Mission(s) Accomplished

  Fukuoka, Kyushu-Okinawa, Japan
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

· Fukuoka, Kyūshū, Japan
· GMT +8:00 hours

I walk the streets of Japan till I get lost, because it doesn't remind me of anything
- Audioslave, Doesn't Remind Me

"We'd like to be legal, please"

01 Mission 1 accomplished

So we got to Fukuoka well rested and ready to go. And go we did. Straight to the Korean consulate, where we lodged our visa application without any fuss whatsoever.

"They will be ready tomorrow afternoon", the nice girl behind the counter assured us as she passed us back our degree documents, having ran them through the consulate photocopier.

"Sweet, what do we do until then?", we openly wondered as we stood in the consulate, sans passport.

We had planned for weeks before coming to Fukuoka that once we reached this point in the proceedings that we'd hop on the next Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. Our uncertainty, now that the time had actually come, as to whether we'd actually do it for sure was based on the cost of doing so. Which brings me nicely to -

¥apan
I had almost forgotten how expensive this place is. Almost, but not quite. Not that forgetting a detail like that really matters in Japan, because within minutes of getting here you'll know exactly where your credit card is. Where it should be is on a piece of string tied to your arm, for ease of access. Here are a few sample costs:

· Cheapest Subway fare = ¥250 (€1.50, $2.30.... Canadian dollars, of course)
· A simple bowl of ramen (noodles) = ¥600 (€3.80, $5.50)
· The pickup fare in a taxi = ¥650 (€4, $6)
· A 330ml can of Asahi beer in 7/11 = ¥270 (€1.70, $2.50)
· Cheapest room for the night = ¥7,000 - ¥9,000 (€44 - €56, $64 - $82)
· Entrance into a temple = ¥500 (€3, $4.60)
· A souvenir, hand painted tea cup in Kyoto = ¥1,000 - ¥30,000 (€6 - €190, $9 - $280)

Okay, so if that sampling doesn't sound too bad (and I realise it doesn't... but remember it's worse when buying for two) try this for size:

· 2 return tickets on the Shinkansen from Fukuoka to Kyoto - ¥53,200 (€330, $480)

Yep, once we had ran the gauntlet of the Korean consulate we made our way to the Fukuoka train station, where we confirmed the cost of getting

02 Looks familiar

to Kyoto, a 3-hour train ride away, and back would be a rather alarming ¥53,200 (€330, $480). I had looked at the price on-line before getting here (I'd been quoted a tidy ¥54,000) but we sort of assumed that a 6-hour round trip on a train, even in Japan, couldn't be that expensive. Yes, I'd been to Japan before and knew that those 280km/hr bullet train thrills were expensive, but having travelled here before on a rail-pass I was kind of oblivious to the actual point-to-point cost. Why,

03.1 Ramen

you might be wondering, didn't we get a rail-pass this time around? Well, I'd looked into it and had calculated that the cost of the cheapest pass (7-day unlimited travel) was only marginally cheaper than the round trip fare to Kyoto, the only location we were likely to go, assuming we bit the bullet (no pun intended) and did actually go anywhere from Fukuoka. Which of course we did. But you knew that, right? No suspense here. This is our honeymoon after all, so we weren't likely to balk at a trip to Kyoto, not for the sake of ¥53,000 (printing it in Japanese yen doesn't hurt as much as €330 or CND$480). As I said in a previous entry, Meg was on a mission to see Geisha, those traditional, white-faced, doll-looking Japanese hostesses'/entertainers (Geisha means 'artist'), and even she knew the chances of seeing them on the streets of Fukuoka were slim to none. Sumo wrestlers yes (see the observations below), but Geisha no.

Reacquainted
So three hours after our credit card was abused in Fukuoka station we arrived in Kyoto. The trip was as fast and as efficient as I had remembered a Shinkansen trip to be. For the cost of the

05 No Spell-Check needed

trip Meg had expected waitress service, but I knew better. What you do get is a comfortable seat, a trolley lady, a bowing carriage attendant and a nice chime to signal any stations we may be approaching. Oh, and you get to travel at 280km an hour for 3 hours. Not that any of that, the excitement of a first Shinkansen trip OR the 12 hours of sleep the night before was enough to keep Meg awake. Of course not. This is public transport after all. Frightfully expensive public transport, but public transport nonetheless.

Having arrived in Kyoto I got reacquainted with the super efficient ITCJ (International Tourist Centre of Japan) who booked us accommodation, allowing Meg to get acquainted, and me reacquainted, with a Japanese

09 Teahouse?

ryokan, always a highlight of a trip to Japan (I spoke about them in my entry from Nikko during my first visit to Japan in July 2005). They are a type of traditional Japanese inn featuring communal baths, yukata gowns, rice-paper doors, green tea, portable mattress, geta (communal slippers) and tatami (rice straw) matted rooms, the latter being my favourite part of the ryokan experience as it gives the whole room

25 Room 15

that bale-of-hay smell. We stayed in ryokan all 3 of the nights we had in Japan (2 nights in Kyoto, 1 night in Fukuoka) and while the ryokan in Kyoto wasn't anything to write home about the one in Fukuoka was a gem. See the pictures for more. Btw, you've probably noticed the thumbnails I've included with this entry are not displayed in chronological order. Don't let that confuse you..... they are only eye-candy really. Click on the link above to view them all, from 1 through 28 (after you've finished with the below observations, of course).

All in a day
So, we made it to Kyoto and had found accommodation. All that was left to do now was be tourists .... and hunt Geisha. Well, all missions were accomplished. Our sole day of sightseeing was spent mostly in the eastern Higashiyama-ku district of the city. According to 'The Rough Guide' to Japan guidebook,

Top priority should go to the eastern, Higashiyama-ku district, where you can walk north from the famous Kiyomizu-dera Temple to Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion, taking in a whole raft of interesting temples, gardens, shrines and museums on the way.

And that's what we did, except we walked north to south, not south to north. I won't say much

12 Kiyomizu-dera Temple

more than that, other than to say we spent the day walking, counting one of the city's 1,600+ Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines after another, visiting dozens of traditional craft shops to comment on the

19 Mission 2 accomplished?

astronomical cost of some 'average' looking souvenirs and, of course, hunting geisha. And I don't mind leaving it at that because I've pictures and observations to get to. Plus, I know I did a better job of introducing Kyoto, and geisha, the last time I was in the city so forgive my laziness if I request you check that entry out if what I've said here has done enough to whet your appetite for more information. Yes, I may indeed be getting lazier by the entry but hey, why reinvent the wheel?

Day 98, 99 & 100 Observations (November 19th, 20th & 21st 2007)

· ¥100 for 2 hours
This, strictly speaking, isn't an observation but I'm allowed to bend my own rules, so bear with me. I've already mentioned that the ryokan where we spent two nights in Kyoto wasn't much to write home about.

23 Aoi-So Inn

At ¥7000 (€44, $56) a night it wasn't expensive either, certainly not by Japanese standards. However, on this occasion it was a case of 'you get what you pay for'. The Inn itself wasn't bad. It was just a tad small... and cold. Our room had an air conditioner with a handmade '¥100 - 2 hours' sign pasted on it. We didn't take much notice of air-conditioner (it's only used in summer, right?) or the sign when we first checked into the room on the afternoon we arrived in Kyoto but having returned to a heat deprived room that evening we certainly did. So I called up the nice smiley manager and had a few questions for him as we stood there with our coats on in the room.

"It's a bit cold here bud, what's the story with the heating?, I asked.

"Heat here," was his response, pointing to the air-conditioning unit (which we now realised doubled as a hot-air blower), the one with the '¥100 - 2 hours' sign pasted on it.

I looked at him as if he was joking and might have slipped in a subtle "are you kidding me?" before going on to explain that it was now almost December, and that while air-conditioning in the summer IS an option one would expect to pay extra for, heating in winter isn't. I might have also... actually, I did, make 'it's cold' motions by wrapping my arms around my torso before waffling something about heating being one of mans basic physiological needs (which of course it isn't). Regardless of what I said or did the nice smiley manager knew what my issue was - that having to pay for heating, no matter how small the amount, was totally unacceptable. His solution? Pop ¥100 into the meter and proclaim to us that we had just been granted 2 hours free heating.

"Oh, such generosity."

Images of Basil Faulty flashed through my mind and with that I asked for our money back for the following nights accommodation (it was already too late to check out on this night). He duly obliged before leaving us, and our 2 hours of free heat, to ponder where we would attempt to move to the following morning. This was a major inconvenience as we only had the one full day sightseeing in the city and we didn't want to have to spend half of it checking out of this ryokan only to go searching for another. But we were prepared to do it, had it come to that. As it turned out, it didn't. The now not-so-nice and not-so-smiley manager returned to the room some 10 minutes after leaving it, screwdriver in hand, and proceeded to disconnect the meter before telling us the heating was "free" for the remainder of our stay. Maybe he realised we only came to be in his Inn as a result of it being on the ITCJ's (International Tourist Centre of Japan) list of recommended Inn's and that it would be in his best interest, not ours, to do what he did. Maybe that's why, whenever he got the chance, he fussed over us for the rest of our time in his Inn. Oh BYW, the showers were also on a meter - ¥100 got you 15 minutes. But we didn't mind paying for those as it was a great shower and, apart from our room, the only warm place in the whole Inn.

Okay onto a few, although not many, observations proper.

· The 100 Day milestone
Today, November 21st, is our 100th day on the road, 100 days since we boarded the ferry in Ireland for France. All told it was a pretty good day (we headed back to Fukuoka from Kyoto, collected our Korean visas and spent the rest of the day and this evening enjoying our ryokan room) but an even better 100 days.

· Biometric
The Japanese have jumped on board with the Yanks (and maybe the Aussies, not sure on this one) and started taking biometric readings from all visitors entering the country. Yep, if you're coming to Japan you'd better be ready to have your fingerprint scanned and your picture taken. The reason for this is, of course, the same one we hear all the time - to protect the country from the risks of global terrorism. Needless to say the whole thing has brought the human rights lobbyists out of the woodwork screaming about how the whole thing is an invasion of ones privacy. Yawn yawn. Anyway, the Japanese will have to wait until next time to get our data as we entered the country 24 hours before the first day of scanning.

· Engine at the ready
All forms of public transport in Japan kill the engine when sitting in traffic jams or at red lights. We couldn't figure out why;; maybe it's to curb emissions (the Kyoto Protocol for annual greenhouse emissions was signed here after all), or maybe it's to save fuel. Or maybe both.

· Sumo
Until today I'd only ever seen a real Sumo wrestler on TV. On the bus to the Fukuoka ferry terminal we passed at least 4 of them. What they were doing we'd no idea - just standing there waiting for the (reinforced) bus, like normal humans, we figured. They are not too hard to spot; they all look like man-mountains, they all wear a distinctive looking robe & flip-flops and they all have their shiny, slicked hair tied up in a rather girly-looking bun (not that I'd ever say that to them face-to-face, of course). Fukuoka must be some sort of sumo stable town. Either that or it's a favoured hang-out for larger than life, robe-wearing Japanese.

And to finish here are a few quick observations, confirming observations I made the last time I was here.

· Still as wacky as ever
The Japanese are still quite comfortable with wearing just about anything.

· Ad nauseam
Walk into any 7/11 or Lawson's convenience store, any restaurant or any store and they will still greet you, ad nauseam, with a chorus of.... well, whatever it is they are trained to say. And it's not just when you enter the establishment either. Nope, when you're paying for stuff or leaving you'll also be subjected to a seemingly endless chorus of .... well, whatever it is they are trained to say. We've obviously no idea what they are saying but are left wondering how long it actually takes to say, in Japanese, the likes of "Hello, welcome", "is there anything else I can get for you", "thanks for coming" and "have a great day/night". While this service etiquette is also prevalent in Korea, it's no where near as bad/excessive as it is in Japan.

· Where are all the good ones gone?
Korean women are definitely way more attractive than their Japanese counterparts, something we both independently commented on while walking the streets of Kyoto. What that means is that I can type this observation safe in the knowledge that I will not suffer repercussions of any kind from Meg. Oh, and I'm not going to generalise but lets just say that a lot of Japanese schoolchildren are overweight (check out picture 11 for the proof), another thing you'll definitely notice coming from Korea.