Core Japan experiences: Miyagiji to Louise

So, here is the last of 4 new blog posts, please read the previous entries on the right if you want to read how things have been.
:)

I split it up like this cause otherwise it would have been too long as one entry!
:P

Miyagiji:

We booked a night at a hostel and jumped on the ferry. I was eating on the ferry; three girls walk past me and ask me to take their photo, they seem very sweet and quite giggly: as many Japanese girls tend to be.

We get off, the island is beautiful and has many temples. We are walking down streets, its nearly sunset, and we bump into the three Japanese girls again, they are taking pictures again of themselves so I offer to take one of the three of them. We get small talking, I have my phrase book in my hand - and so does Paul! Its quite funny. Their names are: Sayaka, Kaori and Aki. We get some basic Japanese going, they don't speak really much english. But we manage to ask them if they want to go for a cup of tea - and they agree with glee.

We find a really nice japanese place for tea, and we manage - somehow - though it beats me how its possible, to talk about music, interests in art, occupations [all three of them were nurses in study] and our travels. We walk around some more and its getting dark, and cold. Kaori asks us if we want to go for a drink with them; they have a car - Paul and I accept their invite!

We had such a nice time with other Japanese people we have met, that this was really cool. We checked into our hostel - only to be told there is a curfew [like in many places in Japan] of 11pm... its already 9pm, that leaves us so little time.

They take us to a restaurant slash bar and order a number of dishes. Paul and I sneak away to pay the bill - FINALLY we managed to pay for something for a Japanese person! It seems to me that in Japan, whether you are a girl or a guy, if someone is a traveller/guest, you insist on paying for everything. It felt good to do something in return. The time limit though was really curtailing, we had to leave nearly straight away - so Paul and I decided we would either book a second hotel somewhere; or just not sleep until 6. After some convincing that this was cool; they invited us to a game center.

The Game center:

This was a cool place, floor upon floor of tennis, baseball, volley ball, archery, games, pool, mini golf, basket ball... you name it, it was there - along side free manga and massage chairs. They insisted on paying our entrance fees and here we spent the entire night, its a 24 hour place.

Time went by, its now 6 am and they drove us back to our hostel. On the drive back I saw the sun rise over the mountains.

A glorious ball of soaring red. very much like on the flag. It was beautiful.

We said bye to them, I don't think they will email us as the language barrier was so huge - but I will always remember them, they were 3 very beautiful people who were utterly kind and generous in all their ways. Paul and I were so happy to spend such a fun night again in the company of local Japanese people.

Of a side note, it was interesting to see how little [or much] you can communicate when neither of you has a language in common. Drawings become essential, as do key words you learn and find uses for repeatedly. We did manage to discuss some deeper topics, though this was generally difficult to manage.

We get back to the hostel, walk in, and the grumpy owner says to us [I swear he thought he was our father] "where were you last night???"

We respond with, erm, we missed the door close time, so we stayed up at a game center.

he says "get out of my place immediately"

It was 6:45, I hadn't slept for more than 10 minutes - there was no way I was leaving before I could have at least 2 hours rest!

I insisted, eventually we agreed - we slept until 9am, then left - I've never met an angry Japanese before! This guy though was mean to us even when we checked in, it felt like he was just a bitter man to begin with, I felt sorry for him and wished him well [inside].

Sleep walking:

So now we travelled to Bepu, but not much happened on this day, every opertunity I could find to sleep, even if it was for 2 minutes, I took it. I probably slept about 3 more hours in this fashion and so got about 5 hours sleep all together. Paul was my hero; he stayed awake all day to ensure we didn't miss connections. Me: i was the zombie man. Eventually by 6pm we get to Beppu in Kyushu. Its an Onsen town, a palce mad about mineral baths, jets and volcanic bubbling pools.

Beppu and its pleasures:

Its now Wednesday evening, we are in Beppu. We head for a sand bath. You lie down, naked except for a small robe, and a woman shovels hot volcanic gravel onto your body and buries you up to your neck. it felt heavy, hot. You feel your heart pulsing in your legs. As you breath the mound expands and rests. It was meditative, I move between sleep, thoughtlessness and imagination. Earth elementals, return to ash. Then a dip in the bath; a very relaxing state.

After the sand bath, we look for a bar. There are very few, instead there are lots and lots of 'snack bars' also known as 'lounge bars'. What are these seedy looking places? I can count at least a hundred...

Enter the world of the Japanese paradox. Women are seen only as good potential wives until the age of 25; so as a woman, there is a real pressure to get married before 25 or you will end up husband-less, generally for life. Add to that the fact that women don't sleep with guys unless they think it will result in marriage; and the fact that men think their potential wives should be virgins; and you end up with quite a fractured society. Fractured because the cultural 'rules' don't match human desires [surprise] and you get men who want the privilege of sleeping around. So they go to 'snack bars'. The weird thing is, Japanese men are generally extremely shy, and reserved; when it comes to courting [though the women are also equally shy too]. Things take a long time to develop, and in the snack bars, J-men with big wallets spend lots of cash generally just to talk to beautiful ladies into the night; often while their wives sit at home.

The irony is that women also partake in the 'host' bars; places where women can 'talk' to men. So wife and husband talk to other people intimately, but not each other.

Paul and I went to try and check out some 'snack bars'. Call it a 'curiosity field trip'. But none of the places we tried either wanted foreigners, or spoke any english... what's the point in that? If I'm going to pay 35 Euros to 'talk' to a lady for 70 min, I'd at least want to be able to understand what it is she is saying.

Beppu also has some hidden bars that were really nice, and we spent the better part of our good evening times here instead.

Onsens:

The next day was raining, so Paul and I decided to go to volcanic guizers. Blue and brown pools of scorching temperatures ejecting vapors. We avoided the places where they stuffed poor crocodiles and monkeys into cramped boxes... so cruel.

After the guizers, we went to a big Onsen and treated ourselves to 4 different baths, water fall jets, two steam baths, cold water pool, outdoor, indoor, salted, different floor textures, natural waters... very relaxing.

Another night in Beppu, along the bar path we met an Auzie named Gary. Long blond hair, Auzie in every way one would think, from a band that is moving to Canada to try and make it big in the US/Canadian market.

Aso:

Next morning, 8am train, and a trip to [one of] the largest Caldera in the world. It was full of snow, freezing cold, gray like the worst of winter, and smelled horrid from the egg-like stench of sulfuric gasses. The volcano was active, which prevented us from entering the area near the ridge to look into this massive expanse, which was a shame... after a short time at the top, I had to go as it was going to take a good part of the day to get to Louise for friday in Shiminoseki.

Louise:

So here is where we will end this mega-blog for now. I arrived at Louise, we were both very happy to see each other. We had some indian dinner with about 20 of her english-teaching colleagues - and then we had a late night in a techno club.

Music was just 'ok'; the japanese were funny to observe dancing; they all seemed to love it. Now its Saturday, taking it easy - tonight we will meet some other friends and have an 'all you can eat tempura + drinks' evening, youpie!

Psyche, 2nd interlude: week 3

So how am I doing now? Well, the last week has been really good. I've been able to relax and take things in at a more normal pace, and had some really amazing experiences. In particular the total kindness and hospitality of the people is amazing. The nature is disappointing, I was expecting to see places that were beautiful and untouched; instead I see hillsides covered in a maddening obsession with concrete and zero native trees living... modern-humanity-gone-mad.

In Theory I return on the 2nd of April to Amsterdam; but I may return a few days earlier; not sure yet - I'll see how things go.

A part of me misses NZ.

A part of me longs to finally get going on my previous - and new - art projects - there is much to accomplish still!

All in all, I'm doing well and I'm happy.

With love,

Sebastian.