クレイグの日本

I’ve just had my first Japanese island holiday, on Hachijojima.

As usual (our holidays always start like this) we woke up at a crazy hour of something like six, assembled outside the door and set off for Haneda Airport.

We plunged out of the clouds of Tokyo and into bright sunlight, not dissimilar to when flying in England. The flight there was only 45 minutes and ANA failed to provide an English newspaper like JAL do, so I decided to disobey those stupid rules restricting the use of MP3s and sit there enjoying the sun. I mean seriously, how can an MP3 interfere with flight instruments?!

Plunged back into clouds (because islands can be cloudy too ) and landed.

Hachijojima is a highly vegetated volcanic island with two mountains, maybe about the land size of the Sydney CBD, about 300km from the mainland. It’s very quiet and doesn’t have much but it is famous for onsens, aloe vera, it’s swimmable warm oceans and I almost forgot the bioluminescent mushrooms!

In the afternoon, we had a scuba session booked and it was so so fun that it has knocked snorkelling out of my interests. Scuba diving from now on! The water wasn’t tropical or anything special but much like Clovelly. Only differences really were that it wasn’t crowded and one can see schools of cuttlefish/squid here. My Japanese dictionary tells me cuttlefish and squid are the same thing but that can’t be right. Someone explain the difference? Our scuba instructor was a cool guy and kept us entertained.

On the second day we visited a “dairy farm” which I would have called some cows and a fence. I tried to go and pat the cows but they ran away from me. Thankfully, a rather fantastic view made up for the lack of cow-patting.

Feeling lethargic about searching for bioluminescent mushrooms at night, we went to the information centre to check them out there instead. They had a display of them curtained off and it was like seeing glow worms in mushroom form. I wonder if they have any intoxicating effect…

Next memorable moment was experiencing (seeing and feeding grass to) a rare animal found only on Hachijojima and parts of China called a Kyon. It looks like a miniature deer, has funny eyes and goes crazy for grass (the green blade growing type).

That night I waited patiently for the onsen (hot baths) to empty but gave up when there was one man left who didn’t seem to want to come out. So I went in and he got out fairly quickly afterwards. Maybe the being alone and naked in the company of a foreigner got to him. Anyway, I was happy. I had an indoor/outdoor onsen from which nothing but the Pacific Ocean could be seen, to myself.

Dinner was mostly a variety of sea creatures from the aforementioned ocean. I can’t say I snacked in.

The morning of day three, sunlight shined through our hotel room as if a present to us from Hachijojima for our last day. We spent it well, driving around in our rental car, checking out the aloe vera fields, lighthouse, cafés and goats. “GOATS?!” you may ask. Yes, we spotted some goat(s?) in the car and prompty reversed into a large cow dropping in an attempt to park. The goats were also fed grass and they entertained us for ten or so minutes.

So, I think that sums up my holiday.

Just been winter shopping. 2 thick shirts and 3 jumpers all under $100! How I love Japan.

In desperate need of a haircut. I’m going to Hachijojima (an island 300km of the coast) on Tuesday and I don’t want to be scuba diving with insane hair!
Operation emergency haircut commences tomorrow.

EDIT: I had a haircut, the photo below is of me, my newly cut hair and my funky hairdresser (Satomi’s friend, Yuki)!

I had cooking class today. It’s so great! Instead of the usual sitting in class learning food formulas and how calories are going to kill us all, we get to make our own lunch.
Differences to Year 8 cooking is that we don’t spend periods studying the meal beforehand and that it is an actual meal not cookies or muffins or whatever it was we cooked. Yes, I know cookies and muffins are great but you can’t live off them for the rest of your life!
Anyway, today was miso marinated mackrel, soy spinach and egg broth soup.

On Sunday I met with Daniel and took him to the maid cafe that I went to with Sam and Kaspar that I’ve yet to blog about (but will, sometime). We also checked out new cameras for me and a new laptop for him.
Just before we were going to go home Daniel found a Brazilian spit roast joint so he wanted to sit down and have something. I ended up having an acai juice and we shared a bowl of what I’d call cheese damper balls. I’m sure it sounds better in Portuguese.
When I got home, I attacked my broken camera with a screwdriver because really I’m not quite ready to folk out $500 for a new one. I managed to fix the problem but reassembly was a pain in the arse - the alignment of the lens must be exact otherwise it stuffs and then requires ten minutes to unstuff. So yes, as new, YAY! I’m on my way home as I write this. To up my exercise and cut train usage I walk from a farther station. What’s cool though is the walk is a multiple kilometre long river/garden with board walk. If I had a professional camera I’d be here to take photos in a jiffy.
Until next unoccupied moment!

I’ve just had a jam packed fun day. I started my day with a ride in a shinkansen (bullet train) to Odawara, which in itself is excitement enough! It was my first time in one so I feel I must report the experience.

I bought a shinkansen-only ticket yesterday on my run, unsure if it alone would let me ride, which in the end didn’t. What I had to do was buy a cheap admission on my end and get Tillie to bail me from her station by buying some on her end (thanks Tillie!).

Anyway, the experience! It did zoom, but it wasn’t surprisingly fast. The shinkansen tracks are raised from the ground so looking out the window feels like you’re in a plane about to hit the runway. As smooth one too! Disappointment with the seating however, I had to use the smoking car to have a window seat. Looking forward to a faster/longer shinkansen experience when mum comes.

From Odawara we caught a train to Hakone. Hakone can be done by car or otherwise but most people (ourselves inexcluded) decide to take the scenic transport route. The first was a train that zigzagged up on of Hakone’s mountains by reversing the same way out of each station but on an inclining track. Funny to see the confused ones wondering why we were reversing. Second was a 20゜inclined train pulled up by a cable. Halfway up I was playing with my camera and checked the memory stick slot to find it was empty. Because my screen has now broken, I couldn’t tell it wasn’t actually taking all the photos I took that day. I was pissed off. Am now in much need of a new camera. On this second cable train type thing we could see the clearing in the trees for the large kanji that they bonfire once a year on the mountain (wiki photo).

The third transport component of this adventure was a cable car that delivered us to Owakudani Station (wiki photo), where a few things can be done. Whilst on the way to Owakudani you pass over the workers below working near the smoking sulfur-releasing ground. The whole of Owakudani smells of sulfur, and while Tillie hated the smell, I don’t mind it so it was OK. We both bought a cooked sweet potato and set on our way to see the sulfur boiling pond thingyos (maybe like a geyser but with gas and not so insanely powerful). At the top of a small trail the were hard-boiling eggs in the ponds which made them black eggs once they came out. It’s the thing to eat up there so we bought a dozen to share. Sadly they weren’t very different to their white counterparts.

Off we were on a different cable car to Lake Ashi for our pirate boat trip to the other end of the lake, haha. I think the population of that boat was 50% foreign, the largest ratio of foreigners I had come across until a few hours later (I’ll get to it). Took many a-photo but sadly I can’t retrieve them from Tillie yet.

We arrived at Hakone-machi (Hakone city) and did some exploring of souvenir shops, little Japanese boutique shops and a temple. An extremely friendly storekeeper enticed us in with free tea and samples of all sorts of food, so we had a look. Then she showed us these boxes that required up to 24 moves to open. Great for keeping secrets I imagine.

The bus stop was already crowded when we got there and we’d managed to decide to catch a bus before the last service thankfully. The bus was 25 minutes away but there was a line already and we did want to sit when we got on the bus so Tillie stood and I sat patiently in the line. We farewelled Hakone from the bus while the sun set.

At the station we arrived at next, providing us with a route back to Odawara, there was a whole group of Australian looking teenage boys. We got on a waiting train and when the teacher of the group was asking people if the train was going where they wanted in Japanese I stepped in. So they all bundled in and we got talking with the teacher, who happened to be a Japanese teacher at Barker College. So here we were in a train carriage with 30 or so Barker boys and their teachers, which outweighed the ratio to Japanese by more than 50%. It was really odd to see so many Australian teenagers at once because it’s been so long.

At Odawara, we sent the group off in the direction of the shinkansen and Tillie and I went to get purikura (common thing to do in Japan). With no time for coffee, I set out to Kawasaki to meet Satoshi. Received a phone call from dad so that kept me entertained on the way there. After arriving at Kawasaki with an hour to spare I decided to go to Uni Qlo (major clothing retailer) for a cheap jumper, of which I did score for $20. Met Satoshi, he did what he needed at his fathers office and then we set out to have dinner with his mother. She’s a real character, always makes me laugh. Today she said (in English) in a creepy voice, “Come in…”. She meant when we go over to their house on Monday we should “come in” and clean, haha.

So anyway, a shinkansen ride, a trip to Hakone, meeting the Australian population on a train and dinner with Satoshi’s mother. What else could one need from a day?!

The Tamagawa is the most famous River in Japan, separating the Tokyo metropolitan area from Kanagawa (second most populus area of Japan), home to the two famous cities Yokohama and Kawasaki. I live near the river on the Kanagawa side and go to school near the river on the Tokyo side. It’s about the only green/natural thing anywhere near Tokyo so it’s great to be near it. My new Friday timetable consists of two free periods in the middle of the day. I’m supposed to be in the library for them but it’s so damn uncomfortable it’s impossible to study in. Which is why, today, I have decided to spend my Friday free periods lying in the grass on the banks of the river eating lunch, studying Japanese or blogging like now. There are mums and grandpas with kids having picnics, elderly men fishing in the river, cyclists out cycling, joggers out jogging. The sky is blue, the grass is green, the river is sparkling, the sun is shining, the birds are twirping and there’s a nice warm breeze. This is what I call a place to study!

I’m currently being taught Australian history by my Japanese history teacher. This teacher is so interesting, even though it’s in Japanese it’s more interesting than it ever was in English lol. Things I’ve learnt today: * Tasmania supplies Japan with soba noodles out of season. * There’s a mountain in New Zealand called Mt. Cook.
I’m sure the list will keep growing!

Yesterday at two thirty in the morning we had another earthquake. We hadn’t had one, or at least I haven’t noticed one in months! Sometimes you get the odd bitchy one that shakes you awake (I’m a futon user). I’m still not quite used to them yet so it’s always a mental process of “Why have I gone dizzy?” then “Oh no I’m not, that’s just coming home” then “Oh no, it IS an earthquake!”. Then you (or at least I do) sit watching the furniture, thinking about bullet trains and gas pipes and people walking on the street while the ground dances. As long as the massive overdue Tokyo earthquake doesn’t hit while I’m here I think I’ll always be intrigued by them. Today, I’m back at school and I’ve just had an IT lesson. We’re obtaining the fantastic skill of copy and paste in Excel. Terribly hard, I know. I’m trying my hardest! These teenagers seem like cavemen but they live in this technologically advanced world. *shrug* Just had a yum cooked lunch. Loving the Japanese style lunchbox! “Obento” if you’re Wikipediaing. Better get back to a completely ununderstood calligraphy lesson!

Just been to IKEA Japan with Tilly! Went there to purchase a $5 reading light but instead came back with one costing $15 and one of those curly bamboo things for $1.50! Probably can’t smuggle it home though

We caught the free IKEA bus which happened to play a video of this Swedish blonde speaking Japanese playing over and over. She had such perfect Japanese I’m fairly certain it was dubbed. Anyway, weird bus video experience that.

Oh, forgot about the non-IKEA stuff we did today in all that IKEA excitement. We went to Sakuragicho because I knew there were good shops for clothes shopping. In need of a nice cheap jumper due to this fantastic cold weather it changed to in a matter of two days. Didn’t find anything perfect which is good for budgeting but not great for body temperature. Tokyo has some great districts of second-hand clothing so I’ll resume my search of a good jumper in those places when I confirm this isn’t just a cold wave (opposite of heat wave is…?) Almost home so I’ll get onto that Fuji blog if I don’t feel MSN-sociable, lol.

So after many failed attempts of trying to blog I have an idea. Do small blogs on my phone whilst unentertained on trains and such. Like now. Today’s plan was to meet a giant bunch of AFS exchange students in Kamakura and check out the things there again. Kamakura has a giant Buddha and a beach among a few other rare things. Anyway just had a message saying it’s cancelled so I’m now on my way to Oofuna to meet Tilly and decide what we can do today. It was cancelled I’m sure due to weather because Tokyo just turned wintery and is currently raining. I love this weather!

Tilly is running late so I had a coffee at my local coffee shop which does the best coffee in Japan and has a friendly owner. He always goes “Hot chai, isn’t it?” usually my reply is yes but today I surprised him by deciding to check out the coffee and have a latte.

Almost at Yokohama now so I’ll wrap up this blog. Hopefully I can keep up this style. I think I have to add photos from my computer at a later stage because if I send phone photos it likes to append an essay of gobbledygook to the end of the blog instead.

P.S Almost have the Fuji blog ready too so check back! Comments, comments, comments?

So, for the last umpteen hours I’ve been trekking Mt. Fuji. It’s a hell of an amount of work climbing from 2000m in altitude to 3776m. Currently writing this at 3454m. Brain complaining of lack of oxygen but surprisingly my legs are yet to. You all complain it’s cold in Sydney?! Try trekking Mt. Fuji in skiwear! Over and out.

Blog written whilst ascending Mt. Fuji. My blog-by-phone checker stuffed up and is now working you see.

The librarian is vacuuming the tables. What the…?

I just consumed a seriously yummy strawberry crepe. Definitely to be repeated.

Home in 10mins

Now, the fine art of sleeping in public is something the Japanese usually do very well. Sleeping ridged enough not to fall into the next passenger, waking up just in time for their stop on the train, not snoring and actually looking presentable. I’ll need major help with the latter two but it’s a skill I want to obtain.
I saw a man sleeping on the escalator. Naturally, I thought he’d wake up in time. Nope. Wasn’t a pretty sight in Shinjuku peak hour. Provided my entertainment however.

I thought while I’m sitting here bored on the train I may as well be blogging about yesterday…

Classical Japanese looked and sounded more boring than Shakesphere (and we thought nothing could out-bore it). Maybe if we were translating old kiddy songs into hiragana I may have had a chance. I’m thinking along the lines of kaeru no uta…

English grammar was fun. I actually helped people and read stuff out. It’s such a luxury to have a fluent English speaker. I don’t have to talk like a child and with a Japlish accent I’ve managed to perfect here.

I had computing in which we practised typing English. Haha I wasn’t too bad until it changed to typing kanji!

I had the choice of Calligraphy, Art or Music. I picked Calligraphy partly because I might learn some Kanji but mostly because I suck at Art and Music. The teacher ended up being the one who offered to teach me Kanji on Mondays and Tuesdays. She doesn’t speak much English. Should be interesting.

Due to the Calligraphy teacher holding me back to talk to me, I lost my class and wandered around waiting for someone to find me. They found me and i’d only missed 15 minutes or so. I played Badminton, thankfully one of the few sports I can actually play. Ended the lesson with some games of dodgeball during which I was a spectator.

Wow this blog has given my fingers a workout and some highly needed practise on this japhone.

If you are reading this, which you are, entertain me on my phone email by using the form on the right.

From a Japanese classroom, over and out.

This is Craig, reporting to his blog by means of mobile phone. Exciting!