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I followed Setsuko’s very good instructions and arrived with no difficulty at Ibaraki Station. Two minutes later Setsuko appeared. She shepherded my through the train system and we arrived in her hometown, Minase. I met her father and brother and we drank warm sake and chatted into the wee hours. After a leisurely morning breakfast and coffee, we set out to see the Sumo wrestling tournament in Osaka. Because it was the next to the last day the only seats left were more than $100 so we just watched the big guys walk in and out. We visited the Pick-up bridge and saw Yanqui Street and had a great meal at a place near where Setsuko used to work. Then we visited her favorite bar and chatted for a few hours. The next day we went trekking into the mountains near her home. Our goal was a hot springs. Up and down the mountains with Setsuko dancing over the trail like a mountain goat and with me following like an obsolete steam engine. We topped the highest peak in Kansai and arrived near the hot springs a half-hour before closing. That was okay because after a short bus and train ride back to her house I soaked in their really cool Japanese bathtub. It's short but very deep and very hot-ahhh. Waiting on the table when I got out of the bath was the best okonomiyaki (cook what you like) in the universe. Her father who owns a coffee shop near the train station in Minase is a teriffic cook. Okonomiyaki is like a combination of a pizza and a pancake and has a mix if meat and veggies topped with Hifumi's secret sauce. I ate until I was ready to explode and her father keep making more. What a great way to go. The cherry blossoms were starting to come out as we headed for Kyoto. It was a short ride because Minase is closer to Kyoto than Osaka. The trains in Japan are very clean and fast. Because it was Sunday and Sakura (cherry blossom time) there were hordes of mainly Japanese tourists. We walked to the park and dawdled by the pond. We saw a temple or two and parked ourselves at a table and drank a cold beer and watched the world go by. On the way back to the station we took a side street and spotted a geisha who haughtily allowed me to take her picture. Home again, we tipped a few more. The next day Setsuko had a job interview so I undertook to update my website. Not so easy because the keyboard is both Japanese and English and there is a key near the spacebar that kept changing works to Japanese script. I ended up with a very strange looking journal entry about China. Half in text and half in graphical text. I think I have the keyboard figured out now. I'm using her brother, Kazutaka's computer. His room is stuffed with electronics-two TVs, a computer, game consols and three dogs. I couldn't figure out how to load my camera program because the Canon disk finds a Japanes computer and insists on Japanese instructions. I've got some great pictures but I don't know when I can upload them. When I loaded the program before on an English based computer the instructions were in English. Oh the challenges of multi-lingual computers on the road! I finished and went to Hifumi's coffee shop. Her father and brother have a little English. Hifumi was a taxi driver during the American Occupation after the war and I enjoyed looking through his photo albums at the great old cars. After the shop closed, Hifumi hailed a taxi and the three of us went to a unique sushi restaurant that they wanted to try. Dozens of different sushi dishes passed each table on a conveyor belt. You just select what looks good and at the end of the meal they count the dishes and calculate the bill. We had 19 dishes at 95 yen each. Each table had a tap for hot water and you could make your own tea. An interesting experience. When we got home we tried to figure out an itinerary for the rest of my visit to Japan. I don't have time for Tokyo so I'm going to concentrate on the southern part of Japan. I'll visit Aso Kan, an active volcano, see Hiroshima, and catch the ferry for Pusan, Korea from Fukuoka. If the weather clears up I may camp there. I'm going to try a ryokan (a very traditional but, alas expensive Japanese hotel) for one night, too. Today, we plan to find a traditional public bath (no mixed bathing). I have a package to send to Nee. I want to buy a replacement portable ashtray at the 100 yen store. Setsuko has errands and is waiting for an interview call. It's raining. So, it's a good day to catch up on the journal. 1-7APR2005 The public bath was lots of fun. I soaked in the whirlpool and had a massage in the coin operated chair. Then I went back to Setsuko's house and had a great meal and some more sake. It was time to move along and see more of Japan. I would miss the friendly hospitality of Setsuko, Hifumi, and Kazutaka. The night before I left, we went to the pachinko parlor and I watched my expensive silver balls disappear. The next morning I walked to the coffee shop with my pack and, armed with Setsuko's training, I jumped on the Japanese rail system. I headed for Okayama via the Shinkansen (bullet train) and then took a local train to Kasaoka(well, really five different trains), then a ferry to Shiraishi-Jima. I arrived at about 6pm and picked up a key from the office at the jetty. I shouldered my pack and followed the signs about 500m to the top of a hill. A local lady met me and checked me into the International Villa. I relaxed and chatted with the two other guests and then decided to get a bite to eat. Well, Shiraishi-Jima is a very small island and there were no restaurants and after 8pm, no stores. I had to rely on the kindness of two other guests or I would have had no supper. A little wine, some cheese and crackers and I was ready for my luxurious Japanese style bath. The room was very nice and cheap by Japanese standards (about $25 per night). The next morning I awoke to find I was the only guest. I had a peaceful day washing my clothes, exploring the beach and finding an internet connection at the local B&G building. I also managed to replenish my cash supply at the ATM at the local post office. I had a quiet evening and this time had an instant noodle meal purchased before 8pm. I listened to my music on the sound system and finished my book. The next morning I headed for Hiroshima. I rode the train and tracked down a very ordinary ryokan and took off to see the A-bomb Dome and the Peace Museum. Even though I have read extensively about the attackon Hiroshima, it was a sobering experience to be there. The image that haunted me from my reading was the rivers full of dead and dying people. Every time I crossed a river, this vision came to me. After a game of hide and seek with my hotel, I went to sleep for the night. The next morning I found a good internet cafe and updated my website photos. I headed for Shimonoseki by train and stayed at a capsule hotel. This is a very small room the sized of a bed with a TV. Not bad, but a little cramped. Now I was ready for my big adventure. I took a taxi to the entrance to the expressway. I got out and was ready to start hitchhiking when a policeman told me "no hitchhiking on the expressway". I asked directions to a legal place and started walking when he said, "stop". Fearing the worst I went back. The kindly policeman had secured a ride for me! I rode with Reiko in her friend's brand new Toyata van complete with video map system to Kokura. Then Reiko found me a ride going south. I rode with Yasuko and her dog Lam. Along the way we stopped at very nice pottery shop in the mountains. I watched Hakeme make two dishes and then he invited me to drink tea and we ate a few snacks. I poured him a glass of sake and we had a great talk. As I left, in a gesture of great kindness he gave me a sake cup that he had made. Yasuko made a phone call then asked me to stay with her and her husband at their farmhouse. Although I had originally planned to go to Aso-san and camp out, I couldn't resist the chance to visit another Japanese home. When we arrived in Hita, Yasuko delivered me to the house of Segawa and Koichi. She had to go to a town meeting and Segawa liked to practice his English. I had a pleasant chat while drinking green tea and toasting my feet under a great Japanese invention--a skirted table with a heater. Segawa writes haiku and takes photographs and is a retired furniture salesman. I took Segawa out to dinner at the restaurant where Yasuko's husband, Matsaru, is the chef. Well, at least I tried because at the end of a good meal Segawa refused to let me pay. We all went to Yasuko's house and when I arrived I was shone to my classic Japanese room. It had everything: a futon, a low table, flowers, rice paper sliding doors and tatami mats. The we went to the common room next to the kitchen and put our feet under the warm table. Neighborhood girls came by to practice their English and I had a very enjoyable time. After Matsuru got off work, he came home and had a bento for dinner. I also talked to Miiko, a travel counselor, on the phone. The next morning, Yasuko fed me and Matsura a Japanese style breakfast. Then we set off to put me on the road to Beppu. On the way we saw the Mameda Sake Factory and Hagio Sakura Park. The park was filled with families out for a day of hanami (it seems to mean viewing cherry blossoms or chilling out) She found me a good spot on the road to Beppu and I started hitchhiking again. After a pleasant hour in the spring morning sun, Koshiro and Fumiyo stopped their truck and offered me a ride. The ride was very scenic with vistas of mountains and streams. Every few minutes Fumiyo got a call on his cellphone and made some notes in a book. I asked him if he was a bookie. It took a while to explain that. They dropped me at the Kanawa hot springs area and I made my way by bus to the Beppu Youth Hostel. The next day I visited the Shibaseki Onsen and decided to check out the Hihokan Sex Museum. There were pornographic porcelain figures and drawings from all over the world and a very educational film. Most amusing was a lifesize display of Snow White and the Seven (dirty) Dwarfs. Oh the things you find in Lonely Planet! The next day I returned to Shimonoseki to pick up my shaving kit (made by Nee from cloth hand-woven by her grandmother) and to catch the ferry for Pusan, Korea. Japan turned out to be much more interesting than I expected thanks to Setsuko and to Yasuko. The Japanese people are some of the nicest and most hospitable I've ever met. |
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