Japan - the land which knows how to do highway rest stops right!

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of communication, but we've been living the Gonzo journalism maxim of living it to write about it. We've just arrived back at the Nagai household (now my second home) in Inami, after a 3-day round trip taking in Shizuoka, Nagoya and Gifu. While only a small trip distance wise in Australian terms, it was still very tiring and hard (even as the designated non-driver). The purpose of the trip was to visit heaps of Satomi's old friends, as well as her uncle. Japanese hospitality certainly came to the fore throughout the entire trip, with myself being welcomed as a part of the family to these complete strangers.

The trip itself was enlightening. Japan has a hugely complicated expressway system linking almost every major town and city. Boasting smooth roads and an impressive array of tunnels throught the mountains, it only came at a hefty price tag. Tolls along the way amounted to 7350 yen (about $75 Australian) one way! And it wasn't even particularly fast, with the gazetted speed limit at 80 for the majority of the trip. But, one thing the Japanese have excelled at is the fine art of the truck stop. No flash in the pan, glorified petrol station every couple of hundred kms here. No way. Every 30kms or so, you are greeted with a veritable smorgasboard of treats of the food variety, as well as every amenity under the sun. It's something that Australia should take note of!

Anyway, this is just a quick spot to update the progress. The next 3 days will be spent around the Nagai homestead as Satomi prepares to leave for ever. Monday night we board the night bus to Osaka, where we spend the day sight-seeing and omiyage buying, before jumping on the plane late Tuesday night.

Suffice to say, this has been one of the most amazing trips of my life so far. But I promise a much more detailed post (whether you like it or not) in the next few days to try to explain how.

Love yas,

Ben and Satomi XOXO

Rocken Inami town to the CORE!

Hi all,

Wow. It's been an amazing past few days. Culture shock mixed with minor family dramas (just the usual meeting the in laws stuff) and some pretty nasty sunburn. Sorry I haven't been able to keep this updated regularly, but the Nagai household has been too much fun to drag myself away from!

I promise a more detailed post very soon. In the meantime, check out our pics below. I'll keep on uploading them often.

Love yas,
Ben and Satomi. XOXO

The Nagai Welcoming Party

So I have arrived at the very special Nagai residence. It's been fun so far, even with the natural communication barriers. I think (although it's hard to tell) that I have passed the potential son-in-law test. Mind you, the bottles and scotch and sake for day and tea for mum helped to seal the deal, I think.

Getting here was no easy feat, however. We spent yesterday wandering around a couple more of Kyoto's special places - including the impressive (but very over-the-top) Kinkakuji Temple (also called the Golden Temple... as it's made out of gold, and all). We also popped over to Ryoanji Shrine, a very beautiful ancient Zen garden. The place was so beautiful that I decided to officially pop the question to Satomi - this time including the ring. Thankfully, she accepted!

After the temple-fest, we headed back to the sprawling Kyoto Station to get the Thunderbird train back to Kanazawa. Satomi, in her wisdom, decided to buy the cheaper "non reserved" tickets. "Fine, that's cool," I thought, envisaging nothing worse that the commuter crush I experience every morning on the way to work. Not to be, however. You see, "non reserved" in JR language actually means they sell about 30 more tickets than there are seats. Which meant that for the 2.5 hour trip, I had a choice between squeezing myself and my bags into a crapped exit doorway (which was not air-conditioned), or choking to death in the smoking carriage. Despite being a smoker, I baulked at having to spend the trip sucking down other peoples habits. So the sweaty doorway it was... but we got here ok.

Right now, the Nagai family is getting ready for a big outing to Noto to celebrate Yoshihiko's (Dad) 60th birthday. I will also get to meet the extended Nagai clan, as well as Grandma. Can't wait to once again be the centre of non-English speaking attention... paranoia much?

Love yas,
Ben

Kyoto - romantic heart of Nippon

Hello all,

And as I say good-bye to my first full day in Japan, I'll just allude with this: $3 beers and smokes from vending machines in the lobby of the hotel have been welcomed as my one true love. Satomi comes a close, but very definite, 3rd place!

The day has been amazing. Kyoto is one of the most fascinating cities Ive had the joy in visiting. Too much to go into right now (mainly because I cant remember place names... and Japanese keyboards are really starting to tick me off), but suffice to say its been the Day of Temples and Shrines, mixed in with the randomness and craziness that only Japan can throw up at you. The only respite has been my faithful love Satomi holding my hand though every nook and cranny.

Tomorrow is the day of reckoning, however - another day of Special Place Visiting, combined with a 3 hour commute and a final test of character: The Meeting of The In-Laws. My very very limited Japanese has been tested today, but I just can't shake the feeling that people are bowing my way out of pity or disgust when I utter those pitiful phrases... tomorrow shall tell.

Thanks for all your kind words. I should be able to get some cool pics up in the next couple of days.

Love yas,

Ben

Japan!

Hi kids! I made it... finally! After a days' worth of queuing (seriously... international travel is just a test of patience in queues, i'm sure) I finally made it to Osaka. After another hour's train travel, we arrived in Kyoto and crashed for the night in the world's smallest hotel suite.

And now we're off for a day of sight-seeing and melting in the extreme humidity. Can't wait. We'll check back in a couple of days to load some pics...

Love ya
Ben

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Nippon I go!

So here we are, roughly 12 hours until I leave the Love Den for 2 weeks. Oh, and see my darling again. I really should be packing... but I've convinced myself that I have a billion other more important things to do. Like procrastination.

And it appears the "gods" are shining on our plans already. Some of you may recall that our initial plan was to have Satomi and I flying out to Australia together to start our new lives. We put the visa application in hoping it was time enough for them to assess it, but started losing heart last week as we hadn't heard from the Embassy. That was until Thursday evening when Satomi got a call from the Embassy requesting a tiny bit of extra info, which she promptly emailed to them. And, hey presto, Friday morning the visa was approved!!! Satomi's coming home with me! I can't begin to even allude to how absolutely ecstatic I am with this little turn of events. Now, we just have to hope that the rest of the planning marathon goes as smoothly.

So to the packing... hmmm, nah. I'm sure there's more worthwhile things on facebook to get interested in.

Ciao!

This time next week...

It's one of the strangest feelings in the world. Sure, most of you have probably already had this feeling sometime in your life - one week away from your first overseas trip. One week away from seeing the love of your life again. One week away from meeting the in-laws. One week away from everything I do in my daily life being totally different... if only for a couple of weeks!

So, we've reached this far. It really didn't seem like that long ago in many respects that I kissed Satomi good-bye at the international airport. 7 months ago, Satomi and I were contemplating life apart. What would it be like? How would we cope? Could we cope? Satomi had been in a long-distance relationship before, so knew the dramas and pitfalls. I'd never experienced more than 2 weeks away from a lover before, so it was all new and worrying for me.

But we've coped, I think. Well, the fact that we're still together and still very much in love means that we must have coped well. It's been tough... some things we've had to face apart have been been heart-wrenching. But we've also had some truly special and beautiful moments, as well. Like our "dates" online... where we'd both watch the same movie on our computers, while being connected via MSN. Or just the simple pleasures of making each other laugh by being silly... These moments will be missed, I'm sure. But, when you've got the real thing... it's soooo much better.

So that's where it's at. Keep tuned to this blog if you wanna keep updated on my travels (or check out my facebook page). I'm bubbling with excitement right now and can't shake the smile off my face...

2 weeks =14days to go!

Guess what!!!?! It's 2 weeks to go until I get to see Ben again!!
Yes, He is coming to Japan/Toyama in 2 weeks. We both can't tell enough how excited we are as it's been 7 months since we've been apart.
Having thought about the days of 7months ago, it was nightmare...
Now...Yay! Yay! Yay! :D
Ben and I have been talking about his first (oversea) trip to Japan, where to go-what to see - how to spend time and money.
So here is the rough itinerary of Ben's trip in Japan.

22nd Aug Brisbane - Osaka
23th Kyoto
24th Kyoto - Inami/Toyama
25th My dad's bday celebration on Noto
26th-29th Inami-Takaoka-Kanazawa (based in at my house)
30th Shizuoka
31st Aishi-Gifu
1st-3rd Sep Toyama
4th Osaka - Brisbane

Unfortunately, I haven't heard about my visa from the embassy yet..still been 7weeks since I submitted.So just fingers cross and wish us luck.
When it will all work out, I will be able to fly back to Brisbane with him !!!

Satomi xxx