Summer mode on.
But of course, nothing gets accomplished when I just sit here and stare off into nothingness, so why not blog about my overall experience? There will be some things here that I didn't initially mention in my other blog posts, so I hope you won't get too terribly bored from reading this today! I'll try to add a picture here and there to spice this post up a bit! =)
The last time I visited Japan, was in 2001. At that time, I was in Grade 6 and my father and brother were my companions. It was during spring break (Late March/Early April), so the weather was pleasant.
So it was a long time coming for me to return to the first country I ever visited outside of Canada. I was a bit anxious because it was my first time travelling alone. I traveled to Las Vegas the year before, so I had a vague idea of what I needed to do to check into the airport. After a smooth check in, I waited by the gate for my flight... 2 hours ahead of schedule.
I was surprised to see so many other people already there; mostly people around my parents' age, conversing in Japanese. It was like a precursor of what I would hear for the next couple of weeks.
Upon arrival in Narita, I recall going through immigration, and how I claimed that I had commercial goods (really, I think they meant by items that I were intended to sell... when in fact my bags of pistachios were souvenirs for my relatives). The security guard give a quick chuckle and let me through. I wandered around a bit, trying to find the bus stops, so I can board a shuttle bus to the hotel I was staying for the night. Unfortunately, I was a late for the shuttle, so I had to wait a while for the next one.
At that time, I just sat on the bench and thought to myself...
"I'm finally back"
It wasn't the exact same place, for my father previously took us straight to his hometown, but the feeling of being back in the country was plenty enough for me. Fortunately, it was cloudyish that day so the heat wasn't too bad... almost like a 30+ day in Calgary.
At Sky Court (the name of the hotel where I was staying at), I had my first conversation with someone that did not have the same mother tongue as myself. Somehow, through my extremely limited Japanese skills and sign language, I was able to check into my room and ask for a shuttle bus to the airport for the next day (since I had a flight to Hokkaido).
And then the wait for my brother to come meet me at the hotel. I admit, it was a tedious wait, since I had no access to the internet. At that time, I realized how dependent I had become to technology. To help ease the long wait, I pulled out a book I started at YYC and continued reading from it. It was a really odd feeling, for it's something that I don't do often anymore. I recall putting the book door and staring outside my window for a bit and realizing, like REALLY realizing that I wasn't in Canada anymore.
At that point at time, anxiety started to creep through me once again. I didn't know how to contact my brother to let him know which room I was in since I didn't had wi-fi. I tried connecting to the hotel's wi-fi, but there wasn't any signal in my room, and I didn't know where the router was. After pondering for a while, I became quite thirsty, so I went out to look for a vending machine. It was then I realized that routers were located on top of the machines. I turned on my wi-fi on my phone, found a STRONG signal, and messaged my brother the details.
Not too long after that, I heard a knock on the door and my brother was the one standing on the other side. It had only been two weeks since I last saw him, but he appeared a bit darker from before; courtesy of the time he spent in the southern parts of Japan.
After catching up and a quick shower, I easily fell asleep, which was an extremely odd occurrence. Normally, I have troubles falling asleep on the first day away from my own bed, since it takes me a while to become accustomed to my environment. Nevertheless, I slept like a baby till my alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning.
And so my adventures truly began. The plane ride from Narita to New Chitose Airport went quite smoothly compared to the turbulent ride across the Pacific Ocean. It was the first time that I purchased (or more specifically, my brother purchased) a meal. I haven't had anything to eat in a while, so I was actually quite hungry. It was from the airport that I first took a train on this particular trip. I recalled going on some other trains during my previous visits, but those memories are quite hazy.
It was quite a foreign experience, and quite the cultural shock. In Calgary, you see all sorts of people walking around, but in Japan... well it's mostly Japanese people. And the snippets of conversations that I heard, would obviously be Japanese of course (unlike the multitude of languages you can easily hear down a street in Calgary). My biggest surprise was the lack of garbage cans around the streets. There were literally no cans in sight.
Yet, the streets were so squeaky clean.
The next big surprise was from the sales people working in the stores. Nearly all of them (like 99.9%) were extremely polite and made you feel like a top end customer. They were also quite helpful in helping us look for certain products, such as taking the time to show us around a particular floor or giving us detailed directions in English. Now, I'm not criticizing the way it's like in Calgary at any means, but it really made me want to spend money down there!
After experience just a small section of Hokkaido in 3 short days (including our district our hotel was in, Sapporo, Furano, Biei (wished we had more time here!), Maruyama Zoo and Park, experiencing the very best bowl of Ramen I ever had), it was time to head to the Kansai region.
Maybe it's just me, but it felt a lot busier down here in comparison to Hokkaido. I recall travelling from the train station, down Namba Walk, to our next hotel. All I can say is that Namba Walk was the most colorful walk I've been down yet! So many colors, so bright, so vivid, so lively... so everything! My only picture of the walk doesn't do it justice, but just to give you an idea..
It was also here that I first tried a sushi conveyor belt in Japan. And oh my goodness it was a terrific experience. The place we went to had almost all plates valued at 130 yen. That works to just under $1.40 Canadian, which was a sweet deal considering you get two pieces of sushi for that price. And the sushi here was amazing. I normally don't care that much in terms of taste (quantity > quality in my books normally), but it was delightful.
Unfortunately, we didn't have much time in Osaka, since we had to move onto our next location: Nara.
Nara had a really rustic feel despite being a decently sized city.
This made me wonder why the deer never attacked these vendors since the waffles were literally in plain sight...
Anyways, feeding the deer was exhilarating. I had to admit that I was scared at times, since a horde of deer would follow you with a give-me-the-waffles-if-you-want-to-live look. The deers were gentle, yet passively aggressive. Like I previously posted, one even nipped my buttocks to get at the crackers in hand!
After running like a little child for 30 minutes, we went to visit Todaiji, which housed one of the biggest Buddha statues in Japan (if I'm not mistaken). It was definitely a unique feeling to stand on sacred grounds.
After visiting a couple of other sites, night soon fell and it was off to sleep before travelling to the country's old capital: Kyoto. We spent more time in Kyoto, yet it was nearly not enough to cover much of the place. Sure, we visited a lot of landmarks, like the Golden Pavilion and Fushimi Inari Shrine, yet there were so much more to visit. Though I have to note... laundry was very expensive in Kyoto, or at least the laundromat we visited was really expensive...
It was all too soon, but off to Tokyo! It was only a day stay, but it was time to head off to the part I was looking forward to the most: climbing Mount Fuji. There's a saying that goes something like you'll be a fool to not climb Mount Fuji once, but a fool to climb it twice. I went up to the 5th station before (via my dad driving us up the volcano), but never up to the summit.
And it was quite the climb. Around 12 hours and a half to climb up and down the volcano for us (slower than most, but what can you do about that?). Living in Calgary did give us a leg up in terms of altitude I suppose, but it was a difficult climb nevertheless. It didn't make matters much better when there was a lot of fog during our ascent. However, once you reach above the clouds, it offered a wonderful view.
The mountain hut we stayed in was a unique experience as well. When I thought that sharing a bed with my brother was tough, it was nothing compared to the cramped spaces in a mountain hut. Literally, it's 20 small beds in a row, which greatly makes use of the saying of being packed like a bunch of sardines. It's all part of the experience, but I know what to do for next time: stay away from the beds and just sleep on the tatami mats in the dining area.
The last part of the ascent was perhaps the most difficult, and the most dangerous. Snow was billowing around, which made the ascent very slow, wet and cold. The wind didn't help either, for at times I felt like I would be blown off the volcano!
I had to admit, when we reached the top of the summit, we weren't as excited as I thought we would be. I could credit that too the intense cold winds. We huddled around after we found some shelter. It was a painful two hour wait, but the time went by surprisingly fast. The horizon started to turn color: first a reddish hue, to orange, to finally the sun popping out.
It would be a lot better if it wasn't so blistering cold... >_>
Fortunately, the descent was quite warm and offered beautiful scenery. My other regret (besides not wandering around the crater at the summit) was not taking enough pictures on the descent down.
The descent literally marked the last chapter of our journey, for the next couple days was mostly spent in Tokyo.
Save, for visiting some of our relatives. I was anxious, for I did not know how to communicate with them since my dad always done so previously. Yet, it was perhaps one of my favorite parts on the trip. My brother and I had the chance to reunite with a part of our heritage that we don't get the chance to do quite often enough.
At this point, I realized how strong family bonds are, for we haven't met for 13 years, but it didn't matter that there was this long of a gap. My brother and I even managed to have a delightful conversation with our relatives. Sure, things were different to what I remembered, for everyone is growing older, yet it was definitely a very nostalgic feel.
It was extremely sad to leave (which also wants me to go back very soon to Japan to visit again!), yet it had to come eventually. Also, it did make the rest of my trip seem relatively dull compared to visiting my relatives...
Nevertheless, this was the time I spent to explore sections that I haven't done so previously. And after that full single day, it was time to go home.
After every journey, I feel a little bit different coming back in comparison to going to. At times I feel a little wiser, at others, I feel less stressed. Japan has been both for me, for I feel a little bit wiser about life and definitely less stressed. Even though it was a little over two weeks, time went by slowly, yet quickly at the same time. Each day was full of adventure, yet there's so much more adventuring to do! It was a different experience, compared to travelling when I was younger.
In January 2014, I was sitting on the fence on whether or not I should travel to Japan. I knew it would be expensive (and it's my most expensive trip to date), yet I don't regret it one bit for taking the plunge. July 2014 is my favorite July month and perhaps even all of my summer months of my 25 years on the earth. It's full of memories that I hope won't fade so soon, but maybe it'll serve as encouragement to go back quite often! =P
And it allowed me the chance to visit some parts of my family. For family visits are often quite limited throughout one's life. I guess one final lesson I learned is to really cherish those that are around you. You never know how much time you have left to create memories with a person.
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