Archive for Festival

Day 11/Kyoto/Osaka Festival

{ August 1, 2007 @ 2:13 pm } · { Festival, Kyoto, Osaka }
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• Today was a very full day and thus I’m going to try to touch on everything, but it’ll be hard… today was the first day I felt annoyed at something in japan…the first time I’d saw a bamboo forest…and the first time that I really wished I was at Brandeis right now (well… complicated, impossible to explain).
• Kyoto
o I traveled to Kyoto today to see the temples… in fact I only ended up seeing a few temples, but they were all beautiful and there was no need to see any more. I arrived in Kyoto around 12:00…. (on the ride I gave up my seat to a girl and her friend… this comes up later in my entry) because I was getting off soon. I arrived in Kyoto and realized that we were getting out at the same time, but no regrets. When you get out of the train station in the countryside of Kyoto you feel as if you’re back 100 years… there are temples everywhere and even rickshaws. Sure, you see cars… trains… but you don’t notice them… it’s so peaceful.
o The first temple I saw was the temple of the dragon or some majestic name like that. What I liked the most about this temple was the covered walkways that lead inside and out of the temple… through a garden… and the beautiful scenery that could be viewed. It was breathtaking, calming, and a nice breath of fresh air from Osaka. I explored the temple next door… and a few more and they were all so serene. I walked in the garden behind the first temple… and I really felt at peace… it’s something about the air… the birds singing… the feeling that you’re the one person there. It’s indescribable.
o After a jaunt in the bamboo forest, my stomach was starting to feel decidedly empty… I wanted to go to the nearest restaurant, but there was none in sight… so I got lost for half an hour until I found one. I had a simple lunch of ramen, rice, and water… not bad. The ramen was great, the rice was good as always, and I think I drank 7 cups of water… Kyoto was hot!! After lunch I ran into the two girls who I’d given my seat back on the train and surprisingly enough the remembered me. It was so simple, just a wave, and a smile, but it was rejuvenating. Simple kindness… is always underrated… that’s what has amazed me about japan, far more than anything else. If you want attractive girls, good food, and great sights… I have no doubt there are other places you can go in the world… but if you want nice people… japan is hard to beat.
• Back to Osaka
o I headed back to Osaka and met two girls on the train as we stared amused at a girl who had managed to curl up on two seats and fall asleep… we were completely amused and through this we struck up a conversation. When the girl finally woke up… I did an impression of stretching my arms above my head and said “koko wa doko”… “where am I” basically… they both laughed so much… they had to cover up their laughter. Great way to travel. I got back to Osaka and it turned out that there was a fireworks festival, so I decided to go. It was a quick 45 minute trip to the area in Osaka where the fireworks were going off and it was def worth the trip. Going to a festival alone is a bit lonely… I amend that… going to a festival alone is very lonely. Being single sucks haha… it really does. Seeing the fireworks was a bit tricky. I managed to solve this problem in my usual way… the police officer turned his head one way… I jump a rope… climb a fence… onto a cement wall… onto a small roof… perfect view. This did alleviate my loneliness a bit. The fireworks went on for a while… managed to get some nice long exposure shots my camera… managed to amuse a few kids who saw me get onto the roof. Though, getting back was the tricky part. I had to get through the crowds to a different part of the train station because of way the police had roped off the place. I went all the way around and accidentally crossed over the tracks to where I had been…. I told the police officer that I had just gone around… and he said “sorry”… I was rather pissed… it had taken ten minutes to get around… and then he said “no special”… clearly no special treatment… “fuck you” I thought… I don’t want special treatment… I want to walk 5 steps to my train. Another officer was fine with me crossing, but he clearly wasn’t in charge. Though, this was easily solved when they both had to deal with other people crossing and I managed to sneak across… yeah, I’m a law unto myself… shit happens. I managed to board a train… finally.
• Evening
o I’m off to upload all my pictures… get in a bit of reading, and probably go online.. relax… sleep… tomorrow is my last day in Osaka… time goes by rather fast…

Day 9/Osaka/Festival

{ July 31, 2007 @ 2:03 pm } · { Festival, Food, Osaka }
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• Morning
o I started today a bit late, but it turned into a fun day. I took the train to Kyobashi and then to Odawa to find the place I’m getting my hair done at. That was an adventure. When I arrived at Kyobashi I was rather hungry, so I decided to look in the department store basement and try to find food. A host of possibilities emerged… yet I chose the path less traveled. I decided to make a breakfast out of samples. There were so many samples and they were so delicious… it was wonderful. I had some pieces of pastry… a few vegetables… some other little tidbits… toss it down with a drink from a vending machine… and life is good. Unfortunately the train to Odawa cost me $2, but once I got there I was so confused. I couldn’t find the hair place at all. I thought I’d ask someone… so I asked at a random grocery store and the woman decided to come on a walk with me to find the store. We walked around for 15 minutes practically… and I felt so bad, but she didn’t want to leave until we found the store. We finally found it though… and I thanks her so much… but it wasn’t open today ahahha, after all that… so I’m going tomorrow.
• Osaka Castle
o I decided after coming back from the hair place that it was time to see Osaka castle… and it was def worth it. I took the train to kyobashi again and then went one step further and ended up at some station near Osaka castle… and low and behold.. there was a festival. I think I’ve been to so many festivals here I’m losing count. Festivals are amazing for two reasons… food… atmosphere. There was a great food… and the atmosphere was perfect. I had this pinapple pop… which was real pineapple… frozen… in poplike form… brilliant… delicious. After having my pineapple pop… I wandered around and headed up to Osaka castle. It took maybe ten minutes to reach the building and it was beautiful… I didn’t bother paying $5 to go inside because I heard the inside was rather disappointing. The outside though, was far from disappointing. After seeing Osaka castle, I headed back to the festival to get some yakisoba… tasty. I have resisted getting takoyaki (octopus balls)… but I really should try them while I’m in Osaka… oh well, another day. I rounded my food intake off with some shaved ice (mango flavored)… delicious. The interesting thing about the food in japan is that everything you eat lists how many calories it has. How convenient… how brilliant… how simple. We should do that tooo……
o After having some amazing food at the Osaka castle area, I headed back to the hotel to relax a bit, take a shower, do some laundry and then have dinner eventually. I really wanted to go to a restaurant, but the restaurants around my hotel are so sketchy. I trust familymart (the convenience store) much more. I looked at the food at the grocery store near here and I was frightened out of my mind. Thus… because of the failure in reliable places around me I had a dinner of a rice ball, a steamed meat bun, some edemame, and a drink. Not bad… but could have been better.
o I decided to ready some more Harry Potter following dinner… and then took a nap. That concludes the day basically.

Day 8/Kyoto/festival

{ July 29, 2007 @ 12:09 am } · { Festival, Food, Kyoto }
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• Morning time
o I woke up this morning and I think I’m still a little bit drunk….just a little. The shower helped a lot to clear my head, but I plan to wait an hour or so before doing any activities. I love the free tea that we get in the lobby, and it’s slowly helping to wake me up. No adventures for a bit this morning, so I might go back upstairs and take a little nap.
• Kyoto
o At around 11 I decided to head to Kyoto, I grabbed my umbrella and my map of Kyoto and walked to the train station. Unfortunately, I forgot my rail pass so I headed back to the hotel and grabbed my pass. I was about to head out when I ran into some friends of mine I’d met at the hotel who were heading to Kyoto as well. I decided to wait a half an hour and then we all headed out to Kyoto. We shared stories and talked and had a nice time on the trip to Kyoto, which wasn’t that long… probably 40 minutes. When we arrived, we stopped at their hotel where they dropped off their bags and then we decided to look around for a place to eat. We went to a restaurant named Sato that had Shabu Shabu. For those of you that don’t know… Shabu Shabu is an amazing dish. It consists of a large pot of water, which sits in the middle of the table and starts boiling. Then… you get a large plate of vegetables, which you toss into the boiling water to add flavor. Third, you have a plate of raw thin strips of meat. Finally, you get a few sauces. You then slowly drop pieces of meat into the water and watch it cook instantly. Using the sauces and the vegetables and the meat you make yourself an amazing meal. It was wonderful.
o After the meal we decided to walk around a bit and just hang out in Kyoto… we walked along the river and bought some fireworks and just hung out. Kyoto is very quiet in the daytime and I felt as though we were the only people there. There were many cars on the streets, but in general other than the few bicyclists I saw no one else on the street. As it turned out there was a festival that night at around 8. It took us a while to get to where the festival was taking place, but we just followed the many girls and guys wearing yukatas and that soon led us to the festival. There was one girl wearing a kimono and a power ranger mask….wtf? The fireworks were breathtaking though. They were quite possibly the best fireworks I’ve ever seen. Almost right after the fireworks stopped it started to rain lightly… luckily I had my umbrella. Since the station was so crowed we took a brief train to Nara and attempted to find a restaurant… it took a few minutes but we found this 24-hour place, which had great food for very cheap. After dinner I headed back to catch the last train to Osaka.
o We all exchanged numbers before I left and since they’re going to Tokyo, we plan to meet up and possibly climb mount fuji if things work out according to plan. Life is good.

Day 4/Osaka/Tenjin Festival

{ July 25, 2007 @ 12:26 pm } · { Festival, Food, Osaka }
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• Morning
o As per usual I woke up rather early this morning (around five)… I really need to fix this habit, because while I enjoy waking up and seeing the sunrise and taking a walk, I could really use the sleep for the long days that I have planned. Luckily though, I managed to use the time to catch up with friends and to post a few more pictures online, so it wasn’t all a waste. Also, I managed to use the onsen (hot springs) at the ryokan one last time and that was amazing. I don’t think I’ve described exactly how the Japanese onsen work before, so here goes. First thing you have to realize is that you are expected to be naked. I think the point of this is that the onsen are meant to bring the people in them to a sort of peaceful state and any objects that could interfere are meant to be left at the door. Clothes are a clear indication of class and as such they have no place at the onsen. Before one can enter, one must first wash them self. This is rather like a shower; you spray water all over your body, soap up, and then wash the soap away. Once you’re completely suds free you may enter the onsen. The onsen is kept at something degrees celius, I really don’t remember, but it’s rather hot… so prepare to enter slowly.
o Following the hotsprings I decided to take my usual walk around Yudanaka (the town in Nagano), which was as usual relaxing, and hunger inducing. I decided to follow up the hunger pains with a drink from one of the many vending machines on the street. Japan really loves their vending machines… and now…so do I. Checking out from the ryokan was easy enough they even gave me a present of some origami. I really don’t know how I’m going to make all these delicate things I’ve acquired last till I get home, but I hope I somehow accomplish it.
• Trains
o I’m going to Osaka today, and that requires a myriad of trains… first I go from Yudanka to Nagano…. Then to Nagoya….then to Shinosaka…and finally to shinimamiya where I’m staying. This takes about 5 ½ hours, but it’s worth it. Osaka is known as the stomach of japan and I plan to make the most of this. Ahh… important to mention: when waiting for my train to Nagoya I stopped at one of the small convenience stores and picked up an Onigiri which I’d never had before. Onigiri are nori wrapped (seaweed) rice triangles. They’re simple, but perfect for a snack or a meal if you have a few. The place I went though had one which at the center there was tuna… and it was delicious. I’m going to get a few more when I finally end up in Nagoya… this train ride is 170 minutes… luckily I got a good seat, the scenery is beautiful and so is the girl sitting next to me… so no complaints. The train I’m on is called “shinano” which became abundantly clear to me when the announcement inside the train switched to English and referred to it as “our shinano.” Engrish is amazing and I really can’t get enough of it. Also, going through the mountains of japan by train is the way to go. Sure… it takes a while to get from place to place, but you can’t beat the scenery and there’s even a little snack lady who comes around with all sorts of tasty looking food and drinks. I’m sipping on my milk tea at the moment, so I’m satisfied, but were that not the case I have no doubt in my mind I’d be fumbling with my Japanese to get something of the cart. Ah, time for a nap.
• Osaka
o Ok… getting into Osaka took a while… but it was rather a let down. The high point in the journey was taking the wrong bullet train and not having to pay for it because I was so nice to the women who was going around checking tickets… the usual. Anyway, arrived in Osaka and it turns out my hotel is located in the fucking sketchiest district ever. Tons o’ homeless people and old people and basically very few young people… not so amazing. And I’m here 9 nine days… I plan to spend only 8 hours here a day… sleeping… if I’m not clubbing or otherwise occupied. I really should just have booked a capsule hotel in the city lol… this place is kinda shitty. The room is fine I guess, but I just don’t like the location. I ended up going to the tenjin matsuri festival which was rather fun… I swear there were 50,000 people atleast. A hundred boats proceded through the harbor… a huge procession on the streets…tons of food that I didn’t eat (including octopus balls)… Yet, the best part wasn’t really the festival. I met this guy who had lived in new jersey for a year and his daughter (who was probably 8)… we ended up hanging out and he helped me find my way back and it was just nice to talk to him and his daughter was so cute hehe. She drew a picture of me… it was hilarious. I’m still rather bummed that Osaka just isn’t what I thought it would be. I envisioned another Tokyo, but without Tokyo… basically just misnamed. Osaka is nice and no doubt has enough food to last me for years, but I’m not feeling amazed as of yet.
o A note on couples: maybe it’s just after going to brandeis where the average couple which consists of .. a) a rather sketchy jewish guy and b) an annoying jewish girl who for what she lacks in substance makes up in cup size. Now this may be a bit of an overstatement, but there is some truth in it. Ok… my point is that couples at Brandeis are usually not something you’d see in magazines. The exception to the rule is if you’re asian whereas most asian couples are generally attractive. The thing that you see in japan (and surprisingly Osaka is no exception) is that there are couples everywhere and they’re both attractive. It’s a bit lonely at times. I’ll leave on that sublime note. I’m going to go find food, hopefully free drinks and then sleep for a while.