The next few of my posts will hopefully add up to a somewhat detailed description of my experience in Japan. Now, I will premise this that I have never been to Japan before, nor has anyone else in our group of 7 save for my dad who was born there in the 40's, moved to the United States around age 10, and his last visit to his native Japan was back in 1969. He is also the only one who is almost fluent in Japanese, though if you know my dad you also know that he isn't always the swiftest bird in the flock (but adds a bit of comedy to every situation), so actually having him act as translator was more of a handicap than help. So yes, I'm happy to report that I finally went on the pilgrimage to Japan, met many relatives for the first time, and in general explored the country in all its Japanesey coolness. Getting around in Japan is methodical and it takes a little time to figure out what that system is. Everything is navigated around the subway. There are no addresses on buildings. In fact, knowing an address does you no good at all. Often streets have multiple names. Almost all business cards have little maps on the back that show you where their location is relative to the nearest subway/train station. It's like a treasure map where you're the pirate, searching for the booty that is the destination itself. Take x-train toward y-station, exit, walk 3 minutes toward shrine, two doors down on your right.
To illustrate this, in Kyoto, my sister-in-law informed us of a sake bar run by an Israeli man that she read about in her Japan guidebook. If you know me, you know I'm always on the hunt for a good drink. Unfortunately, there was only a general description of where the bar was located (but no map), so we spent about an hour wandering around the back streets of Kyoto asking any random person we saw about such-and-such bar. Never heard of it. We asked a hotel concierge. Never heard of it either. They just circled an area of a map and said, "Around here," which was exactly the area we had already been looking. We never did find the place, but did stumble into a local Yakitori bar that had great food, friendly staff, and drunk patrons. Awesome! We further added to the drunk patrons and enjoyed 2 bottles of sake, 2 bottles of plum wine, and 2 large bottles of beer. We stumbled back to the hotel, laughing at the ridiculous Engrish descriptions on everything. My brother was very amused. He's a funny drunk and I don't get to see that side of him enough.
Transportation maps and schedules and fares look very complex, especially when you can't read kanji as all the characters start swimming around before your very jetlagged eyes. Once you figure it out though, it's a piece of cake. I'm still figuring it out though and I'm no longer there.
The trains are super punctual. 9:17 train arrives exactly at 9:17. No time to dilly dally. Missed the train? No worries as another train arrives not too far behind. And did I mention that it's super clean? I have never seen a metropolitan city so clean as Tokyo. To prove this, I once accidentally spilled all the water out of my Camelback on the subway train floor. I sopped it up with my microfiber towel and some napkins. I look at the white napkins afterwards -- still white! How is that even possible?
You can pretty much get anywhere in Japan via the rails. We bought rail passes to use during our time there and it came in very handy. The Shinkansen (bullet train) is speedy (300km/h), quiet, smooth, roomy, just all around very cool. I wish we had something like this in the States. Imagine connecting SF to LA in just 2.5 hours where you arrive 5 minutes before departure, no check-in, as opposed to going to the airport an hour before, standing in line to check in, and deal with delays only to sit in a cramped, uncomfortable chair in small quarters.
I took a taxi a couple times in Fukuoka. The doors automatically open and close. The driver is polite and wears pristine white gloves (as do a lot of the service workers in Japan).
Many people ride bicycles and motor scooters as means of getting around. Here is an older woman who passed by us as we were totally lost somewhere:
I took a taxi a couple times in Fukuoka. The doors automatically open and close. The driver is polite and wears pristine white gloves (as do a lot of the service workers in Japan).
Many people ride bicycles and motor scooters as means of getting around. Here is an older woman who passed by us as we were totally lost somewhere:
However great the subways, buses, and trains are, nothing beats actually being able to experience the quiet solitude or rush of people by being among them on the streets. Tom and I went for a couple runs, one around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and the other to the Heian Shrine in Kyoto. It was a great way to see the cities. We had no real destination, so we meandered around all the little streets, weaving in between laughing uniformed children on their way to school, passing by impressive sites, seeing the Japanese in their day to day. I wish I had more time to run and was in better shape to do it. Next time!
