Out of touch...

We are heading out on a 5 day trek around the mountains of ladakh near
Leh tommorow, so will obviously be out of EMail.

We are going with a couple other americans on a trip set up by one of
the local hotels with horses and food and all that stuff. Should be
interesting.

Comments

Just to let everyone know, we turned on public comments, so you do not need to register or anything like that any more.

Japan Summery

All in all Japan was great. I am actually surprised that it does not
see any more American tourists because the flight there is not really
that much worse then Europe and it is probably less expensive then
Europe with the current state of currencies.

It is also, I think, more interesting then Europe because rather then
seeing a region that was the source of a lot of American culture, you
are seeing a place that has kind of developed in parallel with the US,
to the extent that it has a similar level of affluence and
sophistication, but based on an entirely different cultural base. The
result is almost a parallel universe to what you know, with a lot of
things staying the same, but very simple things being very different.

So, here is a list of the highlights and lowlights in my humble opinion:

Highlights:

- Food: The quality of food, especially at reasonable prices in Japan
is beyond compare. Even at the humblest lunch counter you can get a
very tasty Ramen or Curry dish for about 5 dollars. Also, rather then
most countries you visit they do not only have a lot of their own
cuisine, they are similar to the US in that they have restaurants that
are from all over the globe, each with a Japanese twist.

- Lodgings for budget travelers (especially solo): Japan has a lot of
very clean hostel type places, traditional Japanese B&Bs and business
hotels (basically similar setup to a regular hotel but the room is
really small). All of these can be had between 20 and 50 dollars a
night per person. Being Japan security and cleanliness are never an
issue and except for Tokyo location is usually good. The only catch
is that a lot of stuff is per person, so cost goes up with more
people.

- Transportation: JR is incredible, trains go everywhere, always run
on time and are fast and comfortable. It cost a lot to buy tickets,
but with your JR pass, this is of no concern to you.

- Service: Japanese people take even the lowliest job and preform it
with exceptional professionalism. Even the counter person at a quick
mart usually treats you like you are at a 5 star hotel.

- Outdoors activities: Japan has a lot of really beautiful places,
and you really need to diversify you trip of you could get tired of
just big cities.

- Baths: Scoff now at the big attraction of bathing, but after one or
two times you are hooked.

Lowlights:

- Language: Japan is the most difficult place in the world for
English speakers. Restaurant menus are rarely in English and every
transaction is a challenge.

- Meeting People: Imagine how difficult is would be to meet people if
you went to the US and did not know English. It is pretty much like
that. I had more success in nature areas where more well to do
Japanese world travellers hang out.

- Reservations: Unlike India you cannot just go places and just find
a place to stay, reservations at least a couple of days in advance are
a good idea.

- Tokyo: I had some good times in Tokyo, but cheap accommodation in
the city is not located in the best districts and transportation is a
pain. Travelling from one part of the city to another always takes at
least 20-30 minutes on a train, and that really eats into your day.
Its almost like if you go you should pick one or two areas of town and
stay there, forgetting that the rest of the city exists. More
moderate sized Japanese cities have plenty of stuff to keep you
entertained but are a lot easier to get around.

In India

Finally made it to India. Certainly a little of a shock going from
the most organized place in the world to one of the least. But
overall, things are pretty good.

We stayed in the Pharanj area of Delhi which is near the New Delhi
train station. It was an area with a kind of busy bazaar that was
hectic as is the norm in India, but in a pleasant kind of way. I was
interested in how a hotel was going to be in the 30 dollar a night
area (only other trip was with Big D paying the bills) and was
pleasantly surprised by it being perfectly fine. Certainly was not
the ritz, but had decent A/C, 40 channels of TV and a fridge.
Bathroom was nothing special but was fine.

Mostly dealt with getting plane tickets and cell phones in Delhi.
Really only had one bad experience which was going to Old Delhi. That
place was pretty much everything that is bad about India, with
annoying people selling stuff and just a overwhelming crush of people.
Smells and sights there were pretty gross as well, and I am someone
who likes India. Needless to say we were there for about 15 minutes
before we grabbed the first auto rickshaw and high tailed it out of
there.

Did have fun later however at this strange bar that was basically a
restaurant where they just put as many people at the tables that walk
in the door. Had some interesting conversations with a Nigerian
businessman and Indian merchant marine sailor that were drinking beer
at our table. Also watched the end of an England-India cricket match.

The one issue with this is that at 5:40 in the morning our plane left
for Leh, which is at 3500m (around 12,000 feet) high in the mountains
near Tibet. I was certainly regretting my 3 giant beers early this
morning and in the thin air. It is really something else, you kind of
just feel like you are floating, it is kind of like a day long
hangover actually. Hopefully things will be a little better
tomorrow.

Leh is really cool so far, it kind of reminds me of the planet that
Luke is from in Star Wars. There are a fair number of western
tourists here, but the town is still quite pleasant and very low
stress, for India.

Nipo-brasileiro

So last night was yet another night of random occurrences and extraordinary chance events that converged for an incredible night. Andy and Ian came to drop me off in a hostel in this normally sleepy neighborhood when re ran into the Asakusa Samba festival - I kid you not. I had heard that there were many Japanese that emigrated to Brazil from some of the school teachers we met, but I had no idea of the extent of influence on the Japanese culture. There are some 1.5 million Japanese living in Brazil or claim Japanese heritage. Apparently , many settled there after WWII. Now many Japanese-Brazilians, called Nipo-brasileiroin Portuguese, are returning to Japan for more opportunities. Interestingly, it was the Japanese immigrants that gave rise to Jiu Jitsu in Brazil.

The 28th annual samba festival held in Asakusa was incredible in its size. There were some 30 odd krewes or troupes that paraded in the streets. Each parading troupe had several samba dancers, a large group of marching dancers, a full samba band compete with multiple singers, and a man-powered float. The crowds were huge, but disconcertingly made up of many men with video and still cameras aimed at the girls. Besides sky-high school girl skirts, Japanese don't normally show that much skin which explains the throngs of old men. I was stunned at the reactions of the crowds though. Aside from the grinning old men, not a single onlooker was dancing, swaying, tapping their toes, or having any other emotion show. I guess it:s pretty typical Japanese that I have come to realize - totally stoic, unless alcohol is involved. These people looked they were at a funeral procession. Well, I didn't let that stop me from enjoying the music as it should be enjoyed. I was the sole dancer in the crowd for the entire parade. Andy and I had great spots near the competition judging of the parade, check out some of the photos.

Later that night, we again stumbled into heaven - this time sushi heaven. After traveling to many countries, one principle about lines is universal: if there are natives standing in line to a restaurant you had better get in it also. Though we had to wait in a line for about 20 minutes, this conveyor belt sushi restaurant was everything that a non-Japanese speaker could want. Color coded plates held scallops, 3 kinds of tuna, salmon, fried squid, mackrel, brain (I could not tell from which animal, but we ate it anyway), prawn, sweet rock shrimp, clams.... It went on and on until were were all stuffed, a stack of plates in front of us.

To top off the perfect night in Tokyo, we rented a karoke box and sang our hearts out. Then we partied with the Brazilians in some basement bar. Now off to India, no girls in thongs there....

Another Quick Update

- Spent 3 nights in Kyoto, had a pretty good time, but frankly I was
not overwhelmed by the actual sights and tourist attractions. I was
discussing with Andy one night that the real notable experience in
Japan is really just being in Japan. The temples and such were cool
to see, but to some degree I felt that once you had seen one, you had
kind of seen them all.

- I got my first injury of the trip in the most ridiculous was
possible. Basically I slipped on the wet floor of a elevator, in a
sento (Japanese bath) while naked and got a cut on my toe. While we
were in Kyoto there was a sento (which is basically the same as an
onsen, but with artificially heated water) that we went to twice that
was quite large so the locker room was on the first floor and the
baths were on the second and third. As it says in the lonely planet,
probably the only time in your life you will ever have the pleasure of
riding in an elevator naked.

- That sento was also the first I have been to with an electric bath,
which is basically a small bath that was an emitter on each side that
emits some kind of electrical or ultrasonic wave that make your
muscles spasm. We figured out eventually were the emitters were, so
it was actually quite nice to get in far away from them, where you
could not feel anything, and then put your legs near them to get the
electric massage. However at first we did not know how it worked to
Andy just jumped in right next to the emitter and jumped out of the
water with similar speed.

- We also had a fun night in Kyoto with an expenses be damned 120
dollar (total for 3) dinner and some drinking. We went to this great
place where you get portions of meat and grill them on a hot stone
that is in the middle of your table. The steak, chicken, duck and
mushrooms were out of this world. After we were looking for a bar but
stumbled across a band on the street playing sort of jazzy renditions
of Motown and various other songs the street. They must have been
music students or something because the female singer as well as the
guitarist and bassist were really incredible, and were not asking for
any money. We ended up staying until about 2 AM, and drinking a bunch
of convenience store beer with a little group of people. Was really
great, and we did at least buy a round from the convenience store for
the band to say thanks.

- Drinking beer anywhere here is legal in case anyone is wondering.

- Took Nisha and Andy to a baseball game again last night, was pretty
fun, but the Tokyo Yakult Swallows do not have nearly the organization
in the cheering section of other Japanese teams. They did have a
pretty funny dance after a run was scored that involved little
umbrellas, reminiscent of the ones used in second line.

Quick Update

Not so much time to blog now that Nisha and Andy are here.

Quick update on what we are up to:

- Spent a few days in Matsumoto, which was a very nice small city in the valley of the mountains in the center of Honshu. Stayed at a nice hotel and went to the castle as well as Japan's largest Wasabi farm. Wasabi is grown in diverted river beds and is pretty cool to see. Also had the wasabi soft serve ice cream, which was pretty tasty.

- Hiked up a large mountain, who's name escapes me, near Hakuba. It was a pretty challanging hike, the top of the mountain was around 3000m (9600 feet) and the hike up started at only 1350m. The hike up involved a long time hiking on a glacier, and the views from the top were incredible. Definately the coolest mountain hike I have been on. We spent the night at a cabin at the top (for the pricy fare of 6000 yen), and the thin air did not lend itself to a great night of sleep, but there was really no way to do the hike in one day without starting crazy early in the morning.

- We are in Kyoto now and about to check out some of the sites. Will update on this later.

Rundown with the whole crew in Japan

So Andy got here 2 nights ago and Nisha got here 1 night ago, a few random notes:

- Went to Shibuya (giant times square like area) with Andy the first night and just drank beer on the street and people watched. I know for a fact that there is nothing illegal about drinking on the street in Japan, but it is considered a little low class, but what does that matter to me?

- I think Andy and Nisha's favorite thing about Japan so far is the grocery store. Basically, we can't go in there without shashimi being purchased and consumed. They seemed particularly impressed with the 298 yen (about $2.50) sample of fatty tuna that had about 6 good size pieces and probably would have gone for about 15 buck in a US sushi restaurant.

- Last night in Tokyo we ended up in Ginza, which is kind of a Park Avenue high class district. After wondering around a little bit we see a basement bar that says "Country Western" and figured we have to check this out. Anyway, ended up being on of the smallest bars I have ever been in with about 8 patrons and a four piece Japanese old-time country music outfit. Certainly one of the strangest bars I have ever been in, but we did listen to a few songs and have a good time.

- We trucked up to Matsumoto today, which is up in the mountains, and certainly one of the more attractive Japanese cities I have been to. We had dinner at the hotel tonight and once again were treated to horse shashimi, which is evidently the local specialty here. I was wondering what the deal with this was, after my previous horse experience, but evidently I just stumbled into the two places in Japan where horse is the big thing to eat, up here in central Honshu and in southern Kyushu. Anyway, the horse was quite tasty once again, but perhaps I need to move on to a new local delicacy.

Osaka

Just a quick thing, that I really liked Osaka when I was there. In retrospect, I probably should have done more planning to avoid going to Tokyo, and rather flown into the Kansai airport near Osaka and Kyoto.

Basically everyone says that you need to go to Kyoto when you are in Japan, which we are doing later this week, but I did kind of want to experience the big city neon lights of a Japanese city as well. For this reason I set things up so I would have to go to Tokyo several times while I am here. As I found out however, Osaka (which is only 30 minutes from Kyoto) offers much the same crowded neon experience, with cheaper accommodations and over a much more compact area.

Basically, my main problem with Tokyo is that because it is so big, it takes a lot of train riding to get anywhere, and cheap accommodations are not in the best parts of the city. In Osaka I was able to stay in the heart of the entertainment district and everything of note was only a few subway stops away. Also, while Tokyo may have more of the Rodeo Drive kind of high class stuff, Osaka is kind of grungy in a pleasant way that I actually like a little bit better.

Anyway, just a little advice to anyone who every makes it out to Japan.

Summer Koshien

Having a free afternoon in Osaka, I decided to go out to Koshien stadium (about 20 minutes out of town) and check out the National Summer High School Baseball Tournament, or Koshien.　　For those not framiliar, this is the big summer tournament that is broadcast of TV every day here and is where Matsuzaka became a legend.

Koshien stadium is supposedly one of the more historic stadiums in Japan, so I wanted to also check it out. I was pleasantly surprised when I got there that general admission seats on the side of the outfield were only 500 yen (~ $4), so I could still have a few large size Asahi cans and still be under the 2500 yen budget I had in mind for the game.

Pretty cool tournament. Imagine having teams from every high school in the country play to get to a two week tournament that is played in Fenway, in front of a more or less full crowd. It must be incredibly exciting for the kids who get to play.

Showed up in the 3rd inning of the 3rd game of the day, and unfortunately just got there in time to see the team who's section I was in give up a 6 run inning, to make the score 6-2. I sort of felt like I had to root for the team who was down, because I was in their cheering section, although only about half of the section was up and chanting with every at bat, so I could just relax and drink my beer. The first game was pretty ho-hum however, ended up being 9-2, with the starter for the other team going 9 and never giving up another run (I think his name ended in -shima based on my limited knowledge of Kanji). He was throwing 147kph (91 MPH) gas and seemed pretty dominant.

Luckily though the games go very quickly, since the pitchers throw a lot of strikes and work fast. So, despite sweating off about 2 pounds in the hot Japanese sun, I decided to stick around for some of the next game, at least until the winner was obvious.

This time my team was from Meikun, which I could tell because their Jerseys were in English rather then Kanji, which about half the teams do. Of course a mini rally in the 1st makes the score 1-0 for the other guys, so I am starting to think that I am a jinx or something. Anyway, a couple of clean innings on both sides, with Meikun's pitcher ringing up quite a few guys and we start to see a classic pitchers duel in the making. In the 5th, a guy for Meikun hits a solo shot down the line, and now we are at 1-1. Both pitchers now settle in, and you start to get the sense that this game might finish under the lights.

Both starters finish the 9th, as the sun sets behind the mountains. I took note of the pitches on the last at bat of the 9th thrown by the Meikun pitcher (someone told me his name was Nagai) to see how he was doing.

- 144 kph (89 MPH) fastball, swing and miss.

- 90 kph (55 MPH) looping curve/ephus pitch, batter frozen for a called strike.

- 146 kph (90 MPH) fastball, out of the zone.

- 120 kph (75 MPH) breaking ball, swing and miss.

Needless to say he was still going strong.

Evidently there is no word in Japanese for bullpen, because we pressed on to the 12th with both pitchers still in. The other teams guy was more of a 120 kph junkballer, but obviously quite effective as well. Finely in the 12th, the Meikun pitcher hits a ringing single from the 9 hole, and is eventually pushed across with the help of an error to make the score 2-1. Then, you guessed it, Nagai comes back out to finish it in the 12th, finishing them 1-2-3. An incredible performance by Nagai, and most in my section leave happy.

Hiroshima

I spent yesterday checking out the sites and the city of Hiroshima.

Ironically enough of the big cities I have visited in Japan I thought Hiroshima was actually one of the nicest. The Peace Memorial park in the middle of town is actually quite unusual for Japan, where large city parks are pretty non-existent except for castle grounds and temples. Also, the city is built across many islands on a river delta, so you often have a nice view down a river.

As for the memorials themselves, the A-Bomb dome in particular is probably the most touching monument or memorial that I have ever seen. The fact that is was created by the event that it is there to memorialize is a large part of that. Even though it was not created by some architect or team of designers, it is better then anything that anyone could have created.

It is obvious that the building itself was quite attractive when it was built, and the fact that it is half destroyed, with rubble strewn still inside it and around the perimeter lets you imagine what it must have been like to see it soon after its creation. But then resting on top, created by destruction as well is the metalwork of the dome, which at the distance that you see it from, appears to be perfect and untouched. The intricate ornament of curved metal sits on top, like it is rising from the ashes. Quite perfect.

The museum is quite well done as well, conveying a lot of the pain from that day as well as the moderate Japanese view of the situation, but stays away from wading too deep into all of the complex webs of blame that lie in war.

However, one similarity that I did find interesting between this and the right-wing war museum I visited earlier is the nuanced version of the endgame of WWII that seems pretty accepted in Japan. In the US we are pretty much told as kids that the point of the atomic bomb drop was to force and end to the war and avoid the even greater casualties that would occur during an invasion of mainland Japan.

In the version of events told in both museums the atomic bomb drop had more to do with the beginning of the cold war and posturing between the USSR and US. Basically the story goes that since the USSR had just declared war on Japan, the US feared that if both the USSR and US were to invade Japan administration of the territory after the war would have to be worked out with the Russians, so it was essential to end the war in Japan before they could get involved. Also, the US was motivated to drop the bomb to demonstrate its power to the USSR and justify the enormous costs of developing it.

This was backed up in the Hiroshima museum with excerpts of later declassified memos that discussed the need to maximise the apparent destructive impact and some memos discussing the possible congressional investigations that would take place regarding the cost of the program if it was never used. That being said, while some of this may be true, the Japanese did have ample opportunity to surrender earlier when it was obvious the war was lost. So once again the truth is probably somewhere in between.

The final thing that I found somewhat thought provoking is that for better or for worse, there is no equivalent place in the US where the damage and the history of war are so easy to feel around you. One has to wonder what the effect of the this is on the American mind (I am excluding I guess civil war battle fields, because, although horrific, they seem so far in the past, and were a meeting of armies, not a primarily civilian event). I also find it interesting that the only place that would be similar, ground-zero (although obviously not on the same scale as Hiroshima), we were so quick to pave over and clear from the earth. I guess the simple answer is money and the price of New York real estate. Or perhaps it is the American tendency to want to move on.

Random Happenings

- Went to an Onsen near Kagoshima where before you go in the tubs, you walk out to the beach in your robe and some people bury you in sand on this beach that has volcanic heat rising up from deep in the sand. I lasted about 15 minutes (which is respectable), but I never really knew what being claustrophobic was like before. It was refreshing after I got out, but was a little unsettling to be in that hot sand deep fryer.

- Met some US English teachers who were taking a vacation down to Kyūshū in Kagoshima and went out until 2 AM. Was pretty nice to get drunk with some fairly normal Americans. Until these guys most of the other westerners that I had run into were either somehow deeply involved with Japan or otherwise Japanophiles. As much as I like Japan, it was nice to be able to make fun of some of its idiosyncrasies without offending anybody or getting a rebuke from someone who thinks that everything Japanese is perfect and they can never do any wrong.

- Also ate some horse shashimi at dinner with those Americans. It was pretty tasty meat, but I think it is actually pretty expensive, since they do not give you very much.

- Camped out and climbed around Aso-san, an active volcano. The volcano was cool to look at, but even more beautiful was the grasslands surrounding it where there was some very expensive Japanese cattle grazing. Check out the flickr page for some pictures. The scene of hundreds of tourists chasing some poor cows around the open ranges was truly something to behold.

Hiking in Japan

Some random observations on hiking in Japan:

- It was nice being at the mountain huts, got a chance to meet and chat with more of the locals then you usually do, which was nice.

- The things I read in my Hiking in Japan book about the crazy sleep schedule and the top notch equipment of the Japanese hikers was absolutely true. Of course on a hike with weather conditions like Yakushima I was definitely a little jealous of their custom backpack covers and various gadgets.

- Japanese women seem to really like to hike. I would say that is was about 50/50 men to women on the trail and in the huts. There were several groups of middle aged women by themselves and a few solo women as well, which I feel like you do not see that much of in the states.

- Those middle aged Japanese women are damn tough. Yakushima was a pretty demanding hike, and carrying all that equipment with the size of the average Japanese woman's body is pretty impressive.

- Japanese hikers seem to like to stick to the well established paths, and if there is a shorter or more efficient way to see the main sites they will do it. I assume this is why on Yakushima most everyone does the trip as a one nighter between the road that goes up the south side of the mountains and one of the roads on the north side. This is really what I should have done because you really see all the good stuff and just miss some tedious hours of low altitude stuff.

- Good rain gear was a life saver (thanks again Susan). Also, being meticulous with your waterproofing on a rainy hike is essential, I should have done a better job of it so I did not have to spend 2 days going commando in rain pants.

- Bringing enough calories for a multi day hike is tough, I never ran low on energy due to not having enough food, but it was close. The Cliff bars I brought from the states were key, as well as copious amounts of PB&J.

Yakushima Traverse - Day 3

Third day, wake up at around 4:30, as that is when the earliest risers, a family of 4, has started up their stove to make breakfast. I was actually a little worried about making the ferry back to Kagoshima on this day at 3:30, so I wanted to be out on the trail by 6 AM. Thus I was not really that pissed off.

So, I packed up and was off by around 5:30, back out into the continuing rain. The only people up were ones I had not made the acquaintance of, so there would be no coffee for me today. This days hike was pretty uneventful. I worked my way down past the area with the giant ceders, which were fairly cool to see and eventually popped out on an area of the trail that was in the middle of an old railroad track. After several days of hard hiking, this was like heaven for my body, and I really flew down the trail.

This was also the time that I started encountering waves of Japanese day trippers who were making their way up to the ceders from the parking lot at the end of the railway trail. 1000 head dips and "Konishiwa"s later and I was off to the next fork int the road that would continue to lead me north. This trail was back to being a little more rustic, but not too bad. It actually was kind of scenic as it had extensive areas of stepping stones that looked like they had been laid in the feudal era. This gave it a nice appearance that made you think that a Samurai could come walking out of the mist at any time.

A little bit further down this trail I once again run into big groups of tourists, and as I find out I have merged onto a 2km nature walk trail that starts at a parking lot up the mountain. I had not idea how far this was from the perimeter road of the island, but like a horse that knows that the barn is not far away, I picked up the pace a little and started flying down the trail.

You can imagine my disappointment then when I cross the parking lot and discover that the trip down to the main road is another 4km, and once again it is on a pretty rustic trail. So I was a little disappointed, but soon the lower elevation made the sun pop out and I could see the ocean again in the distance, so things were not that bad. Also, about 1.5km down the rugged trail I came out on a logging road, which being Japan was beautifully paved. Coasting down this lonely logging road in the mountains of Japan, all I could think about is how unlikely it was that some kid from NH would ever be here.

The next thing you knew I was flying across the waves on the Hydrofoil and back in my comfy bed at the inn in Kagoshima.