JAPAN!!!

Starting in Tokyo... 5th July

Wow. I had been excited about coming to this country for a long time. After a night's stopover in Bangkok, we were flying into Tokyo on the date of Calum Easton's birthday - 5th July. You could say we were going from one extreme to the other - from the chaos of a month in India and Nepal, to the big city lights of this inviting and effervescent place. Though on the other hand you could say we were just going from chaos to organised chaos...

We arrived at out hostel and dropped our bags off in our capsules. Yes, our beds did have sliding shutters to close us in, but fortunately they were plenty big enough for Calum's 6ft 3" frame. We then decided to head out to celebrate Calum's birthday with the typically Japanese fare - sushi. It was a short walk from our hostel to the area of Akihabara - the electric city. It was a strange walk, purely because it was so... quiet. Not a term you may usually associate with Tokyo, but after having our ears blasted by tuk tuk horns for the past four weeks, it was a relaxing sound of the big city.

Another shock we found coming to Tokyo was the cost. Although similar to the UK, going from paying 3GBP in India to 22GBP in Japan for a hostel was quite hard to deal with!

We found a restaurant set up in a similar way to the ones you find back home, with the conveyor belt delivering dishes that the chefs were creating in front of us. The key differences were the range of food you could get, the fact the restaurant was actually full of Japanese people, and that when Sarah asked for the Red Snapper, the chef said "one minute" and proceeded to fish out the largest creature in tank in front of us. "I'll be right back".

After dinner we found a local bar and were treated to the drunken dancing antics of the Japanese "'salary men". After picking up some moves and drinking our pricey beers, we headed back in the direction of our hostel. We came across a bar that had a lot of people milling about outside. A Japanese guy who spoke excellent english helped us to buy three nama biru (draught beers), and also loved to imitiate our accents when talking about "SCOT-land". We then had one of those joyous unexpected nights. Although this guy (Cuni) looked 40, he was in fact 59 and came to this bar every night. We then met three locals who were hilarious and hilariously drunk. In their late 30s and with work the next day, they insisted on taking us out drinking until 3am, and to enjoy the Japanese equivalent of chips and cheese - seaweed, dried fish and sake shots!

After a night in our capsules, we headed into central Tokyo (if there is a centre). We went first to Ginza, which is the expensive shopping district, much like NYC's 5th Ave. After some window shopping, we then spent 2 hours playing in the Sony shop with all their cool new gadgets.

Wandering around Tokyo we found the following interesting sites:

- Taxi doors open and close themselves
- They play bird tweets through speakers into the subway platforms
- The toilets are extremely high-tech (I'll let you use your imagination)
- They have vending machine restaurants where you pay the machine and have your choice made up for you - extremely tasty!
- Japanese people are the friendliest and most polite people I've ever met!

We also had another quintessential travelers experience on Calum Young's birthday - after choosing a restaurant for dinner where the waiting staff didn't speak any english we had to go for the good old point-at-words-you-don't-know-on-the-menu-and-hope-for-the-best routine. We were pleasantly surprised.

The following day we went for the bus tour - visiting the TV tower, enjoying the free birds eye view from the Government building, and visiting the Times Square of Tokyo.

Our fourth day in Tokyo was arguably all of our favourites. Being a Sunday we did as the locals do and headed to Harijuku to witness the wacky hair-doos, fancy dress and funny antics. After witnessing what was apparently the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, we walked through the crowded streets to Yoyogi Park. There, we were greeted first of all by the two gangs of middle aged Rock-a-billy dancers. Groups of five leather clad men and women dancing to American classics - even though they were blasting out two different songs depending on who you were dancing with. Further into the park were young guys showing off basket ball tricks, people performing magic, reciting poetry and girls inventing choreography to Britney Spears songs. Anything you want to do in this park, you can... within good taste. It had a really cool, positive vibe, and you didn't know what you'd see past the next tree.

Following this we walked down the humorously named Takeshita Street. A hang-out for colourfully dressed teenagers, the place was buzzing. After stopping for some liquid refreshment and some amazing hotdogs (very Japanese, I know). This was all in preparation for our first Japanese gig, with the famous (in Japan at least) Eiji Takada performing at the Crocodile Bar. Sitting next two a Japanese couple with the man wearing a garishly loud Hawaiian shirt (lovely guy though), we were hoping for the best. Eiji didn't dissapoint. To the crowd of 30 or so, we performed some great bluesy numbers. If only we had a clue what we was singing about...

At the end of the gig we were told than rather than clapping for an encore we should simply give the thumbs up! How he heard this, I'll never know. But he came back our with the band a played for another half hour. Absolute legend.

We had one final day before we headed west to Nagoya, so spent it y the harbour, enjoying Tokyo's sandy beach front and Statue of Liberty imitation. To get there we took a trip across the Rainbow Bridge (and like all other Mario-Kart fans would be, I was very excited).

We had only a short time in Tokyo, and it is a place that I know without doubt that I will return to some day.

Nagoya - 9th July - Sumo time!!

After getting the speedy Shinkansen (Bullet train) from Tokyo, we reached Nagoya within the hour. It was hard to see where one place stopped and another began! Nagoya is not usually a popular tourist stop, but we had found out earlier that the city would host this year's Grand Sumo Tournament - a fifteen day tournament where large fellas in nappies go at it. Best record over the fifteen days in crowned champion. Enjoying one of the early days, we arrived in the morning and bought our tickets for the"cheap seats". However when we entered the arena, we were informed by a lovely staff member that we could sit where we liked, and if anyone came along then just move somewhere else. Meaning we got to enjoy the day from a booth just a few rows up from ringside!

Retracting my nappy comment, these athletes were spectacular. There were three different divisions, all with different ring traditions. They were absolutely enormous, but moved with a feather-like grace. Untill they smashed into each other. That was fun.

The Makuuchi Division wrestlers throw salt into the ring before fighting in order to cleanse the ground. They do this about three times before they finally start fighting. So all in all about 4 minutes of build up for 30 seconds of wrestling. We were also very impressed by the Yokozuna - a wrestler who has won at least two Grand Tournaments and a man deemed of appropriate characters to receive this prestigious honour. Needless to say he won his match.

We were also surprised to see a number of western wrestlers - slightly similar to Fat B*stard from Austin Powers fame. Though one guy was more muscular that rotund. He didn't last long.

Kyoto - 10th July

We arrived into Kyoto late in the evening and headed straight for the hostel. We were delighted when we arrived. It was big, clean, full of backpackers and had a brilliant lounge/kitchen area on the top floor. We headed out for a quick bite and then came back for a few beers in the hostels where we met some awesome Aussies that recommended renting bikes to see the sights of Kyoto. The following day we did just that!

Before getting the bikes we went to our first Temple in Kyoto, the city best known for its beautiful temples and shrines. This was the largest wooden temple in Kyoto and was an amazing work of architecture. We then grabbed the bikes and headed to the Imperial Palace which is surrounded by the Imperial Gardens. We cycled round the gardens and then succumbed to our hunger and headed for some katsu curry. We then headed to our second temple of the day which is famous for the huge Japanese Gate that sits in front of it. Again it was very impressive so we walked around for a while before heading to our final destination of the day, one of the many parks of Kyoto. On our way we cycled through Gion, a beautiful area full of traditional houses but more famous for it's number of tea houses which house the greatest number of Geisha's in Japan. Sadly we didn't catch a glimpse of any in Gion but we didn't have to wait long until we did. We arrived at the park following a long uphill stretch and enjoyed some tranquility following the busy streets of the city.

We then headed back to the hostel via the supermarket where we picked up supplies for our first hostel cooked meal since our travels began. We opted to start easy and went for some spag bol which went down a treat and left us enough pasta for the following night too, a welcome saving in this very expensive country. We then had a few beers with the Aussies, and a few more, and a few more before we met some Norwegians too and decided to head out. Sadly our plan of a local club was quashed at the news it was closed (at only 1am) so the decision to hit a karaoke club was made. Karaoke is an institution in Japan, loved by all so there are no shortage of venue options. We found one that gave us a room of our own and all we could drink beer and Sake and we proceeded to sing the night away. We had the Beatles, Bon Jovi, Frank Sinatra, Blues Brothers and many more, it was a great laugh and a great night.

The following day we understandably were a bit later in getting up and following a slow start we decided to head out on the train to Arashiyama where the bamboo forest and monkey park are. We headed to see the monkeys first and en route came across the the famous geisha's of Japan. The were the most pristine looking woman you could image, almost doll like, but had a definite beauty and aura about them. After a few sneaky photos from across the street we headed to monkey park.

 
It was a 20min climb up to the feeding centre where we found hundreds of Japanese Macaque monkeys. The best novelty was when we we able to go into the centre an buy food which could be fed through the caged windows out to the monkeys. A nice change that we were in the cage feeding the monkeys outside as opposed to the other way around!!

We then headed down to the bamboo forest which was a great way to walk away our hangovers as we wandered between the huge bamboo trees sheltering us from the rain. A quiet night followed that night and we planned to head to Nara the next day with the Aussies.

On our final day in Japan we headed to Nara with the 6 Aussies which is approx 40mins from Kyoto and is described as "Kyoto 20 years ago". It also has the interesting sight of wild deer just wandering around the town, down the streets and through the parks. This was great fun as you could get very close to the deer and feed them without any cages or fences. Like all animals as soon as food was offered they were your best friend!! The other highlight of Nara was the Okonomiyaki. This is a savoury pancake filled with pork, egg, bean sprouts, lettuce plus any other meat/fish filling you would like. Served with a special Japanese BBQ sauce it was def one of the best meals in Japan. A big thanks to Aussie Jai for introducing us to this dish, will be searching for it high and low when back in Scotland!! We then headed to our final temple of Kyoto where Sarah and Cal E got their fortune's told, neither with great success with only "limited fortune" predicted for both. Following this Cal Y decided to leave his fortune unknown!!

It was then time to head back to the city and head for our train to Osaka. We arranged to meet the Aussies the next day at the a J league game in Osaka and headed to the Shinkansen we went though and onwards to our next stop, Osaka.

Osaka - 13th July

The first night in Osaka was a quiet one following the day spent at Nara and the travel then to Osaka so a quiet dinner and a few beers were had before an early night. We had to keep our strength up as the following day........was the beer festival.

We got up the next day and went for some breakfast in the local market before heading to the Osaka Beerfest. We arrived at the baseball stadium in which it was being held and we're met with a long queue. The doors hadn't opened though and once they did we all streamed in, were handed a small, 50ml glass and met the hundred or so beer stalls from which you could sample as much as you liked. It was great fun, we tried all sorts of beer from standard lager to smoke flavoured to pink grapefruit flavoured and back to delicious german pilsner. The only issue was that sitting down was prohibited which after 20-30 glasses became pretty tough! Even at the food stalls no sitting was allowed. In the end we understood why no sitting was allowed as people got drunker and started sitting on the floor the staff were able to identify those that had "had too much" and escorted them out. We managed to keep standing and left after each enjoying our fair share and headed for the Osaka Gamba game.

Upon arrival at the stadium Cal E quickly bought a shirt and we headed in. We were in the standing section (i know, more standing) but once there we didn't want to be anywhere else. It was totally packed and the fans were amazing. Non stop singing and chanting for the whole 90mins, even when they lost a last min goal to lose 2-1.We had managed to meet the Aussies at half time and agreed it was as good an atmosphere as we'd enjoyed at a football match in ages. After the game we said fond farewells to the awesome Aussies with the sincere hope that we see them again. As all are based in Sydney I'm sure Cal E will when he gets there in a few months!

The next day we planned to see the sights of Osaka before we headed to Hiroshima. We started by heading to the Osaka Jo which is one of the most prized castles in all of Japan. It covers a huge area and is surrounded by a very impressive moat and high walls. Inside it was really interesting too and provided some spectacular views across the city.

We then headed to the park nearby where we came across a full blown rave in the middle of the afternoon with DJ's playing on the park bandstand. It was full of dancing Japanese teenagers and we spend a good 20mins just sitting watching the 1pm party.

 We grabbed some tasty sushi in the park and decided to head over to Dotomburi which is a famous area in Osaka known for its restaurants bars and clubs. We walked along the canal and through the markets before deciding to head back and get on the road to Hiroshima. It had been a great couple of days in Osaka and kept up our feelings that the cities in Japan were really some of the best and most interesting in the world.

Hiroshima 15th - 18th July - world peace please!

Our first stop in Hiroshima was to visit the Peace Memorial Park.  This was a pretty tough day as we spent the morning and afternoon walking around the museum dedicated to the lives lost (an estimated 140,000) following the atomic bomb explosion in 1945.  The stories were very personal and sad - especially moving was the memorial dedicated to the children who fell - the bomb exploded directly above a number of schools and many in the surrounding area were completely destroyed.  Those who survived the nuclear bomb's initial blast were subjected to the after effects of the radiation poisoning for decades to come. One little girl who contracted leukemia as a direct result of the radiation thought she would get better if she folded folded over a thousand paper cranes, however, she never reached her goal.  Her classmates then began to make the cranes after she died and now there is a massive display which showcases all of the "peace cranes" that people fold in the memory of the children who died.  They are beautiful and colourful and some children outside the memorial help to show us how to make the cranes so we could add ours to  the collection. 

 The mission of everyone connected to the peace park is to continually campaign every day for all countries to destroy their stockpile of nuclear bombs.  Of course this has not happened yet but the mayor and other Japanese officials write letters every time a nation tests their nuclear armaments - the letters are all on display in the museum, including many sent to Barack Obama - reminding them of the devastation to civilian life caused by nuclear bombs.

That evening we decided some light entertainment was in order so we went to a baseball game - the Hiroshima Carps against the Chunichi Dragons.  Hiroshima won 3-0 but unfortunately we missed the first 15 mins and all the points that were scored!! The atmosphere was great though and was a nice way to end the day.

On our second day we went to a small and peaceful fishing port called Tomonoura which was lovely.  We wandered around and got a better idea of how Japan used to look before all the skyscrapers and neon lights!  We managed to sample the Hiroshima okonomiyaki for lunch which was excellent but I think we all agreed that the Nara version just pips it at the post for the best one we had - very close call. YUMMY!!

 In the evening we went to an Island just off Hiroshima called Miyajima.  This island is famous for a massive red gate that was built about 100 metres or so off the coast of the island so it looks as though it is floating on the sea. We were there for sunset which was beautiful. 

 Back at our hostel on the mainland we met some people who had been living there for rather a long time - like one America guy who had been there for 2 years! He had built up a rather impressive collection of movies so we watched Men in Black 3 and Bridesmaids - the boys may not like to admit it but they defo preferred Bridesmaids!!

On our last day in Hiroshima we went back to Miyajima and found a lovely beach where we chilled for the day - our first beach stop since we started travelling! Ace!  Lots of work to be done on the tans! That evening we left Hiroshima for Kyoto (again)!

Kyoto/ Osaka 18 - 20 July - take 2!

We loved Kyoto so much we just had to go back! We had our boat to China booked for the 20th of July which left from Osaka and there were quite a few things we didn't have time for when we were in Kyoto the first time round so this gave us a perfect opportunity to head back before we finally reached Osaka and had to leave.

We arrived late on the 18th into Kyoto and stayed in different area from the first time round.  We asked the hostel owner where would be a good place to eat and he took us to a local restaurant round the corner.  His parting words were "They don't speak English here. Have a good time!" Haha after a few confusing moments of pointing and describing what we would like in a charades type affair we were presented with mountains of delicious food! Just as well we had no idea what we were ordering - probably wouldn't have been as nice as what arrived!   

The next day we packed in a lot of sightseeing.  We took the bus to the Golden Pavilion which was set on a lake and surrounded by gardens - very beautiful and a nice photo stop.  We then went to visit the "Thousand red gates of the Fushimi Inari Shrine".  In fact there were thousands more than one thousand! These gates are lined one right after the other and form kilometers worth of red corridors.  We walked for maybe 1 or 2 kilometers before turning round and heading back down but it really was spectacular to see - like a gigantic red dominoes set!  Our final stop of the day was a rather steep climb to our final Japanese Temple from where we had nice views of the city. 

Feeling rather pleased with ourselves about getting about all day on local buses we thought the trip home would be a doddle.....that was not to be the case! The buses back the way did not seem to mirror the route out and a good 2 hour return trip consisting of a confused bus ride and an hour on foot saw us safely back at the hostel a little later and more tired than planned! We got a very late bullet train to Osaka for our final night in Japan.

The last meal....wow! Arriving in Osaka tired and late, we found our hostel and crawled out onto the street looking for some grub...what a find we made.  An all you can eat and drink restaurant/ bar for pretty cheap (in Japanese terms anyway!).  This is just what the doctor ordered and was a good way to toast to our brilliant 3 weeks in Japan. The food was mainly skewers of lots of different meats such as chicken, pork, beef etc but we did venture a little into left field and enjoyed some chicken hearts - surprisingly tasty! Well - cheerio to Japan as the next day was our 2 day boat to China!

The slow boat to China - 20th - 22nd July 

We were pretty excited about this 2 day boat trip and as soon as we got on to the boat we did a bit of exploring.  Unfortunately the exploring took all of 3 minutes as there really wasn't much to this little boat of ours! It was a decent size (not that little) and consisted of cabins, a restaurant, a sitting area and a deck. We all had a feeling that the next 2 days were going to pass pretty slowly!  That was fine though, we did a lot of reading and relaxing and played cards with 2 English girls we met.  It was nice to have a few quiet days to get ready for the big city lights of Shanghai!!Sunset from the deck wasn't bad either!!