Tokyo after winter…

A bit late with this post but here we go!!! Hi everyone!!!

As the the title says, some days before and after South Korea the weather was getting better and better. It wasn’t necessary anymore to use a lot of winter clothes! Some days before my volunteer program in Tohoku (the Tsunami affected zone) I could walk around Tokyo with just an umbrella, short pants and no winter gloves, the snow and the gray atmosphere changed to a nice happy green and I could watch more nice activities in the parks. Here is a picture of a very special day I had with Mirai at Shinjuku Gyoen

These days I had a very relaxed schedule. My volunteer projects were not as demanding as the ones in Setana and because of this I could do more sightseeing in Tokyo… By the way, I could finally take a picture with Hachiko as Erlin asked me to!! :D

 

 

 

2 very important things happened during these days, the first was that I could finally train Karate!! I trained at the JKA, one of the most important Karate associations in the world from the Shotokan style. This was a dream come true for me and a very important one… Training Karate was the main reason of my interest in Japan and this journey, so training here was just amazing! I was in the JKA for around 1 month and I have to thank so much to Akemi and Noriko, they helped me a lot when I wanted to join this organization. Something related to this experience made me really happy: the Karate training I had in Costa Rica was as good as the first class ones… Finally I could train Karate in Japan!!! :D

The other important thing was that, thanks to the backpackers I met in South Korea I joined the site CouchSurfing (and another social network in Japan) which helps finding people who can offer accommodation for a few days or just go out and have some drinks and some intercultural experience. Thanks to this site I could met very special people in Japan: Tina (my first host!) Mari, Yuko, Tomoko, Kaori, Yukiko, Mehmet, Akiko, Henry and Mika. I had super nice times with them and I could also visit some other nice neighborhoods in Tokyo. This experience also changed my thoughts about how to travel. The next time I set foot out of Costa Rica I will Couch-Surf as much as I can, you get to know more places and more interesting people!!!

Another fun activity I could do was to play soccer with some friends from ICYE. I had a minor injury in my ankle that day but we had a super nice lunch, the match was very fun and at the end of the day we had some drinks and a nice happy hang out… Here some photos from that day…

 

 

I could also visit some important people those days, like my Japanese teacher from Costa Rica! She was waiting with a delicious Sushi and tea. It was very nice to meet my Sensei and I gave her a shirt (with Costa Rican slangs) from all the friends that assisted the Japanese course, it was a nice and fresh afternoon!! I also visited Akiko’s house (who is about to finish a 1 year volunteer program in Costa Rica) and her mother and sister (Michiko and Ayako) prepared a super delicious lunch, this day I tried cold ramen for the first time and it tasted great! We talked a lot about cultural stuff and had a really nice afternoon :) Here some moments from those days…

 

I also visited Akihabara with Seo and Yu and hang out with Hina, Sabina and Kitou a couple of times. Murano’s family (my first host family in Japan) took me to a very special restaurant for a nice lunch for my farewell celebration (my time staying with them was over) and I was involved in some nice activities with my friends from Ueno, one of them was a special dinner at a temple where Yoshito and Shimpei were the main chefs of the night, they cooked some delicious Japanese food for us… I was also in a Japanese television program related to soccer, as soon as I find the video I will shared it with everyone :D

 

 

 

The post became bigger than I expected, soon I will tell you about my final volunteer programs in Tokyo and about a very special place I really love: Yokohama!!!

Be happy :D !!!!

Return to Japan… Tokyo Tower!!!

Hi everyone from La Colina, Curridabat Costa Rica :D !! I hope you’re doing excellent!!!

The day of my return to Japan from South Korea (may 19-2011 to be exact) I woke up around 5am,  full of doubt about what would happen in customs in Japan I took the bus from Seoul downtown to Incheon airport…

After my last days in South Korea it was time to get real (at least a bit!) and start thinking about what could happen if I could not make it into Japan again… I had the idea of traveling to the Philippines, visit some friends and relatives in Europe, flight to Canada, New York, Egypt, go back to Costa Rica, etc. I was worried with the situation because I HAD to return to Japan to finish some plans, continue others and there where a lot of important things that I couldn’t do on the first 3 months I was there.

The bus ride was about 1 hour long and the procedure at the airport was good and normal, I was tired because the night before I had just 3 hours of sleep and then I took the plane to Narita!

The flight from Incheon was quick, around 2 hours and by the time of the arrival I was very thoughtful about what the guy from immigration was going to tell me, if it was a NO I had to buy tickets for a non-defined destiny, flight out of Japan with no goodbyes from a lot of important friends, no Karate training and no visits to a lot of special places, a bitter end to the story…

To my relief the guy from customs didn’t asked a lot of questions, he checked my passport and he pasted this stamp in my passport… At that moment my happiness was huge :D !!!

3 more months in Japan!!! :D I remember that on my way to Ueno, where I would meet again with the brotherhood I felt like a reborn person, I was totally happy to be back and to have another chance, 3 more months to keep dreaming!!!

Yoshito and Miyuki were waiting for me at home, I was very happy to see them and we started talking about things to do left in Japan. In the list, the final destination for that day was included: Tokyo Tower!

They told me that the tower was relatively close for a nice walk (about 3 hours) and we made plans to go someday but, that day we all had some free time, it was a beautiful afternoon in Tokyo and we felt very motivated to start the journey on the same day!

The walk was a bit heavy and it was getting very late so we decided to ride a taxi, during the walk I discovered that legendary dragons also exist in Japan :D

After the walk and the taxi ride we finally arrived! The tower is a work of art, the lights make the place look awesome!! Here some real and not so real photos from the perfect scenery!

  

  

The inside is as great as the outside, I took some photos of some ninjas in the tower and a not-so-good-quality video when we were descending from the top of the tower :D !!!

    

The top of the tower has a super nice view of the most famous streets of Tokyo, I could stay there for hours but that day we felt tired, I only had like 3 hours of sleep the night before and we were also hungry so we decided to take some photos to remember the moment and then we went out for dinner!

  

  

Yoshito and Miyuki invited me to a very special noodle restaurant! You could eat different size soups for the same price of the normal one, but my stomach was not prepared for a huge size dinner so I asked for the normal sized one. Yoshito was very brave and he asked for a medium size, which was super huge and…

  

 

… After eating noodles like never before we headed back to Ueno were we met the other guys and just before going to bed I was thinking about all the opportunities waiting for me, I was grateful for everything I lived in Korea and until that day in Japan, the people I met during my journey and I was happy, as everyday in Japan…

Time to study some Japanese…

Last days in Seoul… Returning to Japan…

Hi everyone from Curridabat, Costa Rica!!! :D

After the first days in South Korea and the initial guide given mostly by Elisha, it was easier to visit tourist spots by myself. I also got used to Korean food and I could find places where the food was free from hot spice (something rare in Korea). I found an Iraqi restaurant where I ate almost everyday after finding the place!

I loved Soul city, but the most important thing from this short trip was the people I met!

After the first days, another nice and interesting people stayed at Mr. Kim’s hostel… I became friends with Phillipe from Canada and Visnu from India. We took an interesting 6-hour walk around Seoul, got lost in our way to some temples and talked a lot about cultural stuff and differences related to the places where we live and from where we are. Here are some photos the day we walk around the city and with Mr. Kim, the hostel’s owner…

  

  

Also, by the strange paths of destiny I met Mirai, a beautiful Japanese girl that was also on a short trip and whom I would meet again many times in Tokyo (fortunately!) I climbed Soul tower with Mirai and I had a wonderful time that day… :) She returned to Japan before me… Also she told me not to upload photos from Seoul, but in some other post I will talk about some of our time together in Tokyo.

I climbed Seoul Tower like 5 times with different people, the view at the top is amazing and there is something very particular here: the love key locks. What is this all about? Well, a couple climbs to the top of the hill, they make a love promise, close the lock  and then toss the key into the void, this is not so impressive after all but what is really amazing is the quantity of locks in this place, there are millions of them!! Here some shots from the place…

  

  

I got a bit sick during my last days in Seoul, because of this I took 2 days off to rest at the hostel, when I was in better condition I met with Elisha again and we visited another nice place. It was an old military fort (it still has some tight military security) and now days is just a tourist spot. With Joe’s company we headed to a typical Korean village and we were very lucky, on that day an impressive Taekwondo exhibition took place!!! Here are some photos and 2 of 4 videos I took from the Taekwondo event, the other videos can be seen in my Youtube channel!

   

  

Another interesting experience I had was Karaoke (my very first time in Asia!) with the excellent company of Vishnu and Julia and Andy from Holland, they stayed a couple of days at the hostel. I never thought that this Karaoke would be so fun! I singed some metal rock songs (the karaoke palces here have a lot of music loaded!) and everybody had a great time! Fun and great time!!!

  

 

I can’t finish this post without a comment about Korean food… This people really love hot spicy food and as some of you might know for me this is not very attractive. I’m glad I could try something very good for my taste: Korean BBQ!!! This are very thin meat slices and rare vegetables (some fun fact is that they use scissors to cut everything!) mixed with some delicious sauces and spices. Everything is cook on the same table where everyone’s eating (Chinese tradition I think) and each person takes what they want to try…

  

Also related to food in South Korea, I could try some strange things here… The weirdest was the living octopus! You can feel the guy moving in your mouth… Actually it was almost flavorless, but this was a very rare experience :P This video is about how Korean people prepare the octopus for eating (please note that this video is posted only for cultural reasons)…

I’ve shared with you the most excellent experiences I had in South Korea… Once again I have to say: what made this trip so interesting, apart from the cultural things was the people from many places I met, friendships from far away places that will last forever! Time to end this chapter with a video I took near the place where I stayed, a bit worried about my return to Japan and with my voice a little different because of my sickness…

My return to Japan was successful and in the next posts I will tell you about my next 3 months in Honshu, Japan where really amazing things happened!!! :D

I hope you are doing excellent wherever you are!!!!!!

  

Second destination in Asia… First days in Seoul, South Korea…

Hi everyone from somewhere between Alaska and Vancouver!!! I never thought I could write a blog post at 37002 feet altitude!!! I had little time to post again before returning to Costa Rica so now I’m writing from the plane on my way back…

By the time I arrived at Japan, the trip to South Korea was not something I had in mind, but when I found out that it was possible to extend my Japanese visa if I was out of Japan a couple of days and then returned, I started to make some calculations and contacts and South Korea was the best place to travel. I hurried to plan the trip before my Japanese tourist visa period was over…

I have to thank Hao Chung because he introduced me to a lot of his friends in South Korea. This was the link for meeting Elisha who was my salvation when I was searching for a hostel  and how to get there from Incheon Airport(the most modern airport I’ve ever been!). Elisha was also my guide during my first days in Seoul!! Thanks a lot Elisha!!!! :)

About preparations for my trip, I have to thank Ken Amposah and Tomoko Ukaji, they helped me with the flight ticket from Tokyo/Seoul and back in the most appropriate dates with the lower prices!!! Nice!!! Here are Hao, Ken and Tomoko!!!

  

I decided to stay 10 days in South Korea for 2 reasons, I wanted to travel around Seoul as much as I could and also I wanted to be sure that, by the time of my return to Japan I wouldn’t have any problems with the visa. So I took a plane on May 8 from Narita and in approximately 2 hours we landed on Incheon, this is my very first picture in South Korea, this place was also my bed that night because I had to sleep at the airport…

Next day around 9 in the morning I met with Elisha and we departed to Mr. Kim’s hostel (a place that would change forever my ideas about how to travel!). This was the cheapest place we could find where the price was only $16 per night!! To our surprise the hostel was located in a very nice area, near the Seoul Tower and here I could met another  travelers with whom I spent some time around Seoul and talked about interesting topics! Here are some photos from the hostel where I met Joe from England (he was travelling around Asia as a backpacker and no specific plan!), Mr Kim (the hostel’s owner, super nice guy) and Tony (from South Korea, very nice person and he was living some time in the hostel). Also there’s the room where I stayed with 7 more people…

 

The first days in Korea I went sightseeing with Joe and during one of our conversations he talked about the site CouchSurfing which was very important when I got back to Japan and also I learned a new and more interesting way of travelling! This site is a travelers social network where you get in contact with people who could host you or offer some tourist guidance (not cost at all!). This was very helpful in Tokyo where I could met new places and people thanks to the site!!! Some places I visited with Elisha and Joe on the first days in Seoul…

 

 

Another interesting spot I visited with Elisha was the Seoul Fish Market. Here  are some shots from the place and a video. It is a strange experience to watch so many rare species that you can eat…

 

After the market we visited Seoul’s most centric place, a huge plaza which is near the government buildings and there’s an underground Korean history museum, very interesting place! Here I took some photos and also this video…

  

 

  

  

The first days in Seoul where great! I took the decision to walk around (instead of riding the train) to the most popular spots and also to know the city better so I had 4 to 7 hour walks everyday which where very fun and tiresome! Some places I visited and the funny dancing Snoopy…

  

 

  

There’s a lot to talk about Korea and I didn’t wanted to create just one huge post so next time I will write about the final days in Korea, more interesting people I met, other tourist places I visited, some facts about Korean food, my first Karaoke night in Asia and most important of all: my return to Japan!!! :D

Thanks for reading!! :D Hope you are doing great!!! :D