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First Week in Japan

First Week in Japan

Monday 2nd - Monday 9th May 2005

Pictures from the first week I was in Japan in 2005.

> Maison de Stuff
> John
> John's Pictures
> Japanese
> Japan 2005 Part I
> Japan 2005 Part II

Monday 02 May
11:02
Chie eating a cake or something.

Monday 02 May
11:01
On the Shinkanse from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima, just after boarding. I'd been craving Asahi "Aqua Blue" for a while before arriving in Japan, but couldn't get it at the kiosk in Shin-Osaka so had to settle for the regular Asahi Happoshu instead. This was still pretty good.

Tuesday 03 May
08:24
A spot of early morning unable-to-sleep boredom relief.

Tuesday 03 May
08:25
Chie wisely still sleeping!

Tuesday 03 May
12:22
A mechanical crab.

Tuesday 03 May
12:27
The parade of Hiroshima's flower festival.

Tuesday 03 May
12:42
Too many cooks....?

Tuesday 03 May
13:22
Nice picture of the girls, with a flower pyramid in the background.

Wednesday 04 May
09:40
Chie opening presents.

Wednesday 04 May
09:41
Mmmmm Veuve Cliquot Rose.

Wednesday 04 May
09:43
A sort of washbag thing.

Wednesday 04 May
09:49
Comedy ear thing.

Wednesday 04 May
09:53
Comedy ear plus rose champagne. An obvious choice.

Wednesday 04 May
09:56
A basket weave bag - another birthday present.

Wednesday 04 May
12:45
Juntendo - a kind of Japanese B and Q.

Wednesday 04 May
12:45
Same again.

Wednesday 04 May
13:40
One of the "strage" (sic) tanks at the small Kirin brewery in a shopping centre in Hiroshima.

Wednesday 04 May
13:48
On a guided tour around the outside of the small scale brewery.

Wednesday 04 May
13:58
The storage tanks showing the different labelling used from 1888 to the present day.

Wednesday 04 May
14:04
Of course the guided tour came with some free beer!

Wednesday 04 May
14:56
The Kirin brewery shrine. Here you can pray to the god of beer, presumably.

Wednesday 04 May
15:12
Lunch on the steps.

Wednesday 04 May
16:46
Vending machines.

Wednesday 04 May
17:18
Chie in her grandmother's garden.

Wednesday 04 May
20:24
Me having fallen asleep on Chie's grandmother's living room floor.

Wednesday 04 May
20:24
No need!

Wednesday 04 May
20:52
Chie getting ready to blow out the candles on her birthday cake.

Wednesday 04 May
20:53
Mandatory blurry candles shot.

Thursday 05 May
13:07
Chie's sister Yuka having her picture taken in her coming of age ceremony kimono.

Thursday 05 May
13:09
Of course it was hard to get one without the photographer in the way!

Thursday 05 May
13:15
Different backdrop here.

Thursday 05 May
13:25
The girls.

Thursday 05 May
13:27
Blurry!

Thursday 05 May
13:48
Another vending machine...

Thursday 05 May
13:57
A temple in Hiroshima.

Thursday 05 May
16:09
Some nice deep fried vegetables.

Thursday 05 May
18:06
Sushi-tei - our regular haunt for sushi in Hiroshima.

Thursday 05 May
19:07
Chie with Mum and Dad.

Thursday 05 May
19:07
Yuka, me and Chie.

Thursday 05 May
19:07
Same again.

Thursday 05 May
19:09
I think this was an umi budo (sea grape) gunkan, but a bit hard to tell from the picture.

Thursday 05 May
19:21
I liked the umi budo so much that I went for the temaki version as well.

Thursday 05 May
20:29
In an izakaya after dinner...

Thursday 05 May
20:29
A few nibbles that we didnt really need!

Thursday 05 May
20:45
Mmmmmm sake...

Saturday 07 May
15:43
I guess this was a very good time of year to visit these gardens, as all the flowers were in full bloom.

Saturday 07 May
15:50
It is hard to believe this is all in a big city like Hiroshima.

Saturday 07 May
15:57
The sun was very bright which made it a bit difficult to get a picture of the waterfall and the pool here.

Saturday 07 May
20:04
It took us a few days to getting around to drink the rose champagne I'd got Chie for her birthday, but it was very nice in the end nonetheless.

Sunday 08 May
18:00
A view from the park on a hill near Chie's family home.

Sunday 08 May
18:00
I'm very fond of Japanese warning signs.

Sunday 08 May
18:02
Another view again - you can almost see the sea here apparently - some of the more distant lumps are in fact islands.

Sunday 08 May
18:05
Another great warning sign. If you're a cat, don't go starting fires, OK? Chie particularly enjoyed the excessiveness of the cat holding not only a lit match, but also a cigarette lighter and a candle. That's one feline with some seriously pyromaniac issues.

Sunday 08 May
18:16
You can just about see Chie's mum here, on thr balcony of the family's flat.

Monday 09 May
15:31
On an afternoon shopping trip to "Diamond City" the girls are distracted by this taiko machine.

Monday 09 May
17:30
A pointless couple of pictures taking whilst me and Chie waited in the car for her mum...

Monday 09 May
17:30
...waving fans about.

Tuesday 10 May
18:18
We'd spent most of the day indoors, and so around 5 or 6 Chie and I decided we really ought to head out... We didn't really have anything planned, but pleasingly met up with Chie's mum on her way home from work, and spontaenously decided to go into this little izakaya near where Chie's family live...

Tuesday 10 May
18:18
...the gobo chips here were particularly good, and I also enjoyed some very nice sake.

Tuesday 10 May
19:20
Chie's Dad joined us a little bit later on. A very nice couple of hours all in all!