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Published: March 30th 2013
The toilet
Seriously look at all the buttons, how are you meant to know what to do?Where to start...?
Firstly that I made it here, after the long plane journey where I was far too excited to sleep! When I stepped off the plane and breathed a sigh of relief and performed a mini victory dance as I had actually made it, I couldn't quite believe it! Then I suddenly had a panic, what if they don't let this crazy British girl in their country?? But after some questions about my intended stay, a photo and finger prints I was through! Phew! Now onto the next battle...how to get to my hotel. You will all be pleased to know I got there just fine, no wrong trains or wrong directions, I was pretty chuffed with myself!
The first thing you notice in Japan is that the majority of people are at least 2ft smaller and wearing face masks. This completely baffled me ay first, had something happened whilst I was in the air to cause people to wear these?? No, it is just the Japanese way of preventing and protecting themselves from illnesses such as influenza, it is completely normal for anyone and everyone to wear one, but to me...it blew my mind.
After
First Japanese lunch
Conor and I enjoying our first meal in Japan getting to the hotel all I wanted to do was to get out and explore, however my next battle was with the toilet. Weird as it sounds, it is very complicated with so many buttons and images, all in Japanese. I soon figured it out and received an unexpected bum wash during the process..interesting. not sure if I will be pushing that button again, blew more than just my mind.
I ventured out into Tokyo, it is similar to London in the sense that is has many suburbs to explore, the easiest way to get around is on the underground but I didnt feel up for anymore battles that day, so I took in the local sights then headed back to my hotel for a nap and to watch Harry Potter dubbed in Japanese!
The next day I was meeting Nigel and Conor and the adventure was really about to begin. I left my hotel feeling confident that I could find the hostel I would be staying in for the next few nights, should not have been so confident, after about 20 minutes of walking i hailed a cab only to take me around the corner, ah well
Sensoji
Nige & I outside the temple, this was my first Japanese temple, it had some beautiful market stalls leading up to it and loads to see inside. I tried! This was Saturday and we spent until Thursday staying at K's House, great hostel, clean, friendly and a free alcohol night, what more could you want? We spent that day sightseeing; Sensoji was first on the list, a spectacular temple close by to the hostel. The next day Kevin arrived just in time for us to take part in the Tokyo St Patrick's Day parade, absolutely awesome day, I got to wear green and drink with the Irish all day!! We hit Ropongi for the evening, drinking in the English bar that was decorated as Irish for the night.
The Japanese culture is so different in each city, in Tokyo everyone looked immaculate, hair, make up, the clothes, such a different style. All the girls go for a very cute look, short skirts, frilly socks, cute shoes. In Osaka it was a differemt story, the same girly cuteness mixed in with the girls dressing as they're favourite anime character, I'm talking massive hair, coloured contact lenses to make their pupils look bigger, crazy outfits, I couldn't stop staring! But no one seems to blink an eye at it. And yet, it still blows my mind...
We're
Fortune telling
Getting help from the locals with reading my fortune. You can pay 100 ¥ to get your fortune and if it is bad you tie it onto a post, returning it. Mine was not too bad so I kept it! really lucky at the moment as it is The Sakura season - Cherry Blossoms, the Japanese love their seasons, especially this one. We hit Shinjuku Gardens in Tokyo to see them in full bloom and it was beautiful. They are now everywhere and everyone stops to take photos of them, tourists and Japanese. At the gardens we were able to have Japanese afternoon tea which consists of green tea and a Japanese sweet, the only thing I can compare the sweet to would be a marzipan ball, wasn't my kind of afternoon tea! Where was the cake?
Myself and Kevin went to a Kubuki show which is Japanese theatre, the characters are all male and the whole thing is in Japanese, interesting to say the least. The set and scenery were incredibly well done, however it was 4 hours long!
One night we headed down to Akihabara which is also called electric city as it is a great place to pick up cheap electrical items. It is also gaming heaven, it takes the word gaming to a new level. The buildings are 4 or 5 floors high in the cities and can have shops, restaurants in them on
St Patricks Day
Kev and & I ready for the parade, you can see the sea of green behind us! Amazing day. each floor, so huge! The Sega building really blew my mind as it was floor after floor of games, I am talking everything from Tekken, Mario Kart, dance ones to Call of Duty and there are girls, boys and grown ups getting involved. They even queue to get on some games, no drinking on a Friday night it's all about the gaming..
Talking of drinking, you can actually drink in the streets over here and even buy it from a vending machine WHATTTT?! Yes you can, so we often stop in the convenience stores to pick up some cans, one drink over here is called STRONG and it is 8% one night on that was very painful the next day! Ouch!
The culture of being able to smoke and drink publicly blows my mind and I would of thought it would lead to more anti social behavior but it does not, crime is so low. You can still smoke in restaurants, bars and clubs, weird for a country that is so funny about being sterile!
As my friend Nigel is teaching over here we were able to go into one of his schools and take a look
Not to fear the rescue team is here..
We visited a museum in Osaka where you learn about earthquake and tsunami safety. It was really interesting. There is even an simulator where you experience 7.4 on the Richter scale. around, it was huge for only 250 students.The kids have an intense school schedule which includes them having activities to attend during their school breaks. It is very disciplined, in a good way.
We invaded Nigel's 1 bed apartment in Fukui where he lives and stayed there for a few nights, had an epic night out in a karaoke bar; English, Irish, American and Japanese all in one room singing. It is really cool to see the rural side of Japan, rice paddy fields and beaches, we will be spending some more time there later in the trip.
Osaka has been one of my favourite cities so far, it was pretty crazy. We stayed in a capsule hostel which was an experience to say the least. You sleep in a caspule, it is almost coffin like, you only have a blind to close your capsule, no personal space here. Female and males have seperate areas so I was on my own for this one. To start you have to put all your belongings into a locker, you cannot keep anything in your capsule so I had to be very organised. You get given robes and everything is provided
Boom On Tour
I am standing in front of Osaka Castle, one of the most impressive places I have seen, an 8 tiered green castle. for you shower gel, shampoo, hairdryer, towel it is like a hotel. The most bizarre experience was the shower as it is a communal onsen, an onsen is like a huge hot tub, the showering room is covered in mirrors, you have a plastic seat to sit on and shower heads are hooked on the wall, there was maybe 10 showers in the room so at times it was busy. As you can imagine I was feeling slightly anxious and rather embarrassed about the whole situation but once I did it, it was fine and you just get used to it, we stayed there for 3 nights so there was quite a lot of nakedness.
I have been really struggling with food, the concept of being a vegetarian is not widely recognised at all, most things are made from a fish or beef broth - Ramen in particular. I have tried some egg, cucumber, sweetcorn and tofu sushi which was ok. I really enjoy onimiakye which is like a omelette, pancake with veg. Soba is yummy, like a chow mein but again as it normally comes with pork, so I just pick it out. Learnig to eat with chopsticks
Kiyomizudera Temple
Another buddhist temple with beautiful surrounding grounds and lots to learn abiut the history and culture. Here there is a love stone, fortune reading and much more to take in. is going well, I reckon I will be a pro by the end of this trip.
As my leaving gift from B&Q I was given money towards something on my trip, yesterday I was lucky enough to spend it on a Geisha make over and photoshoot. It was so much fun, so strange at the same time! I was really unsure at what it would look like, after about 30 minutes the make up was on and I barely recognised myself! I was able to pick my own kimono, which obviously was green, little bit short on the sleeves, but I'm not really the right height for a Geisha...all in all the whole thing was about an hour and half, I loved it, nice girly day for me, so thank you all!
I am half way through my time in Japan, I have managed to get back to my backpackers routes, living out of a bag, lack of personal space, single beds, public toilets, wearing the same clothes, you know, that type of stuff! I can honestly say I am loving it right now...ask me again at the end of asia, it could be a different answer!
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Holly
non-member comment
Sounds like you are having a great time. Love the geisha pictures. Keep up with the blog writing...it's good to hear about your adventures. Holly xxx