Departures: Japan 1991-92: Travels with Jimmy, Hans, Dave, and Brendan

As recalled 7/92, many months after the fact.

It was a dead bird. When Hans let the steam escape from his shower room, he'd open up the window between his shower room and the outside. And there was another window between the toilet room and his shower room. And the bird had managed to penetrate to the throne room, where I guess it starved. On a high shelf. It turns out I was Hans' first visitor who was actually tall enough to see onto that shelf. So I came wandering out and quietly asked Hans what the dead bird was doing on his shelf.

Hans gave me one of those gulps. You know, the ones where he points his head down while looking up with his eyes so that if he wore glasses at such moments he'd be looking at you over the rims. And said he hadn't known it was there. And he was glad to hear that there was that simple an explanation. He was worried that the smell had been something wrong with the apartment, perhaps even something wrong with him. So now he wouldn't need the second air freshener in there any more. That night we slept under my drying laundry.

Notes taken 12/4 in something claiming to be a traditional hotel (Ryokan):

Next day we saw Nachi Falls & Shrine, both of which I thought very fine, neither of which was overrun with travellers. Each had a fair share but was not overrun. I got my first real encounter with the Japanese form of Coniferous Mountain Growth-not as big as redwoods, but the greens seem more intense.
In tourist attractions meant for Japanese people, I've noticed a strong tendency towards "Routes"-you don't wander the grounds whatever way you like, you stick to the path and go the right way.
The train ride to Kyooto was BAD. Due to ignorance, we got hoisted from our seats into the unreserved section at the train's busiest stop. I got caught in a massive press of people, and was frustratingly crushed. How so frustratingly? Because everyone who was standing crushed themselves into the end of the car, unwilling to stand among the seats. But some people had. It looks like the first people went halfway in then stopped, and no one else was willing to go past them. At the next stop I squeezed past, but meantime the circulation to my left hand had been largely cut off by clutching my bag. But the view from the train for the first few stops [while we were still sitting] was very nice, with cool rock formations in the water, and nice hilly scenery. Most buildings were admittedly dingy.
Arriving in Kyooto late, we walked with luggage about 1+1/2 miles to the hotel. Took the subway back to Kyoto stn. for dinner. Stopped off at another place on the way back for me to get more food and for Hans, Brendan, and Dave [Jimmy had stayed back in Nachi-he was going to stay at Hans' one more night to see the local sights. Including the famous Doro-Kyo gorge-Japan's local Yosemite] to get drinks. Nice decor, but very average, high priced food.

Our visit to Kyooto was just one disappointment after another. Though something came along to make up for it towards the end. There's a lot of temples in Kyooto, but probably the most impressive thing for most people is the Imperial Palace. But you won't see a description of it in my notes of those days in Kyooto. It was closed. Not for New Year's. Remember Bush's visit? Remember that highway sign in Osaka saying that roads were going to be closed? Roads aren't the only thing that were being closed for Bush's visit. We showed up for the tour to find out that George had taken all the time slots for the next few days. What an asshole. But don't look at me; I didn't vote for him.

We did make it to the "Gold Roof Temple" which had a nice garden, but was out of the way. And totally packed with tourists. It had a nice reflecting pond, but you can see pictures of it. Without getting your feet stepped on.

Nijo-jo castle-guidebook said I'd need a native to be permitted to enter. Not true. But one part of castle noone allowed to enter. I didn't get to see any secret passages, but did hear the "Nightengale" floors. Lots of cool wood carvings and gardens. And one big black cat that tried to catch some koi in the pond. It failed, but the splashes of its attempt attracted more koi, who no doubt thought the splashes were someone throwing food.
Bought a Japanese RPG magazine with Cyberpunk articles.
Stayed in a "Ryokan" whose bows to tradition were tatami mats, lack of furniture, including price of meal w/room, and charging four times as much as business hotels.
Saw StarWars 3:Return of Jedi. Turns out Japanese TVs are bi-lingual. So our sound was still in English. But Jabba the Hut's subtitles were in Japanese. Since I'd never seen the movie before, I still don't know what Jabba was saying.
Max Headroom advertises 01 for Canon. Sean Connery does booze. Harrison Ford is something.
Got a cash advance on my credit card with LOTS of help from Hans. Basically, the four of us ended up wandering the length of Kyooto for half a day going amongst financial institutions to find one that would do the deal.
Went to see Kyooto Daibutsu [Big statue of Buddha] - it was late & closed, but a monk let us in & showed us around. On display was a poem sent by a poet who Hans has researched. The poem was "mired with earth"-the paper was made that way. [This part of the Kyooto trip made up for a lot. On the other hand, I might have liked it as much for the solitude as anything else.]

Notes taken 12/9 in Nachi, watching TV covering 12/7-12/9:

In Osaka, stayed in the Hotel New Hankyu, a place where Jimmy & I had earlier tried to exchange traveller's checks, but had been refused because we were not guests. It was not boiling hot, though the beds were hard. An okay place-but there were lots of security cameras making me worried the staff would figure out we were sleeping 4 in a triple.
Arrived in Osaka early on the 7th - saw the castle which was not closed and not crowded. There were a couple of neat maps and some cool helmets. [I sure wish I had taken more detailed notes, because now I don't remember much of anything about the place. Mostly what I remember thinking was that it was all somewhat interesting, but that the main attraction of Osaka castle would probably be just wandering around the surrounding parklands. There was some kind of fruit orchard which might have looked pretty when in bloom.]
The aquarium was way cool [I have NOT heard the song "Jesus was Way Cool." I'm convinced that there is no such song, but that there is in fact a conspiracy of people who are trying to convince me that there is.]. The otters were active, & I could swear there were more kinds of fish in the Pacific Ocean as last time. Saw a Giant Salamander - it moved way slow & looked like a big slug. Seals trying to eat postcards. Spent a while chekcing on the crustaceans which love in the "Japan Deeps" -> could they have inspired the idea of Mecha? They moved very slowly, very eliberately. They seemed suspended in their liquid, as if gravity somehow didn't affect them. Could high pressure do that? Could the water's density somehow help to support your weight? Like maybe these crustaceans were just a little heavier than their surrounding water? Hrmm.
Had dinner at two sushi bars-the second costing \180,000 (~$150), considerably more than we'd expected. Then to a bar in which a semi-drunken discussion of flaws in personalities emerged. Brendan got some good advice which I'm sure went out his other ear in as much time as it took him to sleep off his manhattans.
Next day we went to Nara, whose Nara-koen (Nara Park) is overrun with deer to the nuisance level. When Hans tried to eat a sweet potato outside, he was mobbed by deer trying to grab it out of his hand. There was a famous big buddha- big deal. [It was poorly lit, and you sort of get the impression that there wouldn't be that much to see even if the light were better. Great religious significance, I guess.] And a pagoda-top from EXPO'70 and a gazebo over the water. [I took pictures of these things, because it seemed like the thing to do. The pictures came out looking rather nice, in fact nicer than the places seemed at the time.] Koi are much nicer than deer because they can't get out of the water. But they do beg for food. [Nara is a famous tourist site, both for Japanese and Foreigners. Which is really strange, because it's so dull. Jimmy had had a good time in Nara, but that's because he was going around with some friends who worked in some kind of electronics factory on the outskirts of Nara. So he had been able to visit some okay temples without having to dodge deer, and also get a tour of the factory. I tried looking for signs explaining how to get to some of the places that Jimmy had mentioned. But I didn't see them. And so Nara was rather dull.]
While waiting for the next train back to civilization... a stop at Mister Donut!
We walked and found a Robata bar at which I dined, feasted, and in the end stuffed myself. Made up for about ~5 days of light eating.
Next day, Hans and I saw Dave and Brendan off at Shin-Osaka. [That's the name of a train station, remember.] Hans and I were the last of the great travellers. We went shopping at the Loft department store, which is a department store where lots of gaijin shop. It turns out Kinokuniya was closed for the day. Bummer. Hans normally uses trips to Osaka to stock up on reading matter.
Back in Nachi - simple dinner & TV - a great way to unwind. It helped to be reunited with clean laundry, including pants! I'd left the other pair I was going to bring on this leg (ahem) of the journey in Nachi by accident, and so had ended up wearing one pair of pants for over a week.

Notes taken (1/12) on the train from Nachi to Kyoto. [at this point, my plan was to stay in Kyooto for about a week, making day trips out to local areas by train.]:

Hans' western style toilet is a plastic shell over a squat toilet. The underside of the cover has instructions for use with illustrations.
There really are vending machines everywhere. in Japan--like one next to the train tracks, miles from nowhere, steep hill on either side.
Hans & I talked about his hopes and plans for the future. He'll probably be in the states August, so I'll earmark that month. He has hopes of finding work someplace like Wakayama city--not too crowded, but big & close to places that are bigger.
I saw this whaling museum in this town a couple of miles from Nachi. There were whale skeletons, fetuses, dioramas showing whaling operations. They didn't talk about international censure, but they didn't try to pretty it up. But it was strange. There'd be displays with smiling, happy, cute whales-liking whales as they kill them. Hans made the good point that in the US we have a similar love/kill relation with the cow, and now I wonder if there's pictures of happy cows outside a typical slaughterhouse.
Taiji [the site of this museum], the rich whaling town, has political power, but is divided politically-a kendo teacher in one faction was becoming too popular so the mayor declared kendo evil and disbanded the local club. Taiji uses her political clout to say that whaling is the center of their culture, and so they shouldn't have to stop. Which isn't very convincing. But they are a very rich city, which might be more convincing.
[The next day] Also saw Doro-kyo [gorge- this is that Japanese answer to Yosemite I mentioned]. Took a lot of pictures. Had a frustrating exchange with the boat ticket vendor. She tried to tell me something about the bus. I couldn't tell what she said. She said more. I still couldn't understand. Pointing at the schedule and using my baby-talk Nihongo, I finally understood she was telling me when the next bus was. Of course, the schedule I had (which we were both looking at) had already made this very clear. Another language scuffle on the boat came at the half-way mark of the tour, when the boat had gone as far upstream as it went. We were supposed to get out and buy souveneirs and return to the boat. This Nihonjin came up to me and said "Shash..." I brightened, figureing he was going to ask me something about a picture - Shasshin being a word I know. But then he remembered I was a foreigner and switched over to English. BAD english. Of course. I wouldn't have known what he was saying except' for the "shash" had given me a clue of what to listen for. He wanted to know if I wanted him to take a picture of me, so I could see myself in a picture of the gorge. Of course he hadn't gotten up the nerve to ask until it was time to board the boat, which was about to leave. Oh fucking well.
In fact, it wasn't until today that I hat what I'd call my first faultless Japanese exchange. I asked the conductor if I was on the right part of the train. he said I was. I thanked him (and apologized (of course)). Neither of us had to ask the other to repeat.
Last night ate dinner in Shingu with Hans, Murray (Shingu's English teacher), Val (Murray's girlfriend, I guess. Just arrived in Japan), and Scott, a guy who's studying Aikido at the big dojo in the area. Murray is funny, but I still don't understand why he kept calling me "Tony." I corrected him once, but after that I didn't bother.
The night of the 10th, Hans & I had chinese food in Katsuura, bought groceries and walked back along the beach to Nachi (after I had had a chance to witness the worst smelling intersection in the district).
Kyuushu's supposed to be rather warm, part of the reason I'm hoping to spend lots of time there.

Anyhow, that was Nachi and the surrounding area. Really a small town atmosphere, complete with gossip, open spaces in the midst of the living area, small restaurants where the waitress didn't try to speak English at you but didn't act too friendly either, because that might encourage you to come back.

It must have a good resort business. The train station had some kind of ad showing Nachi beach covered with people. Hans said it really did get that crowded. I was doubtful at first-this ad showed a girl carrying a surfboard in the foreground. Hans said that part was fabrication, probably just meant to make clear that there was a beach "scene." But looking at all the hotels in Katsuura, I guess there really are facilities for that many people. Taiji surprised me. The idea of an unincorporated township becoming rich and powerful in local politics is one that I'm familiar with. A township using that kind of wealth and power so that it can kill whales was sort of strange.

And it was good to see Hans again.

On the other hand, I'm not so sure that I recommend a visit in the Nachi/Katsuura area unless you know someone there. Or unless you're spending a long winter vacation in Japan and you want to go someplace warm. And roomy.

The strange thing was going around the rest of Japan and seeing ads (mostly by Japan Rail) urging me to visit scenic Nachi, home of Nachi falls and Pagoda. I've even recognized some rock formations a little down the coast from Nachi in some TV travel ads on channel 26 out here.

Day Trips out of Kyoto [>>]

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