Japan

The past 10 days in Japan have been quite the contrast to what we experienced in Southeast Asia -- more expensive, orderly and spic and span clean! A couple times when we were crossing the street we had to remind ourselves that we needed to mind the traffic signals. The flight to Japan was a little rough, with both of us being crammed into the middle seats in the middle section and not getting any sleep. So the first night in Narita we went to bed at 6 p.m. but the next morning we woke up early to get the train to Fuji and then to onto Osaka.

We had some great views of Mt. Fuji as we were approaching the mountain and were excited because we had heard that it is difficult to get good views because the clouds block it a lot. But as soon as we got off the train and started walking towards it the clouds started moving in and within 15-20 minutes it had gone from being a great view to not being able to distinguish where it was. We got a nice picture story of the clouds moving in as we tried to race the clouds to a good point for photos -- but the clouds won that round. The cloud cover was pretty quick and stretched out for miles so we figured it wouldn't be worth the wait to see if the clouds passed because we only had a couple of hours before we had to catch the next train. We spent a lot of time on the train that day to get to Osaka because our Japan Rail Pass wasn't activated yet and that only left us to use the Kippu pass for the local trains only -- but it saved us quite a bit of money so it was worth the extra time. We both enjoyed the train rides though and time passed surprisingly fast! Alex would try hard to get us in the first car of the train so we could "drive" the train along with the engineer. It was pretty interesting to watch the engineer because he would use such precise movements and vocalized each step as he did his safety checks as well as approached and departed each station.

The next few days we spent in Osaka, Kyoto and an afternoon in Himeji. However, for about these 3 days straight it RAINED! The unfortunate part was that most of the sites within these cities were outdoors, so it made for some wet and cold days. In fact, on the second full day of rain, and after our cheap Malaysian umbrellas broke, we forked over 500 Yen per umbrella and got some waterproof hiking boots that we knew we could use again in the future. Our new rain gear helped make the weather just a little more bearable. However, the greatest thing that helped us through the cold and wetness was that we discovered the vending machines actually dispense HOT drinks! At the convenience stores as well they have a refrigerator-type thing that just heats instead of cools. So instead of going to Starbucks and spending at least 280-300 Yen for a hot drink we just had to go to the vending machines and they had the hot coffee, and even various types of tea, in plastic bottles or cans that were hot when they were dispensed. We had just wished that we had discovered this in January when it was really cold! From that point onwards, we hit up the vending machines and convenience stores for hot drinks! We just haven't figured out why this amazing concept hasn't been introduced in North America -- we know that'd we would hit it up for sure! We need to have a talk with Coca-Cola.....

Osaka was a nice and modern city. We visited the Osaka castle and then in the evening went to the Dontobori Street where there were several restaurants that were moderately priced (supposedly some of the cheapest in Japan, but still expensive to us...). There were some pretty outrageous signs outside the restaurants that made for some entertainment. One of the nights we spent in Osaka we went to a revolving sushi restaurant. We tried a variety of sushi and since most of it wasn't in English it was a guessing game as to what we were actually eating -- we had a few mystery items that we can still not identify to this day.

Kyoto was a nice and historic district. The main attractions in Kyoto were the Nijo Castle and the Emperial Palace Gardens. It was interesting to see such old and historic places. Although we found out that several of the castles and historical places have been reconstructed over the years due to war and earthquake destruction. Also in Kyoto there is the Nishi market that is where many of the restaurants go to do their shopping for foods and cooking supplies. They had a variety of pickled foods and some other different items. Our favorite places were the little shops where they sold the sweet rice cakes, which is a pastry shell filled with sweet bean paste or other things. They would just have small pieces laying out so you could walk all over the store and try all different flavors. One night we went to the Gion Corner and they gave a performance of traditional Japanese arts, including a Geisha dance, a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, traditional music and flower arranging, a Japanese comedy play, and a puppet show where the puppet is so large that it has to be manipulated by three different men dressed entirely in black. It was very interesting, but because they allowed photography it got a little crazy with all the tourists trying to take different photos and the performance lost some of its appeal and significance because of this.

The castle in Himeji is still the original structure and in order to preserve the wooden floors when we got inside we had to remove our shoes and wear the slippers they provided. There wasn't much inside the castle but it was interesting to think of the things that went on there hundreds of years ago. The day that we went to Himeji was also the day that we activated the Japan Rail Pass and were able to start riding the Shinkansen trains. The train transportation in Japan continues to amaze us and it so fast and efficient. The Shinkansen trains are so fast and everything departs on time. Over a year's time, the average delay of a Japanese train is only 6 seconds!!!!! The trains are super comfortable as well and it is almost more convenient than flying because you go from city center to city center instead of all the way out to an airport and hour or so outside of town. The only problem we had with the Shinkansen trains was who was going to get the window seat. Somehow Alex seemed to win out on that one more often....

We headed to Fukuoka/Hakata next. Our first night in Fukuoka we went to a Japanese Professional Baseball Game. It was quite the experience! We honestly don't know if we will be able to go to another baseball game in North America again....compared to the Japanese, American baseball will seem REALLY boring! In Japan, the fans really get into the game and they actually have entire sections of what we would consider a "pep squad." The visiting team even has a traveling pep squad. While their team is up to bat, the pep squad does cheers and chants, and they even have trumpets and drums to keep the noise level up and the squad on beat. We were still humming some of the chants a couple days after the game because they were so catchy! Also in Fukuoka there is an Asahi Beer Brewery, so we thought it would be fun to go on that; plus it was free with some free samples at the end. However, when we called to reserve our time the only time they had spaces left was at 9:30 in the morning, so we signed up! The tour was mostly in Japanese (and Korean because we were with a Korean tourist group) but we were able to see the factory floor, but since it was a Saturday we actually just watched a video of it. But EVEN at 10:00 a.m. they still gave us our free drinks of beer! So when we left around 11:00 a.m. we were feeling a little buzz -- don't think our bodies were used to it that early!
Our next stop was in Nagasaki. This was the first place in four days that we were able to escape the rain, so we don't know if that is why we liked it so much, but it was definitely one of our favorite cities in Japan. The train trip there was also really nice with some great scenery of the farmland and the shoreline with fishing nets in the bays. Nagasaki is basically a city nestled between the mountains and the ocean and as the city has expanded many of the houses are built along the mountainside. This was where we got a really good taste of the cherry blossoms -- they were in bloom everywhere and it provided for some really scenic photos. We spent some time walking around the city and up into the hills to get some good views of the city and area below. The second day we were there we went to the Atomic Bomb hypocenter and Peace Park where several monuments have been placed in remembrance of the August 9, 1945 and their pledge to maintain a peaceful world to never have that type of destruction happen again. We weren't really sure about going to the Atomic Bomb museum and whether it would be skewed in the Japanese's opinions, but we were pleasantly surprised that the information there was very objective. They had several photos and actual artifacts found after the atomic bomb went off and it was a very eye opening experience to see this type of destruction up close. They provided information about events leading up to the bomb, after the bomb (until current times), as well as the harmful effects of the radiation. In the afternoon we went up the Nagasaki Ropeway (a cable car) and got some great views of the area. The weather was so nice that day that we even walked the 5 km down to the bottom (it was also a money saver....)

The following day we headed back to Kyoto to spend the night at a Ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese hotel. The ryokan we stayed in was a traditional Japanese ryokan and it was by far our most expensive accommodation on the trip, but we also got dinner and breakfast included. The best part was the traditional Japanese culture that we were able to experience. When we arrived we were taken to our room, which only included a floor covered with bamboo mats and then a low table and cushions to sit on for meals. The walls were made of wooden and the glass to the garden door outside seemed pretty thin. Inside the building and in the middle of the rooms, there was a Japanese garden. We were served a welcoming tea and then spent the rest of the afternoon before dinner relaxing and taking baths because it there were rain and small snowflakes floating down outside! However, a Japanese bath is unique in that you actually have to take a shower first before going into the tub. The tub is like a hot tub, but just without the bubbles. It is very bad to get any soap inside the bath. For the rest of our stay we relaxed in our kimonos, which made us feel even more "Japanese." Our dinner was a wonderful experience. We were served 5 courses throughout the dinner and had everything from sashami, to soup and rice to the most wonderful tasting tempura we have ever had! Dinner lasted for almost two hours and then afterward the manager came inside our room to put down our mats, blankets and rice-filled pillows that we'd sleep on for the night. We went to bed pretty early that night after watching a couple of Japanese game shows on TV (that were in Japanese). Breakfast was a traditional Japanese breakfast and consisted of fish meat, rice and various pickled items. Both meals were served on small Japanese dishes.

After we had breakfast we headed out to walk around Kyoto in the sunny weather, instead of the rainy weather which we had experienced all the other times we were in Kyoto. We walked up to the Gion District and around a temple that had many cherry blossoms in full bloom and then went to Maruyama Park where people were enjoying the weather and the cherry blossoms with having picnics on the lawn. While we were in the park, Kristin tried some green tea ice cream. It seemed odd at first but the taste slowly started to grow on her. We headed to Nagoya and that evening went to a youth beer restaurant and had some draught beer and then ended up ordering dinner, which was probably not a good idea because the menu didn't have prices on the menu and it ended up costing $45....oops! But we got some pretty extravagant items and were able to watch some young business people enjoying some after work drinks and food and it provided for a great atmosphere. The next morning in Nagoya we were going to go to the Toyota Factory Tour, but unfortunately, it didn't work out as well and we weren't able to go. So we headed back to Tokyo and visited the Shibuya area and Shinjuku area that evening to have some noodle soup for dinner and stopped at a couple of car showrooms. On our last morning we woke up early and headed to the Tsukiji Fish market once again because we enjoyed it so much and this time we saw a tuna fish that was bigger than us! It was impressive! Later we went to Ueno Park and walked through the cherry blossoms that were in full bloom - it made for an absolutely wonderful last day in Japan!

(Post with Japan Photos to come!)