So, it's a week late, but please find below the recount of my first week back in Japan. And a special thank to the strangers somewhere in my neighborhood who left their Wi-Fi open.
Written: Tue. 5/13 4:30PM
Last wednesday I woke up, made various final preparations, and drove myself to the airport. Aside from having my "shinai" (kendo stick) confiscated; check-in and security were a breeze. After getting lunch I sat down and availed myself of the airport's pay-per-day wi-fi service. At 2:40PM the flight boarded. At 3:45PM (almost on-time) the plane took off. Surprisingly my flight arrived 50 minutes ahead of schedule, which was most welcome. I keep forgetting that trans-pacific flight combines all the fun of being up all night with the fun of a long-distance bus ride. As is usual for me, I didn't get much sleep and there was very little leg room for my 2 meter frame.
At 5:45PM the next day (thursday) my flight landed at Kansai International Airport. A note for those who are gun-shy about flying: KIX is built on a man-made island in Osaka Bay, which means that when you're coming in for a landing it looks like you're going to land in the water until the last second. Quite harrowing. After going through customs and getting my fingerprints and photograph taken (new since my last trip) I found the bus to Kobe and bought a ticket. It seems that there is regular (and inexpensive) bus service between KIX and Kobe. When the bus departed at 6:35PM it was still fairly light out.
As we crossed the causeway to the mainland I watched as they continued to expand the airport's landmass by a mixture of dredging and dumping a massive amount of rock into the sea. The rest of the bus ride gave an interesting view of the greater Osaka-Kobe area. The freeway up from the airport looks like (for those in the know) I-94 through Gary, Indiana. Lots of factories, steel mills, warehouses, shipyards, and the like. By the time we got close to Kobe it was dark, but I did happen to catch both Ikea and Harley Davidson stores in the greater Kobe metro area.
The bus arrived at Sannomiya station after about an hour drive. Sannomiya is more or less the center of Kobe and is home to a lot of shopping, dining, and drinking establishments. I met the people who I'm renting my apartment through at the station and they drove me to my temporary place. On the way I got the 10 cent tour of Kobe, most of which is lost to the haze of travel.
My temporary apartment is a great place on the fifth floor of a building which is home to a small food-distribution business. The apartment is actually the business owner's pent-house which she decided to rent out, having moved elsewhere. It's fully furnished (the owner's furniture is still here) and takes up the whole fifth floor (and is moderately large by Japanese standards.) From the from balcony you can see the mountains quite well, but the sea is blocked by a row of rather tall buildings.
That first night I tried to wait up for my roommate (who came over last week and so had just started training) but fell asleep instead. At three AM I became wide awake but eventually got back to sleep, finally waking at six AM. Around eight my roommate woke up and, after making preparations for the day, we both headed towards the station. We talked along the way and got to know each other a bit. I hadn't realized it from that car, but my current apartment is about a mile from the station and is quite a walk. We both went to city hall to sign up for our "Gaijin cards" and then he had to get on the train. I did some basic shopping at the Daiei (think... K-mart made into an eight floor department store) then walked back home. Around noon I walked from the apartment in the direction of the sea. After a few minutes I arrived at Kobe Harborland which is a nice promenade along part of the waterfront. Walking along I came upon "Meriken" park (pronounced [a]merican) where there is a very nice memorial to the 1995 Kobe-Awaji earthquake. After making a circuit by walking to Sannomiya, I returned home and watched TV until I fell asleep. Again waking up at three and having to force myself to go back to bed.
Saturday my roommate and I rode into Osaka to meet with some of the people in his training group and hang out. Some of the group did Kaiten-zushi (conveyor-belt sushi) for lunch (it wasn't as good as the place in Fujisawa.) Most of what we ended up doing was sitting in a Soft-Bank store, getting everyone cell-phones (well, and getting mine re-connected.) Eventually my roommate and I came back to Kobe and, after a dinner of Japanese curry, sat and talked for a few hour before going to bed.
Sunday I decided I wanted to look around Sannomiya a bit more so I hopped on the subway (I forget when I found the subways station two blocks from the apartment, but golly it makes getting to and from the main station easier.) Once downtown I had some breakfast at McD's (you KNEW THAT was coming) and walked round for quite a while. At some point I found myself walking towards "Shin-Kobe" (which is a part of Kobe just like Sannomiya and) which is home to the local Shinkansen (bullet-train) stop. Unbeknownst to me, there's actually many many kilometers worth of mountain trails behind the train station. The area is home to a large dam and a series of very beautiful waterfalls. I wondered around the trails for a while, trying very hard not to get completely lost in the mountains. Exhausted from trekking all over I found the shin-kobe subway stop and rode home. After a nice rest I walked from the apartment towards the mountains (same range different part from earlier in the day.) In my wandering I wound a beautiful old buddhist temple (still in use) and a large park with lots of greenery (including several palm trees, to give you an idea of climate.)
Monday I once again rode into Osaka with my roommate, but this time he had to go into work so I cruised around the Nanba district for a few hours. "Nanba? What the heck is that!?," you ask. It's actually the most famous part of Osaka and it's fairly recognizable in picture form. Anyways, mid afternoon I headed home and rested there through the evening.
My plan for today was to take it easy and not go much of anywhere but my wanderlust took over this morning and I ended up walking back to Harborland via a different route. However I have been off my feet most of the afternoon ironing shirts for tomorrow, writing this, and nursing some huge blisters on both of my big toes.
And that's more or less it for my first week. I'm having a great time. The weather's been great. Everyone I've met so far has been really nice. I don't know what else I could ask for (okay, maybe an internet connection, but all in good time, right?) Hopefully I'll figure out a way to post this before it gets too much longer.
Next adventure: training starts tomorrow!
Jaa Mata Ne.
