Trip diary: March 25th, 2007

The stadium is ejaculating

We were planning to go to various places but one look outside made us change our minds. It was raining pretty hard. As a consolation prize, we decided to go to Akihabara (Tokyo's electronics district).

We wandered the neighbourhood poking our noses into little places and looking around. We stumbled across one of my pleasant surprises of the trip, a cafe dedicated to Linux and Open Source.

We also saw a lot of girls dressed up handing out advertising. There is one exit from Akihabara eki where they seem to congregate.

We didn't buy anything. Our price comparisons basically showed everything to be about the same price as back home. Maybe a even a little bit more expensive. Where the Japanese beat us is in colour selection. We have a choice of black or silver for most electronics but the Japanese market is saturated with colours. A common ad that we saw everywhere featured Cameron Diaz shilling cell phones for a company called Softbank. The ads had nothing to do with the price or features of the service. All the ads were about the fact that the phones came in 20 different colours.

After Akihabara, we went to Kappabashi (the kitchen supply neighbourhood). Every single store in the area sells restaurant/kitchen supplies. It was a Sunday so most of the stores were closed but a few were open. Charles bought some wooden slatted things to use as place mats in his new kitchen. I bought a shirt that said “いらしゃいませ！”. That's the phase that all Japanese stores and restaurants scream at you when you walk in the door.

It was late afternoon by this point so we went back to the hotel to do some laundry and chill out. We had been going constantly since we got to Japan so we were starting to get worn out. An evening chilling in front of the TV was what we needed.

Trip diary: March 24th, 2007

You are not using that as a quote of the day!

We woke up at quarter after six and went down for breakfast. The meal was nowhere as noteworthy as dinner was. The only thing that is worth pointing out about the breakfast was it's size. It was minuscule.

After breakfast we went back to the room to chill for a while then went down to check out. The night cost us $200 each but it was worth it. You gotta splurge every now and then.

We took the hotel bus back to the ferry dock but were too early to catch the first ferry. We had to wait about 15 minutes before they let us through the gates. We sat inside the ferry this time. The ride across only takes about 5 minutes so we didn't really have time to relax. We landed and walked back to Miyajimaguchi Eki.

While the ride on the ferry takes no time at all, the ride from Miyajimaguchi Eki to Hiroshima Eki takes a long time. Especially when you are carrying a heavy pack and there is nowhere to sit. Eventually we managed to get some seats.

We got to Hiroshima Eki and had to wait for Reiko. Reiko studied English in Ottawa and attended our Japanese language group. We met up with her and she took us to get some Hiroshima style okinomiyaki. It was really good, but I noticed that in Japan they don't seem to de-vein the shrimp (or it seemed that I was always getting the ones that slipped through quality control) so they had a gritty texture.

Seeing Reiko again was a very odd experience. During her time in Ottawa the two of us became very close. Very close. Seeing her again brought back a lot of feelings that I had thought were buried for good.

After an emotionally conflicted lunch, we said goodbye to Reiko and got on the shinkansen for Tokyo. As has been mentioned before, Charles and I don't fit well into Japanese seats. This time were crammed into a seat with a Japanese guy who promptly fell asleep. We spent the 5 hour train ride trying to come up with ideas for companies that we could start that would get us coming to Japan on a regular basis. We were unable to come up with anything original.

There was a bit of a commotion at one point. At the front of the car we were in was a “multi-purpose room” that people can use for things like nursing babies, or going to is they feel sick. The door to this room was locked and the person inside was not responding to requests from the train staff to open the door. Eventually the conductor allowed them to unlock the door. There was a big crowd gathered at the door for a long time. One of the staff members rushed past carrying a towel. He was trying to hide the fact that there was blood on the towel but I saw it clearly as he walked past. We never did find out exactly what happened.

We got to Tokyo and found the hotel. The neighbourhood it was in was really scuzzy. Lots of old men wandering around aimlessly and a few very stinky homeless people.

We checked in and dropped off our stuff. We then hurried over to Yoyogi Eki. We were going to go see a Shonen Knife concert but when we got to the bar there was a sign up saying 'sold out'. Charles asked if there was any way we could get in, saying things like “But we came all the way from Canada just to see this show!” etc... The doorman told us to come back after the opening act finished and we might be able to get in then.

We wandered around Yoyogi for a while then went to McDonalds to take advantage of a sale they were having. 5 McNuggets for 100yen ($1). they guy behind the counter was a little shocked when we ordered several of them each. A lot of Japanese people were in awe/scared of our appetites.

After killing time at McDonalds we went back to Zher the ZOO (the bar where the concert was happening) and asked about getting in. The doorman said no but then a guy from the band came up and said “These are the guys from Canada? Let them in.” So we managed to get in. The place was insanely packed. It was a very small room (about the same size as my apartment) with about 200 people in it. It was hot and close.

We were the tallest people in the club so we took spots at the back of the room so as to not block everyone's sight. The show started and we noticed that Japanese people have no clue about how to act at a rock concert. They are so very polite and reserved. No screaming and shoving and acting like morons.

We got super lucky in that the bass player who recently left the band when she got married and moved to Los Angles was in town so she was playing with them. That was a treat.

After the show we got onto a very packed Yamanote line train and went back to the hotel and slept.

Trip diary: March 23rd, 2007

Send that cow over. I want to congratulate it.

We woke up early and checked out of the hotel. We made our last use of the Osaka transit system to take the loop line to Osaka-eki then on to Shin-Osaka eki. We boarded the shinkansen to Hiroshima. It took about 90 minutes to get there. We left Hiroshima eki and walked to the peace park. During this phase of the trip I decided to curse Mountain Equipment Co-op for not having backpacks that fit me. Charles was laughing at me and my “large size” backpack.

On the way to the peace park we made a brief stop at Hiroshima-jo. It was around now that I noticed that the bomb was still part of the public consciousness. There were references to it around. Every tourist information plaque mentioned the A-bomb.

After the castle, which we didn't really explore, we made our way to the peace park.

Along the way we saw a car drive past. I noticed that the license plate was simply 7. I giggled and said '7'. Charles said, 'Yeah that was a RX-7'. I said back, 'Didn't you see the license plate?'. 'No'. It was just “7”'. We were making comments on some people's egos. At that moment a RX-8 with the license plate '8' drove past. We shook our heads and laughed.

We found the A-bomb dome and were totally awed by it. We stood and looked at it for a long time. The more I stared at it the more I could feel that I was having to fight back tears. There are a several things that can make most people feel like a bag of shit. Seeing this building up close is one of them. Anyone who is not seriously affected by this needs a hard slap. As of this writing it has been nearly a month since we were there and I am having trouble writing this because of the emotions running around my head. The place messed me up pretty good.

One of the other things I wanted to see in the area was the hypocenter. This is the point where the bomb actually exploded. It was marked by a small stone monument on a back street and not no one seemed to care about it.

We walked through the park and stopped at the cenotaph. It contains what looks like a coffin. What is in the coffin is a list of the people who died in the bombing. While we were there we saw a police officer walk by. He stopped in front of the cenotaph and did a very long and deep bow before moving on.

We sat on a bench and rested for a while. We both commented on how it felt very strange to be there.

After resting we started the trip to Miyajima. To get there we had to go to Miyajimaguchi eki which is pretty far out of town. Getting there was a little convoluted. From where we were we had to walk for about 30 minutes to a streetcar station to catch the streetcar over to Hiroden-nishi-hiroshima eki. From there we took the Hiroden-miyajima line to Miyajimaguchi eki. From there we had to walk down the street to the ferry dock. Along the way we went to 7-11 and got lunch.

We got lucky on the timing of the ferry and got there just as boarding was getting underway. We took seats on the second level outside and sat down to watch. the water go past.

Along the way we saw a lot of floating platforms out in the water. I was puzzling over these for a long time. I figured out what they were over dinner when Charles mentioned that the area is famous for oysters.

We landed on Miyajima and saw the hotel bus waiting for us. We hopped on and sat back for a thrilling ride up the side of a mountain, whipping around hairpin turns on streets only wide enough for one car with long drops just a foot away. The driver had run the route many times and had the bus under perfect control.

When we arrived at the hotel (Miyajima Grand Hotel), a porter met us to take our bags. Did I mention that this was a top of the line super-duper fancy and expensive hotel? offered to carry the bags ourselves but he insisted on taking them. We handed them over and saw him almost collapse under the weight. He put on a brave face and carried them away. When we saw him again during check-in he gave us a dirty look as only a Japanese person can give.

At the checkin counter we were helped by a young lady named Ishii. Her English was nearly perfect. After we signed in and got our key she took us over to a table and showed us a map of the island and all the tourist spots. She explained that while the hotel is very close to the ferry dock the main street is closed to cars so the bus had to take the road up the mountain.

She then took us to our room. She made us tea and fed us apple slices. She explained the rooms amenities. She also took our dinner and breakfast orders. She then looked at us and said she would go get the hotel's biggest yukatta (robes). She grabbed the ones that were already in the room and left. A few minutes later she returned with some larger ones.

She left us then and so we went and sat in the sitting area and looked out the window. From our room we could almost see Itsukushima-jinja (the shrine that is built out over the ocean).

After relaxing for a while we decided to explore the island. On our way out we noticed that the hotel has automatice massage chairs. That was nice. We spent a few minutes getting squeezed and prodded by the chairs before moving on.

Our first stop on our journey of exploration was a fried-things-on-sticks place. Charles got some chicken and seafood things on sticks and I got chicken and corn-on-the-cob (not deep fried). We took in the sights of the area and looked into the small tourist shops. We also saw the worlds largest rice scoop. Charles saw a place that was selling grilled oysters in their shells. He almost broke down and bought some but didn't because oysters featured prominently in our dinner orders.

It was approaching 5 o'clock by this time and the stores were closing up. We started looking more at the tourist spots: the temples and pagodas and such.

We returned to the hotel around 7 and went to the restaurant for dinner. The meals were included in the price of the room.

What followed was probably the most photogenic meal I have ever eaten. It was amazingly beautiful and the taste was devine. Portions were minuscule but there were 13 courses. I have never had a meal that good before. After dinner we retired to the room and I got to use one of those toilets that washes your butt for you. That was... interesting.

We went out again to explore the island by night. The place was not nearly as interesting as during the day. We were both tired and sore at this point so we went back to the hotel to partake of the hot bath.

We grabbed the yukatta that Ishii-san had brought us. Mine barely fit and Charles' didn't fit at all. We went down to the hot bath rooms and got undressed. We then went over to the wash stations and got cleaned up. We then got into the hot bath and sighed with relaxation. At that point all the Japanese people got up and left. I guess they didn't want to be bathing with us hairy, uncouth foreigners.

After the bath we went back to the room and kicked back for a while. We watched TV and caught the episode of 'Eigo do shabera naito' where the female host was leaving the show. We also watched a game show in which contestants had to make randomly selected audience members laugh. We both decided that the Japanese have no clue about good humour. After watching TV for a while we decided to hit the hay.

Trip diary: March 22nd, 2007

When it vibrates think of us.

We had previously made plans to meet Asuka again on this day. Her family lives in Akashi so we made our way over there. She was right on time. The plan for the day was to go to Himeji so we caught the train over there.

Our first stop was Himeji-jo. Charles had been to Himeji-jo before but it was my first time. We explored the grounds a bit. I was wearing a shirt that said “Zetsurin Pawaa!” (which is a little on the rude side in Japanese) so a lot of old women were giving me the evil eye. I would giggle whenever someone gave me a dirty look.

The castle grounds were a little sparse because spring was not in full force yet so the trees were not as full as they could have been. The inside of the castle was as small museum. Climbing the stairs was a chore. The steps were very small and the headroom was almost non existant. Charles and I had to squish occasionally to get through some places.

After Himeji-jo we went for lunch. We started walking down the street hoping to find somewhere to eat. We stumbled across a place called Dreams Cafe, a devision of Study Light Corporation. It was their grand opening that day. We decided to go there for lunch. They were still trying to figure out how everything worked so the service was terrible. Also the food was not anything too great. We were their first foreign guests. Whee!

With the disappointing lunch behind us we caught a bus over to the base of a mountain to get a cable car up to Shoshazen Engyo Ji. Basically this place is a giant temple on top of the maountain. It is divided up into a bunch of smaller buildings, each with it's own purpose. Different shrines dedicated to different things.

From the cable car landing point we had to walk uphill for a long time until we got to the interesting part. There is a bus that does the trip but we decided to walk it.

At one of the buildings we had a surreal moment. We were in the dormitories for student priests and up on the balcony over-looking a courtyard, when we suddenly noticed that the area was totally silent. No wind, no rustling trees, no bird, no animals, no insects. Nothing. We stood for a few moments to listen to the nothing.

We explored the whole complex for a while and then headed back. The walk down was a lot easier than the walk up. The ride down the cable car went by with nothing to say about it. Charles and I have a friend who comes from the area that we were in and he said we should try the peaches because the area is famous for them. In his honour we got some peach juice from a vending machine.

We caught the bus to Himeji eki. There was a mix up with the bus fare but the driver was scared of Charles and I so so he didn't say anything to us but he forced Asuka to pay extra.

From the station we walked down a covered shopping street and went to a Mister Doughnut. MisDo (as the Japanese call it) has a point card system where every time you buy something you get points. You can trade the points in for various things. Free coffee, discounts, small trinkets etc. At the time they had a special on where you could get a vibrating cushion for 150 points. Asuka really wanted one of these cushions. We were poking fun at her for obvious reasons.

We got our doughnuts and by the end we had 50 points to give to her as a starter. She only needed to get 100 more points on her own. She was crushed. That is a lot of doughnuts for a Japanese person to try to eat. The cushions were a limited item. Only 144,00 were available for all of Japan.

We went to a Yoshinoya for dinner and went back to the station to head back to Akashi. We said goodbye to her there and left. She said she wants to visit Ottawa some day but she never gave us her contact information so even if she comes to town, we will never know.

After she left we made a vow not to get so attached to the people we meet again.

We got back to the hotel and got everything packed up ready to go to Hiroshima the next day.

We were both exhausted. I barely had the energy to go to the washroom before going to bed.