For Relaxing Times, Make It Suntory Times

I really cannot praise the Shinkansen system enough. The high-speed trains that link every city in Japan make traveling around the Empire of the Rising Sun easier than Britney Spears. And since my rail pass allowed me seven days of unlimited travel on all JR lines (JR = Japan Rail) I decided to take a few day trips away from Kyoto. My first stop was the modern seaside city of Osaka.

My expectations were low for Osaka, as my guidebook didn’t really offer much to do there. The home city of today’s major Yakuza clans looked like an ultra modern Japanese town with a castle and aquarium I wanted to see. My predictions for Osaka were quickly blown away in what turned out to be a nearly perfect day of traveling.

A quick 15 minute ride gets you into Shin-Osaka from Kyoto Station, and from there the Osaka metro system conveniently gets you almost anywhere in the city. I hopped over to the Osaka Castle and fell in love. I love castles to begin with, but this was something totally new. Between the huge moat surrounding the castle (which makes getting out a pain in the ass) and the actual castle itself I was in photographic heaven. After an hour of wandering the grounds and going up to the top of the castle I decided I had enough time to go to the Umeda Sky Building (basically an overlook at the top of a building).

The first sign that something was not right was the sign pointing to the glass elevator. For someone who is not a fan of heights, a 42-story ride up the side of a building was not the boatload of fun you might imagine it to be. The building is basically two towers connected by a platform at the top, and to reach the observatory you must take an escalator across the gap between the towers. Logical right? I was yet again not a fan, but eventually made it up and took some great shots overlooking Osaka. On an awkward note, the top floor seems to be made for couples who can sit in a couple’s room which is dimly lit and has lights that change color as the pressure changes on the seats.

After my weird love tower experience I did what I had wanted to do all day… I went to the aquarium. I love aquariums. LOVE THEM. For some reason it brings out the five year old in me, and when I go I almost get excited enough to stand the ACTUAL five year olds there. So for two hours I walked the eight floors and saw all the parts of the ‘Ring of Fire’ as that is the theme of the aquarium. My last stop was downtown for some of Osaka’s famous dining. I had some excellent sushi, and became even more convinced of the fact that there is no better ending to a meal then a steaming hot bottle of Sake. Yum a dum dum.

I finally returned to my place in Kyoto where I sampled a bunch of Japanese beers by the can with some guys from around Europe and Australia (Asahu Super Dry was definitely my fav). The night ended with bottles of Japanese Suntory whiskey, and all of us doing impressions of Bill Murray saying ‘For relaxing times, make it Suntory times.’

My second ‘field trip’ was to Hiroshima. Upon arriving at the city we all know for all the worst reasons I jetted away to a ferry out to Miyajima Island. The famous Torii (a gate in front of shrines) sticks out of the sea and signifies the whole island as sacred. Several things truck me as being odd about this island-

• Deer roam freely with no fear of humans
• No one is permitted to give birth or die on the island
• Felling trees is forbidden
• Japanese business men seem to be the only people partaking in the ceremonies within the shrine
• The mustard served at every food stand is in fact NOT yellow mustard, rather an intensely spicy imitation of mustard which should not be put all over your sausage-on-a-stick like I did

I’m not sure how they enforce the death thing, but the island was scenic and I felt very outdoorsy touching a deer and walking past naturally occurring trees.

After taking the ferry back to the mainland and shuttling back to downtown (both of which were covered by my rail pass J) I hopped over to the Peace Park to see all the bomb stuff. Seeing the A-Bomb Dome, the mound of ashes, and trees that are missing half their needles from being blown off was depressing to say the least. I could not bring myself to go into the museum as I was already feeling enough like an Emo kid from seeing all the reminders of how horrible the bomb’s after effects were. Particularly heart-wrenching was a memorial to a girl who got sick after the bomb, and believed she could somehow survive if she made a 1,000 paper cranes. Needless to say, the girl eventually bit the atomic dust, but her story still inspires Japanese kids around the country to make origami cranes and send them to Hiroshima.

Resisting the urge to slit my wrists and drink with the hobos in the park, I walked over to Hiroshima castle (again with the awesome castles). I should explain something about visiting castles, and most things, in Japan. Every sight has a shrine or something holy near it. Thus, all the Japanese tourists flock to the shrine to pray and offer money, candles and all that jazz. For a white heathen like myself this is good news since it means that there are relatively few people at the gorgeous castle nearby, and I can simply walk around the crowd of the faithful to take pictures of the beautiful structure these people seem to care little about. On a related note, buying souvenirs at most places also sucks due to the fact that nearly every stand wants to sell you good luck charms, candles, and a bunch of other religious crap that I have no interest in purchasing. Hello Kitty is always present though, so don’t freak out too much.

On the way back to Kyoto I stopped at Himeji to see the castle there (I wasn’t kidding about liking castles). This idea was an epic win. A short walk from the train station is the castle considered to be the grandest of all samurai castles in Japan. Even though it was closed at this hour, I still managed to spend a half hour taking pictures and admiring its beauty. Walking back to the train station I took a picture of an ally way and some kids apparently wanted me to take their picture too. For some reason all Japanese people make the peace sign for their pictures. I have no logical explanation for this. If you know why they do this please tell me. (Sorry for the random tangent thought)

P.S. As a closing thought, I am eating something that looks like the equivalent of Japanese Chex Mix, which looked normal enough at 7-11. But, when I opened it I smelled the distinct smell of a fish tank. It tastes great, but I am again amazed by the Japanese’ ability to incorporate sea things into everything they eat. Even the rice cake things I am obsessed with apparently contain sea urchin. All I can say is don’t knock it until you’ve tried it (cuz I know you are all thinking to yourself how gross this stuff must be).