Wednesday 31 December 2014

Christmas 2014

I am now, just about, recovered from my flight back and indeed from Christmas. It's been complicated.

The flight itself wasn't too bad. I watched three films, read a bit and kipped briefly. However, the meals service was a bit wonky, since they started serving at the front (and presumably, with business class) and worked towards me at the back. There was a bit of a tendency for things to run out by the time they reached us, so I didn't get any choice of meals and missed out on bread rolls. Poor planning there. Wouldn't be that hard to get me to pick a meal option during check-in.

Saturday 20 December 2014

Home for Christmas

After a very tedious but largely uneventful journey, I'm finally home with my family. It's bigger than when I left, as I am now an uncle - however, baby-dandling will have to wait until I've showered off the germs of the world. Planes are notoriously illness-bearing places, after all. It's also only 7pm here, whereas according to my brain it's 4am, but I hope to adjust quickly.

It's a bit strange being back somewhere so very familiar after six months. Japan already feels a bit unreal, but I like to hope that's the fatigue talking.

Other posts will follow, sometime. There's no particular time pressure now, though.

And now, caffeine. Got to stay awake a few more hours...

Friday 19 December 2014

Osaka, for one night only!

I feel like I'm cheating, because Osaka really is just a stop along the way, but hey.

Traditional first view photo! This feels weird because it was a very long time between me getting off the shinkansen and taking this photo. The fact is that I'd not realised how faffy it was going to be: I thought I had one train to get to my hotel, whereas it was in fact three, all of them somewhat inconvenient and not a little confusing. The shinkansen doesn't stop at Osaka at all, and then the Osaka-Sakai stage of my trip (I'm staying in Sakai) was two lines rather than one. Sigh. But eventually I did make it here, and it's always nice to see your hotel is a mere fifty yards from the station exit.

A birthday present

This one is written well in advance, but it seemed too good to pass up - a little birthday present for my brother.

Guess what I found in the bottom of a shopping centre?

Thursday 18 December 2014

Kyoto IV: snow!

After some calculation, I leave the hostel early in the morning. Most things in Kyoto stop by 5pm, but many things open early - especially temples. Since there's very little to do in Kyoto other than look at temples, I might as well start early, go to bed early and minimise the slack time.

I realise immediately that: a) it has snowed; b) it is still snowing. That makes things a fracco trickier, but also prettier.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Kyoto III: gold!

On my third day in Kyoto, it surprises me by being sunny in stark contrast to yesterday. That being said, it's still below zero and windy. Things look nice, but being out of doors is no more fun that it would be in similar weather in the UK. The main difference here is that in the UK, the temperature inside my hotel is often higher than that outside, which doesn't appear to be the case here. As such, huddling in my hostel is not a good option. Moreover, said hostel is far enough from the middle of town that it's really not a good place to return to during the day. Warmth, therefore, can only be found inside buildings you're paying for, which means cafés and restaurants, or a bit of browsing if you're desperate.

Having seen the weather forecast, I planned ahead and decided this was the day to look at temples. You really do need to look at historical things while you're in Kyoto - not least because, to be honest, there isn't very much to do here other than look at temples. Regrettably, Japanese shrines and temples are very much open-air affairs, which makes them a bit less appealing in winter than churches, which do at least tend to keep the wind out!

Having got some breakfast in town, I take a train out to Enmachi to begin with a visit to Kinkakuji. This is one of the "do not miss" sites in Kyoto so I was determined to take the opportunity.

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Kyoting II: miscellaneous

After a surprisingly sound night's sleep (I did use earplugs) I head out from the hostel in search of breakfast. I'll just nip into one of the cafes shown on the route. My plan is to wander through the Imperial Park down towards the centre of town, there to visit the Manga Museum and perhaps a kimono museum (I feel M-san would approve).

As I leave, the rain is falling. It seems as though Kyoto has decided to gently ease my transition back into British life by preparing appropriate weather for me. This isn't the torrential downpours of Kyushu, but a steady drizzle that leaves the world grey and washes away colour. I could be in Manchester. This is the weather of my childhood, and I am inured to it. I pull up my hood and stroll away, noting that everyone else is using an umbrella.

Monday 15 December 2014

Kyoting I: arrival

Today I left Tokyo, via Shinagawa station, and went to Kyoto.

Like most stations, Shinagawa is notable for not being a very fun place to spend more than a few minutes. Here creeps in one of the key distinctions between British and Japanese stations, though; for no sizeable British station would miss the chance to sell you a cuppa and a sit-down. In fact, the sit-down is usually available for nothing, at least for a fair number of travellers. The cuppa, however, is a rare and precious commodity.

Sunday 14 December 2014

Tokyoed II

Apparently I forgot to post this at all? Apologies...

This morning I discovered an email from my friend T-san. "My favorite place is Asakusa. You have already been there? Have fun(^^)"

I hadn't actually heard of Asakusa, but naturally this prompted me to look it up. My plans for the day were currently "Temples?? Tour??" according to my notes, so seeing it was easy to get to Asakusa, I decided I would. I'm still in walking mode, because I quite like walking around in general and Tokyo seems to be a fairly pleasant place to do so, despite being not the most scenic of places.

I hopped on the train, this time up to Ueno station

A bridge over the road held several works of art, most interestingly this marble and gold anthill.

I then strolled a mile or so to Asakusa.

Big Chef is watching you.

For some reason, this street is full of shops selling funereal goods and similar. I won't pretend for a moment to know what any of this is.

In Japan, you can eat jet-black burgers. Why, you may ask? Why not? (A: because they look revolting and terrifying in equal measure) (actually, I bet Momo would eat them, she is equal to anything)

Asakusa is a more old-fashioned district than Akihabara was, with a more temply atmosphere, including Sensou-ji. This is a large temple, surrounded by many stalls and shops selling all kinds of things. The main approach to the temple is extremely busy, to the point where you can't really appreciate anything - you've got to basically cling to a stall to not be swept away, and this is a firmer commitment of interest than you usually want to make.

Pretty sure these guys are trainee sumo wrestlers.

Either amazingly significant in a ritual sense, or cosplay, or just fun. Often very hard to tell the difference. Note both the box-head and the demon mask. Click the photo for a better view.

However, there are many little shops and restaurants just a street away, far quieter and giving a chance to stroll in peace.

Like this one, selling kitchen knives larger than a toddler. Yes, that thing on the left is about four foot tall.

By ducking around the shopping streets, I reached the temple pretty much intact.

Here it is.

Having briefly looked around, I wandered off in search of fresh excitement. Like these roasted chestnuts:

Pretty tasty, but would have been much better actually hot. Why are they not hot?

And this bowl of gyudon (beef and rice).

And this adorable nativity display, with tiny rabbits.

Akihabackara

What I ended up doing was wandering back down all the way through Akihabara towards Tokyo itself. I just kind of wanted to see the city, and it was as good an option as anything. Actually getting to outlying regions seemed pretty fiddly with the underground, and moreover, this route would let me see the Imperial Palace. Well, the walls at least...

Aki by day.

Models in one of the shops.

These seem to be characters from a show, pretty accurately modelled.

Yeah, um, I photographed these for instructive purposes. They have small pieces of tape attached in key places, because these are (as far as I can tell) anatomically-correct models of characters. Someone believes this to be sufficiently necessary that it's worth making commercial models of these to sell at retail. I'm just going to let that thought hang.

Oh look, something completely innocuous! Hooray!

Walking essentially down beside a railway line, you see a pretty grimy side of the city, though it's still less beat-up and grimy than a lot of the UK. Nice locations for an indie flick though. Or basically anything set in the North. Presumably here they have different cinematic stereotypes, though.

I paused for a while in a Doutor's coffee shop. The coffee was okay, but the cake was less cake than a sort of triangular assemblage of froth, pretending to be a cake. Not a fan. This is pretty much par for the course with Japanese cakes, alas. Stick to the pastries, is my advice.

This is actually under part of the railway; the pavement runs that way. I just liked the idea of this hut, which I imagine to be an unofficial construction, where some cunning salaryman nests. Or the base of a small secret organisation. There are many possibilities. Actually there were tons of little businesses built into the railway, since for a very long stretch it's essentially a huge bridge through the city, with hundreds of arches.

Everything here is very tall.

Tokyo proper

Eventually, as expected, I reached Tokyo station. This is a nice old building, though in a very Western style. I suppose railways were.

At this point I turned off west towards the Imperial Palace, pausing at points to absorb just how staggeringly tall everthing was.

Eventually I reached the outskirts of the grounds, where I wandered for a little while and ate the rest of my chestnuts.

Realising that I couldn't really get anywhere very interesting (tarmac with trees in doesn't really impress me, nor do walls; I've seen plenty of both in my lifetime) I turned back into town. Here I discovered some boulevard-type streets to wander down in roughly the right direction, and duly did so. At this point, I was really pretty cold. It was overcast, windy and about 5C. More to the point, Tokyo was proving just as short of teashops as just about everywhere else had so far.

One thing I did notice was the number of department stores still here. I don't know if it's a cultural thing or an effect of the way the city's built, but they're very prominent. It struck me that they do lend a kind of opulent, even romantic air to the place; a sense of bustling commerce, of a place where huge palaces of exciting things to buy still stand patiently around, just as they did in some mythical period of British history where stories are set. I suspect the amount of truth is about equal in both cases, and once you actually go into a department store they're not especially romantic, but still.

Spot the difference. Why? Why does it cost more than three times as much if you are female? This is nonsense.

Eventually I stopped at a station, too cold to enjoy any more walking, and headed home. Apparently I walked only about eight miles, but it felt more - I suppose tarmac and cold do that. Also, there's a big difference between walking in the countryside and a city walk through tourist areas with stopping and starting.

Not a bad day, on the whole, but I wasn't feeling too great in the evening so I just ate yoghurt, did my laundry and went to bed. Luckily I felt better the next day!