Musings and Reflections – our journey in Japan

Japan

The country is very mountainous and almost every level area is either given over to towns, cities or farming and there are still rice paddies on the lower hills.  It is unusual to see animals on the farms – they are normally kept in barns.  The beef raised in many areas is of the premium wagyu type and some areas such as Hida and Kobe are famous for their beautiful succulent meat.  The bigger cities such as Tokyo and Kyoto are extremely busy and there seems to be a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple in almost every street, many of them very beautiful.  Fishing, of course, is an important industry as fish and rice are the staple foods.

The People

If I could use one word to describe the people of Japan, it would be respectful.  Respect for self, other people, their environment, their heritage and the rule of law seems to be paramount.  They won’t cross the street against a red light even if there is no traffic at all.  Mobile phone use on the trains, buses and subway is discouraged out of respect for those around you, even though people seem to always have a smartphone in their hands, texting or game-playing. They are a gentle, polite and respectful people but the contrasts of their history and the frantic pace of their lives also allows them the opportunity to dress in traditional costume when the mood strikes, whilst texting on the latest electronic devices.  Many times in the streets, whilst trying to figure out our tourist map and our position, people would stop and help where they could – they are extremely friendly.   Every time we entered a restaurant or store, or passed staff in the market or passed by a stall in one of the food departments in the basement of a shopping centre, all the staff would shout – irasshaimase! – “welcome” and when leaving they would all thank us for coming – arigato gozaimasu!

Cleanliness

The whole country is spotless. The streets are clean, nobody drops rubbish- they take it with them and it seems to be a mark of the respect that they feel for others, themselves and the way they live, that they prefer it that way.  The buses, trains, the underground passages, the public areas as a whole, have few bins, but where they are installed, they are used assiduously.  There is not even a Mars Bar wrapper dropped in the street!  We have not encountered, wherever we’ve been, a cigarette butt or sweet wrapper, a McDonald’s bag or an icecream stick, anywhere, anytime!  Cigarette butts are almost never seen on the street (except in Osaka) and they even have designated smoking areas cordoned off on the busy city streets. 

Getting Around

Driving?  Why would you?  The public transport system is so efficient, so punctual, so clean and cheap that you shouldn’t need to venture onto the roads unless it was absolutely necessary.  A Japan Rail Pass purchased here prior to leaving, gives you access to all Japan Rail transport, including the Shinkansen, most above ground rail, some buses and some subway lines.  These passes last for 14 days and there is no extra charge.  However, if you use other subway lines or trains which are privately run, then a Suica Card loaded with a minimum 1000yen allows trips all over the cities.  An incredibly efficient and fast way to get around and most of the signs are sub-titled in English.

Food & Drink

People in Japan love their food and no wonder, since the variety of Japanese cuisine is incredible.  The most popular Japanese dishes are, of course, sushi, yakitori, tempura, soba, ramen, gyoza, sukiyaki, shabu-shabu and okonomiyaki.  I’m sure there is a restaurant for every person, be they on the street, in a convenient basement, in the top couple of floors of every shopping centre or in the concourses and basements of every railway station.  We ate almost every variety of food and the variations within categories are just as interesting as the types.  One evening we discovered a tiny restaurant not far from our hotel in Tokyo – no signs or clues as to what we were ordering, but it turned out to be a 10 course degustation of chicken, from the neck to the leg, including skin, liver, thigh, breast, gizzard and wing, all done yakitori style and absolutely delicious.  In a tiny restaurant, with only a dozen or so seats and virtually no English spoken, we had an absolute ball.   And everywhere we went, beer was the common drink and we enjoyed several different brands – sometimes it’s also available in the vending machines, yet we did not at any time, see anybody who was drunk.  Wine is available in the better restaurants and isn’t expensive but the local brew we tried wasn’t what we would choose to drink.

Communications

Everywhere we went throughout Honshu, we had phone signal, but little WiFi.  WiFi is rarely available throughout a hotel, usually only in the lobby, but many rooms had lan connections available.  We’re yet to receive a bill for phone use, but we didn’t call home at all and received a couple of calls, but quite a few texts.  Wait and see!

Toilets

The old style Japanese squat toilet is a disappearing species and mainly only seen at the older rail stations and public areas, mostly replaced by modern western style toilets.  However, many of these require a pilot’s licence to drive them.  With heated seats, bum wash, bidet function, adjustable water pressure and temperature and music or sound of rushing streams to cover other noises, it’s almost an experience in itself to go to the loo.  All-in-all the public toilets are readily available everywhere, scrupulously clean and well maintained.

Shopping

Whilst I tried to avoid this experience it was a source of constant joy for the Princess, who relished her forays into department store after department store.  Wherever we caught ourselves on the street, we seemed to be surrounded by multi-level stores which needed to be explored and almost all of them had at least one thing that was essential.  The only department store which attracted me was the Mitsukoshi store in Tokyo, which I referred to in an earlier post.  This was a very high-end store akin to David Jones but several levels above in class and the range of products was amazing, much of it produced in Japan.  There was a whole floor devoted to kimonos and the silks and embroideries used, including several artists at work on individual pieces.  Absolutely amazing!  In this store we bought hand-made and –painted chopsticks and the artist there engraved our names on each pair.  In the Nishiki Market in downtown Kyoto, we marvelled at the array of fresh foods and weird ingredients used in the food.  At the Eastern end of the market we headed for the Master Knife maker Aritsugu, who’s been making knives since 1560, when the founder was producing swords for the Imperial House of Japan.  We’d read of this store and came away with a couple of the most beautiful chef’s knives we’ve ever handled.

Money

Japan is certainly not the most expensive place we’ve been and food is better quality and cheaper and more plentiful than anywhere.  You can eat breakfast for less than $10 each, lunch for less than $15 to $20 and have a very good meal at dinner, including drinks, for $50 for 2.  Most smaller stores and restaurants don’t accept credit cards – Japan is essentially a cash-society, so cash is accessed on a credit or debit card – perfectly safely – via ATMs in 7Eleven stores and Post Offices and we found this the most convenient and cheapest method.  When converting our dollars to Yen, there is invariably a fee and a commission, but when drawing on the ATM, the bank here charges what appears to be 1% and you get today’s rate of exchange.

Accomodation

JTB Australia (Japan Travel) booked all of our accommodation except in KL where we treated ourselves to the Shangri-La Hotel and loved it.  Most of our hotels were with a few hundred metres of a major railway station and most would be classified as 3-star and perfectly adequate.  Only once did we request a change of rooms when we were very restricted for space.  There are a number of “business” hotel chains in Japan which (from what we heard) are comfortable, clean and affordable.

Guides
A couple of times we managed to contact free guides who helped us get some perspective on some cities or areas which may have been more difficult to get to or understand without assistance.  Google  - "Free guides in ----- " & whichever city you choose, there will often be guides available.  Our first, in Tokyo, was Sumiko, an English teacher who showed us areas of Tokyo which we probably wouldn't have found by ouselves and in Kyoto we found Senna, a university student studying English and Tourism.  Senna took us to the beautiful Arashiyama and the bamboo groves which would have been very difficult to find otherwise.

A Birthday at 38,000 ft

This week’s flight from Osaka to Kuala Lumpur saw us celebrating my birthday in-flight.  One of the wonderful staff at the pointy end heard the Princess toast my birthday and presented me with a bottle of champagne, which was great and a real surprise.  Thanks to Malaysian Airlines!!!!

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur International Airport just before 6pm and a confusing time was eventually sorted out with a “premium” cab to the city because the regular cab was supposedly too small for we two and our bags – I think we were “had”.  Arrival at the Shangri-La after a nail-biting drive of 40 minutes for what is usually a 1 hour trip, was a relief and we celebrated with an up-grade of room, membership to the Horizon Club and a dinner at Arthur’s Bar & Grill.  The meal was a premium Australian rib-eye – enormous and delicious – with Yorkshire pudding and vegetables and we were told that the Horizon special, two glasses of wine for the price of one, was still available.  The waiter encouraged us to line them up before the special went off, so we did.

Exploring KL the next day left us with the impression that there is little left of the history – there is high-rise after high-rise and most of the old buildings are gone.  The skyline is dominated by the Petronas Twin Towers, which at 428 metres are a spectacular sight.  When we were a little awed by the  view from the 38^th floor of the Umeda building in Osaka, we didn’t realise what lay ahead.  The 38^th floor of the Petronas is just the start – the cross-over from one building to its twin.  From there, we travelled in a 6metre per second elevator to the observation room on the 86^th floor and to say that the view is awesome is an understatement.  Absolutely amazing!  We were there in time to watch the sunset, although it was a little overcast and not quite as spectacular as it might have been.  But then, this is the start of the monsoon season, so we were glad it wasn’t raining.

The following day we joined a walking tour – Eat, Pray, Love Heritage Tour – run by “Be Tourist” – a tour group dedicated to showing off the history of the city. This was an excellent tour with a very good leader, Sean Tan, who described the development of Kuala Lumpur, which actually has quite a short history.  The area was the site of tin mines, mined by the Chinese, as recently as the early 1800s and no organised government – just tribal affiliations – until the 1850s when the British stepped in to assist with organising proper government.  The British stayed until the 1950s when Malaya became Malaysia and the country began its rush to develop.  Unfortunately in the process, most of the old buildings are being lost and the tour group is dedicated to showing the best of the old areas off and promoting the heritage awareness required to save what’s left.  We toured the old Chinese areas, the Hindu areas and the Muslim areas of the old city and sampled foods and drinks from these cultures along the way.  We ventured into shrines and many alleys and streets which normally don’t see westerners and we finished up in Chinatown in the old market, which has been on the site since the 1850s.

On our last night here, after another great dinner at Arthur’s, we joined the crowd in the bar to listen to some live music and it was excellent.  We met a Scottish couple who live in Brussels and we hit it off extremely well, so much so that our bar bill at the end of the night was horrendous and the headache the next morning was even worse.  Perhaps we’ll catch them again in Brussels next year when we’re in Europe – hopefully without the headache!

Kuala Lumpur is certainly an interesting place to visit but we felt that it’s not a holiday destination.  We’ve been through the airport here, enroute to somewhere else, a number of times and although the shopping is good, I’m not sure that I’d stay here for more than a day or two in the future.  

Kuala Lumpur - a city of contrasts

Side view of Petronas Towers from our hotel room

Magnificent floral display in the lobby

Shangri-La Hotel

Old housing development - great contrast

Street view of Petronas Towers

Jules at the 38th floor cross-walk in Petronas. To think we thought Umeda building was big.

Yes, we've just reached the 86th floor - incredible 400+ metres

The viewing room on the 86th floor

Sunset from Petronas

Another contrast - old Central Market - from 1888 - now preserved 

as a heritage centre.

Chinese Temple on our heritage walk

Hindu Temple on our heritage walk

Pillar of the Gods at the Hindu Temple

Chinatown Market

Umeda Sky Building

Just 15 minutes walk from our hotel, with a few diversions along the way, we encountered the Umeda Sky Building – an interlinked skyscraper with a height of 173 metres.  After yesterday’s experience with the ferris wheel, Jules was pretty confident that she could cope with the Open Floating Garden Observatory on the top of the building.  However, a 35 floor ride in a glass elevator to the entry floor soon made us a little wary of what we might encounter.  That wasn’t as bad as the 3 floor escalator with glass sides that traversed the space between the buildings to gain access to the roof-top observatory walk.  It was a pity that the day was overcast, because the view would have been incredible and the building is renowned for amazing sunsets on a clear day.  Another amazing, unforgettable experience!

The last shot (below) is the escalator stack inside the Hanshin Department Store, Sunday afternoon and the place was packed.  There are dozens of these department stores in the city and each one would be the floor-size of Chadstone and every one of them is packed, particularly on the weekend.  Two floors of restaurants and 8 floors of shops – we couldn’t believe the amount of money being spent in this city, although Kyoto and Tokyo were the same.  Big name fashion stores from all around the world have a spot and a company such as Zara (amongst others) have their own buildings!  And this doesn’t include the market places and stores in the station buildings!  Almost impossible to comprehend!

Views of Osaka-some frightening!

Osaka Central Railway Station - spectacular

THE Ferris wheel - frightening

Frightened - see what I mean?

The view from the top - a little overcast.

Some fabulous architecture in Osaka

The Umeda Sky Building - double towers with skywalk on top

The view from below

Beautiful garden in the grounds

View from the skywalk

Umeda Building is often the venue for weddings!

Glass-sided escalators crossing the void & 3 floor height

Crowds in the shopping centre on Sunday afternoon

A couple of days in Osaka

Osaka is a huge industrial/commercial city not far from Kyoto and a rival in many ways, for the capital, Tokyo.  However, it’s not a patch on Tokyo for history, culture or “feel”.  It has the rushed and crowded atmosphere in the subways and on the streets, but it doesn’t seem quite as logical in layout, or feel as clean and spotless as Tokyo.  There seems to be a department store on almost every corner – 10 floors of just about anything you could imagine to buy then two or three floors of restaurants.  I’m sure there are more restaurants in Japan than there are in the rest of the world and the variety of cuisine is incredible.  The Japanese food we have at home is just a small fraction of the variety on offer here.  And on top of that, each department store seems to have a fresh food market in the basement plus access to one of the multitude of subway stations underground.  You could live your life forever without seeing daylight.

We arrived yesterday afternoon by Shinkansen from Hiroshima and checked into our hotel, then set off to explore the area around us, getting lost several times in the labyrinth, but eventually finding our way.  We dined last night after a couple of heart-starters at the hotel, on the 10^th floor of one of the local Daimaru stores (there are several) with tonkatsu, pickled vegetables and rice and we ordered  a bottle of white wine, not knowing what the local brew was like – NOT GOOD!  We finished up ordering beer instead and the waitress removed the charge for the “wine”.  (Cat’s pee)!!!

We set off this morning to find the local coin laundry having been given directions and it turned out to be in the basement of an hotel, some 2kms away.  Whilst the washing was on, I ventured across the road to the local barber shop, feeling in need of a little grooming.  1000yen in the ticket machine (approx $11) bought me a place in the queue and the opportunity to try to describe to a non-english speaking lady, what I wanted her to do!  Apparently, that’s not allowed!  Anyway, I finished up with a VERY SHORT version of a military snip and I feel so much better. 

This afternoon we jumped on the train (one of hundreds) to Osakako, where the world’s LARGEST (ostensibly) ferris wheel is situated and given that the Princess has never before in her life, been on a ferris wheel, that was a great place to start!  Since I am still nursing the nail marks where a grip like KING KONG grabbed me, I think she enjoyed it!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually it is the largest diameter wheel in the world, but the one in Tokyo is 2.5meters higher off the ground!

After lunch and a couple of beers, we traversed the underground again to Dotonbori where the major players in retailing in the world have stores and explored the excess that exists, but that mere plebs like us are not regularly exposed to.  Absolutely AMAZING!!

This city exhibits some amazing architecture and if I can keep the Princess out of the department stores, I’ll try to post some photos of our adventures and some fantastic buildings