A nice dinner with Okada Sensei, Akira and Lucian

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Here are the pictures of my visit to Tenri City...not much though as the drizzle totally dampen my spirits and the fog along the way ruin any possibilities of a prospective shot.

Lucian proudly advertising for the amazing delicious Takoyaki store in Tenri (for FREE!)...




And the lovely LoveBirds being rudely intruded my Lucian and me...*GRIN*




And after dinner, chill session at a really small watering joint 2 minutes walk away...the ambience is perfect, probably the best chill joint I have been in my life...and there...time to flex my shutter skillz so without the assistance of any flash, by changing the f-stop on my camera I captured the essence of time. I do confess I really like the mood captured in the photos eventhough I though I could have improved more.





Alrite...that's all for Tenri.

Whoooo...Headphones

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Latest toy added to my wishlist...Skullcandy Headphones! Gorgeously looking headphones that I stumbled upon while looking around for snowboarding gear. I shan't go into the details but here are the pics of the Ti Fur Series and the G.I. series that I have set my eyes on.






For an indepth review on the headphones, click HERE

Finally, after some consideration, I have decided to get the Camo G.I. headphones eventhough I would want the fur one...*sigh*

Weekend at Tenri City

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Last Friday, after my classes ended at 11.45pm, I made my way to Sakudaira Station skipping school lunch. And the reason...yep like the title suggests, I made my way down to Tenri City. The hour long ride on Asama Shinkansen from Sakudaira Station to Ueno Station is about ¥5500+. I delibrately made a transfer at Ueno Station so I could go to Akihabara's Akiba to pick my goodies. Despite waking up with a sore throat, I pursued on with my much planned journey.

As you would have noticed (I bet you haven't) my wishlist on the right side of the page is constantly changing. So this time round, I picked up my Casio watch which is only available in Japan, my MacBook screen protector and an aluminium camera case which I thought was kinda cool to dub it as a normal personal carrier. Initially I had planned to do a bit more shopping around downtown Tokyo especially Shibuya, Shinjuku and Harujuku but due to the exorbitant Shinkansens fares, I decided to reduce the damage. So after grabbing my stuffs, I headed down to Kyoto via Shinkansen which robbed my off ¥13000 and 3 hours and then finally hopping on the Kintetsu line which takes me to Tenri City which is the last stop.

Alrite so here's the run down of the route...

Sakudaira Station (Nagano) ---> Ueno Station (Tokyo) via Shinkansen ¥5460 , 1 hour+
Ueno Station (Tokyo) ---> Akihabara Station (Tokyo) via JR Yamanote ¥???, 4 minutes
Akihabara Station (Tokyo) ---> Tokyo Station (Tokyo) via JR Yamanote ¥???, 5 minutes
Tokyo Station (Tokyo) ---> Kyoto Station (Kyoto) via Shinkansen ¥12710, 2 hour 30 minutes
Kyoto Station (Kyoto) ---> Tenri City (Nara) via Kintetsu Line ¥730, 1 hour+

In summary, the Shinkansens are the ones chalking up most of the fares, so if you can, choose other alternatives. But bear in mind the the ratio between fares and time taken are relatively proportionate. If you want a cheaper alternative, you would end up spending more time and vice versa.

Met up with Lucian, and Vincent upon arriving and had a scrumptious extra big Katsu Don fit for a judo master. Yes the portion was HUGE but yummy...superbly fried Katsu that's so crispy on the outside and yet so tenderly juicy on the inside only to be covered by a layer of egg and onions. YUMMY! Poor Lucian and Vincent had to struggle to witness me down the entire bowl while they feast on the normal size ones. Hahahaha...

Nothing much on Friday nite so hang out for a second meal of Nabe with the other members at Semba's 86 Moya.

On Saturday, went for the SenenKai in the morning at the main santuary (Jiba) as it was drizzling outside. Had another incredible Katsu feast from the same restaurant yesterday for lunch and then attnded my second Besseki lecture at around 1330 hours. Just like the last time, i fell asleep in the middle of it. :p After the lecture, went shopping alone at Hondori, ate some outta this world Takoyakis before finally having a get-together feast with Okada Sensei and Akira (Okada's bf) and Lucian. Dinner was amazingly great as well so after dinner, crashed with Lucian and Akira in a little small but cosy pub. I would strongly recommend this little water joint to anyone going to Tenri...It's no doubt small but the ambience inside is worth every cent spent.

Took the 0600am train from Tenri with Akira after crashing 2 nites at Lucian's place in Senba and got home around 1200pm with my huge shopping bag. Down with flu and a really bad throat...but nonetheless, the experience still rocks. Am really glad I got to see Lucian, Okada and Akira and had a great time together.

Not much pictures though as the small drizzle dampen my mood for any chances of a prospective shot.

By the way if anyone's interested in knowing in advance the various train timings, fares and frequencies, check HYPERDIA and click the English tab on the top left of the site. Punch in your place of departure, and place of arrival, dates and times, transfer points and VIOLA!

Second heaven...

- Never Stop Dreaming -

On Sat last week, I went on a road trip with the staffs of Elementary school, went to a place by the name of Akiyama-Go which is like 1200 metres above sea level. Winding mountain roads along the cliffs of a fantastically "painted" scenery of yellow and red autumn. With the peaks of the mountains hidden in a soft, light fog, I reached a secluded place which is tucked deep in the mountains away from civilization. Here, a soba restaurant and an open air onsen is all nature could offer but that's really enuff...I felt like I was in heaven for places like this have ceased to exist at least for me.

After the best soba lunch I had in my 26 years of my life, I enjoyed a relaxing onsen, blown away by the mystic charm of this place. Went pass Shiga-Kogen on the way back.

Literally the entire experience could be described as, "Rise above the mountains only to decend from the clouds" (登上山 峰、从天而降).

Will update the photos soon.

BMW Dub Edition (Tokyo Auto Salon 2007)

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Here are some pictures which I found online from Tokyo Auto Salon 2007, the latest BMW "Dub" Edition. Alternatively you can also click HERE for more insanely looking vehicles like a 4 door Toyota MR-2(SW20).

This particular BMW truely resembles the Bat Mobile tradition...Whooooo...I like it.

Jumangoku Matsuri (十万石祭り)

- Never Stop Dreaming -

The Jumangoku Matsuri (十万石祭り) on October 8 in a small town of Matsushiro (松代) in Nagano Prefecture is held annually to commemerate the famous Battle of Kawanakajima where Uesugi Kenshin fought Takeda Shingen. The most famous scene of this historical battle is best depicted where Takeda Shingen parried Uesugi Kenshin's sword attacks from his horse with an iron fan. The event is held in a small open park directly in front of Matsushiro Castle where the famous Sanada Clan used to reside. The Fu Rin Ka Zan (風林火山) series by NHK was also flimed here at Matsushiro Castle.

I was super luckily to be informed of such an event due to my wide spread influence, I was able witness the re-enactment of the famous battle and with my camera fully juiced up and memory card cleanly formatted, I was ready to fire away. Arriving at the small town of Matsushiro after changing trains at a rustic station (Yashiro 屋代) chucked away with time on a Sunday morning, I arrived at Matsushiro Station which is right next to Matsushiro Castle. People were already gathering here and there with heaps of cars neatly parked outside the castle. Mobile stables were seen and huge props and equipment were all ready to be unpacked. Occasionally I could see horses being lead away to prepare for the huge event. As usual, the charm here in this secluded little town encased by mountains simply whisked my soul away...marvelous scenery that were soOoooO good, I totally missed out capturing them on my camera which was strapped by my side all this while. Here are the pictures of the day...











And this girl here was the highlight of the while event (for me) for she totally got me smitten. Throughout the entire event, she never once smiled and was so into it, her composure and intensity made her resembled the actual samurais in history and that was what that captured my heart. No no don't get me wrong but it was just really unusual that she was not actually depicting the famous samurais but I guessed she was just a high ranking general or official of Uesugi Kenshin and yet she was the only one who took the role seriously to the extent that it WAS REAL. The camera flashes and occasional "haressment" of the TV crew did not affect her the slightest bit. She never posed for any cameras or videos and she was just herself in that sleek black suit of armour with her palm on the handle of the sword at all times. It has been long since I last admired a sweet looking lass that much, well today I really took my hat off her...if only I could get her name and know her personally.













Takeda Shingen in his famous white mane splendor.


Uesugi Kenshin in his famous "Arab" suit and steed.



















Here is another really pretty looking lady who look gorgeous in her red Sanada Clan's armour. Geez, these ladies seems to be exceptionally appealing in those tough, bad ass armour which was once donned only by males. Maybe Little Princess Aiko should be the next heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne if the Japanese ladies could wield such confidence and grace in the things they do.





Here comes funny Takeda Shingen with specs during the street parade after the battle...haha





No and she's still not smiling even when parading the streets with lot's of flashes and yes her palm is still on the sword's handle...I am literally blown away by her aura...






Last words...to all the guys (you know who you are) who are reading this, pls stop asking me if I have a Japanese girlfriend each time you MSN me...I am getting a bit irritated. For your information, I am here in Japan for a hell lot of other stuffs other than the sweet looking girls which I do not deny are part of the reason why I am here but it's not the main reason. Food, toys, games, cars, history, gadgets, party, booze, snowboarding, samurais, girls, etc...the list goes on so please, I know it's hard to accept that I am constantly surrounded by sweet looking girls, but please refrain from asking me time and again that question. I like to appreciate and respect people who I look up to for various reasons and I have weird taste in girls if you know what I mean.

That's all...hope you like it.