It is natural that we all fall in the cliché that the most interesting countries are in Europe, I was one of those persons, I had never really a desire of traveling to Asia. Japan never called my attention, first, since I heard is such an expensive country and second because the culture never seemed interesting to me, in fact things that are the most attractive to me from European countries are the calmness of their streets and how crowds are not so overwhelming. Japan on the other hand is overcrowded and everywhere you go there is a circus.
The first day I arrived there I took a bus from Kansai Airport to Kehihana plaza, it was a 45 minutes ride and it was until I got in the car of Yanagida-san that I noticed that they drive on the left.
When you walk on the mall and you have to take the escalator you have to stand on the left and those that want to walk have to do it on the right! However in Osaka things are flipped and you still drive on the left, but on the escalator you stand on the right.
As soon as you enter a restaurant you will hear a wave of Irashaimassen’s to come from all directions, a tiny little girl will come and offer you a sit, and when you finish giving your order she will start yelling something in a tone of voice that could brake glass and that will make the already over crowded place even louder.
You will not be able to find a bar where you just sit and drink like you find in so many other countries unless is specifically designed for Gaijin’s, Japanese drink while they eat, and without noticing it you will be stuffing your face with Edamame, Foraid Potatoes, Raw Fish and other dishes as strange as you can imagine.
You will see teenagers dancing on the street but while they watch the loudness of their speakers, they will wear strange attires and have even stranger hair cuts, but watch out if you stare too much you may be stopped by an undercover police man (Justin and I did, though we got rid of him by showing him our ATR Library card, ha!). On Tokyo streets you will find people on the streets of Shibuya passed out on the floor while police is just around the corner. You can buy a beer and have it on your way home without breaking any laws.
Karaoke’s are one of the weirdest places in the world, quiet people will turn them selves into a version of Mr. Hyde with a couple of beers and sing with all the strength of their lungs. Even stranger one as a foreigner will find yourself immersed in the enormous book that is the guide of the songs and surprise yourself to find something in your own language (Spanish in my case).
Parties are not the exception in terms of crowd, I had to host around 50 people in my tiny little flat, that of course was a lot of fun. Fun activities are quiet different from those in the US, while back here the intention of a party is to get drunk and hook up with somebody, in Japan is to laugh, and meet each other, drunkenness comes afterwards.
The colors of the streets, the merge of traditional and high tech. Teenagers dressed in traditional costumes, the clerk that bows every time you stop by his shop. The police man that watches out that the garbage is thrown away in the right dates. The yelling in an Izacaya. The other clerk that sits right in front of you when you are trying shoes. The ticket dispenser that is more polite than the machines back at home. The microwave sings when it finishes its cycle. Friends go beyond work to personal life.
Conclusion, Japan is upside down … and I can’t wait to go back.
Friday, August 20, 2004
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Fuji san
Around a dozen people have told me how magnificient the view from Fuji-san was, how worthy will all those hours of walk would be once I saw the sunrise from the top of the mountain, everybody was excited for me, but nobody could prepare for what it was about to happen.
In the morning of my last weekend in Japan I woke up rather early and did the last cleaning on my appartment, that appartment that hosted a good amount of reunions and parties, it was sad to leave a place full of 2 months of stories. I was already 20 minutes late when I started to come out with all my bags which I had the intention to leave at Mickael’s for the weekend before I moved to Kyoto for the last days when I met him and Erwand at the stairs, they helped me to bring them down and take them to the other appartment.
The two french and me took the train towards Kyoto where our station was supposed to be and after wondering a few we hoped in the bus towards Gotenda station on the east side of Mount Fuji, however we decided to climb the west side and took another train towards Fujinomiya station just to sadly find out that we were late for the last bus to the base camp at the mountain, our bad luck had just started.
While we were waiting for the taxi to take us to the 5th station (or base camp) we noticed to weather was overcast, that should have been a signal but we ignored it and instead kept our decision of climbing the Mountain.
At 9.30 pm we were all prepared with snacks, water, aquarius (a drink similar to gatorade) sweaters, hand gloves and a very thin poncho. The journey was more like a steep hike than a climb, a dance of flashlight could be seen at any point, while walking we could hear so many different lanaguages, in stops when we get to talk to some Indonesians, Mongolians, Chinese and so many nationalities that I cant remember.
On the 3rd station I had to change my clothes since they were so wet of sweat and weather humidity but the journey turned out to be easier than I thought, after 5 hours of hiking a snickers bar, some lembas bread (oficially Calorie Mate) we got to the top of the mountain. About 2 meters before the summit I met with Mickael and Erwand who were 5 minutes ahead of me, the weather had started to get worse, a thin rain and a hard cold was on top of us, they were guarding themselves behind a rock, I did likewise and tried to sleep. A few moments later Erwand took off and went to the top to wait for the sunrise, that was the beginning of our disgrace.
Fifteen minutes have passed and the cold was growing and the rain was tighter every minute, not to count that trying to sleep on rock is not the very comfortable. Mickael and I agreed that we should do likewise Ewrand and try to find shelter in the summit, a few rock houses the post office and a crowd of people was what I could barely see in the rain, the flashlights were almost useless, the fog was too heavy and we couldn’t see anything 5 meters from our faces.
After a few minutes of unsuccesfully trying to fall asleep we gave up, now the noise, the fog, the rain, the cold and sometimes the ice was unbearable, I found Mickael spazing in one corner.
- We have to go! –I said.
- But the sunrise …
- There wont be any sunrise for us, it is too cloudy, we wont see anything, besides is 4.00 am already and we cant see in front of our faces.
- We have to find Ewrand then. –Mickael pointed out.
We spent around 30 minutes looking for him unsuccesfully, which was improvable since the area of the summit was so small, so we took a hard decision, leave him behind. We started to climb down around 4.30 am, the supposed hour of sunrise, the sun never showed its face to us.
A few after starting to climb down Micakel stopped and started to vomit, he complained about a headache and stared at me like barely knowing where he was or what was he doing.
-I have to climb down.
-I know, but take it easy, you have a problem with air pressure, you have to climb slowly.
-I have to climb down now. –He mumbled.
-Ok, but take it slow.
He never took my advice and started to climb down faster than I could. After 2 hours and me finally catching up with him we fond our selves in the middle of a sand pit, the rope that was supposed to be our guide was gone, and a sole symbol with an arrow and the message “Gotenda station” was our only guide. After 20 minutes of walking Mickael was too fast for me and I found my self in the middle of a sea of sand, black and rocky, completely alone with no guiding rope, a dense fog surrounding me and ice hitting on my face, I started to panic. I kept walking and walking down hill I could see nothing, for an hour the only hope I had was that going downhill I should get somewhere. My knees started to crack, a few minutes later I was in a lot of pain but no other option to keep walking.
Three hours and thirty minutes of non-stop walking was the journey down the mountain, finally I caught up with Mickael and we phoned Erwand. Onsen, clean clothes and we were back in Takanohara by 8.00 pm. In pain, tired, sick was the result of our long journey to Fuji-san, he didn’t defeat us, but he surely beat the crap out of us.
In the morning of my last weekend in Japan I woke up rather early and did the last cleaning on my appartment, that appartment that hosted a good amount of reunions and parties, it was sad to leave a place full of 2 months of stories. I was already 20 minutes late when I started to come out with all my bags which I had the intention to leave at Mickael’s for the weekend before I moved to Kyoto for the last days when I met him and Erwand at the stairs, they helped me to bring them down and take them to the other appartment.
The two french and me took the train towards Kyoto where our station was supposed to be and after wondering a few we hoped in the bus towards Gotenda station on the east side of Mount Fuji, however we decided to climb the west side and took another train towards Fujinomiya station just to sadly find out that we were late for the last bus to the base camp at the mountain, our bad luck had just started.
While we were waiting for the taxi to take us to the 5th station (or base camp) we noticed to weather was overcast, that should have been a signal but we ignored it and instead kept our decision of climbing the Mountain.
At 9.30 pm we were all prepared with snacks, water, aquarius (a drink similar to gatorade) sweaters, hand gloves and a very thin poncho. The journey was more like a steep hike than a climb, a dance of flashlight could be seen at any point, while walking we could hear so many different lanaguages, in stops when we get to talk to some Indonesians, Mongolians, Chinese and so many nationalities that I cant remember.
On the 3rd station I had to change my clothes since they were so wet of sweat and weather humidity but the journey turned out to be easier than I thought, after 5 hours of hiking a snickers bar, some lembas bread (oficially Calorie Mate) we got to the top of the mountain. About 2 meters before the summit I met with Mickael and Erwand who were 5 minutes ahead of me, the weather had started to get worse, a thin rain and a hard cold was on top of us, they were guarding themselves behind a rock, I did likewise and tried to sleep. A few moments later Erwand took off and went to the top to wait for the sunrise, that was the beginning of our disgrace.
Fifteen minutes have passed and the cold was growing and the rain was tighter every minute, not to count that trying to sleep on rock is not the very comfortable. Mickael and I agreed that we should do likewise Ewrand and try to find shelter in the summit, a few rock houses the post office and a crowd of people was what I could barely see in the rain, the flashlights were almost useless, the fog was too heavy and we couldn’t see anything 5 meters from our faces.
After a few minutes of unsuccesfully trying to fall asleep we gave up, now the noise, the fog, the rain, the cold and sometimes the ice was unbearable, I found Mickael spazing in one corner.
- We have to go! –I said.
- But the sunrise …
- There wont be any sunrise for us, it is too cloudy, we wont see anything, besides is 4.00 am already and we cant see in front of our faces.
- We have to find Ewrand then. –Mickael pointed out.
We spent around 30 minutes looking for him unsuccesfully, which was improvable since the area of the summit was so small, so we took a hard decision, leave him behind. We started to climb down around 4.30 am, the supposed hour of sunrise, the sun never showed its face to us.
A few after starting to climb down Micakel stopped and started to vomit, he complained about a headache and stared at me like barely knowing where he was or what was he doing.
-I have to climb down.
-I know, but take it easy, you have a problem with air pressure, you have to climb slowly.
-I have to climb down now. –He mumbled.
-Ok, but take it slow.
He never took my advice and started to climb down faster than I could. After 2 hours and me finally catching up with him we fond our selves in the middle of a sand pit, the rope that was supposed to be our guide was gone, and a sole symbol with an arrow and the message “Gotenda station” was our only guide. After 20 minutes of walking Mickael was too fast for me and I found my self in the middle of a sea of sand, black and rocky, completely alone with no guiding rope, a dense fog surrounding me and ice hitting on my face, I started to panic. I kept walking and walking down hill I could see nothing, for an hour the only hope I had was that going downhill I should get somewhere. My knees started to crack, a few minutes later I was in a lot of pain but no other option to keep walking.
Three hours and thirty minutes of non-stop walking was the journey down the mountain, finally I caught up with Mickael and we phoned Erwand. Onsen, clean clothes and we were back in Takanohara by 8.00 pm. In pain, tired, sick was the result of our long journey to Fuji-san, he didn’t defeat us, but he surely beat the crap out of us.
Saturday, July 31, 2004
A weekend of peace and Meditation: Kouyasan
That weekend Justin and I woke up early enough to take a shower, a light breakfast and be on time at Takanohara station, it was around ten minutes before the hour when we were waiting for Chiho, she didn’t show up until five minutes after we agreed. We took the train and switch in Saidaiji station because we were going to Osaka to take the train. On the platform our dear guide started a long, long conversation with my roommate, result? We missed the train, she had to call our friends to go ahead and buy the tickets for us and wait for us at the platform, after that she made us change the train 4 stations before the last one just to find out that there was no faster train. We ran at Osaka station until we found Emanuel and Kazuko already flipping out. Chiho is a lot of fun.
At the train station of Kouyasan the fun doesn’t end, you still have to take a ride up hill in one of those carts that I don’t remember the name but that are on a rail (like a train but tilted). Once we were on top we found our hotel (which gave us the bad surprise of being highly expensive), it was also a temple and we chose that because you could pray with the monks in the morning. It was a Ryokan style inn, girls were in one room boys in the next (sorry is not one of those stories), we left our bags and started our journey through the temples.
Kouyasan is known for being some sort of school for monks, also a place for meditation and the prelude for pilgrims before going to Shikoku. A couple of weeks before, the girls decided to show us a little of the other side of Japan, the meditative and calm, this came as nice contrast after having spent a weekend in Tokyo and a few other days in Osaka. Despite the fact that a typhoon was coming we decided to take our chances and visit Kouyasan’s many temples, shrines and of course the style of living of the monks which included celibacy and a rigorous diet of no meat of any kind, including fish and chicken, needless to say Kouyasan is also famous for its Tofu.
The typhoon was over our heads when we entered the first temple, we went thru a mesh of alleys, tatami rooms and people dressed in traditional costumes until we found it. One of the biggest stone gardens in Japan is located in this temple, it describes two figures of dragons and is just breathtaking, the typhoon was still announcing its coming so the rain wasn’t really heavy so we could see the garden pretty decently, after the garden on our way back Kazuko and I found a monk on one of the alleys of course I didn’t waste my time and ask him for a picture, he made me put my hands together in sign of praying. I look ridiculous in that picture.
After that we found a big room that looked like design for a conference or a mass, we had tea and of course our company, we enjoyed a nice chat, took pictures and then the monk that I found on the alleys came forth and gave us a speech, Chiho and Kazuko did a great job of translating what the monk was trying to tell us, it was a very nice time although my bd memory forbids me from remembering the whole talk. Once again at the end we took pictures again with the monk, it was a lot of fun and he turned out to be younger than me and probably even younger than Justin who was 23.
The next set of buildings was very special too however the rain started to pour harder and harder, we had to enter the shrine and leave a few spots on the floor. However the view that was presented to us was fascinating 5 big statues of Buda were in front of us all of them carved in a metal that made them look like gold, Chiho again came to the rescue and explained to me what each statue meant, also the paintings on the pillars and frames on the walls had meaning and all of them was nicely narrated to me by my dear friend.
After that the guys got way ahead of us and visited another shrine, Chiho and I had a hard time trying to find them and unfortunately we were out when the typhoon started to give the best of its strength. My tiny little umbrella didn’t hold the pressure and broke two of its bones. The guys laughed at me either by how ridiculous I looked with my broken umbrella or because I was almost completely wet, thankfully Emanuel came to the rescue with an umbrella beach-size, that lasted for a couple of minutes until we felt akward of having to hug each other while walking.
One museum was to be visited before going for dinner (and of course we had lunch before starting our tour) and it was simply amazing. You could never bee prepared for the amount of beauty human hands can create, I have been to a good amount of museums in my life and this although it was very small it was also shocking in the quality of its pieces. The one I remember the most was a god that was to protect from evil spirits and therefore its image gave you an impression of fear and strength, Elephant fangs on its feet, skulls as necklace a fierce look and muscles all over its body, but the best part is when you turned to your right and you fell almost instantly hypnotic by the calm view of Buda, standing below a low light with its eyes closed its monk attire and its hands in symbol of prayer. Aside from the view of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul I have never been so surprised of mankind work. Another set of beautiful deities were in different rooms, gods and onis (demons) riding dragons or stepping on the heads of defeated lions, small but a museum worthy of anyone’s itinerary if you ever go to Japan.
Back at the Ryokan our meal was getting ready, but the guys and I decided to take a bath before and fortunately we had our own public mini-onsen in the temple, we took a quick bath and got back to our room, while getting dress we all fell asleep (remember we had a party the morning before and woke up pretty early). Our meal consisted of even stranger dishes made of Tofu and seaweed our friend saw our faces of disgust and felt bad that we couldn’t enjoy the meal, of course this wasn’t their fault and I actually did enjoy what I had, granted I ate mostly Gohan and Miso-soup (I miss that so much). Wine and beers completed the night and we all went to our beds.
The morning after Emanuel didn’t wake up and missed the praying of the monks, it was actually quite nice we get to see the actual place were the ritual is celebrated, a pile of wooden grave stones were there for those whose families never claimed and didn’t have a proper burial, for our luck we could see a famous Samurai’s stone, it was amazing.
One of the most famous attractions of Kouyasan is its graveyard it lead the way to another of its famous temples, in the alley you can see many graves from famous Samurais or rulers if you are lucky enough of being able to read Japanese or like us have great friends that will translate for you. At the end of the graveyard and before entering the temple there are a set of deities which people come and throw water at once again needless to say I did likewise this time I didnt feel without respect. Unfortunately the temple doesn’t allow cameras and I have no proof of its beauty and I will let to your mind what I found there.
The last shrine we visited (by the way don’t even think of asking me the difference between a temple and a shrine, not even Japanese could tell me what it was) was in a hill, we had to hike for a good 30 minutes before we could get there, oh! Disappointment the shrine was as small as any of those you can find on the street however once again it was fun. On the way back we found a row of red gates that would lead us to another shrine this too was a disappointment but the feeling of passing through the gates made it fun enough.
We picked up our bags at the temple and we paid the exorbitant price of 10,000 Yen which is pretty expensive considering you sleep on the floor. Our ride back home was uneventful however the whole trip was worthwhile, we went to Kazuko’s place and her mom prepared a meal for us which amazingly was our first home made food, again no need to say it was delicious. Kazuko, Chiho and Justin dressed in Yukata for the festival of fireworks we were going in Kizu-cho, but that’s another story and I will have to tell you another day.
At the train station of Kouyasan the fun doesn’t end, you still have to take a ride up hill in one of those carts that I don’t remember the name but that are on a rail (like a train but tilted). Once we were on top we found our hotel (which gave us the bad surprise of being highly expensive), it was also a temple and we chose that because you could pray with the monks in the morning. It was a Ryokan style inn, girls were in one room boys in the next (sorry is not one of those stories), we left our bags and started our journey through the temples.
Kouyasan is known for being some sort of school for monks, also a place for meditation and the prelude for pilgrims before going to Shikoku. A couple of weeks before, the girls decided to show us a little of the other side of Japan, the meditative and calm, this came as nice contrast after having spent a weekend in Tokyo and a few other days in Osaka. Despite the fact that a typhoon was coming we decided to take our chances and visit Kouyasan’s many temples, shrines and of course the style of living of the monks which included celibacy and a rigorous diet of no meat of any kind, including fish and chicken, needless to say Kouyasan is also famous for its Tofu.
The typhoon was over our heads when we entered the first temple, we went thru a mesh of alleys, tatami rooms and people dressed in traditional costumes until we found it. One of the biggest stone gardens in Japan is located in this temple, it describes two figures of dragons and is just breathtaking, the typhoon was still announcing its coming so the rain wasn’t really heavy so we could see the garden pretty decently, after the garden on our way back Kazuko and I found a monk on one of the alleys of course I didn’t waste my time and ask him for a picture, he made me put my hands together in sign of praying. I look ridiculous in that picture.
After that we found a big room that looked like design for a conference or a mass, we had tea and of course our company, we enjoyed a nice chat, took pictures and then the monk that I found on the alleys came forth and gave us a speech, Chiho and Kazuko did a great job of translating what the monk was trying to tell us, it was a very nice time although my bd memory forbids me from remembering the whole talk. Once again at the end we took pictures again with the monk, it was a lot of fun and he turned out to be younger than me and probably even younger than Justin who was 23.
The next set of buildings was very special too however the rain started to pour harder and harder, we had to enter the shrine and leave a few spots on the floor. However the view that was presented to us was fascinating 5 big statues of Buda were in front of us all of them carved in a metal that made them look like gold, Chiho again came to the rescue and explained to me what each statue meant, also the paintings on the pillars and frames on the walls had meaning and all of them was nicely narrated to me by my dear friend.
After that the guys got way ahead of us and visited another shrine, Chiho and I had a hard time trying to find them and unfortunately we were out when the typhoon started to give the best of its strength. My tiny little umbrella didn’t hold the pressure and broke two of its bones. The guys laughed at me either by how ridiculous I looked with my broken umbrella or because I was almost completely wet, thankfully Emanuel came to the rescue with an umbrella beach-size, that lasted for a couple of minutes until we felt akward of having to hug each other while walking.
One museum was to be visited before going for dinner (and of course we had lunch before starting our tour) and it was simply amazing. You could never bee prepared for the amount of beauty human hands can create, I have been to a good amount of museums in my life and this although it was very small it was also shocking in the quality of its pieces. The one I remember the most was a god that was to protect from evil spirits and therefore its image gave you an impression of fear and strength, Elephant fangs on its feet, skulls as necklace a fierce look and muscles all over its body, but the best part is when you turned to your right and you fell almost instantly hypnotic by the calm view of Buda, standing below a low light with its eyes closed its monk attire and its hands in symbol of prayer. Aside from the view of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul I have never been so surprised of mankind work. Another set of beautiful deities were in different rooms, gods and onis (demons) riding dragons or stepping on the heads of defeated lions, small but a museum worthy of anyone’s itinerary if you ever go to Japan.
Back at the Ryokan our meal was getting ready, but the guys and I decided to take a bath before and fortunately we had our own public mini-onsen in the temple, we took a quick bath and got back to our room, while getting dress we all fell asleep (remember we had a party the morning before and woke up pretty early). Our meal consisted of even stranger dishes made of Tofu and seaweed our friend saw our faces of disgust and felt bad that we couldn’t enjoy the meal, of course this wasn’t their fault and I actually did enjoy what I had, granted I ate mostly Gohan and Miso-soup (I miss that so much). Wine and beers completed the night and we all went to our beds.
The morning after Emanuel didn’t wake up and missed the praying of the monks, it was actually quite nice we get to see the actual place were the ritual is celebrated, a pile of wooden grave stones were there for those whose families never claimed and didn’t have a proper burial, for our luck we could see a famous Samurai’s stone, it was amazing.
One of the most famous attractions of Kouyasan is its graveyard it lead the way to another of its famous temples, in the alley you can see many graves from famous Samurais or rulers if you are lucky enough of being able to read Japanese or like us have great friends that will translate for you. At the end of the graveyard and before entering the temple there are a set of deities which people come and throw water at once again needless to say I did likewise this time I didnt feel without respect. Unfortunately the temple doesn’t allow cameras and I have no proof of its beauty and I will let to your mind what I found there.
The last shrine we visited (by the way don’t even think of asking me the difference between a temple and a shrine, not even Japanese could tell me what it was) was in a hill, we had to hike for a good 30 minutes before we could get there, oh! Disappointment the shrine was as small as any of those you can find on the street however once again it was fun. On the way back we found a row of red gates that would lead us to another shrine this too was a disappointment but the feeling of passing through the gates made it fun enough.
We picked up our bags at the temple and we paid the exorbitant price of 10,000 Yen which is pretty expensive considering you sleep on the floor. Our ride back home was uneventful however the whole trip was worthwhile, we went to Kazuko’s place and her mom prepared a meal for us which amazingly was our first home made food, again no need to say it was delicious. Kazuko, Chiho and Justin dressed in Yukata for the festival of fireworks we were going in Kizu-cho, but that’s another story and I will have to tell you another day.
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Towards Memories of Death and Sorrow
The day before I was at one of those parties where I don’t remember whose birthday it was, but I had the resolution on traveling the next day, so I woke up at 7.00 am and I took my bag with clothes for one day and my camera, my lonely planet and enough money to keep me alive for one week, you know, in case I get lost.
One in Kyoto station I went right to the JR Line and bought my shinkansen ticket, the ride was bout 200 USD round trip but I bought only one way because I didn’t know how long would I stay, about an hour after my departure I got to my destiny, the first thing I did was to check my Lonely planet guide and see where should I head to. I arrived in front of the Peace Museum after a short ride by bus.
Hiroshima is known for being the first place of a hostile nuclear detonation, this happened in the 6 day of August in 1945 at 8.15 am during World War II (actually after Germany and Austria had already surrounded if I recall well), after that another bomb was detonated in the city of Nagasaki which is in the island of Kyushu which I visited a couple of weeks earlier. Destiny or luck or whatever you want to call it played a bad joke on me and I was born the same day of the same month thirty something years later, so much was my curiosity for such a city that I decided to go on the day of my birthday to visit all the memorials however well advised by my friends I forgot that idea and decided to go the week before.
It was around 10.00 am when I got to the museum, I was a little hungry I must say but I decided to go through the museum first and then head to a nice Okonomiyaki place, dish for which Hiroshima is also known. Once at the museum the first thing that I noticed was a piece of stone I would say white marble and some words by the Pope John Paul II were carved on it.
Walking down the halls you go though the whole history of Hiroshima, from Samurai times, to industrialized, to WWII to nowadays, an Image of the T bridge before the detonation and of course after, there is even a recreation in scale of how it used to look, and where the bomb was detonated. The T- bridge was the target for the bomb a few meters above the ground, it missed by a few blocks, not that it really mattered, 1.5 kilometers around the bomb there was no living thing left on its feet or roots.
As I left the museum I felt nauseated my hunger was gone and so my desire of more museums, though I had been to the Holocaust museum in Washington DC, still nothing can prepare you for wht you see.
I walk through the alleys of the peace park, till I found the Flame of Peace (I don’t recall its actual name), but its supposed to be burning until the last atomic bomb on earth is disarmed. Then there is the Statue of Sadako holding a paper crane, Sadako was a 12 years old girl who got leukemia due to the radiation, she had the idea that if she could fold 1,000 paper cranes she would be cured, unfortunately she died before she could finish her task, however ever since the paper cranes are a symbol of peace around the world, and people from all the countries send them to Hiroshima which always has thousands of them hanging behind Sadako’s statue.
After crossing the bridge I went towards the A-bomb Dome, which is a building that was almost destroyed by the explosion, however the government after the restoration of the city, decided to keep the dome as it is and ordered maintenance so it would always look the way it was after the bomb. A few blocks from the dome there is the actual spot where the bomb was detonated, nothing special but a plaque with the explanation about how the detonation was and where exactly (like I said it was a few meters above the ground).
After all that I shook my nausea and started to feel hungry, so I went to an Okonomiyaki place apparently it is very famous though I don’t recall its name, I had a Kirin beer and the famous dish. I must say it was delicious and sort of different from the one I tried in Nara. Once I was satisfied I took the tram towards the port which would take me to Miyajima the island that is known for its famous gate that looks like floating in the middle of the sea when the tide is high enough.
I got a Ryokan in the island which is a Japanese style guesthouse where you feel that you are living in somebody’s house rather than in a hotel. I walked towards the famous gate and on the way in addition of having the company of a handful of deer I saw a beautiful sunset just behind some hills, once at the gate I walked along the shore and until the actual site, the beautiful orange color that covers the gate and that symbolizes the color of the sun and that is believed to give protection against evil spirits is one of the things why it is so famous, and not to mention what the actual gate was for. A number of years ago (I don’t know the exact date), this was a sacred land and the Miyajima shrine was one of the most important in the area, the land was said to be so holy that no foot could be set on it, so pilgrims would have to come by boat to the entrance of the shrine, and the main entrance it was of course the Miyajima Gate.
After a set of many shots I had to cross to the main island and head to an Izacaya where I had a hearty dinner, unfortunately the last boat was to leave at 10.00 pm exactly and thereof I would miss all the fun the main island had to offer.
The morning after, I went again to the Miyajima gate since it was a couple of steps from my Ryokan and I took the next set of pictures where I can see the gate floating in the water, then I walked into the shrine that its guarding and for my surprise there was a wedding! Amazingly I could stay a couple of minutes and as respectfully as I could I took some pictures. Once done there I took the ferry back into the city, and towards the JR Line, my shinkansen left me in Kyoto early on Sunday.
The memory of what happened in Hiroshima almost 60 years ago is still painful and I don’t think it will ever pass. There is a museum in Washington DC remembering the holocaust that some Europeans went through in the World War II, they claim they stopped the war, and that they saved millions of lives, but at cost of what? Of committing the same crimes on the people of Japan?
Please visit Sadako’s website at http://www.sadako.com/
One in Kyoto station I went right to the JR Line and bought my shinkansen ticket, the ride was bout 200 USD round trip but I bought only one way because I didn’t know how long would I stay, about an hour after my departure I got to my destiny, the first thing I did was to check my Lonely planet guide and see where should I head to. I arrived in front of the Peace Museum after a short ride by bus.
Hiroshima is known for being the first place of a hostile nuclear detonation, this happened in the 6 day of August in 1945 at 8.15 am during World War II (actually after Germany and Austria had already surrounded if I recall well), after that another bomb was detonated in the city of Nagasaki which is in the island of Kyushu which I visited a couple of weeks earlier. Destiny or luck or whatever you want to call it played a bad joke on me and I was born the same day of the same month thirty something years later, so much was my curiosity for such a city that I decided to go on the day of my birthday to visit all the memorials however well advised by my friends I forgot that idea and decided to go the week before.
It was around 10.00 am when I got to the museum, I was a little hungry I must say but I decided to go through the museum first and then head to a nice Okonomiyaki place, dish for which Hiroshima is also known. Once at the museum the first thing that I noticed was a piece of stone I would say white marble and some words by the Pope John Paul II were carved on it.
Walking down the halls you go though the whole history of Hiroshima, from Samurai times, to industrialized, to WWII to nowadays, an Image of the T bridge before the detonation and of course after, there is even a recreation in scale of how it used to look, and where the bomb was detonated. The T- bridge was the target for the bomb a few meters above the ground, it missed by a few blocks, not that it really mattered, 1.5 kilometers around the bomb there was no living thing left on its feet or roots.
As I left the museum I felt nauseated my hunger was gone and so my desire of more museums, though I had been to the Holocaust museum in Washington DC, still nothing can prepare you for wht you see.
I walk through the alleys of the peace park, till I found the Flame of Peace (I don’t recall its actual name), but its supposed to be burning until the last atomic bomb on earth is disarmed. Then there is the Statue of Sadako holding a paper crane, Sadako was a 12 years old girl who got leukemia due to the radiation, she had the idea that if she could fold 1,000 paper cranes she would be cured, unfortunately she died before she could finish her task, however ever since the paper cranes are a symbol of peace around the world, and people from all the countries send them to Hiroshima which always has thousands of them hanging behind Sadako’s statue.
After crossing the bridge I went towards the A-bomb Dome, which is a building that was almost destroyed by the explosion, however the government after the restoration of the city, decided to keep the dome as it is and ordered maintenance so it would always look the way it was after the bomb. A few blocks from the dome there is the actual spot where the bomb was detonated, nothing special but a plaque with the explanation about how the detonation was and where exactly (like I said it was a few meters above the ground).
After all that I shook my nausea and started to feel hungry, so I went to an Okonomiyaki place apparently it is very famous though I don’t recall its name, I had a Kirin beer and the famous dish. I must say it was delicious and sort of different from the one I tried in Nara. Once I was satisfied I took the tram towards the port which would take me to Miyajima the island that is known for its famous gate that looks like floating in the middle of the sea when the tide is high enough.
I got a Ryokan in the island which is a Japanese style guesthouse where you feel that you are living in somebody’s house rather than in a hotel. I walked towards the famous gate and on the way in addition of having the company of a handful of deer I saw a beautiful sunset just behind some hills, once at the gate I walked along the shore and until the actual site, the beautiful orange color that covers the gate and that symbolizes the color of the sun and that is believed to give protection against evil spirits is one of the things why it is so famous, and not to mention what the actual gate was for. A number of years ago (I don’t know the exact date), this was a sacred land and the Miyajima shrine was one of the most important in the area, the land was said to be so holy that no foot could be set on it, so pilgrims would have to come by boat to the entrance of the shrine, and the main entrance it was of course the Miyajima Gate.
After a set of many shots I had to cross to the main island and head to an Izacaya where I had a hearty dinner, unfortunately the last boat was to leave at 10.00 pm exactly and thereof I would miss all the fun the main island had to offer.
The morning after, I went again to the Miyajima gate since it was a couple of steps from my Ryokan and I took the next set of pictures where I can see the gate floating in the water, then I walked into the shrine that its guarding and for my surprise there was a wedding! Amazingly I could stay a couple of minutes and as respectfully as I could I took some pictures. Once done there I took the ferry back into the city, and towards the JR Line, my shinkansen left me in Kyoto early on Sunday.
The memory of what happened in Hiroshima almost 60 years ago is still painful and I don’t think it will ever pass. There is a museum in Washington DC remembering the holocaust that some Europeans went through in the World War II, they claim they stopped the war, and that they saved millions of lives, but at cost of what? Of committing the same crimes on the people of Japan?
Please visit Sadako’s website at http://www.sadako.com/
Sunday, July 18, 2004
Amanohashidate
Yes, that’s its name, and its one of the three most beautiful views of Japan, being the other two the islands of Sendai and the Gate of Hiroshima.
The sand pit of Amanohashidate is known for its 1.5 kilometers length filled with pine trees and a beautiful blue sky. I didn’t have prepared going there but one day after one of those parties I remember that it was really close to where I was staying (around 2 hours) so I just woke up, but my cameras in my bag and headed towards north.
Taking the JR line from Kyoto station it took me like 1.40 minutes to realize that I pretty much didn’t know where my stop was or even if I was in the right train, so I asked one guy in the smoking area (not that I smoke, but it was on the way to the bathroom) so of course this guy didn’t speak any english nor spanish but the point is that he kind of gave me directions and for my comfort he was correct, so I got off at this station which I don’t remember its name and headed towards the tourist office.
The lady at the stand gave me some directions and told me that the best to do in Amanohashidate is to climb the two hills from where you’re supposed to see the sand pit. So I climbed the south hill, it was actually pretty close to the train station, in fact the whole town was quite small, anyway I had to hop in one of this chairs that carry you up (I don’t know its name), and the fun part is that there wasn’t any belt to protect you, you just had to hold up with your hands.
Once up there the idea is that you turn your back towards the sand pit then you open your legs and you bend and look between them (yeah I know, kinda kinky), and so of course I did that though I didn’t notice anything special, so I climbed down, took a ferry and went to the other side essentially another island just connected by this sand pit.
Again I climbed up this mountain but now by foot because it was not that far, again the view was nothing special. However things got more interesting on the way back, I decided to walk along the sand pit, go to a nice restaurant for a hearty lunch and then back to Kyoto.
While I was walking along the row of pine trees the clock hit 5.00 pm, it was a nice hour, you know the sun is striking from the side instead of from the top and hence you can get really nice pictures, but anyway I got to the bathing area and that was striking so much that I decided to spent a few minutes there (even though I was running out of time because the last train was around 7 and I havent had lunch yet). Anyway in the sand pit I took my shoes and socks off and went in the water, it was at a perfect temerature, it had barely any waves like if it was a lake, the sand was beautiful, I think added to the fact that I was all by my self (there was people around me but not with me), I was in the other side of the world with nice water on my feet, all that made the place be one of the best of my trip.
Uh! I forgot to mention, I like company when I travel, but I always enjoy travelling alone.
When I left the sand pit I said “I am alone it has been a beautiful day, I am going to have a nice meal in front of the sea in the best restaurant I see”, so I saw this beautiful place and went in for my surprise it was only a café and they didn’t have any food, so I was there starving with an over priced glass of cold red wine (still don’t know why they serve it cold). After “enjoying” my self in front of the sea I took off went right into the next convenient store, bought my self a bowl of cold udon and hop into the next train towards south.
The sand pit of Amanohashidate is known for its 1.5 kilometers length filled with pine trees and a beautiful blue sky. I didn’t have prepared going there but one day after one of those parties I remember that it was really close to where I was staying (around 2 hours) so I just woke up, but my cameras in my bag and headed towards north.
Taking the JR line from Kyoto station it took me like 1.40 minutes to realize that I pretty much didn’t know where my stop was or even if I was in the right train, so I asked one guy in the smoking area (not that I smoke, but it was on the way to the bathroom) so of course this guy didn’t speak any english nor spanish but the point is that he kind of gave me directions and for my comfort he was correct, so I got off at this station which I don’t remember its name and headed towards the tourist office.
The lady at the stand gave me some directions and told me that the best to do in Amanohashidate is to climb the two hills from where you’re supposed to see the sand pit. So I climbed the south hill, it was actually pretty close to the train station, in fact the whole town was quite small, anyway I had to hop in one of this chairs that carry you up (I don’t know its name), and the fun part is that there wasn’t any belt to protect you, you just had to hold up with your hands.
Once up there the idea is that you turn your back towards the sand pit then you open your legs and you bend and look between them (yeah I know, kinda kinky), and so of course I did that though I didn’t notice anything special, so I climbed down, took a ferry and went to the other side essentially another island just connected by this sand pit.
Again I climbed up this mountain but now by foot because it was not that far, again the view was nothing special. However things got more interesting on the way back, I decided to walk along the sand pit, go to a nice restaurant for a hearty lunch and then back to Kyoto.
While I was walking along the row of pine trees the clock hit 5.00 pm, it was a nice hour, you know the sun is striking from the side instead of from the top and hence you can get really nice pictures, but anyway I got to the bathing area and that was striking so much that I decided to spent a few minutes there (even though I was running out of time because the last train was around 7 and I havent had lunch yet). Anyway in the sand pit I took my shoes and socks off and went in the water, it was at a perfect temerature, it had barely any waves like if it was a lake, the sand was beautiful, I think added to the fact that I was all by my self (there was people around me but not with me), I was in the other side of the world with nice water on my feet, all that made the place be one of the best of my trip.
Uh! I forgot to mention, I like company when I travel, but I always enjoy travelling alone.
When I left the sand pit I said “I am alone it has been a beautiful day, I am going to have a nice meal in front of the sea in the best restaurant I see”, so I saw this beautiful place and went in for my surprise it was only a café and they didn’t have any food, so I was there starving with an over priced glass of cold red wine (still don’t know why they serve it cold). After “enjoying” my self in front of the sea I took off went right into the next convenient store, bought my self a bowl of cold udon and hop into the next train towards south.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Not men but women
Erick didn’t made his bag the day before so he had to go back home kinda early to prepare his clothes for the weekend trip to Kyushu, Justin picked him up an hour after and they both went to meet their friends to the train station, Erick loves trains, he likes the idea of travelling in them rather than cars, “they’re just nice” is his argument. They got to Osaka harbour an hour later in company of the french Charles, Mickael, Jean Michell and Florian, then Marc from Belgium, Emmanuel from Italy and the Japanese Yuki, Masumi and Satsuki.
The boat turned out bigger than our hero imagined, and hence a lot more fun, they arranged common rooms with around 30 people all sharing the same space, of course it was cheaper but the Futon was more uncomfortable than usual. The guys were having fun outside in the platform with a pretty nice wind some beers and above all their own company. The trip was uneventful except for the fact that they saw a bridge near Kobe and was a pretty amazing view that all of them stared as long as it lasted.
In the following morning after a bad 4 hours sleep the guys arrived at Beppu which is one of the main harbours of the island, before getting of they met a nice canadian guy called Tyler who specifically gave them the advice of “Get the hell out of Beppu as soon as you can”, which our friends of course did. They arrived at Yufuin a couple of hours later after a wavy drive in a local bus. The teams splitted for some odd reason, Erick, Charles, Mickael, Satsuki, Justin and Florian ended up having a nice lunch in a local restaurant and it was indeed delicious, though nothing special just Udon and green tea.
After lunch they all decided to go back to Beppu where they’re Ryokan –Japanese style hotel- was located, once there they got their rooms which turned out to be pretty nice, the Hostess prepared the boys some tea while them as good tourists took a thousand pictures of the event. At the end of the short break Erick decided to take a bath so he went downstairs to the onsen wearing his Yukata or summer Kimono, a couple other guys were relaxing there and it turned out to be again a good experience, though he had to go back quickly because the night was only starting. But since it was still a little early, they all went for a walk to see the Harbour in this part of Japan, while taking the tour many friendships grew bigger between laughter and walking and they all got to know each other a little more.
A couple of hours later they all got back to the hotel to prepare for dinner which was extremely special, some of the guys were wearing Yukatas some didn’t. The dinner again consisted of a parade of raw and rare meals, though our character is growing fond of such dishes and he enjoyed the meal like everybody else. Thru the course of dinner the hostess had to fix his Yukata because it was tied in the wrong direction, this is left side first then right which is the way people dress the deads before saying goodbye.
A few boys decided to go to a bar around the area, and again Japan proved to be a bad source for this kind of places, they all agreed that the only way to get a nice crowd is to go to a restaurant such as an Izacaya. They did find a bar but it was too empty and dead to enjoy it so they all decided to go back and enjoy the onsen before saying good night.
Erick was the only guy of the group that had been to the Onsen in this Ryokan before with the exception of Emmanuel but who was already inside the bath, so he lead the group of guys to the place where he went before, but by surprise there wer women washing their selves in the common area :
- This is the women side man, let’s get out of here. – Said Charles
- No I’ve been here before, I took a bath here in the afternoon. – replied our hero
- You’re crazy there is naked women in there, let’s go. – The american pointed out
- It’s got to be a mixed bathroom, I was here early today. – insisted Erick while walking towards the bath.
- We’re leaving you stay. – All said at one voice
A couple of seconds later he followed the guys still not convinced that it was the women bath until by asking a girl from staff it was confirmed, from now on he would be the joke of the whole trip.
After a couple of hours in the Onsen –the right side this time. They all went to sleep of course not before making fun of the Mexican for such a terrible mistake for several minutes. The morning after our friends splitted again, some went to a mountain called Asso, and Justin, Satsuki, Emanuel, Florian and our character decided to visit the many Onsens by which Beppu is famous.
A total of nine onsens were covered in about 4 hours by the group, from blue colored, red, yellow, gray and more. I should say that they found something interesting, and is that the locals put eggs in a basket and then immerse them in the hot water of the hot spring which gives them a different color and taste, of course they tried them just for the fun of something new rather than hunger. Floating Gates, Coffe Factories, Shrines, Dragons steaming from their mouths, a nice view at the beach, all of it was part of the journey and they all loved it. And of course lets not forget that they met a taxi driver that took them between a couple of onsens and the harbour for a reasonable price and on top of that gave them a nice talk.
The ferry on the way back was again uneventful though more relaxed until someone got the idea of buying an “Uno” card game which turned into a bloddy competition.
Friendships were made, fun was always on the table, experiences, smiles and all sort of artifacts that can be found in a 20 something soup of eclectic Gaijins were the ingredients of this terrific weekend. They all will have Kyushu in their hearts … until the next weekend.
The boat turned out bigger than our hero imagined, and hence a lot more fun, they arranged common rooms with around 30 people all sharing the same space, of course it was cheaper but the Futon was more uncomfortable than usual. The guys were having fun outside in the platform with a pretty nice wind some beers and above all their own company. The trip was uneventful except for the fact that they saw a bridge near Kobe and was a pretty amazing view that all of them stared as long as it lasted.
In the following morning after a bad 4 hours sleep the guys arrived at Beppu which is one of the main harbours of the island, before getting of they met a nice canadian guy called Tyler who specifically gave them the advice of “Get the hell out of Beppu as soon as you can”, which our friends of course did. They arrived at Yufuin a couple of hours later after a wavy drive in a local bus. The teams splitted for some odd reason, Erick, Charles, Mickael, Satsuki, Justin and Florian ended up having a nice lunch in a local restaurant and it was indeed delicious, though nothing special just Udon and green tea.
After lunch they all decided to go back to Beppu where they’re Ryokan –Japanese style hotel- was located, once there they got their rooms which turned out to be pretty nice, the Hostess prepared the boys some tea while them as good tourists took a thousand pictures of the event. At the end of the short break Erick decided to take a bath so he went downstairs to the onsen wearing his Yukata or summer Kimono, a couple other guys were relaxing there and it turned out to be again a good experience, though he had to go back quickly because the night was only starting. But since it was still a little early, they all went for a walk to see the Harbour in this part of Japan, while taking the tour many friendships grew bigger between laughter and walking and they all got to know each other a little more.
A couple of hours later they all got back to the hotel to prepare for dinner which was extremely special, some of the guys were wearing Yukatas some didn’t. The dinner again consisted of a parade of raw and rare meals, though our character is growing fond of such dishes and he enjoyed the meal like everybody else. Thru the course of dinner the hostess had to fix his Yukata because it was tied in the wrong direction, this is left side first then right which is the way people dress the deads before saying goodbye.
A few boys decided to go to a bar around the area, and again Japan proved to be a bad source for this kind of places, they all agreed that the only way to get a nice crowd is to go to a restaurant such as an Izacaya. They did find a bar but it was too empty and dead to enjoy it so they all decided to go back and enjoy the onsen before saying good night.
Erick was the only guy of the group that had been to the Onsen in this Ryokan before with the exception of Emmanuel but who was already inside the bath, so he lead the group of guys to the place where he went before, but by surprise there wer women washing their selves in the common area :
- This is the women side man, let’s get out of here. – Said Charles
- No I’ve been here before, I took a bath here in the afternoon. – replied our hero
- You’re crazy there is naked women in there, let’s go. – The american pointed out
- It’s got to be a mixed bathroom, I was here early today. – insisted Erick while walking towards the bath.
- We’re leaving you stay. – All said at one voice
A couple of seconds later he followed the guys still not convinced that it was the women bath until by asking a girl from staff it was confirmed, from now on he would be the joke of the whole trip.
After a couple of hours in the Onsen –the right side this time. They all went to sleep of course not before making fun of the Mexican for such a terrible mistake for several minutes. The morning after our friends splitted again, some went to a mountain called Asso, and Justin, Satsuki, Emanuel, Florian and our character decided to visit the many Onsens by which Beppu is famous.
A total of nine onsens were covered in about 4 hours by the group, from blue colored, red, yellow, gray and more. I should say that they found something interesting, and is that the locals put eggs in a basket and then immerse them in the hot water of the hot spring which gives them a different color and taste, of course they tried them just for the fun of something new rather than hunger. Floating Gates, Coffe Factories, Shrines, Dragons steaming from their mouths, a nice view at the beach, all of it was part of the journey and they all loved it. And of course lets not forget that they met a taxi driver that took them between a couple of onsens and the harbour for a reasonable price and on top of that gave them a nice talk.
The ferry on the way back was again uneventful though more relaxed until someone got the idea of buying an “Uno” card game which turned into a bloddy competition.
Friendships were made, fun was always on the table, experiences, smiles and all sort of artifacts that can be found in a 20 something soup of eclectic Gaijins were the ingredients of this terrific weekend. They all will have Kyushu in their hearts … until the next weekend.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
A Shinkansen to civilization
… and there were two Bullet Trains (Shinkansens), one in each side of the tracks, one of them had a pointy nose and the other a rather funny nose almost flat on the bottom, anyhow I took pictures of both of them that I’ll show you later, it is quite amazing to see that sort of technology in everyday life, yeah, yeah there is the TGV and the German train or whatever but still is an amazing piece of transportation.
We hoped in the one with the flat nose (apparently the fastest of the two) and we got to Tokyo in 2 hours (rather than in 8 like in the normal train or bus), so Tokyo like expected was chaos, we got to the hotel which was in Shinjuku – don’t know how to spell it, in the Kabuki-cho area, apparently the red ditrict of the city, hey! Don’t blame me, my boss sent me there, well the hotel wasn’t that bad, the good part is that it had a bed!!! Yes, finally a few centimeters away from the floor, and internet, oh! By the way the Electricity was a problem, it took us a good 20 minutes to figure out that you have to put the key on a small hole in the entrance for the electricity to work, of course when you leave you either leave your key locked in or you turn all your lights off :) nice trick if you think about it.
We went to this Mexican restaurant that I heard about near Harajuku named Fonda de la Madrugada, pretty nice although a little expensive then we went to Shibuya to check out the Shibuya girls, these weirdos that tan their skin everyday and use excesive makeup (you can actually check out some pics here in my log), the surprise was when we found Shibuya boys which were even more … exotic. UH! I got to see the big screens, you know those that can show a dinosaur or elephant in this huge size. Also in shibuya in the station there is the statue of this dog called Hatchiko or something like that, and is a dog who used to pick up his owner every day at the train station, but then one day the owner died but the dog kept coming to the station everyday for 11 years until his own death. Now that’s what I call loyalty.
The next day also in Harajuku we explored Meiji Shrine, amazing of course, though pretty young only 100 years old or so, in the temple I got to see the change of meals for the deity which is a whole ritual. Then there were some models for a wedding photo session, pretty amazing, but the best part was outside, where there were a lot of Goths teenagers just hangin out, of course everybody was taking pictures of them (this is when you know you’re ina big city), then we walked to a source of music and there were all these Elvis-wannabe Japanese guys just dancing in the middle of the street, that was awsome!
The tokyo tower is apparently bigger than the Eiffel tower although it didn’t seem to me, and of course is not as aesthetic as the later but well it’s a tower, we went to the middle floor which was not as expensive and there well just saw the city and I had a glass of cold green tea, I love that stuff.
On the following day we went to the main event which was the Tokyo University, yeah I know im a geek so what?, anyhow they showed us some pretty cool projects, I cant describe them because I know your not interested on this but I can tell you I saw an invisibility Jacket. Then we went to the Sony CS Labs where some other cool projects were shown to us, amazing stuff is going on over there too, the next day we went again to Tokyo university but just to Hongo campus (the main campus) for even more projects all of them again were cool, people in this country work really hard.
Uh! I forgot to tell you, we went to Asakusa were there is this temple with two demons on the sides, apparently they are the gods of thunder, but on the entrance there was a market for souvenirs which I couldn’t take advantage of so I had to come back the day after, inside the temple or in the entrance rather there was a vessel with some smoke apparently with healing properties which of course I tried (what the hell, cant hurt right?).
On the last day in the morning (I’m sorry for all the time line mess in this story) I went to check out the entrance of this temple called Hie Jinje or something similar which was really nice, uh! Side note, on the way there I left my Lonely Planet book in the metro station and I had to go back one station to pick it up, of course with no problem it was there ;) that only happens in Japan.
The Tokyo castle where the emperor lives was nice but not worthy of a detailed explanation, in fact I think Nijo-jo in Kyoto has better gardens, although what I can tell you is that I was carrying this bag with wheels with me and my backpack and of course my camera, my lonely planet guide and etc in a god only know how many degrees weather but was pretty hot and I was sweatting soooo much, incredible I can barely believe how much I wet my shirt, poor people in the metro, they all suffered my smell, specially in the rush hour of Shinjuku which is the so called biggest metro station in the world, and of course in Japan and Tokyo specially, the most crowded.
In Asakusa like I said I went shopping, some nice hand-crafts can be found there though not cheap, I got some sandals for my sister and some more souvenirs for the family, although I have no idea how to bring them back home, also some postcards and a nice little …
We hoped in the one with the flat nose (apparently the fastest of the two) and we got to Tokyo in 2 hours (rather than in 8 like in the normal train or bus), so Tokyo like expected was chaos, we got to the hotel which was in Shinjuku – don’t know how to spell it, in the Kabuki-cho area, apparently the red ditrict of the city, hey! Don’t blame me, my boss sent me there, well the hotel wasn’t that bad, the good part is that it had a bed!!! Yes, finally a few centimeters away from the floor, and internet, oh! By the way the Electricity was a problem, it took us a good 20 minutes to figure out that you have to put the key on a small hole in the entrance for the electricity to work, of course when you leave you either leave your key locked in or you turn all your lights off :) nice trick if you think about it.
We went to this Mexican restaurant that I heard about near Harajuku named Fonda de la Madrugada, pretty nice although a little expensive then we went to Shibuya to check out the Shibuya girls, these weirdos that tan their skin everyday and use excesive makeup (you can actually check out some pics here in my log), the surprise was when we found Shibuya boys which were even more … exotic. UH! I got to see the big screens, you know those that can show a dinosaur or elephant in this huge size. Also in shibuya in the station there is the statue of this dog called Hatchiko or something like that, and is a dog who used to pick up his owner every day at the train station, but then one day the owner died but the dog kept coming to the station everyday for 11 years until his own death. Now that’s what I call loyalty.
The next day also in Harajuku we explored Meiji Shrine, amazing of course, though pretty young only 100 years old or so, in the temple I got to see the change of meals for the deity which is a whole ritual. Then there were some models for a wedding photo session, pretty amazing, but the best part was outside, where there were a lot of Goths teenagers just hangin out, of course everybody was taking pictures of them (this is when you know you’re ina big city), then we walked to a source of music and there were all these Elvis-wannabe Japanese guys just dancing in the middle of the street, that was awsome!
The tokyo tower is apparently bigger than the Eiffel tower although it didn’t seem to me, and of course is not as aesthetic as the later but well it’s a tower, we went to the middle floor which was not as expensive and there well just saw the city and I had a glass of cold green tea, I love that stuff.
On the following day we went to the main event which was the Tokyo University, yeah I know im a geek so what?, anyhow they showed us some pretty cool projects, I cant describe them because I know your not interested on this but I can tell you I saw an invisibility Jacket. Then we went to the Sony CS Labs where some other cool projects were shown to us, amazing stuff is going on over there too, the next day we went again to Tokyo university but just to Hongo campus (the main campus) for even more projects all of them again were cool, people in this country work really hard.
Uh! I forgot to tell you, we went to Asakusa were there is this temple with two demons on the sides, apparently they are the gods of thunder, but on the entrance there was a market for souvenirs which I couldn’t take advantage of so I had to come back the day after, inside the temple or in the entrance rather there was a vessel with some smoke apparently with healing properties which of course I tried (what the hell, cant hurt right?).
On the last day in the morning (I’m sorry for all the time line mess in this story) I went to check out the entrance of this temple called Hie Jinje or something similar which was really nice, uh! Side note, on the way there I left my Lonely Planet book in the metro station and I had to go back one station to pick it up, of course with no problem it was there ;) that only happens in Japan.
The Tokyo castle where the emperor lives was nice but not worthy of a detailed explanation, in fact I think Nijo-jo in Kyoto has better gardens, although what I can tell you is that I was carrying this bag with wheels with me and my backpack and of course my camera, my lonely planet guide and etc in a god only know how many degrees weather but was pretty hot and I was sweatting soooo much, incredible I can barely believe how much I wet my shirt, poor people in the metro, they all suffered my smell, specially in the rush hour of Shinjuku which is the so called biggest metro station in the world, and of course in Japan and Tokyo specially, the most crowded.
In Asakusa like I said I went shopping, some nice hand-crafts can be found there though not cheap, I got some sandals for my sister and some more souvenirs for the family, although I have no idea how to bring them back home, also some postcards and a nice little …
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Dear Typhoon,
Kizu-cho.
Dear Typhoon,
Meeting you yesterday was an experience, I'm really glad I got to know you. You know? I've heard a lot of stories about you, I've heard of people calling you names though same may sound cool (like Kamikaze) I am afraid you don’t appreciate them as much as I do.
The morning you were introducing your self Justin and I were going to this bazaar in To-ji temple, by the way To-ji temple has the so-called tallest pagoda in Japan and I wonder how you feel of such a defying structure, anyhow we went to this bazaar where we were supposed to find all these crafts worthy of buying, however I found most of the people were kind of afraid of you and they were taking off as soon as we got there, I don’t understand it though, because your presence made the day literally cooler and with all this heat wave we've been having lately you were more than welcome.
However I could take some nice pictures of you and the people around me, oh! and before I forget I tried Takuyaki one more time, that octopus thing, although it was not as good as the first, I did enjoy it. Let me tell you that after we left the temple Justin had the curiosity of trying MacDonald's in Japan so we went there for a meal although I only had ice cream and I ended up having my meal at ATR, but the point is that again people was looking kind of weird to us and this lady that seemed like 70 or 80 years old approached to us and gave us this candy, which was more like a snack and perhaps not so tasty on the flavor, but definitely worth the experience again of Japanese hospitality, it reminds me of the free drinks I got in Greece.
Being a Gaijin may not be too bad.
I saw sadly your departure in the afternoon and I look forward for your next visit with all the respect such a character like you deserve. I hope you pay us a visit at least one more time before we go back home and I hope you're as kind as the last time (because I've heard rumors of your bad temper), I know, I know, I am not as polite as the Japanese people around here, but you should appreciate my honesty. I look forward meeting you again, and one more time I thank you for rewarding us with your presence.
Sincerely
Erick
Dear Typhoon,
Meeting you yesterday was an experience, I'm really glad I got to know you. You know? I've heard a lot of stories about you, I've heard of people calling you names though same may sound cool (like Kamikaze) I am afraid you don’t appreciate them as much as I do.
The morning you were introducing your self Justin and I were going to this bazaar in To-ji temple, by the way To-ji temple has the so-called tallest pagoda in Japan and I wonder how you feel of such a defying structure, anyhow we went to this bazaar where we were supposed to find all these crafts worthy of buying, however I found most of the people were kind of afraid of you and they were taking off as soon as we got there, I don’t understand it though, because your presence made the day literally cooler and with all this heat wave we've been having lately you were more than welcome.
However I could take some nice pictures of you and the people around me, oh! and before I forget I tried Takuyaki one more time, that octopus thing, although it was not as good as the first, I did enjoy it. Let me tell you that after we left the temple Justin had the curiosity of trying MacDonald's in Japan so we went there for a meal although I only had ice cream and I ended up having my meal at ATR, but the point is that again people was looking kind of weird to us and this lady that seemed like 70 or 80 years old approached to us and gave us this candy, which was more like a snack and perhaps not so tasty on the flavor, but definitely worth the experience again of Japanese hospitality, it reminds me of the free drinks I got in Greece.
Being a Gaijin may not be too bad.
I saw sadly your departure in the afternoon and I look forward for your next visit with all the respect such a character like you deserve. I hope you pay us a visit at least one more time before we go back home and I hope you're as kind as the last time (because I've heard rumors of your bad temper), I know, I know, I am not as polite as the Japanese people around here, but you should appreciate my honesty. I look forward meeting you again, and one more time I thank you for rewarding us with your presence.
Sincerely
Erick
Monday, June 21, 2004
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Saturday, June 19, 2004
The fairy Geisha.
Kizu-cho, Kyoto
Today Rob woke us up at the incredible hour of 9.00 AM so we could go for a tour to Kyoto again, anyhow we took the train around 11.00 and we got there in like 40 minutes, now the first part of our trip was quite amazing, it turns out that Kyoto station is also something similar to a plaza, its got all these stores and restaurants, it is a big place, and of course the first thing we visited was a computer store where you could virtually buy anything, of course we spent like an hour there wondering around and looking for all these gadgets, also once again Japan proved to be a great source for porn.
Once done that we took a bus to Nijo-jo which is a temple that is surrounded by water and that it was once the house of the biggest shogun in the area, it was really interesting, specially the floor which made some noises every time you walked, actually the mechanism has some nails below the wood (I know this because I saw it in the discovery channel), again the gardens were beautiful and the temple it self or castle rather was also worth seeing.
Then we walked to what we thought was the Geishas district and walked and walked around some covered alleys and had some lunch in a nice local place, needless to say we didn't see any Geishas, but we did have fun wondering around the area, also I got some pretty pictures of one of the shirnes in the area.
After all this was done we were pretty tired and we had no idea what to do so we just walked until we bumped into this bridge that you could walk down and sit by the river, so we did. I have to tell you that I was the one in charge of taking photographs in the team and Rob and Justin were my guides, but later on after reading the book a little while we found the real Geisha district which was just blocks away from where we were and so we went there and we started to look for Geishas or Maikos which are apprentices of Geishas, now I need to give you some background about this before my story continues.
Geishas as far as my understanding could go were some highly educated women who are hired by wealthy men just for company and a nice talk, all of this is true, however there is another hidden secret that we foreigners don’t know about them and is the idea on how Geishas are seen by we mortal people, students who barely have money to eat and never enough to pay one of this ... Delicacies, well they are mysterious beings, rarely seen in public and that disappear right in front of your eyes and merge into the crowd not to be seen again. All the stories you hear about Geishas are of people that saw them by the corner of their eyes or that saw them for a few seconds in the street until they disappeared by some kind of magic that at least for me is fascinating.
My advisor, Rob actually has a good story that I will tell you now, and is that he once looked up in one of these alleys and there it was this Geisha in a balcony, as he remembers all sounds disappeared for a couple of seconds, he looked at her in the eyes and nodded in a sign of respect, she nodded back and gave two steps back and again disappeared for ever. I loved his story, and so we tried to see something, we walked to the district and in the middle of the alley we waited, a few seconds later we saw one that we assumed was a Maiko, we just saw her back while she was walking away from us and a few seconds later she was gone. Of course we got excited and we waited for a little while more, there was this other Geisha that Rob and Justin saw but I missed, and so there were this three Gaijins in the middle of the street waiting for this fairies to come out and greet us with their sole presence, or if we deserve it, who knows? Maybe even a smile.
After a while of waiting we decided to leave the alley and keep our walk, of course those 10 or 15 minutes that we spent waiting for the Geishas were emotional and fantastic, if it was for me I would go back every night with the hope of seeing one of those white pretty faces just one time. I felt like a kid in the wood waiting for fire flies to come out and say hello at dawn.
We walked back to the station stopping by one of the many shrines in district. Let me tell you that shrines are like temples, but I’m not sure if they are for another religion or what, anyhow some people was there praying and paying respects. I was tempted to go and ring the big bell they have and pray a little while, but I felt that would have been disrespectful, so we just walked back to the station.
After walking for so many hours for such a long distance my feet are killing me, but hey when you're convinced that you're a traveler you convert pain into motion and just keep walking.
Today Rob woke us up at the incredible hour of 9.00 AM so we could go for a tour to Kyoto again, anyhow we took the train around 11.00 and we got there in like 40 minutes, now the first part of our trip was quite amazing, it turns out that Kyoto station is also something similar to a plaza, its got all these stores and restaurants, it is a big place, and of course the first thing we visited was a computer store where you could virtually buy anything, of course we spent like an hour there wondering around and looking for all these gadgets, also once again Japan proved to be a great source for porn.
Once done that we took a bus to Nijo-jo which is a temple that is surrounded by water and that it was once the house of the biggest shogun in the area, it was really interesting, specially the floor which made some noises every time you walked, actually the mechanism has some nails below the wood (I know this because I saw it in the discovery channel), again the gardens were beautiful and the temple it self or castle rather was also worth seeing.
Then we walked to what we thought was the Geishas district and walked and walked around some covered alleys and had some lunch in a nice local place, needless to say we didn't see any Geishas, but we did have fun wondering around the area, also I got some pretty pictures of one of the shirnes in the area.
After all this was done we were pretty tired and we had no idea what to do so we just walked until we bumped into this bridge that you could walk down and sit by the river, so we did. I have to tell you that I was the one in charge of taking photographs in the team and Rob and Justin were my guides, but later on after reading the book a little while we found the real Geisha district which was just blocks away from where we were and so we went there and we started to look for Geishas or Maikos which are apprentices of Geishas, now I need to give you some background about this before my story continues.
Geishas as far as my understanding could go were some highly educated women who are hired by wealthy men just for company and a nice talk, all of this is true, however there is another hidden secret that we foreigners don’t know about them and is the idea on how Geishas are seen by we mortal people, students who barely have money to eat and never enough to pay one of this ... Delicacies, well they are mysterious beings, rarely seen in public and that disappear right in front of your eyes and merge into the crowd not to be seen again. All the stories you hear about Geishas are of people that saw them by the corner of their eyes or that saw them for a few seconds in the street until they disappeared by some kind of magic that at least for me is fascinating.
My advisor, Rob actually has a good story that I will tell you now, and is that he once looked up in one of these alleys and there it was this Geisha in a balcony, as he remembers all sounds disappeared for a couple of seconds, he looked at her in the eyes and nodded in a sign of respect, she nodded back and gave two steps back and again disappeared for ever. I loved his story, and so we tried to see something, we walked to the district and in the middle of the alley we waited, a few seconds later we saw one that we assumed was a Maiko, we just saw her back while she was walking away from us and a few seconds later she was gone. Of course we got excited and we waited for a little while more, there was this other Geisha that Rob and Justin saw but I missed, and so there were this three Gaijins in the middle of the street waiting for this fairies to come out and greet us with their sole presence, or if we deserve it, who knows? Maybe even a smile.
After a while of waiting we decided to leave the alley and keep our walk, of course those 10 or 15 minutes that we spent waiting for the Geishas were emotional and fantastic, if it was for me I would go back every night with the hope of seeing one of those white pretty faces just one time. I felt like a kid in the wood waiting for fire flies to come out and say hello at dawn.
We walked back to the station stopping by one of the many shrines in district. Let me tell you that shrines are like temples, but I’m not sure if they are for another religion or what, anyhow some people was there praying and paying respects. I was tempted to go and ring the big bell they have and pray a little while, but I felt that would have been disrespectful, so we just walked back to the station.
After walking for so many hours for such a long distance my feet are killing me, but hey when you're convinced that you're a traveler you convert pain into motion and just keep walking.
Japanese Only
Kizu-cho, Kyoto
Last few days have been weird specially yesterday, ok let me tell you why. Here is the story, Justin and I were kind of sick of just staying at home so we decided to go bar hunting around the area, so as soon as we got home we went straight for the train station and we were passing by this bar called Kushi Raku (I think I told you about it), anyhow, we were passing by and there were this teenagers (around 13) dancing on the streets so we were just looking them perform when this guy comes to us and show us his police badge (Police is called Koban here), and so there is this Koban saying something in Japanese which of course we didn't understand, and he asks in english for an ID, since I don’t carry my passport for security reasons I got kind of scared, a little tempted to start running but I didn't and instead I showed my ATR Library card, and the police took it!!! and he said that was fine, it was hilarious, anyhow Justin did likewise and he told us that he is asking for ID because there is like a crime wave or something around Takanohara area (which I think he was liying), specially by Chinese foreigners, anyway at the end he let us go and we headed towards Shin-Omiya station.
When we got there we started hunting for bars around the area and we found fairly easy this sort of sports bar which was pretty small but well was our first guess, thankfully the waitress (there was only one) spoke fairly fluent English, not that mine is perfect but I have enough skills to communicate, anyway she was telling us that she was in Canada for like 10 months and that’s why her English was so good, she was hot but she was the type of foxy, high heels everyday girl. She recommended us this couple of clubs around the corner, which was really kind of her considering the fact that we wouldn’t get drunk in her bar.
So we went walking down the street and we found the club, outside, this waiter/ballet was just hanging out, so we approached him and showed some interest on entering the bar, in reply he tapped Justin in the bar, crossed his arms in an X and said “Japanese Only” …. WTF? … what do you mean Japanese only?, so we started to walk down the street a little confused of what just happened and we reached the other bar, we went upstairs and again “Japanese Only” was the answer of the waiter, on the way down in vengeance I peed on the stairs (I have to say I was a little tipsy) and we went back to Vancuba’s bar (vancuba is how Japanese say Vancouver if you were wondering)
After a couple of beers a couple of darts match and frustrated for our failure of search of good bars we went back to Takanohara, in our way back we stopped by Kushi Raku which is this restaurant/bar we went the first Sunday with Yanagida-san’s family and we ended up having some beers there, and guess what? We enjoyed it!, Kushi Raku from now on is our base, we found a family and a home.
Last few days have been weird specially yesterday, ok let me tell you why. Here is the story, Justin and I were kind of sick of just staying at home so we decided to go bar hunting around the area, so as soon as we got home we went straight for the train station and we were passing by this bar called Kushi Raku (I think I told you about it), anyhow, we were passing by and there were this teenagers (around 13) dancing on the streets so we were just looking them perform when this guy comes to us and show us his police badge (Police is called Koban here), and so there is this Koban saying something in Japanese which of course we didn't understand, and he asks in english for an ID, since I don’t carry my passport for security reasons I got kind of scared, a little tempted to start running but I didn't and instead I showed my ATR Library card, and the police took it!!! and he said that was fine, it was hilarious, anyhow Justin did likewise and he told us that he is asking for ID because there is like a crime wave or something around Takanohara area (which I think he was liying), specially by Chinese foreigners, anyway at the end he let us go and we headed towards Shin-Omiya station.
When we got there we started hunting for bars around the area and we found fairly easy this sort of sports bar which was pretty small but well was our first guess, thankfully the waitress (there was only one) spoke fairly fluent English, not that mine is perfect but I have enough skills to communicate, anyway she was telling us that she was in Canada for like 10 months and that’s why her English was so good, she was hot but she was the type of foxy, high heels everyday girl. She recommended us this couple of clubs around the corner, which was really kind of her considering the fact that we wouldn’t get drunk in her bar.
So we went walking down the street and we found the club, outside, this waiter/ballet was just hanging out, so we approached him and showed some interest on entering the bar, in reply he tapped Justin in the bar, crossed his arms in an X and said “Japanese Only” …. WTF? … what do you mean Japanese only?, so we started to walk down the street a little confused of what just happened and we reached the other bar, we went upstairs and again “Japanese Only” was the answer of the waiter, on the way down in vengeance I peed on the stairs (I have to say I was a little tipsy) and we went back to Vancuba’s bar (vancuba is how Japanese say Vancouver if you were wondering)
After a couple of beers a couple of darts match and frustrated for our failure of search of good bars we went back to Takanohara, in our way back we stopped by Kushi Raku which is this restaurant/bar we went the first Sunday with Yanagida-san’s family and we ended up having some beers there, and guess what? We enjoyed it!, Kushi Raku from now on is our base, we found a family and a home.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
The sad true, a boring town.
Kizu-cho, Kyoto
Today finally I got my project so at least now I have a goal here, I have to say its kind of weird doing nothing in that place where everybody looks to be doing something.
Things haven't changed since the last time I wrote this log, Kizu-cho and the Takanohara area has nothing interesting to do at night but a couple of restaurants and ... That's it.
A couple of days ago we went to Nara city to this bar called Rumors which apparently is for foreigners, needless to say it was as dead as a cemetery, a couple of not-too-bad/not-so-hot girls were there, although we had a good time playing darts and oh! Getting drunk (which I did with just a couple of beers). Last night we did nothing just hang out at home so as today, this place has no night life, however we already have a couple of reunions, one set by Yuki for next week (Yuki is the guy that crashed in our place on Monday) and the other by our Japanese teacher.
Speaking of whom, we started to take a Japanese class which is quite fun, its being held a couple of towns away but its worth it, we get to know a lot of people and its better than staying at home watching bad translated news.
Sending postcards was quite cheap, about 70 yen a postcard and the people in the post office was quite nice, actually front desk people here is really friendly, I love how the cashiers talk and talk and talk when their getting your money, probably they're apologizing for ... Whatever, they apologize for everything, but its quite an spectacle, I should tape them.
Lets hope the weekend has some more life than this past few days.
Today finally I got my project so at least now I have a goal here, I have to say its kind of weird doing nothing in that place where everybody looks to be doing something.
Things haven't changed since the last time I wrote this log, Kizu-cho and the Takanohara area has nothing interesting to do at night but a couple of restaurants and ... That's it.
A couple of days ago we went to Nara city to this bar called Rumors which apparently is for foreigners, needless to say it was as dead as a cemetery, a couple of not-too-bad/not-so-hot girls were there, although we had a good time playing darts and oh! Getting drunk (which I did with just a couple of beers). Last night we did nothing just hang out at home so as today, this place has no night life, however we already have a couple of reunions, one set by Yuki for next week (Yuki is the guy that crashed in our place on Monday) and the other by our Japanese teacher.
Speaking of whom, we started to take a Japanese class which is quite fun, its being held a couple of towns away but its worth it, we get to know a lot of people and its better than staying at home watching bad translated news.
Sending postcards was quite cheap, about 70 yen a postcard and the people in the post office was quite nice, actually front desk people here is really friendly, I love how the cashiers talk and talk and talk when their getting your money, probably they're apologizing for ... Whatever, they apologize for everything, but its quite an spectacle, I should tape them.
Lets hope the weekend has some more life than this past few days.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Do not forget what you are here for
Kizu-cho, Kyoto.
There is no much to tell today, probably because im getting tired of writting this log everyday or probably because somehow im getting used to living here.
Yesterday we finally went to ATR, I have to say that I missed the bus in the morning and I had to take a Cab to get there and which charged me 16 dollars for a 10 minutes ride. The place is amazing, really relaxed and with a lot of space, the cafeteria is one of the highlights of the place, it has good food and is cheap, also it has outdoor chairs and a tea room. The lab is impressive for the amount of projects they have currently running, the guys are geeks like me but they are nice.
Last night we went to a type of bar with the guys from the office, it was actually a big table where we all sat on the floor in a tatami, they served us a lot of food in tiny dishes and the beer came from small kegs in an "all you can drink, self serve" fashion. The food was really good, I tried bamboo, sashimi and a bunch of stuff that i cant remember the names. It was fun to talk to the guys from the lab, I think it was a good idea to get to know each other, we had to introduce ourselves like in middle school though.
I have to leave because we're going to the town hall for a registration process and we have to open our bank accounts and oh! of course work.
There is no much to tell today, probably because im getting tired of writting this log everyday or probably because somehow im getting used to living here.
Yesterday we finally went to ATR, I have to say that I missed the bus in the morning and I had to take a Cab to get there and which charged me 16 dollars for a 10 minutes ride. The place is amazing, really relaxed and with a lot of space, the cafeteria is one of the highlights of the place, it has good food and is cheap, also it has outdoor chairs and a tea room. The lab is impressive for the amount of projects they have currently running, the guys are geeks like me but they are nice.
Last night we went to a type of bar with the guys from the office, it was actually a big table where we all sat on the floor in a tatami, they served us a lot of food in tiny dishes and the beer came from small kegs in an "all you can drink, self serve" fashion. The food was really good, I tried bamboo, sashimi and a bunch of stuff that i cant remember the names. It was fun to talk to the guys from the lab, I think it was a good idea to get to know each other, we had to introduce ourselves like in middle school though.
I have to leave because we're going to the town hall for a registration process and we have to open our bank accounts and oh! of course work.
Monday, June 14, 2004
A touristy day for a change
8.22 AM Kizu-Cho, Kyoto
Well yesterday was a touristy day, we woke up kind of late and we decided to explore the area, so, we went to Kyoto which is around 40 minutes by train. Oh! I have to tell you that we live in the prefecture of Kyoto but not in the city itself.
After we got there it took us a while to find a place to eat, since it was Sunday everything was closed, however finally we found this nice cozy place, I had a type of hamburger deeped in curry and some shrimps, rice and the soup that I cant remember the name right now, anyhow some old ladies sat next to us, they were having fun watching us trying to eat, specially me since I put some soy sauce on the rice, which I think you're not allowed to do.
Also it was good that we found a post office and so I could finally take some money, apparently they only charge you like 2 USD which is fine with me, once that was done Justin had the great idea to stop by a hotel and ask for help at the information desk for guests, though we were not guests but they didn't know.
A few blocks north from the hotel there was a temple, that to be honest I have no idea what is called, it was nice though, we got to enter to a kind of celebration, like a mass, of course you have to take off your shoes and knee in front of some figure, but it was fun, uh! And the information office was in this old classic style building, however as soon as you pass the threshold of the door shazam! A complete modern style building, the contrast was bizarre. Also there was this Chinese-gate that was supposed to be really famous and took us a good 20 minutes to find, of course there was nothing special on it, but well we had nothing better to do during the day.
Then we went to this other temple Mizu-something, it was all the way up in a hill, I should mention that I suffer of lower back pain and Justin of a knee injury, so we had to stop every other block for like 30 minutes. Anyhow the temple was quite beautiful, a lot more colorful than the previous and it had a type of waterfall where you are supposed to drink water and ask for a wish (Note: I drank the water because I was really thirsty but I forgot to make my wish). Also I should probably mention that we took the wrong way and we ended up starting the tour at the end and finishing in the start, but whatever. Down the hill there were a lot of shops for souvenirs and etc. Is not as crowded as other countries such as Mexico or the US, but you found what was necessary, although it took us a while to find postcards which by the way are really pretty and I may end up keeping instead of sending them to everybody.
The walk back to the train station was tedious after being walking all day uphill, but it was uneventful and we got to get to Takanohara station (10 minutes by foot from our apartment) pretty early.
Doing grocery shopping in a language that is completely alien to you is a whole adventure by itself. Finding simple stuff just like Salt or Chicken breasts was not easy to do, but at the end we came up victorious, with the barely minimum of items that we needed and an exorbitant price, uh! And of course a pack of beers for 28 Bucks!! We came back home just to get ready for dinner with Yanagida-san's family.
I should get ready, today is our first day at work and I have to dress up (which means Jeans instead of trendy pants).
Well yesterday was a touristy day, we woke up kind of late and we decided to explore the area, so, we went to Kyoto which is around 40 minutes by train. Oh! I have to tell you that we live in the prefecture of Kyoto but not in the city itself.
After we got there it took us a while to find a place to eat, since it was Sunday everything was closed, however finally we found this nice cozy place, I had a type of hamburger deeped in curry and some shrimps, rice and the soup that I cant remember the name right now, anyhow some old ladies sat next to us, they were having fun watching us trying to eat, specially me since I put some soy sauce on the rice, which I think you're not allowed to do.
Also it was good that we found a post office and so I could finally take some money, apparently they only charge you like 2 USD which is fine with me, once that was done Justin had the great idea to stop by a hotel and ask for help at the information desk for guests, though we were not guests but they didn't know.
A few blocks north from the hotel there was a temple, that to be honest I have no idea what is called, it was nice though, we got to enter to a kind of celebration, like a mass, of course you have to take off your shoes and knee in front of some figure, but it was fun, uh! And the information office was in this old classic style building, however as soon as you pass the threshold of the door shazam! A complete modern style building, the contrast was bizarre. Also there was this Chinese-gate that was supposed to be really famous and took us a good 20 minutes to find, of course there was nothing special on it, but well we had nothing better to do during the day.
Then we went to this other temple Mizu-something, it was all the way up in a hill, I should mention that I suffer of lower back pain and Justin of a knee injury, so we had to stop every other block for like 30 minutes. Anyhow the temple was quite beautiful, a lot more colorful than the previous and it had a type of waterfall where you are supposed to drink water and ask for a wish (Note: I drank the water because I was really thirsty but I forgot to make my wish). Also I should probably mention that we took the wrong way and we ended up starting the tour at the end and finishing in the start, but whatever. Down the hill there were a lot of shops for souvenirs and etc. Is not as crowded as other countries such as Mexico or the US, but you found what was necessary, although it took us a while to find postcards which by the way are really pretty and I may end up keeping instead of sending them to everybody.
The walk back to the train station was tedious after being walking all day uphill, but it was uneventful and we got to get to Takanohara station (10 minutes by foot from our apartment) pretty early.
Doing grocery shopping in a language that is completely alien to you is a whole adventure by itself. Finding simple stuff just like Salt or Chicken breasts was not easy to do, but at the end we came up victorious, with the barely minimum of items that we needed and an exorbitant price, uh! And of course a pack of beers for 28 Bucks!! We came back home just to get ready for dinner with Yanagida-san's family.
I should get ready, today is our first day at work and I have to dress up (which means Jeans instead of trendy pants).
Sunday, June 13, 2004
Picture : Wash my sins
Wash my sins, and allow me enter to your palace. Wash my hands with your pure water.
Picture : A Smile From
Taken in one of the alleys that take you to the Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, Japan
13 hours of jet-lag soup.
5:43 AM, Kizu-Cho Kyoto.
Today is officially my first morning in Japan. Yesterday I arrived at 6.30 PM on Kansai airport which is an artificial island near Osaka. The flight was fine, but I found curious that they offered me green tea in every meal.
Justin picked me up at the airport and we went straight to Keihanna Plaza where Yanagida-san picked us up, after that we went to my first real Japanese dinner, kind of exciting, we entered this small bar with even smaller rooms, some of them were Japanese style (you bend your knees and sit in a tatami) and some western style with chairs and everything. The waitress sent us to a western style room, probably because of my blue eyed blonde friend and my spiky hair, we had a delicious dinner, not so different from what I expected but definitely much better than what I knew. While we were ordering I pointed some dishes to Yanagida-san, asking what they were and if they were good, in a phrase "showing some interest in them", though not convinced of trying them, well I learned that you cannot do that to a Japanese, he ordered all of them!, Yakitoris, which is half grilled meat in sticks, then another thing made with octopus (delicious), also bean strings just as appetizer, then a dish with raw fish called .. Sashimi I think, then Dumplings, also some other appetizers that I don't remember the name, and also sticks with some kind of meat (I want to think pork) and then prepared like a KFC nugget, Oh!! And a HUGE sapporo beer.
After dinner he brought us to the apartment, funny thing is that for the first time I noticed they drive on the left side of the road!. The apartment is efficient and small, in a word is Japanese!. At the entrance it has a small space where you can put your shoes, because of course you cant walk with shoes inside the house. To the left there are two rooms that we are using as bedrooms, it wasn't too hard to decide which one to take, I have the smaller one but with a balcony and a built in closet, Justin got a bigger one but with AC, and he has some drawers.
To the right of the entrance there is the kitchen, I haven't explored all its amenities yet, but it seems to have all what's necessary, though the fridge smells a little bad. In front of the kitchen is the bathroom, Japanese style of course, it doesn't have a door to go to the common area, where you can find the sink and the washing machine, the first room is only for toilet, thankfully is not an squat!, it is a tiny little room with just enough space to ... you know, and when you flush the toilet the water comes from outside before filling the tank so you can wash your hands in that water, again small and efficient. Next is the bathing room, again Japanese style, it has a deep bathtub, that is used only to fill with water (no soap) and the actual showering is made outside, yesterday I sadly found that we don't have hot-water.
Further down the hall there is the common area, with a couple of tables, some chairs and the TV (yes, we have a TV) and another AC, then the Tatami to the right, which also has a balcony. I still cant grasp the Idea of what the tatami is used for, but I will get use to it pretty soon I bet.
I am hungry. 6:08AM
Today is officially my first morning in Japan. Yesterday I arrived at 6.30 PM on Kansai airport which is an artificial island near Osaka. The flight was fine, but I found curious that they offered me green tea in every meal.
Justin picked me up at the airport and we went straight to Keihanna Plaza where Yanagida-san picked us up, after that we went to my first real Japanese dinner, kind of exciting, we entered this small bar with even smaller rooms, some of them were Japanese style (you bend your knees and sit in a tatami) and some western style with chairs and everything. The waitress sent us to a western style room, probably because of my blue eyed blonde friend and my spiky hair, we had a delicious dinner, not so different from what I expected but definitely much better than what I knew. While we were ordering I pointed some dishes to Yanagida-san, asking what they were and if they were good, in a phrase "showing some interest in them", though not convinced of trying them, well I learned that you cannot do that to a Japanese, he ordered all of them!, Yakitoris, which is half grilled meat in sticks, then another thing made with octopus (delicious), also bean strings just as appetizer, then a dish with raw fish called .. Sashimi I think, then Dumplings, also some other appetizers that I don't remember the name, and also sticks with some kind of meat (I want to think pork) and then prepared like a KFC nugget, Oh!! And a HUGE sapporo beer.
After dinner he brought us to the apartment, funny thing is that for the first time I noticed they drive on the left side of the road!. The apartment is efficient and small, in a word is Japanese!. At the entrance it has a small space where you can put your shoes, because of course you cant walk with shoes inside the house. To the left there are two rooms that we are using as bedrooms, it wasn't too hard to decide which one to take, I have the smaller one but with a balcony and a built in closet, Justin got a bigger one but with AC, and he has some drawers.
To the right of the entrance there is the kitchen, I haven't explored all its amenities yet, but it seems to have all what's necessary, though the fridge smells a little bad. In front of the kitchen is the bathroom, Japanese style of course, it doesn't have a door to go to the common area, where you can find the sink and the washing machine, the first room is only for toilet, thankfully is not an squat!, it is a tiny little room with just enough space to ... you know, and when you flush the toilet the water comes from outside before filling the tank so you can wash your hands in that water, again small and efficient. Next is the bathing room, again Japanese style, it has a deep bathtub, that is used only to fill with water (no soap) and the actual showering is made outside, yesterday I sadly found that we don't have hot-water.
Further down the hall there is the common area, with a couple of tables, some chairs and the TV (yes, we have a TV) and another AC, then the Tatami to the right, which also has a balcony. I still cant grasp the Idea of what the tatami is used for, but I will get use to it pretty soon I bet.
I am hungry. 6:08AM
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