First, the flight. On the day I was supposed to leave, my connecting flight got delayed and they had to move me to the next day but that was full. Since I was getting bumped by them, they put me in business class which I was pretty excited about. It was much much nicer than coach, but it really didn’t make that much of a difference overall I think. It’s nice to get for free, and if one day I’m accepting a job that sends me to Japan a lot, it’s definitely something I’m going to ask about. But overall, you still know you’re flying and it’s still a pain. I got a seat on the second floor which was cool because I was right behind the cockpit and could see in when they had the door open. I wanted to take a picture, but I reminded myself this is New America and I’ve heard too many stories of people getting arrested for a taking picture of a lot more innocent things than airplane cockpits. I did take a picture of my chair and I’ll post that later when I have real internet. I boarded first of course and they started serving drinks to help us pass the time while the peons boarded. Just to try on my fancypants, I  had some champagne. The space and 176degree chair are the biggest differences from coach, but I still had a hard time sleeping. Later I realized maybe I just drank too much green tea. Also, the food was amazing. I ordered the Japanese dinner and I had the sashimi ever. Before I’ve never had a problem with raw fish, but I never thought it was that great. Now I now why some people love it so much. The stuff I had on the plane was amazing in both taste and texture, but I imagine I would never voluntarily pay what I’d need to to get something of that quality again.

I had no problem with anything getting off the plane. Immigration and customs both just welcomed me to Japan. I also hit good timing and only had to wait 20 minutes for the bus to my apartment, so I bought a card to recharge last year’s phone in the meantime. After that I took the bus to Shibuya and emailed everyone on my phone on the way.

When we stopped at a hotel, the sign said the name of the hotel where I wanted to get off so I did. Turns out that was for some reason saying the name of the next stop even though we were clearly at another one. So I asked the hotel helper standing there how to get where I wanted to go and he said it would be a bit of a walk and very hard with my luggage so he called his hotel shuttle to come get me, giving me the first big piece of Japanese hospitality.

Even from where the shuttle dropped me off, it was incredibly hard to navigate around the millions of people and get to my apartment with my luggage. I finally got there though, and it was exactly how I pictured it. It’s a great apartment in the perfect location, and when I can I’ll put up some pictures. The only thing that’s a problem right now is the whole no internet thing.

My first couple days were taken up with exploring Shibuya and trying to get errands done which are practically impossible for someone who’s not Japanese. I need an alien identification card before I can do anything else but it takes two weeks to get that stupid card. Luckily I have last year’s pre-paid cell phone that I recharged or I could do absolutely nothing else without that card. I got my insurance and my lease signed and that stretched my Japanese skills quite a bit but I got it done, and so far my unconquerable arch-nemisis has been getting internet access. Japanese internet is incredibly fast but also an incredible pain to get connected.

There is already an ethernet jack in my apartment so I figured we have something already provided if we just turn it on. I didn’t know who to ask though, so I got a name and email off a notice of a building meeting in my mailbox and just asked that guy. I ended up going to his apartment where we tried applying to get the fiber that the building is already wired for, but they were going to charge me again for installation and then charge a lot monthly so I think I’ll get DSL from a discount ISP. I went to talk to them today and sent in my application. Since they’re undercutting the monopoly that provides the network, they said the monopoly company will try hard to deny the application, but hopefully I’ll be ready to go in a few weeks. It’s a long story for how, but today I ended up finding an unsecured wireless network that I can see from a bench in the station so I think I’ll use that in the meantime to get and send emails. I don’t want to sit there all day but at least now I won’t be completely cut off from the world. Also school starts Thursday and they have internet for us there.

The weekdays haven’t been anything too exciting since all Japanese people are busy and I’ve just been doing errands but I had a great weekend. Friday I went out with a friend from last summer and a few of his friends. I realized there’s a subway line that goes to the station right beside the one for ICU so it’ll be easy to see people from there. Most of them I will only be able to see once or twice though since they’re leaving soon. Jon (a guy I met at ICU that lives here) and Mari (a girl that goes to ICU and studied at UNC last year) will be here all year.

Saturday I went to Odaiba with a Japanese friend, which was great. I really wish I’d taken my camera, but I didn’t know it was going to be such a picture worthy place. We also went to this Panasonic exhibition that had lots of neats things you could explore. They had a home theater setup and I honorably allowed them to introduce me to it. I liked the sound system better than the ones they use in movie theaters. They also had a big Nintendo section where you could play Wii and DS games. They already had Zelda out for you to play, which was cool. There was also an educational section with a lot of the same toys I saw at the science museum in Boston, along with some more high-tech stuff and some nice demos. After that we just went to the shopping area around Odaiba to look around and watch people. It was a neat place because you could smell the ocean and see Tokyo from the outside(ish) which I’d never seen before. The night view was amazing and I’ll have to go back with my camera sometime. Odaiba also has really cool architecture.

Sunday I went out with another Japanese friend and her friend who showed us around Yokohama. I got to see school again and learn my way around things over there. We walked all over Yokohama and it was a great confidence booster since it was my first time holding my own in a group of friends in Japanese (since it’s much harder than one-on-one). Saturday and Sunday were all-Japanese-all-the-time and I can already tell I’m getting a lot more comfortable.

I guess that’s mostly it for what I’ve been doing so far. I know there were more interesting observations I wanted to write about but I don’t remember them now. I’m sure they’ll come back later. Oh, the weather has been great so far. It’s been cool and dry except for Thursday. My first day the big story was that the rainy season finally came so I was mad about that but I think they were wrong. Since then it’s been just a little warm during the day and perfect at night. One more interesting thing is I was tired today so I was watching the news and they had a long story about how all the foreigners that go to the fish market are a pain in the ass. It’s completely true, but it’s amazing how candid that are about it. In America, it wouldn’t really fly to have a show about how… I shouldn’t give any specific examples. Anyway, that’s one reason I hadn’t gone to Tsukiji (the fish market); it’s a real fish market where people work, not a tourist attraction. At the end of the segment they did mention Japanese tourist in other countries, but my language failed me at the most important time and I’m not sure exactly what they said. Maybe they said “Japanese would never d that” or maybe they said, “Japanese probably do the same thing in other countries.” Neither would really surprise me.

Lots of times on trains I would get stared at by people. Sometimes if they’re girls and they don’t look away when you look at them it’s hard to tell if it’s because they’re so curious about the gaijin or if it’s because they like what they see. On the train to Shinagawa, a girl kept looking at me and I wondered but didn’t think too much of it. Then we got off at the same stop and as we were walking up the stairs she said, “Hey.” I was surprised and asked why she spoke English. It turned out she was actually from Taiwan, and she was in Japan trying to build a better portfolio or whatever you use to build your career in makeup. We talked for a little bit and she was really cool so she said to meet her in the same place again the next day ’cause she and her friend were going out to shop and eat. I told her I’d try, but I wasn’t sure since I had to register for school the next day. Then I headed on to Yokohama

I met Ai in the Yokohama station and we immediately started heading to Minato Mirai since most of the day was already gone. She had just gotten out of school and was going to show me around a little before she went home. It was nice to be able to speak Japanese again and we just talked a lot as we walked to different places.

I was amazed when I saw Minato Mirai. The name means “Future Port” and it feels like it. The place is very clean feeling with great architecture and nice parks. It feels like what a city should be instead of a random jumble of stuff that ended up close together. It has the tallest building in Japan, the Landmark Tower, some other nice office buildings and hotels, an old ship, an old warehouse, a free-entry amusement park, etc. It’s definitely my favorite urban place in the world and when I was walking around there thought about what it would be like if I worked there at some point. That’s pretty amazing now that it looks like I’m going to be going to school there for a year.

First we went up the Landmark Tower which is the tallest building in Japan and I think has the fastest elevator in the world. You go in the elevator and the lady gives a stiff speech about the tower and the elevator and it really doesn’t feel like you went anywhere and you’re at the top. Unfortunately it was pretty hazy on the day I went and you barely even see Tokyo. On a good day you can easily see Mount Fuji. I took a few pictures and looked around the place but we couldn’t stay too long because it was getting late.

Next we went to see an old ship that’s docked outside of the tower. Again, we didn’t have much time, so we just looked at it and moved on. I’m looking forward to being able to see these things in more depth later. Next we walked over to the warehouse which is a very old, very big, brick building. The brick looks very out of place in Japan, and this warehouse is famous I think for it’s size and age. Now it’s been turned into a mall I think and there are stores on the inside. finally we walked over to look at the amusement park stuff real quick and then headed back to the station.

We ate dinner in a restaurant in the station and I headed back to the hotel. I wish I had gotten to see Ai again, but I didn’t go to Yokohama again while I was in Japan. Hopefully we can hang out again since I’ll be living there next year. When I went to bed it was pretty sad, because I knew my freedom expired. This was the last day my rail pass was good and from then on if I just up and wanted to go to Hokkaido one day, I’d have to pay (a lot) for it.

In a great example of just how much freedom you have in Japan with a rail pass, I got off the train at Ueno and headed to the help desk to ask how to get to Nikko. First the lady started giving me a list of stations to hop around to, but I said, “No no, I have a rail pass,” and she said oh and gave me the platform number for the bullet train that went almost straight there. It was actually leaving in 4 minutes so I hurried over there and hopped on the train.

In a couple of hours I was in Nikko, which is actually a fairly small town and very pretty. The mountains are gorgeous and it was a pretty nice day, not too hot for once. I asked for some maps at the train station but they said they didn’t have any but I should check another station nearby. I went there and got a few maps and I saw one other white guy get some behind me. When I was looking at my maps deciding where to go we started talking. He told me he had heard me asking about maps and just followed me. He was a really cool guy and we talked for a bit and then decided to explore Nikko together.

It was great to finally be able to talk to someone who was American but understood Japanese things. John had been there for six weeks already doing a business school program at Tokyo University and he was traveling around before heading home. He didn’t know as much Japanese as me but he was starting to learn and since he’d been there for a few months already he was more comfortable with the culture.

On the way up to the mountain we stopped by the Nikko hostel for John to drop off his stuff. The hostel was amazing and I can’t believe we found it. You have to follow this little path between some houses and around the edge of a hill and come to the backside of some houses. I think it’s really just a little old lady’s house and it’s more like a ryokan than a hostel. Sometime when I’m traveling in Japan again, maybe with a friend who needs to see Nikko, I want to go back there and stay in that hostel.

After that we headed up the mountain to see all the standard sites of Nikko. It’s a fairly common tourist attraction for Japanese and for foreigners. There’s a beautiful bridge at the base of the mountain, and then you head up a steep road bounded by moss covered rock walls. The entire atmosphere is classic Japan and it’s definitely a place everyone should see when they’re visiting.

Nikko is actually a lot older than other places I had visited. It was the capital of Japan before Kyoto or even Nara I think. The architecture of the temples is more Chinese in style and much more flashy than any other temples I saw. It definitely has a distinct flavor. There were giant dragon and other animal carvings all over the buildings. Some of the animals were pretty interesting because the artists had obviously never actually seen them. They ended up with things like furry elephants and tigers with tusks. We also almost missed it but John noticed the hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys. They were actually the origin of that… thing. I’m not exactly sure what that “thing” is outside of something American college girls do for pictures.

After visiting all of the temples there wasn’t time to see the waterfalls or anything, so we headed back into town. On the way we actually saw a family of monkeys just run across the road. I got a picture of the last one but it was kinda far away so it’s not that good. We were both starving so we found a nice little ramen shop where you could use the internet if you ate dinner. The food was great and I learned a few new things from what John ordered. This was the first time I had gyoza, which is the best appetizer/snack ever. After dinner I had to check my email to see about meeting a friend in Yokohama the next day and John headed back to his hostel. I haven’t really talked to him since but we’re Facebook friends now so hopefully we can get together sometime when we’re both in Japan again.

It was getting pretty late so I headed back into Tokyo which took about and hour and a half I think. The trains out by Nikko were a little lonely, and one thing that always seemed weird to me was the little kids traveling alone at night in their school uniforms. You’d be amazed how young the kids are in Japan that travel alone. It was pretty much just one or two elementary school kids and me on the Nikko train, but after that I got back on the bullet train.

In the hotel the previous night, before I went to sleep, I met a few other travels and saw the guy from Miyajima again (the one that told me about that hotel). I saw that guy and another guy in the train station as I was heading back to the hotel and they said they were going to go explore Shinjuku and Roppongi. They asked if I wanted to come with them and, like I said, I can’t say no in Japan, so I stupidly agreed to go.

The reason this was a stupid idea was that these guys were both absolutely inept at Japan and on top of that, the second guy was a completely loser. I need names for these guys so this story will be easier to follow, but I don’t remember their names so lets call guy number one “Canadian” (’cause he is) and let’s call guy number two “Loser” (’cause he is). So to begin with I don’t know how these guys got around Japan because they had no idea how to use the train system. They also tried to ask for help a lot but they either did it in English or in the worst attempt at phrase-book Japanese I’ve ever heard. They couldn’t even get the letters write. If you can’t pronounce sumimasen, that’s one thing, but if you switch even the English letters and then badly pronounce that (soomiLaysen), I guarantee you’re not gonna get anywhere.

Anyway, so these guys just kept running around trying to ask directions and I was watching them from a long way away pretending I didn’t know them. Finally we got to Roppongi, the sleazy (but sometimes classy) foreigner entertainment district. Roppongi is covered in big African men who try to make friends with and/or intimidate people in the street to make them come to their bar/strip club. We got harassed by a bunch of them who kept giving upping their deals for us to come to their clubs but luckily Canadian kept a leash on Loser’s dreams of touching Japanese women (for the time being). After that they decided to go to Shinjuku to see what was there.

When we got to Shinjuku, somehow Loser decided he absolutely had to find the “red light district.” Now, love hotels are pretty common in Japanese cities (people need to find privacy from the cramped apartments living with their families) and the sex industry is very much in the open. So there’s not really one “red light district,” but there is a fairly seedy section of Shinjuku which is known for its love hotels and such. However, Loser, who was a dorky hippy programmer from Seattle, had dreams of turning into Charisma Man during his one week in Japan. He was actually already planning out how whenever his friends back home would point out a hot girl he would tell them she was nothing compared to the girls all over in Tokyo. Anyway, he kept saying “No no, it’s right around this corner!” I guarantee it is not. Anyway, when it was getting too late and I knew these idiots were going to miss the last train and have to take a taxi all the way back to Minami-Senju I just flat out told them I was leaving and if they needed a translator that’d be too bad. Canadian realized being alone with Loser and without me to take care of them was a bad idea so he came with me. Loser gave some speech about what kind of man gives up on the cusp of his discovery of the love hotels in Shinjuku, which made me hurt for humanity. But then he gave up and followed us to the station.

Loser bitched all the way home and I think I was shooting down some asinine idea of his and we passed out stop. Actually, I think this might have been when we were having this conversation:

Loser: Y’know “gaijin” actually means monster in Japanese.
Alan: It means “outside person”.
Loser: No no! It means monster! I read it on the internet!
Alan: Dude, I speak Japanese. The characters in the word are “outside” and “person”

Anyway, so we went one stop too far which is usually fine except we were on the last train. So we got off and started walking. We asked some man outside the station which direction to go and he told us but later I realized that guy was homeless and probably very drunk. Anyway, it was a little neat to see the edges of Tokyo. We had to cross a river by walking beside an elevated highway. Eventually things didn’t seem to fit with my map, but we saw a police box so I went in to ask for directions. They asked if I meant on foot and when I said yes they laughed at me. Apparently the old drunk guy had sent us the wrote direction and we were actually crossing another river.

So we turned around and went back crossing two rivers and crossing a bunch of highways. The whole time Loser and Canadian were arguing about the Iraq War. Loser was one of those guys that will protest anything even if he doesn’t know what it means and he thought Seattle was the coolest place in the world full of hippies that scared away Wal-mart or something. I forgot what his excuse was when Canadian reminded him they spawned Starbucks. Not to mention he was basically an expendable programmer for some Initech. Anyway, those guys argued for hours and I just pretended they weren’t there. At some point when we were tantalizingly close to the hotel they decided we had to stop at a convenience store and get some beers and snacks. Anyway, I finally made it back to the hotel around 4am I think, and learned even if I’m in Japan, don’t go out with losers.

The British girl was really nice and we sorta hit it off. She also thought the hostel was pretty creepy and couldn’t figure out what was going on. We both needed internet so I asked around and we finally found a place in the lobby of a hotel where there were pay kiosks. I looked up other hostels including the cheap Tokyo hostel/hotel the guy in Miyajima told me about. As usual, I took a picture of the map and directions off the screen, and when I was done I said goodbye to the British girl and headed back to the station to catch a train to Tokyo. On the train I took a few more pictures of the massive fields and farms just to show that Japan isn’t all city and mountain.

I had decided to just head back to Tokyo early since I was so tired overall and I couldn’t figure out where else I could go with so few days left. I really wanted to see some places up in Tohoku or Hokkaido (the far north), but it would take too long to get up there and back. Even on a bullet train, it takes 10 hours to get to Hokkaido from Tokyo. It also leaves me something new to see late. Hokkaido is the Alaska of Japan and is mostly beautiful wilderness. It wouldn’t be as easy traveling and getting to the beautiful places up there, so I’ll go back one day when I have more time, money, and experience.

I didn’t end up doing too much this day because I got to Tokyo so late. I found the hotel without too much trouble and checked in. I say hotel because you get individual rooms, but they were hostel prices (about $23 I think). It was just a tiny room with tatami and a futon on the floor with a little chest with a TV in the corner. It was similar to my Kyoto apartment, but even smaller. I doubt most foreigners would fit lengthwise in there but it was fine for me since I’m Japanese-sized.

I left my things in the hotel and went around to explore Tokyo a little bit before it got too late. It was especially exciting to be able to drop my stuff off again and wander around without a heavy backpack. I mainly just did a quick run around the most famous places to see what Tokyo was all about. There’s a rail line that runs around the center of Tokyo called the Yamanote, and it covers pretty much all of the modernly famous places in Tokyo. I did one run around that getting off about every stop or two just to get a flavor for all the places I’d heard so much about over the years.

First I stopped off somewhere that didn’t have anything famous but had the tourist office for Tokyo. I got a map of the city and rail/subway lines that was the envy of everyone who saw it in the coming months. I don’t know why you can’t get that map anywhere else, but it’s extremely useful if you’re ever in Tokyo. That tourist office is a little out of the way and hard to find but it’s worth it. When I was looking at my map out on the street once a lady who spoke pretty good English came up and asked if I needed help. I thought that was really nice of her but I told her I knew how to get around and I was just deciding where to go.

For once I don’t think I’ll go into detail about what I saw here. Everywhere I went this day, I visited again in more depth and nothing particularly special happened. The city places aren’t really something that can be experienced alone. This time I was really just wandering around taking on the feel of Tokyo, but it’s hard to really experience it without having other people there and getting in to do the things you do in these places. So I’ll write about the Yamanote sites (Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Akihabara, etc) when I come back with friends from school.

After it got dark and I had some dinner at a little outside ramen shop in Akihabara, I headed back to hotel. I just chatted with some people in the lobby there for a bit before going to bed.

Kenrokuen is another one of Japan’s top three gardens (as was Korakuen which I visited the day before). It’s considered by a lot of people, including me, to be the absolutely best garden. It’s hard to describe how beautiful it is, but since I’ve been back I’ve been using one of my pictures of Kenrokuen as my wallpaper and a lot of people who see it don’t think it’s real. I liked Kenrokuen better than Korakuen because it felt more like a forest and less like a field. It was more cozy with less open space and more streams than lakes. I know it’s meticulously designed and shaped by hand, but it has a great natural feeling.

I also think I was there at a great time because it was so early and a little rainy so no one was there. Also the rain was just a drizzle which kept the greens vibrant, but wasn’t enough to make it gloomy. There were little waterfalls everywhere, bright green mosses, stone lanterns, little stone bridges over the streams, and trees that looked like something out of Hyrule. This might have been my favorite place in all of Japan and it’s another time I was happy to be traveling alone. I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate it as much with other people around.

There was one side with a little more civilization on it, like a little house of some sort, maybe for the caretakers. I crossed a little bridge and walked around near the house for a bit and then when I tried to go back, someone had put up a barrier. Then I noticed people carrying film equipment in and I realized they were getting ready to make a movie in and around the little house. I would’ve liked to have seen what they were doing, but they were just getting started so I figured it’d be a long time before they started. Also later when some more people were looking around the garden, one guy came up and asked me, in pretty good English, if he could take my picture so I said sure. I thought his English was really good and I said so, but actually it was just that phrase; I think he had it well-planned out before he spoke to me.

After awhile I finally decided I should head out so I walked over to the castle which was next to the garden. In front of the castle there were some old men just hanging around shootin’ the breeze I guess. I think they amused to see me and I talked to them for a few minutes before heading in. I didn’t actually go in the castle because I think it was a little expensive and I didn’t think there was anything special inside. I was much more interested in outside things, like the awesome bridge that lead over into the castle area.

Next I walked a long way over to the Nomura Samurai house. It’s an actual house so it was fairly far from the middle of the city in a nice little residential area. It was a little hard to find to because from the side I came, I couldn’t tell it apart from the regular houses near it. I wonder how often the Nomura neighbors get people trying to tour their houses. The inside was just how you would picture an idyllic samurai house. The inside and the outside are mostly melded and as you walk down the halls you’re also walking around gardens and ponds with brightly colored carp. One room of the house has been converted into a small museum with the family’s swords and such.

After the samurai house, I walked even farther from the city up into a mountain on the side to find Myoryuji, the “Ninja Temple.” This is kind of a weird place that I think would be well known but it’s not. I never talked to a Japanese person (or anyone else for that matter) that had actually heard of it, and they all laughed like I was duped into some stupid ninja story when I mentioned it. Actually it’s pretty sad that the “Ninja Museum” in Iga is much more famous but it’s just a bunch of mythical junk. Myoruji is completely real and got the nickname “Ninja Temple” because the temple itself is like a ninja, not because it had anything to do with them. The temple was built during a time when there were a lot of restrictions on local rulers so they wouldn’t get too much power. Buildings weren’t supposed to be over three stories, and this one looks like it’s not, but it actually has seven floors. Everything in it is a trick so you can hide soldiers in there and easily confuse any attackers.

I think another good reason for the ninja name is it’s pretty hard to find, but I finally did and buying my ticker was probably one of the most “Japanese” experiences I had in the country. I asked the lady at the desk if I could buy a ticket and she said, “Oh, I’m sorry you need a reservation. You can make one either by calling or by going to that intercom over there.” I heard another guy making a reservation for about an hour later so I figured they must have openings then so I’ll get one at that time too. I was a little nervous about using the intercom because even if I could get across the point I wanted, I knew I’d sound funny since I’m sure there’s specific ways of asking for a reservation. I definitely heard the girls giggling on the other side of the intercom and they also asked why I didn’t get an earlier reservation. After a little confusion I finally realized what was going on, and just asked for a reservation for right then. Then I went back over to the ticket lady (about five feet away) and she asked for my name, looked it up and said, “Oh, here you are,” and I got my ticket. She also asked me a few times if I’d be okay since the tour was only in Japanese but I told her I’d be fine.

I went and sat in the front room with everything else in my tour group and listened to a short history of the temple. During the presentation, a lady came by with a notebook and asked me to sign my name under a bunch of other foreigners with the date and where I was from and such. It was amazing how few signatures there were and my first reaction was they keep a notebook of foreign guests because they want some statistics or they think it’s neat or something. Then the lady gave me a very roughly put together packet that was a translation for the tour. It turned out the notebook was so they could know what country to blame if the translation ended up missing one time. I actually ended up being able to understand most of the tour anyway, but it was nice to have the booklet, especially so I could read ahead.

There’s nothing in the temple that’s not a trick, like a door that opened once goes into a secret stair passage up into a secret floor, but opened a second time, it pushes closed the secret door and actually leads into the hall straight ahead like you would expect. This way if someone’s chasing you, you run up into the secret stairwell and shut the door behind you; when your pursuer opens the door he runs straight into the temple and you’re not there. I don’t have any pictures of the inside because photography isn’t allowed. Everything in the temple is original and very old so they’re pretty protective of it. I think there are actually places they don’t take people now because they got worn down but they want to leave it original.

After I left Myoruji I found another internet cafe and talked to people back home a bit. Then I figured I’d probably go find my hostel since I never got an email reply from them. I found the area where the hostel was supposed to be but I walked around the block about ten times and couldn’t find anything. Then I saw a delivery guy working in the area so I showed him the address and asked if he knew where it was. He pretended to think about it for a minute and then said he didn’t know, which says a lot about the Japanese address system. Finally I saw a little old lady walking around and I asked her about the hostel and she said had closed. Great. Luckily there was a second hostel in Kanazawa but that one was way out of the city on the top of a mountain. I didn’t know what else to do for the day so I figured I’d start walking and hope I got there in time for check-in.

However, I fell victim to the dreaded (imprecise) Japanese map. Something strange happened, like a road I was walking on turning when I didn’t maybe, and I ended up going the wrong direction. However, from the map I was using things still looked pretty consistent so I just kept walking. I saw a hospital where there was one on the map, then I crossed a river and saw the bridges on the map. Then things started to get a little weird, but I wasn’t completely sure, and it’s hard to turn around and walk an hour back if you might be right so I kept going. I had walked for about two hours when I finally found a city map beside and intersection. I was very excited to finally see where I was and how to find the hostel, but I couldn’t find anything on the map that made sense. Eventually I realized that was because the map wasn’t of Kanazawa. I had walked so far I was in another city. So, I turned around and walked all the way back for a few hours which was pretty depressing, especially in the heat and with my full backpack. Eventually I found my way back to the right road and started taking it toward the hostel. The part of town at the foot of the mountain was really neat, but I don’t have many pictures; I guess I was too tired to really think about taking a lot.

When I looked up the mountain I realized just how far and how steep it was and I wondered if I should just try to find somewhere else to sleep. But luckily I saw a bus stop and checked the schedule and there was supposed to be one more bus coming. The bus stop was pretty funny because it was just a regular stop but some people had added a ghetto old couch and some chairs. I thought about just sleeping there if the bus didn’t come. Waiting for it was pretty scary because it was about 20 minutes late, but it did come and the driver said he was going to the hostel. There was actually a little old Japanese lady who was also headed up there for the night.

The hostel was amazingly far away and there’s no way I could have walked it, but I did get there in time to check in. The guy was kinda pushy about joining the International Hostel Federation, but I didn’t. It was too late for dinner, but I did sign up to get breakfast the next morning. Also I was lucky I made it in time that the showers were still open for guys (in a lot of places everyone uses the same shower so they’ll designate different hours for guys and girls).

This was by far my least favorite hostel, but it’s kinda hard to describe why. It was absolutely huge, probably big enough to hold a few hundred people, and seemed overly clean and organized. The whole place seemed to exude this forced feel-good mentality. There were only two or three people staying there, but there were probably twenty or so helpers running around doing I have no idea what. I was worried he would give me a room with other people just to make us do more personal exchange, but I did end up getting my own room. After they came up from dinner (the place had its own cooks and dining hall) the helpers all went into this big room near mine and started doing some sort of ritual. They sang and chanted and all sorts of stuff; I couldn’t really tell what was going on, but I think it might be some sort of Christian cult. I was happy to have my own room, but I wished it had a lock on it because I felt like they might just come in my room at any time and “recruit” me. The room was comfy though, so after the ritual, I just read some and went to sleep.

It was really handy that Eri’s friend taught me how to use the bullet train schedule book because I starting using it extensively and that’s how I came up with my brilliant plan for the day. I decided I was mostly done with the Southwest of Japan and it was time to go up to the north so that I could see plenty of things up there and not worry about getting to Tokyo on time. I was also worried about finding a place to sleep that night so I looked hard for a night train that was going where I wanted and that my pass would get me on for free. There are a few things a rail pass won’t get you on a most night trains fall into that category. I finally found a train from Tokyo to Kanazawa that I could take from 11:30pm to 6:00am, so that was the end of my plan and I just had to figure out what to do before that. I also found a train from Okayama to Tokyo around 5:30 that would get me there almost just in time for the night train. Since I was already headed to Okayama but didn’t know if I really wanted to spend 6 hours there, I found another two trains that would take me to Kurashiki and back in time to catch the train to Tokyo. So that was my plan that went off mostly well and started when I got to Okayama for the first time.

Okayama was a nice-looking, clean, moderately-sized city. There were a handful of attractions I thought about going to see, but the main thing that interested me was Korakuen, one of the top three gardens in Japan. It was a very beautiful garden with some amazing scenes, but it wasn’t my style as much as gardens I saw later like Kenrokuen. This one was much more open and field-like. There were orchards of various types of trees on the edges, but the middle was mostly open with a pond and mini-farms. As usually, the koi (carp) were gorgeous and I also found a little lizard that let me get surprisingly close to him. There was a nice pond on one side that was fully of some plant with a single huge leaf and I got a nice artsy picture of one with water inside (looking like a crystal or ice) that looks like it would come as a wallpaper with OS X. I really liked the edges of the garden where there were little shrines in the trees and things were a little less artificial.

Since I knew I had time before I had to get back to the station for the Kurashiki train, I took my first breather since I’d been in Japan. I took my time wandering around the garden and actually experienced it instead of just seeing it. I also found a nice shady spot on the side to just sit and take it in for awhile before I had to get moving. I headed back to the station and got there just in time to hop on the train to Kurashiki. Kurashiki is an old warehouse town I’d heard some good things about, but I wasn’t exactly sure why. I still don’t know what you’re really supposed to go see when you’re there, and I only had one hour so I just wandered around a bit. I didn’t see anything too special, but it was nice to just get some exposure to more regular cities.

I walked down an alley with lots of old traditional shops. One thing I noticed about old-timey Japanese shopping streets is there’s always one part that smells horrid because there’s an open fish market with tons of fish in all manner of chopped up. I couldn’t stand to work in that shop or one of the nearby stores, but I guess most Japanese are used to it. Though one thing I really missed when I eventually got to Tokyo (and of course when I left Japan) was the smell. Everywhere in Japan I went (except most of Tokyo) had certain smells. I’d say the average was a faint mix of fish and tatami (straw). I can’t wait until I can smell that again one day because I’m sure it’ll immediately bring me back to my travels. My favorite part of Kurashiki was the traditional part that looked like it was straight out of any old Japanese movie. The tiny streets lined with traditional houses were really nice, and I would have loved to have stopped for lunch but I really couldn’t take too much time. As usual, I found some really pretty shrines randomly beside the roads, and it was nice to just wander around a place where no one else would be a tourist. (Japanese or foreign).

Another thing I noticed in Kurashiki and Okayama (and later at other cities) was that every medium-sized city has a really neat thing out outside the main train station. Okayama has this fountain with a spikey ball that shot water out of the spikes. Kurashiki has a flower bed clock. And I didn’t see this until the next day, but Kanazawa has a fountain that can write things in little water sprouts like the time and “Welcome to Kanazawa.” I also saw that all these medium-sized cities have an Aeon, Geos, and Nova outside the station. Those are all the big English teaching companies.

Anyway, I headed back to Okayama and got there with some time to kill before my train left for Tokyo, so I asked if there were any internet cafes around and found one near the station. Most of the cafes I went in were nice but too expensive, but this one was crazy. It was the nicest place ever with very big, comfortable rooms and tons of things you could do. Also they were just opening so they had a special and it was about a $1.50 for an hour. That included a free drink bar. I was used to being outside and so hot that I couldn’t stop drinking their slushies and I tried one of every flavor (and repeated a few) before I left in time to catch my train to Tokyo.

This train was a long ride that took the rest of the day. I passed through Osaka and Kyoto which was sad. I saw the sites I’d seen earlier but just shooting through and I got some blurry pictures of the temples poking out over the city. I had grown really fond of Kyoto and it was sad to pass through and not know how long it would be before I’d be back.

I ended up getting to Tokyo with some time to kill before my train left for Kanazawa so I left the station and looked around a bit. It was pretty much like I imagined it with tons of people and bright lights everywhere. Ueno station is where I was and it’s one of the biggest so it was a little hard to orient myself and make sure I could find my platform when I came back. I headed out into the street to just wander around. It was Friday night so everyone was out looking for entertainment. I realized I still hadn’t eaten anything, so I stopped at a little ramen shop on the side of the road and had another awesome dinner. Maybe the fact that I was eating big bowls of noodles was why I kept being able to go over 24 hours between meals, but it was incredibly tasty and satisfying again. The “restaurant” seemed like one of those places where the good ol’ working men stop on the way home after a hard day and wonder what all these whippersnappers in the streets are so excited about.

After I ate, I just wandered around a bit more and then headed back to the station. I found my platform and it was a little creepy since the station was completely closed and empty besides a few people waiting for my train. I waited with a bunch of families who had a lot of luggage and everyone was pretty somber for some reason. It was a fairly uncomfortable wait while the train attendants did maintenance and cleaned everything inside. Finally they let us on and I found myself a good spot in the back and spread out so I could sleep. I knew it wasn’t an actual “sleeper” car because my pass wouldn’t get me onto those. They have too many services and it would be too expensive to let people on for free. One thing to note is that with all the trains I took, I probably made up for the cost of my rail pass in this one day. Anyway, I knew I was going to have to sleep in a regular seat with no amenities, but I saw another girl who looked like she was sleeping across from me so I was encouraged that my idea wasn’t completely crazy.

Maybe that girl didn’t know any better either, but I soon found out I was completely wrong. I didn’t expect any sort of comfort, but I thought at least it’d be a train that ran smoothly all night and people would read quietly or fall asleep like on an airplane. I was completely wrong. The train just so happened to run in the middle of the night, but it was no different than any train during the day, except louder and it stopped at every single stop (I guess because they knew they had all night so why not stop everywhere). The spot I picked turned out to be the worst spot on the train. I was right by the back door where people got on and of at every stop. The door was also a sliding door which people would open and then let slam itself shut, which it did after a good three or four ear-shattering bounces on the hardwood frame. This happened about four or five times at every stop which was every couple of minutes, and I realized there was a subtle flaw in my brilliant plan to cover more ground and save more money. The best I could do was to take the tissues that are forced on you in the street in Japan and make earplugs out of them. I took out my towel and tried to squeeze under it like a tiny blanket, and eventually with the power of complete exhaustion and a zen disconnect from the physical realm, I managed to fall into to a half-sleep between stops.

Since there was really no end to this day or beginning of the next one, I’m not sure exactly where this entry stops and the next one starts but I guess this is a good spot. I got to Kanazawa around 6:30am and stumbled off the train. It still felt like a strange twilight extension of the previous day since I never really went to sleep, but I suppose this was really the end of the seventh day.

You could see the otorii on the way in. That’s the giant gate in the water that you see in a lot of pictures. It’s pretty interesting, I don’t think they even carved its main posts; they’re just giant tree trunks stuck in the ground. Anyway, when I got off of the ferry, I pretty much just followed everyone else. I still hadn’t decided what I actually wanted to do on Miyajima. It’s got very natural and very touristy things on it. There’s a whole tourist trip village, an aquarium, a lots of parks and hiking trails, etc. Some of the hiking trails are actual hardcore hikes that would take a few days to finish. One of them had been destroyed recently in a typhoon and a helicopter was carrying giant logs up the mountain for rebuilding the trail. That made me wonder about how the people built it earlier without helicopters.

First I went to Itsukushima Shrine which is the shrine behind the otorii. It’s a very different style than most since it’s sort of a shrine and a pier. Parts of it were being repainted so I could get to it all. It also had an inner part with decorations and such. Nearby there’s also a really nice bridge but it was closed off when I was there (or maybe it’s permanent now because it’s old). After that, I walked through most of the tourist village looking for a cheap place to eat (most was pretty expensive and not nearly as much food as I needed), but I couldn’t find anything so I just kept going. When I was wandering around where there weren’t many people I found this weird super steep path up the side of a hill so I followed it to see where it went. I don’t think people go up there often anymore, it was completely overgrown and had lots of spiderwebs, but eventually I ended up on a peak looking out over the village and the bay. It was a nice little find. I crawled back down and looked at a few small shrines and parks before heading back to the touristy part where I came in.

I figured if I was going to be climbing a mountain I should probably get something to eat since I hadn’t eaten that day or the previous day. I kept looking and eventually I found the perfect spot. It was a little noodle shop right on the ocean. The prices looked good and I figured the udon would fill me up pretty well so I went in and it was the typical little restaurant with one guy and no customers. That might be the most I’ve ever eaten. I expected a bowl of udon, but I got an entire pot that looked like it was meant to serve four. It also tasted great and the guy showed me the extra accessories and flavorings to put in it. It was incredibly hot though, and combined with how hot I already was, it was pretty brutal. That was my most satisfying meal ever though, and it got me up the mountain and covered me for another day or two.

After lunch, I looked at a few of the bigger shrines there, but I couldn’t go in or anything. I started to get the impression, most Japanese don’t go there for the shrines or anything, but for a modern beachy retreat with fancy food and the aquarium and such. Eventually I decided there wasn’t much to do on the bottom so I headed for the main mountain. there were some cute signs saying how far it was to the ropeway. It said it was 8 minutes walking or 6 “if you run a little.” (It wasn’t Engrish, the Japanese said the exact same thing). This was another place I’d love to see in the fall, but then there are lots of those. I eventually made it to the ropeway and it was pretty expensive but I decided to go up anyway. This was one time it felt a little awkward being on my own. I road up in my own trolley which was a little lonely because it would be a fun chance to point out things and chat with friends. Also this is when I realized any pictures with me in them from now on would be the old arm length self-shots. Actually I have a picture I took of myself in the trolley and you can see a little Engrish behind me.

When you get halfway up, you have to switch to another cart that’s bigger and only goes every now and then; luckily I got there right about when it was leaving. It was neat to see all the mountainous islands around me. I don’t think I had ever seen a landscape like that before. I’d seen beaches and I’ve seen mountains, but never together like this. It has a very tropical island feel except not that kind of vegetation really. Also I wish it was less foggy when I was there. When I got to the top I saw all the signs warning me about the monkeys. It’s supposed to be mandatory to leave any bags in some free lockers because the monkeys will steal anything. They also warn you not to look them in the eye or feed them because, “They do not hope to be such a monkey” (fat I guess). The monkeys were just sitting around looking about like I do in that kind of heat. One was nursing her baby which was really cute. I also got a nice nature channel shot of a lizard catching a big centipede. I don’t remember which I saw first, but I heard some movement and saw them both moving slowly, trying to figure the other one out. I guess I should have taken a movie, because it was pretty cool when the lizard got him. Then the centipede kept trying to get away while the lizard would threw him back and swallow more.

There are actually two peaks to Misen (the mountain I was on) and the ropeway takes you to the lower one so I started walking to the other. I have a picture of each peak from the other. It’s actually a pretty long walk and a little dangerous in some parts. I also kept hearing animals noises that I’d never heard before which is pretty interesting. I still don’t know what they were ’cause I knew the monkey sound and it wasn’t them.

Eventually I got to the top and there was a little building where you could rest and buy food or drink inside or go up on the roof for the highest view on the island. I wanted some of that tasty Japanese tea bad, and I was ready to pay whatever they were going to gouge me for, but this was my first experience with how the Japanese don’t price gouge. The drinks were the exact same price on top of the mountain as in a train station, which is amazing considering they had to transport it up there somehow even if they don’t want to gouge. So I bought myself a tea and went upstairs to take pictures. There were maps naming all the islands around me and it was a great view, but again, visibility wasn’t very good. I stayed awhile taking in the atmosphere and resting before I headed back.

I headed back about the same time as a British guy and his dad and it was weird to just walk near them listening to them talk so I started talking to them. The guy was in Japan teaching English and his dad was just visiting. They were pretty nice and we talked a lot on the way back. This was my first time using English since I’d been in Japan and it was pretty weird. We also saw some monkeys playing in the trees and running in front of us on the path. I took the ropeway back down to the bottom of the mountain and tried to decide what to do next. It was too early in the day (3:00) to go back to the hostel, but I didn’t know what else I could do on the island without a lot more time. My plan had been to go to Hiroshima the next day on the way out, but I decided I could probably make it there now and stay there until later at night. On the way back to the ferry I saw my first tanuki (I think). I had heard of tanuki before (Mario once had a tanuki suit, tanuki let you save in Mystical Ninja, etc.) and I knew the legends of them but I had no idea they were real, so I was pretty shocked to see one. He was just standing in the middle of the road and let me get really close to take pictures. Later since I knew tanuki were real, I looked them up and the thing I saw actually looks a bit different so I have no idea what it was. I have a picture so if anyone knows, please tell me.

I had to run back to catch the ferry that was leaving and I made it just in time (after running a really long way to get around construction). After I made it back I just crossed the street and hopped on the train to Hiroshima. I didn’t bring my Hiroshima maps since I didn’t know I was going there so I picked up some new ones in the station. A popular way to get around Hiroshima even today is on cable cars. After World War II, a lot of European countries were phasing out their cable car systems, so they donated them to Hiroshima for the reconstruction and they still use them today. That’s how most people get from the station to the Atomic Bomb Dome (it’s about a mile and a half), but I decided to walk so I could see the city.

I really liked the look and feel of Hiroshima. It felt very modern and lively, but more personal than Tokyo. Everything feels pretty new, but that’s not just because of the bombing; most Japanese cities had to be built from scratch after the war, but others still feel older. There were nice shopping and entertainment areas and things seemed upscale but not super expensive. One street I couldn’t cross and I realized I was supposed to go underground so I did and I found I had been walking on top of a giant underground mall. A lot of Japanese cities are like that. There are stairs going underground on every corner and they either go to a mall or a subway.

Eventually I got to the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorials and Museums. The Atomic Bomb Dome is a building that was originally some sort of public services building. As the war intensified, it was taken oven for military use, and it just so happened to be a few meters (horizontally) from ground zero. Since the blast was almost directly overhead, the force only pressed down on the walls and didn’t knock them over like everything else in the city. Later it was decided to leave the building up as a reminder. There are also lots of memorials nearby for peace, for children killed or poisoned by the blast, for nuclear disarmament, etc. I didn’t go in the museum since it was closing soon and also I didn’t really want to. The dome was what I’d rather see anyway. Oh, also I saw a little sparrow drinking from the fountain near one of the peace memorials and I thought about it reminded me of Charlie who was probably asleep back home.

I think I wrote a bit about this in my original blog, but it affected me a lot more than I expected. I won’t say too much about it, but I’m glad I was there alone (not with other Japanese or Americans). It gave me a chance to think about a lot of things myself which is what I hoped for more of on this trip but usually I was too busy planning, seeing, and doing, and I didn’t get much time to really reflect on things. I spent awhile around the dome and memorials just thinking about things in general, not just about Hiroshima; it was a very nice area around there and I just took some time to reflect on my trip.

When it started to get a little late, I headed back in the direction of the station, but I planned to stop by to see anything interesting on the way or if I found any internet cafes. The first place I stopped, was DeoDeo, a massive eight-story electronics store (sorta like Best Buy but much cooler and wider variety). I just wandered around looking at all the neat Japanese toys and such for awhile. They have so many more videogames over there it’s insane. They also cost a lot more for some reason; I guess it’s just market differences since most are made over there anyway. You can also try out anything you want in a Japanese store and there’s usually a sample set up for you to try. There was an old many shaving with a $200 electric razor and he told me he always goes there to shave and offered it to me when he was done. It looked pretty nice, but I didn’t really wanna try a public razor. Then I found the awesome massage chair section. They had a huge selection of massage chairs that cost thousands of dollars and every one is out for you to try. I had been walking so much and carrying my heavy backpack a lot so I thought a massage would be nice and it was amazing. You straight things around your feet, arms, and legs so it can get all sides and that thing shows no mercy. It hurt so bad, but it loosened me up a lot. I also found out the newest home exercise craze in Japan is this rodeo thing. You sit on this saddle which bucks all over and you hold on which strengthens your core muscles while looking hilarious.

After DeoDeo, I went to a shopping and entertainment area which was pretty cool and wandered around for a bit. At one point I saw lots of people walking into this one building so I figured it must be interesting and followed. But as soon as the inside door opened I realized that was a mistake. It was a pachinko (like pinball gambling) parlor, and it was the loudest place you could imagine. As soon as the inside door cracked open I could feel the wall of noise physically hit me. It’s hundreds of gambling machines which make the most annoying noises cranked up as loud as they will go. I don’t understand how people could actually go inside that place and stay. Anyway, I asked a few people if there was an internet cafe around and I finally found one. This started my chain of internet cafe memberships across the country. I found out they don’t have plain old internet cafes anymore, only manga cafes, which have internet but also have access to any comics, movies, books, videogames, or music you might want. It’s like a pop media library you pay for by the hour and you get your own private room to do whatever. I always asked if I could just have internet but I always had to pay the full rate which wasn’t too cheap. Also some other Americans came in after me and were trying to get some internet time but didn’t understand they had to fill out a membership card. I hadn’t gone to my booth yet so I translated for them and the clerk. He asked if I knew them, ’cause you know, all white guys know each other. I spent some time in there and caught up with friends and family for the first time since I’d been in Japan and when it started to get late I headed out.

The problem was it had gotten later than I thought and started raining and it looked like it was about to switch from raining to dumping buckets of water, so I half walked half ran back to the station and made it in time so all my goods didn’t get soaked (it was nice day earlier so I didn’t have my umbrella). When I got back to the hostel there was another guy there, an older Canadian who traveled for his job and piggybacked personal world travel on top of it. He was like most other travelers I ended up meeting; pretty good at getting himself around but horrible at anything Japanese (you’ll see what I mean when he crops up again in a later story). I talked to him for a bit about different places to see and taught him some Japanese. He gave me the name of a really nice hostel in Kyoto (in case I ended up back there one night) and the place I ended up staying when I went to Tokyo (before school). After that I went to bed and tried to decide what to do the next day, because this was as far as I had planned in my trip. I was pretty tired so I decided to go to Okayama in the morning and decide what to do after Okayama on the train on the way there.

When I packed everything back in my backpack how I wanted it, I made my last trip to the station and went through to the post office to get some cash which actually lasted me the rest of my travels and most of the way through school. By now I was using my four-day expertise to help lost and confused gaijin find trains and ATMs and such. Oh, and how to get to the other side of the station. Kyoto Station is a mix of the station and hotels and shops and stuff and there’s only one place where you can walk through to the other side and “pedestrian crossing” is a solid four kanji word in Japanese.

Anyway, I met Eri and since we had extra time we decided to go to the Sanjusangendo before we left for Himeji. As always, the suggested way of getting there would be bus, but we walked instead because it was “close” and this is when I realized that things were a lot less “close” when I was carrying all of my stuff on my back and the weather was getting even hotter and more muggy. It still didn’t change my methods though and I walked even more when I was alone.

I only have a few pictures from the outside of the Sanjusangendo because they don’t allow them inside. Outside had recently been repainted “red” (actually bright orange) and had small but pretty gardens. I’ve probably said it before, but I love the bright orange color of temples and it was nice to see one fresh. Inside, the temple has 1000 statues of kannon along with 28 guardian statues and of course 2 of Raijin and Fujin. It was a very quiet, somber place and the statues are very old. We couldn’t spend too long though because we had to walk back to the station and catch our train.

I activated my rail pass before we left and it wasn’t very hard at all. The lady stamped the expiration date on it and I gained complete freedom for exactly seven days. Then we hopped on a train and headed to Himeji. I was very excited about going to see Himeji Castle because it’s one of the few places in Japan I knew by name before I even thought about going. It’s also the place where Ryu (from Street Fighter) always fights, so it was neat to see the real place I knew well from videogames and pictures.

Himeji was a fairly big city like any other in Japan but the castle towered over everything in the distance. This is one time we couldn’t get lost, and we just headed straight for the castle. I took a lot of the classic pictures you always see; once again the architects set it up so you can’t help but get good vantage points. One thing I thought was interesting was the arrow holes (?) were shaped like alternating triangles circles and squares. I need to look up more about that, I know it has a loose connection to Aikido (obviously this was first), but I wonder where else that is in Japanese tradition.

Like most traditional Japanese buildings, the outside was gorgeous, but the inside was pretty bare. I think you’re supposed to move things around as you need them and the inside was just rooms with wooden pillars and crossbeams. There were also lots of armor racks. Seeing things like this make me really wonder what samurai actually did though. I know the daimyo here had to have a lot of retainers so where did they sleep and eat and such? And what did they do all day? Maybe sometime I’ll go to a museum where I can see how life really was.

Eventually we made it to the top of the castle and I took pictures out the windows. Actually I took one picture trying to get the ornaments from the roof and the city in the background and I later met a guy in Nikko who had taken the exact same picture. Then an (Italian) American guy came up with his family and we talked a little and took each other’s pictures. The guy kept saying I should know how lucky I am (he thought Eri was my girlfriend). Then when he took the picture for us he said, “Alright, 1, 2, 3, kiss!” I asked Eri later if she could understand him and she said no so I told her what he was saying. I also tried to explain how and why many people are crazy about asian girls. I think a lot of Japanese girls don’t realize they have a certain image overseas.

After we came down from the top of the castle we explored some of the other wings and it was a little creepy because no one was there and we weren’t sure if we were supposed to be. There were some fake women playing a traditional game with rocks and some long halls with nothing but little rooms off of them. Maybe that’s where the retainers stayed. After that we had to hurry back to the station so I could catch my bullet train to Hiroshima.

Eri had asked a train attendant what train I should catch and he told us and gave us a little book with all the bullet trains for the week, but neither of us could figure out how to read it. When we got to the station we met Hiromi one last time and had some fancy fruity drink/slushy things as a last meal together. Hiromi figured out the train book for us which was crucial to my getting around for the next week. It was pretty complicated, but easy to use when you figure it out.

Before I left, Eri showed Hiromi the presents I had given her and I remember this was the first time I understood a full conversation between the two of them. I think part of it was that the beginning was easy to understand and so then I had a good start to keep following it. I’ve noticed that’s a big part in trying to understand spoken Japanese, it’s just small holes in vocabulary and such that make you miss one sentence and then it’s hard to catch up because you’re trying to run to catch up to the conversation train.

We had to hurry to catch my train and it was hard to say goodbye to the two of them. They were so helpful for getting me started in Japan and I didn’t really know how to thank them. Also it was a little scary to know I’d be on my own from then on out and I had less of a plan than in Kyoto. Eri shook my hand when I left but that didn’t seem like enough so I hugged her. Turned out she was one of those Japanese people that’s not used to hugging even good friends, but she understood. (I actually ended up doing my final project at school on Japanese relations with friends and things like hugging). After that I found my spot on the train and started reading my guidebook to decide where my next destinations were.

I passed through Hiroshima to get to Miyajima but it was getting pretty late so I was worried the hostel might be closed. I had emailed to try to get a reservation (since this was the one night I did plan beforehand) but I got no response. Luckily I understood the train announcer when he said Miyajimaguchi so I got off at my stop and of course exited from the wrong side of the station and pondered the map a bit before I went back to the other side. This was luckily one time when I was amazed by the small scale of the map. What I was counting as blocks were actually houses with alleys and the hostel was maybe 1 minute from the station. I do wonder though how the non-Japanese-speaking travelers manage in places like that. Nothing was written in English, even the hostel sign.

When I went in, I seriously thought the hostel had been abandoned. There was random junk everywhere and no lights on or sound in the place. I thought maybe I’d be sleeping in an abandoned hostel by myself… wait actually that part’s kinda true. I couldn’t find anyone so I called out and a little old man came out from a nest he made in the corner behind a bookshelf. I later realized he just lies there all and night (falling asleep whenever) and watches TV until someone calls for him. He took my money and sent me up to my room. Upstairs was even creepier than downstairs. It really looked like and abandoned hospital or mental ward straight out of a horror movie (or Splinter Cell). When I walked into my room and got hit with the suffocating heat, I had a moment of panic when I realized this place was so old there was no way it had air conditioning and I’d be trying to sleep in there. What I hadn’t realized yet, though, was that every Japanese building, no matter how old or how cheap, is equipped with a space-age air conditioning unit with an abundance of features and raw power unimaginable in the Western world. I turned that thing on to manual “strong” and the room was frosty in minutes.

I went downstairs to try to email on the computers but it turned out they were Macs from the early 90s and could barely get themselves booted, let alone load stone-age browsers. Almost all modern websites didn’t work and when I tried to send email they crashed. The guy there asked me why I was rebooting once and when I told him it locked up he put some more money in for me. Eventually I got a few emails off and then went to bed. The sheets were very cozy and I ended up enjoying that hostel as probably my favorite of them all. It was nice to have it to myself and its creepiness also gave it a lot of charm. I’d actually love to go back some day and I wouldn’t be surprised if I did. If I take anyone else to Japan, I’m sure we’ll go to Miyajima.

Anyway, when we first got to Nara I was surprised to see that it’s a real city. I’d seen maps with just temples all over and I thought it was just for tourists. One of my most non-Japanese experiences happened when we left the station. Eri said “excuse me” (in Japanese) to three people in a row and they all completely ignored her. One lady ignored me once later when I was by myself but I figured that’s because she assumed I didn’t speak Japanese. It was amazing to see one Japanese person being rude, let alone three in a row. It is pretty rare though; Eri was also surprised but she said, “See, Japanese people can be rude too.”

Later we did get someone to give us directions and the first place we went was Kofukuji. It was a really nice temple with pretty buildings but I can’t think of anything in particular to say about it. After that we headed to Kasuga Taisha and saw lots of deer on the way. Nara deer are famous in Japan for being super-friendly. They just roam the city trying to get food from people and they can be very aggressive. I think I wasn’t as amused as most people because I’m so used to playing with “wild” animals. They’d come up and try to eat my pants when I wasn’t looking; I actually heard a story of a guy who got his passport eaten by one, but that was on Miyajima (a later post). They were cute but they were also pretty gross because they were really oily/greesy. The antlers were even worse. One was poking Eri so I grabbed his antlers and moved him and my hand was covered in a thick goo.

Eventually we found the path to Kasuga Taisha which was a long path up the mountain. Eri got some deer food (stale cookie things) and this cute little guy (who was not so gooey) followed us most of the way up. This was actually when I decided maybe I didn’t absolutely have to go to Okunoin, because this was very similar to to what I was planning to go there to see. I really love the mountain roads lined with stone lanterns and ropes with the folded paper hanging down. By this point I was very used to being in Japan, but there was still a constant surreality to everything. I’ve never been super-obsessed with Japan at any one time but I’ve been very interested in it as long as I can remember so finally being in a place like this was… subtly overwhelming. Sometime I need to write about the two Japans (traditional and modern) and how I feel about both, but now I need to keep with the story. Kasuga Taisha was another big complex, and there was a family inside taking pictures with newlyweds. It was more of the low lying style of shrine and had a really long path in orange pillars with golden lanterns hanging in it. Another shrine that was really nice but I don’t have anything to distinguish it from all the other really nice shrines.

After Kasuga Taisha, we headed to Todaiji, which is the biggest wooden building in the world but is still only 2/3 of its original size (burned down of course). Even just the gates way out in front are pretty big, and those are guarded viciously by ancient gods in sexually ambiguous poses. I started to see a lot of these types of guards in the older temples I went to. Sometimes its Raijin and Fujin guarding places like this and sometimes its another pair Eri told me about that have something to do with eternity that was hard for her to explain to me with my Japanese level. Everything about this place was huge, but it’s hard to get much scale from any of my pictures from Todaiji, outside or in. Later when flipping through my own pictures, I wondered why I’d taken a picture of this random Buddha statue. Then I realized it was Todaiji’s Daibutsu, the largest Buddha in Japan, you just couldn’t tell at all from the picture. Daibutsu’s back was really impressive too, but my picture is pretty dark so you can’t tell. This is the kind of place people have to see for themselves. One of the pillars inside has a hole in it the size of Buddha’s nostril that people see if they can fit through.

There were a lot more shrines and temples in Nara, but Eri and I wanted to stop by Uji on the way home so we just went to those three and then we started heading back. Uji is a small town between Kyoto and Nara with a few famous places. It wasn’t on purpose but first we saw the Uji bridge which is really pretty and moderately famous. Then we went to Byodoin which is the shrine on the back of the 5yen coin. On the way in we saw these really cool big rocks with Japanese carved on them, and we also passed a lot of places selling Uji’s famous green tea. Eri and I tried and sample and it was possibly the tastiest drink I’ve ever had. It has a strong flavor and is pretty sweet. I would have gotten some but I really couldn’t afford the space in my backpack so I just memorized what it tasted like and figured now I could have one of my own snobby tastes to go up against people who only appreciate the finest coffee beans Guatemala has to offer. When Eri came to Tokyo she brought me some Uji tea but I still haven’t managed to open it; it’s just too precious and I can’t bring myself to drink it. Anyway, Byodoin itself is very pretty set in the water, and there’s also a nice museum nearby that comes with admission to the shrine. After that we headed back to the station and went back to Kyoto.

I thought this was the end of the day but actually the best part was later. Everything closed so early in Nara and Uji that there was still some light when we got to Kyoto Eri suggested we get off at a station near the edge of the city and see the Inari Shrine. The Inari Shrine is one of the few I knew by name before going to Japan so I was very happy to go see it. It’s actually not a shrine like you’d think but lots of orange torii (gates) going up a mountain with buildings here and there. After the first one or two hundred gates, Eri and I were amazed at how many there were and wondering how far it was too the top. Sometimes the gates would stop for a turn around the mountain and we would think they were over. We were still amazed when we got to one thousand or so, but then we realized they were not going to stop. There are actually many many thousand gates going up the mountain. Some are really big, some are fairly small; almost all have someone’s name carved into them. When we’d walked for a very long time and it was starting to get a little dark we came to a little cluster of houses and we asked an old lady how far to the top. She said we were about halfway, but there wasn’t really a good view at the top and the best overlook would be about 20 minutes farther up. We figured we just did have time to make that before it got dark so we kept going. One a side note, this is when I discovered Gogo no Koucha (a type of tea), but not the tan one yet; this was the red one which was also very good.

We finally made it up to the overlook and saw a really nice view of Kyoto, but it would have been nice if it wasn’t so hazy. One funny thing was that I kept hearing voices and I thought it was kids way down the mountain playing a game or something. It sounded just like far away children hooping when playing a sport. I said something about it to Eri and felt pretty stupid when she said they were crows. We just stood there for a long time trying to take everything in, but then Eri pulled me away because it was going to get dark. We headed back down the mountain and started looking for a place to eat.

One thing that’s amazing about Japan is how many small restaurants and shops it has. There are lots of places where the doors stay closed and they’re not really expecting anyone so you let yourself in and then call out and someone runs out from the back to serve you. We went to one of these places we stumbled across. We were in there for a few hours and no one else came in the whole time. I imagine they probably get a few customers a week. Anyway, it was a cute little place with a huge menu. Eri and I talked through what a lot of the things were and what might be good; then she just ordered us a lot of stuff. We got soups and plates of vegetables and some bataa koonu (buttered corn, exactly like Mom would make). Maybe I’m just more dumb American than I thought, but I was amazed how many vegetables the Japanese have that I’ve never even heard of. Eri would look them up in her dictionary to tell me what they were and usually they had some English translation that I’ve also never heard. Everything was quite tasty and I thought we were done when the waitress brought out one more dish which is what I think everyone first pictured when I said I was going to Japan. When the lady put the fish heads down I told Eri, I wasn’t too comfortable with it staring at me and it’s buck teeth sticking out. I just watched Eri though and tried to copy what she was eating. The cheek actually has a small pinch of meat in it that wasn’t bad (until I got stabbed by the tiny bones that came with it). But then after that, the only meat left was a thin later covering the bones (all with tiny splintering bones in it). I did the best I could eating a lot of it (I did not eat the eyeball), and I thought I’d done a pretty good job and put my chopsticks down but then I was amazed Eri kept working on it for a good 20 minutes. she found more meat than I’d ever imagine was in there, but it still probably added up to maybe 1 small bite of chicken. So that ended up being my one crazy food experience that everyone expected to happen to me everyday, and it wasn’t even that bad.

After we left the restaurant Eri sent me back to Kyoto station by myself since we were closer to where she lives. It was a little weird being in a completely abandoned tiny train station in Japan at night, but later I got very used to that feeling. When I came out of Kyoto station to head home I had one of my first times when I started to comprehend what I was doing. These times came sporadically throughout my trip triggered by random things. This time it was just a small band playing guitars and singing outside the station. I stood with a group of Japanese schoolgirl groupies and listened for a few songs. Something about the situation just helped me comprehend how great things were and I stood there listening and smiling for a bit before I headed back to the hostel for my last night. When I got back I did laundry to get ready for my long trip by myself and went to sleep. The next day would be the first of my days wondering in the morning if I’d have a place to sleep that night.

Also this morning Eri brought her Engrish to show me. The shirt she was wearing was one (you can see it in some pictures), but it turned out to be just English, not Engrish. The others she copied down were pretty good though. I don’t have the exact quotes but one was something like, “If you want to learn to become a world-class chef, you must learn the special ingredient, that which is love. Love is the special ingredient…” That one was just kinda cute, but the second one was the best. It was something like, “I just wanted to let you know how great it was hooking up with you last night, and I’d really like to see you again. I know you have a girlfriend but I was thinking maybe I could come down to see you sometime this summer or maybe you could come visit me when you’re in town…” I felt sorta bad translating these for Eri because that means she’ll never wear the second one anymore. but I told her it’s fine for Japan normally; just don’t wear it when Americans will be around. Also, now that she knows, it should be fine anyway; if anyone laughs, she can say she knows what it says anyway.

Right outside the Arashiyama station was a pretty famous train museum I had heard about before. Eri asked if I wanted to visit, but I’m not really into that kinda thing so we didn’t stop. We just started walking up the mountain and I think we found Daikakuji fairly easily. Daikakuji was a big complex and I have lots of really nice pictures. Some of the areas had construction though, so I had to work it just right to get it out of the pictures. I took a few with the construction just to show what it really looked like. This is also where I noticed the fire extinguisher buckets. Fire has traditionally been a big problem for Japan with all their wooden buildings so that’s one thing they’re very serious and careful with. What was funny, though, was the red buckets of water that said fire extinguisher on them. Usually there was a real extinguisher nearby too, but I just got this funny image of a fire starting up and monks running to grab buckets of water to pour on it.

Daikakuji also had fancier and busier insides than most shrines. Some rooms were filled with tons of decorations. Oh, one other thing I noticed about Japanese shrines and gardens is that no tree grows on its own. The Japanese always tie other logs to growing trees to make sure they grow exactly how they want. You’ll probably see them in a lot of my pictures; there’re always long old logs with small T’s at the top tied to the trunks and branches of growing trees. Sometimes it’s annoying but fortunately it’s fairly natural looking and doesn’t stand out too much. And I guess if they didn’t do it, the gardens wouldn’t be so perfect.

Next we went to Seiryoji, a nearby temple complex. It had more beautiful buildings and trees and rocks of course. There were also cool statues of gods on the way in and some more fancy insides. I also saw two little elementary school kids, probably brother and sister, playing in a puddle. I thought that was such a classic scene so I took a picture but they’re too far away.

After we left Seiryoji, we headed for a small temple called Gioji, but the maps weren’t great and we ended up going way up the mountain where there was nothing. Eventually we saw a man that lived up there and asked for directions back to the shrine. It was nice to get to see a lot of the mountain and the town and we also found a really neat little shrine just tucked away beside the road. There was a little statue of a fox and a small cave that was blocked off.

We finally found Gioji tucked away around some bamboo forests. One great thing about all the places on Arashiyama was that they were completely empty. There was a little old lady somewhere in the shrines (sometimes had to look for her) you could pay to go in, but that was it besides us. I guess it because we were up a mountain on a rainy Monday (appropriate since Arashiyama means stormy mountain). Gioji was small but was one of my favorites anywhere. Everything was so green, and the drizzle just made it stand out even more. Lots of places in Japan have amazing moss and I’m already a big fan of moss, so it’s perfect. I think the moss covering the ground in the forests and gardens are what give them a distinctly Japanese feel. My pictures from Gioji didn’t come out too well since it was so dark (and flash made it unnatural), but I think you can get some idea of the place. One cute but out of place thing was I found a little cat play house/tree thing in a side-room of the shrine.

Gioji was closing on us as we left and we had to hurry to Tenryuji before it closed. Tenryuji was bigger and less cozy than Gioji, but is also one of my favorites in a different way. It’d be amazing to live near these places so I could visit them more often at different times of the year. I didn’t charge my camera the night before and the battery was dying so I don’t have too many pictures of Tenryuji, but overall it was a complex with a few different shrine buildings and lots of gardens with a lake. Eri asked if I would be bringing my family to visit sometime and I said I could definitely see myself coming back with Bennett, but my parents couldn’t really get there with an RV (and more importantly, dogs). I’d love to go back to a lot of these places in the Spring and/or Fall. The Japanese are big on seasons and most places have very different things to offer at different times of year. The appearance during all seasons is considered when designing shrines and gardens like these.

As we were leaving, for a minute we were worried we got locked into the gardens, but we just unlocked the gate and let ourselves out (we told them as we left). After this we headed back to the station and went back to Kyoto. We ate dinner at a nice place in the station and I remember people staring at me a little when I went in with Eri and then really staring at me when they heard me speak Japanese. I had a tonkatsu, which I really liked. After dinner we went over to the front of the station where they had some other shops and we got some amazing donuts and I showed Eri how to use some handy tools in Photoshop. That day I had taken a picture of a nice room in a shrine but there was a folding chair sitting in the corner. I said that was annoying but no problem I’d just take it out with Photoshop. Eri said she had Photoshop but didn’t know how to use it that well so I said I’d teach her. She was amazed to see how fast I could take something out of a picture. We hung out for a bit at the station and Eri called some friends and her sister to see if anyone wanted to go with us to Nara the next day but no one did. Eventually I headed back to the hostel, did some blogging, talking, and picturing on the super expensive but honor system internet, and then went to bed.