The West

My post about my recent vacation will be broken into two parts since that equates well with the vacation. I may update with pictures later. The first part of my vacation, as you can guess, happened in West Japan, where I live - the Kansai area.

Most of the JETs go home for Winter; a practice so common that one of the teachers tried asking when I was flying home - she had just assumed I would be. By this time I had already decided not to renew, though I hadn't signed the papers yet. It was sitting on my desk, so they didn't know. But I did, and it meant this would be my last year here. Which meant I needed to see everything in Japan fast. Plus Japanese New Year was supposed to be a big event, so I wanted to see it.

I had figured this was my chance to see the big cities. I had come to the realization that Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara (also Kobe, but I didn't notice in time) were so close they practically shared a subway. I decided I would spend the first third of my vacation there and then my second third in Tokyo. I could finally see my friends from Germany. Towards the end of the planning stage, I was talking to my Chinese friend and she was passing through Beijing. I took it as an opportunity to go myself and have someone that could speak the language guide me, if only for a bit. So rather late, I booked a flight to Beijing. I didn't notice until much later that I lost a lot of time due to overnights at the airport. I was also unaware of a critical piece of information everyone neglected to tell me until much, much later. But that's later in the post.

While I was still planning, my girlfriend at the time wanted to travel with someone. I eventually let her into my plans and we planned together. While talking to one of the teachers about my plan, she mentioned staying at a temple in Kyoto. It sounded very adventurous. No heat, no meat, waking up early to chant with the monks. I really wanted to do it. However, the only viable day was Christmas Eve through to Christmas. This sounded even better to me. I could have a memorable Christmas.

Well, my girlfriend didn't like this plan. She wanted to spend time in a hotel and Skype her family. The disagreement turned into a fight and we ended up breaking up. This was very close to departure time so everything had to be rapidly rebooked. As a male, I have far more (especially cheap) options in Japan. So I was able to find places. The hard part was the temple.

Of course the websites (if they even have one) are all in Japanese. I tried having my coworkers help. I looked through a long list of temples. They all sounded great - if you wanted a hotel. They had wifi and air conditioning and all kinds of amenities. But I didn't want any of those things. When I did find Spartan accommodations  they were either booked or busy getting ready for the New Year. Eventually I did find a temple to stay at. It was far from my first pick, but I had hoped it would be an experience.

I finally set out to Osaka. Sometime before I set out, I had heard that a bunch of other Yamaguchi JETs would be in Kyoto, so I decided to drop off my stuff and rush over and meet them.

I got to Kyoto rather late, like 2 in the afternoon or so, to meet them. However, instead of the large group of people I discovered only the one JET from my city and her boyfriend, who was sick. They had just finished touring a castle (so I didn't get to see it [not that I particularly cared, but still]). So we decided to get food.

That wasted a lot of time.

Then we did actually meet the others. One had forgotten his bag and had to go clothes shopping. Then we did some walking around. No one knew what they wanted to do. Eventually we decided to go to an Irish pub. Enroute I decided I had better get back to Osaka.

By the time I got back to Osaka I was really upset at myself for having wasted an entire day I could have seen Osaka to see nothing in Kyoto. Especially since I had scheduled more days for Kyoto anyway.

So capsule hotels sound like something out of sci-fi. And it might initially look like it. But I can assure you toasters are more technologically advanced. You (and everyone else in the building) have to check out of your room every day. Fortunately they hold on to your luggage (at least this one does), but it's still a huge hassle. Also, there are no showers, just a huge public bath. But the worst part is the lack of outlets. This became a problem the next day.

I had used up most of my battery the previous day and was able to charge only one of my batteries by using my laptop. Yes, I was at 100%, but that only meant a few hours. That's how awful my battery life is. So I decided it was worth buying a third battery. Unfortunately the store didn't carry it, so I ended up buying and external. It was surprisingly awesome and a huge help the rest of the trip and presumably into the future as well. Still I was very stressed out up until then.

I didn't do much research as to what every city offered, so I was very happy when I had discovered there was a Weihnachtsmarkt still in town for Christmas. Osaka has a lot of Germans or something, I don't know. I got there too early and wandered around a bit before it finally opened up. It was cool to see Japanese girls (the ones working) using German as well as the actual Germans working there, too. Probably every German in Osaka (all four of them) were there, working. I bought some Christmas presents for my friends and ate some vaguely German food.

Then I set out to find my next goal, the aquarium. Shimonoseki also has an aquarium so I wanted to see how this one compared, and more importantly - I wanted to see whale sharks. When I arrived near the aquarium, I saw a ton of people carrying a One Piece bag. Everyone had one of two types of bags, so I knew something was happening. When I got even closer, I saw next door was a giant One Piece banner with the word "Exhibit". I was a bit confused because it looked like the aquarium was maybe working with this exhibit or something so I figured I'd check it out after the aquarium. I arrived in time (well, a bit early) for some kind of penguin parade. Which was exactly what it sounds like. It was mildly entertaining and then I got in line for a ticket.

Inside was super crowded. I had not thought ahead and had gone on a Sunday during vacation season. I couldn't see anything. Though the only things I cared about were otters and whale sharks. The otters hid by the time I finally got close enough to see. But the disappointing part was how small the whale shark was. Sure, I guess you can fit in its mouth, but it's not impressively large in my opinion. Maybe it was a baby or something. So I left, disappointed a bit, and went to the One Piece exhibit across the street.

Except apparently tickets were sold out for that day. And if you want to buy tickets for the next day, you need to come the next day. But the next day was Christmas Eve, and I had plans to be in Kyoto. Temples have early check in times, too. In order to actually buy a ticket, it would have to be after tomorrow, and it would have to be from a convenience store. Because convenience stores do everything in Japan that normal people of the world use the internet for. So I got my ticket for the 26th. Except the machine didn't like my name so I had to be Corbin Yamada.

Then I decided to head to Osaka Castle. Except by now, the sun is setting. I don't make it very far around the outer courtyard before I decide to leave. I decide I can go early in the morning and see it before Kyoto.

I head back and try to find a restaurant that is both takoyaki and okonomiyaki - Osaka specialties - to create my own super specialty - otakonomiyaki. When I finally do find a place and explain I want to combine them, the guy tells me it's "impossible". So I order them separately and do it myself. Unfortunately it didn't earn as much attention as I hoped, but I can tell the students I was successful.

I went back to the hostel to play games and charge my stuff. I had to listen to the insufferable sound of some dude constantly smack his lips/tongue around for hours while weird things happened on Japanese TV and some dude read a porn magazine in the common room despite the women walking around or even standing next to him.

In the morning, I set back out for Osaka Castle. This time I had more time. Sort of. I should definitely have left much earlier. Again, I wasted so much time on the outer courtyard, I didn't actually go see the castle. As time wore down, I got worried about making it to Kyoto to check in on time so I rushed back, got my luggage, and went to Kyoto.

It turns out this was probably unnecessary. While some of the other "temples" might have had early check ins, I got the feeling this one didn't. I walked past a temple up to some bland Japanese-style (ie bland, square, and bland) building and checked in. The place looked like a fancy hotel on the inside. And that's all it was. My room looked like any other hotel room (albeit, I did get the Japanese-style room). The only thing of note was there was a Buddhist book in English.

I had paid for a dinner, so I went to go eat it. I had hoped that, at the very least, it would vegetarian. Not that I don't love meat, but I wanted to feel like something - anything - was templeful about this place.

No. First thing they brought out was fish. And then more and more various sea creatures.

Again, the shower/bath was public. With people that like to spend strange amounts of time there.

There was no praying in the morning. There was nothing.

I checked out the shops they had, which were the closest things to Buddhist in the whole place I guess. Then I checked out and left for my next hostel. I had only booked Christmas Eve there for the experience, but there was none to be had anyway. My next place was also in Kyoto, but much cheaper and more convenient.

I spent the day looking at temples. Kyoto has a great tourist bus system. Kyoto has like a billion temples. I went to four of them. I was really angry at myself for not moving my photos the night before, so near the end, I was getting frustrated.

On my way back for the night, I managed to run into my ex. She decided to also travel a similar route, if a bit mirrored so we didn't run into each other, but it seems our Christmas plans were similar. And since our hostel was the cheapest, it's no wonder we both booked the same place. I saw her on the street, heading back and talked to her. She was really really really mad at me, but oh well. Haven't heard from her since.

The next day was the day I had tickets for the One Piece exhibit so I headed back to Osaka.

I left early so I could go see the castle. And hopefully this time, actually see the castle. Despite this, I still went around the rest of the outer courtyard. I even paid to enter the "garden" which was nothing more than dead grass because it's Winter. Needless to say, I was the only one in that section.

However, I did actually manage to get up to and see the castle. Then I even decided to go in it.

After that, I went to see my exhibit.

It was cool. Like really cool. Things were even in English sometimes. Pictures were prohibited, but I got the book version of the exhibit. Next store was a One Piece shop so I bought myself a strawhat.

Then I returned to Kyoto and did pretty much nothing. At some point during that night I decided I wanted to try to find geiko (geisha). Unsurprisingly, they weren't walking around outside at that time of night or I was just unlucky, but I couldn't find any.

The next day was Nara. I had a friend in Nara I was supposed to meet. I eventually found the right train station and we met and ate the closest thing we could find to German food. Then we set out to pet deer and see the giant Buddha.

The deer were awesome. They'd headbutt you until you gave them treats - special deer sembei. It was fun to watch them chase people, too. Some of them would even try to bow to you.

We saw the Buddha. And I climbed through the hole in a pillar said to be the size of his nostril. Which means I'm lucky or something. Then we wandered through the forest and pet more deer.

I decided to try to taste one of the sembei despite my friend's warnings and tales of her friend getting sick. Sure enough, it tasted bad, but I didn't think much of it. Then I left and went back to Kyoto.

Somehow my friends I had met at the hostel had managed to find geiko without me.

This was also when one of them had revealed to me - to enter China you need a visa.

Now I have traveled a lot, but never to a place like China. The thought of a visa never crossed my mind. Why would it? I've been to some 11+ countries and never needed one. No one had ever mentioned it to me despite all the time I talked about this trip.

I immediately tried to reach my Chinese friend and searched all over the internet for an answer. A big problem was that it cost money. I had already invented way too much into just going for such a short time and now it would cost more. And I had just foolishly sent most of my savings to America and had just spent a ton on the first 2/3rds of my trip, as well as my giant electric bill I still had to pay. I was apprehensive about spending yet more. The ticket itself was expensive since I bought it so short notice.

I had discovered though that it is possible to get a same day visa, and it was fairly common. I soon discovered I had left my passport at home because I had intended to fly out of Fukuoka, which meant I would be passing by home anyway. I had first thought that I could get it on the 2nd, the day of my flight since it was in the evening. But then I realized they took every Japanese and Chinese holiday off - and New Years was a big holiday. So I had to do it before the holiday began. But I couldn't figure out how to. Eventually I devised a plan. I would express mail my key the next day home and have my friend enter my house and mail my passport. I would then go to the Tokyo embassy and get it done there.

The next morning, I mailed my key and went to Tokyo.

To be continued.