Japan2007 – The Stupid American Tourist

Returning and Recovering

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Nov 242007

It’s been 10 days since I got back from Japan, and I haven’t had much of a chance to post on my flight back and on readjusting to the U.S. again.

On the flight back, I met a nice guy, Dave, who shared similar gaming interests as me, so we chatted away in geek mode for a few hours. Then I had to rest my throat, because the desert-like atmosphere of the airplane just kills it.

So I went into cocoon mode, where I put on my noise-canceling headphones, listen to podcasts, and try to doze off in between meals. The food wasn’t bad, but for some reason I just can’t bring myself to order the fish on an airplane.

I spent a lot of time adding up all the various things I bought to fill out my customs forms, too. The last thing I wanted to do was submit anything that looked weird or out of place. I hadn’t really done the U.S. Customs arrival thing in a while, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I figured I’d prepare for anything.

OMG America

When I arrived in Chicago at 3:00 p.m. the same day, my slightly scrambled brain had to deal with being back in the U.S. all of a sudden. It was a weird feeling. I’ve spent the last month or so trying to adapt to Japan, and suddenly having to be an American again was a bit jarring.

Immigration was amusing in a way. When I arrived in Japan, the huge line was for foreigners coming into Japan. When I arrived in Chicago, the huge line was for Americans coming home. I guess it makes sense. After I got processed, I had to go pick up my luggage for customs. One thing to keep in mind– the signs say no cell phone use or camera use. They aren’t messing around. Turn off your phones and put them away.

Now, the whole time I’m going around here, I’m lugging my two backpacks, and my back is hating me the whole time. We’re talking, “I’m gonna get you when you sleep,” hate. This underlines my resolve to change the way I travel from here on out. Keep chanting, “One bag, one bag…” until I remember to carry just one bag.

At customs, I declared my Pocky, and then breezed on through without having to pay. I think the agent said that my books weren’t subject to duty, so I was under the limit. (Woot.) Then they took my bags and moved them on to the connecting flight right there, so I didn’t have to recheck them.

Now the fun part. Back through airport security. One thing I noticed that kind of irritated me was that first-class passengers had a different line for TSA screening. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the TSA was a government agency. Why is the government playing favorites for first-class passengers? Meanwhile, the rest of us in coach are standing in a 40-minute line. Some poor guy with diabetes passed out twice in line. It doesn’t seem fair. We have to suffer in cramped seats, we pay these guys’ salaries in taxes, yet we suffer in line? I don’t get it.

After doing the TSA shuffle, it was off to find the Admirals’ Club. It’s totally worth the $50, because it’s nice to have a comfortable place to recover from your flight while you wait for the next one.

The club in Chicago wasn’t as nice as the one in Tokyo, though. The one in Tokyo had free food. The one in Chicago had one of those nut mix things you get in bars, and some broccoli. I think there were apples, too. But everything else was a cash bar. Tokyo’s Admiral’s Club had free sushi and free drinks. That’s tough to beat.

My flight to Raleigh was only 40 minutes late departing. I wish I had spent those 40 minutes in the Admirals’ Club, but like a dummy, I went to the gate early. No, I don’t know why. Since I was in group 5, I was the last person on the plane. I don’t know how I got put in group 5, but that’s where I had been put, and I wasn’t going to get on the plane any sooner.

My goal for my next trip is to get the hell out of group 5, and move up a bit.

On the flight, I met another nice person, and we chatted about the news and current events before arriving rather quickly at Raleigh-Durham. After that, it was standard stuff. Met my girlfriend at baggage claim, sprained by back getting one of my heavy suitcases, and limped on home.

Home Again Home Again, Jiggity Jig

I would have posted sooner, but I was busy recovering. When I got back, I felt like hell. They say that it’s harder to travel east than it is to travel west, and based on my experience, I agree. Coming back to North Carolina after being away for five weeks also had another effect. As soon as I got back on the ground at RDU, every single allergen that I had escaped for the last five weeks attacked me. I noticed it when my eyes started itching like mad on the ride home, and then the next day when my Eustachian tubes started acting up, too.

The other main problem I had was sleeping. I couldn’t. It took me about a week to get back on an almost-normal sleeping pattern where I could sleep for more than 5 hours a night.Â I still get very sleepy at weird hours.

Of course, coming back right before Thanksgiving added a certain amount of stress as well. Hey, it’s Thanksgiving. Everything has to be perfect, right? So trying to recover while also getting ready for Thanksgiving had its own impacts.

Finally, the hardest thing to get used to was the change in lifestyle. I was so used to walking a lot and riding trains, and suddenly I’m back in my car, muttering at the other drivers just like every other American. That was a jarring experience. To be honest, it’s the one part of coming back that I liked the least. I’ve gone from feeling like going out and rubbing elbows with millions of people to being in my house-pod, jumping into my car-pod, then doing my shopping in Controlled Shopping Zones, and scuttling back to my house-pod, with precious little unnecessary interaction.

Having a car is handy for carrying groceries, but I’m wondering at what cost.

I’m also not walking nearly as much as I used to, and I’m not even looking forward to going out to walk. It’s weird.

I do know one thing, and that is that I really want to go back to Japan, and spend some more time there. Despite the pain, frustration, and stress, I haven’t had so much fun in a long time. It was probably one of the best experiences of my life, and I’d highly recommend going, even if it is a difficult thing to do.

I think the difficult things are probably the best ones for us to do, anyway. You have to break out of your habits and get over yourself every now and then, you know?

Later, I’ll post some info on what I learned, travel-wise, for a trip to Japan, and for traveling in general. It’s not like I reinvented the wheel or anything, but I figure that if you’re willing to read this, you’re looking for any kind of information you can get.

Last Day In Japan. ;_;

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Nov 142007

I managed to get packed last night, but I was up late doing it. No surprise there.

First thing this morning I backed up all of my photos to DVD. I just had this horrible image of a security guy ruining my laptop, all 3,000 photos, with no backup… *shudder*

Then it was off to Shinjuku Station to reserve a seat on the Narita Express. This time I did get the Green Car, because I wanted the extra room for my luggage.

Yeah, that’s it. My luggage.

While I was there, I decided to make a very quick trip to Shibuya to get a photo of 109 and Hachiko. Gotta have a photo of Hachiko, right?

Hachiko:

109 (a famous fashion mall, I think):

The World’s Busiest Crosswalk:

Then back to Shinjuku, and a last stab at Kinokuniya, and this time, score! I found all of the novels I was looking for. Woot! Too bad I’m too illiterate to read them yet, but I’ll get to it.

On the way back, I saw a one-hour long line at the Krispy Kreme. Oh well. No time for that.

Now it’s just time to put the novels in a suitcase, and get out of here by 1:30 or so so I can make my train, and then my plane.

All packed!

The last photo!

Leaving Japan

(time skip)

So I’m on the Narita Express, heading to the airport, and I have to say it’s a very nice train. For 4700 yen, I get a big comfy seat all to myself, and there’s plenty of baggage room in the front of the car… since I got on in Shinjuku. If you get on in Tokyo, you’re going to have to improvise.

But anyway, I’m on the train, and I get my first taste of America in a while. Sitting in front of me is some random American Guy, who had to have heard the several announcements saying not to speak on cell phones in the middle of the car, but to move to the area between cars instead. Because really, nobody gives a crap about your parts supply issues, and we don’t want to hear them.

But this bonehead didn’t care. He decided to regale the entire car for 30 minutes about his supply issues, and how he doesn’t want to be here. Well, I’ve got news for him. None of us wanted to be there hearing him blather, either. And unless he’s just deaf or stupid, he couldn’t have been in Japan for 10 days without hearing this announcement in English at least 100 times.

Seriously, guy, they’re saying it just for your sake.

So if you travel, please, please, I’m begging you– don’t be that guy!

I jokingly call this blog “The Stupid American Tourist,” but I don’t mean that I’m “The Stupid Rude Inconsiderate American Tourist Who Annoys the Crap Out of People.”

Hot Doughnuts Now! Shinjuku, Takashimaya Times Square, Krispy Kreme!

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Nov 132007

Busy day today, with ups, downs, and a Krispy Kreme sighting.

I started off at 9:30 by running to Ikebukuro to buy a suitcase. Ugh. But I did find one. It’s not the best one I could find, but it was the right mix of cheap and not too shabby.

Then breakfast, which was more department store food. I love the depachika. (Depachika is Japanese for the basement, or bottom, so chika, of the department store, or depaato. So depachika.)

After that, I ran to Akasaka to meet up with Peter Galante, the host of japanesepod101.com’s many podcasts. I really like the podcasts, and it helped me a lot in getting ready for my trip here. I highly recommend the survival lessons. Especially the ones about trains and buses. Seriously. Don’t underestimate the importance of understanding the mass transit system here, because otherwise you’ll wind up like that poor lost Norwegian guy, adrift in Shinjuku.

You’ll probably feel overwhelmed and confused the first time you get here, anyway. No need to add to it.

It was fun meeting Peter, and I appreciate his listening to me ramble for 40 minutes. Sorry about that, Peter. I’m not always that talkative.

No, really, I’m not.

After that, it was back to Akihabara to raid some more shops. If you’re a nerd, you need to go to Akihabara, and be prepared to spend money. Of course, spending money implies buying things, and buying things implies carrying them around with you. If you live somewhere like New York City, you know this already. If you’re like me, and you live in the suburbs, then you need to consider it. I’m used to buying things, and putting them into my car. So I can buy a lot of heavy stuff without much thought. (Not that I do it often, but I do it.)

I went with my trusty backpack, which my girlfriend gave me before I went off to grad school. It has a lot of nice memories attached to it, but it has one little problem. Not to gross people out, but it makes my back sweat. And back sweat is probably one of the least appealing things you can show when wearing a charcoal gray shirt.

If you’re buying crap, consider your carrying strategies.

I raided Yodobashi Camera’s big store in Akihabara again. I found some nice game-related books there… so much data, it makes me want to cry when I look at the U.S. books.

After that, I went to Gamers’, and bought more manga there. There are sooo many good series over here that either haven’t or won’t come to the U.S. anytime soon. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering in and out of various stores, browsing. If I did live here, I’d have a serious space problem, because I’d have a house full of gadgets and books.

But no Hello Kitty robots.

Probably.

Hot Doughnuts, Hot Doughnuts!

By around 4 or so, I was exhausted. So I headed back to Shinjuku before the crowds on the trains got out of hand. I took a break, rested up, started going through all of my receipts for Customs (ugh), and then decided to go to Tokyo Cityview in Roppongi for evening fun.

On the way there, I decided to stop at Kinokuniya to try to hunt down a few novels again. (Last time was a miserable failure.) So I got there at 7:50…. just as they were about to close at 8.

Seriously, can’t I get a break?

I did see something interesting on the way– a Krispy Kreme. In Shinjuku. Not 100 meters from my hotel. And the Hot Doughnuts Now sign was lit. But the line was not only out the door, it wrapped all over itself about 5 times. No hot doughnuts for me. But I did have a nice warm fuzzy feeling seeing it, and the thought of Krispy Kreme in Japan just made me laugh out loud. People looked at me funny, but I’m used to it.

Photos:

Is that… a Krispy Kreme?

OMG It IS! Look at that line! And the Hot Doughnuts Now sign is lit!

Mmm… Hot Doughnuts… sadly, no time to stand in line!

Some shots of JR Shinjuku from the bridge to Takashimaya and Kinokunia:

Christmas Lights at Tahashimaya:

Roppongi

Then it was off to Roppongi. And I finally figured out what made my headache on Sunday worse– the Oedo line. Seriously, it’s the loudest subway line in the world. It screams and groans like an angry rusted giant robot who hasn’t been oiled in 1,000 years trying to run across Tokyo.

By the time I got to Roppongi, I was feeling icky again, so I looked around a little, and wisely cut my trip short. It’s not going anywhere. I’ll catch it next time.

I took a few photos.

Roppongi Hills:

Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Hills:

Back to Shinjuku

Then it was back to the conbini, then the hotel. Now I need to finish packing and get ready to head home tomorrow.

I’ve had a great time in Japan. It hasn’t always been easy. In fact, there were some frustrating times, some hard times, and some times I just wanted to go home. But those times tended to pass, and the more I stayed here, the more I loved it here.

When I travel, I like to have “Wow!” experiences. I usually consider myself lucky if I have one or two. I had so many on this trip, I lost count.

I highly recommend coming to Japan, but not just planting your butt in Tokyo. Yes, Tokyo is great, but Tokyo isn’t Japan. Japan is a big country with a wide range of regional variation, and a lot of interesting cities, both big and small. Just going to Tokyo to judge Japan is like just going to NYC to judge the U.S. What about the Grand Canyon? Or … well, there’s a lot of other stuff out there. I’m tired.

When I get back home, I’ll sort out my thoughts properly, and post them on the blog.

Senso-ji and Akiba Fun, Part Two, Akihabara, Ikebukuro, etc.

Japan, Photos, Travel 3 Responses »

Nov 122007

Akihabara

So on to Akihabara, or Akiba as everyone calls it here.

First, I stopped at Asakusabashi station again, as I transferred from the subway to the JR line. I had a wait, so I took some more photos of Asakusabashi station:

Asakusabashi platform:

Roof detail:

Signal lights:

My train came in, and I made it to Akihabara.

First off was Yodobashi Camera. It’s just.. wow. A 10-story monstrosity full of electronics. It’s where nerds go after they die. It’s like 4 or 5 Best Buys stacked on top of each other, only with really cool stuff, and no lame junk.

No joke, it’s big:

But since I didn’t have a point card there, I decided to search for Bic Camera in Akiba, because I do have a Bic point card with a lot of points on it.

Thus begins my Fool’s Errand.

You see, there isn’t a Bic Camera in Akiba. But I didn’t know that… yet.

Before I started searching, I had some business to attend to. As you exit the JR Akihabara Station on the Yodobashi Camera side, off to the left you’ll see a small glass building called Oasis. It offers two things. A smoking room and a 100 yen pay toilet.

You might scoff at a pay toilet, but it’s a damn fine pay toilet. That was easily the best 100 yen I spent in Tokyo so far.

You enter, and a receptionist greets you with a polite bow. Then you head to the bathrooms, where you can deposit your 100 yen coin or just tap your Suica card and it’ll deduct the 100 yen automatically. Then the frosted glass door opens, and you walk into the nicest public toilet in Tokyo. (Well, the nicest I’ve seen so far.)

There aren’t stalls so much as there are small rooms with sliding, locking doors, and plenty of room to maneuver. You also get a powered-up shower toilet, soft fluffy paper, and a touchless sink. You can wash your hands and dry them without touching anything. So nice.

Controls!

Then it was off to Chelsea Market in JR Akiba for a burger. Nice, but kind of odd. Had a weird curry-based sauce on it, but pretty good.

After that, it was time to begin my Fool’s Errand! As I was walking around Akiba, I found the Toranoana Main Store. Oh, look! Manga! So I started climbing the stairs.

Hmm… they sure do sell a lot of comics here with guys with no shirts on hugging other guys… with no shirts on.

Oh, wait– comics without shirtless guys are next door. I guess that would explain some of the looks I got from some of the patrons on that side of the store.

So I looked in next door– ah, this is more like it! No more shirtless guy comics! Stuff I might actually read!

But before I started to load myself down with more manga, I needed to make a trip to Bic Camera. (Which still doesn’t have a branch in Akihabara, but I didn’t know that yet.) So more walking around.

My Fool’s Errand completed, I went back to Toranoana, where I loaded up on manga and light novels…. you know, to help me improve my Japanese. I got into manga while learning Japanese. It’s really handy to read, because the language is usually pretty simple, and some titles (usually aimed at younger audiences) provide furigana readings over the kanji, so you can look them up more easily.

Of course, I also like electronics, and the weirder, the better. So Akihabara is a natural sort of place for me. I found some stores selling all kinds of weird old stuff, and some stuff that brought back good memories.

I could spend a week in Akihabara and not have spent enough time there. All kinds of electronics, video games, and books. Fun.

Then it was back to the station to pick up some dinner for later at Vie de France, then on the train back to Shinjuku.

JR Akihabara platform:

Densha no Koto

A word about trains (again? Yes, again.) As you go from Shinjuku to the east, the Chuo and Soba lines run parallel until you hit Ochanomizu, then they split. The Chuo goes on to Tokyo Station, and the Soba goes to Akihabara. So in order to go from Shinjuku to Akiba, you need to switch lines at Ochanomizu.

It sounds like a pain in the butt, but it’s actually amazingly smooth. As the Chuo Rapid pulls in, a Soba local is pulling in the other side of the platform. So just hop from one train to the next. Smooth as silk. Same for hopping from the Soba to the Chuo. That’s brilliant.

Tonight I’m going to hit Kinokuniya one last time, then hit Bic to buy stuff. (And an extra suitcase. Yeesh.) If I’m careful about how I work it, I’ll be able to plow through all of my remaining Bic points. *Fingers crossed.*

Tomorrow is…. well, that’s something I’ll worry about later tonight. I’m going to stop by the japanesepod101.com studios to say ‘hi!’ (they said I could), then I’ll try to hit Shibuya to get a photo of Hachiko and see 109. Then… MORE AKIBA! Maybe I’ll go to City View in Roppongi tomorrow night, too. Dunno.

For Wednesday, I’ve already scheduled a late checkout for 2PM. It’s a little expensive, but worth it. That way, when I check out, I can just head straight for the airport and crash at the Admiral’s Club until my flight leaves at 7PM, and I don’t have to mess with having to find a place to put my bags for 4 hours. I’ll probably just take the Chuo to Kanda, then the Yamanote to Ueno, then the Keisei Skyliner to Narita Terminal 2. Or I could just take the Narita Express from Shinjuku, huh?

Time Jump

A few hours later…

At 6 or so I headed to Ikebukuro to the Bic Camera store there, because it’s supposed to be the biggest one in Tokyo. It’s actually in 2 different buildings. In one of the buildings, they have some stuff, and in the other, they have more of the same stuff. The difference is that in the newer building, they have luggage on the 8th floor. I should have bought it there. I should have, dagnabbit.

But I figured that if they had it in Ikebukuro, they’d have it at Shinjuku. So anyway, after futzing around in Ikebukuro for a bit, I couldn’t seem to find anything that I wanted.

Don’t Worry, that Stunned Look is Normal

So I went to Shinjuku. And helped a Norwegian guy buy a Suica card. The poor guy was so lost… he said, “I just came here from Kobe, and I’m totally confused.” I reassured him– Tokyo does that to everyone. It took me a little time to digest Tokyo as well. But now that I have a basic grip on things, and the Tokyo Street Map by Kodansha (in EN and JP), I’m okay.

Seriously, if you’ve never been to Tokyo, you’ll have that same stunned look on your face, too, when you try to navigate it. Eventually I got the hang of it, but at first, I felt like I was walking in mud as my brain tried to process everything. It felt good to help someone through that, even if it was only a little bit.

After helping the poor lost dude, I went to the Bic there. I found one of the things I wanted, and some privacy screens for my DS and my PSP. (Ah, privacy!) But no luggage.

Laundry Time!

By then it was 8:45, and everything was closing, so I headed back to eat some dinner, crash for a few minutes, and then head out to find the laundromat in Yoyogi they told me about at the front desk.

It took a little figuring out, but thanks to the street atlas, I actually found it. Right next to the neighborhood sento (public bath). Fortunately, it was open til midnight, so I could get all my laundry done. It was getting fragrant. Not like a flower.

When all was said and done, I got back around midnight.

But I had to have my clothes clean– I was down to the emergency clothes, and they were a little… ripe.

Rick Steves talks about doing laundry on the road. He says it’s a good thing to do, to meet locals and get local flavor. I agree this time. While it can be a bit of a nuisance to find a laundromat in Japan (or anything else that isn’t a tourist attraction), it’s totally worth it to see daily-life Japan. And by doing laundry and packing less, you save money on expensive hotel laundry, and you save space for those important souvenirs. (Or books, in my case. Lots of books.)

Tomorrow I’ll get up extra early to make a quick run to Ikebukuro to buy a suitcase. They open at 10, and I plan on rushing the door.

Then I’ll run back to Shinjuku, and my day can actually start.

In 42:30, I’ll be on a plane back to the States.

Shoot.

Senso-ji and Akiba Fun, Part One, Senso-ji and Asakusa

Japan, Photos, Travel 1 Response »

Nov 122007

Reversal!

I was at about 70% today, but I was good enough to go.

I decided to keep my plans simple. First off would be Senso-ji in Asakusa.

On the way there, I had to change trains at Asakusabashi station. So I took a photo.

I got to Asakusa, and headed to Senso-ji. It’s a nice place to visit. The Kaminarimon is a must-see. It’s the big gate in front of the temple with the massive red lantern hanging down. It’s the sort of thing us goofy tourists from all over want our picture taken in front of.

Like me:

More Kaminarimon:

As you pass through the Kaminarimon, you’ll see a vast expanse of souvenir shops selling, all kinds of trinkets, just like every other famous sight in Japan. This row of shops is called Nakamise Dori, and it’s been around for a really long time:

Closing in on the Houzoumon:

Now we’re approaching the Houzoumon, or Treasure House Gate. The gate is surrounded by many paper lanterns today:

Houzoumon:

Lantern detail:

Inside the Houzoumon, there are two Touro lanterns, and the one big red Chouchin.

Touro:

Touro Detail:

Chouchin:

Chouchin Detail:

As I pass through the Houzomon, I see more lanterns:

Then on to the temple proper. The big main building is called the hondo. That’s where you pray. You’ll see a big pot-thing filled with incense and billowing out smoke. You’re supposed to rub smoke on whatever ails you, so I just walked through the entire cloud, because I was hurting all over.

Pray here:

Facing the Houzoumon, you can see the smoke better:

After that, I sauntered over to the side, where they sell omikuji for 100 yen, and I got #69, which is… kyou, which means “bad luck,” (å‡¶ so you can recognize it.) It said that I wouldn’t have any luck finding a job, in relationships, etc., etc.

I did what any smart person would do. I tied it to one of the racks you’re supposed to tie bad luck fortunes to. *Whew* Dodged that bullet.

I hope?

In order to counteract any ill effects from the kyou, I picked up a good health and safe travel charm for 1000 yen, and I picked the red one, because red is a lucky color. I started to pick white, then I stopped and said, “Iie, akai onegaishimasu.” The lady behind the counter laughed.

So with my charm obtained, I wandered around the temple some more, took a few pictures, then went to the long row of tacky souvenir shops. I spent a good 20-30 minutes just looking around at crap, and buying some, too.

A tall building:

On the way out:

On to Akihabara, in Part Two…

Odaiba

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Nov 112007

I woke up feeling really crummy today. But I decided to head to Odaiba anyway. (Bad idea.)

I should have had a clue when I was feeling wonky riding the subway… but I didn’t. I pressed on.

The longer I rode the Oedo Line, the worse I felt.Â I had to ride for 15-20 minutes with theÂ wheels screeching all the time, even in the straight stretches.Â The sound just went right through my ears and into my brain, making me dizzy. I kept on going to Odaiba, though, because sometimes I’m more stubborn than smart.

I changed to the Kamome monorail at Shinsaibashi:

You can kind of see the station here:

And here:

Odaiba is weird. It’s totally different from the rest of Tokyo. It’s got a lot of empty space in between these giant buildings. It just feels… odd. Now I get why it’s seen the way it’s seen– as something sort of artificial. (Well, it IS a man-made island, but still…) It has the feel of a large corporate office park. Sort of like Las Colinas, TX, in case you’ve ever been there.

Anyway, I rode the monorail to Ariake, to check out the Panasonic building:

Panasonic Building

More Panasonic:

Then I walked to Tokyo Big Sight (a very large exhibition complex)

Saw a saw sculpture in front:

Then came back to the hotel. I had planned on doing a bunch of stuff there, but I was just feeling lousy.

I’ve been lying down in my room all day for the most part. I guess it was a case of just pushing myself too hard or something. Anyway, I should feel better by tomorrow. My plans for Monday are going to be severely scaled back. I don’t want to make it worse.

My mission will be accomplished if I can make it to Akihabara and get my goods. Anything else after that is gravy.

Besides, I plan on coming back here, so I need to leave some stuff on the plate, you know?

On the upside, I’m glad my hotel room is so nice. It’s made feeling like poo a lot more bearable.

Guess I should go hunt down dinner now.

Mind the Gap, Please

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Nov 102007

Long day. I got up early, researched some ideas, and settled on hitting Nakano Broadway, because it’s full of all kinds of shops, some of which I may be interested in. Since Time Out recommended a trip, I figured I’d give it a shot. I hopped on the Chuo Rapid to Nakano, got there, and all the shops were closed. Most didn’t open until noon. D’oh. This is just another example of how being over-eager can backfire, I guess. I did see a store with a cool name.Â It’s a used computer/old computer supply store called “Junkworld.” I like honesty in advertising. I also found an umbrella that doesn’t fail. It’s big. So big, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it. 75cm is apparently the biggest you can find for under 1000 yen. The downside is that it doesn’t collapse.

Ueno and the National Museum

So on to plan B, the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park. 30 minutes of train riding later, and I’m there. And it’s pouring rain. Well, I can do rain, I’ve done it before. Trudge, trudge. As I approached the big fountain in Ueno Park, I saw there was some sort of giant tent thing there. Was it a festival? No, it was just a flea market/sale thing. They were selling Japanese housewares. Stuff like plates, bowls, teapots, iron rice pots, chopsticks– all neat stuff. I refrained from purchasing, however, in an amazing show of restraint. I thought about buying a set of 4 pairs of chopsticks… it was awfully tempting. I’ve gotten used to using them for salads. I think they make salads taste better. No metallic tastes. But I didn’t particularly want to carry them all over Tokyo with me, and to be honest, you can buy chopsticks just about anywhere. Moving on, the big fountain in Ueno Park: Then it was on to the Tokyo National Museum. Since I didn’t want to spend all day there, I decided to just visit the Honkan, which is where they store all of the important Japanese Art. And boy did they have art. All kinds of neat stuff. The downside is that not all of the exhibits have English explanations… in fact, I’d say 10% do. The rest just have English descriptions. It’s a little frustrating. It’s more incentive to study Japanese. The price is right, too. 600 yen for admission. Just buy it from the vending machine. I went to the gift shop, and found 2 great books in English on Shodo (Japanese calligraphy.) I’ve studied Chinese calligraphy for a couple of years now, and it will be interesting to study the stylistic differences.

Legend of the Fall

I left the museum and headed to Ueno Station: Then it was time to get food. Andersen in JR Ueno Station is always a good choice. They’re the same sandwich shop that chipped my tooth in Kyoto, but I think their food is the best of all the bakeries I’ve tried so far. After that came the turning point of the day. And not in a good way. You know how they say “Mind the gap” on the Tube in London? Yeah… I didn’t. I was stepping on to the Yamanote Line to head to Tokyo Station to pick up the Chuo Line, when I slipped and my right leg went right down the gap between the train and the platform. Owwwww. The shock of falling aside, my biggest fear was that the train would pull away without me, or worse, without knowing that I fell, and before I could get up. The thought of what could have happened still makes my blood run cold. Fortunately, I pulled myself up quickly and managed to get on the train okay… but I tweaked my ankle (on the side that didn’t fall down), and I’ve got a huge nasty welt on my thigh where it slipped down the gap. I also ruined my pants, I think. Train grease and filth… I dunno if I could ever get that out. I’m just going to bag them and give it a shot when I get home. Meanwhile, everyone on the train just sort of stared at me like I was a freak or something. It was really kind of weird. Nobody offered any sort of help or anything. I guess they didn’t want to get involved. If that happened in the U.S., I would probably have gotten a few offers of help, and some business cards for attorneys.

Limping Off to Jinbo-Cho

Then I headed back to Shinjuku to ice down my ankle for an hour.Â But since I was bloody-minded about not wanting to miss more than an hour, after some rest and some Advil, it was off to Jinbo-cho. Jinbo-cho is the book district in Tokyo. It’s full of used book stores and indy book stores. Of course, everything is in Japanese, so while I’m sure it’s a great place, it’s a little over my head at this point. I was there mainly to see if I could find a few more prints. Time Out lists a couple of print stores, and after a LOT of hunting, I did find both, but neither really had anything I wanted. What I really want are some more prints of the 100 views of Tokyo from the 19th century. No luck. Both had a lot of the 36 views of Mt. Fuji, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I did manage to find an Ace bandage for my ankle, so it wasn’t a loss. And Jinbo-cho will be a fun place to visit again when my vocabulary improves. I also saw a really cool shop or two. There was a kendo supply store with a wall full of bokken (wooden swords) that went up into the $500 range; a store full of nothing but brushes of any and all kinds, from toilet brushes to artists’ brushes; and a promising-looking calligraphy shop that closed before I could get in. (Dangit. They’re so fast on the trigger.)

Nakano Broadway Again

After that, it was time to try to head to Nakano Broadway again. So back to Shinjuku, and then back on the Chuo line. Good lord, was it crowded. They almost had to get the guys with the white gloves out to cram us all in. And man, was it hot. Tokyo is the only place I know where it can be 50F outside, but every train, station, store, and bus is 90F. I’m not sure how that works, but it’s like that wherever I go. Everyone else is bundled up, and I’m in a T-shirt, sweating like Sydney Greenstreet. So Nakano. It’s a dumpy little shopping arcade. But you probably knew that anyway. What it does have is a ton of nerd shops. Tiny stores with lots of action figures, toys, old games, old books, all kinds of stuff. I didn’t buy anything, because I’ve already got too much crap already. Most of the toy shops are on the second and third floors. If you like toys, it might be your thing. I also saw some old Godzillas for sale… I wanted one. Oh, did I ever want one. But they were in the hundreds of dollars. I watched a LOT of Godzilla movies when I was kid. Then it was back to Shinjuku to find a few more stationery supplies. If you ever need a cardboard tube to secure your posters, go to Sekaido. Just Google it. Their HQ is in Shinjuku. I took some photos of Shinjuku on the way to Sekaido: Sekaido is nice. Not as nice as Itoya, but it’s close to my hotel. Then I limped back home. And I think that pretty much does it for me for tonight. I’m totally wiped. Depending on the weather, I may either head to Shibuya/Harajuku to watch the Sunday fashion parades, or I’ll head to Odaiba and Akihabara to do other stuff. The forecast is more rain so far, so I’ll probably peek in at Harajuku, then head to Odaiba and Akiba. Oh, before I forget– subway signs and posters! Subway Signs: Today, I was the cucumber!

So I Was Shopping in Ginza Today…

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Nov 092007

I’m going to use my new favorite phrase now.

So I was shopping in Ginza today…

… yeah, that’s my new favorite phrase.

Some massive stores in Ginza (with matching prices, I’m sure!)

Seibu department store:

Anyway, I was shopping in Ginza today, looking for two stationery stores mentioned in Time Out Tokyo. But first, I hit the Sony Building to look at their shiny toys.

I saw a 70″ 1080p (not i) HDTV that’s coming out soon. Drool.

They also had some great artist-designed laptops, but not only weren’t they for sale, but they had chiclet-style keys, which aren’t my favorite. I also saw those same kinds of keys on the new iBook at the Apple Store, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Sony building isn’t as big as you’d think. But the way it’s laid out is interesting. You start on the first floor, look at stuff, climb 3-4 steps, look at more stuff, and so on… until you hit the 6th floor, where you can buy stuff. There really isn’t anything earth-shattering here, just a lot of Sony stuff. Some of it is neat, most of it I’ve already seen at Bic and Yodobashi. The 70″ Flat panel 1080p HDTV was nice. Very very nice. Probably costs well over $20k, though.

Kyukyodo

Then I got my bearings again, and went to Kyukyodo, a very nice stationery store. I looked around a bit, then saw an interesting calligraphy exhibit on the 3rd and 4th floors, and moved on. It’s a nice store, with some really good-looking calligraphy tools, but if you really want stationery, head a few blocks down Ginza Dori to Itoya.

Paper Paradise

Itoya. It’s like heaven for those of us who love pens, paper, paint, brushes, and all of that good stuff. I found all kinds of neat things there. I found brushes for my brother-in-law, and I also found brush markers for myself (don’t worry Bill, I got you a few as well.) They’re black ink markers, but they have a synthetic brush tip. Not felt. It’s an actual brush. Very cool. I got my mom some fine paper and envelopes, and I bought myself a pretty printed calendar and some flat bar paperweights for calligraphy.

If I had time, I would have spent all day there. They have 3 different buildings. They even have a scrap-booking center, if you’re into that. (My sister is.) The main building has 8 floors and a basement full of goodies. Just look for the big red paperclip next to Matsuya department store.

Just a ways back towards the station and across the street is the Apple Store on Ginza Dori. It’s nice. It’s an Apple Store. I checked it out, but it didn’t really do much for me. Really, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ’em all. It’s not like they have anything special there you can’t get at the mall, you know?

Look, it’s LV! So it’s Ginza!

Ginza is nice, but it’s mostly overpriced. Itoya was one of the more reasonable places I found there. Most of the other stuff is boutique stuff with names of people I couldn’t care less about.

But then those who know me, know that I’m not one to worry about names as much as I worry about pockets. You can’t have enough pockets!

Maruzen

After that, it was time to move on to Marunouchi, and a visit to Maruzen, the other wonderful bookstore in Tokyo. After a short ride on the Marunouchi line, followed by lots of wandering underground, and offers of help from nice people, I found exit B-4, and found the way to Maruzen. (I wound up closer to Tokyo station than to Otemachi station, though.)

So Maruzen. Ahh… so many nice Japanese books. I did find a really nice JP-> JP dictionary that was mentioned on another site here:

http://tinyurl.com/2cx9x2

I thought I was looking in the right area, but in the end I had to cave in and ask for help.

I also raided their manga section. Manga is a great way to learn Japanese while being entertained at the same time. The downside is that it’s pricey outside of Japan. $3 for manga here, compared to $9-$15 in the U.S. I’d buy more from Amazon.co.jp, but the shipping is too painful.

So I’m stocking up here.

The downside– it’s all heavy.

Carrying it all around drained me. I was starving, so I stopped at a cafe underneath Maruzen, grabbed a bite, then hit the Marunouchi line back to Shinjuku. Then I took time to grab a quick shower and rest a little.

Harajuku, Kiddy Land, and Roppongi

Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be rainy, so one priority tonight is to find an umbrella that does not suck. Most of the umbrellas you can get here fail utterly to cover my American bigness. I’m not fat, I’m just tall with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. (Wait, am I fat???) I’ll put it this way– I’m not fat for an American. In the U.S., I use a golf umbrella, and that works okay.

After a little rest and recovery, it was off to Harajuku to go to Kiddyland, a 5- story toy store. But it’s not the kind of toy store you’d expect. They have some cool stuff, and some weird stuff. Not all of it is for kids, either. I found some presents there. Prowling all the various levels was fun. The 4-foot high stuffed Hello Kitty was a little creepy, but Kitty-chan is popular here.

One thing you’ll notice pretty quickly is that most stores in Japan are multi-floor, so there will be a cashier on each floor to take all of your purchases to. I suppose it’s not really different from US department stores, really. Stores are taller in the big cities in Japan because it’s cheaper to build “up” than “out,” unlike most of the US.

I guess because I live in a more suburban area in the U.S., I’m not used to going to stores with a lot of floors. I’m more used to 20,000-50,000 square foot one-story monster stores with just one checkout area.

I set off for Roppongi to see Tokyo Midtown and have dinner there. Tokyo Midtown is a huge building with lots of expensive stores and some expensive and some kind-of-reasonably-priced restaurants. I had dinner there, because I heard there were a lot of good restaurants there. And they do exist. It’s just that some close at 9 p.m., some close at 11 p.m., and some close at midnight. It’s a little confusing. Most of the carry-out restaurants close at 9 p.m., so if you remember that, you’re one step ahead of the game.

I found a nice little restaurant and had some fried cheese wontons, followed by some squid tempura (which was incredible: so soft, and not chewy), and some small slices of roast duck with grilled spring onion. With 2 ginger ales, that wound up costing 3,300 yen.

Ouch.

But it was so good.

A tip– if you go to a restaurant and can’t make heads or tails out of the menu, ask if they have an English menu. A lot of restaurants do.

“Eigo no menyuu ga arimasu ka?” It’s a very handy phrase to know.

Then I made a blunder. I got Tokyo Midtown’s tower confused with Tokyo Skyview, which is also in Roppongi. Midtown does NOT have an observation deck available to the public, or so the sign told me.

Shinjuku at Night

It was almost 10, so I caught a train back to Shinjuku, and after consulting the 4 squids trying to hump each other, also known as the map of the Tokyo subway and train lines, I figured out which tentacle to ride back.Â I’ve consulted many versions of this map, and nobody seems to be able to make it not look confusing.

Just go with it.

The train ride back was crowded. Even at 10 p.m., the trains are packed. Get used to it. I recommend wearing clothes that breathe. Much as I love cotton, it doesn’t breathe. That’s one big regret right there.

When I got back to JR Shinjuku, I took a few photos from the bridge:

JR Shinjuku at night:

Times Square:

Time Square decorations:

The rain has already started, and I don’t have a decent umbrella, so that will be my first objective for tomorrow. Or maybe my second. First I need to figure out what to do in the rain. At least in Tokyo there are a lot of underground passages to get from one place to another, and that’s pretty darn handy.

I’m thinking I may head to Jinbo-cho to check out some print stores, and some book stores there. One other thing I need to locate is a cardboard tube, and maybe someone there will know where I can acquire one.

There are SO many things I want to buy here… ugh. Must restrain self, must restrain self…

Yeah, right.

Tokyoverload.

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Nov 082007

Leaving Sendai

Finally made it to Tokyo. A brief synopsis of the day: First, a jar of KitKats. Yep, a glass jar full of KitKats. Never seen one of those! I got up early to make my 10 a.m. checkout, went to the station, and made some calls overseas to the family. (Hi family!) I took some photos of the area around JR Sendai: I headed into the station (JR Sendai): A little closer in: Here’s my ride to Tokyo, another Max Yamabiko: Then I hopped on my last Shinkansen, the Hayate 10. It only took an hour and a half to get to Tokyo from Sendai. Nice. I’m a little bummed that I can’t ride anymore for a while. Riding super-fast express trains is really nice. I love the idea of getting somewhere without having to mess around with airport security. I can just grab my bag, grab a train, and get somewhere fast without the body cavity search.

Arriving in Tokyo

When I got to Tokyo, before I left the platform, I took some photos of the shinkansen engines in the vicinity. These were taken with my cell phone camera, so they’re kind of grainy: One last shot of the platform: Tokyo station is big, full of shops, and it can be a little overwhelming. The info desk was my first target, and it turned out to be a miss. No English language info I could find. Oh well. I went to the map and figured out how to get to Shinjuku by myself. I grabbed a Rapid train on the Chuo line, and got to Shinjuku in about 15 minutes. I’m glad I picked the Chuo line instead of the Yamanote line, because there was an accident on the Yamanote line, and it was delayed. The Yamanote line is a very useful train line in Tokyo. It goes in a huge loop around the “center” of the city. I use quotes because the city is so huge… and really center-less. But the Yamanote will save you, usually. The Chuo line is useful because it cuts across the middle of the Yamanote doughnut, and it has rapid and express trains that skip the custard in the middle. Anyway, I made it to Shinjuku.

Shinjuku Shuffle

Shinjuku is a bit chaotic. For starters, the station is big, and it’s got a lot of people trying to go in 800 different directions all at once. This can make things confusing. Since I already knew where I wanted to go, it wasn’t such a big deal. I just chose to move a little slowly to get there without getting crushed. Finding the hotel wasn’t too bad, either. I just used my powers of deduction, and found a map. (With North pointing down again, of course.) This is where having the Tokyo City Atlas by Kodansha, or Time Out Tokyo can be a real lifesaver, because both have good maps, and you will need good maps. Now, the hotel. It’s the Hotel Sunroute Shinjuku. Granted, I’m paying a little bit extra for this room. It’s running me $120 a night. But oh my god is it awesome. Right now, I’m staring at the best room view I’ve had in a loooong time, and the best one in Japan so far. (Sorry Hiroshima.) I’m looking out over the skyscrapers in Shinjuku. It’s an impressive view. (Photos were taken on a few different days.) The chair is comfy, the room has A/C or heating, whichever I want, a full range of soaps/shampoos, even shaving cream, an HDTV that doesn’t suck, ethernet (although the connection is a little sucky), a fridge, a humidifier, pants press, you name it. 10/10 so far. Even the keys are cool. They use RFIDs instead of swipe keys, so you just touch the key to the door, and it unlocks. My hotel room is really nice (taken the day I left Japan, actually, but it fits in this post): The only freaky thing is the glass door to the bathroom, and the window in the bathroom. That’s kind of… weird. In a sort of cool but not altogether uncreepy sort of way, if you get my drift. Oh! And before I forget– I found out why rooms are so scarce– the Tokyo Motor Show is still going on. At least I think that’s the reason… Either way, as soon as I can translate the flyer, I’ll go find it and check it out. I think. Maybe? There’s so much I want to do here, I’m suffering from overload. Ugh. (time jump of a few hours)

Shopping

I just got back from wandering around a bit. I went to the big Kinokuniya (a book store), the one by Takashimaya (a huge dept. store), and just wandered for an hour or so, totally lost. There are so many books I want to get, but I honestly don’t know where to start. Add to that 6 floors of books, and, well… I have a feeling that when I go to Akihabara, I’m going to be a mess. I know one thing I really want to buy, but I can’t afford… a laptop with a JP keyboard on it. I used a JP keyboard in Okazaki, and it makes switching over from EN to JP soooo much easier. But yeah… Kinokuniya is totally overwhelming to me. I guess I’ll just have to go once a day until I get comfortable or something. After that, it was Takashimaya’s basement for dinner. So much good food… but so expensive compared to the other department stores I’ve been to. Yikes. I had some tonkatsu chunks (yum), some more yakitori with negi, a sandwich, and some salad. One bummer- the person I was going to meet to talk about working here… had to go back to the US for an emergency. Shoot.

After Dinner Stroll

After dinner, I headed out to the electronics stores in Shinjuku. There’s a huge Bic Camera there, as well as a monstrously huge Yodobashi Camera. I think that one spans eight buildings. After checking out Bic, I headed over to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building for the free observation deck on the 45th floor. Heading to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building: What’s the best thing you can say about the 45th floor observation level? Well… it’s free. The views are nice, but forget about getting a really good picture. Too much glare on the windows. And yes, there are some horrendous souvenir shops there, too. And evil toy machines from hell. Views from the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building: After that, I started to head back “home.” I stopped at Yodobashi Camera, and they were still open. They only closed at 10:00 p.m. Wow, Tokyo sure is different from the rest of Japan. If this was Nagano, all we’d see are tumbleweeds at 10 p.m. Nice store, but it was too close to closing time to check it out. I stopped by the conbini across the street from my hotel. No decent food there. I need to find a 7-11 or a Lawson or something. I did some research, and the Tokyo Motor Show is in Chiba, so I’m not going. Chiba is way out by Narita, and that would just kill a day I can’t afford to kill. Tomorrow will be a shopping day, I think. I’ll do some of that to clear my head and then settle on some touristy stops later. That way I can make sure to bring home what I want to bring home, ya know?

Buses in Japan. How to Cope.

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Nov 082007

I’ve mentioned buses in Japan before, but I thought I would mention them again to give them a little special attention. In order to get to some out-of-the-way places, you will need to ride buses.Â They can be the most intimidating of the various forms of mass transit, because they can be a bit confusing, and because many don’t have a whole lot of English support.

Here’s what you need to know.

In most places that aren’t Tokyo, you enter in the middle of the bus. But not always.

Look for these two guys: å…¥å£ . That means entrance (iriguchi.) It’s the character for “enter,” followed by the character for “mouth.” Handy, huh? So it’s the mouth of the bus you go through to enter.

Don’t enter through the door marked å‡ºå£ (deguchi), because that’s the exit.

After you enter, you will need to do one of a few things:

Pull a paper ticket with a number on it from a little machine. This is the stop number where you got on the bus. You’ll need this to figure out your fare later.Â If you walk in without doing it, the driver will tell you to pick one up. (That’s why he’s talking to you! Get a ticket!) OR
Tap your electronic fare card if you have one. This is much easier, but isn’t available everywhere. OR
Insert your pass if you have a day pass or a multi-day pass. OR
Pay a fixed amount there.

The first bus you ride in a town will be a bit confusing, but once you figure out the drill, you’ll be fine. Just get a few steps back in line and watch what the others are doing. (They already know how it works!) Then use your observational data to forge ahead!

While you’re on the bus, you need pay attention. You should either pick up a bus map, or have some other way of knowing what stop you need to get off at.

Look around: you’ll probably see a linear map of the route on the interior of the bus, with the stops marked (usually, but not always) in English. Make a note of the stops before yours, and keep an ear out for them. Of course, this advice does you no good at all if you can’t read the map. In that case, ask the driver, or just ask around.

Just don’t fall asleep.

Assuming you’ve remembered your stop, and you’re about to reach it, if you have a numbered slip of paper, now is the time to look at it, then check your number on the board by the driver’s head. That number is how much you pay in yen. Pay in exact change if at all possible.

What do you do if you don’t have exact change? Well, there’s usually a change machine right in the front of the bus, and it’s part of the whole fare-receiving unit, usually. Fares get dumped in the hopper at the top. You just dump the slip and the money in there, and it goes along a little belt so the driver can see you’ve put in the right amount. Use the change machine to break any 1000 yen notes or 500 yen or 100 yen coins.

Just don’t drop a 500 yen coin in the hopper and expect to get change. You won’t. Once it’s in the hopper, it’s in the hopper.

Ask the driver which bit is the change machine before you start putting money into things. Sometimes the driver is the change machine.

And try to ask a lot of questions before you get on the bus to make sure you know where you’re going, and which buses you need.

A little research will make it a lot easier.

Matsushima, Seagulls, The Magnificent View, and Taiyaki. Part Two

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Nov 072007

Oku-Matsushima, A Hidden Gem… If you could hide something that big.

At the station, I got on the train to Nobiru. When I got there, I talked to the lady in the shop at the station, and rented the bicycle (there’s only one, and it was available!) for 300 yen for 4 hours. I was warned– the shop closes at 5 (of course), so I had to get the bike back by then.

I got my bike at 3 p.m., so I had to hustle, just like in Togakushi. I’ll admit it. I like working to a tight deadline, because it focuses me.

It’s 5 km to Otakamori, which is a really big hill/tiny mountain. According to Lonely Planet, it’s the best way to see the islands that make up Matsushima. So I got on the bike.

The ride was easy on my legs and my eyes. The terrain was mostly flat, with small, gentle hills, but nothing too taxing. There was lots of pretty scenery I didn’t have time to photograph, but it’s worth the trip. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get there, because at the 2.5 km to go point, the signs don’t say much more until you get there. (It reminds me of New Jersey in that regard.) But it’s pretty much a straight shot.

When I found the mountain, I saw that there were 2 trails. I just picked one with a parking lot nearby to park my bike and leave. (First I grabbed some water because I was already hurting. Vending machines really are everywhere!)

If the view from the parking lot is this good, then the Magnificent View must really be magnificent!

Now we climb a big stairway:

I stopped for a few photos at the top of the stairs:

This is the road I came in on:

I started climbing again. It hurt after a long bike ride.

Then I see the first sign– 700m to the top.

The part of me that didn’t die in Togakushi… dies. It’s not a fun climb at all. It’s steep, uneven, and painful after a 5 km bike ride. My thighs officially hate me now. More climbing. More pain.

I pass through an area full of dragonflies. Neat. Then I pass an area full of bluebottle flies. Not so neat. I hate those. I think they could sense that I was exhausted, so they buzzed me constantly.

400 meters to the summit!

Catching glimpses of the view:

More climbing:

And more glimpses:

I liked this sign as I got near the top. It’s telling you to put out your cigarettes completely! So do it!

After about 20 minutes, I made it to the top.

Wow.

The Best Matsushima Experience Money Can’t Buy (The Magnificent View)

It’s another one of those OHMYGOD moments. The views were stunning. Just incredible. The sun was about to set in about 30 minutes, so the light was dramatic and golden, and just wonderful. There were five of us at the summit, and we were all sort of grinning to ourselves, because we were having the best Matsushima experience you can have.

And it was free.

No boats, no tour groups, no megaphones, no broken English explanations of rocks, noÂ seagulls, no cheesy souvenirs. Just a couple of benches, an info map thing, and a little covered area to sit.

Oh, and some of the most incredible scenery ever.

In Japan, this spot gives what’s called the “Magnificent View” of Matsushima. Indeed.

I felt smart again. I was feeling dumb earlier in the day when I first got to Matsushima. Now I felt like I was smart again. Whew.

That road is the road I rode my rental bike on:

close-up:

More of the non-Matsushima side:

Back to the Matsushima side again, with a wide-angle adapter:

This guide stone shows the names and locations of islands and landmarks:

Pull out a bit and you see it on the summit:

Some close ups of the bay:

Close up of the town:

Now the hard part: getting back. If I thought uphill was bad, downhill was worse, because it was a controlled crash down the hill. I was trying to keep momentum up without falling, and everything was uneven. Not fun. But I was still glowing from the view and the pictures.

I took a few photos from the top of the stairs, since it was sunset. Or almost sunset:

Sunset from the top of the stairs. The conical buildings are a museum of ancient artifacts:

Last shot as I left on my bike:

Then the bike ride back. Ouch. 5 km of more pain. I made it back in time, though, with about 20 minutes to spare.

I got on the train (it was a local. Dang.), and sat there for a minute. Then I saw a limited express come in… and I thought it said “Sendai” on it. So I jumped on board… and promptly went the wrong way. D’oh. 2 stops later, I wound up in Rikuzen-Ono Station. It was the tiniest train station I’ve seen. Ever. The scenery was pretty, though, so I didn’t feel too bad about the screw-up.

I took some photos with my Motorola Razr V3X, so they’re not all that hot:

Rikuzen Ono Station:

Dusk on the platform:

I waited another 15-20 minutes, enjoyed the scenery, and caught a limited express back to Sendai. (This time I double-checked.)

OMG Taiyaki

Then dinner. More raiding of various department stores. The department stores here totally rock. You can find just about anything there. I got some yakitori with negi… it’s grilled chicken and spring onions on a stick in a sweet soy-based sauce, then I grabbed some more tonkatsu chunks (breaded deep fried pork.) For dessert, I stood in line 30 minutes for taiyaki.

Taiyaki is a grilled pastry (sort of like waffles) with paste inside in the shape of a carp. I mentioned it a few posts ago. It was very hot, and very good. They had red bean paste and cream, so I got one of each. I think I like the cream better, but if they had chocolate, I’d never leave.

Probably because I wouldn’t fit on the airplane anymore.

Then I headed back here to the hotel to collapse.

I think I walked about 5-6 km again today, with about 10 km of cycling mixed in. No wonder I’m so hungry all the time.

The Lonely Planet guide isn’t 100%, but it got this right. Definitely go to Oku-Matsushima and climb that blasted hill. It’s another one of those, “Oh yeah, this is why I travel,” moments.

Tomorrow is my last Shinkansen ride– to Tokyo for 6 days of sight-seeing and rabid purchasing.

Fun.

Then I can come back to the U.S. and experience reverse culture shock.

Note from 8/2011: The 3/11 tsunami caused a lot of damage to the Tohoku region, and it pretty much wiped out Nobiru, a lot of the buildings and the road I rode to Otakamori, and the little station I wound up in accidentally, Rikuzen-Ono, which was near Higashi Matsushima. The tsunami even got one of the local trains as it was moving up the coast.

Miyatojima, the island that Otakamori is located on, was cut off from the mainland by the tsunami, but I haven’t heard any updates recently.

Matsushima itself didn’t get much in the way of damage, because it was shielded by its bay, but parts of Sendai (especially near the coast) got heavily damaged. Choumei-Ana in the last post was destroyed.

Before venturing to the area, you should definitely call ahead to make sure that the roads are clear, and that you won’t be a burden.

Otherwise, it’s a great place, full of great people who could really use your help and your tourist dollars. (And maybe while you’re there, you could volunteer a little, too!)

This is yet another reminder that every place I visit, I should treat as though I might not ever get the chance to see it again. If the events of 9/11 and 3/11 didn’t highlight this lesson for me, the recent London riots have underlined it for me.

Matsushima, Seagulls, The Magnificent View, and Taiyaki. Part One.

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Nov 072007

Today I went to Matsushima. Matsushima is one of the traditional Three Famous Sights You Have to See in Japan. Miyajima is one of the others, and the third is the Heavenly Bridge, which I had to skip due to time constraints.

Matsushima is Japanese for Pine Island or Islands, since nouns in Japanese can refer to either the singular and plural.

In this case it’s really plural.

There are more than 250 islands, covered with scraggly pine trees. And because it’s on the Top Three list, it means there’s never any shortage of tourists coming to see it. Raises hand.

I slept in again today until 9:30 to make sure I was really well-rested, because I knew I’d need all of my energy to get through this day. Sure enough, I went through all of my reserves.

To get to Matsushima, I took the Senseki line to Matsushima Kaigan. Don’t take the other line to Matsushima, because it’ll add a bunch of time to your trip. It took me about 40 minutes to get there. Try to aim for a limited express train, and not a local. Local trains are really slow.

The Bird Boat

The Lonely Planet guidebook says that Matsushima is overrun with touristy stuff. Yep! They also say that the cruises through the bay are really cheesy. Yep again!

Approaching the docks:

The boat I didn’t take:

It looks impressive on the water, but a little cheesy:

Cheesiness aside, the cruises do offer a few interesting points:

It’s a boat ride. Fun! At one point, we left the bay and were in the Pacific Ocean.
It’s an opportunity to dump 1400-2000 yen into the local economy. I bought a ticket for 1400 yen, then was offered the chance to upgrade to first class for 600 more yen. It’s a no-brainer, if a bit of a bait-and-switch. But I went first class anyway, because that way I could go outside and take pictures from the upper deck. Otherwise, I would have been stuck in a stifling hot cabin packed in with the other tourists. If I was going to the trouble to come all the way here, then I might as well go first class! (They already got me for 1400 yen anyway. 600 more? Sure, why not.)
There are English explanations, albeit a bit odd. I think the woman giving them was doing it in a Russian accent.
You get to see Japanese people enjoy themselves feeding seagulls.

Wait. Huh?

Yes. The big deal with the cruise for me was to see the islands. For everyone else outside on the deck, they were more interested in feeding snacks to aquatic sky rats. My brain totally jumped the tracks on that one.

Seagulls.

I’ll admit it.Â I’ve never thought much of seagulls. They’re just pigeons of the sea, and pigeons are sky rats. So I was totally and utterly confused as to why anyone would think feeding garbage-picking birds would be fun.

Maybe it’s because I was born on a beach, and spent a small chunk of my life near there (in spite of my pale skin). Maybe that has colored my perceptions.

The other annoying thing about the seagulls– they got in the way of half of the pictures I took. There was a huge swarm of them all over the boat, flying around the back end. Ugh. Just… ugh. I wanted to shake the other passengers. “Do you know what you’re doing?!?”

Even if you happen to like seagulls, it’s bad to feed them people food, let alone junk food.

Anyway.

I got some decent shots, I think. And I met a nice retired couple. We had a nice exchange consisting of English and Japanese.

The islands were very nice, when I could see them. See for yourself!

Futagojima (twin islands):

Close-up (the angle of this island changed as we were moving, if I remember correctly):

Kaneshima:

Close-up:

Komonejima–Choumei Ana (Update: the thin bridge of rock was destroyed on 3/11 in one of the massive earthquakes):

Komonejima rocks (rocks around Komonejima, to be more accurate!):

Nioujima:

One of many pretty islands I don’t know the name of:

People work here, too:

The town of Uratoishihama:

Matsushima, the town, as we start to finish our loop:

Coming into port, hoping we don’t all collide:

Safely approaching the docks! The next groups are already waiting for us to get off the boat already!

If you want to take the cruise and feed the seagulls, the boats leave at the top of the hour. Just find an old guy with a blue baseball cap. There were dozens of them all over the island, and they all work for the cruise boats to get people there. (That was another Weird Thing. I saw them all over the place.)

Yet another thing about Matsushima you need to know– there’s barely anything in English here. I don’t know if it’s just not popular with the foreign tourists or if it’s something else. You can get a very basic map, and that’s about it.

Oshima

After my adventure among the gulls, it was time to explore some more. There are two islands nearby that you can explore. The little one is Oshima, and the big one is Fukuurajima. There are also famous temples here, but I skipped them. I’m totally burned out.

I was cold, so I went inside the ferry office and got a can of hot cocoa. Canned hot drinks are awesome. You can usually get them from most vending machines, depending on the season. Coffee is the most popular, but you can also get cocoa and then there’s weird Japanese stuff, too, like hot sweet red bean soup. The cocoa is actually pretty hot. You can use the can as a warmer in a pinch. Man, I wish we had those in the U.S.

Heated up, I went to Oshima first. It was very small, very quiet, very nice. Lots of old Buddhist statues, an old shrine, a nice red bridge. Nice stuff. Have a look:

Heading to Oshima:

The path feels like I’m heading to a secret base of some sort. It’s pretty cool.

The bridge is very picturesque:

Crossing the bridge!

The views from Oshima are great. Futagojima:

Fall colors–a Japanese Maple:

There are a bunch of stone carvings and statues around Oshima:

And a tunnel of sorts:

Heading back to Matsushima, I saw this scene:

Fukuurajima

Then I hiked 1 km to Fukuurajima. It has a big red bridge you can’t miss.

Fukuura Bridge, from the boat earlier in the day:

As I approach it from land:

And a 200 yen toll to cross that bridge.

Aww, man.

I paid the toll, anyway.

Mid-bridge view:

Scenery of Fukuurajima from the bridge:

Map:

I walked across the 280-meter bridge, looked around for 5 minutes, saw there wasn’t much to see besides more shrines and tour groups, and headed out. I decided it was time to move on.

There are other things to see in Matsushima, but it’s touristy in the same way a lot of big Japanese tourist spots are.

Last shot of Matsushima from the bridge before I left for Oku-Matsushima:

I headed back to the station to go to Oku-Matsushima, the hidden gem that the big tours skip. Well, that’s what my guidebook said, and so far it had done a good job.

As I was heading back to the station, I bought some french fries in a cone.Â It’s pretty clever if you ask me. The fries stand up perfectly straight, so you can eat them hands-free as you walk. Multitasking!

Continued in Part Two!

The Voices!

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Nov 072007

If you’re in Japan long enough, you’ll notice that everything here talks to you. Everything. And I think it’s all voiced by the same lady. She has a very kind and gentle voice that kindly and gently informs you that the escalator is not a toy, that the bus is arriving, that a train is approaching, that your call can’t be completed, that the elevator doors are closing, that the boat is leaving the dock, that your drink has been dispensed, and so forth.

She’s a hard worker.

It reminds me of one maddening wait in Kyoto for a bus. The bus was running late, so for the next 40 minutes, I heard the same woman repeat the same warning about the escalator every 17 seconds. It took her 9 seconds to gently warn you to be careful when using the escalator, then she would pause for 8 seconds, and then she’d go at it again. I’d hate to work there. I’d go mad after… oh… about 41 minutes.

How did I know exactly how long she took to say what she said? I timed it, of course. I had nothing better to do for 40 minutes.

We Welcome Your Money!

That reminds me of another thing that impresses me about workers in the service industry here: they have to greet every single customer that darkens their door, or threatens to darken their door with an “Irrashaimase!” that has to be perky and energetic, in order to help you part with some of those yen. (Irrashaimase is very polite speech for “I welcome your money.”)

At first, I had no clue what to do. I felt like I had to acknowledge them, so I would nod to them or something. Now I just ignore them like I would any other Wal-Mart greeter. If you try to acknowledge every “Irrashaimase!” tossed your way, you’ll just go mad.

Retail in Japan is hard.

Travel Day. Nagano to Sendai.

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Nov 062007

Today was a travel day from Nagano to Sendai for the most part, just like the headline says. I sent a third package home, and my luggage is still heavy. I still don’t get it. Maybe the junk in my bags is breeding?

The shinkansen is no longer exciting for me. Instead it makes me sleepy. I guess I’m finally used to that bit about being here. The ride from Nagano to Omiya on the Asami was nice, albeit a bit foggy. One really nice part– the Asami cars have a baggage nook I can stick my Big American Suitcase into.

From Omiya to Sendai, I rode on the Max Yamabiko, which is a double-decker shinkansen . It’s pretty cool, except the bit where I had to lug my suitcase upstairs, because there are no baggage nooks. I had to resort to the usual “tuck it behind the back row” trick.

The Max cars are also nice because each car has a little built-in store, so there’s no waiting for the carts to come down the middle of the train cars. They even sell beer, to make the trip a little more relaxing. But, I wasn’t in the mood for beer at 1 in the afternoon. It’s just too early for me.

Finding a Hotel in Tokyo

One thing that really gave me some peace of mind was finally finding a hotel for my 6 days in Tokyo. I was up until 4 a.m. last night trying to find a hotel free for all 6 days, and coming up with nothing. I don’t mind smoking rooms for a night, but for 6? No thanks. So I kept at it. Then I had a brainstorm in the shower this morning, and hit Travelocity. I had tried Expedia, Rakuten, and hotels.co.jp, and had no luck.

Travelocity had a nice hotel in Shinjuku, which is where I wanted to be in the first place. Shinjuku is a great location because it’s where every line runs, so you can pretty much go anywhere from there.

Having the hotel straightened out took a huge weight off my shoulders. I’m sure I could have found something when I got there, but I might not have found something nice. For most of my trip, I haven’t been too obsessed with getting hotels, because it hasn’t been too hard. But certain cities can be a pain to find rooms in. Tokyo and Kyoto come to mind. Osaka and Nara were mildly irritating, but not impossible. Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Nagano, and Sendai were pretty easy.

My advice is plain common sense– if you’re going to a big tourist destination, try to nail down a room a bit sooner than you think you’ll need it.

Arrival in Sendai

I have arrived in Sendai, which is on the northeast coast of Honshu, the main island. It’s about 2 hours north of Tokyo by shinkansen. When I got here, I did my usual “Find the information booth” dance, and got some pamphlets, but they were all in Japanese only. It’s a bit frustrating. I wanted some good info on seeing Matsushima in English, but no luck.

I also wanted to see if I could make a short trip to Mt. Zao before heading to Tokyo on Thursday, but that’s going to be a bust. From what I gathered, the buses don’t run all the way to the crater, and only stop at the hot spring. To get to the crater, you have to rent a car in Sendai, and I’m not doing that. Drive on the left? No thanks.

After getting info, I checked in at another Comfort Inn. Another nice room for 6,250 yen a night (go AAA discount). Then some time to play with the TV– very nice. It’s HD, and I think if I feed it money, I can see the HD cable channels. I’m not too sure about that yet. For some reason, someone’s ad text is all over my CNN-J channel, and I can’t get rid of it.

It reminds me of the guy in The Diamond Age who got infected by a virus that made him see Indian TV ads in the corner of his eyes 24/7, and he eventually went insane and killed himself.

But it’s not that bad. It’s more background noise than anything else.

Wandering in Sendai

I did some strolling around Sendai. It’s a very lively city, and a very cold one, too. There are some nice shopping arcades as well. I found some department stores and raided their basements for dinner. I scored some chicken-katsu, a potato croquette, and a sandwich with a chocolate croissant.

On the way back, I saw a very busy taiyaki vendor, and I would have stopped if I didn’t already have food… and hunger. Taiyaki is a fish-shaped pastry filled with sweet red bean paste, and in this shop’s case, white pastry cream. I will go back there tomorrow to sample some of their taiyaki. The line was huge, so it must be good.

The rest of the evening will be spent resting, doing laundry, and puttering around. Matsushima will take a lot out of me tomorrow, so I need to rest up for it.

The longer I’m in Japan, the more I’m loving it here. For a while, I was really wanting to go home. Now I really want to explore more here, but that’s not in the cards for now.

I’ll worry about that when I get home, I guess.

I do think I’m going to get serious about looking for work here when I can get my Japanese to an acceptable level. Japan is fascinating, mystifying, and a hell of a lot of fun all at once, but I need to seriously level up my language skills.

Nagano: Zenkoji and Togakushi: Part Two: Togakushi and Notes

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Nov 052007

Togakushi. Tooi.

After some false starts, I finally got communications with the travel and tourism office people to work. I decided to head to Togakushi. It’s a close-ish town with mountains, trees, not many people, and a famous cedar-lined path that leads to a famous local shrine. I know I’m burned out on shrines, but this one is at least out of the way and scenic. I’m game. Maybe I won’t have to fight more groups for photos.

A one-hour-plus bus ride later, I’m at Togakushi Chuu, which is the shrine in the middle of the town. It has a massive set of stairs you have to climb to enter the shrine. After wheezing up the stairs, I made it to the shrine itself. It was nice. Nothing too fancy.

Photos:

From the window of my bus:

Togakushi Chuu Shrine:

This is actually Togakushi Houkou:

The stairs to Togakushi Chuu (foreshadowing!):

The honden at Togakushi Chuu:

Something I should mention first– Nagano claims to be an international city, but I hadn’t seen one English-language sign at any of the temples I’ve been at so far. Not even one telling me to stay off of something, or take off my shoes. Fortunately, I know enough Japanese to find my way, but I don’t know enough to know much about what I’m seeing, which is a little frustrating.

But I like pretty things, so I can deal with it.

Off to the main shrine. The sign points to the trail, and says it’s 1.4 Km away. Better get hiking!

I started heading down this path to Togakushi Oku Shrine:

I think this sign means it’s 1.4 Km to the shrine:

Okay, now it’s in English. 1.3 Km to the entrance. Well, that can’t be too far from the shrine, right? (It’s also 18.3 Km to Zenkoji, if I feel like a nice long stroll!)

It’s a beautiful hike nonetheless:

1.1 Km…:

Still beautiful:

This map gives you a bit of an idea of where I am, where I’ve been, and where I’m headed. In a way.

I need to point something else out here first. The buses to Togakushi run every hour or so. The last bus leaves at 8-something p.m., but the bus I need to ride back leaves at 5:10 p.m. That’s because the sun sets around that time, and I don’t want to wander in the Japanese countryside in the dark without a flashlight.

There isn’t another bus until 6:00 p.m., and we’re at altitude. (About 4,500 ft or so?) I set out from the first shrine at 3:00 p.m., and I knew it was going to be close to make it back by 5. So I had to move quickly.

The 1.4 Km hike was very pretty and very strenuous. Lots of uphill climbs, lots of uneven terrain, but lots of gorgeous mountains. Also lots of power lines getting in the way of my pictures. That’s one irritating thing about Japan– power lines and poles everywhere. They seem to just jump into my pictures as if taunting me.

So after 20-30 minutes of hiking, I made it to the entrance to the main shrine. Yay! Finally! (Well, I see the souvenir shop!)

It’s really pretty.

Really pretty!

Then I see the sign.

“Main shrine -> 1900 Meters”

Ah, crap.

I’m already sore, and now I find out I’m not even halfway there. And I still have to go back at some point! I’m not even 1/4 done with walking for the day!

Ah well. Let’s get moving!

Gorgeous Cedar Trees

The path to the mountain shrine is stunning. It’s lined with trees and is straight as an arrow. Lots of views. Also, along both sides of the path are little gutters, or streams, with water flowing down making a lovely gurgling noise. Very nice.

The nicest part? The sparse number of people. It feels like you’re more alone than ever, and it’s good. Nobody is crowding you, elbowing you, out-camping you for things… it’s just a walk down a tree-lined lane in fall. Everyone there feels that same vibe, too, and they actually nod and smile at you as you walk by. They don’t just bulldoze by you like you’re another obstacle.

Starting down the straight-as-an-arrow path:

The Outer Gate to the Inner Shrine, guarded by komainu:

Then I reached the highlight of the day so far– a 500 meter long path with a straight row of giant cedar trees lining each side. It’s another travel magic moment. As I said in my Nara post, this is why I love to travel.

The cedar rows. Stunning:

Of course, it’s all uphill, the road is a little rough, and it’s tiring. It’s 48F (maybe), and I’m just wearing my long-sleeve T-shirt because I’m sweating up a storm. I have the voice of the Survivorman guy in my head, reminding me that if I sweat too much in cold weather, it could be dangerous, so I’ve already peeled off my jacket until I’m down to just the T-shirt, and I’m still all sweaty. Also, everything is cotton. I’m learning on this trip that cotton is evil. It does a really good job of trapping sweat and holding it against you.

It’s work, man.

But oh my God, it’s worth it. It’s gorgeous here.

Then the main path runs out:

And then there are stairs. Lots of stone stairs that are uneven. Be careful!

We start climbing stairs:

Looking back down the stairs:

Now that I’m past the cedar rows and forest, I can start to see the mountains:

Made it to the shrine!

I finally made it to the shrine a little after 4 p.m. For once, I did the whole purification ritual you’re supposed to do when you enter a shrine.

The water was freezing.

Purify Yourself!

So how does the basic purification ritual work? Simple. There’s a pool of water with dippers in it. You grab the dipper with your right hand, pour water over your left, then switch to the dipper to your left hand to wash your right, then switch again to fill your left hand with water so you can rinse out your mouth. Don’t spit the water back into the basin. Then fill the dipper again and let the water run down the handle to rinse off all of your cooties. Put the dipper back where you found it. If you don’t know what you’re doing, ask someone.

When you’re done, you shake your hands dry like everyone else who doesn’t have a towel. (Or just carry a towel or handkerchief with you, like most people do here.)

I probably could have used some extra purification after all of that sweating. Nevermind, I’m thinking of a shower.

The shrine I’ve been killing myself to get to is a lovely little shrine. It’s small, but the views are what make it impressive. The mountains were just gorgeous.

The views:

And while small, the shrine has its own charm:

The Honden:

One of the other buildings at the shrine:

Some nice ladies offered to take my picture in front of the honden. I gladly accepted their offer.

I spent a few minutes at the shrine, checked my watch, and started to get nervous. I had to go 3.3 Km in rough mountainous country to get to my bus stop by 5:10 p.m. It was ~4:15 p.m. already. I was pretty sure I could make it, but I had to hustle.

Race to the Bus!

To top it off, I was already sore, and getting more sore by the minute.

Down the mountain I went. It was rough going down. I learned a trick from the older ladies– skip the stairs, and go on the terrain on the side– you move faster.

Heading back through the cedars. Still amazing!:

Racing to the exit!

I was burning shoe leather pretty well, so I stopped next to the entrance 1.9 Km from the shrine to buy some postcards and a Sprite (which I had to carry home with me– not a recycling bin in sight), then resumed my forced march to the bus stop.

1.4 Km to go.

Everything hurts.

Toga-kurushii?

I decided to rename Togakushi as Togakurushii while I’m speed-hiking, because kurushii means “excruciatingly painful” in Japanese. It fits. I chuckled to myself, but I kept moving. Suddenly, I found myself going uphill. Huh? I didn’t remember this bit being downhill on the way.

Keep moving, I told myself. Finally, I made it back to the bus stop with 5 minutes to spare. Lucky!

I had time to eat the chocolate croissant I didn’t have time to eat this afternoon for dessert.

The bus came on time and I had another bumpy bus ride home, this time in the dark. The main reason I wanted to catch that bus was because after 4:30 p.m., the sun sets here, and you don’t want to go fumbling around the woods in the dark. That’s a really bad idea.

Another thing I noticed– in rural Japan, stuff closes even sooner. Stores were closed at 5 p.m. sharp here. Some even closed at 4:30 p.m.

Other stuff:

Japanese road construction: when I first saw these long ropes of red lights, I thought something festive was happening. Nope. It’s how they mark off dangerous areas. They use ropes of dirt cheap energy-saving LEDs. Smart. And festive!

Also, they’ve replaced the stop/slow sign guy with a robot of sorts. 2 stands are put up, each with a light, one on each end of the work zone. One light will show a blue arrow to the traffic that can go through, while the other end shows a red light with a countdown timer. Neat. (But it puts the Stop/Slow sign guys out of a job.)

I’ve been seeing more and more countdown timers on crosswalks. It’s sort of an inverted pyramid with red bars. One red bar disappears every 5-10 seconds, then you get to go.

Oh, and crosswalk music. Dammit, I can’t get one of the little songs out of my head. Do-do-do do doo do-do-do do-do-do-do-do. I was even humming it to myself while hiking today. Mom informs me that the song is “When a Body Sees a Body Comin’ Through the Rye…” I still can’t get it out of my head.

Speaking of weird music. At 5 p.m. in Togakushi, I heard mysterious organ music, with no discernible source. It was some sort of church music, too, which is really odd for rural Japan, but I suppose there’s a perfectly good Japanese Reason for it.

EDIT: I found out the reason for the music: it has to do with synchronizing government time, so that everyone knows that it’s 5 p.m. It has something to do with disaster planning and preparedness. It also serves as a “gentle reminder” to the kids out playing that, “Now would be a really good time to go home.” Gotta love NHK.

Oh, and my theory of why is there so much weird and random English? Simple. Nobody over here cares if it’s grammatically correct, because it’s not aimed at us foreigners. It’s aimed at the locals, and they don’t think spelling “Lodge” as “Rodge” is that bad. (I did see a Rodge today.)

I have a new theory of why people avoid me. It’s because they think, “Ah, crap. A foreigner. I bet he’s going to start babbling to me in English any second now, and the only English I remember from High School is ‘Hello. Where is John? Are you John? No, I am Peggy.'”

At least that’s what I figure. Can you remember any of your compulsory high school foreign language? I know if I saw a desperate Frenchman asking for help, part of me would want to just keep walking and feign ignorance, too.

The only French I remember is “Ou est la toilette?” and “Je m’appelle Richard,” so I totally understand.

Total kilometers walked today… uh… 1.4+1.4+1.9+1.9+1.4+.5… that’s 8, right? I’m too tired to do the math.

Tomorrow is travel to Sendai, and not much else. I’m not going to be up for much more than that.

Nagano: Zenkoji and Togakushi: Part One, Zenkoji and Nagano

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Nov 052007

Another day in Nagano. Lots of walking.

LOTS of it.

I got up late. I slept in until 9:30 a.m. because I was tired.

I’m sure Nagano has a lot of great Olympic-related sights, but I decided to skip those. It just didn’t do anything for me, and if I can’t ride the bobsled, what’s the point? (Also, I didn’t want to risk injury on the skating rink at M-Wave.)

Zenkoji

First off was Zenkoji Temple. It’s famous. Or at least the mobs and mobs of people there led me to believe that. It was pretty, but I didn’t get much more out of it than that. Maybe I’m suffering from temple burnout. It was just a huge crush of middle-aged and elderly people shuffling around in tour groups having their pictures taken in staged settings. The photographer would have bleachers set up in the standard “Here’s where I take the group picture” place, and they all lined up and dutifully went through with it.

Definitely not my cup of tea.

I did take a few pictures of it:

Heading to the temple:

Looking back in the direction I just came:

The outer gate is impressive:

You can see the inner gate in the distance. Here’s a shopping street full of restaurants and souvenir shops:

Getting closer to the inner gate, but there’s nothing to see–it’s closed for renovation.

Entering the temple (more shichi-go-san, but no children present today, just tour groups of seniors):

Turtles Chillin’ Out:

Shots of Various Temple Buildings:

This is a backlit shot of the inner gate, if I remember correctly.

Heading out to JR Nagano:

Passing down the souvenir shop street again:

After the 1.4 Km hike there, I took the bus to the station to get lunch and get some ideas for seeing mountains and scenic stuff. Something that didn’t involve mobs of tourists and bleachers. Since it was noon, the department store was open, so I bought some sandwiches and a chocolate croissant.

I took a few photos of the area around JR Nagano:

Okay, this post is getting long. Time to break it into two parts. Togakushi is in Part Two!

Slow Train to Nagano

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Nov 042007

Today was another travel day. A very long one, at that. Sayonara, Osaka. It was fun. I have to come back sometime. I really loved it there.

Now off to Nagano, which takes a while to get to from Osaka.

Back in Nagoya

The Business Hotel Nissei was good to me. I got to sleep in until 8:30 a.m., because check-out wasn’t until 11 a.m. Then it was time to lug all my stuff all over Japan again.

I left Shin-Osaka at about 11:30 a.m., and got to Nagoya at around 1:00 p.m. It was time to spawn-camp the coin lockers. I managed to snag lockers for my backpack and day pack, but not for my big suitcase. I had to lug that thing around for a few hours. Note to self: how do you like that big bag now?

I wanted to take a break in Nagoya because I wanted to eat and just not think about riding on a train for a bit. Food eaten, shopping done, feeling refreshed, I went about looking for a train to Nagano.

There are 2 ways you can go from Nagoya to Nagano.

Route #1: the shinkansen. You ride for 1:45 to Tokyo, change to the Nagano shinkansen, then ride for another 1:45. You travel over 580 Km in 3:30. Roughly. If your trains connect nicely. If they don’t, it’s more like 4 hours. But traveling on the shinkansen implies a certain level of style and comfort that I have easily become accustomed to, and spoiled by.

Route #2: take the Shinano Limited Express from Nagoya to Nagano. It’s 250 Km, but it takes you 2:50 to get there. It’s called the “wide view” because the windows are, well, wide. It’s a limited express because while it doesn’t hit every stop, it hits about 10-15, and it doesn’t go that fast through the mountains.

I was going to go the shinkansen route, but I couldn’t get a non-smoking seat reservation for about 2 hours. So it was off to the Shinano.

Taking the Shinano turned out to be a good choice.

Shinano Wide View to Nagano

The Shinano isn’t a shinkansen, so it wasn’t going to race down the tracks, but I enjoyed the ride. Once we got out of the city and into the Japan Alps, the views were stunning, especially with all the fall foliage. And the way the train rode, it was very soothing and very sleep-inducing. I dozed off and on. Kachunk-kachunk, kachunk-kachunk…

I hate that we don’t have a rail network like this in the U.S. Amtrak is getting there, but it’s sloooow.

On this train, the shinkansen luggage trick doesn’t work very well. I had to strain to fit my luggage in behind the last seat, because it’s a much tighter fit. Then again, I had some massive bags with me. (Something I keenly regret over and over.)

The shinkansen Luggage Trick

The shinkansen luggage trick involves taking your bloated American luggage and sticking it behind the last row of seats in the car. There’s plenty of room to put it there. But it’s not always the case with other trains.

Only afterwards did I realize that I was a dummy– there is a baggage area in the front of the car on the Shinano that I just didn’t see.

D’oh.

Nagano

I arrived in Nagano, then had to camp the elevator to get to the taxi stand… seriously, sometimes Japan drives me nuts.

I got to my hotel, the JAL City Hotel, and got settled. I get American Airlines frequent flyer points for staying here- huzzah!

Naturally, the department stores had closed at 7 p.m., because Nagano is a small city, not a big one. I found a restaurant somewhere. I went with something safe tonight, because I was tired and not feeling 100%. You can always get decent pizza in Japan.

And Lawson always has something else food-wise. Japan’s conbinis have saved me on occasions so numerous, I’ve lost count.

Wash My Clothes.

I went back to the hotel. Now things got interesting. I found out my room didn’t have any Internet in it, so the guy at the desk switched me out. A bit of a hassle, but I need my Internet, because I have things to plan. It’s something that more and more hotels offer. (And the ones that don’t have Internet should get with the program!)

Then I asked the guy at the front desk where the nearest laundromat was. Well, he gave me directions, but I think he got confused, or maybe I got confused, because all I saw were strip clubs and those guys in shiny suits who ask you if you’re looking for fun.

Yeah… thanks, but no thanks. I just want my laundry done. Some woman who was dressed in some wild outfit approached me, and I asked her if she knew where the laundromat was. I don’t think she was expecting that.

I still have some Woolite with me, so at least I can have one set of not-too-fragrant clothes. Washing in the sink for the win.

Tomorrow is, uh… uh… I’ll have to get back to you tomorrow with that. I still don’t have a plan.

More Osaka: Giant Crab vs. Giant Octopus vs. Guy in a Clown Suit

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Nov 032007

It’s Saturday in Osaka, and time to go see more stuff. This will be my last full day in Kansai, so I want to make the most of it. I got up at 8 a.m., slowly got my act together, and made sure to get to the Osaka Aquarium (Kaiyukan) by 10:00 a.m., when it opened.

Osaka Aquarium

If you wind up in Osaka on a weekend, and you don’t get to that aquarium within 10 minutes of it opening, you’re done for. Luckily, I got there about 5 minutes after it opened, so the crowds were only annoying, instead of mind-bogglingly crushing.

About a block from the aquarium, there’s a Ferris wheel:

Then there’s another building. In front of that, there was an exhibit of art made from recycled objects by kids (You can see the aquarium looming in the background):

Then I got to the aquarium:

Which was already decorated for Christmas. (Early for U.S. standards.):

Then up the stairs on the right to the entrance:

The Aquarium is pretty good. If you don’t speak Japanese, then I recommend getting one of those mildly-annoying audio guides in English for 300 yen, because all of the exhibit explanations are in Japanese only. It’s handy because it turns on as you enter each exhibit, and stops talking when you leave the exhibit.

The only downside is that the script and the reader come off as a little difficult to understand. But it’s understandable enough to get an idea of what’s going on.

The exhibits were all pretty impressive, especially the whale shark. That was huge. They also had seals, sea lions, dolphins, sea otters, and fish as well, in all sorts of environments.

There were also plenty of opportunities to buy stuff. I wound up buying some post cards for my nephew, so he can get an idea of the exhibits there. Everything else was in Japanese, so he would have had to learn the language to get anything out of it. Then again, it couldn’t hurt him to have another language under his belt.

As I left the building at a little after 11 a.m., the hordes were arriving in force. The lines stretched out the door. So go early or don’t go on a weekend.

I saw the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga about 12-13 years ago, and while the one in Osaka is good, the one in Tennessee is better. I haven’t seen the one in Atlanta yet, although I hear it’s even more impressive. The Kaiyukan is good at giving you an idea of what’s in the waters of Japan, as well as all over the world.

There was also a double-size replica of the Santa Maria to ferry people over to the area where Universal Studios Japan is.

I have no idea why it was the Santa Maria.

But this is Japan, after all. They do things here that make perfect sense for them, and confuse the heck out of us foreigners. I’m already used to it by now.

Another shot of the harbor area (near the Santa Maria):

USJ in the Bag

I had mentioned yesterday that USJ was in my plans for today, but I had to make an executive decision– do I blow 1,500 yen to get there, then another 5,100 yen just on admission to see something I pretty much saw in Orlando? Or do I go back to the hotel, eat lunch, rest for a few minutes, then go to Dotonbori?

Well, duh.

I bagged USJ. I’ll visit it the next time I’m in Osaka. Or Orlando.

Dotonbori

After recharging batteries, itâ€™s time to go to Dotonbori, America-mura, Ebisubashi, and the Kamigata Ukiyoe Museum.

Leaving the hotel:

First off, Dotonbori.

It’s a bustling area around the river in Minami. It’s this wild collection ofÂ wild stores with even wilder signs. Is it fun? Of course it’s fun!

How is it spelled? I’ve seen it as “Dotombori” and “Dotonbori.” This sign says “Dotonbori, so I’ll go with it:

I needed food. I found the takoyaki stand with the biggest line, and waited 10 minutes for excellent takoyaki. (Takoyaki is a grilled octopus dumpling that Osaka’s famous for.) It’s screaming hot, so if you’re not careful, you’ll burn the heck out of your mouth.

The line:

The stand:

I took a lot of pictures around the area while wandering around. It’s a fun area to wander and people-watch. Just stay out of the pachinko parlors if you value your hearing. I’m not sure why, but apparently there’s some rule that every pachinko parlor has to be louder than a jet plane taking off.

Hey, don’t look at me. Rules are rules.

Some more photos:

Kuidaore Taro, locally famous:

Giant Crab!

An octopus eating takoyaki? Cannibal!

Hotel with interesting columns:

This one is a restaurant with a ship for a sign:

All Ferrengi will worship this guy (because he has the lobes for business!):

I may have mentioned this before, but Dotonbori is famous for its canals, which people have been known to jump in whenever the Hanshin Tigers when the Japanese Professional Baseball Championship. (Not very often.)

Another canal:

A lot of the canals have barriers to keep people from jumping in. I can’t figure out why anyone would want to, but I guess that’s a local thing.

Ukiyoe Museum

After blowing a few hundred yen on a UFO catcher (a crane game where you pay $10 to try to win a $3 toy), it was off to the Ukiyoe museum. I think I mentioned it yesterday, but ukiyoe is a style of art used to depict famous scenes from Japanese Theater in the 19th century. If you think of traditional Japan, you will probably get the image of an ukiyoe in your head. It’s hard not to.

Or just look at the poster in the photo below:

The museum has a collection of prints from the 19th century. If you’re a history buff or you’re in to art, then I recommend it. The museum itself is a little small, so you can get through it in less than an hour, which is pretty good for an art museum.

After looking at prints, it was time to hit the gift shop. Cute Things were found and purchased. I swear, Japan knows I’m a sucker for Cute Things. (But most of these are souvenirs for other people.)

America Mura

I set off to see what the big deal about America Mura is about. I’m still not quite sure, to be honest, and I was there.

I suppose you could buy clothes there or something? I wasn’t really feeling it.

Shinsaibashi

After America Mura, I wandered some more in Shinsaibashi, another shopping district/arcade just north of Dotonbori. It’s basically a long city street with a roof overhead.

One of the entry points:

I found some hard-to-find souvenirs, and had a delicious custard and chocolate crepe. They make great crepes in Japan. You can get them filled with all kinds of stuff, too. I’m sure you can get them in the U.S., but I’ve never seen lines like that for crepes.

Pro tip: In Japan, if you see a lot of people standing in line for a restaurant and you have an hour or two free, join them in line. Whatever they’re waiting for is probably good enough to make your head explode with one bite. Japan is full of people who will patiently wait 2 hours for a cheeseburger if the cheeseburger is the best damn cheeseburger you’ve ever eaten in your entire life.

I also found Atari-ya? Oh, another pachinko parlor. Dang. Got me all excited for nothing.

On the way back to the hotel, look! Glico Man! He’s another Thing that’s Famous Because It’s Famous:

I wandered some more then went back to the hotel to recharge.

Den-Den Town, Bic Camera

Recharged, I set out for Den-Den Town, the Osaka version of Akihabara (the electronics and nerd wish fulfillment zone) and realized too late that I was stupid again. Everything in Den-Den Town closes at 7 p.m., or just about everything. A lot of shopping areas in Japan are like that. If you want to fully experience a shopping area, you have to do it by 7 p.m. You can’t just set out at 7 and hope to catch stores still open. You’ll only get 1/3rd or 1/4th of them that way. The rest of the stores– you know, the ones with the really cool stuff? Yeah, they closed at 7. More like 6:50.

There’s always Akihabara in Tokyo, I guess. I’m still kind of bummed about it, but I think I’ll live.

I stopped by Bic Camera, Osaka style. They were having a deal where you got extra points if you bought something today, so I bought a Japanese PS2. Now I just have to figure out how to carry it around with me for the next week or two. Hey, that is considered a learning aid in my book.

I went back to the hotel to rest a little, and play a little FFTA-2 (itâ€™s awesome), then I went out for dinner.

BBQ, Korean Style

Dinner was great. I found a Korean barbecue place right down the street, and after a few false starts and some odd words on the menu I had never heard of before, I got a lot of tasty slices of raw meat, which I then cooked on the grill built in to the table. I love Korean barbecue now. This trip has totally spoiled me, food-wise. I donâ€™t know how Iâ€™m going to scratch my culinary itches in the States now. Pardon me while I go sob quietly in a corner to myself.

…

I still havenâ€™t seen any really weird vending machines here. Iâ€™ve seen ones for beer, cigarettes, drinks, laundry detergent, PPV TV at hotels, ice cream, tickets to enter attractions, camera film, newspapers, and thatâ€™s about it. I havenâ€™t seen any really weird stuff yet. Iâ€™m going to have to find some now.

Homeless Problem

Japan has a homeless problem. They may not want to admit it, and they may want to ignore it, but itâ€™s there. As soon as Den-Den Town was shutting down, lots of homeless people were bringing their cardboard boxes out and building temporary shelters for the night. I guess every society has the same problems, and no good solutions.

But every city I’ve been in now, I’ve seen lots of homeless people trying to build shelters at night, or camped out in parks. I hope for their sake that either the government or local organizations can get a handle on this problem.

Travel Tips (How to Use Public Transport Effectively!)

The best trick for saving money and hassle on riding the subways? Itâ€™s the minimum fare trick. Go to the ticket machine, dump in a few hundred yen, and buy the cheapest ticket you can. When you get where youâ€™re going, if you have to pay more fare, you do it at the fare adjustment machine, and it will give you change. Very simple, very easy, and you donâ€™t wind up overpaying for your subway ticket. (And you don’t wind up missing your train while you try to guess what your fare is going to be.) Better than buying tickets is using one of those fare cards, if they have one in your area.

Buses. Buses are very important to figure outÂ how to use while in Japan, because itâ€™s the only way youâ€™ll be able to get to some places that aren’t served by trains. Also, taxis can get expensive.

Get on the bus. In some places, a little ticket dispenser will issue you a numbered ticket. (Usually something from 1-40.) Itâ€™s telling you what stop you got on the bus. Then as you ride, youâ€™ll see a big board with stop numbers and fares by the driverâ€™s head. That board will tell you how much money you pay if you want to get off now.

When you get to your stop, check your number, look at the board, and dump the ticket and the exact change into the hopper. If you need change, use the change machine built into it. You wonâ€™t get change back from dropping a 500 yen coin into the hopper. I learned this the hard way. When in doubt, ask. Also, when youâ€™re going to be riding a lot of buses, ask if there’s a card that lets you use it all day. It saves you from having to mess with the tickets and the coins.

But make sure it’s worth the money first– it isn’t always a good deal.

For example, in Kyoto, some of the buses are 220 yen flat fare buses. Those are the ones to places like Kinkakuji. If you’re just going to Kinkakuji for the day, or that area, the 500 yen all-day pass isn’t worth it, because you’ll only spend 440 yen on fares.

I got interviewed by some people from the Osaka Chamber of Commerce or something similar. They wanted to know the most famous Osakan I could think ofâ€¦ and I guessed Toyotomi Hideyoshi. (I think thatâ€™s his name, anyway.) Heâ€™s the guy who had the castle built. Heh. They also wanted to know what I thought about Osakaâ€™s famous foods. So I told them- takoyaki is good, but the octopus is a little too chewy for my taste. Okonomiyaki is the clear choice. I could eat that every day. (Insert Homer Simpson drooling noise here.)

Tomorrow, I head to Nagano.

Oh, Osaka! Castles and Towers and Okonomiyaki!

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Nov 022007

Today I left fun fun Fukuoka for Osaka. The shinkansen ride took about 2:45, and I got there right at 1:45 p.m.

The way the shinkansen works is that it runs on special tracks designed for high-speed rail. This means that not every station is equipped to handle these trains. So Instead of going to Osaka Station, the shinkansen stops at Shin-Osaka (Shin means ‘new’ in Japanese, by the way. You’ll see a lot of shins in Japan.)

On arrival, I went through my now usual drill whenever I get to a new city in Japan. I get off the train, get out of the way, take my bearings for a few seconds, then start hunting down the information booth, and raid it for maps and pamphlets. I find it’s the most efficient way to find the big sights in a town. I’ll cross-check with guidebook opinions, but I’ll go with the pamphlet’s directions, because Lonely Planet Japan’s directions suck.

The maps of Osaka at the station are great, and they’re free.

Free is good.

The next thing I do when I get to a new town is figure out how I’m going to get to the hotel.

Precisely, how am I going to get out of the station? Most major stations, and even minor ones, have at least 2 and as many as 40 exits.

Yes, 40.

40 exits.

So the exit you pick can become important, because if you choose poorly, you can wind up all turned around and lost. Find the station map, make sure which way North is pointing, then proceed to the exit you need.

Namba Mamba

Shin-Osaka is connected to the subway lines, so it’s not too bad. Follow the subway signs.

It’s kind of far away from my hotel, so I decided to just take subways instead of a cab to the hotel. It might have saved me some time to take a cab, but it’s risky to take cabs in big cities over long distances. Japanese traffic can be horrible, and I didn’t want to risk it.

I got off the subway at Namba station, and promptly got lost. No big surprise there. Prepare to get lost in Japan. It’s just hard to find things sometimes, and it’s oftentimes disorienting. This is why you got the map at the station, anyway. I should have brought a compass. It would have saved me a lot of time.

A nice security guard pointed out the way to go, and I followed it for a bit, then thought I could improve upon it, and got lost again. But this time I knew which way North was, so I figured it out on my own. It took a while, but I found my hotel. It’s the Business Hotel Nissei, and it’s 5,250 yen a night. Dirt cheap, the way I like it. It comes with all the usual amenities, except for Internet.

Ah, well. I’ll survive 2 days without Internet.

I dumped my stuff in the room, which is the tiniest yet– I have to go out into the hallway to change my mind– and made my battle plan. I know I can’t see everything in a city, and if I did, I’d wear myself out and not enjoy it. So I picked today’s and tomorrow’s highlights.

Today I was going to go to Osaka Castle, The Umeda Sky Building Floating Garden Observatory, and wander around Kita Osaka. (Kita is Japanese for North. Another handy word to learn.)

Osaka is broken into 4 districts. Kita (North), Chuo (middle), Minami (South), and the harbor. My goal today was to knock out some sights in Kita and Chuo, and then hit the harbor and Minami on Saturday.

Osaka-jou

Osaka Castle is in Chuo, and it’s very scenic. There’s a lot of hiking involved. I managed to get there just as the sun was starting to set, so I think I got some good shots of the castle. I love the “golden time,” when the sun gets low and the light gets really nice and reddish-orange.

Photos! Outer gate:

Now some photos of the castle exterior:

Fall colors:

Clouds loom overhead:

It looks like someone is climbing outside the guardrail???

Another angle:

Golden light hitting the front of the castle:

I climbed up to the top of the castle, and enjoyed the observation deck. The views from the deck are superb. You can see all of downtown Osaka, and with the late afternoon sun, it was all very beautiful.

Great shot of the castle grounds from the top:

And the Osaka Skyline:

Look, another Ferris wheel!

I went down and took a few pictures of the front of the castle again, bathed in the sunset:

On my way out of the castle area, some nice shots:

I went back down and started walking through the castle park on my way back to the hotel, when I saw a band office. That gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

The fountain in the park was pretty.

Longer exposure:

I walked a little further and saw some of the city’s homeless population setting up tents for the night in the park.

Kita~~!

I headed back to the hotel to rest a bit, because I had just walked about 3 miles on an empty stomach, and I was out of gas. I got back around 6, slept until 7:30, grabbed a quick shower and headed to The Umeda Sky Building Floating Garden Observatory, which is in Kita Osaka by Osaka Station. The area is called Umeda.

The Sky Building is two office towers joined in the middle up high by a big 4-5 story sqaure, so the building kind of looks like a boxy Arc d’ Triumphe. It’s a bit of hassle to get to the observation area, but worth it. Only downside– I got there after 9 p.m., so everything but the deck was closed. That was kind of a bummer.

In Japan, if a store closes at 5 p.m., you better get your stuff by 4:45 p.m., because at 4:50 p.m., they’ve already got everything covered up. At 5 p.m., the metal shutters go down. So it doesn’t really close at 5 p.m. It closes about 15 minutes before that. That’s been my experience so far.

Either way, I was out of a chance at souvenirs. Even the restaurants had closed. Then again, I’ve never been a big fan of any eating establishments at the top of Tall Buildings or Towers, except for the late Windows on the World at the old World Trade Center in New York. That was an incredible restaurant.

In general, though, the food at the top of buildings whose claim to fame is their tallness isn’t so hot. The Space Needle comes immediately to mind for some reason.

To get to the observation deck, you climb 3 flights of stairs, take a glass elevator for 32 stories, then go up a 4-story glass enclosed escalator (kind of like a habitrail tube), then you climb 2 more flights of stairs, and you’re there.

At night, Osaka is gorgeous. The views from the observation deck took my breath away. Totally worth it. I tried to take some pictures, but they probably didn’t do any justice.

Had to crop this one a bit:

It’s worth a trip there, if you’re in the area.

Music to My Stomach

By now it’s 9:30 p.m., and I’m weak in the knees with hunger. I’ve been walking all day on not enough food, and I need calories badly. But I don’t want more department store or conbini food. I want real Japanese food. Real Osaka food.

I started hunting, and I finally found a place that serves okonomiyaki. It’s a little tiny restaurant called Melody that has 4 tables and a bar. And it’s almost as big as my hotel room. So it’s a tight fit.

Everyone says okonomiyaki is “a Japanese pancake.” It is not. It is similar in that it’s made from batter and cooked on a griddle, but that’s all. Okonomiyaki is made with a batter with veggies chopped up in it, then you add toppings. The toppings are where it gets fun. I ordered mine “modern,” which means that you cover it with yakisoba (grillled soba noodles in sauce). Then I added shrimp, mayo (which is standard), bonito (dried fish) flakes, and a sweet sauce.

It was so incredibly good. Ah, man. I’m ruined. I don’t know how I’m going to get an okonomiyaki fix in the U.S. now. Let alone, a good one.

Stomach filled, I headed back to the hotel, and made a quick stop at a conbini on the wayto get some supplies for later. (Okay, snacks.) All of this walking consumes a lot of carbs.

I like to believe that, anyway.

Tomorrow I’ll try to visit the Aquarium at the harbor, maybe Universal Studios Japan if I feel like it, or the ukiyoe museum in Minami, and Dotomburi for dinner in Minami. Reality will probably dictate that I dump USJ, but I’ll try to see some of it. I do want to see the ukiyoe place. Ukiyoe is an old style of depicting nature and people. It was popular in the early-mid 19th century.

Random Stuff: you can get license plates where the letters/numbers in the tag light up at night. Way cool.

Everything closes at 8, 9, or 10. Main sights close at 4, 4:30, 5, or 5:30. They have a quick trigger finger on closing stuff. Seriously quick.

Hotels are stingy with power outlets. Bring a power splitter if you can.

Shopping arcades are awesome, and there are lots of shopping arcades in Osaka. I could really dig living here.

The other big Osaka specialty is takoyaki, which are little fried dough balls with octopus inside. I’m going to try to find some to snack on.

Filling in the Blanks

Japan, Travel Comments Off

Nov 022007

Okay, I figured out what I’m doing next.

After Osaka it’s Nagano, then Sendai, then Tokyo. I just made the reservations for Nagano and Sendai a little while ago. I’ll deal with Tokyo later.

Nagano is smack in the middle of the Japan Alps, which should be beautiful this time of year, and Sendai has Matsushima, one of the three most beautiful sights of Japan. Miyajima was on that list as well, so I have high expectations for Matsushima.

I know I’ve been going on and on about Beppu, but if I went to Beppu, then I would have had to go all the way back to Kyushu from Osaka, and I don’t like to double-back like that. And it would make the next day’s trip hellishly long. I’m trying to keep train rides under 4 hours, 5 tops. Fukuoka to Osaka is going to be just under 3 hours, which is perfect. It’s enough time to read up on Osaka, but not so long as to be uncomfortable.

Osaka to Nagano is going to be longer, because I have to make a quick stop in Kyoto, but Kyoto is on the way there. And the train from Kyoto to Nagano is a scenic view train, so it should be enjoyable.

I really wanted to go to Hokkaido, but I’ll have to save that for another time. The travel times are just too long there for this trip.

By the way, hyperdia.com rocks. It gives you the entire Japan Rail timetable at your fingertips. Click the English button if you can’t speak æ—¥æœ¬èªž, and it will make sense of a sort.

Hiroshima/Fukuoka. Hello Kitty Robot Overlords.

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Nov 012007

Last night in Hiroshima I tried to do laundry again. It’s not always easy to find a hotel that has coin-operated washers that work. Even though the 5,000-7,000 yen a night business hotels tend to have them, they aren’t always in the best shape.

I give you the hotel I stayed in last night as an example. The washing machine was fine. It did an admirable job of washing. But the dryers were all way too tiny, and either didn’t dry the clothes or just squealed like a pig being stabbed with a rusty icepick.

I asked the clerk if there was a laundromat (they call them “Coin Laundry” in Japan) nearby, and he showed me where one was.

Now, usually when I stay near the station, it’s a mixed bag. Sometimes it’s shiny and new, and other times it’s a bit on the older side. Hiroshima has a little of both. Some shiny right next to some not-so-shiny.

The laundromat was a tiny little one with some old machines, and an older couple, who were the owners, working on them.

I asked the man which dryer was the best, and he steered me to the one he just finished repairing. Then I wound up chatting with them in half-Japanese, half-English for the next 45 minutes or so. Turns out they were really nice down-to-earth people. It was a lot of fun talking to them.

Leaving Hiroshima for Fukuoka–Err, I Mean Hakata!

I went back to the hotel, got some sleep, and got up at 8 a.m. to catch my 10 a.m. train to Fukuoka/Hakata. If you want to go to Fukuoka, make sure you tell them you want Hakata Station, not Fukuoka Station. (JR Fukuoka is somewhere in Northern Tohoku, like 1,200 Km away or something.) It was about an hour and a quarter to Fukuoka/Hakata, but much of it was in tunnels, so the scenery wasn’t so hot. No photos.

On the way, I planned my trip to Fukuoka for the day. I didn’t have a whole lot of time, so I went by my usual standbys: a museum, a tall thing with a view, and shopping.

First I headed to the info counter at the station for local brochures and maps. Fukuoka doesn’t really have a “You must do this or you will regret it forever” sort of thing, so it’s pretty much up to you. It is a pretty big city, so there’s a lot of fun things to do. On the downside, there really wasn’t a whole lot worth taking pictures of, either.

I stopped by the hotel to drop off my luggage. Some hotels will let you leave your luggage if you show up before check-in. If not, you can dump it in a locker, but going to the hotel can save you some yen on locker rentals. I found another Comfort Inn, and using my AAA card, I cut the rate down to 5,400 yen. 600 yen is another lunch bento box.

Exploring Hakata and Fukuoka

Then I went to explore Hakata. (Which is what they call this portion of town.) I went to the Hakata Folk Museum and looked at some cool exhibits of daily life in the area over the last 150 or so years. I really like looking at old Meiji, Taisho and Showa period stuff. It’s interesting to see the cultural transformation of Japan from an isolated, almost medieval society into an industrial powerhouse, and how that transformation affected the people of Japan.

They also had this really cool telephone exhibit. When you picked up the receiver, you could hear a couple having a conversation in full-blown Hakata-ben, which is the regional variant of Japanese spoken around here. It was so different from the Japanese I’ve been studying, that couldn’t understand a word, but it was fun, anyway.

On the way out of the Folk Museum, I saw the entrance to Kushida Shrine. I’m all shrine-d out at this point, so I took a few photos and headed on. But it looks like a neat place:

I decided to check out Canal City, because I saw some interesting pictures of it somewhere online. It was sort of disappointing. It’s just a mall. Yes, it has some interesting architecture, but in the end it’s still a mall. They did have an amazing arcade there, though.

A few Canal City photos:

The old shopping arcade a block away was much more interesting to me.

I found a store that was selling prints of old Edo– that were printed in the USA. So I didn’t buy any.

I decided to begin my search for Robosquare, which I could not find. The map indicated one place, and it wasn’t there. Nothing but more shopping malls. So I wandered for a bit, saw some scenic canals, and ate my first Mos Burger. It was delicious. The burger is definitely good. So were the fries and onion rings. And the iced cocoa. I love iced cocoa. Japan has some interesting beverages.

Here’s the general vicinity of Mos Burger and the non-existent Robosquare (at least not in this location):

By then, it was a little after 3, so I decided to go to the hotel and check in. It’s a VERY nice room for 5,400 yen a night. Seriously, not to sound like a shill or anything, but you should check out the Comfort Inns in Japan. They’re dirt cheap, they have nice amenities, and you can book online pretty easily. They only have one hotel in Tokyo, though, so that’s kind of a bust, but otherwise they’re great. They have hotels all over Japan. (And if you have AAA, you get the 10% discount.)

I have CNN-J on the TV, so I get some English language programming to get a rest. I sacked out until 5, then I went out to see some more sights.

Fukuoka at Night

First I went to Tenjin, the big shopping district, in order to catch a bus to the Fukuoka Tower, the 2nd tallest building/tower thing in Japan. The bus stopped nearby, I got out, and presto! I found Robosquare– 5 miles west of where the map said it was.

A nice lady there showed me a number of very cute robots they had on display.

The first one was Paro, a robot baby seal with fur and those sad seal eyes, and it made cute noises when you petted it. Apparently they use it for therapy for kids, the elderly, and people with mental or emotional problems of one sort or another. It helps people relax. It’s very cute and fluffy. I’m sure if they sold it in the U.S., it would clobber Elmo. (And parents’ wallets, too. Those sensors aren’t free, you know.)

Then I got to play with some of the original Sony Aibos. Cute little robodoggies! It was a lot of fun.

Then she showed me a robot whose name escapes me, but it’s designed to assist the elderly with daily tasks. It doesn’t move much. It’s more like someone to talk to who also handles your e-mail and phone duties… sort of like a robo-secretary, I guess. It was cute.

Then came the robot that had the most personality, but which also scared me a little bit. It was Hello Kitty ROBO. It actually said some funny stuff (all in Japanese, of course), but it was just a little bit creepy, and I never could figure out what you would buy it for. It was more of a toy than a tool. Toys are fine, too, but this one looked pricey.

I thanked the people at Robosquare and left to go to the Fukuoka Tower. It was tall. The views were great, the pictures were difficult to get.

A circular polarizer is a necessity for these kinds of places, and you can’t easily attach them to a compact camera.

Some photos of the Fukuoka skyline at night. Don’t expect too much:

I like photographing Ferris wheels at night. I wish I brought a better camera:

I made a mad dash back to Tenjin before the department stores closed to find dinner. I love Japanese department stores. They all have such wonderful food in their basements, and you can take it home with you.

After picking up dinner, I took a walk around Tenjin. It’s a lot of fun. It reminds me a bit of Tokyo, only less cold. People are nice and lively, and it feels like a lot of stuff is going on all the time. Tenjin is definitely worth the time, especially in the evening. (But a lot of stores close at 8.) I found my favorite chain in Japan so far– Bic Camera. They have 6 floors of nerd toys. I picked up a camera neck strap, and saw the Epson RD1-s, which is a digital camera that takes Leica M Mount lenses, and is only 240,000 yen (~$2200 US).

I must purge all of my lustful thoughts for a camera I cannot afford.

The best thing I found was on the 6th floor. FFTA-2 for the DS! And a thick as all heck game guide! GET!

I went back to Hakata Station, and my hotel. The station gets depressing at night, because the homeless come in droves to sleep in front of it in the square. It’s a whole different place from the day.

The guidebooks all say that it’s easy to find a yatai (food stall) in Fukuoka, and it’s a thing you should do, but I couldn’t find one tonight. I’ll have to do it some other time. I also didn’t find the good Hakata-style Ramen places, either. I saw a few, but they weren’t the ones I was looking for. That’s something else to save for next time.

Fukuoka looks like a good place to live; the people are nice, the food is good, and there’s normal stuff to do. It may not be a tourist haven, but I was only here for a day, so what do I know? I do like the vibe here.

Anyway, I’m going to get some rest tonight, then I’m off to Osaka tomorrow morning. I’m not sure what I’m doing there yet, but I’ll have 3 hours on the train to figure it out.

After Osaka is _____. I need to fill that in tonight. After _____ is probably Sendai, though, then Tokyo.

_____ is probably Nagano, if I can find a room there.

Hiroshima/Miyajima Part Three, Miyajima Ropeway, Shishiwa

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Oct 312007

I spent about 30-40 minutes at Itsukushima Shrine, then had to hoof it up the mountain to the ropeway, because it was starting to get late in the day.

The Ropeway is a gondola-type thing that hangs from a cable system and carries you up the mountains, because otherwise you’d be there climbing for a few days. The path up to the Ropeway station at the bottom is pretty, albeit slightly cardiac-arrest-inducing. You’ll pass some very pretty scenes and more deer.

If you’re planning on a trip to Japan, and you want to go to places like Miyajima, then you’d better be in good shape, or else you will surely regret it.

From the Shrine to the Ropeway

Leaving the Shrine, I passed a canal and some shops:

Another shot of the canal and a bridge:

On the way, I saw this giant rice paddle at a restaurant:

Then I passed through one of the neighborhoods:

On the way to the Ropeway, I passed some o-torii. There’s a shrine nearby, but I didn’t have time to visit:

And then I crossed this bridge, and was close to the Ropeway station:

The upside to the ropeway is that it offers incredible views. The downside is that it’s 1,800 yen round-trip. There’s usually an option to go one-way (up) and walk down a road past more shrines and temples, but the road got washed out by a typhoon, and it would take hours, anyway. So I went round-trip.

Get the Rope! (Ropeway, that is!)

As I left the station and started the trip up to the top of Mt. Misen, I started taking pictures.

The station from my little car:

Heading up the ropeway, you can see the other cars coming back:

The view from the Ropeway is incredible. This is Miyajima-Guchi, where I took the ferry. I just wish there was a cable filter:

DyDo Drinco supports my trip!

There was this little beat-up box that would supposedly give me a narration for 100 yen, but I didn’t want to risk 100 yen on it. The black lump is my backpack:

At Kayatani Station, I had to change from a small car to a big car. There goes my privacy!

Looks like I’ll have it all to myself:

Views from the bigger car are still incredible:

Mt. Misen Summit/Shishiwa

After about 20 minutes of riding various cars, I made it to the top of the mountain. The sun hadn’t set yet, I exposed this shot for the sky:

The views from the top are incredible. Really incredible. Just wonderful. I went right around sunset, and was rewarded. But I couldn’t stay too long, because the ropeway closes at 5:30 p.m.

I’m not sure my camera could capture the beauty of these views. I guess I’ll have to go back to Miyajima when I come back to Japan.

Anyway, here are some of my efforts to capture the beauty of the views. Enjoy.

I used the zoom here to zoom in on Hiroshima. You can see one of the Ropeway stations.

I headed to the observation platform to take more pictures. It almost felt like you could just sail off the cliff. (You couldn’t, it was perfectly safe. It’s just an optical illusion.)

One of the islands:

Another island:

I like this shot.

The sun started to go behind the summit:

Sunset over the Inland Sea:

On the way down the mountain, Miyajima-Guchi from the Ropeway again. This time, you can see the ferry at the bottom:

I came back down the mountain to the ferry, then back to Hiroshima on the train.

Down the Mountain

On the way back to town, a few night shots. It’s a little blurry, but I like this shot of the bridge I crossed earlier at night. (Long exposure.)

The shops were all closing:

A last shot of the big red O-torii at night. 1-second exposure:

Guidebooks often say, “It’s a 26 minute train ride, followed by a 10 minute ferry ride.” That does not mean it’ll take you 36 minutes to get there. It’s more like an hour, because you wind up waiting.

Another thing– that cute wooden ichimatsu doll I bought in Kyoto for 1,580 yen? I found the same one here for 1,000 yen. In two stores here. Caveat emptor. It’s only 580 yen, but that’s a bento.

I rushed over to the department store to pick up dinner before it closed, and attempted to do laundry, only to discover that the dryers don’t work very well. So now it’s off to the laundromat down the street to finish up.

Tomorrow is Fukuoka/Hakata, and lots of non-shrine stuff.

Really, if you come to Japan, go to Hiroshima! There are some hard truths and beautiful views waiting for you. And the people are really nice.

Hiroshima/Miyajima Part Two, Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima

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Oct 312007

Ferry to Miyajima

After a one-hour rest break, I left for Miyajima, one of the three most beautiful sights in Japan, according to something someone famous said in the 17th century. Miyajima, the Heavenly Bridge near Kyoto, and Matsushima were the three most beautiful sights in Japan. To this day, they’re all “must see” places.

So far, he’s absolutely right. Miyajima is definitely a must-see if you’re going to Hiroshima. It’s also a good place to get all of the death and destruction of the past out of your brain, too.

JR runs a ferry a block away from the Miyajimaguchi station. Follow the crowds of people running. They’re probably all running to catch the ferry. The ferry is pretty cheap– 340 yen for a round trip. The JR pass might cover it, but I didn’t want to waste time finding out, because I didn’t want to miss it. They collect the tickets on the Miyajima side. If you want to go round trip, don’t lose your tickets.

So the first thing you’ll see is the big O-torii. (I’m not calling it an O-torii gate, because that’s sort of like saying “Hot water heater.” O-torii means “Gate” in Japanese anyway.) It’s a stunning sight with the Itsukushima Shrine right behind it. If you’re going to Miyajima, bring the best camera you have. I was made painfully aware of the limitations of the camera I brought with me here. I guess that’s where I sacrificed to save weight.

Anyway, some photos as I approached Miyajima:

Closeup of the big red o-torii:

Getting close to town:

Itsukushima Shrine

I got off of the ferry and headed to Itsukushima Shrine. On the way, you’ll pass another one of those huge rows of souvenir shops that litter every famous site in Japan. If you want cheap stuff, this is the place to get it. If you want nice stuff, look elsewhere. I prefer to get the little cheap cell phone straps that come randomly out of the 200 yen machines. So far I have the Geisha from Kyoto, the deer from Nara, and the red O-torii from Miyajima.

Another thing about Miyajima is that they have more sacred deer here, and that means more sacred deer poop. Watch your step.

I saw a deer tearing up the men’s room, going after the trash to try to find a snack, I guess. Didn’t get a photo, though. Dang.

On to the shire itself. It’s everything I expected it to be. Gorgeous. I took plenty of pictures, and enjoyed the scenery. Have a look.

Entering the shrine, komainu guard the entrance:

As I turned the corner, there was a good spot to get a zoomed in shot of the big red o-torii (it’s actually a good distance away):

Entering the shrine:

The walkways around the shrine buildings:

I like this shot:

Looking back towards the land, you can see a pagoda towering above:

More photos of the buildings:

Main Shrine area:

More o-torii:

This bridge is a national treasure. Forgot the name:

This is one of my favorite shots:

This one’s not bad, either. Cranes in the frame:

In part three, I head up to the Miyajima Ropeway, and get some good photos from the top of the mountain on the island.

Hiroshima/Miyajima Part One, Hiroshima Peace Park and Museum

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Oct 312007

I had a big day in Hiroshima and Miyajima today.

I started off with a trip to what they call “The A-Bomb Dome.” (The Genbaku Dome if you want to say it in Japanese.) It’s a famous building that was still standing after the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Other buildings were left standing, too, but they were all demolished later on. This one was preserved in spite of some protests that the city should move on and clear the site.

It’s a very moving site. It’s one of those things everyone should see. I took photos, so maybe you can get a feel for the place.

As I came to the site, I took this shot of the exterior:

Walking around the outside of the building:

More exterior shots:

Some photos of the interior of the building:

There are a bunch of shrines and memorials around the Peace Park area. There’s even one for conscripted Korean and Chinese laborers who died in the blast working for the Japanese against their will.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Shrine, and Museum

Moving across the river towards the Peace Park, two last looks at the Genbaku Dome:

I also had a look at the main memorial in front of the Peace Museum.

Approaching the memorial flame:

Getting closer in:

Zooming in a bit more:

Extreme detail:

Better shot of the memorial flame:

Memorial Shrine from the pond side:

The Shrine is designed so that as you approach it, you can see the Genbaku Dome:

Another shot:

I moved on to the Peace Museum. I find it really hard to put my feelings about this into words. The donated items on display underlined the horror of the bombing. Many of the items were things like “School Uniform of ____-san, who survived the blast but died 2 days later,” or “____-san was never found, but this shredded uniform of his was.” I think the part that hit the hardest were the pictures of the kids who died so horribly.

If you haven’t read it, you should read Hiroshima by John Hershey.

The students from a girls’ junior high school were downtown with some other students helping clear out a demolished area, when they were hit by the blast. It was all very sad, and very horrible.

There were a lot of torn clothes on display– they were torn because they were blown off of the people wearing them. The clothes were found, but the often people never were.

There were also stories about the people who weren’t lucky enough to die right away, but instead received lethal doses of radiation and died soon after. I’ll spare you the details, but they were pretty horrendous.

After I finished visiting the museum, I walked around a bit, and then had lunch, since I had skipped breakfast in anticipation of the museum. (Life does go on.)

I think that every person who can should come to Hiroshima and see this. It’s the sort of thing that changes the way you see the world.

I think this is a good spot to wrap up this post. The Miyajima content will get its own post.

Random Musings from Hiroshima

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Oct 302007

I managed to snatch dinner before they could snatch it back out of my hands. Department stores just up and close at the drop of a hat. And they have confusing hours. For example, the food stores in the basement close at 8 p.m. The main stores close at 8 p.m. The book store closes at 9 p.m. The restaurants close at 11 p.m., but stop taking orders at 10 p.m.

Make sure you read the hours before you go in. Great advice I should probably take myself.

I managed to find a soft sandwich and some pastry at 7:59:59 p.m., and then didn’t have time to find anything but water to drink with it.

I came back to the hotel to do laundry… to find out it’s too late to finish it all. A vast faceless conspiracy moves against me! Apparently laundry hours stop at 10 p.m., when they unplug the machines. Fair enough. If my room was next to the laundry, I’d want that service as well.

My dentist e-mailed me back. He said to go buy an emery board and file down the annoying bits until he could fix it properly, but not to file off too much. Ah, the joys of travel.

It is pretty cool that he replied to my e-mail that quickly. Right now I’m 7,000 miles away from his very comfortable dentist’s chair. (Dr. Saib has great chairs, and knows how to take care of a patient!)

I’m going to go to Fukuoka/Hakata next for a day and check things out. I found a cheap Comfort Inn there. 5,400 yen with my AAA discount. I saved 600 yen off of their regular rack rate.

Too bad I can’t use Comfort Inn when I’m in Tokyo. They have a pretty nice chain of hotels with very reasonable rates, and I can use the English website in the US to set everything up. That’s really handy.

From Nara to Hiroshima

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Oct 302007

Chipped Teeth on Rye.

I made it to Hiroshima just now. And I somehow managed to chip one of my teeth on a sandwich.

A sandwich.

A soft, chewy, delicious sandwich.

Dammit.

Now I’ve got this rough spot on my teeth that I can’t stop rubbing with my tongue. So now my tongue is sore. The tooth doesn’t hurt at all.

Getting from Nara to Hiroshima

The travel details are probably dull, but I’ll go over them anyway. I left Nara at about 11:30, got to Kyoto at 12:30, chipped my tooth at Isetan in Kyoto at 1:00, hopped on the shinkansen to Okayama at 1:21, changed trains to the RailStar at Okayama at 2:45, and arrived in Hiroshima at 3:36.

The Railstar trains are nice. It’s 2×2 seating, just like the Green Cars on the Tokaido shinkansen. I haven’t ridden in any Green Cars at all. (Green Cars are the first class section of the shinkansen.) I got the regular JR Pass to save $200, and I can reserve seats just fine. Also, the seats are pretty roomy and comfortable in the regular reserved cars.

When I got to Hiroshima, I wandered around the area a bit trying to get to my hotel.

And here’s a travel tip for those of you thinking about going to Japan– if the brochure says it takes X minutes from M Station, then take X and multiply it by the two times the number of bags you’re carrying. I’ve got 3 bags, technically, so it took me 6 minutes to find the hotel 1 minute away from the station. If it’s not near the station, I strongly recommend a cab if you have heavy bags. This place is right by the station, so no cab was needed. But in other places, it’s worth it to spend 1,000-1,500 yen on a cab to save your precious time and sanity.

Big View from a Small Room

I have a wonderful view here– I’m about 10 stories up, right by the river in front of JR Hiroshima Station. But I’m in the tiniest room ever. It does have some nice amenities but it’s tiny as all get-out. Hotel Kawashima, 6,300 yen a night, and the rooms have everything you need, except space. And it smells a little bit like men’s hair care products.

Photos!

This is probably the smallest hotel room yet for me (pardon the mess):

But the view is pretty cool. Just don’t fall out of the window!

Tomorrow I’ll try to see the Peace Park and visit Miyajima in one day because that’s all the time I have here. I’m going to scope out some places on the Internet and see if I can find a comfy room for Thursday Night that will help me forget my tooth for a while.

Speaking of which, does anyone know how to say Dental Wax in Japanese?

At least my dentist has e-mail. Maybe he’ll get back to me sometime tonight or early tomorrow with some ideas.

I’m a little woozy, too. Probably another migraine, or something like that.

Oh, and chocolate coronets are fun to eat. SomethingÂ else I learned at Isetan.

Tonight, I’m just going to relax in my room and get some food at the department store. I’m sure I can find one.

I hope I don’t break any more teeth.

Rub-a-dub

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Oct 302007

I figured I would mention this while I could still remember it. I just went down to the baths in the basement of the hotel. Okay, you know how you always hear, “Be careful, the baths in Japan are really hot!” you may be tempted to think, “Yeah, right.” At least I did.

Until now.

Man, those baths are hot. I started off by sitting on a little stool and washing myself with soap and water, because I’m probably dirty and I probably stink. And even if I don’t, that other guy probably does, and I don’t want to share water with him.

So I washed.

Then I went into the first pool. It’s plain scalding hot water that just kind of boils me alive.

After a minute or two, if you don’t die from shock, you’ll start to relax and it feels really good.

Then before I could see the Tunnel of Light, I got out and moved to the next bath. This one is slightly less scalding than the first one, but it’s still really hot. But this bath is better, because it has bubbles in it. And by bubbles, I mean lots and lots of bubbles. It feels really good, sort of like being in a soft drink someone left sitting in the car in the middle of summer. And now since I’m used to being scalded, it’s not so bad.

The next pool is a little evil, but it was awesome in its own right. It’s a small pool full of ice cold water.

Here’s where I commit my major bath faux pas.

I plunged in like a dork. Then I jumped right out when I realized that apparently you’re only supposed to scoop the water out over you, not dive in. Oops. I felt kind of bad about that. Oh well, making mistakes is part of being human.

Embarrassment aside, the cold water felt good, because this hotel also doesn’t have its A/C running anymore.

The last pool is actually sort of like a pool. It’s deep enough where you can walk around in it, and the water comes up to mid-chest on a tall guy. This one isn’t so cold, but it just feels good.

Then into the sauna! Freaking insanely HOT sauna. What’s that smoke you’re smelling? That’s probably you. You might want to do something about that. You’re starting to render. The Japanese guy who was showing me the ropes just laughed at me. I lasted 3 minutes tops in there. I went back to the various pools for a while, then got out.

And don’t forget to bring change, because the machine outside sells cold drinks. (I forgot.) Then again, where would I put it in my yukata? (Yukatas are nice, too. Very comfortable. Sort of a plain cotton bathrobe thing.)

I could also tell you about the lady coming out of the baths that I held the elevator door open for. When she saw a big goofy foreigner, I think it really threw her off. She thanked me for holding the door open, then promptly went to her corner of the elevator to stare at the … well … corner.

Being a foreigner here is fun sometimes, but I can see how that might get old after a while.

After this, I don’t see the need to go to Beppu. They only have pools of really scalding hot water, and I’ve already done that. It’s nice, but not travel-for-3-hours-each-way nice. I’ll either add another night in Hiroshima or Osaka.

Anyway, I’m done with Nara for now, so it’s on to Hiroshima.

From Kyoto to Nara

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Oct 292007

For my last night in Kyoto (which was last night), I went back to Isetan’s 11th floor. This time I went back to my chicken and pizza places for a second raid. Good stuff.

Later that night my stomach paid me back in spades. That’s why I bring the Pink Stuff with me on a trip. (In pill form so I don’t have to taste it.)

I don’t think I’m going to be eating any weird sushi anytime soon.

I Ship and Ship, and Nothing Changes!

Today was a travel and sightseeing day. But first, I shipped another 20 lbs. of stuff I don’t need back home.

I keep sending these giant boxes home, yet my suitcase doesn’t get smaller. I don’t understand it at all. I’ve sent 40 pounds of junk home. 3.5 cubic feet. Where did I carry it all?!? It’s a mystery that bugs me, and it also frightens me a little.

Getting to the post office was fun. The hotel let me borrow a bicycle for 30 minutes for free, and I put the giant box in the basket. I had to hold on to the box while I tried to steer.

Good times.

Checking Out

I checked out and went to the tourism office in Kyoto Station to reserve a hotel in Osaka on the nights of the 2nd and the 3rd of November. I found a nice and cheap hotel, which makes me all warm and fuzzy. Thank you, Welcome Inn Reservation Center! The only downside is that the only Internet is in a “Business Room” I have to go to to use. I don’t know how much I’m going to use that, so I’ll probably be incommunicado.

I think I’m going to go to Beppu after all. I know, I’m cutting it way too close, but I think I should be able to swing a room somewhere.

Off to Nara

It took about 45 minutes by train to get to Nara from Kyoto. I met some nice Americans on the train. They were a couple who live in Kyoto traveling with their twins, and the husband’s parents. They were nice people, and the screaming toddlers kept me from sleeping and missing my stop.

Right now JR Nara Station is pretty basic. There are no escalators, and no elevators. I think they’re in the middle of renovations or something.

Either way, it was a pain to lug the big case up those stairs. Down is easy… that’s just a controlled crash down the stairs. Since I got there 2 hours before I could check in, it was time to scope out some coin lockers. (ã‚³ã‚¤ãƒ³ãƒãƒƒã‚«ãƒ¼ in Japanese, by the way. Just say “Coin Rocka,” and you’re close enough.)

I lucked out as a couple of Australian guys were unloading their big locker, and snagged it. One of them even gave me 100 yen because all I had was 300 yen and a 500 yen coin, and I needed 5x 100 yen coins.

But I was still 100 yen short.

Let me go back to Japanese money for a second. Should you choose to go to Japan, hold on to as many 100 yen coins as you can. They are THE most useful coins. Everything else will betray you at one point. Take my 500 yen coin. Even though the locker costs 500 yen, it doesn’t accept 500 yen coins. Nor will it accept anything other than 100 yen coins. And getting change can be troublesome. Some places won’t give you change for even small things like a 500 yen coin. Very annoying. So hoard those 100 yen coins.

After a few tries, I finally found someone who would give me change, so I got a locker. Then I realized my other bag wouldn’t fit, so I decided to try the electronic lockers, but I couldn’t get the machine to read my plastic. I went back to the other lockers for an old-fashioned one that took coins.

Why all the talk about lockers? Because if you travel a lot in Japan, you’ll probably need them at some point. They’re very, very handy.

My luggage secured, I went in search of the main thing I came to Nara for: some NICE calligraphy brushes. Nara is a traditional home for good calligraphy brushes in Japan. I found 2 nice medium-sized horsehair brushes for about 6,300 yen total, and a nice big one for 5,000 yen. I’m set for a while now.

I strolled some more, then when it was time to check in, I went to my hotel, the Nara Royal Hotel. This is a very nice place, with a low price for the luxury you get. 8,500-9,500 yen a night for a single, and it’s big for a Japanese single hotel room. There’s even an onsen/spa in the basement, which I’m going to try out very soon.

It also has HDTV in the room. It’s not a crummy one either; it’s a Sharp Aquos.

Then it was off to see some sights.

Sightseeing in Nara

Someone decided centuries ago that the deer here were a sign of good fortune, and they became sacred. Sacred animals lead a charmed life, and can merrily poop and act out wherever they want to. This is a Bad Thing, in my opinion. It’s bad because the animals become pampered and spoiled, and act really obnoxious.

And did I mention the poop? It’s everywhere. I had to dodge it constantly, so instead of looking at the sights, I was watching my feet.

From now on, whenever I think of Nara, I will always think of deer poop, and the smell of lots and lots of deer poop. It’s kind of hard not to.

Anyway.

I took a train to Kintetsu Nara Station, and started taking pictures and walking towards Kasuga Taisha Shrine.

The platform:

A fountain with a statue of a Buddhist priest whose name escapes me:

A shopping arcade along the way:

Deer warning signs, two varieties:
This one warns of deer jumping into the street:

This is just telling you not to mess with them. Period.

And finally, some deer!

Chillin’

Fightin’

A shrine entrance that looked interesting, but I had to skip it for time reasons. Himuro Jinja:

And a really pretty lantern with some fall colors:

Kasuga Taisha Shrine

I made it to the Kasuga Taisha Shrine, another World Heritage Site, just in time. It closes at 4:30 p.m., so I had to hustle to get there. I made it in time to see most of it. It was gorgeous.

Pictures!

The entrance:

Rows of lanterns:

A deer-shaped washing area:

The entrance to the Honsha, where you go pray:

Lantern Detail:

A tiny bridge nearby:

Another lantern-lined path:

This path takes you to Wakamiya Shrine. I didn’t follow it:

Heading out:

Moss!

A Komainu, one of the stone shrine guardians:

Heading to Todaiji temple:

Todaiji Temple, or The Reason Why I Travel

I walked to Todaiji Temple, home of the Daibutsuden Hall, where there is an enormous wooden statue of Buddha. This place was awe-inspiring. This is the reason I travel, and put up with things like insanely-heavy luggage, deer poop, and weird food making me sick. It’s hard to put into words. It’s just… wow. This is a definite must-see. I lingered there until they kicked me out at 5 p.m. sharp. I was the last one out of the temple as they closed the doors.

And now, pictures!

Approaching Todaiji, there’s another row of shops. Busy doing business. You can already see the outer gate (the Dainanmon). It’s massive.

Getting closer (lots of deer around here):

The Dainanmon up close and personal:

Inside the Dainanmon, there are two giant wooden statues. Here’s one of them:

Past the Dainanmon is an area around the central gate, or Chuumon. You can see the Daibutsuden behind it. It’s the bigger building.

And here’s the Chuumon. Can’t go through it. Have to pay admission.

And here’s the Daibutsuden, where the giant wooden statue of Buddha is located:

Sexier angle:

Roof detail:

Almost there:

Incense burner outside:

The Daibutsu. This photo just doesn’t do it justice.

Neither does this one. But it was the best I could do. The light was wretched, and I’m using a point-and-shoot camera.

Change the angle? Not really helping. Losing the light in a dark place. Go and see it yourself! It’s massive and incredible!

Time to go. They’re shutting the gates behind me. No, really, they’re shutting the gates!

Last shot:

Lots of good pictures again. I’m up to well over 1,700 total.

Then it was back to the hotel for dinner. I’m not sure what I’m going to do next. Maybe I’ll hit the spa.

One not-so-good part–there’s zero cell reception in the hotel for either network. Not much I can do about that. I’d say of the hotels I’ve stayed in so far in Japan, this is the nicest one so far, although the Comfort Inn and the other business hotels all had coin laundries, this one doesn’t, and I need to do some washing again. Temps are still in the mid-70s, and I’m sweating like a pig. (In case you needed to know that.)

Last photo, because I love this cup:

Be relieved, and use it!

Tomorrow is a big travel day to Hiroshima. I’ll be there two nights, then if I’m lucky, I’ll go to Beppu. (Fingers crossed on that reservation…)

Another Big Day in Kyoto

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Oct 282007

Another busy day. Not as good as yesterday, but yesterday was hard to beat.

I started off my day by doing laundry at 7:30 a.m. Doing laundry in Japan is kind of handy. I say “kind of” because it has its limits. I’ve noticed that all of the coin-operated washers that I have come across have the detergent built-in, so I don’t have to add any. But they do a really lousy job of cleaning my clothes. So while it’s handy, it’s only handy if I don’t get my clothes dirty.

After that, more free breakfast, then the lady at the desk hooked me up with a big box to send my stuff home in for 300 yen.

I set off for Kamigamo Shrine, in the far Northern part of Kyoto. It’s a kind of a pain in the butt to get to. First, I took the subway all the way to Kitaoji, then I went to the bus station there, then waited 40 minutes for a bus.

When I finally got on the bus, it didn’t stop where the map says it does, and I wound up someplace entirely different.

But the driver helped me and let me know when to get off.

Pro Tip: Ask the bus driver if you don’t know where your stop is. They’re usually great about helping you out, even if you know a bare minimum of Japanese.

I left the hotel at 10:45 a.m., and only got to the shrine at 12:20 p.m., so that was a bit of a bummer.

Kyoto is a pretty cool city, but it can be a pain to get around. Taxis would probably be faster, and after switching train lines so much, the price doesn’t look so bad in comparison. It’s a time vs. money balancing act.

Another thing to keep in mind about visiting shrines on a Sunday– they’re usually packed with people doing stuff like getting married. It’s another double-edged sword, because I don’t want to interfere, but it’s cool to watch, and it also sometimes means parts of the shrines are closed.

This time, there was a wedding and a huge craft fair taking place at the shrine. Both were interesting to check out. The craft fair was cool because people were selling actual things they made with their own hands and skill, and not just stuff in a box from China like you might see at a lot of flea markets. There was also more shichi-go-san visiting taking place, too.

Anyway, pictures!

The entrance to the grounds:

As I walked towards the shrine, I saw part of the craft fair going on:

Here’s the entrance to the shrine proper:

Detail Shot:

Neat bridge in front of the gate in front of the shrine:

More ema:

Inside the honden:

One last shot of the craft fair. It was pretty big:

On to Shimogamo Shine

After some browsing, I left Kamigamo Shrine and went to Shimogamo Shrine.

I picked the two shrines based on the fact that they both looked pretty in the guidebook I picked up in Nagoya.

Powerful logic there, but it’s one way to narrow down the choices of places to visit.

Another bus ride, another long walk, and a shrine. It was also very visually appealing, very historical, and very crowded.

A torii, so we know we’re entering a shrine:

A close-up of the lantern:

Some of the buildings on the grounds:

The honden entrance:

Some props for taking pictures of kids doing their shichi-go-san visits:

The Sakura Gate, or Sakuramon is stunning:

Coming out the other side:

Detail shot:

I came across the stump of a sacred tree on the way out:

And another craft fair:

Then I headed out:

Weddings, shichi-go-san, and another craft festival. I’m beginning to see a pattern here. Both shrines feel more like parks than shrines. Shimogamo has better shade trees.

I hopped a train and rode to Ponto-cho for a little stroll there. It has a very nice atmosphere, but it’s also very crowded with tourists.

Arashiyama

I went back to the hotel for a snack, and set out again for Arashiyama, but I had to hustle, because it was already 4 p.m., and the sun sets here right at 5 p.m.

Walking along the Ohi river:

Souvenir shops:

I got to the Ohi River bridge just in time… for the sun to already have gone behind the mountain. It was still nice, though.

A view of the Ohi River Bridge:

Some people kayaking in the river, taken from the Ohi River Bridge:

Crossing over to the other side:

Some food stalls set up on the other side:

I took a few shots from the other bank.

Here’s a shot of the bridge:

Another shot of the boaters:

More scenery:

Close up of the other bank:

See, it really is the Ohi River!

Some of the scenery on the other side:

A place to crash before crossing the bridge back to the station:

I strolled around for a bit, then hurried back home because my stomach was cramping. Probably something I ate, or maybe dehydration.

The pink stuff fixed me up. Don’t leave home without it, because you can’t get it here.

Tonight I’m probably going to take it easy. I might saunter to Isetan for a meal there, but I may just sit in my very hot room and sleep, too.

It turns out that they turned off the A/C yesterday. Dunno why, it’s still hot here. But I guess the calendar said, “Turn the heater on,” so now the heater is on. So I had to open the window so I don’t suffocate.

I’m wiped out now.

Nasty Crunchy Yellow Things; Wait Your Turn; Keep Left

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Oct 272007

Here’s my nightcap report.

After I got back and recharged for a couple of hours, I headed back to Kyoto Station and Isetan’s 11th floor.

FYI– The mall stores and the stores in Isetan in Kyoto Station close at 8PM, and the restaurants all close at 9PM. I made it in time to go to another sushi restaurant.

This time, I went for the 2,600 yen chef’s omakase plate. The chef decides what you should eat, and puts it on a plate for you. The first few were great. Shrimp, some eel, a little squid, some tuna, salmon. Then he decided to put some weird stuff on there. And by weird, I mean weird I don’t like.

But a dare is a dare.

Next was some sort of brown thing with little spikes on it, with sauce on it. No idea, but it was fragrant. Not one of my favorites.

Then came the sea urchin. It didn’t taste bad, but the meat just sort of melts in your mouth, and the texture just turned my stomach. I don’t usually have texture issues with food, but sea urchin got me in an unexpected way.

There was also fish roe. I’m not sure which kind, but it was another one that texture-wise didn’t work for me, because the little eggs all just sort of burst into juice in your mouth, kind of like the sea urchin.

Finally there was this crunchy yellow thing. I have no idea what it was, but it had the texture of cauliflower, smelled fishy, and was hard to choke down.

I had saved a couple of pickled plum rolled sushi to clear my palate, then one last piece of tuna and some pickled ginger.

Oh, and beer.

Lots of beer.

It was a good meal. Kind of a mixed bag, but Japan isn’t fun without trying some of the weirder stuff. And the normal stuff was awesome.

OMG Beignets!

Then after that, it was a trip to Cafe du Monde (yes, they have one in Kyoto) for beignets and iced chocolate milk. (Which is the BEST DRINK EVER.) It did wonders to cleanse my palate, although my stomach is a little upset from the yellow crunchy fishy thing, I think.

I went up to Shijo-Dori, which translates to 4th avenue, except that it runs East->West. Shijo-Dori is a fun place to stroll, because that’s where all the action is. I’m staying on Gojo-Dori, which is relatively dull. (Or quiet, if you like dull places.)

Shijo-Dori is definitely a place to visit if you like to shop and people-watch. I saw my first clump of gothic lolitas tonight, waiting for a club to open. It’s an interesting look. Hey, whatever floats your boat. (Gothic Lolita is a fashion trend in Japan. It’s often just called goth loli. Google it.)

Then I stopped by a convenience store for some food, since my room has a fridge in it.

The Comfort Inn here rocks. It’s cheap, they have a decent free breakfast, the rooms are nice, and they have a “Drink Service” from 3PM-midnight with free drinks. Who doesn’t love free drinks?

The people working the front desk speak pretty good English, if your Japanese is lacking. The location isn’t ideal, because it’s a bit of a hike to the nearest subway station, but it’s good enough for saving a few thousand yen a day. AAA discounts, work here, too!Â (Use the website to get those AAA deals.)

Random Observations

A few general Japan observations: everyone keeps to the left.

(Visual aid from my later trip to Tokyo.)

The same way that Americans all keep to the right when driving, walking, etc., in Japan, you keep left. That’s how you can spot the Americans and Canadians. They keep bumping into people because they all keep right. Generally. There are times when everyone keeps right, but it’s not as common.

One thing I had a lot of problems with were the raised bumpy areas and channels in the pavement for the visually impaired. I do not begrudge them the help, and I think it’s great that they’re all over the place, but my wheeled luggage got caught in them all the time. My suggestion: get a backpack. Or get wheeled luggage with giant honkin’ wheels.

(Another visual aid from the future. This time, Hiroshima.)

In Japan, you line up for everything and wait your turn. It sounds silly to Americans, but I think it’s great. It means that when you’re at an attraction, say, Kinkakuji, and you want to take some pictures, you stand behind the people in front of you, and wait patiently. Then you do your stuff, and the people behind you wait for you to do your stuff. It’s very nice, actually.

Here, a visual aid from Kinkakuji. Everyone lines up to take photos, and waits for their turn patiently.

Same goes for trains. There are marks on the platform where the doors are going to be, and everyone lines up at the marks and waits for the people to get off, then they get on in an orderly fashion.

Tomorrow is a laundry day, then I’ll try to go to Arashiyama and Eiga Mura, then maybe go to Ponto-cho for some more shopping, then I’ll hunt down the cardboard box I need to send a bunch of stuff back in, so I don’t die lugging my stuff to Nara.

TV here is still pretty meh.

Oh, one last thing– they have an interesting way to deal with porn–err, “Pay Per View.” Instead of embarrassing charges on your hotel bill, you go to the vending machines, and buy a 1,000 yen “TV Card” that will dole out 150 minutes’ worth of “Pay Per View” TV. At least that’s what the hotel directory says.

One last weird moment– I flipped on the TV on to see if anything was on, and I stumbled on to old Star Trek in English on BS-2, one of the NHK networks. We learn Japanese from Doraemon, they learn English from Star Trek?

Set phasers on educate!

A Philosophical Journey Through Kyoto

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Oct 272007

Wow. I’m totally wiped out. I saw a bunch of stuff after all, in spite of a persistent light rain that wasn’t more than slightly annoying.

Ginkakuji

For starters, I took the subway and then grabbed a bus to Ginkakuji (the Silver Pavilion). On the bus ride there, I saw a great sight I wish I could have photographed. A large group of guys wearingÂ fundoshi (traditional Japanese underwear that kind of looks like a loincloth) were moving a portable shine across a river. It looked cold. The couple next to me were chuckling, and I asked (in Japanese) if those people were college students, and they replied “Yes,” so I laughed along with them. Ah, college.

I got off the bus at Ginkakuji-Mae (Mae is Japanese for “In front of.” This is a handy word to know.) I was looking at an area map, and it hit me– in Japan, North on maps isn’t always up. North is sometimes anywhere but up. This is very confusing when you’re trying to go somewhere, and it explains why it took me so long to find that martial arts exhibition in Nagoya. The map was upside down to me. Let that be a lesson! Find the “N” first, just in case.

Here’s an example map, just for Kyoto tourists on Gojo Dori. It looks innocent enough:

But if we look closer, we can see that the “N” for North isn’t pointing up!

After struggling with the map a little, I found the famous “Path of Philosophy,” which I’m sure is even prettier when the cherry trees are in bloom, and walked to Ginkakuji temple. The “Path of Philosophy” was famous with Heian Era thinkers who liked to walk along it while thinking about Philosophical Issues.

As I got closer to Ginkakuji, I started to see a large clump of souvenir shops:

Hello Kitty is working hard to sell souvenirs here!

Ginkakuji is not really silver, but the grounds are pretty. Apparently at one point, the guy who built it wanted to cover it in silver leaf, but died before he could get started on the project. Lots of stairs to climb to get to scenic views of Kyoto, and lots of pictures to take.

As I entered the grounds, it just sort of jumped around a corner and surprised me.

It’s still not silver:

There was a beautiful pattern in the sand next to it:

The grounds are beautiful, and I quickly didn’t care that the building wasn’t silver. It’s a beautiful old building in its own right, and it mixes in with the scenery really well:

The lake in front isn’t as big as Kinkakuji, but it’s charming:

Some of the other buildings on the grounds are very attractive:

And the grounds themselves are a feast for the eyes:

I finally found some fall color! It’s late October, but everything is still pretty green. I was hoping to catch Kyoto in fall colors, but I’m a few weeks too early:

Here’s the million-dollar view from the hill behind Ginkakuji. Incredible.

A little tighter in shot of the pavilion itself from the hill. Gardeners are hard at work to keep everything looking gorgeous:

And here’s the sand garden from high up:

I really liked this shot:

Here’s a side view of the pavilion:

And then I left. Here’s the view as you leave and head back to the shopping area:

The shopping street on the way out:

Honen-In

After an hour or so at Ginkakuji, I walked back to the Path of Philosophy, and on to Honen-in Temple.

Honen-in is very pretty, but very small. There wasn’t a whole lot to do there, but I took a few photos before moving on:

Another sand design:

There wasn’t much I could see, but I liked this building detail:

And this stone had some nice calligraphy on it:

And then I left:

The Path of Philosophy to Nanzen-ji

Back on the Path of Philosophy, and here’s a helpful map!

Okay, maybe not so helpful if you don’t speak Japanese. North still isn’t up! Now it’s off to the right.

The Path of Philosophy itself is a beautiful walk through residential neighborhoods:

And there are all kinds of interesting buildings along the way:

It really is beautiful!

As I was getting close to Nanzen-ji, I saw this stream or drainage ditch coming straight down a mountain. I think it looks pretty cool:

Nanzen-ji

I arrived at Nanzen-ji, which has a great big massive gate, and a lot of pretty painted screens. I sat and rested for about 10-20 minutes. My feet were killing me.

The gate is really massive:

And since it was raining, everyone was taking shelter:

It’s hard to get a sense of scale with this: (this is on the way out, but it’s the gate still.)

From the other side:

The brick structure is an old aqueduct that runs through the temple grounds.

Nanzen-ji has its own Zen rock garden, like Ryoan-ji:

And there’s another rock garden over here:

No shoes while you walk around the main buildings on the covered wooden walkways:

The grounds are very pretty:

And here’s a giant bell:

Heian Shrine and Rainbows

Onward to the Heian Shrine. On the way, I saw an awesome rainbow over a fountain.

It arched back into the hills:

And wound up “over there.”

There are some canals in Kyoto. This is one that’s close to the Heian Shrine. It’s beautiful at this time of day:

And now I’m entering the area of the Heian Shrine:

Later, I saw another rainbow over the shrine. Heian Shrine is pretty cool, actually. It’s big, but not “waste an hour here” big. It’s a place you can spend 15-20 minutes, savor, and move on. I drew an omikuji, which I have just translated as “end luck.” I knew it. Too late to tie it to something today. I’ll have to do it tomorrow. (In Japan, if you draw a bad omikuji, you’re supposed to tie it to a branch to keep the bad luck away. Instead there are poles provide to tie them on so you don’t kill the trees.)

Here’s the main gate:

Close-up:

And a place to wash your hands and mouth before entering, because it’s a Shinto shrine.

The buildings are beautiful, but I couldn’t go in most of them:

Look, the rainbow is back!

Ah, the rainbow is heading to the main shrine area:

Ema full of wishes:

Bad fortunes go here:

With my luck ending, I went to the Kyoto Handicrafts Center, where I learned how to spend a lot of money really fast.

I bought some prints, some postcards, and a cute wooden ichimatsu-style wooden doll because I liked her expression. Then, since I spent enough, I got to try the raffle. It’s a Japanese-style raffle, where you spin a big box full of little colored balls, and if you get one that isn’t white, you win something. I got yellow, which means I won a pair of chopsticks.

I will treasure them forever.

I took a cab back to the hotel, and I’m in my room again. I need to rest a bit, and then I will head out and find someplace to eat. Probably Kyoto Station again.

If I had this trip to do over, I’d spend about 10 days in Kyoto, minimum. So I’ll just have to come back to Japan again and spend more time here.

Tomorrow is probably going to be Arashiyama, Eiga Mura (where they film the samurai dramas), and Gion/Ponto-cho.

It’s Raining Again…

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Oct 272007

It’s raining in Kyoto today, and it’s supposed to rain all day.Â

I guess I’ll head to the station and ask the information desk people for some ideas for things to do that won’t get me soaked. I’ll try to visit some temples/castles tomorrow, and just do city stuff today. Monday I travel to Nara, so I only have 2 full days here. (And of course it has to rain on one of them.) So far, I’m only 1/3 on nice weather in Kyoto.

Dangit, I thought that typhoon was only supposed to be a problem around Tokyo…

Sayonara, Okazaki; Konbanwa, Kyoto!

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Oct 262007

I’m back in Kyoto, safely out of Okazaki now, although I kind of miss Okazaki.

The Sky Is Crying Way Too Much

I’m so happy to finally be dry. Why is it whenever I go to Kyoto, it rains? (Does two trips count enough for a “whenever?”)

It started this morning, during “The TP incident,” and stopped right before class. Thinking that the rain had ended for good today, I rode my bike for the last time to class, made it through class, and when it was over, I was greeted by a total downpour.

I went to the school office to pay my boarding fees– 40,000 yen for two weeks lodging is awesome in my opinion. But for some reason, it wouldn’t take my BofA card again.Â Luckily, it took one of my other cards, but I was irked.

Then it was off to Nonoyama Bicycles to return the rental bike with the somewhat embarrassing helmet, in what had become a driving rainstorm.

Here’s a shot of the helmet from earlier in the trip:

I learned something else important today: it’s next to impossible to ride a bicycle and use an umbrella at the same time. For me, anyway. I wound up walking the bike there. Either way it didn’t matter, because I got soaked.

Fun.

After I turned the bike in, I went back to the dorm by taxi. It took some explaining to get the driver to understand where the Student Village was. Don’t assume that cabdrivers will somehow “know” where everything is.

While my pants dried, I wasted 30-minutes in a pointless attempt to get some useful info out of BofA.That was 30 Euros down the toilet, by the way. Ouch.

Really, be careful what you use to dial out.

Anyway, the time to get out was fast approaching.

One strange thing about the clothes dryers in the dorm: there was a lint tube leading up from the dryer, but then it stopped short, and just sort of aimed at a vent in the ceiling. I guess the last few inches were covered by hope, faith, and good intentions? I’m not sure how the engineering behind that works.

Leaving Okazaki

I spent 30 minutes in the rain waiting for the bus, gave up and wound up lugging the suitcase and backpack to the station. By the way, lugging 8,000 lbs. of crap around in the driving rain is an excellent argument for traveling as light as humanly possible.

And one day, I might actually do that.

When I got to Nagoya, I had my last meal at the Mermaid Cafe. Then I grabbed a shinkansen to Kyoto.

I’m now in the Comfort Inn Kyoto. Yes, there are Comfort Inns in Japan. The rooms are pretty nice, too. Tiny as hell, but still a lot nicer than the last hotel I stayed in, and cheaper, too. I even get the BBC in English. (Yay! English!) But it is the BBC, so it’s all very depressing.

Overall, I have to say my Japanese has improved quite a bit. So far just about everyone has forced me to speak Japanese. I keep hearing stories about people coming up to foreigners and talking English to them, but I’ve only had that happen once so far.

I’m no Yan-san yet, but I’m trying.Â In case you’re not familiar, Yan-san is a chunky foreign guy who teaches us foreigners how to speak Japanese properly in a very cheesy and sappy set of Educational Videos from the mid-1980s, when everyone was trying to teach their kids Japanese.

Now everyone is desperately cramming Chinese down their kids’ throats.

I’m actually a big fan of the Yan-san videos. I always thought they were great, because it was like watching a drama series.

But I digress.

Kyoto Plans

There’s a typhoon offshore, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to do much here. It’s going to rain a bit on Tokyo, but that doesn’t matter to me here in Kyoto.

Unless the weather does something rude tomorrow, I’ll visit some shrines/temples or Arashiyama. Sunday I’d like to try to see the Heavenly Bridge, but I’m not sure how long it would take, and I don’t want to spend a whole day on it.

Monday I head to Nara to my spa hotel. I can’t wait. Tuesday & Wednesday nights are in Hiroshima. Maybe Thursday in Beppu. If I can get my suitcase weight reduced significantly, then I’ll do it. Otherwise, I’ll spend three days in Osaka.

Not much else to report. I get to watch Japanese TV again, so I get to see just how weird it is. (And it is weird.)

The Stupidest Thing I Ever Did… For Today, Anyway

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Oct 262007

Well, I have a new Stupidest Thing I’ve Done So Far in Japan. And it’s up there with other Great Stupid Things I’ve Done.

I brought some U.S. toilet paper with me because, well, let’s just say that me and Japanese toilet paper haven’t been getting along very well. In general, the stuff I’ve been running into hasn’t been meeting my needs.

I had just finished in the shower, and I didn’t want to be seen lugging around a giant roll of toilet paper. So I stuck it in my pile of clothes I had changed out of after my shower.

And then I promptly dumped it all on my laundry pile, which I then went and washed.

…

I opened the washer, and noticed that a my black shirt and pants were covered in white fuzz, and I started to get mad. I thought that my new Japanese underwear had done that. So I tried to shake stuff around to get the fuzz off (succeeded with most, failed utterly with my black pants), then threw it all in the dryer.

I had to go the bathroom, so I went to grab my toilet paper, and it wasn’t there. I looked around for a minute or two, until I realized exactly what I had done.

Then I had that moment. The one where Scooby and I solve the mystery, only it turns out I did it.

Yeah, I put the roll in with the wash.

What’s amazing in a way is that the roll completely disappeared, save for the fuzz on my black pants.

That’s kind of impressive.

But still dumb as hell.

Touring Around Okazaki

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Oct 252007

Fun day today. I got back on the ol’ Buttbuster 9000 and did some touring around Okazaki. I’m going to miss that bike… okay, no, not really.

I managed to send about 20 lbs. worth of stuff home for only about $60. Fortunately, it’s all stuff I won’t need for the next 8-10 weeks, because that’s how long surface mail takes.

Sending stuff from Japan is so much easier than the US. The customs form is built into the giant address label you fill out.

I stopped by a book store. I’ve been trying to find the Doraemon Kanji Dictionary, but with no luck in Okazaki. I guess I’ll have to try again in Kyoto or Tokyo.

To explain briefly, Doraemon is a cartoon robot space cat from the future with no ears, and kind of reminds me of Stimpy from “Ren n’ Stimpy,” except Doraemon is actually sort of smart. He gets involved in wacky scenarios trying to save a useless boy from his own stupidity and sloth.

I want the dictionary for various reasons, but there is an actual educational purpose in it… well, okay, the real reason is that it seems that everyone at Yamasa has this dictionary, and everyone says that it’s useful. My curiosity has been piqued.

If I can find it cheap somewhere, I’ll grab a copy.

I managed to get a room in Hiroshima for the 30th and the 31st. I want to visit the Peace Museum and then visit the islands outside of Hiroshima. I haven’t been able to get a room in Nara yet, but I’m not too worried.

I keep forgetting to take pictures of the restaurant that serves suppon, or snapping turtle. I think it’s around 5,000 yen for one snapping turtle meal. I guess it’s one of those “It’s a delicacy” things? I think I heard somewhere that certain bits are an aphrodisiac (why else would anyone eat a turtle?)

Those Aren’t Churches

After class, I did some more bike touring, and I saw this row of these huge churches… that aren’t churches at all. They’re wedding halls. Apparently they love church-like buildings for weddings here. It was too dark to get a picture off, and I was kind of distracted. Trying to stay on that bike is hard enough with two hands.

I also went and bought some underwear. They even have foreigner sizes now. I guess the Japanese are starting to get a little chunky like the rest of us, huh? The people at the store were very nice, they even offered me a point card, but I don’t think I’ll need it.

I almost forgot the best part of underwear shopping: Sissy underwear for men. Yes, that’s the brand name. Sissy. Yeah, wear those to school in the States, I dare you. Yikes.

Then I went to the local Book-off.Â (A used book store chain.) It took me a while, but I think I finally figured out how to find books in bookstores… sort of? It’s hard, because my kanji is still too weak to find some of the trickier names. I probably don’t need to be buying books yet anyway. I’d just load up and then have to lug them all over the country.

All I Do Is Sleep and Eat…

Nearby was Kappa Sushi, which has 105 yen/plate sushi. There are these rows and rows of conveyor belts, with a bar on one side, and booths on the other, and there are 4-5 rows like that. Then there’s a little call box at the table, and you press the button and order stuff if you need beer or tea or something not on the conveyor belt. I got out of there for 840 yen. Not bad. I had a juice box of “Hello Kitty Apple Juice.” Not by choice. I just didn’t feel like tea or beer.

I went back to the dorm and napped for a bit, then went to Zig Zag later in the evening for my last trip there. I’m going to miss this place. I know I had some difficulties at first, but it has really started to grow on me. Maybe I can come back again sometime and work on my Japanese some more. I think I’d like that.

Tomorrow is going to be nuts. I have to check out, return the bike, pack, and get to Kyoto. Oh, and I still have classes, too.

I should have Internet in Kyoto, so if I get some downtime, I’ll try to upload more pictures.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The Bells, the Bells! (Because “The Chimes!” Sounds Lame)

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Oct 242007

Okazaki Castle happens to be too far away for me to get to today.

But at least I have a way to show you where I am on an interactive map. (It’s in Japanese, but a map is a map.)

http://tinyurl.com/3d6cgv

There’s a zoom-scale-slider-thing at the bottom of the map, to change it from 500m to up to 250 km.

I’m just to the right of the red cross hair on the map.

That green thing above is a high school, and I can hear the class chimes from the school all day long. It’s kind of like being back in school again. Fortunately, I haven’t had the recurring dream where I have an exam in the class I haven’t attended all semester long.

More of My Commute to Yamasa

I took a few pictures of my daily commute to and from Yamasa’s main campus from the dorm. I put some of those photos on yesterday’s post. (About my daily dance with death.)

Here are a few extras:

I go by the coffee shop every day.

I like the lettering on their signs.

Be careful not to step on the covered gutters. Those covers move. Here’s a closeup of one of the Yamasa apartment buildings, you can almost make out the dorm in the back. It’s peeping over that wall.

A cemetery on the way:

In the distance, you can see big new apartment buildings going up. Okazaki is growing fast because Toyota is close by.

I’m getting close to 248, the main road.

And here is the Daiso, a 100-yen shop. They’re like dollar stores in the U.S.:

There are a few of these tunnels that go under route 248. Here’s the tunnel itself:

Once I cross 248, the wall protecting me from traffic disappears. So does the sidewalk. The building with the red letters is the South Okazaki Hospital:

As I get to Yamasa, here’s a photo of one of the classroom buildings and the coffee shop/Japanese-style restaurant:

Looking to the other side, here’s the main classroom and administration building, Yamasa II. I don’t know if there’s a Yamasa I:

And here’s the place where I took my classes, the Info Gallery:

Later that day, on the way back to the dorm, I spied this Caution sign on the pole of a Stop sign. I really liked the way the white bits were cracking:

And here’s the entrance to the dorm, to the right of the laundromat, which is right next to the convenience store:

And here’s the Mini Stop convenience store, without which I probably would have starved to death:

The Donkey Was Surprised, and so Was I

I went to Bikkuri Donkey tonight for dinner, because translated it means “Surprise! Donkey!”

I learned an important lesson today. Don’t go to a restaurant just because it has the word “Donkey” in its name.

I couldn’t get into the hambugu. It’s ground beef mixed with some other stuff, shaped into a patty-like form, fried in a pan, then dumped on a plate with some sauce.

Note that this is not hamburger, which comes on a bun and tastes entirely different.

Hambugu yields easily to chopsticks, which was also a source of dismay. I come from the Land of Meat. In the Land of Meat, we have special knives for eating Meat, and these knives are sharp. The meat we eat usually does not require much more than salt and pepper to be tasty. This dish had far more than 11 herbs and spices in it, and I could barely taste the meat.

Japanese famires (short for family restaurant) cuisine so far has been less than satisfying. I’ve tried 2 different kinds, and so far, I’m 0 for 2.

It’s Log, It’s Log, It’s Big, It’s Heavy, It’s Wood!

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Oct 232007

Something I saw yesterday that I forgot to mention– I was walking by the local high school, and it sits on top of a pretty steep hill. Well, I saw the baseball team out there, in their uniforms, acting lively and cheering, while someone was blowing a whistle. Intrigued, I looked as I passed by, and I swear I saw something right out of a sports manga, or a Jackie Chan movie– the players were doing a drill where they had to run up the hill, each one carrying a log.

Here’s where I saw them running:

Yes, log. All kids love log. Log will even make you a great baseball player!

Everyone is trying to find an edge. Here, the edge is log!

Come to think of it, logs are probably cheaper than a room full of weights. And instead of managing problem athletes, you can just hit them with Log until the problems go away.

After the Kvetching, that Nostalgic Feeling Grows

Today was pretty slow, otherwise. I went to the conbini for lunch, then to ZigZag for dinner. Okazaki is really starting to grow on me. I know I complained about it a lot at first, but now that I’m starting to get used to things here, I’m feeling a little nostalgic about the place before I even leave.

A few things I have noted, though:

Carabiners ROCK. They’re great because you can use them to hook bags to other bags, so they don’t fall off or get lost. For the next trip I take, I’m getting some bigger ones, like the ones real rock climbers use.

Smoking is being stomped on very vigorously in Japan now (well, except for the vending machines), and tonight while doing laundry, I noticed a woman sitting in her car smoking and reading a magazine. I bet she wanted a cigarette while waiting for her laundry. Japan is getting more and more like America in that respect.

Daily Brush With Death

Sidewalks are kind of hit-and-miss here. Every day I walk to school, I feel like I’m taking my life into my own hands. On one side of the road, there’s this giant white barricade wall that cannot be breached which guards the sidewalk. It’s too high to climb, but it offers protection from the drivers. On the other side of the road… well, there’s nothing. Just a slim shoulder of road. The problem is that in order to get to the barrier on the other side, you have to walk a few blocks on the dangerous side.

Here, experience my peril first-hand!

See that safe-looking white barricade? Yeah, you can’t get to the sidewalk behind it from here. (I’m actually looking backwards, towards the dorm.)

Enjoy the sidewalk-free lifestyle. You can cross over to the barricaded side here at this crosswalk:

We’re finally on the safe side of the barricade, just as it’s about to run out.

See that tunnel up ahead? It’s designed so you can cross under the street. Actually not bad:

There’s even a warning against suspicious people!

So you come out the other side of the tunnel and– wait, where’s the sidewalk???

Okay, back over to the other side, where there’s a sidewalk-ish thing:

Then we turn the corner and, oh, it’s gone again. Or is it? Just don’t fall through the loose gutter covers!

There just aren’t a whole lot of places for pedestrians on the side streets here.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to go to Okazaki Castle, and a few other places before class.

If I don’t get squashed.

The Trash Heap Has Spoken!

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Oct 232007

Yesterday was interesting.

I got up at 8 a.m. I was freezing, and my throat was killing me. The window had been leaking cold air into my room, and it was right above where my head is on the bed. (Or was– I moved the other way on the bed so my head and feet are reversed.)

I felt lousy for most of the morning. The funny thing is, most of the people I saw on campus were coughing and hacking too. So apparently I wasn’t the only one who got caught in the draft. And no, the window was closed. It just wasn’t well-insulated.

Class got moved to from 12:40 to 1:40, only I didn’t remember being told that. They probably told me in Japanese, which explains why I screwed up. The rest of my classes this week will go from 1:40-4:40, so now I have mornings totally free. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with that now.

Denny’s

After class, I finally went to the local Denny’s. First off, I saw no chopsticks. All I saw was silverware. Sorry, guys. No souvenirs for you.

Let me just say that every meal I’ve had in Japan up until now has been very good. I was surprised to discover that Denny’s in Japan is somehow worse than Denny’s in the U.S. My server was very nice, but the food she brought me was poison.

Drinks. What would I like to drink? How about ginger ale? No, they don’t have that. So she gave me a colorful drink menu to choose from. Hmm… Okay, how about pink lemonade? It can’t be all that bad, right? She brings me something bright pink. It turns out it’s pink lemonade soda so sweet it would put a 5-year old into insulin shock.

I’ll have water then.

Then the puzzle of settling on actual food to eat. My confidence unshaken, I perused the menu. Hmm… American Club Sandwich. I can’t read this other stuff, but the picture looks good.

Well, it looks like a sandwich…

I’ll get a side of fries with that, too. What the heck.

The fries came as an appetizer. They were taramasala mayo fries, I think. All I know is that they came with a pink sauce with little red dots in it. It wasn’t bad. It tasted like mayo mixed with something. So far, not bad.

Then came the sandwich.

I’m getting nauseous just thinking about it. It was a double-decker club sandwich all right, but the first deck consisted of bacon, 2 fried eggs, and ketchup.

Where I come from, that’s already a meal.

We call it breakfast.

The second deck was some sort of chicken in a sweet sauce or gravy, lettuce, and mayo.

And that’s something we call lunch, or maybe dinner.

You might think it doesn’t sound too bad.

And you would be wrong.

They are all foods I like.Â And I’m actually amazed that I got it down without bringing it back up. Describing it later to someone, I could actually feel the normal meal I had later try to make an escape from my stomach.

So yeah, Denny’s. Service was great. Food… ugh. Throws self on sword to relieve stomach pain.

I don’t know of any Americans who would think, “Hmm, I think I’ll have a club sandwich. Esther, let’s fry some eggs and bacon, and hey, get some of that chicken and gravy out!”

Just as much as Americans don’t understand Japan, Japanese don’t get us. “American” gets stuck on the most random stuff here: it’s put on stuff that no American (well, no American in his right mind, anyway) would ever eat.

I think it’s just an excuse to for one group of Japanese to try to fool the rest of the country into trying to eat something they wouldn’t ordinarily eat.

“Hey, I know you wouldn’t normally eat a bacon and egg and chicken and gravy sandwich, but you know, those Americans do, and they’re so wild! Now you eat it too, so you can be wild!”

“Mmkay.”

“Now have this American ice cream. We filled a big paint bucket with ice cream…”

Not much else happened yesterday. I spent the evening recovering from that meal mistake, then got a snack at the conbini. Thank you, conbini. You saved me again.

My heeeero!

Oh I Looove Trash

Trash sorting is the most disgusting thing ever. I’ll have a hard time taking the shoe-switching thing seriously now that I’ve seen what the landlady does to improperly sorted trash.

If you’ve never been to Japan, let me explain. It’s a small country, with little room for things like landfills, so you’re not allowed to throw anything away.

You have to pack out all of your trash with you, because you will never see a public trash can. If there was such a mythical beast, it would be crammed full of trash that people didn’t know what to do with, or just got tired of carrying around with them all the time.

Okay, that’s only half true.

Trash is supposed to be sorted into burnable trash, paper, plastic/non-burnable trash, PET (plastic bottles), cans, and glass. I’ve been sorting as best as I can, and taking it down to the kitchen, which also serves as Sorting Central.

But apparently, people fail sorting on a daily basis, and the landlady has decided that if you don’t put trash in the right place, she’ll put it ON THE PREP TABLE BY THE TRASH. So when you come into the kitchen, you can see a lovely (and by lovely, I mean repulsive and disgusting) pile of Other People’s Rejected Trash. Things like Kleenex with hairballs, old food containers, old dirty chopsticks, cigarette butts… I even saw a pair of torn dirty underwear.

Let me repeat that last item again, just in case you missed it. Someone threw away their underwear because it was in such terrible shape, and instead of winding up in the trash, it wound up on the prep table in the kitchen by the trash can.

This is the same prep table people make their food on.

So yeah. Japan? Never taking the shoe thing with a straight face again.

Oh, and I’m staying the hell away from the kitchen.

Now I’m hoarding all of my trash until the last day, where I’ll just ninja-sort it and flee, unless I can find a trashcan, which will probably be next to the unicorn and the leprechaun.

By the way, hotels are great for the simple reason that they have trashcans in the rooms, AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO SORT IT.

Oh, you can find recycling bins for the various things you buy from vending machines, but that’s 99% cans and bottles, which does me no good at all.

Noodling Around Okazaki on a Sunday

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Oct 212007

Today was nice.

I woke up at 8, was freezing to death, cranked up the heat (once I figured out how), then went back to sleep until 10 a.m. (Which is exceedingly late for me.)

I goofed around for most of the day, played on the computer a bit, did laundry, and then I went to the local Aeon mall.

Going to the mall was interesting. It was about a 25 minute hike to get there, and when I got there, it felt like a smaller-scale version of a U.S. mall. As if everything had been shrunk a bit.

It felt very crowded, and un-U.S.-mall-like. American malls generally have more space devoted to wide corridors that are easy to traverse without having to get to close to the other shoppers. Land isn’t as plentiful here, so I understand that you can’t get such a luxury and still keep prices reasonable.

I found a Sports Authority, and it had Chunichi Dragons hats, which were expensive at 2,400 yen, but I wanted a hat. They weren’t the good wool hats, they were the cheaper ones with the plastic mesh back.Â I got my hat anyway, and now I am Mr. Baseball, too. (But I lack Tom Selleck’s mustache powers.)

Then it was back down route 248 (the main drag in this section of Okazaki) to stop off at the Seiyu. It was one of those, grocery store on the first floor, lumber on the second floor, clothes on the third floor sort of stores. It was kind of confusing, but at least I have a place I can buy groceries where nobody knows that I wandered in accidentally when they were closed.Â

I wandered some more and found a kaitenzushi place, which is Japanese for conveyor belt sushi. I snagged some tasty deep-fried nuggets… of what I don’t know, but it was good. Chicken, maybe? Pork? Either way, it was good.

Then I found my Holy Grail: ootoro, my favorite cut of tuna. It’s the fattiest cut, and it goes down like butter.

It’s also 600 yen a plate, so I could only have one plate. I had a few more plates of other stuff, like egg sushi. But it was no ootoro.

I am now ruined for sushi.

I decided to skip Denny’s again, because my rule is one restaurant a day to keep the costs down. After first dinner, I went to the QuickMart for second dinner, because sushi doesn’t fill me up. Convenience store food here is good. Then I listened to a little ESPN, did a little antivirus scanning, and now I’m heading to bed.

It’s Made of Gooold!

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Oct 202007

I just got back to Okazaki from Kyoto, and today was great.

Sun! Beautiful sun!

I dumped my luggage in a locker at the station, and talked to the very helpful ladies on the 9th floor of Kyoto Station in the tourist office: by all means, go there.

Try to get to Kyoto well before 6 p.m. and use that office. They’ll tell you how to get around, they’ll give you maps and all kinds of useful information. They’ll even hook you up with a cheap hotel, if you need one. It would have saved me so much headache if I had gone there first on Thursday night, but it was closed.

The best thing they taught me was how to ride the buses in Kyoto. Generally, it’s cheaper to get an all-day ticket if you’re going to ride more than one bus. The fare covers the route, not the distance traveled, so the fares are all the same.

Kinkakuji

I took a crowded bus to Kinkakuji, which was incredible (it’s also called the Golden Pavilion, if you’re scoring at home), then I walked to Ryoanji to see the impressive Zen rock gardens there.

Kinkakuji is a gorgeous temple. First, the golden pavilion itself is stunning:

Asking people to take your picture is kind of risky. Not that they’ll steal your camera, but that they won’t be able to figure out how to get you in focus:

Not that I was looking all that dapper, anyway.

The crowd waiting to take pictures:

This one came out really nice:

Here’s where I would put the rocking chairs and wave back at the crowds:

And here’s a shot of the back:

I figured out what everyone does with their 1 and 5 yen coins. They throw them here:

And here is where you pray:

At Kinkakuji, I bought some souvenirs, then spied a Haagen-Dazs vending machine, and purchased an almond-vanilla bar.

Refreshing.

I finally sucked up my courage and got an omikuji (it’s a fortune they sell at shrines.)– I drew a shoukichi— which means I’ll have a little luck. That’s fine for me. Friday I would have pulled a daikyou— big bad luck. No thanks.

The Road to Ryoan-ji

Ryoan-ji is pretty close to Kinkakuji. It’s about a 15 minute walk away, and definitely worth it.

I started by going down this road:

I saw these flowers by a utility pole. I guess they do roadside memorials in Japan as well.

I passed a place that had a lot of those stone (or maybe concrete?) statues that I’ve seen a lot:

Lots of moss on the walls. It was really pretty:

I thought this garage door was cool.

Ryoan-ji

Ryoan-ji is gorgeous in a different way from Kinkakuji. It’s a wonderful contrast between the two temples. Kinkakuji is hectic and crowded, while Ryoan-ji feels more tranquil.

There’s a large pond, or a small lake on the temple grounds, and it’s very nice to look at.

There’s a small island on the lake, and a small shrine on the island:

Here is the place where you wash your hands and mouth to purify yourself:

As you enter the main building where the rock garden is, you have to take off your shoes. Then as you enter, there are two really stunning pieces of calligraphy:

And then you come to the famous Zen rock garden:

Wide shot:

Some closeups:

Of course it’s crowded. It’s pretty famous:

I went around the back of the main building, looked at some of the other scenery. I really liked this water feature:

Here’s a shot of the rooms around the rock garden. There were a lot of really pretty screens on the walls:

On the way out, you walk around a lot of the grounds again, about a 15 minute walk. I thought this Japanese maple tree was especially pretty:

Persimmons and ducks on the way out:

Back to the Station (More Kyoto Station Photos!)

Back at Kyoto Station, I took some more photos. The Kyoto Tower, reflected on the side of the station:

One of the main facades of the station:

Inside the station, things are hectic on a Sunday!

Going up to the roof.

Roof detail. I love detail shots.

Here’s a panorama I took of the roof area.

Look! Another band! I’m a old band nerd, so I’m always happy to see kids learning to perform music:

While I was at the station, I made some hotel reservations with the help of the Welcome Inn people at the tourist office on the 9th floor. I got a room for 6,300 yen a night for the 26th, 27th, and 28th. That’s a weekend in October. Amazing. I couldn’t find anything available on my own.

October is leaf-viewing season, so it gets booked up here pretty fast.

Next weekend, I’m going back to visit all the places I couldn’t get to, like Gion, Arashiyama, Eiga Mura (it’s the cinema village they use to shoot samurai dramas… I want to see it if time permits), plus I want to look at some handicraft stuff.

After that I’ll go to Nara, Hiroshima, Beppu, Osaka,Â and then we’ll see.

I’m up to over 1,050 photos so far.

And I have learned a ton about traveling.

Rick Steves was right. You are always carrying too much crap.

You can always find one thing to get rid of.

Two bags is one bag too many. Three bags is insanity.

Digital anything is great.

Now I’m going to take a shower, go to ZigZag, then do some laundry.

Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head

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Oct 192007

I managed to salvage a nice evening out tonight. I thought about going to Gion (the place with all the geisha), but I’m going to save that for when I return to Kyoto later in my trip. I have to return here to see everything I want to see.

First I stopped by the local conbini (convenience store) and bought an embarrassing clear vinyl raincoat to make up for the terrible umbrella I bought this morning. Between the two, I was almost dry.

Sort of.

Dinner at Kyoto Station

Instead of Gion, I went to Kyoto Station for dinner and some gawking.

It’s definitely worth checking out. It’s sort of inside and outside at the same time, and there’s a giant department store and a mall there, too. The department store is Isetan, and it has all kinds of stuff in it. (The mall is in the basement, and also has a lot of little stores.)

Japanese department stores are fun. They have things like Dolce & Gabana, Dior, Gucci, etc., then they have a grocery store in the sub-basement.

The real reason you want to eat at the station is the 11th floor. It’s a food court on steroids, with all kinds of different restaurants with all kinds of different things to eat.

So it’s time to climb the stairs:

Yeah, I took the escalator.

I hadn’t eaten all day, so I went to three different restaurants, each of which had something that looked delicious.

The first place had a really good chicken sandwich, with odd-looking Crunchy Things served on the side. (The Crunchy Things were good.)

The second restaurant had a really good little Margherita pizza (it was really little), and the third was Vie de France, where I picked up dessert and carried it back to the hotel.

The Kyoto TV tower is really pretty at night, but I decided not to go up to the observation deck. Here are a couple of shots I took of it:

This one is through the walls of the station:

And here’s a shot from outside:

I wandered around the station just a bit and took this photo as well:

I’m going to try to visit Ryoanji tomorrow if it’s not raining, but odds are it will be, so I’ll probably just head back to Okazaki. I’ll check out of here, then dump my backpack in a locker at the station and do some gawking, if the weather is even halfway decent.

10-Yen Enemy?

My real arch-nemesis in Japan (besides the toilet paper that feels like 100 grit sandpaper) is the currency. Everything under 1000 yen (~$10) is in coins. As an American, I’m used to bills, even for trifling amounts of money.

So my goal every time I go out is to get rid of as many coins as possible, but every time I come back, I wind up with more coins than when I left.

The true scourge of my pockets is the 10 yen coin. It’s big, like a quarter, but only worth about 1/3rd of one.Â There are no 25 yen coins. Just 1, 5, 10 and 50.

Ticket and vending machines don’t take 1 and 5 yen coins.Â So they’re even more worthless than 10 yen coins.

Every time I get rid of n 10 yen coins, somewhere else I’ll wind up with n+1 more. (Assuming that n is the number of 10 yen coins I started with.) Oddly enough, I haven’t amassed too many 5 and 1 yen coins. Individual items seem like they’re priced so that the numbers come out round. Or maybe I’m just hallucinating.

What Does This Button Do-whoooa!

I finally tried pressing the button on the toilet today. Wow. That’s just funky, a little disturbing, but a whole lot better than the toilet paper there. Those of you who have done it know what I mean.Â Those who haven’t, well… there’s this button, and it has a picture of a butt on it, with a little jet of water aimed right at it. And if you push the button, it pretty much does what it says. It is pretty sanitary, if you think about it. It just feels ten kinds of weird. But the other choice is the toilet paper, so I’ll take a slightly damp butt anytime.

Speaking of butts, it looks like the Chunichi Dragons (the local Japanese Baseball League team in Nagoya) are kicking those of the Yomiuri Giants. Go Dragons!

I think the winner plays the Nippon Ham Fighters, who won the divisional playoffs last night. (I think they call it the Climax Series?)

I’m not really up on J-Baseball.

While I was taking a break this afternoon, I was able to watch some of the Boston-Cleveland game live from the States, which was kind of cool, but also felt kind of weird.

Putting the Mizu in Kiyomizudera, or Blame It On the Raaaaain

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Oct 192007

So I made it to Kyoto, and guess what? It’s raining like crazy. And guess what I left behind in Okazaki? Yes, my rain gear, what there was of it, anyway.

I managed to make it to Kiyomizudera (emphasis on the mizu today, I guess), and I took a bunch of pictures there.

Like any famous tourist spot, even in rain, it’s crowded.

These are ema, wooden plaques you write wishes on.

Here’s the Stage of Kiyomizudera:

A view of the Otowa Waterfall from the Stage: (you drink from one of the three streams for luck with health, love, or money.)

Love Alley, so you can get divine help in finding Mr./Ms. Right, or Good Enough-san:

As you can see, this is a pretty busy part of the temple.

All of these ema are filled with specific prayers for love/marriage.

I wandered around a bit, left Love Alley, and found this view of the Stage from across the way:

Then I headed down to the Otowa Waterfall area. Looking up, I could see the Stage supports:

Here’s the Otowa Waterfall:

Then I was pretty much done. Here’s the tea shop:

And the row of souvenir shops on the way out:

Wet Enough For Ya?

Now I’m trying to figure out what to do next, because trying to see any shrines/temples is madness in this weather. I may end up bagging it today, because it’s a wet nasty mess out there. I’ll try to hit a place or two tomorrow before I head back to Okazaki, and I’ll try to come back here later on in my trip.

So far, Kyoto isn’t one of my favorite places, but it will probably improve with some sunshine.

Getting around here is kind of a pain, but I can safely blame it on the rain.

Most importantly, I enjoyed my soft, fluffy bed.

I’m definitely going to head to Beppu at some point. Even though the shinkansen makes me a little queasy, I think it’s probably worth it to go someplace warm.

I’m still having fun, and taking a lot of photos. Things don’t always go as planned. That’s travel.

The really weird thing… I’m watching “Inside the Actor’s Studio” right now, because it’s in English, and not dubbed. What can I say. Sometimes I really miss English. I’d never watch this if I was back in the U.S.

Made it to Kyoto.

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Oct 182007

I finally made it to the hotel in Kyoto. It’s the Urban Hotel Kyoto, another business hotel. Business hotels are a good deal for cheapskates like me. You get a tiny room, a tiny bed, a tiny bathroom, a TV, a fridge, and you don’t pay a whole lot. The fridge was an unexpected bonus for a cheapskate like me.

It doesn’t precisely exude charm. The window is frosted, and instead of curtains, there are sliding panels that obscure, well, everything. Then again, I opened the window, and the view wasn’t anything to write home about, anyway.

Also, the room runs about 7,000 yen a night, which is about $63. Not bad for a major tourist spot in prime season, if you can survive without charm. Kyoto is an expensive place to stay otherwise. (Those elegant ryokan? Start at about 25,000 yen a night and go all the way up to down payment-level hotel prices.)

I don’t need charm in a place to crash when I’m mostly going to be out of the room. As long as there’s no dirt or funky smells, and a good internet connection, I’m happy.

A few shots so you get an idea of just how small it is:

Carrying too much electronics with me:

The controls on the headboard are in English:

Everything about the lighting, though, was orange. Very, very orange. The photos really don’t do it justice.

Business hotels are made mostly for salarymen who are sent on business trips during the week, and they need a place to call home. Actually, since the office is their home, they really just need a place to crash. Business hotels all over Japan serve just that purpose.

The vending machines have beer, cup o’noodles, and other stuff, along with laundry machines, pay-per-view (with an inordinate amount of porn), and generic cable TV. This one does have an Ethernet Internet connection, for which I am grateful. Getting an Internet connection in general can be kind of hit-and-miss.

I tried taking a bath in the hotel tonight, and found out it’s not worth the trouble. Being 6’1″ is fun when you’re walking around, but most of the plumbing in this country was not made with me in mind. Everything is way too tiny, and to fit in the tub, I had to bruise the hell out of my knees.

I got here about 8:30PM and promptly crashed.

So no Gion tonight.

Other Stuff (McPork!)

Seen at Nagoya Station McDonald’s– McPork!

The shinkansen from Nagoya to Kyoto went so fast, I was starting to get a touch of motion sickness. And I don’t get motion sickness. Maybe it’s a mild migraine.

The TV in the hotel totally sucks, unless you like J-League baseball. 4 out of 10 channels are baseball, the rest are NHK.

I’m getting up in 7 hours to start my temple blitzkrieg, so I’ll have more to say later.

Off to Kyoto for the Weekend!

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Oct 182007

I’m still in Okazaki, but I’m leaving for Kyoto in just a few minutes for the weekend. I need to rest for another 5-10 minutes, then I’m heading out.

That’s one thing I’ve discovered I have to do– make time to rest. If I don’t, I suffer.

Classes are hard. For some reason, the Japanese is fighting my brain, and my brain is losing.

My teachers are great. I’m just slow for some reason. I’ll get some weird hard stuff right, and then totally blank on the easy stuff.

I guess it means I’ll have to study more when I get home.

I’ve sort of flip-flopped on whether I’d like to live here or not. Sometimes I totally want to, other times, I’m totally hating it. My travel-related discomfort probably plays a large role.

I won’t make a decision until I hit Tokyo in November. No point in doing that now without more experience under my belt.

Beppu is sounding more and more like a good idea. I might head down there for a night or two and just let the hot water take me away.

Anyway, time to go catch the bus to JR Okazaki.

Kyoto Plans

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Oct 172007

So far, I think my tentative schedule is going to be:

10/26 last day in Okazaki– go to Osaka.
10/26-10/28 Enjoy Osaka, then head to Nara.
10/28-10/29 Enjoy Nara, then head to either Hiroshima or Kyoto again, if I feel like more Kyoto.
10/29-11/1 Hiroshima or Kyoto
11/1-11/3 Kyoto or Hiroshima, or move on to Nagano
11/3-11/5 Nagano or Sendai
11/6 Sendai or… uh… I dunno.
11/8 Arrive in Tokyo.
11/14 go home.

I’m thinking something along those lines.

Or not.

It all depends on whether I can find a good spa resort or if my mood changes.

Radio from Home

One nice thing I’ve found: my local sports radio station in Raleigh, N.C., has an Internet streaming feed of their local programming, so I can get a little feel of home when I get overwhelmed by all the Japanese culture.

It’s interesting that even with all of the Japanese that I studied, it’s still really easy to feel culturally overwhelmed here. I think it would almost be easier to understand nothing that to try to puzzle out every sign I see.

Kyoto Plans

I’m leaving Okazaki for my weekend trip to Kyoto around 5 p.m. local time, so I won’t get there until 7 p.m. or so. I’m stopping for dinner at Nagoya Station, because it’s convenient. I would leave earlier, but I have class until about 3:30 p.m., then I have a 20-min walk home, then it will take time to catch the bus to the train station.

It all adds up.

In theory, my hotel in Kyoto has “Internet LAN,” but in practice, well, we’ll see what that really means.

Thursday night I’m planning to hang around Gion a bit and maybe find a restaurant with a nice river view. Gion is the part of Kyoto where you’ll find all the geisha.

And the tourists.

On Friday, I’m planning on shrine-ing out. My hotel is 10 minutes from the Fushimi Inari shrine, so I’ll try to go there first. After that it’s Kiyomizu Temple, the Golden Pavilion, and a bunch more. I found a really cool magazine (in Japanese, of course) that has a great map with pictures on it, so I can pick the more photogenic shrines and temples to visit.

On Saturday, I’ll go to wherever I missed on Friday.

I’m going to try to pace myself, because I learned in Nagoya that if I don’t, I’ll suffer.

Climbing Up Again.

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Oct 172007

I’m starting to feel a bit better.

I can’t believe I’ve already been in Japan for a week. Considering I’ve spent a good portion of it horizontal, I’m not too thrilled about that aspect, but at least I’m here.

I’m really looking forward to going to Kyoto, just to get out of Okazaki for a few days, and to sleep on a bed like I’m used to for two nights.

I can’t wait! I’m going to find a real bath to soak in for a few days.

I can’t do futons. It’s like sleeping on a steel examining table, only less comfortable.

Rock Bottom.

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Oct 162007

In one day, I think I’ve hit rock bottom.

Soon after my last post I started getting dizzy, and I’ve been dizzy every since. Not room-spinning-dizzy, but bad enough to make me feel lousy. Add that to my increasingly sore back, my sore backside, and I think I’ve pretty much hit rock bottom. (Pun intended? I guess.)

I know I should never tempt “worse.”

It’s probably a migraine. Knowing what it is doesn’t make me feel any less lousy.

I hate to admit it, but right now, I just want to be in my own bed for a week or so. It’s not helping that the futon I have is as hard as a steel-coated diamond with extra concrete reinforcement.

My Japanese teacher, Itou-Sensei, tells me that most Japanese like hard beds.

Now I see the cultural divide between us.

Ah well. This too shall pass.

Blue Monday

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Oct 152007

Today was a slow day. I got up early, fiddled with setting up the website (I finally figured out why it wouldn’t resolve), did my homework, went to class, then rested.

All of the running around from this weekend took a lot out of me.

On the upside, I’m learning a lot in the Japanese language classes at Yamasa. It’s tough, but a lot of fun.

I also managed to get all 500 of my Nagoya snapshots processed in Photoshop. Batch scripts, hooray!

Now I just have to finish going through them all, and figure out which ones go up, and which ones go out. I’m getting rid of the duds. Photo editing is hard for me. I love all of my photos, even the really bad ones.

Food-wise, I find that I’m living off of the convenience store food a lot. Maybe it’s because I’m lazy, but the grocery store is far away, and I really don’t feel like cooking. I’m glad I brought those protein bars with me now. Sweet, sweet instant breakfast.

I learned pretty fast how to spot sodium on Japanese nutrition labels. It shows up as:ã€€ãƒŠãƒˆãƒªã‚¦ãƒ , which is basically the Latin word Natrium, which means Sodium. If you need to sound it out, it’s natoriumu. Pronounce every consonant and vowel.

I’ll try some more real Japanese cuisine when I hit Kyoto and some of the other big cities. There’s a Denny’s right up the street… that’s looking tempting…

Well, as tempting as a Denny’s can look.

COPS: Okazaki and More Nagoya Festival Fun.

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Oct 142007

I went back to Nagoya today, because even though I got sunburned, the festival was going to go on with or without me.

I rode my evil little bicycle to the station today, because even though it’s uncomfortable, it beats walking.

On the way to the station, I saw two guys riding on the same bike. Then I saw a police car pull them over, and 3 cops piled out to lecture and/or ticket them. Bad boys, bad boys… COPS: Okazaki!

After watching that action unfold, off to Nagoya I went.

Dashi and Kagura Parades

I managed to catch both the Dashi and Kagura float parades, and the childrens’ Mikoshi parade, as well as a parade for the sister cities, which I skipped. (Fast Fact: L.A. is a sister city to Nagoya.)

The Dashi are these giant floats on carts that have all sorts of bright decorations on them, and karakuri mechanical dolls on them that perform various little dances and act out plays.

They’re setting up the dashi floats now after wheeling them into the square.

Mid-performance!

Special effects!

As impressive as the plays are the people who have to turn the Dashi floats, which have wheels that don’t turn.

The Kagura floats are these floats that are basically drums with lots of gold ornamentation on them, and kids just beat the hell out of these drums with long sticks.

It’s loud.

The Children’s Parade

Then came the kids’ parade. That was mostly lots of cute mascot-y things, and weird things, like a lion-dance-like shinkansen (bullet train).

And this rabbit-thing was cute:

Then there was an appearance by the Nagoya Fire Board Marching Band, and their color guard, the Lily Angels. They were all very good.

Tubas!

The Lily Angels:

I saw some cars and mascots with people from sister cities, and started to get bored and decided to move on to the park.

After the Parades, Wandering Around Nagoya

As I was heading to the park, I saw a building that was called the Robot Museum, and I was intrigued.

But apparently it had just shuttered its doors for good. Darn it.

They even bagged up the exhibits.

In the park there were a bunch of guys wearing 50s-style outfits, dancing. They even had the greased-back hair.

There were the usual festival stalls for stuff like taiyaki, takoyaki, and yakisoba, but I gave those a miss. (The guys are still dancing here.)

I liked the fountain in the park.

And you can see the Nagoya TV tower in the park as well:

On to Atsuta Shrine

Then it was time to head to Atsuta Shrine for a martial arts expo. Apparently they have mastered the art of hiding giant buildings by not putting up any signs near the respective subway stops. I saw signs for everything but the shrine coming out of the subway, so I wound up walking the wrong way for 10 minutes until I figured it out.

By the time I got there, I was fading, so I strolled around a bit, watched some Iaido, saw all the cute kids for shichi-go-san (a Shinto ceremony for kids aged 7, 5, and 3, hence the name shichi-go-san, which is Japanese for 7, 5, and 3) and I didn’t feel like taking pictures. The lighting was bad, and to be honest, I just didn’t feel like it.

I also skipped the omikuji (omikuji are paper fortune slips you can usually get at temples and shrines), because the I didn’t feel like jinxing myself when I’m not even one week into my trip.

IÂ headed back to Nagoya station, where I ate many tasty things (another chicken & egg sandwich and an iced cocoa, which were both delicious), then back home to ride the buttbuster 9000 back to the dorm.

Now I’ll do some laundry, some homework, and sleep.

Men’s Pocky Is Awesome

Oh, and I had a box of “Men’s Pocky” for dessert tonight. Don’t laugh. It’s awesome.

The chocolate is nice and dark, not too sweet, just the way I like it.

For those who don’t know, Pocky is a snack made of thin pretzel sticks covered with chocolate (and other things), and are laced with something akin to crack, because they are that addictive.

“Men’s Pocky” is made with a dark chocolate coating, because in Japan, manly men aren’t supposed to like sweet things. It’s, well, unmanly. Manly men should like bitter things.

So this is the candy for manly men… if manly men ate candy.

Unfortunately, they’re too busy eating rusty nails and the organs of weird creatures that taste like battery acid.

Because they’re manly!

I’m up to over 500 photos now, and it’s only been 4 days. I’m in trouble. Thinking of the photo editing alone makes me shudder.

Tomorrow is a rest/recovery day, with more classes. I don’t plan on doing much.

Thursday, I’m on my way to Kyoto to see some temples. I can’t wait for that. I’m going to hit all the highlights I can.

Oh, a postscript– I went to a drug store to pick up something for my sunburn, and to my great surprise, they sell topical prednisone cream over the counter. I found this out because I asked for something, and the pharmacist gave me some to use. (For those who don’t know, prednisone is a powerful steroid anti-inflammatory drug, usually only available by prescription in the U.S.) So now I have something else to get rid of before I leave Japan, I guess.

Remember– you can’t bring those sorts of things back to the U.S. without a prescription!

Take it to the Bank?

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Oct 132007

Not to name names, but right now, I’m very very mad at a large Bank that has branches all over America. When I got back from my trip to downtown Nagoya, where I bought my new denshi jisho with a credit card from this large Bank in America, there was an e-mail waiting for me from them with some sort of “Fraud alert.”

Grrr.

This is after I had told them that I was going to be in Japan where I might buy… I dunno… Japanese things from Japanese businesses that happen to be… I know it’s a big surprise… IN JAPAN. So I had to scramble to get them to approve the purchases I made.

Telling them in advance that I was going to Japan didn’t seem to make any difference, because “Sorry, we don’t have any record of that,” is all the reply I got, even though I called them a week in advance to let them know.

Now I can supposedly use the stupid thing, but now every time I use it, I’m going to be hoping they don’t decline it for some idiotic “security reason.”

I hate to waste my valuable Estonian cell phone minutes to talk to customer service. I might need those minutes in a pinch, and now they’re gone. Okay, it was only 6 minutes, but still, you never know when someone will need those minutes to save the Free World from some Evil Plot.

Worse still, those 6 minutes cost me 6 Euros. Ouch.

Let this be a lesson to you. Don’t expect your bank to actually do what they say they will do, and be prepared to call them from Far, Far Away and argue with them at some ungodly hour wherever you are, frustrated, tired, and angry.

So yes, that is the Lesson.

Anyway, I’ll see how I feel in the morning and try to hit some more of the big Festival in Nagoya… it all starts at 11a.m., so that may not happen.

Flower Cars and Feudal Lords. Parade!

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Oct 132007

Big day today!

For starters, I woke up at 7 a.m. On a Saturday. Can’t help it.

Then I did laundry at the laundromat next to the QuickMart.

I lead an exciting life!

Laundry was completed without much incident.

Wandering in Nagoya

Then I set off for Nagoya. This time the trains worked!

At first, I was a bit worried that the trip would be a bust, because I was trying to find Kinokuniya (a book store chain in Japan), and I couldn’t find it. I wound up wandering around the area near the station.

Here’s the station:

I saw a cool window display as well:

I even found the Computer Building!

I started to notice that something was going on.

Police were starting to blockade the streets, and people were expectantly standing around the blockades. People here usually don’t just stand around and not move purposefully somewhere, so I had a feeling something might happen, so I joined them in their standing around.

Suddenly, lo and behold! A parade! I had heard that there was going to be a festival in the region, but I didn’t know I’d actually stumble across it.

A couple approached me and started talking to me in English.

Of course, they asked me if I was an English teacher… *sigh.* But they were still kind enough to clue me in a little, and they gave me some sightseeing ideas, so it’s fine.

I was lucky because I was smart and brought my little Nikon point-and-shoot digital camera. I got about 300 pictures, (okay, way too many) but the parade was awesome.

There were even some mock battles. For those of you wondering about the scores, in the main match it was riflemen 1, guys with spears 0. Then there were some guys with swords, who did some mock slashing of people. My Japanese history is weak, so I was at a bit of a loss.

A little slapstick mid-battle:

Back to the fighting:

There were also visits by the members of the Nobunaga clan. Wait, I think this is the Tokugawa car. Either way, it was pretty cool.

I even got pictures of the people following behind the daimyos on horseback to clean up the inevitable daimyo horse poop.

After the Parade, a Feast!

After the parade, I went back to JR Nagoya Station to get food, because I hadn’t eaten since 8 a.m. I found a nice little sushi shop, where they served me some piping hot green tea, a small glass of water, and nigiri sushi, in which the chef had cleverly concealed enough wasabi to peel all the mucus membranes from my head.

But it was really good.

For “dessert,” he had prepared two pieces of sweet sushi. One was … I don’t even remember, and the other one was egg sushi with some kind of sweet sauce. Woo! A 9 out of 10 on the food scale.

After that, it was time for Kinokuniya, which I managed to find after asking the lady at the information desk in Nagoya Station for directions. She was impressed that I tried to ask her in Japanese, but since my brain’s batteries were failing, she let me speak in English.

A tip– in the big cities, find the information desk people and ask them every question that enters your tourist brain. You will not be sorry, and they all speak good English. And honestly, why waste hours searching like an idiot when someone else can just tell you where it is?

I headed to Kinokuniya. I picked up a fall foliage tourist magazine for some ideas, and a map book of beautiful scenic hikes. I could have gone into a book buying frenzy, but I decided to save that for the end of the trip in Tokyo, because I don’t want to lug my purchases all over Japan. Both publications are all in Japanese, but I know enough to get some rough ideas.

Bic Camera!

After that, it was time for the real reason I went to Nagoya in the first place– a trip to Bic Camera. This was fun. I was on the hunt for a new denshi jisho (electronic dictionary), and after checking out the one that one of the other Yamasa students had, I knew what I wanted… sort of. I went to the display and played with a bunch, but I wound up buying the one I already knew how to use– the Sharp PW-AT760B. (B as in Black and B as in Bad because it’s BLACK! ) They had a red one, as well as a white one with a tan top, but if it wasn’t going to be all white, then I wanted the all-black one.

Yes, it does matter.

Yes, I am a nerd.

You probably know that already anyway.

The really nice part about buying the electronic dictionary at Bic was getting a point card, and about 5,000 yen worth of points on it. I spent 1,200 on a really nice bright orange case for my little denshi jisho, and I decided to bank the rest for later. Many thanks to the nice lady who explained to me in a mix of English and Japanese that the point card wouldn’t cost me anything. I was afraid I was going to get scammed or something. I have too much experience with that in the U.S., I guess. Yeah, I mean you guys who always try to sell me the rewards cards that should be free!

If you want to get your nerd on, seriously, check out Bic Camera if you get to Japan. There’s a lot cool stuff to check out. They had all kinds of toys. And by all means, get the point cards!

After that, I was famished, because sushi does not stick to my ribs. I went back to the station for a chicken and egg sandwich (oyako-sando!), a croissant, and iced milk. I had never had iced milk before, but man, it hit the spot. The Mermaid Cafe if you’re scoring at home. It’s near the Tokaido Line platform before the wicket.

Then I took a 30-minute train ride home, and I wrote this blog post just for you guys.

Tomorrow may be Nagoya again, if I can take it. Or it may just be me drooling in a corner of the room. I think I got a major case of sunburn, so part of the day may just be spent looking for aloe.

Feeling Crunky.

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Oct 122007

I had a fun evening, and things are slow, so I’ll tell you all about it now, because I have super-fast Ethernet.

I decided to go to Nagoya for dinner. I thought it would be fun to go to the station, which I hear is one of the largest train stations in the world, and find a place to eat.

Well, sometimes things don’t happen the way we expect them to.

I walked to JR Okazaki to catch a train to Nagoya. I went through the wicket, and down to the tracks. As I got to the platform, I sensed something was up, because both the local and the special express were sitting there, waiting for me with open doors, and nobody was running to them.

From what I have gathered so far, this is not normal train behavior in Japan.

The crowd of people at the ticket booth hassling the poor ticket agent should have also triggered my sense of alarm, but it did not. The people sitting on the train cars looking tired, bored, and ready to go to sleep should have also clued me in.

I think the jet lag has made me slightly dumber to miss that one.

So I got in a train car and waited.

And waited.

Meanwhile someone kept repeating something very polite about police I couldn’t quite understand, and “sorry for making you wait.”

I really need to improve my listening skills.

I did a little thinking, and realized that Something Really Bad must have happened to stop a whole train line, so I bailed for the local student bar on the Yamasa campus, “ZigZag,” again. It’s a nice place to socialize with the other students, and the food is cheap. So is the Guinness. But I skipped the beer again, because I reasoned that if it took me 25 minutes to figure out that the trains weren’t working, beer would not in any way improve my mental acuity.

On the way home, I found a drink called “Qoo.” I would have photographed it, but I didn’t feel like it. I’m not really sure what Qoo is. It seemed like a flat orange soda to me. Then again, it was late and dark, I was thirsty, and it looked cute.

I’m a sucker for cute, so Japan is probably going to get me good.

I stopped by my savior, the local QuickMart, where I found a “Crunky” bar (yes, Crunky) and some milk. Ah, that hit the spot.

And now I will finally pass out for the night.

Crunky bars are good. Kind of like a Nestle Crunch ice cream bar, only with a much cooler name.

Crunky.

My fellow Americans will know why the name Crunky amuses me, if they’re under 50.

Burugaria (is it Bulgaria?) brand blueberry yogurt has also served as a great breakfast and random snack.

And as a shout-out to my online gaming friend Omi, look what I found!

I’ll try to go to Nagoya again tomorrow.

Oh, I also found a great laundry detergent. It’s called “Attack! All In.” Just my style of laundry cleaning.

Attack!

I’m all in.

The Bicycle from Hell.

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Oct 122007

Today I discovered a few embarrassing, yet very important things.

The 2,000 yen/week bicycle you rent will probably look bad no matter what.
The 2,000 yen helmet you get extra somehow makes you look even worse.
The 2,000 yen/week bicycle rides even worse than you thought a bicycle could.
Using the 2,000 yen/week bicycle means that your posterior will severely dislike you.
It beats walking… sometimes?

I’m going to lay down on my stomach and sob softly into my pillow. Maybe I’ll be able to sit again tomorrow.

I suppose I could just block the memory. Or just create some better memories and hope they drown out my discomfort.

Other Stuff

I’m thinking about going to Nagoya to have some dinner at the station. I could seriously murder a cow right now and just eat it raw.

My teachers are nice, and they’re proving just how little Japanese I really know. That’s kind of sad. But they’re eager to help me, and I appreciate it. I had six semesters of Japanese in graduate school, but then I made the mistake of not studying much the last 3 years or so.

If you don’t use it, you lose it.

Fast.

More Random Stuff

It gets dark quickly here, because they don’t believe in Daylight Savings Time. I kind of miss that, but then again, when I’m in the U.S., and the sun doesn’t rise until 8 a.m. in October, well, that’s kind of messed-up, too.

My in-room phone has a “Morning Call” feature. (What we call aÂ “wake-up call” in the U.S.) I have no idea how to turn it off. I can set it for whenever I want to, but I can’t set it to “Never.”

My A/C and I keep having little fights over whether it wants to run or not. You’d think 75F would be cool enough to open the windows. You’d be wrong. Okazaki makes Florida feel like a desert. (It’s very humid here for some reason.) Opening the window only makes it worse.

In spite of it all, I’m having a blast. I’m in an unfamiliar country doing strange things, and nobody has arrested me.

Yet.

FEEL NEWS

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Oct 122007

This waking up before 6 a.m. thing is something it’s going to take time to get used to. Since my classes don’t start until 12:30 p.m., I have a lot of time to kill in the mornings.

So this morning I decided to head to the local supermarket, named FEEL NEWS… I’m not sure how one “feels” the news, or what it has to do with groceries, and I probably never will. Then again, I shop at a grocery store called Harris-Teeter, and sometimes I shop at Whole Foods. (But I don’t usually eat my foods whole.) So odd naming isn’t just a Japanese thing.

Anyway, it was around 9:30 or so, and I was thinking, “It should be open by now. It’s a supermarket, right?” I mean come on, the local Harris-Teeter is open 24/7. I can’t think of any respectable American grocery store that hasn’t gotten out of bed by 8 a.m.

So I walked in. The doors opened, I went up some stairs, and started walking around. Nobody said a word to me. Then after about 5 minutes, someone finally came and explained to me that the store was still closed.

*Sigh*

I guess that explains all the weird looks I was getting from the employees. It was just weird that nobody said anything to me for a while. Maybe it has something to do with being averse to telling a customer that he has made a rather large mistake? (A rather large mistake like not realizing that the store was still closed?)

I just have one question: if your store is closed, why do the doors open?

So I decided to go to the bookstore down the road. It was 9:45 a.m. by now. The sign on the door said that it opened at 9:30… but all of the windows were shuttered, and the staff was doing inventory on the floor. I didn’t even bother trying to find out if it’s open, because more than likely, it wasn’t.

I gave up and started to head back towards my dorm. On the way to the closed supermarket, I passed what looked like a small office supplies store that I thought was open. But when I came back to it on the way back, it was closed too, with a note scrawled on the door.

I’m sensing a trend.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and by the time classes are over at 3:30, I’ll make it just in time for everything to close.

Or at least for that memo about me to get around to everyone else.

Phone Stuff

I have the Internet, and my Estonian cell phone works.

I’m using the Softbank SIM card more often, because it’s cheaper for US people to call me in Japan than in Estonia… by about 2 orders of magnitude. In a pinch I can call out on the Estonian phone, because I read the fine manual and figured out how to use it. It’s online on the travelsimshop website. It’s a bit pricey to call out, but I can do it if I need to.

Another odd thing I saw during my morning walk– American-style houses sprouting up in new construction. Most of the houses I’ve seen here are very Japanese, very traditional. Not these. They look like something out of a Charlotte suburb.

Oh, I think I’ve almost figured out how to sort my trash. I’ll save that for later.

Jet Lag.

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Oct 112007

I’ve been sleeping pretty much all day, and after a long nap, I’m going to bed to sleep for another 8 hours or so.

Here are a couple of photos of my room in the Student Village at Yamasa, in case you didn’t see the one in the previous post.

The school has a nice bar called “ZigZag” that serves cheap Guinness. I went there for dinner, but decided to pass on the beer tonight. I don’t want to get any more dehydrated than I already am. I just kept to ginger ale and a cheese sandwich with a salad.

I walked around a little, but I have been mostly sleeping. I’ll be sociable later, when I can be awake for it.

The only thing I’m not used to yet are the hard beds here. At the hotel in Ueno it wasn’t so bad, but here, instead of a mattress, there’s a table-like thing that you pile futons on top of. Now I’ve got this pain in the center of my back. This time next week I’ll be having my little weekend getaway in Kyoto, so I only have to deal with it for a few days.

The other thing that has really irritated me is that the Estonian SIM card that I bought gets a signal, but I can’t figure out how to call the US on it yet.

I ended up renting one from Softbank for 105 yen a day when I got to Narita.

Oh, the final thing that’s driving me nuts– 10 yen coins. They’re huge, and while not worthless, they seem to reproduce in your pockets while you’re not looking.

Time for more sleep now. Jet lag is kicking my butt.

My Japan Trip Preparation

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Sep 302007

So first off, why this blog? Well, it’s for my relatives, who want to make sure I’m still breathing, and not lying in a ditch somewhere when I travel, but it’s also for the same reason everyone else blogs– because I like to talk about the things that interest me. I have a lot of things I’m interested in, so I have a lot of things to say about a lot of random topics.

I can’t guarantee any sort of regularity on posting. I’ll probably post more when I’m traveling than when I’m not, or post when I have something to say.

I tend to be wordy, so posts tend to be long.

I also tend to edit the stuff I write over time. A lot of my training is in reporting and editing. I believe in getting it down, then getting it right, then going back and fixing it some more. So don’t be surprised if the content of a post changes a bit over time as I look back in horror at my writing.

Off to Japan– Wait, Gotta Prep First.

Now that that’s out of the way, on with the first story:

I decided to go to Japan, and I needed to prepare.

How did I prepare? Well, I’ll tell you.

I started in late August, by going to Mt. Mitchell, the tallest mountain in North Carolina, and also the tallest mountain East of the Mississippi River. I wanted a moment on a place that’s really high up, with nice scenery to help me get psyched up for the trip.

I slipped on a wet rock and fell and bruised the heck out of my hand and tweaked my ankle.

So, I was successful… ish.

Travel Guides

Next came the books. If was going to Japan, I needed to learn about Japan, right?

Well, yes, but, the first thing I needed to learn was how to travel, since I haven’t done any international travel in a while.

The first book I bought was Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door.

Wait, a book on Europe for a trip to Japan? Yup. Because Rick Steves is a font of travel tips and advice. Granted, it’s not all applicable, but some general concepts really do carry over.

I also picked up a bunch of different travel guides for Japan, but to be honest, most didn’t do much for me, with a couple of exceptions. I liked Lonely Planet: Japan and Time Out: Tokyo. But even these two books had problems.

The problem with Lonely Planet: Japan was it was a little over two years out of date. (It was also too big and heavy.) The link leads you to the new version of it.

Time Out: Tokyo is good, but it doesn’t go into detail about Akihabara, and Akihabara is a huge draw for a lot of people who go to Tokyo these days.

I read the other guides, but I didn’t consider taking them with me. Frommer’s Japan was okay if you’re just going to hit the highlights in a large group. Japan by Rail was okay, but both books are more library check-outs than purchases.

The problem with any guidebook is weight. What I would probably do now is scan the relevant pages and store them electronically, or follow Rick Steves’ advice to just rip out pages you need, and leave the rest behind, and throw them away as you travel, because weight kills you.

I’m going to say this again, because it’s really important. Weight kills you when you travel. The more crap you carry, the less you can do. Why? Because you have to waste energy carrying the extra weight, or spend money toÂ get help carrying it, and then there’s the added worry about someone taking your crap. Weight adds all kinds of weight when you travel. So don’t bring so much crap.

Better Sources for Travel Info

The other big problem with all of the guidebooks was incomplete lodging information. I’m not exactly sure how they chose places to put in their books, but the few hotels they list for Kyoto don’t even begin to scratch the surface, and you can bet that every single one of them will be jammed full if you decide to divert over to Kyoto for a few nights.

That “charming guest house” they mention in the book will always be jam-packed when you try to book it on a busy weekend, because every other tourist with a copy of your travel guide will try to stay there.

I found the best advice for Japan travel came from JNTO, the Japan National Tourist Organization. It was usually the most up-to-date.Â You need the best current info you can get your hands on, because situations change daily.

Another site I really like is japan-guide.com. They have a bunch of information on travel there, and the message board is full of good tips. I plowed through a lot of posts to get information on things like Japan Rail passes, places to go, places to avoid, etc. And by looking at other peoples’ proposed itineraries, I could get ideas for stuff I had no idea I might want to do.

Travel writers have a very difficult job, but I found some great info from talking to Japanese people and looking for Japan-specific travel agencies. I used Japan Travel Advisor in Raleigh, NC for help getting my Japan Rail pass and for advice on places to go and things to see.

Sorting It Out

There’s a monstrous amount of information out there. The next difficult task is sorting/sifting through all of it to come to meaningful decisions about what you want to see/do in Japan in the limited time you have. I skimmed through a lot of stuff to get a sort of general idea of what I might want to see.Â I went to websites with photos, because I wanted to see if it was going to be one of those “wow” sights or one of those “meh” sights, because sometimes the book/brochure spins a better tale than the actual place yields.

Check the photos that your fellow tourists have taken, not ad agencies! It amazing what you can remove from a promotional photo with Photoshop!

You have to figure out how much time you have to visit Japan, and then you have to figure out what you have to see. You know, the stuff you’ve always wanted to see. Stuff that if you don’t see on this trip, and if the plane back home nosedives into the Pacific, you won’t die with some lingering regret and end up haunting your travel agent over it. So make a list. All the other stuff becomes negotiable. The list of must-sees will help you plan the rest.

Take It Easy

I am building some rest days into my trip. Rest days are very, very important if you’re going on a long trip to Japan. You’re going to need a few days off here and there to just noodle around and take care of administrative tasks, and sometimes just to rest.

I don’t just build in rest days into my trip, I also plan days so that I’m not trying to do more than three big things in a day.

That means if I’m going to Kyoto, I might plan on going to Kinkakuji, Ryoanji, and the Heian Shrine. That’s it. Anything else is gravy.

If I finish at Heian Shrine and it’s still 3 p.m., that’s great– I’ll go to my list of other places I want to see, and find the closest one if I have the energy. If not, then I don’t sweat it. And if I don’t make it to Heian Shrine, well, that’s just something to either see tomorrow or leave on the plate for next time.

Learning to leave places “on the plate” is important. Odds are that if you really want to go to Japan, you’re going to want to go back again when you can. So be mentally prepared to leave stuff “on the plate” and just accept that you won’t see everything.

Wait. Didn’t I just say before not to have any regrets, and now I’m saying don’t do everything? Yeah, I am. It’s a balancing act. You have to strike a balance between seeing as much as you can and not crashing and burning because you used up all of your energy trying to meet some unrealistic goal. Also, if you leave a couple of places here and there to see again, odds are that you’ll go back. If you feel like you’ve seen all of it, then you probably won’t.

There are a lot of places I want to see in Japan. Since I’m staying in Okazaki for two weeks, and it’s near Nagoya, I’m planning on making a few day trips to Nagoya. Kyoto is an obvious choice. I also want to visit Nara, since it’s close to Kyoto, home to the big Buddha, as well as a center for making excellent calligraphy brushes. I have to see Osaka, too, and maybe Kobe. I want to see Hiroshima. I want to see the A-bomb Dome and the Peace Museum, and I want to visit Miyajima. I’d also like to see Kyushu, but I’m not sure what I want to see there yet. Maybe Beppu? Of course, there’s also Nagano and Sendai, too. I want to see Sapporo– I’d love to see Hokkaido.

Getting Medications Sorted Out Before You Go

So now that I’ve done my research, and I have some ideas for places I’d like to visit while I’m over there, it’s time to take care of more mundane issues, like taking my meds into Japan for 30+ days.

If you’re on prescription meds of any kind, and you’re going to be in Japan for more than 30 days, you need to get a yakkan shoumei. What is it? It’s a kind of import license to bring in large quantities of prescription meds for personal use. How do you get one? Call the Japanese Embassy or Consulate nearest you.

Give yourself a full month to get it done, in case there are snags. I sent my forms off 3 weeks before I left, and got my yakkan shoumei about a week before I left. But there are still issues I had to work out. Namely, you can’t take more than a certain amount of certain meds without a doctor’s certificate.

I brought my doctor’s certificate with me to Japan, and it was fine after some explaining in a broken mix of Japanese and English. But you should go ahead and send a doctor’s certificate with yourÂ yakkan shoumei application, stating that the medicines are medically necessary, so you don’t have to spend 10 minutes trying to explain what’s what to the customs officials there. And if you don’t speak any Japanese… well… the difficulty level just went up a notch or two.

So get it taken care of ahead of time. If you’re going for less than 30 days, you’re okay without it… probably. Check ahead just to make sure, because laws and regulations are subject to change without notice.

Japanese Cell Phones: Rent or Bring Your Own?

Getting a cheap cell phone that would work in Japan was very annoying, but worth the trouble. Japan’s cell phone system is even more annoying than the U.S. cellular system, in that it uses an oddball frequency nobody else uses (except for one GSM carrier… sort of…), and because you can’t buy a cell phone there unless you have some sort of proof of residency in Japan.

Anyway, there are a few ways around it. I hit the howardforums website for information. It’s full of all kinds of useful info on cell phones, and I even found threads that discuss using them in Japan. The problem I ran into was that buying an unlocked phone that works in Japan isn’t cheap. But after some digging, I found that the Motorola V3X does work in Japan, and can be had on eBay for pretty cheap. I got mine for $120 with shipping, because I picked an ugly color. Not bad.

You have to get a SIM card for the phone. I bought one from Travelsimshop.com, and while it’s a good SIM card, it isn’t without faults.

Fault 1: the phone number I got is in Estonia. That’s a biggie, because if anyone wants to call me, it’s going to be very expensive for them. I think it worked out to almost $1/minute for my family. Yikes.
Fault 2: minutes are based on Euros, so U.S. people get hit hard by the weak dollar.

Other than that, it works fine. All of the “global” SIM cards are going to be a collection of trade-offs. The main reason I picked this one was its free incoming calls policy. There are cheaper SIM cards out there, but they tend to have hidden fees, and sometimes they have fees for receiving calls. No thanks.

The other thing I did was plan to rent a SIM card from Softbank. Softbank is one of the major cell carriers in Japan, and they have a deal where you can rent a SIM card from them while you’re in Japan for 105 yen a day, which is about $1. Renting an actual phone is much more expensive, and really not feasible unless you’re only going to be there a short time. Incoming calls are free (yay!), and outgoing calls run 100-200 yen a minute. (Ouch.)

If you’re going to rent a SIM card, you can reserve one in case they run out when you arrive, but you need to do it a few weeks in advance.

I just showed up and took my chances. It worked out fine.

The trick I used to avoid getting gouged on calling out was to have an arranged time/number of rings for the people I wanted to call. I’d call, let the phone ring twice, and hang up. That was the signal to call me. It was always cheaper for them to call me than for me to call them, no matter which SIM card I used. Usually I had them call me on the Softbank SIM, because it was much cheaper, and on those few occasions when I had to conduct business, I would call out on the TravelSim SIM, because it was much cheaper than the Softbank SIM.

The other alternative: find a friend or relative who is a resident who can help you get a real SIM card there.

Other Travel Stuff

So with the cell phone bought, I went about securing other travel-related things. The best things I bought are:

1. The Sony PRS-500 eBook reader. Hands down, the best thing I bought. Why? I can store tons of books on it, so I don’t have to carry them with me as I go.

2. The carrying cases from Waterfield Designs. I love their iPod case because it’s not only good for carrying an iPod, it’s also good for carrying a digital camera kit. Their PSP case is also awesome, as is their Nintendo DS case. They also make pouches that are cheaper and handy for holding cables, chargers, and such.

3. Nikon Coolpix 5100. This is a very nice little 12MP digital camera. It cost me ~$400, but so far has been worth every penny. I would have loved to take my film cameras with me to Japan, but they just weigh too much.

4. Motorola V3X. Perfect for what I needed as a cell phone. Doubles as an alarm clock. I cannot emphasize how important it is to find things that multitask. Unitasking items should remain at home. (Well, except for maybe underwear.)

5. Bose noise-canceling headphones, because I want to keep ambient sounds low when I travel. Great not only for the airplane, but also for trains, screeching subways, screeching children, hotels, ending unwanted conversations, you name it. Only downside: it eats batteries.

6. My Eagle Creek monstrously huge backpack. It’s a camping-style backpack that meets carry-on regulations. Very nice. And it has a smaller backpack that detaches from the “main body” for day trips. It’s very light. I tested it out at the store with 30lbs. in it, and it felt fine. Main downside: if you fill it up, you will suffer, as will the people you carelessly clobber with it.

The only other really useful thing I can think of off-hand that I got was the iGo charger system, and I’m still on the fence about that one. It’s very useful to have all of your chargers in one bag, but it’s unwieldy.

Anyway, that’s most of my travel prep. Here’s a condensed list of links:

Europe Through the Back Door A great travel primer for those with little experience.
Lonely Planet: Japan A solid guide, but heavy.
Time Out: Tokyo Has everything but Akihabara.
Japan National Tourist Office Great travel info.
japan-guide.com Great place for basic info, check out their forums.
Japan Travel Advisor Raleigh, NC travel agency that specializes in Japan travel
Japan Rail pass Information.
howardforums Specializes in information about cell phones. More information than you need.
Travelsimshop.com Offers global SIM cards for unlocked GSM phones (shop around!)
Softbank SIM card rental in Japan.
Waterfield Designs Great gear bags!