Kobe - the Port to Japan

After a successful move into my mountain-view apartment (see previous post), it was time to explore my new home and see what Kobe had to offer. Travelling down from Mount Rokko to get into the city was an easy stroll, but boy was that a trek on the way back. I spent many late lights (and a few early mornings) drudging myself up that mountainside, sweltering in the thick, humid air. The way down to Sannomiya however, as I said, was a doddle.

Arriving in Sannomiya (via any one of three parallel train lines) you are immediately greeted by the usual tall buildings and clean advertising of ‘big city’ Japan. Like many of the metro lines throughout Japan, the space surrounding the train lines is not left wasted and decrepit, but is vibrant, busy, and full of life. Shops, restaurants, and bars litter the undercarriage of the tracks, with long stretches of what one could call a ‘strip-mall’.

One popular area in Sannomiya is Ikuta road which houses a plethora of bars, clubs, and variety of shops. Selling all sorts of wares, from shoes (I bought some Dragon’s beard shoes made in Osaka), to triangular watermelons, to Kobe beef, you’d find whatever you’re looking for.

Triangle watermelon?!

Kobe Beef - it's everywhere!

Moving away from Sannomiya I wander to Chinatown, which was one long street of Peking ducks, pork buns, and all the sweet and savoury dishes you could imagine. I had a steamed pork bun (which was delicious), which I later discovered was a snack that could be purchased hot and fresh in almost any convenience store, anywhere in Japan. Oh well…

Chinatown

Moving toward Osaka bay I come across some beautifully unique French-styled buildings unusually built between what looked like office buildings. Random, but this city seems to have many such hidden gems.

Arriving in the Port of Kobe, you’re immediately struck by the distinctiveness of the buildings. Sharp, clean lines accentuate the waterfront, with seafood restaurants scattered along the waterside. At the pier is a large Ferris wheel that looked like it’d seen better days. Admittedly, every large city in Japan had at least one large Ferris wheel, so I can’t imagine this one got much use. Kobe was actually the busiest port in the world during the 70’s, however, the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 destroyed much of the city, including the port infrastructure. It is now Japan’s 4^th busiest port, never fully recovering from such a devastating natural disaster.

Well I’ve rambled enough for today, soI hope you’ve enjoyed these insights into Kobe and will stay tuned for my visit to the UNESCO World Heritage site, Himeji Castle.

Kobe - the Move

The fun filled week of activity at Sokendai finally came to a close and the 115 international researchers departed ways. The majority stayed within the Tokyo, Kanto region, while I was doing my research in the Kansai region, specifically in the beautiful port city of Kobe. Located next to Japan’s second city, Osaka, there were quite a few researchers located in the Kansai region that I would spend much of my free time with over the next 3 months. With only having the time for a quick lunch, I grab pizza flavoured noodles. Lo and behold, they were not pizza flavoured noodles… they were noodles with a pizza on top! Only in Japan…

                                     

Outside the gates of Kobe University

I arrive in Kobe via the Hikari bullet train, which travels at speeds up to 300 km/h, a feat barely noticeable during the incredibly smooth ride. Kobe is a city built around Osaka bay, which encompasses beach-side townships, vibrant and rich city life, as well as rural residences built upon the Rokkō mountains. My apartment was located on the lush Mount Rokkō which meant I had a very serene, though secluded summer . Situated just a 10 minute walk from the Rokkō campus of Kobe University, it was the perfect location to perform my research, as well as gain valuable mountain climbing experience for my upcoming Fuji-san climb!

View from my balcony of Sannomiya

View from balcony of Mount Rokko

Mount Rokko during the day

My apartment was a 5^th floor, two-bedroom flat which offered stunning views of the Rokkō mountains as well as Sannomiya, the central city of Kobe. Kobe is a city of around 1.5 million people, sprawling all around Osaka Bay and up the mountains. Not only was my apartment an excellent size for Japan, it would have been a decent size in England! Compared to some of the other ‘flats’ my peers had to stay in (ie. a room like a cupboard with no kitchen), I think I had an amazing find.

 Wet room controls + Clothes drier function!

Small but effective wet room +  electronic bath tub

 To cap the night off, I treat myself so some local (?) sake and Kobe beef from the supermarket. Small little portions of the beef weren’t too expensive at all – however, later stories will tell of true, primo Kobe beef. The sake was buttery smooth, bright, and fresh, like a very young white wine. The beef was soft, slightly fatty, and had a creaminess. Plus, those mushrooms… I love Asian mushrooms! Mmmm…

Stay tuned as I explore Kobe and the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site Himeji Castle.

From Solitary to Surrounded - Sokendai

Shinjuku Hyatt Regency

My second night in Tokyo was just as relaxing as the first. Even though my king-size suite was smaller than most outside of Japan, the polish and detail was absolutely grand. I’ve actually bought Hyatt linens before, but these were something else. I was like a kitten rolling around a bed made of clouds. Anyway… My third day quickly rolls on, leading me to a local Shinjuku temple, where I get my first glimpse of monks (I was too shy to take a picture at this point) doing whatever it is that monks do on a Tuesday morning. I felt like I was intruding, but I’m sure they would have graciously invited me in to view their pious rituals.

Temple in Shinjuku

Sokendai introductions

The following week was a whirlwind of activity including, introductions, Japanese language lessons, scientific talks, and poster presentations. I won’t bore my readers with in-depth details, but 115 scientists from across the globe were gathered at the Graduate Centre at Sokendai. A beautiful campus, located on a peninsula south of Tokyo, Sokendai gave us all the opportunity to bond and network with like-minded individuals with a keen interest in research, and an even greater interest in adventure. We all made some lasting relationships during that week and I would go on to travel to several parts of Japan with many of those research fellows.

View from Sokendai with Mt. Fuji-san in the background

Tea ceremony during orientations

During our week at Sokendai we all stayed a weekend with a host family and I was fortunate to have stayed with a lovely couple who showed me around Yokohama and Kamakura. Yokohama was a cool little city south of Tokyo, where I got to try my first izakaya, essentially a Japanese bar restaurant that serves food tapas style. Serving all sorts of foods, grilled chicken skin, gizzard, octopus balls (takoyaki), German sausages (they all seem to serve German sausage…), salads, beef skewers (kushiyaki), various fish… there’s something for everyone. Then of course, there’s the drinks. Starting off with a few Japanese beers (Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi…), which are generally light and refreshing, we then moved on to shōchū, which is a distilled (in this case) rice liquor at roughly 25% ABV. It can be drank multiple ways, I had mine on the rocks, while my host had his chūhai, or mixed with a fruit juice and soda. Both were delicious. My host mother was on the chūhai all night, until I gave them an omiyage, or gift, for hosting me, which included a bottle of Jura Superstition whisky. Let’s just say waking up early for a day of touring Kamakura wasn’t easy.

The city of Kamakura is located about 50 km south west of Tokyo (closer to Sokendai) in the Kanagawa prefecture. Famous for establishing the shogunate, or rule by military dictator, Kamakura is known as the city of the samurai, who were warrior-nobles sworn to protect their lord. The kamakura period, 1185-1333, was the emergence of the shogunate – who controlled the samurai – using military might to control the populace. The kamakura period ended when confidence in the shogun failed and the emperor re-established imperial rule (for a short while). 

Visiting the Tsurugaoka Hachimangū Shinto shrine, I got another chance to practice my cleansing technique. This time, I nailed it, no inner purification for me. 

We were lucky enough to have arrived right when a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony was being held in the maiden pavilion.

Surrounding this building is the typical sake and beer offerings the temples make to their Gods.

Representing Brock University

Kamakura is also famous for its giant bronze daibutsu, or great Buddha, which was built during the kamakura period. Originally, a wooden Buddha was erected, however, seemingly like all things in Japan, it was destroyed in a storm. This bronze Buddha, built 10 years later in 1252, has stood the test of time, even withstanding a tsunami in 1498. The Buddha statue is hollow, allowing tourists to enter the venerable effigy with the following words of insight inscribed at the entrance: ‘Stranger, whosoever thou art and whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages. This is the Temple of Bhudda and the gate of the eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence’. Inside the Buddha was, well, nothing but a large, extremely hot, metal shell. Still very cool.

Inside Diabutsu

We finished our weekend with a trip to the ramen museum, a kind of retro-styled indoor market for noodle-chefs to ship their wares. My goodness was it delicious. We each had two small ramen dishes from different parts of the country, but it was so darn filling I was full after the first, but they wanted to keep going! Two was my limit much to the chagrin of my host father. Another time he says.

Tonkatsu ramen

Sapporo miso ramen

We take the train back to Yokohama, where I notice that some of the cars are labelled ‘women only’ during certain times of the day. I was shocked at how progressive that was for Japan, a seemingly male-dominated country which holds on to archaic values of yesteryear. Needless to say I was pleased to see this progressive attitude.

Thanks for reading today’s story and hang tight, as next will be about my move into Kobe, where I will be based for the next 3 months. Cheers!

Tokyo - the Second

After a glorious, much needed rest from yesterday’s air travels and immediate jaunt through central Tokyo, walking a solid 12 km through Shinjuku and Shibuya, it was time to start my second day in Japan.

This time I had a plan, to hit up Asakusa and Sensō-ji temple, make my way to Akihabara (the famous anime, electronic, videogame, and all round subculture district of Tokyo), then finish up the day at the Imperial palace.

Like most of my mornings in Japan, this one started with a nice, ice cold coffee from a vending machine. Vending machines are everywhere in Japan (another stereotype that proves true). Even as I was desperately lost in the back alleys of residential Tokyo, I was never more than a block away from the friendly glow of the vending machine. It was a brilliant convenience that I wish more countries would adopt!

Arriving in Asakusa, a district in Taitō, I’m immediately met with a swarm of tourists, a sight I wasn’t yet familiar with. It didn’t spoil the atmosphere (it was a Monday, so it wasn’t that busy), but Tokyo had been so vacant yesterday it was a surprising sight. The Kaminarimon, a beautifully ornate ‘Thunder Gate’ protected by Raijin and Fujin, was built in 941 CE as the entrance to Sensō-ji. 

Wandering around the massive red lantern, you are immediately greeted by even more tourists in, surprisingly, a long alley known as Nakamise-dori full of Japanese novelty wares and souvenirs. Wandering past all the plastic waving ninja, geisha, and dragon toys you emerge upon the absolutely stunning Sensō-ji temple complex. 

As Tokyo’s oldest temple, founded in 645 CE, you can’t help but stare in awe at the Buddhist marvels. Unfortunately the majority of what stands has been rebuilt, as fires destroyed the complex numerous times.

After doing the touristy thing and making a temple wish (I was lucky and received a good/regular one… some are truly awful!), I moved on to the Dragon fountain to purify before entering the temple.

Unfortunately, as I was travelling on my own, I naively watched what I thought was a woman take a big swig of the fountain water, to… I don’t know, inner purify. Little did I know the ritual was to cleanse the lips or if you drink you drink a small amount and/or spit it out. This I did not do, I took a big ol’ gulp and let’s just say I was certainly inner purified.

Moving along. Before you enter the temple there is another chance to cleanse and pray, with a large cauldron-like structure burning incense. The temple’s inside was as ornate as the outer edifice, with gold glinting from every angle. The rituals in temples is to toss a few coins, bow, clap twice, pray, and bow again. By the end of my 3 months I was a temple pro, bow clap bowing like a champ. Not sure my wishes have come true yet, but I imagine it’s a slow process.

After hopping on the metro toward Akihabara, I noticed the unusual low hanging advertisements for the first, and not the last, time. I wouldn’t say things were really small in Japan but for a roughly 6 ft man, I did have to duck a few times. 

Stepping out into Akihabara you have to wander a little before you get into the mess of things. Then suddenly, BAM, all the buildings are covered in videogame characters, idols, and scantily clad cartoons, it was brilliant! I had no idea what was going on and I was loving it. Loud noises, traffic, explosions from the shops, and women in French maid costumes trying to get you in to restaurants (more on that later)… Akihabara is what the West thinks Japan looks like. Of course, this is one small district that in no way represents Japan as a whole, but man am I glad it exists… Don’t ever lose your quirk Japan!

I stop at a little lunch-joint in Akihabara where you put your money into a vending machine, you place your order by choosing a button, receive a ticket, you then give that ticket to the chef (sometimes a waitress), and within a few minutes you have hot and fresh food in front of you. This pork combination was £4... and it was delicious. Fried pork, steamed rice (of course!), miso soup, salad, mayonnaise, pickle… Oh my… I want it again. I was very surprised to see mayonnaise, but the Japanese surprisingly use loads of mayonnaise!

After that lunch, it was time to walk to the Imperial Palace. Long story short… I didn’t see it this day. I did however, have a lovely wander through the Imperial Gardens which had some beautiful Japanese flowers I’d never seen before.

After walking through the Imperial Chiyoda district, back through Shibuya and Shinjuku, it was time for the evening meal before retiring for the night. Tokyo tsukemen was available in a little noodle-joint just around the corner, so why not… when in Rome! This time with added semi-soft boiled eggs and pork slices, tonight’s was a real winner.

After over 21 km of walking this day, it was time for relaxing in the hotel with a Japanese beer or two, like this Grand Kirin. Hope you’ve enjoyed today’s sights. See you again for more Nippon adventures!