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
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
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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