I survived Japan and had a great time! It was a very exhausting trip! We walked all day, everyday! It was great! :) The weather was pretty great- in the high 40's! It was one of the those vacations where you need a vacation from your vacation! ha. Which explains why I called this weekend "Megan's Timeout Weekend". I spent Saturday doing... nothing. I watched movies ALL day.
Kyoto- We spent maybe 8 hours in Kyoto, so I feel like I didn't get to see much there. We spent our time in Gion. This is where geishas began and continue to work today. In Kyoto, they are known as geikos. Most people think that geishas wear the white face makeup. However, they are called Maikos and are a geisha's apprentice.
Here are some pictures of the Maikos that I saw on the streets of Gion. We got very lucky and happened to come across the area where there is a large population of them. There was a crowd of people and camera crews waiting to spot a geisha or maiko. It took us 15 minutes to figure out what everyone was waiting for. It was funny because all the foreigners that we saw/met were asking each other what was going on.
We took an overnight bus to Tokyo that evening and arrived in there at 8 AM. Thank you tylenol pm. We arrived at the bus station and that was were the beginning of when our almost constant confusion began. The subway system is not English/ foreigner friendly. However, the Japanese people were SO kind. People would do their best to try and help us. It is confusing because there is a government owned subway and a private owned subway. Many times, you need to use both to get somewhere, which requires you to get out of one subway and find the other. Each time you get on the subway, you need to buy a new ticket and know exactly how much your trip will cost. CONFUSING. We opted for the unlimited day pass to lessen our confusion.
The Japanese people were very nice and helpful. They tried so hard to help us, but many times the language barrier was too hard to break. Most of the people we came across did not speak any english or only knew a few words. I was surprised by this and thought many Japanese would speak better english than Koreans. Luckily, all of the signs were in English as well, so we had to figure it out on our own. For example, we were lost on the way back to our hostel. The subway closed and we were one stop away from our destination, but we weren't sure how far away we were. We got in a cab (which the fee started at around $8) and spent 2 minutes trying to tell our cab where we needed to go. We drove a block and realized we were at our hostel. ha.
So, Tokyo. It is a HUGE city (around 33 million) and very clean. Every little area was very different and had something to offer. I was expecting Tokyo to be like all the movies I've seen that took place there- more recently, Lost In Translation (good movie). Yes, there were a few areas that were overwhelming with people and lights, but the majority of Tokyo was nothing like that. I was your average city- but bigger and had amazing architecture.
You know, just hanging out with a sumo wrestler on the subway. Just your average day.
They loved dressing their fur balls up and treating them like children. Some like to push them around in strollers. lame.
One of my favorite things about Tokyo was the style. They had CRAZY style. It was like they all tried to put together the absolute craziest outfits possible- everyday. They would put any and all crazy patterns together or have some sort of theme. Similar to the Korean women, all of the women were very dressed up- skirts/dresses. They also dyed their hair crazy colors and used about a gallon of hairspray. It was like punk rocker meets the 80's. Fabulous.
My hero. She is a grandmother! None of you can ever say that you are too old to wear something.
Yes, they are completely serious. haha
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Also, we went to the famous fish market. Surprisingly, it did not really have a strong fishy smell. The fresher the fish, the less of the fish stank. It was SO chaotic and you had to be very aware of everything that was around you. People were hauling fish by hand or by machine. There were quite a few foreigners there and some of the workers were not so happy about it. They had just reopened the market to foreigners just a few weeks before we arrived. Apparently, they had some unruly/idiot foreigners who licked some fish and put it on Youtube. Barf. Why would you do that? I saw sea creatures that I had never seen before. Some that I see far too often (squid) and more blood than I ever want to see again. I hope this doesn't make anyone sick.
The best part of the market experience. I had sushi at 9 am, right outside of the market. Best. Sushi. Ever. That was the theme of the trip. I had sushi for almost every meal. One day, I had sushi 4 different times. They had these awesome little restaurants that had sushi on a conveyer belt. It was heaven. I just grabbed whatever I wanted - no waiting.
We went to a cool little temple. They had some traditional superstitious practices there. Burning of incense and people would fan the fumes all over themselves- not sure why, but maybe they forgot their deotorant? Sorry, that wasn't nice. Also, they had their form of holy water- they drank it and washed their hands and/or faces with it. Also, they had this area where you could see your fortune. Usually, I am not into that, but I thought that I had to do it being I was there. You had to pay about $1. Then you shook this metal box and a chopstick (how cliche') came out. The chopstick had a word or letters on it- you had to find the same lettering on a drawer. Then, you grab your fortune that is written on a piece of paper. I was really excited to read it. I thought it was fun... until i read mine. I think I got the worst fortune out of all. Basically, I have nothing but sorrow and pain to look forward to. Please remember my blond hair, because soon it will be gray from all the stress and hardships I will go through. Puhlease. My life may not be perfect, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't change a thing.
So, our last evening in Tokyo turned out to be a little different than we expected. We were going to catch our bus called "the midnight bus". Well, Brittney booked it last minute, the night before we left. She didn't write down the time of departure, but we assumed it would be the same time as the other bus. We should have double checked the time. We were wrong. We missed the bus that we HAD to take to make our flight the next morning in Osaka. After 30 min or so of trying to talk to the workers in the station and see what our options were, we decided to take the high speed train the next morning. We chose the bus in the first place to avoid the expensive train. We knew we would get on, but didn't know what to do in the mean time. The station was closing and we had 3 hours to kill before it would reopen at 4 am. Out of desperation, we remembered there was a small changing room in the downstair bathroom- carpeted floor. We thought we could hide in there. We tried and got caught. ha. We got escorted out of the station. ha. So, we left, obviously. There was NOTHING around the station. You would think that there would be atleast a bar, but no. The subway was closed and the cabs were impossible. We decided we were going to find a place to sleep outside, being the only hotel around was the Ritz Carleton, no thank you. We found a few good spots, only to get closer and realize they were already taken. Seriously. We were competing with the homeless to find a spot to sleep. Long story, short- we found a spot, but got cold. We gave in and went to Fedex to surf the web for 2 hours. I slept at the desk. Got on the train the next morning and made our flight. Craziness.
This is how happy we were with sleeping outside.
Yes, it was an eventful trip. I'm am so thankful to have a place that I can call home- a bed to sleep in and blankets. Fedex will hold a special place in my heart for at least a few months.
Japan was awesome- very beautiful. I can't wait to go back and see the southern half- Hiroshima and the smaller islands. I would also like to spend some more time in Kyoto. There is so much more to see there.
xoxox
ps. I will always double check departure times. Lesson learned.
Happy Birthday/Belated Birthday to MINDY and BRIANNA! I love you!
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