Conclusion

I just handed in my last assignment of the semester today. Christ, four months has shot by amazingly fast. Pardon the cliché, but it honestly feel like only yesterday when I arrived back in Calgary and started school two days later. I've been in Japan withdrawl ever since. While I was happy to see everyone here again, things definitely felt different. By complete fluke, I started talking to this girl the other week who had been travelling around the world for the better part of the last four years. I asked her how she ever got accustomed to living back at home. In a very straightforward manner, she said she still hasn't and doubts that she will ever be able to get entirely back to the way it was. I definitely share the same opinion.
Don't get me wrong, I love my life and the friends and family that I am lucky enough to be around here. But at the same time, I also have a lot that I left behind in Japan which I miss everyday that I'm not there...
Its so true... International travel messes with your head.

This here is my last photo drop of my Japan trip. I'd like to dedicate it to Benny and the Jets... living the dream in the world's largest Chinatown.

August 29, 2006













Everybody loves trick monkeys
Odaiba.

































Fuji Television Building














Rock n' roll


















Shiori and Lisa and the ferris wheel















Future thesis of mine














Rainbow Bridge




























Dinner in Odaiba

August 30, 2006













Nikko














Nice little place. The scenery and temperature reminded me so much of Japser or Banff in the summer time with one important exception...


















Jasper or Banff do not have super rad wild monkeys

































This one here almost bit Lisa in the face.


















The monkeys run the show in Nikko. This one here is posting as lookout while his friend is in the store trying to steal things... and I'm not even joking. Moments later the theif monkey gets shooed out by the owner, flips over a bike and then runs into some narrow alley.

September 1, 2006
























Indirect rent payment as well as the greatest meal I have ever had.














I felt so out of place here. The average person in the room probably had the same amount of money in their pockets that I would ever dream of making in a year.














Elevator mirror fun














New York Bar. top floor














Myself, Saori, Yuya, Kazuki and Shiori














scotch.














About as content as I've ever been














The end of yet another all-nighter. After the Park Hyatt, we decided to continue on with the classiness and go shoot pool and darts and eat ramen. Top drawer.

September 2, 2006













Shinagawa Aquarium














penguin














Two reasons I wish I was in Tokyo right now.

Spetember 3, 2006













Last supper in Ebisu.

September 4, 2006













tv screen in front of my seat showing the sunrise outside.














Actual outside.


















In Vancouver. Lagged and confused







...all eyes on July. 184680分...

東京 dump #2

So yeah, after a few days in Shizuoka, I got back to Tokyo and continued my exploration of the various cities within the city. From each train stop it would seem, Tokyo changes its style and pace. Places like bright, noisy, crowded Shibuya or Shinjuku contrast more mellow areas like Ebisu or Daikanyama, and are completely black and white to places like Itabashi or Urayasu. I guess that would be a good point about Tokyo; if you ever become tired with one area, all you need to do is take a relatively short train ride and start all over again.

Aug. 23, 2006













At first I thought that scene in Kill Bill where she flies into Tokyo looked so over-the-top fake. After actually seeing parts of the city like Shinjuku, things kind of make more sense.

Aug. 24, 2006

















Roppongi Hills shopping center/office building


















super refreshing mist


















Inside Roppongi Hills. If West Edmonton Mall looked as half as cool as this place, I would actually want to go sometimes.














Tokyo from the 52 floor. Kind of smoggy as was the usual during my visit.














Cool looking buildings














Looking out the window














Park area just outside the mall














Roppongi Hills Africa enjoys a slightly better standard of living than regular Africa... I think.














Giant spider statue. Apparently there are others in existence in various cities around the world including Ottawa.














Colosseum style performance area

Aug. 25, 2006

















Went walking aimlessly and stumbled upon this, the National Soccer Museum














Very well done and neat looking, but not really updated since the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.














Continued my stroll and ended up at Ueno park.














building


















oh, the unbearable tension! (click to enlarge if you don't quite get it)














guy who rocked out just a bit too hard.
-on the ueno train station pedestrian overpass (may also make more sense enlarged)

Aug. 26, 2006

















Daikanyamers


















robot vending machine. sweet.














The glory of beer. This is Yebisu Garden Place (http://gardenplace.jp/english/), a beautiful square with beautiful buildings named after a really good beer sold in Japan. The district/city where this is found is also named after the old brewery.


















On the 39th floor of one of the buildings located on the square. Don't exactly know how that preying mantis managed to climb all the way up.


















pretty tree














Chateau Restaurant Taillvent-Robuchon. Sounds classy.














Kazuki and Saori


















Eiff..-*cough*-Tokyo tower.
-taken from Roppongi Hills