On the weekend of November 22nd, I traveled to Hiroshima and Fukuoka. They celebrate Thanksgiving here so I had the Friday off.
Before I start talking about the weekend, I want to cover a little bit about my Thanksgiving on the island. I hadn`t planned on doing anything that Wednesday night, but the other ALTs called me up and we headed to Andrea`s house for dinner. I arrived around 7:30 along with Joe to find all of them working hard getting the food prepared. The main dish was spaghetti along with mashed potatos and some meat dish Laura prepared. We managed to have six people eat at a kotatsu table which is a miracle in itself. We had a great time until maybe 9:30-10pm when we decided to go karaoke to continue the party.
We headed to Arikawa by taxi bus and went straight to our usual place, George`s mom`s establishment. You`d think that I would know the name by now, but that fact still eludes me. I believed it was mentioned in general conversation before, but I wasn`t paying attention at the time. It was a great time. Since I had to leave early that morning, I didn`t want to drink too much. We sang our usual songs with me acting as the MC for the night. We left the place around 1am and slept at Joe`s place so that we could take off from Arikawa at 6 am to Sasebo.
That was my Thanksgiving story. The dinner itself made my stay a little more bearable of not being with family during the holiday. We had great food and lots of stories to share. The Hiroshima trip following Thanksgiving will make for hours of conversation later.
The trip got started at 6am in Arikawa. We headed to the ferry port to take a three hour ferry to Sasebo. That was the ideal plan. However, when we got there, we were told that the three hour ferry service didn`t start until 9am. Instead we had to take the 7am boat to Sasebo with stops to the nearby islands. Normally, the cost would be $18. This trip to Sasebo was about $40. Having little choice, we forked up the money and boarded the ship. The boat trip was pretty calm, and I was able to sleep in the lounge area of the vessel. In the lounge area, you could lay down (pillows and blankets were provided) and nap for the two hours it takes to get to Sasebo. Unfortunately, the area itself was located above the loud engines. I couldn`t even hear the music from my IPod with those things blaring. Nevertheless, I fell asleep like a baby (remember I left karaoke at 1am.).
We arrived in Sasebo around 9am. Coming from the islands, I`m still amamzed at all the buildings and people. We walked to the bus terminal and met up with the 2 other JETs around 9:30. The bus to Fukuoka left at 10:40am, which gave us nearly an hour to eat and catch up on each other`s news since our Nagasaki conference at the beginning of November. No real news, we just talked about our classes, teachers, students, and school/social life. It was interesting to hear the way classes are run at different schools. I was hearing things about how some students did not respect the Japanese teachers in charge and how Alex was getting frustrated over it. He said that some students dont even refer to the teacher as Sensei. My schools are so small that if a student misbehaves, he hears it from the entire staff. I`ve seen multiple occassions where students were brought to tears in the middle of a lecture. I told them how some of my classes are taught english in Japanese (if that makes sense), and my JTE is too busy to tell me anything outside of class lessons. Oh well, we all have our negatives.
At 10:40 the bus came as we were sitting at the terminal finishing our conversations/snacks and stood in the already long line. The bus ride took 2 hours which was mostly spent hearing Joe and Jeff reciting movie one liners to each other. I slept most of the ride, still trying to catch up on the lost sleep from the night before.
Randoms from shinkansen, warming up the cameras
At Fukuoka, we took a shinkansen to Hiroshima. We rode the Nozomi shinkansen (the fastest trains in Japan). The ticket was a whopping $150 round trip. I told them that there better be a massage or some gold to go with this ticket. We hopped on the 1:15 pm train, dashing from one end to another trying to get to the correct gate. During the train ride, we got our game plan going, as well as preparing our cameras, ketai cameras, and other stuff. Conversation on this ride was our usual immature nonsense. We talked about our students and teachers. Alex showed us his cell phone and talked about his 5 girlfriends he`s already had since arriving in Japan (1 yr 14 mo ago). I started playing with my DS only to end up letting someone else play it for most of the trip. The nozomi train was fast! When we entereted tunnels, my ears would pop because of some sub-sonic phenomenom that happens when you force pressure suddenly on the train entering the tunnel. That`s the only reason they can`t make faster trains because of that. If they did, peoples` heads would bleed. Hiroshima is located on Honshu, so the shinkansen actually was in an underwater tunnel during the crossover. If you look on the map, the cities aren`t exactly close to each other. It took about 2 hours to get to Hiroshima.
Our bedroom at the hostel.Hiroshima city is HUGE! You would`ve never thought that 62 years ago this place was leveled to the ground. Everything was clean and looked new. Since the bombing, the place is known as the Peace City. From the train station terminal, we jumped on a street tram to head to our lodging, the Hiroshima youth hostel. I was in the Shin-Osaka youth hostel last year and it was a great time. This hostel was no different. There was a little mis-communication with the check in process. Joe had made a reservation several weeks ago and apparently the place never booked it. Sachiko lucked out and got her own room at the time of check in (however later on, she`d get room mates). The guys, however, ended up in the big gym area where they had 12 beds setup.
The layout of the hostel was fairly simple. There were 2 wings designated for male or female. Downstairs there was the lobby. To the right of the lobby, through a small hallway was the kitchen area. In this area, we saw dozens of large scrap books from past visitors. We had to make our mark and took one page of the most recent book and all signed it. We spent about 30 minutes getting settled and sorting out our stuff in the gym. There wasn`t much of a heater in that room, so instead they supplied us with 3 blankets. We all met the lobby and headed down to the bust staion. I`m glad we had a native Japanese speaker or else we would`ve been wandering alot longer than we did. We got on the correct buses/trains/etc the first time with her around.
Shots from Doma Doma Restaurant. The drinking has begun.
One of my Fukuoka girlfriends
The bar we wanted to go to finally opened after our dinner.There wasn`t much activity at the bar, as they were preparing for a private party. However, they were open for a little bit to the general public. We all just sat down and had a drink to discuss what we wanted to do for the rest of the night. The hostel closed their doors at 11pm, so that meant we had 2 hours to do something. We ended up going to the karaoke bar down the street.
Silly drunks and their karaokeThere were some serious karaoke bars there, complete with the Vegas-ish neon signs and flashy lights. We decided to go to the biggest one we saw. This establishment had 3 floors of karaoke rooms. For $20 we could sing for 2 hours, all the ice cream/popcorn/coke we could drink. They also served us drinks in our room as we were singing our lungs out. It got pretty crazy there with the drinking and free food. At least I was able to control myself from taking off my shirt singing to Nirvana or something. The other guys weren`t so lucky..hahaha. It was a great time and the 2 hours flew by. By the end we had to take a taxi back to the hostel where we barely made the 11pm curfew.
When we arrived at our gym in the hostel, there was only 1 other guy sleeping. I had to try really hard not to make too much noise stumbling through the darkness to my bed on the other side of the gym. Of course there was little heat so I had to wear my long johns, shorts, a shirt, 2 socks and a sweater. Even then, I still had to use 2 of the 3 blankets. I just layed there and couldn`t sleep so I went to the cafeteria area to drink some water. I met Sachiko talking with her room mates there and just started chatting. There were three girls, all college students around the ages of 21-22. One was a Nutritionist, another a chemist, and the last was a Psysiology major. They all came from Nara to visit the city like us. The girls were planning out what they wanted to see the next day. I talked about where I came from, why I`m here, did I like it here, etc. I was amazed when they said they knew where Michigan was. They even referred it as the state that looked like a hand (the first japanese people I`ve met that knew that). We only talked for 20 mintues before the staff kicked us out to close the cafeteria. We said our goodbyes and went to bed.
This structure was mooning me as I entered downtown Hiroshima
Good morning Hiroshima!The next morning started around 7am with me actually getting out of bed at 7:30 after mentally preparing myself to freeze trying to get to the bathroom. It was so cold that morning that it instantly woke me up as i threw my 3 blankets to the floor and ran to the bathroom. I didn`t realize that there were 3 more people that came by after I went to bed (which had me questioning the 11pm curfew part). We all met at the lobby around 8:30 and walked to the bus station to see Sachiko off. After dropping her off, the rest of us went to our first place, Hiroshima Castle.
Hiroshima Castle was decimated after the bombing but was rebuilt in the 60s. The exterior was built to its prior bomb day, but the inside was modeled into a multifloor museum. They had pictures of the remodling project, booths with english narration of how Hiroshima worked as a city before the bombing, and mock models of the city. They had weaponry from 300 years ago as well as farming utensils used during that time. We climbed to the top of the castle and had a beautiful view of the city skyline. It`s hard to imagine that this building used to be the biggest structure during its time, but now just a small building in the shadow of skyscrapers.
After touring the castle, we went to the A-Bomb dome, a national monument. The building was only 740m from the blast and the largest building to survive the blast.
The museum was near the building. We spent most of the afternoon in that museum, reading all the captions of every exhibit, and listening to the english narration of the stories beyond the exhibit items. It was an eye opener, seeing a very different side of the outcome of the bomb. We never learned about the after effects of the bomb on the Japanese people, just the fact that it was neccessary and we won the war. The rest of the guys went a little faster than I did because I wanted to read everything. I met up with the girls from the hostel in the musuem, so while the others went ahead, I was able to go through the museum with them. The things that really made an impact on me were the articles of clothing they had on display. The most impact came from 3 things. The first was a pair of pants with burn marks and blood stains all over it. These pants belonged to a 3rd year jhs student. It really got to my mind that people like my kids, my jhs kids died that way. Another was a sandal that belonged to a 1st yr jhs student. They never found the body, but the sandal was identified by the mother because the strap was made by her daugther. The imprint of her foot was burned on that sandal. Another one was a piece of side walk where someone sat at the time of the blast. The radiation and burns left a shadow on the sidewalk. It was due to the radiation flash of the explosion. There were 3 floors to the museum. I was almost through the explanation of atom bombs before Joe came by to pick me up because we were past our schedule. I said my goodbyes to the girls, exchanged emails and headed out for lunch.
We walked through the Peace Park to get to the place we wanted to have lunch in. It was a beautiful garden with a structure in that had an eternal flame. There was also another structure that if you look underneath it, you could see the A-Bomb dome and the flame in its "frame". They also had a beautiful waterfall by the entrance.
Lunch was interesting because we had it at a maid cafe. In my previous blog entries from last year, I went to a maid cafe in Akihabara. I wasn`t too impressed with this cafe, although the clientelle didn`t differ much from the Akihabara crowd. The guy sitting behind us had a album full of cards of anime maids. He was also on his PSP playing a similar game. Although it was a little strange, we all figured it must be the norm in a place like this. The table across from me had 3 guys playing some sort of Gundam D&D. The maids were nice, although none of them had the cuteness of that waitress from the night before. There were also a group of middle school girls sitting in a booth across our table behind those 3 guys. Out of all the strange things we saw in there, we thought that was the strangest. Normal girls in a maid cafe? What`s going on?! The food wasn`t great either. It was over priced, but it was worth the experience. I know I`ll never see a maid cafe in the states.
We spent about an hour in there, quickly eating before the high pitched voices started asking us if we wanted dessert. We were still hungry and went to the Subway right across the street. It was amusing that I could order Subway the same way as I would order in the states. The ingredients would be said in their english way, as well as saying size in inches. Grabbing our orders, we headed to the tram stop to get to the boat that would take us to our next destination, Miyajima. During the hour tram ride, Jeff, told us non-chalantly tells us that his girlfriend is 7 weeks pregnant. You should`ve seen the horror in the Japaneses` eyes in the tram when we all screamed WHAT?! I think the tram master almost stopped the train thinking someone died of a heart attack. We spent the rest of that ride talking about the upcoming baby, and what his situation would be like. I`m real happy for the man, and it seemed like he was too.
Domesticated deer were all over the place
The sea shrine
Coming home, we took some pictures with fellow tourists
Miyajima is a resort island off of Hiroshima. It`s a 5 minute boat ride there. The sad thing is there are more people going to that island than people living on all of Goto. The place is a total tourist trap, but nice nonetheless. They had domesticated deer wandering around. You could pet them before they eat all your food. The buildings were designed in old 17th century style. The place was full of souvenier shops and hotels. We got a chance to see the huge sea shrine there. During the day, the tide goes out so that you can walk to the actual structure and touch it. During the evening, the tide comes back and you`d have to admire it from the building they constructed nearby. One of the girls (The Psysiology major, Asako)from the hostel started messaging me asking if I was having a good time and I shot some pictures of the shrine with my cell phone. At first she asked me if I was taking pictures of postcards, then became envious after telling her that I shot this just for her to show her how great it is over here. She was taking a train with her companions to another city and wanted to make sure she had the right email address. We had a chance to go hiking up the mountain, but it would take 2 hours and knowing what kind of night we would have, we needed to save the energy. Instead, we stopped by a cafe and talked about what we`ve been doing today, and what we were going to do that night. We left the island around 7pm and headed to the shinkansen where we would take it to our next adventure, Fukuoka.
The train left around 7:30 as we headed back to our territory, Kyuushu. It`s a two hour train ride. At this time my camera battery died as I wanted to take pictures of the us getting ready to party in Fukuoka. The next part of the trip gets a little..risque. If you are easily offended, please stop reading now.
We arrived at 9:30pm at the Fukuoka station. The first thing we looked for were lockers to stuff our belongings in. After that, we spent a good 30 minutes wandering the city trying to find the club that Jeff and Alex recommended. Before I go on, let me expand on this club. Before the trip even started, Jeff found a flyer in Nagasaki saying that there would be a live performance by SUM 41 in Fukuoka. He told us all about it and we said why not, it`s an American group that rocks. Albeit, we had a sneaking suspicion that it would not be because the venue is just too small to support a band that big. However, we just hoped they would be there. Fast forward to that night. The club opened at 11pm but we were there around 10. So we had an hour to do nothing. We found a Moss Burger to relax in waiting for it to open up.
Around 10:45 we went to the already forming line where we were mobbed by Japanese girls amazed that foreigners where going to this party. From this point we looked at each other and gave the `This is going to be good` look. The door opened 10 minutes before where they had us fill out some sheet about what music we like to listen to or something. I managed to understand some of it but then just asked one of the Japanese girls staring at what I was doing to fill it out for me. When you enter the doorway, you have to go down a flight of stairs to a small round bar table with a staff member waiting to take the cover charge ($20). She then gave us a drink ticket that took off $5 on the first drink. I think some of the girls who were there already started way before we did. I sat down at the bar and before I could ask Joe to sit next to me or something, 2 girls came by and started talking their Engrishnese on me. I ordered myself a drink and just conversed with the crowd. Girls here also travel in packs, and usually we`d have to pick our times carefully. However, by my 3rd drink, I just went up to the whole group and talked to the girl of interest. The songs kinda sucked, and there was no SUM 41. However, the 3rd song came on which I thought was pretty decent, so we decided to go party. I was surprised to see (well not really) that no one was really rocking out and were all just around the sidelines bobbing their heads. Even the girls were! We came in there, and I personally pulled in 2 girls and just started rocking out to get them going. Eventually, more and more people came in and by the 5th song, everyone was having a good time. We had to set up a system of checks to make sure we all had each other`s back in case one of us becomes careless. This party lasted until 5am which we stayed the whole time.
I was in the crowd having a good time when one of the hot girls I noticed from the line came up and we just started to make out right there on the dance floor. All the Japanese people were there cheering us on. It only lasted 5-6 mintues and it was awesome! After that, everyone just treated me like equal and had me singing with the rest of them. Everytime I saw a girl just standing around, a little hesitant to join in, I would just grab her and pull her into the crowd. It seemed to work because they were rocking along with me soon after. I had 3 girlfriend proposals that night, which I all accepted..haha. I managed to get 2 of their numbers, while missing out on about 4 because I forgot to put it in my cell phone. They even asked if I got it and all I did was flip my phone on and tried to get to the add number function in futility. Everyone was very friendly, a few were a little too friendly, but it was a great time. However, I managed to actually sit down and have a real conversation with one girl, Sayaka. She`s 26 yr old travel agent living in Fukuoka. She told me she studied English in college and was going to see Limp Bizkit the next Tuesday in Osaka. She invited me to go, but I have my limits. There were so many cute girls there and the guys weren`t helping with the restraining. They were actually pointing girls out for us to get on. We all had our `private time` with the ladies to which we still have to sit down and recollect the hazy thoughts. Even now, I left out some parts because I feel them inappropriate for the audience I`m writing for. If you really want to know, send me an email.
We stumbled out of that party around 5am. The next plan was to wait for the stations to open at 6 so we could take a train station to the main bus terminal and bus it to Sasebo. I don`t exactly remember how I got home, I just remember being real happy, tired, and drunk. We got to Sasebo around 9am where Joe and I were dropped off at the ferry port. We hit the 9:30am fast boat to Arikawa. I emailed Goto Sensei that I`d arrive at 11. She was planning to pick me up from Tainora around 5. I had to restrain from telling her what actually happened. She dropped Joe off first, then took me home.
I went inside my apartment, threw all my clothes in the laundry, took a shower and went to bed until 7pm. I had some stuff in the evening to do, but that`s another story. All in all, I was happy to be back on my island, but man do I love city night life. Until next time!
