No, Really, I Am an American

Finally leaving Kansai! - The Shinkansen, Miyajima, and Hiroshima Okinomiyaki
Wednesday the 21st of February 2007

My alarm sounded this morning at an hour usually reserved for Sunday mornings, maybe a little later. I stared at Mal for a while, negotiating time. I don’t have to meet everyone ’til 7:45, I could totally make it if I leave at 7:15.

I didn’t quite trust myself, so I grudgingly got up and finished last minute packing. I remember thinking I should be excited about this, but I think I was still too sleep-fuzzled. I had thought to meet Phil, Anna, and Mike at the Silver Ball, just to be safe, but my need for a Red Bull won out and I stopped at 7-Eleven before boarding the in-bound Namba train, thus missing the one that would have gotten me there at 7:30.

Nope. Still sleepy.

When I arrived at the Midosuji Platform, I spotted Steve sitting down at one of the benches. I sauntered his way and greeted him, then promptly sat beside him and put my head on his shoulder, meowing in the process. I was glad to see him ‘cuz it meant that we would leave on time. I sent a quick text to Anna letting her know that Steve and I were both on the platform waiting for them.

We made our way to Shin-Osaka; the boys were talking about something or another and Anna and I were content to say nothing. I was still quite sleepy.

Anna had designs for us to get something to eat at McDonald’s. Our train wasn’t scheduled to depart until 9:00 AM, so we had plenty of time to sit and eat together. It was pretty crowded, but we managed to find seats. Earlier, as in before 8:00 in the freaking morning, I considered ordering a pancake set, but by the time I got to the front of the line I had lost my taste for it and ordered two hash browns instead. I can’t say I was one for much conversation; luckily for me, Steve wasn’t either so I didn’t feel so rude. Although, he did encourage me to get a third hash brown when I mentioned my quandary.

We still had lots of time before the shinkansen even arrived, so we kind of wandered around the station for a spell. I found a waiting area and set to read my book in the meantime. Finally, it was time to leave.

The shinkansen is all kinds of shiny. I was pretty damn happy about finally getting to ride in one, and also about finally leaving Kansai. (I have deemed that Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture so doesn’t count.) I even managed to get m’self a window seat.

The train really is fast. I mean, we got to Kobe in like ten minutes, opposed to the 20 - 25 minutes it usually takes on the Special Rapid from Osaka Station. I know it may not seem all that impressive, but it’s still a fun fact. I’d like to say that I got to see a lot of fun things, but unfortunately for me, the Red Bull didn’t really do much for me. Also the way to Hiroshima involved a lot of mountains, as in going through them; hence, there wasn’t much to see. I finally succumbed to sleep.

I woke up periodically on the train ride, but it was otherwise a decent hour or so nap.

We arrived in Hiroshima at something like 10:30 AM…and promptly took a picture on the platform courtesy of Scottish Steve. The first order of business was finding our hotel, so we made our way to the exits. I wanted something to commemorate not only my first shinkansen ride, but also the fact that I was out of Kansai, so I asked the ticketing dude if I could keep my ticket.

Woohoo!

I think we were five seconds out of the gate when something caught Steve’s eye. He promptly took a picture of a spring sign for Asse, the 6 Floor store right in Hiroshima Station. (The name of this store would soon come back to haunt us.)

Walking out of the station and taking in Hiroshima for the first time was interesting. The first thing I noticed is that it was quite unlike Osaka. I was maybe five seconds in another area and I could already tell that I would like this city. As we were walking, one of the first things I noticed was the lack of multiple crosswalks. In fact, we had to go quite out of the way to attempt to cross the street. It was quite roundabout. The streets were wider, thus everyone had enough room to walk. There was also the lack of crowds. I mean, there were people around, but it wasn’t as busy as it is here in Osaka.

We were crossing the bridge, and Phil remarked that there was something strange about coming to this city. I knew he meant nothing by it, in fact, he meant it as a kind of wonderment. But Phil has never been one to know the subtleties of voice. He once called the GLBT Film Festival in Osaka as “one of those festivals” implying “independent films” and not the more obvious content. I promptly teased him about being homophobic. Being the jack ass that I am, I called him on this one, too. He got flustered, as he is wont to do, turned a little red, and tried hopelessly to defend himself. I smiled at him and clapped him on the shoulder, assuring him that I knew what he meant and was just having a jibe at him.

I knew what he meant. Of course I did. It was a bit strange. Perhaps this is why I’m called dramatic, but making our way over the concrete, I couldn’t help but think of the pictures I had seen of the rubble that was once this city. Heck, I had even taught about the devastation and the aftermath of the bombing and here I was, seeing the city with my own eyes. Rebuilt and modern, just like any other city. It was a bit odd.

Going down a not so morbid route, walking to the hotel, I was able to notice a few more things about Hiroshima. It actually looked like a Western city. I liken Osaka to the Space Bazaar from “The Message” whereas walking through Hiroshima, I could have been in Chicago or some other American city. I’d already gone to mentioning the wider streets, but there was also a distinct lack of bicycles. There were definitely a few riders here and there, but not in the multitude of them as in Osaka. Also, it seemed like there were less convenies around. I’ve grown rather accustomed to seeing a Lawson’s, a Family Mart, or a Sunkus like every five seconds — especially so close to the station. There was a lack of love hotels, or so it seemed to me. I’m sure there is some part of the city that is kind of shady, but in just about every part of Osaka, I can usually spot one or point one out. The city just seemed cleaner.

Our hotel, The Hiroshima Grand Intelligent Hotel, was just down the street from the station. We probably would have been able to get there faster were it not for the lack of proper crosswalks. Anna explained that our check-in time was actually at 3:00 PM, but she was pretty sure we would be able to drop off at least some of our belongings. We’d all packed lightly since we were only staying one night, but it was still enough to not want to tote it all along with us on our sightseeing. Lucky for us, Anna was right.

Our shoulders free of backpacks, and our cameras at the ready, we set out for our first stop: Miyajima

We made a brief stop at a Daily Yamazaki for some snackage, but we had decided to eat lunch on the island. We walked further down the main street, I was walking rather blindly, knowing only that we were making our way to Miyajima somehow.

I basked in the sun. We picked a good weekend to go. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I didn’t even need my fleece lining. It was funny to me that we were still in February, albeit the end of the month, and I was walking around like it was late March or early April. Stupid global warming!

I really wasn’t paying attention, because the next thing I knew, we were approaching what at first glance appeared to be a bus. It wasn’t until Anna realized it wasn’t bound for Miyajima Guchi that I realized it was a streetcar (no, not named “Desire”). I guess in Hiroshima, the main mode of transportation is either the bus or the streetcar.

After some maneuvering, we got to the correct platform and waited for the next tram. The one that we ended up getting on was a bit crowded. We had a long way to go, though, so we all ended up taking a seat by the end of it. As we rode along, Hiroshima started to look more and more like Shinsaibashi and Umeda. The tram also seemed to stop like every five seconds, opposed to the fifteen seconds or sometimes minutes it takes with the subway. Well, there’s one thing — I seem to like Osaka’s public transportation more.

I think it took us something like an hour to finally make it to Miyajimaguchi ( “shrine island mouth”). Paying for a tram ride is also something of interest. At least with the subway, you know exactly who to pay and how, in fact, it’s quite easy. The tram is not so easy for tourists, or so it seemed to me, in that you pay an actual person but not in anything over 500 yen. Oh well.

We had to buy another ticket to take the ferry out to Miyajima. We all started taking pictures. Heck, I even posed for a few. I do believe Steve has been the person to steal my soul the most since coming to Japan.

Miyajima is similar to Nara in that it’s infested with friendly deer. Exiting the station, the first thing to notice is all the deer in the plaza type area. While the others went to use the facilities, I took this time to take pictures of a few things, namely the deer. This one deer I found was just chewing away on a towel. I was most amused by that one.

Once we reconvened, a game plan was set up. It was a general consensus that we were all hungry, so we decided to find a restaurant. We meandered down one of the sidestreets and eventually found a place that seemed to please us all. It was a quiet Japanese food place, with tables set up all down the middle with stools and other tables along the sides of the main row all on tatami for a more “traditional” set up. We selected a table that happened to be right by the TV. I was most amused by the program because it was one of the dramas I had seen with Laura when she and I ate at Kinryuu. I have recently come to the conclusion that I miss watching Japanese TV if anything because they have some of the greatest shows and commercials.

The menu was written on a fan which delighted us all. It was all pretty standard fare (although not in all the pretty colors of the rainbow): tendon, udon, curry rice, katsudon, etc. I opted for the tendon as I’d not had any in quite a while and I seem to be growing a bit tired of noodles and pork or beef bowls. It was quite tasty and I was very happy with my decision.

After our incredibly satisfying lunch, we made our way down towards the famous floating torii gate. We opted to walk along the streets, passing a variety of souvenir shops along the way. There were a lot of wooden spoons being sold, which baffled us a bit; we had no clue as to their meaning, or at least, I didn’t. Turns out they are famous on the island, something about not taking away the flavor of rice. There were also all these maple leaf shaped pastries being sold. Later, I learned that they are called momoji manjuu — “momoji” is a type of maple tree native to Japan, and I guess Hiroshima is famous for making this kind of manjuu. Remembering that Laura seemed to fancy manjuu, I made a point to come back that way and buy some once we’d done everything we wanted to.

We made our way to the end of the street and found ourselves by the beach. We opted to walk along the stone wall while also taking a few pictures of the water and walking on the beach some. I could see the infamous torii in the distance and as we drew near, there were these stone gates topped with Chinese style lions marking the way. (We captured the lions with our cameras as well.)

We made it to one of the popular spots to take pictures of the gate. We were ever the reciprocating tourists, taking pictures for others and having ours taken as well. Once we were satisfied with the ones taken of the gate, we started towards the Itsukushima Shrine. It cost a bit of money to go in, so we contented ourselves with a picture instead.

We had intentions of going to the top of Mount Misen, or close to it, via the “rope way”, a kind of suspended cable car, to get a good view of the island from an elevated place. We were walking up towards the station when I got distracted by a Five-Pagoda, which was right next to Senjokaku. We didn’t end up going inside, but we got some nice snaps around it.

The way to the rope way was a bit of a trek. As we passed a sign for Mount Misen, Phil noticed something of great importance — a sign stating that the rope way was closed for maintenance. Bummer.

We decided to try and get to the top via a hiking trail instead. Unfortunately for us, none of us had ever taken the hiking trail, this being the first time for Phil, Steve, and myself, and when Mike and Anna had come to Miyajima on their first misadventure, they had used the rope way. We decided that provided it was not too steep of a climb, we would try our luck.

We followed a bunch of signs, one of which was picture worthy as it read something to the effect of “Rope Way - 10 min (7 if you run a little)”.

I think the signs more or less led us in circles as we didn’t seem to be any closer to the hiking trail. We would have asked someone for directions if there had been anyone to ask. We ended up finding Daishoin Temple (sorry, couldn’t find a good enough link). It was here that I finally burned a stick of incense for my grandmother, as Daishoin is a Buddhist Temple.

It was getting close to dusk, so after wandering around the temple for a bit, we traversed back down to the main part of the island. We stopped at one of the momiji manjuu places where I bought some of the cakey treats as well Mike and Anna, and even Steve and Phil bought some souvenirs.

We ended up going back to the torii as it was low tide so we could actually walk out to the gate and touch it. I marveled at this, not just the fact that I could tough the gate, but because of the whole “low tide” thing. I come from a more or less landlocked area, being that I rarely ever go to Lake Michigan, so I admit to being pretty amazed by the fact that the water recedes so much.

We decided to walk on the beach now that there was more of it. There was all this green stuff everywhere, seaweed, I think, but I couldn’t be sure, and out in the distance by the torii, you could see people gathering oysters. I guess Hiroshima is famous for that, too. It was fun traipsing about; it’s been a long time since I’ve been to any kind of beach, I’d forgotten how much fun they actually are. I took pictures of various shells, Phil found an actual clam, and we laughed at the deer that wandered out, too.

It was a bit tricky walking out to the torii gate. None of us were really shod for this kind of walking, so there was a lot of hopping and strategic maneuvering. Eventually, we made it close enough. Now, I’m not the greatest at taking pictures, nor do I really have a whole lot of savvy for it (as you will see when you view my flickr), but I’m pretty sure the damn sun was getting in my way a lot. No matter. I snapped a couple…snaps…and was on my merry way. While the others took their own pictures, I meandered along my own way.

Finally, we took leave of Miyajima. We had resolved to eat okinomiyaki for dinner since Hiroshima Okinomiyaki is different from the Osakan variety, I was willing to try it again. We took the tram back to Hiroshima Station and since we were a few of the first people on board, we quickly found seats, and once it was in motion, I’m pretty sure we all fell asleep.

It was dark by the time we got back to the station. Despite this, Hiroshima still differed from Osaka in the night light as well. There were neon billboards, but like the cyclists in Osaka, not to the same quantity as it there seemed to be in say Dotombori.

Anna knew of an okinomiyaki restaurant, but it the access to it was closed, so we ended up trying our luck at another building. The 6th floor of one of them was nothing but okinomoyaki places. We walked around the whole floor before picking one.

So, there was one guy wearing a yellow shirt and another wearing a red, Yellow was something of the head guy and Red was like second-in-command. The actual “establishment” itself was similar to a street noodle joint in an “L” shape, in other words, not very big. Three women sat toward the edge of the L closest to the “inside” so we took up the stools “next” to them with our backs to the walkway. Our seats were pretty shiny as it was right in front of the grill so it was all pretty five-by-five.

Yellow shirt was pretty friendly, and as I observed, pretty flirty, too. Red shirt liked to try his English. We ordered our respective okinomiyakis, I ordered the regular, while Steve and Phil ordered the super special (had mozzarella cheese on top), and Anna and Mike split a special (made with shrimp and something else that eludes me). Now what separates Hiroshima Okinomiyaki from Osakan Okinomiyaki is the use of soba or udon, the sauce, and the way its prepared. One Firefly Sunday long ago, I had tasted okinomiyaki for the first time and discovered it really wasn’t for me. In spite of this, I was willing to try this kind since it was supposed to be different and all.

Yellow shirt prepared our meal right in front of us. It was pretty fun to watch, although, when he piled on the cabbage, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was any way I could order okinomiyaki without said cabbage. Anyway, the experience was already more interesting than my first one since I got to watch it being prepared as opposed to it just being served. It really is quite an art!

By this time, more people had started to come Seichan, the name of this particular place. I had to laugh as they were mostly women, and the way that Yellow and Red called out to people it seemed they were friendlier to the women than anyone else. I even caught Yellow winking at one of the ladies after he asked how her okinomiyaki tasted.

Anyway, I took a picture of my okinomiyaki after it was served to me. It certainly tasted better than I remembered, but there was still way too much cabbage. I have established however, that while I still don’t like it much, I prefer Hiroshima Okinomiyaki over Osaka. The soba noodles and the sauce is what did it for me. It was pretty obvious to me as I actually finished half of it, opposed to the barely quarter of a nibble I had the last time.

It was so good, Mike ordered another one. This time a super special. Remember how I mentioned more people were coming to Seichan? Well, it was pretty apparent as it took a while for Mike to get his second okinomoyaki. But because of the interesting seats we had, we didn’t mind. We decided Yellow shirt was really good at this, as he was able to start five okinomiyaki (three different orders, three different ways and keep them straight) and still attract people to his place. Red helped where he could, as he mostly took orders and got drinks. When order came in, he even started them for Yellow.

All in all, it was a good Hiroshima Okinomiyaki experience. Heck, I’d even go again if the opportunity presented itself, only this time, I might split one with someone instead of getting a whole one for myself.

We headed back to the hotel after that. I think we all were in need of chillin’ as we’d spent the whole day on our feet traipsing around an island. The accommodations were nice enough. I had a single, and it was about the size of a single in Manchester (my first dorm), maybe a little bigger. It didn’t matter because it was perfect for me. I liked how the “nightstand” was built into the headboard. One of the first things I did was turn on the TV to flip through channels in hopes of finding some Japanese drama (I didn’t).

While I was reading my book, Anna and Mike stopped over, which eventually staked my room as the hang out room. She called Steve and Phil over and we managed to find The Wizard of Oz playing on one of the stations. It was fun to watch if anything because every so often Mike would read how the Japanese interpreted things.

I kicked everyone out after that, as I was getting pretty tired. I just wanted to read a little and go to sleep. I kept the TV on before I fell asleep, though. Like I said, I kind of miss it, and that includes falling asleep to the TV.

It was a great first day out of Kansai.

I been hanging out with Clint and Laura a lot lately, the latter especially. Something about it just amuses me for some reason. I have yet to mesh these two into Firefly Sunday, although we are working on that bit. Mike jested with me that he didn’t think either of these people exist because he has yet to meet them. *shrug* It’s just the kind of thing that happens when we work on different floors now.

Laura celebrated her birthday last week, so she invited me out with her roommates, Clint, and a few other folks she knew to her favorite bar. Now, I know I’m not one for bars, and both Clint and Laura are quite aware of this, but since it was a birthday, I sucked up my dislike and ventured out to Shinsaibashi to celebrate. Like many of the bars I’ve been to in this country, Bamboo is a pretty small place, cozy and intimate. Not as intimidating as say the Bamboo Room in Schaumburg.

I’d like to say this experience made me receptive to going out to bars or something, but unfortunately ’twas not the case. The bartender Sean, who is Clint’s roommate, is your typical jack ass of a guy. He was hitting on their Japanese friend Saki pretty hard core, even though she is engaged. We had to run interference…and it was just an unpleasant ending to an otherwise nice evening. It’s people like him that give Westerners a bad name.

The following day, Friday, Laura and I had planned to partake in some form of hijinx or tomfoolery. I was uncertain as to whether or not she would be functional, but I got a text from her letting me know she was up for it.

We met in Tsurahashi and ended up going to Kinryuu for noodles and rice. Thereafter, we wandered around a little, but eventually returned to the house for some Firefly viewing. I’d been talking up the show to both her and Clint and it was high time that she fell in love with the Firefly class cargo ship the same way I had. I joked with her that if she ended up not like the show, it was likely that we wouldn’t be allowed to be friends anymore. No hard feelings or nothin’. It’s just the way of it, ya know?

Luckily for us, she is a fan, maybe not quite a “Browncoat” yet, but I have a good feeling about this. Hell, she uses “shiny” in everyday conversation nearly as much as I do now, but I think that’s mostly my doing than the show’s.

She came over again last night after Outback and we picked up on Gilmore Girls. Like the last time we viewed the show, she ended up spending the night and today, we traipsed around together again. It’s Plum Blossom season again and this year because of the unusually temperate weather we’ve been having, the flowers have bloomed early. Since Laura is wont to take interesting pictures at nearly every outing, it was only natural that we ended up in the Plum Blossom garden.

It’s been a really fun time lately. I just hope we don’t overdose on each other or something.