long update!

First of, we went to Kawaguchiko after our stay in Kyoto.
We traveled by train, which took us about 5 hours, then according to Google maps we had to go out of the train, and it should only be about a 5 minute walk. we ended up somewhere in the middle of nowhere, where we couldnt even see mount Fuji very well. We found out that we had to travel for about an hour or so further away to get to Kawaguchiko. It turned dark while we were on the train so we couldnt see Fuji-san when we got off. We found our hotel which was across the station, hence called Kawaguchiko-station inn. We got some food from the 7/11 end went to sleep.

The next morning, we went downstairs, looked out of the glass doors, and there it was. Fuji-san. It was HUGE and close. That was more like it! we had a very busy day ahead of us, we had a boat tour planned, and the rest of the day in Fuji Q Highland. While waiting for the boat, we found some coupons for Fuji Q, we were quite lucky. While on the boat, the boatsman was very interested in us and asked us all kinds of questions, when all we did was look at Fuji-san and took a whole lot of pictures. After that it was time for Fuji Q!
When we payed for our tickets, the cashier said Fuji-yama was closed. It was the ride which was the tallest in the world (in 1997) so we were pretty bummed.
But after we went in, we saw hamtaro land! Oh my god! It was awesome! so we went in the first rollercoaster. It was the hamtaro coaster! so it wasnt very thrilling. nonetheless we had a lot of fun! the boys in front of us (4 teenagers) were really tough for going in there so we laughed at them when they had to sit like father child, in between the others legs xD so when they noticed us laughing at them they started laughing as well because it was quite a silly sight. After that every time we saw them we had to laugh again xD The next ride was a wild water ride. Two huge statues of manekineko (lucky cats) stood there staring and smiling at us. So when we were in the ride and came to the back of the statues we were shocked! they were Evil! but luckily because it is winter we didnt get wet.
We walked some further after the cats and saw a huge swing thing, whatever its called xD It spins round and youre in a seat and it went up. We had a great view of Fujisan! then we went in something that was more like a game. You got a card at the entrance with which you had to collect arms. If you got the full armour set you were allowed to battle Nobunaga! However only one was allowed to battle. We went in with 20 people and were the unlucky ones who didnt even complete the set. We were in a dark maze like castle, in which we had to find slots that would give us a stamp. It took us a while to figure out that some didnt have an opening and were fakes xD so after half a minute which was like one fourth of the time we got on the first floor we found some slot that had openings. But for some reason all we got was Shit! they were totally faking us! It wasnt until after the game that we realised there was a certain amount of time needed in between people to make it more difficult. so after a while you could go to the same slot again. Floor 2 didnt get us anything either so we were wiped out and had to leave the castle.
After this we found a real exciting rollercoaster at the exit of the last one. It turned out to be the steepest coaster in the world at this moment, with a 121 degree drop. At the beginning we were like Yay! but at the top before the drop it was like: no no no no NO! It was very awesome though!
On the picture we all looked kinda goofy so we didnt take this one. We went on to the next rollercoaster, which turned out to be one of the fastest coasters, with a top speed of 172km/h. It was such a thrill to be launched and it felt like our faces were gonna be blown off. The wind turned out to have settled down, because we found out that the Fujiyama was opened! We quickly went in line and we turned out to be one of the last people to ride it. During all of our waiting lines, we had some TVs with the fujiQ power rangers! (heroes) they were so cool! The red one was cocky and not much like a hero at all, actually they all sucked big time at being a hero! The blue one was a skirt chaser and was actually dating the pink one but kept flirting with other girls. The pink one was jealous crybaby. The green one had to clean every little thing in the park, and was the biggest pussy of them all. (he was bullied by the red one all the time) And the yellow one was a stupid clumsy dork. While in the last line we actually saw them running around the park. The red one sat on a bench rubbing his tummy, while people were taking pictures with him. after a while he got up and went to the food machine but found out he didnt have any money on him. so he looked really sad. The yellow one went in the carousel not far away from the line. He sat on the horse and after a while he was so bored he fell asleep until the ride was over. We saw the pink one and the green one walk past, but they were quickly out of sight. we didnt see the blue one :( After fujiyama the park closed already so we had to go back to the hotel, but we were very hungry, and decided to find some place to eat. We decided to go to a Teriyaki bar, and we had a teriyakiset for 2, which had all kinds of delicious meat. Then we went back to the hotel and decided to take a bath, which turned out to be a really really relaxing bath. The bathroom there was so luxurious! it was like a sentou with one big bath and we were all alone! so we spent 2 hours in there xD

the 8th we had to travel towards Niigata, Nagaoka, to Floor her friends. Yoko-san and Suzuki-san were waiting for us at the station, where our minds where blown because of the snow. There was like 3000 meters of snow! Unlike in the Netherlands though, they were able to keep all the roads snow-free. so we were surrounded by huge walls of snow at each side of the road. Once at Yoko-san her house, we were soon invited for dinner. Meanwhile MuuChan, yoko-sans toy poodle kept running around and wouldnt stop barking, and jumping and acting way to big for its actual size. Plates and bowls of all kinds of different food then kept being served. While we were sitting in the kitchen we heard a fancy tune, and a voice said that the bath was ready. We were in awe, and it turned out you could turn on the bath with one push on the button in the kitchen, and then you just had to wait! It was really fancy! After our bath it was time to go to sleep because we had a very big day ahead of us.

Our seijinshiki (coming of age day)
Yoko-san had a lot of things planned for us, even though in Nagaoka seijinshiki isnt held in January because of the cold weather and snow. Lots of people kept coming over, with kimonos to put us in, and people to help us getting dressed. Layer after layer, towel after towel and strap after strap were being put around us, before we actually got the top layer with beautiful prints. then the photo session began, and didnt end! nah... at four when we took of the kimonos they were done taking pictures. Yoko-san her 5 year old grandchild HiroChan came over and was a bit shy at first. But then he wanted to play trump, which is the japanese name for card game. after a while he got bored and found out angry birds on Anientas phone. So he was draped all over her lap after a while. He was so cute! We took some pictures together with him too. After we got out of our straightjackets, we quickly dressed to impress! We had a party to go to! the Lions club which is a Club that supports exchanges, gave us a special japanese style party, with dinner and all. they kept pouring us beer, because we were dutch, and they thought it was funny. (drinking is allowed at the age of 20 in japan) And because it was our seijinshiki they couldnt let all that beer go to waste. after a while we had to switch places and got to talk to everyone, who by then got so drunk they started asking us the strangest questions. We got one of them to sing and dance for us xD After the party some of the members took us to a Karaoke bar, and because we were already really tipsy we sang our lungs out without shame.

the next day Yoko-san and Suzuki-san took us to an exhibition of the Ghibli movie Arietty. The movie was about little people, and the exhibition had their house completely made in our normal size. So we went inside the drain of the big house where their home was and found stamps as paintings, chesspieces as statues, huge flowers, a flower pot as a hearth and the biggest sugar cube ever! some of the bugs like ants and beetles were moving and because they were so big, they were also quite scary which made us think we were glad we werent their size.
After this they took us to an onsen (hot spring) in yuzawa, which was an hour away from nagaoka, had even more snow and lots of skiing resorts. It was also closer to Tokyo so we were able to stay a little bit longer. The onsen was very pretty and had all kinds of baths. There was a normal hot spring, a sulphur bath, a bath inside a cave, a hot steambath inside another cave, and a very cold bath. We were surrounded by snow so at first it was so cold! but after we had been in one of the baths it wasnt cold at all anymore.
at 4 it was time to have a meal, which was very very colourful. It kept being served on our too small tables, and some dishes were looking at us. Specially the shrimp in the little icy iglo. It looked pretty, but not something we dared to eat. Then we got a souplike structure, which turned out to house half a crab. luckily this one didnt have eyes. Some things were edible and quite tasty too, so we didnt starve. We were a little bit late for our train to Tokyo, but we were still on time for rush hour. It was a little bit of a hassle with our luggage but we survived and arrived at the station where we needed to be, but were a little bit lost and stared at the map. Luckily Japanese people are so helpful and kind, and came to our rescue. They helped us a lot and even called the hotel for us for directions. It turned out to be pretty easy and we arrived on time for check in.

Today we went to Akihabara, Which is known for its amazing electronics stores and Otaku (nerd) stuff. Even before we got out of the station, we saw a commercial board for a book-off. This is what Martines dad called manga heaven. This turned out to be true with all kinds of manga for 105 ¥ (about 1 euro) and Shoujo manga (girl manga) were at half price because of ladies day. After we finally got ourselves out of this store, we tried to look for denshi jishos (electronical dictionaries) we went in a lot of game halls on the way, trying to find a DDR machine (dancing game)
We finally found one and we were doing our best to dance our asses off. We got very hungry because of it and we were catnapped into a maidcafe where every maid talked like a cat and were overexcitedly happy. It turned out to be quite expensive and had all kinds of rules, but it was totally worth it, as all girls were supercute and it got us all energetic, and we got our food. After the cafe it got quite late and we decided to walk back towards the metrostation. we got in some more shops on the way. While we waited outside for Jeroen and Floor, we got into a conversation with an old man who was very interested in the Netherlands, and told us all about our hidden history with Japan, though half of it we already knew. He wanted to take us for a coffee, and we talked for more than an hour with Ken-san. We exchanged mails and it was very interesting. Which brings us to right now, writing this very very long blog, which made us tired, so now we are off to bed.

Oyasumi nasai,

Anienta and Martine