Japan Favorites

Photos and text by Armand Vaquer

I've been lucky enough to visit Japan five times, the first being in November 2001 for the premire of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

The second being with G-TOUR with 59 other Godzilla fans to celebrate Godzilla's 50th anniversary. I returned in October 2005, April 2006 and April 2007. Each trip was enjoyable and I try to visit new places each time.

2001:

As I mentioned, the first was in 2001 for the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Here are a couple of photos from that event:

Above, the star enters the full-capacity theater at Orchard Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Above, Shogo Tomiyama, Nobuaki Kakuda, Chiharu Niyama, Ryudo Uzaki and director Shusuke Kaneko pose with Godzilla.

I took an excursion down to Atami and got this shot of Atami Castle (on the hill) from King Kong vs. Godzilla:



This shot was taken while waiting to get into Orchard Hall. I am wearing my press passes. Photo courtesy of Clawmark Toys.



2004:

While it seems like a long time between the 2001 trip and G-TOUR in 2004, it wasn't so bad as J. D. Lees and I put our heads together (two heads are better than one) to plan out the tour and select Sita Travel to handle the arrangements. The time seemed to go by quickly. Since I have other photos of G-TOUR posted on my blog, I'll just post one I never posted here before.

Above, one of the gates at Nijo Castle in Kyoto. It appears three generations of a Japanese family were also visiting Nijo.

2005:

This trip was covered in my blog "A Japan Mini-Vacation," which is a "re-print" of my article for G-FAN magazine. It seemed to have made a hit with some travel-oriented websites as it was linked. Here's one from Yokohama's Landmark Tower (below). They had a machine in which visitors can make a post card of themselves. I looked a little worn out. It was probably because I walked about two miles to get to the Tower. I did a lot more walking later that day in Yokohama.



This is of the pagoda at Asakusa Kannon Temple in the Asakusa section of Tokyo.

2006:

A few months after the 2005 trip, I decided to go back as I had more vacation time. This trip was due to the premiere of Gamera The Brave in April. I went up to Sendai and Matsushima to see where my dad was briefly stationed during the Korean War in 1951. It was on this trip that I first met actress Shelley Sweeney, who appeared in five Godzilla movies (below).



Above, it was a beautiful spring day at Nakamise Street in Asakusa.

2007:

In April 2007, I took a 12-day vacation to Japan. I spent a few days in Tokyo and then took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyushu to visit Mt. Aso, Nagasaki, Sasebo and Fukuoka. This trip was recounted extensively elsewhere on this blog. Here are some shots I took while in Tokyo:

Above, is Harajuku Station with the Docomo Tower in the background. Harajuku received some notoriety in a song by Gwen Stefani (I think it's called "Rich Girl").

Above, the Godzilla statue in Hibiya.

Above, for the electronics geek in you, you can't beat Akihabara "Electric Town" in Tokyo for plenty of stores of computers, games and anything else your heart desires.

Although I am currently working two jobs, they combined don't pay as well as the one I had during most of these trips. People ask me when am I going back to Japan. At present, I don't know. It'll probably be when I get a full-time position that pays well enough. Also, one other factor to keep in mind, the U.S. dollar is stuck in the 90s (in yen) per dollar exchange rate. I was able to get ¥116 per dollar in 2007. That, too, needs improving to make a trip cost-effective. Today's exchange rate will cause an American to lose money.

What the future holds is anyone's guess. But at least I have plenty of photos to look back on fun times. I hope you enjoyed them as well.