Micha & René in Japan

March 2018 - March 2024
An open-ended adventure by Micha
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  • Day 1

    Day 1/2 - Arrival to Ishigaki

    March 16, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Starting already on Friday, the first two days were mainly dedicated to get to Ishigaki. In order to get to Ishigaki there were in total three flights. First with Air China via Beijing to Okinawa and from there to Ishigaki. Of course I was very excited to visit this totally different country. But I was also a bit nervous because in Zürich I could only check in the first two flights and only get the boarding pass for the first flight. „Check in at the departing airport...“ Great.

    So the journay began during lunch time in Zürich with the first flight to Beijing. Having all documents ready I could allow myself beeing a little late - quick security check and passport control and almost no people at the gate. When the plan departed the big Airbus 330 was suprisingly almost empty. So I could claim a middle row with four seat all for myself! Shortly after the start lunch came - some Chinese chicken with rice and I also got a Chinese beer, which was quite good! At least better than Swiss beers^^ After lunch they closed all windows and switched off all lights in ghe aircraft so that it was almost completely dark. So after working a little bit on my presentation I lay down early to adjust for the 8 hours time shift just waking up in time for dinner: Some odd combination out of a Chinese main dish - shredded beef in gluey rice^^ and swiss goodies^^. Afterwards I tried to sleep more but the plane already arrived one hour early at the airport in Beijing at 4 am local time... And good that I had that hour...

    Luckily all the signs were in English and suprisingly well understandable! But beeing that early the transfer desk for getting my boarding pass was completely deserted. So I decided to wait a little and to call Iuliia. Unfortunately I had to reconnect to the WiFi every five minutes which is why the call didn‘t last so long. But after the call I checked my belonging and noticed something horrible... I couldn‘t locate my passport! First I was in total shock since beeing in China without passport is certainly not the best idea. But then I thought that I could only have lost it in the plain due to my stupidity of just putting it into the open pocket of my jacket... So I went to a security officer and asked if someone could retrieve my passport. He made some calls and told me to wait. In the beginning I was very confident that could quickly find it and also had plenty of time. But when after 30 minutes aanother officer came and told I had to go back if they wouldn‘t find it I started to get incredibly nervous... After waiting 30 more minutes I was almost paniccing. But then I was incredibly lucky that a stewardess found it and gave it back to me without any trouble.

    After surving that shock there was still noone at the transfer desk counter so I lined up in the loooong queue for the international transfers. Just to get notified at the end that I‘ll need a boarding pass which I can get at the other side -.-. Gerting the barding pass was then relatively easy and then I just skipped the whole transfer line because time started to get scarce... After another security check which also took forever - they really dismantle you completely - I reached my gate exactly on time for boarding.

    In the plane I got a real Chinese breakfast which was again this rice gruel with some other packed stuff which I didn’t even know how to eat^^ After cutting itx I at least figured out that one of the thing was a fermented egg^^
    Arriving in Okinawa I had to pass quarantine, passport/immagration and customs quecks. For every thing you need to fill out a stupid form and everywhere soo many people. After what felt like an eternity I finally reached the airport main hall or what I thought it was the main hall... I couldn‘t see my flight anywhere nor the airline where I had to check in and noone whom I could ask... Finally I figured put that there is another building and the check in and another security control went quite smooth so that I could board the final flight. After more than 20 hours of travelling I could finally meet with René!
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  • Day 2

    Ishigaki

    March 17, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Arriving at Ishigaki airport I could immediately make out this tall giant within this crowd of tiny Asian people :-). René gave me a very warm welcome and since we were both a little hungry I had my first Japanese snack at the airport with some nice Fleischkäse-Maki^^

    This day we rented a small Honda to discover Ishigaki Island. Just going by car crossing the island was already quite beautiful, even thought it was cloudy and rained a little. Nevertheless we went to a small Mangrove Forest, watched hermit crabs and Frogs jumping without legs :D
    Unfortunately we didn’t have do much time to discover the while Island... Afterwards we went to cute palm grove with trees that only grow here in Ishigaki. At that place some Japanese farmers were producing sap from sugarcane and we bought some absolutely delicious mixed juices there! The last stop before we had to return the car was a main temple of the island which happened to be not so spectactular, but it was already quite dark at this time.

    Then we returned the car and bought some sushi for breakfast at a supermarket. We checked in at our hostel and René exchanged many quick japanese Words with tje receptionist. This Lady was then showing is a small room with some maps near the kitchen, which ich I mistook as a meditation room but turned out to be our room. No furniture except a small cupboard with even smaller TV. Original Japanese and quite interesting experience.

    In the evening we went out to discover the city and found the small red light district and went to the harbour district where went to a cool place with many different small bars and hat sole traditional Japanese snacks with sufficiant sake!^^
    Tomorrow we will take a ferry and discover the next Island - Hateruma!
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  • Day 3

    Hateruma

    March 18, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    After the long journey to Japan and thanks to last nights sake I fell to sleep like a stone on the comfy tatami mats, feeling not sign of jetlag. The night was much too short anyway and we just had time to buy some breakfast from the supermarket constisting of some Okinawa style onigiri with sausage and some vegetarian goodies soaked in broth called oden.

    Afterwards we went to the port od Ishigaki and took the Ferry to Hateruma where we ate our breakfast and used the 1.5 hours to sleep a little more. Arriving on the southernmost island we were picked up by the host of our apartment and got some useful tips of bars during the short ride. After the check in we could rent two extremely old and rusty bicycles and some snorkeling equipment directly from our host. So just dumped our stuff at the apartment and took the bikes to discover this small island.

    Even though quite small the bikes turned out to be ok. On the island live maybe a around one thousand people and probable twice as many goats which are chained all around the island. Most of the people seems to live from agriculture and growing sugar cane First we went to the southern side which has a beatiful rock cliff coast. Time and water formed here marvelous spiky and sharp figured into the lava stone. We dumped the bikes and went to discover this beautiful place climbing over the cliff and enjoying the great weather. 25 C and sunshine with some small clouds :-)

    Afterwards we went farther along the south coast and saw the beautiful landscape. Mimosa trees, weird palm tree fruits and many many huge and colorful butterflies! Shortly we arrived to the southernmost monument of Japan which marks the end/beginning of Japan. Then we got hungry, needed to get out of the scolding sun and went back to the settlement to have lunch at very local place. We ate some were nice miso soup and I had interesting pickled pork with some salad and an amaying freshly made banana milk shake.

    Having the snorkeling equippment carried around all the time we thought it would be a good idea to finally use it! So we went to a beautiful beach with turquoise water and what appeared to be some coral reefs. Soon adter we started to swim, we were absolutely amazed! Not having reached the reef already a big swarm of maybe 20 hand sized grey fish was interestingly surrounding us with having no fear whatsoever. And the deeper we went into the riff the more amazing fish we saw. All imaginable colors and forms! I felt like in one of this videos of discovery channel! And some of them were really large, maybe 30 cm long with funny hornes and so on! At one point when I saw a small, black and white stripes watersnake I even got a little scared but it was a really really cool experience which never had before in my life!

    So we spent a good amount of time at beach got some burn of course before we started to continue our discovery of the island. This lead us to some tombs, more goats, another monument in honour of the farmers and some really small bananas on real plants, which had a very nice taste but felt very odd and dry in your mouth.

    For dinner we went to a nice small pub enjoyed a beer and some very cool snacks: papya salad, pickled pork and fried seeweed which was all excellent. Then we went home and René gave me an instruction for the toilet...

    Actually already yesterday I had to do my business and went to the toilet. The first shock happened when the lid automatically opened when I entered the room. Then I saw this super fancy toilet with all the buttons and was slightly confused... Anyway, as I sat down there was rhe second shock: This fuckin seat was very warm! XD But then when I was finished I had no clue how to use this toilet so I just used the ONE-layered toilet paper (really?? Fancy toilet and then that!!?) and searched five min for the flush button alwasys beeing afraid so beam of water would hit me in the face^^ After this experience I decided to get the instruction for these tiolets which are everywhere in Japan and actually clean all your dirty parts very very well 😅

    This day ended with a great observation of the amazin starlit sky here, some weird light on the sky, an extremely bright starlet and some nice conversation!
    Tomorrow we will take the Ferry to Iriomote and discover the next Island!
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  • Day 4

    Arriving on Iriomote

    March 19, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    After a very long and relaxing sleep we slowly packed our belongings and started into another beautiful day. Very close to our apartment was a cute café where we had nice breakfast with fruit and coffee smoothies and sweet cerials with fruits and yogurt. Since we already returned the bicycles we leisurely walked our way to the harbour after the long breakfast.

    The distance between the islands is about 30 km so we thought we could kill some time writing diary or take nap... But that plan was quickly destroyed quite violently^^ Whereas the ferry ride from Ishigaki to Hateruma was very qualm and we could sleep, this ferry was much smaller and shooting with 60 km/h over the pacific ocean. So the nice boat trip turned into a very exciting rollercoaster ride, the boat jumping up and down over the waves an my stomach turning to liquid^^ The weirderst thing was that we were both laughing and very excited whereas all the other japanes passenges just behaved as if it was nothing... And probably laughing from the inside about the giggly tourists!^^

    After surving the ferry we equipped us with sunscrean to protect out already burned skin and picked up our rental car for the next 1.5 days. Beeing a little short on time we just had a quick lunch from the supermarket - rice balls and same grilled vegis with meat - to reach Yabu, a small island close to the main Island. Since going there by boat is too boring we rode a palanquin drawn by water buffalos what was already quite exciting :-) Our original plan was to walk back from the island through the shallow water but they didn’t allow us because of jellyfish we didn’t even see...
    On the island we met a very cool native woman who played a small song for us on a Shari, a typical japanese guitar with three strings. Then we went into a butterfly house where we could see fantastic japanese examplars including csterpillars and cocoons. But since we had to take the buffalos back, we didn’t have just a quick mango icecream and an ananas drink before we went back.

    Iriomote basically has only one coastal rode that goes around 2/3 of island and two small settlements which have a port each. We arrived at one port and then drove to the other where our guesthouse was, stopping occasionally to enjoy the beautiful nature. At one point we even found a big eremit crab :D
    After we came the second small village we had to make a couple round through it until we found our guesthouse...^^ But that way we also found all nececarry places and also some big ananas field. Unfortunaly non of them were ripe... But let‘s see if we can find some on the island. When we finally found the guesthouse we were stunned by the beautiful location on a small hill overlooking the sea with palm and hammocks! Our hosts was a alternative very relaxed couple who gave us some tips to eat out. But unfortunately at 7.45! Almost all recommended shops very already closed or closing... But luckily we still found some place and I had some very delicious soba noodles in broth with delicious okinawa pork :D. The rest of the evening we chillaxed in the hammocks under a beautiflu starlit sky enjoying beers, horse raddish and curry crackers philosophing about everything and anything.
    When we started to fall asleep at this gorgeous place we moved into our traditional room with again six tatamis and and even a small table and went to sleep!
    Tomorrow we explore the island further and see if we can get inside the jungle!
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  • Day 5

    Iriomote

    March 20, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    For the first time we booked breakfast with the gursthouse but what came with small drawback. We had to get up at 7.30. But for this we got a nice meal with cold yasmin green tea, scrambled eggs with spinach, fish, nori, rice, miso soup and grilled pieces of sausage :-)

    Then we had a small nap and started into the next adventure! We took the car and checked out the southwestern part of the island where the road ends and you can get only further by boat. We were told that this part would be the best to watch the wild cats of Iriomote which only live on that island and only about 100 hundred animals are left. But since the island is quite big, the likelihood to see one is very small.
    Afterwards we went to another beautiful beach and the architects Richter & Reichmann built a beautful castle out of sand with tall towers, a deeep moat and even a bridge :D Since I got quite dirty during the construction I also had to take a swim in the crystal clear and pleasant water. Coming out of the water and walking towards René suddenly a lot of small fish jumoed out of the water between us which surprised us both a lot! But looking for some shells I was quite disappointed that all nice shells very occupied by crabs... And also didn’t dare to steal there house^^
    But constructing a castle also makes hungry which is why we went to next small restaurant and had some ramen with gyouza, some dumplings filled with meat, onions and some garlic. As desert we went to a small store and bougt some ice cream and I ate some quite interesting one made from sweet beens :D

    After this invigoration we went to the main attracktion of this day. Initially we were told that one cannot rent or boat or it would not be possible to enter the jungly without a guide. Sonwe had planned to take motorboat up the biggest river in okinawa. But arriving at the quay we saw that we could also rent kayaks and go on our own! So we rented one for two persons and rowed our way into the jungle! The experts already warned us that we need to take care of sandbank but it didn’t take long until we ran on ground in the middle of the river and had to crawl our way out with our hands! Anyway we had loads of fun and an amazing view in the jungle. We were even accompanied by a big white crane which always flew a couple a meters ahead of us and saw some big fish junping out of the water!
    A couple kilometers up the river was supposedly a waterfall. But having quite strong head wind and currents which were very hard to predict and to maneuver we didn‘t make it so far. But we found a big sand bank where we could get out of the water and haul the kayak out. There we were surroundet by thousands of tiny transparent crabs and all seemed to run away from the big intruders. We also tryied to go a little bit farther inside but the jungle was too dense and we were to unaware of possible dangers that we just walked up the river beach a little where saw more crabs and beatiful mangrove trees. It would have been great to go farther up the river and explore more of the amazing world but unfortunately we had to return because the ferry do not go that long and we had to catch s flight next morning.
    So we turned around and let the current carry us down. Well that was at least what we hoped would happen. But the currents still required a lot of paddling if you want to go straight^^ And while the weather was very nice when we entered the river it got increasingly worse the farther we went inside. The moment we turned strong winds and a thunderstom started to develop with great lightning accompanied heavy thunder! But luckily the storm didn’t hit us directly and the trip back went very smooth and easy.

    But after we returned the kayak we were still a little short on time and we had to hurry to refuel and clean the rental car a little and get back to the ferry. The official speed limit in this island is 40 km and our navi told us we would need at least one hour. But thanks to Renés driving skills we made it in less than 30 min and the guy from the rental conpany even dropped us off at the ferry so that we could even get on an earlier ferry we had planned. But the weather got increasingly worse and it started to rain the closer we came to the port. So we were slightly afraid that it would be the same fast rollercoaster boat and this time during the storm. But luckily it was a big katamaren where we hardly felt any wave :-)

    On Ishigaki it was still raining and we visitited a couple of very cute present and kitsch stores where we could probe many of the delicious cookies. We stayed at the same hostel as before but this time in the dormitory with six other guys. So we just dropped off our stuff and went to a restaurant with some promised life music. And this bar was indeed very nice. It was wuite full from the start and the people were in a good mood. As usual René ordered the food for us and this time we got many small snacks. Starting with seaweed on the rocks eaten with wasabi, ginger and soy, some absolutely delicious fried fish on sticks, sea grapes which had a very funny feeling in the mouth and sea cucumber. All of very tasty and also new and exciting for me. But I also wanted to try a little more and René asked for another special snack from this region. So got the luck of the Island but didn’t feel ourselves so lucky since it was just some pickles onions and prolly the worst thing we had eaten so far^^ But anyway during the meals a two man band with guitar and Sanshin, the threes stringed japanes guitar, started to play a coulple traditional song which we and the other guests really enjoyed. Clapping and singing along very loudly! They even allowed one of the guests to choose song and sing with them. As usual we were the only not Japanese folks and attracted some attention. What we though of a drunk couple of friends even just took photographs of us. After the performance one of the girls even mustered to talk to us in English and René quickly turned it into a conversation in Japanese^^ As it turned out they were mother and daughter and the girl was living on Malta for a year to study English even though it was still not so easy to talk to her. In the end of course they had to take another picture of us and then left the bar. Soon after we also went back to the hostel which was just too houses away and went to sleep since our flights to Fukuoka the next morning were quite early.
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  • Day 6

    Transit to Fukuoka

    March 21, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Getting up early in the morning I was the first one to take a shower. We had already prepared everything the last evening not to disturb the other guys in the dorm. So after the shower I went to the common room to wait for René. The only person sitting there was an elderly man who soon started to talk to me. His first question was if I speak Japanese but my knowledge does not exceed „hello“ and „thanks“. But we could also communicate quite well in English which is not so usual here^^ He told me that he‘s from Kawasaki and already retired. He‘s 64... I think it will take me while to judge the age here^^

    But unfortunately we didn’t have much time because we had to catch the bus to the airport and didn’t have breakfast yet. So we just went to a convenient store, bought a couple onigiris and went to the bus for which we had bought the tickets already yesterday.
    Again we could only check in at the airport which was super easy this time at this tiny airport. Also the first time that I saw that you can take drinks from outside inside a plane...
    Landing on time in Okinawa we had a couple of hours to kill before the plane to Fukuoka took off. Again not having a boarding pass we just followed the transit signs and walked through half of the airport just to find out that there was no transfer desk for our airline. So we had to walk back and out to checkin again. And of course the checkin counter of our airline was the very last so that I’ve probably seen the whole airport by now. But since we had lots of time anyway and could also buy a beer which we could take through the security check, this small detour was quite welcome.
    We sat together in the plane and even with the stormy weather it was a pleasant flight. When we arrived in Fukuoka I was still wearing my shorts and t-shirt which didn’t go along so well with the five degrees and rain :-/. So I quickly changed and we went by subway to our hostel to meet with Claudi. A cool thing in Japan is that you can use the same card for most of the public transport in the whole country and just charge it with money! Even though they didn’t see each other for 5 weeks because Claudi went to travel in Kyushu, René didn’t communicate out return so well and she was very surprised and of course very happy to see us! After a couple minutes of greeting ceremony we checked in a very cool hostel and even hot a small upgrade and could sleep in 8 bed room for 2300 Yen each. After a small discussion what to do in the evening Claudi showed us on of the most important temples in Fukuoka. She had already been in the city and knows some sights. But the mood during the whole evening was very weird and the two didn’t seem to get along so well... Anyway the first sight we visited was the Tojoji temple and it was also the very first real temple I saw in reality, Well if I exclude the pity temple on Ishigaki... And this view was truly amazing! Even though it was raining and cold the whole complex really took my breath! It really looked like from some movie with these beautful roofs and wood constructions. There were many small buildings and one large main hall and even the Sakura‘s first blossoms were opening! We saw a beautiful red pagode with many floors where very very important regional personalities are buried and some other cemetery stones. Unfortunately it was alreade quite late and the all the buildings very close so that I just could admire them from the outside. But there was also a huge necklace with 108 wooden eggsizes pearls of which is one is marked as the start. Pulling down all the 108 pearls with produce a nice clonk is some prayer which we did of course :D But at some point we were even asked to leave the complex. So Claudi led us to the next thing which was a huge district with very old residential buildings, many small temples and cemetaries surrounded and devided by 3m high walls which also had these cute Japanese tiles. Even René said that he never had seen such a huge complex of that kind before.
    Getting hungry from the walking we decided to eat some typical food from Fukuoka. We got a tip in the Hostel to try some old family restaurant which sells Motsunabe, a big pan with mainly cabbage and innards (I guess it was stomach) which boils in a tasty broth with some other incredients on a small gas stove in the middle of the table. As side dish we got pasta which one also heats in the broth and as drinks me and René took sake from potato and barley and Claudi took so Japanes plum liquor. A very cool experience and very delicious but also very greasy :D But it was so good that me and René got seconds and went out more than stuffed.

    To relax after this feast we went to an Onzen, a traditional Japanes bath from a hot spring. We decided to walk there which was a very unpleasant experience since the weather was getting worse and worse with strong winds and cold rain... When we reached the Onzen we had to split with Claudi because men and women areas are seperated because you got there naked of course. But this bath was exactly what we needed. Many tubs with different temperatures and massage jets and also some saunas. But before you are allowed to enter the water you first have to wash yourself in a sitting position which was actually quite comfortable and it seemed many people also use it for general body hygene doing stuff like shaving. Well at least there faces... It was very weird to see all these big black bushes... :D Then we went to the hot tubs which reached temperatures up to 40C. Unlike a sauna 40 degrees are already quite hot and I didn’t stand it too long inside. But with the nice outdoor area with an open roofs it was very pleasant to cool down again. We also went to the 70C sauna but this was also a weird experience... Where in Europe sauna is a very relaxing thing with dimmed light and quiet, here it’s highly lighted there are already towels lying everywhere in order and the oddest thing: a hug tv in the middle with everyone watching... Well if they like it :D When we went to the massage jets something funny happened to us. René was trying one coming from the ground with two handles on the top and went there in a sitting kind of position making funny sounds telling me to try it too... When I went there I knew what he meant - a hard weter jet blowing up your arse is a quite weird experience :D But when we saw another guy standing there massaging his feet we thought that we may have done something wrong XD
    After two hours of nice relaxing the rain had stopped and we walked back to our hostel grabbing a beer on the way. Initially we just wanted to quickly drink the beer and go to bed because we had planned to meet with a friend from Jena who lives in Fukuoka the next day. But after Claudi went to sleep we started discuss why René was behaving so weird today and what bothered him and ended up in bed at around 2.30...
    So it was a short night again before Peter was supposed to show us some more nice spots of Fukuoka....
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  • Day 7

    Fukuoka

    March 22, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    After the short night we packed our stuff and met with Peter in the lobby of our hotel. He’s an informatics Master who also studied in Jena where René met him with something related to Japan^^ Unfortunately Claudi couldn‘t join us in the morning beause the she had to go to some instiuion to unregister from the city of Fukuoka. So us three first went to the Tochoji temple again but this time we could go inside. But to do so we had to pay 50 Yen each burn some incence smoke sticks and light a candle to calm the buddhist gods. Beeing inside we saw a huge, well at this point I though huge^^, wooden sitting buddha statue. And underneath it was a small path symbolising the way from hell and paradise with some crude relief pictures and a wound pitch black path symbolising hell. Well it was dark until some korean women lit there mobile phones and we had to tell them to turn them off! Anyway a very interesting experience :-)
    Even thought yesterday we were anxious of the weather because it was supposed to rain all day we seemed to have calmed the buddhist gods and were even grantd with some sunshine :-)
    The next stop was the Kushida Shrine another beautfiul building (ADD SOME INFO ABOUT IT) and we did another prayer there. After pleasing the god with some money we all rang bell to get his attention, inclined our heads twice, clapped twice and make long inclination again asking some wish of the god.
    Then we went to a small museum showing a tradional loom with LOCHKARTEN including a person using it and could admire the beautiful fabrics it can produce. Soon after I bought a small cute wallet out of silk for my coins made with exactly this techniqute. Right next to this museaum was another one showing the traditions in the the very old distict where we were:Hakata. Even though many things were only in Japanese they also had many descriptions in English and I could follow most of things. They have some very cool festival where every sub district (nagata) build a huge palanquin with decorated puppets and run with theis huge heaving thing 5 km through the city carrying it on their shoulders using tree trunks... Very impressive and we could even watch it with some virtual reality glasses!
    When we left the museum it was already lunchtime and we reunited with Claudi to eat some Ramen from Fukuoka (tukotsa? ADD INFO) in the Hakata main station. I had already tried a Ramen dish in Zurich but here with extra garlic and eggs it was especially delicious!

    After lunch and going to the observation desk above the 10th floor of the station we took a train to the biggest bronze Buddha in the world which is 30 min outside of Fukuoka in the mountains. For the way we bought some croissant where a huge queue indicated something special. But tasting them they were quite not even good for Swiss standards. Only the fish egg topping or the sweet potato filling made them interesting. When we arrived in the small sleepy village we first went over a very cute bridge whose rails were turned into a xylophone like instrument which plays a pleasant Japanese tune when played in the right speed. After playing with the toy we took the small hike up to the statue. On the way we found a small shrine in a pond where many people tried to throw coins on. Selling of indulgences is still a very big thing in Japan. Basically on all holy objects you see tons of coins lying around. So we also had to throw some coins there :D. From this shrine there were three paths: one leading to a temple one up the mountain through a row of Toriis and the last one to the Buddha statue.
    We went to the statue first which also was a small path along the mountain with many many small Buddha statues in all kind of shapes. Many of them wearing cute knitted heads. Going up there we could already see the big Buddhas head which already seemed quite big but when we reached the statues the sight was sheer amazing! A 42 m long bronze Buddha lying on the side in a relaxed pose is really something different. It was written that it's the biggest bronze Buddha statues in the world. In front of it were 366 urns for evere day of the year and many more small Buddha statues with somewhat mean faces! When came to the feet which were maybe 4m long and had many golden buddhist signs including swastikas on them. People go there lean with their forheads against them and pray.
    On the way back we found a way underneath the Buddha in a room which appeared like a temple. Since noone was there we took of our shoes - one has to take the shoes in basically every residential house or room or holy building - and went inside where we found a big maze of of small cabinets with family emblems on top. At some point we found an open one and found out that it were small family shrines of dead people with items they liked. When finally someone spotted and of course asked us to leave they lady told us that she always opens the shrines of the people who died on the current day and people can go there to pray for them. But as usual the people are icredibly friendly and even if the lady was pissed she didn't show it to us.
    Afterwards we went to the temple which is nicely carved into the mountain and found a big statue of a war god. In front of it was a small device with 100 meteal rings which can be pushed from one side to the other and also some instruction how to use it. One should go around a tree which is 10m away and for every circle one can put one ring on the other side. And of course someone of us had to start it... So working together we walked around the tree until we moved all rings from one side to the other and are incredible blessed now by the war god :D
    Still having lots of time we tried ourselfes hiking up the mountains on a very cool path through a bamboo forest - the first real bamboo forest I've even seen! Going there we had to climb through a small cave and inside the forest we even found some clay pots. We expected some other shrine or temple on the top of the mountain but the only thing we saw was a appalled tanuki which was running away from me. But anyway hiking up throuh this bamboo forest was very cool. On top op the mountain were just a few houses so we turned around and took the next train back.

    Back in Fukuoka we went to the Canal City a very big shopping mall with water ponds and fountains in the middle. There we ate lunch at a kaiten sushi and had many very interesting types of sushi! Ika (squid), tamago (egg), different types of clams, ume (pickles plums) with spices a small patty and many more - very delicious! :D The reason we came to the shopping mall was a light and music show with the fountains. But before it started we went to a typical game station and played Taiko where you have a big drum and have to play the rythm of the song hitting the drum with different patterns and on the top and side of it. A very fun game a little similar to guitar hero which we played and pairs and had lots of fun! Unfortunately you can only play japanese songs there which is why played some cool anime themes with increasing difficulty which was including the many other loud noises inside the game station a little too hard for us in the end :D
    With the money we payed we could exactly play three songs which was perfect to go the the water show on time. And this show was also very cool! In yard of the 5-story shopping mall with many long balconies on one side and a glass fassade on the other they were closing the shutters on the glass windows and used it as a projection area. The theme of tonight was One Piece, an anime which I also like. And together with the music the pictures they were elaborately projecting and the fountains it was absolutely beautiful and the 8 minutes were over much too fast...

    This night we decided to spend in a night bus carrying us to Hiroshima. So we went to the bus terminal and were a little confused that the long distance buses were supposed to leave from the third floor. But actually when we went there there were actually buses standing outside^^ When we were leaving it felt like driving on the roof :D Even though the bus was quite old it was very comfy and I could also more or less sleep. But it was stopping quite often and cold air flowing at the windows so the sleep was not the very best...
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  • Day 8

    Hiroshima

    March 23, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    We started walking along one of the arms of the Ota river which splits up delta like in the main part of the city. Quickly we reached a the Shukkeien Garden a huge and gorgeous Japanese garden with tons many elaborately cut trees which look like big Bonsais, Sakuras which started to blossom, plum trees which were already losing the last blossoms, a small bamboo forest and many more cool plants. The garden was created by some rich duke who wanted to use it as his residence. In the middle was a huge pond with more Koi carps than I’ve seen in my lige of all imagibable colors and some as huge as a leg of a sumo wrestler! But we also saw some cute turtles and a crab^^ Funny were also saw some weird big straw structures which we first believed were just some nice statues. But as it turned they were some Yashiwara maki - palm trees wrapped in straw to protect them from the cold.

    After spending more than in our in this beautiful garden we started to walk towards the Hiroshima castle. With the temperatures rising is was getting more and more pleasent and we bought some delicious but also very expensive ice cream with very interesting tastes! René had roasted black sesame which had very dark grey colour almost like ash, Claudi sakura with a nice rose colour and I macha tast with a strong green colour. The castle complex is surrounded by a moat and a wall and also holds a temple and a big park. We went to the temple first and ate our ice cream in front of the big Torii sitting in the sun.
    Then we went to which sits beautifully in one corner of the rectangular mote which is very beattiful building out of dark wood and many stories which looked as if they took right out if a movie :D

    Even though very interesting the next stop was also very depressing... We went to the atomic bomb dome which was the only building in the vicinity of the the hypocentre that survided the blast of the atomic bomb because it was a out of steel and the blast was coming very straight from the top since the explosion was 600 m above ground.
    The sheer view of this building in sheds with all the rubble is ver impessive and made very sad remembering very vividly what undescribable act happened there. Close the dome is the big memorial park situaeted on an island between two river arms in which are many peace memorials including a huge bell that you ring and which is incredibly loud and the cenograoph which is a small concrete gate that funnels the view back to the dome. The peace museum of which the biggest part is under renovation at the moment is also on the island. We went inside anyway and found some very interesting but also shocking information. At first there a room with big video wall with short movies of contempory witnesses which I personally found too one sided and distorted from reality. But then came a big room with detailed information of the planning and the process of the bombing with many original documents and really perverted information like the decision of the cities bases on public casualties etc with the sole reason to end the war quickly enough to avoid Russia from getting involved and stronger...

    After this the mood was quite bad and it took a while to rehabilitate. But the next place helped a lot to forget that cruel piece of history a little bit.
    We took a train and a ferry to Miyajima island a bigger island in Hiroshima bay. Already on the ferry we could see one of the well known attractions of Japan: a huge red Torii standing in the ocean on six legs. When we arrived on the island Claudi & René had to go to the toilet. So I went out of the building and was very surprised to see a small deer just standing around totally unimpressed of all the humans! It was even approaching me in hope to get some food and I could touch it! Coooool! :D
    But when they came back from the toilet, Claudi & René braked my enthusiams a little by telling me that they already had seen these deers in a huge number in Nara that they’re somewhat holy and are not allowed to kill. And also on this Island there were many of these animals just walking (and shitting) in the city not caring for the humans who don’t feed them at all.
    Of course we went immediately to the huge Torii but had to cross a very annoying touristic passage with tons of stores and kitch first... But the view of the Torii was absolutely worth it! And we were even lucky that is was ebb tide so that took off our shoes and could walk through the shallow water directly underneath this impressive wooden gate! Right behind the Torii looking towards the island was the big temple which it belongs to. The whole complex is build on the beach and stands on columns so that it’s above the water st high tide. But it was the first temple for which we had to pay an entrance fee... And beeing still barefoot they even asked us to put on our shoes. So we walked through the temple and has some more great views on the Torii and the temple itself. Looking straight through the Torii we could see some other big complex on the main island but couldn‘t directly find out what it was....

    As basically all islands Miyajima also is very hilly and we wanted to go up the mountain range to enjoy the view. But beeing quite late, the cable car was not running anymore and we were also afraid of it getting dark too soon... But started to walk up anyway and I even saw two deers climbing up the canyon of the small stream accompaniing the path up. The path was in an excellent condition mostly consisting of stairs. Soon we met some German guys going down and René asked them how long it would take and about the condition of the path. With sumset approaching and Claudi beeing a little slow we decided to split and René and me sped ahead to reach the top before sunset. So we quickly climbed up the 536 m elevation through the rain forest and could enjoy many outstanding views down on the torii and the main island. It was very stunning that even on the steep mountain road they managed to build some small temples and shrines… A little exhausted we managed to reach the top before sunset to enjoy an even better view down all sides of the islands and the beautiful sunset while drinking a well deserved beer! But since it was getting dark soon we had to hurry a little bit to get down. Not going very far we met Claudi but sadly we didn’t have time to go up again and just sped down while it was getting darker and darker. When we reached the bottom almost all light was gone and we just took the ferry back.

    Back in the city we wanted to try a specialty of Hiroshima – Okonomiyaki which is already an adventure seeing them prepare it because you have a hot steel plate in front of you on which the cooks also prepare the dish. It consists of some kind of pancake dough filled with fried pasta and many other nice thing depending on the restaurant and a very delicious special sauce. In the end it looks a little like a round cake with filling :D
    Already during the meal our exhaustion kicked in quite heavily and we were very happy when we came back to our capsule hotel to take a looong relaxing sleep :D
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  • Day 9

    Hiroshima 2

    March 24, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    This day we just slept without alarm to get some rest and until everyone was ready it was 12 o’clock. So we just went directly to the typical fast food chain Nakau to have a chick lunch. We all got the lunch menu consisting of a miso soup and a bowl of rice with some sauce made with soy and egg and shared some fried chicken. It’s very cool in Japan that you always get cold water and even green tea for free :-)
    Today‘s plan was to walk the Futabanosato a trail through northeastern Hiroshima with 16 temples and shrines along the way. It already started quite spectacular with the big Fudō-In temple which was very peaceful with almost no people around. Since we didn’t find a real map of the path we had to plan it a little ourselves and of course soon got lost in a small forest with steep winding paths. But we also found the way out quickly and even saw some old graves inside! The path we walked was actually quite beautiful. Even though mostly through the city it went a little away from the big roads and the antithesis of the modern city buildings and the many small shrines and temples is quite impressive. So far we’re incredibly lucky with the weather and this day was again nicely sunny and warm enough for shorts :D The good weather also increases the growth of the cherry blossoms and we took a beautiful path along the river surrounded by cherry trees starting to open their buds where we also saw the first preparations for the Sakura festival!
    Today in the evening Claudi’s parents were supposed to land in Osaka and we planned to take the Shinkansen - a super fast train - so that Claudi could pick them up. And of course we were running a little out of time and had to shorten the path s little by climbing the small hill on a steep path through the forest to the peace pagoda which looks like a huge metal bell and can be seen from almost everywhere in the city. Up there we also had a great view on the city of Hiroshima.
    On the way down we saw huge cemetery carved with steps into the mountain and found another big shrine that connects the top of the hill with a way enclosed by many many red Torii! And also the shrine with it’s wood painted in red and white and the location at the foot of the hill and its big flight of stairs with an impressive sight!
    But leaving from there we really had to run for our train and our luggage which we left at the hotel.
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  • Day 9

    Transit to Osaka

    March 24, 2018 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    After running and picking up out luggage we even managed to get to the train station in time. But having 10 minutes time to buy the tickets was not enough. For the Shinkansen you always have to buy two tickets - one to enter the train and one to reserve a seat in the train so that it is guaranteed that every person has a place to sit. So first we bought the wrong ticket and then our credit cards were not working at all and we missed the planned train and had to take the next one which luckily just came 15 minutes later.
    The Shinkansen is an amazing and luxurious train traveling at around 300 km/h per hour! It’s in almost all cases the fastest and most convenient way to travel in Japan. It just took us 90 minutes to cover the distance of over 300 km to Osaka even stopping a couple times in the bigger cities in between. You have an enormous space for your legs so that even René didn’t not have any trouble and we enjoyed a nice beer :-D
    When we arrived in Osaka, Claudi immediately took the train to the airport which is on an artificial Island in Osaka-Bay but still quite far away from the city center and we directly went to our airbnb apartment which is located in the Umeda one of the busiest districts in whole Osaka :D
    In order to get there we had to pass a long street with tons of banners, luminous advertisement, small shops, gaming halls and everything crowded with people. That’s how I fancied Japan! And right when the all the bling-bling started to get less René said that we’ve reached our destination. Right under a huge luminous advertisement and next to a small bar was the entrance to the apartment closed by a sliding gate to prevent people from mistaking it as the entrance to another bar^^ Going up a narrow stair we found out that our direct neighbour was a shot bar anyway. We opened the pin-locked which led to another stair to the first floor of our flat with the kitchen and the living room equipped with Tatami and a Kotatsu - a heated table which still is the major heat source in traditional Japanese houses. The apartment consisted on total of three floors and we found the toilet and to bed rooms including two small balconies the upper one. But there was also a slight problem… We didn’t find a shower! At first we were very concerned but after climbing the floors a couple times more I found it behind behind a inconspicuous curtain and were very relieved!!
    After unpacking our stuff we went shopping a huge amount of food for dinner to welcome here parents with some nice sushi. Some fruits are extremely expensive in Japan. In this shop the apples for example started from 1 Euro per PIECE and went up to 5! Soon after we came back also Claudi arrived with her parents and we had a traditional meal on the Kotatsu sitting on the Tatamis :D
    Since everyone was a little tired we went to bed early after to start well motivated into the next day!
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