Day 6-7: From Seaside to rural Japan to the city

On the morning of our last day on the road, we saw a tree covered with caterpillars. Masa shuddered and walked away while the rest of us took five steps closer. These little guys had been finding their way to our tents and we often saw them crawling on our shirts. We packed our stuff, took a morning hike up the hill and then started our drive away from Shibukawa Seaside.

In the Bikan district in Kurashiki, we stopped to check out some 17th century wooden warehouses. The wood used to build the warehouses were often burned to create this dark sooty exterior. My hands turned black after I ran them along the walls.

There seems to be a job for everyone in Japan. This man was hired to tell people to beware of the electrical cords going across the footpath. In Vancouver, we'd probably just get an orange cone.

Sake!

Last year, Will the Botanist had done a Help Exchange in a small rural town in the Hyogo prefecture called Fukuura. He had stayed with an American couple, Mark and Carol, and Carol's mom, Ayako. The couple had decided to move to rural Japan and buy their house for only 20,000USD! In Japan, rural homes get auctioned at low prices because everyone's moving to bigger cities but the buyers aren't actually allowed to inspect the house. They only got a couple of photos. Their home was absolutely beautiful. We slept on a big comfy bed in a room with a sliding door. The stairs leading to the room upstairs were narrow and steep.

 The very next day we borrowed two bikes and took a ride around the neighbourhood.

Our stay with Carol and Mark was way too short. They dropped us off at the train station and we hurried off after a photo to buy our tickets to Osaka.

Once we arrived in Osaka, we went straight to a park in the city centre where one of Will the Botanist's friends had organized a picnic. The place was beside a rose garden that was in full bloom.

A couple of hours later, after we had our fill of convenience store snacks, we were on the go again. We took the train at Osaka station and got to Kyoto station at around 8pm. Masa picked us up and took us to Kaitenzushi, sushi served on a conveyor belt. We watched Masa's stack of plates rise higher and higher as we took our time selecting. When we went up to pay, he refused our money. We shoved our money at him again and he waved it off and said, "Welcome to Kyoto".

I've learned it's pretty hard to refuse a Japanese person's generosity.

Day 2: Eating real Japanese food

I awoke on my back with a black and white cat between my legs. Negi-Chan had spent the night moving between me and Will the Botanist, trying to find someone that would stay still. The night before while playing with Negi-Chan we had concluded that he was a big softie.

"His eyes are so close together," Will the Botanist commented.

Brunch was in a building filled with little restaurants. Most of them only had counter seating. We walked past the backs of men and women in suits enjoying breakfast by themselves and decided on a cute little place. This was a very important decision as it was my very first meal in Japan. As soon as we sat down we were handed an English menu, which we kindly refused because we wanted a challenge. The food was served on the hot plate to keep it warm.

 Yakisoba

Okonomiyaki

I was quite delighted to find that bicycles had umbrella stands. I was ecstatic when I found out that people used umbrellas while cycling - rain or shine. They don't bike fast enough for open umbrellas to actually slow them down significantly.

At the Otearaijou I washed my hands with purified water, took a mouthful and spit it back out. The instructions were clearly explained in the sign beside the Otearaijou.

These are Omikuji that people write and tie to to the rope, half asking about their future and half asking for good fortune, as explained by Will the Botanist. And that beside them is a cat with a really straight tail.

Pigeon doing some people watching.

Marmoset that we found in a pet shop. What the helllll.

On our way to Dotombori, we stopped by Americatown. Or at least it portrayed what the Japanese thought of America. A lot of tacky gangsta rap stuff with bling bling and all. Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball was blasting from this one shop. It was terrifying.

In my Lonely Planet guidebook, they had described Dotombori as "survival of the flashiest". They weren't far off. There were giant models of sea creatures- some even moved! We didn't quite trust the flashy ones though thinking that it was just another tactic to attract tourists. In the end we decided on a modest little place with a decent line up. Osaka is known for its takoyaki and I was eager to see if the Richmond night market's takoyaki was legit. I'm afraid not quite.

 Happy man and his takoyaki!

Will thought it would be a great idea for me to pose with this sign. My friend, Masa, just explained to me that that characters read "stupid". I do look pretty stupid but this was too good not to post.

 Hidden in a narrow alley was the temple Hozen-ji. In front of it was Fudo-myoo, a moss-covered statue. People passing by would throw water on it which kept the moss growing.

 Posing with Glico man

 I satisfied my inner child at the Pokemon Centre. Kinda disappointed Nurse Joy wasn't there.

In the evening, we met Akira at the train station and we walked to his second favorite sushi restaurant to meet up with Hitomi. His first favorite had run out of fish and was closed for the night. There was a bit of a wait because the shop was quite small but it was well worth it. We were brought upstairs to a nice room with tatami. A little tip, Japan isn't a place for hard-to-take-off high tops.

 

My mouth is watering just thinking about what we ate. I have never in my life tasted such fresh sushi. Each piece was simple but prepared with such attention to detail. It was the kind of food that made you close your eyes and roll them back in ecstasy. Fuck.

Thanks for a nice day, Osaka. Tomorrow we leave for a road trip!