Don't get me wrong - I love my wife and I love my daughter (and miss both of them incredibly at the moment). I love Coheed and Cambria, Opeth and Dream Theater a little more than I probably should. But right now, I'm starting a new love affair with Japan. We're in the doe-eyed, "getting to know you" stage where nothing is wrong, everything is right and the potential of our future union is limitless :) I'm currently sitting in a first class bullet train on my way to Kyoto, so thought I'd take a moment to tell you of my trip thus far.

I arrived in Tokyo on saturday night (from Houston via San Francisco), around 4:30pm - it was a very long trip. After making it through baggage and customs, I found my way to the Japan Rail ticket office and got my railpass (which has worked a treat everywhere so far). I then decided to play it safe and catch a train that required no interchanges between Narita Airport and my final destination, Shinjuku. So, I had to wait for about an hour for that train, but in the meantime found out two important things; a.) my mobile does not work in Japan (I had read about this, but did it the Andy Neumann way, i.e. half-ass reading and thought "pfft, I'll deal with it when I get there". Thus, I have no mobile) and b.) Japanese public telephones are harder to work than they look :) Anyway, caught the train into Shinjuku, successfully navigated to my hotel on foot, checked into a very tiny room and called Steph from the hotel (successfully).

Of course, I discovered my next technology challenge when I fired up my laptop, only to find that the power converter I had (3 pin power on my laptop to 3 pin USA style adaptor) would not fit the Japanese 2 pin socket. Right... I figured I couldn't exactly rip the 3rd (earthing) pin off my laptop power, so I went for a little trip around Shinjuku (this is about 8pm Saturday night) to find an electronics store. For those of you who have been to Shinjuku, you're probably laughing right now. Find an electronics store? It's like suggesting finding a strip club in King St, Melbourne. Anyway, I walked into this store that seemed about as big as the whole of Chadstone and found the necessary converter - all sorted, I now have power (well, electrical if nothing else) in Japan!

Whoa, this train is fast.

Sunday was spent doing a whole day tour; down to Kamakura and Hase to check out some Buddhist and Shinto Temples / Shrines. It was a stinking hot day (it was probably 35 degrees and humid all day). I think I drank about 5 litres of coke/beer/water/fake solo/green tea/anything else and kept dousing myself in water whenever I had the chance... The first place we went to (Hase Kannon Temple) was just jaw-dropping. I think I wandered in a daze for about 5 minutes just repeating "Oh my God, this is so beautiful/incredible/amazing". I'll put some pictures together and put them up on Flickr (or something). We then went to see the Great Buddha (standing about 13 meters tall). It's quite impressive, and has survived a couple of tsunamis and earthquakes in it's time. We went for a traditional Japanese lunch then did a bit of shopping. Last stop was at the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, where we conveniently got to see a traditional Japanese wedding take place (with about 2000 other tourists). That was pretty cool. Some more shopping on the way home, and then back to the hotel.

I can see the ocean from the train now. Rolling green hills on one side (dotted with towns and rural Japanese life), the ocean on the other... Ahhh....

Last night I went for a bit more of an explore of Shinjuku (and I think I walked down to Shibuya as well).

That's the synopsis of what I've done so far. Today I'm on a train to Kyoto and have a whole day tour booked for tomorrow, a half day tour the day after that, then back to Tokyo for a day and then home on Friday.

I'd love to describe every minute, every feeling, every detail, every thought of my experience so far, but then I wouldn't be living the experience in the present, right? :) Suffice to say, I'm absolutely loving the challenge and the rewarding nature of this trip. I'm loving breaking through the language barrier with locals (I have some phrases under my belt, learning more as fast as I can). I'm loving walking around the seedy streets of Shinjuku at night (as I did last night), finding a "hole in the wall" restaurant and going in to order dinner off a menu with pictures (when no one else in the place besides me speaks English from all accounts). I'm loving navigating the public transport system, using different money, the thrill of getting temporarily lost (which I did last night for about 20 minutes - I didn't panic though, it was invigorating to try and deduce where I was and how to get back) and seeing some really different, really bizarre things (that seem completely normal here)

So that's my update. Hopefully I'll squeeze in another one before I get back home. I hope you're all doing well.

Labels: Japan