hello to the new year !!

as I haven't had consistent internet access since moving out of homestay, I havent had time to sit down and recap all the events of the past month!
so beginning with Dec 28th, I travelled to Tokyo with matt, thomas and mika and stayed at sakura hotel where i bumped into isaac and eric .. we went to all the famous places from shinjuku to shibuya to ikebukuro to ueno etcetc. tokyo was boring . there is nothing to do aside from shopping. the shopping however is amazing. In order to do something cultural, i visited the Meiji Jinggu in Harajuku on new years day and also went to see the Emperor. Both events can be recounted as 90% waiting in line, 5% jumping up and down to see the front, 5% actual emperor talking / seeing front of shrine
mainly travelled with sherwin, nemo and stefanie;; went to 2 gay clubs and 1 normal club (dragon men, artsy fartsy , atom) respectively . interestingly, had a better time at the gay club than at the normal one because ppl were seedy, the place was dirty, and moreover coz it was new years it was overpriced. NEVER going back to atom. also the foreigners were seedy.
the place i enjoyed the most in tokyo was ASAKUSA.our friends got interviewed by fuji tv regarding the food they've chosen to eat in japan, the temples were beautiful and there are a lot of Japanese nibblies and souvenirs around there. The hostel we stayed at wasnt all that fancy but it had everything we needed.. called Khaosan Smile .

after Tokyo, i caught a bus to nagoya. had a bit of freak out trying to find the bus terminal, but praise be to God that I eventually found it. I am getting really good at asking for directions due to the high frequency of getting lost all the time.
Spent most of the time in nagoya looking around Osu, temples and eating the most delicious miso katsu where a lovely old lady served everything..she looked so old and frail but she was sososo nice... had some drinks with eric's friends at nagoya city university at a place called misfits.
nagoya in general is much more chill , has nothing much to do, and very accessible by bike. i spent a whole day on a bike and got around to quite a few places with the help of eric's german friend tabea : )
after nagoya, i headed back to osaka to pick up saehwan to begin the Japan tour to take him all the way to his best friend in tokyo.
Shunskies came with me to the airport to get him and we stayed at shinsaibashi, the massive shopping district. Since taking him around to sample all the foods, i have yet again gained another 2 kilograms T__________T this is absolutely terrible!
had dinner, karaoke, pool with KGU ppl on the 2nd night , shopping on third day then headed to KYOTO where we stayed at a 4.5 star hotel called westin miyako overlooking the mountains.. the room was HUUUUGEEE and we accordingly did the correct amount of shopping for the size of the room. Saw all the world heritage sites from golden temple pavilion, nijo castle, kiyomizu temple and koudaiji temple there.. and walked along gion where the geisha all work : )
we spent a day in nagoya where we stayed at the most amazing little ryokan (japanese style hotel). Beautiful rock gardens, manicured pine trees, yukatas , futons, tatami mat rooms..and most of all a HOT ONSEN to soak in.. because its open all night, i had the whole shower room and hot spring to myself.. it was GODLY.
we visited the noh theatre, nagoya castle, oasis 21 and nagoya television tower then took the shinkansen to a small town called mishima where i am right now..
today we went from mishima to atami , a famous hot spring spot. the views are astoundingly beautiful.. a whole town built on the moutainside facing the sea. the plum blossom festival was on but the blossoms were only in 30% bloom. nevertheless it was very pretty and maiko (geisha in training i think) served us green tea and a sweet which is SUPER RARE OPPORTUNITY. we saw tea ceremony, saw the Korean garden and waterfalls and streams.
after that we went to onsen. there was a lovely outdoor onsen on the rooftop where you could enjoy views of the entire town and the sea . it was VERYVERY hot. and there is a bamboo pipe that pours boiling water into the hot spring, and the idiot saehwan decided it was a good idea to step in under there.and burnt the insides of his legs which he is now nursing.
aside from that God has really been guiding us along the way.. we didn't have many plans at all but he just continued to protect us even though we didn't make reservations for most things till the last minute. it was highly likely we cud've ended up homeless with all our luggage but its just been amazing. so far saehwan has pretty much experienced all the famous foods in each region. the day ended with VERY FRESH sashimi nigiri and hot cakes .
tomorrow we will be going to fuji-kyu highland ...where the BIGGEST ROLLERCOASTERS in japan are. near mt fuji. : )
will update more sooonn!!! that was the recap of january my dears . miss you and love you all...i dont hear much from ya'll in sydney so please let me know how you're doing too!