To Japan & Back Again

My Travel Experiences Abroad

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The Monte Grappa memorial. We went at the perfect time--when no one was there. If you visit northeast Italy, you have to make a point to go here!

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Another thing I will miss about Fukuoka: Tenjin Chikagai. I could walk basically anywhere underground. There were entrances to all the subway lines & huge department stores. It was pretty cool. When I forgot my umbrella on rainy days I could use this & barely get rained on.

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Back in Taipei

Every time I come to Taiwan for layovers I have the hardest time. This time I exchanged money in Japan before I arrived to avoid currency issues. Turns out, the attendant thought I asked for Korean money, so I ended up with Japanese, American, Taiwanese, and Korean money all mixed together. So confusing. Also, once again, I will have no vegan meals on my flights. Luckily Starbucks had fresh vegetables & dip, so I'm taking that on the plane. I also stuffed my face during the layover with fried eggplant, some kind of strange vegetable soup, some gourmet olive bread thing & a latte from Starbucks. I hope I don't feel like dying by the time I get to LA like I did on my way to Japan. I'm going to miss all the nonsense English phrase shirts & bowing & awkwardness of Japan. I'm not going to miss the very specific types of foreign students that study there or the strenuous process of trying to eat vegetables.

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Thing #8 I didn't know about Japan: you can buy watermelon in two different colors! That's right ladies & gents. Complete your summer vacation by mixing things up a little with a piece of discolored fruit! It tastes just like the original, and the best part is no artificial dyes are used in the making of this fruit! So if you're not in the mood for pink and green, or you just like to make a habit of disobeying social norms, try Yellow Melon! *No melons were harmed in the making of this product*

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I made the hitch hiking sign all by myself! :) It says "I need to go to Fukuoka. Please"

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Jinrikisha in Yufuin through the rain & a cucumber plant.

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Onsens & Floods

So my friends & I set out for an onsen (natural hot spring) this weekend in Yufuin which is on the northeast side of Kyushu (I'm on the northwest side). Japan is full of onsens in the mountains. It is one of its defining features. It was pretty awesome. Not only did I visit an onsen for the first time, but I saw a real jinrikisha for the first time, I hitch-hiked for the first time, and I rode a shinkansen for the first time. Okay. Definitions. We know onsen now. A jinrikisha is like Japan's version of a horse and buggy except replace the horse with an enthusiastic Asian person wearing a pointy hat. You would see a jinrikisha in Japan in a historic town, just as in America you will only see a horse & buggy in an Amish town or a historic town. Shinkansen translates to "bullet train" in English. It is the fast train. If you go to a big station in Japan you will have the option of riding the in-town buses, the highway bus, the subway, the train, or the bullet train. The bullet train is the fastest of all of these & is pretty darn comfy to boot.

So back to the story.

First of all it's still the rainy season. And holy mother of pearl was it raining cats and dogs this past weekend. After getting off the highway bus we made our way to the onsen where I discovered that onsens are separated by gender. I thought that was strange, but made my way to the female onsen... where I discovered why men & females are separated. I suddenly felt really naive and conservative (didn't know I could feel that way here) in my cutesy little blue bathing suit. That's right. Ya don't wear clothes at an onsen.

Chapter Two.

So the onsen was great. The shopping was great. Exactly what I wanted. It didn't feel like corporations were seething their way into Japan like Fukuoka feels. Traditional glass work & wood work. I have to go back when I have more money. There were handmade music boxes & clocks & wow. It was cool. But there was one little problem. The bus center called to inform us that due to flooding neither the highway bus nor the train was going from Fukuoka to Yafuin or vise versa.

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So after much deliberation & more window shopping, we made our way to the local gigantic drug store where we purchased a ridiculously large permanent marker, some string & nabbed some cardboard. We made some hitch-hikers signs & within 3 minutes of walking down the road with our signs we got picked up! The only problem is that to get home we had to go the opposite direction of Fukuoka to travel around the flooding. When we got to our destination, Beppu, we grabbed some food & purchased some tickets for the next bullet train.

Long story short, we got home okay & got our money back for the bus. It was quite interesting though. Pictures to come.

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Thing #7 I didn't know about Japan: nothing can stop a Nihonjin from owning a pet. Pictured above is Aibo the robot dog. He barks, pants, cuddles & responds to about 20 commands including "odoru," the Japanese verb for "to dance." He has some sweet moves. He was invented because many apartments do not allow pets here. Very interesting. He is located in Robosquare inside of Fukuoka Tower, a popular tourist attraction.

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Canada Day in Fukuoka! This event drew a few thousand people... I didn't meet one Canadian that night.

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Thing #6 I didn't know about Japan: Late-night dancing is illegal. Apparently, the license a venue can acquire for late-night dancing requires that the space is at least 66 sq. meters in size... which is not common.

You may be thinking どうして? This originally came from the 1948 Entertainment Business Control Law--originally designed to regulate hostess bars, cabaret clubs, and gambling establishments. When entering venues (which are blaring heavy rap & other typical club music that encourages dancing), club-goers are greeted by their friendly neighborhood bouncer distributing informative "No Dancing" pamphlets. I hear that when a venue is caught the 1st time the owner is warned, but the 2nd time it is completely shut down. WTF Japan. OH. And one more thing. When I asked people (Japanese or otherwise) why this law exists, they all said "because it's a law" -___- and then the conversation died because they actually had no earthly idea. However, one of my Japanese friends did offer this nugget of encouragement: "I can't dance anyways, so I am glad it's a law."

So there you have it folks.

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Thursday was a touristy day. This photo is of some of my roommate's Brazilian friends viewing a model of Fukuoka Castle Ruins.

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More on Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.... this scares me.

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Thing #5 I didn't know about Japan: The reason Americans think Lady Gaga is so eccentric is because all of the singers that grossly surpass her in the "OMFG GTFO" category are hiding out here.

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Thing #4 I didn't know (actually forgot about) about Japan: to use the potty, you've got to squatty. I guess I could say my mother "warned" me about this when I was a child. She was stationed in Okinawa for a while, and told me there were "squatty potties" here. I have not entered a public bathroom yet that did not contain at least one "Western Style" toilet though. Sometimes the stall doors are even labeled in English for the user's convenience.

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Thing #3 I didn't know about Japan: men wear purses too. *gasp* It is not uncommon to see a man wearing what is known as the "man purse". Usually young punk rock looking guys with partially bleached hair and interesting (we'll leave it at that descriptor) fashion rock these babies, but if your are cunning you may spot a Louis Vuitton adorning a business man's shoulder.