It's been nearly four months since I landed in Narita airport completely confused and overwhelmed. While I've finally settled into my surroundings, I discover new things/situations every day/week.
As of me writing this post, my first semester at "yamadai" has ended. I've finished my classes, fumbled through my test, and come out clean. While I've seen improvement in my Japanese ability, it's not where I want it to be. I think it was kinda foolish to look back and think that I could become near fluent in only one year. But, I'm not giving up. I've figured out that I do want to do something with my Japanese, that's for sure. However, it's not going to be an easy goal. But, I am ready for a challenge.
My "haru yasumi" or spring break, will be packed full of stuff to do. On Monday, I started my new part time job over here. I'm working at a korean restaurant called, "Tomiden". While my job consists of mainly washing dishes, cutting vegetables, and, eventually, cooking food, the place is a pretty fun place to work. Michael got me the job since a lot of the Korean workers are returning home soon. The kicker is: Only 3 or so people at the restaurant can speak English. While this may sound scary, I think working here well be a great way to improve my Japanese speaking and listening ability.
In addition to working a few times a week, my break will consist of a lot of traveling. While it's still in the planning stages, I'm more than likely going to see a lot of cool shit these next two months. In a few days, I'll probably go see some stuff around Yamaguchi that I haven't got to see yet, head back to Hiroshima and Iwakuni to meet some friends up I made there, and then at the end of the month head up to the middle of Japan and go skiing with Sean and Michael. I'm pretty excited about the skiing trip since I've never been.
However, March may prove to be even more fun. Sean and I are going to spend a week or a week and a half in Kyoto and Osaka. We'll go see Bloc Party in Osaka (one of my favorite bands), check out some shrines & castles, then head up to Kyoto, and maybe eventually to Kobe or Okayama. And maybe in April, I'll head up to Tokyo for a week for my birthday and go and experience one of the biggest cities in the world. While none of this is set in stone besides the Osaka trip, i'm excited nonetheless.
I've got a funny story to share, but I'll have to get to it in another post..
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Saturday, January 06, 2007
A good end and a better beginning..
After hours upon hours on the local trains, a severe lack of sleep, great food, memories, and photos, I'm back home in Yamaguchi.This trip, like most out of Yamaguchi, was a welcome change. Not to say that "the gooch" isn't a bad place to be. Quite the opposite, actually. But where was I...
On Dec 31st, Sean and I packed our bags for the next 5 days. We left the dorms at around 10:30 and eagerly rode our bikes to the Yuda-Onsen station located 10 minutes away. When we arrived the train station, the bike racks were jam-packed so we had to go a little off the beaten path to find our spot but eventually we did. As we approached the station, we kept wondering if our rides we be stolen when we got back; we progressed anyway.
[It must be noted that if it weren't for the Seishun Jyuu-Hachi Kippu, Sean and I probably wouldn't have been traveling since the trains can be rather expensive. However, we were lucky that there was the ticket that let us get to our destination for a relatively cheap price of roughly $120. The SJHK lets anyone who purchases the ticket to use the local trains for 5 days during a certain season of the year. There are three seasons during the year in which you can buy the ticket and our winter vacation happened to coincide with one of them. ]
When we walked inside, we bought our tickets and made our way to the train. Since neither of us had been to the island of Kyushu or the city of Fukuoka (our ultimate destination), we both knew we were in for quite a ride.
We made it to the main station and caught our first station without a hitch and a general idea of where we should end up, but at Shin-Yamaguchi we left all certainty about our upcoming travel.
The first train went from Yamaguchi to Kyushu with many frequent stops at local stations. While these frequent stops are minor setbacks one experiences on the local trains, we were both happy to have saved some money. In the back of my mind with the limited geography I knew of Japan, I recalled hearing that we need to switch trains at Shimonoseki (the last city before Kyushu) but I was wrong apparently. We got off a stop or two early and had to wait an hour or so before the next train. After awhile we got the hang of the train-hopping and eventually ended up in Fukuoka (Hakata St.) roughly 3 hours later just in time to check into our hotel.
Our hotel for the first night was the Comfort Hotel Hakata, a relatively inexpensive business hotel with comfortable beds. Check-in was a breeze since we had booked a few days prior to arrival. After check-in, we dropped our bags in the room and explored the city.
Being new year's eve, Fukuoka was pretty much a ghost town during the day but we found some sites and a cool shopping center called Canal City close to our hotel. After a few hours of walking around, we went to Starbucks then headed back to the hotel before we went out that night. At the hotel, we watched some pride fighting, and messed with the bidet-style toilet. If any of you ever go to Japan, don't mess with the knobs on the side of the toilet. They are a force not to be reckoned with. Sean knows this first hand, since he got sprayed in the face with the bidet. *shudder*
We kicked back at the hotel for a few hours then headed out to find something to do for the night. The problem was that everything was closed, including practically every restaurant, bar, and convenience shop. We ended up walking the streets for an hour or two, until we found a small little Hakkenden-style restaurant full of various meats and such. Struggling with the menu, Sean and I eventually settled on something called "Tan-Steak" which in the end turned out to be a $10 piece of beef tongue. A dish that I probably will not be ordering again anytime soon. After trying to order some more edible food, a nice Japanese couple to the next of us in their 30's helped us out with the Kanji, and ended up buying us some food and some free drinks. They also told us about an international bar named, Happy Cock, (*snicker*) that was having a big countdown party for the new year.
By the time they told us about the party it was nearing 11pm, so we quickly paid and gave them our thanks and caught a cab (my first time) to the bar. When we arrived, we paid and headed up stairs to a huge party. I've never seen so many people crammed in such a small place. It was crazy. I had a great time, met a lot of cool people ,and ended up staying until the party ended at 5am. Afterwards, we stumbled home and crashed the whole next day.
When we woke up the next day, it was almost time for our friend Michael to arrive. We caught the subway (my first time) and met him at the station. The three of us walked around and eventually found another nice business hotel located near Canal City. After we settled, we hit Canal city and grabbed some food. After dinner, Sean headed back to the hotel to relax since we were going sight-seeing the next day. However, Michael and I headed out to see if there was anything going on at night. We strolled along the canal that was lit up by all of the neon lights, but we ended up just going to another restaurant and getting some food and he got a few drinks. By 1am, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. On the way back, I did see a homeless guy shoot up some heroin which was an interesting site. Another first...
At 11am, the three of us checked out of our hotel and found another hotel by Canal city. This time, however, we stayed in a capsule hotel. What is that you ask? Well essentially it's a hotel full of tubes that are stacked on top of each other in massive rows. For a very reasonable price, you get a tube, and unlimited access to the TV lounges, and hot springs. The kicker is: only guys stay there. So I had another first using the onsen with a lot of creepy old Japanese dudes. But honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Enough about the hotel..
After we dropped our bags, we went around walking in Fukuoka for what seemed forever. We saw some very cool parks (one that was spread out in islands with bridges connecting the island) and some pretty trashy places (ironically named sunset park). We also stopped by an indoor snowboarding arena which was pretty sweet, but we didn't stay for very long. Later on after our legs were pure goo from all of the walking, we stopped at a little shop near the canal and tried Fukuoka's specialty food: ramen. And man, that ramen was damn good.
The next day Sean headed home due to the ATM's being closed during the holidays. Why are ATM's ever closed? I don't know. Sean caught his train, and Michael and I caught our train to Nagasaki. Six hours later we arrived, found a cheap hostel, and went out for the night. We found a neat little bar where everyone was really friendly. We stuck around for awhile then went back home.
The next day we woke up, checked out, and dumped our bags in a coin locker at the train station. We didn't go see the peace memorial park due to lack of time, but we did see some pretty interesting stuff such as Dejima, Chinatown, and Glover Garden.
Dejima was a fan-shaped artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki that was a Dutch trading post during Japan's self-imposed isolation (sakoku) of the Edo period, from 1641 until 1853. It was interesting seeing the place where foreigners first landed in Japan. I didn't know much about Nagasaki before I came..
Nagasaki's Chinatown was pretty small, and one of I think only two in Japan. The streets were paved with dragon imagery, elaborate decorations, and some interesting smells. We looked around here for about an hour then made our way to Glover Garden.
Glover Garden is oldest Western style house surviving in Japan and one of Nagasaki's biggest attractions. The garden belonged to Thomas Glover who was a pioneer in bringing a lot of business to Japan. He even helped found Mitsubishi. Anyway, the garden was beautiful and at the top you could see all of Nagasaki City. An image I won't ever forget.
After we left the garden, Michael and I made our way back to the train station. Here, we tried some of Nagasaki's famous Chinese food and man it was the best fried rice I've ever eaten. Next, we caught our train back to Yamaguchi. Roughly 9 hours later, we made it home.
On Dec 31st, Sean and I packed our bags for the next 5 days. We left the dorms at around 10:30 and eagerly rode our bikes to the Yuda-Onsen station located 10 minutes away. When we arrived the train station, the bike racks were jam-packed so we had to go a little off the beaten path to find our spot but eventually we did. As we approached the station, we kept wondering if our rides we be stolen when we got back; we progressed anyway.
[It must be noted that if it weren't for the Seishun Jyuu-Hachi Kippu, Sean and I probably wouldn't have been traveling since the trains can be rather expensive. However, we were lucky that there was the ticket that let us get to our destination for a relatively cheap price of roughly $120. The SJHK lets anyone who purchases the ticket to use the local trains for 5 days during a certain season of the year. There are three seasons during the year in which you can buy the ticket and our winter vacation happened to coincide with one of them. ]
When we walked inside, we bought our tickets and made our way to the train. Since neither of us had been to the island of Kyushu or the city of Fukuoka (our ultimate destination), we both knew we were in for quite a ride.
We made it to the main station and caught our first station without a hitch and a general idea of where we should end up, but at Shin-Yamaguchi we left all certainty about our upcoming travel.
The first train went from Yamaguchi to Kyushu with many frequent stops at local stations. While these frequent stops are minor setbacks one experiences on the local trains, we were both happy to have saved some money. In the back of my mind with the limited geography I knew of Japan, I recalled hearing that we need to switch trains at Shimonoseki (the last city before Kyushu) but I was wrong apparently. We got off a stop or two early and had to wait an hour or so before the next train. After awhile we got the hang of the train-hopping and eventually ended up in Fukuoka (Hakata St.) roughly 3 hours later just in time to check into our hotel.
Our hotel for the first night was the Comfort Hotel Hakata, a relatively inexpensive business hotel with comfortable beds. Check-in was a breeze since we had booked a few days prior to arrival. After check-in, we dropped our bags in the room and explored the city.
Being new year's eve, Fukuoka was pretty much a ghost town during the day but we found some sites and a cool shopping center called Canal City close to our hotel. After a few hours of walking around, we went to Starbucks then headed back to the hotel before we went out that night. At the hotel, we watched some pride fighting, and messed with the bidet-style toilet. If any of you ever go to Japan, don't mess with the knobs on the side of the toilet. They are a force not to be reckoned with. Sean knows this first hand, since he got sprayed in the face with the bidet. *shudder*
We kicked back at the hotel for a few hours then headed out to find something to do for the night. The problem was that everything was closed, including practically every restaurant, bar, and convenience shop. We ended up walking the streets for an hour or two, until we found a small little Hakkenden-style restaurant full of various meats and such. Struggling with the menu, Sean and I eventually settled on something called "Tan-Steak" which in the end turned out to be a $10 piece of beef tongue. A dish that I probably will not be ordering again anytime soon. After trying to order some more edible food, a nice Japanese couple to the next of us in their 30's helped us out with the Kanji, and ended up buying us some food and some free drinks. They also told us about an international bar named, Happy Cock, (*snicker*) that was having a big countdown party for the new year.
By the time they told us about the party it was nearing 11pm, so we quickly paid and gave them our thanks and caught a cab (my first time) to the bar. When we arrived, we paid and headed up stairs to a huge party. I've never seen so many people crammed in such a small place. It was crazy. I had a great time, met a lot of cool people ,and ended up staying until the party ended at 5am. Afterwards, we stumbled home and crashed the whole next day.
When we woke up the next day, it was almost time for our friend Michael to arrive. We caught the subway (my first time) and met him at the station. The three of us walked around and eventually found another nice business hotel located near Canal City. After we settled, we hit Canal city and grabbed some food. After dinner, Sean headed back to the hotel to relax since we were going sight-seeing the next day. However, Michael and I headed out to see if there was anything going on at night. We strolled along the canal that was lit up by all of the neon lights, but we ended up just going to another restaurant and getting some food and he got a few drinks. By 1am, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. On the way back, I did see a homeless guy shoot up some heroin which was an interesting site. Another first...
At 11am, the three of us checked out of our hotel and found another hotel by Canal city. This time, however, we stayed in a capsule hotel. What is that you ask? Well essentially it's a hotel full of tubes that are stacked on top of each other in massive rows. For a very reasonable price, you get a tube, and unlimited access to the TV lounges, and hot springs. The kicker is: only guys stay there. So I had another first using the onsen with a lot of creepy old Japanese dudes. But honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Enough about the hotel..
After we dropped our bags, we went around walking in Fukuoka for what seemed forever. We saw some very cool parks (one that was spread out in islands with bridges connecting the island) and some pretty trashy places (ironically named sunset park). We also stopped by an indoor snowboarding arena which was pretty sweet, but we didn't stay for very long. Later on after our legs were pure goo from all of the walking, we stopped at a little shop near the canal and tried Fukuoka's specialty food: ramen. And man, that ramen was damn good.
The next day Sean headed home due to the ATM's being closed during the holidays. Why are ATM's ever closed? I don't know. Sean caught his train, and Michael and I caught our train to Nagasaki. Six hours later we arrived, found a cheap hostel, and went out for the night. We found a neat little bar where everyone was really friendly. We stuck around for awhile then went back home.
The next day we woke up, checked out, and dumped our bags in a coin locker at the train station. We didn't go see the peace memorial park due to lack of time, but we did see some pretty interesting stuff such as Dejima, Chinatown, and Glover Garden.
Dejima was a fan-shaped artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki that was a Dutch trading post during Japan's self-imposed isolation (sakoku) of the Edo period, from 1641 until 1853. It was interesting seeing the place where foreigners first landed in Japan. I didn't know much about Nagasaki before I came..
Nagasaki's Chinatown was pretty small, and one of I think only two in Japan. The streets were paved with dragon imagery, elaborate decorations, and some interesting smells. We looked around here for about an hour then made our way to Glover Garden.
Glover Garden is oldest Western style house surviving in Japan and one of Nagasaki's biggest attractions. The garden belonged to Thomas Glover who was a pioneer in bringing a lot of business to Japan. He even helped found Mitsubishi. Anyway, the garden was beautiful and at the top you could see all of Nagasaki City. An image I won't ever forget.
After we left the garden, Michael and I made our way back to the train station. Here, we tried some of Nagasaki's famous Chinese food and man it was the best fried rice I've ever eaten. Next, we caught our train back to Yamaguchi. Roughly 9 hours later, we made it home.
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