Sakura

Well, I am back in Osaka, and back on 'mainland' Japan. Despite frankly not really liking Osaka very much, I was met with a pleasant (although not entirely unexpected) suprise.



It's a nice day here so I took a trip back to Osaka-jo castle, the first thing I visited when I arrived in Japan, which is basically surrounded on 3 sides by cherry trees. Naturally, half of Osaka was there too.





Sakura (cherry blossom) season is a special one in Japan, and for about 2 weeks everybody revels in the opportunity for 'hanami' (blossom viewing), with parties aplenty. Every inch of space around Osaka-jo and in Osaka-jo-koen (the surrounding park) was taken up with picnics and BBQs, families and people of all ages out to enjoy this annual event. It's effectively a huge 2 week festival, complete with festival food stalls and copious amounts of beer and sake.





I have one more day in Osaka tomorrow, so I may go to Tennoji-koen for a hopefully slightly quieter (I guess Sunday is the busiest day) look at the sakura there. After that, I think I may move back to Kyoto for a couple of days to revisit a few places there while the sakura is still in the Kansai area, which should provide some spectacular photos. Beyond that, who knows (maybe Nara, finally).

Anyway, I need to do exciting things like sort through the mass of clothing I need to wash. Just one of the slightly less glamorous parts of travel, but neccessary...

More to come soon!
James



EDIT: I completely forgot to mention my last night in Naha, Okinawa. I went back to this great little microbrewery on Kokusai-dori (the absolutely crazy 'international street') called Helios, and the bartender, who I had previously become quite friendly with, mentioned that it was his birthday. It was also his co-worker's first day working in Helios, and it was my last day in Okinawa. These three events combined meant that the three of us went out to this great little bar/restaurant that only a local would know about.

There was a 'moat' of hot water in front of the counter (which seated all of about 6 people) into which you put your feet (without shoes and socks, obviously). This was a strange but quite relaxing feeling - sitting in a bar/restaurant with your feet in warm water is not something you do every day. The three of us had a great time there, as did the chef, who seemed to delight in bringing out samples of various foods to test the nerve (and stomach) of this foreigner. Trying them all, they weren't too bad - until he brought out salted fish intestines, which were probably the worst thing I have ever eaten in my life, not because they were fish intestines but rather because it was unbelievably salty. I need to bring a jar of it home if I can find it, because my companions found my reaction absolutely hilarious (and rightly so, too), and I'd love to share the experience...

All in all, not a bad night. It's not often you get invited to a birthday party in a foreign country, and it was definately a great example of Japanese hospitality, providing some real lasting memories...and lasting tastes, too...

The last week (brace yourself)

Ok, I guess I owe everyone an update. This isn't going to be a small one, either, taking in a week's worth of stuff (with photos!).

I guess we start with my leaving Naha on an overnight ferry bound for Ishigaki, 14 long hours south. Ferry journeys are unbelievably dull, and the bunks aren't the most comfortable so you're not going to get a great deal of sleep either. However, the journey out there was made much easier by the interesting people aboard the ship.


Sunset aboard the Arimura Line ferry bound for Ishigaki

First I went outside to the back of the ship to get some air, and was quickly invited over by 3 Japanese friends (work colleagues, actually). We talked for hours in a wonderful mix of broken English and broken Japanese over vending machine beers and cup noodles and parted ways about midnight. Still not content with going to sleep I headed back outside and found a guy sitting playing the guitar. I spent another 45 mins or so out here, talking with him about music (and scotch whiskey, bizarrely) and he played some Beatles hits and attempted Stairway To Heaven for his one-man audience.

After a couple of hours of bad sleep, the ferry deposited us at Ishigaki at about 5:30am, at which point everything is closed and it's still dark. Great. I followed a school party, hoping they'd lead me to something, and they actually brought me to the smaller local port. Here I bought a ticket for the first boat at 7am to Iriomote-jima, my intended destination, and off I went once again.


Sunrise aboard the small local boat bound for Iriomote-jima

After some confusion about the location of camp sites on Iriomote-jima (note to Lonely Planet: next time a camp site is 4km from the nearest bus stop, please put this in the book) I pitched my Tarptent and set off down to the beach for a look around. This campsite was precisely one minute's walk from said beach. Check this out.


Tarptent and Kifaru EMR pack at Hoshisuna campsite


Hoshisuna-no-Hama beach, one minute from my campsite


Clownfish in a sea anemone on the coral reef surrounding Hoshisuna beach

This place is beautiful and teeming with various forms of live so I'll just let the above pictures give a very rough idea (I have lots more). Another oddity of Hoshisuna-no-Hama beach is in the name - 'Hoshisuna' means 'star sand', and that's exactly what washes up here and almost nowhere else. I couldn't get a photo (it's much too small) but areas of the beach are covered in sand which is actually the remains of tiny sea creatures, and so has a 4 or 5-pointed star shape. I believe about the only other place this occurs is on Taketomi-jima (see later).

The following day I took a bus further along the north coast to take a boat up the Urauchi-gawa river - the longest in all Okinawa. Often described as being like a short stretch of the Amazon, it's lined with mangroves and further upstream lie numerous waterfalls and the start trailhead of the 18km cross-island trail.


A stretch of the Urauchi-gawa river, lined with mangroves


More of the river, with flowers in among the mangroves


One of the waterfalls (Mariyudō-no-taki) a short walk upstream of where the river boat docks


...and another one further on (no idea of the name), in the jungle itself

The walk to the waterfalls is pretty pleasant, if a little sticky. If it's like this in March/April, I would hate to be here in August. I'd imagine you'd drown in your own sweat.

That night I wandered down to the beach again, this time in the dark. The animal life there at this time is totally different. As well as being teeming with crabs (which scatter as you walk near them), there are bizarre fish which appear to fly out of the water for quite long distances (no idea what they are), but the most impressive thing I saw (and I wish I could have taken a photo of) was a pair of sea snakes in the shallow water. Sea snakes are the most venomous in the world and since I like snakes I've always wanted to see one - now I've seen two!

The next day I took a bus south to the Iriomote Wildlife Centre to find out more information on the island's wildlife, and in particular to see the Iriomote Yamaneko, or Iriomote Wildcat. Very rare (estimates stand at 80-100 in total, and they are only found here) and hardly ever seen, the IWC deals with the rehabilitation of cats hit by traffic, etc, and so offers an opportunity to actually see one. Being a 'cat person' this was something I couldn't pass up. In size and shape they are rather underwhelming, but I was fortunate enough to see one catch and eat a snake in the rehabilitation area - much more impressive!


Iriomote Yamaneko (not live, obviously) - about the size of a domestic cat


The area around the IWC. If this isn't like something out of Jurassic Park, I don't know what is...

That night the weather closed right in and I was subjected to a torrential downpour and strong winds. When I got out of my tent in the morning (after praying it'd survive the night, which it did!) there was a river running through the field. Impressive.


The poor guy camped next to me needed a few lessons in how to pitch a tent. This is what happens when you pitch it badly, the wind hits it head-on, and your tarp is in the wrong place...

There is more I wanted to do on Iriomote-jima, particularly the kayak/walk to the Pinaisara-no-taki waterfall, but they require more than one person, and your own transport (buses are very infrequent here). I'll be back.

Anyway, the next day I packed up my stuff (after trying to dry it off, to little avail) and headed back to Ishigaki.

A visit to the tiny and very traditional island of Taketomi-jima was then on the agenda. Moments away from being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site (or so I hear - they just need to lose the overhead power lines), Taketomi-jima has tried to keep the traditional look and feel of an old Ryukyu village, and has largely succeeded. It makes a nice place to wander about, and is a nice break from the usual concrete jungles of Japanese urban developments. All houses have the old red roofs, all walls are made of natural materials and all the roads are paved with crushed coral instead of tarmac.


A stray cat in front of a house on Taketomi-jima

Another thing this island is notable for is the number of stray cats. Apparently, 1/3 of Taketomi's population is over 70 years old. I guess the other 2/3 must be cats. As a cat lover, this is a major problem, since you quickly acquire new friends...


These two guys followed me halfway across the island, frequently making me trip over one or both of them


This one seemed to want the ice cream I was eating at the time, but settled for having his belly rubbed instead


No description neccessary...

For my last full day in Ishigaki I headed out to climb Nosoko-dake - the core of an eroded volcano. The Lonely Planet guide describes it as 'steep', but this is not an adequate description. Its peak is only 282m, but look at the photo below and you'll see this is not a gentle walk.


Nosoko-dake from the closest bus stop, 15 mins from the proper trailhead

It's hard to convey what it's like spending about an hour climbing a constant 45 degree slope of slippery mud, twisted tree roots and large rocks in a subtropical jungle with absolutely no breeze and in 100% humidity, but the words 'sticky' and 'knackering' would be a good start. Being under constant assault by mosquitos and ENORMOUS wasps (I'm not kidding here, these things were almost an inch long) just makes it all more exciting, I guess.


The steep, overgrown path up Nosoko-dake. Photos can't really show how steep this really is.

Amid the lush jungle, if you can spare the time, there is a huger variety of wildlife to be found, most of which appear to be lizards.


Some kind of gecko, I think


Another lizard of some type

The climb is a nightmare, but the views from the top are well worth it. I suspect they're better on a clear day, but even on a cloudy day (it started raining after I got down) they're still not bad.





The trek down is almost as bad as the trek up. If going up is hard on your calves, going back down is hard on your knees - you certainly feel it when you reach the bottom! The ropes they provide at certain points to pull yourself up are arguably more useful here, to stop yourself sliding head-first down the mountain.

Somehow making it down without a broken neck, I got the last bus back to Ishigaki (there are 3 buses a day so I had to wait nearly 2 hours for it) and got ready for the long 14 hour return ferry to Naha, spying some more curious 'Engrish' along the way.


I assume this is meant to be a 'Darts Bar', but I have no clue what 'A GOO' is meant to be...

And so today brought on a mind-numbingly boring ferry journey, which, due to a restaurant timetable which could at best be described as 'a litle weird', was survived entirely on cup noodles and Doritos. I must confess that after getting off the ferry at 9pm and booking into a business hotel I plucked at random from Lonely Planet, I headed to McDonalds. I might be in Japan, but I guess there are some hungers that only a Big Mac can cure. A day of only noodles is one of them.

So here I am, back in Naha. I'm going to go back to my hotel and sleep, and figure out what I'm doing tomorrow - my last day in Okinawa. After that I head back to Osaka on mainland Japan, and from there, who knows. Obviously, blog updates will continue (and hopefully more than once a week again), so keep checking back.

Take care everyone,
James

Not dead

Hi guys,
Just a quick note - I'm not dead or anything, just there was no net access at all on Iriomote-jima. I'm now in a hotel in Ishigaki (on Ishigaki-jima) which has PCs with internet access but no USB port...

I have, however, found an internet cafe so I should be able to upload some of my many, many photos from Iriomote tomorrow. Hang around, they WILL come.

James



EDIT: Sorry folks, more delays. It seems all the PCs on Ishigaki run on steam power and I've not found a single one running Windows XP yet (and I've tried my hotel and 3 internet cafes). That means I can't upload from my camera (not without installing drivers, anyway). Hang on and they will come, I'm just not sure when.

Sunny Okinawa!

Welcome to sunny Okinawa!



Well, it's certainly tropical. Words cannot describe how hard it rained yesterday.

However, the rain didn't stop me from heading out on a long bus journey (even longer when you get utterly lost in a Japanese-only bus network) to the Peace Memorial Park down in southern Okinawa. Despite having to walk around it in the rain (the museum was good for a nice dry hour, though), it was really quite sobering, as well as being quite unusual for a war cemetery, listing Okinawan civilians and foreign troops killed in the fighting right alongside the Japanese soldiers. This caused some controversy, but I can't see why it should be any other way.

Anyway, I'll let a couple of photos speak for themselves.





The above is the 'flame of peace', which wasn't lit because it was raining. Oh well.

This is the first real good view I got of the Okinawan coastline (despite it being an island...), which is the view from the end of the Peace Park.



Last night I found this wierd restaurant, in which I had a wonderful seafood pasta dish (right out of the sea about an hour ago, I suspect). I met a couple of American guys at the Peace Park, who were being contracted by the Navy and flying to an aircraft carrier today, so we all went in together. It's absurd and kinda tacky, but that's half of the fun, and the food was suprisingly good. Check it out.



Afterwards I found a neat little back-street Izakaya (Japanese pub, basically) with live Okinawan music and beer from the classic Okinawan brewery (Orion beer is an Okinawan institution).

The weather today has been really nice so I think the rain has moved out now. I went and booked my ferry to Ishigaki today (leaves on Wednesday), which turns out to be a 14 hour overnight journey, from where I can get a short ferry out to Iriomote-jima. For some inexplicable reason ferries only seem to run to Ishigaki every couple of days, and only run back to Naha once a week, but it's all worked out fairly well anyway, giving me about a week down there, which should be just about right.

I also found a microbrewery serving great food here so I grabbed some lunch and tried one of their brews (they're called Helios and you will NEVER drink it anywhere else), and ended up scoring one of the spectacular tall glasses they use. Lord knows how I'll send it back to the UK, but I'm going to try, since it beats most of the tacky souvenirs you can buy around here (like these stupid supposedly-comical cartoon Shisas. I want a real Shisa instead, but there are none small enough to take home).

Anyway, my time at this manga cafe (a cafe of sorts where you get a comfy chair, free soft drinks, access to a PC with a huge screen and a massive library of manga comics to flick through, all for about 400 Yen an hour) is running out so I should move on. I'll try to upload some more photos when I get back from Iriomote, if not before.

Sayonnara,
James



EDIT: But not before I got a mention on Planet Rock, which is officially available 'All over the planet' thanks to the wonders of internet streaming radio. Thanks, Rob Birnie.

One more before Okinawa

Ok, so my hotel in Osaka does have a free internet PC so I can post once more before I head off to tropical Okinawa tomorrow.

Today was uneventful with one exception. The JR Kyoto line, which you use during your journey between Nagoya and Osaka (unless you do it all on the Shinkansen bullet train), passes through the small town of Yamazaki. Yamazaki possesses one thing of note:

The Suntory Yamazaki Whiskey Distillery

Should you manage to make your way there, you can take a half-hour guided tour of the distillery, following the process of making whiskey all the way from the initial ingredients, through mashing, fermentation, distillation and aging, ending with a tasting session of the finished product.

How much does this cost? The princely sum of ZERO.

I don't have the time to really go into details, but the tour was great (it was in Japanese but there was good signing in English), the distillery itself was fascinating to walk around, and the tasting was superb (they basically throw it at you, I guess in the hope you'll then spend more money in the shop).

A few photos:

This is the 'Whiskey Library', walls of shelves all containing different whiskeys. This is amazing (it keeps going all round the walls of the room).


Inside one of the aging warehouses. There are casks going back to 1924 in here (the first Japanese whiskey, apparently).


Trying the Suntory Yamazaki 18yo - great stuff, but at over 100GBP a bottle (THIS is why they aim to get you drunk after the tour) it should be.


I bought a pen, a branded nosing glass and a couple of small bottles and had them sent home from the local post office (so I get the Yamazaki post mark on there, too). Hopefully using half the world's supply of bubble-wrap will keep them intact.

Anyway, off to Okinawa tomorrow. I don't know when I'll next get to update this, so hang tight. If I can, I will.

Take care all,
James

Rain rain rain

I woke up here on my last full day in Nagoya this morning, and it was raining again! Argh.

In fact, today provided even more problems. Not only was it raining, but it was a national holiday of some sort, which meant everyone wanted to go somewhere. There aren't many indoor attractions in Nagoya, so whatever you choose, it's going to be packed.

I chose to take a look at the Port Of Nagoya area. Yes, it was packed.

The port area has been redeveloped in recent years (apparently) to draw in the tourists. Attractions here include an aquarium, an observation deck, a maritime museum, an Antarctic museum (on board the Fuji, an Antarctic exploration vessel permanently docked at the port) and, somewhat bizarrely, an 'Italian Village'. A ticket to all of these (bar the village which is free) costs 2400 Yen all in (about 12GBP or 24USD), which isn't a bad deal.

The aquarium was superb, and I found it better than Osaka's. This was mainly because it has an excellent selection of dolphins and whales, and, at several points throughout the day, dolphin and whale shows. I was lucky enough to catch the Orca show from underwater (through the tank viewing panel) and a later dolphin show from the 3000 person stadium built around the pool. Very impressive indeed. Add to this the usual array of displays (coral reef, deep sea, etc) and it's a good way to kill a few hours without getting (too) wet.

Later on I moved onto the Fuji. You first walk around in a self-guided fashion to see how Antarctic exploration on a ship is carried out (which is actually quite fascinating) and what the living conditions are like. It also houses the Antarctic museum, which is a small but very interesting (and bilingual) museum about the continent itself.

Moving on from there I went to the observation deck (not much in bad weather, really) and the Maritime museum (disappointingly entirely in Japanese).

Finally I figured I'd take a wander to the Italian Village, which proved quite...well, strange. Someone thought it'd be a good idea to attempt to recreate Venice (complete with canals, etc) in Nagoya, and really, it doesn't work. Think of a Disney version of Venice, like the whole city crammed into 3 square blocks - overdosing on statues and pizza restaurants is seemingly what this place does best. Oh, and ice-cream - I bought an ice-cream (which was crazy, considering the weather, but I don't care) from a place offering 'Gelato, softdrink, meet pie'. Do I really want to meet this 'pie' guy? I don't know.

Anyway. That's the Port Of Nagoya area - a mix of the impressive, the not quite so impressive (unless you speak Japanese, I guess) and the just plain wierd.

And that's also my day today. Tomorrow I travel back to Osaka, hopefully with a brief stop for a guided tour of the Suntory Yamazaki whiskey distillery thrown in for good measure, before flying to Okinawa on Saturday. I can't guarantee internet access there, but I'll try my best.

Take care everyone,
James

Planes, trains and automobiles (and rain)

Another day in Nagoya, except this time, the weather is ABYSMAL. Rain - consistent, cold, winter rain - all day. Unsure of what exactly to do, I hit Google in the hope of finding enclosed attractions, and I found out that Toyota are largely based in the Nagoya area. This is great for 2 reasons:

1 - The Toyota Automobile Museum is about an hour away by train, and is entirely enclosed
2 - You can book free tours around one of the Toyota assembly plants

The museum made the ideal thing to do on a rainy day, so off I went via a combination of subway and a private railway line (the Linimo, Japan's first MagLev railway - click here for more information).

The Toyota Automobile Museum is not, as you might imagine, a museum of purely Toyota cars. Rather, it traces the history of the automobile from the first steam cars through to the late 1990s (the newest car on display is a prototype Toyota Prius hybrid car). This covers all manufacturers from all over the world, spread over 2 large floors (one for Japanese cars, one for cars from other countries), plus a special exhibit in the annex. The vehicles on display are all lovingly restored and displayed (with both Japanese and English notes, too) and it's all really rather impressive. The only problem is that the lighting isn't great for photos (at least not for small cameras), but it's all very pleasing to the eye and a good way to kill a few hours.

On to point 2, the factory tour. You have to reserve this 2 or more weeks in advance, so I need to look at my dates and find a convenient time. However, from what I hear (and I only hear good things about this), you get picked up and taken to one of Toyota's current production plants. Here you get a guided tour (even in English if you ask) of both the hand-production line, where people work to put cars together, and of the welding plant, where the huge robots work to weld all the major component parts of the chassis together.

The best part? It's free. Absolutely free. I don't know why Toyota feel the need to be so generous, but I'm not going to complain, and I think I'll take them up on the offer. You can't take photos, but obviously you can write about it, so I should be able to put up an entry about that in a few weeks time.

Oh, and while I'm in a technological frame of mind, watch out for the first airplane manufactured by Mitsubishi, currently in development. I got talking to a guy from Chicago last night, who was over here working on Mitsubishi's very first (a 100 seat small passenger aircraft, if you really want to know). It must be a tough market to break into but they're going to try, so if that interests you, keep an eye out.

Anyway, enough of the technological stuff, even if I am in Japan. It just all makes a refreshing change from shrines, temples and castles, at least until Okinawa serves up its mix of tropical waters and mangrove swamps, which should prove to be absolutely beautiful.

Take care everyone,
James