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Published: June 28th 2006
Hi all!
So I'm in a small town near Kagoshima- well relatively near. Japan is brilliant after backpackerland. Instead of looking at me 'as if I have 2 heads' (another guy's quotation to sum up how we were sometimes treated), the Japanese are really nice, courteous and friendly. I was immediately struck by how foreign I looked. Even in South America we passed as Argentinian and didn't stick out too much. But here it's just obvious. The other thing that struck me as I entered the country was that for the first time I was going to leave a country being none the wiser to what any signs said or being able to read a single word.
I'm staying at Abs's house, but it's pretty full with 5 other Indians and me, with 2 more girls coming on Tuesday. So far we've been rollerblading and hired bikes (very Japanese I know) but also had a sand bath in naturally heated sand. It was just like a sauna, but with a ton of sand on me as well. The other night we went to an onsen, which was a heated pool next to the sea on a funky volcano, Sakurajima!
Nakedness in hot pools seems to be a thing they love doing over here, but because this one was mixed, we got to wear white robes. It was gorgeous, being in the very hot pool but having a sea breeze cooling us down.
Yesterday we went to the Peace Museum in Chiran. The museum is dedicated to the 1,036 kamikaze pilots who died in WWII. They were part of a strategy of 'human bombs'. Basically, they were given enough fuel for a one-way journey and they had to fly into the enemy. Quite horrific! The Japanese have a constitution that they made after World War 2 saying that they will never join in foreign wars again. However, it seems that this might change soon.
After the Peace museum we went to the English museum to see a double-decker bus, lots of tea, pictures of Harry Potter and Sharwoods Tikka Massala sauce for sale! We also went to a Samurai village, where the descendents of Samurai still live (the Samurai died out over 100 years ago).
We also visited Abs's school and met some of his kids. They were very cool, they kept trying to guess who was
Jap toilet
So many options for spray!going out with who- there being 3 girls and 3 guys, until we explained noone was. They were really friendly, even though it was the end of a long day. Here, they start at 8am and finish around 4, but then do 2 hours of sport everyday until 6.30pm! And they go to school in the summer 'holidays' for sport. In fact, teachers and students only get 2 weeks holiday a year, and although teachers are allowed an extra 40 days, they are seen as selfish if they do so- even if it's the summer holidays. But to them, this is the norm, and most loving working.
This morning we went to a soba school restaurant, where we got to make our own noodles and eat them. I didn't realise how much care went into making them the same size, until we were told that ours was too fat and looked like pasta.
My best experience so far was going for a walk in the local area and bowing to an old lady who was walking passed. She immediately bowed back. How cool is that!
Similarly to Eric, food had varied little so far, although we've tried
sushi and normal Japanese. I am missing a greater selection of vegetables- ok carrots. I was made to try raw squid but drew the line at raw chicken (the boys didn't though).
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Andrea
non-member comment
1 raw chicken nebab please
RAW CHICKEN!!??? still i must say well done you for trying the raw squid!! you look really tanned and well, and all looks like all you and your mates are having a brilliant time!!! I've been D of E'ing - dreamt that you came to spend a night on the campsite before going to Japan! YEH RIGHT!!!!!!!! Anyway, not long till we see you now! Hi to all, and PLEASE tell natasha to be careful what she eats!!!!!!!Andrixxxxx