From December 29, 2000 to January 5, 2001, John Lee, the other Waterloo Co-op student, and myself went
on a trip to explore the southern parts of Japan. I was thinking of naming this article something like
the movie title Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but a more accurate Ferries, Trains and
Cancelled Buses didn't have the same ring to it.
This rambling is based on the rough notes I took during the voyage, sometimes in a state of absolute exhaustion. Here is a map you can use to follow our journey. Enjoy.
We left the dormitory at 5:40am this morning to catch the 6:10 train to Matsumoto. It was still dark and lightly snowing when we left. The sun was rising behind the mountains, but we shouldn't know it until we boarded the train. We got to Matsumoto at around 6:30. The streets, devoid of cars, seemed so empty and strange. We grabbed a quick breakfast at a konbini (convenience store), then caught the 7:10 bus to Osaka.
Much of the bus ride was a blur. I was in a state of half sleep for most of it. I remember opening my eyes and catching a few glimpses of the Japanese mobster movie being played at the front of the bus.
We arrived in Osaka at 12:30, then immediately sought out the Tourist Information counter where we were told that every museum and tourist trap in Osaka was closed for the holidays. We decided to grab lunch before deciding what to do next. We went downstairs from the bus terminal to what is called the Gourmet Museum. Basically it is an indoor mall, two storeys underground, and instead of having stores, the halls were lined with restaurants. It took us 20 minutes to finally decide on a sushi restaurant. We both had the crab sushi and tuna sashimi set, which was excellent.
Since our ferry didn't depart until 6:50pm, we decided to walk downtown and explore. After an hour of walking, we arrived at Dotomburi, which is to food what Akihabara (the Electric Town district of Tokyo) is to electronics. Imagine the streets of a downtown city (the second largest in Japan) completely full of restaurants, going up 4 storeys. We grabbed some tako yaki (fried octopus) for a snack, then headed off to the ferries.
After making ourselves comfortable on board and grabbing a mediocre, overpriced meal, I suddenly became aware that I was the only Caucasian aboard. Maybe that was why the captain himself greeted me and showed me to my room, and didn't do this for anyone else. The fact I was the only white guy aboard didn't bother me, but it seemed to bother the other 11 people sharing my bedroom, judging by their open-mouth stares when I walked in the room. I could just tell what they were thinking:
"Of all the rooms on board, we had to get stuck with the gaijin (foreigner)."
The room had 12 bunks resembling the couchette (sleeper train) I took on my European trip in 1997 (coincidentally also with a friend named John).
That night I tried to fall asleep to the sound of snoring, and Auld Lang Syne, which was stuck in my head. It had been playing at the ferry terminal, reminding me that I was leaving the island of Honshu for the last time this century.
At 5:30am this morning an announcement was made over the whole ship and scared me awake. Of course I understood very little of it, but I gathered it said something about the restaurant now serving breakfast. Either that or the ship was sinking. I hoped for the former, then went back to sleep, only to be awakened half an hour later. I couldn't understand that one at all, so I figured it couldn't be important, until I noticed I was the only one left in the room. Was the boat sinking? Quickly I got dressed and packed, all the while being encouraged by a ship attendant. Since she wasn't wearing a life jacket, I figured my life was not in danger. John and I were the last passengers to disembark, and no, the captain did not see us off.
We ate a very mediocre breakfast as the sun rose around 7:00, then set off for the 2km walk to the train station to meet Shirley, a Filipino Epson employee who was transferred to Beppu. Smiling as usual, Shirley brought us to her apartment to drop off our bulging backpacks. She gave us the key, and said we could spend the night. She would be in Fukuoka, a city to the north of Kyushu, for a week. We thanked her, then set off for the Beppu Beach Sand Baths.
The Sand Bath is a stretch of beach beside an onsen (hot spring). The sand is naturally heated, and patrons pay to be buried up to their necks in hot black sand. It was quite relaxing. After ten minutes, we got up, washed ourselves off, then sat in the onsen and relaxed further (this is a vacation, after all).
After the Sand Bath we had lunch at the Joyfull (sic) family restaurant. I recommend the hamburg steak and shrimp fried. We then took a long bus ride to the Chinoke Jigoku or Blood Pool Hell. It's actually a hot spring coloured blood red by the rich clay deposits. We took some pictures, the quickly became bored. Next stop: another onsen.
This particular onsen doubled as a sulfur mine, so the entire area smelled like rotten eggs. This onsen was outdoors, called a rotenburo, as opposed to the indoor tub we used at the Sand Bath. We relaxed there for a long while, then made the trip back to the station. We booked a train for the next day's trip and ate an excellent gyudon (rice dish) meal. We returned to Shirley's apartment at 9:00, then quickly fell asleep.
After a relatively comfortable sleep (we only had one mattress, one comforter and one pillow to split between us), we set off to catch a train to Dazaifu, a suburb of Fukuoka. We argued with the train attendants for the best (cheapest) series of trains to get there.
Upon arriving in town, we were offered a ride to the Dazaifu Youth Hostel. I guess people get friendly when they're surrounded by shrines. The youth hostel sits atop a large hill and is operated by a very friendly old couple who know a smattering of English. Check-in time wasn't until 5:00, so we left our bags there and set out to explore the town.
Dazaifu is famous for its historic sites, such as the ruins of the ancient city hall, many Buddist temples, and an abundance of Shinto (an ancient Japanese religion) shrines. We walked around all day, seeing the sights, and eventually made our way back to the youth hostel to check-in. We shared a room with one more guest, but we never met him. Our paths just never crossed despite the fact he slept a mere four feet away from me.
Our room was a typical Japanese-style bedroom, with tatami (woven straw mat) floor and mattresses. At 7:00pm we set off to partake in the New Year's festivities. Luckily, our gracious hosts waved the 10:00pm curfew.
In town the main street was lined with snack booths, each selling a variety of grilled foods including octopus and squid. We tried a bit of everything for our dinner, then made our way to the main shrine for the celebration.
The main shrine in Dazaifu is dedicated to the god of academics who grants students' requests to pass exams. Many people lined up that night to be among the first in the new century to pray at the shrine. John and I were not one of them.
The entire courtyard in front of the shrine was full of people and shops. The biblical story of Jesus and the money changers came to mind. At 11:59:50, the crowd counted down at at zero, proceeded to throw coins at the shrine, which was luckily protected by a net. John and I barely escaped with our lives after the pelting began. We toasted the new year with a can of Japanese beer each, then headed for the hostel. It was there we had what was to be the best sleep of our trip. After we had fallen asleep, our roommate came in, slept and left before we awoke at 7:00 the next morning.
Feeling well rested, we said good bye to our hosts, then headed for the train station. We took a train to Huis Ten Bosch, the Dutch Village north of Nagasaki. There we saw windmills, churches and countless gift shops. There were also numerous cheese shops, all with free samples. We didn't need lunch that day thanks to all the edam and gouda. Cheese is probably the food I miss most from Canada. Good thing Mom and Dad sent me some for Christmas!
John and I actually found a Canadian gift shop selling some of the least Canadian products I have ever seen, including (but not limited to):
The store also had some real Canadiana, such as maple syrup and animal pelts, but as a whole, the store failed to make me feel nostalgic. I guess I was never partial to those Canadian kangaroos.
We took a bus from HTB to Nagasaki, arriving at 5:30pm. We grabbed a quick bite, then checked into our capsule hotel. Some of you may have heard rumors of these so-called "drawer" or "coffin" hotels, but I'm here to dispel these myths. Each room is set into the wall, so it looks like a honeycomb. The room is about 6' long, 4' wide and 4' high. Inside, there is a mirror, a reading light, a TV, an alarm clock-radio and a shade to close you in. It's no smaller than the bunk I slept in aboard the ferry.
At the hotel, we met a German student named Ingel who was also traveling around Kyushu. he spoke a little English and offered to show us where i town we could get a cheap beer. "Unfortunately" the dive he brought us to was closed, so we opted for a hot bath before bed. Ever since enjoying the onsen in Beppu, I've grown to like those hot baths, and I think I may do the unthinkable when I return to Matsumoto: use the big tub in the dorm.
I highly recommend the capsule hotels for the traveler on a budget. Despite the confining size, it is comfortable, clean, and best of all, cheap. Tonight will be my second night in one. The only problem that may present itself is if you are much taller than me (5'8.5"), unless you don't mind having your feet dangle out into the hallway.
This morning we slept in until 9:00am then headed out into town. We started with the Atomic Bomb Museum. It was the most depressing thing I have ever seen. I learned that 30 seconds after the bomb had detonated, 11 square km were damaged, with a 100% death rate within 1.5 square km. The museum had full colour exhibits of burn victims, mostly women and children, as well as testimonials of survivors. The saddest part of my visit was seeing an old man sitting in front of an exhibit, quietly crying into a handkerchief.
After the museum, John and I visited the hypocentre, the exact location over which the bomb was detonated. The Hypocentre was in a large park that contained several monuments, including the ruins of the once-largest cathedral in East Asia.
After that we walked to Peace Park to see the famous Peace Statue, a huge ugly statue of a man pointing up. Quickly becoming bored, we headed over to the One-Legged Torii (sacred Shinto archway). This particular one had been blown in half by the blast, but one half stayed standing.
We ate ramen (a Japanified Chinese noodle dish) then saw several churches and temples. Nagasaki is famous for its churches, being the first city in Japan visited by European missionaries.
We grabbed some pizza for dinner, and it was the best thin-crust pizza I've had in a long long time. Thoroughly exhausted, we returned to our capsules for one last night in Nagasaki.
Had another comfortable sleep in my capsule. Couldn't help noticing that the year is 2001 and the inside of my capsule looks remarkably like the inside of the space ship Discovery from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The black radio console looks like the film's computer console and the round reading light resembles HAL's all seeing eye. I just hope I meet a better fate than the crew of Discovery...
We saw several more museums, including one commemorating the martyrdom of 26 Christians who were crucified by the Japanese about 400 years ago. We stopped off at a Buddhist temple built in the shape of a giant goddess standing on the back of a giant turtle. The guide was an eccentric Japanese woman who spoke little English. We were happy to leave her.
For lunch we had a Nagasaki specialty: chanpon, a cabbage, seafood and noodle soup. It was quite good. It came in 3 sizes: regular, large and Atomic Bomb size. Talk about bad taste.
We took it easy for most of the day. We visited Dejima, the man-made island used to house Dutch traders during the Isolation Period of Japan. We saw several restored houses and earned the city was planning to totally restore Dejima, which meant building canals and destroying a main highway.
We wandered though a large shopping arcade for several hours without buying anything. We finally headed back to the station for dinner. We had originally set our minds set on kaiten sushi (sushi served to customers via a conveyer belt), but the restaurant was closed. We instead opted for a restaurant-bar. We waited 40 minutes without receiving our entrées so, disappointed and hungry, we boarded our bus with some convenience store sandwiches. had we waited any longer, we would have missed our night bus to Osaka.
The bus ride from Nagasaki to Osaka is roughly 9 hours long. I read for a while before drifting off to a much-needed sleep.
Woke up tired and with a stiff neck. We disembarked in Osaka at 6:30am. The wind was ferocious and cold. We ducked into the first reasonably-priced café that was open. There we enjoyed a Western-style breakfast of scrambled eggs, a ham-lettuce-and-tomato sandwich, yogurt and coffee.
After breakfast we braved the cold in order to photograph the Umeda Sky Building. The locals are torn whether to consider it a masterpiece or an eyesore. I considered it too expensive to enter. Admission is $14, and all you get is a 20 minute escalator ride to the top to see a beautiful view of Osaka.
We then witnessed the morning ritual of opening one of the downtown department stores. People line up in order to be the first into the 16 storey building. The whole bottom level is a food market where John and I tried the infamous fugu poisonous blowfish. We were disappointed by the bland taste, but at the same time pleased we weren't dead. We then proceeded to Maguro-tei (literally Tuna Pavilion) for some all-you-can-eat kaiten sushi.
We ate over 30 pieces of sushi each, including shrimp, salmon, tuna, sea urchin, red snapper and several unidentified pieces of raw seafood. All that for about $21. Thoroughly stuffed, we wandered through Osaka's labyrinth of an underground mall. It was huge, that's all I can say. There we stayed until 3:30 when we got a call on our cell phone telling us out 4:00 bus to Osaka had been cancelled due to "severe" weather conditions. We grudgingly returned our tickets for refunds, then with the help of the Tourist Information Station, caught a bus bound for Nagoya, a city roughly halfway in between Osaka and Matsumoto. From there we planned to take the last bus to Nakatsugawa, then take the local train home. But that was not to be.
Due to similar "severe" conditions, our bus was 1.5 hours late on the 2 hour trip to Nagoya, making us miss the connecting bus to Nakatsugawa. We were presented with 2 choices: Take the midnight express train to Matsumoto, then a cab home (arriving at about 4:30am and totaling about $80), or stay the night in a youth hostel in Nagoya and take a cheaper train in the morning (totaling $40). We opted for the latter.
This youth hostel is also located at the top of a hill, but looks like a forbidding mad scientist's castle. We checked in just as the hostel was closing. Since the hostel was closed, curfew was put into place, so we missed dinner that night. We showered, then went to sleep in our bunk beds, not so eager to take the long train ride to work the next day.
Well, this is day 8 of our 7 day trip. We got up at the crack of dawn and set off for the train station, stopping only for a konbini breakfast. We got on the train to Nakatsugawa, and I won't bore you with the details. When we got to Nakatsugawa, we had to wait an hour before the next train, so we took that opportunity to get a meal. We chose the cheapest, closest place, which happened to be McDonald's. There, I had a couple fish sandwiches (they were still in breakfast mode) and the worst coffee in my life. There was a significant amount of snow in Nakatugawa, a stark contrast to the palm trees we saw in Kyushu. We got back to the station and took the train to Matumoto. Another 2 long hours passed before we got back to work around 1:30pm.
No one seemed to notice we were late.
