So I got back from Japan back on October 27th–the Saturday before Halloween. As is customary these days, the trials and tribulations of the “real world” kept me from posting about my experiences for a while. Aunt Nancy says it’s not a bad thing for life to keep you from blogging, and (seeing that she works in the publishing industry) I am glad that I think she’s right.

Japan, though, was incredible. Totally worth it. Big thanks to Genevieve for letting me crash on the futon while I was in Osaka, and for lending me Lonely Planet Japan (without which I’d have spent two weeks lost on the train).

I was going to expound upon the mysteries and wonders and strangeness and haunting familiarity of everything in Japan, but a couple days ago, Charles Stross (a writer whom I admire deeply) elaborated it very fittingly in his blog. You should probably read that, too. So I’ll stick to covering the highlights of my own trip and encourage the curious to trawl my Flickr photos.

Preparedness

If anything, this vacation proved to me that I am incapable of properly planning a vacation. It’s a wonder I showed up with my plane tickets and my passport. I brought only three pairs of socks, forgot my Gateway To Japan book (which has so much more historical detail than Lonely Planet), and forgot my ATM card in Boston. When American Express cleared me to use my card (once) as a cash card, I couldn’t find an international ATM in time. My PIN expired. At one point I had to get Amex to send money via Western Union, which only has one location in Japan (and it’s in Tokyo).

Osaka

I loved this city. It was a great place to start–and finish–my visit to Japan. It has all the resources that you could need in a modern city (with the exception of a Western Union) but it doesn’t feel large or overwhelming. The subway system is very accessible (and easier to figure out than Tokyo’s), but those who are in the know will get their hands on a bicycle. I spent a couple days just riding around the city, seeing the sights, watching people, and dodging traffic. The city is far more amenable to biking than anywhere else I’ve been (besides Amsterdam).

Nightlife in Osaka is about as diverse as you need it. I got around to some Western-style bars, one or two izakaya (Japan’s answer to a tapas bar), and on our last night we rented a karaoke room. You get a private room, a huge television, and a telephone that goes directly to the bar. With all that, who needs an apartment?

This is the bike that got me everywhere in Osaka.

I regret that I didn’t get to see the Osaka Castle. The day I tried to get there, I wound up biking around three walled-off edges of the property before almost being hit by a car (and getting tired enough that I just went home). But I did walk through Namba, roam the Shitennoji flea market, and meet some awesome people.

Big shout out to Sohei and the rest of the crew at Peace Street Bar, who put on some great flair bartending demos and threw a pretty solid Halloween costume party. (I’m glad to report that I introduced them to the SoCo-lime shot. Oishii.)

Koya-san

One of the holiest sites of Japanese Buddhism; this one took me a while to find. I couldn’t quite figure out the train lines, so I wound up on an express train with a regular ticket. I got thrown off the train (very politely) in Mikkaichicho, with an hour to wait. I wandered around a bit and had some really tasty ramen at a hole-in-the-wall that used its menus to swat flies.

Once I got back on a regular train and sat through every stop on the line, I got to Gokurakubashi, where you have to take a cable car up the side of the mountain. Yet even there, the cable car was fully integrated into the country’s train “system”. I was very impressed. I was not, however, smart enough to figure out how the buses worked at the top. It turns out the drivers–but not the station attendants–have full-page instructions in English.

I stayed overnight at Eiko-in, a temple that rents out guest rooms to travelers. Dinner and breakfast were vegan–rice, soup, tempura, tofu and beans–and incredibly tasty. They got us up early in the morning to join them for morning prayers, then took us next door for the fire ceremony. (This involved a huge column of flame in a wooden building. Awesome. I’d have taken pictures if it weren’t completely inappropriate.)

Hiroshima

This is an incredible city. It exhibits a range and depth I wasn’t expecting, and I wish I’d been there for more than a day.

The A-Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Museum leave you speechless. The exhibits and artifacts at the museum present vivid imagery of what it was like to be there on August 6, 1945. It was, quite literally, hell on Earth. Yet there is no anger or rage in how the material is presented; the first section of the museum gives a very balanced account of the Japanese army’s unwillingness to surrender and the U.S. leadership’s calculation of the scale of violence that an invasion of Japan would require.

I think the people of this city showed an amazing emotional resilience. Aiding in the catharsis is a heavy emphasis on retelling the stories of survivors, who do regular sit-downs with students and travelers. Just one of the things I wish I’d made time for.

The A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima.

While there wasn’t much political sentiment in the museum (beyond complete disarmament), I think the exhibits made a very powerful case for all forms of non-proliferation efforts. Stopping Iranian nuclear weapons is a priority, but pan-European missile defense and a unilateral nuclear deal with India are just as dangerous. I’ll leave it to the Economist to write more about that.

Beyond the museums, though, Hiroshima has a great nightlife scene. I wandered around for a while looking for someplace to get dinner, and I loved seeing all the small, family-run restaurants crammed in next to night clubs and swanky bars. I ended up at a place called The Shack, munching on chicken fingers and drinking pints. If I had to do it over again, I’d want to spend a couple nights in town.

Kyoto

Genevieve and her roommate Akiko took me through Kyoto, one of Japan’s more tradition-bound cities. It has a large number of geisha houses in the Gion district, and it’s striking to see modern concrete buildings wedged right up in between classic Japanese construction. There are an amazing number of shrines and temples here, all with their own fascinating histories. But, going back to that preparedness thing, I didn’t have my book, and the English pamphlets are sparse at best.

We meandered along the Walk of Philosophy, a beautiful stone path cut along a stream that snakes a path between two major Zen temples. We had the path to ourselves, except a couple jumping carp and quiet painters.

Along the Walk of Philosophy.

One thing to be said about Kyoto: public transportation sucks. It’s all buses, and they’re slow as hell. (We went on a Saturday, which might not have been the best of ideas, but I was the only one who wasn’t answering to a 9-5 at the time.)

Tokyo

What can I possibly say about this place that hasn’t already been said? Tokyo is like New York, Las Vegas and Disneyworld rolled into one (with rice and seaweed). It’s loud, overwhelming, decentralized, garish, filled with costumes, and a real challenge to navigate. I tried to hit every neighborhood, and I almost got it done. I did meet up with veteran couchsurfer Richard Mort, who showed me a great place for fish-and-chips and pointed out some good bars.

While wandering through Ginza, I got caught up by a street performer whose search for “volunteers” stopped the moment he saw a foreigner. I made it very clear that nihongo ga wakarimasen, and after a moment of pantomime, I figured out that he wanted me to hold a disco ball over his head. He proceeded to do a spot-on of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”, but using fruit and Tabasco sauce. It’s hard to explain.

Not pictured: me, wearing a silver wig, holding a disco ball on a stick.

I didn’t make it into Tokyo for a weekend, which means I missed some of the crazier moments of Harajuku and didn’t get to experience anything like dancing cosplayers in Akihabara. I did stay at the Capsule Inn Akihabara my first night in the city, but it was Sunday, so almost everything was closed down. I did watch Game 7 of the ALCS from an electronics superstore, but that wasn’t too different from camping out in Best Buy.

I spent my last night wandering around Roppongi. This place is a disaster. In a good way. It’s the epicenter of the Tokyo expatriate party scene, and I visited more Western-styled bars here than I can count. (I can’t count ‘em because I threw away the receipts.) You meet a lot of people here, but places are either dive bars serving double shots of Cuervo, or upscale joints serving $15 drinks and enforcing a dress code I didn’t prepare for when I packed for Japan. And it’s all just a little off, like someone forgot to bring the bar pretzels.

At some point I realized that I came to Tokyo expecting its night life to be different, somehow, than New York’s or Boston’s. But it’s not. People dress like idiots, dance like idiots, and drink until they’re idiots.

Vending Machines, Strange Drinks, and Engrish

I did get a kick out of the plethora of drink machines all over Japan. I can’t imagine any company paying good money to put vending machines at random unmonitored street corners all over Boston. They’d be cracked open within a week. I’ve created a couple Flickr photo sets of Japanese vending machine drinks and strange (or overpriced) foods.

On my Flickr page there’s also a photoset of my run-ins with the infamous Engrish that adorns everything from subway ads, to t-shirts, to restaurant menus. (I don’t have a photo of the menu proclaiming “Eat well and healthy for your pleasure!”)

Despite requests from a few friends for photographic evidence, I was unable to find a vending machine that sells panties.

There and Back Again

Coming back to Osaka after almost a week in Tokyo was like coming home. I mean it when I say this city just feels better, more comfortable, more friendly, and more welcoming. I wasn’t psyched about going from the “Heavenly Bed” to a futon on the floor, but I did want to do one more bike ride through the city. The world conspired against me and poured rain all day.

Japan is incredible. It’s shining-modern and quaint-traditional at once, and the people there embrace technology in a way we can’t match. They’ve managed to hold their history so closely, even when it’s been destroyed time and again. And I’ve never traveled to a place so welcoming of people who don’t speak one syllable of the language.

I’d love to go back. I will go back. But we’ll have to see who else has a spare couch.