Japan - Kobe & Observations

            I have to be perfectly honest when I say I did nothing in Kobe. That night we, once again, arrived too late for me to wander the city. The next day, I was so exhausted from traveling in Vietnam, China, and Japan that I ran out in the morning to run a few errands, and slept the rest of the day away. Shame on me, but my body physically couldn’t handle it any more. You push yourself, and push yourself, and push yourself, and at some point it gives out. C’est la vie.

            Anyway, I’ll sum up my thoughts on Japan. Japanese culture is completely different from ours. In some ways it feels intangibly similar, but then you realize that it isn’t at all. I feel as if I have increased my understanding of Japan by a hundred fold, and I still have a 0% comprehension of their culture. I feel I can say with some amount of certainty that the Japanese are the most polite, courteous, and genuinely helpful people I’ve ever met. They will go out of their way to assist you; perhaps because I was an American, but I got the feeling this was true regardless of race, culture, or any other potential barriers. I will also say that Japan is the most expensive country we’ve visited. Traveling in Japan is expensive from hotels to eating. Everything about the Japanese lifestyle is expensive, cheap food is non-existent. It is a very affluent culture, but I have been given to understand the way they spend money is very different. They spend their money entirely on eating out, travel, and clothing, and entertainment. Their houses are very sparse (or so I have been told), and as a result they have much more liquid income to spend on other aspects of life. And that is all I’m willing to say with any amount of certainty.

 

Japan - Kyoto

            Allow me to attempt to describe the room I stayed in, in Kyoto. We stayed at BJ guest house, a family house that rents out rooms for the night. Our booking was for two people (there were four of us), and they were sold out for other rooms. We finally convinced the proprietress to let us all stay in one room for an extra 2000 Yen, not too bad. We were led to our room, which is literally a six foot by four foot room, with no furniture. Yes, it was that small, and we all slept on futons on the floor. It was probably one of the best nights of sleep I had in Japan, or possibly while traveling.

            The next day we met one of my friends Professors from home whose PhD was in Japanese Religion. He took us around Kyoto to different Shrines and Temples in the area. The first temple we visited was a Buddhist temple dedicated to a particular god (whose name slips my mind). The temple had over 1000 statues of this god, all full sized, to show dedication. It was incredible. The next temple we visited was another Buddhist temple, the Temple of Pure Water. It had sprung up around a spring on the side of the mountain. Finally, later that day we visited a Shinto Shrine which had been used by the Imperial Palace for centuries before it was moved to Tokyo.

            For lunch that day we ate at Sushi-Go-Round! Sushi-Go-Round is brilliant. I’m sure most of you have seen it at some point in popular media, or something in the states. It isn’t all that different from the image of it you have in your heads, but it’s amazing none the less. You take what you want, and when you’re finished they count your plates and pay for whatever you ate. Delightful… At the end of the day we caught the JR to Kobe.

Japan - Osaka

            Again, we arrived in Osaka too late to spend any time wandering the city. We found our hotel, relatively quickly, and prepared to go out for the night. As is becoming a theme on my blog, we randomly ran into some Norwegians while we were wandering and stuck with them for the rest of the night. They were working in Asia and taking a vacation in Osaka for a few days.

            The next day we attempted to rent bikes, but were unsuccessful because it was Sunday. Instead we walked to the Osaka Museum and Osaka Castle. The museum chronicled the history of Japan from ancient times to modern times. It was very interesting to see the development of their culture, including the periods of cultural isolationism. The castle had been converted into a museum and chronicled the history of its construction. I won’t attempt to explain the history, as I do not understand enough of it to give fair description. That being said, I was struck at how similar the castle and the history were to European feudal times. In many ways they were the same; in many others it was completely different.

            After our cultural experience, we ventured to Spa World. Spa World is wonderful place (Thanks to Josh for suggesting it!). It is literally an entire building dedicated to onsen baths, Jacuzzis, spas, saunas, and steam baths. The best part is the 1000 yen price tag for the day. Men and women are separated on different floors, but have access to hundreds of different baths. We spent an hour there relaxing luxuriantly before heading to Kyoto.

 

Japan - Train System

            Allow me to give praise to the Japanese train system. The train system is broken into three parts: the local subway, the JR (Japan Rail), and the Shinkensen (I may have spelled this incorrectly) or bullet trains. The subway system is extremely efficient, and runs on time at all points. It is connected to the JR and the Shinkensen at some stops. The JR works as both the subway and as a local train connecting different cities. The Shinkensen goes from city to city at an incredible speed.

 

            All of the trains run on time, and run quickly. I was able to purchase tickets for any of the trains I wished to take as little as twenty minutes beforehand for the Shinkensen and as I wanted to board for the JR and subway. My only complaint would be the cost, which was only slightly higher than in the US (generally two or three dollars anywhere within the city for the subway, 10-15 dollars to another city on the JR, and  much more of the Shinkensen, think of it as the equivalent of flying). As I said, a much better system than anything I’ve encountered so far, although China’s subway system is fairly comparable without the JR and Shinkensen.

 

Japan - Tokyo

            Better late than never, yea? Japan is probably going to be a bit shorter than my last few posts, we only spent five days (four nights) here opposed to the 6 and 7 days we spent in China and Vietnam.

            We ship arrived in Yokohama and the group I was traveling with headed immediately to Tokyo. Over the next five days I would visit Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. We were going to be a bit rushed. The first hostel we stayed in was a fairly traditional hostel. Alas, we arrived too late to do much exploring that day, and instead relaxed for a little while before heading out for the night.

            We went out with a Canadian and an Aussie we’d met at the hostel. After an obnoxiously expensive dinner (everything in Japan is expensive) we did karaoke. Karaoke in Japan is a bit different than Karaoke in the states. First, karaoke is private. You hire out a room for you and your friends. Second, karaoke is all you can drink in most cases. We spent 1800 Yen (89 to 1 exchange rate) for two hours of all you can drink karaoke. It was a grand time.

            The next day we visited two places in Tokyo: the Harajuki district and the Imperial Palace. The Harajuki district is supposed to be famous for the youth culture, and all the ridiculous outfits you see in pictures and videos about Japan. When we visited, it was mostly shopping. It was essentially a giant, crowded, outdoor mall. We did see some of the outfits, but not nearly as many as the pictures would make you think. Afterwards we went to the Imperial Palace, which is a stunning work of architecture. Alas, when we arrived it had closed for the day and we could only see it from the outside. Shortly afterwards we caught the Shinkensen to Osaka.