Nagasaki - A city of windmills (figuratively...)

I've been a bit lax in updating this recently, but it's simply because I've been so busy travelling! :D

Around 2 or 3 weeks ago I went on a trip to Nagasaki with another JET from my prefecture, and was later met by another JET. My friend had been to Nagasaki I think around 3 times before and was quick to say that Nagasaki is her favourite city in Japan, so I had high hopes for Nagasaki. And I'm pleased to report that it lived up to expectations!

This might be because Nagasaki is easily the most European influenced city in Japan, due to its rich history of Dutch, Scottish, English and other foreign travellers making a life for themselves there centuries ago. I miss Europe pretty much all the time, and am basically head over heels with European architecture, so it was no wonder that Nagasaki won me over within just a couple of hours. There was even a cathedral in Nagasaki which could only have been inspired by Gaudi's architecture in Barcelona.

This is an example of Gaudi architecture in Barcelona

Nagasaki is a port city which sprawls up onto the surrounding hills. It may sound odd, but hilly cities is definitely something that I have missed loads here in Japan, probably because my own city, Edinburgh, is built on 7 hills. There was a sense of pride in the city and very little evidence of the atomic bomb tragedy that occurred in Nagasaki in 1945, apart from the Peace Park and Museum which was the first place we visited when we arrived. The Peace Park and Museum however, didn't seem to be quite up to par with the one in Hiroshima, but it is somewhere that you absolutely have to go if you visit Nagasaki.

Anyway here is the Peace Park:

I actually have no idea of the significance of this guy...

To me, Nagasaki was on par with Kyoto when it came to beauty. But I preferred it to Kyoto simply because of the lack of crowds. It was filled with beautiful shrines like these ones, which probably would have drawn quite large crowds in Kyoto.

We also stumbled across a Japanese wedding at this temple

At one particular shrine, I had the misfortune of picking out a bad luck fortune. And this one was actually written in English, so the words had more of an effect on me. I found it comical though, particularly when my friend got the worst luck fortune which essentially said "Death will come soon". And this was after my other friend had said "Oh, they'll probably have nicer fortunes for tourists." Haha, I think not. They probably loved watching the horrified expressions on our faces as we read our fortunes ;)

This was my "fortune", but definitely nowhere near as bad as my friends'

Aside from the Peace Park, there are loads of other attractions worth visiting in Nagasaki. Oddly enough, there is an both an area with old Dutch style houses and another area up in the hills called Glover Gardens, named after a Scot who lived there centuries ago. Despite the Scottish roots though, the houses in Glover Gardens had a strangely Southern feel to them (as in Gone With The Wind sort of South...)

The view from Glover Gardens was also phenomenal by the way.

I also had this insanely cool cappuccino with Thomas Glover's face on it!

And if Nagasaki doesn't seem culturally diverse enough, there was even a Chinatown with the most delicious melt-in-your-mouth nikuman that I have ever eaten. In case you don't know, nikuman is a type of bready dumpling with meat in the middle.

Nagasaki also seemed to have an abundance of heart-shaped stones. Like this one!

My personal favourite though was at this bridge known as Spectacles Bridge - because the shape of the bridge reflected in the water looks like a pair of spectacles, obviously!

That's me, doing the peace sign because I don't know what else to do with my hands...

Walking around this river, my head felt utterly confused as I felt like I must be walking around a Dutch canal, rather than on the other side of the world in Japan. However, just a short walk away there was a street literally just lined with Japanese shrines, just in case you were in any doubt as to what country you were in.

The people of Nagasaki proved just as interesting and colourful as the city they live in. Our first night, my friend and I, running away from an obnoxiously drunk old Japanese man who kept shifting closer and closer to us on his barstool, stumbled into a charming little wine bar with a very friendly bartender who was willing to put up with my terrible attempts at speaking Japanese.

On our way home, we encountered the infamous "Windmill Guy". We were standing at traffic lights waiting to cross, admittedly a bit drunk, when a man on the other side starting waving his arms in circles as if he was a windmill. At first we thought he was just drunk and trying to make us, the token gaijin, laugh. But when the light changed he didn't even cross, but still stayed there, honest to God pretending to be a windmill. Two Japanese guys who had been standing behind us at the traffic lights decided to to literally run head first into Windmill Guy and head butt him in the stomach. He fell to the ground still waving his arms, but thankfully alright. Now if that isn't dedication to the Dutch roots of Nagasaki then I don't know what is.

My verdict: Nagasaki is a little awkward to get to as it is tucked away on a peninsula on Kyushu, the southernmost island out of the 4 main Japanese islands. However, if you are ever in Kyushu then definitely don't give it a miss!

I'm hoping to write about all the cherry blossoms and hanami in Japan and of course my epic trip to Tokyo next!

The travel bug: Shikoku style

So as most of you already probably know, I have signed the contract to stay in Japan for another year. This means more time to learn Japanese, more time to build up my teaching experience, and of course, more time to travel! However, this doesn't mean that I'm keeping my trips to a minimum. In fact, it just makes me more anxious to see even more of Japan and Asia.

This may across as cliched or ridiculous sounding or whatever you choose to believe, but for me travelling isn't an option. It really is a necessity. Part of the reason I studied Italian at university in the first place was to have the chance to live and study there for a year. As I've gotten older, and especially after living in Italy, holidays have never really been enough for me as I have a yearning to actually live in a place for an extended period of time so that I become familiar with the people, the language and the culture. 

Living abroad has completely changed who I am and how I see the world. When I went back to Scotland after Italy, I noticed how things that I had always taken for granted as being "normal" are only specific to British culture or to where I live. I will admit that after living in Italy, a land in which the people have such a passion and zest for life, the British people grated on me with their constant insincere apologies and at first what appears to be a cold demeanour. Though at the same time, I was also able to appreciate the distinct British charm, which I think is a mixture of quirk, banter and a good dose of sarcasm. We never take ourselves too seriously, and I find that to be a great characteristic in a person. 

For me, Japanese culture is basically the polar opposite of Italian culture. There are positive and negatives to every culture, so whilst the Japanese can initially come across as stand-offish and uncaring due to their reluctance to show their feelings in public and have physical contact with other people, they have proven themselves to be extremely helpful and kind. The Japanese often put aside their own feelings in order to ensure the comfort of others, something which is practically an alien concept in the West. Everything is about bettering the community and working together as a team. In the West this just sounds like godawful business teamwork jargon.

In terms of travelling, I would say that stepping off the train into a brand new city is my favourite thing in the world. It can seem daunting at first, but as I got used to having a full day to simply just walk about and explore, I began to love it more and more. I think it's even addictive.

Although it has been a while since I was last on one of those rickety old TrenItalia regional trains, I will never forget that horrible screech of the brakes as they rolled into the station. Despite it being a rather unpleasant sound, for me it came to signify a sense of unfolding hope and adventure as I wondered what would await for me in this new city. And now I actually miss that terrible noise!

A couple of weeks ago here in Japan, I decided to embark on a short couch surfing adventure to the neighbouring prefecture of Kagawa. It was only for 1 night since my job means that I have to stick to travelling on weekends and holidays, but I am still really glad I did it. Initially I read the train directions wrong and actually ended up by accident on Honshu, the main island of Japan. But it was very easy to jump on the next train back to Shikoku.

After finally arriving to Kagawa in one piece, I went straight up the mountain of Yashima. I was surprised that there was still a little leftover snow at the top, since I never saw any snow actually laying in my own prefecture which is right next to Kagawa. At the top there were some interesting temples and a cool view!

The rest of the day I spent simply just walking around, since I feel that's the best way to get to know a new city. I spent a couple of hours in Ritsurin Gardens, which is the most beautiful, quintessentially Japanese, zen-like park that I have ever been in!

Later on I met up with my couchsurfing host. She probably had some of the best English that I've ever come across in a Japanese person, since she had spent a few years living in Australia. She and her friend took me to a nice curry udon restaurant, which is the famous cuisine of Kagawa prefecture. We then went to an izakaya and has these seriously amazing glowing alcoholic drinks. I think the ice cube maybe had a light in it? Though I don't know for the life of me how that isn't some kind of hazard... Crazy Japanese technology!

I was absolutely exhausted after my full day of walking around, but I was welcomed really warmly by the family of my host. Her parents were some of the friendliest and most welcoming Japanese people that I have ever met, making me feel at home and taking a lot of interest in my life in Japan and my hometown. Couchsurfing can seem scary to some people, but as long as you are sensible and choose wisely, you can meet some really great people through it!

The next day I set out to go to Naoshima, which if you don't know, is a seriously cool art-filled island in the Seto inland sea between Honshu and Shikoku. Stepping off the ferry, Naoshima just looks like any other inaka Japanese island, but it is actually home to some renowned art museums and exhibitions. It's only really a few kilometers around, so everything is walkable or easy to get to on the shuttle buses.

My personal favourites were these pumpkins created by Yasoi Kusuma, a very famous Japanese artist.

I also loved this bathhouse called "I love Yu". Sadly I never had enough time to actually go in.

I would say that the best word to describe Naoshima is "surreal", as you are walking around some quaint little Japanese village and suddenly come across this house.

With this stuff in it.

Or when you are walking along a quiet coastline and suddenly come across these.

Yep, Naoshima is definitely worth a visit.

The next weekend my Japanese friend very kindly took me and couple of other ALTs on a road trip round Shikoku. This meant that I was finally getting to visit the remaining 2 prefectures of Tokushima and Kochi!

The first stop was Kazurabashi Bridge in Tokushima, which took a lot of precarious driving on the part of my Japanese friend due to all the tiny Japanese roads perched on the edge of mountains. Definitely made for some spectacular views though. Before getting on the bridge I had some of the best handmade soba noodles ever. They were practically falling apart in my mouth, they were that fresh.

The bridge itself is probably one of the most famous bridges in Japan. It is made entirely with rope and wood planks and swings about in a middle of a beautiful gorge. I'm definitely not one to be afraid when it comes to heights and rickety wood bridges, so I had a great time running about on the bridge. I had to stop myself from jumping about since everyone else looked terrified.

This is the bridge hanging precariously in the valley

Me and some random guy photobombing each other

After that we hit the road again to Kochi prefecture, this time heading to Kochi City. To me, Kochi City had an airy summer-like feel to it. There was a long road of palm trees swaying in the winter sunshine and a cool castle perched overlooking the city. It was very much a whirlwind tour of Kochi since time was running out, but I definitely got enough of a feel to know that it is somewhere I would like to return.

  We had enough time to pose on this famous red bridge.

I'm a bit hazy about the story behind it, but I think it involves forbidden love between a woman and a monk. Finally we each had the most enormous plate of chicken in the world before heading back to good old Ehime.

And those are my travels so far. More will be happening soon. I've got to feed my addiction after all.

A rather apocalyptical 40km walk and Valentines Day in Japan!

January and February usually tend to be a bit of a deadzone in regards to the rest of the year, especially after all the festive cheer. This was still true for me in Japan despite the lack of Christmas, particularly in the couple of weeks immediately following all my crazy Christmas travelling. Though despite this, I am on the other side of the world in Japan, so it`s pretty impossible for life to fall into the January blues for anything more than a few days.

On my first day back at school after travelling, I was immediately roped into walking something called the Melody Line Walk. This sounds all very pleasant and nothing more than a walk in the park.

However, names are deceiving. The Melody Line is in fact a 40km walk that all the 2^nd year junior high students have to do every year as a coming of age rite. I had heard about this once before and shuddered in horror at the thought of the poor students who would be walking that distance. But when my teacher approached me about it (read: tricked me into doing it), after my initial stone cold fear, I gave it some thought and decided that I`ve never really challenged myself physically before, so now might be a good time to try. And so that`s how I found myself on a dark and cold January morning being packed off into a bus bound for Misaki, 40km away from Yawatahama, with the prospect of having to make the trek back. Misaki is a small town on a beautiful peninsula called the Ikata peninsula. This was actually my first time visiting Ikata, and I suppose you could say it was a very thorough first visit, as I walked along every damn inch of that peninsula.

After a big group picture, we all set off laughing and talking. Everyone gradually broke off into smaller groups with their friends, and some super keen kids ran ahead. I would say that the first 25km were definitely doable, and perhaps even fun if you take into account the beauty of Ikata, as you have a view of the mountains and sea all around you. The reason it is called the Melody Line is because at one point, for about 500m, there is a stretch of road with little notches cut into it in such an amazingly precise way that when cars go over it, the wheels rub against the notches in such a way that a little tune plays. The group of students I was walking with found it funny when I became way too overenthusiastic about this phenomemon. I suppose I`m just easily amused… But really, it's one of these things you have to see to understand.

There were various stop points along the way to make sure we were alive/give us some little pick-me-up sweets. Though despite all the little sweets, the last 12km or so were a killer. Everyone had stopped laughing and cheering and we were all trudging along in silence just willing ourselves to get to the end as quickly as possible. I was so impressed as the kids are only 13/14 years old and some of them were really tiny! But Japan does have this culture of "ganbaru" meaning to always try your best and never give up. It took me about 8 and a half hours of constant walking, but eventually I made it to the finish line. And what sweet relief it was too! Though the pain in my legs and feet that evening was indescribably awful, I was still so happy to have made it! And you know what, I think I might just do it again next year.

Other highlights of the past couple of months include a visit to easily the best onsen I have ever been to. The entrance may be a bit steeper than normal at 1000 yen, but it's completely worth it because the onsen itself was newly renovated and gorgeous. Not only that, but they give you pyjamas to lounge around in afterwards in the hot stone room, the fragrance room (complete with beds and blankets to sleep in) and the TV room (your own couch-bed and TV). This was followed by the best mochi I have ever tasted.

Another thing that I was roped into, although a bit more happily at that, was the town "marathon". The Japanese tend to use the word marathon a bit loosely, as what I ran in no way resembles a full 26 mile marathon. I was actually a bit hazy as to how far I would be running, but in the end it only seemed to be a couple of kilometres which was easily doable. The whole town and all my students were out for the occasion, although admittedly my students were running the harder "Ekiden", which is a long distance relay race. I actually ran the race with my shorinji kempo club, so you can imagine the students reactions when they saw me kitted out in my dogi. In fact, I think everyone in Yawatahama was rather bemused to see a white girl running around in public dressed in Japanese martial art gear.

This is my shorinji class lining up before the race

Now I think I shall broach the topic of Valentines Day in Japan, which is a totally different affair from Valentines Day in the West. Strangely, it seems to be a bigger deal here than Christmas, as no one so much as batted an eyelid at the fact it was Christmas. At school that day (yes, I did have to work on Christmas), it was odd to hear the date December 25th being mentioned at the morning meeting without any mention of Christmas at all. And what was even more odd was when the staff started singing happy birthday to me ON CHRISTMAS. My birthday wasn't for another 10 days, but it was the last day of term, so they wouldn't see me until the beginning of the new term.

With Valentines Day, the main difference, for starters, is that only girls give gifts on Valentines Day. Secondly, in Japan only chocolate is given on Valentines Day due to clever marketing on the part of Japanese chocolate companies. Thirdly, girls and women are expected to give "giri-choco", also known as obligation chocolate to their male coworkers and friends. Though I should add that "honmei-choco" also exists which is usually more expensive or sometimes even handmade. This is the type of chocolate that you give to a boyfriend or husband, or even to someone to whom you are wanting to "confess your love to". To me, confessing your love for someone with chocolate seems like something you might do in high school when you are 13, but in Japan this is a legitimate way to express your feelings.

As someone who has never experienced Valentines Day in Japan before, all these chocolate-giving rules seemed like a maze of costly social etiquette to me. But still, I thought it might be fun to make up little bags of giri-choco to give to students and coworkers.

But I bet you're now thinking that Japanese girls have it tough because they spend all this money on giving chocolate and don't get anything back. Well, of course Japan has a solution, being the efficient place it is. Exactly one month later, on March 14th, the men have to give gifts back to the girls that gave them chocolate. Not only that, but they are supposed to try and roughly guess how much the girl spent on them and then spend triple that amount on paying back the girl. Yeah, ouch for the poor guys wallets. Perhaps only in Japan does it pay to be unpopular with the ladies.

This phenomenon is known as White Day. No, this isn't some kind of racist holiday. Originally it was a ploy by a marshmallow company to get men to buy marshmallows, but no one really wants a load of marshmallows all to themselves anyway, so the tradition has since expanded to anything white, though usually it is white chocolate. I can imagine that this is quite a stressful affair for men, as what if they happen to mistake some simple giri-choco for honmei-choco, and confess their love only to be laughed away?

Well, I suppose it isn't any of my concern, as in a months time I shall hopefully have a whole lot of white chocolate!

Until next time, where I shall regale tales of my recent trip to Takamatsu (the setting of Kafka on the Shore) and the famous art island of Naoshima!

Speech about international relations with a few wee anecdotes

Below is a speech which I had to write about cultural relations and cultural differences between Japan and my home country. It's a mixture of new thoughts and recycled parts of old blog posts, but it's generally a good breakdown of the major cultural differences and some anecdotes about my time in Japan so far.

My name is Hannah and I was chosen to be an ALT as part of the JET Programme, a programme funded by the Japanese government to help introduce Japanese students to foreign culture and create international relations. As a girl who had never travelled outside of the West before and who only speaks a little Japanese, I think that I am definitely bringing Western culture, or more specifically, British and Scottish culture, to Ehime.

However, this exchange of cultures is definitely not one-sided, as every day is a learning experience for me. Throughout my time in Ehime, I have come across some rather surprising cultural differences. For me, the biggest difference is definitely school life in Japan. A typical school day at a Japanese junior high school is certainly very different from high school back in Scotland. 

Probably one of the biggest differences is  cleaning time or soji, when the kids and the teachers clean the school themselves. In Scotland the students and teachers never clean the school, we have professional cleaners who do this after school is finished. I think that back home, many parents would be very unhappy for their children to be down on the floor scrubbing it! The first time I experienced soji, I couldn’t believe it! The kids were working so hard at cleaning, barely even talking to one another due to their complete concentration to the task at hand. At first it was very strange for me to think that children as young as 6 and 7 had to clean the school, but now I realise that it means everyone has more respect for the school because they have to clean any mess they leave behind. It’s definitely not like this in Scottish schools. In fact, sometimes after lunch, it looks like there has been a food fight! 

Another huge difference in school life for me is the school lunch or kyuushoku. Back in Scotland, we do have school lunch, but kids can also choose to bring their own lunch from home or go to a shop outside school to buy lunch. Kyushokuu differs greatly from typical Western school lunch in that everything is the same. Everyone gets the same food, and even more of a shock to me, everyone must finish ALL of their food! This was definitely difficult for me at first because I was not used to much Japanese food apart from things like sushi and ramen. 

The biggest challenge for me in kyuushoku was when I had to eat shishamo. Back in Scotland, it is not usual for us to eat a whole fish with the head and tail, so it was a huge shock when not only was I given a whole fish to eat, but it was also a pregnant fish! The first time I was given shishamo I gave it to a hungry student, but the second time no one wanted it. So I had no choice but to eat it. This was difficult because I felt like the eyes were staring at me. But to my surprise, it really wasn’t that bad when I ate it! This was definitely a big deal for me because I used to be too scared even to eat shrimp. 

Many things in Japan have been a challenge for me, but now I realise that challenging yourself is one of the main aspects of Japanese culture. I was shocked when I was first told that the 2nd year students at two of my junior high schools would have to walk 40km along the Melody Line from Misaki to Yawatahama. It sounded impossible to me! However, only 2 weeks after I thought that sounded impossible, I actually found myself doing the Melody Line walk with my 2nd year students at one of my schools. My legs and feet have never hurt so much, but I am so glad I completed the challenge and I think I will do it again next year.

While I knew about some Japanese customs before coming to Japan, such as bowing and taking your shoes off before entering someones home, there were a few small things that confused me at first. One example was when I was in class and my JTE told me to come here using a gesture, which in the UK we would use to mean "go away", so I was a bit confused and wandered away from the teacher to the other side of the class. The whole class burst out laughing and explained to me that it means “come here” in Japan once they had figured out what happened.

Another different gesture is the gesture to say “no”. In Scotland shaking your head means no, but in Japan, the gesture of waving your hand in front of your nose, that we would use to say "bad smell", means no.

However, despite all these cultural differences, I have come to realise that people all over the world are really the same. This is definitely apparent in Yawatahama, especially because it is a small town. I have always lived in a city until now, so it is nice for me to experience the small town kindness that isn’t so common in cities. Once thing that struck me was how generous everyone is, and how concerned they are about introducing me to Japanese culture and making sure that I am becoming accustomed to Japanese culture. During my time of only 6 months in Yawatahama I have been welcomed into cooking classes, tea ceremony, ikebana and I have even joined a shorinji kempo class. Some Japanese people even joke that I am more Japanese than them.

I have been lucky enough to be invited to go mikan picking on 2 occasions, and now I eat about 3 mikans every day. This is because the people of Yawatahama are so kind that I am given new mikans almost every week by someone. In fact, I am given mikans so often that I have to eat them very fast to make sure that they don’t go bad. For example, last week I was on the train and a woman who I have never spoken to before came up to me and gave me a bag of mikans! Some of my friends say that maybe I could cure the common cold.

One of my favourite memories of living in Yawatahama so far is the night of the Teya Teya Festival in October. Not only was I invited to dance the Teya Teya, but at one point I was actually put into a mikoshi and thrown up in the air. It was definitely the first time that has ever happened and it was both scary and exciting! This is something that would never happen back in Scotland, so I felt blessed to be given the opportunity to experience being part of the local Yawatahama community. 

Since there are so few foreigners here, my presence here definitely gets noticed. Almost every time I am at school my students or other teachers comment on how they saw me at Fuji at the weekend. I do my best to follow Japanese customs when I am here, but at the same time I also hope that my students and those around me are able to learn something about Scottish and British culture, even if they have not had the chance to travel. I am going to stay in Yawatahama for at least another year, so I hope to continue getting involved in the community and hopefully make a difference.

Christmas time ventures: Fukuoka, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Kobe

So this blog is going to be all about the travelling I did around Christmas time! And very British it all was too, complete with many British pubs, lots of Strong Zero and definite alcoholism!

On the long weekend before Christmas, I ventured across to the island of Kyushu to visit the city of Fukuoka and one of my Scottish ALT friends who lives in that prefecture. I have to say that coming from the inaka (the Japanese country) then finding myself in Hakata station, the main train station of Fukuoka city, was quite a shock to the system. Train stations in Japan tend to be a city unto themselves, so I ended up extremely lost and accidentally buying the same train ticket twice... After that distressing venture it was a relief to find myself in my friend's town, which is much more similar to my own town in terms of inakaness. Of course, after dropping my stuff off and eating lunch, we headed back into the city for our Scottish alcohol-fuelled all-nighter on the town.

However, before the heavy drinking commenced we had a look round Canal City, a shopping mall which has a canal running through it and also had a very amazing Christmas light display. There was also a One Direction shop, which might also be considered by some to be an attraction in itself. Surprisingly, One Direction is huge in Japan and my students are constantly asking me who my favourite is (If I had to pick, I suppose it would be Zane...)

After meeting some of the other Fukuoka ALTs and eating dinner, it was time to hit the British pub! My friend and I actually planned to stay out all night until about 5am, as there was nowhere to stay in the city and the trains to his town wouldn't start running again until about 5am. But to my amazement, we never actually got home until nearly 8am. And to think I thought I was too old to stay out past 3... I'm not actually sure where the whole night went, but we ended up at a club in which we were the only foreigners and surrounded by Japanese girls wearing extremely sexy Santa outfits.

Somehow, as per tradition, I managed to lose my coat. In the end I just left the club without it, and got on the train in a horrible sleep-deprived and still-drunk state, giggling at the school kids when they got on the train. Though why they were going to school on a Sunday morning was beyond me. It's just how life in Japan is. 

The next day, still in a hungover state, I was shown more of Fukuoka city. It is possibly my favourite city that I've visited in Japan so far. The people are extremely fashionable, the girls are gorgeous, the people are friendly and overall, the city has a very young and great vibe. 

Me in a rather hungover state at a Ghibli exhibition

One such example of this friendliness, is that expecting to have a quick and quiet dinner in a tapas bar, my friend and I ended up being wined and dined by friends of the staff, actually being bought whole bottles of some pretty good wine. We also ended up playing bingo for someones birthday and I won a giant box of Kirin brand fruit juices, which I had to leave with my friend since it was too big to take back to my prefecture. 

My final day in Fukuoka, I had a lovely afternoon meeting my Japanese friend who is an English teacher that I originally met in Italy over 3 years ago. I remember 3 years ago she showed me a picture of Canal City, to which I replied "I really want to go there!". But I never actually dreamed I would someday be meeting her in her own city and be shown around by her! It's times like this when life feels so surreal. However, I fully believe that life is what you make it and you have the power to do anything or live anywhere.

My Japanese friend and I in a nice park in Fukuoka

So that was Fukuoka! A pretty awesome place and an awesome weekend if I say so myself. And the real trip hasn't even begun yet!

After Christmas, which I will get back to in another blog, otherwise this will end up being far too long, I headed out to Kansai on an overnight bus to meet another British JET, this time from London.

The first place we visited was Kyoto. I met my friend bright and early at about 8am, straight after having spent the night on that overnight bus. Despite feeling a bit grungy, we delved right into tourist mode and visited two different shrines/temples that first day. 

The first place we visited was Ginkakuji. Despite the fact that it translates to Silver Pavilion, there wasn't actually any silver to be seen anywhere. Instead they had this rather odd sand cone, that was painstakingly shaped by the staff. Not sure what they do when it pours. Set up an umbrella over it?

Ginkakuji itself - not very silver

Next we visited a big red shrine. The name escapes me, but the gardens that surrounded it were absolutely beautiful. I felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland as I wandered around gazing at everything, particularly when I stumbled across this rather peculiar yet charming abandoned tram car. We also came across some stepping stones, which made for some great photo ops, despite the fact I was certain that one of us would fall in. Interestingly, I later found out that Scarlett Johansson walked across these very same stepping stones in Lost In Translation!

The misplaced tram

Clearly quite worried that I might fall in

Our first night we headed out to A-Bar, as recommended by a friend from my prefecture. It was a very international type place, with the inside decor being like that of a log cabin. Perhaps the drinks were strong there, as my friend and I got carried away with playing a game called "gaijin-punch". Basically it's like Yellow Car, but the aim is to punch your friend whenever you see a foreigner that you don't know. In my prefecture this game is practically redundant as you hardly ever see foreigners, but in Kyoto both our arms were aching after only about half an hour.

That being said, despite the abundance of foreigners, Kyoto can be quite hostile towards them. One thing that really shocked me was when my friend and I tried to go to a ramen shop, but were turned away. This would be fine, apart from the fact that a group of 4 Japanese who were in the queue behind us were welcomed with open arms and didn't even have a reservation. I won't even delve into the awful racism of this since it's such a huge topic, but I certainly was very shocked as I am generally seen as a bit of a novelty in my prefecture, for lack of better words, since I am part of a tiny minority that is well under 1%.

Putting that unsavoury moment behind us, we headed to Arashiyama the next day. This is a very famous bamboo forest on the outskirts of Kyoto. Whilst it certainly photographs well, the atmosphere was ruined slightly by the huge fences separating us from the actual forest.

My hands down favourite place, not only in Kyoto but also the whole trip, was Kiyomizu Temple. The various parts of the temple just seemed to go on and on, and the scene was set perfectly with girls wandering around in beautiful kimonos, as it is traditional for the Japanese to visit shrines and temples around the New Year period. Photographs don't do justice to this temple, as there is just something so mystical about standing at the railing and gazing out at the surrounding hillside. I particularly loved this view with the red shrine in the distance, but unfortunately it never came out that well in the pictures. Perhaps Kyoto is worth it even just for this temple, and I will certainly be returning in spring or autumn to see either the blossoms or the beautifully vivid autumn colours.

I also have to mention the fact that we visited Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. This is probably the most famous temple in Japan because of the fact that it's covered in gold leaf. While I can still admire the lake and the temple itself, it seemed rather overrated and even paled in comparison to Kiyomizu.

Our final stop in Kyoto was Fushimi Inari, a set of 1000 red toris, or gates, going up the hillside to a temple. Whilst we never did the hike to the top, which I was later told takes a couple of hours and the temple at the top is a bit disappointing anyway, the part that I did see was certainly very beautiful and atmospheric, ruined only by the New Year crowds who had come to visit the shrine.

Whilst in Kyoto, I also met with another couple of Japanese friends that I originally met 3 years ago in Italy. However, these friends don't speak a lot of English, so I had to get back into Italian-speaking mode, which was incredibly confusing given the fact that I've been trying to study Japanese these past few months. Initially all my sentences came out in a garbled mixture of Italian, Japanese and English, but after an hour or so I was able to pull myself together and communicate a bit better.

Next on the agenda was Osaka. My initial impression of Osaka wasn't a very great one as I was incredibly tired and felt completely overwhelmed by the amount of people and the immense scale of everything. It probably didn't help that my first stop was also the Pokemon Centre which basically translated to being pushed around by some extremely hyper little Japanese children. However, looking back I can appreciate the scale and modernity of Osaka a bit more, particularly the curious-looking Umeda Sky Building.

Osaka is definitely not your typical Japanese city though. The city was dirty and rough around the edges, particularly in the area near to our hostel. I think it would be fair to say that it's probably just like any other city in Europe in this sense, but since I have become accustomed to the security and polished finish of all the other Japanese cities, it probably felt more sketchy and dirty than it actually was.

The most famous area of Osaka is probably the Dotombori/Namba area, complete with bustling arcade shopping areas, scalding hot takoyaki (fried doughy octopus, and yes I actually did burn my mouth pretty badly) and epilepsy-inducing neon signs. This Glico sign is probably the most famous neon sign in all of Japan, along with this neon advert for Asahi beer.

This also happened to be New Years Eve, or Hogmanay as we call it in Scotland, so I'm ashamed to say that we headed to the British pub basically as soon as it opened. We never actually made any kind of plan for New Years Eve, so it was a combination of drinking Strong Zero in the street and then hastily making our way to another British pub before midnight struck. I suppose you could say it suited Osaka because our plan was also rough around the edges.

It was that night that I realised the hidden jewel of Osaka: the people! They are much more forthcoming and friendly than people in the rest of Japan tend to be. We were even spontaneously invited to a New Year's party in Kobe by a couple of randoms in the train station, but turned it down since it seemed maybe a little rash. It was very easy to make friends and talk to people in the pub that we ended up that, though I'll be damned if I can actually remember any of those conversations.

New Years Day was a little eery as almost everything was closed and all the Japanese people flock to shrines. Since my friend was stuck in bed with a New Years hangover, I decided to wander the streets of downtown Osaka solo, which were mainly empty apart from a few keen people who were out to hit the sales in the few shops that were open. I ended up in Den Den town, the electronics district, which had a bit of a seedy air to it. Feeling uneasy, I quickly got a few snaps of Osaka Tower and got the subway uptown to see the year's first sunset over Osaka castle.

Kyoto Tower

Osaka Castle

The next day my friend and I decided to visit Nara Park, which is famous for its many deer that just wander around casually amongst all the tourists. The deers are so domesticated that they barely blink an eye when little children paw at their fur. In fact, they seemed a bit sick of the treats that all the tourists kept trying to give them. Nevertheless, here are a couple of obligatory deer pics.

Finally, the last place on the agenda was Kobe! I had grown tired of all the crowds and maze-like train stations in Osaka, so Kobe was like a breath of fresh air to me. While Kyoto was arguably my favourite of the three cities in terms of touristy things to do and see, Kobe felt revitalising and extremely liveable. Whilst I would have liked to explore Kobe a bit further, I was very tired by this point so I stuck to the main attractions. But I think I will probably return to Kobe at some point!

The best part of Kobe was Harborland, which is basically a cool looking shopping area by the sea. I managed to see this area in both the daylight from the top of a ferris wheel, and even better, at night when it was all lit up!

My friend also ate a rather interesting Japanese/Italian fusion, which consisted of ramen in a tomato-based Italian style broth. I wasn't convinced since I'm a bit of a puritan when it comes to Italian food, but my friend claimed that it was delicious. It was also my 23rd birthday on our last full day in Kobe, so in keeping with the running theme of our trip, we headed to the nearest British pub for some celebratory drinks!

The next day we dragged our weary feet to the train station, said our goodbyes and got on shinkansens back to our respective prefectures. And that was Kansai! An extremely tiring, but an amazing and eye-opening trip!