JP in Japan posts

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-07-21-preparation.md

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+---
+title: Preparation
+date: 2009-07-21T13:07:00Z
+emoji: 🇯🇵
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - preparation
+location: 51.72318,-1.971214
+---
+
+It's just over a week before James and I head off to the land of the rising sun. The first week (of three) is planned and the important bookings will be made in the next few days! My excitement is building and building, this week is going to go past so fast!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-07-28-photo-post.md

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+---
+title: Japanese currency!
+date: 2009-07-28T18:48:00Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - currency
+  - preparation
+location: 51.716806,-1.968162
+---
+![](../img/76198a31d99cd4b696b4c6b65c212e897972d7fa2864b4b1358c7a63c12e228e.jpg)
+
+Its finally real! The first physical Japan-type thing has arrived - some exciting foreign currency! It is _just money_ (and not very much either :P) but its exciting to make it all tangible for the first time. 3 days to go!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-07-29-photo-post.md

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+---
+title: Sunset at home
+date: 2009-07-29T19:58:00Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - sunset
+location: 51.72318,-1.971214
+---
+![](../img/8925e6c638ee8d97b8a6c1ff284a83845ff38239a5ed07cebf9a115d700e8f98.jpg)
+
+Spot the difference - this is a (typically beautiful) sunset in the Cotswolds, I wonder how the sunrise from Mt. Fuji will compare :P

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-07-31-12-hour-flight-blues.md

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+---
+date: 2009-07-31T12:03:00Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+location: 51.7296,0.4761
+title: "12 Hour Flight Blues"
+---
+Got the 12 hour flight blues,\
+Half a day on a plane.\
+Got the 12 hour flight blues,\
+Will I ever see the ground again?!\
+12 hour flight blues...
+
+And they tell me it'll never land on time
+
+---
+
+James kindly points out it's only a 10 hour flight :P tried playing his piano at home to make a brief recording of the above tune, but it doesn't help that I can't play the piano!
+
+Off to Heathrow now, until Japan!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-01-6-hour-sunset.md

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+---
+title: "6 Hour Sunset"
+date: 2009-08-01T13:12:43Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - sunset
+  - flight
+---
+Oh, and I forgot to mention, because we went inside the arctic circle to make a great arc, we had a 6 hour sunset on the flight! It was a beautiful one too :)

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-01-he-knows-the-score.md

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+---
+date: 2009-08-01T07:20:00Z
+title: He knows the score
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+> **PA:** The doors to the left will open in just a moment.
+>
+> **JP:** What? But we’re going that way, no they won’t!
+>
+> _Doors open, on the left_
+>
+> **JK:** 1 - nil to Japan

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-01-hostels-shmostels.md

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+---
+title: "Hostels Shmostels"
+date: 2009-08-01T12:15:57Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+location: 35.5731,139.6922
+  - ryokan
+  - Tokyo
+  - arrival
+---
+やった！ We've arrived!
+
+I've just had the most amazing outdoor bath in the 旅館 (ryokan, a Japanese inn) we're staying at for the next two nights. I don't think there could be a better way to recover from jetlag (and 28 hours without sleep!)
+
+But before I get some shut-eye, a little about the journey!
+
+- What they say about the trains is completely true, you can actually set your watch by them - I did!
+- Japan airlines does surprisingly excellent food (dispute not letting us upgrade to first class for free :P)
+- Planes fitted with on-board bird's-eye and forward facing cameras for in-seat viewing are awesome
+- The tube stations are all covered in colour from adverts and directions (very helpful, even for がいじん - foreigners)
+- **Everything** sounds more awesome in Japanese
+- The phrase 'Is this right?' is going to be very, very handy
+- Japan is really exciting! たんじょぼです！
+
+Hope you're all very jealous :P

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-02-a-crazily-busy-first-day.md

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+---
+date: 2009-08-02T15:25:00Z
+title: "A Crazily Busy First Day!"
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+Oh. My. God.
+
+An incredibly busy day! Definately a high standard set for the rest of the trip, but especially fun because we met up with 愛！ (Ai is one of our friends from Nottingham who we used to play Capoeira with regularly, though she's now moved back to Japan having finished her masters' degree)
+
+Step one: Food. Having not given it too much thought we wondered past corner shop and bought ourselves a 'triangle' ('of death' as far as I'm concerned, as I'll explain). These sticky rice triangles or おねぎり (oh-neih-gih-rih) are wrapped in a seaweed sheet and filled with a strong tasting savoury meat/fish/fruit. Therein lies the problem. we can't read _kanji_ so we have no idea what's in them! For a person whose stomach rejects prawns etc (like yours truely) this makes the whole thing quite the gamble - it paid off well! I'm sure these triangles will be a staple travelling lunch :)
+
+First off we wandered around the Imperial Palace gardens. The outer section, while pretty, left us feeling a little separated from the beauty (the main attractions are the gates, the moats and the bridges - astounding for their age, but done once you've seen them really) - we started moving towards the Yasukuni Shrine and found we could go into the East Gardens of the palace.
+
+These are some of the most beautiful gardens I've seen (having a Mum who worked in an Arboretum, that's saying a lot!) - one entire section was a grassland ecosystem moved piece by piece into the Palace's grounds because their original habitat was to be destroyed to create a residential district.
+
+The entire gardens were both stunning and surprisingly informative (with the odd museum and even English translations on info-posts) - there will be plenty of photos [on flickr](http://flickr.com/photos/jphastings) when I have the time!
+
+Next stop was the Yasukuni Shrine to meet Ai, a small park dedicated to War Victims built in 1836 (over 2.5 million are commemorated to date - kamakazi bombers are recorded as telling each other they'll meet again at Yasukuni). It also included the first ever Western style bronze statue of the military commander who first pushed a modernization (ie. westernization) of the Japanese army, earning him a wound, which took over 4 months to kill him, courtesy of the samurai.
+
+Tube rides left-and-right took the three of us to Harajuku, Ai telling us of the obscure fashions that teenagers from across Japan travelled there to take up. Even Ai said it's oddly similar to Camden Market, for a place nearly a world away.
+
+Finding a back-alley hidden restaurent gem we learnt how to cook our own まじゅやき (_majuyaki_, we think) a weird combination of cabbage,meat, flavouring and soup you make into an omlette type thing as you griddle it yourself - a Tokyo speciality! I was especially pleased to try Ai's choice, one based on fish eggs and 'mochi' (a rice paste I hunt down in any Chinatown I find at home).
+
+Moseying on over to 'the electronics district' - akihabara - we persued the bright and flashing lighted streets that I guess is what we all expect Tokyo to look like.
+
+The final stop was a bonfire party - a tradition originating in a day of the dead ritual - in Shinjuku which unfortunately was called on account of the rain. Still we made up for it with an amazing bar, good beer and tasty, tasty sashimi, which is raw meats and fish! In our case, raw cow heart, liver and 3rd stomach! As I said tasty, tasty, おいしい、おいしい！
+
+Anyways, that was our 14 hours of fun - it is now definitely time to let James use the iPhone and to get some sleep! Nite all!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-02-ciccadas/index.md

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+---
+title: Ciccadas
+date: 2009-08-02T01:30:07Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+{{< audio src="ciccadas.mp3" >}}
+
+Can anyone name it?  (We realised they're definitely Ciccadas)

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-02-quote-post.md

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+---
+title: Downhill slope
+date: 2009-08-02T05:35:54Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+> Wouldn't you love to be in a wheelchair right now?
+>
+> - JK (At the top of one of the many slopes in the Imperial Gardens)

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-03-day-2.md

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+---
+title: Day 2
+date: 2009-08-03T16:25:00Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - tsukiji
+  - ueno
+  - senjo-ji
+  - capoeira
+---
+
+Wow! Today has been another amazingly busy day, I really don't know how we're going to top this!
+
+An early start, in order to clear out of the ryokan (luxury I'm sure we'll miss!), but still 8:30 so hardly bad! A quick metro ride to kamata to store our bags for the day (500¥ = £3.25 for the whole day for 2 backpacks - beat that London!) - and straight to tsukiji to try and catch the end of the fish Market...
+
+Soooo, we missed the 'proper' Market auction (it starts at 5am! Before the subway :S) but we managed to peruse the street Market and find some amazing information and crazy stores. One shop seemed to sell almost eer endangered animal on the planet, stuffed. A great shame to see mighty animals like the Polar Bear reduced to a plastic-clad tourist attraction-come-bartering piece, but an astonishing sight none the less. James also noted that the Tuna sold at the Market *every day* regularly go for between 600,000¥ and 1,000,000¥ - essentially £60,000. that'll be why the Yakuza always seem to be at the fish markets in films then...
+
+A tube ride, a short walk, a confusing set of Japanese directions (it was him that was confused!) and a long walk later we found せんじょうーじ (senjo-ji). One of the biggest Buddhist temples, it has ridiculously oversized lanterns hanging from the gates leading to up to it, and a long trail of souvenir shops - the side of one of these was the scene for the funniest incident of the holiday so far:
+
+Imagine the scene; In the 3 days we've been here (which coincidently feels like a week) we've seen maybe *one* fat person. On the side of the road on the way to the temple were two *seriously* overweight Americans tucking into a hearty McDonald's and a hotdog (tho where they got that I'll never know). A sight we've all seen, I'm sure, but the following made me absolutely certain we we're in Japan: a Japanese tourist came up to the two of them, delicately lined up and took a photo just as they forced another greasy mouthful in, thanked them, politely (arigatou gozaimasu) and pottered off! Simply brilliant!
+
+The Busdhist temple itself was, dissapointingly, under external repair (though they cheakily print a photo of the temple on the protective sheeting!) but still stunning inside, especially the ceremony going on in the inner sanctum, visible from the outside and audible even outside.
+
+It's gardens were small, prim and filled with monuments to notable poets, doctors etc from throughout the ages.
+
+We had a date with Ai later in the evening (more on that later!) so we had a few hours to kill, time we spent blissfully wandering through the gardens near Ueno. We nearly jumped the fence to walk through the enormous green fields in the park/oasis in the centre of this busy district but luckily quickly realised it was a *lake* so filled with lillies you could probably hide a battleship.
+
+There were many little moments - including a western woman who we're sure passed us nearly six times while we walked in a straight line through the park, but we ended up at Hanatanodai station at 8:10 - half an hour late - to meet Ai!
+
+Why were we meeting Ai? Cordão de Ouro Capoeira in Tokyo! Yes, we visited our local group here - a small but very friendly class including Kie, the twin sister of Chie who is one of our regular classmates from Nottingham! It is a *very* small world! (Not to mention that their master, 'pomba' I think, trained in Brazil with our very own Moleque!)
+
+To balance the healthy workout the Capoeira offered (I wouldn't suggest it after a day of trekking around Tokyo!) we were taken to a local pub - family run affairs with separate rooms that can be walled off for your group's privacy. The group were so helpful, excitable and good fun it was nearly midnight before we knew it but the Tokyo group's hospitality knew no bounds as not only did they treat us to a round of beers, Korean 'jinto' and Japanese nibbles one lovely girl called 'マキンリー' (Mackinly, her nickname) also offered us her floor to stay on for the night!
+
+As her English was roughly on a par with our Japanese Ai offered to join us to help translate (and point out any faux-pas) and we spent until early in the morning chatting and trying to sort out tomorrow's (now today's!) schedule.

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-04-a-long-day.md

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+---
+title: A Long Day
+date: 2009-08-04T15:00:00Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+Time to move away from Tokyo and so far quite tricky! We've chosen to travel to Hakone, a renowned beauty site for Japanese and foreign tourists alike. This is a bit of an issue as it's high tourism season… In fact at this very moment we're in what appears to be a hotel/spa trying to find directions to the hostel we booked earlier in Odanawa station. The only problem is that it doesn't seem to exist! We're told it closed last year, I'm 90% sure the Japanese I used was to book a room, not to rebuild a hostel!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-05-english-t-shirts/index.md

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+---
+title: English T-Shirts
+date: 2009-08-05T01:15:20Z
+audio: t-shirts.mp3
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+I love staring at the t-shirts they have here, written in English, but obviously have very little meaning. I can only imagine what it's like for Eastern people in Britain![^1]
+
+[^1]: Looking at the nonsense we have on our T-Shirts in their languages

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-05-photo-post.md

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+---
+date: 2009-08-05T08:00:00Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+location: 35.245028,139.057335
+title: JK in the massage chair
+---
+![](../img/d926331fcf6f6f0de17a446e888646e11b1de72e718a8f0f874d59f079c06fcf.jpg)
+
+JK uses the massage chairs.

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-05-tenyou-onsen.md

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+---
+date: 2009-08-05T14:30:00Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - onsen
+  - public bath
+title: "てのゆ おんせん"
+location: 35.245028,139.057335
+---
+
+I'm writing from the 'tenoyu onsen' (see title) which is a **very** nice onsen, or Japanese public bath/spa, in Miyashita. For a reasonable 1600¥ (~£10) your given your towel, flannel, a toothbrush set and a razor and ushered into the spa area. Onsen can feel a little daunting to begin with, you're never exactly sure what the custom is (the signs are in Japanese Kanji and sometimes, if you're lucky, 'Engrish') but once you've been a couple of times, as we now have, it's blissful.
+
+The first step is probably the weirdest for us; strip naked. Naturally men & women have separate spa sections but you take nothing into the baths but your birthday suit! You then squat on a tiny plastic stool (that's a very comfortable fit!) and shower very extensively. Full body soaping, using your flannel to scrub your back, your feet, between your toes - essentially the exfoliating wash your Mum always told you to have.
+
+Having shampoo'd and conditioned your hair and rinsing every last soapy sud off, you're allowed to go to the baths. Last nights baths were quite a meager indoor affair - Tenoyu by comparison is the bath of the gods. 6 or 7 separate baths most able to hold about 5 people (thankfully, they've never been this busy with us), each filled by natural springwater heated by the magma flows near (ish) the surface because of Mt. Fuji. There are circular bathing pools so hot you can see the steam rising from them, small cooler ones to cool off in, flat ones with stone headrests to lie in and tiny tubs to cool completely in. The best bit? All of this is outside. They obviously use them in the rain too as there are hats on a rack next to the door, as well as the biggest pool being covered (with the coolest ornamental drainpipes I've ever seen). The only slight shame is that to protect privacy the walls of the pool area are just high enough that you can't see the valley below, but the mountaintops are still a sight to behold when you're in the tub! (though that phrase just doesn't do the experience justice!)
+
+Of course that's not the end of it, you must scrub and shower just as much after you're done bathing, then once you're dry you can shave, brush your teeth and retire to the rest rooms, where I am now, to lie down on roll-out beds with bamboo pillows. It's blissful! At home, in line with my Dad's phrasing of a good start to any day, I'll hunt down a good "shit, shower and shave". They do that here, but as you can tell it's so much better! The razors come included, the showers are so advanced they probably brew tea for you if you find the right button and the toilets! Oh my lord, my psychotherapist mother will have a field day, but I may become (more than usually) obsessed with pooping while out here - ignore the 'Japanese style toilets' they're basically a hole in the ground, the newer, westernised and extremized ones are where it's at. Step one: open door. The toilet seat lid will *lift itself* (Out of cleanliness, rather than laziness I'm sure) while it waits for you to put on the toilet shoes. (did I not mention? Shoes stay off when you're in Japanese homes or some public places, they also always wear special toilet shoes forthe toilet. Awesome) once you've fully exorcised the demons you are resented with an array of buttons, most of which I've yet to try out of fear. Amongst them are controls for the bumhole spray, whole arse hosing, lady wash, talc, 'powerful deodorizer' a 'stop' button (took me a while to find that one first time around...) the controls for the seat and lid and the flush (two types!) All off this is wireless from the panel on the wall (oh the possibility for pranks) and the most ingenious thing is still to come! Once you've flushed the cistern refills via a tap that comes out of the top of the toilet, giving you a little sink to rinse your hands in. Genius! At first glance it may seem dirty, but think it through - the water is clean when you use it and doesn't need go be when it's used next, it's Eco-friendliness at it's best. Anyway, it's about time I woke JK up (he had a poor nights sleep, but still slept through the 'quake!) and we used the massage chairs...

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-06-.md

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+---
+date: 2009-08-06T12:55:21Z
+title: Japanese computers
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+Just a warning, Japanese computers are really hard to use... this one also appears to have its timezone set to Spain, so all the times for these last few posts will be off. Oh well!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-06-all-photos-uploaded.md

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+---
+date: 2009-08-06T12:57:54Z
+title: "[All!] Photos being uploaded"
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+[flickr.com](https://flickr.com/photos/jphastings)
+
+Seeing as I'm in a capsule hotel (more on that later) I'm not going to spend time sorting through my photos, as a consequence there are hundreds of unedited ones on my flickr page now. Apologies for the hideous ones that no doubt are there :P

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-06-fuji-san.md

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+---
+date: 2009-08-06T12:54:08Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - Fuji
+title: "Fuji-san"
+location: 35.3654,138.7330
+---
+
+On the journey onward from the onsen yesterday (one where we managed to just get every last bus of the night, by sheer fluke) we arrived at kawaguchi-ko, portal to Mt. Fuji. The weather had been pretty crap all day and we were considering binning our plan to climb at night to see the sun rise, however a chat or two later to random travellers (in a variety of languages) we were kind of afraid of the journey to the summit and eager to give it a try.
+
+With 15 minutes before the last bus to the 5th station (the point where the hiking finished and climbing begins) we started reorganising our packs to minimize what we took while preparing for almost every potential disasterous outcome. We thought we were pretty clever, untill some Japanese boys we met earlier jumped on the bus wearing tracksuits and trainers. Oh well, be prepared right?
+
+Making some new friends on the bus ride up we had a clutch of about 6 of us ready to take Fuji-san on: an Aussie, an American, a Canadian and a German (all of whom spoke excellent English and were on the scientific research front or similar, most travelling for conferences). Our battlegroup was formed.
+
+The climb started off as a gentle stroll at about 22:15 but rapidly turned into a stairmaster of death as the incline began. Step after step woven in zig-zag patterns across the landscape took us all the way to 2,200m... Of 3776. The only bonus was the the gloriously full and bright moon sloping across the sky as we worked our meagre thighs.
+
+From this point forward it got gradually harder, scrambling up rocky 'pathways' in the dark with litterally thousands of tourists, most of whom were Japanese. On the journey up Celine had told us that it was her birthday starting around 2 hours in so there was a hushed chorus of 'happy birthday' as we tried not to wake the slumbering sherpas (?) in the stations.
+
+These stations, small collections of huts up the main ascent path where you could buy water etc. (for continually more excessive prices) came slowly but they did arrive, and we found ourselves in an enormous queue of climbers somewhere around 3,100m. Being impatient gaijin we weaved our way through the line of climbers untill we reached the final station. Many were grandparents, some were pre-teen children, most were Japanese people fullfilling the unofficial national personal achievement award of climbing the active volcano.
+
+Despite being only 600m from the top the journey was not nearly over then (and I've also cut about 4 hours of immensely tiring trudging up slopes of volcanic gravel as well as the aforementioned assault course of mini rock outcrops - boring stuff really!) Once beyond the final station it was a gruelling 80 minute hike to the top, except it was more of an enormous torch-lit snake of a queue.
+
+The weather gradually closing in, you could see far off city lights gradually turn to cloud. After temporarily losing Chris (the Aussie) to altitude sickness (and 'mild hypothermia'!) we found ourselves at the very top station (5 hours after starting!), metres below the official top (which is the other side of the volcanic crater).
+
+Visibilty at this point was about 50m, and the cloud could be seen whipping around people's faces, luckily the shack-come-eatery in the top station provided warm shelter and, at a price almost steeper than the final climb, a bowl of ramen, soup or similarly hearty broth. The wait was on to see the sun rise.
+
+Alas, 4:15 came and, though the sky turned ever so slightly red for a few moments, the cloud was too thick to see anything of the sunset - a powerfully dissapointing turn of events, nearly 6 hours of climbing for just more bad weather. Not to be hard done by we sat in the shack and chatted, as we had been for the whole climb, about life in our various stages and anything else that came to our sleep deprived, altitude sickened minds.
+
+6am brought the decision to make our move home. The 'descending route' was basically a ski slope in yet more volcanic rubble so the going was easier than the climb, but seriously hard on the thighs. We decided to move to the route we climbed up, rather than the rest of the descent route, only to practically instantly regret it (it's very hard going *down* rocky craggs) - but we made it to the final stretch just in time to be completely soaked by a practically rainforest style downpour.
+
+Did I mention we'd been awake since 6:50 the day before - 30 hours earlier?! A long, wet and cramped bus ride back to kawaguchi-ko later we found the usual 30 degree glorious sunshine and a spot to lay out our drenched clothes. Life is good!
+
+Mt. Fuji (3776 meters): Climbed
+
+Sightings of Mt. Fuji: 0 (yes, it was too cloudy to see Fuji from further away than your own height for our entire stay! Sad times)

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-06-late-posts.md

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-06T11:52:13Z
+title: "Late Posts"
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+So you've probably noticed the last 4 posts or so just appeared in one go - we've been WiFi-free since we left Tokyo so I've been drafting my posts on my iPhone, so hopefully when I find some free WiFi they'll all pop up together. They should be in chronological order, with the newest at the top (as usual) It's also quite amusing that over the past 3 days the only free WiFi I've found has been *on* a bus. Unfortunately I found this out because the signal vanished as the bus pulled out of the station - it wasn't my bus :P

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-06-quick-update.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-06T04:00:26Z
+title: "Quick Update"
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+We've just seen Chris off at Goten-ba station as we prepare to bus hop to Nagoya! Still haven't slept, I think we're either trying out a capsule hotel (more on them layer) or a Manga (Japanese comic book) store overnight section (we're told they have adequite sleeping facilities available for next to nothing for readers!)

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-06-the-longest-day.md

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-06T15:33:53Z
+title: "The Longest Day"
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+As I previously wrote, the 5th ended with us a couple of thousand meters up the side of Mt. Fuji, leaving us with a lot more to do before we could get some sleep! It turns out it was even more than we'd imagined...
+
+Having left Chris at Goten-ba station we sleepily discovered we needed to make a short walk to the Goten-ba IC (intercity) bus station in order to catch our long awaited 4 hour bus ride to Nagoya, where we could finally get some long sought after sleep. The bus arrived late (apparently they're just as prone to delays as British buses, unlike their trains) and took 5 and a half hours to arrive, rather than 4, but we weren't complaining a comfy seat and time to sleep is what it is!
+
+On arrival we found all the information spots in the Nagoya Station to be completely shut (it now being about 7 in the evening) so we made our way to the Mariott hotel to try and get a map and some help. It is genuinely hilarious watching the (I suppose natural) reaction for expensive hotel staff to usher unwashed Fuji-climbing backpackers out of their expensive establishment fight against the Japanese bottomless selflessness and helpful attitudes. The poor bellboy kept trying to shoo us away, then brought us back to give personal advice, hilarious!
+
+After a little wander we found a hotel that, while being too expensive, gave us discount coupons for a Capsule hotel nearby. This is where I am now, but this is no hotel you've ever seen before...
+
+You're shown in, given a locker key and given strict instructions that you are to get changed (=naked) and go to the sauna/onsen, dry yourself and put on the 'capsule wear' and then peruse the establishment. Another excellent shower/bath/shower combo later and I'm wandering around a spookily communist seeming recreation area, with a wall of TVs, super-massage chairs (with inbuilt TVs) web PCs and a proper massage area.
+
+Round the corner are the actual capsules which, though I haven't actually been to see yet, are enormous pipes with a bed and a TV in with a blind at one end. Litterally a capsule for you to R&R in.
+
+The reason I haven7t been to my 'room' yet is because we decided to go out for dinner. By sheer fluke we ended up in a local unpolished (well, actually fairly polished, but unburdened by expense) gem of a restaurant. Traditionally Japanese and with whole piles of fresh ingredients laid out at the centre of a U-shaped dining area, you just pointed at what you liked, noded, bowed, smiled at and charmed your chef (at the other edge of the 'U') and he'd grill, slice or build whatever you like.
+
+The staff were so incredibly pleased to have _gaijin_ (foreigners) in their restaurant, they knocked whole 0's off the cost and the characteristically helpful Japanese couple to my right helped us understand the menu, order fdishes that complimented eachother and told us about how excited they were to find foreigners that we so enthralled by their world. They then proceeded to tell us that they'd only been told about the restaurant by a friend and that it was almost totally unknown by the inhabitants of Nagoya. I guarantee this will not remain for long! The food was so utterly delicious we are most definitely returning there tomorrow. Fresh sushi prepared centimeters infront of you, (local style) pork kebabs grilled inches infront of your face and crisp, local beer coupled with the unrivaled hospitality we've found everywhere we go - and all for just over 10 pounds, in a top-4 major city.
+
+Our chef even came out of his booth to give us each his business card personally, an honour if we understood the couple sitting next to us. A final interesting nugget before I go and sleep the matress off my capsule; we were told that you do not tip in Japan, comission is included but if you are truely amazed by the quality of your meal, as we were, the correct thing to do is to thank the chef even more vigarously that you previousy would have done, and tell your friends. While they will likely nbot be offended by a foreigner trying to tip them, they will hunt you down to give your change to you!
+
+Details of the restaurant will follow, if you're ever in Nagoya you'll know where to go!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-07-capsule-hotel/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-07T00:48:48Z
+title: Capsule hotel pics
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+Some snaps from the capsule hotel: the luxury communist styling of the regimented clothing (modelled by yours truely), the tv lounge, the bathroom flipflops (everyone swaps shoes when try go to the loo), the capsule dormitory (two 'rooms' high) and the (free!) traditional Japanese breakfast.
+
+![](157530163_0.jpg)
+![](157530163_1.jpg)
+![](157530163_2.jpg)
+![](157530163_3.jpg)
+![](157530163_4.jpg)

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-08-nagoya-into-kyoto.md

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-08T00:25:00Z
+title: "Nagoya & into Kyoto"
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+Ha ha! So, the chef at our restaurant (the same from last night) told us the 'well-be' capsule hotel we're staying at is 'homo'. No that's not Japanese... I'm not sure how much of that is rumour (it's men only and the guy sitting next to me is reading a very boob-oriented porn mag :P) but it's still hilarious to be told that by the chef at a local restaurant!
+
+So, what did we get up to today? It's been quite a slow day, the sleep debt from the fuji climb is still taking it's toll so we took a stroll around town, saw the TV station (it's actually a national heretage broadcasting tower), tried to find the Robot Museum (which unfortunately has now closed), ahopped in an amazing manga bookstore and went to the Nagoya Donjon - the Palace.
+
+On the whole Nagoya seems to b a very Japanese (rather than touristy) and fashionable city. Many of the residents are in obviously chic clothing and if I hadn't seen 18 hairdressers down one road when we drove in I'd never have belieed the number of crazy hairstyles around town. 
+
+The Manga store was incredible - so very loud as you walk in, 6 stories of books,comics, DVDs and models - needless to say I made a few little purchases (where else could you find a Japanese character guide to my favourite Anime: FullMetal alchemist? Plus they're written in easy language so perfect to learn from!). It really does seem to be a passtime for all ages, on fac there were very few children in the shop at all (though it was a Friday afternoon, they were probably at school), there was even a 'ladies floor' -lets just say there were two men kissing on a poster on the door and we didn't go in! - and an 18+ floor filled to breaking point with 'hentai', it also had a "used" section, I don't even _want_ to imagine whythe price difference was so much :S
+
+The last major stop of the day, tired as we were, was the castle. Scheduled to become a national heretage site it was bombed and destroyed in the 2nd world war, a huge loss to cultural Japan as it was a central castle used (in the 1600s) to unite the various clans as they warred. Even the massive stones making the foundations and walls of the grounds have logos etched into them to show which tribe brought which awkward-to-move stone to the palace.
+
+Luckily for us - and Japan - the Dojon (the equivalent of the castle/keep in Britain) was rebuilt in 1959 in the original style and (at least externally) to spec: 14 stories high and with two enormous 5m high gold dolphin statues that perch on the top.
+
+These two statues have had true own troubles, they've been removed time and again for restoration and for fear of theft (3 scales have been stolen over the years. One of which has been returned, as the theif was caught in Tokyo) but today they are where they're supposed to be, sitting aloft the Dojon's green roofs.
+
+If you look through the photostream there's a pic of a statue of a man holding a whip - his name I forget, but he was the war general (and castle engineer) who was given the task of building the Dojon. It is said that he himself stood on top of the biggest stones whipping the workers to pull it onward and calling the song that gave them time. Oddly, it seems like he's revered for this!
+
+After a walk and a tube back to the main station we investigated buses to Kyoto and bought ourselves a little treat: 'MochiCream' desserts. Mochi is a kind of rice paste cake that's pretty hard to find a western analogue to, you'll find them in big supermarkets all over the world (little bean-ball sized coloured dough balls usually filled with a red paste) but these desert ones were filled with chilled cream of a variety of flavours. They were delicious! Mine was 'double mango', mango flavoured rice paste outer shell with mango cream inside, ecstacy!
+
+We've had some serious trouble booking places to stay, our plan of just winging it is remarkably tricky at high tourism season, but we've manages to findavplace in advance for te first night in Kyoto, hopefully there will be enough other nice places about for us to enjoy all the amazing sights Kyoto has to offer. おやすみなさい！(good night!)
+
+---
+
+It's 8 am and we're packing up to go to Kyoto, strange Jazz Xylophone playing in the background, never going to be totally used to these capsule hotels :P
+Won't have time to post this until Kyoto, so it may be a while before it arrives.
+
+Send me an email if you get bored! :) x

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-09-national-pride.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+title: National pride
+date: 2009-08-09T16:19:00Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+Beat both the (two) Americans and the Dutch at drinking Sake - despite the Dutch girl telling us that 'the Britsh can't drink' - score one for the Brits! Lots more happened besides today, hold on for the full scoop when I've sobered up. x

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-09-victory-britain.md

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-09T17:22:25Z
+title: "Victory: Britain"
+author: James Kelly
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+Hi all this is JK writing.
+
+We had an amazing day, unfortunately we started off slowly as we had to leave the amazing ryokan that we were staying in the night before, due to the price, and move to a different place.  The whole process started off very slowly because we ended up with a rail pass not a bus pass and kyoto only has two railway tracks and 50 odd bus routes, bummer! Then we got the hang of where we were going and what we were doing and ended up in the right vicinity, after a couple of pleas for help we found that we were staying in the grounds of the local temple "Daitojoku" (The name needs to be clarified).  When I found this out I was over joyed, I don`t know about JP, and when we found it, it was a small quaint place run by one woman called Mrs Tani.  For those who have heard of her she is a little like The Pink Lady from Cannes, as in, she speaks close to perfect English but refuses to speak any at all if she thinks she can get more money out of you! Once we had arrived we sorted our selves out and headed down to the place of the 10,000 (_Ichi man_) Torii.
+
+The Torii (as far as I know and I may be wrong) are bought by businesses to promote prosperity in thier company.  The whole of the countryside is covered with these rather elegant arches that are painted in a bright orange, whith black lettering engraved upon them.  The lettering, supposedly, reads as the name of the company that paid for it.
+
+We spent a couple of hours there before heading home.  On our way back we stopped at this rather delightfull little cafe/restaurant place that was mainly an antiques store.  The owner came over to us and started spewing rapid Japanese at us that could have been either:
+
+1.  "We stopped serving at 6. Get Out!!!"
+
+2.  "Would you like the starter and the main course or just the main course?"
+
+or
+
+3. "How do you like your toast?"
+
+We both really hoped that it was the second one.  We stayed and stressed that we didn`t understand until she brought us food -- and the food we wanted, to say the least it was delicious.  While we were eating people started appearing that either lived with her or were local friends because the place turned into her front room, with what looked like her son (walking around in a heavy metal T-shirt) looking completely out of place.  The whole experience made it feel like we were eating in her living room.
+
+Finally we made it home, fed and content.  JP got on the internet and [uploaded the photos](http://flickr.com/photos/jphastings) while we sat and chatted to the other residents of this quaint little hovel...  The opinon of it was we were all looking for a good time but didn't have that much cash!!!  The solution was to go to a bar that sold drinks for 200yen each, what we didn't realise was that there was a service charge of 400yen, and consumption tax at 5%!
+
+Having got over that we went to the local super market and bought a 2 litre bottle of Sake!!  I feel the rest is explained the two Americans and the Dutch girl are in bed and the English are still up.  GOOD TIMES.
+
+Much Love,
+
+James

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-12-nanpure.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-12T14:05:16Z
+title: ナンプレ
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+![](../img/fa9869865546cd0cb90995e01aacfa9a6bd41f838ba21bc408d5e1d85f40a44f.jpg)
+
+It appears that the Japanese call it 'nanpure' (ナンプレ, nan-poo-ray) not sudoku!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-12-stolen-towels.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-12T14:05:11Z
+title: Stolen towels
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+![](../img/df07ddf0694ee7951f31dc33f72234e9fd4601e782cd12b6cca87c6264a5b9e4.jpg)
+
+Mrs. Tani obviously has grants and contributions from many places to help run her inn.

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-13-hiroshima-today.md

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-13T22:15:37Z
+title: "Hiroshima Today"
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+I don't know how the Japanese tourists can photograph their kids standing in front of the _gembaku domu_ (The former industrial commerce centre building, 160m from the hypocenter, now known as the A-bomb dome). They are much stronger than I am.

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-14-castle-shrine.md

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-14T:10:48:00+09:00
+title: Castle shrine
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - hiroshima
+---
+
+![](../img/3d1fef940827bf1b6a9d1148c757d7162ba9fc9ac5b83b1fb032240d75df72f3.jpg)
+
+The (very new, of course) shrine at the castle in Hiroshima. As JK pointed out, it's nice to see temples like these built nowadays, to continue the cycle.

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-14-umbrellas.md

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-14T21:30:00+09:00
+title: Umbrellas
+emoji: ☂️
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - hiroshima
+---
+![](../img/ea8b501224d1f9aa1fcf4a05756aa1e6d4274c55127d52f214fc653d3db881d6.jpg)
+
+The Japanese don't appear to be afraid of opening umbrellas indoors!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-15-night-buses-are-stupid-but-actually-really-clever.md

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-15T00:41:44Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - night bus
+title: "Night Buses Are Stupid (but actually really clever)"
+---
+
+You see, the big problem is that while the seats are amazingly comfy and recline with leg rests and so on, the buses are usually only 6 or 7 hours long and at least 2 hours of that is the small stops at th start and the end!
+
+Having done two of these in a row I am so tired I can barely think, but we're in Osaka with an all day subway pass and all the outrageously touristy things to do before we meet up with our local friend tomorrow (do you remember Ai?). There's a zoo, an aquarium (JK tells me a massive proportion of the world's aquatic variety comes from Japan due to its warmer waters), the Baseball stadium (baseball is **massive** here) and of course the Osaka-jo, the castle.
+
+We'll see how much we get done before we (I?) fall asleep on a bench! Arigatou Gozaimasu!

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-15-women-only-carriages.md

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-15T08:37:00+09:00
+title: Women-only carriages
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+![](../img/34fa17833aa86b622cad248265eabf93e395e5cf5daecb3c4aee6bc686de8e30.jpg)
+
+Women Only subway carriages, presumably for nighttime trains? I'm told Osaka has a bit of a problem with women disappearing.

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-18-fancy-lobby/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-18T13:10:40Z
+title: Fancy lobby
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+We had a little difficulty finding the capsule hotel we wanted (we were looking at the wrong map in our sleepless mess) so we stopped off in the Ritz for directions and a cigar. Okay, just directions. They had an adjoining Ferrari Showroom (doors directy to the front lobby!) but even the 20,000¥ we had didn't quite cover the undoubtedly multi-million Yen price ags!
+
+![](165670664_0.jpg)
+![](165670664_1.jpg)

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-18-silly-photos/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-18T13:31:46Z
+title: Silly photos
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+Some silly photos from the past couple of days - the 'Crunky' biscuity thing they have here sounds kinda crap and kinda funky, is that a good thing?; me in an Apple dept. in Hiroshima (yaaaay); JK in 'Kiddy Land'... Don't ask; and finally the logo for 'Guide dogsallowed' in Kyoto airport, answers as to what the sogn really means on the back of a postcard to 「JP,#2, GL7 2DX」winner gets a Japanese present :P
+
+![](165680012_0.jpg)
+![](165680012_1.jpg)
+![](165680012_2.jpg)
+![](165680012_3.jpg)

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-20-connections.md

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-20T01:36:00Z
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+location: 34.791336,135.440902
+title: "Connections"
+---
+
+It's 04:45 and I'm lying curled up on a bench in the smoking area just outside Osaka Itami domestic airport. A predictable situation, but who wants to spend good money on accomodation when you'll be leaving halfway through the night anyways! I think it might be this particular night, but I've already put a jumper on and my 3/4 length jeans are leaving my shins a bit chilly - this isn't England chilly, this is the kind of cold you get back home when bits of you are under different numbers of duvets :P
+
+So this seems like a good juncture for me to list some of the interesting cultural idioms (weird differences really I suppose) I've noted while I've been here. Yes, most if them seem to be toilet related, but as we've discovered the Japanese seem to be a race that, while not being obsessed, have exceptionally good hygene ingrained into their very way of life.
+
+- In any given day you'll use 3 different pairs of shoes. Japanese houses (and many more serious restaurants) have porch areas just inside their doors that are half a foot lower than the rest of the building (or rather, everywhere else is raised) used especially for you to leave your day shoes in. You'll pad around barefoot in any restaurant, or in slippers at any home. Then of course you have the toilet shoes: a pair of slippers/flip-flops that live at the entrance to the toilet (whether big or small, hotel foyers to student flats) for you to wear in the loo. It seems crazy, but doesn't it make a little sense?
+- I think I may hve mentioned it already, but many toilets have a cistern that fills via a mini sink, designed so that when you flush the sink starts. Once you're done you can wash your hands right there with the clean water that will be used forthe next flush - function & form together, this is a crafty little idea!
+- Just to break up the toilet oddities; I've noticed that almost every subway exit across Japan (and most of the big cities have subways) has a compass laid into the mosaic or floor tiles as you leve for the street. An unbelivably helpful tool for the traveller, but given that some subway stations have 25 exits I can imagine it's a useful feature for even the commuting businessman.
+- While spending some time chatting to Ai's Mum (a slightly tricky pass time, she only knows a few more words in Engliah than I do in Japanese) we got talking about our world travels, in particular the places in Europe we'd been to. She told me that she'd been to Napoli, Italy ('Sardinia' just didn't translate, so I told her I was going to Italy when I got home :P) and that one of her lasting impressions was of how blue the sky was, there and also in London. I hadn't thought of it, but as you travel further North (my years of physics training tells me!) the sun gets further away from the zenith, even on midsummer's day. This means it gets cooler (hello Tokyo summer: 38°C to London's 28°C) but the rays of the sun ge to darter through more atmosphere, making it bluer! Hardly a Japanese idiom, but an interesting observation: the skies here are a lot whiter.
+- Speaking of heat, you'll find that almost ever Japanese person (at least non-businessmen) carry a tiny towel with them (basically a long flannel) which they use to mop sweat from yer brow, and dry thee hands if they wash them at the taps attatchdd to the water fountains dotted around the place. I presume this is only in Summer, but we found it very odd that the aquarium we went to in Osaka didn't provide any place to dry your hands once you'd washed them (following a few minutes handling rays and sharks in the petting centre!) - this was almost certainly because they didn't need to, everyone just pulled out ther towels! Douglas Adams must have known the Japanese were a smart bunch - even JK follows the sage advice from his character _Ford Prefect_ in the ever-dotty, kitch and fun _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_: Always carry a towel.
+- From on smooth segway to another: Hitchhiking here - though we never tried it - is considered to safer here than anywhere else and I can see why, not to mention their unwaivering hospitality (especially here in Osaka) the Japanese seem to have honour very close to their core morality. We're forever seeing lost objects in temples - even full wallets - placed on the nearest raised object, rather than stolen. I'm quite happy to leave my camera slung around my back here without fearing it'll be stolen, I'd even leave my baggage unattended here if I had to - it would be just where I left it (or, alas, on these times potentially insinerated by the police for fear of a terrorist attack). In brief: if a father were to tell me their 16 yr old daughter was travelling alone around Thailand alone I'd probably consider calling child services, if they told me their 14 yr daughter was travelling Japan on their own, I'd tell them the locations of all the cool restaurants we've found and wish them a happy trip.
+- Full circle, there's some more water-closet obscurities I have to share: Along with the control panels that come with the toilets (for cleansing water sprays and 'powerful deodorizer') there's also a technologically enabled toilet seat, it heats your bum up! As a consequence all of the seats I've sat on here have felt like they've recenty been used - something I've noticed I find quite off-putting!
+- Some of the loos I've used (including at the cinema last night) have automatic proximity activated soap sud dispensers as well as water. The idea being that you can completely wash your hands (something they go to great lengths to illustrate how you should do properly, with diagrams usually reserved for operating theatres in some places) without having to touch your 'dirty' hands on anything before you wash. There is *one* problem with this... Maybe I have abnormally large hands or something, but everytime I'm /almost/ finished rinsing my hands the damned auto-soap squirts out a new round of suds! Oh well :) at least I'm clean!
+- Again, something I might have mentioned before (I'm losing track these days) on many subway trains - especially those here in Osaka - there are special Women Only carriages. Ai tells me they're especially for the morning rush when the cars get so rammed people are packed like sardines, something some men take advantage of. Another good idea ne?
+- Finally (it's now quarter to 6, I've happily spent an hour writing this, it's almost time for check-in!) a quick note about the food here. Many people might blame America for the spread of (crappy) fast food throughout the world, but they've been doing it here much, much longer - but with so much more style! I remember ordering a grilled fish at 'tenoyu' hot springs and them appologising and asking if waiting 7 mins for the fish to grill would be okay! I mean really, I've been at McBurger restaurants where it's taken longer than that! I think the longest we waited for food was 15 mins, for okonomiyaki and that was because they cooked it infront of us! (It is litterally okonomi 'what-you-like', yaki 'fried' - it's a strange almos omlette dish peculair to Osaka, it's amazing)
+
+Right! It's 6 am and the airport is openning up! JK is totally wired from his litre bottle of Iced coffee and a dodgey nights sleep - it's time to roll! See you in Tokyo

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-20-in-flight-frolics.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-20T15:35:50Z
+title: "In-Flight Frolics"
+emoji: 🛩️
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - japan-airlines
+---
+
+I'd like to think the meals here are this tasty because of our upgrade to premium economy, but the truth is they were just as good on the way out! Japan AirLines - you rock.

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-20-premium-economy/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-20T15:35:50Z
+title: Premium economy
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+---
+
+Premium Economy Baby!
+
+![](167385452_0.jpg)
+![](167385452_1.jpg)
+![](167385452_2.jpg)

content/posts/tumblr-jpinjapan/2009-08-20-sayounara-japan/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+date: 2009-08-20T02:40:07Z
+title: Sayounara Japan
+audio: index.mp3
+tags:
+  - from-tumblr
+  - japan
+  - voice-note
+---
+
+さようなら！ Sayounara! Goodbye Japan!
+
+I'm in Narita Tokyo Airport at this very moment. Our flight's gonna leave in half an hour. And… this is it! It's a great shame, it's been an amazing trip. But I hope to come back soon. See you soon!

content/posts/tumblr-musings/how-developers-brains-work.md

@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ tags:
   - via-twitter
 ---
 
-_@threedaymonk_: Got home to find both UKIP and BNP leaflets on my doorstep. Feeling nauseous.
+> _@threedaymonk_: Got home to find both UKIP and BNP leaflets on my doorstep. Feeling nauseous.
-
+>
-_@threedaymonk_: "British Jobs for British Workers - Because We've Earned the Right!" No, you don't "earn" anything just by being born white to UK parents.
+> _@threedaymonk_: "British Jobs for British Workers - Because We've Earned the Right!" No, you don't "earn" anything just by being born white to UK parents.
-
+>
-_@threedaymonk_: Also, the BNP suck at typography.
+> _@threedaymonk_: Also, the BNP suck at typography.

content/posts/tumblr-musings/twitter-as-a-weapon/index.md

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ emoji: 🥊
 tags:
   - news
   - twitter
+  - customer-service
   - from-tumblr
 ---
 

layouts/shortcodes/audio.html

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+{{ $caption := .Get "caption" -}}
+{{ $class := .Get "class" -}}
+{{ $preload := .Get "preload" | default "metadata" -}}
+{{ $src := .Get "src" -}}
+
+{{ $resource := false -}}
+{{ $static := false -}}
+{{ $type := false -}}
+
+{{ if and $src (fileExists (path.Join "/static" $src)) -}}
+  {{ $static = true -}}
+  {{ $src = relURL $src -}}
+{{ else if $src -}}
+  {{ $src = strings.TrimLeft "/" $src -}}
+  {{ with resources.Get $src -}}
+    {{ $resource = . -}}
+  {{ end -}}
+  {{ with .Page.Resources.Get $src -}}
+    {{ $resource = . -}}
+  {{ end -}}
+{{ end -}}
+
+{{ if $resource -}}
+  {{ $src = $resource.RelPermalink -}}
+  {{ $type = $resource.MediaType }}
+{{ end -}}
+
+{{ if not $src -}}
+{{ warnf "%s shortcode number %d in \"content/%s\" is missing the \"src\" attribute." .Name .Ordinal .Page.File.Path -}}
+{{ else if not (or $static $resource) -}}
+{{ warnf "%s shortcode number %d in \"content/%s\" has an error in the \"src\" attribute." .Name .Ordinal .Page.File.Path -}}
+{{ end -}}
+
+<figure class="audio{{ with $class }} {{ . }}{{ end }}">
+<audio controls preload="{{ $preload }}">
+<source src="{{ $src }}" {{ with $type }}type="{{ . }}"{{ end }}>
+</audio>
+{{ with $caption }}<figcaption>{{ . | markdownify }}</figcaption>{{ end }}
+</figure>