nacken

Chill-out and getting-ready-to-travel-again day

There was not much going on today .. sleeping long .. food, packing, checking email, and then getting ready to go to the bus station in Himeji, singing “Oha-Rock” (Shingo Mama on the radio, while the backseat drivers were doing the according hand movements).

Then boarding the bus at 9:15 (never have seen that in a bus, left / middle / right seats, very comfortable seats actually, as long as you are not 6’2) and off did we go …

Since all the curtains were closed shortly after we left, there was not much to see .. so, back to reading books, listening to music and dozing off until some limb tells you that it wants to participate again in that whole blood/oxygen exchange thing …

XMAS day !!! yeah !!! .. Today’s program: going to the earthquake champion 1995 : KOBE.

What could be better on xmas day then Sushi for breakfast and the daughter of the house running around in her Kimono?

I actually thought that she would be waering that today.

For lunch then we had Pizza, and finally we were all ready to go…

Once again on the train … first we stopped in Himeji to visit a shop where Hisako used to work .. people there were very nice, but nonetheless crazy .. but at least we got tea (can anyone say “madhatter’s teaparty” ? ).

Then further Y950 brought us to Kobe.

Not too visible (since shot from the train), but this here is Kobe Bay with it’s huge bay bridge (the biggest in what? the world? Japan? Kobe?). It looked even more magnificent with the sun setting …

The ride was only 40 minutes and it was not crowded at all (which should change on the way back !!)

Surprise, another Ferri’s wheel !!! .. they seem to be a favourite in Japanese landscape building these days !

So we went and explore the shopping oppertunities in Downtown Kobe (one section called “Harborland” .. sounded like a theme park, but was just a mall.

One of the entrances to Chinatown …

Around Xmas Kobe seems to have this weird like tunnel spectacular going on … it attracted thousands of people .. and I am still wondering why …

I saw this light thingy on many brochures … but once there, it was just too crowded to enjoy.

A very nice nightlight shot of Kobe .. just before we are leaving for Himeji again.

The train station has turned into a madhouse by now.

Good occasion to talk about cellphones: It seems that now EVERYONE has one … and very nice ones .. they come with large displays (and in color) and you can download pictures of your loved ones .. you can also download your favourite tunes as ringers (and i really mean current chart hits). Another thing: short email messaging … I was wondering first why i see so many people frantically holding and working their phones with one hand and a thumb operated joystick/button: later I found out that they are sending short emails back and forth … and also battery life seems to be amazing. On one occasion i noticed many melodies being played, several emails sent and received, and finally a one hour phonecall .. and no single recharge … on my shitty Star Tek i can do 3 short phonecalls max before the (clumsy) battary dies on me.

And the final meal of xmas day was what I now call “japanese tapas” … i forgot the real name … it is just ordering a bunch of little dishes for the whole table … usually barfood quality …. fried greasy things going well with drinks …

The place had somewhat of a beer garden atmosphere and the poor waitgirls had to still wear santa hats.

Tommorow we will board the bus to Tokyo .. so, I have no idea when I can make the next update … just hang in there .. it will be great !!!

Xmas Eve – Day was for us a travel day again, going back to Himeji.

The breakfast on xmaseveday was a wicked “KaRuBi” Mac … I have NO idea what it was exactly … but McDonald has all over the world some “local” food items, and here it was, besides above mentioned Burger, McChicken Teriyaki and another unidentifiable ChickenBurger.

Best story of the day was, the adjacent Kentucky Fried Chicken had a big sign up, that they ran out of chicken and could only fill pre-reserved orders .. I wonder what the Colonel thinks of that ???

Here is then a nice goodbye picture of the 3 of us at Hirakata station before we headed back to Osaka to catch the train to Himeji … by now we feel pretty comfortable with the japanese train and ticketing system … but I was very surprised how crowded this train to Himeji was …

Back home we were treated to a fantastic “roll your own sushi” dinner. The tray in the middle contains all kind of yummy fish and other things you have never before envisioned in Sushi (little sausages anyone ???) But it was fun AND very tasty.

Along with it, Hisako’s Dad and I kept pouring each other Sake and Beer. Fish needs to swim, right ??? I then spent the rest of Xmas eve doing the update for the last 3 days and edit the first video and then went to bed at i-dont-know-what-time.

These are various pieces of yummy looking xmas cake !!! … We were just too stuffed to actually eat them

After getting up at 3:30 pm this day, there was not much sunlight to catch. Once showering was done we finally headed out for “breakfast”, by taking the train to a nearby town called “Hirakata”

No, this is not Beni-hana with it’s Tepen-yaki… it is a local Osaka specialty called “okonomi-yaki” (or something like that) and it is basically a mix of a certain cabbage with egg, spices, and just like pizza you can say that you want seafood or pork or whatever in it. After turning it a couple of times it is garnished (aka “soaked”) with mayonaise and some kind of BBQ sauce, making sure that squid and pork taste absolute the same.

It is yummy, but nothing you would want everyday. I still believe it is a good foundation for the beer that would follow shortly afterwards…

speaking of which… I forgot the name of this place, but they had nice sized pitchers of beer, an interesting selection of little food items (we had more squid, tofu and french fries. The japanese couple on the table next to us had exotic items such as spaghetti, pizza, omelette. And somewhere I saw someone eating garlic bread with chopsticks)

After some yummy yebisu I had no problem to ask the guy next to us to shot this picture

After we have thoroughfully explored the watering holes of Hirakata, we decided to rent a movie and to go back to Toshi’s place.

The video rental place was interesting. A lot of US TV shows such as Friends, Ally McBeal, X-Files … also, most of the US movies came in dubbed and subtitled (throw in the choice of widescreen or not and you’d have 4 tapes per movie).

I found it very interesting to see already titles such as “Dancer in the Dark” or “6th Day”, which are still running in US theaters. But it turns out that those were mere free rentals of the movie trailers…

After a long search (and there was not really anything interesting), we settled for “Mission to Mars“) which none of us has seen yet, it was new, it looked like mindless latenight entertainment… but on the picture above you can see Toshi discovering what a pile of crap that movie was (although it started promising) …

and this next shot shows the ultimate effect of the movie on all of us.

If you are an insomnic, I recommend renting this movie !!!

What a very long long day … getting up .. train riding until oblivion .. no sleep !!! but that sums up the 3 day Osaka experience pretty well:

so … after some wild train riding and schlepping the suitcase full of overnight stuff (had I only known that that was one of the tasks ahead) .. and then this suitcase would not fit into any of the coinlockers … we arrived in Osaka which greeted us with a nice big red ferrie’s weel.

We saw a lot of several subway and trainstations .. but we also managed to find the redlight district immediatelly (by accident of course … hey, I have never been there .. but Don has .. this is him calling Toshi .. the guy we would stay with later

This is another shot of lovely crowded Osaka … many people !!! .. and Santas giving away tissues … since everyone seems to have a cold .. One district is known as “american mirror”. And this is as bad as it can get … If you are a japanese person and you want to deny where you are from .. get your clothes and your friends here … you see every kind ouf weirdness here (which in the US would probably harmless .. but looks out of place here)

Here we are meeting some of Don’s online pal’s .. it looks like he is selling something .. but it is only selfmade CDs ..

we went to a show by a band called OOIOO .. Don loved it .. i was not too impressed .. but hey .. first time in a japanese dance club .. was somewhat neat .. but too loud after a while … the guys we met were all crazy I believe … but fun ..

This was after the concert .. I was really tired then .. we took one more goofy shot .. and then we went from Osaka to Gotenyama, where Toshi lives .. we arrived around 11:30 PM

Going to Toshi’s was fun .. it was a slightly longer ride (which cost 34OY) and i had a very hard time keeping awake .. but finally we arrived …

It seems to be a nice quite suburb of Osaka .. we shopped for snacks at the un-kon-bini (un-convenient store) and then spend a loooong night ….

There was chatting, video game, silly TV shows (check out the video later) … very late an old friend of Toshi and Don came over, Hiroko, and we all had a good time, although everyone in between would doze off and on again, until 7 am or so … Hiroko had to catch the first train in the morning … so me and Toshi brought her down to the station while D. was already snoring …

before the big sleep came in, we had some fun with the video camera.

So, slowly it seems we get into the right timezone … and so today’s program means CULTURAL AFFAIRS … and what other than the Himeji-Castle and Karaoke can that be ???

Early in the morning (around 10 AM) Hisako’s mom explains some fruit to a sleepy Don.

Notice the yummy breakfast we are about to eat? Fried squid, fish filled rice balls, Misu Soup … I know that some people do not like the idea of fish in the morning … but I could eat that kind of breakfast all the time! (although I am not a big breakfast person).
Hisako’s mom even found Diet Coke for me (i have a slight substance abuse issue with it, I showed first signs of withdrawl). Interestingly, though you find all kinds of softdrinks in those many many vending machines … but I have yet to spot diet coke !

HIMEJI-JO

According to the brochure it is the “grandest” of the remaining feudal castles in Japan … whatever they mean with “grand” (biggest? tallest? most visited?). It looks really pretty and is quite extansive. For 600Yen we toured around 2 hours and explored every nook and cranny. If you want to see the castle in action, pick up “Ran”, that 1980something Samurai movie. Below a collection of nice shots

Now we are getting to the weird evening pics, fun filled with drinks, laughter and song.

These are Reiko and Hisako. Reiko is a crazy friend of Hisako and drives her car accordingly. They were laughing constantly about things that I have of course NO idea what it was .. but fun was had by all. This place we went to “Ichirin” had a huge selection of “sodas” … all kinds of bubblies with artificial fruit flavors (like those gummy-candy you can find in asia shops) and legend has it that the drinks actually contain alcohol .. but I did not notice any, so I switched to beer.

Although we had a nice dinner at Hisako’s house, we had some “snacks” with the drinks .. and actually that was another whole meal in itself: Fried Squid again, sashimi, some beef-tongue something, some other meat, chicken wings with a huge pile of mayo …

I think this is the best proof that these drinks are harmless .. as you can see Don hugging his 6 empty glasses at the end. I think he worked his way through 5 different flavors.

Afterwards we went to a Karaoke place. This was a first for me, to have your own little room with all the equipment, 4 remote controls (yes, one was actually for ordering drinks). From New York I just know those places where you have to sing for the whole bar. The music selection was impressive, too.

The girl with the crazy laughter turned out to be actually a quite good singer .. and I keep being amazed by how quickly people can read Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji … I tried to read a long .. but .. ah well ..

I think on this (embaressing) picture Don and I give a wicked version of “Doo wha dee dee, dee dee dun dee dee dooo” (whatever the real title may be) .. Other songs this evening: Disney’s “under the sea” (Don), Sinatra’s “My Way” (moi), Ricky Martin’s “La Vida Loca” (this is where Don and I lost our vocal chords) and also Pizzicato Five’s “The night is still young” (Don knew the lyrics .. while I completly failed)

The next update may take 3 days, since we are going to Osaka and I will not bring my computer with me… so, come back again soon !!! And thanks for all the email feedback we have gotten so far !

The first day “on the town”. Well, after waking up far too early, we were than treated with a yummy breakfast (i never tried to eat fried eggs with chopsticks, but hey, it works !).

The next adventure wasn’t far: Riding to the train station by bike, yippieh !!! Not only do we have to drive on “the other side”, but roads were kinda narrow and it was a bit cold and later it started raining. But no package tour to Japan would ever include this kind of entertainment program

After we found out how to get the tickets (actually fairly simple, once you accept that you have to put the money in first, before you can even see anything on the buttons), a short train ride brought deep into the heart of Himeji, where we explored the extensive shopping opportunities ( we are still wondering what kind of account these 2 young ladies are smiling for but it is seriously a window ad for a bank).

I was amazed by the mere amount of patchinko parlours, and wondering about the amount of people who obviously have the time during the day to play it. The same about young people later. The streets were filled as if it was a public holiday and no one actually had to work.

About half a mile away from the station is Himeji Castle. We did not go inside (this is planned for some other day) but we visited it’s park and Don told me all kind of gruesome stories about the sword bearing people who lived there many many years ago.

We later found Tower Records, and I spent already 80$ on the first day for CDs .. how shall that continue ??

Then we went back home, took a nap (well, I did) and went out again to be treated to some yummy Ramen and beers, and then we went to an “international bar”, where we were among other gaijin and listened to xmas music (oh, if you think you can escape the whole xmas dilemma by going to Japan, think again. We had xmas music around us ALL the time. And trees and decoration are just as much as in Manhattan)

The visual highlight of the day for me was watching Don and Hisako fighting each other in … A DANCE CONTEST … i was dropping my jaws about the game machines they had … you actually have to dance (and dance well) to score points ! And it even looked good (well, at least Hisako and Don did, i watched some other people later, they may have been faster, but they looked more like running)

Other games in this place include a guitar playing game, one where you have to be a precise DJ, or a good drummer. And the latest uses motion sensors which keep measuring if you are doing the right dance moves with your armes !!! … think “macarena drill machine” .. but again .. looked good !!! I was just amazed how easy it seems to get away from the whole “shoot em up” video game concept without looking like a lame excuse. Some of those dancing game look like a serious workout to me.

Nightfall was replaced with just closing the windowshades, gin & tonics, and the imense boring Bruce Willis movie “The Kid” which put everyone to sleep.

And so we crossed the dateline without really noticing it. Suddenly it was Tuesday.

The first meal we had (lunch ? dinner ? ) was some Sukiyaki style beef which was actually tastewise pretty neat, but roughly enough for a grown man. So we ate whatever we could get (Ok, so not everything is eaten with chopsticks ) and tried to keep dozing off. At least the flight attendent was very nice and knew how to make Gin & Tonics.

Once we got closer I started playing with my iBook ( And this is how it looks like when a 6’2 person tries to set up shop in that small confined space of coach) and since the on-board movie selection was so fantastic, we changed to DVD and watched “Chasing Amy”, only to be left with a cliffhanger when 11 minutes before end the (allegedly 6 hour) battery died. Anyways .. the 13.5 hour flight came to an end eventually and mind I say with the worst landing I have ever experienced (and i have been flying quite some .. i would estimate I have experienced 500 landings so far) .. but this one was not only bumpy, it also felt as if we were skidding from side to side, trying to find balance….

Looks like we made it in one piece.

After leaving the plane passport control and customs was no hassle. And then we had another 3 hours fun riding several trains with multiple stops to finally finally get to Himeji. It was too dark to see anything besides loud-blinking patchinko parlours, but we were also very very tired … we all dozed of on the train, and some old smelly guy on the train felt compelled to practice his english on me, by asking me for the time (hey, i have no watch, but he had )

And here is our room where lovely Hisako brings us Tea (hey, i ordered Beer !!! )

After 24 hours of travelling (which followed a night of only 90 minutes sleep) we had NO problem hitting the sack and falling asleeep. But alas, at 6 AM i woke up already and so I lay here and type away my update.

Travel Day !!! Waking up at 3:45 AM is no fun at all .. and then you show up at the airport in time, just to find out that you can wait another 1.5 hours in line. There was even a camera team of channel 7 asking people how they feel about the delays (oh, yeah, we sure love them.) But nothing could stop us now !!!

And here we are waiting happily in line tired from a night of nearly no sleep. What was especially nice was the feeling that you punished for coming in time. People who came later were pulled out of the line once their depurture time came critically close. Thus we were not moving it all the last 40 minutes, because they had to serve the latecomers.

Anyways .. finally we were checked in and on the plane to Chicago.

Besides a mediocre breakfast (cornflakes, low fat milk, no sugar … what is this ? Fat-camp ??) nothing special to report.

After some initial confusion in Chicago (Temperature 2F) we found our gate and were soon on board our trusty 747 and lift off was pretty much in time. And food came soon afterwards.

What I found particulary amazing and pleasing on this flight was the lack of screaming toddlers

Don getting all giddy over his sukiyaki style braised beef.