Trip to Japan

I am having trouble uploading pictures from the trip. I will post the rest later.

I left for Japan at 335pm Korean time Saturday and returned about 5pm Wednesday. In that time, I visited and stayed in four different cities with my co-worker Sandra: Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. Japan surprised me a little. For one, they drive on the left side of the road. Who knew that?? It is a very busy country, where if there are no mountains, there are many tall buildings and people living in them. I will go through the trip day by day including some pictures along the way.

Saturday July 29: It was a day full of trains, planes and automobiles (including buses and taxis). The only way of transport we didnt take was a boat or ferry. Maybe one day. We left at 12pm for the airport and did not arrive until 1130 pm at the final destination for the day, Hiroshima. This was not the plan at the beginning of the day, so after some quick phone calls, we were able to find a modestly priced hotel at a good location, about 4400 yen, which is under $50.
Since we arrived late after a day of travel, it was off to the bars. Along the way we met some English speakers that were on exchange at a nearby university. They were from all over, Sweden, Australia, Brazil, US (Hawaii) and Canada. I had to ask the girl why she would leave Hawaii to on exchange. She could not really come up with an answer... We visited a bar that was very cool (Japan pop music and North American) except the men's washroom was located 4 floors above the bar. Not a good location if you ask me. Since we had just basically dropped our bags off at the hotel and took off to get a drink, we did not pay much attention to the path we took. Especially after having a few drinks it was difficult to know which way we should go. But after some friendly encounters with some locals, we found our way. I forgot to take my camera out on this excursion, so I have no pictures of it unfortunately.

Sunday July 30: Since there was no time to sightsee the night before, it was off to experience what Hiroshima had to offer. It was a very clean city and had a lot to offer. The first stop we decided to make was to the A-Bomb dome, aptly named for the damage the atomic bomb did to this building leaving what looks like a dome completely in tact at the top of the building.

This is me at the A-Bomb dome. It is the only building still left after the A-bomb went off here in 1945.

This is one of the many rivers in Hiroshima located in Peace Park (the same place as the A-Bomb dome). It looks kind of like how I would imagine the canals in Venice would look like.

Some weird statue or memorial thing. It looked important and many other people were taking pictures, so I thought that I would too.

This is one of the plaques about the bombing. If you click on it, you may be able to read it better.

This picture is creepy because it was so hot and sunny this day, I don't know how the clouds look so dark in this picture. Perhaps the weather speaks to the darkness in the past of mankind??? haha but really, I dont know why its dark! This is the view of the A-bomb dome from another angle. Notice the fence; this site has remained relatively untouched since 1945 (I hope I wasn't exposed to radiation).

Hiroshima was a very nice city. Very modern, perhaps because it was completed rebuilt within the past 50 years. They have a street car going down one of the main streets in the city. It has a San Francisco feel to it. While at the Hiroshima Peace Park, some crazy lady came up to me and made me close my eyes and be silent for like 2 minutes while she prayed something in Japanese to me. That was all good except it felt like forever before she would let me leave.

After a few hours touring around Hiroshima it was back on the Japan Rail bullet train, next stop: Kyoto. This was a very interesting city with a lot of history (if you have seen Memoirs of a Geisha), there is a district of the city where you can see many geishas walking around. However, it was also a very quiet city. I was exposed for the first time to a traditional Japanese hotel. The doors to the rooms are very small in these hotels as I had to duck everytime I walked through a door. The bedding in this type of hotel is set up every day on the floor with just a futon mattress and a few blankets. I can't say it wasn't comfortable as I had a really good sleep that night. The only problem was that there was a 12am curfew at this hotel, so the nightlife was shortlived. We were able to find a pub-style bar however that had quite a few foreigners in it. It was a fun place to hang out in for a few hours and rest our feet after walking around all day. Before the pub, we stumbled into a Japanese-style bar and with only 2 other people in it, felt a little awkward. But the bartender was kind enough to guide us in the direction of the pub!

Monday July 31: Due to the curfew the night before, it was an early start on the day. I went off on my own to Osaka in order to process my work visa (the real reason why I was in Japan). The train to Osaka took only about 15 minutes, but when I arrived at the Korean embassy there was some sort of 2 hour mid day break so I had to wait although there was no one in line in front of me. The website said that I would have my visa within the day. However, I was told I would have to come back the next day, which would cut my trip to Tokyo short as I was on my way there in the evening. I bought a Japan Rail pass to do all my travelling within the country. It allows for unlimited train and subway rides for up to 7 days and is available only to people temporarily visiting the country. One of the stipulations is that you have to have your passport at all times to prove you are a vistor. However, the Korean embassy needed to take my passport in order to attach the visa and I was supposed to go to Tokyo.

So I went to the Canadian embassy that was conveniently close to the Korean Embassy. I asked if that could make some sort of endorsed copy of my passport so that I would be able to go to Tokyo without a hassle. They said this was fine to do, yet requested 2000 yen (about $22) for this. All that was done was 4 pages photocopied and a stamp applied to each page. I told the staff that I had limited funds for this trip, yet they did not hesistate to take my money since I needed the paperwork in order to continue on my journey. I will be writing an email to my local MP about this matter. I thought the Canadian consulate was supposed to assist Canadians out of the country, not make money off of them. I guess I was wrong...

Finally, it was off to Tokyo, quite a long train ride for a train that goes 300 km/hr. Three hours later, we arrived at Tokyo station. The busiest place for travellers in the world. Over 2 million people coming and going every single day. It was a madhouse, so we got out of there as soon as possible. Tokyo would be as far away from the airport that we fly out of that we go. Tokyo is a very very very big city. It was difficult to find the hotel we had planned on staying at. Luckily, these 2 Japanese men insisted on walking us to the destination in order to make sure we didn't get lost. That was much appreciated. We went out to another foreigner bar in the city, Dubliners it was called. We met a lot of fun people at this bar. We ended up partying with a bunch of them on the steps of some huge Tokyo tower (and drinking) until 4am. They were all in the JET (Japenese English Teachers) program, so they were getting trained to do what I do. I was happy to give what little advice I could since I have only been at it for about a month. I made lots of good contacts here, so if I ever need to go to Japan again, I should know someone that can show me around!

As the night ended, I went back to my capsule hotel. It is for men only and you cannot have tattoos. I was glad that I hadn't indulged in any ink because this hotel was a score at $50/night in downtown Toyko. However, I slept in little more than a box that resembles a casket. It did have the radio, tv and air conditioning though! Again, although a little different than I was used to, it was a very comfortable sleep. I would do it again.

Tuesday August 1: The thing about the capsule hotel is that there is obviously no private bath. So first thing in the morning I got up and joined about 50 other Japanese men (mostly business men who got drunk the night before and missed the last subway home). It was a little weird, but again worth it for the price. It was back to Osaka right away as it is a 3 hour train ride and I need to get there before the Korean embassy closes for the day. I picked up my work Visa without a problem and I am now legal to live in Korea for the next year. Since we did not plan on staying in Osaka for the night, we didn't know what to do for hotels, so we went to the Canadian embassy again, despite my hesistation to do so. They did pretty much as little as possible to help. A brochure and we were kicked out the door. They did not even allow us to use the computer that they had in the waiting area or the telephone. Luckily we found a very nice business hotel that was cheap and still very comfortable. At this point, the long days of carrying around my heavy bag started to get to me, so shamefully I say that I went to bed around 10pm after walking around just a little bit in Osaka.

Wednesday August 2: Not much time to sightsee before catching the train to get to the airport, but we were able to see Osaka castle, which was very nice but a very long walk. It was good that we were able to see at least a little bit of the city before having to go.

It seems weird, because Japan is fun but I was still excited to "go home" to Korea. The many trains, subways, walking around and having to ask for directions can get tiring. Five days was more than enough to experience Japan. Although I would like to return and maybe spend more time in Tokyo.

There are a lot of really good pictures that I haven't been able to work on here. I will put them up on a seperate blog when I can get them to work. Well, it's my birthday so I am going out for pizza and drinks!!