Going Japanese
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2007
1
77
95
Trip End
Ongoing
Osaka,
Japan
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Well, we had a bit of trouble at the airport in Cairns before we left....basically we ended up booking a flight back to Oz or else they wouldn`t let us check in. The horrible check in staff wanted us to prove that we were going to leave Japan, which we did, we had our ferry booking with us, but wasn`t good enough, they then wanted our ferry booking out of Korea...which we hadn`t booked yet. God only knows why they wanted this, any country only wants to see that you are leaving their country and we thought that they wouldn`t be worried about the next. But the lovely Australian staff at the airport weren`t budging. Anyway, we ended up booking a fully refundable flight back to Oz which they maxed out Orla`s credit card and caused us awful problems when we got to Japan.
Basically, Japan is AMAZING
efficient carpark
. We are only here 1 day and we love it already. Everything is so different its great. The hostel we are staying at is J-Hoppers in the Kita area of Osaka and its probably the best hostel we have ever stayed as. It is like a hospital it is so clean, its unreal. The staff are soooo helpful, we can hardly understand it. There is a notice board in the hostel telling about all the events on at the moment, O! its just great. Interent is cheap, so hopefully we can catch up with our blog now. O! the best thing ever, take a look at the heated toilet, what a treat eh! They give you free tea, coffee, shampoo, shower gel, its like a hotel, we are spoiled here or else we were ripped off in Oz, the jury is still out on that one!Anyway, that night we went out for some authentic Japanese food. A lot of the restaurants have picture menus which is a great help to us!!! When we walked into the place there is a lot of welcoming and bowing, we were a bit embarassed really. Then we were shown to a seat, basically it was place where we had to take off our shoes to eat which wasnt apparent to us novices initially, however we did figure it out to the amazement of the other 4 people in the tiny restaurant (luckily the socks were in good order). We had some delicious pork, chicken, veg, wedges and pasta we were being watched for the first few seconds while we were eating (to see if we could manage our chopsticks) and phew we didnt make a mess of it
Happy to be here
. The food was gorgeous and then we washed it down with a sake, very nice. Some of the crazy things we have noticed so far are as follows;
1. People wearing breathing masks, like the ones that you see surgeons wearing...
2. Its cold here, its spring here at the moment and the air is fresh, its like spring at home really. We are wearing our woolies again, the hiking boots are back on, but this is nice for a change (I`m sure we`ill be wishing for warm sunshine again in another few days).
3. Obviously we can`t read any of the signs on the street, (however alot of them have the translation on them as well), The Japanese are on the ball, they think of everything.
4. The trains are amazing, clean (everythingi s clean here, no rubbish anywhere, everything is neat and tidy), efficient. People queue up in an oderly fashion, there are markers on the gound to tell you exactly where to queue for the exact carriage that you want where your seat is. The train pulls up, the door opens where the queue begins and everyone enters one by one.
5.There are tiny little restaurants on the streets, these restaurants seat about 10 people max
Heated toilet seat
. 6.People use bicycles to get around, the streets are full with bicycles parked up. Are they locked? Na, why would you want to do that, its not like anyone will steal them. Its a very safe country, very little crime, so people are trusting. I don`t think this would ever work at home!
7.Everything is alot cheaper than Oz, we were always lead to believe that Japan is really expensive, this is a@myth, the place is way cheaper than home and defo cheaper than Oz ( and way better value for money, gosh we are glad)
8. There are vending machines on the streets, like actually on the side of the road.
9. There is a beer here called "Kirin" we had been told this before by Japanese people we`ve met when they heard Kieran`s name, they would say O! thats a beer in Japan, so we had to find out about that and yes its true, Kieran is a beer.......
10. Check out the photo of the car parking
