japan
Will Faught
December 2011
My notes of Japan: Japanese wear masks if they’re sick to prevent spreading disease in public. There are sometimes different slippers for around the house and inside the bathroom. Koreans in Seoul tend to dress sharper. The Tokyo subway is similar to that in Seoul, although more complicated and extensive. Most people are silent on the subway. It’s taboo to talk, eat, or drink. Lots of people ride bicycles on the sidewalks.
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November 2011
Hong Kong: Long Day Of Traveling
For Monday, November 7, 2011 Narita Yama, the hostel owner, gave me a free ride to the Narita airport in the morning. I flew from there to the Shanghai Pudong airport. The architecture of the terminal was lofty and impressive. The airport had wifi, but Facebook, Twitter, and Dropbox were blocked by the Great Firewall. I then flew to Hong Kong and arrived in the evening. It was much warmer than South Korea or Japan had been, to the point where you would sweat just by standing there.
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For Sunday, November 6, 2011 Hiroshima Chris (from Australia) and I rode the Shinkansen train to Tokyo. It took five hours altogether. We had to sit apart, so I mostly listened to podcasts to pass the time. It was pleasant just to sit there and watch the landscape slide past. Tokyo At the JR station, Chris and I parted ways. He was returning home, having spent two weeks in Japan for vacation.
hiroshima japan narita tokyo travel
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Japan: Aftermath Of A Cataclysm
For Saturday, November 5, 2011 Kyoto The sky was gray and dreary. Chris (from Australia) and I took the Shinkansen train to Hiroshima. Hiroshima It was raining when we arrived two hours later. We walked a few blocks to our hostel, K’s House. After checking in, we rode the street tram to the A-Bomb Dome. We strolled around the perimeter, taking photos here and there, and reading the plaques of a few art installations commemorating the event of the bombing and the people and children affected by it.
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For Friday, November 4, 2011 Nara It was warm and sunny. I rode the train for an hour to Nara, a small city near Kyoto that’s well known for several temples and about 1,200 wild deer that roam freely in the parks, streets, and walkways of the city. They’re accustomed to humans, so they’re not shy about coming up to you to see if you have food for them. If they smell it on you, they’ll follow you around and nip at your shirt until you give them what they want.
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For Thursday, November 3, 2011 Kyoto I met Chris (from Australia) and Marion (from France) in the morning in the bar adjacent to the hostel. We biked to the Imperial Palace to see a cultural performance. We arrived late and saw only the last few minutes. Afterward, we walked around the palace grounds. There were large crowds because it was a special week in which they opened up the palace to the general public.
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Japan: A Thousand Reasons To Go Out
For Wednesday, November 2, 2011 Kyoto I upgraded my iPhone 4 to iOS version 5 in the morning using my new laptop. Then I rode a rented bicycle with Chris (from Australia), Mike (from the U.S.), and Marion (from France) to an eclectic Japanese store called Don Quixote. It sells virtually anything you can think of, from clothing to food to kitchenware to seat cushions to memory cards to shoes. It’s all packed tightly together along narrow aisles that twist and turn haphazardly.
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For Tuesday, November 1, 2011 Tokyo I did laundry in the morning, then rode the Shinkansen train with Chris (from Australia) to Kyoto. Kyoto Chris and I checked into our hostel, Backpackers Hostel K’s House Kyoto, then headed to the adjacent bar for a couple beers. I went back to my room to get something and met Mike (from the U.S.) and asked him to join Chris and I in the bar.
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Japan: Japanese Pancakes — Sort Of
For Monday, October 31, 2011 Tokyo Still being sick, I let myself sleep in again. The weather was still gray and dreary, so again I decided to stay inside and take it easy. I called Tess at 2 PM and caught up with her. In the evening, I went out to eat okonomiyaki — kind of like a Japanese pancake — delicious! — for dinner with Chris and Billy (both from Australia), Damian and Aliena (both from Canada), and Angelica and Felix (both from Sweden).
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October 2011
For Sunday, October 30, 2011 Tokyo I woke up feeling sicker than ever: sore throat, dehydrated, and exhausted. I tried to sleep in as much as I could, but the sounds of roommates and cleaners eventually forced me awake. I contemplated going with Chris (from Australia) and Stephen (from New Zealand/Canada) to the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, but I didn’t feel up to it. I tried to call Tess at 2 PM, but couldn’t reach her, then realized I was calling a day early because it was Sunday here, but Saturday there.
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For Saturday, October 29, 2011 Tokyo My throat still felt sore, so I let myself sleep in. Then I checked out of the Anne hostel and checked into Backpackers Hostel Ks House Tokyo. Using their wifi, I researched more into Japanese culture I might want to experience. I was still feeling under the weather, so I didn’t want to do a lot of strenuous walking, so I decide to check out one of the many gardens in Tokyo.
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For Friday, October 28, 2011 Tokyo I went to Harajuku, the young fashion center of Tokyo, to see the bizarre outfits and explore the clothing shops. I ate udon for the first time for lunch. I went to the Apple store in Shibuya and bought a 128 GB 11" MacBook Air. I couldn’t stand not having my own computer environment anymore. I had been having trouble finding the time or opportunity to blog about my experiences.
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For Thursday, October 27, 2011 Tokyo I went with Karlee (from Canada) to the Tsukiji fish market late in the morning. Unfortunately, the real action begins at 5 or 6 AM, so the show was mostly over when we got there. We perused the aisles of the market anyway and saw some cool things, then exited and ordered relatively cheap, super fresh sushi bowls at a nearby restaurant. Karlee was going to meet a friend at Ginza, and I had already been there, so we parted ways.
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For Wednesday, October 26, 2011 Tokyo The drinking from the night before had overwhelmed me, so I spent most of the morning waking up, cleaning up, and getting stabilized. I needed more cash (a common problem in Tokyo, I was to learn) and something to put in my stomach, so I walked to the nearest 7-11 (all 7-11s have ATMs that accept foreign cards and are open 24 hours per day), withdrew some cash, and bought a sandwich for the road.
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Japan: Royal Rockstar Ambassador
For Tuesday, October 25, 2011 Incheon Liz gave me a ride to the Incheon airport in the morning. She waived the ride fee because I donated my Going Abroad book to her hostel library. We chatted about the landscape under construction that we were passing through. The South Korean government had planned for a lot of development around Incheon, but there wasn’t enough demand for housing there, so there was a lot of suspended construction dotting the landscape.
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March 2011
A moving account of a Japanese Apple store sheltering people made homeless by the tsunami and helping them contact loved ones via their wifi network and computers.
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