I basically got on a ferry to Sado under the assumption that I could stay in this hostel in the town of Niibo, near the port town where the ferry lands.
The ferry took two hours and I slept. When I got to Sado it was rather dark and the bus journey was a bit of a hope. I showed up at the hostel at about 10pm and fortunately she had rooms. If not I was gonna nag her to let me sleep on the settee or go knocking on doors or something.
Fortunately she was ace and let me stay, she also drove me to a 7/11 to get a Pot Ramen and gave me a Japanese political T Shirt, which I'm currently wearing.
It says 'Change the Cabinet' on it in English and Japanese. It gets me strange looks, considering that the election is on Sunday it does make a little sense. My T Shirt is pro the Democratic Party, which is good considering that the Liberals have ruled Japan almost uninterrupted for about 60 years. A two party system must be better than a one party system. I wish it had 'Change the National Diet' on it. The Diet is the Japanese Parliament. Pun opportunity lost.
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Niigata and Travels Based Upon Hope
I got to Niigata at 5pm.
It was a little late really to be looking for accommodation and as it turned out the city had no capsule hotel and no hostels. Internet cafe was possible but not preferred.
A new plan formulated.
Niigata is the gate way to Sado island. If you imagine a map of Japan compared to one of the UK then Sado is the Isle of Man (but far far better, no offence to the Manx)
Picture Tastic!
Niigata itself reminded me of Hull even before I remember that we were twinned. I know this sounds a little stupid, but the two cities are quite similar. They are both slightly knackered industrial ports, about the same size, and with football clubs that play in Orange.
Anyway...
Sado was the island retreat I was looking for.
I took the ferry for about 14quid and it took two hours. I made a pot noodle Ramen before I went on (an excellently cheap way to consume food in Japan) in the supermarket, using the hot water from the coffee machine. This they found unusual and oh how they laughed.
Sod them. I won. I had Ramen.
A Day in Tokyo
The day in Tokyo was supposed to be two and I was supposed to be going to Sapporo.
The day in Tokyo was rather basic, we met an Aussie, always nice. Me her, Andy and Steve went to some bars and stuff in Roppongi.
Roppongi is like Soho or Pigalle or anywhere else in a big city that is famous for vice. As vice goes Roppongi is far ahead of most of Japan, in what you can actually get prostitutes and strip clubs. The endless hawking by black guys on the street is a little painful after a while.
In Roppongi we had a Ramen (Japanese soup with noodles and pork, a personal favorite) in a very odd restaurant. You sat in a booth with a curtain in front of you. You never see the waitress or other patrons, well barely, and you select your soup based upon a questionnaire system. You ring the different flavours you want and differentpork levels, as well as selecting a spice level. I had them put more spice in mine and it was goooood...
I couldn't really afford the night. Steve and Andy paid for me. This was of course really really cool but I still didn't feel too right with it. I was kind of board of traveling day by day at this point, I liked the guys but couldn't spend as much as them. I just wanted to go to the country or something.
My Plan was to go to Sapporo in the far north of Japan, on Hokkaido island. To do this I had to get up really early. Due to another night of drink this didn't really happen, not really though any fault of my own. I was a bit pissed off to be honest. due to the fact that we all weren't up that early I missed the only connection to Sapporo as was stuck in a station with no real plan. I knew that I had to leave the cities, I was sick of them. That however was about it as far plans went.
I almost went to Nagano, this is where the 1998 winter Olympics (which for some reason I slavishly watched) where held. Its in the mountains so seemed really scenic. However scenic usually means no hostels so I changed my plan to the other destination on the board....
...Niigata.
Stay tuned folks for tales of unexpected happenings in Hull's Japanese twin city.
The day in Tokyo was rather basic, we met an Aussie, always nice. Me her, Andy and Steve went to some bars and stuff in Roppongi.
Roppongi is like Soho or Pigalle or anywhere else in a big city that is famous for vice. As vice goes Roppongi is far ahead of most of Japan, in what you can actually get prostitutes and strip clubs. The endless hawking by black guys on the street is a little painful after a while.
In Roppongi we had a Ramen (Japanese soup with noodles and pork, a personal favorite) in a very odd restaurant. You sat in a booth with a curtain in front of you. You never see the waitress or other patrons, well barely, and you select your soup based upon a questionnaire system. You ring the different flavours you want and differentpork levels, as well as selecting a spice level. I had them put more spice in mine and it was goooood...
I couldn't really afford the night. Steve and Andy paid for me. This was of course really really cool but I still didn't feel too right with it. I was kind of board of traveling day by day at this point, I liked the guys but couldn't spend as much as them. I just wanted to go to the country or something.
My Plan was to go to Sapporo in the far north of Japan, on Hokkaido island. To do this I had to get up really early. Due to another night of drink this didn't really happen, not really though any fault of my own. I was a bit pissed off to be honest. due to the fact that we all weren't up that early I missed the only connection to Sapporo as was stuck in a station with no real plan. I knew that I had to leave the cities, I was sick of them. That however was about it as far plans went.
I almost went to Nagano, this is where the 1998 winter Olympics (which for some reason I slavishly watched) where held. Its in the mountains so seemed really scenic. However scenic usually means no hostels so I changed my plan to the other destination on the board....
...Niigata.
Stay tuned folks for tales of unexpected happenings in Hull's Japanese twin city.
A Day in Koyoto
Our day in Kyoto contained two main events.
Fire and Sweat.
The quest for a room in Kyoto was far less successful than it have been in other cities. After a long endless mess around we managed to get one of us into a hostel in Gion (The party district) and me and Steve resigned ourselves to staying in a nearby Internet Cafe.
Fire:
It is currently festival season in Japan.
This is one of the reasons why accommodation is such a stress to acquire.
Anyway this festival in Kyoto is really quite famous. The city is in a basin and on certain days of the year monks burn Japanese symbols into the mountainside. The most famous symbol, that for 'Great', was the one that we witnessed.
The streets were incredibly crowded and it was rather entertaining to watch a few lose policemen try and keep order. They have flashing light saber style batons that they wave indescriminatly and well as a rather liberal supply of megaphones. Either way controlling a crowd this big, even if they are Japanese was impossible. In the end we sat with our new French friend Alice in a park and drank for a bit.
It was all rather pleasant.
Sweat:
Staying in an internet cafe is a bizarre experience.
Japanese Internet cafes are essentially somewhere that people pay to either 'sleep' overnight or read comic books. You can book a computer, a booth, a booth with a reclining chair or some sort of bed contraption for an incremental increase in price.
To make it worth while me and Steve booked the booth for 2000Yen (about 13quid) . This had an upright chair, a computer a PS2 and other goodies. As a nights sleep it ranks as one of my worst in a long long time. I was a little drunk, which didn't help, but the idea of sitting upright in a chair for a bed is a little difficult. I slept on the floor for a while and this didn't agree with me. As a result I had a joyless period of about half an hour in toilets where my body engaged in a cold seat that poured off my body.
For the rest of the night I managed to snatch some sleep in the chair but this was something that I never really want to repeat.
Steve slept like a baby.
Fire and Sweat.
The quest for a room in Kyoto was far less successful than it have been in other cities. After a long endless mess around we managed to get one of us into a hostel in Gion (The party district) and me and Steve resigned ourselves to staying in a nearby Internet Cafe.
Fire:
It is currently festival season in Japan.
This is one of the reasons why accommodation is such a stress to acquire.
Anyway this festival in Kyoto is really quite famous. The city is in a basin and on certain days of the year monks burn Japanese symbols into the mountainside. The most famous symbol, that for 'Great', was the one that we witnessed.
The streets were incredibly crowded and it was rather entertaining to watch a few lose policemen try and keep order. They have flashing light saber style batons that they wave indescriminatly and well as a rather liberal supply of megaphones. Either way controlling a crowd this big, even if they are Japanese was impossible. In the end we sat with our new French friend Alice in a park and drank for a bit.
It was all rather pleasant.
Sweat:
Staying in an internet cafe is a bizarre experience.
Japanese Internet cafes are essentially somewhere that people pay to either 'sleep' overnight or read comic books. You can book a computer, a booth, a booth with a reclining chair or some sort of bed contraption for an incremental increase in price.
To make it worth while me and Steve booked the booth for 2000Yen (about 13quid) . This had an upright chair, a computer a PS2 and other goodies. As a nights sleep it ranks as one of my worst in a long long time. I was a little drunk, which didn't help, but the idea of sitting upright in a chair for a bed is a little difficult. I slept on the floor for a while and this didn't agree with me. As a result I had a joyless period of about half an hour in toilets where my body engaged in a cold seat that poured off my body.
For the rest of the night I managed to snatch some sleep in the chair but this was something that I never really want to repeat.
Steve slept like a baby.
A Day in Osaka
The next few days of the trip were quite stressful. We went to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo for one day each time. when you don't have hostel reservations this can be particularly stressful.
Osaka was OK.
We eventually got a capsule hotel and spent the rest of the day wondering the city.
The most noteworthy thing that happened there was an impromptu trip to see the ever genius J-League.
This time it was a big league game, Gamba Osaka Vs Urwara Reds. (A Suburb city of Tokyo). We paid a tout for tickets to get in. Oddly for the RRP, honestly who knows what that was about. We were stood in the gods but it was still pretty cool. I wasn't in the middle of all the chanting this time, which was a shame but regardless we still got a lot of atmosphere. The attendance was about 30thousand with at least a third of those being from Urwara. The game was dull to be honest. Nothing happened until the 92 second minute when, much to the Americans delight, Osaka sneaked a late scrappy goal.
All in all not a bad way to spend an evening.
Osaka was OK.
We eventually got a capsule hotel and spent the rest of the day wondering the city.
The most noteworthy thing that happened there was an impromptu trip to see the ever genius J-League.
This time it was a big league game, Gamba Osaka Vs Urwara Reds. (A Suburb city of Tokyo). We paid a tout for tickets to get in. Oddly for the RRP, honestly who knows what that was about. We were stood in the gods but it was still pretty cool. I wasn't in the middle of all the chanting this time, which was a shame but regardless we still got a lot of atmosphere. The attendance was about 30thousand with at least a third of those being from Urwara. The game was dull to be honest. Nothing happened until the 92 second minute when, much to the Americans delight, Osaka sneaked a late scrappy goal.
All in all not a bad way to spend an evening.
Sunday, 23 August 2009
Kobe Beef
We went to Kobe because it was there.
Again we had to settle for the pod hotel option and in it we met an American, who we ended up acquiring for a good few days.
Andy was pretty big, pretty hairy and pretty Californian. He had good stories a loose wallet, on the whole not a bad guy.
We spent our time in Kobe cruising around the city on the beach and eating Kobe Beef.
Kobe Beef is from cows that are fed beer and given massages and odd stuff like that. You eat it raw, or practically raw, and it tasted a little over hyped. It was nice but, well, not that nice.
The town was like Fukuoka. Bit of a party place. We ended up, through curiosity, in a girls bar. Essentially you pay for the privilege of entering a bar staffed by reasonably attractive women. They are apparently gorgeous, i beg to differ. You get free whiskey but it doesn't really cover the door charge to be honest. When we got in there all that was going on was two really preened Japanese guys, ginger mullets and all, where singing shitty J-Pop on karaoke.
All in all it was an odd experience. we tried to get them to make us White Russians but it turns out they were literally hired for their looks, Bar skills where heavily optional. The whole experience was all a little stuffy and weird to be honest.
If I was single in Japan I have no idea how I would meet women. There are no pubs, barely any clubs and paying to talk to a women is just frankly odd.
(You can also pay to talk to preened Japanese men if you want, the Japanese sex industry is at least equal opportunities in that sense)
I have heard rumours of Cell Phone Dates. These involve two people out on a date, sat opposite each other just texting their mates. No actual conversation is required.
Holding hands in public is unusual.
We saw a couple snogging in a park once and applauded.
We drank one night in a pub that sold nice continental beers. They tried to charge us a massive service charge, we did a runner. We still left a little money like like (The actual price of the drinks) Paying a service charge when they served us the wrong beer twice seems odd to me.
American girls in Kobe who took us to the beach.
The beach was pretty picturesque but unfortunately the only place where I have seen litter in all of Japan. It was filthy. Andy, a born surfer, was rightfully gutted about this.
The beach was shingle, so essentially useless for fun, but it did have a nice view of the bridge to Shikoku Island. This is the bridge that was built exactly like the Humber Bridge but ever so slightly bigger. You will be pleased to know I flicked it the Vs.
Before leaving the beach we discovered a free break dancing event and indulged in it heavily. Steve is a break dancing beginner and you could see he was loving every minute of it. To be honest so was I.
We also had a walk around Kobe harbour, where the fish jump out of the water, ya know like salmon. They did this in Yokohama too but I think I failed to mention it.
Anyway the next few days would be a bit hectic and climax in me seeking a rural retreat.
Stay tuned folks...
Again we had to settle for the pod hotel option and in it we met an American, who we ended up acquiring for a good few days.
Andy was pretty big, pretty hairy and pretty Californian. He had good stories a loose wallet, on the whole not a bad guy.
We spent our time in Kobe cruising around the city on the beach and eating Kobe Beef.
Kobe Beef is from cows that are fed beer and given massages and odd stuff like that. You eat it raw, or practically raw, and it tasted a little over hyped. It was nice but, well, not that nice.
The town was like Fukuoka. Bit of a party place. We ended up, through curiosity, in a girls bar. Essentially you pay for the privilege of entering a bar staffed by reasonably attractive women. They are apparently gorgeous, i beg to differ. You get free whiskey but it doesn't really cover the door charge to be honest. When we got in there all that was going on was two really preened Japanese guys, ginger mullets and all, where singing shitty J-Pop on karaoke.
All in all it was an odd experience. we tried to get them to make us White Russians but it turns out they were literally hired for their looks, Bar skills where heavily optional. The whole experience was all a little stuffy and weird to be honest.
If I was single in Japan I have no idea how I would meet women. There are no pubs, barely any clubs and paying to talk to a women is just frankly odd.
(You can also pay to talk to preened Japanese men if you want, the Japanese sex industry is at least equal opportunities in that sense)
I have heard rumours of Cell Phone Dates. These involve two people out on a date, sat opposite each other just texting their mates. No actual conversation is required.
Holding hands in public is unusual.
We saw a couple snogging in a park once and applauded.
We drank one night in a pub that sold nice continental beers. They tried to charge us a massive service charge, we did a runner. We still left a little money like like (The actual price of the drinks) Paying a service charge when they served us the wrong beer twice seems odd to me.
American girls in Kobe who took us to the beach.
The beach was pretty picturesque but unfortunately the only place where I have seen litter in all of Japan. It was filthy. Andy, a born surfer, was rightfully gutted about this.
The beach was shingle, so essentially useless for fun, but it did have a nice view of the bridge to Shikoku Island. This is the bridge that was built exactly like the Humber Bridge but ever so slightly bigger. You will be pleased to know I flicked it the Vs.
Before leaving the beach we discovered a free break dancing event and indulged in it heavily. Steve is a break dancing beginner and you could see he was loving every minute of it. To be honest so was I.
We also had a walk around Kobe harbour, where the fish jump out of the water, ya know like salmon. They did this in Yokohama too but I think I failed to mention it.
Anyway the next few days would be a bit hectic and climax in me seeking a rural retreat.
Stay tuned folks...
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Myth Reinforcement
Many of you may have preconceived ideas about Japan.
Let me tell you now that 99% of them are true.
I was initially going to do a bit of the old myth busting for you guys. Show you I'd discovered the real Japan etc.
We the real Japan is the myth.
1. It is ridiculously clean here, even though there are hardly any bins.
2. You can by almost anything from a vending machine, drinks, fags, beer, porn, manga, soup coupons etc.
3. Japanese School girls do wear those clothes, honestly, all the time.
4. The toilets are either porcelain holes in the ground, or robotic. 5 Speeds of B-Day. Wahay!
5. Hello Kitty rules the nation. As does Pokemon. I caught a Pokemon train the other day. It had Pikachu on it.
6. People are painfully polite and will bow at you all the time.
7. All the food contains weird fish. If it was once wet, they will eat it.
8. They love Golf and Whiskey.
9. People do slurp noodles
10. The porn is still weird and available everywhere.
I'll think of more when they come to me.
Still no decent robots though.
Let me tell you now that 99% of them are true.
I was initially going to do a bit of the old myth busting for you guys. Show you I'd discovered the real Japan etc.
We the real Japan is the myth.
1. It is ridiculously clean here, even though there are hardly any bins.
2. You can by almost anything from a vending machine, drinks, fags, beer, porn, manga, soup coupons etc.
3. Japanese School girls do wear those clothes, honestly, all the time.
4. The toilets are either porcelain holes in the ground, or robotic. 5 Speeds of B-Day. Wahay!
5. Hello Kitty rules the nation. As does Pokemon. I caught a Pokemon train the other day. It had Pikachu on it.
6. People are painfully polite and will bow at you all the time.
7. All the food contains weird fish. If it was once wet, they will eat it.
8. They love Golf and Whiskey.
9. People do slurp noodles
10. The porn is still weird and available everywhere.
I'll think of more when they come to me.
Still no decent robots though.
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