Well it was time for me to say good bye to my long time
friend in Kurashiki and head east towards Shizuoka where another friend was
waiting for me.
I thanked many times my friend in Kurashiki, because she let
me spent with her and her family New Years Eve and also visit many places that
I hadn’t dreamt of before like Miyajima and Hiroshima.
So that day I left quite early because the first train was
at 05:30 am and I was there on time as well as the always punctual shinkansen
that was going to take me to Okayama and then change for a faster shinkansen to
go to Shizuoka.
2011 was in the past and I was already in 2012. On top of that, I was blessed to be in my
favourite holiday destination – Japan.
After such a nice day
in the mountains and amazing food the first year of the year was going to be a
truly religious experience. I went with my friend to give the first pray of the
year in 2012. According to the tradition
we went to the most important shrine in Kurashiki called Achi-Jinja or 阿智神社 located
on the top of a hill called
Tsurugatayama or 鶴形山.
This hill is located
right in the middle of the cultural and touristic area called Bikan. Bikan due
to its beauty and proper has been used in many movies and series that are
uncommon on this side of the world.
The day before today, whilst visiting the shrine outside
Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture, we were joking about doing something different
since we had one spare day and we could leave Kurashiki day tour for the 1st
of January since almost everything was going to be closed.
Let's forget about the breakfast part and let's go
straight to the point of today's trip to this amazing place which I didn't have
a clue about.
Saijou Inari 最上稲荷神社 - vermilion torii
The first thing I'd like to tell you is that the
place even though it was in Kurashiki, it was a bit outside of the actual city.
We had to use to GPS to get there and to be honest with you at this very point
I don't even know how we managed to get there since the GPS was giving us the
wrong directions.
Oh I slept so well the night before that I was ready for a
great day. And as usual I had been very lucky in terms of weather. Not a single
cloud in the sky even though other cities in Japan some snow had fallen on the
last couple of days.
Both of us woke up quite late so we didn't have breakfast
and instead waited a bit to have a proper lunch. We drove to Okayama and parked
very close to the Okayama castle. I don't know if it doesn't look good but we
parked in a stationary shop some 300 mts away from the castle. My friend was a
bit worried but honestly, what could happen? Nothing, so we left the car and
headed towards to castle.
Just before crossing the bridge I saw this motorbike that
caught my attention because it has one particular thing that I really liked,
the happy face on the exhaust.
So I finally left Kansai and now I was all the way West in Okayama.
That was just my last stop with the Shinkansen and I have to say the Shinkansen express might be a bit expensive but it is extremely comfortable.
Please make sure you ask someone in the train station where your carriage actually stops and don't be like me who pretended to know where exactly it was going to stop because that's only going to cause you some troubles.
Nara Station Shinkansen
Inside Shinkansen Hikari
In my case, and now I can laugh about it I wasted some 15 minutes walking from one carriage to another. I repeat don't think the train is not going to be packed in case it didn't in the station you go it. I'm saying this,because most likely you'll have to move in the next train station.
I recorded a video on my way to Okayama so you can have an idea of how things look like inside the Shinkansen.
Last day in Nara was going to be an exhausting experience although a wicked day too. Like I always say you’ve got to walk along the roads, alleys, mews, tidy and dirty roads and lastly go through the places tourist books don’t tell you about. For me that is the best way to get to know a city.
Nara is a big city but that day I discovered (from a tourist and ignorant point of view) that the city itself has different faces. The farther West you go the simpler it gets, the poorer (in some places) it becomes and least developed it turns.
Like I mentioned on my previous post talking about Inside the Osaka Castle, there are many places in Osaka where you can have a great panoramic view of the whole city. However, let me correct myself, there might be many but that are accessible to the public are only two as far as I know.
I woke up
around 07:45 and I thought I was going to be the first one to get out. Not
quite, to my surprise the Japanese girl was gone. Luckily we had exchanged
business cards the night before and she said she was going to email me soon
once she’d get back in Tokyo.
I want to share a couple of
things with everyone: first, if you know about Oriental cultures (Chinese,
Korean and Japanese) you might know what I’m going to say already, but it’s
quite convenient to carry some business cards on you trip to Asia. Why? They do
care about business cards. More than you think actually. We westerners do not
really care about them, but it does help you get somewhere by showing it to the
person you’re talking. I made new friends in restaurants (even though I spoke
the basic Japanese). The second thing is that be patient when Japanese people
“I’m going to email you”. They will but they’ll take their time. There’s nothing
wrong with this, but keep in mind that it might not be an immediate reply.
Enough of
Japanese culture, let’s continue with the day in Nara. I took a shower, drank
some macha (green tea) and ate yoghurt. Off we go.
Nara during the day was a bit different, but then again what could I expect I arrived on a
Sunday around 21:15. Nara was now crowded but I had to go through the arcade to
get to the first Buddhist temple I had on my day map trip. The name of the temple
is 興福寺 (Kofuku-ji) built in 710. It’s actually not
difficult to get there since there’s a pond, called Sarasawa-ike, just across the temple and a lot of students
gathered around the temple.
As I
started to walk upstairs I started to see the first mini buddhas. I find those
little buddhas quite cute. I’m a bit ignorant about their purpose and why
they’re all around, not only in temples but almost everywhere in the least
expected place.
Mind you there are many entrances to this temple but I got on
the south entrance. I don’t really recommend this entrance since you'd need to walk upstairs and it might be a bit hard if you can't walk. If you’ve got knee problems or rather walk on a flat place
then I recommend you the North entrance or the East one.
Little Buddhas - 興福寺 Kofuku-ji
After the
little buddhas and once on the top you could see what seems to be a praying
building. As you turn your sight to the right you could the big pagoda and what
I think is the most important thing to see here. It was here at the Kofuku-ji I had
my first encounter with Nara’s pets, the
deer.
Some people
are quite scared of them, some others don’t seem to care. Obviously the deer couldn't care less, unless you show them a bit of food and then you’re going to
get into trouble. I say trouble, but it’s more like “prepare to be chased” J . But across the city you do get
lots of signs telling you not to get too close to them, especially refrain from
feeding them. But let’s be honest, how
can you tell kids, even an adult (including me) not to get close to them. For
once, I’m used to see them in the zoo behind a fence, here they’re free and you
can touch them, on your own risk that is.
Moving on I
wondered what this building next to the pagoda was, where everyone was going
to. It’s the temple’s museum and even though it was not in my plans I highly
recommend you to visit it. You’ll many Buddhist statues from different eras, as
well as an amazing Buddha with many arms holding different items, I guess it
represent the everything.
春日大社 Kasuga-taisha
After this
temple I started wandering around and then kept heading north and I went pass
what seem to be a park and then went straight to 春日大社(Kasuga-taisha) Shinto shrine built in 768
following an unmarked path. I followed a couple through a very nice forest and
ended up in the hill that leads to the shrine. I took some nice pictures and I
came across this funny situation of a little lad who was surrounded by deer. He
was eating ice-cream and like I said before I think he attempted to feed them
but it went all wrong. The deer didn’t care his scream and even the small deer started
chasing him. It was quite funny, especially because his mum was looking at him
with another woman laughing at his son.
Like I said
in my previous post when I visited Ise, Shinto shrines have something "special" an indescribable feeling. That is the beauty of nature, trees and greenness all around. If
you take that and on top you add deer it all feels like you’re not even in an
spiritual place but in some kind of natural reserve.
Something
that I learnt a couple of weeks ago is that most of the forests in Japan are
man-made. Yet, it looks beautiful. I reckon you have to be Japanese or a well-documented biologist to know
that those forests are not 100% natural. Still, Kasuga-taisha is not man-made,
its name is Kasugayama Primeval Forest and it’s a UNESCO World Site heritage.
Despite
being very crowded, the whole site does not feel in any way busy and you
actually can feel it. The vermilion colour around the shrine as well as the
golden lanterns all around gives a beautiful view. Outside the shrine you also
have the stone lanterns which I fell in love with. The whole site is very big
and you will not know when you’re leaving the holy site and when you’re in the
Kasugayama Forest. All is so quiet and peaceful that you can really feel
surrounded by all the nature Kamis.
on the way to 春日大社 (Kasuga-taisha)
However, I
believe this place is not always safe or the shrines might have been
vandalised. The shrines located far from the main shrine have CCTV. Why would you have CCTV? Tourists perhaps? who knows.... we’re not all nice people.
Female Shinto Priest 春日大社 (Kasuga-taisha)
Well my time on this temple was over and it was already afternoon so I
had to run if I wanted to visit one of the main landmarks in Nara and that’s
the Big Buddha temple aka Todai-ji 東大寺.
Now I was
heading west of the city but I was starving, all of a sudden it got quite cold
and I didn’t had a clue where the next restaurant was. Luckily as I came to the
end of the shrine it started to snow a bit but it was very windy and only the
deer didn't seem to notice the sudden change in the temperature. Just I
came to the end of the park there was a small restaurant that had ramen and
udon and I managed to get a nice place looking outside.
Udon with Shitake mushrooms
Indeed, the menu was
in Japanese but anyway the pictures helped me and the man gave me warm green tea
whilst waiting for the udon. I couldn't tell the difference between good or
bad, but for me it was quite delicious. I could have easily asked for two of
those but time was running and I wanted to see as much as possible before
sunset.
I was a
dreamer thinking I could get to the top on the viewing point. I mean it is on every
map but I couldn’t find the right path to get to the top so I ended up going
around it and I found some nice shops that somehow looked like a ghost town. It was
quite a funny scene, mainly because on the left hand were all this shops and on
the right hand side the deer were resting and sun-bathing ( I know I said it
was snowing just a minute ago but that’s how crazy the weather was that day).
deer in Nara Koen 奈良公園の鹿
I hadn’t
bought any souvenirs yet and I had to catch up with that too so I randomly got
into one shop. This shop I picked was rather dusty inside and they seemed to be selling
a lot of unnecessary rubbish, but normally those shops are the ones that have
good prices and I might have got something cheap. Not quite, but the old couple
who owned the place were so nice and helpful even though they didn't speak a
word of English. I decided to help them and buy some stuff from them. I say
“help” instead of just “buy” since Japan tourism was going through an all-time
low. I bought some one tee and a couple of book for children in Japanese with
furigana (that’s a special for children because they use hiragana on top so you
can read it easily).
It was
snowing again but this time the wind decided to get rid of the snow quickly and
all that remained when I got out of the shop was the wind who decided to stick
with me for the rest of the day, not that I cared but it was a bit annoying at
the time of taking pictures. As I was leaving the mountain and heading to the Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine I felt
like eating ice-cream. I was in the middle of nowhere but you know Japanese
they have a vending machine for everything you can imagine. I wonder why they
haven’t invented a vending machine with Japanese girls. That’d really made my
day J but anyway. I bought this Glico ice-cream
despite the weather and I stopped to eat it in the public toilet. Boy, I
seriously wish public toilets in the rest of the world would be like the
Japanese ones.
Glico chocolate and nuts ice-cream
The one I
decided to rest looked more like an oriental version of a Swiss chalet. Finished the ice-cream and I was leaving
behind the deer or so I thought. Not even close I got to another religious site
both Shinto and Buddhist. The first one was the Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shinto
shrine on the bottom and some 50 metres apart were the two other Buddhist
temples the Sangatsu-do and the big one the Nigatsu-do on top of the hill. The
first one a rather small one, with some nice little Buddha statues and an
amazing well carved Buddha, probably made by a well-experienced stone-mason. As
I was about to leave a very old lady was coming up. I reckon this lady might
have been on her 70s if not 80s (Japanese people’s age is so hard to tell) but
her walk was very slow and painful. Still, she got to the top of the hill where
this temple was and she started talking with a man who happened to come out
from nowhere.
Nigatsu-do 二月堂
I walked
down the hill, not before taking some pictures and then I approach Nigatsu-do
temple which was breath-taking, because
the whole structure of the temple was built on a wood skeleton that supported
pretty much the whole temple. I got to the top and looked a Buddhist fountain
with a dragon.
As I walked to the main place there were
some TV people, actors, camera-men all wearing suits. It was when I got to that
part when I spotted another snow front coming from the north. At that point I
understood why the monks built the site there. The view was amazing and you
could see both north and south, not the east of the city though. I presume that
back in the Nara period when this part of the city was very far from the main
castle only monks and scholars would have come to this temple. I’m only
speculating so don’t take my words for granted but that’s what I thought when I
got there.
Barely 10
minutes passed until the snow got to the temple and everyone included the TV
people tried to avoid the snow unsuccessfully. The temple is a typical Japanese
temple with the front opened where you can see where the monks pray and all the
most important things hang some on the top frame or is written on a tablet.
Also add the bamboo mat that covers the floor and the big iron vat where people
stick the incense.
As I walked
around the temple the TV people ran down stairs and vanished like a commando
team on a narrow alley. I knew where I had to walk next so I walked downstairs
and followed the same way they took. I keep heading west of the city and this
time it was not going to take me long until I get to the next and final
landmark of the day the Todaiji-temple.
Todai-ji Temple 東大寺
Unexpectedly,
I was already in the just outside Todai-ji temple on the east side of it. There
was this huge bell which might be only used during special religious events or
events. Then I walked downstairs and I surrounded the main site where the
Buddha was but still at that point I was clueless. Nevertheless, the crowded
led me to the main gate.
What happened all of a
sudden all these people came out from nowhere. Anyway, I got inside and I saw this
colossal Buddha. It’s seriously big. There’s no picture that can represent how
big it is. I reckon it’s comparable to the Buddha in Thailand, but I’ve never
been there personally so if you have been in both places, please correct me if
I’m wrong.
After that
I was knackered but I promised myself I was going to go out to try some Nara
delicacies in a restaurant that the hostel owner had recommended. I got to the
hotel and on the way I spotted this very Japanese image. All over 50 years old
people gathered in what I think it is a convenient store during the day but it
was an improvised bar after closing time. I just love it!
Anyway, I
left my camera and asked for directions to the owner. He guaranteed the place
was good and so expensive, since I was about to have a food fest. However, when
I got to the place I was a bit confused. The so-called restaurant was in a
second-floor building out of any tourist place. I know those are the best,
because no tourists go and only Japanese and people who know about this know
about this place. But still coming from Ise and Kyoto I was a bit sceptical.
I wandered
around the tourist place looking for a nice restaurant but I have to be honest
and all were a bit over the budget I had. So after looking around for like half
an hour and I decided to go to this place, which seriously looked like a
restaurant coming out from the gloomiest Murakami’s book you can imagine.
Fear not
and I have to say to make this clear. Despite all my fears and doubts about the
restaurant I got there and I sat in the bar. There were soooo many big bowls
with raw or pre-cooked food that I didn’t know what to order.
The
restaurant was very clean but a bit dark but it just added up to the whole
atmosphere. The owner was very happy and willing to help me choose food but he
couldn’t speak a word of English. On the very end of the restaurant on one
table were 4 men talking about business and women ( yes, remember that I know
my bit of Japanese) . Anyway, that bit didn’t help me this time so I had to
rely on my iphone app called Kotoba (translated into English “word”) and every
3 word I had to looked it up but it made things easier for everyone.
I asked but
typical Nara food and he said everything hahaha. I cracked up at this comment but ok, fair enough he just wanted to
sell food. Challenge accepted! I ordered
fried chicken with some vergetals, then fish with rice, followed with bamboo
hearts (the best thing of the night) the last thing I ordered was fish with
very thin but tasty. It might have been prepared with some kind of broth or
something. He had more stuff but after that I was stuffed to my surprise.
Almost before I was going to leave the place this young lad came in. He also
sat on the bar and asked for some fried chicken and fish. The owner said
something to him and then he left.
fried chicken with marinated lettuce
grilled marinated fish and gohan (rice)
baby bamboo - just delicious
marinated boiled vegs
grilled salmon with ramen
Well I
thought the owner was going to come back soon but it took him at least 15 mins.
I fell so awkward. I fell so Japanese all of a sudden. Me, sitting inside a hidden
restaurant on a second floor, the owner was somewhere and this quiet lad was
just there in silence. So I decided to break the ice and I introduced myself.
He started chatting in broken Japanglish, seriously priceless. I wish I had
more chances like those to meet random people.
He ended up
being a chef in a café near Kasuga-taisha and he invited me to visit his
workplace. Again, the whole situation relaxed a lot when I decided to give him
my personal card. He gave me his. All of a sudden the owner came back laughing
that we were talking. The said something and I also gave my card to the
restaurant’s owner and he gave me his.
Here I was
at 23:00 sitting in a proper Nara restaurant chatting with two Japanese and
having fun. His name is Hisato and I’m not going to spoil tomorrow’s post but
the next day I went to visit him and it was great, indeed it was. I said
good-bye and I promise to give a good review to the restaurant and I have to
say that the restaurant is very good. The price is good and the taste is great.
Please say you’re coming from Naramachi hostel and he’ll welcome you with his
arms wide-opened.
After that
I said ok, enough for today it’s been a veeeeeeery long day so time for a
shower and off to bed. Not quite, I got to the hostel and there were new people
a Kiwi girl and a Scottish girl both English teachers backpacking Japan. All of
a sudden the Japanese girl who I thought was gone in the morning was still
there but in a hurry. As she was saying good-bye to everyone she told me “wanna
go to the onsen nearby?” “Sure” I said. She was late for her train but she had
to go back there because she’s forgot her purse. We got there she introduced me
to the lady who was running the onsen.
Next, she said goodbye and I left my shoes outside. I paid and put my
clothes on the locker. I was so clueless hahaha. I didn’t know what to do but
anyway.
Onsen entrance - shoes lockers
This onsen might have been the oldest in Nara but it has that old
feeling. The onsen was split in halves with the owner sitting in the middle of
the onsen. The lady could see both naked men and women but she didn’t even
bother as she was watching some Japanese comedy.
Panoramic inside the Onsen in Naramachi - Nara
I decided
to get inside the bath and again clueless! I mean I seriously didn’t know
there’s even an etiquette for taking a shower and using the onsen, but I learnt
that again a week after in Yokohama when my friend’s brother took me to another
onsen.
Enough for
today, I was knackered, like seriously tired but I got back and the kiwi girl
started talking to me, oh well….. let’s talk. I’ll leave the rest for tomorrow
as we couldn’t speak too much because the owner of the hostel turned off the
lights.
Getting in
Nara was a bit of an adventure as I didn’t exactly know which train station was
the right one, but it added a bit more to my tour around the country.
I got out
in the Kyobate JR Station but I got confused and took another train to Central
Nara in order to go to get to the Kintetsu Nara Station. Once I got there it
was a bit more complicated since there were no signs for Tourist Information Office but
as usual Japanese people were very helpful. I got inside this travel agency
shop in the lower ground and they told me to go upstairs and take the 3rd exit.
However, they stressed that I had to
hurry because the Tourist Office was going to close very soon.
Special Konbini in Nara - transformed into an improvised bar after closing time - 奈良市のコンビニ
Last day
day in Ise shi and this time I was ready to see what this village had to
offer to the tourists apart from the Ise Jingu Grand Shrine.
We woke up late that day and I have to say that you have to be ready for
the old houses in Japan. Even though they’re above the ground and they’re built using wood, that doesn't mean you’ll feel warm. The room
was quite good because we had the heater on the whole night. My recommendation is to remember to bring a
sweater or a base layer to keep you warm when you go off the room.
I had read a lot about this sacred place and all I have in my
mind is that Ise is like the Vatican City for the Catholics. The morning we
left Kyoto was also going to be the first time I jumped on a car and hit the
road in Japan. Couple of things on the road were similar but some others were definitely
not.
The first thing that caught my attention was the GPS.
I know, there’s nothing special about a talking GPS but perhaps what I found
interesting was the voice and the tiny anime character who was giving us
directions. My friend told me it was an old version and that hence she was not
going to use it, because some parts of the way to Ise had recently changed.
In that
street we came across the old mean of transport – carriage and I wanted to take
it but my friends said “we won’t have time to go to Inari-Taisha!” so I had to
skip it this time.
That narrow
street must be very important because there were lots of people everywhere, as well as lots of restaurants and shops to buy souvenirs. And it was whilst I was taking pictures that I finally started looking people using kimono like the
couple below.
This was going to be my last day in Kyoto. I was not very excited about leaving one of the best cities in Japan, but I was very excited because 2 months before coming to Japan I met a friend through Facebook. We were about to meet each other in person (first time both of us were going to do something like that). The plan for the day was to visit the Kinkaku-Ji - 金閣寺 (Golden Pavilion Temple), the Kiyomizu-dera -清水寺 and finally the Fushimi Inari Taisha - 伏見稲荷大社 with over 10000 toriis. I know all these names might sound a bit unfamiliar but I'm sure you've seen many pictures of all these places.
Today's plan is to visit the Kyoto Imperial Palace so we had to wake up quite early to be there on the booked time for the guided tour. That's actually the only way to get in as you can't go in on your own. You need to book well in advance. My friend booked it a month before that day so I suppose that during summer season the time slots are very hard to get.
Up till now everything had been brilliant! Ōsaka proved to be a great city and now I was in another city Kyoto - also known for being the previous capital of Japan, when Tokyo used to be called Edo. Was Kyoto going to be better than Osaka?
My last day in Ōsaka was also my first day in Kyoto and
it was also going to be the first time I was meeting my dear friend after almost 10 years. She was very kind and helped me booking a room at a hotel very close to
the Kyoto imperial palace.
I know- not the best picture - but I was in a rush
Who says trains in Japan are always punctual? Well I used
to be one of those until that day when I took the train from Ōsaka to Kyoto - and yes, it was delayed.
But nothing to be worried about the journey was quite pleasant and all I was
doing was looking at the new things.
Only 4 days
had passed since I had landed in Japan and I have to say it had been brilliant!
I do not regret about anything. It is a long flight, indeed it is but it worth
the time and money. I was surprised because I didn't come across too
many foreigners, even though that’s good to me, that’s not good to the country’s
tourism economy. Of course, there's a reason behind it - Fukushima..
Sadly today,
I'm saying "じゃあ、また！" (see you very soon) to Osaka
because today I'm going to go to Kyoto to meet a very good friend after almost
10 years. On other hand, I'm going to jump on the Shinkansen - Hikari
(apparently the fastest and newest one すごい！).
But first
breakfast and I know many of you will think that I don't want to try anything else
apart from this but I just simply love onigiri. I could seriously have onigiri
every day of my life. By then I had realised that my favourite onigiri was the
one filled with わかめ (one of the many types of seaweed) because it
is simply delicious - I'm actually missing it right now -
Who doesn't Aquariums? It doesn't matter big or small we love it. This was my
last day in Osaka so I decided to sleep a bit more because I hadn't had a
proper sleep since I landed. People at the hostel told me that if I like marine
life I had to go so I went there. From Nishinagahori it’s not that far – roughly
15 mins with the metro or a bit more if you miss the station like I did
(getting lost is part of the fun ^_^).
I’d been
walking all day and on the time I stopped to have a look at the watch I was not
only hungry but also knackered. Hence, I rushed to the first local food
shop I could find to eat some Kansai food (here’s the map in case you want to try it).
Arcades are
quite common in Japan, ok I guess we all know that by now. However, the kind of
arcades that can be found in Japan are way longer than I expected.
My first
encounter with it was on
my way to the Osaka Castle when I first saw lots of people getting inside
this long street(arcade). I couldn’t go in the first time because I’d had a plan already
but I checked it on the way back and this is what I saw.
It doesn’t
matter how many words and how detailed my description can be, an arcade it’s
one of those places that you have to experience first-hand. Looking at all the
people walking, lots of bicycles – to my surprise not crashing into someone (I’m
not saying it doesn’t happen but I didn’t see any accident), nobody looking at
anything or anybody but looking at everything at the same time.
Ok, so you’ve
made it till here and finally you get inside the Osaka Castle but first you
need to get the ticket to get in. I mentioned this on my first post and I’ll
repeat it once again: “do not rely on cards neither debit nor credit. Always
carry cash with you at all times”. Japan is not card friendly so be aware of
that and also remember that you can’t withdraw money from every single atm. I learnt that the hard way, because I could only withdraw money from 7-eleven convenient stores……say what? I know, it
sounds mad but that how it is. When buying the ticket, if you happen to have the Kansai Pass, let them know. You should get a discount for the entrance ticket. I can remember how much, it’s not too much, but it’s ok.
So like I said on my previous post I decided to walk all the way from Nishinagahori where I was staying to the Osaka Castle. That’s almost 5km according to Google Map. I honestly didn’t mind since I quite hate the tube. First, you smell everyone’s odour, everyone has an arse face and you miss a good part of the whole experience. Hence, I decided to walk and it’s a very enjoyable walk, if you don’t mind walking that is.
Yesterday I spent all day wandering Osaka, and boy you've got lots of places to go and visit. I took so many photos that I had to come back to the hostel and save all pictures on my laptop and go out again. That was only around 1300 but I can't complain - actually I don't - I'm loving it.
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Today, I decided to head towards the Osaka Castle - from where I'm staying it's a nice walk - people at the hostel looked at me with funny (manga) eyes [no offence]- The walk was approximately an hour and 30 mins but I stopped many times, more than I can't remember.
Second day in Japan and I didn't feel like having a tea at the hostel so I decided to take a shower, dress up and hit to road. Luckily , Hostel 64, the place I'm staying is fairly close to a convenient shop called Family Mart.
My first thought was "how am I suppose to eat this?" well people I felt like a tarzan coming to the civilised world, because I couldn't open it and the whole nori fell apart. However, can you see the number 1 on the tip of the envelope......right.... you're suppose to pull it that down and then follow the instructions on the bottom of the onigiri. Seriously, it's not rocket science but it took me 20 minutes and a good piece of nori to understand the process...lesson learnt.
When I landed in KIX I didn't know what to expect. I was so excited about everything. It was my dream trip. I even thought I was going to have some problems at the airport since a German business man had some problems with the immigration officer at customs. However, he asked me once "Reason in Japan" to what I replied "holiday". He replied back saying "Welcome to Japan".
It's always convenient to do some research before going to any country and Japan is not the exception. Thanks to my research and some help from my Japanese friend I bought a Kansai Pass for 3 days, although you can buy it for 1 or 2 days too. Where to buy it? At the airport there's no other place you can buy it. Although if you have the J-Rail Pass you don't have to worry. By the way, remember to get your J Rail Pass at the airport as well. I made a big mistake not buying it in Malta and I reckon my transport expenses were 25% more expensive.
KIX - Kansai Airport - Osaka
I know what you're going to say. "But getting the J-Railpass is a no-brain". However, I didn't do it. Anyway, once you get your pass(es) and if you're in my situation were I had to be in constant communication with my Japanese friends. I highly recommend you to rent a mobile. Of course you can get a SIM card for your mobile - but trust me it's expensive.
If you don't believe me check SOFTBANK and you will understand what I am saying. Also if you can write in Japanese like me, then a foreigner mobile is a bit of a problem, unless you have an iphone (but it's quite expensive and a lot of paperwork to get the SIM card). I ended up renting one at the airport and after 3 weeks I had to pay €22.55. Not bad and not that different from what I pay in Malta for using my iphone. The company I rented from gave me this Au KDDI mobile.
I never thought I was going to be able to visit Japan by the end of 2011. Let's say that it was not in my plans to begin with. However, many things happened in my life in the last quarter of 2011. The result of this was me buying a plane ticket to Japan, spending three weeks visiting friends and beautiful places. Some of them I have not met them since I was 15 years old and another friend I have not met her since we were at the university.
If you don't believe me check SOFTBANK and you will understand what I am saying. Also if you can write in Japanese like me, then a foreigner mobile is a bit of a problem, unless you have an iphone (but it's quite expensive and a lot of paperwork to get the SIM card). I ended up renting one at the airport and after 3 weeks I had to pay €22.55. Not bad and not that different from what I pay in Malta for using my iphone. The company I rented from gave me this Au KDDI mobile.