A Mission...
41613 Curiosities served
Procrastination... my old friend...
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Mood:
Happy
Well now... I`ve certainly dug a hole for myself this time didn`t I... let this be a lesson to you kids out there... the longer you put something off, the more difficult it gets... unless your putting off getting married, then it gets easier because you finally put a stop to all her whinning and nagging, and your mother calling you ever two days asking for a grandchild... ?... where the hell did that come from?
I can tell from the previous sentence that the Frappachino has just kicked-in, and you are in for a long, tangent-filled journal entry that will most likely rob you of your emotional securities and leave you naked and helpless in a large open field surrounded by land mines... damn, there it goes again... I fucking love caffine sometimes... I mean, I was strange before, but now I`m SUPER strange...wait... what was I talking about again... oh yeah...
So, procrastination. Procrastination and I partied alot in college, but then we parted ways when I joined the working community in LA. Now jobless in Tokyo, my old friend procrastination has returned to make-up for lost time...
Luckily, Procrastination had a dentist appointment today, so I`ve juiced-up and am planning on riding this caffine wave all the way from May 30th to the job orientation meeting I attended today... let`s hope the good folks at Starbucks gave me what I need to make through all of this...
Thankfully, time and my horrible memory have condensed the past four weeks into mostly bullet points... this should be amusing to say the least... let`s see what Jason remembers... here goes...
I left Tokyo on Thursday, May 31st bound for Shizouka. As usual, Ryo (concerned that I would be late) decided to drive me to the bank and to a more convient train station so my trip would go smoother... he is always looking out for me (I really want to learn to speak Japanese for me, but just behind my desire is the want to speak Japanese to make his life easier).
I am headed to Shizuoka (the tea growing capital of Japan), to stay with Ryo`s parents for a couple of days and work in Ryo`s mother`s Karaoke bar... Ryo`s mother Miyoko does not speak English. I arrive at the station as planned, and Miyoko greats me with open arms... I get out my dictionary and we try to talk.
Over the next two days, Miyoko and I struggle to communicate, but I am learning fast. Her patience and generosity are incredible, and she takes me to see many wonderful sights around her town...(just now I felt like I was writing part of the script for Dances with Wolves... if Johnny were here he could come-up with some clever name for her like Sings with Chopsticks (I know it`s not funny, that is why I said Johnny should be here(how many times will I have to use parenthesis inside other parenthesis (4 apparently))))...oh the tangents...
So "working" at the bar included asking people if they wanted another drink... some minor dish washing, and putting oshibori and ohashi (washcloth and chopsticks) out for each new customer when they sit down... really, it wasn`t work. But while there, I franternized with the customers and kept a very jovial atmosphere at the bar... after all, there are three international languages... English, love, and making fun of me...
So to recap Shizuoka: I learned alot, saw a lot of very beautiful things, had some great meals that I didn`t have to pay for, got to meet some great people at the bar, and got paid to do it... got paid really well!
So much for bullet points... Go Caffine!!
Back at the train station, I am off to Kobe to see my friend Atsuko. Atsuko has been working as a translator for Universal Studios Japan, so her English is near perfect... within minutes of seeing her, I forget everything I learned in Shizuoka. She picks me up at the station and we go to the movies, then back to her parents house. Her parents have already gone to bed, so she shows me to my room and I crash. The next day I woke up before Atsuko and can hear her family milling around in the kitchen so I venture out on my own (I really had to go to the bathroom). To my surprise, everyone in her family can speak some degree of English, and I decide to put my dictionary back in my room.
That day, we just hung around with her family and I went to get a haircut (look for details about the haircut if I can make it to the what I learned about Japan segment). That night, her family takes me out to a very nice (and thusly extremely expensive) dinner of steak... oishii (delicious!). After dinner, we venture out to a karaoke bar where I find out that Atsuko and her family are all very good singers... especially Atsuko though... I was very surprized... and yes, under the peer pressure I sang Blue Suade Shoes... Elvis is easy. The next day we met one of Atsuko`s friends and went to Kyoto for the day... we walked around, took a boat ride, and stayed in a traditional Ryokan that night (type of Japanese Inn). The next morning I was a bit hungover, but we made it back to Atsuko`s house, and then I was headed back to the train station to go to Okayama that afternoon. Highlights from Kobe include: Seeing Atsuko again, meeting her very cool family, great food, Kyoto and the Ryokan.
Now Okayama, for those of you that don`t already know, was a destination chosen because of a nice girl I met online. I had never met her before, but had seen her picture, and she took time off work to show me around... very cool..her name is Yoshie (pronounced Yoshi-eh). So I meet her at the station, and she runs up to me with an American flag... very cool. We hop in her car and she takes us to U-jo or Crow Castle ("Jo" means castle in Japanese, and in this case, "U" means crow). It`s Okayama`a main castle, and it`s has been converted into a pretty touristy place... still pretty cooll though. Now it is getting late, so we hop back in the car and head to the Ryokan that Yoshie has made reservations at... as we drive, she shows me a picture of the rotemburo (outdoor onsen(onsen is hotspring))at the Ryokan and it looks amazing... thumbing through the magazine with the picture I notice her notes from calling several places... I can tell she has done her homework, and I get very excited to see the place.
When we arrive, I am not disappointed. It`s an impressive hotel-like building, and very expensive looking. Once in the room, I begin to understand what all of the fuss is about with Ryokan... the room makes the Ryokan in Kyoto seem kind of dumpy. But the best is yet to come...
So the room is just a big open space with tatami flooring and a large coffee table in the center and two cool little floor chairs. The staff comes-up to the room and asks us what time we would like dinner (breakfastand dinner are usually included at most nice Ryokans) because they bring it to the room... that`s cool! So we settle in and dinner arrives... a VERY impressive spread! After dinner, the staff returns to clean the dinner setting and make the beds which are of course futons. During this time, Yoshie and I decide to go to the onsen for some relaxation.
The onsen is very big, beautiful, and clean, and there aren`t that many naked old Japanese guys either... I am set! So after cleaning, and soaking, and rinsing, and soaking, and rinsing, and soaking some more, I eventually venture back out to find Yoshie enjoying one of the massge chairs set-up for the guests to use after there visit to the onsen... oh the massage chair bliss!!! Now completely relaxed, we go to sleep.
The next morning, we head back down to the onsen one last time and enjoy the included breakfast... although, if was difficult for me to enjoy it because Japanese breakfasts are like every other Japanese meal... rice, fish, miso...where`s the sugar? After we check out, I feel lighter tahn air... well, my wallet was lighter than air anyway, and we kill a few hours driving and walking around until the pottery making class Yoshie has scheduled for us at 1:00. Once at the place, I learn that the Okayama area is quite famous for bizen (clay pottery, cup and bowl making). Yoshie had made reservations for us to get a brief lesson and make our own pot or bowl or whatever... I made a dish for my keys and stuff... Yoshie made a beer glass...
That night, we met a couple of Yoshie`s friends at a restaurant called the Lock-Up... a jail themed place with tables inside fake jail cells... at first I was nervous, because generally speaking, the greater the schtick, the worse the food, but it was not the case at all... the food was amazing, and Yoshie`s friends were a lot of fun!! That night, I stayed at Yoshie`s mom`s house (were Yoshie lives), and I got to see her home... her house is about 100 years old, and the toilet does not have "waterworks"... apparently pretty common in some old Japanese houses.
That day I had to journey on to my next destination, so Yoshie and I just bummed around Okayama and then she took me to the station.
Now I was on to Hiroshima for a night before meeting my other internet friends in Kyushu. After travelling for about a week, this would be my first night in a city without contacts or directions or a clue... I think it showed too.
So I break out my trusty (at that time I thought it was trusty anyway) Lonely Planet book and hunt for a place to stay. I walk into a place just across from the station but decide to leave when they tell me that they only have smoking rooms... DAMN YOU NICOTINE... why can`t you be more like caffine... lovely, soothing caffine...?!%#$ So anyway, I then decide to take a taxi across town to stay at a cheaper minshuku (Family-run Japanese Inn)... I definately got cheaper... oh well... I ended up very close to the famous peace park, so it wasn`t all bad.
That night, I ventured into the "entertainment" section of town, which I come to find-out means primarily strip-clubs and the like. But I decide to give the Lonely Planet another go and pick a bar that is supposed to have great live performances on Thursday nights... hey, it`s Thursday night! What luck... well, after searching for about 40 minutes, I finally find this place, and if not for the four people that arrived just before me, the place was empty... wow, Lonely Planet is 2 and 0!
But, who am I to complain... the bar staff seems nice, and so I stay for a few beers...
Of course, it isn`t long before the group of four people are interested in where I am from, so I spend the next hour and a half chatting with them in broken English/Japanese, and before I know it I`m buzzed... time to walk home.
On the way back to the Minshuku, I pass the Peace Park, and decide to sit for a while and listening to my music at eardrum popping volume... it is a beautiful night with a gorgeous moon and no one around... I sat contently for a hour or so then hit the Minshuku for sleep.
*This might be a good time to go to the bathroom or stretch, or get a drink or something... were are maybe half way through...sorry...*
The next morning, I decide to get up and get out early... I have decided that although beautiful, Hiroshima and I weren`t getting along, and that I should try another city... So I`m off to Fukuoka.
After speaking with John and Tomoko Shiomi, the married couple I am supposed to meet in Kyushu, we decide that it would be best for me to meet them on Saturday instead of Friday night... now I get to see what Fukuoka is like...
So I dive back into the Lonely Planet for another hotel reccommendation, and this time I picked a winner. I ended up at a cool new business hotel with the smallest, most efficient room I had ever seen... but it was cheap, clean, and very comfortable. I chose that hotel because it sounded nice, but also due to it proximity to a bar listed in the Lonely Planet... sure enough the bar no longer there... but it was an exciting 30 minutes looking up and down the same street for a bar that no longer exists... eventually, I found an internet cafe in the building where the bar was supposed to be, and a girl in there said the bar had closed. Oh well, during my search I passed an oldies bar that looked cool, so I decided to check it out.
Once inside, I am accosted by the too-slick-for-his-own-good host, who explained the "system" of the bar: 2000\ (about $20.00) entrance fee, then you must buy one drink and one food item... whatever, I can hear the oldies band in the background, and the place sounds alive... a far cry from the bar in Hiroshima.
So I enter and the host seats me at the bar just inside the entrance. Just beyond the bar is the main area of the place that is packed with people all singing, dancing, or just enjoying the music... I am sitting at the bar alone... After a minute, I get up to see if there are any seats available in the main room, sure enough there is a small tabel against the wall that is open. A bit perturbed that I have just spent about $35.00 for a can of beer, and feeling
ostrasized as the only foreigner sitting alone at the bar, I say in my slightly snooty English to one of the waiters, "I`m going to move to the tabel inside". Of course, the fact that I am speaking English to him sends him into a panic, but he sees me motioning to the main room which makes him even more nervous... he motions for me to wait a minute... my body language now expressing my emotion clearly.
A minute later the host appears again and now informs me that since I am only one person, I cannot be seated in the main area... WHAT? Now I am very frustrated and the $35.00 for a can of beer is starting to drive me crazy... just then, two guys come in from the main room and take there seats at the bar... I had not noticed, but I guess there were sitting there, and were just in the other room dancing. I could tell imediately that it was only a matter of seconds before they started talking to me... and for those of you that know me, you know I am never wrong (wow, caffine still working)...
So after a few minutes of the small talk in broken English/Japanese, the host returns and speaks to the two guys now talking to me... I have a feeling I know what he saying, and I immediately smile at the host for his concern. He was telling the two customers that I wanted to sit in the main room, and that if they are willing, I can go in with them... sure enough, they ask me to join them... the night is looking better!
Once at our table, they ask if I like whiskey (they are both drinking whiskey... in Japan, you buy the whole bottle when you go to a bar, they put your name on it, and it is yours each time you come back... they each have a bottle). Knowing what is coming next, despite the fact that I don`t really care for whiskey, I reply with sure! I spend the rest of the night talking about great American oldies, drinking my new friends whiskey, and even dancing a bit. Before I know it we`re closing the place, and of course they will not accept any money from me for the whiskey... now I am pretty buzzed, had a great time, met some genuinely cool guys and only spent $35.00... that`s cheap for Japan. Fukuoka gets the thumbs up!
On the way home, I spot a Mos Burger, and decide the food might do me some good. I get a cheeseburger, head back to the room and eat... maybe it was the whiskey, but the cheeseburger was incredible. I lay down and the room is moving a bit... I decide it is best to stay up for a while to ward-off the hangover... and hey, since I`m up, I think I`ll head back to Mos Burger for another cheeseburger... always sounds good when you`re drunk... that`s right, I said drunk. Apparently, whiskey has an ability to sneak-up on you and hit you when you`re not looking... I thought I was pleasantly buzzed when I left the bar, but when I woke up the next morning, I was trying to remember if I was wearing pants the second time I went to Mos Burger... By the way, Mos Burger is very good... don`t let the name freak you out.
So the next morning I am off to Yame, a small town about 45 minutes southeast of Fukuoka. From the station I call to Tomoko and John who will be picking me up at the station.
John and Tomoko are a young married couple with a beautiful 10 month old baby girl named Tiffany. John was raised in Los Angeles, and came to Japan 4 years ago to teach English. He met Tomoko, they got married, and now they teach English from their home in Yame. While staying with John, Tomoko and Tiffany, I played basketball, learned a lot about Mah Jong (I was so happy to have an native english speaking teacher to teach me the rules and strategy), sat in on some english classes, taught a few conversation classes, and got to meet some other cool foreigners. Unfortunately, at some point, we all caught a virus of sorts, and I was very sick for 24 hours... that really sucked! When I felt better though, we all took a trip to Beppu, the onsen capital of Kyushu (if not Japan) for my last night. We stayed at a really cool Ryokan, and had dinner and breakfast served in the room... it was very relaxing and a very nice conclusion to my stay in Kyushu!
The next day, I took a ferry from Beppu to Yawatahama, Shikoku... from there, I took a taxi to the Yawatahama station, then took a train to Matsuyama where I was greated by my friend Emiko and her mother (I only wrote that part for you to amaze at how goofy Jason can travel by himself in this strange land when he doesn`t speak the language... actually, I should not take credit for the amazingly organized Japanese public transportation system).
So I meet Emiko, and she and her mother take me to my hotel, a beautiful, new and cheap(by Japanese standards) hotel with an onsen on the top floor... I am happy... beds make me smile lately... After I drop my things, we travel to a small cafe near the famous Dogo Onsen, and we sit for a while chatting, then they drop me back at the hotel to rest-up for dinner. During that time, I take a shower and decide it might be a good idea to iron the shirt I wanted to wear that night... but alas, there is only a pants press in the room... and as cool as that contraption is, I could never figure it out with Japanese instructions. Then it occurs to me, the water pressure in the shower was amazing, maybe I could just hang my shirt in the bathroom with the hot water running... I hang-up my shirt, start the shower, and immediately, the small bathroom fills with steam... this is gonna work... I shut the door to keep the steam inside. After a minute or so, I open the door and the shirt looks great! Unfortunately (I mentioned that the rooms are really small right), all the steam starts to leave the bathroom and sets off the smoke alarm in my little room. Suddenly, there is a recorded Japanese womans voice telling me something which I am sure is "please don`t smoke in the room" or something like that, so I open the window and wait for the smoke to disapate... but the alarm is really loud, and thinking it is probably audible outside my room, I open the front door to see if you can hear it from the hallway... well, to my surprise, the alarm was going off in the entire hotel... every room and all throughout the halls... boy is my face red... I just set off the smoke alarm throughout the entire hotel at 5:00 in the afternoon on a Friday... probably not good for business. So a minute later, there is a fast, furious, loud pound at the door... Luckily, I still look like I just got out of the shower, and as soon as I open the door, I apologize in Japanese. The hotel manager outside looks like he just sprinted to my room from the front desk, and that he has lost about five years of his life in the last five minutes... one look at me and he is releaved... there is no fire, just a baka gaijin (stupid foreigner) with a wrinkle-free shirt... I apologize repeatedly, and he waves as if to say, "just wanted to make sure you are ok". No harm done, and a pretty fun story...
A few hours later, Emiko comes back to meet me with a few of her friends (they are all amuzed by my story of the fire alarm), and we all head out to an Izakaya (I think I got that right... it is a type of Japanese bar/restaurant where you can call ahead, and they will bring you a set meal of primarily bar foods). The food is great, but I am very full for some reason, and can`t eat as much as my poor body wants to. After that, we head to a karaoke bar where I find out that my friend Emiko is a great singer! And yes, under the peer pressure I sing Livin La Vida Loca (there is a Japanese version of this song so everyone can sing, and it is easy to sing... don`t give me any shit about singing Ricky Martin).
The next day, Emiko picks me up at my hotel with a friend of hers and we are off to lunch and to Uchiko, a small town where they have been making candles by hand for several hundred years... and still do. But first is lunch... Emiko`s friend Ayano takes us along some amazingly beautiful coastal roads and finally up this steep windy road to a small outdoor restaurant nestled in the mountainside on top of a stream... the kind of place you would never read about in ANY tourist book. So we get there, and it is a somen noodle place... somen noodles are actually like a cross between soba and ramen noodles. It is a very thin noodle, abit larger than anglehair pasta, that is normally served in a bowl of cool water. You are then given a small bowl of soupy, watery, sauce that you can add scallions, sesame seeds, onions or wasabe to. If sitting around the table with your family, each person would just reach in the big bowl of somen with their chopsticks and pick out some of the noodles then placing them into there small bowl. Dunking the noodles for just a moment, you then slurp them into your mouth and reach back into the main bowl for more... it is very good!
Well, at this place, they serve the somen in a small trough/river that flows past all the customers sitting around a bar... not unlike the sushi places you might have seen that have sushi that floats by and you just pick-up the one you want. Anyway, it was a really great experience, and we ate a lot... I took pictures.
After that we ventured on to Uchiko where we quickly stumbled upon the candle-making shop and I was finally able to buy my first souvenier... Now at the tale end of my trip, I could accept carrying a extra things in my alredy overweighted backpack... besides, when I first read about the hand made candles and told my sister about them, I promised her that I would get her some... I wish I could have bought more, but space and the outrageous prices for hand-made candles curbed my desire to buy more.
That night, Emiko`s family took me out to Yakiniku, which is essentially the same thing as Korean bar-b-que... it was awesome! I ate so much I felt like I could have rolled home. After that we went back to Emiko`s house to hang-out for a while with her sisters, then they drove me back to my hotel and we said our good-byes (originally, I had planned on staying in Matsuyama a bit longer, but Emiko was busy the next day, and I was really getting worn-out from all the travelling... I just wanted to come back to Tokyo).
So I woke up the next day, hit the station, and headed back to Tokyo... I arrived late Sunday night, 2 days before my rail pass expired, but I was done... it was a hell of a ride!
Now that the recounting portion of this journal is over... I think I will skip to tomorrow`s entry to discuss everything else...
I can tell from the previous sentence that the Frappachino has just kicked-in, and you are in for a long, tangent-filled journal entry that will most likely rob you of your emotional securities and leave you naked and helpless in a large open field surrounded by land mines... damn, there it goes again... I fucking love caffine sometimes... I mean, I was strange before, but now I`m SUPER strange...wait... what was I talking about again... oh yeah...
So, procrastination. Procrastination and I partied alot in college, but then we parted ways when I joined the working community in LA. Now jobless in Tokyo, my old friend procrastination has returned to make-up for lost time...
Luckily, Procrastination had a dentist appointment today, so I`ve juiced-up and am planning on riding this caffine wave all the way from May 30th to the job orientation meeting I attended today... let`s hope the good folks at Starbucks gave me what I need to make through all of this...
Thankfully, time and my horrible memory have condensed the past four weeks into mostly bullet points... this should be amusing to say the least... let`s see what Jason remembers... here goes...
I left Tokyo on Thursday, May 31st bound for Shizouka. As usual, Ryo (concerned that I would be late) decided to drive me to the bank and to a more convient train station so my trip would go smoother... he is always looking out for me (I really want to learn to speak Japanese for me, but just behind my desire is the want to speak Japanese to make his life easier).
I am headed to Shizuoka (the tea growing capital of Japan), to stay with Ryo`s parents for a couple of days and work in Ryo`s mother`s Karaoke bar... Ryo`s mother Miyoko does not speak English. I arrive at the station as planned, and Miyoko greats me with open arms... I get out my dictionary and we try to talk.
Over the next two days, Miyoko and I struggle to communicate, but I am learning fast. Her patience and generosity are incredible, and she takes me to see many wonderful sights around her town...(just now I felt like I was writing part of the script for Dances with Wolves... if Johnny were here he could come-up with some clever name for her like Sings with Chopsticks (I know it`s not funny, that is why I said Johnny should be here(how many times will I have to use parenthesis inside other parenthesis (4 apparently))))...oh the tangents...
So "working" at the bar included asking people if they wanted another drink... some minor dish washing, and putting oshibori and ohashi (washcloth and chopsticks) out for each new customer when they sit down... really, it wasn`t work. But while there, I franternized with the customers and kept a very jovial atmosphere at the bar... after all, there are three international languages... English, love, and making fun of me...
So to recap Shizuoka: I learned alot, saw a lot of very beautiful things, had some great meals that I didn`t have to pay for, got to meet some great people at the bar, and got paid to do it... got paid really well!
So much for bullet points... Go Caffine!!
Back at the train station, I am off to Kobe to see my friend Atsuko. Atsuko has been working as a translator for Universal Studios Japan, so her English is near perfect... within minutes of seeing her, I forget everything I learned in Shizuoka. She picks me up at the station and we go to the movies, then back to her parents house. Her parents have already gone to bed, so she shows me to my room and I crash. The next day I woke up before Atsuko and can hear her family milling around in the kitchen so I venture out on my own (I really had to go to the bathroom). To my surprise, everyone in her family can speak some degree of English, and I decide to put my dictionary back in my room.
That day, we just hung around with her family and I went to get a haircut (look for details about the haircut if I can make it to the what I learned about Japan segment). That night, her family takes me out to a very nice (and thusly extremely expensive) dinner of steak... oishii (delicious!). After dinner, we venture out to a karaoke bar where I find out that Atsuko and her family are all very good singers... especially Atsuko though... I was very surprized... and yes, under the peer pressure I sang Blue Suade Shoes... Elvis is easy. The next day we met one of Atsuko`s friends and went to Kyoto for the day... we walked around, took a boat ride, and stayed in a traditional Ryokan that night (type of Japanese Inn). The next morning I was a bit hungover, but we made it back to Atsuko`s house, and then I was headed back to the train station to go to Okayama that afternoon. Highlights from Kobe include: Seeing Atsuko again, meeting her very cool family, great food, Kyoto and the Ryokan.
Now Okayama, for those of you that don`t already know, was a destination chosen because of a nice girl I met online. I had never met her before, but had seen her picture, and she took time off work to show me around... very cool..her name is Yoshie (pronounced Yoshi-eh). So I meet her at the station, and she runs up to me with an American flag... very cool. We hop in her car and she takes us to U-jo or Crow Castle ("Jo" means castle in Japanese, and in this case, "U" means crow). It`s Okayama`a main castle, and it`s has been converted into a pretty touristy place... still pretty cooll though. Now it is getting late, so we hop back in the car and head to the Ryokan that Yoshie has made reservations at... as we drive, she shows me a picture of the rotemburo (outdoor onsen(onsen is hotspring))at the Ryokan and it looks amazing... thumbing through the magazine with the picture I notice her notes from calling several places... I can tell she has done her homework, and I get very excited to see the place.
When we arrive, I am not disappointed. It`s an impressive hotel-like building, and very expensive looking. Once in the room, I begin to understand what all of the fuss is about with Ryokan... the room makes the Ryokan in Kyoto seem kind of dumpy. But the best is yet to come...
So the room is just a big open space with tatami flooring and a large coffee table in the center and two cool little floor chairs. The staff comes-up to the room and asks us what time we would like dinner (breakfastand dinner are usually included at most nice Ryokans) because they bring it to the room... that`s cool! So we settle in and dinner arrives... a VERY impressive spread! After dinner, the staff returns to clean the dinner setting and make the beds which are of course futons. During this time, Yoshie and I decide to go to the onsen for some relaxation.
The onsen is very big, beautiful, and clean, and there aren`t that many naked old Japanese guys either... I am set! So after cleaning, and soaking, and rinsing, and soaking, and rinsing, and soaking some more, I eventually venture back out to find Yoshie enjoying one of the massge chairs set-up for the guests to use after there visit to the onsen... oh the massage chair bliss!!! Now completely relaxed, we go to sleep.
The next morning, we head back down to the onsen one last time and enjoy the included breakfast... although, if was difficult for me to enjoy it because Japanese breakfasts are like every other Japanese meal... rice, fish, miso...where`s the sugar? After we check out, I feel lighter tahn air... well, my wallet was lighter than air anyway, and we kill a few hours driving and walking around until the pottery making class Yoshie has scheduled for us at 1:00. Once at the place, I learn that the Okayama area is quite famous for bizen (clay pottery, cup and bowl making). Yoshie had made reservations for us to get a brief lesson and make our own pot or bowl or whatever... I made a dish for my keys and stuff... Yoshie made a beer glass...
That night, we met a couple of Yoshie`s friends at a restaurant called the Lock-Up... a jail themed place with tables inside fake jail cells... at first I was nervous, because generally speaking, the greater the schtick, the worse the food, but it was not the case at all... the food was amazing, and Yoshie`s friends were a lot of fun!! That night, I stayed at Yoshie`s mom`s house (were Yoshie lives), and I got to see her home... her house is about 100 years old, and the toilet does not have "waterworks"... apparently pretty common in some old Japanese houses.
That day I had to journey on to my next destination, so Yoshie and I just bummed around Okayama and then she took me to the station.
Now I was on to Hiroshima for a night before meeting my other internet friends in Kyushu. After travelling for about a week, this would be my first night in a city without contacts or directions or a clue... I think it showed too.
So I break out my trusty (at that time I thought it was trusty anyway) Lonely Planet book and hunt for a place to stay. I walk into a place just across from the station but decide to leave when they tell me that they only have smoking rooms... DAMN YOU NICOTINE... why can`t you be more like caffine... lovely, soothing caffine...?!%#$ So anyway, I then decide to take a taxi across town to stay at a cheaper minshuku (Family-run Japanese Inn)... I definately got cheaper... oh well... I ended up very close to the famous peace park, so it wasn`t all bad.
That night, I ventured into the "entertainment" section of town, which I come to find-out means primarily strip-clubs and the like. But I decide to give the Lonely Planet another go and pick a bar that is supposed to have great live performances on Thursday nights... hey, it`s Thursday night! What luck... well, after searching for about 40 minutes, I finally find this place, and if not for the four people that arrived just before me, the place was empty... wow, Lonely Planet is 2 and 0!
But, who am I to complain... the bar staff seems nice, and so I stay for a few beers...
Of course, it isn`t long before the group of four people are interested in where I am from, so I spend the next hour and a half chatting with them in broken English/Japanese, and before I know it I`m buzzed... time to walk home.
On the way back to the Minshuku, I pass the Peace Park, and decide to sit for a while and listening to my music at eardrum popping volume... it is a beautiful night with a gorgeous moon and no one around... I sat contently for a hour or so then hit the Minshuku for sleep.
*This might be a good time to go to the bathroom or stretch, or get a drink or something... were are maybe half way through...sorry...*
The next morning, I decide to get up and get out early... I have decided that although beautiful, Hiroshima and I weren`t getting along, and that I should try another city... So I`m off to Fukuoka.
After speaking with John and Tomoko Shiomi, the married couple I am supposed to meet in Kyushu, we decide that it would be best for me to meet them on Saturday instead of Friday night... now I get to see what Fukuoka is like...
So I dive back into the Lonely Planet for another hotel reccommendation, and this time I picked a winner. I ended up at a cool new business hotel with the smallest, most efficient room I had ever seen... but it was cheap, clean, and very comfortable. I chose that hotel because it sounded nice, but also due to it proximity to a bar listed in the Lonely Planet... sure enough the bar no longer there... but it was an exciting 30 minutes looking up and down the same street for a bar that no longer exists... eventually, I found an internet cafe in the building where the bar was supposed to be, and a girl in there said the bar had closed. Oh well, during my search I passed an oldies bar that looked cool, so I decided to check it out.
Once inside, I am accosted by the too-slick-for-his-own-good host, who explained the "system" of the bar: 2000\ (about $20.00) entrance fee, then you must buy one drink and one food item... whatever, I can hear the oldies band in the background, and the place sounds alive... a far cry from the bar in Hiroshima.
So I enter and the host seats me at the bar just inside the entrance. Just beyond the bar is the main area of the place that is packed with people all singing, dancing, or just enjoying the music... I am sitting at the bar alone... After a minute, I get up to see if there are any seats available in the main room, sure enough there is a small tabel against the wall that is open. A bit perturbed that I have just spent about $35.00 for a can of beer, and feeling
ostrasized as the only foreigner sitting alone at the bar, I say in my slightly snooty English to one of the waiters, "I`m going to move to the tabel inside". Of course, the fact that I am speaking English to him sends him into a panic, but he sees me motioning to the main room which makes him even more nervous... he motions for me to wait a minute... my body language now expressing my emotion clearly.
A minute later the host appears again and now informs me that since I am only one person, I cannot be seated in the main area... WHAT? Now I am very frustrated and the $35.00 for a can of beer is starting to drive me crazy... just then, two guys come in from the main room and take there seats at the bar... I had not noticed, but I guess there were sitting there, and were just in the other room dancing. I could tell imediately that it was only a matter of seconds before they started talking to me... and for those of you that know me, you know I am never wrong (wow, caffine still working)...
So after a few minutes of the small talk in broken English/Japanese, the host returns and speaks to the two guys now talking to me... I have a feeling I know what he saying, and I immediately smile at the host for his concern. He was telling the two customers that I wanted to sit in the main room, and that if they are willing, I can go in with them... sure enough, they ask me to join them... the night is looking better!
Once at our table, they ask if I like whiskey (they are both drinking whiskey... in Japan, you buy the whole bottle when you go to a bar, they put your name on it, and it is yours each time you come back... they each have a bottle). Knowing what is coming next, despite the fact that I don`t really care for whiskey, I reply with sure! I spend the rest of the night talking about great American oldies, drinking my new friends whiskey, and even dancing a bit. Before I know it we`re closing the place, and of course they will not accept any money from me for the whiskey... now I am pretty buzzed, had a great time, met some genuinely cool guys and only spent $35.00... that`s cheap for Japan. Fukuoka gets the thumbs up!
On the way home, I spot a Mos Burger, and decide the food might do me some good. I get a cheeseburger, head back to the room and eat... maybe it was the whiskey, but the cheeseburger was incredible. I lay down and the room is moving a bit... I decide it is best to stay up for a while to ward-off the hangover... and hey, since I`m up, I think I`ll head back to Mos Burger for another cheeseburger... always sounds good when you`re drunk... that`s right, I said drunk. Apparently, whiskey has an ability to sneak-up on you and hit you when you`re not looking... I thought I was pleasantly buzzed when I left the bar, but when I woke up the next morning, I was trying to remember if I was wearing pants the second time I went to Mos Burger... By the way, Mos Burger is very good... don`t let the name freak you out.
So the next morning I am off to Yame, a small town about 45 minutes southeast of Fukuoka. From the station I call to Tomoko and John who will be picking me up at the station.
John and Tomoko are a young married couple with a beautiful 10 month old baby girl named Tiffany. John was raised in Los Angeles, and came to Japan 4 years ago to teach English. He met Tomoko, they got married, and now they teach English from their home in Yame. While staying with John, Tomoko and Tiffany, I played basketball, learned a lot about Mah Jong (I was so happy to have an native english speaking teacher to teach me the rules and strategy), sat in on some english classes, taught a few conversation classes, and got to meet some other cool foreigners. Unfortunately, at some point, we all caught a virus of sorts, and I was very sick for 24 hours... that really sucked! When I felt better though, we all took a trip to Beppu, the onsen capital of Kyushu (if not Japan) for my last night. We stayed at a really cool Ryokan, and had dinner and breakfast served in the room... it was very relaxing and a very nice conclusion to my stay in Kyushu!
The next day, I took a ferry from Beppu to Yawatahama, Shikoku... from there, I took a taxi to the Yawatahama station, then took a train to Matsuyama where I was greated by my friend Emiko and her mother (I only wrote that part for you to amaze at how goofy Jason can travel by himself in this strange land when he doesn`t speak the language... actually, I should not take credit for the amazingly organized Japanese public transportation system).
So I meet Emiko, and she and her mother take me to my hotel, a beautiful, new and cheap(by Japanese standards) hotel with an onsen on the top floor... I am happy... beds make me smile lately... After I drop my things, we travel to a small cafe near the famous Dogo Onsen, and we sit for a while chatting, then they drop me back at the hotel to rest-up for dinner. During that time, I take a shower and decide it might be a good idea to iron the shirt I wanted to wear that night... but alas, there is only a pants press in the room... and as cool as that contraption is, I could never figure it out with Japanese instructions. Then it occurs to me, the water pressure in the shower was amazing, maybe I could just hang my shirt in the bathroom with the hot water running... I hang-up my shirt, start the shower, and immediately, the small bathroom fills with steam... this is gonna work... I shut the door to keep the steam inside. After a minute or so, I open the door and the shirt looks great! Unfortunately (I mentioned that the rooms are really small right), all the steam starts to leave the bathroom and sets off the smoke alarm in my little room. Suddenly, there is a recorded Japanese womans voice telling me something which I am sure is "please don`t smoke in the room" or something like that, so I open the window and wait for the smoke to disapate... but the alarm is really loud, and thinking it is probably audible outside my room, I open the front door to see if you can hear it from the hallway... well, to my surprise, the alarm was going off in the entire hotel... every room and all throughout the halls... boy is my face red... I just set off the smoke alarm throughout the entire hotel at 5:00 in the afternoon on a Friday... probably not good for business. So a minute later, there is a fast, furious, loud pound at the door... Luckily, I still look like I just got out of the shower, and as soon as I open the door, I apologize in Japanese. The hotel manager outside looks like he just sprinted to my room from the front desk, and that he has lost about five years of his life in the last five minutes... one look at me and he is releaved... there is no fire, just a baka gaijin (stupid foreigner) with a wrinkle-free shirt... I apologize repeatedly, and he waves as if to say, "just wanted to make sure you are ok". No harm done, and a pretty fun story...
A few hours later, Emiko comes back to meet me with a few of her friends (they are all amuzed by my story of the fire alarm), and we all head out to an Izakaya (I think I got that right... it is a type of Japanese bar/restaurant where you can call ahead, and they will bring you a set meal of primarily bar foods). The food is great, but I am very full for some reason, and can`t eat as much as my poor body wants to. After that, we head to a karaoke bar where I find out that my friend Emiko is a great singer! And yes, under the peer pressure I sing Livin La Vida Loca (there is a Japanese version of this song so everyone can sing, and it is easy to sing... don`t give me any shit about singing Ricky Martin).
The next day, Emiko picks me up at my hotel with a friend of hers and we are off to lunch and to Uchiko, a small town where they have been making candles by hand for several hundred years... and still do. But first is lunch... Emiko`s friend Ayano takes us along some amazingly beautiful coastal roads and finally up this steep windy road to a small outdoor restaurant nestled in the mountainside on top of a stream... the kind of place you would never read about in ANY tourist book. So we get there, and it is a somen noodle place... somen noodles are actually like a cross between soba and ramen noodles. It is a very thin noodle, abit larger than anglehair pasta, that is normally served in a bowl of cool water. You are then given a small bowl of soupy, watery, sauce that you can add scallions, sesame seeds, onions or wasabe to. If sitting around the table with your family, each person would just reach in the big bowl of somen with their chopsticks and pick out some of the noodles then placing them into there small bowl. Dunking the noodles for just a moment, you then slurp them into your mouth and reach back into the main bowl for more... it is very good!
Well, at this place, they serve the somen in a small trough/river that flows past all the customers sitting around a bar... not unlike the sushi places you might have seen that have sushi that floats by and you just pick-up the one you want. Anyway, it was a really great experience, and we ate a lot... I took pictures.
After that we ventured on to Uchiko where we quickly stumbled upon the candle-making shop and I was finally able to buy my first souvenier... Now at the tale end of my trip, I could accept carrying a extra things in my alredy overweighted backpack... besides, when I first read about the hand made candles and told my sister about them, I promised her that I would get her some... I wish I could have bought more, but space and the outrageous prices for hand-made candles curbed my desire to buy more.
That night, Emiko`s family took me out to Yakiniku, which is essentially the same thing as Korean bar-b-que... it was awesome! I ate so much I felt like I could have rolled home. After that we went back to Emiko`s house to hang-out for a while with her sisters, then they drove me back to my hotel and we said our good-byes (originally, I had planned on staying in Matsuyama a bit longer, but Emiko was busy the next day, and I was really getting worn-out from all the travelling... I just wanted to come back to Tokyo).
So I woke up the next day, hit the station, and headed back to Tokyo... I arrived late Sunday night, 2 days before my rail pass expired, but I was done... it was a hell of a ride!
Now that the recounting portion of this journal is over... I think I will skip to tomorrow`s entry to discuss everything else...
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