Matsumoto

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Matsumoto

I caught the morning Shinkansen to Nagoya, and changed to the express train from Nagoya to Matsumoto (282km northwest of Tokyo). Matsumoto lies in the central alpine region of Japan, and is accordingly higher, cooler and surrounded by mountains. I met up with my couchsurfing buddy Takao at the station, and as it was a very wet and grey day (the first rain they had experienced in quiet a while) we went back to his place and chatted.

Takao is a neurosurgeon who has just finished his residency and is now working at the Matsumoto University Hospital. His professor is a world renowned neurosurgeon who spent many years working and researching in the US, and Takao hopes to follow in his footsteps. To make this dream a reality, he is required to pass a very challenging US Medical examination to be permited to practice over there, so in addition to working regular hours of around 6.30am to 8 or 9pm or sometimes even midnight , he also studies at night! He was in Boston last night for the world Neurosurgery conference, held once every 4 years, where thousands of neurosurgeons from around the world congregate to share latest research, best practice and case histories.


Later we were joined by Takayoshi, a junior medical student who studies with Takao. In addition to speaking English very well, Taka has lived in Germany and Denmark growing up, so speaks a little of each respective language. He has even been to Bonn, so we had a great time reminiscing about the main Bonn town, the university and Beethoven's birthplace.

In addition to becoming a neurosurgeon, Taka's main aspiration is to become fluent in English, so he was eager to chat with me and have the chance to practice with a native speaker. Taka is a rugby player who sings high praises for the Aussie rugby team, and has a dream to eventually play rugby 7's. Alas when I shared with him I have been to see the HK7's not once, but twice, he was very excited to hear all about it.

Darkness having fallen upon us, we ventured out in the cold, wet night to the city centre, where we met up with Thomas, another couchsurfing friend of Takao's from LA, who now lives in Matsumoto teaching English. Thomas has been travelling around the globe for some time now teaching English in various places, where he was aiming to live in a place that “flipped his world” and made him appreciate and experience life in a completely new way. After much searching he has found that place, and that place is most definitely Japan. Every day he is challenged by living here, and is loving every minute of it.

The 4 of us went to an Izakaya, translated as “drinking place”, but really just a simple restaurant where people go to eat and drink . There we partook in a feast of fantastically fresh and healthy Japanese food, and had great conversation in a combination of Japanese, English and German, sometimes all within the same sentence!

An interesting feature of restaurants in Japan which I love - whenever you are ready to order, or would like to ask the staff something, you press a doorbell like button discretely located at the end of the table, which alerts the staff to your table and service is promptly provided. Such a simple idea but so effective! No more waiting around for eons waiting to order your food, and then having to storm out when the delay becomes too long (Dad would be familiar with this :-)

Another fantastic thing I discovered about Japan: As Taka, who was our driver, had consumed a few beers, it was decided he would not drive (apparently the Japanese police are very strict on drink driving) and so a taxi was called. What's so unusual about that, you may ask?

Well, this was no ordinary taxi. The taxi is called and arrives in the carpark next to our car, and contained within are not one but two whitegloved taxi drivers. One of the drivers takes the drivers seat of our car, and proceeds to drive us back home while the other taxi driver follows in the taxi behind. As such, customers and car are deposited safely back home!

What a great idea, one which I can't help but think would be a great solution to the transport and drink driving problem in Perth.

The next day we visited Matsumoto castle, in the town centre, then drove for about an hour out of Matsumoto to visit Suwa lake, the largest lake in the region. After returning from the drive we went out for dinner with Takao's best friend, Hiro, and Hiro's girlfriend, where we consumed some nice Okonomiyaki.

I left the following morning, as Takao starts work at 7am for his first round of visiting patients, so he dropped me off at the train station.

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