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Day 0 – Travelling [3rd April 2009]

John Noel — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:45:36 +0000

I got up at half past three in the morning to the first of my many alarms going off. Surprisingly, I had slept straight through after going to bed at just before midnight which is more sleep than I expected to get: ordinarily pre-holiday sleep is fretful and I awaken every half hour to check the time – fractious at best. Learning from past overseas trips I had set the heating to come on before I awoke so that I not only got a hot shower but didn’t spend the morning shivering from the cold and adrenaline. Things went smoothly and by the time the taxi rolled up at twenty to five I had showered, dressed, checked and double checked and drunk a cup of green tea; thankfully the taxi arrived on time rather than before which usually makes me forgo the green tea or make me forget something important like my glasses. I’m always wary about speaking to taxi drivers when going on long trips: they know where you live and can glean from the size of your luggage how long you’re going for and they are of uncertain backgrounds; usually I would spin a yarn about the nature of my trip (returning the luggage to a friend) or for how long, but this time I mentioned I had a room-mate which I hoped would ward off any attempts at burglary. The driver chatted about his time in Asia and people hassling him to buy trinkets while on the beach, I assured him Japan was nothing like that.

The train to the airport was on time and I hadn’t had any epiphanies on forgotten items or tasks so I spent the majority of the time reading a travel-edition of FHM that I had bought a couple of days prior. Questioning which terminal building I was to head to in Manchester, I settled on Terminal One and headed for the SAS check-in desk. I had, after much hand-wringing, decided to go for internet check-in the night before, sold on the promise of being able to choose a seat – I had of course looked up the aeroplane specs and knew the row which contained an emergency exit and, hence, more leg-room. Unfortunately I was only able to choose my seat for the flight from Manchester to Copenhagen, rather than the longer and more important Copenhagen to Narita; this annoyed me somewhat as I had diverged from The Plan for little gain. Internet check-in meant I printed out my own boarding pass which was bundled together with a selection of other bits of A4 paper (which in turn were all duplicated and stored in my luggage). The only open SAS desk was staffed by a bored looking young woman who evidently wanted to be elsewhere at half past seven in the morning. As soon as I pulled out the stack of paper to extract my pass, I inadvertently managed a wicked paper cut across my left pinky – I figured I needed something to go wrong with the journey and a paper cut wasn’t particularly debilitating. For the rest of the journey I clutched a crumpled tissue to staunch the sporadic bleeding.

Heading towards departures and joining a rapidly lengthening queue, I shuffled around with the rest of the yawning crowd and was barraged with messages of how we were all ne’er-do-wells and couldn’t have anything remotely suspicious in our bags. Forgetting I had some heinous hand-cream on my person, I was forced buy a hideously overpriced clear plastic bag (which was delivered in a thicker plastic ball, hello environmentalism) to put it in. Rounding the corner and through the first checkpoint (passport and boarding card checked, evil eye given by security), what presented itself was like something out of The Divine Comedy: machines of brushed metal in bright fluorescent light with barely human figures staffing them, prodding and poking at the silent and compliant masses filing through them. Dehumanisation is de rigueur with demands to remove belts, open laptops or to lift your arms. Through the system I went with only a slight nod from the baton wielding security personnel when the metal detector didn’t beep and the high-powered x-ray didn’t scry anything spurious. As I began reassembling my dignity on the other side, I listened as an overzealous guard explained to a family that only branded baby food was allowed, not any of this highly suspect stuff in unlabelled bottles. Security theatre in full swing.

The maximum security side of Terminal One was a maze of half-finished building work and labyrinthine duty free stores bathed in the smell of week old perfume testing. After spotting my boarding gate I explored the limited selection of stores for an SD Card reader, having somehow mislaid mine at home and after two days unsuccessful searching I figured I would pick one up enroute. With the closest thing available being a multi-card reader for close to £20, I gave up and had some breakfast at a restaurant with overworked and likely underpaid staff. When my Full English arrived, I was presented with a plate and no cutlery and after trying trying to catch the attention of the waitress to no avail, I queried a till worker who gladly furnished me with a knife and fork. Turns out however that cutlery is stored on the table and the menu was just obscuring it, much to the amusement of the middle-aged couple seated next to me who had watched my dilemma.

With a couple of hours still to go I settled into a quieter area of the terminal and read the book I had brought: William Gibson’s Virtual Light which I thought was an apt enough choice of author given my destination. Heading towards the boarding gate when commanded by the numerous departure screens dotted about, the lounge was already packed but I got the privilege of sitting between two unrelated but still very pretty Scandanavian girls who fiddled idly with their passports. The flight was delayed slightly, perhaps due to the low lying mist clinging to early morning Manchester Airport but otherwise we were lead uneventfully onto the aeroplane. I had at least managed to pick the seat for this flight correctly and was lead to an exit row seat with plenty of leg room which I dutifully utilised by continuing to read my book for the entirety of the flight.

Touching down a blissfully short hour and a half later, I was to experience Copenhagen airport – a thoroughly odd beast from what I saw of it. Following the bright yellow text for “Transfers”, I was deposited into a small hall on the other side of passport control with very little of anything. They were corridors and stairs leading off and a 7-11 nestled under a set of stairs with an array of magazines out front – but otherwise there were no duty free shops, no restaurants and no foreign exchange. With no Danish kroner and no way of exchanging my British or Japanese money, I was left to languish for the two and a half dry hours until the next, most major, part of my flight. Before settling down I checked at the transfer desk that I wasn’t missing anything important (such as my luggage) and was given an affirmatory smile and nod. The recycled air that circulated in the airport microcosm had already made me thirsty so I eventually hit the 7-11 and bought a bottle of Dr Pepper and a magazine to pad out the cost. As there were no restaurants and I didn’t fancy the vacuum sealed sandwiches on display, I made do with the fruit I had brought from home and scanning through the English copy of Empire I had just bought. The other magazines on display ranged from trashy gossip magazines of all languages to the racier Penthouse and Playboy, both on a low shelf within easy reach of children.

While eating my lunch I watched as two noisy American children clambered and stumbled over a nearby playhouse while another, younger Scandanavian child played with them. There was much consternation from the younger when it was taken away by its parents, the two other children kept being a bother though. Close to check-in time I wandered towards the boarding gate that I had found earlier only to end up wandering through winding passages for minutes on end before arriving at a hot, stuffy and crowded lounge. A cacophony of voices assaulted me in English, Danish and Japanese and finding a seat in the throng was difficult. I ended up sitting in front of a low table where two boys of no more than fourteen were playing a raucous card game and then proceeded to build an impressively tall house of cards. Boarding was delayed shortly due to the late arrival of the plane, however this didn’t stop a long queue of people forming at the gate. I wondered as to their mentality: that with assigned seat numbers so many people were still eager to get into the aluminium tube they would be trapped within for the next 12 hours.

Heading on to the Airbus A340 once the line had dispersed, I was seated on an aisle seat a couple of rows after “Economy Extra” – lamentably only a row away from extended leg room. I had learned from past long haul flights that having easy access to the toilet beat the half hour at take off and landing when window seats were useful. Thankfully even this was mooted once I found the down and forward camera options in my seat-back display. Before taking off, I wound my watch forward to JST and tried to convince myself that it was almost midnight.

In Kyoto

John Noel — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:23:48 +0000

So I’m sitting in an internet cafe in Kyoto and this is perhaps the first chance I’ve had to upload photos or use the internet in a decent form. All the computers so far have been non-existent or so antiquated as to be unusable. But that is an aside! Takayama, Matsumoto and Kanazawa all down and now in Kyoto for the second day, much train sleeping and photo taking has been had. Takayama was a great little town with sake tasting and little handycraft stalls aplenty. Kanazawa was this hugely bustling city with busy traffic and all that nonsense, but did end up under the cherry blossoms at night drinking sake and having a merry old time.

Travelled to Kyoto yesterday and went to the Miyako Odori – the Spring Geisha Dances. Words cannot describe how brilliant they were, such grace and beauty in motion. Was difficult to see them as anything other than art except if you caught a fleeting moment of them doing something pedestrian like turning a page or shifting their seat. Certainly an unforgettable experience, especially as they didn’t allow photos in there – not that they would have done them justice.

Today visited the temple of 1001 kanon which was another brilliant visit, very holy and utterly unique and again, no photos allowed. I was just on the way to the Kyoto International Manga Museum when I spotted this place.

I’m going to forgo uploading my latest set as my camera has just thrown a hissy fit with the card which has me worried so my blurry geisha walk photos will have to wait.

Up in the mountains

John Noel — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:13:35 +0000

Currently typing on antiquated computer so no photos of Matsumoto or Takeyama for now. Slept on the train to Matsumoto which was odd as I slept fine the night previous; the castle was brilliant to see and move about in but some serious stairs (60 degree angles) to climb to get around. Not much else to do in the town but did end up having caramelised grasshoppers for tea (as well as other bits and pieces); went drinking afterwards in a tiny, awesomely decorated bar called “Elbow Room” – only a couple others went so much merriment was had.

Woke up late today (lots of beer will do that) and travelled to Takeyama by bus – such brilliant views of the mountain with snow and tunnels and all sorts to see. Takeyama is definitely of a slower pace, already had one bath and now waiting for dinner in the traditional ryokan. Think I caught the sun in Matsumoto so factor 20 today.

Please excuse any double m’s or lack of spaces, working with tiny keys and trying not to hit the “type stuff in Japanese” button. There is also the lack of a visible backspace button. It also seems I can’t escape IE6 however many miles away – it follows me everywhere.

Day 9

John Noel — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 10:00:06 +0000

N.B. This was written shortly after I returned and will be rewritten as and when I get time.

For the excursion day, a lot of us had decided to head out to Hiroshima and make use of our JR Rail Pass and to use the Shinkansen again. This was mainly on the advice of Gemma who had visited before and said that Hiroshima was spectacular, so it was pretty much decided.

I managed to snap some photos of the awe-inspiring Kyoto station before we headed out.

At 11 stories high it’s this amazing space filled with shops and people and restaurants. The train to Hiroshima was a couple of hours, but on the way a few of us decided to go to Miyajima island just outside of Hiroshima first, and then do the peace museum and park afterwards.

A quick ferry journey (covered on the Rail Pass again) and we landed on the sacred island of Miyajima with one of the most photographed spots in Japan, the so-called “floating” Tori gate.

The entire island is designated a sacred island, meaning that no one is allowed to be born there or die there (or interned), so there are no maternity wards or morgues / cemeteries. This also means that the animals and trees are sacred and not allowed to be harmed or killed / felled.

The most surprising thing about this is the tame deer which wander the lower part of the island. Signs tell you to stay away from the ones with antlers (no arguments here), but otherwise they just sleep and wander about to be petted. The island is so picturesque, especially in the bright sunshine. After wandering the port for a while, we headed up the cable car to the top of the main mountain where there was a monkey sanctuary. The monkeys all had bright red bums, and the males had huge bright red testicles. We had to leave our bags in some free lockers otherwise the monkeys apparently pinch stuff from your bag.

The views from the top of the mountain were just breathtaking, as my (lame) panorama shows.

Heading back down the mountain we had a look around one of the local shrines before catching the ferry back to Hiroshima for the afternoon.

Hiroshima is a lovely city and like Kyoto, manages to have a very good “village” type feel to it without feeling too urbanised. The Peace Park houses the A-Bomb dome, the preserved remainder of the bomb that was dropped.

The next monument was to a little girl who suffered radiation poisoning and believed in the old tale of making a thousand cranes would make your wish come true. Unfortunately she died, but every year, hundreds of thousands of cranes are sent into the memorial, all of them displayed in huge racks near the monument.

The next two memorials are the Eternal Flame and the Cenotaph. The Eternal Flame will burn until all nuclear weapons are dismantled, while the Cenotaph covers the book which, updated yearly, contains a list of all the people who died because the A-Bomb, regardless of nationality.

The Peace Museum I didn’t take any photos of because it really wasn’t worth it. It is one of the most moving places I’ve ever been to, and I get a bit teary just writing about it. It’s completely unbiased and explains about Hiroshima before, after and during the bomb, all about the bomb itself and nuclear weapons as well as who has them, who’s tested them. The final part of the museum is a collection of memorabilia from the bomb site, things like a tricycle or a lunch box, even to things like the skin and fingernails of a child, kept by the mother.

It’s such a moving place, and at the end of it you can’t help but be certain that nuclear weapons should never, ever be used anywhere else again. I just kept thinking that if world leaders saw this place that we’d get some progress, unfortunately a lot of them have been there, and still nuclear weapons are being made. I really can’t recommend enough that if you get a chance to go there and experience it, it doesn’t point fingers or feel false. After leaving the museum and seeing the devastation, you really get a better outlook on the city and why it feels the way it does, simply because they built it up from nothing.

Heading back to Kyoto, a few of us had some beers and talked for a bit before heading off to bed.