Japan

Before arriving in Japan, we were told that the disembarkation process would take a long time. First we all had to have our temperatures taken by a thermal camera. It wasn’t too difficult, all we had to do was walk by while it took our temperature. Next we had a lot of time to wait before we were able to get off the ship to go through customs. Having an early ID number (058 out of 800) I figured I would be among the first group off the ship as I usually was. Of course, they decided to work backwards this time. I didn’t end up getting called off the ship until about noon. I finally was able to set foot in Japan. When we got off the ship we first had to obtain our passports and landing cards. We then had our fingerprints and pictures taken by customs officials. Next we handed in our customs forms and had a short interview with an official. Finally we were given the all clear and could actually go out of the port terminal. I was planning on exploring Kobe on my own for the day before heading off to Tokyo with Leah the next day. As I walked out of the port terminal, my friend Kaitlin was there too. She asked who I was going with and I told her that I was going on my own. She said she was doing the same so we decided to go out together. Once again, the port was located a long way from the center of the city. To get there we had to take a monorail. We went 2 stops from the port terminal to Sannomiya station. The station was at the center of Kobe and connected the city with the bullet train station, the subway, and neighboring cities.
We had no idea what we were going to do but we hopped off at Sannomiya and stated walking. We decided to head to China town for some cheap shopping. Well it took us a while to get there! The Japanese people were very eager to help us by giving directions and pointing. There was just one problem; they talked in slow Japanese assuming that if they talked slowly we would be able to understand them. There was nothing we could do but politely thank them with ‘abrigato’ and then head off in the direction that they were pointing in. It was kind of a game to see how many people we had to ask before we reached our destination. It was interesting to see how many people actually didn’t know where places were in their own city. Well after many conversations and different directions we finally arrived in Chinatown.
It was quite disappointing when we arrived in Chinatown. We were expecting cheap market style shopping but we were greeted by quiet pedestrian streets crammed with Chinese restaurants. Not quite what we had in mind. Since we now know where we were on the map, we decided to walk around a little bit to see what we could find. After following our noses we arrived at a small bakery. Everything looked delicious so we decided to pick a selection of things to try. It was odd because instead of putting the goods in small bags you were givena tray and a pair of tongs at the door. As you browsed the shop you put things on your tray (way too many things I might add) and when you were ready to pay they wrapped the stuff for you. We were really excited to eat it so we headed to the Mac Café, the ultra chic McDonalds eating area. Everything was delicious. I had a pesto pizza, jam tarts, some rice pudding ish thing, a sugar muffin and a cheese and sausage croissant. We both ended up eating pretty much all of what we had bought, even though we had intended on just having a taste of each thing.
After this quick pick me up we headed across the street to what looked like a pedestrian street. Turns out it was an extension of the street we had been on when we got off the train, just further down. Apparently we had taken a rather roundabout way to get to Chinatown. We walked down the shopping street and it was crammed with little stores selling shoes, jewelry, clothes, food, phones and anything else you could think of. We stopped in a couple of phone stores to play with the latest technology and were told that the phones were free. Only catch was we had to sign up for a Japanese plan! I must say that even having a shoe-crazy sister did not prepare me for what I was going to see in Japan. There were shoes in all shapes and sizes (they came in S, M, L, and LL) of every colour of the rainbow. There were platforms, pumps, sandals and some that I can’t even begin to describe. The stores were so full of shoes that it was impossible to not find a pair that you liked. This was my first glimpse at how expensive things were in Japan. Most of the shoes were not very good quality and were still between 70 and 100 bucks! It was fun to look at some of the crazy styles though. I especially like the sneakers that were so colourful. Those were even more expensive!
We also went into a few clothes stores. Almost everything they were selling had some sort of frill or ruffle attached to it. Japanese girls tend to dress very well but somehow they pull of combinations of clothes that I would never match! Most of them wore many layers of clothing in colours that were clashing. It seemed from how most of the people were dressed that they either had lots of money or that we were shopping in the wrong place. We continued to stroll down to shopping street until we got back to the train station. By this time it was about 4pm so we decided to head back to the ship.
I was ready to have a little lay down and relax before heading back out for dinner but no sooner had I sat down that the voice came over the loudspeaker to announce the welcome reception in the union. I decided to head down there to see what it was all about. It started with a presentation of gifts to the captain and staff of the ship by the port staff. We received flowers, a Japanese doll and something else that I forget. There were a few speeches by the captain and port director and then it was on to the exciting part. There was a group of students from a local university playing the drums. It was so energizing to see them putting all their energy into playing and I really enjoyed watching them play. It was clearly very physically exhausting for them so they didn’t play for very long. The whole welcome reception only lasted about 45 minutes.
After they finished playing Leah and I headed back down to the cabin for a quick nap. We decided to head out for dinner around 8 o’clock. I lay down and put on some grey’s anatomy. After a while we were ready to go out. We dressed warmly (it was pretty chilly in Japan) and headed for the train into the city. We were armed with the directions to a restaurant in the lonely planet book so we set out to find it. After getting a little lost we finally arrived at a little place, at the location we were searching for. It wasn’t the same restaurant that was in the book but we decided to give it a try. There were only about 5 tables in the whole restaurant and the chefs cooked the food on an open barbeque in the middle of the restaurant. It wasn’t too encouraging that one of the chefs had an eye patch on. As we entered, everyone started cheering and shouting things in Japanese. It was a little intimidating because at first we didn’t know what they were saying. We signed that we wanted a table for 2 and were seated. We were given a menu with no pictures and no English on it at first. Obviously we couldn’t understand anything so we went to find a picture menu. The waiters obviously understood and found an old English menu for us. We decided to order a variety of different meats and vegetables to try. They had all sorts of meat like chicken liver, chicken foot, and other interesting body parts. We decided to go for the beef steak, chicken wing and giant shrimp. When we decided to choose vegetables we were told that it was an old menu and that most of the things were not available. We ended up getting green peppers and mushrooms, as well as white rice.
To begin with, they brought us soy beans and cabbage soaked in vinegar, soy sauce and ginger. They noted that the cabbage was especially good for drinkers. We weren’t planning on drinking, just having a beer with dinner. One of the waiters spoke a little bit of English so we were able to communicate a little bit with him. He often didn’t understand us but we motioned and signed to him until we were on the same page. After being there for a while we realized that whenever someone entered the restaurant all the waiters cheered and shouted, and thankfully it was not telling us to go away! When the food arrived we were surprised at how small the portions were. All the food was on sticks, with only 3 mushrooms on the stick. We were glad that we ordered the white rice!
After paying and taking pictures with the waiters we headed back into Kobe. We walked along some backstreets looking for a bar where some of our friends were meeting. After walking for a while we decided just to head back to the ship because we had an early morning the next day.
On the second morning we had decided to take a train at 8:25 to Tokyo so we woke up early and went for breakfast at 7am. After a quick breakfast we hopped on to the port liner to Sannomiya station with all our bags. When we arrived there, we changed on to the subway to get to the shin-Kobe station where the bullet trains left from. We arrived at the train station, not really sure how to use our rail passes. When we entered the station we showed our pass and headed up to the track. We were a little bit early so were able to watch a number of trains pull in and out of the station. The trains move so quickly and look like snakes! We had picked the train in advance and when we arrived we found out that there were several cars with unreserved seating. We headed to this area and waited for the train. When it came we jumped on- it was sort of a free for all to get a seat. It turned out that the train was fairly empty so we had a row of three to share. I lied down and fell asleep pretty quickly (it’s those moving vehicles I’m telling you). Because Tokyo was the last stop, I was not worried about missing our stop.
About two hours into the three hour journey I was rudely awoken by a Japanese man shaking me. Apparently the train had filled up and our third seat was the only seat that wasn’t taken. I sat up quickly and moved over so he could sit down. I was rather shocked and out of it for a little while, as I often am when I’m woken suddenly. For the rest of the ride I stayed awake and listen to my fake ipod. Upon arriving in Tokyo we headed to the West exit where Yukari had told me she would meet us. We sat there for a while and then I decided to go and find a pay phone to call her. I finally found a pay phone and started to dial when I heard her calling my name. I turned around and she looked exactly the same as I remembered her from almost 7 years ago. For those who don’t know, Yukari came on a rotary exchange program to my high school in Bermuda when I was in year 10. We hadn’t kept in touch through the years but I had emailed her when I found out I was coming to Japan. Luckily she used the same email and said she would be glad to show me around Tokyo, where she was now teaching. So we headed back outside to find Leah who had stayed and waited with the bags. We talked for a few minutes about our plans (we didn’t have any) and decided to head to the hostel where we were to stay that night. It was quite out of the way, in Ikebukuro, which is not near the center of the city. After walking through some backstreets and finally ending up at the Backpackers Hostel, we went inside. We took our shoes off at the door as is customary in Japan and headed inside. I was quite shocked at how ‘ghetto’ for lack of a better word, it was.
There was a room for men and a room for women but because there was a full house, everyone was sleeping in whatever bed they could find. The hostel was in the basement of an apartment building and consisted of 4 rooms. There was a room for men and a room for women, a bathroom (with a squatter toilet I might add) and a living room with kitchenette. The bed rooms consisted of many sets of bunk beds made up with dirty looking sheets. As soon as I walked in I knew I would not be staying here long, I only had to convince Leah of the same. Turns out it didn’t take too much convincing! We decided to leave our stuff there while we poked around the neighborhood and tried to find somewhere else to stay. Before we left though we used the internet to book tickets for a baseball game that evening.
First we headed into Ikebukuro area. We poked around some side streets looking for a good place to eat. We wanted to eat some local food, and allowed Yukari to choose for us. After much searching, we ended up at Jonathans. It was the Japanese equivalent of Denny’s. They served all types of American food. It was difficult for me to pick something off the menu that was local but in the end I chose a sort of chicken teriyaki casserole. It was good but not very authentic! The service was very cool though. If you wanted the waiter’s attention all you had to do was press the buzzer on the table. To get a drink you didn’t ask the waiter, there was a whole drink bar that was self serve. Needless to say the service was very quick and we were in and out within half an hour.
After lunch we headed down a busy shopping street towards sunshine city. Along the way we passed the sanrio store. This is where they sell all the hello kitty stuff. I’m not sure why, but Japan has an obsession with hello kitty. It is everywhere; on backpacks, luggage, bumper stickers, billboards, clothes, jewelry and anywhere else you can imagine. Usually at sanrio stores they sell all sorts of cartoon merchandise for different characters but this one was almost all hello kitty stuff. There were some snoopy things in the corner but no one was buying them. Leah bought a pair of PJs for her friend but I didn’t buy anything. As I said before everything was pretty expensive. I spend the most money in Japan out of any country and I didn’t buy anything besides postcards and a magnet!
After leaving hello kitty we continued down the shopping street. Everywhere you look, there are people giving out little packs of tissues. All of the packaging has advertising on the outside for a bar or a restaurant. By the time we left Japan I probably had five packs of tissues in my purse.
By the time we reached sunshine city I was pretty tired. Sunshine city was a giant mall full of clothes and food stores. To get into the mall you had to go down a giant escalator. Inside there were tons of stores with frilly things. A lot of the things look really old fashioned and antiquey but look good when the Japanese girls wear them. My favorite thing was the shoe stores because there was so much to choose from and so many crazy styles to look at. I wouldn’t even have known how to put some of them on!
We had a walk around sunshine city and then headed back out to the street to head back to the station. On the way back Yukari took us into an arcade. We went into one of the photo booths that prints stickers. We took a few different pictures and expected it to be done. Well it wasn’t. in Japan, you can doodle on the prints, put stamps on them, change their colour, write stuff on them and pick many different backgrounds. We had fun making our pictures original! At the end of it all you put your email into the machine and it emails the picture to you! It was the coolest thing ever and it costs the same as it does at home.
This was a nice break before we headed back to the station. We had found out earlier in the day where the Tokyo dome was, where the baseball game was taking place. We arrived early and stood in line, only to find when we reached the front that we had not printed the tickets properly. We needed to print the barcode in order for them to be scanned. This started a long and tiring process. Keep in mind that all of our feet our killing us by now. First we had to find someone who knew where the nearest internet café was. Then we started walking in that direction but could not find it. After what seemed like forever we finally arrived at the internet café. I opened my email and printed the tickets again, this time being sure to print the barcode as well. We quickly left and walked as fast as we could, which wasn’t very fast, back to the stadium. We had missed only about half an hour of the game, which was about one inning.
We found our seats, and of course all the semester at sea kids were all sitting together. It was quite unfortunate because not only were we already stereotyped, but we were all sitting together to make things worse. Of course there were a few people there who were on semester about me (what dean kenn says about people who get drunk in all the ports and embarrass themselves) there to make a scene and make all of us look bad. Despite this, the game was very exciting. They have beer girls walking around selling beer from kegs carried on their backs. They also sell all sorts of food and snacks, juices and cocktails. The Japanese fans were also very rowdy and cheered loudly whenever something good or bad happened. The two teams were from Tokyo, the Giants and the Sparrows. We were all going for the giants, except some semester about me kids, who were loud and obnoxious, shouting out obscenities at the giants. It was quite embarrassing for all of us!
At first the giants had a big lead but as the game went on the sparrows came back. After a home run with loaded bases the sparrows took the lead and there was no looking back. At the end of the eighth inning we decided to head back to the train station to beat the crowds. No one in Tokyo has a car so everyone takes the trains.
We boarded the train and headed for Ikebukuro to go back to the hospital. At the baseball game a friend of ours gave us a business card of the hotel where he was staying. We decided to move there for the night because it was closer to the center of the city and to Roppongi, where the night life is. We arrived at the hostel and apologetically (not actually) said that we had to move somewhere closer to the center of the city. I made sure to be polite and tell them that I would recommend that my friends stay here in the future. NOT. The owner was even nice enough to give us our money back (even though it only paid for the taxi to the new hotel).
When we arrived at the new hotel it was a relief to see a front desk and proper entrance. We had called ahead to book so we checked in and headed upstairs. The room was absolutely tiny! The bed took up most of the space. The bed itself was somewhere between a single and a double for the two of us to share. By this time it was about 11pm so we got ready to head out. We got a cab and asked the driver to take us to Roppongi. We didn’t know exactly where we wanted to go so we hopped out and started walking. We went into a bar called Motown and it had the weirdest crowd I have ever seen. There was a mix of Japanese, Europeans and Middle Eastern people. Oddly though, all the bouncers at the clubs were big black American men. It was refreshing to see people from all over the world having been in Asia for so long.
Eventually we bumped into some friends from the ship. We decided to pick up some beer at the convenience store and chill on the street. The street was more live than the clubs. There was music in the street so we just chilled outside a department store. It was a great time and we met many people from all over the world including a US army man, Brazilians, Japanese and some New Yorkers. It was a great way to experience the culture. We eventually ended up playing slap the bag and then had crepes from the stand next door. They were delicious. Mine had chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream! The most eventful happening of the evening was an SAS girl almost getting arrested for allegedly stealing a shirt. She was quite drunk, but insisted she had never even seen the shirt and that the store worker had planted it on her as she was leaving, and accused her of stealing it. The police arrived and the girl was crying hysterically, not being able to understand anything they were trying to tell her. Finally they let her go, and keep the shirt.
After a successful night me and Leah headed back to the hotel at around 3am and hopped into the tiny bed. I think we slept practically on top of each other the whole night but were so tired that we didn’t even notice. We were awoken the next morning by the front desk calling to tell us that check out was 10am. It was already 10:30 so I nicely told them that we would be gone by noon. They tried to say they would charge us but I politely told them that no one had informed us of checkout time and that we would not be paying a cent extra! After a quick shower and packing up, we headed downstairs to check out at 11:55.
Having not eaten, our first thoughts were to get some food. We headed to Shibuya, near Harajuku, which is known for crowded streets and shopping areas. We walked around for a little while before settling into McDonalds for some lunch. It was quite chilly this morning so after walking around for a while and soaking in the atmosphere we headed back to the station. We were planning on going to Hiroshima for the night but because we left Tokyo earlier than planned we decided to head back to the ship and sleep there for free instead. Because the train to Hiroshima passed through Shin Osaka anyway, we were not going out of the way at all. We got off the train in Shin Osaka and had to transfer to a different train to get to Kobe. It was going to be a long wait for the H or K trains that we were allowed to take using our rail passes. Nozomi (N) trains are reserved for locals and take more direct routes to every stop. We decided to get on the N train anyway and risk getting thrown off. We were only going one stop anyway so if they threw us off at the next stop it would not have been a problem. I was nervous that the conductor would come and yell at us in Japanese, but we had never seen any workers on any of the trains we had been on before.
Just my luck though, an official came through the train. He tried to say something to me but I could not understand so just smiled and nodded. He kept walking so I assumed he wasn’t telling me I was being arrested. Just before we were to get off a man came up and asked me whether I was travelling on a rail pass. I decided to play ignorant and said yes. He asked me if I knew I wasn’t supposed to be on this train but I said I had no idea. He said that he too was on a rail pass and that we were breaking the rules. We both laughed and felt very daring. He looked local though so probably would have gone unnoticed. Me and Leah were the only white people on the train. When we arrived in Kobe I said goodbye to my new friend and quickly got off the train.
We headed for the subway back to Sannomiya station where we transferred to the port liner to go back to the ship. By the time we arrived back at the MV Explorer it was perfect timing for dinner. We had something to eat and then crashed out for the night, exhausted from all the travelling!
The next morning we woke up early to take the train to Hiroshima. We took the 8am bullet train and arrived there about 9:30am. Not knowing where to go, we were told that if we took the street car, it would take us to the peace park. So we hopped on and paid 150 Yen, about two dollars. We finally reached the stop that we were told to get off at and hopped off. It looked like we were in the middle of the city with no park in sight. We asked a local shop keeper if she could point us in the right direction but when she did, it was in the opposite direction as the map showed. We decided to keep walking down the main street to see if we could find it. We arrived at the memorial baseball stadium which we knew was close to the peace park and soon arrived. We entered near the A-bomb dome, which is a damaged building that has been preserved and remains in the same state it did after the bomb was dropped. The park was beautiful and it was a warm sunny day so it made it very pleasant to walk around.
Next we visited the tourist information center to get a map of the park and to pick up some postcards. We headed out into the park to look at some of the memorial sites. The children’s memorial was our first stop. It is a large symbolic monument that was build to remember children who perished from the bomb and especially a young girl, Sadako Sasaki, who died of Leukemia after the radiation of the bomb reached her ten years later. The monument was built to bring peace and to console the souls of Sadako and other childrenwho died. Before she died she had began to fold paper cranes from origami and had vowed to reach one thousand before she passed away. When folding cranes, it is customary to wish on each one. When you reach a thousand, it is a symbol of good luck and that your wishes will be granted. She did indeed reach and surpass one thousand cranes before she died. After she died her friends and classmates continued to fold cranes in her memory.
Now, cranes are sent to the Children’s Peace Memorial from all over the world each year. There are cases containing thousands of colourful paper cranes surrounding the memorial structure. After looking at this for some time, we headed to the North of the park to visit the Peace bell and other memorials. The peace bell is a large bell which people can ring if they are committed to peace. It has a large wooden pole which you swing backwards and then release to strike the bell. The date of the A-bomb, August 6th, 1945 is inscribed into the bell. At the point where the pole strikes the bell, there is an inscription of the atom symbol. It signifies stomping out the use of atomic weapons in warfare. Leah and I both rang the bell.
After a nice walk around the peace park we headed to the memorial museum. There was a fifty cent entry fee and we headed in. The first exhibit described the history of Japan before and during the war. There were many pictures of Hiroshima before and after the bomb was dropped. It was a very somber atmosphere with many locals and visitors. As we headed upstairs, there were more and more exhibits showing photographs during and immediately after the bomb was dropped. Some of the pictures were very graphic and moving, and the photographers quoted that it was difficult to take pictures when the people were in such pain and suffering. There were many stories of individuals, accompanied by articles of clothing they were wearing at the time of the explosion and photographs. Many of the people survived the initial blast with severe burns and were able to return home and tell their stories to their families. Unfortunately, many of these victims didn’t live longer than a few days. Many were children, whose school uniforms were virtually destroyed by the impact from the bomb.
Throughout the museum there were articles of clothing, melted roof tiles, warped building materials and other articles damaged during the blast. Particularly interesting were a number of watches which had stopped at 8:15am when the bomb exploded on August 6th, 1945. I felt that the museum gave a very good and well rounded view of the war and the bombing. It gave both sides of the issues, the Japanese and the American side of the development and dropping of the bomb. It took a long time to wander through the extensive museum before ending with some video recordings from survivors. They spoke of where they were and how they remember the day of the bombing. All around the museum and the peace park there were survivors of the bomb who were telling their stories and experiences.
After leaving the museum we decided to walk down Peace Park Boulevard. We were looking for something to have for lunch. We headed for a small noodle shop that I had seen in the lonely planet book. It was a beautiful day so we walked slowly and looked at all the sights and sounds as we went around. We arrived in the area where I expected the restaurant to be located but couldn’t find it. We asked at a seven eleven and it turned out that we had already passed the restaurant. We walked back and headed into a small kitchen surrounded by counters for customers to eat at. When you entered you had to push aside heaving plastic strips that I suppose were to keep the dust and pollution out. When we walked in there were only 2 other people eating but we decided to give it a try. The menu was not in English and the waitress spoke no English. We decided to just have the dish that was pictured and be sure that it would not be spicy. The chefs were making the noodles and chopping vegetables. Our meal did not take long to appear and consisted of a plate of noodles with some meat and vegetables on the side. In a separate bowl was a sauce with sesame seeds in it.
To our surprise everything was cold. It was surprisingly good though, and we both ate everything. Turns out that the menu only details the different levels of spicyness that you can choose for the sauce. It tasted a bit like soy sauce infused with other flavours. It was delicious. As we were eating more locals came into the restaurant and ordered so we figured it must be a pretty good place. We paid the bill, which was about seven dollars each and said our arigatos (thank yous) and headed back out on to the street. On the way to the restaurant we had passed a crepe restaurant so decided to stop there for some desert. I ordered a crepe with berry sauce, oreos and vanilla ice cream. It was delicious, far better than the one I had eaten in Tokyo!
After this we wanted to visit Skhukkei-en, which is a traditional Japanese garden. It was quite far from where we were so we decided to walk for a bit then get on a street car. It was nice to walk up the street because we were able to see all the expensive shops, restaurants and watch the people. When we arrived at the main street we got onto the street car and travelled two stops. We got off and walked toward the entrance of the garden. We paid the tiny entrance fee and walked around. It was a perfect Japanese garden; just as it had been depicted in a movie I had watched when I was young. There was a lake in the middle surrounded by meticulously pruned trees, flowers and bushes. There were winding paths throughout the whole garden so we were able to walk around the whole thing. We stopped to take pictures of the ornate bridges and beautiful cherry blossoms. After seeing the whole garden we headed back to the street car.
When we paid we made sure to ask for a transfer so that we could hop right on to a different streetcar to take us back to the bullet train station. We did this and arrived back at the station in about 15 minutes. We had a little bit of trouble finding the platforms but eventually did. I decided to buy some sushi at a little store because I hadn’t eaten any the whole time we had been in Japan. I was very surprised that there were not more sushi restaurants. I had barely seen any in all our time in Kobe, Tokyo and Hiroshima. I ate the sushi on the platform while we waited for the train. It was OK, I didn’t know what type of fish it was but it was nothing special. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to go to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant and experience some really good Japanese sushi.
When the train arrived we hopped on and sat down. I can’t really remember but I think we slept the whole way once again. When we arrived back in Kobe we headed down to the shopping streets. Although it was very tempting, I didn’t buy anything. Once we had a good walk around we bought ice cream and Pringles (ethnic spicy flavor I might add) and headed towards Sannomiya station. We hopped on to the port liner for the last time and boarded the ship.
Later that evening I tried to make some phone calls on a payphone but was unsuccessful. I ended up wasting an hour waiting for the phone when it wouldn’t work. It wasn’t a great way to end a fun time in Japan but what can you do. I got back onto the ship at about 8pm and stayed there until we departed for Hawaii. We now have 8 days at sea before arriving in Hawaii! Until next time…xo