Japan- awesome, just wish I had more time... again

  Tokyo, Japan
Sunday, March 16, 2008

I think maybe one of my favorite things about traveling is the sense of accomplishment you get just from doing the

just a bit of kyoto

simplest of things.  I got into Osaka last week at 8pm.  Customs, baggage claim, train ticket purchases... next thing I knew it was 10pm and I found myself in the middle of Osaka with only some jotted down directions to my hotel.  Of course, all of the street names were in Japanese and the first four people I stopped to ask for directions didn't speak a work of English.  Despite all of this though, it only took me about 15 minutes of map turning to figure out where I was and locate the hotel.  And like I said, the sense of accomplishment I felt when I put my bags down in the lobby is hard to compare.

My first impressions of Japan were that everything is so CLEAN. I mean, really, really clean.  And to make it

glimpse of a geisha

more interesting, it's impossible to find a garbage can anywhere in the city.  The best thing to do is go into a 7-11 (yes, there are a lot of them) and look next to the vending machines... you're always bound to find a recycling bin and sometimes a garbage can.  Also, the technology is out of the Jetsons.  I walked into the bathroom and as soon as I opened the stall door, the toilet seat sprang up to welcome me.  Now there are more buttons on these toilet seats than I have on my tv remote control... apparently you can wash your butt in many ways, sans toilet paper. I'll be honest, I haven't experimented yet.  And the trains...! I've never seen anything more exact in my life.  I asked someone at the information desk how to get somewhere and they gave me what subway, time and track to take... then the time and track of the subway I was supposed to transfer too, taking into account walking time.  And apparently they are never, ever late.

But all those things are just the beginning.  There is so much more to this country than just the cleanliness and

breakfast!

technology. For starters, Kyoto is one of the most charming and culturally rich cities I've ever been to.  After a morning in Osaka, I took a train to Kyoto and set up camp at a hostel there for a few days.  Kyoto is as modern as any Japanese city, but there's still a few major areas that have the ancient all-wood buildings and lots of shrines and temples.  It's in these parts that you're most likely to spot a geisha, which is really a treat.  I'm currently reading Memoirs of a Geisha, which I really recommend if you haven't read it.  Anyways, it made it really interesting to walk around the areas described in the book and gave me a much greater understanding of the beautifully made-up geishas I saw while there.  I spent the first two days in Kyoto sight-seeing with an American med student I met at the hostel.

the food market

She actually spoke some Japanese, which made going to the food market super-fun.  I'm still not sure but I think I tried fish testes.  Regardless, the food market had all sorts of Japanese delicacies and I found myself getting braver with each attempt and really enjoyed the whole time there (except the testes part).

On the third day, I took a day trip with a Kiwi girl I met down to Hiroshima.  Now if you had just transplanted me

a-bomb dome

there without telling me where we were, i would have NEVER ever believed that this was the same city we dropped the bomb on 60 years ago.  Hiroshima is a bustling metropolis filled with super-friendly people.  At one point I was sitting in a park and had two separate women come up to me just to say hello and practice their English and to see how I was enjoying my holiday.  One of them was there when the bomb was dropped and had no problems retelling her story.

hiroshima pre-bomb

It's pretty incredible how well they've moved past such a terrible tragedy.  I told them I was from New Zealand when they asked, but I really think they wouldn't have cared if I said I was American. Still, I felt kind of funny about it.  Besides sitting in parks and talking to kind Japanese women, we also went to see the A-bomb dome (the one remaining building, or well, ruins, from the bomb) and the museum.  The museum... I don't really know how to sum it up in a blog entry.  I think it's hard to make a museum about such an event, but I've got to say it was really

hiroshima post-bomb

tastefully done.  It was much more of an anti-nuclear armament campaign than a museum about what happened, but I thought it definitely did a very good job of remembering the people whose lives were taken by the bomb.  While the day in Hiroshima wasn't exactly "fun," I'm really glad I went and I think it should be part of anyone's itinerary when visiting Japan.

After that I spent another night in Kyoto where we all indulged in the Saturday night complimentary sake (I picked

cooking dinner... at the restaurant

the right hostel).  I awoke early the next morning with only the slightest of headaches and made my way over to the train station where I boarded the bullet train to Tokyo.  If you haven't heard anything about these bullet trains, I suggest a quick wikipedia because these things are cool... they go about 200 kilometers per hour and are the most comfortable and smoothest rides I've ever been on.  The ride to Tokyo went by quickly and when I got out I realized that my task of finding Curtis and Katie was going to be a lot harder than I'd originally thought.  Curtis is Dan's (friend from high school who came to visit New Zealand) room mate from college and Katie is his girlfriend... they're both living in Tokyo teaching English.  I had been emailing back

dancing elvises in tokyo

and forth with them and the *plan* was to meet in Tokyo station at noon. Ha, the numbers I've read vary but I think something like two million people go through Tokyo station PER DAY.  I started to look around for a payphone and within maybe 3 minutes of being in the station, I hear Katie call my name.  Talk about luck...

Katie and I spent the first day bike riding around the city.  I don't think any amount of mountain biking in New

downtown tokyo

Zealand could have possibly prepared me for biking through downtown Tokyo traffic, but man was it a laugh. We hung out at Tokyo's equivalent to Central Park, where we were entertained by the alternative Japanese culture: from dancing Elvises (look at the picture) to hacky-sackers to teeny bopper dancers, you could probably spend a week walking around this part and not get bored.  After that the three of us went to dinner with Joe, a guy I met in Queenstown who happened to be in Tokyo just for the night.  Curtis and Katie were great... they picked this place in the brightest part of Tokyo that did all-you-can-eat/drink Shabu Shabu.

the quieter side of tokyo

Shabu shabu... it's fantastic- it's Japan's version of fondue and you basically just swish your meat with your chopsticks back and forth in the big pot in front of you. Lots of fun, and the unlimited sake didn't hurt either.

I woke up early the next morning, and I mean, 5 am early, so I could get a glimpse of the famous Tsukiji Fish 

preparing the tuna

Market.  Holy shit.  This is where the tuna, and all the other seafood, get auctioned off every morning and it is just pure organized chaos.  There were 1000 lb tunas being flung everywhere and you could walk around for hours taking pictures of the crazy 

more fish market

different sorts of fish and crustaceans that were sold at this market.  I saw an octopus tentacle the size of my freaking leg... I'm not even sure I would have liked to see the full-sized thing.  Go look at the photo album for some pictures of this because I can't possibly describe it, but it was well worth the early morning wake-up.  I finished the fish market experience with an incredible sushi breakfast... it seemed fitting ;)

To finish off my Japanese experience, I decided to go to an onsen, the Japanese word for natural hot pool. An 

the fish market

onsen is much more than that though, it is (or used to be, it's sort of dying out now) a place for daily social gatherings.  Before running water was commonplace in people's houses, they would go to the onsen for their daily bath and finish off the experience with a soak in the natural hot springs.  The tradition still stands with the older generations, but I definitely got the feeling that it's becoming more a thing of the past. Anyway, as I got there I definitely wondered what the hell I was doing. I should probably mention that you must be naked at an onsen (it's single-sex), and when I walked in not only was I the only white person there, but also the only person under 65.  I ran to the toilet and stood naked in the stall for a good five minutes before getting the courage or whatever you call it to go out there.  Turned out I made a big deal out of nothing, because the women there were all super friendly and made me feel really comfortable.  Besides the fact that the water was scalding hot, the whole experience was great and I left Japan super satisfied.   Next stop... Kuala Lumpur.  I suppose this is where I say that I have no plans and we'll see happens, but it seems like every entry ends like that, so how about just goodbye :)