Inkie and Derpy's Excellent Japanese Adventure

[Derpy Hooves]

So as some of you know, Inkie and I met up in Japan and had an amazing two weeks. It all started back in early September, around the time I "left" my job in Taiwan. I wanted to do something, maybe meet up with Inkie before I went back to the US, so I talked to Inkie about it, and he had already been planning a two week journey around Japan using something called a JR Pass (Japan Rail Pass, basically with it, you travel free on all Japanese trains). So then I started getting ready, first buying a JR Pass for ~$434 USD and booked a flight from Taipei to Osaka using Peach Airways for ~$200 USD. So now to skip to the day I arrived in Osaka, Japan, the place where Inkie was living. Since, my hotel and his place was far away from the airport, and I had a lot of luggage, I decided to take a cab, big mistake. It costed me $160 USD. However, I still got a good look at the city of Osaka. Buildings are typical to those you would see in any city, i.e. concrete towers. I was surprised to see that the taxi was black and not yellow. Another thing different from both Taiwan and the US, was that there were vending machines on almost every block, and thus I carried a trait I developed in Taiwan, a renewed love for soft drinks (had at least two everyday. As to what soft drinks I had often, Fanta and Mitsuya Cider (in Japan, cider is a soft drink, not an alcoholic drink). I absolutely loved Mitsuya Cider, which Inkie can attest to.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

At first we were going to meet up at a subway station, but since I was new in town and barely knew my way around, Inkie went to my hotel, which was not that far away. After the introductions we headed over to a convenience store for lunch. What is great about convenience stores in Japan is that you can get a cheap meal for under $5 USD, and even though they were cheap, they were pretty good. Then we went to a district of Osaka filled with stores selling anime merchandise, which was where we spent the rest of the day. Before we headed back for bead, we went to some bars, actually we just went to one building that had like almost a dozen bars crammed into one floor. The first one we went to was like a maid bar; by that I mean that the bartender was dressed as a maid, and playing songs from anime. Actually, it was just one anime, Rurouni Kenshin (she played all of the opening and closing credit songs on loop). We had a few glasses of Kirin, a Japanese beer, and then went on to another bar that was like an anime bar. It was decorated with numerous anime figurines, posters, magazines, and a tv playing AMVs (anime music videos). The last bar we went to was an Irish pub, where we had some better beer, albeit more expensive. Afterwards we went back to get some rest.
The next day we went to a temple. The temple looks like almost any other old Japanese temple, because, like most Japanese castles, once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all (you’ll understand what I mean in later installments). We just walked around the area and viewed a ceremony that was taking place in one of the buildings. Next we went to Osaka-jo, also known as Osaka Castle. The castle itself wasn’t the original, it was destroyed a few times over the past four hundred years; the inside was gutted, and replaced with a Osaka castle museum. There were many displays inside, and the top of the castle offered a nice view of Osaka. At the end of our tour of the castle, we had the opportunity to try on some daimyo helmets, for a small fee of course. I went with my favorite warlord’s helmet, the Taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Inkie chose Kato Kiyomasa’s helmet.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

For our last day in Osaka, we went to the Osaka Museum of History, and it was there that we became aquainted with the fact that at least half of the knowledge that one could devour from museums or historical sites, would not be available to those who could not read Japanese. However, we were able to understand enough to get through the museum without complaining, “This was a waste of time,” although even if there were no English translations it was still interesting to look at all the different artifacts and dioramas. The dioramas were my favorite (it is to be expected from a 40k fan). It was cool to see city layouts. Afterwards, we headed to my hotel room to book hotel rooms. However, book all of our hotels there. We would procrastinate, and book our hotels for other locations at another time.
We woke up early the next day, about 6 or 7am, so we could get to our first destination, Nagasaki, before the afternoon, which would be our routine throughout the trip. That way we could get at least a day’s worth of adventuring in each of the cities we went to. Next time, the Cats of Nagasaki, even if you’re not looking forward to it, look forward to it!

[Sir Adrian]

Wow, Japan is actually quite pleasant. So much for stereotypes

[Inkie]

lol, what kind of stereotypes did you hear? Everybody asks about the panty vending machines. Sadly (or amusingly) in my experience that one is almost true.

Anyway, I have a few extra pics of the first weekend in Osaka.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

At the shrine, Sumiyoshi Taisha.


Toyotomi Derp. Do not mess with this man.


Helmet, wearing human.


One of Osaka castle's towers.


At the maid-style cosplay bar in the Namba quarter, two TWC specimens. Can't see much of the place unfortunately, just the specimens.


Unduly sweaty guys visiting yet another hive of scum and villainy.

[Aru]

I always said that we should rebuild our castles and ruins in Europe, who cares if it isn't authentic. Most tourists have no idea and locals are proud of them anyway. Japanese understand.

edit: I read about maid bar and thought there's one or two in whole Japan. Why do I have a feeling there's a lot more than that?

[Inkie]

What's funny though, is that European castle ruins actually kind of look cool and have a historical atmosphere. Japanese castles and forts, being made of wood, tend to leave about this much behind:



We discovered this (to our chagrin) at least a couple times during the trip.

edit: I read about maid bar and thought there's one or two in whole Japan. Why do I have a feeling there's a lot more than that?

To be fair, maid cafés are quite a thing but that's the only 'maid bar' we saw. Here's another pic from it with the 'maid'. No exchange of headwear took place what so ever.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Aru]

I tend to use cafe and bar interchangebly as they're the same thing here. I forget it's not so elsewhere. Central-eurocentrism is the best eurocentrism.

[Ciciro]

I tend to use cafe and bar interchangebly as they're the same thing here. I forget it's not so elsewhere. Central-eurocentrism is the best eurocentrism.

In most cafes it is normal for you to be unable to put alcohol in your coffee.

[Aru]

Meaning of normal is subjective.
Like, how normal are maid-dressed waitresses?

[Inkie]

Bars being cafés during daytime would mean you can spend the whole day there.

*Thinks for a second.*

That sounds pretty good...

But yeah, the 'normality' of things back in France/the UK now seems a bit dull. All of the strange was fun.

[Derpy Hooves]

Cats of Nagasaki

We were on our way to our first destination, Nagasaki. To get there we had to take two bullet trains, one from Osaka to Hakata, then another to Nagasaki. The trip took about four hours, which for us meant four hours of anime watching and Shogun II. Occasionally, the trains would have outlets on them, which was very nice. We arrived in Nagasaki at around noon, and decided to first check in to our hotel. It was quite a distance away from the train station, so we took the tram to get there. Because of a little confusion, we got on the wrong tram, and had to go back to the train station to go back to square one. When we got off at the right stop, we had to go across a stone bridge to get to our hotel, the Nagasaki International Hostel AKARI, which cost us about $66USD for a private room, since we wanted a place to leave our stuff while we explored the city. The people there were nice and had a very informative brochure about Nagasaki; places to go and restaurants they recommended.

The stone bridge

So after dropping our stuff off, we headed out to explore the city, well at least part of it. At first we planned on eating at one of the closer recommended restaurants, but because of our budget and my pickiness, we looked for other places. On the way we found an antiques shop selling a cool painting of a samurai for about $20 - we both wanted it at first and discussed who should grab it, before eventually deciding that actually it was pretty mediocre as a decoration and would be a hassle to bring with us, so we left it behind. Our search led us to a roofed market street with shops and restaurants. We walked down the street, hoping for someplace good and cheap to eat at, and interesting shops that would catch our eye. After a while, we thought we wouldn’t find anything on the street, so decided one more block before we turned back. Luckily we did not have to turn back; we found something that fit our budget range (less than $10USD). I had pork cutlets over rice and spaghetti, while Inkie had rice gratin.

'Gratin Nagasakois', local version of the potato-based French dish

Afterwards, we decided to go to the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture. The museum was mostly about the Nagasaki’s connection to Europe. Luckily, before we had gone too far into the museum, a Japanese man approached us asking if we would like a tour guide. I was shocked, since I would never expect anyone to come to us asking if we needed any help. I asked if it was free, the man said of course, so we obliged and spent the next two and half hours walking through the museum with a wonderful tour guide. While he would occasionally talk about the items on display, he mostly talked about how all the items in each room were connected, important people and events that happened during the time that were not covered by the information placards. There were some interesting stories, such as that of the four Japanese youths who were sent to Italy to be educated by the Jesuits. Sadly, returning as Catholics they sort of led miserable lives under the Tokugawa bakufu, with at least some of them being executed for not repenting or dying in exile. Another story was of a popular Dutch doctor (apparently it was hard for a European doctor not to be popular in Japan of those days, considering all they could do for people) whose wife came to visit him. She was in fact the only European lady the Japanese ever saw until the opening up of Japan, and apparently she caused a huge sensation.

When the tour ended, despite my tired feet (TBF I am lazy ) I let Inkie convince me to climb a hill that had a great view of the city. We hoped to climb the hill before the sunset, but that was not to be the case. The walk up the hill was interesting (it was at least a 10-15 minute walk); the two thirds of it was a cemetery, the last third was housing. It was during this walk up the hill that I spotted three stray cats (I had never seen any strays, although maybe I did in Taiwan). We hung out with the cats for a few minutes before resuming our climb. Before descending the mountain, we hung out with a statue of Ryoma Sakamoto and took some pictures. Before heading back to the hotel, we walked around the city for about an hour, and during our walk we saw the first Mister Donut of our trip (you will later understand the significance of it). For dinner, we went to a convenience store to get cup ramen, then went to another store and bought some beers. The rest of the night was spent in our rooms, where we ate, watched an anime called Hyouge Mono ( set during the Sengoku Jidai period between 1570s-1590s), and then slept.

View of Nagasaki

Ryoma Sakamoto And a rather quaint Japanese police station

We woke up the next morning around eight, and checked out of the hotel. For breakfast, we decided on Mister Donut. After eating, we went over to Dejima, a fan shaped artificial island built for Dutch traders by the Tokugawa regime. In fact, during most of those 250 years it was Europe’s only window into the country. Two large VOC ships were allowed to enter the bay twice a year and offload their goods (including things simple to us like glass), which came through the sea-gate you can see below, before being carefully checked and processed, eventually finding their way into the hands of the Japanese elite. The area is under ongoing reconstruction/restoration, although most of it has already been done. As you can see from the pictures, the architecture was primarily Japanese, though inside the houses were a curious blend of Japanese and European styles - this makes sense, considering the only regular inhabitants of the island were just over a dozen Dutchmen. Other European visitors came in the form of the Brits during the Napoleonic Wars, who were a bit peeved that Dejima was the last place in the world flying the flag of the Dutch republic, and so they arrived pretending to be Dutch trading vessels, then kidnapped the Dutch residents of Dejima when they came to greet them, enacted a serious ransom on the place for the return of the prisoners, and blew some stuff up. Afterwards, the Japanese garrison commander had to commit seppuku for his failure to keep this from happening. After we had seen everything Dejima had to offer we walked over to the shore and relaxed for a little while, since we had a little time to spare. Then we headed to the train station. Next time, Fire and Sand.

Breakfast of Champions

Dejima

Customs office, as it would have been at the time: A diorama of Dejima The gate marks where the dock used to be. It was where Dutch boats would unload their cargo and where all European goods and people would enter Japan. Currently the island is landlocked by the urban expansion of the past couple centuries, so the effect is somewhat diminished.

Nagasaki Bay

[Veteraan]

Interesting, I knew a bit about Dejima, but never heard the story about the British "visit". Nice close-up of that VOC (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie) logo on the barrel of that gun.

[Derpy Hooves]

Given that our tour was based around cities in different parts of the country, I realized that we might not get much more of a glimpse of the countryside than from the trains we would be catching. As such, en route to our next destination – Kagoshima, on the southern end of Kyushu and the historical capital of the Shimazu clan – we took some pictures of the surrounding landscape.

Japanese Countryside

We arrived in Kagoshima late afternoon, and after we took a look at a tourist brochure, we realized we were in a city desperate for tourists. The brochure had many silly landmarks on the map, all revolving around Okubo Toshimichi, Sakamoto Ryouma and Saigo Takamori. Things like “A house that Saigo once slept in,” or “Okubo walked down this street daily,” much to our amusement. One thing that was kind of cool was the Shimazu crests that you could see everywhere, given that they're the city's official symbol. Before doing anything else, we decided to go first to our hostel, which was nearby the shore, which was nice since we would have a view of the volcano from the hostel. The volcano was on the other side of the bay, but because it protrudes from the bay, it almost looks like it’s on an island, and forms a magnificent backdrop to the city.

Streets and Statues of Kagoshima

Sakamoto Ryouma and his wife; there were plenty of these statues around.

By the time we ventured into town to explore, night was falling gradually. I suggested that we go towards the shore, because I thought we would find some good seafood restaurants there (isn’t that the best place to put a seafood restaurant?). We did not walk far along the coast, but both left and right, the shore looked desolate as hell so we headed back towards the bright lights of the center. By that point, we thought we would not be able to find a good place, and then all of a sudden the golden arches of a McDonalds appeared. We were both hesitant at first, since on one side we wanted to follow the stereoptypical “anti-stereotype” Westerner by not eating at a McDonalds , yet on the other I did not mind in Taiwan since a McDonalds was right across the street from my apartment and Inkie had not tried the famed Japanese teriyaki burger during his two months in Osaka. We decided to walk in to check it out, and then decide. We walked in, but after looking over the menu, we thought we could do better (I was put off by the prices, Taiwanese McDonalds were cheaper).

Inkie Comments, “As soon as we entered I felt a sudden smugness in the air as the young couples and kids observed these two vulgar gaijins shambling across the open space in the middle to queue up. There was something deeply unsettling about this McDonalds, and righteousness dictated that we depart in due haste.”

So we left it, and went on a quest to find someplace to eat. We walked around in town for ages but all of the places were either too expensive, in non-Japanese style or didn't have English/picture menus, until we found a cheap kind of place off one of the market streets. We enjoyed what we got, a miso soup for myself (which I had never had before, but loved it) and Inkie had pork ramen.

Inkie Comments, “Yeah, in Japan you can treat yourself to a hearty meal for very little, at least compared to what I have seen in France and England. I only wish sometimes that the quantities were a little bigger...”

Ordering our meal was interesting, we had to use a vending machine to pay for our order, and we gave the receipt to the chefs who then cooked the order. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel, and although we suspected that the rooftop would have people there (thus preventing us from watching anime), to our surprise there was no one there. So we spent the rest of the night watching anime.

Inkie Comments, “It was a lordly geek-out. The weather was very summery and humid, but with a heavenly ocean breeze to it. Exploring the town all evening was fun, but it was really nice after that to just kick back on the roof with some beers, watching our favourite sengoku-period show, Hyouge Mono, with Sakurajima volcano looming over the water before us.”

The next day, mid-morning we went on the local train to a town south of Kagoshima called Ibusuki. We only had one reason for going there, the local hot springs. It would have been a crime to go to travel around Japan without going to a hot spring. But something happened at the hot spring that I did not expect: sand baths. I had never heard of such a thing, but it was at first, an interesting experience. What happened was we laid down in sand pits that were dug for us, and then our bodies were completely covered in sand, except of course for our heads. I expected the sand to be cold to the touch, but it was actually hot. I cannot say if I was actually relaxed, it may sound awkward, but I do not know what relaxed feels like, but I can tell you that after a few minutes I got uncomfortable. I had to itch my head, but my hands were buried in the sand. I tried holding out, but as time passed, more itches needed to be itched. After five minutes of holding back from itching, I finally got up and jabbed all over my head with my fingernails.

Hotsprings in Ibusuki

Inkie Comments, “It was a challenging form of relaxation, very hot gravel being something few would normally want to sit their posteriors upon. Though that first part may sound like an oxymoron, after a bit of initial fidgeting and squirming I closed my eyes and stayed still. This sounds exaggerated but after a while of just lying there packed in this burning, black sand, hearing the waves which were sweeping against the shore a dozen or so feet from us, I was in total bliss. Though I could feel my blood pounding and sweat was pouring off of me I felt strangely disembodied and peaceful. It's hard to describe, but when I got up and opened my eyes again I really did feel like a new man ”

Afterwards, we headed inside to rinse ourselves off and then we jumped into the hot springs. After absorbing its cleansing nutrients, we left the hot springs. Before jumping on the train, we got some bento to eat on the way back to Kagoshima.

Inkie Comments, “On the rickety coastal train that took us to and from Kagoshima I saw some of my favourite scenes. The vegetation was lush, intensely green, overgrown and somewhat alien to me, with impressive mountains and valleys on one side and the sea on the other. The buildings were often worn and had a battered kind of sleepy, seaside quality that I enjoyed. I'd like to see more of Kyushu again.”

Since we had some time to kill until we were scheduled to leave the city, we went to the Kagoshima Prefectural Museum of Culture. The main focus of the museum was on the major historical people from the Shimazu area that had a major influence on the Meiji government. The museum provided free English listening devices which did provide us with some information on the other major players during the Meiji era other than Okubo and Takamori. There were documentaries we could watch at the museum, but since we did not have time, we skipped them. When we were finished with the museum, we headed to the train station to get on the train for our next stop, Hiroshima. Next time, Hiroshima.

Hanging out by the shore

[Inkie]

Nobody cares about our trip, Derps

On the side though, no matter how I look at it the pics are too damn big, yo.

[Veteraan]

My name is nobody.

But if there are no or very few reactions, I can understand that motivation will suffer.

[Hobbes]

Nobody cares about our trip, Derps

I care!

[Dark Storm]

I've been enjoying reading this! The difference in facial expression at the sand baths though

[Inkie]

Nice to hear that, cheers to you guys

[The Despondent Mind]

Awesome guide (Especially Inkie's comment on McDonalds), cheap local food is always a big + for me though it seems that Japan still demands a serious budget.

I was surprised to see that the taxi was black and not yellow.

But why would that surprise you?

[Arbitrary Crusader]

After reading all this, you didnt find a panty vending machine.

i am dissapointed

[Derpy Hooves]

S'not over yet
@Despondent Mind
I am only familiar with taxis being yellow