二日間の神戸の旅行 - Two-day Kobe Trip (part 1)

最近忙しすぎたから、神戸の旅行についてまだ書いていなかった。ごめんみんな！

Back at the end of January, just after exams had finished, we (my girlfriend and I) went to Kobe for two days. We had originally planned to go just after Christmas, during the Christmas break, but because she fell ill just before we were about to go, we decided to reschedule to go after our exams finished.

Getting to Kobe from Kyoto doesn't take that long by train, and it takes even shorter time by taking the Super Express. We arrived at Kobe before lunch, and decided to leave most of our bags in the locker at the train station. The reason for this, is because the hotel we booked at (The Meriken park Oriental Hotel) was way out of the way from where we were going that day, and it would take too long to check-in and leave our bags and then go back. Furthermore, it doesn't cost that much to use the lockers anyway, and there was no time limit.
From the station, we headed to Kitano - a historical district of Kobe that is known for having a lot of European-style housing that was built during the later part of the Meiji era, and early part of the Taisho era. Many of the houses are still used for residential purposes, but a number of them have been converted in to museums, so the area is a tourist attraction. As this area is right up along the hill of Kobe, and having been accustomed to the relatively flat surface of Kyoto for so long, it was a little bit of a struggle for us to be accustomed to walking up such a steep surface.

We were out at Kitano for most of the day, though by late afternoon/early evening, we started to make our way to the bay area, looking at shops along the way. My girlfriend wanted to go to a particular bread shop, as it is one of the better known bread shops in Kobe - oh and Kobe is known for bread, as my girlfriend explained to me, which I found very surprising. As a port town, and given my experiences from of Fremantle (a port town) back home, I just assumed it was more known for seafood than anything else - but apparently that is not the case. 

Compared to other bread shops that I've been to in Kobe and in other areas of Japan, this particular shop had a different system in which you purchase bread. Rather than pick out the bread by yourself, you stand behind a rail, and the staff instead will help pick out the bread that you want. According to the staff, this is more to help customers who aren't sure of particular breads, and rather than have the customers handle it, the staff are able to explain about the specific breads, and even offer recommendations based on what the customer is after. I found it to be a rather interesting system, though was curious about how this would operate when the store becomes busy. However, I didn't get the chance to ask that question, so we left with our purchases in hand, and continued towards the bay area.

Originally, we had planned to go to Kobe Tower, but by the time we had already arrived the tower was soon closing (last entry is at 6:30pm). So instead, we decided to go grab some dinner just across from the tower. However, we found that since it was Friday, many of the restaurants were very busy, and others were a little bit too expensive for us students. We checked a map of the building we were in, and decided to check all of the restaurants that we were interested in. Eventually, we settled on one restaurant that had a nice view of the tower, and was decently priced. We ended up purchasing Pizza, and a serving of cheese fondue, which was the restaurant's main specialty.

After dinner, we finally checked in to our hotel. Since we checked in on a weekday, the price was really cheap - roughly $50 per person, compared to the usual which would be over $100 at least. Anyway, as we were being led to our room, the staff was explaining a number of things to us, most of which I didn't understand. However, when my girlfriend asked some questions about water, and vending machines, apparently he responded in a way that even my girlfriend couldn't even understand, but was too embarrassed to ask again. Well, we eventually found out that there were no vending machines at all in the hotel, which was a total pain. However, the room, despite it being a standard room was pretty damn nice. It had a nice view of the city, with Kobe Tower right in front of us. I didn't take a picture of the room unfortunately, but here's one I grabbed from the net to give you an idea of what our room was like:

While there were no vending machines, and the closest convenience store was pretty far from the hotel itself (past Kobe tower easily), there was a small fridge with drinks available for purchase. But, given that it is a fancy hotel, the price for drinks was really expensive, even for Japanese standards. We settled on the cheapest drink available - water for $2. It sucked, but it couldn't be helped.

Anyway, I'll finish this post now, and write up about the next day's experiences in another post. Stay tuned.

三日間の東京の旅行 - Three-day Tokyo Trip

Yesterday, I returned from a 3 day trip to Tokyo, together with my girlfriend. Admittedly we only did bare minimum planning, and as a result the trip was a little rushed, though still fun nonetheless.

We took the Shinkansen from Kyoto station to Tokyo, which took a little over two hours. We were able to get student discount by applying for it at the university, so we both saved a little bit of money for the trip. The other alternative was to take the midnight bus, which would take 6-7 hours, and we would probably get very little sleep on the trip, so we chose the Shinkansen as a result. 

When we got to Tokyo, we headed over to Asakusa-bashi to check in to our hotel - except we made the booking for the same hotel over at Asakusa and not Asakusa-bashi. So after a little bit more navigating around through the Tokyo's train network, and a little bit of a walk, we finally checked in to our hotel just after lunch. For a hotel that cost just under $50, it was a nice room (though not as nice as the one we stayed at in Kobe, but I'll talk about that in another post). My only criticism would be that the bathroom was ridiculously small: so small in that the sink was located next to the entrance way of our room. Anyway, after little bit of a rest, we decided to go to Akihabara.

It had been two years since I had been to Akihabara. Compared to Osaka's DenDen Town, Akihabara is a beast in terms of finding your way around. I remember some of the places that I had been to previously, including some of the game centers, and a few of the anime goods stores. One thing I've found though, is that while there are plenty of stores and buildings around, it is for that very reason that you'll usually get a decent bargain for goods. While in Akihabara, I purchased the Master Grade Exia Dark Matter gunpla for about $40, whereas the usual RRP would be around $50. I also picked up a Figma of Tekkman Evil (or Saber as he was called in the english-dub all those years ago) for about $30, and some MSG weapon accessories also - in order to make Conroy's custom Jegan ECOAS type gunpla once I return home. Interestingly, I also picked up an old Star Wars figure of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker for just over $10. I used to have a lot of Star Wars figures when I was younger, but eventually gave them to my nephews. I found the same figure in Osaka, but cost twice as much, and was fortunate enough to come across this in a Tokyo store. We spent a few hours there, having ramen for a late lunch in the process, before heading to Odaiba.

I have been to Odaiba previously, but never in the evening. As a result, it was a real treat to see the 1/1 scale of the RX-78-2 in the evening. I had a look at the small trailer shop inside, and was surprised to see some new Gundam Front Tokyo exclusive gunpla, such as a HG Gundam Unicorn Phenex, and a two pack of the Unicorn and Banshee Norn, each with exclusive weapons. Furthermore, the Unicorn was a glossy white kind of plastic, with green psyco-frame. The Banshee Norn also had green psyco-frame, though the weapon included is one that can be found in the Gunpla Builder's part accessories products. Furthermore, because it was more expensive than usual, I decided against buying it.
We also had a look at the Gundam Front museum. It was updated this time in that it also featured Gundam Unicorn and Gundam Build Fighters related things on display. Also, compared to my last trip, the exhibition area had changed in that it was now about celebrating the 35 years of Gundam, including showing all the series and related Gunpla that were released in line with each series - though it was only restricted to the main Gundams/mobile suits of the series (though I noted that there was no love for the second season of Gundam 00). Also, they were heavily promoting the soon to be released Gundam: The Origin OVA.
Finally, we went to the cinema area. Again, different from when I went previously. The main features that I enjoyed were the One of Seventy Two short film, and the Shambloo vs. Neo Zeong fight in Odaiba. One of Seventy Two was more or less a fight involving the Sleeves' upgraded Bawoo (resembling Full Frontal's Sinanju) against the Unicorn Unit 2 Banshee, and the Unicorn Unit 3 Phenex. Both the Banshee and the Phenex take on the Bawoo, before the Phenex goes completely out of control, attacking the Banshee and its mothership also. The Shambloo vs. Neo Zeong fight was very interesting - though frankly I think the Shambloo has nothing on Neo Zeong. After that, we had a quick snack before we caught up with one of my friends who I used to work with back in Australia.

The next day, we went to Disney Sea. It's actually the first time that I've been to a Disney theme park, so it was quite an interesting experience. We decided to take advantage of the Fast Pass, and used it for the rides with the longer waiting times - which we were able to check regularly on their site via my phone, which meant we were able to make the most of our time. We ended up using the Fast Pass on the Tower of Terror, and one of Indiana Jones rides. My experiences of rides when I was a kid was certainly different to how I felt about them now. They really weren't that scary - it was more like driving a car; that I had no control of, and was going really fast. But it was very exciting nonetheless. The Tower of Terror, however, was a different story. I've never ridden on any drop-style kind of rides before, so I didn't know what to expect. Compared to what I've seen before, this ride is mostly done in the dark - so you rarely see anything - only the feeling of free fall, which was really scary. It was scary, but exciting as well - it's very hard to describe.
Aside from the rides, we also ate snacks as we walked along, trying various flavours of popcorn, including black pepper, orange marmalade, strawberry, and - my personal favourite - curry flavoured popcorn. We also tried Mickey Mouse shaped churros, and I had maple balls and icecream, along with some coffee to help keep me going. We ended up having dinner there also - it wasn't anything spectacular, but I did particularly enjoy the sauce and the rice that was served with the meal for some reason.
We stayed all day to watch the final show, along with the fireworks before leaving Disney Sea.

The final day, we went to Asakusa and Tokyo Sky Tree. Because it was the weekend, it was incredibly busy at Asakusa. It was a really different experience compared to Kyoto. As a result, I just did not enjoy it as much as when I came for the very first time. I also found that food shops have introduced new rules that whatever you buy from them, you need to eat it either in front of their stall, or around it. My girlfriend explained that this was something that was introduced a few years back, certainly after my first trip in 2008. I'm not entirely sure about the reason however. I also find that some of the shopkeepers to be a bit rude to me, maybe because I'm a foreigner and he had to deal with a lot of foreigners - but he just assumed that I didn't understand when he told me the price of the food (in Japanese). I was searching through my wallet for adequate change after he said the price the first time, before repeating in English and showing the price on his calculator. Ok, fair enough, that I'm foreign, but when I reply with "はい" after you've told me the price the first time, assume that I understand what you just said. It was a minor gripe, though my girlfriend told me that Tokyo station staff seem to be a little ruder compared to those in Kyoto when she asked them questions on which lines/platforms to take to get somewhere. Maybe they're just finding being polite in Tokyo to be too tiring?
Anyway, after Asakusa, we caught up with another one of my friends for pie and coffee at Tokyo station. All three of us certainly had a lot to talk about, including life in my hometown (as she had worked there for a year, and that was how we met), and my friend seemed to be really happy to meet my girlfriend. After about 2-3 hours of hanging out, my friend had to leave for another appointment, and we headed over to Tokyo Sky Tree.

Admittedly, we were pretty tired by the time we headed to Tokyo Sky Tree. We were planning to go up the tower, but because of the rather long line, and the cost of getting in, we decided to give it a miss. However, there was a small ice skating ring set up right next to the tower, and we both decided to do a little ice skating. It had been a little while since I last ice skated, so I was little rusty at first, but quickly got back in to the swing of things. My girlfriend on the other hand, had never ice skated at all, so I helped her out and showed her the basics of how to move around, and generally just making sure that she didn't fall over. For someone who had never ice skated before, she got the hang of it pretty quickly, and the fact that she did not fall over even once (without me holding her) is pretty impressive. After a little while, we decided to stop, and take a look around the shops some more, before we finally decided to head back to Tokyo station and head home by Shinkansen.

All in all, it was a fun trip, albeit a little poorly planned on our part. If we had the money, I would definitely like to stay for a week, but no more than that. I find that compared to Kyoto life, Tokyo life is just so damn busy. I also remembered that there was a time that I envied Tokyo for being covered completely in high-rise buildings, but when I went there on this trip, I found it really overwhelming. I commend anyone who is actually able to live in Tokyo and able to manage the busy life, as I don't think I could take it.

I have been meaning to post about my Kobe trip from a few weeks back, so expect my next post to be about that (hopefully).

End of Semester

Last week, I finished the last of my exams - and therefore the end of the semester, and official end of my year in Japan. Unofficially, I'm staying until the end of March to do some travelling and catch up with friends I haven't seen in some time.

To be honest, I'm quite surprised that this semester went by really quickly. First, I was just getting to know some of the new students that came to Japan at the beginning of the semester back in September, and before I knew it, it's already February 2015. The worst thing, is that only now I'm just starting to get to know those students, and they're pretty cool to talk to and hang out with. Furthermore, after the farewell parties last week, it started to sink in that the other students and friends who have also finished will also be leaving soon, with two of my friends going back home next week. It has also started to sink in for my girlfriend that we only have two months before I go home, though not for good. 

I have been thinking about our future. I do want to come back and work in Japan, but it will most likely not be until next year. I want to do some part-time work back home in Australia, just to get some money coming back in again, and during that time, prepare for the JLPT N2 exam that I was not able to take last year due to illness. Hopefully I can come back for a holiday in August to see my girlfriend for a little while, and possibly again in December/January, if circumstances allow it. After that, I would want to start looking for work in Japan as an english teacher, though not necessarily through the ever so popular JET Programme. My main is concern is where I would end up working if I decided to go through JET. While you're officially allowed to put your preferences of where you want to work, it's very rare you ever get those preferences, especially if you're proficiency in Japanese is very good. The story I have heard is that those with high proficiency are usually sent to small, out of the way, country towns, whereas those with little to no Japanese proficiency are sent to the bigger cities, where they're able to get by without too much struggle. I know that finding work in Kyoto is highly unlikely, but I would like to get work somewhere close to Kyoto, in order to stay close to my girlfriend.
I have some friends who have/are working as English teachers, so I've contacted them to find out about their experiences about the work involved and such. Ultimately I want to get as much as information as possible, so I can decide on the path to take to find work in Japan.

As for her, she hasn't decided on what she wants to do yet, as she still has a few years left before finishing university, though she has said that she would like to do post graduate, so that would be another year or two there. What she wants to do after that, is uncertain, but she has mentioned that she would like to work abroad, though that's not definitive yet. Whatever the case, I'm prepared to stand by whatever decision she makes.

On an unrelated note, we went to Kobe last week, but I'll save that story for another post.