Cultural fusion

Important to know

If you're planning a trip to Japan, here is the single most useful piece of information:

小 - small

大 - big

If you memorize nothing else, memorize these two symbols. There will come a time when you are desperately searching for a button to flush the toilet. When you see one of these guys, your business transaction can be concluded, young grasshopper. Go forth and use this knowledge in an environmentally responsible manner.

One last good meal: Yakiniku at Jojoen

I went to the airport via Tokyo Station and finally got the chance to take Felicity up on her recommendation. Having only had a very light breakfast, I bought a mouth-watering but also stupidly expensive order of Yakiniku from Jojoen. I wrote down this recommendation from Felicity a while ago.

Well she was right! It was delicious!!! Very good meat... very juicy. It was with the 3.880¥!

Sitting at the gate now. Bordering starts in 1.5 hours.

ありがとうございます、日本！らようなら。

すき焼き

I had a nice but terribly hot day in Kyoto yesterday. For dinner, I decided to splurge and finally get something good: Sukiyaki.

It's thinly sliced beef, cooked with some vegetables and such. The coolest part is, they cook it right in front of you, at your table. Japan really knows about service. The man even pushed the elevator button on the way out for us.

The beef was very good, of good quality and well prepared. Check in Wikipedia for more details. But it was definitely the best meal of the trip. A fitting end.

So, the trip is finally over. I'm in the train back to Tokyo. What an adventure. I might post a follow-up post when I feel like it. It may just have odds and ends. We will see.

Unity is strength

My training in the capsule hotel is complete. I am now an effective member of Japanese society. Unity is strength.

The breakfast was again adequate this morning. It met our nutritional needs. The surface in the sleeping capsule was hard, which encourages us to be strong. Softness is weakness.

It was difficult to return the uniform and wear Outsider clothing again. Yesterday, we did this as well, to partake in the Tenjin Matsuri Festival. The procession of boats was very orderly. Order brings unity. Unity is strength. There were very many stands of delicious food. Strangely, people eat fried eggs for snacks. There were also, perhaps, more people going through the transit system than I've ever seen but it all worked somehow. I attribute this to the resolve and unity of the Japanese people. Society above all.

We also went to the beach earlier in the day. It was great, since the heat was unbearable yesterday (and every day). We didn't get a chance to go surfing but just getting in the water was awesome.

Today, I am going for a final, easy day in Kyoto. I will return to Haneda airport tomorrow morning.

Unity is strength,

C208

Capsule hotel night 2

I wore the supplied pajamas today. Everyone wears them. Unity is strength. My designation is C208. I do not know why I ever needed a name. Names are for the Outsiders.

The shower and bathing facilities were enjoyable. C208 is now clean. Cleanliness is honourable.

It is very late. C208 is in the designated relaxation area. The clothes from the outside world are being cleaned. The drying device takes very long and consumes many coins. Yen is not needed here. Yen is for the outside world.

C208 is very tried. Soon, I will go to the capsule. The capsule is unity. Unity is strength.

Flexibility is key

Upon arriving in Osaka yesterday, we found a poster for a big festival, which spans today and tomorrow. In fact, it's one of the top three in Japan! Well, having already seen some of the Gion Festival (also one of the top 3), we don't want to miss this one either!

Today was to be the beach day, with tomorrow being the hike from Magome to Tsumago, two post towns along the old samurai trail between Kyoto and Tokyo. I asked 明美 and she said tomorrow's the better day for the festival. Some Internet research confirmed this, given there is a huge boat show (maybe the world's largest) and fireworks display in the evening.

So we decided to switch it up. Beach tomorrow. Get back in time to enjoy the festival. Gonna try to get in some surfing at the beach, too.

Anyway, the hike was terrific. The Kiso valley is such a beautiful area. I finally also saw some old village-y kind of areas, which I imagined old-style Japan being, which I haven't really seen until now.

Also, as we arrived in Tsumago, there was a local festival going on, with a big street procession, going down the main/only road in the village. There were lots of food stands and it seemed everyone in the parade was at least somewhat drunk, yet still forced to carry a giant float thingy. It was a fun random occurrence, which came from being flexible in our plans.

We are on the way home but still a ways away. Gonna do some laundry, go in the sauna, and take a hot bath. Job well done - successful day. Tomorrow will be great too.

A night at a capsule hotel

So we spent our first night at a capsule hotel. Definitely weird, awesome, and terrible all at once.

After you surrender your shoes and check in, you get a locker, where you can put your stuff. Then you can go to your capsule and enjoy the various facilities, including a bathhouse and sauna.

The capsule itself was big enough but still a bit closterphobic-feeling. It was like sleeping in the bottom bunk, which I always try to avoid. The mattress was not very padded and the pillow was a bag of rocks. Still, it was okay, except for the noisy people in the morning.

I didn't use the sauna because I got home too late last night. I did meet up with Bert and Andreas (and later Elon) in the common area, where they have reclining chairs and four different TVs, two of which were showing strange Japanese pornography at night.

There's also a manga library and a bunch of slot machines. I put 100¥ in as my first gambling experience. I guess I lost. I don't know why people play slot machines. It was very boring.

They also provide towels, toothbrushes, hair brushes, soaps, and pajamas. You don't need to care for much. I think this place is aimed at the unprepared and the useless people in society. They sell a passable breakfast. Toast in Japan is awesome; it's thick, like Texas toast.

Anyway, it was all good overall. Definitely worth the wacky experience. After all, I always say that you only need a bed in the end.

Capsule hotel

It's like a spaceship!

Onsen

Yesterday was the spa day. We went to the famous onsen in Matsuyama, apparently the most famous in Japan. It was nice and relaxing but it did not last as long as I would have hoped. Germany definitely has the better spa experience, from what I can see!

We also checked out the castle there from the outside. It is up on a big hill, so you can see around town. It was a nice walk.

The cool thing is that the best way to get to Hiroshima today was by boat, so we got to enjoy the sea a bit. If only I didn't feel so sick from that poisonous sushi.

Sushi

Well, the day finally arrived: I tried sushi in Japan. In fact, it was my idea to eat it tonight. I tried to keep an open mind, especially since there was no seaweed, but every second felt like a violation of my very soul.

It was a horrifying experience, so far past my comfort zone that I think will experience post traumatic stress disorder. I was, however, surprised to find there truly is no taste to fresh fish. But that didn't make it better: I knew what I was eating. It's probably combining into a super fish and swimming around in my stomach as we speak. So disgusting. I even bit one up to the tail.

So I've done it. I've tried sushi in Japan. It didn't taste bad (unlike tempura, which tastes like deep fried ocean) but it was a horrifying ordeal, which I hope never to repeat. I'll never be the same again after this harrowing experience, and not just because I began it by spilling a fresh, hot bowl of miso soup onto my pants.

21/07/14 - never forget.

Small differences

It's always interesting to note the little things that sum up to make a culture different than the one you're used to. After all, it's many of the little things that keep me in Germany.

Although Japan is seen as this highly technological country, I haven't really experienced it. Okay, they have more buttons on their toilets than you could ever hope to comprehend and there are always drink vending machines everywhere you go but a lot of things are done the old fashioned way. Many stores have a person employed to just stand there and tell you stuff. Bank machines might sing a song and greet you out loud but the keypads are something out of the 80s. I've even seen rotary phones!

They seem to employ a lot of old people to do unnecessary jobs. If there is a construction site, rather than have a simple warning sign, there will be an old man directing pedestrians around the area. I couldn't find a garbage can on this train but an old man just came through to collect everybody's garbage!

People aren't afraid to openly laugh at foreigners or just be amazed in general. I've already had my picture taken with a curious old couple. Bert was mocked (hah hah, foreigner!) for helpfully sorting his garbage after the sumo match. They never do it in a mean way. You're more of a curiosity to Japanese people.

However, I can't mention enough times how polite and helpful people are here. On the first day, I forgot a piece of paper about my hotel booking at the train ticket counter. Just as we were about to board the train, the ticket lady came running (maybe a 2-3 minute walk) with the paper in hand. I lost my hat on Mount Fuji. As we began our descent, there it was, tied to a post. I thanked the mountain god for that one.

Luck is definitely a huge thing. The shrines are always filled with people coming to ask for a blessing or whatever, which Akemi said is about luck really. There are different shrines for different things but it seems to all boil down to luck. I guess that's why it's always a factor in RPGs.

Speaking of games, being in Japan puts all this stuff in context. The quirky menus of Japanese video games aren't just how they make their games; everything is like that. The bank machines sing to you. The trains play zany noises when they are arriving. TV commercials are all absurd.

Japan is not what I expected in some ways but that's great: it's definitely a different experience than anywhere else I've been and that was, after all, my primary mission.

Himeji

I'm super tired. Staying up too late in the past days. Himeji castle was cool. We also took the time to do laundry and eat some more Ramen. A successful day.

Tomorrow is our rest day at Matsuyama, where there is one of Japan's top onsen (hot springs). Can't wait to check it out. Only problem will be figuring out how to get to Hiroshima after that. Going to investigate the ferry and propose that.

お休みなさい。^_^

明美

The second day in Kyoto was really great! 明美, my guide, showed me around town, from breakfast until night time, taking care of which way to go and where to eat and always explaining where we were or what the shrine or temple was about.

We went to visit the shrine for the mouse/rat, the animal of both our birth years. Praying at your animal shrine is said to give good luck. I don't believe in superstitions but it's still fun. We also visited the shrine for the current ywar's animal. Much later, we visited the shrine for intelligence, where I could also seek help for my headache. It's back again today, so I guess the gods did not see fit to cure me.

For a super late lunch or early dinner or something, we ate オムライス, which was an omelette filled with rice and maybe very small amounts of other stuff. It was quite good! There, I was finally forced to use the horrible squatting toilet. I have no idea why those things still exisit.

In the end, we went to the Kyoto train station, which had a really cool main area, with steps that go up forever and have lights to make crazy patterns. Too bad all my photos are on my camera! Anyway, at the top, you could look over some of the city. We found some guy's phone and turned it in. Good deed for the day.

This morning, everyone wanted to go to the Nintendo building, just to say we saw it. It was predictably pointless but I guess they had to see for themselves. I hope we still have enough time for Himeji! That's where we are headed now.

京都

We arrived in Kyoto a few days ago and had our first full day two days ago. It happened to be the days of the Gion Festival, one of the most famous is Japan. It was a pretty cool cultural treat!

There were lots of people in different outfits, pulling huge towers with ropes. There were also various other people, playing music on pipes and other stuff.

Better still is a Japanese girl, named 明美 (Akemi), started talking to us and offered to show us a good place to eat (which ultimately ended up being closed) and eventually to show us around town too. It was really great to have a local as a personal guide! We saw a bunch of shrines and got some info about different parts of the city.

Later on, we had some really great Ramen and saw some evening continuations of the parades, where I saw some cool Shogun-y-looking guys on horses, with samurai swords or something.

It was a pretty good day. I will go with her today again to see more of the town, like the Imperial Palace. Tomorrow is Himeji Castle.

Nagoya sumo tournament

Awesome seats. Muchos dinero.

Lots to update!

Sorry, it's been a while since I've written anything substantial. When we haven't been busy, I've been very tired!

Let's start with Mount Fuji, the raison-d'être! Well I already wrote a bit about the grueling trip up. It wasn't lastingly hard but I did get a lot of headaches from the lack of oxygen and I needed frequent breaks. Definitely an interesting experience and amazing challenge.

When we reached the 7.9 station, where our hut was, we found we were the only 外人 on the Gotemba trail. This was pretty cool, as the Japanese people there were super friendly and fun. We settled in and enjoyed some Japanese curry and talked with out fellow travellers. Only one spoke good English but she translated where needed.

The funny thing is, while Japanese people are super friendly and crazy polite, you are still a foreigner (外人 -Gaijen). Bert made the faux-pas of stepping on the mat with his slippers. He quickly excused himself when our host pointed it out. The host then turned around to a fellow Japanese guy and said something something Gaijen something hahahahahaha! Heh. Would be funny if we did that in English. Hey, check out that stupid foreigner! Hahaha!

Anyway, I went to bed around 9 or 10, when they shut off the electricity. It took a long time to get to sleep and it was a bad sleep. We awoke the next "morning" around 2:10, put on every bit of clothing we owned, and set out for the top! It was cold and quite windy but we made it with time to spare for the sunrise. It was an incredible sight and feeling. And as the light came and the clouds cleared, we could see everything below us. Incredible.

Bert and I met a woman from Norway, who joined us for the circumnavigation of the summit and the search for our remaining three friends. Funny enough, they were sheltered from the wind only 100 metres away from our shelter! Matthijs was in rather rough shape but he was alive at least. Elon gave him a can of oxygen, which they sell on the mountain. We continued on to the old weather station, built at the highest point of the mountain, at 3776m!! There, we found the highest Geocache I've ever discovered. Very cool.

Eventually, we started our descent. It was long and tough but a lot of fun. There is a "great sand run", where you can run down the mountain, through volcanic ash. It's awesome. But your shoes get filled with rocks and you have to take care not to tumble or otherwise injure yourself. Unfortunately, the rocks filled in such a way in the backs of my shoes that I cut up my heels. It wasn't very nice for walking but I'm keeping them bandaged up well enough. No pain no gain.

The long trek to Kyoto is almost better left forgotten but truly every part of this epic adventure deserves to be remembered. It was, however, a great feeling to hit that futon upon arrival in Kyoto. The rest is for the next post.

Don't read this in Germany.

Found in a neighbourhood in Kyoto.

Summit

Summitted hours ago. Still alive. On our way down. Will write a lot more later. I bought a small data plan.

すごい！

About to sleep on 富士山. Was not a walk in the park but was amazing. Simply amazing. And the stars here, above 3,000m... my God. We are in the sky. Simply incredible. And the Japanese people here we have met, they are so friendly. Such an experience. A privilege.

We will awake tomorrow at 2:30am to make the summit. It is going to be COLD. Let's hope for an incredible sunrise.

お休みなさい。^_^

富士山

Heading up Mount Fuji in the next hours!

牛丼が好きだ！

Too lazy to write much today. I had an awesome late breakfast-basically-lunch in some chain place. It was a big bowl of rice with beef and some really great seasoning. I totally want some more of that.

It's always fun with planning. Make a small mistake here and there and it's right away "way to go, Matt!" It's a thankless job but whatever. Such is the lot in life of us planners. We enjoy the successes on our own and suffer the mistakes collectively.

Anyhow, things are great. We are heading to the Fuji area tomorrow. Can't wait to climb on Tuesday!!

Also, in Japan, they ban smoking while walking on the street. What a great idea. There is so much more emphasis about living in a society in Japan, which would never fly in our individualist Western culture. People don't even honk their horns in traffic (what little traffic there is).

Tomorrow is our first day of taking extended train travel. Time to get out into Japan! (but not before another traditional breakfast)

Day 2

こんばんは！

Had our first full day in Japan. The morning began with a traditional breakfast, served in a private room downstairs, sitting on the floor with small tables and all. It was pretty neat. We hoped to repeat it again tomorrow but didn't sign up in time.

Next, we set out in the general direction of Akihabara, some famous district with games and whatever. I don't have much I really want to see in Tokyo but it was fun to have a look there. We went into this multi-floor arcade, where people were just playing fighting games and blowing their money on different versions of the claw game. Also, they were smoking and the music was stupidly loud. Definitely a different culture going on there. It was all Sega but not a huge variety; there weren't even any interesting games.

Anyway, oh, right, on the way, we went to some temple. I guess it was probably Shinto. Gotta do some Wikipedia reading on Shintoism. There were a few rituals people were doing in there, like this strange thing with clapping and bowing. Also, people write their wishes on some pieces of wood and hang them at the temple. Interestingly, the Romans did a similar thing. I guess it's a common human behaviour.

Later, we went to the big tower in Tokyo. I had hoped to see Mount Fuji (or anything) on this sunny day but it was pretty smoggy. I also confirmed my I initial impressions: Tokyo is a very ugly city. I'm having a great time but I won't miss it when we move on.

I'm getting better at chopsticks but maybe only because I found my own, wrong way. I am still horrible if I try to do it the right way. Also, Japanese people are so crazy polite with the bowing and backing away. Well, it's outright submissive a lot of the time. I also heard all this but it's interesting to witness.

It's fun to pick up on some of what's written here and there but I regret having been so lazy in the last months, with respect to learning more of the language. It's really great to see that look in their eyes when I say ありがとうございます。Some people seem rather pleased that I'm trying. I wish I knew more! I even have forgotten a lot of the Katakana, which is so helpful for guessing foreign words.

Anyhow, we walked over 16km today and were always on the move. I feel rather well adjusted already but I'm pretty tired now, given it's already almost 11pm. Bert was out like a light. Matthijs is probably also sleeping. Andreas and Elon are in the other room, probably having fika.

Tomorrow, we have no plans yet. I would like to check out the Imperial palace. We will also need to solve the breakfast issue. Until my next post!

お休みなさい！

こんにちは！

We've assembled 4/5 of our group. Bert is still missing! Don't have time to write a lot but it's pretty exciting to be here now! Once Bert arrives, we're going out to eat.

Big in Japan

Leaving for Japan tomorrow to meet up with a group who averages around 6 feet in height. That will be interesting. Anyhow, don't forget to check here for my updates on the trip! I plan to take the time to write something but I don't know how often I will get the chance.