The Big Trip

Warning: LONG POST.  I couldn't help it

This was just a typical house in the neighborhood we stayed in.  Psh.

I've thought and thought about how I should present Japan.  I've decided to tackle it in one fell swoop of a post.  Sit tight.

It may have only been a week but it felt like forever.  There was so much to experience and see.  I've never been out of the country and I'm happy that Japan was the first place I went.  We entered a different world and we were definitely the aliens.  I will never forget getting off the train at Shinigawa Station, just outside of Tokyo, our first night there.  We stumbled into a sea of Japanese men and women in black suits going 100 miles an hour and there we were... completely in the way with our frizzled hair from a thirteen hour flight, bags in tow, hearts racing with anxiety, jaws dropped, as the reality of how far from home we were settled on us.  We stuck out like a red balloon among a sea of white balloons.  It was awesome.

This trip wasn't at all what I was expecting and I could not be happier because of it.  I thought that it would go like any normal trip I've taken in a huge place where there's a lot to see.  You get up early, get to the sites where you wear yourself out touring until you come back to the home base-- eat, then crash for the night, resting for the repeated day in the morning.  Our trip was more like-- stay in a local neighborhood in Arishiyama (a town just outside of Kyoto City) and take residence in a guesthouse that has been restored to its original traditional Japanese glory--bamboo mats, sliding doors, roll out futon beds and all.  We'd wake up when we felt like it (which was actually incredibly early) and take slow walks through the neighborhood in the morning and stock up on food from the local convenience store (which was always a crazy adventure.  The food is so different).  Come back to the house and plan what we'd hoped to do that day and then brave the complicated rail system to check out what sites we'd decided to see.  We went to a couple of festivals.  We'd wander the main streets and stop whenever something looked interesting.  We visited temples and shrines as well as the bamboo forest and monkey park.  We made our way to the Geisha District at night crossing our fingers that we'd see a real geisha, which only happens if you're truly lucky (which we were!).  We shopped.  We wandered.  We observed.  It was perfect, really.

I'll stop babbling soon.  Just a few more things that I'd like to remember...  hopefully you'll recognize some of the things in the slideshow below.

--The toilets.  It was either the luxurious toilet with a bidet option and electrically warmed seats (some even had a dryer button, or a music/flushing sound button in case you didn't want people to hear you.  HA.) or it was a squat toilet.  That's right.  Put your pants around your ankles and hope for the best.  It's just a small notch up from digging a hole in the woods.  Diana and I did brave it once out of desperation.  Be proud.

--A lot of people seemed cold and difficult to approach but in reality when we'd ask someone for help we'd usually receive bewildering kindness in response.  That first night we got to Arishiyama we were lost.  We didn't know how to get to the guesthouse and it was dark and quiet.  We'd barely been able to get off at the right stop because the further out from Tokyo we got the less English there was.  When we were at the station, we pulled out our little map and asked the only other man we could see at the station how to get to where we needed to go.  He spoke little English but understood what we needed and struggled to explain the way.  He finally motioned for us to follow him and we realized he was walking us to where we needed to go.  He was a young man, and with what English he could, he explained that he took English back in high school but had forgotten most of it.  He'd actually began English lessons again that day (answer to a prayer or what?).  He was a husband and father of one with one the way.  He didn't know the word for pregnant but his hand motions said enough.  We also gathered that he didn't live in Arishiyama but was still two stops away from home.  How amazing is this person?  He helped us to where we needed to go and didn't think twice about it even though it was late and out of his way.  We nicknamed him the angel.  We met a few others similar to this.  One woman actually spoke less English than the first guy and walked us a half an hour out of her way to where we were hoping to go.  I'm very impressed with the people of Japan and I will seriously make more of an effort if anyone is lost and needing direction.

That was long.

--All of the youth wore the same type of clothes.  Seriously, there was very little variation.  It's kind of a crazy style-- like the height of fashion with a strange early 1900s feel.  We started to notice that every clothing store was basically the same.  I found it very interesting.  And if you were a teenager/young woman you had long hair.  I did not see any young women with short hair.  And there were a lot of heels.  Very, very few girls (or women for that matter) were in flats or tennis shoes.  Again.  We STUCK out.  Oh and all the Japanese men had hair that no one here could pull off and almost all of them wore an expression that suggested, "There couldn't possibly be anyone more attractive than me in this place."  I don't know if that's what was meant?  But whatever.

--Umbrellas are used for the sun as much as for the rain

--No one stared at us outright but sometimes you could feel the tension of eyes stealing glances.  Kids however would look at us mouth gaping until we weren't in sight anymore.  Oh and no one wastes their food.  We went to a buffet and thought... brilliant!  We can just try a bunch of stuff and pick and choose what we like and don't like.  We did get stared at then.  We had a couple plates stacked with some food left on it and it was like we were covered in black paint or something.  That's when I noticed that not a thing was wasted on the plates of anyone else.  Not a grain of rice was wasted.  Whoops.

--No litter anywhere and yet, no garbage can to be seen.  They did have a lot of bins for recycling though.  There was a lot of recycling.  I guess they just kept their trash in their purses and bags.

--A lot of public bathrooms didn't have soap-- and none of them had paper towels.  Everyone carries around little washcloths in the bags to dry their hands with.  They're for sale everywhere.  Again--very Earth conscious.

--The neighborhood we were in was extremely quiet.  Unusually quiet, considering there is hardly any space between these houses of sliding doors made of thick paper.  Which is probably why everything's so quiet.

--I absolutely fell in the love with the traditional architecture and am so impressed with how the architecture is in complete harmony with the landscape and climate.  It was magical.  Oddly enough I felt nostalgic and connected to my Grandpa Knell.

--The food.  So much pride went into every little thing we ate.  Diana and I stopped at a sandwich place one afternoon thinking we'd grab a quick bite to eat.  We ordered an egg sandwich because it was the only sandwich that sounded familiar and forty minutes later this little lady gave us this: 

 Can you believe this?  It's a work of art I tell ya!  And it tasted amazing.  I was watching as she worked away behind the counter, cracking eggs--taking time.  They do not tip in Japan and sometimes I felt uncomfortable not tipping.  They work so hard at what they do and put so much effort into even the smallest things.  The stores, for example, would wrap every item that you purchased so beautifully and in something gorgeous.  It's a shame I couldn't keep all of the wrapping.

OKAY I know I could ramble on more details but I'm sure you've had enough.  Pictures anyone?

... These next pictures I saved to be showcased out of the video. I'm pretty sure my favorite thing about the trip was the guesthouse we stayed in. I'll never forget it.

Isn't it gorgeous? Notice how teeny the street is. Everything was so close together.

This is the kitchen with the original dirt packed floor

Sigh.  The bathroom.  The most relaxing and wonderful bathroom I've ever known.  Because of the fence outside the window the light would come through and create rays in the steam which made it so bright and happy. MMmm.

The little zen garden in the courtyard

The main house.  Shoes of the family there.

This is where we'd sleep.  We'd push that table out of the way and roll out our futons.

Blast it all.  These dingy pictures capture nothing of the overall wonder of this place.  Ah well.  I know how amazing it was.  I hope you can gather some idea at least.

Japan was amazing and I'd go back in a second.