| [ Home ] | [ Photo Diary ] | [ Image Gallery ] | [ Contact Me ] |
Landing at Kansai airport (an artificial island), we took the train to the central station, Namba. While on the train we met Ed, an English teacher from Taiwan who was visiting Japan to go to an American football game - apparently a team was in town to promote football. We got to chatting, and he had a reservation at a youth hostel, so we decided to join him - we had no idea where we would be sleeping. We walked to the hostel from a different station (I guess we didn't get our money's worth from the ticket) and booked in. Our room was being shared with two others, brothers from Mexico. We shared the evening with them, walking to the supermarket to buy beer and having a few bevvies.
|
The next morning we walked to the station via the supermarket, and bought breakfast. I had sushi and pineapple juice, Marc had something that looked like a teddy bear. We got to the station and had a word with the blokie, who showed us how to use the ticket machine, then headed to the platform. We were bound for Nara, a good destination according to our limited information. Whenever a train came in, I would point at it, look confused and say "Nara?" to anyone who would listen.
 |
Our first stop in Nara was the three and five storied pagodas. There were kind of cool, but the five storied pagoda was a little to inundated with deer and tourists.
  |
We moved on to see Todaiji Temple, home of a large Buddha, housed in the world's largest wooden building. The gate on the way to the temple is a gate with no walls, so you can walk through it or around it. We chose to walk through it, one of the main reasons being the presence of the guardians. These keep out evil spirits, but one look at them and I decided the Japanese were fighting fire with fire. The temple proper was surrounded by a wall, and we didn't go in, but the main gate (not used as a tourist thoroughfare) provided a good view of the biggest wooden building in the world, and it housed its own guardians. Being tired, sticky and running out of good cheer, we decided to head back to town to get some food.
 
 |
We decided to wonder around town for a while before heading to Kyoto, so walked down a likely looking covered street (I was trying to stay out of the sun by this point). I checked out a 'vertical pinball' place, a game that I'd seen in National Geographic many years ago. It's an interesting game, a mix of skill and luck (mainly luck I think).
  |
On the way to the station we met two Japanese girls. They claimed to have an assignment to talk to foreigners. They were Takayo and Natsumi, students extraordinaire. We chatted for about an hour in a little cafe, where they drank iced coffee, and I drank Japanese green tea. We had a pleasant time. They were going to the beach the next day, and we kindof invited ourselves along.
 |
They took us to a cheap hotel, and we arranged to meet the next day. That evening, we put on the dressing gowns in the hotel room and beat each other up. They just looked too much like martial arts wear to be taken seriously.
 |
The next morning we were up early enough to see the sun rise (in the land of the rising sun). We met Natsumi and her friend at the station and boarded the train.
  |
We spent the day at the beach. I swam a couple of times, and despite my high factor sun-cream I got burned to a crisp. Here's a picture of us and Natsumi's social circle (including a surprising number of foreigners). After my introduction to teaching Korean children 6 days a week, a day at the beach was just what the doctor ordered.
 |
When we left the beach Marc was suffering from heat induced exhaustion, so he headed to a youth hostel. I continued, convincing a handful of people to come eat sushi with me. Nashida (stood next to me in the beach photo), sat next to me, advising me on which sushi was good to try. The system works as follows: A conveyor belt takes plates past you. If you see one you like, you take it and eat it, keeping your empty plate. At the end of the meal, you have a stack of plates, and the waitress gives you your bill. 120 yen (60p) for each plate. Tea is free, and refilled from a little hot water tap just in front of you. The meal was excellent. Whenever anyone entered the bar, most of the people in the place would shout the Japanese equivalent of 'welcome'. When people left, they'd shout 'goodbye'.
 |
Marco (A wonderful South American) and I headed off to drink Saki. Nishida declined to come for a drink. We found a place to drink and were accosted by a friendly couple who wanted their picture taken with us. The pictures below show the waiter pouring the saki, and the husband of the couple with the two waitresses dressed in beautiful kimonos. Both in Japan, and more so here in Korea, foreigners are very much curiosities. Both countries are racially very pure.
  |
The capsule room was undoubtedly the cultural highlight of the trip. Going to the 7th or so floor of a tower block, I entered the lobby and removed my sandals, putting them in a little locker, then I paid 3200 yen (about 16 quid) for a room. I went through to the locker room, consisting of lockers approximately 2m high, 1m deep and 10cm wide, and disrobed, putting on baggy underwear and dressing gown supplied. I spent the rest of my time that evening with nothing on my feet, and felt incredibly comfortable dressed only in a robe and underwear. I moved on to the restaurant level and got a massage (my back was pretty sore from the traveling), then headed up to my room. The room was essentially a 1.2mx1.2mx2m cubicle containing a bed, a TV, a radio, an alarm clock, a dimmer switch light, a shelf to put my stuff on and an over-strong air conditioner. The door consisted of a bamboo screen that unrolled from the top of the door frame. I read for a little, set the alarm to get a good amount of sleep and turned in, going out like a light on what turned out to be an extremely comfortable mattress.
  |
The next day I met up with Marc at the Korean Consulate, we got our working visas, and bummed around Osaka for a day. I was amused by the sign in English on the sock shop. It set me to thinking that when we see Japanese on things in England, do they really make a lot of sense.
 |
We spent our last night in the capsule hotel, after going our for a quick drink (we never did find a bar in Osaka where young people were hanging out). The flight home was smooth. All in all, a good trip. Back