Day 38: 8 May 2009

LOCATION: NAGOYA
MOOD: EXCITED
LISTENING TO: UTADA HIKARU – FIGHT THE BLUES

NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET:

Today was the first day of my two and a half-week national trip that will see me go from Henry's place in north-eastern Japan all the way to the south tip of the country. Luckily for me, almost all of Japan's major cities are on the east coast and connected by the bullet train (shinkansen). Armed with my 14 day Japan Rail Pass (which allowed me unlimited usage of the shinkansen) I was ready for the next phase of my adventure. It's a little presumptuous to think that you can see a whole country in two weeks, but given that I had already seen the Tokyo and Kansai (Kyoto, Osaka, Nara) regions it wasn't that unreasonable. After I finish up on this little jaunt there will be only one unconquered frontier remaining – Japan's north island, Hokkaido.

The day didn't get off to a great start – I missed my first train and had to wait in the cold for around 50 minutes before the next one came. Sukagawa isn't exactly on the shinkansen line, so I had to take a train to the next major station. Sitting alone on the platform being buffeted by the oddly wintry conditions I was given the opportunity to reflect on the differences between city and country life.

A taste of what to come. Train stations aren't quite as sexy as airports, but there are no sniffer dogs or customs checks either.

All this was however forgotten when I finally got my chance to ride on the bullet train. I had heard a lot about it and it was exciting to finally be able to give it a shot. The train pulled up and to my surprise it was actually a double decker. I went to the top floor, got settled in and said goodbye to the countryside. The first thing that struck me about the shinkansen is how similar to plane travel it is. The seats are very reminiscent of plane seats, with the little pocket in front, the ability to recline and even the fabric design. Add to this the friendly attendants that patrol the aisles with food/drink carts and the resemblance is almost uncanny.

Shinkansen come in a range of shapes and sizes. It's a shame Trainspotting wasn't filmed in Japan. Maybe if it had been Danny Boyle wouldn't have had to wait for Slumdog to get his Oscar.

The view out the window. The first of many shots, although most of the ones following this one had slightly better scenery. You can see the fold-down table on the seat in front of me.

Another thing that's odd about the shinkansen is that it's strangely smooth. Particularly when compared with the sometimes bumpy subway and often bumpy local lines it's a weird sensation that's almost like floating on air. This feeling is of course not hard to get used to when the countryside is blurring along at 300 km/h.

My first stop was Nagoya, which involved transferring at Tokyo. Most of the scenery was a mixture of mountains and rice paddies interspersed with built up urban areas. The astonishing thing is how quickly the scenery can change from one to the other. Part of it is due to the fact that you're travelling so fast, but it can also be equally attributed to the fact that Japan's cities are much smaller in terms of surface area than Australian cities, and much closer bunched together. The result is that you have a few minutes of suburbs and then you'll be smack bang in the middle of skyscrapers before being back in the country almost before you know it. It pays to pay attention to the scenery at least for the first trip as it's quite an experience in itself.

The whole rice-paddy thing was nice for the first ten minutes, but it got old pretty quickly after that.

It's almost impossible to tell the big cities apart from the small ones apart from measuring how long your view is obscured by tall buildings.

You can never have too much concrete. Apparently a new bridge is under construction somewhere between Fukushima and Tokyo.

Coming from the suburban sprawl of Melbourne it was strange seeing the suburban areas of Japan so closely packed and small.

Welcome to Nagoya station. Apparently one skyscraper isn't enough.

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW:

The pace of my trip had been pretty hectic, but nothing could prepare me for the breakneck pace of my national expedition. With only a couple of exceptions I would be staying only one night in each city. This meant that I had to find my bearings fast and get my plans in order if I was to get anything productive done. Nagoya proved to be a rough induction to the steep learning curve.

Don't let the pleasant boulevard and innocuous statues fool you - trouble awaits.

Adventuring on an empty stomach is to be avoided. Unless of course you spent all your money of booze and hookers, which, incidentally, is also to be avoided. But sometime's you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

Nagoya doesn't really suffer from that people-crush that Osaka and Tokyo do. The exception is the station, but stations are crowded everywhere in Japan.

I arrived in Nagoya in the early afternoon and after grabbing a quick bite to eat the first order of business was finding a place to leave my luggage. I was staying with a friend but as she was at work until the evening I had to find a place to stow my bags. Japan has coin lockers at all major train stations and in numerous other large public buildings, but Nagoya's were surprisingly scarce and difficult to find. After asking a couple of station attendants who were less than helpful (and gave me the impression that I was somehow imposing by asking them a question) I finally found the lockers and dragged my bags down into the basement where they were located.

Lockers come in various sizes, but unfortunately my bag was just too large for the 400 yen lockers but not nearly large enough to take full advantage of the 600 yen lockers. I looked in my wallet and came up with (ironically) 400 yen of change so I looked around for a machine that could break my notes into coins. I'd seen them before in locker rooms and on buses so I assumed they would have them at a major station like Nagoya. I was wrong.

After a little cursing under my breath (which was still loud enough to attract a few wary glances from passing businessmen) I lugged my bags back upstairs and went to break my 1000 yen note by buying some snacks. I ended up getting change in the form of a 500 yen coin, a 100 yen coin and some smaller denominations. I headed back downstairs, only to find that the machine only took 100 yen coins. Another excursion to the snack stand was in order, but not even a Snickers and a bottle of mineral water could make it better.

After this I headed up to the tourist information desk to get the lowdown on the city. There were both white and Japanese tourists, and the ladies at the desk were cheerfully helping them out. This courtesy apparently extends only to white people who speak English and Asian people who speak Japanese, not a mix of both. After being brushed away with a tourist map I decided to check out a local shrine seeing as it was the only thing that wasn't at risk of closing at that point in the afternoon.

I got off the train and started looking around for the temple, but as it was in the middle of the city and the signage wasn't fantastic it took me a little while to get my bearings. I approached an elderly couple at a bus stop to try and ask for help, but I was brushed away before I could even ask for help. This would have been understandable if there was a bus arriving, but they were just sitting there. Prior to this I'd received help from people who were less than enthusiastic, but this was the first time that I'd come across someone who outright refused to help me before even hearing what my question was.

A small glimmer of sunshine in an otherwise dreary (although ironically sunny) afternoon. This was the only full piece of graf I saw during my entire time in Japan (the rest were just tags and scribbles). Apparently Japan has a huge graf culture, so I guess I just wasn't looking in the right places.

Eventually I found the park, but it really wasn't anything special. It had a nice lake with some turtles and a crane (the bird, not the construction vehicle), but apart from that it was a pretty run of the mill garden. Luckily at that point my friend rescued me from this sea of indifference and mediocre landscaping by sending me a text to let me know that she'd arrived home. I immediately set off for her place, which was conveniently located at the end of the subway line far on the east side of the city. As my luck would have it I caught the train at rush hour, but the crowd thinned out the further along we got.

Clearly I had chosen one of the more popular sightseeing spots in Nagoya.

There were rows of flower sellers at the park, but most were closed or closing. Sadly my plans to buy a single red rose and propose to Tomiko Van were dashed.

I chilled out by the pond and enjoyed the megafauna. Carp the size of your lower leg and a random island of turtles.

There was also what I thought was an ibis. I didn't have my taxonomy textbook with me so I couldn't be sure.

The inexplicable randomness continued with a flock of chickens that were pecking their way around the grounds. They were so tame that I'm pretty sure I could have picked one up and taken it home. You know, if I actually had a home.

All this isn't to say that I had a terrible time in Nagoya. As with Kyoto, an otherwise forgettable experience was redeemed by the human factor. My friend met me at the station and introduced me to her two neighbours who I would be staying with. They were all working in Japan on the same project and had managed to secure accommodation together. The four of us went out for dinner at a local ramen place, reminisced about home and traded war stories about our time in Japan.

My friend's apartment block. Don't let the condensed architectural style fool you - she's got more space in her apartment than I do at home.

We caught some dinner at the local ramen joint. We were thinking of a smaller neighbourhood joint but the glowing neon sign and adorable cartoon mascot sealed the deal.

The food was good too. As was the company. Me, Andy and George, my friend's neighbours.

The best part of the night. Ice-cream. No, wait - make that meeting with Cecilia. Wait, no...yes, meeting with Cecilia. Definitely meeting her.