Japanese Whiskers

Ok, a bit late, but not as much as usual... this will mostly be a pictures post. I went on a nine day trip around middle Honshu (the big banana shaped island of Japan). I stayed two nights in Tokyo, one in Nagoya, another two at a friends place in Ise, and finally two nights at another friends house in Niigata. In Tokyo, I went shopping with a friend, and took a long nice walk through Ueno park. I went from Tokyo to Nagoya late in the afternoon, and left Nagoya early in the morning, so I didn't get to see anything except the really big station building (two towers, the higher of them 245 metres high). I did have a nice long chat with a complete stranger I met at my capsule hotel though. And watched Japan beat South Korea in the football world cup qualifiers. At least I think they beat them, didn't watch the last minutes...

Anyway, on to Ise I was. Ise is a small rural town two hours south of Nagoya. It is pretty much famous for one thing and one thing only: The Jingu. The Jingu is probably Japans most famous, and important, Shinto shrine. It holds the house of Amaterasu, the Japanese Sun Goddess, and consists of over a hundred shrines. Apart from the fact that it was very crowded, it was a really nice experience. The trees around the complex were huge and beautiful, and had it not been for the crowd, I am sure the serenity would have been utterly stunning.

Next I went to Kyoto for a day, which is far too little considering it is the traditional capital of Japan and one of the most historically rich cities of the world. I only had time to go to two places, and I didn't want to take the very best this time, to give me something to look forward to for when I come back. So I went to Nijo castle, which was right next to my hotel, and having picked up a tourist map, spotted a botanical garden which I also visited. The castle was quite impressing, but the gardens weren't that big, and late summer isn't anywhere near as good as spring or early summer when it comes to flower watching in Japan. So even though it was interesting, I was a bit dissappointed. I did get some good sleep though, in what is definitely the best cheap hotel I have ever slept in. For ¥4200 (about $40) I expected a tiny room with a tiny bathroom and a general feeling of "capsule hotel is better than this!". Ok, the bathroom was incredibly small, but the room, oh the room! To start with it was big enough to move around in. Second of all, it was a twin room. Yes, they aparently only have twin rooms. Finally, it had bright white walls, a big wide window and generally felt airy and nice.

After Kyoto, I was off to Niigata, for what I thought would be just the night. Turned out though, that my friend and his sister wanted me to stay a bit longer, to go to the circus. And seeing as I didn't really have much in terms of plans anyway, I decided to stay. Which was a good decision. My friends family was really nice, and they own, among other things, a so called sakaya, which is basically a little store for drinks of all kinds, and stuff to go with the drinks, such as snacks and instant noodles. And so whenever I was thirsty, I'd just go grab something. The house was huge too, for Japanese standards. I've gotten used to having to step over each other to go anywhere, but here was a house with many and big rooms. My room had a raised floor, remote controlled air conditining, remote controlled lights, and a pretty big TV set. Oh, and a big alcove with a piano. So anyway, we went to the circus, which was quite interesting, though extremelly hot. Some of the performers were quite amazingly skillful. We then went for some shopping at a place called Don Quixote, a crowded place overflowing with almost anything you can imagine, usually at quite a nice price. I found a lightly striped, off white linen jacket. Almost exactly what I've been wanting for quite a while. And it was only ¥3000. Now I need to get a nice pair of pants to go with them. My shorts look nice enough, but a jacket really demands long pants.

Finally, on Saturday I took a very early but quite conveniant train ride back to Akita. Getting back to the school has felt a bit weird. There's like five people here right now, and all but me and Ramon have part time jobs or else just stay in their rooms. Quite boring. Though of course, I'm working my part time job Wednesday to Friday this week, so I'll be quite busy myself.

Looks like it's getting late here, and I have a few other things to take care of. Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow evening.