3 April 2007, 22:48 in Travels
Japan trip
The Japan trip was awesome! I’ve been back for over a week now but it’s taken a while to get all the photos sorted out and so on. Karen had already experienced a lot of Japan so she planned an itinerary that focused on the good bits to make the best use of the time we had. We did our best to follow the itinerary and I was quite exhausted by the end of the trip which took us to Osaka, Kobe, Nara, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Himeji.
I flew into Osaka where I got straight on a limousine bus which took me to Kobe where I met Karen and we spent the first day. We walked to the base of Mt. Rokko and took a cable car up to the top. We caught a bus to Rokko Arima ropeway and then took another cable car to Arima, a little town famous for its Onsens (natural hot springs). We bathed in an onsen; the water was surprisingly hot. It is a really relaxing experience once you know the etiquette of getting changed, washing, etc.
Later on we went shopping in Kobe Sannomiya and I bought a new camera. Kobe at night is a buzzing metropolois! We met up with a few people including Tori, Brendan, Angela, Amy, and some others I can’t remember at the moment. They are all Australians who are also living in Japan and teaching English. We all went an English pub and then had dinner at a hambaagaa place where they served 1L glasses of Hoegarden. :)
Nara is a beautiful place with lots of parks and tame deer roaming around. We walked to the Giant Buddha which was very impressive. The deer can get quite pushy when they see you have food! In the afternoon we met up with Yoko and her two sisters. We stayed the night in a Ryokan (traditional guest house). This Ryokan was in a modern building like a hotel but the rooms and service were traditional; we were served delicious food in our room. It also had a rooftop (outdoor) onsen, with a view of one of the temples we visited that day, and the cold air and hot water were a nice contrast. What a great way to relax before bed!
Kyoto is one of the more popular tourist destinations in Japan. We stayed there for two nights in a really traditional and beautiful Ryokan with a top level of service and formalities (and price!).
We saw the temple Sanjusangendo and also Kiyomizu-dera. Two helpful uni students who were keen to improve their English volunteered to guide us around for free. It was incredibly cold out there with the wind blowing and we were thoroughly chilled by the time we got back to the Ryokan. We went back to Kiyo-mizudera at night which is an awesome sight all lit up. We both managed to take some cool photos. I went in the onsen at the Ryokan again before bed.
We stayed a second day in Kyoto; on the second day we first saw Nijo Castle which had beautiful gardens. We then went to Kin Kaku Ji (the Golden Pavillion Temple), which is actually made with real gold. Nestled amongst the trees on the edge of a lake, it was a sight to behold. Our last destination for the day was Ryoan-ji, which is a traditional Japanese rock garden and temple.
Hiroshima was our next stop. It is located further south and was noticeably warmer than Kyoto which was very welcome! Hiroshima was the only place on the trip where street trams seemed to be a primary mode of transportation. We looked at an exhibition at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art which had some really interesting works. Karen had been telling me about a Japanese dish called Okonomiyaki , and KZ had enjoyed it too when he was in Japan, so we had a meal at an Okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki is a kind of Japanese savoury pancake with heaps of stuff in it. The one I ordered contained noodles, prawns, oysters, scallops, pork, egg, and a few other ingredients. It was delicious and very filling!
Hiroshima is well known for being the first city to ever have an atomic bomb dropped on it (in World War 2). We went to the A-bomb Dome which stood directly 600m under where the bomb went off on 6 August, 1945. It was one of the only buildings left standing after the blast and has been kept in the same state as a reminder. Nearby is a museum dedicated to the atomic bomb and the effects it had on Hiroshima. Seeing the dome and the museum displays had a powerful effect on me; it was overwhelmingly sad but definitely worth seeing.
Next day, still staying in Hiroshima, we took a ferry across to Miyajima Island for a day trip. We walked around the walkways near the water amongst deer, food stalls, souvenir shops, and lots of people. We saw the big red Torii gate which sits out in the water, and witnessed a Japanese wedding. Then we walked and took a couple of cable cars up Mt. Misen and hiked (and jogged) around some of the trails up there. Monkeys and deer roamed free and the views were simply breathtaking! Unfortunately I’d forgotten to recharge my camera so it ran out of batteries, so we ended up sharing Karen’s camera. When we came back past the Torii gate in the late afternoon, the tide was really low so we walked out and saw lots of locals digging for shellfish of some sort. This day was one of my favourite parts of the whole trip.
That night we went to an internet cafe that was a lot better than anything I’ve ever seen anywhere else! You get your own booth containing a PC with a 19” LCD monitor, a PS2, headphones, a massage chair with five pre-programmed modes, a safe, etc. There is an entire library of DVDs and magazines, and all-you-can-eat/unlimited soft-serve, soft drinks, coffee, tea, and so on, all included in the price. How cool is that!? At something like $12 for 3 hours, the price wasn’t bad either.
Next day we caught a JR train to Himeji, which is the nearest city to where Karen lives. We met up with Mika and went and saw Himeji Castle which was very impressive. We browsed the shops and that evening I participated in one of Karen’s Taekwon-do classes. It was very different to my BJJ and other training but the people were great and I had a lot of fun! Thanks to Kadono-sensei, Arima-sensei, and the others for having me!
Next day Karen had work (school). I slept in and then walked to the school and met some of the teachers and students. The students were shy and it was really funny. That afternoon we caught a train back to Kobe. We did some shopping and then met up with some of the Aussies again. This time I met Ryan and his Japanese girlfriend Yuki. We had an amazing meal which included Japanese marbled beef. Finally we caught a delayed and thus overcrowded train back to Osaka for me to stay my last night.
Early next morning I caught the subway back to the Osaka airport and flew off to Kuala Lumpur. I stayed the night there due to my flights not connecting up, then back to Perth the next day.
I’ve uploaded heaps of photos to the gallery. Not all the photos in this post or in the gallery are mine; Karen took many of them.
The weather was pretty cold; quite a difference to warm old Perth! I was usually wearing jeans, t-shirt, jumper, and jacket over the top, and was still freezing, especially when there was some wind. It was warmer in the south in Hiroshima, where I was comfortable with jeans, a t-shirt, and an open jacket.
Overall it was a really enjoyable trip. It helped immensely that Karen is able to speak Japanese, is familiar with many of the customs, knows about the transport systems such as buses and trains, and knows her way around a little.
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Looks like a fantastic trip that you’ll never forget – always better when you have someone to show you around as well. Though you might soon feel the same way I do now. It’s almost like a dream. Was I ever there?
— Kz Apr 6, 12:15 pm #