is this really a sport? walking to the finnish line?

                                    I got a trick over a pole in osaka before we left

                               the view from our new hotel room

                         another view

                                    went to this place and spent way too much for way too little

                              this guy showed up

                             thanks for hooking it up toshi, its been two weeks

after toshi left sheridan and i watched this and laughed for an hour. 

castles, fish, bands, and blue water

           

           So its been a day or two so I'll start where I left off at. Our second day in Osaka- We had a few things we wanted to go to. Sheridan really wanted to see the osaka castle and we both really wanted to go to the aquarium. So we started off first with the castle. I was quite big, it had a giant moat and all. We walked around the outside checked it out and for six bucks we could tour the inside. Inside we went, and it was mostly just a museum filled with history and old artifacts from back to the 1500's. I actually paid attention to the history part and read a bunch of story's on how it had been taken over and the battles it took place in. very interesting it was but we got hungry and split. 

          Next after lunch we hopped back onto the railway and headed for the aquarium. When we got there we realized it was summer and there was no school, so the place was packed to the brim with screaming children, people kinda pushing around to see shit, and an irritated me getting knocked around. Yeah it was about as annoying as it could possibly get but after a while it kinda smoothed out and we got to see all the cool underwater creatures. It claimed in the book we read to be the worlds biggest but i will argue against that. Though they did have a whale shark and a huge manta ray, and also an exhibit of baby river otters that i wanted to steal.We were off and it was time to go get a drink and see a couple bands at the fandango bar we went to the night before.

           The first band i think was called School of cook? I don't know or care nor should you they sucked. I don't know the name of the second band but they were pretty good. They dressed up like cowboys and Indians and played some good ol' Japanese rock and roll. I have no idea what they were saying but they made us laugh. The last band was called national. They killed it! They put on a great show. I enjoyed them so much we spent our last bit of beer money for a cd.

            We wanted to go to a beach somewhere while we are here so we asked the bartender where the closest beach was. He told us all the osaka beaches sucked and are dirty but he pointed us to Shirahama beach . Its about 2 1/2 hours south of osaka by train. We got up around 730 the next day looked it up online and were sold. The pictures we saw online were of white sands and blue water. Lets go! So, we immediately got up and headed to the  railway to hit the next train. 

        The next train didn't leave till 12 noon so we took it got to the beach by 3 and relaxation set in. This is something we both really wanted to do but didn't think we would since it was so far away. The water was so clear. I swam out to where it was about 10 to 12 feet deep. dove all the way to the bottom, opened my eyes to see the white wavy sand for about 50 feet away. I looked down at the sand below me and noticed some kind of shell. I went to grab it and realized it as a crab and watched it scurry away. This place was great! We got some sun, swam, and watched the sunset all in relaxation. No rushing around, no hiking and no busy streets. Next time we come to japan we'll be sure to spend a few days over a few hours in shirahama. Thanks Couichi for telling us about this lace, it was well needed.

       We didn't get back to our hotel from the beach till midnight, so we kept it chill and stayed in. We woke up packed up our stuff and headed back to tokyo for another two nights before we come back to the bay. Our new hotel is pretty rad. Its got two bowling alleys, and aquarium, dolphins you can pet, tennis courts, and 7 restaurants. I think we are probably going to hang out around here. There is enough stuff to do here to keep us busy for 2 days. I'm over riding the train everyday. We both are ready to get back. I want a burrito, cheesesteak, pizza and some t.v i can understand. See you soon

                            They made you wear a traditional outfit to go inside the castle

                                        Some size reference for ya

                                         jellyfish at the aquarium

                                                          octopai

                                              more size reference 

                                         i wish i was a sea turtle

                                       the band that blew

                                         cowboys and Indians

          this is national, if idapol got femmed out and sang in a band he would 

           probably be this guy

                                             the keyboardist plays a huge role in me liking them

               I think the guitarist played the brother in that movie 'little miss sunshine'

           I saw some hometown love in the bathroom of Fandango

                          Shirahama beach

                                      

                                   Sheridan waiting for the train writing in her journal

                                             I saw this on the walk back to the hotel

NATIONAL IS SICK!!

                          met this guy. dont know his name but he said some funny stuff

                                Japanese Clay Aiken. Tiny little fella was playin old madonna, Genisis, and some rod stewart

          Get some super soft wheels and a motorcycle to tow you in sideways and you'll have a spot

                  welcome to osaka

                 Driving range at the hotel? Nice

                                                                   sex hotel

                                          the same sex hotel

                                     Our waitress kept trying to communicate with us but it wasn't working

                                We finally found a sick hole in the wall bar. Good music and cool bartender

                                Bar Fandango

       Here are some funny flicks i came across i think you guys should see for yourself.

                         Toshi Honda has his face on a poster. these pics were takin days apart and its funny how i found this.

                     Chocolate pretzel sticks for men. For a mans man

                                 A slim jim for toddlers

                            Rick Ross has his own drink in japan

                                    They even know about mac dre out here

                                  and i believe mississippi came through

                                   And this is the chef of this restaurant. its okay though cuz it's like 100 degrees out here

      Okay, so it's been a few days since i've posted anything. Right now i'm kinda drunk cuz my lady and i hung out with our good friend whiskey and I'm trying to post some stuff. I'll start where I left off. I believe it was with our homie Toshi Honda. Yeah the day after the we recouped and headed back to Harajuku to do some shopping and viewing the area in daylight. I figured i would take it upon myself and take some random pics so i'll just go on whats there. 

                   Wanna eat some?? I'll pass

        I know this might be mean but i swear i saw Willow. Look at that girls face, she knows what i'm sayin

                           This dudes got style

                         I actually have grown fond of fried fish lately

                                  Bilbo Baggins from behind

                            This girl was very nice and served us some great sweets

                                                       Some old guy

                 Stopped by FTC Yokyo, Hey Ando, they say whats up

                    Harajuku is always this crowded. Look all the way back t gnarly packed

           Now is the time we head down to Kyoto for three days. When you get to the bottom of the page you'll see how packed the subway of Tokyo is. Yeah it sucks for a forgenier. But we mash through it anyway. Jump on a bullet train and take a 200mph train straight to Kyoto. I love you Tokyo! 
                                     We made it onto the train!!!!

                                Enjoyed some giant grapes we got while we pass the time

 This guy sat next to us on the train. I offered him some grapes and he was peeling the skin off of them. When i asked him why he replied " Japanese people peel them off". I told him just to eat it whole and he ate a whole grape for the first tim in his life. Dude has just been taught a lesson on how to really eat a grape.

                                eye eye cap-i-tan. Our bullet driver

                                      The train that goes 200mph

                 So we get to Kyoto, the hotel we had origonly reserved got messed up like the first two we got online before our trip and when we called them they we're booked our day of arrival so we had to get another one for a day ( which was not easy since almost every hotel in the area was booked that day). Luckily we found on right across the street from the station. Sorry i forgot to include pics of it.

      We arrived at the Kyoto station and again we were overwhelmed with it's size and we're right back into the ant farms we were use to in Tokyo. This place was so damn big. It was the size of 3 westfield malls(sf) with a subway and express rail station inside. Where do all these people come from? It was insain! And the fact that Kyoto is way mellower than Tokyo it took me as surprise.
                       An upper side view of Kyoto station

                                      More ant farms

                          Another ant farm outside of the station in Kyoto

          Our second day in Kyoto after our travel there we decided to check some stuff out. We had a few things on our mind we wanted to see the first was the Kyoto Imperial Palace. It was on the the was to the Ginkakuji temple (silver temple). So we decided to go. First we stoped by the imperial palace, walked around took some flicks and again like the one at Tokyo we could not enter, just walk around the perimeter. So then we headed off to the Ginkakuji temple. We got there and ths place was aboslutly georgous! It was a long walk up to the temple but there were a lot of shops to stop by and buy some gifts. When we got there i have to say it was the prettiest thing i had seen yet. The greenest grass, monks, and we even saw ricshaws carring people in carrages. some pictures are below.
                               A little temple inside the Imperial palace park

                                  Oragame of tiny swans
                       The Kyoto Imperial Palace

 
                       Please cane me!   the walk to Ginkajuji temple
                                         The Silver temple. Doesn't look silver and thats because the actual silver temple is being worked on sorry folks but i missed out too.

 

              So it was back to our new hotel, and did we get hooked up! They said they ddn't have a room so they upgraded us to a suite. A giant room with a giant tub and a great view of Kyoto. We speificly got this place because they have a giant pool and sauna, And at this point it is exactly what i need. My back is in constaint pain from carrying a 40 lbs backpack all day for the past 8 days. So we get to the hotel, chck in and immediatly put on our trunks and head for the pool. When we got ther i was denied access because i have tattoos. WHAT! I was pretty pissed but then my woman made me a nice hot bath tub so i could soak my soar ass muscles in hot water. What a relief!

        Next day we had 3 places we wanted to go to. ThIs place that had a monkey farm, the botanical garden and theKinkakuji Temple. Monkey Farm?! I'm in! So first we headed there. We walked and walked up this mountain until we reached the top overlooking the whole Kyoto city. There were japanese monkeys walking all around us. At first we were a bit skeptical because we didn't know it they were violent or not. So we hung around shot some flicks and got warmed up to them. We walked around them as they walked around us. It was so amazing! I've never seen monkeys this close up before. They weren't that big maybe knee height or so. Soon we noticed a small house type place you could walk in and get drinks. You could also feed the monkey from inside because if you fe them outside they would all go crazy. Instead of windows this place had cage wire infront of the windows to feed the monkeys outside. We fed them and were having a great time. I even shook hands with one. All was good until we walked back outside and atarted to take more photos of them. I looked over and on of the bigger was running up to Sheridan and sliding on the gravel spraying gravel at her legs and started barking and making weird monkey noises at her. We both thought it was going to attack her. She was freaking out i was very nervous. (let me remind you this monkey had k-9 teeth 3 inches long and was showing them). What do you do? So i ran in front of her and tried to distract the thing so she could get indside, then another one came up doing the same thing and they started to surround us. Shit got tense quick! So i started screaming at the bastard stomping at it swinging my camera to scare it away. At first it would back off then both of them would step up. I did get a pic of it with my film camera while it was coming at me. I was pretty freaky. 

    I got inside and we chilled and smoked a cig for a minute to calm our nerves. The guy taking care of the grounds who was nowhere to be found during the incedent told me that those two were apart of another family of monkey and he had shoed them into the forest. It's the last thing you want to experiance while on a monkey tour. I really thought these two were going to attack me and by the size of there teeth and there monkey barks they were not kidding around. They were littaraly swinning at me and swipping my legs. Not to mention the other 20 monkeys around stopped what they were doing to and started to gather. It could have gotten very bad.  "What happened to you Brad?" " Oh, I got attack by a swarm of jap monkeys." Yeah we left. 

                              Our new hotel view

                                  At the base of the monkey mountain

                                          baby monchichi

                                      MONEY SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          Thats where we got ambushed. About 30 minutes before
                                                 Look at this guy would you be scared?
                                            Sheridan feeding

           So next we headed to the Botanical gardens. We only had an hour before we had to go see the Kinkakuji Temple(golden temple). So we took some shots and this is what i'm showing you.

                                          Looks like brain

      

            So now we head off to the Kinkakuji Temple, otherwise known as the Golden temple. Absolutly georgous. We got there kinda late so we only had an hour to soak up its beauty. Now i thought the silver temple was the prettiest thing i ad seen since i had been here but now i have been proven wrong. Sancuary to the fullest.




                                     This one is for you dave. Yeah look how tall i look . I feel like I'm in the shire.

Ant farm in Tokyo station