Sanrio taking over the shinkansen!

One of the things I love most about Japan is hands down the bullet train. I’ve used it that much I really should invest some shares in JR, and I think when I eventually go back to the UK I’ll have some withdrawal issues.

Anyone who knows me knows my love for Hello Kitty too, so naturally when JR announced a limited edition Hello Kitty train, I died and went to cutesy heaven.
Thankfully I already had a trip to Osaka planned, so it worked out perfectly. Even if it hadn’t, you know I’d have made some excuse to get on it.

Pulling into the station all I could see was a wave of passengers swamping the platform to take pictures. While some were definitely surprised, most, like me, already knew what to expect and had planned our spot on the platform accordingly. Since the train only makes one round-trip per day, the cleaning time allowed for some ample photo taking before boarding. The exterior of the train is adorned with a large ribbon, pretty iconic for Hello Kitty, and is as pink as you’d expect. 

Although it’s the slowest of the shinkansens, there’s a reason for this, as it stops at every station between Shin Osaka and Hakata. This is because this specific train was designed to pay homage to all of the prefectures along JR’s western Japan route. 

Each car had a motif outside for each prefecture the train passes: Fukuoka, Yamaguchi, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, Hiroshima, Hyogo, and Osaka. All of which showed Hello Kitty holding a local delicacy.

The first car, Hello! Plaza, isn’t a passenger car, but rather a gift shop. Exhibitions are also held here focusing on two prefectures at a time, showcasing local foods and souvenirs from the regions.
When I rode the train, this space was dedicated to Shimane and Tottori, famous for their black shells and green apples. 

Being the two of the least populated prefectures in Japan, I can only hope that this train helps raise some awareness to some of these lesser known but just as beautiful areas that many travellers overlook.

The second car, Kawaii! Room, was a passenger car with unreserved seating, decked out to the max with Hello Kitty as far as the eye could see. I rode the train on a long weekend, so this area was a nightmare to navigate, and rather than fight my way to a seat, I’d booked a seat in advance further back.

Cars 2 to 8 aren’t as decorated, but attention to detail wasn’t overlooked, even in the more subtle spaces. From window screens and doors to toilet signs, everything had a special touch.

As is always the case in Japan, the little things really add to making the experience even more immersive. This shinkansen wasn’t an exception, with a special Hello Kitty melody playing upon arrival at the stations.

At Hakata station there is a themed café, which I’m yet to visit, and also a shop to buy themed ekiben (train lunchboxes) if you want to eat Hello Kitty as well as ride on her train. I resisted the urge, but that didn’t stop me from losing my restraint and buying some socks.

The shinkansen started began on June 30^th of this year, and while it was only scheduled until early November, the service has already been extended due to its popularity.
That’s right, expect pictures of my dad on a pink bullet train in the imminent future.

Gotochi - my new collection

As many of you may know, I'm an avid collector of cheap, plastic, made in China snowglobes from places I visit worldwide. However, something I noticed on my last trip to Japan was that snowglobes are about as common as fairy dust.

So alongside decorating my apartment, I came up with a super fun way for me to do a similar thing, but in a very Japanese fashion. Unless you live under a rock, you'll know I have a huge, sometimes concerning, Hello Kitty obsession.

I've bought a map of Japan, and I'm starting to collect Gotochi Hello Kitty's. You can learn more about them here http://www.itoyoshi.net/kitty.html, but they're basically small charms that are themed, usually to local tourist attractions or regional delicacies.

Disclaimer: The Rilakkuma one from Tokyo is a special exception.
It's from the limited edition Yamanote line Rilakkuma-themed train.

There are so many to get, but I'm aiming to get one for each of the 47 prefectures at least. It's nice to be able to put them on my map at home; to remember where I've travelled, and something that makes that area unique.

1. Fukuoka - Hakata strawberry

2. Kumamoto - Kumamon (prefectural mascot)

3. Kagoshima - Satsuma Sakurajima daikon (radish)

4. Kyoto - Kiyomizu dera (temple)

5. Okinawa - Chinsuko (sugar cookie)

I still need to get ones from Osaka, Nara, Tokyo and Yokohama, all of which I visited before I started this. If anyone wants to help out on that front, that'd be great!

I had a golden gaytime in Radelaide.

It's not what you think. During my time in Melbourne, Chrissie and Leni had insisted I try what you could call a local delicacy, basically a caramel ice cream coated in chocolate and biscuit. I'll have to admit, it was pretty good. It obviously has a huge following too, since that week they introduced it in tub form and it was sold out everywhere I went! I also tried Vegemite which I liked, and was shocked but equally impressed by the amount of chicken schnitzels Will can eat over the course of a day.

I was staying with my family in Adelaide, which was nice considering I missed the majority of their visit to England at Christmas while I was still at CSU. I went a little overboard on cup of tea making, and embraced the home cooked meals involving potatoes with open arms.

Doing a typical touristy thing, I started by going to Gorge Wildlife Park with Will and some of his friends. This was were I got to hold my first koala, who was super cute, along with feeding wallabies, kangaroos and quokka. I'm still plotting ways I can steal all these cute little things and have them as a pet in the flat next year at uni.

We had a busy weekend, with Bec, Will, Terry and I visiting Victor Harbour, Port Elliot and Hahndorf in a whirlwind trip on the Saturday. Although we did sit watching whales and seals from the cliffs for almost an hour. Then on Sunday, we headed to the barossa valley for a quick tour of all the wineries. Guess I'll never be a designated driver either, although I drank the same amount as everyone else, I blew double the reading on the breathalyser. I introduce you to your resident lightweight of the group!

I managed to spend some more time with Leni too, one evening getting treated to a night at some choice pub with cheap drinks, a beer garden and a rather large selection of bogan guys. Although she was the first person to tell me about the Hello Kitty cafe in Adelaide, I didn't get a chance to go with her, but rather bullied Bec and Will into taking me. It was a lot more toned down in comparison to the others I'd been to, but I guess that's just the Asian market for you!

All in all, Adelaide totally wasn't what I imagined it to be like at all! That's not to say I didn't love it, I did, but god is it small! The o-bahn (practically a train track for buses that sounds German) still confuses me...

Despite being pretty sick during my time there, I appreciated finally being in cold weather were I could wrap up and go into hibernation mode. However Australia, I'm definitely not a fan of how bright it always is, especially early in the mornings.

Living & breathing Japanese (literally, I was on a homestay).

I am extremely grateful to have been involved in a homestay during my time in Kyoto, which took place during my third week of the exchange. My family consisted of my host parents, and two daughters, Miki and Asuka. They also had a pet ferret called Ponta, but don't even get me started on my hatred for that thing. I'm not a fan of being targeted, constantly bitten on the ankles, and even having it break into my room and get INSIDE my pillow case.

It was obviously meant to be, as there were numerous Hello Kitty things in the house, and my room (a small guest room downstairs with a futon) came complete with Hello Kitty curtains. 

I'll always remember how the first thing my family asked me was if I got car sick, and with good reason too, I think my host father fancied himself as a bit of a boy racer down the small Kyoto side streets. My family were super cute, as they struggled with pronouncing my name, like most Japanese people do. Instead, I acquired the nickname of "keito". This was my favourite thing because whenever my host mother would run a bath, she'd shout that to get my attention from upstairs.
Somehow, through a lack of me paying proper attention, I even ended up cooking lasagne for the family one evening because they wanted to experience both my cooking, and some western food. Afterwards, Miki was feeling super sleepy so I taught her the phrase "food coma", which she absolutely loved!

Asuka was studying English for her university entrance exams, so we really helped each other develop ways to remember certain things in our other languages. She would always get confused over her left and right, so I taught her the simple trick of looking at her hands to find the “L”. It was so adorable to see how happy she was after I'd taught her such a simple thing, and needless to say, I trusted her directions a lot more from that point on.
Most evenings after dinner seemed to be the time when my host family would socialise. It often ended up with me telling them about random things they wanted to know about England. One evening, I even spent almost two hours trying to teach my host mother how to say "the earth is round" without making her r's sound like w's. It ended up with me making her practically growl to get the noise out, much to Miki and Asuka's amusement. 
Another evening, there was a discussion about my dislike of heated Japanese toilet seats, which they couldn't understand my logic of it feeling like someone has just been sat on it before you. Also note to self, never, ever try to explain the concept of a Yorkshire pudding to anyone in Japanese, it's not going to go well!

My confidence in speaking Japanese has come on leaps and bounds, proven by the fact we had to give a speech about our experiences to fellow classmates at the end of the exchange. On the first day, I was put off by just introducing myself in the language to people I knew had a greater ability, but by the end I was much more confident in my own ability. I know this is definitely down to being involved in a homestay, and even though sometimes I had no clue what my host parents were saying to me, I managed to find ways around this and be able to wing it.

In Kyoto we saw so many people dressed in kimonos and yukata, and one evening we even got a chance to wear yukata ourselves at a festival on campus. There was also a Hawaiian themed DJ night going on, which I can only describe as if the SU was more tame, had a cream carpet and closed at 8:30. What a random experience that was!
Aside from my time with my host family, I made a trip to Osaka to try the famous okonomiyaki and visit Dontonboori, where I took an obligatory photo with the iconic Glico sign. KUFS also organised us to experience a calligraphy session and a tea ceremony, which was a great insight into traditional Japanese life.
Our final day involved a ceremony and leaving party, which consisted of a lot of picture taking, goodbyes and also a nice little certificate saying I'd successfully completed the programme. We ended our final night by visiting Osaka for a firework display along the river during the Tenjin Matsuri.

I don’t think I’ve taken as many photographs as I have during these past three weeks, and yes, I have been that tourist taking pictures of trees. You could live in Kyoto all of your life and still have only just scratched the surface, and I really hope I get the opportunity to go back some day! 

Arashiyama & Fushimi Inari: off the bucket list.

Kyoto was filled with even more hustle and bustle during my second week there, as the Gion Matsuri was fast approaching! Floats began being built on the streets in the weeks leading up to it, and one day we actually got to board one to see what it was like. All of them have different meanings and are very intricate, but sticking to tradition. none of them are actually powered. During the festival parade, the floats are pulled by various men, and when it comes to turning down streets, bamboo is laid on the floor and sprayed with water, before the wheels are slid along.

Sadly for us, by the time the parade came around, a typhoon had also made landfall in Japan. That didn't stop us from going, however I'm pretty sure it really put a dampener (excuse the pun) on the festival as a whole, since not nearly as many people came to watch.

Despite classes being as jam packed as ever, I managed to visit a fair few places that I'd wanted to go! Firstly, we had a day trip organised to Arashiyama, nearing the outskirts of Kyoto. We took the Torokko train one way alongside, then returned on a boat cruise along the Hozugawa river. It was such a relaxing experience, and while we were on the river a food boat even moored up to us that sold dango and fresh squid. Then we finally got to the famous bamboo groves of Arashiyama, and I got to experience something known in Japanese as komorebi. It can only be translated in English as the sunlight that filters through the trees, and to see that through the bamboo groves was pretty beautiful.

That day was super hot, so we decided to go to Fushimi Inari for sunset. It was actually pretty cool when we arrived, because there was a rainbow over the tori gates, then watching the sunset over the mountain was spectacular. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Another place I visited was Kiyomizu-dera, probably another of the most famous places in Kyoto. The views of Kyoto are stunning and when you visit the main hall, you feel in a weird way like you're floating on the mountainside. I went with Misa and Miho, who I was a buddy to when they went on exchange to Keele last year. They were so adorable, as they'd been to Universal Studies in Osaka the day before and bought me some Hello Kitty stuff since they knew I hadn't gone. They even took me to a Hello Kitty restaurant I didn't even know existed, and I have to say it was super adorable. Hello Kitty shaped pasta is my new favourite thing. Later that day I met up with my current buddy Aoi, who took me around the smaller lesser known streets in Gion to get a Kyoto special matcha parfait. 

Finally, we also visited Nijo Castle, which was completely different to all of the other temples and shrines in Kyoto. It was definitely more regal, and considering it was so close to our hotel, I'm surprised it took us so long to finally go there.

That evening, a lot of the exchange kids decided to have a farewell since we left for our homestay the day after. We went to Sakura bar, which served all you can eat izakaya snacks and we all had a ball. I'm really surprised by how well we all get on, and it was nice to finally spend time socially together rather than just in class. It was a little bittersweet to be leaving for our homestay too, since we knew we'd have less freedom and less time to get to know eachother, but let's be honest, the homestay was probably what the exchange was going to be all about!

Turning 20 in Asia's world city!

I'd been pretty excited about spending my birthday in Hong Kong since the day I booked my flights, and the day was finally approaching. On the Friday, I went to an island called Cheng Chau with Corane, which was about an hour ferry away. I'd heard wonderful things from everyone about Cheng Chau and it didn't disappoint. It was a nice chance from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, since nobody on the island owns cars and the place is filled with bikes. Since there was an upcoming dragon boat festival in Hong Kong, we even got to see the teams practicing from the pier. I managed to try some weird foods too! Firstly, mango mochi, which Cheng Chau is famous for, and then an egg that had been boiled in tea. Surprisingly not bad once you get past the brown moulding look.
We then headed back to meet some of the other delegates from my past trip to Hong Kong for dinner in Mong Kok. I was totally surprised by the amount who turned up and made time in their schedules just to see me, so I was able to see a further five people during my trip which was more than I ever expected. We ate some interesting foods, most of which I still don't even know what they were, and then everyone surprised me with a birthday cake. I was so appreciative of the fact that even though I hadn't seen most of them for almost 3 years, and that sometimes our postcards and messages are lacking, they still came together as a family for me to celebrate while I was away from home!

Saturday was quite a chilled day since Haruka was arriving from Japan! This was going to be the start of our little tour of Asia before I head to Kyoto in July, as we're travelling to Seoul and then to her home in Tokyo. Typical, after picking her up our bus from the airport broke down, so by the time we got to Causeway Bay we went straight to a Taiwanese cafe for dinner which was amazing! Later we met Jane for dessert which was so surreal seeing them both in Hong Kong since I only ever see them in England.
Sunday was finally my birthday, a day filled with dim sum to the max. We'd been invited for dim sum with Jane's family in Sheung Wan in the morning, and afterwards the three of us visited Lan Kwai Fong for the first time. We went for "afternoon tea" too, consisting of pineapple buns and milk tea. They're not really pineapple, the top just apparently looks like one. Good timing too since a thunderstorm was brewing, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy. After almost two weeks of constant humidity and heat, my birthday wishes had definitely been answered. We began to head to Kowloon, but the rain was so bad we ended up camping out at an MTR station for 20 minutes singing to keep ourselves occupied.
Haruka and I ended up killing time before dinner in a random shopping mall that was pretty amazing, before heading to Austin to find the Hello Kitty Chinese Cuisine restaurant, a place that specialises in dim sum. IT WAS PERFECT. Everything had so much detail and it was the perfect place for me being such a fan, with me also treating myself to a super cute plush toy only sold there. We then headed back and I wanted to show Haruka both central of an evening and the ding ding, but after getting drenched we decided to call it a night. It was a very different birthday than what I'm used to, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world!

For our last day, we went around a few of the sights in central before heading to Aberdeen, where Jane lives, to go to Jumbo Kingdom, the famous floating restaurant. It was nice to spend some more time with her since we hadn't really got a chance too! Then we headed to Mongkok for a final market experience, with me severely restraining myself from buying lots of shoes on sneaker street! However, I can't wait to be somewhere were the heat doesn't kill me every time I walk outside, and on that note, Seoul here I come...