Saturday, May 12, 2007
Japanese Arcades, Addendum
I just wanted to write a little bit more about Japanese Arcades because I don't think I really conveyed the full scope of how completely amazing Japenese Arcades are, and because there was a really awesome game there that I haven't talked about yet.
So when most of you think of an arcade game, I'm sure you think of the 'cabinet'. That same shape that most American arcade games are in, with the TV above the joystick and a few buttons. First off, throw that entire concept away. Most Japanese Arcade machines are huge, sprawling things with strange control options and huge screens.
And then there's the horse racing.
I saw that game in Japan. It was...amazing. Each person had a luxurious, lounge-style chair with a big ol' touch screen in front of them. While the 200+ inch screen in front of them counted down the time to the next race, individual players used their touch screens to prepare their individual horses. I saw people watering horses, brushing horses, feeding horses, and then flowing effortlessly through menus in Japanese that I simply couldn't follow in order to bet on horses.
Now as people sat prepping their horse for the next race, the horses themselves were paraded across the screen. Most of them looked pretty normal, with statistics and numbers and the like. But two of the horses were *on fire*. Flaming horses! I don't know about you, but If I ever went horse racing and saw horses with flames licking off their haunches, I would either call the police immidately or BET ON THAT HORSE.
One of the flaming horses came in third, the other sixth.
Seriously, if burning flames aren't enough to win a horse race, then what in the world would?
I didn't play it, because I can't read Japanese (a fact that seriously irks me) but that really looked like one of the most luxurious arcade experiences one could have. These games are getting seriously classy.
-N
I just wanted to write a little bit more about Japanese Arcades because I don't think I really conveyed the full scope of how completely amazing Japenese Arcades are, and because there was a really awesome game there that I haven't talked about yet.
So when most of you think of an arcade game, I'm sure you think of the 'cabinet'. That same shape that most American arcade games are in, with the TV above the joystick and a few buttons. First off, throw that entire concept away. Most Japanese Arcade machines are huge, sprawling things with strange control options and huge screens.
And then there's the horse racing.
I saw that game in Japan. It was...amazing. Each person had a luxurious, lounge-style chair with a big ol' touch screen in front of them. While the 200+ inch screen in front of them counted down the time to the next race, individual players used their touch screens to prepare their individual horses. I saw people watering horses, brushing horses, feeding horses, and then flowing effortlessly through menus in Japanese that I simply couldn't follow in order to bet on horses.
Now as people sat prepping their horse for the next race, the horses themselves were paraded across the screen. Most of them looked pretty normal, with statistics and numbers and the like. But two of the horses were *on fire*. Flaming horses! I don't know about you, but If I ever went horse racing and saw horses with flames licking off their haunches, I would either call the police immidately or BET ON THAT HORSE.
One of the flaming horses came in third, the other sixth.
Seriously, if burning flames aren't enough to win a horse race, then what in the world would?
I didn't play it, because I can't read Japanese (a fact that seriously irks me) but that really looked like one of the most luxurious arcade experiences one could have. These games are getting seriously classy.
-N
Labels: Arcades, Horse Racing, Japan
Friday, May 11, 2007
April 20, Last day…of shopping!
Slept in again, we were on vacation. We set the alarm for 6:00, then reset it for 7:00, then just turned it off and slept until 8:30. I think I got the tiniest cold in the world in Japan, going right from sore throat right to runny nose with neither aches nor pains to speak of. Yay for that and for warm lemon tea available in vending machines. Really nice on the throat.
On the way to the metro we stopped at a shrine we had walked by a couple of times. It turns out it was a shrine for travelers, and was generally visited by people who would be traveling soon, like us! So we offered some small coins and I burned some incense. I’ve always really liked the idea of burning a whole bundle of incense all at once. I’ve seen it a couple of times on video and always wanted to just grab a handful of incense and set it all on fire at once, so here was my chance! A small thing, but I liked it. Smelled nice, too.
Akehabra! It was nice to goof off there again, and we walked around checking out lots of different stores. Eventually, though, we realized the stores all pretty much fell into one of several categories.
1) Model shop: actually these are pretty impressive. There are lots of really pretty models and collections of things you can get from vending machines, like tiny little figurines and key chains. In fact, most of the gifts we got for people back here came from those vending machines, just cause they’re so ubiquitous and so very, very Japanese. So we hung out in a few of these places and went crazy buying little capsules with figurines and key chains and cell-phone accessories. As I write this, I have a couple of adorable little Gundam critters sitting on my desk. Really cute. After a while, though, all the model stores start to look the same.
2) Game shop. Lots of neat video games that either: a) are in America already or b) require too much Japanese to really understand, so I really couldn’t justify buying anything. It’s neat to see stuff that will be coming out in America soon, though, and most of the really good stuff does. After a while, though, all the game stores start to look the same.
3) Book stores. I could spend a fortune (I love books!), but it would all be a waste: I can’t read Japanese. After a while, though, all the book stores start to look the same.
4) Tech stores: Neat stuff. Cell phones that do more than I need and wouldn’t (probably) work in the US, personal organizers and PC stuff. I did see some HUGE monitors, though. Those looked amazing. Some places sold audio gear, too. Fun to browse through, but After a while…
5) Home appliance stores…nah.
6) Tech components…pass.
I could have spent more time in Akehabra, but the stores actually started repeating themselves pretty quickly. Not, therefore, perhaps that different from America.
Had some *tasty* curry, and miso soup feels good on a rough throat.
I got a trick box, which is a neat little device that requires 12 steps to open. It’s a neat souvenir, but I haven’t thought of anything to put inside it yet. :)
Also, did some video-gaming at a couple of arcades. The ‘Sega’ arcade was a little booring. I walked around and it was all games I’d played before, just a *lot* of them. Jess let me check out another one, though, (she’s so good to me!) where I got to play some fun stuff. Smaller, random games and a fighting game called “Melty Blood” that I had to play just for the name. ‘How’s your blood?’ ‘Mine? It’s a little melty.’ I just like that phrase. So yeah, even if I didn’t spend tons of money on any crazy souvenirs, at least I got to play some awesome games.
Anyway, we left Akehabra so we could do some more gift shopping in Asakusa, which Jess finally figured out how to pronounce. (a-sa-ku-sa, not a-su-casa. That’s Spanish popping up right there. Oh, and on a side note…when we first got to Japan, people would ask us questions and Jess instantly reverted to her most comfortable ‘foreign language.’ “Ah, you have customs form filled out?” “Si!”) Got some neat stuff (and neat wrapping jobs), and then called it a day.
Back at the hostel, for the *last time*, watching wacky Japanese TV (pet tricks, Quiz shows, and strange Anime). We’ll pack up tonight and get ready to head home. I say, glad to have gone, and glad to go back.
-N
Slept in again, we were on vacation. We set the alarm for 6:00, then reset it for 7:00, then just turned it off and slept until 8:30. I think I got the tiniest cold in the world in Japan, going right from sore throat right to runny nose with neither aches nor pains to speak of. Yay for that and for warm lemon tea available in vending machines. Really nice on the throat.
On the way to the metro we stopped at a shrine we had walked by a couple of times. It turns out it was a shrine for travelers, and was generally visited by people who would be traveling soon, like us! So we offered some small coins and I burned some incense. I’ve always really liked the idea of burning a whole bundle of incense all at once. I’ve seen it a couple of times on video and always wanted to just grab a handful of incense and set it all on fire at once, so here was my chance! A small thing, but I liked it. Smelled nice, too.
Akehabra! It was nice to goof off there again, and we walked around checking out lots of different stores. Eventually, though, we realized the stores all pretty much fell into one of several categories.
1) Model shop: actually these are pretty impressive. There are lots of really pretty models and collections of things you can get from vending machines, like tiny little figurines and key chains. In fact, most of the gifts we got for people back here came from those vending machines, just cause they’re so ubiquitous and so very, very Japanese. So we hung out in a few of these places and went crazy buying little capsules with figurines and key chains and cell-phone accessories. As I write this, I have a couple of adorable little Gundam critters sitting on my desk. Really cute. After a while, though, all the model stores start to look the same.
2) Game shop. Lots of neat video games that either: a) are in America already or b) require too much Japanese to really understand, so I really couldn’t justify buying anything. It’s neat to see stuff that will be coming out in America soon, though, and most of the really good stuff does. After a while, though, all the game stores start to look the same.
3) Book stores. I could spend a fortune (I love books!), but it would all be a waste: I can’t read Japanese. After a while, though, all the book stores start to look the same.
4) Tech stores: Neat stuff. Cell phones that do more than I need and wouldn’t (probably) work in the US, personal organizers and PC stuff. I did see some HUGE monitors, though. Those looked amazing. Some places sold audio gear, too. Fun to browse through, but After a while…
5) Home appliance stores…nah.
6) Tech components…pass.
I could have spent more time in Akehabra, but the stores actually started repeating themselves pretty quickly. Not, therefore, perhaps that different from America.
Had some *tasty* curry, and miso soup feels good on a rough throat.
I got a trick box, which is a neat little device that requires 12 steps to open. It’s a neat souvenir, but I haven’t thought of anything to put inside it yet. :)
Also, did some video-gaming at a couple of arcades. The ‘Sega’ arcade was a little booring. I walked around and it was all games I’d played before, just a *lot* of them. Jess let me check out another one, though, (she’s so good to me!) where I got to play some fun stuff. Smaller, random games and a fighting game called “Melty Blood” that I had to play just for the name. ‘How’s your blood?’ ‘Mine? It’s a little melty.’ I just like that phrase. So yeah, even if I didn’t spend tons of money on any crazy souvenirs, at least I got to play some awesome games.
Anyway, we left Akehabra so we could do some more gift shopping in Asakusa, which Jess finally figured out how to pronounce. (a-sa-ku-sa, not a-su-casa. That’s Spanish popping up right there. Oh, and on a side note…when we first got to Japan, people would ask us questions and Jess instantly reverted to her most comfortable ‘foreign language.’ “Ah, you have customs form filled out?” “Si!”) Got some neat stuff (and neat wrapping jobs), and then called it a day.
Back at the hostel, for the *last time*, watching wacky Japanese TV (pet tricks, Quiz shows, and strange Anime). We’ll pack up tonight and get ready to head home. I say, glad to have gone, and glad to go back.
-N
Labels: Akehabra, Arcades, Asakusa, Japan, Tokyo
Thursday, May 10, 2007
April 19, Tokyo! Again!
This morning we decided to visit the imperial palace in the morning and Shinjuku in the afternoon. So we woke up at 7 and got to the Tokyo Metro Station…AT RUSH HOUR!
Good grief, absolutely crazy. The subway showed up and had *no* space available. It was literally packed shoulder-to-shoulder along the whole subway. But we watched as people just *squeezed* their way in and everyone just kinda shuffled and squeezed to make a tiny bit more room. People would come to the doorway and just sort of stick their butt into the subway car then grab above the door and literally *lever* themselves into the car, turning their head sideways so that when the door closed it would not *crush their face*.
Eventually Jess and I managed to find a way to shuffle ourselves in, tucked in with everyone else. I actually had to try pretty hard not to accidentally molest anyone. We got to the JR station (rail, as opposed to subway) and it was even crazier! The Yamanote line, a loop that goes around Tokyo (think ‘freeway’), ran every two minutes and was still packed to the gills. There was a line to get up onto the platform! Crazy!
But yeah, we got to the Imperial Palace, the grounds where the Emperor of Japan still lives! (So you can’t go inside. He’s, y’know, walking around in there.) We walked past the fountain garden and walked around the outer moat, which sported koi and swans! One of them even had a nest.
The garden was pretty spectacular, too. Considering we were literally in the *middle of Tokyo*, that much space is pretty much the biggest luxury you can have. There were some really neat old buildings from back when such a place actually needed to be guarded and fortified, but y favorites were the mixed bushes and the bridges over the lake and waterfall. Everything was artistically done, and there was quite a lot of garden.
We walked around the outside of the palace, through a large, open space filled with Pine trees and tour groups, another luxurious empty space. More bridges and swans and the like. We took a short stroll through the nearby government district, too.
Next: Shinjuku! It took some doing to find the main drag, but find it we did. We actually saw an adult movie theatre, naked posters just all over the building. We walked around the stores but spent most of our time in…another arcade!
I went crazy enjoying myself on more games (more Mario cart!) and Jess got to rest her feet. She thinks I look adorable in this picture. :)
Evidently Shinjuku turns into more of a shady nightclub/bar district at night, but we didn’t stay that late. We found a nice curry & rice place that Jess and I really like. I need to practice making Japanese curry.
Next day, Electric town again!
-N
This morning we decided to visit the imperial palace in the morning and Shinjuku in the afternoon. So we woke up at 7 and got to the Tokyo Metro Station…AT RUSH HOUR!
Good grief, absolutely crazy. The subway showed up and had *no* space available. It was literally packed shoulder-to-shoulder along the whole subway. But we watched as people just *squeezed* their way in and everyone just kinda shuffled and squeezed to make a tiny bit more room. People would come to the doorway and just sort of stick their butt into the subway car then grab above the door and literally *lever* themselves into the car, turning their head sideways so that when the door closed it would not *crush their face*.
Eventually Jess and I managed to find a way to shuffle ourselves in, tucked in with everyone else. I actually had to try pretty hard not to accidentally molest anyone. We got to the JR station (rail, as opposed to subway) and it was even crazier! The Yamanote line, a loop that goes around Tokyo (think ‘freeway’), ran every two minutes and was still packed to the gills. There was a line to get up onto the platform! Crazy!
But yeah, we got to the Imperial Palace, the grounds where the Emperor of Japan still lives! (So you can’t go inside. He’s, y’know, walking around in there.) We walked past the fountain garden and walked around the outer moat, which sported koi and swans! One of them even had a nest.
The garden was pretty spectacular, too. Considering we were literally in the *middle of Tokyo*, that much space is pretty much the biggest luxury you can have. There were some really neat old buildings from back when such a place actually needed to be guarded and fortified, but y favorites were the mixed bushes and the bridges over the lake and waterfall. Everything was artistically done, and there was quite a lot of garden.
We walked around the outside of the palace, through a large, open space filled with Pine trees and tour groups, another luxurious empty space. More bridges and swans and the like. We took a short stroll through the nearby government district, too.
Next: Shinjuku! It took some doing to find the main drag, but find it we did. We actually saw an adult movie theatre, naked posters just all over the building. We walked around the stores but spent most of our time in…another arcade!
I went crazy enjoying myself on more games (more Mario cart!) and Jess got to rest her feet. She thinks I look adorable in this picture. :)
Evidently Shinjuku turns into more of a shady nightclub/bar district at night, but we didn’t stay that late. We found a nice curry & rice place that Jess and I really like. I need to practice making Japanese curry.
Next day, Electric town again!
-N
Labels: Arcades, Imperial Palace, Japan, Rush Hour, Shinjuku, Tokyo
April 17, a simple tour of Osaka.
In keeping with the running theme of “Less, but awesome”, we didn’t do tons of stuff today, but we had a great time.
Do to geographic concerns (it was close to the hostel), our first stop was Osaka castle. We ended up getting on the loop line at rush hour, but we got seats before tons of people showed up, so we were okay.
We got to the castle a bit before it opened and walked around a park surrounding the castle to burn time. Our first impression was…well, the park was a shantytown. People had built homes all over the park out of tarps, planks, and ropes tied between trees. I wondered why they weren’t just kicked out, but I guess that’s for the Osaka Police to know.
Walked along a bike path for a while and saw a bunch of cats getting hounded by ravens. Jess walked over to say hi and the birds flew off. The cats remained indifferent to her presence.
We walked around to the front of the castle when it opened. We slipped in while 50 tour groups had their pictures taken in front of the castle. Slick.
It was a recreation of the castle and the outside was certainly magnificent. Gold trim and everything. The inside was a museum, but it was a seriously neat museum. We started at the top and got a really nice view of the whole city. Floor 7 was a history of the man who united Japan (before Tokugawa). There was no floor 6, oddly.
Floor 5 was amazing. There was a painting commissioned about the big final battle outside of Osaka between Tokugawa and the entrenched forces that was, essentially, the last battle in the unification of Japan. It was really just amazing. We stood and watched for 10 minutes while a video explained all the details, pointing out all the generals involved, little scenes within the picture, and all the big battle fronts. The second half dealt with the aftermath: celebration for the victors, people fleeing Osaka, and bandits taking advantage of the confusion. Really an amazing painting, though we didn’t get to see the original.
The fourth floor had weapons and armor, so I was stoked. There were lots of full suits of armor, some truly legendary sword blades, and all sorts of other intricate pieces. The third floor had other weapons: bows, long pikes, etc. Second floor had information about the castle restoration, the first floor was just the entrance. Really interesting sight.
We had lunch on the way out. I had katsu don and udon, and jess had hamburger…which is really more like meatloaf the way they serve it. Good stuff. We got some vanilla-grape ice cream afterwards, too, which Jess just LOVED.
Then off to the Osaka Aquarium. Wow, Wow, WOW! I think I took more pictures here then anywhere else on the whole trip.
Otters up close, sleeping on their backs and playing in the water. Sea lions at play! Dolphins! And the gigantic main tank that had a freakin’ WHALE SHARK! WAAA! Absolutely amazing! There was this huge central tank with stingrays and all manner of huge fish and this younger whale shark just swimming around. The fish tended to follow the manta ray and the whale shark around, which was entertaining.
There was also a tank themed after the Amazon rainforest with some of the biggest fish I’d ever seen! Huge!
After that we hung out in a mall where I played at an arcade I found a bunch. Shooting games, a Taiko drum game, and a whole lot of Mario Kart 2. The arcade machine actually prints and accepts cards that list your progress in the game. I saved mine, I unlocked a few neat cups, so I felt good.
After that, we had lunch at the food court. Jess got some pizza and I had Okanomiyaki. Pretty good again, but the really interesting part was that I got some shaved, dried fish or octopus or something on top, and when I opened the box, the stuff was moving all over! It must have had to do with the drying and re-moisturizing, but the little flakes were wiggling and shaking all over. Weird, but tasty.
After that we came back to the hostel and rested up.
-N
In keeping with the running theme of “Less, but awesome”, we didn’t do tons of stuff today, but we had a great time.
Do to geographic concerns (it was close to the hostel), our first stop was Osaka castle. We ended up getting on the loop line at rush hour, but we got seats before tons of people showed up, so we were okay.
We got to the castle a bit before it opened and walked around a park surrounding the castle to burn time. Our first impression was…well, the park was a shantytown. People had built homes all over the park out of tarps, planks, and ropes tied between trees. I wondered why they weren’t just kicked out, but I guess that’s for the Osaka Police to know.
Walked along a bike path for a while and saw a bunch of cats getting hounded by ravens. Jess walked over to say hi and the birds flew off. The cats remained indifferent to her presence.
We walked around to the front of the castle when it opened. We slipped in while 50 tour groups had their pictures taken in front of the castle. Slick.
It was a recreation of the castle and the outside was certainly magnificent. Gold trim and everything. The inside was a museum, but it was a seriously neat museum. We started at the top and got a really nice view of the whole city. Floor 7 was a history of the man who united Japan (before Tokugawa). There was no floor 6, oddly.
Floor 5 was amazing. There was a painting commissioned about the big final battle outside of Osaka between Tokugawa and the entrenched forces that was, essentially, the last battle in the unification of Japan. It was really just amazing. We stood and watched for 10 minutes while a video explained all the details, pointing out all the generals involved, little scenes within the picture, and all the big battle fronts. The second half dealt with the aftermath: celebration for the victors, people fleeing Osaka, and bandits taking advantage of the confusion. Really an amazing painting, though we didn’t get to see the original.
The fourth floor had weapons and armor, so I was stoked. There were lots of full suits of armor, some truly legendary sword blades, and all sorts of other intricate pieces. The third floor had other weapons: bows, long pikes, etc. Second floor had information about the castle restoration, the first floor was just the entrance. Really interesting sight.
We had lunch on the way out. I had katsu don and udon, and jess had hamburger…which is really more like meatloaf the way they serve it. Good stuff. We got some vanilla-grape ice cream afterwards, too, which Jess just LOVED.
Then off to the Osaka Aquarium. Wow, Wow, WOW! I think I took more pictures here then anywhere else on the whole trip.
Otters up close, sleeping on their backs and playing in the water. Sea lions at play! Dolphins! And the gigantic main tank that had a freakin’ WHALE SHARK! WAAA! Absolutely amazing! There was this huge central tank with stingrays and all manner of huge fish and this younger whale shark just swimming around. The fish tended to follow the manta ray and the whale shark around, which was entertaining.
There was also a tank themed after the Amazon rainforest with some of the biggest fish I’d ever seen! Huge!
After that we hung out in a mall where I played at an arcade I found a bunch. Shooting games, a Taiko drum game, and a whole lot of Mario Kart 2. The arcade machine actually prints and accepts cards that list your progress in the game. I saved mine, I unlocked a few neat cups, so I felt good.
After that, we had lunch at the food court. Jess got some pizza and I had Okanomiyaki. Pretty good again, but the really interesting part was that I got some shaved, dried fish or octopus or something on top, and when I opened the box, the stuff was moving all over! It must have had to do with the drying and re-moisturizing, but the little flakes were wiggling and shaking all over. Weird, but tasty.
After that we came back to the hostel and rested up.
-N
Labels: Aquarium, Arcades, Castle, Japan, Osaka
Thursday, May 03, 2007
April 15,
We woke up, a couple of times, and eventually got back on the road. We dubbed this place the cutest hostel in Japan because it was just adorable all over. Nice beds, too, which was a definite plus. Then, off to Hiroshima!
Jess slept on the bullet train. She’s so cute.
We met a couple of fellow travelers on the way from the rail station to the Hostel; one guy who chatted about hostels, and another couple of guys who needed help getting to Peace Park. I felt soooo experienced when I got to explain how busses work.
Walked to the hostel from the streetcar stop, found the hostel was closed (grr), so dropped off our bags in a coin locker and walked off to Peace Park, a park in memory of the A-bomb dropping and in hope for peace. We ate first and I got to try some okanomiyaki, sort of a savory noodle/sauce/seafood pancake that I’d heard about. It was pretty good.
Fueled up, we made our way through the A-bomb museum, which documented the whole incident, lead up, and atomic war since with a decided (and justified) anti-war slant. Seeing watches forever frozen at 8:15 (when the bomb was dropped) was eerie. Hearing stories about the survivors and the victims of radiation later was pretty stark, too. I half-expected it to take a one-sided pro-Japan anti-America stance, but it was surprisingly even-handed.
We strolled through the park afterwards, seeing the eternal flame which is supposed to be extinguished only when all atomic bombs are dismantled.
The Cenotaph was also nice to see, as was the children’s peace memorial, with thousands and thousands and tons of paper cranes all in display cases. You could even sign up to make your own ‘1000 paper cranes’ and have it housed there.
We also saw the a-bomb dome. Almost right under the blast and it remained standing, though gutted. It’s the one part of the city that wasn’t restored afterwards, and I think that’s what surprised me the most about the city. The bomb wasn’t dropped that long ago, 1949. That’s less than 60 years ago that the entire area where we walked through was leveled absolutely flat. Our hostel was built on land that was scorched clean only 55 years ago. To look at Hiroshima now, you’d never know. The city is alive and breathing just fine. 55 years! That’s not bad!
After all of that, we checked in at our hostel and then took a stroll through the shopping district.
I got to play at Japanese arcades! I knew they were bigger over in Japan, but good gravy! I have a theory as to why, by the way. In Japan they have 100 yen coins, which is, roughly, a dollar. It’s much easier to pop in 100 yen and think: ‘oh, it’s just one coin’ than to pop in four quarters. Four quarters? That’s a dollar! No way! So they can make more money. They certainly made some off of me.
(I love that picture). Each arcade (and there were several) had multiple floors. There was usually a floor for prizes with those grippy-arm things that never work, a pachinko/gambling for prizes floor, plenty of arcade games, and a floor where girls would go and take pictures in photo booths. Jess and I explored those, but we couldn’t quite figure the system out. We think it involved cell phones.
I spent some time and energy and yen there and had a ton of fun. Jess relaxed and played the DS. (She’s really nice to me). There were some fantastic-looking card-game based arcade games too. The arcade machines had a surface where you would place your cards and some sort of either ID chip or encoded image on the card would let the arcade machine know where the cards were. Then you *moved the cards around* and tried to beat your opponent’s cards with yours. It’s amazing. You can see a video of it here. I would have paid more attention…and a LOT of yen, I’m sure, on the game, but all the text was in Japanese, and I wouldn’t have been able to understand.
I played some drum-mania too, but I can do that at home.
We also visited a model shop. There’s a level of model-collection and creation that I’m just not able to bring myself up to. That store was that level.
Also, another bread store. We went nuts again, but that was some seriously good bread.
Lots of, I’m sure, very impressive cell-phone technology, but I really only use mine for calling people, telling time, and occasionally for calculating a tip. More than that just doesn’t appeal to me.
On the way back, we saw bats! Jess noticed them first. I tried to get a picture, but it was at night and they wouldn’t hold still. The peace flame looked nice at night, though.
Next day we would travel to Osaka, but as for where we would stop…who knew?
-N
We woke up, a couple of times, and eventually got back on the road. We dubbed this place the cutest hostel in Japan because it was just adorable all over. Nice beds, too, which was a definite plus. Then, off to Hiroshima!
Jess slept on the bullet train. She’s so cute.
We met a couple of fellow travelers on the way from the rail station to the Hostel; one guy who chatted about hostels, and another couple of guys who needed help getting to Peace Park. I felt soooo experienced when I got to explain how busses work.
Walked to the hostel from the streetcar stop, found the hostel was closed (grr), so dropped off our bags in a coin locker and walked off to Peace Park, a park in memory of the A-bomb dropping and in hope for peace. We ate first and I got to try some okanomiyaki, sort of a savory noodle/sauce/seafood pancake that I’d heard about. It was pretty good.
Fueled up, we made our way through the A-bomb museum, which documented the whole incident, lead up, and atomic war since with a decided (and justified) anti-war slant. Seeing watches forever frozen at 8:15 (when the bomb was dropped) was eerie. Hearing stories about the survivors and the victims of radiation later was pretty stark, too. I half-expected it to take a one-sided pro-Japan anti-America stance, but it was surprisingly even-handed.
We strolled through the park afterwards, seeing the eternal flame which is supposed to be extinguished only when all atomic bombs are dismantled.
The Cenotaph was also nice to see, as was the children’s peace memorial, with thousands and thousands and tons of paper cranes all in display cases. You could even sign up to make your own ‘1000 paper cranes’ and have it housed there.
We also saw the a-bomb dome. Almost right under the blast and it remained standing, though gutted. It’s the one part of the city that wasn’t restored afterwards, and I think that’s what surprised me the most about the city. The bomb wasn’t dropped that long ago, 1949. That’s less than 60 years ago that the entire area where we walked through was leveled absolutely flat. Our hostel was built on land that was scorched clean only 55 years ago. To look at Hiroshima now, you’d never know. The city is alive and breathing just fine. 55 years! That’s not bad!
After all of that, we checked in at our hostel and then took a stroll through the shopping district.
I got to play at Japanese arcades! I knew they were bigger over in Japan, but good gravy! I have a theory as to why, by the way. In Japan they have 100 yen coins, which is, roughly, a dollar. It’s much easier to pop in 100 yen and think: ‘oh, it’s just one coin’ than to pop in four quarters. Four quarters? That’s a dollar! No way! So they can make more money. They certainly made some off of me.
(I love that picture). Each arcade (and there were several) had multiple floors. There was usually a floor for prizes with those grippy-arm things that never work, a pachinko/gambling for prizes floor, plenty of arcade games, and a floor where girls would go and take pictures in photo booths. Jess and I explored those, but we couldn’t quite figure the system out. We think it involved cell phones.
I spent some time and energy and yen there and had a ton of fun. Jess relaxed and played the DS. (She’s really nice to me). There were some fantastic-looking card-game based arcade games too. The arcade machines had a surface where you would place your cards and some sort of either ID chip or encoded image on the card would let the arcade machine know where the cards were. Then you *moved the cards around* and tried to beat your opponent’s cards with yours. It’s amazing. You can see a video of it here. I would have paid more attention…and a LOT of yen, I’m sure, on the game, but all the text was in Japanese, and I wouldn’t have been able to understand.
I played some drum-mania too, but I can do that at home.
We also visited a model shop. There’s a level of model-collection and creation that I’m just not able to bring myself up to. That store was that level.
Also, another bread store. We went nuts again, but that was some seriously good bread.
Lots of, I’m sure, very impressive cell-phone technology, but I really only use mine for calling people, telling time, and occasionally for calculating a tip. More than that just doesn’t appeal to me.
On the way back, we saw bats! Jess noticed them first. I tried to get a picture, but it was at night and they wouldn’t hold still. The peace flame looked nice at night, though.
Next day we would travel to Osaka, but as for where we would stop…who knew?
-N
Labels: Arcades, Bread, Hiroshima, Japan, Peace Park
