Adventures on the Archipelago: Part Deux

Greetings,

Bigger than The Godfather II, more exciting than Batman Returns, and a hell of a lot more fun than Superman III, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for Part Deux of our trip to the mysterious island known to many as Japan.

So we left off the other day in Tokyo, but after 3 days in the world's biggest city we longed for the calmer, more traditional Japanese city of Kyoto. Long before it was famous for emissions (or the reduction thereof), Kyoto was famous for geishas, temples, and quiet lantern-lit alleyways. When we first arrived at the train station, we thought this was all hype, as at first glance Kyoto looks like any other big city. Thankfully our hotel was a little less modern, and reminded us of why we traveled to Japan in the first place.

(Our room in the ryokan we stayed at - a traditional Japanese guest house.)

The room was fitted with tatami mats, sliding paper doors, and equipped with two bed rolls, a television, and Thank the Lord an air conditioner. After a 35 minute conversation that gave a new meaning to the word "frustrating" Shayne finally came to understand that indeed there were no beds coming, and that room service was not one of Japan's stronger traditions. Jokes aside, this room was probably the highlight of our trip, and after an 8-bed hostel filled with grumpy, anti-social travelers, this private suite seemed like a Manhattan penthouse. Unfortunately our experience with English-incorporated Korean television had us a little spoiled, as we discovered that not only do the Japanese channels not make any sense (e.g. chronological order, not so much), but that apparently the Japanese are happy with shows only in their native tongue.

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with tourism in Kyoto, but after checking into our ryokan, we decided to start exploring the city, and we stumbled upon a massive gathering of cheerleaders and marching bands. Unfortunately this is the only memory Shayne has of Kyoto, as he walked around in a daze with a stupid grin on his face for the rest of the trip.

(The alleyway known as Ponto-Cho, a popular night spot, and the haunt of geishas)

This was definitely one of the coolest places in Japan that we saw. After wandering the city for a while we came across the entertainment district after nightfall. The alleys were lit with hundreds of lanterns, and everywhere you looked were unbelievably expensive restaurants and mysterious teahouses.

(Nijo-jo Castle)

The next day we arose early to an already blistering heat. After debating between sitting in our air conditioned room all day and visiting a few castles and temples, common sense lost and we headed out to explore the various tourist destinations the city had to offer. Our first stop was the 16th century Nijo-jo Castle, which one housed an important shogun (and no doubt a few wives to boot). We must admit that we were a little disappointed with the site, as we were expecting splendour, yet the castle seemed designed by architects who favoured minimalism to the extreme. Unfortunately photography inside the castle was forbidden, but just look at the photo of our hotel room above, add a wall painting of a fan or a tiger, lose the television and bed rolls, and there you have it. Frankly I don't know what the 16th century Japanese aristocracy did all day, but I hope they had a few board games.



The gardens surrounding the castle made up for the lack-lustre interior design. As you can see from the photo, they were both serene and dramatic at the same time. (Shayne's note: can you guess which one of us wrote the previous sentence? Hint, look towards the one with the English degree and the fancy for Jane Austen. Hint number two, just in case you missed it, IT WASN'T ME!)

After the castle we decided to check out one of the many temples around town. Kyoto has one of the biggest temples in Japan and unfortunately that meant that it had enough stairs to wipe out even the manliest of rugged mountain men. And if it could take them out, imagine what it did to us...


The temple itself, though huge, didn't warrant a picture in this entry. The main attraction of Chion-In was its zen gardens which we happily paid a little extra to see. Thankfully, we were the only ones foolish enough to do so, thus we had the peaceful gardens all to ourselves. As a helpful note to future travelers, the Japanese don't appreciate it when you try to rake the pebbles yourself, as we found out.

(One of the zen gardens at the temple)

Had we come away with this photo alone, our trip to Japan would have been worth it. We had heard that with the right timing, a lucky tourist could still catch a glimpse of a geisha without paying the $3,000 to spend an evening with one. We literally spent two days searching for one, and after spotting this poor girl crossing the street, we gave chase and followed her for three blocks. By the time were caught up to her, we were scared that she was either going to mace us or call the police. Most fortunately for us, she was incredibly friendly and agreed to let us take her picture. Just a note, geishas seem to be really respected in the community. We saw this particular geisha bowing to every shop owner along her way (making it much easier to run after her), and receiving a polite greeting from many other people she passed as well.




Here's the two of us in front of the number one tourist destination in Kyoto: the golden pavilion. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get a picture of the 57th tourist destination in Kyoto: the aluminum pavilion (there simply just wasn't the time). Hopefully this picture does it justice because the golden pavilion was one of the most beautiful things we saw in Japan. Despite the throngs of tourists jostling for photos exactly like the one we took, it still had a remarkably peaceful atmosphere. The pavilion lies in the middle of a still lake, littered with tiny islands, and dozens of cities of lily pads. We would have liked to spend the rest of the day here soaking up the view, but our eyes were stinging from the sweat dripping off our foreheads from the 80% humidity, so we were forced to leave off sight-seeing for the day.

(Shayne after his "first" course of sushi, and going in for more.)

After all those temples and castles we were in dire need of refreshment, so we headed for the cheapest sushi joint that we could find. We stumbled across a small enclave posing as a restaurant, that contained one table, a dozen stools, a conveyor belt, and a dozen hungry patrons. After trying the standard fare we decided to be adventurous and experiment a little. We tried something called a Kaa-lih-four-nya roll. It was unlike anything we had ever seen before. Someone should import it to Canada - they would make a fortune. Oh, how we amuse ourselves. Anyway, we actually ate everything from squid to octopus to eel to sea urchin, and if they weren't all delicious, they were at least cheap.

After two days of sight-seeing, we were ready again for some roller coasters and cotton candy. We made our way to Nagashima Spaland, which is touted as being one of the premier parks in Japan. Let's just say that at least they got the part about being a park right. The park has one of the world's biggest rollercoasters, and people flock from all over to ride it. We wish we could tell you about how much fun it was but that would be a lie...sigh. Unfortunately, the ride has been closed ever since someone died on it four years ago, and they haven't invested in anything as cool as it since.

(Sigh....oh, what might have been.)

We had to content ourselves with the smaller rides in the park, but we still managed to have a lot of fun. When we first arrived at the park, we thought that maybe more rides were shut down than just the Steel Dragon 2000, as nothing was moving and there was literally less than 100 people in the whole park. Although the sun might rise first in Japan, it seems that its citizens don't make their appearance until at least noon. In North America parks are busy the second the gates open, but in Japan you can have hours to yourself if you want, which was really nice. Either that or they're all at Tokyo Disney.

We have been searching for years to find one of the rare fully upside-down pirate ship rides. Luckily for us, the park had a spaceship version. We both tried it and soon found out why these rides are rare. It was not fun, and Jo still can't move her neck to the left. In fact, the restraints were so heavy on our chests they induced an asthma attack, and we thought Jo wasn't going to make it.


This was one of our favourite rides in the park, and although this picture hints at it, we could not get a shot that showed just how much water splashes down on the riders. We rode this beast twice as a means to fend off heat stroke. Have we mentioned yet just how hot it gets in Japan?



If you're a fan of rollercoasters, you'll surely recognise this one. It's a white cyclone and there's variations of it in almost every amusement park in the world. This one was massive and it ended up being one of the coolest rides in the park.



We managed to secure this immensely rare photo of a live Joanna in the morning after a night on the town. Actually, we found this in the one of the weirder "rides" Nagashima Spaland had to offer: the haunted house. Although the house contained some of the craziest things we have ever seen, including crucified demons, zombie geishas, and a giant demon Buddha, we fell in love with the cat-man and wanted to share him with you. It turns out that the haunted house was constructed in 1967 which is also the year that LSD hit the mainstream in Japan. Is this just a coincidence? Hmmmm, we'll let you decide.

Before we wrap up this blog entry we thought we would share with you one of the coolest things about Japan: its rail system. The Japanese have perfected train travel and one is able to cross the country sky-rocketing at speeds up to 350km. We bought a Japan Rail pass, which is only available to non-residents, and we managed to save a fortune. We highly recommend this to any of you who will visit Japan, as it's a great way to see the country on a small budget. The only drawback is that it doesn't allow you to ride on the Nozomi line, the coolest and fastest of them all. Fortunately, our ability to be absolute bumblers allowed us to get over this hurdle. We somehow managed to get on the wrong train (Jo's note: well, not "somehow" - we forgot to check the time or ticket or the name on the train, and just got on the first one that came by), and as luck would have it, it was one of the Nozomi trains. When we explained the situation to the train crew, instead of slapping us with a huge fine they let us sit in the hallway on our luggage in front of the garbage can until the next station...only 40 minutes away. Just to make things even worse, the train's vendors who walk up and down the aisles selling pop and crackers, wouldn't look us in the eye, as they probably thought we were modern hobos. Sigh...you can't win them all. Anyway, if you read this far you either love Japan, us, or you're really bored. Either way, no matter who you are, always remember traveling on trains is only fun until you're forced to sit in front of garbage for an hour. And if that's not in a fortune cookie, it should be.

Cheers,
Shayne and Jo