April Photos

01/04 - Holiday in Japan (Day 6 - Nikko)
02/04 - Holiday in Japan (Day 7 - Kawaguchiko & Fujiyoshida)
03/04 - Holiday in Japan (Day 8 - Kobe & Osaka)
04/04 - Holiday in Japan (Day 9 - Koya-san)
05/04 - Holiday in Japan (Day 10 - Koya-san, Nara)
06/04 - Holiday in Japan (Day 11 - Nara, Kyoto)
07/04 - Holiday in Japan (Day 12 - Nara, Osaka)
08/04 - Holiday in Japan (Day 13 - Osaka)

(Last updated 10/05/2006)

Happy Birthday, Andy! (Not that you read this!)

I was up early this morning, though I still had about 9 hours sleep. I went to Aikido on my own as Flick has gone with Rush, his friend, Drum, and Brendan on a camping holiday in Kagoshima for a few days. It was fun, as usual, though there were few adults there today. Not sure why. In the second half Jyouzaki-sempai (the usual man-in-charge) went home and another guy that I have never seen before took the lesson. He is ni-dan (the level after a black belt). He was quite cool and laid back and we did some new moves. He tried to explain one to me when we were practicing one-on-one, though he hardly spoke English and I don’t understand the complicated Aikido terminology. It was harder as it was a move that relies on correct use of weight and balance, as opposed to being able to get by with force. I didn’t really get it. We did another move, though, that involves flipping the attacker at the end, which was fun to do (in both positions). I was sweating lots by the end of it.

When I got home, I had a shower before going to Cosmos for a little stocking up. I was good though and didn’t buy any instant noodles. Lots of bread and cheese to go with the tuna in my cupboard that needs using up. I have watched some anime and listened to some music. I have a little headache, though, but I have taken Ibuprofen and I am drinking lots. With any luck it will go away soon.

I could have gone to a “Charity Tea Event” today, and I guess that I should have, as my teacher-sensei gave me a ticket to let me in for only 1000 yen, instead of the normal 10,000 odd price. It did not sound that interesting, though. It was from 10am until 3pm but I could have gone late. I was worn out though and I couldn’t be bothered, so I didn’t go! Oh-san keeps wanting to tag along, too. I think the sensei told her to go with me, like some sort of child or something. I can get by, by myself, dammit! Why can’t she have her own life? The people here are so submissive!

I spent the evening watching anime. It's so good.

Wasted Day

I have not done anything today, really. I got up at 3pm in the end. I ate a pizza and fiddled with my computer. I then made some noodles, before going to dinner! I do not think the slightly crap feeling that I have is because I have not eaten anything.

I played pool with Brendan for 30 minutes after dinner, and then did some more pottering in the evening.

Party Hard!

I had two Japanese lessons again as usual. We had Hirata-sensei in the morning, as we knew we would. Five of us turned up: Brendan, Flick, Ciarán, Rushen, and me. Drummond took his friend to Dazaifu and Binks and Katherine went for lunch together. James’ mum and friend are still here so he was doing things with them. We studied more of the passive voice. I can now say “Aeroplanes were invented by the Wright brothers.” 飛行機はライト兄弟によって発明されました。Hikouki wa raito kyoudai niyotte hatsumei saremashita.
Try slipping that into a conversation!

In the afternoon, we had Ohnishi-sensei. Brendan was not there as he works in the afternoon, so the class was even smaller. I like the smaller classes, and this one was not too bad. There was less “drilling” than normally happens with her on a Friday afternoon.

After school, I almost had a nap, but I was not so tired at the time, so I played my game instead. I went and taught for Noriko at 4pm. It was not too bad, and it back to having only two classes again. That was a nice surprise! The kids were not too bad. We have gained one in the first class: Tabasa (Tabatha), who is Rio’s sister, and there were already the siblings of Daiki and Chisato. It is a family class!

We went for a meal at 9pm. I went in with Drummond and Brendan, with the aim of getting a cake beforehand. The shops were all closed when we got there, though – a minor oversight. We settled on a selection of little cakes from a supermarket, which went down well in the end, so I think we succeeded there. The meal was tasty with lots of food: beef, prawns, pasta, pizza, etc. There was plenty of drink as well. I was good and only had six drinks at the restaurant! Afterwards, we went to a karaoke bar and sang some. Rushen arrived with his friend after an hour so most people went off clubbing with them. I stayed behind with a couple of JETs and a couple of friends of theirs for another hour. It was not as good, though, as they mostly sang obscure songs, plus I hardly knew any of them. We all went on to meet the others after that, though, in a club called “Happy Cock” where we spent the rest of the night. I was good and only bought the “2 free drinks ticket” as opposed to the all you can drink one. I think we all had a good time. Rushen’s Akiko was there as well with a couple of her colleagues. We even accidentally bumped into some Koreans who turned out that they lived in Cambridge House! Brendan had seen them around, though they all look like Orientals to me, so there was no particular reason why I should have remembered them. Obviously, we are easier to spot! The music was mostly crap, though: some strange jungle and drum & bass, though they did play a few tunes that I recognised, though mostly remixes of them. I was only there for four hours, thinking about it, so not that long at all. I guess that it is a little odd starting your clubbing night at 2am. At home, that is when it normally when it finishes!

It was a good night. I got back at about 6.30am and went to bed almost straight away. I was not that drunk, as I had probably sobered up by the time I got home...

Katherine's Birthday

My day has been rather long, though not too tiring – not until the end, at least. I put my washing in the morning and then went into school with Drummond and Lauma, though Lauma went home straight away as she only came in to pick up her JR Rail Pass. Therefore, only Drummond and I sat the Level 2 JLPT. It was so difficult, especially the grammar section, which is always the hardest part for me, as the questions were comprehension questions: huge blocks of incomprehensible Japanese text followed by a few incomprehensible questions and their possible answers. In the end, we both took to guessing, as there was nothing left to do. I just made a pretty pattern on the answer paper. I got 36% overall and Drummond got 31%. Nowhere near a pass, but if you put them together, we passed! Supposedly, the average first attempt score for people on this course is 25%, though statistically anyone could get that just by guessing! I am quite pleased with it though, and it was good to have the experience. I think I will apply for the level 3 test in December, as I have no chance of passing level 2. Not yet at least!

The test took the whole day, after which I came back home with Drummond. I played some of my new, old game, and then I went to tea ceremony, which began at 5.30. There are many new faces – in fact, I was the only one there that had done it before! There were four new girls, as well as Maki-san from the office. The teacher made to do a lot of demonstrating – I did two and a half ceremonies, and made about six cups of tea in total. I only drank one, though. 3 hours 45 minutes later, we left! It was fun though. The teacher gave me a DVD with those tea-ceremony TV programmes on, as well. I had dinner with Oo-san (big bird!) who gave me some souvenirs from Taiwan. They are “Almonds Milk Candies”. Should be interesting, though I may share them around if they are not nice! It seems to be an Oriental tradition that you bring back souvenirs when you go away. I just pretend that we do not have the same custom so that I can get away with it! It must make going away very expensive.

That has been my day. I have not done very much. One of Drummond’s friends from school, Neil, has turned up. I am not sure how expected it was, but he is here now. It is also Katherine’s birthday, so we are going out tomorrow night to celebrate that. Should be fun (and potentially damaging).

Sold Out

My day has been much the same. Guess what? I had a Japanese lesson in the morning! We had Yoshimatsu-sensei today instead of Hirata-sensei – they have swapped this week for some reason. We will have Hirata on Friday morning now. We did more passive voice sentences, though in Japanese they seem to imply the speaker is annoyed or cross:
My hand was bitten by a dog! – 私は犬に手を噛まれました。 (watashi wa inu ni te o kamaremashita)
My computer was broken by my brother! – 私は弟にパソコンを壊されました。(watashi wa otouto ni pasokon o kowasaremashita)
How very interesting indeed! The lesson was not too bad, though.

For lunch I had some donburi. It was some strips of fish on top of a bowl of rice. It was quite nice, though it was not very big. I just end up snacking lots throughout the day, but I do that anyway, so having a smaller lunch is probably better in that case! After lunch, we had Seb’s lesson. We started translating the book that we were promised. It was quite interesting though Japanese is very difficult! They can form these great long sentences of linked clauses, which just so complicated to remember. It was fun, though. We got through about one page of 18, so quite a way to go still!

After that, I went on the train to Tenjin with Felicity as we were doing Linden Hall together. She went off shopping for clothes and I went to find a book, the one that we are translating. I found it in the second shop: my favourite place in Tenjin – The Media Mall (they have computer games!). A woman phoned upstairs to see if they had it. They did, so she told me to go upstairs to the service counter, where it had already been placed inside a file holder thingy. Very efficient service. I looked at Nintendo DS Lites, but the whole of Japan seems to be sold out! I also went to Best Denki, who had none either. Finally, I went back to the camera place and took some photos of prices.

Got the train back with Flick and we just made it to Linden Hall on time! We gave them a selection of various worksheets to do: wordsearch, crossword, colouring in pages, colour-by-numbers, and the world’s hardest spot the difference. It was a short lesson, only half an hour, as they have moved their long day to Wednesday! They are still catching up from the Typhoon from when we first arrived! I’m not sure they’ll ever be back on track, not if another one hits!

After Linden Hall I came back on the bus, helping to carry a tent that Izumi lent us. It’s for the camping holiday that some of them are going on. The bus was crowded, and having a tent and sleeping bag to carry didn’t help. We got some strange looks! I ate dinner and cycled to Bink’s job. It was on this time, and was not too bad. I heard about Japanese Society, The National Flag, and The Wonder of Nature. I wasn’t particularly in the mood, and let some of their mistakes slip, mostly when they were talking, though!

Back to Teaching

Today has been another day! I had my usual Japanese lesson in the morning, though it was not so bad and seemed to go past quite quickly, possibly because we moved on to a new chapter. We are now learning the passive voice: “I was bitten on the hand by a dog” (passive) as opposed to “A dog bit me on the hand” (active). All great fun, but yet another thing to have to think about when trying to speak. Oh well, it is not as if I ever have any great conversations where I get to use all my amazing grammar that I know. I shall have to start writing a book, or something!

I was back to my curry rice at lunchtime, and then I came home on the bus. I translated more of my game, before the batteries ran out! By then, it was time for me to go to teach for Noriko. I only had three classes today: the kids in the last class graduated from their elementary school, and so are now learning English as past of their normal scholarly lives. I still see Shohei at aikido though. I was never fond of teaching that last class anyway – they did not respond to anything. The first class now has four kids in it: Haruka, Ryuki, and now also Ryota and Shunpei have started. Ryota has been learning English since kindergarten, and is quite lively and good. Shunpei is a lot more shy and is starting from scratch. Haruka is still very good and also a very cute five years old, and Ryuki is still a pain in the arse, who never pays attention. The second class was quite fun, and I finished with my favourite class at the end. It was a nice surprise to be coming home an hour early, as it meant I could do more of nothing at home! I was also in time for the official end of dinner, though it normally goes on for an hour and a half afterwards.

Private Lessons

My day was it’s usual uneventful self. We had our lesson in the morning as usual. I went and did my kanji test beforehand to get it out of the way. I know I got one thing wrong though, but not one of the new kanji: an old one. Oops.

I came home after lunch: a not so great omoraisu (omelette filled with rice). At least I am eating varied foods at the moment. I wonder how long it will last! I went back for Linden Hall in the afternoon, which I did with Brendan. We offered them two choices: playing a game outside with Brendan or staying indoors and doing a word search and a crossword that I had made. Everyone went outside apart from Yūki, so I sat with her for 45 minutes whilst she did the sheets. She’s a lovely girl. She does what I say, mostly, and talks back to me! A perfect student. I then played football outside in the free-play time afterwards. I got a bit of a sweat up! There were no goals scored, as Brendan and I imposed a whole set of rules on ourselves to make it fairer, but ended up just making it too difficult for us!

I had dinner with Nozomi and the rest of them for the first time in ages. Most of us went out for a drink in Asakuragaido. On the way out, a group of guys in the lobby called me over, and asked me to do their homework! It was a put-the-words-in-order exercise, so I rattled off a couple for them. Drummond, Brendan, Rushen, Ciarán, Felicity, and I stayed for a few hours. James, his mum and her friend were also there for a while.

Hippies

I went to Aikido again. Felicity came as well, which is the first time we have both been together for many weeks. We were a little late getting there as they had already begun, but we just found a spot and joined in. Both Shin and Sawako turned up to see what it was like. I think they both enjoyed it.

When I got back, I showered and had some instant ramen, whereupon Shin and Sawako turned up with a bag full of shopping and an intention to cook lunch for us. So, we had spaghetti with a tomato and aubergine sauce, followed by a few strawberries, which was very nice. I did not help out as I am useless!

Afterwards, we all went down to Tofuro park on the train: Shin, Sawako, Drum, James, Ciarán, Flick and me. We played a little frisbee in the gourgeous weather, before sitting down to chat and eat Toblerone. Drummond had brought his guitar, which he played a little and we sang a few songs: mostly very badly.

We returned home after about three hours. Drum and Flick went out for a meal with Ikema, and I visited Cosmos and had a pizza for dinner.

Party

My day has been more interesting than normal. I got up and went out to meet Kanashima and a guy called Neil, who did the course about three or four years ago, but is back to apply for a scholarship from Kyoto University. Brendan and Felicity also came, as well as Professor Ikema from college. Neil brought a friend as well. Ikema’s not a bad man, he is just so awkward to talk with, so we all prefer it when he does not show up to everything! Kanashima hates him as well: they have a long-standing feud, and he effectively fired her last year. All good feelings.

Anyway, I had spaghetti bolognaise, with some soup, which was quite tasty. Most of the others had the same. We chatted for a little bit, Neil showed us some photos of the 50-day pilgrimage that he went on around Shikoku: he visited 88 temples. He even had a book with calligraphy done from each one. He says there is a pilgrimage you can do in England from Canterbury to Winchester in about a week. He also played a couple of jazzy pieces on the piano; he used to play at the place we went every Sunday evening!

Brendan had to go to the travel agents, or something, and after a while, Flick and I snuck off with Kanashima, making some excuse about working. Ikema paid for our food, so he is not so bad. I think he is loaded, anyway. We went in Kanashima’s car to a odd, out-of-the-way, Canadian-style place called “Alaska” where we had cake. I had a scummy, coconut one with banana in the middle. Afterwards, Kanashima gave us a lift back to Cambridge House.

I spent a few hours doing nothing. By that, I mean, nothing useful. I translated the next couple of levels of my game, which took about two hours! I also chatted with my mum, dad, and sister Charlotte through Google Talk. Typing only, as their computer seems to be playing up again. I am not sure what they do to it! That was nice, though!

It was Kimiyo’s birthday party in the evening, so we decided that we should get her a birthday present. I went with Flick to YouMe Town, where we bought an assortment of chocolaty products – I hope she likes chocolate. She also has a packet of Jelly Beans, so we can eat the chocolate in that case and she can still be happy! I also went to try to find a book that I want to get. It is in Japanese and we are going to be translating it in Seb’s class, but they did not have it. I will have to go into Tenjin at some point, or I could first try the bookshop near the university. It is quite big.

Mina gave Drummond, Flick, and I a lift into Futsukaichi, where we are going back to Bali Bali. We went there before, after Ikehara’s concert – we sang there as well. In the end there was Drum, Flick, James, Brendan, Nami, Shin, Kimiyo, Sawako, Mina and I there. It was fun: we ate much, drank a bit and chatted a lot. Kimiyo liked her presents, saying it was the best day of her life. Mina also brought her a cake, which she insisted to Kimiyo that she made, but she obviously bought it! I came home with Bredan, Nami, and Flick in Kimiyo's car. The other's stayed out, going up a fog covered hill to look out across the city driven by a screaming Mina, and then by a slightly drunken Shin. Sounds dangerous!

Scary Night

Today was not so interesting but not too bad. We had two Japanese lessons: five came to the first and four to the second. In the afternoon we had another composition to do about “an interesting day” so, I wrote about going to Nagasaki with Hannah. I then waited around with Flick as we were teaching at Linden Hall. We went to the English garden where I wrote up a previous composition neatly and did some homework. Linden Hall was ok: Rushen, Flick and I took the kids outside and played games with them. Rushen had purportedly only got up 20 minutes previously and still had a massive hangover from last night! I do not think that the kids jumping on him helped all that much and he felt decidedly worse for wear afterwards.

We played Thumper – you pass the turn around a circle, saying each others’ names and performing their “action” – also the knives game – you have to throw the knife around the circle and catch it – and then we played stuck in the mud. The kids seemed to enjoy it, though they lost concentration quickly during the explanation. Paul, one of the Linden Hall teachers, did come up to Flick and I and tell us that we all do a good job: Keely, their daughter, supposedly mentions us a lot and always wants to come to the after-school lessons. That was nice to know.

Afterwards, I came back and ate in the canteen with Ciarán. In the evening, I watched “Naked Gun” on the TV with some of the others, before we all watched “Saw” together. Most people seemed to enjoy it, at least by the end. I think without seeing it through to the end, it might be more disturbing. There's a sequel as well, that I want to see!

Missed the Bus!

There were two Japanese lessons today. The first one was just a regular lesson, attended by just the boys, all of us, which was quite unusual. It was not too bad, though. Dinner was another special: I had the last gyuudon (beef on top of rice) that they had. I had it with some pieces of fried chicken, as I did not fancy either the miso soup or the lumps of tofu. In the afternoon, we had a big review test of the last five or six lessons. I did not feel that it was too bad, despite not having studied for over four weeks, but then again, I think I just was not caring, so maybe I did not do particularly well. I will find out soon, or not, seeing as they have a tendency to delay returning these tests until everyone has done it, which is never.

I missed the bus coming home as I was writing up some homework (my diary in Japanese) and thought the bus was going ten minutes later than it actually was. Therefore, I went with James, Ciarán, and Felicity to a little café where they had coffees and I had an orange juice. That took about an hour, somehow, after which I came home on the next bus with Rushen and Drummond. The Taiwanese girls started chatting to us, mostly to Drummond, whilst we were waiting for the bus, which was an astonishing 10 minutes late. Everyone here seems to think that I am fluent in Japanese, which I am obviously not. I have no idea why!

Mistaken

Today was passable. Japanese in the morning was not attended by either Ciarán or Felicity. They stayed up with James last night until about four o’clock. Flick also managed to give herself a black eye by moving her face into the path of James’ shoes as he was swinging them. It is not very noticeable: she has to tell everybody about it. We moved onto a new chapter, at least, which is always fun and exciting. It is the practicing the same thing thousands of times that depresses you. Most of us feel that we are going too slowly as well – not because we are so clever that we can pick it up straight away, but more that spending so long on each thing is boring and we all forget it in the end anyway. We might as well cover more things and forget more things, but have a more interesting time.

Lunch was in the canteen as usual and I was back to my usual curry rice. It was tastier than two days ago, though. Came home afterwards and spent a lot of time doing very little. Then back to Linden Hall, where I taught with Flick. We had all the children together, which is becoming the done thing now, and tried to get them to write a short autobiography. Some did well, but others did not try. We had two first years: Kelly, who is half Japanese, half maybe American, but talks absolute gabble (did you know that “a plus d equals c” since “d has one minus”), and Hidemitsu seems really shy/thick, and kept wondering off to look at books every time that I turned my back. He does not seem to understand any English and I had him copying sentences down from the board.

I ate fast after getting home because I thought I might be covering Binks’ class for her again. I cycled off, but nobody was there when I arrived so I guess it must be next week. I was sure that I wrote down which week I was supposed to be teaching, but obviously, I did not. It gave me more time at home. I spent it doing nothing: a little homework and an anime episode. I am not doing anything tonight either: should be fun.

I like anime

My Japanese lesson this morning was probably the highlight of my day – it was interesting at least. I need some way of remembering all the vocabulary and all the kanji that is not just going over them repeatedly. I need something more fun and captivating. I am not sure that such a thing exists, though, which is a pity. I will just have to battle on trying to keep all the little strange sounds ordered in my brain.

I had lunch in the canteen again, though I had the special today. It was a cheeseburger accompanied by two cold chips. The best bit (at least the most interesting/hilarious) was the battered fried egg that also came with it. I am not sure I have ever seen or tasted one of those before.

I came back after that and have not gone out again since. I lead a very boring life. I did all of my homework, so that I am now caught up (I think). I might also have missed a few tests, but that is no big problem. I then watched lots of anime: an episode of "Fate/stay night" and a few of "BLEACH." I MSNed Hannah for a while, before she had to go do more work. It is reassuring to know that she got home safely (as did my parents).

In the evening I talked with Nozomi and Akiko for about 15 minutes before Drum, James, newly-returned Ciarán, Brendan and Flick came and we all went out for a drink. Our standard yakitori place was full, so we went to the newly opened Maru-chan. We had a few drinks, and I came back with Drummond. I watched another "BLEACH" before bed.

Back to School

Back to school today. There were only four of us: Brendan, Rushen, Drummond, and me. The others had various excuses for their absence, such as not being in the country. It was quite an enjoyable lesson, though, not least because we got to talk more and converse; it was not straight exercises, but there was still some of that.

After that, we had lunch in the canteen. It has been a long time since I have been and I had my usual curry rice. It was not completely up to scratch however, possibly because of the vast numbers of students around. I think it is worse than it was before the holiday, possibly because the new students have yet to figure out that the food is horrible. I hope that they will soon and stop coming, allowing us to get hotter and bigger portions, faster. I am not one for queuing for my food!

I had Linden Hall in the afternoon, which I went to, though it was thoroughly boring, but easy. We just took them all outside and let them play on their own for over an hour. Not much English, but I am past caring. There were only two first years, neither of whom talked particularly much, but I did try.

In the evening, I went for dinner with Rushen in Cambridge House’s canteen. It was not too bad: pork cutlet in sauce. The soup was interesting, though: it tasted like sweet corn, but there was none in it. Rather odd. I did some of my homework afterwards and translated the first page my new "Bleach" manga very slowly. I watched an episode of Ghost in the Shell 2 before bed.

Holiday in Japan (Day 10)

We awoke to a gong just before 6.00am. Prayers were about to start, as opposed to at 6.30am as we had been told when we checked in yesterday. We dressed hurriedly, scurried downstairs, and took our seat in the temple area. Four monks had already begun chanting a rhythmical, raspy drone. It was rather amazing to hear and placed you into an odd state of mind. They were reading the chants from scrolls, folded up to form books, which I liked. About halfway through, we were all invited to pray in front of the 'altar.' After first sprinkling incense onto some sand, we placed our hands together and bowed.

After prayers, we returned to our room to await breakfast, and watched a little TV. Presently, another monk came to inform us that it was ready, so we went back down to our meal room, along with the rest of our corridor again. Breakfast consisted of rice, miso soup, tofu, some yellow beans, pickles, a packet of seaweed, and tea. We talked some more, mostly about holidays people had been on, before retiring to our rooms when the monk came to clear up, i.e. kick us out.

We left at about 8am, in light rain, after finding someone to pay and headed to Karukaya-do, which contained the story of Karukaya, depicted via strange, framed, and painted carvings. It was a rather sad story of putting religion ahead of family. Next, we went into a small pagoda that seemed to be an advert for travelling to Burma, before visiting Kongōbu-ji Temple, the main temple of Shingon Buddhism. This had a small walk around a number of rooms, which were empty but had paintings on the walls and doors. In the hall, we were given a sweet and some tea, and a monk talked to a tour group of eight Japanese people whilst we sat and drank. Outside, we viewed Japan's largest rock garden, supposedly depicting two fighting dragons.

The rain became heavier as we watched the giant bell being chimed for 10am. From there, we went to the Garan, a complex of religious buildings, in one of which we heard people attempting to play brass instruments. We entered Konpon Daitō, a giant, orange-lacquered pagoda containing a giant gold Buddha and four smaller ones. We also had a look inside one of the buildings next door.

We stopped at a bakery on our way to Daimon, a giant, red gate, once marking the entrance to Kōya-san. The view down the valley was blocked, however, by heavy mist. It continued to rain as we returned back into town and went to the "Tokugawa Mausolea." The man at the ticket office lent us an umbrella each, even getting one out of the boot of his car. There were two tombs, both quite understated and similar, though very nice. The man would not take his umbrellas back upon our leaving, insisting that they were a present. In the end, we managed to convince him to take one back, as they were rather large and the remaining one could accommodate the both of us.

We went to the bus stop and, whilst waiting, James bought some postcards from a nearby shop. We caught the bus to the station, from where we took the cable car back down the mountain, and then the train to Shinimamiya. We saw yet another lone-travelling child, as well as a mass of cherry blossom that was out in force. At Shinimamiya, we crossed over on to the JR line and caught a local to Nara. This, we quickly realised, was a mistake, and we soon changed over to a rapid express.

Once in Nara, we found a place for lunch. We both had katsudon, which is fast becoming the meal-of-the-trip. We found our way to Nara-machi, the old town, but once there we became a little lost. We eventually found our way to the place we were looking for: a museum with many red monkeys hanging outside. They were the ones that we saw in Takayama. Obviously, the place was closed by now, but it was interesting to see, nonetheless.

We visited an old merchant house and had a look around inside. It was lovely and simple, very spacious. I liked the garden in the middle as well. We found a 99-yen store where we bought some orange juice, before looking at a 3- and a 5-storey pagoda. We eventually trekked our way to the youth hostel where we were staying. We checked into room 24, where we played cards and drank our newly purchased drink.

We went out for dinner, bumping in a Chinaman on the way out who tagged along. We eventually, after much wandering about, found a place to eat: a "Baby Face Planet's." It seems that it is a chain (there is one we pass everyday on the way to school). I had a hamburgu doria, whereas James had some tuna & bacon spaghetti and our new friend had a pizza. We talked a lot about the differences between Japan, China, and Britain, mostly with relation to the language, noise, food, etc. We also discussed Chinese communism and censorship. It was very enlightening, though rather scary to think about.

We all returned together before going to bed. The Chinaman (name unpronounceable) is staying across the corridor in 28. We made put our tatami beds together and slept.

Holiday in Japan (Day 9)

We were up later than usual today. We had no towels, so we could not have a shower, though I am not sure that I would have wanted one given the general filthiness of the place. We left at 9.30 and into another 'sunKus,' which we had located the previous night. I bought a drink and we asked for directions to the Nankin train line. We walked for a while and eventually came upon Nakamozu station, again. We found the entrance, bought a ticket straight through to Kōya-san, and then headed for the bakery: ‘Maplies’. I had an apple pie, James a chocolate croissant. We got on the train, which was a local stopping service, and ate our snacks. We changed at Kitano to a rapid express, to speed the journey up, somewhat

The journey up the mountainside was along a single track and was windy. The train crawled slowly upwards. At Gokuroku-bashi everyone got onto the ‘cable-car,’ though this was, in fact, a train on a 45° slope, pulled up the mountainside. At the top, we caught the bus to Ichino-hashi and entered our temple, one of 53 offering accommodation. A young man greeted us and bayed us enter. We filled in a form, before being taken through a dark hall, and up some stairs to our room: 宝生卅三 (Honshō 33 - Ratnasambhava 33). It was a largish room with a sliding door partition and had a balcony with a view down to the pond below. The tokonoma (alcove) was complete with calligraphic scroll and we had okashi (cakes) to go with our tea. There was even a TV in the room.

We went out a found a nearby place for lunch. We had tempura. Mine was a soba, and James an udon. After, we walked to Okunoin, the largest graveyard in Japan with over 500,000 tombs. It was quite impressive, buried inside a forest. There were some odd graves, though: one with a rocket ship on top, another with a Nissan badge, and one for Yakult. It seems that companies keep communal shrines for their (ex-)workers here.

There was a large temple building at the far end, where a monk was chanting ad a few people were kneeling in the ceremony. The building was covered in lanterns, inside and out, each numbered. There were over 500 around the eaves, three in a row.

By now, I could barely walk and we crawled along, though that is probably the best speed for taking in such a grandiose place. We finally arrived back and relaxed for a while with tea and a cake. Unfortunately, another English speaking family moved in next to us, disturbing our peace. Then, just as we were about to go for a pre-dinner bath, they nipped in front of us. We had a shave nonetheless and waited for them to finish. We eventually went down to find that nobody was there, so we had a wash, although the bath was far too hot to get in. We dressed and a 5.30 a monk came round calling us to dinner. “Dinner, desu,” he said, combining both languages.

The four rooms on our floor ate together downstairs in one room. An American family of four from Colorado, one son, one daughter, sat next to us and an Australian guy and an American girl from Toronto took up their seats at the opposite end. We were served a vegetarian feast: rice, soup, tempura (though no fish) with sauce, tofu, a spongy-like substance (possibly more tofu) with green beans, a mushroom and squash in a bowl, another with vegetables in a ginger soup, some solid, flat squares of black, mame (sweet beans), crunchy vegetable things, tea, and an orange. We chatted for a while about Japanese people, onsen, and sports. Altogether, we spent an hour there.

It was raining by the time we finished eating, and the family of four had planned to go and visit the lantern temple, as supposedly it is very pretty in the dark. I do not think that they got too far. We returned to our room, where the beds had been made, to relax before bed.

Holiday in Japan (Day 8)

We awoke at 7.15 and bathed. The shower was good, but the bath was lukewarm so I did not even bother getting in it. We watched a little (strange) children’s TV, before paying and departing. We left our bags in the room, and the housekeeper told to keep the key until we returned for them. We wandered around and found the necessary bakery (I had an iced pastry with walnut topping) before going to information centre (open by now) for some maps.
We headed north and found Ijinkan, a group of western houses. We entered Rhine House as it was free. It was nothing special, though there was a lot of information about pearls for some reason, and some photos of the damage caused by the 1995 earthquake. We looked at the outside of a few of the others as well. A nice, Japanese “volunteer tour guide” approached us and told us a little about the houses in English. We also enjoyed the blooming sakura around the area. We avoided the shrine with an expensive entrance fee, and I withdrew some more money from a post office.

We returned to Shin-Kobe station area where we caught a ropeway up the mountain. There were herds of amateur photographers at the top; so many that we gave up waiting for them to take their photos. We walked down through the herb garden, containing some pretty flowers, and a large green house with exotic plants, like bananas. We walked down the rest of the mountain, my foot still hurting. It was a steep walk, with some beautiful views. We took a wrong turning and ended up climbing an extremely steep hill for 15 minutes, before finding a sign pointing us back the way we came. Despite the urge to complete conquering the hill, we turned back. Agony! Eventually, we made it back to the bottom, seeing a giant dam, its lake, and a few cool waterfalls one the way.

We wandered back to the hotel to pick up our bags before having lunch (yet another katsu-don). Then, from the Hankyū-Kobe line station, we caught a train to Umeda in Ōsaka. At a bakery in the station, we made more purchases. Mine this time was some kind of apple-cake. From Umeda we caught the subway to Tanimachi-4-chōme via Honmachi. A short walk brought us to Ōsaka-jō (大阪城 - Osaka castle). Most of it seems to have been destroyed in the civil war before being rebuilt, though (much like every other building in Japan). We managed to weave our way to outside the castle through some old gates, and passed some very large stones in the walls, some kind of garden festival (dioramas made of plants), and magic tricks. We sat on one of the defensive walls, facing the castle and ate our apple treats. There was a man with a strange, tiny animal: a sort of cross between a rabbit, a dog, and a Meer cat. It followed him around, generally performing and showing off, attracting the attention of nary a passer-by. Across the moat, a girl sang her songs to backing tracks, though we will never know who she was. The songs were quite catchy, though. James decided to dangle his legs over the moat, which worried me just a little.

We continued our walk around the castle after about 30 minutes, crossing Gokuraku-bashi (極楽橋) on our way out. We caught the subway back to Umeda from Osaka-jō Business Park station, via Monnomiya, and Honmachi. We managed to meet up with Katherine, James’ friend from Fitzwilliam who is on her year abroad, studying Japanese. We went for dinner in a tall building with a Ferris wheel built into it on the eighth floor. I had a mushroom and salami pizza, whilst they each had a tuna doria. We chatted for about two hours, so long that the waiter brought us glasses with fresh ice for our water.

After that, we went our separate ways: James and I caught the subway to Nakamozu, about 45 minutes down the line. We had no map, so we phoned our place of stay and received some strange instructions, including walking back to the previous station! After asking a few people, and having had an old man volunteering directions, we finally found Banana House: a run-down, skank hole. It was a cross between council housing and university accommodation, with rooms available to rent for months on end. We checked in, only realising when we got to our rooms that we should have been wearing our shoes indoors, despite the step at the entrance. I suppose we should have guessed from the filthy state of the floor. We put our beds down on the tatami, James wrote postcards, and I sorted out my camera, emails, and diary, before bed.

Holiday in Japan (Day 7)

We rose at 6.50 and had a bath. We could not see Fuji-san (富士山) due to the clouds, steam in the bathroom, and my steamed-up glasses. A couple of other foreigners came in whilst we were there but they did not manage to stay in for long: it was quite hot. We had a cup of tea and then checked out, but left our bags in reception. The lone boy was there finding out about train times! We had an apple for breakfast and went to find the tourist information office over the road. We were up so early that it was still closed, so we returned to the hotel to get a map.

After walking around for 30 minutes, asking a woman who was putting her washing out, doubling back over our tracks a few times, we eventually found the hiking trail up Tenjyō-yama (天井山). We took a 45-minute hike up the mountain, passing some strange-looking flowers on the way. I was so dehydrated. There was a flat plain halfway that we stopped at for a while up with a good view of Fuji on one side, and Kawaguchiko (河口湖) on the other.

Once at the top, by the cable car terminus, we had the best view. The early morning mist had dissipated and only clouds covered the very top of the mountain. I bought some cold tea, just for the hydrating qualities, not for the taste, and some apple juice from the vending machines at the top, as I was so thirsty. James bought some ice cream. We descended and went back into town, coming out right opposite the place we ate at last night. We climbed on some rocks on the lake, and then I bought some batteries and orange juice, before we returned to collect our bags.

We caught the train to Fujiyoshida (富士吉田) and got a map from a nice lady at the tourist information. We walked up to Fuji-sengen-jinja (富士浅間神社), one of the largest forested shrines in Japan with one of the largest torii (鳥居), standing about 18m tall, which is rebuilt slightly bigger every 60 years. Around the shrine are three, gigantic trees, each over 1000 years old.

When we arrived, there was some sort of ceremony taking place inside. We think it might have been some kind of Shinto baptism as there were people dressed up, carrying babies in white, with sashes around mother and child. After, the priest even came outside and blessed their car with his paper, origami, shaking stick.

Also at the shrine were Ebisu and Daikoku, two cartoon-like statues. There also was the “climbing gate,” the traditional start of the annual 17km pilgrimage to the top of Mt. Fuji. Some people nowadays drive most of the way and only walk the last 6km.

We left the shrine and shared a pizza for lunch at a nearby restaurant, before walking back to the station/bus stop to begin our Kōbe-bound journey. We changed at Numazu, and then got on another shinkansen at Mishima (where there was another partially flattened escalator). We ended up in a smoking car again, though. We got on the train on carriage number two, and then systematically worked our way back along the train in the hope of finding a seat, but no such luck. It took us about five minutes to make it to our reserved, smoking seats. The weather worsened as we travelled: rain, clouds and mist. It got better though at Shin-Ōsaka and the rain had stopped by the time we arrived in Shin-Kōbe. This last train was a quick 15 minute shinkansen ride, though we caught an earlier Kodama instead of waiting 20 minutes for our reserved on a Hikari.

We got a little lost in Shin-Kōbe as the tourist information was closed, so we studied a few small maps for five minutes, locating the general area where we thought our ryokan (旅館 – travelling inn) should be, and heading off in that direction. The main exit took us to an elevated taxi rank with no obvious way off by foot, so we headed downstairs, feigned wanting to catch a bus, and escaped into the city.

We walked to where we thought we should be, found a Lawson and asked for directions. The girl behind the counter pulled out her Lawson-issued area maps (detailing every building’s purpose) and began hunting through it. She stopped to serve another customer, before finally finding the place. We took her directions and easily found the place. My right Achilles tendon was beginning to hurt at this point, probably from all the walking. A nice lady bayed us welcome and rushed upstairs to show us our room. She explained the basics and let us get on.

We left to find some food and found a busy, lively, colourful city street near Sannomiya (三宮) station. We walked up it, found a bakery where I bought a chocolate scone, before walking back down. We came across a NakaU, which looked like a fast food chain but was advertising food that looked edible to us. I had a gyū-don (beef on rice) and James had a katsu-don (pork on rice). We decided to go for a drink, eating our bakery goods on the way, and returned to a Belgian beer restaurant that we had seen earlier. A nice, dark place playing jazz, we sat at the bar. James had a beer and I had a Cuba Libre and a Moscow Mule. We came back home, where we watched the end of Charlie’s Angels II: Full Throttle (an awful film) before bed.

Holiday in Japan (Day 6)

We slept well, waking at 7.15, rented a towel from reception, and had a bath. We left and walked to Shin-kyō (神橋 – sacred bridge). Some man unexpectedly fetched us a map and explained the route that we should take. I bought some batteries in a souvenir shop and we set off.

We decided not to walk across (and back) the bridge, once only used by high-ranking samurai, for ￥500, as we had a good view of it from the adjacent bridge. Legend has it that the Buddhist priest Shōdō Shōnin first visited Nikkō, he was helped across the river at this point by two snakes, who formed a bridge and then vanished.

After climbing many stairs, we bought a combined-ticket and entered Sanbutsu-dō (三仏堂 – Three Buddhas Hall), one of the halls of Rinnō-ji (輪王寺), a Buddhist temple. Inside were three impressive, giant, gold-leafed Buddhas, each about 8 metres tall. We ended up caught in a Japanese tour, though we did not really understand much. There were a few more, smaller Buddhas dotted around, and a little praying place in another building close by. Three women were cleaning it when we were there. It was full of Buddha statues.

Next, we went to Tōshō-gū (東照宮), a huge, shrine complex, comprised of many intricately carved buildings. At the entrance, a five-storey pagoda awaited us. Inside, we was the Sacred Stables (shinkyū-sha), though the horse was out. I thought it was going to be a horse sculpture, but it turns out it is a real horse, the only one to be serving a shrine in Japan. Over the stable doors, however, were some monkey carvings, including the famous “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” monkeys. Opposite was an imaginary elephant, carved on a building.

We went in further, through the amazingly complex Yōmei-mon (陽明門) and looked at Nara-mon. Ieyasu’s tomb was an extra ￥520, which included a tiny carving of a sleeping cat, but we decided to pass. We went around inside the main temple: Haiden, where we had to remove our shoes. Inside were more intricate carvings, and we could look at Nara-mon from the other side.

After, we went to the Temple of the Medicine Buddha (薬師堂 – Yakushi-dō). It was covered in scaffolding, but the inside was untouched. A giant painted dragon was painted on the ceiling, though alas the original was lost in a fire. The temple worker said something in Japanese, before clapping two wooden sticks together a few times. The echo sounded like a rattle, and is supposed to sound like the roar of the dragon. The Buddha in the hall was surrounded by his guardians: one of for each of the Chinese zodiac years, though there was no visible to connection to each one. Each guards the people born in that year.

Next, we made our way to Futurasan-jinja (二荒山神社). In one of the shrine buildings, some ceremony was taking place: aimasajyuyo-shiki. There were cameramen filming, and we watched for a while whilst two girls performed some kind of initiation ceremony (we asked one of the staff in a souvenir shop). We entered the main shrine, which was very calm and tranquil. Inside there was even a detached bridge, leading across to nowhere special (you could walk next to it to the same place). There was also a ring-tossing game for everyone to play. The shrine itself was very simple: a small, sacred pool surrounded by some rocks. It was very moving.

Our final visit around the area was to Taiyūin-byō (大猷院廟 – The Great Yūin Mausoleum). Up many stairs and through a few gates, it was much less extravagant than Tōshō-gū, but still elaborate. The temple was down a recessed corridor and inaccessible, but viewable. The surrounding walls were black lacquer with gold paint.

We left the temples and shrines and made our way along the river Daiya (大谷川), via a small temple called Jyoko-ji, where there was a graveyard containing many hatted Buddha statues. We walked by a stone park (a park with stones in it) and along to Ganman-ga-fuchi (含満ヶ淵) abyss. It is simply a place where the river runs fast over giant rocks, and we managed to find a path right down next to it. This appeared to be a dammed off tributary, but we were fine. In the same vicinity, there were 45 statues of Jizō (地蔵), the Buddhist saint of travellers and children, though most were damaged in some way and some were even completely missing. All had red bibs on.

We walked back to town, with James having an ice cream from near the stone park. We walked down the main street and found an Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き – Japanese pancakes you make yourself) restaurant where we ate. I had a Cheese-Mix (チーズミクス) that comprised pork, shrimp, cheese and squid, whereas James had the beef. There was a slightly amusing incident when James tried to pour water from a kettle (unknowingly), and the two girls to us had to intervene to show us the cold-water jug! To cook Okonomiyaki you just mix up what you receive and pour it onto the giant hotplate that is at each table. You flip it a bit, and it comes out like an omelette. It was tasty, despite the squid!

We returned to the station, buying postcards, and a choco-crunch bun each. On the train back to Utsunomiya there were two noisy American couple boasting about their experiences to each other. Makes me hate to be a gaijin.

From Utsunomiya we caught the double-deckered MaxYamabiko to Tokyo. Unfortunately, we had seats on the second floor, as I think the being closer to the ground would have been much cooler! From Tokyo we travelled to Kozu, seeing our first sakura on the way. We went on to Gotemba, where we caught the bus to Kawaguchiko. About six hours travelling time in total.

We checked in to our hotel and then went out for dinner. We found a tiny ramen place by the lake and ate there. Afterwards, we crossed the road and bought some snacks from the Lawsons over the road. There was a pyjama-clad family in there as well, who must have obviously come from a nearby hotel. Still an odd site.

We came home, and saw a young boy seemingly checking in by himself. We used the free internet for a while before watching Lord of the Rings on TV again (I think it was the third one, so maybe yesterday was number two?). We played more cards and drank umeshu. Then we went to bed on the tatami, on beds that we had to make ourselves.