Wow.  I really took a serious hiatus from writing.  I apologize.

When you move to a foreign country and set up your life, you just tend to get in a routine and the daily activities become mundane.  I stop considering them as something that other people are interested in reading about.

I know I cut off the Japan trip at Osaka.  However, we did actually cut the trip short.

 

HIROSHIMA

We arrived in Hiroshima in the middle of the afternoon.  Our hotel, The Oriental, was a supposed 4-star.  While the lobby was beautiful and spacious and comfortably furnished, our actual room was small and cramped.  Not as bad as the one in Tokyo, but not as good as the one in Osaka.  And this was supposed to be the nicest room out of all of them.

I was still on a mission to complete my souvenir shopping.  It had been a bust since Kyoto and I was still kicking myself for not getting it all out of the way while I was there.  They, of course, had a long shopping arcade in Hiroshima, but it was just more of the same that we experienced in Osaka.  Chains and cheap junk.  Nothing resembling what I had in mind to purchase for loved ones.

We ate at a Saizeriya.  I don’t know really how to describe it.  I guess something on par with the atmosphere of a Denny’s.  But more like if Denny’s thought they could serve “Italian” food.  I found it to be rather bleh.

We wandered down to the Peace Park Memorial.  I am glad we went at night.  The skeleton building with various spotlights was moving and impactful.  It felt strange to be standing in a spot that had experienced such destruction, but this building had somewhat withstood an atomic blast and remained in memoriam.

We ventured in to the hotel bar and had over-priced drinks and potato chips while listening to some live jazz.

We did wander accidentally in to the red-light district which seemed to be the only area of town that had anything going on past 7pm.

I think at this point we were a bit travel-weary and ready to be done with Japan.

Instead of spending another night in Hiroshima and taking a day trip to Miyajima, we decided to check out of the hotel early and make our way back to Tokyo.  This would save us having to travel the length of the country on the day we needed to fly out.  We had a lazy morning since the room was already paid for.  Then we went again to the hotel bar/restaurant and had a really good burger for lunch.  It seemed to be quite an ordeal to check out early, as they didn’t understand since we had another night paid for.    To our surprise, they actually refunded us for the unused night.  Very unexpected and a bonus.

I still hadn’t completed my souvenir shopping to my satisfaction.  Since we had to make a stop for an hour and a half in Kyoto, I left Spencer at the train station and made a mad dash (by taxi) to Shin Kyogoku, where I had so much success previously.  I had in mind exactly what to get and basically where to get it, so this was to be one of my most efficient shopping trips.  I ended up getting everything I wanted and getting back to the train station with about 20 minutes to spare.

Once we got on our last bullet train, we settled in and watched TV until we arrived back in Tokyo.  Spencer really wanted to splash out on our last night in Japan, so we got a “suite” at Citadines in Shinjuku district.  It was lovely, with a kitchenette and a living area and semi-separate sleeping area.  By far the largest room we had occupied in two weeks.  And it was still about the same size as a standard room in the states.  But we enjoyed it very much.

We requested late check-out the following day, since our flights were in the evening.  We would be taking separate airlines and flights to get to Thailand.  Our last meal at the airport was mediocre, at best, as well as rather expensive.  Spencer chased it with some McDonald’s.

I did shop for some last minute gifts.  I mean, I had some yen I needed to use up.  No sense in exchanging it for baht in Thailand…

We parted ways at security and would reunite in another country in about 7 hours.

We taxied and waited for so long on the tarmac that I actually fell asleep.  They served an ok meal and I watched TV and movies the whole way back.  Before I knew it, I was back in Thailand.  Time to hang out in BKK then move in to my new place in Hat Yai and have another couple of weeks of vacation before starting a new year at school.

                A Few Top Things for Japan:

Convenience store offerings — The convenience stores in Japan carry a wide array of pastries and other baked goods.  I think the most wonderful offerings are the pre-cooked pancakes.  For 105 yen ($1.05), you get four pancakes, approximately 3 ½ inches in diameter.  The best part?  There are already butter and syrup between the two pairs.  You just rub them together to smear it around and BAM! you have a tasty breakfast.  And they really are good pancakes.  Spongy and perfect.  We had been attempting to heat them up without the use of a microwave.  Steaming them while in the bag over a kettle of boiling water (because we have a kettle and hotplate, but no microwave).  Putting them in a pan with some butter and using said hotplate to warm them.  Honestly?  More trouble than it’s worth.  They are fine being eaten at room temperature straight out of the package.

Shopping in Kyoto — I highly recommend a trip to Kyoto regardless of your shopping needs, but especially for those of you who want to get some really great memorabilia in Japan.  Ceramics shops, trinket shops, geta sandal shops, chopstick shops, tea shops, kimono shops, pastry shops, bead shops… The list goes on.  Suffice it to say, I loved Kyoto the most out of the places we stopped.

Mt. Fuji — It is well worth the train trip to see Mt. Fuji.  It is so impressive.  When you round the bend and all of a sudden it is right in front of you, it really is an awe-filled moment.   It’s not really part of a mountain range, so this broad, tall, tree-barren, snow-topped peak stands alone.

Round 1 arcades — These were a new discovery for me.  Since Spencer had been in the country longer than I had, he introduced me to them.  While skeptical at first, I was quickly won over.  I understand why people spend so much time and money in them.  You get about a billion metal tokens and just sit down for hours  We played a lot of electronic BINGO.   I prefer the ledge pusher games that give you instant gratification in the form of more tokens when you land some just right on the platform.

Vending machines — No matter where you go, you aren’t more than maybe 30 feet from a vending machine.  While I have heard of the ones that dispense underwear, we didn’t come across any of those.  What we did find were a variety of both hot and cold beverages as well as food, sometimes even hot soup.  In addition to the street corner vending machines, food ticket machines outside of some restaurants and noodle shops were also very convenient.  You pick what you want, pay at the machine, and then provide a living, breathing human being inside with your order.  No one needs to handle money or worry about making change.  It’s quick and efficient and you still get a hot, made to order meal.  And fortunately, the menu that you order from has pictures.