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Japan
Where on earth did 2012 go? At least the Mayan’s were wrong (apparently). Although I didn’t get much travelling done it was a busy year for me. After a 7 year long gap year (really!), I finished my bachelor of science degree. I got engaged, married and emigrated to Japan, and also had 4 different jobs this year too, as well as attempting to upkeep this blog.
Japanese Dessert Lucky Bag
So we enter the 13th year of the millenium. It’s time to reflect, re-evaluate and move on with life, as we all do every year. Unfortunately I’ve broken my 3 year long new year celebration on different continents continuity this year, by returning to Asia (Japan) where I brought in the new year 2 years ago. Last year was Europe (London), so at least I’m in a different continent to last year, so that still counts, right?
This year I don’t have a major plan, but I’m going to continue learning Japanese, develop a new website which is not travel focused, and try to travel as much as possible around Japan, although I don’t think I can get to many other countries, there is so much to see in Japan I don’t think this blog’s content will suffer because of my lack of flying this year.
I’ve also got myself a phone (iPhone 5, yay!) which actually works with the internet here in Japan (they make it unbelievably difficult to use your own phone here as a foreigner), and have started using Instagram, you can follow my photos of life in Japan here on there, feel free to follow me too if you’re using the app! I spent my new year holiday with my wife’s family in Sendai and rented a car for a day to look at the tsunami aftermath, I took a few videos too so I’ll do a post on that soon, but here is a sneak peak photo anyway.
Tsunami Japan
Don’t worry I’m not going to make a habit of posting instagram photos on this blog, just I felt this one suited a teaser shot well.
Here’s to 2013, Kampai!
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In 2010 I went to Japan on a working holiday visa which I previously wrote a guide for. It was one of my most popular posts ever. During my year in Japan I met a lady who I fell in love with, and later married. She being Japanese meant my future with this country was going to become more closer, and so I needed a more suitable visa than a one-off never to renew opportunity to work. There are 2 options in this scenario (as well as the student visa in which you need a university place in Japan for amongst other things) and they are 1. A work visa and 2. A spouse visa. The work visa required a job offer in Japan, and the spouse visa requires a spouse in Japan. So before you get any of these visa’s bear in mind the basic reason behind them!
That aside, I guess you’re looking at this page because a spouse visa is the one for you. So I’ll help guide you through this and get yours. Read the rest! \(^u^)/ →
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Shirakawa was my local village for 7 months when I worked in Japan on a working holiday visa. It is in Fukushima (officially called Shirakawa-shi) and not to be confused with Shirakawa-mure which is in Gifu and is a much more beautiful place to visit! Although I lived up a mountain so trips to the town were limited to my days off work (mostly to get food supplies for the week), there are a few attractions to see while you’re there. It has a small local train stop called Shirakawa station and a major stop on the Shinkansen Tohoku line called Shin-Shirakawa, so it is easy to get too. There is usually taxies to find on both sides of this station and rental car places in case you need to get around.
Some love for Shirakawa
Anyway, onto the attractions:
Shirakawa Castle
Shirakawa Castle
Shirakawa castle’s true name is Komine castle, but I didn’t meet anyone who called it that. Like most areas surrounded by garden in Japan, it’s most beautiful during Cherry Blossom season. It’s a traditionally constructed and looking Japanese castle and was used originally as a security check point for travellers across the Tohoku region. It was controlled by various sides over the years and has been ruined and reconstructed several times mostly in power battles. The most recent destruction however was in 2011 when the great Tohoku earthquake hit. Below is a photo I took of one of the corners of the castle walls which was destroyed during the quake:
Damage to Shirakawa castle
The gardens surrounding Shirakawa castle are an attraction in itself too (well for Shirakawa anyway). It includes a small museum. By small, I mean it’s 2 rooms about 8 metres squared each which features history of the castle and local area including artwork, such as the below which I shamelessly took a photo of. It is all in Japanese with no English translation anywhere
Shirakawa museum artwork
Lake Nanko
Lake Nanko in Shirakawa
Lake Nanko is the opposite side of Shirakawa to Shirakawa castle, it takes around 45 minutes to walk between them. You can get green tea served in the local shop which is recommended. It’s very picturesque and it’s best season is Autumn when the red and yellow colours come out to decorate the landscape. It’s a great place to have a picnic with friends too.
Black Shop
Black shop is a Japanese geeks paradise. Unfortunately I can’t find a photo of the outside, even though I’m sure I took one at some point. But basically it’s a detached square building which is entirely black on the outside, covered in yellow text saying what’s inside (manga, DVDs, Playstation games, etc). Inside contains all of those as well as an extensive second hand clothing section, retro games, figures, watches, snowboards, instruments, etc. It’s all second hand so they buy as well as sell. But if you have any interest in Japanese entertainment, this place is a must go, it’s one of the biggest stores of its type I’ve come across in Japan, which is odd it being in Shirakawa. Here is an example of one of the things I’ve seen inside:
Sony PSX
The 100 yen shops are entertaining at first too, and there are plenty of options on places to eat, especially ramen. Feel free to leave comments on anything else to do in Shirakawa as I think I’ve run out of ideas now!
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The Tokyo Skytree is the worlds second tallest building next to Dubai’s Burj and setting the record for the tallest tower in the world at 634metres. It was open to the public just 2 weeks ago (May 2012). The attraction had such large interest (it is primarily a broadcasting tower, but also has 2 observation decks) that a ticket lottery was held for the first month to avoid huge queues while the interest was still high. You can check the latest Toto result online to see if you’ve won. Although this isn’t my favoured lottery to win (I prefer the euromillions!), my partner won us tickets, so we was one of the first to experience Japan’s tallest building and get the highest view of Tokyo without getting inside a vehicle. This also makes me one of the first foreigners to go up there. It’s always nice being first :-)
Tokyo Skytree merchandise
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