April 18th, 2002. Brian goes to Nagano.

Adam had and extra ticket to Nagano, on the Shinkansen (bullet train). So, off we went. It was a little over an hour on the train (which wasn't as fast as some people told me it was). Nagano is a lot quieter than Tokyo - it's got that small town feel about it. Like Kitchener, but nice.

My digicam ran out of batteries 20 minutes into our visit, but was mysteriously resurrected near the end of the day. So, there's a huge gap in the pictures. We're missing the Zenkoji Shrine and some other stuff. In the meantime, check out the place where they held the '98 Olympics.

Update: I just posted the missing pics. Go here to see them or click on "Nagano" on the side menu.

The shinkansen was scheduled to leave at 10am, so we had to leave our place at 8:15. You know what that means? Rush hour. Goddamn. Just think of all the fire violations.

Because we had to jet so early, I didn't get a chance to eat. We picked up food in the station, but like the movie theatres, they take advantage of you once you're inside. This delectable meal cost me over $10CAD.

Looks kinda like an airplane in here. People were telling me that once this baby hits its top speed, there is no sensation of movement - just like a plane. Where are the sterwardesses?

Of course, what people didn't tell me was that not all bullet trains make direct trips. The one we had made stops to pick up other patrons. This is essentially a glammed-up commuter train. Minus the drunken businessmen and advertisments.

Well, here we are. This is Nagano. So far, nothing special but hopefully with a bit more exploring, we'll hit upon something worth looking at. There were mountains in the distance and the streets were deserted. It was like a Stephen King novel. I was kinda expecting a sharp-toothed clown to jump out at us and claw our guts out.

Getting more interesting...

In the courtyard of the first temple/shrine-ish thing we saw: this is something that I find really cool about Japan. Amidst all the urban chaos, you'll find little serene spots like this, where you can come and look at statues of dead people.

My digicam flipped out on me about here. I brought extra batteries with me, but they died in about 5 miunutes (literally), so I had to run into a local camera store and pick up a plastic disposable.

Skip ahead a few hours and past the visit to the Zenkoji Temple, where the oldest image of Buddah in Japan is kept. This is at the top of some mountain Adam and I hiked.

Next to the wooden structure was a sizeable cemetary. You could see the entire city from the top of the cemetary - definitely worth the climb. The following are some shots that we took of the place. I love cemetaries.