What are you people thinking?

So, it's 2 degrees according to the weather app on your phone and you're walking through the streets of Nagano past the little shops on the way up to the temple.

Do you fancy?

An ice cream?

How about one from this shop?

Or the one next door?

A little further along has go you covered in case you walked to far.

Or across the street in case you're looking the wrong way.

No? Maybe you'll want one in another 5 meters...

Christ guys

I mean I get that it must be easy to make Ice Cream when it's 2 degrees

But this is ridiculous

Finally, at the end of the street is the temple, but if you look down the side street that runs along the temple wall, you'll catch a glimpse of this place on the other side...

From here to there - Tokyo to Nagano to Yudanaka Onsen

Day 2 began with catching the Shinkansen to Nagano.

Green Car

They had the winter Olympics here 20 years ago. There's a statue memorializing that fact.

I saw some shrines

As you do here, you almost can't avoid it.

This was for incense offerings

The smoke comes out of his mouth, as well as the sides.

Nagano is otherwise a little drab looking, although it is winter.

 After that it was time to catch a non JR train to Yudanaka Onsen.

No Green Car this time.

The Ryokan I'm staying in.

The room

The not at all dodgy looking "Thai bar" around the corner.

Stuff I've Eaten - Hurry up and get to the Sushi Edition

So after a day of boozy flying and some beer over dinner, I stopped by the 7-11 on the way back to the hotel and grabbed some beer.

Asahi Clear is sadly a lurid yellow color, and not that good.

Matcha Latte from starbucks. 

Breakfast Ramen with Chicken

my usual snacks

Does taste like Golden Delicious apples in soft drink form.
I am concerned about the Power bit, also the W+ probably stands for white.
Although I oppose the ethnic nationalist leanings of this soft drink company,
it's probably not going to stop me from drinking more of it.

This was a pudding, like a coconut jelly type thing.

I was concerned when I first picked it up and thought it had expired the day before.
It turns out that it expires on the 18.1.2019
(the 19 is not visible unless you take the photo from underneath, meaning you can't see the rest of the date) 

So I decided to play it safe with this pudding that doesn't expire for almost 10 years. 

It was decent, perhaps I should have let it age though?

I ate a bento lunch on the train to Nagano

Melon bread

Starbucks have two seasonal hot drinks going at the moment.

One is a fruity tea latte.

It contains apple, mango, strawberry, peach, and orange.

In a foam milk drink.

Fruity

The truly terrifying thing is that it kind of works.

And now, the moment you've all Emma has been waiting for.

*drum roll*

Dinner in Nagano,

Omakase, 10 kinds - with conspicuous gap.

Geoduck, Whelk, Cockle, Abalone.
Uni, Salmon Roe.

Shelf stable cheese

Shelf stable Black Pepper sausages

Shelf stable salami

Orange Kit Kat

Pa-Tei- ChiKiN

Party Chicken Pringles

Citrus flavoured drinks.

A square donut

The sausages out of the bag

The other hot seasonal drink. Matcha tea latte with fruits (mostly grape I think)
Not awful, but I'll take a regular MTL instead.

Soba noodles with a fried prawn cake thing and an egg.
A good breakfast when it's -2 degrees outside.

"Yuzu"* softdrink.
*Yuzu is a fictional citrus fruit invented by Hideaki Anno for the manga Kiki's Delivery Service.
This tastes like Pocari Sweat would taste if it was Grapefruit flavoured, and fizzy.

I had about 30 minutes to wait for the train, which wasn't really long enough to go get a proper lunch,
so I was forced to resort to buying some Sushi from a nearby supermarket.

As well as a few chopped vegetables in lemon juice.

This was an emergency salad I purchased at a convenience store.
I was still hungry and the train was only 5 minutes away, so...

Wash it all down with some delicious Orangina

Travelling in Style

I'm off to Japan again. This time in an attempt to freeze to death.

Since I don't have Ken or Emma slumming the joint up this time, I thought I'd travel with a little class.

Well technically Jetstar emailed me and said "Yo Peasant! Want a cheap upgrade to sit with the actual people?" and I said "Yes".

Of course, since it's Jetstar we get "sparkling wine" while we wait for the Plebs to take their seats instead of real champagne.

Business Class food seems a lot better than the food I've had previously on one of these flights.
Larb Gai (top left), Japanese style pork on rice, and a bread roll (hopefully you can figure those two out on your own)

Battered fish and mashed minted peas, and a chocolate brownie. An odd afternoon tea combination.
Also pictured, my seventeenth Gin and Tonic.

Actually, I lied before. I'd already decided to travel in style before Jetstar emailed me.
Since I'll be going on a lot of long train journeys this trip, I thought I'd splurge and get a Green Rail Pass.

The photo I took of the rail pass to taunt Emma.

The plush seats in the Narita Express Green Car.
 Compare them to the jammed together fabric covered monstrosities in Peasant class here: http://travelsty.blogspot.jp/2014/08/japan.html

After a hard day travelling in the lap of luxury I arrived at my hotel ready to collapse on the bed,
set to awake refreshed for more train trips the next day.

That's also a lie. I went out for Sushi. I just didn't take any photos.


Update: Jesus Christ you people are a bunch of complainy fucks.

There will be pictures of Sushi in the next post.




This post was bought to you by my handsome chauffeur, Rob. I am extremely grateful to him for the lift to the airport, and saddened that I took no pictures with which to commemorate his heroic service. I didn't even take a photo of the burgers we got before I left. Anyway, I thoroughly recommend him for all your airport lifting needs. His mobile ride sharing app sucks however. 2/10 would not bang.