Well, I'm back home in America.
The End.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Coming (back) to America
So, here I sit in the Kansai airport waiting for my flight. It's been a damn good trip, but I am ready to get back home, to my bed and my house.
It's been an amazing journey for this first time globe trotter. Some things which I thought would be a huge deal turned out to not be such a big deal. Other things which I expected to be nothing special turned out to be far greater and spectacular then I could have imagined. From the sights to the sounds, from the people to the food, Japan is incredible.
There are still items on my list left unchecked, but I would have no problem visiting this place once again in the future. I think working on language skills would be the greatest asset, since it would be far easier to ask people where things are and what is cool, then to try to glean such information from the internet or a guide book.
This has already been a long day and we will be adding many hours to it. Not sure what kind of shape I'll be on once I get home either. I fully expect I will be calling in a personal day "tomorrow."
It's been an amazing journey for this first time globe trotter. Some things which I thought would be a huge deal turned out to not be such a big deal. Other things which I expected to be nothing special turned out to be far greater and spectacular then I could have imagined. From the sights to the sounds, from the people to the food, Japan is incredible.
There are still items on my list left unchecked, but I would have no problem visiting this place once again in the future. I think working on language skills would be the greatest asset, since it would be far easier to ask people where things are and what is cool, then to try to glean such information from the internet or a guide book.
This has already been a long day and we will be adding many hours to it. Not sure what kind of shape I'll be on once I get home either. I fully expect I will be calling in a personal day "tomorrow."
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Head East
Today we will be going back home. We will be checking out of our rad apartment and getting on a plane that will take us back to San Francisco and then on to Austin. I had a really amazing vacation. I think we were here for just the right amount of time; I am not rushing to get home, I am not anxious to get back to work, and neither am I feeling sad about leaving Japan.
My lasting impression is that this nation is by and large filled with some of the nicest most polite people. I definitely want to return, but I want to know much more of the language when I do. Oh, and I want to visit different parts I ain't never seen, like Hokkaido, Shikoku & Kyushu.
We'll be crossing the international date line today, so that even though our plane leaves at 6:30 PM, I'll arrive in Austin at 10:00PM the same day. Not sure if I will be at work in the morning. See you all at home... uh, today.
My lasting impression is that this nation is by and large filled with some of the nicest most polite people. I definitely want to return, but I want to know much more of the language when I do. Oh, and I want to visit different parts I ain't never seen, like Hokkaido, Shikoku & Kyushu.
We'll be crossing the international date line today, so that even though our plane leaves at 6:30 PM, I'll arrive in Austin at 10:00PM the same day. Not sure if I will be at work in the morning. See you all at home... uh, today.
What happen
Check out the awesome splash image we have now. Courtland's camera is a very good and awesome camera. If it disappears from his luggage it is not my fault maybe.
One thing I've come to realize that I appreciate about Japan is that you can't wear your shoes in this hotel room we rented. This really works to my advantage, as we've walked so much on this trip that, invariably, my feet are killing me at the end of the day. As such, each evening when we return to our hotel to retire, the very first thing any of us have to do is remove our shoes, and I tell you, it feels fantastic. My feet are one part of me that is honestly ready to get back to the office and relax under a desk all day. The rest of me is going to miss this place.
Tomorrow, we ride the train out to the airport and prepare to fly home. Through the magic of the international date line, we're going to arrive in California fully six hours before we left Japan. There's some sort of divide-by-zero math at work here and it's hurting my brain. I feel sure, of course, that my brain will hurt far worse from the jetlag once I'm actually home. Still, it will be well worth it. This trip has been nothing short of incredible and I wouldn't trade the last 11 days for all the decent sleep I could have had otherwise.
While here in Japan, I completed every goal I had before getting here, and did a bunch of other stuff too. Let's see:
- Eat takoyaki: Completed first day (post-arrival). Tasted chewy, sweet, savory, and tentacley. Success!
- Eat okonomiyaki: Completed. Tasted hefty, eggy, meaty, and awesomey. Did not put mayonnaise on mine. Others did due to insanity. Success!
- Eat shabu-shabu: Completed. Tasted savory as hell, very hot, and sometimes noodley, with some skill. Did not wear shoes, possibly enhancing taste. Success!
- Visit Akihabara: Completed within first week. Attended Gamers-nyo. Post-visit entrapment in uncomfortable manga cafe did not mar actual visit. Success!
- Feed deer at Nara: Completed. Number of senbei consumed by deer = 10. Number of senbei consumed by me = 0. Seems unfair. Success!
- Purchase copy of Rhythm Tengoku: Completed at last minute. This game, unavailable in the states, was high up on my list of things to acquire here, but every game store I visited failed to have it. I kept looking, but I'd pretty much given up on finding it. Then, yesterday, there we were--middle of nowhere in Kyoto--seriously, we we basically wandering through rice paddies next to the train station--and we happened upon a store/arcade. I figured, what the hell, I'll browse. And THERE IT WAS. Plain as day. I had looked all over Japan for this game, and there it was. GET. Success!
We've done lots and lots of other stuff too, naturally, as I'm sure you've been reading about. And every moment was an adventure. My pictures are on a different computer, but I'll share a whole slew of my favorites once I'm back home and I have access to them. Until then, wish us a safe trip home, and thanks for reading along with our vacation. I've had the time of my life.
And I owe it all to you.
One thing I've come to realize that I appreciate about Japan is that you can't wear your shoes in this hotel room we rented. This really works to my advantage, as we've walked so much on this trip that, invariably, my feet are killing me at the end of the day. As such, each evening when we return to our hotel to retire, the very first thing any of us have to do is remove our shoes, and I tell you, it feels fantastic. My feet are one part of me that is honestly ready to get back to the office and relax under a desk all day. The rest of me is going to miss this place.
Tomorrow, we ride the train out to the airport and prepare to fly home. Through the magic of the international date line, we're going to arrive in California fully six hours before we left Japan. There's some sort of divide-by-zero math at work here and it's hurting my brain. I feel sure, of course, that my brain will hurt far worse from the jetlag once I'm actually home. Still, it will be well worth it. This trip has been nothing short of incredible and I wouldn't trade the last 11 days for all the decent sleep I could have had otherwise.
While here in Japan, I completed every goal I had before getting here, and did a bunch of other stuff too. Let's see:
- Eat takoyaki: Completed first day (post-arrival). Tasted chewy, sweet, savory, and tentacley. Success!
- Eat okonomiyaki: Completed. Tasted hefty, eggy, meaty, and awesomey. Did not put mayonnaise on mine. Others did due to insanity. Success!
- Eat shabu-shabu: Completed. Tasted savory as hell, very hot, and sometimes noodley, with some skill. Did not wear shoes, possibly enhancing taste. Success!
- Visit Akihabara: Completed within first week. Attended Gamers-nyo. Post-visit entrapment in uncomfortable manga cafe did not mar actual visit. Success!
- Feed deer at Nara: Completed. Number of senbei consumed by deer = 10. Number of senbei consumed by me = 0. Seems unfair. Success!
- Purchase copy of Rhythm Tengoku: Completed at last minute. This game, unavailable in the states, was high up on my list of things to acquire here, but every game store I visited failed to have it. I kept looking, but I'd pretty much given up on finding it. Then, yesterday, there we were--middle of nowhere in Kyoto--seriously, we we basically wandering through rice paddies next to the train station--and we happened upon a store/arcade. I figured, what the hell, I'll browse. And THERE IT WAS. Plain as day. I had looked all over Japan for this game, and there it was. GET. Success!
We've done lots and lots of other stuff too, naturally, as I'm sure you've been reading about. And every moment was an adventure. My pictures are on a different computer, but I'll share a whole slew of my favorites once I'm back home and I have access to them. Until then, wish us a safe trip home, and thanks for reading along with our vacation. I've had the time of my life.
And I owe it all to you.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Kyoto x2
David almost drank my beer. Dammit.
Yesterday afternoon we got a late start but we went to Kyoto anyway, since the Hikari Shinkansen takes all of 13 minutes to get there. I'm not sure if it gets up to its full speed of 177MPH, but it's a pretty short trip, and the train is going awful fast... We wandered around, not really knowing too much about Kyoto, since most of the research that went into the trip centered on the Osaka and Tokyo/Akihabara locales. Still, we saw some really charming neighborhoods! But not before passing by the Kyoto Tower and the Higashi Hongan-ji temple.
We ate someplace, visited a little bookstore but I didn't see anything I liked. Then we visited another one, and I did find something I liked, the Azumanga Recycle book, which is awful funny, even though it's in Not-English and I will have to translate a lot of it. (I had read some of it online, but I never had the whole book.) Then we got back on the Shinkansen and went back home, after just a few hours of wandering to and fro.
Then we ate pizza with corn and mayonnaise in it.
Then the next day, we got much less of a late start, and we came right on back to Kyoto as, like I said, it's basically 13 minutes away by train (okay, more including subways and junk). I found directions to the Harley-Davidson of Kyoto dealership, although it was not exactly in downtown Kyoto. We had to take a train, and wend our way through some suuuuuper quaint neighborhoods with super narrow streets and tons of little tiny houses and shops and tiny little cars that pass for vans and so forth around here. I wouldn't mind more parts of America with little narrow streets, and only tiny little cars to service them, and for long-distance trips, you just take bullet-trains... Anyway, I digress. I got myself a t-shirt that, essentially, says H-D Kyoto Japan on it. Fifty bucks, but that's what I came here for! But... we found something else too.
I'd heard these existed, and here is the real deal. A panties vending machine. This vending machine sells sexy underwear. (I'd heard there used to be a vending machine somewhere in Tokyo that sold used panties, but this one only had fresh, new product.)
I wasn't the only one with a quest; David also found his-self a Toys R Us out someplace completely unrelated in Kyoto, and as much as I liked the adventure through the neighborhoods near the Harley dealership, the sidewalks and pathways between (presumably?) rice-fields and farmland to get to the main street that had the Toiza-Ra-Su was also amazingly bitchin'. The full moon was up, friendly quiet people silently hovered past on their bicycles in the uncanny light, and once in a while the Shinkansen would jet past. David found his mecca after an appropriate hijra, is what I am trying to say... He bought all sorts of things. We were joking that he would need a cart, but then—he really did need a cart. He put some items in his backpack, and another portion in Ed's bag, and then he carried the rest in a big plastic bag, so it became a real caravan.
We made our way back to Kyoto station where we found some sweet vistas and some victuals in the form of a sweet ass ramen shop. We got noodles drinks and gyoza and just generally ate well. There are roughly one billion restaurants there.
My feet are pretty sore from miles upon miles of walking and sightseeing; I don't mean to complain, however. It's my own fault, first for coming to Japan and being a tourist, and second for wearing my super stylish Oakley driving shoes which are basically snug little slippers with no padding at all. We're about to leave the apartment and go check out Osaka castle in the nighttime, it's pretty lit up and the moon is out too, so it should look spectacular. It's two blocks away, so this is no expedition. Our Japan Rail Passes ran out of use today, so from now on we have to pay for the trains we ride on a more individual basis; the only trains we'll really need to take from here on out will be the subways, and the train to the airport. Tomorrow is, for all intents and purposes, our last full day here in Japan.
Now, to finish that beer of mine...
Yesterday afternoon we got a late start but we went to Kyoto anyway, since the Hikari Shinkansen takes all of 13 minutes to get there. I'm not sure if it gets up to its full speed of 177MPH, but it's a pretty short trip, and the train is going awful fast... We wandered around, not really knowing too much about Kyoto, since most of the research that went into the trip centered on the Osaka and Tokyo/Akihabara locales. Still, we saw some really charming neighborhoods! But not before passing by the Kyoto Tower and the Higashi Hongan-ji temple.
We ate someplace, visited a little bookstore but I didn't see anything I liked. Then we visited another one, and I did find something I liked, the Azumanga Recycle book, which is awful funny, even though it's in Not-English and I will have to translate a lot of it. (I had read some of it online, but I never had the whole book.) Then we got back on the Shinkansen and went back home, after just a few hours of wandering to and fro.
Then we ate pizza with corn and mayonnaise in it.
Then the next day, we got much less of a late start, and we came right on back to Kyoto as, like I said, it's basically 13 minutes away by train (okay, more including subways and junk). I found directions to the Harley-Davidson of Kyoto dealership, although it was not exactly in downtown Kyoto. We had to take a train, and wend our way through some suuuuuper quaint neighborhoods with super narrow streets and tons of little tiny houses and shops and tiny little cars that pass for vans and so forth around here. I wouldn't mind more parts of America with little narrow streets, and only tiny little cars to service them, and for long-distance trips, you just take bullet-trains... Anyway, I digress. I got myself a t-shirt that, essentially, says H-D Kyoto Japan on it. Fifty bucks, but that's what I came here for! But... we found something else too.
I'd heard these existed, and here is the real deal. A panties vending machine. This vending machine sells sexy underwear. (I'd heard there used to be a vending machine somewhere in Tokyo that sold used panties, but this one only had fresh, new product.)
I wasn't the only one with a quest; David also found his-self a Toys R Us out someplace completely unrelated in Kyoto, and as much as I liked the adventure through the neighborhoods near the Harley dealership, the sidewalks and pathways between (presumably?) rice-fields and farmland to get to the main street that had the Toiza-Ra-Su was also amazingly bitchin'. The full moon was up, friendly quiet people silently hovered past on their bicycles in the uncanny light, and once in a while the Shinkansen would jet past. David found his mecca after an appropriate hijra, is what I am trying to say... He bought all sorts of things. We were joking that he would need a cart, but then—he really did need a cart. He put some items in his backpack, and another portion in Ed's bag, and then he carried the rest in a big plastic bag, so it became a real caravan.
We made our way back to Kyoto station where we found some sweet vistas and some victuals in the form of a sweet ass ramen shop. We got noodles drinks and gyoza and just generally ate well. There are roughly one billion restaurants there.
My feet are pretty sore from miles upon miles of walking and sightseeing; I don't mean to complain, however. It's my own fault, first for coming to Japan and being a tourist, and second for wearing my super stylish Oakley driving shoes which are basically snug little slippers with no padding at all. We're about to leave the apartment and go check out Osaka castle in the nighttime, it's pretty lit up and the moon is out too, so it should look spectacular. It's two blocks away, so this is no expedition. Our Japan Rail Passes ran out of use today, so from now on we have to pay for the trains we ride on a more individual basis; the only trains we'll really need to take from here on out will be the subways, and the train to the airport. Tomorrow is, for all intents and purposes, our last full day here in Japan.
Now, to finish that beer of mine...
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Nani
By now, my travelmates have gotten you all caught up on our adventures for the last couple of days, so there's no need for me to provide an overarching narrative. I just thought I'd share a few more pictures and some personal details since my last post. You know, to fill space. And feel validated. Oh, how I crave your comments.
Shabu shabu did, as Ed mentioned, turn out to be a big hit. When we got there, I was worried the opposite would happen, frankly. The reason I picked this place for us, after all, was that the online guide explicitly promised "English Speaking Staff Available." This was a complete and total fabrication. Nobody there spoke English. Maybe the guide was trying to tell us something else. Perhaps, someplace within the restaurant, an ancient quarterstaff was hung upon the wall, with English inscribed down its length. I'm sure the inscribed phrase is "You stupid gaijin, you're so screwed."
But, once more, the combined Japanese skills of Courtland and myself saw us through what was actually a terrific evening. Upon entering, we surrendered our shoes, and managed to order 4 servings of all-you-can-eat, and, as promised, all-you-can-drink. The beer and sake flowed freely during our meal, and it was an excellent accompaniment to the delicious meal.
Courtland's choice of shirt here does make him look particularly fiendish, doesn't it? I managed to capture this moment in the ancient, arcane ritual of beef-summoning. Later, Courtland would insert David's severed pinky into the pot, thus both conjuring forth a feast and affirming David's position as a yakuza. The ground sesame added a nice flavor to both.
Ed is discovering here that the noodles are, by far, the trickiest thing to extract from the water. This includes the constantly-breaking-up blocks of tofu in there. Those noodles are fucking elusive. Based on the elusive-to-delicious ratio of the foods in this pot, I want to conduct experiments with cupfuls of compressed air. I bet it tastes spectacular.
The aftermath of an evening well spent! Total casualties: 10 beers, 3 mini-bottles of sake, 3 plates of veggies, 2 jars of noodles, 9 platters of beef, and David's finger.
We did not buy these hats. We were high on shabu. I blame the drinks. Shut up.
The beer followed us, the next day, on the train ride to Toyama. I just wanted to get a shot of the countryside-ish areas we were traveling through, but some thoughtful passenger left us his empties. Not pictured: Three more cans in the seat pocket in front of me. Seriously.
Here is Toyama! Courtland was nice enough to maintain this exact pose while some total stranger walked up next to him.
I kid. Saiko-san was extremely nice and pleasant; I truly enjoyed meeting her. She was very polite and reserved, despite the fact that we are obviously very obnoxious and pungent. She helped us to enjoy Toyama and order various foods and services, and also was an eager conversationalist.
Sorry, but our princess was in another castle.
Sorry, but our princess is not in any train station at all.
It's raining again today. I hope to combat this rainy day with a hot bowl of Udon. With luck, we'll make it to Kyoto tomorrow instead.
Bye!
Shabu shabu did, as Ed mentioned, turn out to be a big hit. When we got there, I was worried the opposite would happen, frankly. The reason I picked this place for us, after all, was that the online guide explicitly promised "English Speaking Staff Available." This was a complete and total fabrication. Nobody there spoke English. Maybe the guide was trying to tell us something else. Perhaps, someplace within the restaurant, an ancient quarterstaff was hung upon the wall, with English inscribed down its length. I'm sure the inscribed phrase is "You stupid gaijin, you're so screwed."
But, once more, the combined Japanese skills of Courtland and myself saw us through what was actually a terrific evening. Upon entering, we surrendered our shoes, and managed to order 4 servings of all-you-can-eat, and, as promised, all-you-can-drink. The beer and sake flowed freely during our meal, and it was an excellent accompaniment to the delicious meal.
Courtland's choice of shirt here does make him look particularly fiendish, doesn't it? I managed to capture this moment in the ancient, arcane ritual of beef-summoning. Later, Courtland would insert David's severed pinky into the pot, thus both conjuring forth a feast and affirming David's position as a yakuza. The ground sesame added a nice flavor to both.
Ed is discovering here that the noodles are, by far, the trickiest thing to extract from the water. This includes the constantly-breaking-up blocks of tofu in there. Those noodles are fucking elusive. Based on the elusive-to-delicious ratio of the foods in this pot, I want to conduct experiments with cupfuls of compressed air. I bet it tastes spectacular.
The aftermath of an evening well spent! Total casualties: 10 beers, 3 mini-bottles of sake, 3 plates of veggies, 2 jars of noodles, 9 platters of beef, and David's finger.
We did not buy these hats. We were high on shabu. I blame the drinks. Shut up.
The beer followed us, the next day, on the train ride to Toyama. I just wanted to get a shot of the countryside-ish areas we were traveling through, but some thoughtful passenger left us his empties. Not pictured: Three more cans in the seat pocket in front of me. Seriously.
Here is Toyama! Courtland was nice enough to maintain this exact pose while some total stranger walked up next to him.
I kid. Saiko-san was extremely nice and pleasant; I truly enjoyed meeting her. She was very polite and reserved, despite the fact that we are obviously very obnoxious and pungent. She helped us to enjoy Toyama and order various foods and services, and also was an eager conversationalist.
Sorry, but our princess was in another castle.
Sorry, but our princess is not in any train station at all.
It's raining again today. I hope to combat this rainy day with a hot bowl of Udon. With luck, we'll make it to Kyoto tomorrow instead.
Bye!
3 days
Mon. the 22nd,
The day spent in
We spent the day wondering around Akihabara looking at the multitudes of game stores, comic stores and electronics stores. There are many, many indeed. We at at a Mos Burger (a Japanese burger chain) and yet again marveled at the selection and the amazing service they have at these places.
Then we missed our train… We spent the next couple hours trying to find a capsule hotel, with no results. We did find one, but were turned away since it was Japanese only, at least, as best as we could tell. We finally happened upon a very nice and observant gentleman who could speak the English. He was slightly amused at our folly, but in the end lead us to our final destination for the evening.
Our final destination was a Manga-Kisa. Imagine if you will, a small closet basically as big as a bathroom stall (and that is not an exaggeration). In it a desk with a computer and a TV on it and a reclining chair. This place has a huge library of Japanese comics (Manga) and Anime films, a free drink machine and restrooms and showers all at your disposal when you get a room/closet. They have hourly rates as well as all night (8 hr) rates. Perfect we’ll take it. This probably would have the perfect situation for being stuck out in the city over night except for the fact that non of us Idiots have the build of a Japanese person. I don’t think any of us were ever able to get fully comfortable in the bathroom stall sized room. I did manage to get about 4 or so hours of consecutive sleep, so I guess I was pretty well off.
In the morning we woke up and headed to the train, now with a fond memory of
We then spent the rest of the morning and a bit of the afternoon catching up on our sleep.
We did finally get our butts our the door to grab some shabbu shabbu. This was actually a big hit. You get a boiling pot of water (hot plate in table) in which you throw in an endless stream of vegetables and meat. The meat is a raw beef that is cut so thin that just putting it in the boiling water almost instantly cooks it. This all comes with a few different dipping sauces which were also great. All-in-all a great meal and fun as well.
I don’t think any amount of sleep that day would catch us up for the running around we did in
Wed. the 24th, To
Courtland has a few Japanese pen pals that he talks to. One of which was gracious enough to invite us out to an area sort of close to her home and show us around. This made a day an extra special treat since aside from a few friendly restaurant and rail workers we really hadn’t talked with any Japanese people since we had been here. Saiko, showed us around
Toyama Castle
Much fun was had and it was great talking to someone other than the other 3 I’ve been with for over a week already :). We also went for some more Karaoke and finished off the evening with some food a another Japanese restaurant with Saiko.
For me our visit to
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