Hi All,
Well I have my laptop back now so I can write longer messages again. It is now 08:52 on Friday 4th of September 2004. I'm really appreciating Australia right now. Don't get me wrong Japan is great but travelling alone for 9 days really drains you.
I'm currently travelling from Nagoya to Tokyo to meet up with Melissa and Reichell. I met these two girls at the Summer camp in August. I might have already talked about the camp before but not in much detail. The camp is organised by JR Shikoku (Japan Rail Shikoku), Shikoku is one of the many islands off the main islands of Japan. As some will already know Japan is made up of many Islands. In August I worked on a small island called Awashima which had a population of 350 people.
The camp (01-Aug-2004 to 25-Sept-2004) had Two sessions or two groups of kids. Each staying for 1 week. The camp had about 20 staff and 30 or so kids for the first session and 16 kids for the second session so the camp increased the poplulation of the island by a considerable amount. At the camp I was a Mountain Bike instructor. It was a whole lot of fun. But very exhausting. And because there was no information from the previous instructor, I had to make up all the lesson plans from scratch. I thankfully had a good knowledge of Cycling both Mountain and road so I at least knew what I was talking about. But there were no off road trails on the island. And I was specifically told that I could not go off road. So I was really a Cycling instructor not a mountain bike instructor. But I found ways to make things a little more interesting. For example, I couldn't find any rough downhills so I used some some stairs and a bits of rough ground that I found along the way.
Being a Cycling instructor was great though. Cause I had to explore the island for trails early on and this ment I got to know the island pretty well. I travelled on every road on the island, traveling from one end to the other.
One thing about Japan that is pretty noticable is the amount of rubbish on beaches. This was particularly noticable on the Awashima. It made me so sad to see what would be absolutely beautiful beaches ruined by garbage. Another thing which is different from home is the way the Japanese dispose of rubbish here. In Australia mainly have 3 bins. One for general waste, one for plastic and glass and one for paper. Here in Japan waste is seperated into the following categories: Burnable, Non-burnable, PET bottles (plastic drinking bottles), Aluminium and glass. And at first this seems to be a really responsible thing to do but if you noticed that the first two categories were burnable and non-burnable? So yeah they burn their rubbish here. Some people furn it themselves but most send this rubbish off to facilities to have it burnt.
On Awashima many residents burnt their rubbish on the beach. Yep that's right they pile up their rubbish on the beach and set it a blaze. And as I travel across Japan I see shafts of smoke rising into the sky. Not just one or two but hundreds. This occurs more in rural areas but still this can't be good for the environment.
After the camp at Awashima I travelled to Kobe (26-Sept-2004) to meet up with Coco. I met Coco in Melbourne when she went there to study. She's a really nice girl. She had an accident a few years back, she was paralised, unable to speak, read or do much at all really. Now looks like a million dollars, although she admitted to me it's only a persona and she still has a bit to go before she is fully recovered.
Kobe is easily my favourite city in Japan. It really reminds me of Melbourne. It's very multicultural and it's not over crowded. I think I like it because it's not grey like most cities. It actually has a bit of colour and it appears to be a little more relaxed.
As most of you would know Japan has a very dense population. I experienced this in Osaka (27-Aug-2004) where I met up with Taki (thanks again Taki). I don't want to go back to Osaka. It's way too crowded, it's crazy. I know it's strange to say this while I'm heading for Tokyo the biggest city in Japan. I'm mainly going to Tokyo to meet up with the girls and one of the kids from the camp, Ma-chan. He's the cutest and brightest little kid I've met. This kid will go places once he grows up. Anyway, everyone has told me I have to visit Tokyo because I'm in Japan and it's the thing to do. But I'm not looking forward to being wedged in with the mob of people like a sardine.
After Osaka I travelled to Kyoto and done the whole Kyoto thing. It was good but very touristy. Not really my thing. I mean once you' see one temple you've seen them all. I know what you're thinking, "you should appreciate the culture and the history". That's all well and good to say that but you don't understand how touristy it is there.
I stayed in Kyoto for 3 days (29 to 31 Sept 2004). On the first day when I was travelling to the Ryokan where I was staying. I was asking the bus driver about the stop where I had to get off. A family group (Ryuta, Kayo and Kiyoko) who were also traveling to the same bus stop overheard and invited me to join them. They took me to an old Japanese spa and a huge shrine which was really close to where I was staying.
After Kyoto I went to Nara (01-Sept-2004). I liked Nara it's nice and small. With a few places where you can sit down and just relax. Nara also has some pretty good food.
My next stop after Nara was Osaka (02-Sept-2004) to pick up some stuff that I left at Taki's place and while I was there I went by Kobe again to spend the day with Coco.
On 03-Sep-2004 I went back to Nagoya to drop off some items and to pick-up my laptop. My laptop is a heavy brick but I need some kind of entertainment on this trip. The TV here is pertty ordinary not to mention I don't understand any of it. One thing though. In most places I've stayed there is a pay per view thing. Usually you stick in 100 yen and you get like 10 minutes of porn. Interesting. But the Japanese porn isn't like the porn we have at home. The girls scream and scream and make weird noises. And all the good bits have been fuzzed out due to the Japanese censorship laws. So I got over the whole porn channel thing pretty quickly.
The food here is pretty good though. Even if I don't know what it is. Sometimes I get adventurous and pick a random thing from the menu. So far it's been OK. But my favourite food chain in Japan is a place called "Matsuynoya". The most popular dish is thinly sliced pork on rice. But the reason why I like this place is it's my only regular source of salad in Japan. I usually get a set meal which has some kinda meat on rice, miso soup and a small bowl of salad. So I try to go there once every 3 days or so. But I have eaten there for all three meals on some days.
I think I've typed enough for now. If you have read this far then you really are interested in my trip. I probably would have given up on the second paragraph.
Sorry it's so long but it's been a while since I've had access to a normal keyboard and my computer.
Remember if you want to send me messages please send them to my mobile email: chaninjapan(AT)c.vodafone.ne.jp (replace the (AT) with @).
Take care,
Chan in Japan
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