Existence in Japan part 4

My Life in Japan

Existence in Japan part 4

Existence in Japan = Travel

Little is it known but whilst I`ve been in Japan I have indeed travelled. Granted compared to some of my other workmates I haven`t travelled, but I think for a chap as lazy and comfort seeking as myself I did a bloody good job ever leaving my apartment in the first place.

So woeful are my travel experiences that I will probably be able to list them all on this here page and still have quite a roomy expanse left.

February 2003

One of my best mates from England worked for `the company` briefly from 2002-2003 sadly he was in Osaka, sadly for me, beneficial for him (he met his future wife there - they can be seen below). He, unlike me, got his head together and left `the company` quite promptly.

So with him in Osaka I decided to take a trip, I got to ride the famous Shinkansen (fast train - bullet train). In my wisdom or was it naivete I decided on a seat in the smoking carriage (not a good idea!) three hours to Osaka surrounded by chain smoking sober salary men, interesting, thank goodness for books.

After three hours I found myself in a station called Shin Osaka and had no idea where to go then. A phone call to Chris later, I boarded another train for the city and then waited for my old friend to find me in a sprawling very very busy station (one of those times when being a tallish foreigner is useful, almost made up for all the head injuries). Aside from waiting for Chris I of course was smoking like a trooper outside the station.

During the same week.

Kyoto!

Nice little jaunt one afternoon from Imazato where I was staying, a confusing scary daunting time on the Osaka train line, finally getting to a train bound for Kyoto. Having never been to Kyoto in the past, and always believing in being thoroughly under prepared, I reach Kyoto station with an idea of where I wanted to go but no knowledge of how to get there.

First stop, Information! Thankfully the woman behind the counter spoke as much English as I did Japanese, thank you. Big sign on the counter and the woman pointing at it saying kinkakuji and then crossing her hands. Great, the Golden Pavilion was closed! Onwards and upwards.

It was a good day, I finally caught a bus headed for ginkakuji (silver pavillion) and it was heaving, I decided to get off with everyone else - then there was some hiking!!! Then the walk through a cemetry but finally we reached one huge big ass mo fo of a temple! Kiyomizu dera - amazing building, great view, very very worthwhile and totally by chance -- hence my underprepared philosophy. Getting back to the main street from Kiyomizu, I decided upon an adventurous left then right at street corners policy, it did work as well, and I got to walk through Gion and I saw a Maiko (kind of geisha). Not bad at all.

Anyway, I don`t want to bore you with all the details of my day in Kyoto, if you request such information via e-mail then of course I will duly obey!

I`m just proving my distaste for travelling, which should really have stopped with the process!

Nara!

It was quite amazing realising how close together Osaka, Kyoto and Nara are. Although I can`t even give you those details in distances, I can give them to you in train approimations.

I stayed in Imazato, four or five stops from Namba which is part of Osaka. From Imazato it took 50 minutes I think on the train to Nara, and this was a local train! Ahh what a journey it was, it was first thing in the morning, I hadn`t slept from the night before neither had Chris or Robyn. Chris was in spectacular form, he had developed an addiction to the train guards and their rituals and waves and nods etc etc etc. We were at the front of the train and Chris used his digital camera to document and petrify the driver of the train. Ohh the hilarity.

Nara, fantastic. So small, all walkable effectively. There are deer! Wow! There are stone lanterns! Cor! There is one hell of a big Buddha! Oh Buddha! And the largest wooden building on earth! Scorcher! Indeed, Nara was an eye opener (which was a good thing as I was flagging at times - no sleep makes Kieran tired!) The Bambi cookies aren`t delicious though, but the deer like them.

Nara, in and out, no sweat no bother nothing missed. Simple Japanese minaturisation.

Osaka

Busy and bigger than Fukuoka, leading to much knackerment and confusion when I walked to Osaka castle from Namba train station!

I think I should really try and put more of a positive spin on my travel experiences before we continue.

June ??th 2002.

I woke up at 8 am and spent the next 21 hours packing, weighing, repacking, weighing, unpacking, weighing, re-repacking, weighing. It was a long day! Sadly the day wasn`t over. My brother took me to the local coach stop so I could catch the coach down to London. 6:07 am I think that coach left Burnley, Hargreaves Street if I`m not mistaken.

The coach to London from Burnley, how long could it take? Care to hazard a guess? It took a long time, for some reason there was a lengthy stop in Bolton! Bolton god forbid! Not bloody far enough away for a lengthy stop! But I did cram in a couple of smokes. Incidentally the coach from Burnley to London took effectively 7 hours! 7 glorious, cramped, cigarette free, old women nattering hours! 7! And the day was not yet over!

Once in London, somewhere in London, I had to head across to another coach depot to get the coach to Heathrow, Yes, another coach! This one fortunately only took about an hour.

At Heathrow I had to drag my carcas to Terminal 4, and by this point my face was resembling something dead. I met the people also coming out to Japan on that day. Ben James who I`d met at the `induction` in London - we`d had a smoke outside the office block during the smoke break (we bad bad bad men) and we were both kind of going to Fukuoka (Sorry Ben). Met the guys and then checked in, all that packing and re-packing hadn`t meant anything as I was 4 kilos over and I was now wearing my cashmere great coat, and the blighters still didn`t charge me!

I don`t rightly recall what time the plane left Heathrow, I remember being very uncomfortable with my posterior posing a problem for the airline chair, not to mention my chair remote being broken and inaccessible. I was sat there with a woman called Rachel who was to go to Miyazaki. As I look back at that time two things come to mind. 12 hours is an inhumane distance to fly without a cigarette, no sleep for 36 hours and without the knowledge that airline drinks on long haul flights are FREE! And the second thing? 12 hours is an inhumane distance to fly without a cigarette, no sleep for 36 hours and without the knowledge that airline drinks on long haul flights are FREE!

Finally Osaka was reached, as soon as we boarded the plane in London I set my watch to Japanese time (probably why I couldn`t bloody sleep), in Osaka we tooled around saying goodbye to those who were staying there - incidentally one of those people whose name now escapes me was to become a room-mate for a girl called Robyn who went to Osaka. Strange story? Irrelevant? Well there is a point. The girl I flew over with was apparently something of a hmmm, how to say, hmmm, PSYCHO! Robyn was not having the best of times, and lo and behold who would she run into in Osaka? No not me! She ran into a great friend from University - Chris - who I had persuaded to try his hand with Nova. They hit off, she could avoid the girl whose name I now remember (:p) Chris could avoid his resident psycho and as far as I`m aware they are living happily ever after back in England! LOL

Anyway, we reached Osaka, we said goodbye and then we had to wait for our connecting flight to Fukuoka. Me, Ben, Rachel, Daniel and maybe other people who somehow have dropped from memory (SORRY). Ohh that connecting flight. Onboard, in the seat, take off and asleep. I woke up as we were coming into land in Fukuoka. What a blissful one hours sleep.

In the Airport, got the luggage, meet some gangly American who rushes us to a subway train, try to take in the directions being spoken at me, as me and Rachel are getting off the train together where we`ll be met by some other guy. We get off the train, we meet some other guy. He rushes us to a Train station, I buy my ticket, thank god I`d got change for a drink in the airport. I`m ushered to the platform with the immortal words.... "I think that train is yours" and then Rachel and the cropped haired English guy are gone, and I catch the train, having to crouch so I can see through the windows, looking for a sign for Zasshonokuma.

But of course I did find that sign and the apartment, or I wouldn`t be here now regaling you with my biggest and worst travel experience. Which reminds of my point! I don`t travel because it is scary and quite often uncomfortable ne`ermind expensive and requiring lots of time with bugger all to do!




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