Month: March 2017

I’m sitting in a coffee shop called Coffee Maki in Kyoto. I ran past it yesterday and from the river it looked like an ideal place for breakfast and hopeful first coffee for the day.
Hamamatsu was pretty great, my first impression was that people are very honest, as I left my iPad in the ticketing office, only to realise 3 stops down the line, to my instant horror!
But people, I’m told, don’t steal here, so it was still where I left it.
My airbnb host was rather perplexed by my lack of plan for my time in Hamamatsu, I had chosen it specifically because it was far off from the hustle and bustle of normal Japanese city life. I was staying in an old style house, with the sliding paper doors, it’s own shrine, banzai trees, large fields for vegetables, rows of green tea shrubs and it was made complete with an very delightful old woman who spoke only Japanese. She was the mother of my host, Osamu, and was endlessly entertained by my attempt to use my translator app to talk to her. I don’t know how accurate it was, she would just look blankly at my phone as I attempted to interact with her.
I was once again a bit of an oddity as I walked into the closest town, it just wasn’t the typical place to see westerners visit. I found a nice Buddhist temple that was completely empty, at first I wondered if I was allowed to be there, but no one came out to tell me otherwise. So I had the place to myself. There was a trail behind the place that led up the hill to a shrine, then onto another, with a sweet view, then on to a viewing platform further up. It was nice to be completely alone in a place where ‘aloneness’ isn’t a regular occurrence.
I found a quaint cafe for a watery coffee, and found another shrine on another hill to sit and read in the warm afternoon sun.
I walked back to my place stopping off at a potential dinner spot to be met again by amused looks as I tried to speak Japanese and use my translator app. They seemed friendly enough so a came back. Such a great night, the translator app came into its own, I left it on the table so that my new friends around me could use as they please. At first I thought it had the potential of being a very messy night as the older fella was keen to “serve me” drinks, which essentially means keep my pint glass full of beer…
But he went off to bed about an hour into it, and the rest of them were more interested in getting me to sing than drink.
So yeah previously I would err away from karaoke, but 3 songs deep it’s a pretty great way to enjoy an evening. I’ve always liked Johnny Cash, as it’s a key that I can keep up with;) a great night with some great people.
I caught a bus to Kyoto early the next day, thankfully there was a Starbucks where the bus had a 10min stopover. Espresso isn’t a common thing, and when you do find it, they boil the hell out of the milk… but the milk over here is sooooo good! Just not so nice at a squillion degrees in my coffee.
Kyoto, is pretty darn impressive, there are temples and shrines at what seems to be 100m intervals.
My entertainment for the night, well I wouldn’t call it that, but after running around the old Imperial palace grounds and along a very runner friendly river, I was told by my new host, Mikko, it would be a really Japanese experience to go to the baths. I was like, sure, I played rugby, but Kiwi fella’s don’t tend to go out of there way to get naked with other fellas. Turns out though, it’s very popular With locals and tourists. To be fair, I had no idea as to the protocols, well, I knew the obvious ones. But essentially you would just go from pool to pool, of varying temperatures, a sauna that was crazy hot, and an ice cold pool to wake you up when you get sleepy. After initially thinking I wouldn’t do that, I’m happy I did, definitely a worthwhile experience. I gathered it was a frequent thing for the Japanese fellas, as they came prepared with their own buckets, soaps and the latest gels.
So I’ve got the day to explore Kyoto, then I have a date with a high speed train tomorrow to take me to Yokohama in the early afternoon.
356 km away in under 2 hours, exciting times.

Tokyo, to say it’s full of people is pretty accurate. Just a constant stream of folks, all doing their thing, filling up trains and emptying them just as quickly, then filling them up again like waves on the beach. To be fair, I probably didn’t get to see as much of Tokyo, or the Tokyo that people usually see. I was staying in Yochiyodai where I was as a bit of an oddity, as it isn’t really a place where tourists tend to frequent. I guess that’s why I chose to stay there, a place that was quiet, genuinely Japanese, and not so out of the way that I was isolated, but just far enough away from the hustle and bustle that I could relax. And for at I am thankful.
On Saturday I woke early and walked the quiet streets until a local cafe that served the really puffy pancakes opened.. see picture, soo good. Then I made a move to go into the city, the plan was to check out some of the parks, a museum, and perhaps a mall. I learned that Tokyo is massive and not ablidging of my plans. After another helpful couple of ladies set me right on the train, Japanese isn’t the easy of languages to understand, (again with pointing and actions, a helpful tip is to take screenshots of maps), I got into Ueno. There were some pretty extensive alleyway markets, with the competing callers trying to get your attention, a great place to people watch.
I walked my way down to the national gardens. Again packed! Kinda weird too as it was probably a good month or two too early for the park to be a place of greenery, and the blossoms were also few and far between. Still didn’t stop countless folks crowding round the odd tree to get pictures. Another weird thing was everyone and their cousins were out picnicking on the barren ground. It was almost dirt, but still hard to find an empty spot.
I guess in hindsight, the weather of Sunday and Monday, people probably wanted to make the most of a sunny day.
I had a good ‘chat’ with some old boys at a Shinto temple, they asked me where I was from, then again after I extinguished by poor Japanese, shook my hand and bowed extensively. I haven’t quite figured out how long I’m politely meant to hold a hand shake for, I think the expected is over 5 secs. I’ve cut hand shakes short, then found myself shaking the same hand shortly after a number of times… either way, everyone has been incredibly polite.
I walked 27km on Saturday, so my watch tells me, now a lot of that would have been the aimless walking in the train stations thinking I had the right platform only to realise, nope, it’s a good km back on the other side. Fun fun.
I was able to order my dinner at a traditional Japanese restaurant through a picture menu they had out back. That was lucky. The food was fantastic, made in front of you sort of place. The type of place that every time new people came in or out a chorus of higher pitched welcomes would sing enthusiastically out. A welcoming sort of place.
And yet I found myself on Saturday evening missing conversation, it had only been a day, but I hadn’t been able to converse with anyone comfortably all day. I guess the introvert in me will be getting some front time.
So people can smoke inside buildings in Japan. I’m in a small mall waiting for a renowned coffee place to open with an older duck smoking on my right and an old fella behind me… it’s been a while since I’ve had to put up with that.
I chatted with a cafe owner last night, and by chatted I mean used the speak and translate app on my phone to converse. It was incredibly helpful, but not perfect. She was saying they are looking to move away from smoking by the time the Olympics roll around, but up until then, smoking is super cheap… like 400¥ for a pack of 20, which is about $4.
That coffee shop was great by the way, the roaster is over 100 years old, and some of their beans are pushing 40 years, there are plenty of articles on the place, it’s called cafe de l’ambre. Took a while for me to find it and it didn’t open until midday. Totally worth it though.
So the highlights of Tokyo, as I sit in a bus taking me to my next stop, Hamamatsu. Cafe de L’ambre was pretty darn unique, the cream came in a little thimble jug. The markets in Ueno were pretty cool and the umbrella dodging in the packed streets all over the place. I think the main highlight would be Sunday morning, I managed to find a wee church not too far from where I was staying. The people were incredibly warm and welcoming. I have found Japanese people to be really gracious, and so that was the case as a visitor of a small evangelical church, where I was asked to share what brought me there, and with the help of a translator explain my move toward Ordination. You know it’s a nice church when they invite you to lunch after, and everyone who had been to NZ was eager to tell me about it. I guess it was just really nice to get some conversation.
So I’m on the bus, my accommodation tonight is a small farm inland from Hamamatsu, the place is meant to be a really traditional Japanese home, over 100 years old. My only concern is considering it snowed this morning, how warm, or rather cold, I will be…
Time will tell.

So the fun begins…

I do love air New Zealand, though I had to tell myself wait until the end of the trip before writing every other airliner off.
Touched down into Tokyo Narita, to be met by a whole bunch of people waiting in line to get into to a cue, to get into another line that would snake its way to an old man, who told you to go to another line, to wait for the immigration person. Easy. No dramas there, then down to baggage claim, and onto customs. More lines, but for how intimidating customs looked, they were essentially just taking paper out of your hand and waving you through.
Now into actual Japan. I walked with a misguided confidence that I had a semblance of where I was going. I found the SIM card and the necessary train line, and a good thing I wrote where I was heading down, so I could point and hand the nice lady some giant paper money and I’ve got a ticket.
On the train I had a mini panic, as I needed to email my airbnb folks to tell them of my immanent arrival so that could pick me up from the train station but no wifi (needed a pin to put the SIM card in…). I thought the young ladies sitting near me must have a semblance of English and so I proceeded ask a favour, if they could txt the number. They didn’t understand that, nor my example of writing a txt. In the end she shared her wifi with me so I could email, and were kind enough to tell me when had got to my stop.
I was met by my host on the other side of the ticket booth and I quickly extinguished my limited Japanese to her polite amusement. It is interesting how much you can communicate to people with gestures, actions and nods. Something I learned again the next day at breakfast.
But two things of note from my accomodation, firstly their duvets are like puffy clouds… it was like I was sleeping inside a marshmallow, so comfy! Secondly, and this thing is the “why don’t we do this” award, heated toilet seats. I don’t want to get into the bathroom whatever’s, all I want to say is, it’s cold in Japan at this time of year, and we all know and dread the freezing cold toilet set on such days, but theirs are heated and fricken awesome! It just makes the monotonous so extra special. Natural follow up question is, “yes, but how much to run them?” Hopefully I can manage to communicate that little gem to my gracious hosts and let you know…

Anyways, it’s a beautiful coltish day in Tokyo today, so I’m going to make the most of it.

till next time.