Alexander's

On Thursday night, after a fun day at university I just dropped in on one of my colleges to discuss what we could do the next day.

Tomorrow I'll not be here. I'll go to the bus tour to 富士山 (Mount Fuji)

Right I remembered a Todai bus tour that said something about Fuji and a free lunch. Given that most of my friends are not here at the moment, or have already left Japan, I decided to join the fun. My idea for the day was a museums visit, lunch, a quick look at Fujisan and a save arrival back at Todai at around 19:30.

So the next morning at 7:30 everyone got a snack package,[^1] we sat down and then the male guide introduced himself.

Hi I welcome you all to our Todai MEM bus tour this Friday the thirteenth. My name is Jason and I'll be your tour guide today.[^2]

Then the GAIDO-san started talking

Hi I'm going to be your guide for this trip. If you ever get lost, please remember the color of our bus - white - the number of the bus - 538 - and if you can't remember any of these just remember to look for the cutest guide and you will finde me.

For the rest of the trip, while we were in the bus, GAUDO-san talked non stop (in Japanese). Very funny, but also very strange.

To my surprise it turned out that the first stop, after the first toilet stop, was Odawara Castle. As fas as I understand the third largest castle that existed in Japan. Sadly at some point it was burned or bombed down, but Japanese won't be stopped from having a great historical monument by such a small mishap and so they simply rebuild it new -- almost like is was. Just this time they added some electricity, running water,[^3] used concrete for the wall material,[^4] left out all of the non essential inner walls, to make a decent museum and added a gift shop at the top floor.[^5] Outside there is a zoo, but since we only had about 30 minutes for 4 floors of museum the GAIDO-san asked us to not loiter and look at the animals -- they are not historic anyway.

After this stop it was clear to me that this would be a typical Japanese tour. Four important stops, plus two extra toilet stops and a stop to by presents for the people who didn't go on the trip in eleven and a half hours. Lunch 45 minutes from the time the bus stops, to the time we are back in the bus. Tee ceremony 30 minutes, toilet break 15 minutes, ...

Most of the time we spent in the bus, with the GAIDO-san constantly talking. I now understand how it is possible to see Europe in a week -- oh look this is the spot where we see Fujisan -- through the window of a bus driving on the highway -- sorry no time to make a quick photo stop.

It was a very fun trip, but I think I've never been so tired after a day of sightseeing. Not having a few minutes to relax, always rushing from one appointment to the other and the constant Japanese explanations in the background.

As always. For the rest of the photos of the trip just head on over to my Flickr page.

[^1]: Not the lunch, just something to help us over till lunch [^2]: Whoever doesn't know Friday the 13th might just stop by Piraty Bay (or a video rental place) to understand this excellent joke [^3]: a lot more convinient [^4]: more durable than the original wood/stone structure [^5]: Everyone in Japan needs giftshops! A trip without bringing back some gifts was not a trip