Ari & Nici in Japan: Mt. Fuji 富士山

Hey guys (^.^)v

Since last year was our first stay in Japan, 

we absolutely wanted to visit its national symbol: Mount Fuji.
We again took the train to a small town located near the foot of the mountain.
Many climbers and wanderers start their tour there and since the route
was included in our Kansai Railway Pass, it was quite cheap for us ^.^

I have no idea where exatly we went off.. but we also had to change trains

 We arrived quite late since the ride took long but we still had some time until
the bus arrived with which we wanted to 'climb' onto the mountain.
So we spent some time at the station and they literally sold everything
you might need when you climb up. They even had single sold rolls of
toilet paper wrapped in sheets with handdrawn paintings of the mountain..
However, after some time of waiting and buying for provisions, our bus finally arrived.

When we bought the bus tickets, we even got a small lucky charm
to protect the wanderers ^.^
But we didn't choose a good day to visit Mount Fuji..
It was totally cloudy that day. Usually you can see the mountain
from the town we started our bus tour but on this day: no chance!
So unfortunately, we did not even had a bad view on the landscape
but literally no view at all..

While the bus was air conditioned and the air temperature in the town we started
the ride in was like 30°C, we were really shocked by how low the temperature
on Fuji was..

12°C O.O

It was so so cold Q_Q
But still we took some pictures and enjoyed our time.

We went with Jessica that day (on the left).
She is from Germany, too and coincidentally stayed at the same
hostfamily in Osaka as we did x'D
On the mountain we even met another girl from Germany
who asked us to take a photo of her.

the mountain top, without snow in the summer

We also went to the souvenir shop up there ^.^
They sell really cute and unique souvenirs, even some stuff you can only
get there and not in the shops at the train station near the foot of the mountain.
Since it was so cold, we drank some green tea in the cafeteria.
After we had revovered a bit, we went outside again to take some more memory photos:

selfie with fujisan xD

so windy o.o

We did not have that much time to explore Fuji as it tooks us several hours 
to go there and we had to take the last bus downwards before it got dark
(I think it was around 6 pm but I'm not sure anymore...)

this picture obviously remebered it for me: it was around 6 pm x3

a huge painting on a wall in the train station

 We got back to Osaka quite late and were really hungry,

so we decided to eat at a nearby familiy restaurant

that was opened until late after midnight xD

 I had fries and pancakes with chocolate ice cream *-*

Anyway, it was really great to visit Mount Fuji and see one of

 Japan's national symbols with your own eyes ^.^

Thank you for reading and see you again next time ♥

Ari & Nici in Japan: Nara - getting chased by deers xD

Hey guys (^.^)v

When we were in Osaka, we of course also had to visit Nara 

since the town  is very close. Nara is famous for its free-running deers.

It is a very special thing since for the Japanese Community safety is very important

and deers that can walk nearly everywhere in a whole town is not really

something most people would consider safe... 

But still, they are there and Nara has a lot of tourist comming just because of them x3

every photographer with his own deer x'D

But Nara has a lot more to offer than just deers.
Our way to the park where mos of the deers spend their time
was guided by beautiful traditional architecture and shrines ♥

But back to the deers...
When you keep walking on from the first spot we saw the deers,
you will get to another park with more female deers (= no antlers = less dangerous xD,
yes, I was a little bit afraid of the big male deers..)
We sat down on a bench and the deers just didn't care at all x3

You could even pet them ^.^

Since the deers seemed so friendly, we chose to get some deer food.

As soon as the deers noticed that we had food, they stopped being friendly.
They all came to us and even bit the legs of my trousers and my shirt x'D
I started to walk backwards slowly but I hardly got out the food fast enough.

Nici also found some friends among the deers..

When our food for them was empty, they just lost their interest in us 
and went back to daily business.. which is basically chilling and being photographed xD

After all this action, we walked to a nearby shrine to relax a little bit.

In my opinion, Nara is a really beautiful city and should not just be visited for its deers.
Of course, it is a really cool attraction to have a park with free-running deers
but Nara has a lot more spots to visit. I hope I can return somewhen in the future..
If you are planning to visit Japan, I can highly recommend to visit it ^.^

Thank you for reading ♥
See you next time (^.^)v

Ari & Nici in Japan: Osaka - Shinsaibashi, Denden Town & America Mura \(*-*)/

Hey guys (^.^)v

Let's continue with our journey through Japan!

When half of our stay was over, we left Tokyo and made our way to Osaka.

Since I first got in touch with Japan, I've always wanted to visit Osaka the most ♥

Somehow it has always been the most interesting town to me.

Also, my favourite character of my favourite anime 'Azumanga daioh!'

is called 'Osaka' (her real name actually is Kasuga Ayumu) since

she is an exchange student from Osaka xD

After I managed to get all the stuff you saw in the former post into my suitcase,

we took the metro to Tokyo Station to catch our Shinkansen.

Sadly, that day a strong typhoon hit the parts of Japan we had to travel through

and so we experienced the only time a Japanese train was late.

But it was not only late, it also suddenly changed the platform and we had to

carry all our havy stuff through this huge amount of people to another platform.

But fortunately we had reserved seats and could rest during the ride.

we took the Hikari super express at 10.33 to Shin-Osaka ^.^

there is so much space for your legs in the Shinkansen, we could place our suitcases in front of our legs *o*

Of course, the ride took longer than usual due to the typhoon but whereas the delay

was more than one and a half hour somewhere in between, we arrived at Shin-Osaka

Station with just 25 minutes delay. Good job, Japanese train drivers!

Since it was already quite late, we went out for dinner with our new host family
and decided to visit the city on another day x3
We discussed our plans for the next day in the evening and Nici really wanted
to go to Hiroshima and I wanted to see Osaka city, so we split apart for this day.
So the next day I dressed up and went to the train station.

The only mirror in the house was in our kitchen/bathroom

 My first stop that day was 'Denden Town'!
It is said to be Osaka's Akihabara and I think that's true xD

You could win a Harry Potter wand in this Ufo catcher *o*

Oh no! It's Mosra attacking!

I bought a few things and played Ufo-catcher x3
It was a typical Osaka Ufo Catcher since you had to catch pin-pon balls
and let them fall in the middle of a Taiyaki pan x'D

the best thing in Japan: vending machines with delicious drinks everywhere!

I thought this building was rather interesting..

Next, I wanted to visit Shinsaibashi!
Maybe you have seen pictures of Glico Man before?
It is a huge illuminated advertisement sign with a guy in a running suit.
It is very famous and nearly every Osaka tourist takes a photo of or with it xD
Me too of course:

I saw many people taking photos with him and I wanted too 
but I was to scared to ask anyone...
But, I didn't walk all on my own that day, I took my friend Tiger-chan with my ^.^
He is a small plush tiger my boyfriend gave to me ^.^
He accompanied me on the whole journey and so I thought
'why not show him some parts of Japan, too?'

Tiger-chan and Glico Man! My photo with him will follow x3

Dotonbori River

 When you are standing in front of Glico Man on this brigde over Dotonbori River
and just turn around, you will see the entrance of Shinsaibashi-suji.
A very, very long roofted shopping street.
It even crosses some streets and you have to be careful where you are walking
since suddenly a street can cross and a car can hit you o.o

The entrance of Shinsaibashi-suji. A very very long roofed shopping street x3

Inside Shinsaibashi-suji

Since it was already sometime in the afternoon, I decided it was time for lunch xD
The easiest way to get lunch in Japan is to go to a Conbini store
and they are located at literally every street corner.
This time I went to a 'Family Mart'.
 

I love this 'Royal Milk Tea' *Q*

After restoring my energy, I could walk on and visited 'America Mura'!
The word 'Mura' means 'village' in Japanese and the district is something
like the Harajuku or Shibuya of Tokyo.
The name refers to the youth culture and clothing style they wear.

Ame Mura was greeting me x3

Unfortunately, I did not take many pictures in Ame Mura
but like in Harajuku and Shibuya you will find many fashionable young people
and lots of clothing stores there. But on the streets you can see
that in Osaka there is much more influence from America and
espacially from rap and hip hop culture.

I just bought one piece here which I will show you in a seperated shopping haul post x3
But I also had my only bubble tea in Japan in Ame Mura ^.^

Actually it wasn't tea but mango juice x3 still delicious ♥
And I was happy everytime I ordered something in Japanese 
and they understood what I wanted x'D

So, that was my first entry on Osaka ^.^
I think there will follow two more and also some of other places we visited.
So stay tuned and see you next time (^.^)v