Saturday, July 26, 2003
Friday, July 25, 2003
I plan to stay up tonight to fight jet lag, pull an all-nighter so I can sleep on the plane early and wake up as if it were late Saturday morning. That should kill some of the boredom of a 13 hour flight and put me back on a sleeping schedule concurrent with where I live. It may sound crazy, but I think it might work. Besides, I can get more writing about this past weekend done. Look for regular updates within hours.
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
I can't really go back in time and write about my travels this past weekend without Superman or a Delta flight across the Pacific, but I will do my best to make all of this make chronological sense in the blog format. It may be too much of a task to do all of this in a single sitting as well, so you may only find one day at a time added to this post. I will put an announcement up on days when I have edited this letting you know what was added. There are a ton of pictures so you may have to be patient to experience this in its full multimedia glory. As they say in Japan, "Rockin' ret's get!" Okay, they don't really say that.
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Four days and no post?!?! Did you miss me?
I spent the last few days taking and reviewing applications for a Japanese girlfriend. Not really, Stephanie, I was just travelling around Japan. I spent Saturday and Monday in Kyoto and Sunday in Hiroshima. It's really, really late right now so I'll have to write about it later. After travelling for the last four hours at an average speed of about 100 mph, I can say one thing right now, though...
Shinkansen shin-kicks-ass!!
Also coming soon... Muddy's Free Guide on How To Pick Up Chicks Using Pigeons
After a good night's sleep and a crappy breakfast at the hotel, I headed out into the city most famous for getting the shinola knocked out of itself about 60 years ago, Hiroshima. I checked out and headed to Hiroshima Station just before 10 AM. I got to the station right as the travel agency was opening at 10. I was smart this time, working out lodging logistics before it got too late for me to do anything about it. It seemed that due to a national holiday on Monday, all hotels in Kyoto were still booked. I wanted to spend another day there in Kyoto so I decided to stay in Osaka and ride into Kyoto in the morning around 10 AM. With a place to stay, albeit a little more planned than some of my other adventures so far, I headed out to catch a bus to ground zero, now Peace Memorial Park. I forgot to get a map but there was a huge sign in the bus lane that said "Peace Memorial Park." Easy enough.
When I got to my bus stop and stepped off, that sense of eeriness settled in a little deeper. I felt like I wanted to start crying right there. Call me a pansy, but if you've ever been or ever go, you'd know what I mean. That is, of course, unless you are fortunate enough to lack a conscience and concern for your fellow human beings. After regaining a check on my emotions, I headed across the street to the main park area, just in front of the museum. My first destination was just on the other side of ground zero, a place commonly referred to as the "A-Bomb Dome." Apparently, the only thing that survived in the area, quote/unquote, was concrete and steel. I use the term "survived" with restrain because it was still quite f'd up. A look at the steel beam in the middle right of this picture may give an idea of exactly how f'd up. To get an idea of the city surrounding the area, I took a picture from a nearby bridge. For reference, ground zero is about 60 meters beyond the dome. My next destination was the nearby peace bell. Anyone can ring it and of course, I did. I also stuck around to get a photo of someone else ringing the bell. Next along the path, I ran into the children's memorial. The figure on the top is a girl holding up a paper crane, a reference to a story about a girl that came down with leukemia about 10 years after the bombing who had faith in an old saying that one would get over an illness by folding 1000 paper cranes. She accomplished her goal and beyond, but to no avail. People make literally tons of paper cranes and send them here to be displayed in the small display booths surrounding one side of this memorial. My other picture only has a few cranes in a newly utilized booth because the 4 previous ones were completely full and covered with a clear plastic tarp. You have to be a pretty heartless bastard to not get all choked up and weepy here. I then headed for the museum and passed some of the main memorials in the center of the park. The parabolic construction is called the "cenotaph" and you can see what I call the "eternal flame" just beyond it. Supposedly, they'll extinguish it when all nuclear weapons are dismantled, not that they'll ever get the chance. A look through the cenotaph reveals that it lines up with the flame and the dome. Weird, but likely intentional. Rain started coming down harder so I headed for shelter in the museum.
The museum was rather interesting. After paying ¥400-500 for admission to most major temples and shrines in Kyoto, the ¥50 admission fee was welcome. The place is huge with a recreation of the dome within the first main gallery. I don't know why they did this with the real one about 300 meters away, but it looked very cool. After reading and seeing the exhibits, I started to wonder why I didn't know much of anything about the bombing of Hiroshima other than the fact that it was bombed. I don't know if it was just my teachers or if it just wasn't talked about for some reason unknown to me. Maybe it's some "black sheep" of American history, a reminder that we aren't as perfect as we'd like to think we are, that we've done some pretty evil stuff in the name of democracy. For instance, I had no idea that they waited until a clear day to drop the bomb so they could take good before and after photos. It makes perfect sense, especially from an experimental viewpoint which I understand way too well, but that's not something I have ever read or discussed. I also didn't know that we were trying to end the war with the Japanese before the Russians got involved in the eastern conflict so we could have a stronger political position. Once again, it is highly logical, just never presented to me. Heck, before this trip, I could tell you it happened in 1945, but no clue as to what month. I seriously hope, and I'm going to start asking my colleagues, that there are a lot of US history teachers that talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki because I think it's of the utmost importance for us to learn from this historical mistake. I know a lot of people say, "Oh, well more people would have died in combat." Or, "It saved American lives!" 300,000 in Hiroshima alone over 10 years, and that's a conservative estimate and not considering non-lethal residual effects. My main problem with it? Almost purely civilian casualties, not armed forces we're talking about here. I don't understand how politicians can question trying to keep weapons like this out of the hands of genuinely evil people, especially the politicians who are all about "human welfare" (read as Democrats). Seems oxymoronic, but at the risk of being cliche, I think the last half of that word describes a lot of politicians.
I went to the visitors office at the park and picked up a mass transit map. It seems that Hiroshima has street cars rather than subways, so I picked one up to go to Miyajima Island, about 20 km south of Hiroshima. There is a famous toree there, the "gates" that keep evil out of the shrines and temples. You have to take a 10 minute ferry to the island once you get there. Coming across the bay, it was hard not to notice that the island was mostly huge mountains, likely volcanic in origin. The first thing I noticed when I got off the ferry was the stink. Remember it was raining slightly for most of the day and then add a few hundred tame deer. These guys were definitely not afraid of people, and despite the many signs tht said not to go near the one's with antlers, people were doing just that. I guess they've never watched the Discovery Channel. I walked around the shore line to the island temple to see the infamous, so famous it's in-famous, toree in the sea. Apparently, the temple has been rebuilt often due to destruction by typhoons but it's still pretty neat, being on stilts over the tide water. There were tons of small shrines around the island and a pagoda next to the Room of 1000 Tatami Mats. I also went to the aquarium on the island. It was sort of sad, in a state of major disrepair, but they had some interesting creatures, such as the mudskipper, incidentally the source of my nickname, sort of...if you know anything about Ren and Stimply. Muddy Mudskipper and I have the same birthday which was discovered after my friend Kim had been calling me Muddy for a few weeks. That probably doesn't mean a damned thing unless you know anything about me and/or the show.
I went in a little early to make sure I didn't miss the badass train. I had dinner on the 12th floor of a shopping center by the station. It had a great view, not that a lone gaijin (foreigner) would get to sit by the window, but I could see when I stood up. Then I went to the station. I bought a beer for the train and an ice cream sandwich, with more of a waffle like outside than the chocolate wafer variety. I went to the platform to wait patiently for the 30 minutes or so until the train arrived. There was this pigeon on the ground by the seats and he wasn't too scared when I came near to sit. He especially wasn't scared when I opened the ice cream. He started strutting about, trying to get my attention. I think I was supposed to feed him for his efforts, but the last thing I wanted was a flock of pigeons at my feet. These two Japanese girls, definitely out of high school, probably in college, approached from around a corner and were immediately caught by my charming good looks. Or maybe it was the wacky pigeon. They watched him as I finished my ice cream. Well, I had to give it to him, he was persistent and diligent, surely I could spare the corner for the guy. I took the last bit of wafer and tore it into a few pieces, but I'd be damned if I'd throw it to him so all of the other pigeons could see. So, I held it out and he came and picked it out of my hand. Very brave! Then I grabbed him and bit his head off. Ok, I didn't really do that. Being a dumb bird, he wanted more but picked up on the hint a little later. But not before one of the girls asked me what we call this bird in the English language. Since their phonic system isn't quite compatible, we had to work on it, meaning I had to write it down and say it a few times with them repeating. Then I asked them the Japanese equivalent. Apparently, it's hato. So, we start chit-chat and turns out they're students in Osaka that hail from Hiroshima. They ask if I'm famous and I said yes. They asked why and I said "sumo." They laughed and I acted upset that they didn't believe me. Then I admitted that I was a famous karaoke lounge singer. That evoked more laughter and I had to admit that I was a teacher. I think they were trying to tell me that they are not science majors when I said I teach science. Then they asked what we call shinkansen. I told them "bullet train" and they started doing this finger gun thing while saying the Japanese word for gun, getsu, pronounced like the word "gets," silent 'u.' If you don't believe me, you can see the "getsu"-girls. The one one the right was named Tomoe and I'll have to look up the other girl's name. I'm not so good with Japanese names. It'd be easier if they just had names like Smith, or Johnson.
So, in conclusion, Muddy-san's tips for picking up Japanese chicks: 1) get a pigeon; 2) be witty; 3) don't be married.
That bus ride was sweet! Through the night, darkened bus, everyone sleeping. Arrived in Kyoto around 6:30 AM with the entire day to look forward to. I needed to book a hotel room but the tourist info center wasn't open until 10 AM. Like I'm waiting around 3.5 hours for that? It'll be no problem.
Nathan had read about an all-day bus pass for cheap. Actually, it was really cheap. ¥500 cheap. That's about $4.20, for all day, unlimited access to a regularly scheduled bus system. How come MARTA can't post signs at all of their stops with accurate bus schedules? Well, besides the fact that most of it's riders couldn't read it anyhow. With English bus maps in hand, we were off to experience Kyoto. As soon as we can figure out where the bus picks us up here at Kyoto Station. It's a huge station, not unlike Tokyo Station, very unlike Five Points station.
On the way to Nijo-jo Castle, I joked that it wouldn't open until 9 AM. Good thing I was wrong! It opened at 8:45! So, we found a good coffee shop across the street and had coffee and this freakin' awesome cinnamon toast. We chilled there for quite a while until the castle opened, keeping in mind what time we rolled into Kyoto.
First of all, the castle grounds are fuh-huge! There's this moat all of the way around it about 20 feet wide, who knows how deep. Oh, easy huh? First you have to go down about 10 feet to get in from a stone wall and then go directly up a 20 foot stone wall on the castle side. Good luck, ninja boy! Well, without getting spotted from the high, overlooking watchout station. It's not a tower, more of a huge earth mound. Here's a picture of the castle grounds from one. The castle is actually divided into two main areas. One on the right of the picture, the shogun's house, and then another complex surrounded by smaller moat to the left. Screw George Bush's ranch, I'd have a friggin' sweet pad like this if I were the prez! Like I mentioned earlier, it was the shogun's house during the feudal era before the 1860's when the capital was Kyoto and Edo was growing into what is now Tokyo. Since he is an important guy, there are is a lot of security. Not Brinks security, actually a bit more awesome. The floors in the shogun's house are also known as "nightengale floors." The floor basically chirps as you walk, it's really cool. No matter how carefully you step, it squeaks. Not really an annoying sound, just enough so that people would know if someone was stalking around the house in the middle of the night to assassinate the shogun. So dripping wet ninja, can you now climb around the house on the walls like SpiderMan? Yeah, didn't think so. Turn in your membership card! At first, I thought that maybe since there was no furniture, it was all sold long ago before preservation attempts. Not really, they just didn't have any. The only furniture was a bed that was stored in a closet, cushions to sit on the tatami floors, a table that was brought from the kitchen at meal time and all wardrobe was kept in a room in the back of the house. I guess all of the wood detailing on the exterior and nail-less architecture took too much time to make a nice recliner and an ottoman for the shogun.
Next up, the Golden Temple, also known as Kinkaku-ji. If you see this picture, you may understand why they call it that. Nothing else too impressive around this site, but you have to admit, it's a pretty impressive building. This is actually a rebuild from some time ago. Seems some monk was so obsessed with this temple he burned it down. Yeah, that's what I do to things I love too, I destroy them.
Since we were close, we headed to nearby Ryoan-ji. We took the wrong street so we ended up having to find a shortcut west about 1 km to our destination. Since I am like some sort of human compass, I found our way directly to the entrance of the temple. But not before we crossed some small college campus. It must have been a good school because I learned something interesting while I was there. I found out why the dinosaurs really went extinct. I think the sign says something like "Surgeon General's Warning: Smoking may lead to extinction. But then again, so can a big f*$%ing meteor."
Ryoan-ji is famous for it's Zen rock garden. Actually, it's just beautiful overall. I felt like the rock garden was secondary to the natural beauty of the immaculately maintainted forest. There was a huge lake on the way in to the main building where the rock garden is located. On an island in the lake, there is a small shrine to some smaller deity. Then, just past the washing station there was a cool Buddha statue in the woods. The stroll out of the complex takes you the other way around the lake where the forest is unimaginably breathtaking. There was a really neat Buddhist monument that I got a good shot of and many of the trees had these huge white blossoms on them. The forest smelled so fresh and so clean. Ain't no forest dope as Ryoan-ji!
So, as if that weren't enough exploration for one day, we headed to the Silver Temple, Ginkaku-ji. After the gold one, you might expect something equally impressive, but in silver, right? Well, it seems this huge war started before it was finished and it never received it's coating. There were about 20 different mosses in the garden areas though and from the side of the adjoining mountain you could get a good view of Kyoto. If you look closely, you can see parts of a huge, conic sand mound with the top lopped off through the center tree, supposedly made to represent Mt. Fuji. I thought someone had just gotten bored.
As if that weren't enough to see, we headed to a recommended site, Kiyomizu-ji Temple. On the way the mountian to the top, we saw some geisha walking around the entrance of the temple. They looked hot! No, temperature wise, silly. It was a pretty muggy day out and I think I would have been uncomfortable in a many layered kimono. I quickly saw why this place was the top recommendation from everyone I talked to. It's probably my current favorite temple. There is this gigantic pagoda at the entrance. The amount of detailing on the pagoda is unbelieveable. There is also a large bell at the entrance. That's one helluva doorbell! I was flabberghasted by some of the detailing on the ceilings, not that this is a very good representation of what you would see in person. There was an even better view of Kyoto from Kiyomizu. The overall temple grounds were huge with many sights to see. But the main attraction had to be the watering hole. Kiyomizu translates as "fresh water." There was a long line for people drinking from the fountain, but naturally I waited in it. Why just go and see it when you can DO it? Surprisingly, I have a similar philosophy on visiting strip clubs. If you look closely enough, you can see that I give the Mentos thumbs-up after drinking.
We had planned to go to the tallest pagoda in Japan, but unfortunately, it was way past closing time for that site. So, before dinner, I figured I had better go back and book a room. Made it before closing, no problem. Well, other than the fact that there was a sign on the door that said "No Hotel Vacancies." Fretfully, I asked the guy what I could do. He suggested staying in nearby Osaka, 30 minutes by train. Nathan had a ticket back on the overnight bus to Tokyo to go on to Nikko National Park, but I wanted to go south, to Hiroshima. Well, why not just go ahead and go there? Nothing like fly by the seat of your pants travelling. He couldn't help me with anything but local hotels, so I went to the Japan Railways travel agent and booked myself a room a short walk from the main station in Hiroshima and bought a ticket for the shinkansen, Japan's bullet train. It's about 225 miles, but the trip is only about 1 hour 45 minutes with several stops along the way. You do the velocity calculations. I got lucky on the first try and got a good shot of the shinkansen coming into the station. Subsequent tries were not as successful, shooting a moving subject of in low lighting is not easy. I also took a picture of me on my first shinkansen ride. Pretty good for a hold the camera out and shoot backwards pic! Good thing pictures don't preserve smells considering the fact that I was riding after walking around various parts of Kyoto all day long! I have convinced myself that my seatmate moved across the train to look out the window since I had the window seat. I like the shinkansen better than flying, mostly because of the view. Looking out the plane window is interesting, but even though you are hauling mass through the sky, it's hard to really tell due to the lack of reasonably sized reference points. In the shinkansen, everything is normal size and at eye-level. You can tell without a doubt that you are totally S-C-R-E-W-E-D if the train happens to derail.
Shinkansen shin-kicks-ass!!!
I got to Hiroshima around 11 PM. Finding the hotel wasn't too difficult, but I'm glad I stopped to ask someone at the ticket office. I never would have figured out how to get to the other side of the station without walking all of the way around on my own, I couldn't read the sign for the tunnel. And the map the travel agent gave me showed the hotel on the wrong side of the river. I have to admit, though. I did get chills when I stepped outside for the first time and not because of the temperature, it was actually quite warm. It was very strange and slightly eerie thinking that I was standing somewhere where an atomic bomb had been exploded.
I guess I could have planned better. I had just ran to the travel agency to see if I could get a bus ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto but they closed about 1 minute before I got there. Punctuality is a virtue in the Japanese culture, especially with closing times. I guess growing up in the South has really left me handicapped with respect to being on time, everything there starts at least 5 minutes late, something to which I've grown way too accustomed. So, I headed to Tsukuba Center to wait for Nathan so we could head to Tokyo on the highway bus. At about 8 PM, after locking my bike up in the pay parking area, I bought my bus ticket to Tokyo and waited, crossing my fingers hoping that I would be able to get a ticket on the overnight bus to Kyoto at Tokyo Station. If not, I had some serious improvisation to do.
An hour and a half later I'm in line for bus tickets at Tokyo Station. Are there any more tickets to Kyoto this evening? I suppose there is something to be said for planning ahead, everything is sort of guaranteed, but I think it's much more fun to not plan ahead. There's something about the excitement of uncertainty, that feeling that you don't exactly know what's going to happen next. It's the same feeling that made all of those last minute college road trips so fun and adventurous. Can we make it to College Station, PA by noon if we leave at midnight? Can I get a bus ticket a little over an hour before the bus leaves on a popular bus? So, a bit nervous, I ask if I can get a ticket. At first, he seems doubtful, then he picks up a stack of tickets and thumbs through them. Are you telling me my fate is going to be decided by a small stack of paper? Flip, flip, pause, flip, flip, flip, pause, flip... Finally, he yanks one out and punches in the cost. I have a ride, same time as Nathan but on a different bus. It seems there are about 5 following the same route, sort of like a band trip bus caravan, just without all of the cliques riding the bus together. We had an hour and a half to wait for departure so we chilled in the huge station. It seems seating is a rare and valuable commodity in Japan so we opted to go for floor seating. We boarded a few minutes before 11 PM, the shoes came off for the 7 hour ride, propped the seat back, and slept. Price wasn't bad for a hotel and bus ride. Arrival time in Kyoto should be about 6:30 AM.
I spent the last few days taking and reviewing applications for a Japanese girlfriend. Not really, Stephanie, I was just travelling around Japan. I spent Saturday and Monday in Kyoto and Sunday in Hiroshima. It's really, really late right now so I'll have to write about it later. After travelling for the last four hours at an average speed of about 100 mph, I can say one thing right now, though...
Shinkansen shin-kicks-ass!!
Also coming soon... Muddy's Free Guide on How To Pick Up Chicks Using Pigeons
Sunday, July 20, 2003
After a good night's sleep and a crappy breakfast at the hotel, I headed out into the city most famous for getting the shinola knocked out of itself about 60 years ago, Hiroshima. I checked out and headed to Hiroshima Station just before 10 AM. I got to the station right as the travel agency was opening at 10. I was smart this time, working out lodging logistics before it got too late for me to do anything about it. It seemed that due to a national holiday on Monday, all hotels in Kyoto were still booked. I wanted to spend another day there in Kyoto so I decided to stay in Osaka and ride into Kyoto in the morning around 10 AM. With a place to stay, albeit a little more planned than some of my other adventures so far, I headed out to catch a bus to ground zero, now Peace Memorial Park. I forgot to get a map but there was a huge sign in the bus lane that said "Peace Memorial Park." Easy enough.
When I got to my bus stop and stepped off, that sense of eeriness settled in a little deeper. I felt like I wanted to start crying right there. Call me a pansy, but if you've ever been or ever go, you'd know what I mean. That is, of course, unless you are fortunate enough to lack a conscience and concern for your fellow human beings. After regaining a check on my emotions, I headed across the street to the main park area, just in front of the museum. My first destination was just on the other side of ground zero, a place commonly referred to as the "A-Bomb Dome." Apparently, the only thing that survived in the area, quote/unquote, was concrete and steel. I use the term "survived" with restrain because it was still quite f'd up. A look at the steel beam in the middle right of this picture may give an idea of exactly how f'd up. To get an idea of the city surrounding the area, I took a picture from a nearby bridge. For reference, ground zero is about 60 meters beyond the dome. My next destination was the nearby peace bell. Anyone can ring it and of course, I did. I also stuck around to get a photo of someone else ringing the bell. Next along the path, I ran into the children's memorial. The figure on the top is a girl holding up a paper crane, a reference to a story about a girl that came down with leukemia about 10 years after the bombing who had faith in an old saying that one would get over an illness by folding 1000 paper cranes. She accomplished her goal and beyond, but to no avail. People make literally tons of paper cranes and send them here to be displayed in the small display booths surrounding one side of this memorial. My other picture only has a few cranes in a newly utilized booth because the 4 previous ones were completely full and covered with a clear plastic tarp. You have to be a pretty heartless bastard to not get all choked up and weepy here. I then headed for the museum and passed some of the main memorials in the center of the park. The parabolic construction is called the "cenotaph" and you can see what I call the "eternal flame" just beyond it. Supposedly, they'll extinguish it when all nuclear weapons are dismantled, not that they'll ever get the chance. A look through the cenotaph reveals that it lines up with the flame and the dome. Weird, but likely intentional. Rain started coming down harder so I headed for shelter in the museum.
The museum was rather interesting. After paying ¥400-500 for admission to most major temples and shrines in Kyoto, the ¥50 admission fee was welcome. The place is huge with a recreation of the dome within the first main gallery. I don't know why they did this with the real one about 300 meters away, but it looked very cool. After reading and seeing the exhibits, I started to wonder why I didn't know much of anything about the bombing of Hiroshima other than the fact that it was bombed. I don't know if it was just my teachers or if it just wasn't talked about for some reason unknown to me. Maybe it's some "black sheep" of American history, a reminder that we aren't as perfect as we'd like to think we are, that we've done some pretty evil stuff in the name of democracy. For instance, I had no idea that they waited until a clear day to drop the bomb so they could take good before and after photos. It makes perfect sense, especially from an experimental viewpoint which I understand way too well, but that's not something I have ever read or discussed. I also didn't know that we were trying to end the war with the Japanese before the Russians got involved in the eastern conflict so we could have a stronger political position. Once again, it is highly logical, just never presented to me. Heck, before this trip, I could tell you it happened in 1945, but no clue as to what month. I seriously hope, and I'm going to start asking my colleagues, that there are a lot of US history teachers that talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki because I think it's of the utmost importance for us to learn from this historical mistake. I know a lot of people say, "Oh, well more people would have died in combat." Or, "It saved American lives!" 300,000 in Hiroshima alone over 10 years, and that's a conservative estimate and not considering non-lethal residual effects. My main problem with it? Almost purely civilian casualties, not armed forces we're talking about here. I don't understand how politicians can question trying to keep weapons like this out of the hands of genuinely evil people, especially the politicians who are all about "human welfare" (read as Democrats). Seems oxymoronic, but at the risk of being cliche, I think the last half of that word describes a lot of politicians.
I went to the visitors office at the park and picked up a mass transit map. It seems that Hiroshima has street cars rather than subways, so I picked one up to go to Miyajima Island, about 20 km south of Hiroshima. There is a famous toree there, the "gates" that keep evil out of the shrines and temples. You have to take a 10 minute ferry to the island once you get there. Coming across the bay, it was hard not to notice that the island was mostly huge mountains, likely volcanic in origin. The first thing I noticed when I got off the ferry was the stink. Remember it was raining slightly for most of the day and then add a few hundred tame deer. These guys were definitely not afraid of people, and despite the many signs tht said not to go near the one's with antlers, people were doing just that. I guess they've never watched the Discovery Channel. I walked around the shore line to the island temple to see the infamous, so famous it's in-famous, toree in the sea. Apparently, the temple has been rebuilt often due to destruction by typhoons but it's still pretty neat, being on stilts over the tide water. There were tons of small shrines around the island and a pagoda next to the Room of 1000 Tatami Mats. I also went to the aquarium on the island. It was sort of sad, in a state of major disrepair, but they had some interesting creatures, such as the mudskipper, incidentally the source of my nickname, sort of...if you know anything about Ren and Stimply. Muddy Mudskipper and I have the same birthday which was discovered after my friend Kim had been calling me Muddy for a few weeks. That probably doesn't mean a damned thing unless you know anything about me and/or the show.
I went in a little early to make sure I didn't miss the badass train. I had dinner on the 12th floor of a shopping center by the station. It had a great view, not that a lone gaijin (foreigner) would get to sit by the window, but I could see when I stood up. Then I went to the station. I bought a beer for the train and an ice cream sandwich, with more of a waffle like outside than the chocolate wafer variety. I went to the platform to wait patiently for the 30 minutes or so until the train arrived. There was this pigeon on the ground by the seats and he wasn't too scared when I came near to sit. He especially wasn't scared when I opened the ice cream. He started strutting about, trying to get my attention. I think I was supposed to feed him for his efforts, but the last thing I wanted was a flock of pigeons at my feet. These two Japanese girls, definitely out of high school, probably in college, approached from around a corner and were immediately caught by my charming good looks. Or maybe it was the wacky pigeon. They watched him as I finished my ice cream. Well, I had to give it to him, he was persistent and diligent, surely I could spare the corner for the guy. I took the last bit of wafer and tore it into a few pieces, but I'd be damned if I'd throw it to him so all of the other pigeons could see. So, I held it out and he came and picked it out of my hand. Very brave! Then I grabbed him and bit his head off. Ok, I didn't really do that. Being a dumb bird, he wanted more but picked up on the hint a little later. But not before one of the girls asked me what we call this bird in the English language. Since their phonic system isn't quite compatible, we had to work on it, meaning I had to write it down and say it a few times with them repeating. Then I asked them the Japanese equivalent. Apparently, it's hato. So, we start chit-chat and turns out they're students in Osaka that hail from Hiroshima. They ask if I'm famous and I said yes. They asked why and I said "sumo." They laughed and I acted upset that they didn't believe me. Then I admitted that I was a famous karaoke lounge singer. That evoked more laughter and I had to admit that I was a teacher. I think they were trying to tell me that they are not science majors when I said I teach science. Then they asked what we call shinkansen. I told them "bullet train" and they started doing this finger gun thing while saying the Japanese word for gun, getsu, pronounced like the word "gets," silent 'u.' If you don't believe me, you can see the "getsu"-girls. The one one the right was named Tomoe and I'll have to look up the other girl's name. I'm not so good with Japanese names. It'd be easier if they just had names like Smith, or Johnson.
So, in conclusion, Muddy-san's tips for picking up Japanese chicks: 1) get a pigeon; 2) be witty; 3) don't be married.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
That bus ride was sweet! Through the night, darkened bus, everyone sleeping. Arrived in Kyoto around 6:30 AM with the entire day to look forward to. I needed to book a hotel room but the tourist info center wasn't open until 10 AM. Like I'm waiting around 3.5 hours for that? It'll be no problem.
Nathan had read about an all-day bus pass for cheap. Actually, it was really cheap. ¥500 cheap. That's about $4.20, for all day, unlimited access to a regularly scheduled bus system. How come MARTA can't post signs at all of their stops with accurate bus schedules? Well, besides the fact that most of it's riders couldn't read it anyhow. With English bus maps in hand, we were off to experience Kyoto. As soon as we can figure out where the bus picks us up here at Kyoto Station. It's a huge station, not unlike Tokyo Station, very unlike Five Points station.
On the way to Nijo-jo Castle, I joked that it wouldn't open until 9 AM. Good thing I was wrong! It opened at 8:45! So, we found a good coffee shop across the street and had coffee and this freakin' awesome cinnamon toast. We chilled there for quite a while until the castle opened, keeping in mind what time we rolled into Kyoto.
First of all, the castle grounds are fuh-huge! There's this moat all of the way around it about 20 feet wide, who knows how deep. Oh, easy huh? First you have to go down about 10 feet to get in from a stone wall and then go directly up a 20 foot stone wall on the castle side. Good luck, ninja boy! Well, without getting spotted from the high, overlooking watchout station. It's not a tower, more of a huge earth mound. Here's a picture of the castle grounds from one. The castle is actually divided into two main areas. One on the right of the picture, the shogun's house, and then another complex surrounded by smaller moat to the left. Screw George Bush's ranch, I'd have a friggin' sweet pad like this if I were the prez! Like I mentioned earlier, it was the shogun's house during the feudal era before the 1860's when the capital was Kyoto and Edo was growing into what is now Tokyo. Since he is an important guy, there are is a lot of security. Not Brinks security, actually a bit more awesome. The floors in the shogun's house are also known as "nightengale floors." The floor basically chirps as you walk, it's really cool. No matter how carefully you step, it squeaks. Not really an annoying sound, just enough so that people would know if someone was stalking around the house in the middle of the night to assassinate the shogun. So dripping wet ninja, can you now climb around the house on the walls like SpiderMan? Yeah, didn't think so. Turn in your membership card! At first, I thought that maybe since there was no furniture, it was all sold long ago before preservation attempts. Not really, they just didn't have any. The only furniture was a bed that was stored in a closet, cushions to sit on the tatami floors, a table that was brought from the kitchen at meal time and all wardrobe was kept in a room in the back of the house. I guess all of the wood detailing on the exterior and nail-less architecture took too much time to make a nice recliner and an ottoman for the shogun.
Next up, the Golden Temple, also known as Kinkaku-ji. If you see this picture, you may understand why they call it that. Nothing else too impressive around this site, but you have to admit, it's a pretty impressive building. This is actually a rebuild from some time ago. Seems some monk was so obsessed with this temple he burned it down. Yeah, that's what I do to things I love too, I destroy them.
Since we were close, we headed to nearby Ryoan-ji. We took the wrong street so we ended up having to find a shortcut west about 1 km to our destination. Since I am like some sort of human compass, I found our way directly to the entrance of the temple. But not before we crossed some small college campus. It must have been a good school because I learned something interesting while I was there. I found out why the dinosaurs really went extinct. I think the sign says something like "Surgeon General's Warning: Smoking may lead to extinction. But then again, so can a big f*$%ing meteor."
Ryoan-ji is famous for it's Zen rock garden. Actually, it's just beautiful overall. I felt like the rock garden was secondary to the natural beauty of the immaculately maintainted forest. There was a huge lake on the way in to the main building where the rock garden is located. On an island in the lake, there is a small shrine to some smaller deity. Then, just past the washing station there was a cool Buddha statue in the woods. The stroll out of the complex takes you the other way around the lake where the forest is unimaginably breathtaking. There was a really neat Buddhist monument that I got a good shot of and many of the trees had these huge white blossoms on them. The forest smelled so fresh and so clean. Ain't no forest dope as Ryoan-ji!
So, as if that weren't enough exploration for one day, we headed to the Silver Temple, Ginkaku-ji. After the gold one, you might expect something equally impressive, but in silver, right? Well, it seems this huge war started before it was finished and it never received it's coating. There were about 20 different mosses in the garden areas though and from the side of the adjoining mountain you could get a good view of Kyoto. If you look closely, you can see parts of a huge, conic sand mound with the top lopped off through the center tree, supposedly made to represent Mt. Fuji. I thought someone had just gotten bored.
As if that weren't enough to see, we headed to a recommended site, Kiyomizu-ji Temple. On the way the mountian to the top, we saw some geisha walking around the entrance of the temple. They looked hot! No, temperature wise, silly. It was a pretty muggy day out and I think I would have been uncomfortable in a many layered kimono. I quickly saw why this place was the top recommendation from everyone I talked to. It's probably my current favorite temple. There is this gigantic pagoda at the entrance. The amount of detailing on the pagoda is unbelieveable. There is also a large bell at the entrance. That's one helluva doorbell! I was flabberghasted by some of the detailing on the ceilings, not that this is a very good representation of what you would see in person. There was an even better view of Kyoto from Kiyomizu. The overall temple grounds were huge with many sights to see. But the main attraction had to be the watering hole. Kiyomizu translates as "fresh water." There was a long line for people drinking from the fountain, but naturally I waited in it. Why just go and see it when you can DO it? Surprisingly, I have a similar philosophy on visiting strip clubs. If you look closely enough, you can see that I give the Mentos thumbs-up after drinking.
We had planned to go to the tallest pagoda in Japan, but unfortunately, it was way past closing time for that site. So, before dinner, I figured I had better go back and book a room. Made it before closing, no problem. Well, other than the fact that there was a sign on the door that said "No Hotel Vacancies." Fretfully, I asked the guy what I could do. He suggested staying in nearby Osaka, 30 minutes by train. Nathan had a ticket back on the overnight bus to Tokyo to go on to Nikko National Park, but I wanted to go south, to Hiroshima. Well, why not just go ahead and go there? Nothing like fly by the seat of your pants travelling. He couldn't help me with anything but local hotels, so I went to the Japan Railways travel agent and booked myself a room a short walk from the main station in Hiroshima and bought a ticket for the shinkansen, Japan's bullet train. It's about 225 miles, but the trip is only about 1 hour 45 minutes with several stops along the way. You do the velocity calculations. I got lucky on the first try and got a good shot of the shinkansen coming into the station. Subsequent tries were not as successful, shooting a moving subject of in low lighting is not easy. I also took a picture of me on my first shinkansen ride. Pretty good for a hold the camera out and shoot backwards pic! Good thing pictures don't preserve smells considering the fact that I was riding after walking around various parts of Kyoto all day long! I have convinced myself that my seatmate moved across the train to look out the window since I had the window seat. I like the shinkansen better than flying, mostly because of the view. Looking out the plane window is interesting, but even though you are hauling mass through the sky, it's hard to really tell due to the lack of reasonably sized reference points. In the shinkansen, everything is normal size and at eye-level. You can tell without a doubt that you are totally S-C-R-E-W-E-D if the train happens to derail.
Shinkansen shin-kicks-ass!!!
I got to Hiroshima around 11 PM. Finding the hotel wasn't too difficult, but I'm glad I stopped to ask someone at the ticket office. I never would have figured out how to get to the other side of the station without walking all of the way around on my own, I couldn't read the sign for the tunnel. And the map the travel agent gave me showed the hotel on the wrong side of the river. I have to admit, though. I did get chills when I stepped outside for the first time and not because of the temperature, it was actually quite warm. It was very strange and slightly eerie thinking that I was standing somewhere where an atomic bomb had been exploded.
Friday, July 18, 2003
I guess I could have planned better. I had just ran to the travel agency to see if I could get a bus ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto but they closed about 1 minute before I got there. Punctuality is a virtue in the Japanese culture, especially with closing times. I guess growing up in the South has really left me handicapped with respect to being on time, everything there starts at least 5 minutes late, something to which I've grown way too accustomed. So, I headed to Tsukuba Center to wait for Nathan so we could head to Tokyo on the highway bus. At about 8 PM, after locking my bike up in the pay parking area, I bought my bus ticket to Tokyo and waited, crossing my fingers hoping that I would be able to get a ticket on the overnight bus to Kyoto at Tokyo Station. If not, I had some serious improvisation to do.
An hour and a half later I'm in line for bus tickets at Tokyo Station. Are there any more tickets to Kyoto this evening? I suppose there is something to be said for planning ahead, everything is sort of guaranteed, but I think it's much more fun to not plan ahead. There's something about the excitement of uncertainty, that feeling that you don't exactly know what's going to happen next. It's the same feeling that made all of those last minute college road trips so fun and adventurous. Can we make it to College Station, PA by noon if we leave at midnight? Can I get a bus ticket a little over an hour before the bus leaves on a popular bus? So, a bit nervous, I ask if I can get a ticket. At first, he seems doubtful, then he picks up a stack of tickets and thumbs through them. Are you telling me my fate is going to be decided by a small stack of paper? Flip, flip, pause, flip, flip, flip, pause, flip... Finally, he yanks one out and punches in the cost. I have a ride, same time as Nathan but on a different bus. It seems there are about 5 following the same route, sort of like a band trip bus caravan, just without all of the cliques riding the bus together. We had an hour and a half to wait for departure so we chilled in the huge station. It seems seating is a rare and valuable commodity in Japan so we opted to go for floor seating. We boarded a few minutes before 11 PM, the shoes came off for the 7 hour ride, propped the seat back, and slept. Price wasn't bad for a hotel and bus ride. Arrival time in Kyoto should be about 6:30 AM.
