Kouya-san and Kyoto pt.1

So okay, I have a good reason for the late update this time. My laptop charger died! I had to wait until I got to school and was able to use the computers here and borrow someone elses' charger to even think about this blog. Add to that all I have to do before orientation is over... So busy. So I'll do my best right now!

So Kouya-san, or Kouya mountain is this mountain near Osaka that is known for its many Buddhist monasteries. Mom and Dad somehow managed to get us a reservation to stay at one of them! How cool right? Here I was, having studied Buddhism (albeit Indian Buddhism primarily) and now I was staying at a monastery!

But getting there was the challenge. We had to take bus from Arima to Osaka, a subway to Namba station, a train to Gokurakubashi station, a cable car to Kouya-san, and then bus to the monastery. Confusing right? It's a good thing I've gotten the hang of transportation in Japan.

It was all worth it once we got there however. The rooms were amazing, and I say rooms because there were three connected tatami mat rooms, all overlooking this beautiful garden with a bunch of rocks that represented various mountains in Japan.

So the one room had a low table where we sat to drink tea, and I chilled reading my Nook. The next room was where we were served our breakfast and dinner, all vegetarian and basically a simpler version of the kaiseki meals I described in my last post. And the last room was where they laid our very comfy futons.

The whole thing was quite nice.

So we were given a tour, extremely taxing my Japanese skills as I tried to understand everything the guide was telling us. He pointed out various walls and scrolls that were on display that were apparently from the late 1800's, which given their condition was very impressive. He also of course pointed out the baths and the toilets and everything, so after we got our bearings he left us to enjoy the peace and quiet.

Dinner was brought to us at around 5:15, which we enjoyed immensely, especially given its lack of strange fish dishes that we had to try and force down. Then we chilled some more and planned out the next day before turning in.

The next morning we got up at like, 6am to get ready for the 6:30 chanty thingy the monks did every morning. I honestly have no idea what it was called, an if you care, ask Mom. But it was very cool either way. There was a beautiful room with all sorts of incense things, and scrolls and statues and this big upside down bell that one of the two monks struck every now and then.

So basically we sat and listened to the monks chanting and performing their morning ritual for a half hour. Afterwards we were served breakfast and we packed most of our stuff before heading out into town.

We walked down the street, check out some shrines and stores. I got some incense for home, and Mom got a prayer bead bracelet in her zodiac. I also ended up getting a zodiac good luck charm because it was really nice.

We didn't have much time, since we had to check out at 10, so we headed back and got our stuff before checking out, and walking to the bus stop. We got our tickets for the trip back which was just as complicated, only more so.

So, bus to Kouya-san station, cable car to Gokurakubashi station, train to Namba station, subway to Shin-Osaka station, shinkansen to Kyoto, and then a shuttle to the hotel. That is 6 different conveyances in one day. Whew.

Regardless, we managed to do all of that with relatively little hassle or wasted time. Again, I am awesome at this game.

So after all of that we landed ourselves at our last hotel, the Rhiga Royal Hotel Kyoto. It was a nice (though not as nice as the Swissotel) western style hotel that was a pleasant change to the familiar from all of the Japanese style hotels we had been frequenting (enough is enough already).

Not willing to be too adventurous that evening given our exhaustion we decided to simply take the shuttle back to the train station and choose one of the many restaurants there. Seriously, train stations in Japan, especially main ones, have all sorts of department stores, restaurants, shops, etc. in them. They are their own malls.

So we picked a conveyor belt sushi place to eat at because they are awesome and fun. We enjoyed the freedom of choosing whatever sushi we wanted from what passed in front of us, and not only was it much better than sushi in the States, it was also much cheaper.

We then got back on the shuttle and turned in for the night. That was actually the evening I last updated, and the last time I had a computer and internet before my comp died and I arrived at Kansai.

In the meantime, I have my placement exam tomorrow, so I shall say goodnight, even though it is early morning at home. More on Kyoto and then eventually Kansai to come.

Osaka and Arima Onsen 8/22-8/23

8/23-8/24

Okay, so updates have not been as frequent as I would like. I haven’t even been typing these up I’ve been so exhausted! So here I am, not having written a word for 5 days. Bear with me, I’ll have to spend an evening or two as well as speaking with my parents to get all the information down. Also, even though I am typing everything now, I am planning on breaking up the entries by location to make for easier reading in the future.

After Miyajima, our destination was Osaka. However it was our hope that we would get a chance to explore Hiroshima briefly. Unfortunately we were unable to find a place to stash our luggage after we got off the ferry from the island. So we condensed our plans and got right on the Shinkansen (bullet train) headed for Osaka.

The trip lasted about an hour or so, and we were to stay in a fancy shmancy hotel called the Swissotel. Well our instructions were to go to Namba station and the hotel would be in the station, so we took the JR trains to Namba station. However as we learned later, there are two Namba station, and we needed to be at the other one. It ended up being a significant walk. After about 20-25 minutes of dragging our luggage all around this strange underground shopping complex we arrived at the hotel.

There, we were treated like royalty. It was a very nice hotel and that worked in our favor in some ways, and against it in others. I’ve now learned that the more you spend at a hotel, the more all of the extras cost as well. For instance, the cost for internet access was deemed outrageous by my father (and rightly so) so we decided to just wait. However, the service was fantastic, and when we needed help getting directions to something, we were instantly plied with several different maps and explicit instructions on how to reach our goal, all of which turned out to be extremely helpful for days.

That evening, we decided to venture to the Osaka Aquarium, which boasted the largest fish tank in the world or something. It was fantastic either way. There were all sorts of exotic fish and sharks and dolphins and such, and Mom got me a little turtle plushie that squeaks. :3

Afterwards we headed back to Namba station where the hotel was, and had dinner at an udon restaurant. Udon is a thick white noodle that you can buy hot in a soup or cold with sauce, or several other ways. Soups in Japan were one thing that I really missed when I went home. There’s nothing like stopping at a ramen bar for a bowl of ramen real quick and easy.

We conked out for the night having made plans for the morning’s trip to Arima Onsen.

Awakening at about 8am, we grabbed breakfast in the hotel at a fancy restaurant. Being a Swiss hotel, they specialized in foreign foods, so we all opted to have the American breakfast, knowing that it was one of our only chances for such food while in Japan. Me, especially. I already miss Denny’s.

We then checked out and left our bags at the hotel while we took a brief trip to Osaka castle. Now that was cool. Osaka castle was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Japanese warlord who came directly before Tokugawa Ieyasu became the first Shogun, and was largely responsible for the unification of Japan in the late 1500’s. The castle is also where Toyotomi’s son was held under siege when Tokugawa decided to take the country from him, instead of holding it until he was of age like a good regent should.

All in all, for a pseudo-Japanese history buff like me, it was totally awesome.

So we made our way back to the Swissotel, where we got on the Midosuji subway line to Umeda station where we were going to catch a bus to Arima Onsen. We realized upon getting there that finding the Hankyu Bus we had to take wasn’t going to be easy, so we stopped at a map to try and decifer the route.

Moments after reaching said mad we were approached by an elderly Japanese man who offered to show us the way. We gratefully accepted. We weren’t entirely sure he understood where we needed to go and at first were worried that he was taking us to the wrong place, but our fears proved unfounded as he led us directly to where we needed to be. We thanked him profusely for having escorted us on a nearly 10 minute walk through the station, he raised his cap to us very adorably, and we went our separate ways. Some more perspective, can you image foreigners in the same situation in New York City? This wasn’t the first time I had been approached with enquiries as to whether I needed help or not in train stations in Japan either.

So we hopped on the next bus and chilled on the hour long ride.

Now, Arima Onsen is a popular tourist destination in Japan for one thing specifically, the hot springs. Onsen means hot springs, and the various waters in the area are known for their healing properties or some such hogwash. All I knew was that it was a chance for us to relax for a bit and not be running around all day like we did in Tokyo.

Our ryokan at Arima was similar to the one in Miyajima, though a little less high class and apparently very kid-oriented. It was pleasing to me to be greeted by a television in the front lobby playing Princess Mononoke, one of my favorite Hayao Miyazaki films. There were kids all over the place and it really was quite fun.

So M&D and I all went for a pre-dinner bath. The outside baths boast two different types of water, the Gold bath and the Silver bath. Apparently the website had information on all the things the different minerals were good for but I neither checked nor cared. I simply enjoyed the hot water and the feeling of being clean after all the sweating being in Japan had caused me.

Our dinner that night was also included, and this time they even brought it to our room. It was quite elaborate once again, being labeled specifically this time as a Kaiseki meal. Now Kaiseki originated as a light meal that accompanied tea during tea ceremonies. The emphasis was on creating small, beautiful dishes that showcased the delicacies of the season. The art expanded into a full meal on its own, and we had now experienced it twice, though the first time, at Miyajima, we didn’t know that’s what we were having.

Unfortunately that meant that once again I had quite a few difficulties eating said meal. With its questionable items and fish meant to be eaten whole, I managed to fill my stomach but not nearly eat everything on the table.

We all then read our books or whatever before turning in for the night. We’re all still a bit jet lagged, and our constant early mornings aren’t helping our ability to stay up late.

With the help of a girl from the ryokan and our own slew of maps and guides, we planned a route back that would take us to our next stop, Kouya-san, or Kouya Mountain. We did however, schedule in time to shop around Arima for a bit.

The shuttle bus took us from the ryokan to the bus station, where we took turns sitting with the bags and shopping around. It seemed that the specialty food of the area (of which there is one for every area of note) were these ‘carbonic acid cakes’ which are essentially cracker consistency, yet sweet, like cakes. I got a small tin of then with vanilla cream in the middle. I’m very excited to have it later to eat, and I’m trying my hardest to forget about it for a while.

So that was our last experience at Arima Onsen. Kouya-san will be the next update. ‘Til then!

Miyajima - 8/20

8/20/2010
*Note: Written on Aug. 20th, posted on Aug. 25th. Sorry guys, internet access has been beyond spotty.*

Woo Shinkansen! M&D (Mom and Dad) and I are at our new destination of Miyagima, an island next to the coastal city of Hiroshima. To get here we took Shinkansen, or bullet train. We once again got an early start, though it is still proving to be easy to get up early due to jet lag. So I showered at 5am and we were off by 6. We once again took a taxi for time purposes and arrived at the station at about 6:10.
We headed into an office where the Shinkansen tickets were sold. We had a plan about what tickets we wanted and train to take, but while talking to the station employee, it became clear to us that a change in plans would be beneficial to us. So we ended up taking the Nozomi train that left at 6:30am. First of all, some perspective. We finished the ticket transaction at 6:18 exactly. Japanese trains are prompt.

So we hustled over to the platform and I read the signs to the best of my knowledge and soon we were on a train hoping that it was the right one. It was and there were no problems, meaning that I was worrying over nothing like usual. That’s my problem; I always get all paranoid and worked up over whether or not I’m in the right place or on the right train. I believe that I have yet to be in the wrong place or train here in Japan. Ah well, better safe than sorry.

After a longish but very comfortable 5 hours or so, we found ourselves in Hiroshima station. We then had to catch another train to the Miyajima station. On that train we ended up in a lovely conversation with a fellow from Grand Rapids, Michigan and his friend who were in Japan on business. It was very interesting for me because he had travelled to Japan many times before and we compared our views of the Japanese people from the viewpoint of a knowledgeable foreigner. Basically, we talked about the realities of the Japanese beneath their shining exterior presentation.
Though that’s neither here nor there.

We got off the train and onto a ferry that took us across a small stretch of ocean to Miyajima itself. The view was incredible. With picturesque mountains stretching out in the distance extending all the way into the water, the sun shining happily away and the quiet sea breeze, we were in love. Though the sun could have been shining a little less enthusiastically, frankly. We were baking alive, and still are pretty much.

Anyway, we stashed our bags in a locker until check-in time at our ryokan, Benten-no Yado Itsukushima (remember, a ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn). We then hiked through the adorable tourist town to a bus stop where a shuttle took us up to the cable car station. We purchased tickets and took the cable car, which was basically a gondola only much higher up, to the top of the mountain. The views the whole way were amazing of course, and we spent some time posing for the camera at the top.
We headed back for the ferry station where the lady at the information desk called the ryokan, who sent a van to pick us up and save us carrying our luggage all the way.

The ryokan is AMAZING. They treat us like really important people, and from what Japanese I do know, it’s very interesting to hear the very polite and humble language from the employees. There are two public bathing areas, one with an outdoor view of the ocean, private baths, massage chairs, a ping-pong room… wait what?

YEAH. That’s right, PING-PONG ROOM. Though Dad and I were far too tired overall to
make use of it, it was kind of cool to know it existed.

Ok so our dinner was included in the price of the reservation, so we were scheduled to eat at 6:30. We decided to head out and shop around for a bit beforehand, getting back just in time to freshen up from the MORBID heat of Hiroshima.

We arrived at the 6th floor restaurant where we were greeted by the most unusual Japanese experience I have yet encountered. We were treated to a high end, traditional Japanese dinner consisting of no less than 12 courses. Granted each course was a small plate or bowl containing as small as a bite or two of something, but it was still quite impressive.

I must admit, I had a very difficult time with the meal, especially when they brought out a fried rock fish that we were supposed to eat head, bones, eyes, and all. The majority of our discussion centered around, ‘I think this is…’ conversations. Our server who also assisted us in hotel information as he probably was their most fluent English employee (minus the manager, Richard, a lovely gentleman who had spent 31 years living in the States) was named Imai and he did his best to explain what we were eating, to some avail.

By the time they were done bringing us all of our food and we were done eating it (er, most of it) it was about 7:30-8. We returned to our room, where I then left for the 2nd floor where I could access the internet and update this very blog, though this entry won’t be updated until the next time I get access. M&D headed for the private baths as they had made a reservation earlier. So here we are relaxing for the night, and tomorrow we head out for Osaka. All this running around is starting to make my head spin!

In Japan again...

This entry was typed on Friday the 20th at approximately 7:30-8pm. I am posting it Japan time Saturday the 21st at about 4:30pm. I am on an island called Miyajima near Hiroshima in a lovely Ryokan, or traditional Japanese inn, and this is my first time on the internet in about two days. Seriously?

~~~~~~~

Woah. So yeah, we’re pretty much in Japan, and it’s basically the most awesome thing ever. So let’s get this extremely long update out of the way because I was too tired to so much as open my computer yesterday (it’s Friday evening here right now by the way, that means like, 5am Friday home-time).

I got up at the crack of 4am on Wednesday the 18^th to the sound of my Dad opening the door. I then blearily finished up my packing and cleaning (yes, I am that much of a procrastinator), dragged my bags downstairs and greeted my equally sleepy brother and his girlfriend, Lacey. Zack had volunteered *coughcough* to drive us to the airport, and Lacey kindly stopped in to say her final goodbyes.

So we reached the airport, I checked my thankfully under 50lbs. suitcase, and made our way through the very crowded airport security line. Soon, Mom and Dad were on their plane and I was waiting for mine. After an uneventful wait, I was off and in the air. My flight had two legs, first to Newark, then to Narita, Tokyo. Mom and Dad’s flight went through Chicago.

The flight itself was pretty boring of course. I slept from somewhere over Ontario to about Alaska I believe, then watched some movies and TV shows. When I arrived in Narita at 1:34pm on the Thursday the 19^th, I had two tasks before Mom and Dad (from here on out referred to as M&D because I’m lazy) arrived at 3pm. I had to find out how to ship my ginormous bag with all my college stuff to Osaka, and I had to find our first ATM to use. I was prepared for difficulties, but that proved unnecessary. I used Kuroneko Yamato delivery service to send the bag, and it was super easy, and there were signs for the ATM. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeesey!

…I’m never saying or typing that ever again.

M&D arrived, and now we were headed for our hotel. We got on the Narita Express, which I did have experience with, to Tokyo station. From there we knew that the hotel was a short walk, but we didn’t actually have directions because the map we printed turned out to be useless. So we hopped in a taxi. Interestingly it was my first Japanese taxi ride, for in my 6 weeks last summer, taking a taxi never really even occurred to me.

The hotel is called Sumisho Hotel, and it is a Ryokan, or a traditional Japanese Inn. Well, in this case it’s kind of a mix. Apparently, triple rooms in Japan are kind of rare, and even more so when it comes to traditional Japanese rooms, so our room is a pillbox sized room with three small beds squashed in. While I was relatively used to the smallness of some quarters in Japan, M&D were amused, and Mom claimed several times to feel like a giant, a common feeling amongst foreigners here.

Apparently there is a bath here somewhere downstairs but we haven’t had the time or inclination to make use of it yet. So whenever we aren’t out and about (which we almost always are) we are sleeping or chilling.

So after settling in, dropping our stuff and fixing ourselves after about 14-17 hours of traveling, we headed out in search of a restaurant. Aaaaaand of course the strip of road we choose to check out turns out to be really difficult to find a good restaurant that had a bit of English for us to go off of. So after a longish walk, we finally end up in a restaurant.

Our next problem is figuring out how to order, and the portion sizes. You see, the establishment we ended up in was the likes of which I had only seen once before, and that was with someone who knew what they were doing. It was kind of like a bar/restaurant, where you order several small portions of different things. Now we wanted to order some sushi, and communicated to the server that we wanted two of this and two of that, etc. We also ordered a salad, a couple of sushi rolls, some gyoza (dumplings), and I specifically ordered this fried shrimp and cheese on a skewer thingy. This would have been the perfect amount. However, due to a miscommunication, the server thought we wanted four orders of 4 pieces of sushi totaling 16 pieces in addition to the rolls, when in fact we only wanted about 4-6. The second he brought the food, we thought, Oh No.

It was SO MUCH food. And I have to say unfortunately I don’t feel that I held up my end of the eating because at that moment, the weird on and off fever thing that I had been having since Tuesday morning had returned and sapped me of any appetite. And then I had a fever of course and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. However, M&D braved on and consumed the large amount of food with amazing, if uncomfortable, success.

We stopped at a 7-11 on the way back for some water, and Mom got yogurt for the morning and we turned in for the night.

The next morning, this morning actually, started quite early. We got up at about 4am again (though it was Japan time this time, and given the whole jet lag thing, I have no idea what that means in our sleep schedule) and at 5, headed out to the nearest subway station. About 10-15 minutes later we were at Tsukiji Fish Market. Now the reason for the early start is that Tsukiji is a famous fish market that deals in fish that had probably just been caught the day or night before, and the idea is to get all of the fish out to the various buyers by 8am.

What can I say. It was big, and full of fish. Don’t get me wrong, it was totally awesome, but pretty straight forward. There were all sorts of people walking around, selling fish and driving these little carts around like crazy. So after obtaining a lot of photos, we headed off the main drag and did some shopping. We found a sushi restaurant that someone suggested to Mom and had a sushi breakfast there (it was only 730am at this point). BEST SUSHI EVER. Seriously, we are all ruined for sushi anywhere else, ever. I mean, the sushi was literally the freshest we could possibly obtain and if the price was any indication, some of the best.

We then followed the waitresses’ directions towards Ginza, a moderately upscale shopping district in Tokyo that Mom wanted to check out, and that I had never managed to see the first time around. Unfortunately, we came to the realization that while we were up early for the fish market, that didn’t mean the rest of Tokyo was up at 8am. Or the stores at least.

So we wandered, stopped at an ATM where Dad had to call the HSBC collect number to straighten out a problem with his debit card, and eventually ended up at a nearby park where we planned to kill some time until the post office opened so we could cash in some travelers checks.

Once our business there was done (the time being around 11am), we stopped in at the Sony building because it was cool. They had all sorts of awesome 3D TVs and video games and things on display that made me wish (once again) that I was filthy rich. Alas and alack.

We then hopped on the subway and took a couple of lines to get to our next destination, Asakusa. Out of all of the places we visited today, this was the only one I really had any experience with. If you followed my blog from last summer you might remember that I actually visited there twice before, but it was nice this time to show it to my parents.

We shopped around the long alley with all sorts of vendors, and then wandered off that main drag in search of food. After a bit we found this perfect, small venue that seemed to attract the locals, and therefore we deemed ‘authentic’. M&D enjoyed their food more than I did (I had a fried pork meal that when I had the same dish in Kyoto was much much better), but it was overall a lovely meal, and we headed out in search of a nearby department store of note.

We only spent 20-30 minutes in the Rox Department store, but that’s okay with me, because if I had had time, I could see myself spending a lot of money there. Awesome clothes. As it was I ended up buying a necklace that was Alice in Wonderland themed (not the recent movie though). I have however vowed to myself that once I get some girlfriends at Kansai, we are going shopping.

Next stop was Sensoji temple. We had to back track a bit because our search for food had taken us a bit further afield than originally planned, but it was worth it. This was M&D’s first temple experience here I believe.

Back on the subway, our next goal was Ueno. The park, specifically. This was to be our last stop thankfully, because all of us were in considerable pain from the ambitiously long day. We made our way pretty directly through the park with the Japanese National Museum in our sights.

Apparently today was out lucky day too because though the museum usually closed at around 5:30 (the current time being 4:30) today it was open until 8. Not only that but they had a special exhibit about the origins of China. While I focus on Japan and Japanese history, China is still very interesting to me. Not to mention the fact that Mom had taken a Chinese history course in college and retained a certain fascination for the subject.

We wearily but enthusiastically toured the China exhibit, and then with our last remaining strength glanced at the rest of the museum to the best of our ability. I got another necklace (I know, I know) that I couldn’t resist that featured one of the artifacts from the earliest known Chinese civilization that was also really pretty.

Mom got a special stamp that represents her name. She told her name to a friendly Japanese woman nearby who translated it into the closest Kanji approximation for the Chinese woman who was selling the stamps. That woman then translated it into the old Chinese script that the stamps were of. It was very cool.

We could not even comprehend the agony taking a subway or train back to the hotel would entail so we took another taxi. I should start giving Dad more credit for his good ideas…

So here we are, crashing at the hotel. M&D at this point are napping and I think I might join them. It’s about 8:30 and I’m hungry but sleep seems more important now. We might just get something from 7-11 later.

Will update on that and more in my next entry. Oyasumi nasai minna-san! Good night everyone!

Hajime!

Hajime! Start!

Welcome to my new blog friends and family alike. I got such rave reviews over my blog from my previous trip to Japan that I have decided to continue the tradition and document my semester abroad.

The details of my stay are such: I will be travelling to Tokyo on August 18th with my Mom and Dad, where we will spend 10 days travelling in the Tokyo to Hiroshima and Kyoto areas before they return home and I end up in Osaka where I will be attending Kansai Gaidai University for that Fall semester. I will return on December 19th.

I will not go into great detail just now on what the first 10 days will be like, but I will update with the whole scoop when I can.

Right now all that is happening is packing and planning. I have to pack for three different things. The things I will need at Kansai that I will not need for the initial trip with my parents, the things I will need for those 10 days, and the things I will need for Buffalo when I return there in the Spring (some planning ahead, as I will not have much time to pack when I get home).

Unfortunate facts, I will be missing several birthdays, most notably Erik's (sorry Erik I'll make it up to you), I will also be missing Thanksgiving, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and all of Hannukah (which is early this year, I hear). I know, I know, Sarah! You're gonna be in Japan! Don't complain! I'm not really, it's just facts that I am keeping in mind.

So that is the barest bone details of what my life for the next 5 months are going to be like. The plan is for updates to come once a week or so, but I can't really tell until I get there and live it. I'm sure that there will be a lot of posting the first few weeks and then gradually fewer as life becomes more routine. However, followers of my old blog should feel rest assured that even if the posts become infrequent, they will make up for it with sheer content. I am determined to remember every notable event I can, even if only in passing.

I will also be using a photobucket account to display my photos instead of my old flickr account. Links and information to come later.

There you go, the bold(ish) start to my next new adventure of hopefully many to come. I hope that you manage to get as much out of this record as I will in years to come.