Adventures of Becs and Tin Tam in Kitakyushu

Winter starts

2008-12-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

Winter!!!The temperature has dropped dramatically, night time is generally below 10celcius. I had to run off quickly to buy fluffy lined coats and down jackets to keep warm - I can't leave my room without at least four layers on.During December the weather is supposed to hover around 17 degrees during the day, but last week it was 7 degrees during the day so go figure. Apparently the coldest

2008-11-19T01:42:00.000-08:00

Autumn'Tis a pretty picture around uni, the leaves are turning bright red and a blazing yellow. Haven't been up to too much, but I went to a Japanese beach in the day finally! In Wakamatsu.There aren't any natural beaches around here, the coast has been filled and developed to incorporate all the trade with Asia.I must say it doesn't smell like the sea... the sand is darker and coarser

Saga International Balloon Fiesta 2008

2008-11-16T07:48:00.001-08:00

Saga Balloon Fiesta(by Bex)Saga prefecture is to the south west of Fukuoka prefecture, my interest in the 'fiesta' was peaked due to all the advertisements hanging around the main railway station Kokura.Japan greatly encourages traveling within the country so these advertisements are not rare.To cost cut I wake up at 4am to catch an all stops train to Fukuoka - from there I take a highway bus to

what's happening!?!?!?!? 7 month mark

2008-11-02T04:23:00.000-08:00

There hasn't been an update for ages!!! what's going on? i've been hearing...Well bottom line I'm lazy... second reason is this blog tool only lets us upload four photos at a time so it is terribly terribly tedious. I'll be making a greater effort to update from now on.Remember they're not always in order so check the blog archive panel on the left to see where the new entries are!______________

Summer trip 4 - Final

2008-10-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

Bex, Binkz and Tin's Voyage around Japan continued...Day 23J-Hoppers Hiroshima is slightly far from JR Hiroshima Station itself but it's quite close to everything else. Again we were placed on the top floor but this time in a Japanese style room. The Peace Memorial Park is quite close to the hostel - two tram stops away. Dara came over to our hostel and we all had brekky before going to the

Summer trip 3

2008-10-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

Bex, Binkz and Tin's Voyage around Japan continued...Day 16A hectic morning - we bused and then taxi-ed to the wrong studio (Maica), we were already running late... so I call the studio and then we taxi again to the correct studio (Shiki - http://www.maiko-henshin.com/english/) and we begin our transformation into maiko!! (apprentice geisha).Binkz and I are given some undergarnments and tabi (

Summer trip 2

2008-10-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

Bex, Binkz and Tin's Voyage around Japan continued...Day 9That night before Binkz decided to stay at the hostel to rest up after our Fujisan ordeal whilst Tin and I go to Shibuya to meet up with Derrick and his friends for some clubbing!! We took the first train back to the hostel hehe.It's a Sunday!! So we go to Harajuku again to try and spot some cosplayers. There weren't as many as I

Summer Trip - A very sped up overview

2008-10-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

Bec, Bianca and Tin's Voyage of JapanSummer holidays!!! Semester one was over zomg so fast >.< style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Day 1We met Binkz at Haneda airport... it was very hard finding each other >.< style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);">Day 2Tin didn't want to go to Tokyo Tower for some reason - and I wasn't complaining cos I'd already been so we head off to the World Trade building near Ginza to

ICS info - Accessing cash

2008-08-13T21:23:00.001-07:00

The following is some info on the availability of funds in Japan.Japan is a cash country. There's no way i can stress this enough. In Sydney if you run out of cash you're most likely to swipe your bank or credit card. The 'cash card' is never available to use in this manner. NEVER.Department stores and large stores of course accept credit card but considering Japan tends to have more small

Matsuri - the pinnacle

2008-08-13T21:22:00.001-07:00

The Kanmon Straits Fireworks!!The Kanmon is the strip of water separating Kyushu and the main island of Japan Honshu, the fireworks are held on the towns right by the Strait on both sides of it - at Mojiko on the Kyushu side and Shimonoseki on the Honshu side.Mojiko is only a couple of stations away from our university. The trains were absolutely PACKED on our way there...Tokyo style.As usual

Matsuri IV!

2008-08-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

Matsuri IV!!The festivals are wrapping up!! All the festivals in Kitakyushu come together in one big weekend event called the Wasshoi Hyakumannin Matsuri (わっしょい百万人祭り). The Tobata, Kokura, Wakamatsu and Kurosaki festivals and fireworks! Day 1:Soooo many people:The Tobata floats strut their stuffThese ones spun: Themed mikoshi (floats) - one of them was Totoro themed: I had to tone it down but this

Matsuri III

2008-07-31T07:10:00.000-07:00

Kokura GionAt a shrine some sort of ceremony takes place:Loud drums, cymbals and chantingChocobananas decorated nicely to attract the masses:Tobata GionSparing you guys the stalls we'll go straight to the main event, the parade!They went around in circles Before they changed the float to:The one on the left almost fell over

Matsuri II !!!

2008-07-22T05:56:00.001-07:00

Matsuri IIThe second festival i went to was fireworks at Wakamatsu, the suburb next to where we live. Unfortunately my friend finished uni late so there wasn't time to put on a yukata =S. We took a ferry from Tobata to Wakamatsu:The red bridge at Tobata - apparently K-dawg helped design it:Police in our prefecture look like:I prefer NSW police uniform =PDon't ask me why that guy is wearing a

Summer in Japan means!?!?!?!

2008-07-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

MATSURI I!!! FESTIVALS!!First up is the Hakata Yamagasa Gion festival. It's held in the capital of our state Fukuoka - the biggest city in Kyushu. It has a loooooong history, we set off at 11pm with Tin's tutor and his girlfriend:"Yama" literally mountain - they're very decorative and each one changes every year on both sides.For those that know - Gegege no kitaroMen in Japanese loinclothsOld

supa!! ICS info

2008-07-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

Supermarkets in and around KITMostly this is relevant to ICS students that are going to stay at the Tobata campus dorms, if you don't know this is where you're staying.Firstly, the closest supermarket is called Spina, it's pretty damn close, two minutes by bike depending on how fast you ride. It's pretty cheap but it closes at 8pm, it has most things you need - including alcohol (so much alcohol

Weekend trip with Aesthetics engineering lab

2008-07-08T23:03:00.000-07:00

As students at a Japanese University we were assigned to a professor and his lab. Our professor is Kimura sensei, and the students in our lab are structural engineers. Our lab doesn't really do field trips but downstairs the aesthetics lab do, and Kimura sensei (K-dawg as we like to call him) was kind enough to ask them to take us along. We set out in three cars on a terrible rainy Saturday

Two no three months on...

2008-06-10T05:57:00.000-07:00

Thee months (and counting) since we've arrived in KIT, it feels so much longer!It feels like i've been here for 6 months (BTW that dp you put up is terrible!)So... what's changed and what on earth have we been doing?well... i'm almost used to seeing people carry parasols - apparently the Japanese are terrified of getting skin cancer. Apparently the 50+ SPF sunscreen isn't enough protection. and

the age old question of...BO

2008-05-22T08:01:00.000-07:00

We've all been there... back in high school... oh I don't need deodorant, I don't have BO... until some senior announces in assembly that the juniors stink.Here in Japan - they're STILL at that stage. I was chatting to a Japanese friend about trains (Sydney vs Japan/Beppu) and how I thought Japanese trains smelt like sweat and this question popped up:(for context)me: i think salaryment hink they

Beppu... Beppu... Beppu... (Day 5)

2008-05-09T03:32:00.000-07:00

We stayed up all night chatting. At first we were drinking in the common room but this guy was hitting on a very uncomfortable Quoc so we left:OMG you took a pic of him. He said i was "very handsome". I know I am, but come on do you guys have to keep reminding me? It gets annoying sometimes =DWe ate brekkie at 8am and went to sleep for two hours before we farewelled Bianca.I felt so messed up

Beppu... Beppu... Beppu... (Day 4)

2008-05-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

OK on to day 4, it was James' last day here so we wanted to knock off everything he wanted to do before he left. What was left to do? The 2 remaining Jigoku Onsens and the sand hot spring.So after having brekky (BTW I think me and Binkz had a megamac battle rematch, which i won of course. Binkz, send me your photos!) we head out to the Giza hot springs, we saw the sign and it sounded badass. I

Beppu... Beppu... Beppu... (Day 3)

2008-05-07T01:39:00.000-07:00

We start off visiting the Jigoku Onsen - or 'Hells' . They're mildly interesting...First up was he mountain hell, basically massive loads of steam bursting from the ground:The smell is disgusting - it's like lots and lots of bad eggs T_Tyay!! steam from the ground!!! throw in a coin for good luck!A lot of Beppu has random steam spouting out and there are animals that can live in the 90 degree

Beppu... Beppu... Beppu... (Day 2)

2008-05-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

OK so we wake up at the crack of dawn on Day 2 (10am) and get ready for the day ahead. We discussed our plans for the entire trip the night before so we were right on schedule. Before setting off, we decided to fill our stomachs with calorie filled goodness to get us going through the day. I chose the following:Megamac set (meal) + Green Tea Oreo McFlurry (trust me, it tastes heaps better than it

Beppu... Beppu... Beppu... (Day 1)

2008-05-06T06:05:00.000-07:00

Woo, where do i start? I guess things will only make sense if we start off with some background info. In Japan a couple of days at the end of April and the beginning of May marks what is called "Golden Week", to dumb it down a bit (honestly i don't know about the holiday's history so I'll talk like i know my stuff) it's just a couple of selected days to give workers some time to relax and be

living alone

2008-04-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

living alone is made up of two things so far...laundryand dishesit seems all that i do is laundry, followed by dishes - i have about two of everything so i have to do my dishes or i'd be eating off the floor - so annoying T_T .i'm sure soon i'll add paying bills to the list lol

engrish XD

2008-04-27T03:45:00.000-07:00

The inevitable - engrish:in quoc's words: "what happens after the 8th day?" this is a convenience store... who'd have thoughtAnd my favourite - found this at a 100 yen store:

another wtf moment

2008-04-27T03:21:00.000-07:00

went out for ramen just then...i'm running out of money so i only hd a 10 000 yen note on me - the shop used the automatic ordering system and the max they accepted was 1000 yen. I asked the male shop guy for some change - he took my money and went outside - i thought he was going to go next door or something but he hopped into his car for change O.ohe came back a couple of minutes later ...omg i

Food in Japan

2008-04-26T06:38:00.001-07:00

OK just a quick post about food.The local food is AWESOME! Super tasty and super cheap. My only gripe is that they don't serve enough meat with their dishes, which is understandable since meat is a rare commodity here. I've been eating katsu curry rice pretty much everyday since day 2, it's the best thing since sliced bread i swear. Even as we speak i feel like i have to go out and get some since

ICS info

2008-04-23T01:55:00.000-07:00

This post is created for future In-Country Studies students, with relevant info and questions.KIT is an engineering universty - as a past KIT ICS student put it "it's a sausage fest". Yes the guys outnumber the girl by more than a lot.The dorm is located in the north-west corner of the university grounds, your room has a kitchenette, bathroom with toilet and shower, a large cabinet set thing, a

My b'day dinner...

2008-04-22T04:58:00.000-07:00

missing all you guys back in sydney. took the photo from my phone so the quality aint that good. udon with seafood beef, and egg.

About my last post...

2008-04-20T02:30:00.000-07:00

I take a few of my comments back... we found a place which i'll refer to as the "Parra westfields of Kitakyushu" that had a couple of decent department stores with normal clothes. I was happy and i'll head back there this week to pick up some clothes. I found some normal bags too. Did i mention shoes are cheap here?But the other things i wrote about... yeah its mostly true.

Fashion in Kitakyushu...

2008-04-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

and Japan in general (?):People here dress very feminine-ish (or to put it bluntly, they look very queer). It took us ages to write a blog about this because we didn't know where to start. I'm bored out of my brains and it's a Saturday night so it can't get any worse, so whatever it's all good. I'll start off with mens bags (age group: 18-25). I CAN NOT FIND A NORMAL LOOKING BAG ANYWHERE!!! Every

our phones

2008-04-13T21:29:00.001-07:00

We asked around for a denkiya - electronics store cos we couldn't find a section at the department store at all!And when we found it it was heaven! Japanese phones are so...stylish, cool...whatever.In Japan advertisements come with a barcode thing that phones can read and takes you to the URL (Quoc post that video?)Here's my phone: Ghey, i didn't take a photo of my phone when it was brand

Japanese food ... oh and drink XD

2008-04-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

Food is so good here >._

Of garbage and vending machines

2008-04-10T02:53:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of vending machines.It's probably fair to say there's at least one in every block - possibly more, mostly they've been for drinks, but there are vending machines for tobacco and for ordering food at the cafetaria.Quoc and I had no idea we were supposed to do that >.<>The garbage system is complicated to say the least, we have to separate our household garbage, the plastic bottles

WTF moments

2008-04-08T02:14:00.000-07:00

=O worthy... the following is a list of moments where both of us were in a situation where we had no idea what was going on (note: most of these moments involve people speaking incredibly fast japanese to us):1. International office lady handing the paperwork to us and trying to explain what things were for.2. Cafeteria lunch lady telling us that we could only order the food we wanted after 11am

Our First Week

2008-04-08T02:12:00.000-07:00

Hey guys this is our first blog entry, but we're too lazy to write anything right now. So we shall keep you updated once we're procrastinating.edit:Well the plane ride was...um...okay? what else can you say about the plane ride? we watched movies and tv shoes, listened to music etc. Quoc and I were pretty excited.Airplane food was gross as usual... i liked their bread rolls though. I didn't sleep