After returning from my Southeast Asia trip, I had five days in Okinawa before escaping to mainland Japan to meet my dad for another 10 days of travel. I had a shit-ton of work to do, and nowhere to do it, since my apartment is about 400 square feet with 4 people living in it. So I did what any independence-loving American with a penchant for alone time:
I ran away.
I escaped to my friend Adrian’s house and hid out for a couple days. While Adrian was at work teaching unsuspecting innocent Japanese children dirty English words... I mean expertly and carefully forming the next generation of world leaders, I banged away furiously at my laptop trying to catch up on my personal and work backload that piled up thanks to spotty wifi for weeks at a time.
THANKS ADRIAN!
I came back to Naha and promptly R-U-N-N-O-F-T on an airplane to head to Tokyo to meet my Dad after his arduous journey from Wisconsin.
In a five-star hotel.
THANKS DAD!!
The Keio Plaza Hotel is right smack downtown Shinjuku, in the middle of central Tokyo. It was also dead easy to get to, since they have buses directly from the airport to Shinjuku-area hotels. And the wi-fi is as strong as a girl could wish. Happy Sam.
I ran away.
I escaped to my friend Adrian’s house and hid out for a couple days. While Adrian was at work teaching unsuspecting innocent Japanese children dirty English words... I mean expertly and carefully forming the next generation of world leaders, I banged away furiously at my laptop trying to catch up on my personal and work backload that piled up thanks to spotty wifi for weeks at a time.
THANKS ADRIAN!
I came back to Naha and promptly R-U-N-N-O-F-T on an airplane to head to Tokyo to meet my Dad after his arduous journey from Wisconsin.
In a five-star hotel.
THANKS DAD!!
The Keio Plaza Hotel is right smack downtown Shinjuku, in the middle of central Tokyo. It was also dead easy to get to, since they have buses directly from the airport to Shinjuku-area hotels. And the wi-fi is as strong as a girl could wish. Happy Sam.
Terrific (And Terrifying) Tokyo (東京) Trains
Shinjuku station is the busiest train station in the world, with over 1 million passengers per day, and over 1 billion passengers per year. Almost none of the signs or maps are in English. Everywhere we went in Tokyo was via local train/subway/metro.
Meanwhile I’m doing the “I want my dad to be proud of me and impressed by me,” so I’m trying to show off my Japanese skills while thoroughly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of foot traffic and noise. I’m asking for help every 3 to 5 minutes to make sense of this train station that is bigger than many airports and how to get where we want to go while reading everything in Kanji. Correction: while scanning the Kanji and looking for 1 or 2 symbols that I recognize that allow me to direct us.
Every time we got off the trains and managed to escape our destination station I had to ask dad to stop for a couple minutes so I could stop moving and just breathe.
Meanwhile I’m doing the “I want my dad to be proud of me and impressed by me,” so I’m trying to show off my Japanese skills while thoroughly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of foot traffic and noise. I’m asking for help every 3 to 5 minutes to make sense of this train station that is bigger than many airports and how to get where we want to go while reading everything in Kanji. Correction: while scanning the Kanji and looking for 1 or 2 symbols that I recognize that allow me to direct us.
Every time we got off the trains and managed to escape our destination station I had to ask dad to stop for a couple minutes so I could stop moving and just breathe.
Akihabara (秋葉原) Neighborhood
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Our first stop in Tokyo was Akihabara, which is the world Mecca for anime and manga otaku (nerds), as well as the world’s greatest shopping area for everything electrical and/or computerish. Nerds nerds everywhere nerds! It was great T-shirt watching.
Ueno Park (上野公園) And Tokyo National Museum
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After Akihabara, we wandered over to Ueno Park, where I spent some of my first moments in Tokyo. I got to show Dad my “special spot” where I met my Tokyo family (who sadly I won’t be able to see on this trip), and we spent a pleasant couple of hours in the Tokyo National Museum.
Now Arriving: Kyoto Station (京都駅)
The following day, we left Tokyo to go to Kyoto via the shinkansen (bullet train) at 175 mph (280 kph). When we arrived in Kyoto 2 hours later things started getting sticky. We are walking around with all of our luggage, using two different maps that disagreed with each other. The maps in the station provided a third dissenting opinion on where we should go. It was hot as hell, and we were sniping at each other trying to figure out the right direction, not sure even how to get out of the station.
That’s when Dad’s suitcase broke.
We eventually made it to the ryokan hot and sweaty and vaguely irritated, ready to call it a day at about 3pm. But I wanted to play in Kyoto, so we rested a couple hours in the blissful air conditioning and then took off again.
What is a ryokan, you may ask? It’s a traditional Japanese accommodation. You sleep on Japanese-style floor futons in a room with tatami mats, hanging scrolls, and yukata. They have floor chairs and a low table with a tea setup. It was not new to me, but I wanted to try it, and especially wanted to give my dad a taste of traditional Japanese sleeping and living arrangements, since that’s how my apartment is set up in Okinawa.
That’s when Dad’s suitcase broke.
We eventually made it to the ryokan hot and sweaty and vaguely irritated, ready to call it a day at about 3pm. But I wanted to play in Kyoto, so we rested a couple hours in the blissful air conditioning and then took off again.
What is a ryokan, you may ask? It’s a traditional Japanese accommodation. You sleep on Japanese-style floor futons in a room with tatami mats, hanging scrolls, and yukata. They have floor chairs and a low table with a tea setup. It was not new to me, but I wanted to try it, and especially wanted to give my dad a taste of traditional Japanese sleeping and living arrangements, since that’s how my apartment is set up in Okinawa.
Wait, Is That A Geisha In Our Ryokan?!?
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We came back down from from our Ryokan in the evening to go to Gion to find a japanese girl in a kimono playing the piano quite well. I immediately snapped a picture from behind, then asked permission when she stopped playing to take pictures of her facing the camera. The piano and the wall behind it was decorated in traditional japanese style, and with her kimono she looked perfectly in place.
However, she turned around and said “uhh, I don’t speak Japanese. I’m Australian.” From the front she didn’t look at all Japanese, either. However, I rallied quickly (in English this time) with “Can I please take some pictures of you anyway? You in the kimono playing the piano looks really neat.” She didn’t mind, and asked me to get some photos with her camera as well, and I gladly obliged.
After that we talked my dad into playing a few songs as well, which made us all happy!
However, she turned around and said “uhh, I don’t speak Japanese. I’m Australian.” From the front she didn’t look at all Japanese, either. However, I rallied quickly (in English this time) with “Can I please take some pictures of you anyway? You in the kimono playing the piano looks really neat.” She didn’t mind, and asked me to get some photos with her camera as well, and I gladly obliged.
After that we talked my dad into playing a few songs as well, which made us all happy!
Gion: Where The Geisha Are
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The first order of business in Kyoto was to head out to the old city and walk around. We accidentally found a ginormous shrine and the iconic Maruyama park which has Kyoto’s most famous cherry blossom viewing (hanami, 花見) tree.
My most noble motive for going there was “I want to see the geisha.” Well, it turns out that in Kyoto they call themselves “geiko,” which is slightly more specific than geisha, but with a similar meaning.
We didn’t see any geisha, but we did see hundreds (thousands?) of tourists in kimonos and traditional hair and makeup, just like Rebecca was. For $30 a variety of shops will do your makeup, hair and dress you in a kimono for the day, like they did for Rebecca from our Ryokan. They even gave out those wooden sandals so you can mince around and try not to fall down. Pretty cool.
My most noble motive for going there was “I want to see the geisha.” Well, it turns out that in Kyoto they call themselves “geiko,” which is slightly more specific than geisha, but with a similar meaning.
We didn’t see any geisha, but we did see hundreds (thousands?) of tourists in kimonos and traditional hair and makeup, just like Rebecca was. For $30 a variety of shops will do your makeup, hair and dress you in a kimono for the day, like they did for Rebecca from our Ryokan. They even gave out those wooden sandals so you can mince around and try not to fall down. Pretty cool.
What The Hell Is That? Or: Japanese Food
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During our time in Kyoto, Dad and I ate American breakfast in the room of English muffins with peanut butter, a juice box and a banana. We ate lunch and dinner out almost exclusively at Japanese establishments where I vaguely knew what was offered. It was quite an experience. My dad (pictured on left) comes from rural central Wisconsin, but with an adventurous heart and palate, and he ate everything I threw at him to try.
Even natto!
Even natto!
Super Duper Tourist
Our second day in Kyoto was a ridiculously fast tourist adventure. You have to take city buses to get anywhere in Kyoto, so the night before I mapped out our route using four buses and one taxi. We went to four different major tourist attractions, and spent only a short time at each one, because I really wanted to lay eyes on a number of different sites in Kyoto.
I hate being a tourist, but today I embraced it, and I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t have a lot of things to say about these places, other than that they were beautiful, I am glad we went, and I really enjoyed them, but I got some fantastic pictures, and the experiences were phenomenal. So here are the pictures, in order of our daylong journey.
I hate being a tourist, but today I embraced it, and I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t have a lot of things to say about these places, other than that they were beautiful, I am glad we went, and I really enjoyed them, but I got some fantastic pictures, and the experiences were phenomenal. So here are the pictures, in order of our daylong journey.
Arashiyama Bamboo Forest (嵐山竹森)
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Golden Pavilion Temple (金閣寺)
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Silver Pavilion Temple (銀閣寺) And Japanese Garden
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Kiyomizudera (清水寺)
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Walden University's Newest Faculty Member
After we got back to Kyoto, I answered an email I had gotten and spoke to an HR representative at Walden University. I now have a part-time job as a virtual adjunct faculty (Clinical Instructor) in Walden’s Nurse Practitioner department!
For this job, I was offered the interview while in Singapore, interviewed via Skype while in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and was offered the job while in Kyoto. And I’ll be in Portugal when I start. Woo hoo!
I can do this job anywhere in the world as long as I have my laptop and a connection to the “Internetz.” I have always talked about going into teaching after 5-10 years of working, and now here I am!
For this job, I was offered the interview while in Singapore, interviewed via Skype while in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and was offered the job while in Kyoto. And I’ll be in Portugal when I start. Woo hoo!
I can do this job anywhere in the world as long as I have my laptop and a connection to the “Internetz.” I have always talked about going into teaching after 5-10 years of working, and now here I am!
Mount Fuji (富士山) Ho!!!
As I write this Dad and I are on the Shinkansen (bullet train) back to Tokyo going 165 mph (270 kph). When we arrive we will repack our things to get ready to climb Mt Fuji (fuji-san, 富士山) starting at "oh stupid o-clock" tomorrow morning to make another escapist dream come true.
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