japanI left off early in the morning before my trip to Nagoya. I had a nice time there, but it was a killer journey. 2 and a half hours of travelling with transfers made the whole thing so much longer than it should have been. I spent 5 hours in Nagoya, and exactly the same amount of time getting there and back. I arrived too late to see Nagoya Castle, so my friend and I got started on the drinking (and yakitori) before having my first true Japanese karaoke experience at a Big Echo (large and impressive franchise). All I can say is, I love it. Beats getting drunk and singing to strangers in a bar... This way you can get rat-assed and sing with people you know :-P I headed back on the penultimate train.
It is weird how in this country, because of the wide use of public transport, drinking starts early and has to end about 10pm (8pm in my case). The transportation shuts down from 10pm onwards, leaving you only with taxis. Luckily, missing the last train is not too bad, there are lots of 24 hr, or almost, places for you to stay. Plus, you're not likely to get mugged if you sleep on a bench (although the resultant insect bites aren't going to be pretty). It's like having last orders... everyone gets drunk early and stumbles out into the streets. Essentially the drinking would end up taking place at a home, leaving only locals in the bars. Maybe the weirdness comes from the fact that I'm not a city boy.
The train journey to Nagoya and back was a little crazy. Although I understand the train system, I'm still having problems getting fully to grips with it. I cycled to Kyoto Station (holy crap, the cyclists here in Kyoto are even more mental when you join them) and arrived at Kyoto Station thinking I was late... I had expected the journey to take about 45 minutes, but actually it took only 20 minutes. I was there an hour before my train was due, but I thought I missed my train! I actually got on another train before I looked up at the clock and hopped off. I'm such an idiot! Then, at Maibara, there was no romaji for the kanji on the platform boards, but I recognises the Oo part of O-hara. Just to be sure, I asked an old guy what it said. The journey back was more interesting. I left earlier than I anticipated and got to Maibara (my only connection this time) where I went to change tickets (I actually did this on the journey there too, because you cannot buy a ticket to Nagoya from Kyoto from an ordinary machine). I dashed out to the nearest exit to find it unmanned. Worse still, I only had a 5000 Yen note... very little change left and the machines only take 1000s. I asked if people had any change for a 5000, but I guess they just thought I was hustling, so I bought a really cheap ticket and then dashed over to the other side of the train station and tried to get a new one. The guy there didn't speak English, but understood my problem. Which was nice.
Safe to say, I got home that night and was bloody tired. I had a JR Highway Bus to catch at 11ish that night to Tokyo. I don't think I did anything that day, just relaxed. I was tired all day, but when I got on the Highway Bus, I just couldn't sleep! For the 8 hour overnight journey, I slept for only 3. To do so, I had to swap seats and try and lie on my side (I can only sleep on my front or sides), and then I woke up because I was bloody cold...
We arrived in Shinjuku at 8am and had to wait until 2pm before we could check in, so after dropping our bags off at the hotel, Miyuki and went exploring Jimbocho... or rather, searched for a barber. The only thing I had done the day before was look for a haircut, but all the hairdressers and barbers were closed in Kyoto on Monday. The cut I had in Tokyo was pretty cool, even if I communicated what I wanted with sign language. He washed my hair, the first time I've ever had that done in a barbers, then he cut it down and washed it again... I also got my ears shaved with a cut-throat razor... I didn't think they were particularly hairy
That night, after a nap, I headed into Akihabara (only a couple of stops away) and looked around. It wasn't at all cheap, nor was I all that wowed, but I did see some maids advertising 'Maid Reflexology' and 'Maid Playtime', the latter allowing the customer to walk around with the maid and so on... Expensive too. I had fish and chips at a pub-style bar: the chips were actually wedges, and the fish was small and cut up. The best thing about the meal was their brand of beer, was actually really nice.
The next day was a trip to Yasukuni with Chikara. Great to see him, and I know he might read this: sorry I haven't emailed, I have meant to but I just keep forgetting! Yasukuni was interesting... it was the 61st anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, the sound trucks and right-wingers were out. The grounds themselves are impressive and beautiful, and I paid my respects to the dead there (with Chikara's guidance). The Yushukan (the controversial museum at the shrine) wasn't as bad as I'd imagined, but was a one-sided affair, that much I had expected. It was raining a lot that day, in fact, as we arrived in Tokyo, it started to chuck it down: my first typhoon in Japan.
Despite the occassional shower, we headed to Asakusa to see the temple there. Pretty big, very beautiful, but unfortunately the large statues between the gate and the temple were covered in tarp and scaffolding. Not unlike my experience at the Ginkakuji temple in Kyoto. My hosts prayed and then Chikara got a fortune: slightly good luck... not too bad I suppose. We then stuck around Asakusa to find an izakaya where we sat on the tatami and talked for an hour or so, then moved onto yakiniku (or rather, the Korean variant) for more chat. It was great to see Chikara, we've only known each other a matter of months so I can't wait to hang out with him more back in Aber.
The next day I went out on my own to see an old friend, who I hadn't seen for 3 years. Miyuki was ill, so she stayed in her room to try and recover. I spent the day looking around Shibuya for a large part. It's the bustling place that always gets shown on TV with it's large crossing. I saw the seedier parts too, love hotels galore and seemingly not too expensive, which is strange, because everything else was! As we wandered, we headed towards Harajuku where I saw some 'Harajuku Style', which wasn't all it is made out to be. From there we headed to Meiji Jingu, a large Shinto shrine with a park surrounding it. The walk was pleasant, if not for the sharp gravel. Soon we found ourselves in Shinjuku where we wandered around before heading to one of Motoi's haunts, an Irish bar. There we wasted time until our planned rendezvous with Miyuki and Motoi's ex at Akasaka for phase two of the day.
Miyuki was very feverish when we met her, not helped by her being lost. However, she didn't want to miss our reservation at NINJA Akasaka, a hip themed restaurant. We were greeted by our ninja who led us through a cave-like tunnel with traps (where I banged my bloody head... it really hurt!) until we reached the lower part of the restaurant, the ninja house. We sat at our table as our kunoichi waitress came in and introduced the menu. We were gobsmacked at the price, but what could we do? We ummed and ahhed before choosing a variety of dishes. One of those included very hot peppers, which our kunoichi challenged us to eat. Taking the initiative, I eventually had three of them. The kunoichi was a little surprised that someone did it, but you should never dare me to do anything! Next came the ninpo magic, with a ninja performing card tricks... in rehearsed English too (for my benefit). Really, despite the cost, the night was fantastic. I had copious amounts of sake and was loose enough to attempt to speak to Motoi's friend in Japanese (with dictionary services provided by the girls).
The next day, we checked out and split up for the day. I saw Motoi again, and we went to Sofia University (her university) and Roppongi Hills where I saw Tokyo Tower for the first time, and then we wandered around Shibuya again (with plenty of drinks) before heading to Tokyo Station to meet Miyuki and have some more drinks. It was a nice relaxing day, and the 4 hour Shinkansen ride was okay (even if I did get a bit of 'Bullet Train Sickness'). I was pouring with sweat in Tokyo Station, it was like a fountain that just wouldn't turn off, a prelude for the following two weeks.
I arrived in Hiroshima and met Miyuki's parents late that night. I spent the night in Hiroshima, my first without air con. I felt like I would die. The next day I went and bought some more clothes, this time thin and better for Japanese summers. After some Hiroshima-yaki (Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima style - essentially pancake on top of noodles and cabbage... great), we headed to Miyuki's grandma's house in Shunan, Yamaguchi Prefecture. It was a 2 hour drive, and we arrived in the dark. The next morning, I discovered we were halfway up a big hill. The house was traditionally Japanese, tatami and altar included.
That first full day in Yamaguchi was the first day of Obon, the Buddhist festival of the dead. We headed out to the Okazaki family grave, prayed, and then washed the grave. Then we headed to a temple to pray there, and then out into Kano, Miyuki's grandma's hometown. We went to her family grave there, prayed and washed it before meeting more of the family at Miyuki's uncle's rural home (old family property, I think). We had yakiniku on a brazier and then we headed back to Shunan to collect some Obon sweets before seeing said uncle at his city home, with his two lovely dachshunds. Day 1 of Obon finished with the hanging of a lantern outside and a big dinner. The festival continued with the presence of the lantern and Miyuki's grandma's prayers at 8am
In the same room most of us were sleeping in (on futons on top of the tatami). We were in Yamaguchi for 4 nights. Over those days I saw a few places: Hagi (an old samurai town with lots of open houses), a big cave, and Iwakuni (with the famous bridge there). I discovered that Japanese spiders bite, and that there are bears and wild boar in the mountain side (luckily these discoveries came the easy way). I found out I still can't stand the smell of sushi. Oh and I found out just how persistent, tough and independent Obaachan are... (very).
The first full day in Hiroshima saw Miyuki going to an English language camp and leaving me with her family for two nights. My Japanese just wasn't ready for this punishment. We managed, just... The first day I went for a walk to get my bearings: I can never really know where I am nor how to find my way without walking. I walked to Hiroshima Station and then caught a free bus to a shopping centre near where I was staying and then headed back from there.
The second and third days were better, because Miyuki had drafted her friend (a sempai from her school days) to look after me. She is leaving for California when I go catch my flight home, with a year's language school to look forward. So hopefully it helped to have someone to talk to in English. She thrashed me at bowling (five games to nil) and pool... emasculated me. I saw Heiwa-koen (the Peace Memorial Park), and planned to see Miyajima but we had my second typhoon. It was a bad one and caused havoc in Kyushu.
The day after Miyuki came back, we went out and spent the day looking around town. We had planned to see Miyajima, but we left late so we just looked around the shops before hitting the izakayas, oh and I had shabu shabu for the first time. We then went to karaoke, because I love it that much. We got all-you-can-drink, so I got a 2 litre pitcher of beer for myself (for 90 minutes). The next day saw us back at karaoke for three hours... which made me a little hoarse. Heck, I'd go every day if I could. We also saw Hiroshima Castle that day. There were terrapins in the moat, and I tried bloody hard to get a photo, but every time I pulled out my camera they swam off... bastards.
On Tuesday we saw Kaori again (the friend going to America) and we played some darts. I lost the first game, but found my rhythm in the second. I also played a lot of arcade games... Great fun
I went to MOS Burger for the first time too, and had a rice burger (essentially it was two rice cakes with pork in between). It was nice though, although our cashier person looked like Lurch, and may or may not have been a woman.... Oh and that night I saw Superman Returns, I love it ('nuff said). On Wednesday, we headed into Kure to see the Yamato Museum. It was interesting, and had a nice section on the Space Battleship Yamato too... Nice museum, but would be nice if instead of headphones, they had English captions. I can't stand headphone guides, they are too slow for me. The night was much better, we saw the Hiroshima Carp play J-Baseball's finest: the Hanshin Tigers (okay... 2nd team). It was fun, and the Carp bloody won. They're crap, so it was a surprise! I'm going to support them from now on :-P I already have my banging horn thingy.
Yesterday was forgettable... We went to the 11th International Animation Festival and saw a film by the organiser. It was a stop-motion adaptation of a Noh drama. Had I have known that, I might have skipped it. It was easily the most boring hour of my life. I made up for it by cooking cottage pie for Miyuki's parents, a run-away success.
Finally, today... I headed to Miyajima. It was a scorcher, but the ferry ride was really pleasant. The breeze was cool and felt so good. Miyajima is famous for its waterborne torii gate. I took lots of pictures, but mostly of the resident deer (Bambi look-a-likes). I tried to explore, but there were lots of spiders on the overgrown paths, so I wussed out and headed back to Honshu. There I caught the tram to Hiroshima Station, over an hour's ride (thrice that of the train ride), but I saw some nice scenery. Then I headed back to Miyuki's house to meet up and collect my things. We caught a JR Highway Bus at 4.45 and I'm now back in Kyoto. Glad to be back, even though I was almost run over by a cyclist (but that's Kyoto for you).
So, we're up-to-date...! No doubt I'll write before I head home :-P
