I’m sorry to let you down, but I have no updates from Taiwan
this week. In fact, I haven’t even seen
the country since Monday. No, I haven’t
moved, I still love Taiwan, but it was time to get out and see some more of
what Asia had to offer, so I extended my Chinese New Year break for an
additional two weeks and have flown to Japan.
I’ve been told it was a ‘brave’ choice to move to Taiwan, and to that I
say, this vacation has required far more courage than that move did. I spent weeks assessing and reassessing
whether it made more sense to book hostels and trains in advance or play it by
ear, and to the dismay (but not surprise) of those who know me, I decided to no
to preplan the majority of my stay. The
things I knew before arriving on the island: I would be arriving in, and
departing from Osaka, so my adventure would need to lead me in a circle; I had
a limited budget, but had pre-paid the majority of my transportation expenses
with the JR pass; and my former Japanese abilities were not strong enough to
help me at all. Seven days into the
adventure, and things have come together, perhaps better than they should have,
and I couldn’t be more delighted. Every night before I go to bed, I plan the
following day’s travel and accommodation (if I am at the end of my stay in the
city/hostel).
You might be thinking, “Who goes to Japan alone?”. Well, I do, but as I have been told in the
past, and experienced first hand this week, you are only alone if you choose to
be, and my appreciation of social interactions has helped me find friends at
every stop along the way. The best thing
about starting a simple conversation, is you never know where it will lead,
what ideas it will give you, what stories you will hear, and when your
conversations are with travelers, the topics are never dull. I accept any judgment this may cause, because
I know how amazing Japan is, but I think my favorite parts of the trip, so far,
have been back at the hostels with the other backpackers.
I have done so much this week that even the Reader’s Digest
version of events is a novel. Be warned
now, a lot of words are about to come out of my fingertips, some exciting, some
dull, but every one a vital part of the story to me.
Monday, February 3rd: The adventure begins
The original plan was to fly out of Taoyuan airport at
6:40pm, but delays soon extended my wait time by two hours. In general, that wouldn’t bother me, I am a
night person, with no set plans for the day except to arrive in Osaka and check
into my hostel, unfortunately, the late arrival time meant the majority of
public transportation options were closed for the evening. The information booth directed me to the last
city bus of the evening, and as I patiently waited, I slowly realized how
little I knew about my plans. Thankfully
(and surprisingly), I was standing next to a tri-lingual Taiwanese man who
worked in Japan (and it has only taken me a week to remind myself that I had
just gotten off of a flight which probably contained several people of similar
backgrounds and skill sets). He helped
me pick my bus stops, then later helped me direct a taxi to my hostel, where I
passed out from exhaustion almost immediately.
Tuesday, February 4th: A tour of Osaka
I woke up on Tuesday, freezing (because I hadn’t unfolded my
comforter correctly), and realized it was time to start my day. I’ll be honest, I didn’t have big plans in
Osaka, and looking back on it, it has been my least favorite city in this
trip. It is a fairly typical city,
lacking what I thought would immediately stand out as “Japanese culture”, but
perhaps that is because I have had a year and a half to experience Asian
culture and was just expecting, but not finding, something significantly
different from Taiwan. I consulted my
guidebook and decided that my main goal was to find Osaka castle, so I set off
on a walk. Walking has been a vital, yet
painful part of my travels, because even now, I can still feel the results of
my beachside fall on Green Island, which causes a strong pain in my knee,
especially while walking down staircases, and has led to tension in my shins
from the modifications to my walking pattern.
It has begun to feel better over the last two days, but I look forward
to a hospital visit back in Taiwan to confirm that I will have no lasting
problems. Wait, I was talking about
Osaka castle, not my leg! As my first real attraction in Japan, I was impressed
by the castle. It’s outer appearance
indicates 5-stories, but the interior contains 8, with the lower levels being
protected by a stone-wall platform.
Don’t picture a European castle, while there are features that are a
little similar between the two (like a moat), the Japanese castles are designed
in a similar style to their temples with tiered roofs (and lots of triangles). The grounds are also home to large gardens of
plum and sakura trees, and while it is not warm enough to be sakura (cherry
blossom) season yet, a few trees have begun to bloom.
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| This is Osaka Castle, and as you can see, it is huge! |
My next project was to navigate the subway system. This has by far been the most difficult thing
for me, because there are a few factors which should be helpful but instead are
confusing me. For starters, I studied
Japanese for two years in high school. I
know, two years of a language is nothing, and placing them 10 years ago makes
them even less valuable, but it means that occasionally I hear familiar phrases
but can’t translate them, or I see hiragana or katakana (the Japanese
alphabets) characters and can’t read them.
The second factor is that, Japanese kanji (word characters) share a
history with simplified Chinese characters, which has caused some to be written
identically but hold different pronunciations and sometimes, different
meanings. This means that, I have to
fight my instinct to think I understand some writing when I only know the
Chinese equivalent. These factors team
up with the complete lack of English at the subway ticket booths to make travel
really difficult, but once you pass the ticket gates, suddenly there is English
everywhere (it is counter-intuitive if you ask me). With some help from a couple of locals I was
able to navigate my path to Tsutentaku tower to see the Osaka skyline at night
and to learn what a Billiken is. Maybe
you have also heard those university commercials, for St. Louis I believe, that
tell you to “be a Billiken”, and you thought, “I don’t even know what that
means”. My research into the subject has led me to the conclusion that the
Japanese just like ‘fads’ because apparently the Billiken was first ‘created’
in the 20th century by an American woman who saw the figure in
dream. It has since become known as the
“God of things as they ought to be”, and his face can be seen everywhere in the
Shinsekai streets.
I finished up my night with a little trip back to Osaka
station to exchange my JR rail pass and grab some dinner. To anyone considering travel in Japan, the JR
pass came highly recommended to me, and I pass on that recommendation to
you. This is a promotion available only
to tourists, and can’t be purchased once you are in Japan. The JR pass is a pre-paid train voucher,
which can be used on any of the JR trains (the main train line, but not the
main subway line), allowing you to skip lines (unless you are waiting to
reserve seats), skip the electronic ticket machines, and jump on a train. The pass even includes use of the Shinkansen
(the famous Japanese “bullet train”).
Because my travel plans span across a great deal of the island, this
pass has saved me thousands of Yen (Japanese dollars). Train pass in hand I begin to wander Osaka
City Mall (the shopping area attached to the train station), and realize that
because the time has passed 10pm, the streets have become a little ‘seedy’ as
the bar crowd is coming out. Suddenly
every business has transformed into a ‘girl bar’ (or ‘hostess club’), which is
staffed by females and caters to the late-night male crowd, and I took that as
my cue to head back to my hostel and sleep.
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| The Shinsekai shopping area and the Tsutentaku Tower. |
Wednesday, February 5th: Kobe, land of the beef
The child in me knew what I wanted to do from the moment I
woke up: the Ferris Wheel! Near Osaka station there is a large red Ferris Wheel
perched atop one of the shopping centers called Hep Five. The wheel gives you a great view of the
skyline in a 15 minute cycle over the city.
Entertainingly enough, they also provide speakers for the riders to
hook-up their mp3 players and listen to music as they go.
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| Part of the Osaka skyline as I attempt a 'selfie'. |
Amusement park rides aside, I wanted to make use of my newly
acquired JR pass, I decided to catch a train to the city of Kobe. You have probably heard of Kobe, but outside
of restaurants I don’t know how often you think about it. Kobe is known for its high-quality beef,
which is tender, flavorful, and fatty (which I guess is something people like
in a steak, but personally, I can’t stand it).
While food was in my plans for the day, my main goal in Kobe was to
visit the mountains. There are a few
peaks accessible by cable car from Kobe, so I picked Mt. Rokko to ascend. Usually, when I go into the mountains, I
expect some form of hiking to take place, but this was a pretty tourist-y
location, and my aching knee appreciated the bus presence. It was here that I experienced my first snow
in 2-years, and I have to say, I don’t miss it.
I used to be so good with the cold, but Taiwan has spoiled me, and I was
freezing the whole time. As the sun
began to set I descended the mountain and went to find my beef dinner. I have been saying I at beef in Kobe, but I
can’t declare that it was Kobe beef (if is hard to clarify that when there is a
language barrier), but I would like to think it was (and the price indicated it
might have been). Unsure what else to do
with my day, I catch a train back to Osaka and call it an early night (well, it
was 11, but that is early for me).
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| This is the Rokko Mountain cable car, one of the easiest ways to the top. |
Thursday, February 6th: A bit of history in
Hiroshima
For all of the wrong reasons, Hiroshima is one of the most
well-known cities in Japan. On August 6th,
1945, this city was the target of the world’s first atomic bomb, which was
deployed by the US. The bomb exploded
over Hiroshima, and contained so much force that those close enough to the
center were killed instantly, while many others were severely burnt, suffered
from shrapnel injuries, and had lasting radiation issues. Today, most of the affected buildings have
been demolished, and the city has rebuilt itself, but around the peace park there
are still reminders of the past. The
most iconic reminder is the former Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion
Hall, now known primarily as the Atonic Bomb Dome. This is the building featured in all of those
high school text books, the empty frame of a building, surrounded by rubble,
with the frame of a dome roof on top. Originally
left simply because it was the most difficult building to demolish, petitions
led to this site being protected as a World Heritage site. Across the Aioi Bridge (the target of the
bombing) is now a peace park, with memorials for the victims of the attacks. Among the most famous are the Cenotaph which
stands in front of the ‘Peace Flame’ which will remain lit until atomic warfare
is not only out of use, but completely destroyed, and the Children’s Peace
Memorial which represents Sadako Sasaki, a young girl at the time of the
bombing who acquired Leukemia from the radiation . Sadako believed in the Japanese myth that
folding 1,000 paper cranes will allow you to have a wish granted, so she
folded, but did not accomplish her goal before death. A statue was constructed to remember her, and
all of the children affected by the bombing, and every year hundreds of
thousands of paper cranes are folded around the world and sent to be
decorations at the memorial, each with the goal of world peace. The park is
also complete with a museum, describing life in Hiroshima and Japan before the
war, and their early roles in the fighting, as well as showing the
after-effects of the bombing. I was
impressed with the number of artifacts on display in the museum, including
clothing, furniture, even parts of buildings with burn marks or imbedded glass
shards. (though the body parts on display were a bit too much for me). My only issue with the museum was the English
signposting. They were careful to make
sure that readers from many areas of the world could access the information by
providing audio tours and signs in multiple languages, but reading the events
felt a little like reading one of my high school text books, with that same,
American perspective. When in Japan, I
expect to hear things from the Japanese viewpoint, but there was no “victim”
tone in the writing, and portions seemed to blame Japan for different aspects
of the war. One sign told of the
Japanese siege of a Chinese city, and explained that the people celebrated in
Hiroshima with a parade, while the massacre occurred. While massacre might have been an appropriate
term, it is rarely used when defending one’s own actions, or even telling one’s
own story.
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| The cenotaph, centered over the Peace Flame, centered in front of the A-bomb dome. |
After Hiroshima I went back to Osaka and visited the
Dotonbori Canal district. Dotonbori
might be one of the busiest shopping and eating areas in Osaka, with a whole
area devoted to America, and area devoted to Europe, electronics stores and
arcades galore, and some of the best restaurants I had seen since my arrival (I
was disappointed to discover it so late in my stay). I had a conveyor belt sushi dinner, took the
obligatory picture in front of the “Glico” runner, wandered the shops for a
while, then returned to my hostel.
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| This is the Dotonbori Canal District. |
One would think a return to my hostel would mean the end of
my day, but for the first time since my arrival in Osaka, my hostel was full of
people, and I finally experienced what the hostel experience should be
like. We sat around for hours talking
about places we had been, places we were going, life, liberty, the pursuit of
happiness, you name it and we probably talked about it. Hostels are the adult version of the college
dorm, you never know who you are going to meet.
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| Staff and guests of the Tani9 Backpackers Hostel. |
Friday, February 7th: Moving on out…to Kyoto
Morning came was too early on Friday (maybe those beers the
night before weren’t the best idea), but with check-out quickly approaching, it
was time to leave Osaka. I already knew
my plan for the day was to get to Kyoto, and I had mapped out my travel route,
knew my trains, booked my hostel, but it felt weird leaving the hostel. I said my goodbyes, jumped on a train, and
away I went, for about 15 minutes. Who
knew Kyoto was so close? I immediately
felt more at-home in Kyoto. The city has
a genuinely Japanese vibe (which is likely the result of its former status as
capital city), and everywhere you go there are temples, shrines, castles,
geishas, et cetera. There is so much to
see in this city that it is actually overwhelming at first, mainly because you
realize you will only be seeing a small portion of the big picture. My hostel had a list of the top 10
recommended sites, and that became my map for the stay (though I didn’t
complete the list). I began my
adventures a Ginkaku-ji, also known as the Silver Pavilion. The temple was built in 1482 with the intent
of copying the style of the nearby Golden Pavilion, however it was never coated
in silver, which might have been the original plans for it.
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| Ginkaku-ji, also known as the Silver Pavilion. |
Originally it was my plan to walk to the
Heian temple which, but with the evening past approaching I took a bus
instead. The shrine was closed (I never
did get used to how long the bus systems took to get me around), but I still
got to see the largest Torii gate I have ever seen. A tori is the archway placed at the entrance
to Shinto shrines in Japan (and Japanese shrines outside of the country). They are typically made of wood or stone, and
will either be unpainted, or a reddish-orange color with black trimming. As the sun set I made my way to the Gion
district. Gion is known for the large
number of geisha (though they prefer the regional term geiko) who are employed
by the bars and restaurants. Geisha are
traditional entertainers who often perform music or dance, as well as interact
with the clientele. Unfortunately,
having become a ‘symbol’ of Japan, tourists have gone crazy trying to catch
pictures of the geiko (and apprentice geiko which are called maiko), so they
seem to ‘hide’ in taxis or run from building to building if they need to be
out. Taking photos is strongly
discouraged, so I just watched the geiko and maiko for a little while (I didn’t
see too many) and enjoyed a leisurely walk down the old streets of the district
before calling it a night.
Saturday, February 8th: More adventures in Kyoto
I must have been tired because I didn’t get through much on
Saturday. I started my day off with
about a 30 minute walk to one of the nearest attractions to my hostel:
Kiyomizu-dera. This old structure
(originally constructed in 798, but the current building was constructed in
1633 without the use of nails) is a Buddhist temple overlooking the city. In Japanese, there is an expression which is
‘to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu’, which essentially means ‘to take the
plunge’, which comes from the old belief that if you jumped from the 13m high
stage and survived the fall your wishes would be granted. I, and many others, did not even need to be
tempted to tryout this old myth because the practice in no longer allowed. Many people come to this temple to drink the
water of the waterfall, which is channeled over a shrine in the complex,
believing that this will allow them to have a wish granted.
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| These girls informed me I could rent my own Kimono to tour the temple in, but that sounded like a lot of work. This is the main gate of Kiyomizu-dera. |
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| The main stage of Kiyomizu-dera is in the background. |
Having spent too much of my precious sunlit
hours walking around Kiyomizu, I had to make my way to Fushimi Inari in the
evening hours, and lost my daylight by the time I was done. Fushimi Inari is known for its incredible
number of Torii which line the walkways all the way up the 233m tall Mount
Inari. I attempted to climb the
mountain, but at the halfway mark I realized I was in a time-crunch with my
hostel check-in, and had to descend again.
Thankfully, the hostel wasn’t ready for me to sleep just yet, so I went
to dinner with a fellow traveler (and when the restaurant got confused and only
brought us one of the two ordered meals I went to another dinner with him),
then met some people in the bar located below the hostel, and finished up with
a party in the kitchen area. All in all,
it was a good night.
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| These are the entrances to the 1,000 Torii of Fushimi Inari (though there are far more than 1,000 of these arches on the temple grounds) |
Sunday, February 9th: Getting out of Kyoto
I knew I had a lot to take care of today, so I got up early
and began my sight-seeing right away. It
is almost mandatory, if you are traveling in Kyoto, you have to see the Golden
Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji), this will come up in all of your guidebooks, brochures,
to-do lists. The Golden Pavilion is a
Zen Buddhist temple known for gold coating on its exterior, which shines
brilliantly in the sun. I agree that the
Golden Pavilion is worth seeing, but to those looking to learn about culture
and history, this sight might be disappointing.
You can’t enter any of the buildings on the grounds, so while it boasts
to be an example of three different architectural styles on each level of the
interior, the public will never witness that first hand. The benefit of the lack of signposting and
places to explore is that viewing this location goes rather quickly, allowing
me plenty of time to walk to the next closest temple to see the Zen garden of
Ryoan-ji. I would venture to guess,
everyone has seen a Zen garden, I know the dollar stores in Minnesota used to
see them, so you are probably thinking there is not much to see here. To be honest, I could understand that review
as well, I enjoyed seeing the garden, which consisted of 15 stones placed in a
carefully raked sand garden spanning 248 square meters. Aside from this, however, there was not much
to view on the grounds, just a short walk around a central pond.
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| The temple at the Golden Pavilion (I would say the color implies an appropriate name) |
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| Meditating at the Zen Garden of Ryoan-ji. |
I could easily have stayed in Kyoto for my remaining week in
Japan, there is so much more to be seen, but I knew my time would begin running
short, so I made my way out of town and into the big city: Tokyo. I wish I could tell you what Tokyo is like,
but I don’t know yet, even now I am only planning it as my layover on my trip
north to Sapporo (but I will be back in a few days). These stories come to you as I wait for my
laundry to finish and before I climb into my capsule bed for the night. Capsule? Yes, capsule. Originally developed for traveling
businessmen in Japan, a capsule hotel is a cheap alternative to a traditional
hotel room (though it is actually more expensive than a hostel). Each room in the hotel contains two (or
more) lines of ‘pod rooms’, which are stacked on top of each other. A pod or capsule is only big enough for a
single bed (about 4ft tall and 7ft long), and along the walls are a television,
radio, alarm clock, and light. You’ll
have to wait to hear if it led to a comfortable night’s sleep, because, “yawn”,
I’m off to bed now.
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| A room of sleeping capsules in tonight's hotel. |
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| Goodnight world, it is bedtime. |
Wish me luck on week two of my travels!
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