Some Golden Nuggets

Hello all! This one will be the post that wraps up the Golden Week  series, this time with a collection of the little bits and pieces Claire and I got up to on the less adventurous (but no less fun) day trips.

First up is the Wally Exhibition in Ginza - for those of you who don't know, I dressed up as Wally (or Waldo if you're wrong from the United States) for Halloween, and am in the process of collecting a series of Where's Wally in Japan photos. So needless to say I had to go to this exhibition - for which Claire had very kindly sourced tickets (she's a star) - and furthermore I had to go as Wally. So along I went to Ginza with my red and white striped shirt, glasses and hat, and we made our way through the entire history of Wally, from inception to the present.


A Japanese style screen done that's been Wally-fied
The walls were full of illustrations from the various books, where we spent a serious amount of time hunting down Wally; some being far easier than others.... The only one I approached with any confidence was the first page of the Where's Wally in Hollywood book, which I remember completing with my Mum many years ago (can still remember where the key is!)

Unfortunately the areas in which photos were permitted was limited, but we made sure to get the photo op that absolutely counted:




Another little adventure we did was to Yokohama - a city famous for its waterfront, Chinatown and botanical gardens. I had been here with some of my dorm mates on Christmas, so it was nice to come back and explore a bit more where I hadn't been able to before, plus wearing far cooler clothes!

The botanical garden was in full bloom, with the rose garden being particularly spectacular


Dinosaurs on the horizon


A sundial showing the directions of major cities

Wellington, New Zealand!
The Botanical gardens also have an old English residence, which is free to walk about it, done up as an old 19th Century European house, but with some Japanese flair, such as on the dining table


Yokohama also has, in the lead up to the main gardens, the viewing platform from which a quintessential photo spot can be found (also where our Christmas photo was taken), making it an excellent place for another Claire and Troy in Golden Week Photo (CATIGWP):


However this wasn't the only CATIGWP taken that day! We were getting towards the end of our time in Yokohama, exploring the big Queen's Plaza building attached to the station, when Claire announced she'd never been to a Pokemon centre (something Claire hasn't done in Japan that I had - 'what is this madness' thought I!) So we navigated our way through all the shops and people, coming to the Pokemon Centre. Normally these are pretty busy, and GW was no exception, but this time there was a crucial difference - there was a huge Pikachu in a room with people lining up for photos! So naturally we had to do that.

Absolutely no shame was felt queuing for 20 minutes to get a photo with an electric mouse
This basically sums up the Golden Week series, but for one little addendum of a miscellaneous type - there was a really nice full moon during the week which I had a go at photographing from the front courtyard of my dormitory.

This is a reflection in the window of the Shibuya skyline from my floor 




So much is going on at the moment, both in terms of work and play, so there will definitely be another blog coming around soon enough - keep coming back!

Gotta catch 'em all!

Troy

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