Rich and Cat's Travels: Japan Week 1

We arrived late in Osaka and had to overcome several hurdles, the first being finding an ATM at 12.30am. Then we had to find a cab and try and get them to take us to our hotel and then we nearly had a heart attack at the price it cost, 5000yen. Okay that was only £28 but it is more than we pay a night for a hostel in most places and we were still getting used to the currency (because we were tired from the travelling and the fact that by now it was past 1am)! We had to move accommodation the following day as the hotel we were in was not in the city but somewhere near(ish) the airport so our challenge was to get from our hotel to our next airbnb near Kyoto centre which meant we had to try and work out the public transport system. Off we totted with our bags to the train station, which handily was next door and after 5 minutes we finally managed to work out the ticket machine and feeling pleased we continued on but soon got stuck trying to find out which train to get. Some nice men came to our aid and put us on the right train. We had to change halfway but we managed this with some success and finally arrived at our accommodation. The flats here are tiny and the beds are foldable futons (well more like cushions) on the floor but it does the job. We headed out to a lively area called Dotonburi where we had some lunch of Goza (dumplings), Octopus balls (I declined to eat these) and some fried chicken with sauces, all eaten while walking around the area getting lost and discovering all the different shops, arcades, slot machines, vending machines, restaurants and bars. We walked for several hours until we decided it was beer o’clock and we headed to a ‘jazz’ bar – by jazz they mean any music including jimi Hendricks and other old school rock – before heading to our main venue called Space Station which is a bar with games consoles, everything from old school from the old Nintendos (NES, SNES) and Sega megadrive to the WII and playstation. We had a beer while playing some old games (Golden eye and Mario kart) before deciding we needed to eat some dinner so off we went to find a place to eat. We soon found one with a long queue and deciding that must mean it was good we joined the back. However we soon realised that we needed to purchase/order our dinner from the vending machine from the front of the store and take in some coupons from it, so I sent Rich off to battle with it and he came back with the correct coupons and then we soon seating with some yummy noodles and more dumplings.

The following day we headed out to Osaka Castle even though it had decided to pour down with rain (and it didn’t stop all day). The castle is not anything your traditional English castle, instead it is similar to a temple but is taller and has larger grounds and sometimes a moat. The castle was impressive and we learnt a lot about the japanse history from reading information within the castle and looking at the various artefacts. We walked around the gardens for a while but deciding it was too wet to do that for long we tried to find a local restaurant for lunch and we soon found somewhere for a Katsu curry. After that we decided to visit the business district and we went up the Ulmeda sky tower which is a very tall building with fairly good views over Osaka (on a good day though, not in the rain). After that we decided we needed to go somewhere indoors to get out ot the rain so we headed back to Dontonburi where we headed into the Arcade to play on their machines for an hour until it was dinner time. 2 and a half hours later we emerged from the arcade, none the wiser about how you play the different games in there but having had a good time. After this we stumbled on a restaurant with a long queue which we joined and waited for about 40 mins before we eneded up in a ochonomi restaurant which are like savory pancakes made with cabbage, egg and your choice of topping. These were cooked on our table over a hot plate by a chef just for our table and they tasted great.

The next day we headed off to Kyoto for a couple of days and this involved getting on a train (which was absolutely packed) for 30 mins with our backpacks then walking for 30 mins to our accommodation. It actually took an hour to find our place as we were stood around the corner for 30 mins trying to find it but we soon accosted a local Japanese man who tried to help us for the whole 30 mins. Once there we decided to visit the temple just down the road as it looked like they had a fair on and once we were there we found it was a food fair so we had some lunch there and walked around the temple for a bit before moving on to Gion. This area is where there is the Geisha performances occur within the theatre and where there are several temples/parks. We walked around the area and saw some Geisha, tried some Japanese sweets, watched locals having picnics in the park and saw some very pimped up motorbikes. We ended up in a local restaurant where we enjoyed tofu, dumplings, spicy noodles and beer.

The next day we attempted an early morning ish to a monkey park. A short bus ride where you pay when you leave got us to the area. Before we hung out with the monkeys we went off to find the famous bamboo walk which was a short forest walk surrounded by tall bamboo trees. We strolled through attempting to avoid photo bombing whilst people tried to pose in the forest with the illusion they were not surrounding by 100 others. Over 3 months of travelling and this becomes a tiring sport. The monkeys were a steep climb up a hill where they had their own pad where they would watch humans climb up, be shoved in a cage and given nuts which they could then take from us. This was quite a surreal experience being put in a cage for the monkeys to watch however it felt quite just. The monkeys were well behaved and well fed. We missed the bus due to getting a famous green tea ice-cream but this is japan and one was just around the corner. We had lunch back at the local market where I was violated when sold a chai tea coffee which Rich subsequently enjoyed. We spent the rest of the afternoon firming up plans for the rest of Japan before heading out to another area in Kyoto which I can’t remember or attempt to spell. We soon realised it was Sunday night and little was open so we admitted defeat after enjoying some night time temple spotting and walked home for home cooked noodles.

We spent our last day in Kyoto mostly walking around in the rain. We headed to the same area we had been to last night to go to a Tea Ceremony. This basically involves a lady in a Kimono explaining the history behing the ceremony then making Matcha tea and serving it to us before teaching us how to make the tea. It is a hypnotic she moves slowly yet precisely to make the tea following the regimented steps. I, somehow, was chosen to be the guest of honour meaning I got to drink the tea first and decide if I wanted to share it, which I did, with the other guests. The tea was interesting, having not had Matcha tea before (apart from in the green tea ice cream the previous day) it was very different to what I was expecting. It is a lot thicker (even though we were only drinking the thin version) and heavier than the green tea we are all used to. The ceremony went on for an hour (a lot less than the usual 4 hours it takes) and then we were off out again, this time to a local market to have a walk around and to have lunch. We did a little bit of shopping and tried some interesting food before heading to our next destination which was a short path (2.5km) between two temples called Philosophers walk. Once we finally got there (to the middle thanks to google) we walked the path and decided that after this it was too wet to be outdoors any longer so headed back to our accommodation to warm up before heading out for the evening to the down town area. We walked around had some dinner before heading home as it is an early start tomorrow as we are heading to Hiroshima on a bullet train.

Hiroshima and onwards

Once we arrived in Hiroshima, perfectly on time as is the Japanese way, we dropped our luggage at the hostel and then jumped on the “atomic bus” to go to area where the Atomic Bomb was dropped and to go the peace gardens. First we went to see the “Atomic Dome” which is a historical building which is very close to where the bomb was dropped and is one of the only original buildings still standing. It was undergoing some restoration while we were there but we were still able to see it and the effect the bomb had on it including bending and twisting the metal girders and destroying walls ect. After a walk around this we walked into the Peace Garden where there is a flame that will stay alight until all countries get rid of their nuclear weapons as that is what Japan is campaigning for. There is also a Childrens peace area where there is a colourful display of handmade paper cranes which relate to a story of a local young girl who got cancer following the atomic bomb and thought that if she handmade a 1000 cranes (the Japanese believe Cranes symbolise longevity and happiness) then she would get better. Unfortunately she died before making all 1000 but her class mates went on to finish the 1000 for her and now they have become a symbol for the childrens peace park. We then walked on into the museum which contains items and pictures from the bombing, including some gross hair, skin and nails as well as some photos taken of the mushroom cloud and testimonials from people who were in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. It was an interesting museum but it was a little hard going so after that we headed out to an island near Hiroshima called Miyajima where there is a shrine and a gate floating on the water as the island was thought to be sacred. The shine is built on stilts and appears to be floating at high tide but at low tide you can walk between it and the gate. When we first got to the island we were greeted by the local deer who are not that shy and given half a chance will eat any paper or food you have on you. We did see a few people running away from the deer as they had food that the deer wanted. However the deer were graceful and lovely and even put up with people stroking them. Following a short walk around the bottom we got a bus up to the halfway point of the mountain as we were considering the walk to the top. However we soon realised that it would take far too long, longer than we had anyway, and after a short walk around we headed back down for another look at the gate and shrine before heading back to our hostel and out for dinner.

The following day was a big day as we were planning on staring in Hiroshima and ending the day in Nara while stopping in two areas along the way. So we left our hostel very early to get the first train to Himiji where there is a large white castle, which has been called the king of castles in Japan and it is the most original and largest. We walked around and up the castle which gave us great views of the area and including lots and lots of stairs. As Rich is tall (well compared with the Japanese people) he had to be on constant lookout for low beams and got to practice his limbo skills while going down some of the stairs.

Following the tour of the castle we jumped back onto the train and headed to Kobe where we ate the local delicacy of Kobe beef, which is said to be massaged and lovingly reared to ensure the tenderist meat possible. I don’t know what they do to their cows but their beef was spectacular, the best I have ever eaten and so tender it melted in your mouth. Following lunch we headed up on a cable car to the top of Mount Maya, we wanted to climb it but it takes several hours and we didn’t really have the time so we decided we would walk down instead. However there was no decent maps for the walks, and the ones that were about seemed to contradict the other so our walk down was not without wrong turns and confusion but we did make it down safely, despite the warnings from the guy selling the cable car tickets, but the walk did take longer than planned so we had to quickly walk to the train station (where we had hoped our walk would lead us but too many wrong turns meant we came out somewhere else) and jumped on the final train of the day to Nara. Once we arrived at Nara we walked to our new house for the night, had some dinner at a local restaurant (including sharing a litre of Asahi beer) before heading to bed (a real bed for the first time in Japan, previously we have been sleeping on futons on the floor).