Monday
Our last full day in Tokyo was mainly spent in Tokyo Station as we ordered Shinkansen tickets (damn they’re pricey) and eating in Ramen Street again, because there was a tasty-looking veggie soba dish I wanted to try. It looked delicious on the photo, probably because the soup was red and it had lotus root in it. And yes, it was very yummy. I think Rachel would have approved. The broth seemed healthier than most noodle-based dishes, too. Leon had Okinawa-style ramen. The restaurant layout was really nice, and the order bell was shaped like No-Face from Sprited Away.
Then we spent our last few hours in Akihabara, revisiting all the stores in which Leon oohed and aahed about buying souvenirs. Then back to the hotel, and we watched some Fate/Zero. I hadn’t realized when I watched Fate/Stay Night years ago that the identities of all the Servants (e.g. Saber, Archer, etc) were famous legendary people, i.e. King Arthur, Bluebeard, Gilgamesh, and so on. Then again, Fate/Stay Night was more about who Shiro was going to sleep with at the end, with more fanservice, so not that serious. Fate/Zero looks way better. But I may not resume watching it for a while. I’ve gone off anime in general so I’m only going to get pumped up about really good shows. Fate looks really promising. So far I’ve seen three episodes. I love Saber already. I ship her with Irisviel.
Tuesday
Between Tuesday and Wednesday I did a lot of heavy lifting. I think I’ve strained my forearms.
We checked out of our guest house (more like a doll’s house really), and trekked our way through the stations to Tokyo Station. We were pretty early because I was stressed about boarding the Shinkansen and wanted to make sure we were on time, allowing extra time for lugging our heavy suitcases around. I needn’t have worried, though I was antsy with every minute past the time I’d designated us to leave because Leon hadn’t finished packing. I’d said to leave at 11; it was 11:15 when we left. Barely anything. But I’d finished packing the night before, so I was restless with every passing minute. I empathize very much with my father now. He would get very stressed whenever I was an idiot about travelling. Luckily, I’m used to it now.
We got a Hikari Shinkansen, which is the second-fastest. Fastest is Nozomi, which can get to Osaka from Tokyo in about 2.5 hours. Hikari takes 3 hours. The slowest is Kodama, which stops at all the stops, so I imagine it takes more like 5 hours.
I was hoping we’d see Mt Fuji on the way, and we reserved seats so that we were sitting on the right side of the train, but the clouds were thick and hanging low in the sky, like they had in Hong Kong in May, and we couldn’t even see the mountain base. Though we did see Mt Hakone.
The Shinkansen is much cooler, not to mention cleaner and more comfortable, than British express trains. And ofc they’re working on the maglev Shinkansen trains, which will be even faster. The fastest Shinkansen currently runs at about 200mph average (320kmph), but the test runs for maglev reached 361mph (581kmph). Meaning commutes from Tokyo to Osaka could take as little as one hour in the near future.
I was wearing a more conservative Japanese-girl style outfit today. Knee-length skirt, and shirt jacket (though my top had Amy Winehouse exposing her cleavage on it, so maybe not that conservative). I thought it looked nice. Apparently not everybody agreed, but I’ll get to that bit in a moment.
From Shin-Osaka we got the subway to Namba where Leon would be staying all next week. Lucky sod’s staying on Dotonbori, the most famous street in Osaka.
Unfortunately he’s not used to public shower rooms. I’ve never experienced an all-male capsule hotel (obviously), though I think it’s unfair there are fewer options for places for women to stay in Osaka, but I don’t envy him about the public showers. I’m totally fine with them, and I’d forgotten they were a thing for foreigners who are embarrassed about getting naked in front of everybody. But even if I were a man, I can only imagine the horrors of a public male shower room. Probably a repeat of what I was subjected to one Skype session – lots of nut and arse scratching.
We went on a walk around Dotonbori, and almost immediately a Japanese waiter leapt out at us and tried to get us to go to their restaurant. For some reason they approached me rather than Leon, even though they spoke to us in broken English. I turned them down and continued on our way because we were seeking okonomiyaki and that restaurant didn’t have any.
As we turned to walk away – my memory’s a little hazy on this – I clearly heard the word ‘ugly’ spoken aloud. I think that part is non-negotiable. Whether it was about me, or the group of Japanese guys I’d barely acknowledged who’d been standing behind the waiter were talking about something else, I don’t know. It’s probably naive to assume they were talking about something else, or that I’d misheard.
My automatic reaction was barking a laugh while continuing to walk, without turning back, because the word bounced right off me, and I’d already started to forget about it within the half-second afterwards until Leon asked me what I’d laughed at. I told him, oh-so-blasé, ‘they just called me ugly in Japanese’, and he got really annoyed on my behalf, even telling me to go back there and confront them. I’ve noticed this happens a lot, people getting offended on my behalf when I get belittled in front of them, when in the moment, I don’t really care. But Leon is right when he says he hates it when people shout insults, thinking the other person won’t understand. I don’t think it makes much difference whether you understand the language or not, though obviously if you think they don’t understand and there won’t be consequences, that’s much more cowardly. Both are cowardly to be honest, though. Bullies tend to shout insults at people who they think won’t call them out for it.
I didn’t go back. The moment had passed, and I still didn’t care enough. I didn’t have any justifications for my behaviour at the time, e.g. ‘it’s not worth it’, ‘I don’t care what shallow Japanese guys who think it’s okay to shout insults at foreigners think of me’, ‘it wouldn’t make a difference’, etc. I just didn’t feel like it, full stop.
We spent the next couple of minutes walking in a kind of tense silence without taking in our surroundings, which was an utter shame because Dotonbori’s full of exciting places. Leon was utterly unimpressed with the area, upon being distracted by some thoughtless asshole. We talked about it eventually as it was kind of hanging over our heads like an annoying wasp and I wanted to clear the air. Unfortunately him caring about it made me care about it more. But what do I care what some nobody thinks? What do I care if I don’t adhere to Japan’s stupid one-look-only beauty standards? Anyway, moving on.
We found the Glico billboard (though Leon refused to pose in front of it), and the big famous crab sticking out of the building. Then I decided to take us to Umeda and escape Namba for a bit, as I wanted to distract Leon with some different scenery. We ate at the okonomiyaki restaurant at the top of Yodobashi-Umeda. Both of us had modanyaki – Leon had pork and squid; I had pork and kimchi. It was sooooo good. I was really full afterwards.
We had a little meander around the third floor, where all the ‘hobby’ stuff (i.e. figurines and nerdy things) were. We discovered Leon had less money left than he’d previously thought, having spent so much on souvenirs. But this week will be more about experiences rather than souvenirs so he probably won’t spend as much, I think. After all, Tokyo is full of expensive distractions.
Then I dropped him back off at Namba, and made my own long, long way home. Ugh. It took two hours. I did meet a friend on the way though, an Italian girl who’d also just gotten back from Tokyo. She had her sister with her and I tried to speak the very little Italian I know. “Non parlarlo italiano.” “Sei una donna bella.” “Latte.” “Farfalla”.
I was exhausted upon getting home and almost immediately dropped into a deep, dreamless sleep. Which wasn’t enough.
Wednesday
I ended up not meeting Leon today. I feel bad for abandoning him but I was too busy this morning from errands and if I’d gone all the way to Namba I could have only hung out with him for 2 hours before going home again. 2 hours there, 2 hours back. I didn’t fancy it. I was exhausted as it was.
This morning I sold my fridge. I did a lot of heavy lifting, and carried the fridge single-handedly from my dorm room on the 2nd floor to where my host mother usually meets me, outside the big international dorm. I think that’s how I stretched my forearms. Yesterday I did a lot of heavy lifting with my suitcase (I was able to lift it above my head and put it in the Shinkansen overhead compartment, whereas Leon needed help with his… sorry, can’t help but feel a bit smug about that fact). But the fridge was really hard to hold because of its long shape and required me awkwardly stretching my arms around it to keep it in place in my arms. But yeah, nice to know I still have some muscle. Side note, Leon was no help at all back in Tokyo when some stranger started talking to me in Akihabara and wouldn’t leave me alone. I don’t really mind, as I got rid of him fairly easily by myself. But it’s good to know that with the combination of my muscles, wary approach to strangers and (apparently) my hideous visage, I ought to be alright in terms of protecting myself, and have therefore gained freedom as a woman without needing a male around to help. Bizarrely, despite my looks, I still manage to attract creepy guys twice my age. But I’ve gotten rid of all of them… so far. Ominous ending not intended but I suppose it’s the truth.
I bought my fridge for ¥6000. How much did I get for it in return? A measly ¥700. If I’d just waited until people threw out their stuff I could have gotten a fridge for free. So yeah, don’t bother buying big stuff with the intention of selling them afterward, because you’ll get fucking pennies after paying pounds.
After that, my host mother kindly escorted me to the public office where I had to apply to ‘abandon my residency’, and pay a fee on that late health insurance slip (which luckily didn’t amount to much). They gave me an insurance slip to last me until the end of the month.
Then my host mother took me to an Indian restaurant for lunch, which was heavenly (but sadly, in Japanese portions).
I went home and did my laundry and started cleaning up my room, and I told Leon where and when to meet tomorrow, as we’re going to Nagoya.
I had a nap, then bought dinner (breaking the mirror on my way in… what a genius), then drawing my sister a birthday picture.
I’m so tired. And I’m not going to get anywhere near enough sleep tonight.
naiveinnippon 