Pictures of Second Day (Shijuku-ku and Murone, Iwate)

Ok, so again, for the whole collection, click the image on the sidebar...

I selected a few pics for lazy people (including myself, when I reflect back in a couple of years... sigh).

Edit: I struggled a bit with Uri's laptop and stupid Internet Explorer (*curses Microsoft*), and uploaded more pics...

Streets are so narrow in some places that they've installed those mirrors up there. This one is accross the street from Tante Ghyslaine's appartment, where I'm living at when in Tokyo.

Parking lot sign in Shinjuku. Because I'm a g33k. :D

That's me in (one of?) the hostess club areas of Shinjuku. Not recommendable after 9PM.

Shinjuku. Tokyo's built around the train network, and Shinjuku is one of the main stations on the Yamanote line, and also best-known for its municipal govt offices (one of the only places I could notice skyscrapers in Tokyo - sort of their version of La Defense), and red-light district.

Ubiquitous in Japan, too.

Yea... Gatsby products. I had to spread out the previous bottle over two years. This time I'm stocking up before heading back to North America. ^^;

A view of Tokyo from the Metro Govt North tower in Shinjuku. I think this is looking North, towards Ikebukuro.

Uri's lovely 11-year old Toyota Corsa. A car my size, so much my size that I'm hitting the roof when the car hits a (hypothetical) pothole. >_>

Outside of Ichinoseki Shinkansen station. A town the size of Drummondville, or even smaller, I'm only guessing.

Funny pic. Ha-ha.

Bought clothes in Japan! A chain called Uni-Qlo, which I didn't notice on my last visit (Uri says it's relatively new here). It's dirt cheap, like, cheaper than Montreal. I had a white zipper jacket (2900yens) and a green tee with a cool design (not quite Engrish like I wanted, but close enough - for 1000yens).

Inside Uni-Qlo, a few moments earlier...

I was invited at Michiko-san (Uri's Japanese teacher) for dinner. Was an excuse to get the whole bunch together (locals learning English, foreigners learning Japanese...). Can't really phrase how enriching it was... Ano.. Eto... Oh well, it was the greatest stuff to meet people here (despite what I might've said before leaving).

A newly-discovered picture of the atomic bomb being dropped on Nagasaki, taken by an uncle of Michiko-san. One of the only three existing pictures taken at ground level.

Japan might be one of the most industrialized places in the world, the envy of the world, technology-wise and the rest, says Uri, but Japanese have (or had) no concept whatsoever of urban planning. So, his house is not insulated. Water has to be turned off to prevent pipe freezing. I had to sleep with an electric blanket to prevent self-freezing (not really, ended up too hot). Etc, it's like HK, not as cold as Mtl, but gosh it's hard to keep warm.

...so this thing keeps houses warm. >_> Stops automatically during the night, and starts up again a few hours before waking up. Works with kerosene, so you can imagine the carbon monoxide produced by it. Anyways, death in Japan is a kinda romantic idea. ^^;

Not some form of J-kiddie pr0n. It's Suzuki An, and Aoi Yu, who we all know (at least I did :D). This was the cover of the March 2004 issue, and I guess it was for their featuring in Iwai Shunji's short movie which I forgot the name. So story of two best friends, until one of them finds a guy. Yay. (For the record, Uri likes Suzuki An, but I like Aoi Yu better ('was in Lily Chou-Chou as well).)