakaya with our new Scottish & American friends that we just met at the hostel. So, remember to behave, since we won't. Over and out.
P.S. the author of this post was intoxicated during the process of writing, so please forgive all the grammar mistakes, the content, and whatever you might find offensive, vulgar or stupid.
May 10, 2011
F'n Tron
Three hours on the plane, about seven to go. As if the anticipation in itself wasn’t enough to get our smiles from ear to ear, the complimentary drink service providing us with Asahi Super Dry made the smiles, if possible, even wider. And just when it seemed things couldn’t go any better, one of the air stewardesses was kind enough to inform us that Finland just beat Russia in the penalty shots after the actual game time and the 5 minute sudden death extension period. For those who don’t know WTH I’m talking about, it’s the ice hockey world championship tournament going on this time of the spring. Speaking of which, what is this, like, the 3rd match where Finland wins the penalty shot contest this year? Usually we suck horribly at those.
But enough of that. We’re still several hours away from Tokyo, and there’s no Internet connection up here. So, I have to resort to writing down what’s happening and uploading them once we land and I can find a free Wi-Fi.. Anyhow, we just finished watching Tron. And with the help of Asahi, we survived. Let’s just hope the next movie is less horrible. That being said, I suppose we’re gonna have to drink to Finland’s victory tonight.. which can only mean one thing. Samurai Cafe!
Ready for us Tokyo? ‘Cause we sure as hell are ready for you.
But enough of that. We’re still several hours away from Tokyo, and there’s no Internet connection up here. So, I have to resort to writing down what’s happening and uploading them once we land and I can find a free Wi-Fi.. Anyhow, we just finished watching Tron. And with the help of Asahi, we survived. Let’s just hope the next movie is less horrible. That being said, I suppose we’re gonna have to drink to Finland’s victory tonight.. which can only mean one thing. Samurai Cafe!
Ready for us Tokyo? ‘Cause we sure as hell are ready for you.
April 23, 2011
Space Crusade & planning the trip
..well, playing Space Crusade, thinking of planning the trip yet consuming alcoholic beverages instead.
Yeah, that's how these things usually go. I bring a pile of printed maps, red marker pens and a head filled with ideas and enthusiasm. 15 minutes later I give up since everyone else is drinking (and playing Space Crusade, wtf?) and telling me to quit nerding at the computer. So much for deciding the schedule & islands we're gonna hit. So, instead you have yours truly blogging (despite the rest of the gang yelling at me) here while knocking back shots of Pepsi infused with vodka.
Personally, I can't be arsed to try out Space Crusade myself (the rulebook just doesn't seem that inviting during these nights), but I have to admit, it makes one hell of a spectator sport. Let me get this straight. The game itself doesn't seem that interesting (I assume it's due to not knowing or playing the game myself, I expect someone to tell me an unsophisticated fool such as me doesn't understand the depth of this game's fineness. And hell, they'd probably be right), but surveying the players even without having any knowledge of the game itself is like watching the fights in the middle of hockey games. Priceless.
The quarrels about the rules that aren't stated clearly enough in the rulebook, the explosions of rage when someone throws a double 2 three times in a row, the epicaricacy of when someone fails miserably.. The entertainment value of this game is almost infinite. Make that infinite to the 4th power when the players are intoxicated. 5th power if you as the spectator are. Infinite to the n:th power if all the participants are under the influence of alcohol.
Seriously, this should be a sport in the Olympic games. The winter and the summer Olympics.
I'll get back to you once they settle out the scores. Unless I'm too focused on the beverages by that point.
Anyway, ttfn.
Yeah, that's how these things usually go. I bring a pile of printed maps, red marker pens and a head filled with ideas and enthusiasm. 15 minutes later I give up since everyone else is drinking (and playing Space Crusade, wtf?) and telling me to quit nerding at the computer. So much for deciding the schedule & islands we're gonna hit. So, instead you have yours truly blogging (despite the rest of the gang yelling at me) here while knocking back shots of Pepsi infused with vodka.
Personally, I can't be arsed to try out Space Crusade myself (the rulebook just doesn't seem that inviting during these nights), but I have to admit, it makes one hell of a spectator sport. Let me get this straight. The game itself doesn't seem that interesting (I assume it's due to not knowing or playing the game myself, I expect someone to tell me an unsophisticated fool such as me doesn't understand the depth of this game's fineness. And hell, they'd probably be right), but surveying the players even without having any knowledge of the game itself is like watching the fights in the middle of hockey games. Priceless.
The quarrels about the rules that aren't stated clearly enough in the rulebook, the explosions of rage when someone throws a double 2 three times in a row, the epicaricacy of when someone fails miserably.. The entertainment value of this game is almost infinite. Make that infinite to the 4th power when the players are intoxicated. 5th power if you as the spectator are. Infinite to the n:th power if all the participants are under the influence of alcohol.
Seriously, this should be a sport in the Olympic games. The winter and the summer Olympics.
I'll get back to you once they settle out the scores. Unless I'm too focused on the beverages by that point.
Anyway, ttfn.
April 22, 2011
Return of the dumbasses
So, it's that time of the year again huh?
Spring is on its way, along with all the allergies, gastric flus, and of course, travel fever.
Despite the recent events, it's about time we did one of our recurring trips to Japan. We figured this would be as good of a time as any, and if nothing else, we could at least try to give our local friends in Tokyo something else to think about for a moment. Such as worrying about two drunken Finns with a high accident proneness and no instinct of self preservation whatsoever.
Anyhow, since we will have no business going to Sendai or Fukushima (nor probably Hokkaido or the northern parts of Honshu), we thought we'd spend that extra time somewhere else, and opted for the Ryūkyū Island in the south. We're still in the process of narrowing our options of islands down to three or four (since we won't have more than 1-1,5 weeks for the purpose), though we've almost made up our minds. I'll come back to the matter of islands of choice once we're actually there.. which is about three weeks from now. I can barely restrain myself.
That's basically it in a nutshell. I won't go into detail about the rest of the destinations, but you may at least expect diving, climbing and scootering around. Hinting too much there? Perhaps, but the locations might still be a surprise! Cold can be hot, scooters can be turtles, and even if the water boils it doesn't mean the paper is burning! Father, I'm a frying pan!
..right, I'm rambling again.
Off I go then.
Spring is on its way, along with all the allergies, gastric flus, and of course, travel fever.
Despite the recent events, it's about time we did one of our recurring trips to Japan. We figured this would be as good of a time as any, and if nothing else, we could at least try to give our local friends in Tokyo something else to think about for a moment. Such as worrying about two drunken Finns with a high accident proneness and no instinct of self preservation whatsoever.
Anyhow, since we will have no business going to Sendai or Fukushima (nor probably Hokkaido or the northern parts of Honshu), we thought we'd spend that extra time somewhere else, and opted for the Ryūkyū Island in the south. We're still in the process of narrowing our options of islands down to three or four (since we won't have more than 1-1,5 weeks for the purpose), though we've almost made up our minds. I'll come back to the matter of islands of choice once we're actually there.. which is about three weeks from now. I can barely restrain myself.
That's basically it in a nutshell. I won't go into detail about the rest of the destinations, but you may at least expect diving, climbing and scootering around. Hinting too much there? Perhaps, but the locations might still be a surprise! Cold can be hot, scooters can be turtles, and even if the water boils it doesn't mean the paper is burning! Father, I'm a frying pan!
..right, I'm rambling again.
Off I go then.
January 1, 2010
Happy New Year
So, it's officially 2010, what'd you all do the past year?
TampioTravels chose to celebrate Suzuki-san's last day as the manager of Samurai Cafe while trying to put all the mistakes of last behind us, and afterwards we went to Sensôji temple to do the first prayers of the year around 4 in the morning. Hell, I even bought a kimono for this rare chance.
Ahh right, I almost forgot. Earlier the same day we went to relax with the help of some games at the arcade, and Pekka, being the baseball star that he is, wanted to practice his swing:
Ahh right, I almost forgot. Earlier the same day we went to relax with the help of some games at the arcade, and Pekka, being the baseball star that he is, wanted to practice his swing:
December 28, 2009
Monja-yaki & Karaoke
Yesterday we cooked some Monja-yaki, Okonomiyaki, pork intestines and some miscellaneous (assumingly) edible things.
As always, we needed a few demonstrations before we get things done right.
Afterwards it was time for karaoke, and yours truly managed to find some Korpiklaani and Turisas on the songlist. The result was this:
We're truly sorry you had to see this.
As always, we needed a few demonstrations before we get things done right.
Afterwards it was time for karaoke, and yours truly managed to find some Korpiklaani and Turisas on the songlist. The result was this:
We're truly sorry you had to see this.
December 27, 2009
Xmas dinner
For Christmas day dinner we couldn't get our hands on a ham, so instead we went for yakiniku at Gyukaku.
So, that's it for our new neo-traditional Xmas meal, I have a strong feeling we'll be going back there.
Not knowing what we should start with, we decided to try out most of the appetizers before going with the plate with 4 kinds of meat, including tongue, some shiitake mushrooms and zucchini. The appetizers included things such as chilled tomato, kimchee, poached egg, seaweed soup, and of course rice.
The dinner didn't seem that heavy or big, but it slowly started to fill us up afterwards. The price wasn't that high either, though it wasn't one of the lowest either. All together 6450 yen for the food + 3 beers, and you could easily leave the appetizers out of the picture and get more meat to grill instead. Also, there are eat all you want/drink all you want offers available, so if you're hungry, those might be your best bet.
So, that's it for our new neo-traditional Xmas meal, I have a strong feeling we'll be going back there.
December 24, 2009
Merrrrryyyyyy Chrrristmassss
TampioTravels wishes everyone a Merry Christmas
Remember to behave, I know we'll try to.
Remember to behave, I know we'll try to.
December 21, 2009
Evening action
On our way to Tsukuba Express we happened to see some fire trucks near the Hanayashiki amusement park, though we never found out what had happened. Even when we returned to Asakusa after a few hours the fire trucks were still there.
3 of the trucks didn't fit in one picture, so you'll just have to take our word for it.
Well, anyhow, we went to Akihabara to do some late night shopping and decided to grab something to eat while we were there. We ended up in C & C, a chain specializing in curry dishes. The katsu curry (a curry & rice dish with a sliced deep fried pork cutlet) was simply incredible, and C&C made it straight to the TampioTravels top 5 dining places list.
Here's the meal from my point of view, I apologize for not having the patience to take a picture before digging in.
Here's the meal from my point of view, I apologize for not having the patience to take a picture before digging in.
Picture time
Ok, I'm feeling lazy and tired thanks to last night, so I'll settle for posting pics instead of typing.
First of all, most things in Japan seem to come in both extremities, especially food and drinks.
If you're a fan of whisky, here's something you might find exciting
First of all, most things in Japan seem to come in both extremities, especially food and drinks.
If you're a fan of whisky, here's something you might find exciting
Yes, whisky can come in 4 L bottles.
Up next, the best ramen I've had so far
Thanks to Tomo for showing Tsuyoshi's favorite noodle place.
And of course you can't have a meal without a dessert or two (well, at least i can't, not in here)
So, so sweet yet so, so good.
Luckily I can work it off in the escalators, even if I don't want to.
The picture is taken from halfway down, and it's only the first of the 3-4 escalators that take you up or down to/from the subway. Walking these up 10 times a day with a full backpack + hand luggage can get somewhat tiring I tell you.
Miikka is yelling that you don't have to necessarily walk those up, but come on, it's Tokyo. If you're not using your feet in these, you're not in a hurry. If you're not in a hurry, you're not really in Tokyo. That's my excuse anyway.
Miikka is yelling that you don't have to necessarily walk those up, but come on, it's Tokyo. If you're not using your feet in these, you're not in a hurry. If you're not in a hurry, you're not really in Tokyo. That's my excuse anyway.
December 20, 2009
Samurais, Icelanders, Salarymen, Sake
Well, Honestly I don't even know where to start. I'm not even sure how things came out the way they did. But hell, I'll at least try to cough something up.
So, we started out in Samurai Cafe as usual, bumped into a few old friends as well as some new acquaintances. One of these new comrades of ours, let us call him Sigu-chan, was an icelander who had been living in Japan most of his life, and has now been married to a Japanese woman for 7 years. He was thrilled to be able to have a conversation with people who could relate to what it is like to come from a frozen country filled with nature to a country centered around technology, unbearably hot summers and lack of forests.
The evening went on, and we kept on talking with Sigu-chan and some of our new local friends as it was starting to get close to Samurai Cafe's closing hours. What to do now? There was still plenty to discuss, and nobody was feeling tired yet. Coincidently Sigu-chan's wife was having a party at their place with their friends from around Japan, and Sigu-chan was kind enough to invite us to join them.
So off we went, visited a 24/7 convinience store to get a few more drinks for the occasion, and after a 10 minute walk we found ourselves in a small appartment with people more or less familiar to us. It took around 30 seconds to adjust to the situation, after which it almost felt like we had been doing this together for years. Few people were from Okinawa, one was a local salaryman who had slept 1 night at home this week due to just working around the clock, one was a guy with the coolest voice in the world, and of course there was Sigu-chan's wife who spoke fluent English and French in addition to Japanese.
The night went on and started to turn into dawn, the salaryman was showing us effection by stroking my hair and punching Miikka in the arm. We were told he's trying to show us he wants to talk with us, but can't because his English isn't that good. The other explanation was that we're taking all his women in Tokyo and he's taking his revenge on us (though in our opinion the first explanation seems more probable). The salaryman, who drank as hard as he worked, eventually passed out after stripping his shirt several times over. I'm sure you all agree the next logical step is to take a marker pen and draw things all over him. And since we thought he was becoming a fan of Finland we decided to leave a message along with the map of Finland on his chest, while his friends got creative with their drawings using his body parts as parts of their sketches.
Here's the result we worked so hard for:
So, we started out in Samurai Cafe as usual, bumped into a few old friends as well as some new acquaintances. One of these new comrades of ours, let us call him Sigu-chan, was an icelander who had been living in Japan most of his life, and has now been married to a Japanese woman for 7 years. He was thrilled to be able to have a conversation with people who could relate to what it is like to come from a frozen country filled with nature to a country centered around technology, unbearably hot summers and lack of forests.
The evening went on, and we kept on talking with Sigu-chan and some of our new local friends as it was starting to get close to Samurai Cafe's closing hours. What to do now? There was still plenty to discuss, and nobody was feeling tired yet. Coincidently Sigu-chan's wife was having a party at their place with their friends from around Japan, and Sigu-chan was kind enough to invite us to join them.
So off we went, visited a 24/7 convinience store to get a few more drinks for the occasion, and after a 10 minute walk we found ourselves in a small appartment with people more or less familiar to us. It took around 30 seconds to adjust to the situation, after which it almost felt like we had been doing this together for years. Few people were from Okinawa, one was a local salaryman who had slept 1 night at home this week due to just working around the clock, one was a guy with the coolest voice in the world, and of course there was Sigu-chan's wife who spoke fluent English and French in addition to Japanese.
The night went on and started to turn into dawn, the salaryman was showing us effection by stroking my hair and punching Miikka in the arm. We were told he's trying to show us he wants to talk with us, but can't because his English isn't that good. The other explanation was that we're taking all his women in Tokyo and he's taking his revenge on us (though in our opinion the first explanation seems more probable). The salaryman, who drank as hard as he worked, eventually passed out after stripping his shirt several times over. I'm sure you all agree the next logical step is to take a marker pen and draw things all over him. And since we thought he was becoming a fan of Finland we decided to leave a message along with the map of Finland on his chest, while his friends got creative with their drawings using his body parts as parts of their sketches.
Here's the result we worked so hard for:
Doesn't he look adorable?
Not long after he had passed out other people started feeling tired too, and one by one they went to bed until it was just TampioTravels, Sigu-chan and the guy with the coolest voice ever left. I started to feel the lack of sleep too, so we decided 7 in the morning was a good time to call it a day. Or a night. No, make that a morning. Anyhow, we started heading back to our hostel, watching people going to work, shopping etc. 7 in the morning. A Sunday morning. According to Sigu-chan and his wife, this was the true essence of drinking and socializing in Japan, or as one of my professors calls it: Nomunication.
So what do we learn from all of this? Go to Tokyo, say hi to a random person, the rest will take care of itself and you'll have a blast. TampioTravels over and out.
P.S. Here's our merry group of party people saying hi to all of you (isn't Miikka just radiating with happiness?)
Not long after he had passed out other people started feeling tired too, and one by one they went to bed until it was just TampioTravels, Sigu-chan and the guy with the coolest voice ever left. I started to feel the lack of sleep too, so we decided 7 in the morning was a good time to call it a day. Or a night. No, make that a morning. Anyhow, we started heading back to our hostel, watching people going to work, shopping etc. 7 in the morning. A Sunday morning. According to Sigu-chan and his wife, this was the true essence of drinking and socializing in Japan, or as one of my professors calls it: Nomunication.
So what do we learn from all of this? Go to Tokyo, say hi to a random person, the rest will take care of itself and you'll have a blast. TampioTravels over and out.
P.S. Here's our merry group of party people saying hi to all of you (isn't Miikka just radiating with happiness?)
December 19, 2009
We're famous.. sort of
TampioTravels (well, yours truly along with our friend Jonne) had managed to get to the Hall of Fame at Sakura Hostel, I'm sure you're as surprised as we are.
Apparently we're not the only ones overwhelmed with this feeling of surprise
It also seems that we made our way to the Sakura Hostel blog article regarding the same Hallf of Fame. You can find the blog here.
Somehow we manage to show up in blogs around Japan, I'm thinking it's because we start acting goofy when we get our hands on some alcoholic beverages.
..and that brings me to our next holiday activity: spending all our evenings and nights at Samurai Cafe. And speaking of which, it's about time we go to Samurai Cafe. Hell, it's been open for 1,5 hours and we're still here blogging our hearts out and serving glögg to fellow travellers. Something must be seriously wrong with us, we should probably go to Samurai and try to figure out what it is.
..you guys have fun too.
Apparently we're not the only ones overwhelmed with this feeling of surprise
It also seems that we made our way to the Sakura Hostel blog article regarding the same Hallf of Fame. You can find the blog here.
Somehow we manage to show up in blogs around Japan, I'm thinking it's because we start acting goofy when we get our hands on some alcoholic beverages.
..and that brings me to our next holiday activity: spending all our evenings and nights at Samurai Cafe. And speaking of which, it's about time we go to Samurai Cafe. Hell, it's been open for 1,5 hours and we're still here blogging our hearts out and serving glögg to fellow travellers. Something must be seriously wrong with us, we should probably go to Samurai and try to figure out what it is.
..you guys have fun too.
Tokyo, we're finally back..
..sort of. After finding out our flight to Osaka was 2 hours late due to having to wait for passengers from all around Europe, we were merely annoyed. Sure, it was a pain in the rear kinda annoyance, but still, somewhat bearable.
Until we actually arrived to Osaka just to find out our connecting flight to Haneda airport in Tokyo wasn't waiting for us unlike we had done back in Helsinki-Vantaa waiting patiently for the few late passengers. We ran our hearts out, queued patiently with the 200 other people in the disembarkation line, then ran some more. After reaching the luggage dropout point we were told we're about 10 minutes late, and that the plane is just taking off.
So, what to do now? We waited for someone from Finnair to come and tell us what to do next. Apparently, the next flight from Osaka to Haneda wouldn't be until 5-6 hours, so instead we were offered a flight from Itami airport to Haneda, departing in less than 2 hours. The thing is, you need to take a limousine bus from the Osaka airport to get to Itami, and the trip is no less than 75 minutes, assuming you get lucky with the traffic. The bus ticket was a whooping 1900 yen, and we had to purchase them ourselves, though we received forms to fill so we could get that 1900 yen back from Finnair in 1-2 months. The staff on the other hand was extremely kind, as one might expect in Japan. The lady that was guiding us to the correct bus wouldn't stop apologizing and bowing, and even when we were on the bus she happened to notice us from the window and took a bow that seemed it would last until we got safely to Itami.
90 hectic minutes later we were at the Itami airport, running for our lives once again. The situation got almost hazardous yet again, when we received differing advice about where we should leave our luggage. Having run between 2 floors 3 times, one might start to get agitated and distressed. Naturally of course, TampioTravels is an example of patience and calmness, and would never cave in to such vices. This time we made it just in the nick of time and were on our way to Haneda on a Japan Airlines flight, and seemigly as the only foreigners. The flight itself felt like a 1-lap Formula 1 race, and it seemed to be over before we could even realize it. The scheduled flight time was 1 hour, but I'm rather sure we made it a lot faster.
We took a train from Haneda to Asakusa, and ended up in Yokohama. Naturally this was intended, as we had always wanted to stop by at Yokohama with 15 kg of luggage on our backs. I mean, it's not like TampioTravels wouldn't get on the wrong train by accident, would we?
Now, 5 hours later than intended, we're finally back in Tokyo, preparing to do what we do best.
Until we actually arrived to Osaka just to find out our connecting flight to Haneda airport in Tokyo wasn't waiting for us unlike we had done back in Helsinki-Vantaa waiting patiently for the few late passengers. We ran our hearts out, queued patiently with the 200 other people in the disembarkation line, then ran some more. After reaching the luggage dropout point we were told we're about 10 minutes late, and that the plane is just taking off.
So, what to do now? We waited for someone from Finnair to come and tell us what to do next. Apparently, the next flight from Osaka to Haneda wouldn't be until 5-6 hours, so instead we were offered a flight from Itami airport to Haneda, departing in less than 2 hours. The thing is, you need to take a limousine bus from the Osaka airport to get to Itami, and the trip is no less than 75 minutes, assuming you get lucky with the traffic. The bus ticket was a whooping 1900 yen, and we had to purchase them ourselves, though we received forms to fill so we could get that 1900 yen back from Finnair in 1-2 months. The staff on the other hand was extremely kind, as one might expect in Japan. The lady that was guiding us to the correct bus wouldn't stop apologizing and bowing, and even when we were on the bus she happened to notice us from the window and took a bow that seemed it would last until we got safely to Itami.
90 hectic minutes later we were at the Itami airport, running for our lives once again. The situation got almost hazardous yet again, when we received differing advice about where we should leave our luggage. Having run between 2 floors 3 times, one might start to get agitated and distressed. Naturally of course, TampioTravels is an example of patience and calmness, and would never cave in to such vices. This time we made it just in the nick of time and were on our way to Haneda on a Japan Airlines flight, and seemigly as the only foreigners. The flight itself felt like a 1-lap Formula 1 race, and it seemed to be over before we could even realize it. The scheduled flight time was 1 hour, but I'm rather sure we made it a lot faster.
We took a train from Haneda to Asakusa, and ended up in Yokohama. Naturally this was intended, as we had always wanted to stop by at Yokohama with 15 kg of luggage on our backs. I mean, it's not like TampioTravels wouldn't get on the wrong train by accident, would we?
Now, 5 hours later than intended, we're finally back in Tokyo, preparing to do what we do best.
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