Welcome to my blog. This is where I will be posting updates about my life, ramblings, and diaries. More to come in the future. I'm not particularly long-winded when it comes to writing, so don't expect to read any novels on this website.
Site Updates:
2024.01.25: Launched Project Cyber webcomic! Read it here :)
2024.01.18: Created "Book Off/Hard Off/etc" fan page.
2024.01.16: Finished site map. Now its easy peasy to find all the hidden pages :P
2024.01.14: Updated "nostalgia" page, added Webkinz section, chatbox, and new graphics! Also updated the "not found" page.
2024.01.13: Updated "nostalgia" page. Now it looks better and has some content!
2023.11.10: Finally digitalized my Japan travel diary pictures and made a page for it! View here!
2023.09.24: Added some images to main pages and created the first version of my website button. Cool!
2023.09.23: Added content to "music" page. Started working on "initial d fansite" page.
2023.09.21: Updated CSS of photography galleries and started to work on "nostalgia" page. Also changed "home" page layout, but broke a few other pages because of this. I will fix it soon.
2023.09.08: New post! Added more content to "my work" pages, updated "home" and "about" page, and blog.
2023.04.04: Added content to "art" page and added more photos to "photography" page.
2023.03.30: Access to site restored, added Japan blog posts and finished "photography" page.
2023.03.21: Added some images and created "photography" page.
2023.03.15: Created logo. Stylish B)
2023.03.14: Updated site information and and added "my blog" and "my work" page.
Hello, third blog post in a month, it's a miracle!
Now that I have over 200 miles on my motorcycle, I guess I wanted to reflect on how its been and what I've learned. At first, I started out only in my neighborhood going pretty slow and I kind of struggled doing the stop and go and tight turns. It made me nervous to actually go out on the streets. However, I suddenly went out onto the street one day and it went way better than I expected. I didn't stall, didn't drop it, and only made a few wide turns. It turns out I just needed to go practice out in the street to get used to how its actually like riding normally. Soon, I got pretty comfortable riding around town and keeping up with traffic. More importantly, I started to have fun! It wasn't nerve wracking anymore and I could go ride with my friends on my own bike instead of sitting on the back of my boyfriend's bike. Now I'm pretty comfortable with almost anything except big highways and going up and down the driveway lol (its really really steep!).
I still have a lot of learning and improving to do, but I'm already having a ton of fun out there.
See you soon,
Tex
2024.08.16: Pwnagotchi Time :3
Hello, this is a crosspost with my SpaceHey profile.
What is a Pwnagotchi? (◕‿‿◕)
A Pwnagotchi is like a Tamagotchi, but they eat wifi! To be more technical, they are a reinforcement-learning based AI program that "feeds" and learns from the wifi to crack WPA keys and handshakes. They can also deauthenticate devices from wifi networks and associate with those devices to get wifi networks handshakes. Over time, they get better on their own at hacking wifi networks! It is an open source project with a large community of people contributing and hacking together on Reddit and Discord.
What is a Handshake? (°▃▃°)
A handshake is a process that a device goes through to authenticate its connection to a secure wifi network! The device and network exchange cryptographic keys in order to establish a secure connection.
What is a Deauthentication Attack? (⌐■_■)
A deauth attack is a type of denial-of-service attack that basically kicks a device off of the network they were connected to!
What is an Association Attack? (^‿‿^)
An association attack tricks devices into connecting with a malicious wifi network that looks like one the device has connected to before!
How do I build a Pwnagotchi? (✜‿‿✜)
MY BUILD LIST:
x1 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
x1 40 Pin GPIO Connecter Header
x1 16GB+ MicroSD Card (I use 32GB)
x1 Waveshare V4 E-Ink Display HAT
x1 PiSugar 1200 mAh Lithium Battery
x1 3D Printed Case
x1 Micro USB to USB-A Data Cable
x1 Soldering Iron
Once you have those supplies, you are ready to build your very own Pwnagotchi!! You can follow the official build guide here and be on your way within a few short hours. If you are using the specific hardware in the list above, I recommend using the image provided by Jayofelony here, and mentioning "waveshare_v3" instead of "waveshare_v4" in the config file where you list the screen.
If you don't want to buy all of that hardware or just want a simple barebones version, no worries! You can also run it off of your computer or phone by SSH'ing in or bluetoothing in (respectively) in what is called "Headless Mode". To do this, you will just have to add the bluetooth connectivity option in the config file and connect to your phone through SSH the first time. After that, your Pwnagotchi will automatically connect to your phone via bluetooth!
It took me a while to find out how to connect via bluetooth and get the right settings on my waveshare screen, but there are many guides online that you can find to eventually work it out. If you really can't figure things out on your own, reach out to me or make a post on the subreddit or discord!
Why Pwnagotchi? (♥‿‿♥)
It's a great beginner-friendly project if you are interested in wifi, Raspberry Pi, AI, hacking, and/or networking! And, they are freaking cute!!! Who doesn't want to carry around a funny looking little dude who eats wifi?!
Hello, its been a while, hasn't it? Last time I really updated the site was around January and February. It feels like I have lived a hundred lifetimes since then. I'll catch you up on what's been going on since then.
I started riding on motorcycles around March, and then at the beginning of April I got into an accident. I was riding on the back of my boyfriend's motorcycle and we fell off. I broke my back and almost fractured my knee, so I couldn't walk for a week-ish. So pretty much April and May were lost to sitting around the house and recovering. I went to physical therapy through July have been feeling better recently. I got back on bikes when my boyfriend finished repairing his bike after the accident.
School-wise, I was allowed to finish the spring semester online and got most of my exams and assignments waived, which was nice. I took classes online in the summer as well and just finished up two weeks ago. I can't believe fall semester is already starting, the summer has gone by so fast! I only have two classes left to finish my degree. I should have been finished this summer, but I moved away from campus so that I could be taken care of while I recovered from the accident. So, I will finally be finishing this fall (if everything goes as planned)! Thank god. I want to be out of school.
I also started a new job doing IT at a car company (yay!) and it has been pretty chill so far. I'm glad to finally not be unemployed anymore after being jobless all summer. Now I have money to spend on my hobbies and other bad good financial desicisions!
Speaking of good financial decisions, I bought my very own motorcycle last weekend. Yay! Its a 2024 Yamaha R3 in that beautiful pearl white / miku blue color. I can't wait to go around and ride it more. I put on the frame sliders all by myself (with a little help from my boyfriend) so she's protected in case I do drop the bike. I am planning to put an itansha on it soon with cheerleader Hibiki from Blue Archive :3 I just have to finish making the design. I'm so excited!
My car's AC also went out sometime in June, and I haven't been able to fix it since compressors are out of stock everywhere (yayyyyy discontinued parts for 30 year old cars!!!). So I haven't really been driving her around so much since its miserable in the summer without AC. I did manage to make it out to Miatas at the Gap this year and it was amazing! There were over 1200 Miatas of every generation in attendance, which is definitely the most I've ever seen in one place. It was great to go drive around the Dragon again, since I haven't been in over 2 years. Hopefully I can make it out next spring with the bike too once I get more riding experience. Definitely would kill myself if I went there on it now lol...
Have some images :3
Well, that's how life has been since the last time I updated the site. Hopefully I can be inspired to work on it more soon. Life is busy and time flies fast.
Hello, it's time for me to learn OpenGL graphics programming for my computer graphics class. At first glance of the starter code my professor gave us, it doesn't look too hard. I can draw a single shape in the window nice and easy. But wait, what if I want to draw more than one shape at a time? This is gonna be hard. Time to crack out the tutorials. Today I am using The Book of Shaders as recommended by my professor.
It took me a minute to figure out how to write the tutorials in my starter code in order for them to work (I just had to change some variable names lol). Once I got it, it was easy to do the first few examples.
Edit: Oops I got sidetracked today, so I'll update more later.
Man, October hit me hard. Suddenly I got slammed with life and have been way too busy to even work on my hobbies. Between my family coming to visit, anime cons, homework, and exams, it feels like I haven't had much time for myself lately. I'm taking 17 credits this semester, which is the most I have ever taken. I haven't taken so many credits since my first semester as a freshman, when I failed a class. I'm trying my hardest now to do my best and get good grades in my classes, but I wish I had more time for myself and my hobbies. Good news is that I'm going snowboarding again for Thanksgiving break. Yay! I'm super excited to go. Honestly I can't wait to move to Japan because there is a huge BookOff in Maebashi that sells a ton of used skiing equipment for super cheap and I can get some nice starter gear there and go a lot in the winter time :)) Hopefully later this year I can have more time to do some of my hobbies. I gotta remember to take time for myself sometimes.
The internet these days is full of garbage. Robots, spam, and garbage. We are addicted to doom scrolling on our little glowing rectangles all day and 90% of what we consume is pure garbage. I'm tired of robot spam accounts on Instagram liking my posts, stories, and messaging me asking to be a "model" for their "clothing brand" or asking me to buy their porn. Late stage capitalism's effect on the internet is a like a plague. Everywhere you go, there is spam and garbage and it feels like you can't escape it. And since so many companies are trying to get people to pay for "premium" ad-free services, they intentionally make user's experience worse by pumping the platform full of ads and spammy garbage. I can't stand it anymore. The internet is getting so bad, and yet everyone is still hopelessly addicted. I have to count myself as a part of this too, because my screentime is so high every day as a student and keeping up with emails, messages, and assignments, etc. At the end of the day, I'm tired of looking at a screen all day and I go home to "take a break" and what do I do? Look at another screen.
I think this happens to most young people these days, and its seriously taking a toll on society. Even though I am only 21, every time I see teenagers and younger kids these days I wonder how they are so much worse than I am, even though I consider myself to be raised by the internet. The difference is though, I had access to the version of the internet that wasn't absolutely filled with brain rotting garbage and things that cut your attention span into 6 seconds or less. And the new generation of kids, "iPad children", that have been neglected by their parents in favor of some glowing rectangle, are totally growing up the wrong way. Growing up connected to technology and the internet in this age seriously gives kids developmental and mental issues, and I see it all the time. I honestly feel bad for kids these days, because parents are too busy or lazy to properly parent their kids, and the world is too dangerous (in America, at least) to simply tell their kids to go play outside.
This comes back to how the internet is so cluttered these days. Media companies have been training users over the years to shorten their attention spans so that they can consume more and more media, and they put more ads inbetween everything so it speeds up their money generating machine. I'm so sick and tired of seeing ads everywhere. I use TikTok occasionally, and recently it has been getting so terrible with the introduction of their in-app shopping feature. You can directly link a product from a video and I have started to immediately skip every one of these videos as soon as I see that it is a product ad, because it is a waste of time. There are many videos where the person is telling a great story and you want to watch until the end and then at the end their problem is magically solved by the product they are trying to advertise. The story they tell is just a tactic to get you to stay on their video longer so that it generates more money for them. I don't know about you, but if I am advertised a product, it generally doesn't make me want to buy it more. And when I see this type of ad, I DEFINITELY don't want to buy it then.
And the amount of AI generated content these days is insane too. Since the introduction of AI generation software to the public, it has been an absolute disaster. AI art steals its styles from human artists, and it still looks bad. AI voiceovers have taken the life out of videos and taken jobs away from voice actors. And with programs like ChatGPT, more students than ever are cheating their way through school and work. AI can help you with learning things, but it often gives you wrong answers that are delivered confidently so you can't tell it's wrong unless you actually understand what you're asking it about. So AI doesn't even help you learn things correctly some of the time. It may be better to just look it up yourself. Good luck not getting bombarded with ads and garbage anywhere else though.
These days it seems like all of my blog posts are rants about how I hate everything lol. Maybe I'm just tired and burnt out these days. I need a break.
See you soon,
Tex
2023.10.01: Spooky Time
For the last few weeks, life has been feeling very strange to me, and I'm not sure why. It has felt like I'm dreaming, and not in the good way. Its more like I don't feel connected to reality, or I'm on some kind of autopilot and the body isn't connected to the mind. I'm super burnt out from school because I had 6 exams in the last two weeks so it has been a nonstop grind and I feel so stressed. I keep finding grey hairs on my head. Even yesterday the world felt so strange like everyone suddenly became extremely bad at driving and I had to avoid multiple crashes. I don't understand what's going on here. I have also been glued to my phone and screens as of late, and I think its part of the reason I feel this way. I need to take a break. Even though I went out and hung out with my friends yesterday, it still felt so weird like I was stuck in some sort of weird dream. I don't know, maybe I got trapped in the matrix or something lol. Maybe I should sit outside and read some books or something better than sitting in front of screens all day. It hurts my eyes.
Hello, I'm finally back to keep updating the site after 5 months of radio silence. It doesn't feel like it's been 5 months since I've updated the site, but there has been so much going on in life lately. From going to Japan again for a month, to moving back to America, and starting school again, it's been so busy. And on top of that now, I'm searching for fulltime jobs postgrad. If you're a recruiter reading this, please give me the job! XD Just kidding. As of now, I am looking for jobs that are based in Japan or for remote work that will allow me to live there while I'm working. It seems difficult to find jobs based in Japan, because I seem to have missed the period where new-grads are typically hired in Japan. Even if it's hard, I'm not going to give up! I'll make the dream work.
See you soon,
Tex
2023.09.21: September Part 2
Hello! Twice in one month! I'm getting good at this lol. I had two exams this week and so I wanted to relax after school today and work on the site a little bit. I do coding for a living, but I still code even in my free time. Pathetic right? Lol. I need to get out of the house more (besides going to school), I'm turning into somewhat of a hermit. I have three more exams next week so I've gotta grind a little bit and I'm not sure when the next update will be. So today I'm going to work hard on the site!
o7
Tex
2023.09.22: Rapid Fire
It seems like Neocities has become my current hobby again. Yesterday I worked on the website for around 5 hours, and now I'm even taking time to update it before my next class. I had something I wanted to get out of my mind and ramble a little bit about because I'm a little stressed and frustrated with the situation right now.
First of all, if you read the other blog posts or know me IRL, I am currently searching for a job for once I graduate. I want to move to Japan, or be able to work at an American company remotely while living in Japan. I'm studying Japanese almost every day and applying to many jobs every week. But it seems like my efforts aren't going very far right now. Even for the American jobs im looking for, everything feels like a dead end. I went to two career fairs in the last two weeks, and I was lucky to get an interview with a defense contractor company, but every normal tech company seemed to say the same old thing to me every time, no matter how much I stand out from the rest of the crowd:
"Apply online at our website."
Sure! But for most of the companies that I visited at the fair, I had already done so and I was hoping to actually make a connection with a recruiter instead of just talking at them about myself and what I want and them telling me to basically screw off. I haven't been to a career fair since I was a freshman so it seems really different than 4 years ago. Where did the feeling of making important connections at career fairs go? Why even waste my time standing in a line for an hour to speak with a recruiter if they won't even listen to me and then tell me to go apply online? It's a waste of time to go speak with them because even though I give them my resume, it goes into a stack of a million other ones and never looked at again, probably shredded or thrown out at the end of the day.
Apply online! Go to our website! Check out our careers page!
Some companies even flat out told me they weren't hiring for full time positions, only interns. What's the deal with that? I don't understand the job market right now. It seems like a year or two ago everyone was hiring like crazy but now people are allergic to hiring new grads. Every "new grad" or "junior position" job opening I see requires 2+ years of experience. I even got told by one of my old companies that even though I worked for them before as an intern, they wouldn't consider it "experience" because I wasn't a "real employee"! Its really demoralizing. I have experience. What is the point of having FOUR internships by the time I graduate if they don't matter or the recruiter won't consider them to be "real work experience"?! Its like considering me to be the same as someone who graduated without doing a single internship and has never had a single professional workplace experience. Sure, you'll have to train me because I'll be a new grad, but I will be way easier and more accustomed to a professional workplace than some other random that didn't do anything in college. I don't mean to be bragging about being more experienced than the average college senior, but it's really frustrating and demoralizing being told that my work experience doesn't count even towards a junior position. I hope there is some company out there who will want me.
Also it seems like even though I personally reach out to recruiters through LinkedIn or by email, they have all ghosted me or told me that I don't have enough experience for any of the junior positions either. What the hell is wrong?! At least have the decency to email or message me back, don't just ghost me. It doesn't make me want to work at their company if they are going to have bad communications with prospective talent.
This is a pretty long ramble, so I'll just end it here for now.
Hello, first post for april! The cherry blossoms bloomed last week, but they're already dying now. I thought they would last longer, but I guess that it got too warm too fast for them to live for long.
Hello, today is March 15th 2023. I'm currently sitting in the dining area of a convenience store in Seoul working on the website code. I bought an instant neapolitan pasta container, but i put too much water in it and it looks all screwed up. Its too watery and its embarassing to eat lol. Anyways, the website is coming along well and today I created the first version of the logo/website header. I hope to add more style elements to it soon so it doesn't look so bland.
Thanks,
Tex
2023.03.30: Access Restored
Finally! My site suddenly disappeared and I couldn't log in for about a week, but after contacting support I finally got it back last night. It's been a long week waiting for my access to come back, so i'm excited to keep working on the site. ^^
Departed from Seoul around 4:30PM and landed at Narita Airport around 6:30PM. I took the express train from Narita to Ueno Station and transferred to the Oedo Line and rode to Shinjuku Station. I checked into my hotel in Shinjuku. It is the first capsule-style hotel I have stayed in. I got dinner from 7-11 across the street. It was chicken, penne, and vegetables in tomato sauce and I had Asahi and a pudding. The beer and pasta were yummy, but the caramel in the pudding was too bitter. I talked with a Swedish guy staying at the hostel and then I went for a walk through Shinjuku around midnight.
2022.12.28
Today I woke up around 8AM and ate the free hotel breakfast. It was a piece of toast with butter and strawberry jam, yogurt, and orange juice. The jelly was in a squeeze packet and I thought the way it worked was pretty neat.
I went to Akihabara via the Shinjuku Line and walked across the Mansei Bridge. It was my first time seeing Akiba in person and it was amazing to see all of the colorful buildings and advertisements. I spent the day exploring the neighborhood going into otaku shops, arcades, and junk stores. I loved seeing all of the different merchandise and random things there were. The junk shops were very cool, they had a lot of interesting old technology and old anime/game stuff. I ended up buying a bunch of doujins from Mandarake and some manga from Book Off.
I ate lunch at a random restaurant on the corner near the station that had a ticket vending machine. I just wanted curry katsu but I didn’t read the button fully and ended up getting a big udon soup along with it lol. Then I went to more shops and then went to the arcade, I tried out the new Initial D arcade game, but mostly played Wangan.
I went home on the Shinjuku Line around 9:30 PM and saw a Mk4 Supra on the walk back to my hotel in Shinjuku. I had lasagna and chocolate pudding for dinner and finally tried the infamous Chu-hi for the first time. It was super yummy and I liked it a lot.
2022.12.29
Today I went to 7-11 for breakfast and got a melon bread and juicebox. I ate it on the corner by the station entrance before going in. I rode the Fukutoshin Line from Shinjuku to Shibuya. I walked up the station stairs and saw the Shibuya Scramble crossing for the first time in person. When I saw it, it seemed a bit smaller than people make it out to be online. I went into Starbucks next to the crossing and got a Genmaicha Mousse Tea Latte, which allowed me to go upstairs to watch the crossing. It was yummy and I watched the crossing for a bit before leaving. Then, I went to see the statue of Hachi and there was a huge line of tourists who wanted to take a picture with him. Then I walked into Miyashita Park and looked at some of the stores on my way to Harajuku. On the way, I saw people riding Mario Karts in the street and they waved at me when I took a picture. I saw a store with a Chainsaw Man exhibit and I got the CD with the chainsaw necklace which is pretty cool.
In Harajuku, I went into Laforet which had a lot of cool fashionable stores and then walked down Takeshita street. There were so many people and tourists, it was very packed. I went into the Harajuku Design Festa Gallery and saw some interesting art. Later, I went back to Shibuya and saw more Mario Karters and ate dinner at Yoshinoya. I got Karaagyu and it was pretty good. Then I tried to go into the L’Occitaine cafe to try and get another view of the crossing at night, but they wouldn’t let me sit at the window by myself. But I got a parfait and lavender drink for dessert and it was pretty good. I went home on the Fukutoshin Line and walked around Shinjuku for a bit before going back to my hotel for the night.
2022.12.30
Today I got chocolate buns and a mango juicebox from 7-11 for breakfast. This time I sat down inside 7-11 to eat and it was nice. Then, I walked to Shinjuku station to take the Rinkai Line to Odaiba for Comiket. As soon as we got to the station near Big Sight, there was already a line! People handed out flyers and hand warmers to attendees as we walked by. I stood in line to get into the convention from 11-12 and finally got into Big Sight. The convention halls were huge and there were so many artist booths. I walked around for about 3 hours and bought a doujin from one of the artists I knew there, then I went outside to grab a snack and take a break. By then it was already 3:30, so I decided to just leave early.
I took the Yurikakome Line from Big Sight and transferred to get back to Shinjuku. I saw the big Gundam statue and Rainbow Bridge on the train, and the bridge was really beautiful. I arrived back in Shinjuku and got ready to go out again because I was meeting Chihiro at Shinjuku Station around 6 PM. He picked me up in his car and we drove to Daikokufuto. We saw so many cool cars! Roadsters were very popular and I saw my first real life Midnight Purple R34 GTR which was super cool. I also saw my first Hakosuka GTR, which was awesome because its the car I use in WMMT. We also saw the sound vans and they started to play really loud hard bass and the cops showed up not too long after. Once we left, we drove on Wangan and C1 to Ikebukuro and got yakitori for dinner. Then he drove me back to my hotel and we went into 7-11 so he could buy a hot drink since it was cold outside. It was funny because the drink was so hot he couldn’t even hold it lol.
2022.12.31
Today I got a katsu sandwich and berry juicebox for breakfast and sat inside 7-11 to eat again. I woke up a bit late and decided not to go to Comiket again since the line was so long yesterday, so I went to Skytree for the day instead. There were many shops inside the mall below the tower so I walked around and got some souvenirs before going to Skytree. I bought the ticket after waiting in line for around 30 minutes. I stood next to this weird guy who had a folder of random papers and was writing on them with a bold marker and he kept looking at me lol. I got up to the top of Skytree and the sun was about to set, so I got to see the cityscape during the day, sunset, and night which was very beautiful.
Then I went home and got ready because I was meeting Chihiro again to celebrate New Year’s with him. We met at Shibuya Station at the Hachiko statue around 8 PM. Then, we walked around and it was so busy. Every restaurant had a long line, but we finally decided on one and we ate a yummy hot pot with chicken, tofu, cabbage, and ramen. Then we went to the Church Bar and drank and danced until just before midnight. The bar was very cool inside, but it was really only foreigners in there and it didn’t feel like I was in Japan lol. Then we went to Shibuya Square for the countdown and it was incredibly packed, but it was a bit underwhelming because there was no countdown or fireworks. It was still fun because there were so many people and everyone was excited. We took the JR line back to Shinjuku and went into another pub to drink and talk more before going home around 2:30 AM.
2023.01.01
Happy New Year! I packed my suitcase and checked out of my hostel at 11 and headed to Tokyo Station. I took the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kanazawa to meet up with Ayla. The train ride was very pretty. I passed through Gunma and I got to see the Myogi mountains from the window of the train and I got very excited because I’ll be seeing them soon. The train ride was about 3 hours and I arrived in Kanazawa around 3:30 PM. I met Ayla at the station and we checked into our hotel. The hotel staff gave us complimentary mochi with red bean paste and tea as a traditional New Year’s Day dish. Then we got dinner and dessert from Lawson and relaxed in our room because we were both tired from traveling.
2023.01.02
Today for breakfast I got a strawberry and milk cream sandwich that had Aki from Chainsaw Man on it. It was pretty good. Ayla and I went to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art and walked around. There was an interactive pool exhibit but we couldn’t go in because it was raining and the reservations were full. We went to Omicho Market for MoriMori Sushi for lunch and it was delicious. I got salmon, inari, tamago, tuna & corn, and sesame ice cream. Then we went to Kanazawa Castle and to Ishiura Shrine. The shrine was having a festival and even had a free sake booth (which we obviously had some!) and I bought my first omamori and omikuji. There was also a traditional drum song performed by a group and they had the Ishiura Shrine mascot walking around which was super cute. We walked back and went through the Korinbo and Nagamachi districts which are old traditional style districts. We got dinner at a small restaurant and I got curry katsudon and Ayla got an eel omelet over rice. Then we walked home and got dessert to eat back at the hotel.
Japan Travel Diary Week 2
2023.01.03
Ayla and I shared ham and cheese croissants from FamilyMart for breakfast and sat on the bridge to eat. It was a nice view of the river and the weather was finally clear after raining for the past two days. We walked to Myouryuji (ninja) Temple and took a tour of the temple that showed us all of the hidden traps. I thought it was so interesting how complex the interior was with all of the stairs and hidden passages. I bought a snake omamori for my zodiac and got another omikuji. It was “Quite Lucky”! The fortune was funny because Ayla and I agreed that I related to the love section of it.
Health: Taking a turn for the better.
Love: You’re somewhat lost. Consult with a friend.
Study: Don’t demand too much of yourself.
Work: hold your goal and work towards it.
Travel: travel in fall or winter for good luck.
Outside of the temple, there was a gallery that Ayla wanted to go into, and the owner happened to step outside just as we walked by. I spoke to him in pretty bad Japanese, but he happily invited us in and was glad to give us a tour. He was very nice and even guided us to another temple that was next door. Then we walked back to the Nagamachi district and went into the Nomura samurai house. It was cool and I especially loved the garde, it was very peaceful and there were koi fish in the pond. We went to a camera store and I got my film developed and then headed to the train station.
We took the shinkansen to Toyama Station and missed our connection, so we had to take the local train to Takayama. It was only us and two boys on the train. The train stopped for two hours at Inotani Station and there was only us. When we got off the train, I heard the conductor tell the boys to take care of us. We sat inside the tiny station and talked to them. We found out they were high school students and they seemed very excited to practice their English with us, and I was eager to try and practice my Japanese to learn more about them. One of them took a picture of us, and I took a picture of them with my film camera. I was curious what was outside of the station, because there was absolutely nothing around us on the map except a river. Ayla and I quickly walked to the river and there was a cool red bridge, but it was eerily quiet. When we got back, the next train had arrived. During the ride to Takayama, the boys made me laugh when they were trying to balance on one foot on the train. We finally arrived in Takayama around 10 PM and checked into our hotel and ate dinner from FamilyMart.
2023.01.04
We went to the Miyagawa Morning Market near the river in Takayama and walked around the stalls. Ayla got chocolate-filled mini taiyaki and they were yummy. We went into a shop and got boba/mochi drinks. Mine was strawberry cream flavored and it was delicious. We walked in the snow to Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine. We walked around the old town and it was very quiet and peaceful in the snow. We went into the Takayama Matsuri Yatai Kaikan museum and saw the historic festival floats which were cool. The human figures were a bit unsettling because they all looked the same and looked at you with wide lifeless eyes. Then we walked around the shrine some more. We got lunch at a restaurant called Kyoya and it was traditional tatami and floor table style seating. I got a Hida beef steak over rice and it was so delicious. Then we went on a sake brewery tour of Hirase Sake Brewery. It was interesting to see the history and taste many different types of sake. Later we met some of Ayla’s friends at Hama Sushi for dinner. It was good and very cheap, I ate until I was full and it was only around 1,300 yen. After, we went to an arcade and did a purikura with them, it was my first time trying a photo booth in Japan and it was funny. Then we parted ways and went back to the hotel to sleep.
2023.01.05
We woke up around 6:30 AM to check out of the hotel early and catch the bus at 7:50 to Matsumoto. I got breakfast and a little Sarubobo (Takayama’s mascot) keychain at the bus stop before boarding. The bus ride was about 2.5 hours and it was really beautiful. The bus drove through the mountains and the views were amazing. We passed by a lot of ski resorts and it made me want to go snowboarding again. We got to Matsumoto around 10:30 and walked to Matsumoto Castle. The town was super cute and I loved the mountains. The castle looked very cool with the mountains in the background and the weather was clear and nice. We got to see a man dressed as a samurai and we took a picture with him. He said my Japanese was good lol. Then we went inside the castle and the stairs up to the top were super steep and tall. The view from the top was nice, you could see most of the city around. Then we walked back towards the station and got lunch at an Okinawan style restaurant.
We got on the local train to Nagano and the views were very pretty. It stopped for about 10 minutes at Obasute Station and we were allowed to step outside and take pictures. Once we got to Nagano we had about an hour layover so I got a milk tea from the vending machine and a strawberry cream sandwich while we took a break. Then we got on the train to Yudanaka and we got to sit in the back where it had the panoramic seating so we got to have a really pretty view of the mountains and the sunset. We got to our ryokan around 6. They served us Kaiseki Ryori (traditional ryokan dinner), which was beef and veggies hot pot, mushroom soup, vegetable, fruit, and mushroom tempura, fresh sashimi, pork, noodle soup, rice soup, and pudding. A lot for one meal! And it only cost around 6,000 yen! We returned to our room and at 9:30-10 PM we had our designated private time in the outdoor onsen. It was so relaxing and felt great to sit in the onsen after long days of traveling. After, Ayla and I drank umeshu and watched TV for a while before going to bed.
2023.01.06
Today we left the ryokan around 10:30 AM to take the bus to go to Snow Monkey Park. We ran into Ayla’s friends again at the beginning of the trail and it was about a 30 minute walk to the park. It was very snowy and cold! There was an onsen where the monkeys were bathing with people. It was cool, but I don’t think I would do it because its open and every person who walks by can see you naked. But you’re literally bathing with monkeys, so you win some you lose some. We walked up some steps and got the tickets to enter and there were so many monkeys! One of the workers came out to feed them and a ton more monkeys spawned and came running down the mountainside to eat. They got very close to us and were playing and fighting in the onsen. Once we left we got lunch near the bus stop in Yudanaka. Then we came back to the ryokan early and I started writing the travel journal. We had our private onsen time again at 9:30 and it was very nice. After, we went to Lawson to get dinner around 10:30.
2023.01.07
Today we woke up early to leave the Ryokan and headed to the train station around 9:30 AM. We took the train back to nagano and then another back to Tokyo. We got to Shinjuku station and booked a bus ticket to go to Lake Yamanaka. The bus had Naruto characters on it to promote Mt. Fuji tourism. We got to the hotel around 4:30 PM and checked in. We had a view of Mt. Fuji from our hotel room and it was so pretty. We are dinner from FamilyMart and hung out in the hotel for the rest of the night. I took a nice bath and watched Chainsaw Man.
2023.01.08
Today we left the hotel around 12 PM and ate breakfast at FamilyMart. I got a BTS sprinkles donut that came with a little sticker. We didn’t do much today besides walk around the lake and look at Mt. Fuji. It was nice to relax and walk around. We saw lots of swans at the lake and cool cars driving by. Around 3 PM we went to a cafe on the lake and got a deer meat rice bowl with an egg on top. It was so yummy that I wanted to order another one. We sat in the cafe until about 4 and then walked back to the hotel. We got dinner at FamilyMart again and relaxed for the rest of the night.
2023.01.09
Today we checked out of the hotel around 9 to get to the bus terminal to come back to Tokyo. They were selling Yuru Camp merchandise at the bus terminal and I got a cute little plush Mt. Fuji keychain. We arrived back in Tokyo around 1 PM and dropped our bags off at the hostel. Then we went to Shibuya and had lunch at Yoshinoya. We went into the Shibuya 109 mall and I found the whipped cream vending machine and I got a can of it. We went to the Starbucks in Shinjuku and watched the scramble crossing for a while. Then we walked to Miyashita Park and walked around the shops and the park on the roof. We went to Harajuku Station and went back to Shinjuku and checked into the hostel. We had dinner from 7-11 and talked to some people in the dining room for a while then went upstairs to sleep.
Japan Travel Diary Week 3
2023.01.10
We got up and got to the station around 10:30 AM. We took the train to Odaiba and went to the TeamLab Planets museum. We had to wait until 11:30 to enter so we got food at Lawson nearby. The museum was super pretty and took a while to walk through. There was a part with knee-deep water and it felt a bit weird but the rest of it was very cool. Then we walked to Diver City Mall where the Unicorn Gundam statue was and got lunch in the food court then walked around the mall until around 6. Then we went back to Shinjuku and got soba from this tiny stand in a neighborhood hidden between Shinjuku and Shinjuku-Nishiguchi station. It was a cool alleyway with a bunch of little stalls and izakayas. Then we walked to Golden Gai and found a little bar to sit in. There were some Australian guys inside we talked to and drank whiskey with. The bartender was cool and one of the people we met at the hostel met us there and we hung out for a while before going home. I think the bar was cool, but it was the most expensive drink bill I have ever paid.
2023.01.11
Today we woke up and took the train from Shinjuku to Asakusa around 11 AM. We went to Senso-ji Temple and it was packed with tons of people. On the shopping street in front of the temple, we looked around at some of the shops and Ayla got some souvenirs to take home. The inside of the temple was very beautiful and I got a safe driving omamori. We ate lunch at Yoshinoya and Ayla wanted to go to an art gallery so we found a small one by the temple. She bought a painting of a lady holding a parasol. Then we went to Shinjuku Syoen National Garden and walked around and sat in the sun for a bit. We left when the park closed and then went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. We got there right at sunset and the view was awesome. It’s better than Skytree because it’s free. We took some nice pictures and enjoyed the view. Then we went back to the hotel and got Dominos pizza and mozzarella sticks for dinner. It wasn’t as good as American Dominos, but it was definitely better than Dominos in Korea.
2023.01.12
Today Ayla and I split up for the day. I got chocolate bread for breakfast from 7-11 and headed to Shinjuku Station around 11. First, I went to Kichijoji and went to the cat-themed cafe Petit Mura. It was very cute and I got an iced coffee and a slice of cake for a snack. I walked around the thrift shops for a bit. Next I went to Shimo-Kitazawa and did more thrift shopping. I found the perfect pair of cargo pants~! Next, I went to Nakano Broadway to look at the vintage otaku shops there. It was very cool to see all of the old merchandise and I got a bit lost in there because it's like a maze. I went back to Shinjuku around 8 PM and got curry rice from 7-11 for dinner and a crepe cake for dessert.
2023.01.13
Today Ayla and I wanted to check out the Imperial Palace so we went and found out tickets are first-come first-served so we waited at a nice Starbucks nearby. I got a matcha cream donut and oolong tea latte. When we got back to the line at the palace, the staff ran out of tickets at the people in front of us. So instead we went to Akihabara since Ayla wanted to check it out. We went into Volks, Mandarake, and the arcade. We played Wangan and I kept getting to play for free because some guy kept wanting to race me and losing XD. After, Ayla and I got crepes and then went into M’s and looked around. Then we went back to Shinjuku and got Okonomiyaki for dinner and they gave us free drinks which was nice! Then we went to the hotel and drank peach and strawberry wine, but I had a headache so I didn’t have much.
2023.01.14
Today I woke up around 10 AM and met Chihiro again. We met at Shinjuku Station and rode the train to Yokohama. We got lunch at Akarenga (red brick warehouse) and I got omurice which was very yummy. We walked around the shops in the warehouse for a bit then we walked to Gundam Base to see the RX Gundam. There was a small museum and shop inside, but the main attraction was the Moving Gundam. We watched two of the Gundam’s performances and then ran into Ayla on the way out. We said hi and I introduced them then we parted ways again. Chihiro and I walked to Yokohama’s Chinatown and sat in a cafe for a while since we were tired. I got a matcha latte and it was served in a big traditional cup which was cool. Then we got dumplings and Chinese food for diner and it was yummy. After, we returned to Shinjuku and went to this fancy looking British style bar and drank whiskey for a bit until they closed. Then we walked back and saw some drunk people dancing on top of the entrance to the train station lol.
2023.01.15
Today I woke up early to say goodbye to Ayla. We ate the free hotel breakfast together then said goodbye and parted ways. I left the hotel around 10 AM and took the train to Makuhari Messe where the Tokyo Auto Salon was held. TAS was huge, all 10 halls of the convention center were packed with vendors, tuner shops, and their awesome cars. I got lots of free handouts from the booths and got some merch from Mazda, NGK, Project Mu, UpGarage, Tein, and Garage Vary. I saw Max Orido and Daigo Saito talking in a panel, and I even got to meet Smoky Nagata! So cool B)
I walked around until about 5 PM, then sat and ate a Calorie Mate before making the journey back to Shinjuku. At around 10 PM, I got the urge to play Wangan, so I walked to the arcade by Shinjuku Station in the rain. I played until about 1 AM and went back home.
2023.01.16
Today I woke up and packed to leave the hotel. I got katsu for brunch at 7-11 and then headed to Shinjuku Station. I took the local train instead of the shinkansen to Gunma because it was much cheaper and I wasn’t in a hurry. I arrived in Isesaki around 3 PM and had to wait for the bus until 4:30. I bought a Gunma-chan omamori from the convenience store in the station. I finally checked into the hotel around 5 PM. It was nice to finally have a big room all to myself, and I could see Myogi from my window! I got Coco Ichiban katsu curry for dinner and didn’t do much else for the rest of the night besides reserve my rental car and relax.
Japan Travel Diary Week 4
2023.01.17
Today I left the hotel around 11 AM and planned to meet Rio at Maebashi Station at 3 PM. I arrived in Maebashi around 12 and decided to go to the mall nearby to kill time before we met. I got lunch at a sushi restaurant inside, then went to the arcade to play Wangan for a bit. I went back to the station and Rio came around 3:30. His car was so loud I could hear it before I even saw it lol. We drove to Mt. Akagi and went up to the lake. It was very snowy and cold and he let me borrow his jacket. The lake was frozen over and we went and walked on it which was super cool. We also went to the shrine before going back down the mountain. We went to 7-11 at the bottom of Akagi by the big torii gate and he bought me a drink and snack to say sorry for being late which I thought was sweet. We went to one of his favorite ramen shops for dinner and it was super yummy. Then, we went to Ikaho Onsen at the bottom of Mt. Haruna and met his friend Keiichi, who was chasing us across town lol. We climbed the steps at the onsen and chatted for a bit, then at the top of the stairs we saw the Akagi shrine and the Initial D manhole with Keisuke and Ryosuke on it. We went back down to the foot onsen and realized there were no towels, so we walked back to their cars to get towels. We went back up to the onsen and sat and talked for a few hours and it was very fun. At the bottom, we found the other manhole with Takumi and Natsuki on it. Back in the parking lot, there was an NB roadster and it looked cool. We chatted for a little bit longer before parting ways with Keiichi, then Rio took me back to my hotel.
