This is as close as I come to a day of reflection

We woke up early today, Kris at 5, me at 6 (only because it takes her an hour longer to get ready). Meat on the stick came to the rescue again for breakfast. Japan's not really big on original breakfasts, miso soup, rice, soy milk: all things I like, all things she hates. So it's been 7-Eleven everyday for a snack and coffee. We hit the station and at 6:46 we were heading to Miyajima by train then ferry. Japan's awesome in the way its public transport operates. Popped off a train and onto a ferry in just 10 minutes. Cost us nothing as we were still utilizing our JR Passes. After a 10 minute ferry ride we were on an island.

The shrine gate in Miyajima

Miyajima: a place best seen in the morning I suppose when it just wakes up. At about 7:30 am there were throngs of cute little schoolboys and schoolgirls running to school in their uniforms. No salarymen or office ladies here though. This is a slow island, like every other island I know and love. No industry, just a shinto shrine, a few hotels and a water park. In other words, an R&R island.

Lunch is strolling around the town

The first thing that struck us as we got off the ferry was... deer. Wild deer, I mean gamey lunch, walking around the island, lying on the streets, not giving a toss about anybody or anything. Actually coming up to you trying to see if you've got something to eat. No one local pays any attention to them. Tourists and visitors come up and pet them or try to feed them. The deer are so calm and domesticated they aren't even scared by cars and the car horns. Once you're passed the deer, you can visit the shrine which is an experience in tranquility early in the morning.

When we returned from Miyajima, we packed up and left our luggage at the hotel reception and hit the town again. This town for the food for the soul. Anyone noticed in yesterday's blog where we're staying? Yes. Hiroshima. The first city that was destroyed using an atomic weapon in history. Let's hope one of the only two cities destroyed ever. A visit to the memorial place is a must, very Japanese / Shinto / Zen kind of thing. The Atomic Dome speaks for itself, it's bare structure survived because it was located almost directly underneath the blast meaning the shockwave just went down on it. Museum is also worth a visit. As Kris said, it starts very innocently then gets to the gruesome parts. Very educational indeed.

Silly tourists...

A sushi lunch was in order after it, with the missus eating chicken. Of course. But sushi was good, fresh and inexpensive: just as you'd expect in Japan. Having some time left, we visited the Hiroshima Castle, all rebuilt of course, for obvious reasons. Here we got to play silly tourists by dressing up as samurai and geisha. For posterity's sake of course.

Farewell to the atomic city was short and sweet as we boarded our last shinkansen to Osaka from which we fly out to the Philippines tomorrow. Quick ride as always, few beers while you wait and we were there. Our hotel, Chisun Osaka, was probably the worst of all the ones we stayed in so far. We're working our way down from a five star to a two star level (well... the one in Kyoto was actually a hostel / guesthouse, so it's out of range). But even at this simple, business hotel everything's gotto be neat, clean and in the right place. There is your Japan in a nutshell.

Porządek musi być.

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Japończycy używają 'dziękuję' i 'przepraszam' częściej niż warszawski dresiarz słowa 'ku*wa'. Czyli z baaardzo dużą częstotliwością. Ludzie tutaj są niezwykle mili i uczynni. Czasem nawet, potrafią swoim zachowaniem wprowadzić w zakłopotanie, gdy prowadza Cię przez pół dzielnicy aby wskazać poszukiwane miejsce. Nieważne, czy poprosi sie o pomoc policjanta, strażnika czy zwykłego przechodnia - po angielsku, japońsku lub na migi będzie tłumaczył tak długo aż zrozumiesz.

Kazdy wie gdzie ma czekac.

Ruch pieszy tez jest zorganizowany.

W ogóle, jestem zachwycona organizacją praktycznie każdego aspektu ich życia codziennego. Pisałam już o pociągach, ale to samo dotyczy wchodzenia do autobusu, używania ruchomych schodów czy też zwykłego chodzenia po chodniku. Mimo dużego pośpiechu, każdy porusza się nie utrudniając życia innym. Każda osoba która pełni jakąś funkcję publiczną, faktycznie coś robi. Pilnuje porządku, pomaga - mówiąc w skrócie jest przydatna. Nie ma bezczynnego siedzenia przy okienku i robienie sobie przerwy 'na pracę'. Każdy czuje się odpowiedzialny za swoje zadania i 'spychologia stosowana' nie istnieje.

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Na chwilę powrócę jeszcze do mody. Z całą odpowiedzialnością stwierdzam, że Japonki to jedne z najlepiej ubranych kobiet jakie kiedykolwiek widziałam. I nie chodzi tu o marki, ale o fantazję. Nie ma 'tematu tabu'. Nie ma że tego nie wypada, to nie modne a to obciach. Każda z nich ma swój indywidulany styl i tworzy go z niebywałą prostotą. Tutaj też, przypomina mi sie tak bardzo wyśmiewany w Polsce koncept noszenia skarpetek do sandałów. I kocham to, że Japonki mają to w głebokim poważaniu. Jest gorąco, więc przewiewny but jest lepszy. Ale paski i paseczki mogą stopę obetrzeć, więc skarpetka sie wtedy przydaje. Stosowali to samuraje, mnisi i zwykli mieszkańcy. Wygodne i praktyczne.

Parades + traffic = problems doing stuff

Our second day in Kyoto started with an overview of what Krysia actually likes to eat in Japan. And it seems like many Japanese fast foods (read junk foods, out of 7-Eleven, "meat on a stick", "thing in a bag") are a fair game for her. So today the day started with "thing in a bun", read a steamed Japanese version of hom bow, a pork filled bun. Moving about so much is not fun when you have to pack, repack and leave your luggage behind. I'm a fair packer, but this trip I'm hauling my scuba diving equipment (read 6 kg of stuff plus an extra heavy bag = extra kilos to haul). Same isn't true with K. Her usual hotel ritual is to sprawl all the contents of her bags on the floor, chairs, bathroom, windows (walls if she could) and then try to repack it all the day we leave. Grr.

Gyon parade of floats

We left the hotel to check out the Gyon parade. Today the floats were out on the streets. Quite a bit different from the ones I knew from Seattle or the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. These ones were huge moving platforms, some with life size dolls, some with real people playing flutes, knocking wooden sticks together or ringing bells. All pulled by a team of Japanese pulling men all dressed in fancy costumes. Crowds: horrendous. Weather: sweltering, hot and humid. Traffic: well... you get the point. We wanted to see two temples today, the Golden Temple and some temple with a Zen garden Kris saw somewhere. Unfortunately some problems came up along the way. And small problems have a tendency to accumulate and to become medium-sized problems which then blow up in your face as big mo-fo problems. Where to start? Perhaps at the beginning...

Our money was running a little bit low, but we had circa enough to get through the day. We'd exchange again in Hiroshima tomorrow. Money exchange places in Japan are not common, banks can close early and not have an exchange window and post offices which were supposed to be the best places to change money never materialized. But after parade we decided to go on to the temples. On the way was a Manga Museum, which we expressed interest in. This turned out to be a total bust. For 800 yen per person, three floors of manga, with perhaps one room worth seeing with couple timelines and pictures on the wall. WTF??? Did we just waste half our remaining money on this shit? Then it turned out that a castle which was supposed to be closed that day, was actually open. Great! We got to see it but ching ching. Wallet got thinner. It was also bloody hot so we didn't pay much attention to all these drinks we were buying at the vending machines. Suddenly while waiting for the bus we realized we didn't have enough to either go see the temples nor to come back home. And hell on earth began trying to find an exchange place (to no avail), post office (sorry, no exchange), bank (sorry, no exchange), hotel (sorry, exchange only for people who stay), etc. After splitting up to cover more ground and losing a good couple of hours it was almost time to head back, when we finally found a cooperative bank. So what's the moral of this story? ALWAYS HAVE MONEY ON YOU.

The Golden Pavillion

I'm turning Japanese

And so is the missus

The evening ended with our first ride together in a Japanese taxi and a lovely shinkansen ride to Hiroshima. Checking into our hotel left us some time and a huge appetite (for me at least) so it was on to find Hiroshima style okonomiyaki (noodles, cabbage, omelette, plus some stuff I wouldn't want Krysia to find out). Yum. Definitely planning to make it at home. Tomorrow a very full day with waking up really early to go to Miyajima.

Good night and sorry for the boring writing. The heat's boiled my brain.

Gyon matsuri and Scarlett moments

If Scarlett could, I can too.

Kyoto stands up to its history as Japan's ancient capital. The number of shrines and temples in the city is simply incredible. You're walking down a small street: woop, there it is. Down a major shopping drag: woop, there it is. We started off the day by recreating "Lost in Translation" moments and heading to Heian Shrine. Tying bad omikuji to a tree is fun as is hopping on the rocks in a Zen pool. Even if one has no idea why she's doing it. Heian is truly impressive for a shrine, much nicer than Meiji Jingu in Tokyo and thanks to Sophia Coppola, much better recognized now.

When in Japan, you have to balance Shinto with Buddhism, otherwise the other gods will get pissed off and throw a curse of bad garlic breath or a curse of inverse flat foot on you. It seems that all Japanese women suffer from it. First the missus noticed what sexy shoes Japanese girls tend to wear (I noticed that in general they have very sexy legs). Then turn around and she noticed most of them walking like Godzilla on a bad acid trip or perhaps a farmhand overloaded with kindling wood for the firepit. There is sure something to it. They do have extreme problems walking straight, twisting their feet inwards quite a lot, wobbling side to side like a cowboy after a long ride and such. Hmm... back to the sightseeing / religious monument description. Chonin Temple was next then, a would-be impressive place nearby Gyon, not for the fact it was being restored (and according to the utmost impressively planned schedule, the detailed Japanese are planning to restore it until 2019). But it had some impressive stairs which we had to climb. Oh how nice it must be to be me, since I actually don't feel muscle pain. Ever!

I want me one of those...

Afterwards we finally made it out to Gy-on, which was actually the entire purpose of coming to Kyoto for this period: Gyon matsuri, aka. the Gyon Festival, is an annual festival of history, food, geisha, maiko, kimono and all the other things that make Kyoto so unique. Hanging out for a few hours just walking the streets and gawking at pretty girls in kimonos was just what the doctor ordered. Add it to it slurping cold beer right on the street (yup, it's completely legal in Japan), munching on green tea ice cream or pear sorbet and you've got me a believer. It's just one of them festivals where there is not much to do except to look at things, eat way too much, drink booze and perhaps try to make friends.

Say "CHIIZU!"

I remember Nixon!

Lunch at a fast food gyoza place proved to be nice enough, but getting stuck in traffic on a bus while trying to reach the Inari Fushimi shrine was not so. What bonehead expected that we could actually get to the outskirts of town with the festival going on? Bleh... not even a honeymoon can go without stressful hitches, and my biggest pet peeve is wasting time while I should be having fun. Will have to work on it, won't we? Was the shrine with 10,000 gates worth it? Well, it was nice enough for sure, but I hate being rushed. So I can't say I appreciated it one hundred percent. Not even enough to post a photo.

My gratuitous schoolgirls in kimonos shot. Yup!

Headed back to the guesthouse, where while having a smoke outside actually met a maiko who was out for a cigarette (and apparently a man too). Just like Kris is being hit up for pictures for being a blondie white girl, I find it a repeating event that every time I linger in a smoking area for more than three minutes, some girl starts chatting to me. Is this why all these American boys participate in a JET program? That's Japanese English Teaching for you non-teachers. Will have to inquire about it. Oh shit... I'm married. I forgot for a moment. Gotto be careful, my wife's reading this too.

Basho, wagyu and Gyon

Morning time Nagoya. Peace, quite, paper, shower, out the door while K is just rolling off the bed. Me time was eventful in 1) getting tickets for tonight to Kyoto, 2) socializing with a group of schoolgirls who thought my hairband was cool (I'm pretty sure they thought I looked like a fat white gay guy, and to make things worse, I didn't have my camera with me for the bragging shot) and 3) finding a safe breakfast place for my better half, the golden arches of course. After getting back to the room, errands having been run, we went down for McGriddles, hasbrowns and coffee, which all in all are not a bad deal considering Japanese prices (340 yen is about the same price as I'd pay in Poland for this set).

We're so tough...

My old work friend Haru, whom I haven't seen for 10 years dropped in on us last night and took us out to dinner in the hotel we were staying (which technically means he took us IN). At 10:30 sharp, as agreed yesterday, he showed up with wifey to give us the "Haru day tour of Nagoya". First stop: Izumiya Castle, a charming wooden structure dating back to 16th century. Rather humble for a castle, but beautiful Japanese architecture is always a sight to behold. And those damn stairs. How can you build a structure with stairs at almost a 90 degree angle which are half a meter tall? Has anyone in the 16th century heard of knee pain? Chiropractors? Physical therapy? Well obviously not. A gratuitous ninja shot topped off our visit to this charming place (I heard my wife saying she's turning Japanese. I have to agree with that statement. Well... at least when it comes to taking photos).

First note on Japanese hospitality, which I know quite well having been a lover of manga, anime and Japanese girls in my youth, and a friend of and to couple great Japanese people. Face is everything, meaning your guests have to have what they have. Which is really quite funny when you're faced which couple low-maintenance peeps like us. The whole way back to Nagoya was one long interrogation by Haru on whether Kris wanted kishimen (fat noodles from Nagoya) or tonkatsu (Japanese schabowy / breaded pork chop). He was a bit concerned that she did not like seafood and yesterday's dinner was one long neverending marathon of sea creatures fried, boiled, poached or simpy raw. Long story short: he ended up ordering both to keep Kris happy: one covered in dried bonito shavings (seafood) and soaked in sea kelp broth (seafood), the other one covered with misoshiru and wakame (seafood). Ha ha! I thought both were yummy and delicious and Kris actually liked tonkatsu a lot despite the sauce. I mean, a girl's gotto love pork.

Long lunch and then a stop at a shrine that I can't actually remember the name of, meant that we were late for the grand finale of the night: the grand basho, sumo championships in Nagoya's Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium. This was something I had planned months ago to attend, of course in the end Haru wouldn't even except my part for the tickets stating they are just a wedding gift (Japanese hospitality...). I didn't mention that he bought saijiki seats, 4-person boxes which happen to be the best seats in the house, barring the ring-side? Japanese hospitality can be too much when you start feeling a bit uncomfortable.

You're getting a wedgie for this fat boy!

Sumo was great! I'd seen matches and whole championships on NHK (Seattle has a few Japanese programs on the air), but seeing it live was something else entirely. Fat guys galore! And amazingly, quite a few foreigners amongst them, all of which seemed to have avid fans in the audience (of the child or female variety mostly screaming their names as they entered the ring). Cultural sensitivity aside, there is something magical about sweaty fat guys running around in diapers, slapping their asses, lifting up their legs like for a great fart, trying to give other atomic wedgies. Brilliant, never to be forgotten.

Tickets in hand for Kyoto, time was running short, but we absolutely had to stop and have dinner first. Haru's daughter Juna just finished her entrance exam for dental residency, so there was a reason to meet and celebrate (and for me curiosity to see what a gawky 14 year old turned into). Wagyu aka. Kobe beef was on the grill (hallelujah!) along with other prime cuts of cow and I could see the missus was mighty happy.

All of this hospitality meant we almost missed our train. With tickets in hand, we were running like crazy to the platform to jump on a shinkansen bound for Kyoto just in time, night adventures to be told tomorrow.

Goodnight!

Obrazki z wystawy

Od czego w ogóle zacząć, gdy wokół tyle rzeczy do opisania i opowiedzenia.Najlepszym rozwiązaniem bylo by podlączyć kabel do mózgu i w magiczny sposób przeslać dane do komputera. Niestety, to jeszcze nie czasy matrixa. W przeciwieństwie do Męża nie udało mi się blogować regularnie, więc na razie porcja przemyśleń w formie skondensownej.

1. Tokio zdecydowanie powinno przejąć przydomek 'melting pot' od Nowego Jorku.Jest to istna mieszanka charakterów, stylów i temperamentów. Zaczynając od cichych, zasypiających pasażerów metra, poprzez wesoło terkoczące uczennice ,a kończąc na poprzebieranych samurajach biegających po ulicach.

2.Większość polskich 'faszionistek' powinno wysłać się do Japonii, żeby nauczyły się co to styl i jak różnorodny może on być. I że utarte schematy którymi się posługują, dawno temu wyszły z mody.

3.Budzenie się o 4 rano nie było by takie straszne gdyby odpowiednio wcześniej się położyć. Oczywiście Ci, którzy mnie znają, wiedzą co w moim języku oznacza 'odpowienio wcześniej pójść spać', tak więc po trzech godzinach ledwo otworzyłam oczy. Dziki kłus przez miasto, tak aby zdążyć na licytację tuńczyków, okazał się odrobinkę bezsensowny, jako że wszystkie miejsca zostaly wykupione na godzinę przed naszym przybyciem. Tak czy siak - był to kłus dający zupelnie inne spojrzenie na Tokio - okupowane przez bezdomnych, śpiących na kartonowych karimatach, ubranych w robocze garnitury, sprawnie zbierających się tak aby nie przeszkadzać powiększającemu się z godziny na godzinę tłumowi.

4.Wsiadanie do pociągu PKP zawsze wiąże się z graniem w rosyjską ruletkę. Gdzie stanie mój wagon, czy numeracja będzie miała jakikolwiek logiczny sens, gdzie dokładnie powinnam sie ustawić żeby trafić akurat na drzwi? O Ile było by prościej gdyby zrobić to na sposób Japończyków. Dokladnie oznaczyć sektory z numerami wagonów i miejsce gdzie 'wypadną' drzwi. Proste - prawda...? Ale nie takie zabawne.

5.Razem z Mężem zostaliśmy zaproszeni przez jego japońskiego kolegę na bardzo elegancki, tradycyjny obiad w dość ekskluzywnej restauracji. Pełna dobrych chęci i nadzieji postanowiłam że spróbuje wszystkiego. No cóż...spróbowałam. Rezultat był taki, że jeden z najbardziej eleganckich wypadów do restauracji przyprawiał mnie o najwięcej odruchów wymiotnych. Surowe owoce morza i wodorosty to nie moja bajka. I nie było by to może najgorsze przeżycie, gdyby nie fakt, że musiałam zjeść wszystko i jeszcze udawać że mi smakuje.Inaczej nie wypadało.
Ktoś jedak musi nade mną czuwać bo następnego dnia ten sam kolega zabrał nas na przepyszną japońską wołowinę.

Obiecuję pisać bardziej regularnie, choć używanie polskich znaków na japońskiej klawiaturze, wymaga anielskiej cierpliwości.

Lessons learned hopefully

Plan for today included waking up at a crazy time in order to go see Tsukiji Fish market where daily auctions for tuna begin at 5:30 am. This proved not only a challenge to wake up for some, but also a logistical challenge to get to the other side of Tokyo at 4 am in the morning. Night taxi for a hundred bucks was not an option: it sounds a bit ridiculous. So after a walk in the rain to the Shinujku JR station we grabbed the first Yamantote line train to Shimbashi. Amazing time though. The station was filled with homeless Japanese which are such a different sight from bums in the US or Poland. In general mostly well dressed and not too dingy, sleeping on cardboard boxes with their shoes taken off and placed to the side. It really looks like the economy's been tough on them.

Tsukiji turned out to be a wasted effort. All the tickets (there are only 120 entries per day, 60 per tranche) were gone by 4:20 today. Considering that the concierge suggested a taxi at 4:30, we would've been pretty pissed off if we had gone that route. Being up so early meant paying the piper though and back in the hostel I (because apparently my mistake) inadvertently suggested that since it was still so early, Kris could catch an hour of shuteye. Well... we all know how that story goes and before we knew it, it was the afternoon.

Nagoya here we come.

A quick visit to the Shinjuku Gyoen park which was supposed to be relaxing, turned out to be rushed as we needed to be back by 2 pm in order to check out. A short ride on the Shuo line to the Tokyo JR station and we were in a search of lunch. Word of advice, explore outwards from the station. Not wanting to walk around too much we settled for Italian (overpriced, underflavored and quite small), while just a flight of stairs away in a building next door there was an amazing food court. Bleh...

Krysia's first ride on the Hikari shinkansen took us to Nagoya to visit my friend and for a surprise event tomorrow. Two hours on a train to traverse 222 miles on one of the slower bullet trains (it stops at 7 stations as opposed to the 4 stops by the fastest Nozomi).

Going down from 5* to a 4* hotel wasn't bad for the wifey, but a real Japanese dinner including fried shrimp heads, seaweed flan and all kinds of raw things was an adventure she won't soon forget. So it's off to explore Nagoya and some major fun tomorrow.