Hello To Japan! (6/16)

GLOBIS in Asia prepares to depart Yeungnam for Japan!

Straight from my journal:

In Japan! Flight went flawlessly--I guess I'm getting used to this whole Asian travel thing. We weren't locked out of the Daegu airport this time around, despite leaving more on-time than last time around--less people, less partying the night before, more professors involved. Our last flight from Daegu seemed to come quickly. They were out of bananas, thus ruining my breakfast plans. Curses!

Back in Seoul/Incheon

The layover in Seoul/Incheon flew by! I spent most of it stretching, which felt great. The fact that soccer was on TV helped a whole lot! I got to watch a good chunk of Love Fiction [a Korean rom-com]-- very fascinating film, definitely deserving of dissection later. The number of Koreans has been thinning out understandably; now, i feel flung into the unknown again. Japan is definitely noticeably different than Korea, but less shockingly so than China was, I think. Perhaps having two different Asian Tigers under my belt better prepared me for this third. The weather is humid and overcast; it should be this way for most of our stay, as a typhoon is on its way. I'm exited to cross that off my list of things to experience!

First posters I saw in the Osaka airport, in anime style!

Preparing to catch a train to Kyoto

Train station...?

On my train! Look at how many yen the ticket cost!

Japan seems darker than Korea or China, probably not just because of the overcast skies, either. Buildings seem closer, plainer and simpler, and less colorful; signs are more sparse and more subdued; trains seem nicer; fields are more logically arranged and tended; apartments are wider and less tall, as well as slightly more architecturally distinct; graffiti, specifically tags,are way more prevalent so far; people seem to drive on the left ("wrong") side of the road; buildings seem more developmentally sound and consistent than either China or Korea (China is going through a painful molting of old and an uneven construction of new whereas Korea seems to be new built on top of new smashed between new next to old which is accepted and not in danger of demolition like in China); streets seem narrower and more alley-like; I've seen hentai-esque ads so far, which could indicate a fascinating difference in images of women between Korea and Japan; helmets are far more common among motorcyclers and scooterers in Japan versus Daegu especially, but also Beijing... 

First sights of the Japanese countryside

Apartments...

Industry?

Economics!

[Dr.] Yi says Koreans have a larger sense of space than Japanese, which I agree with--especially apparent with farmland here, as Doc[tor] Brock [Tessman] pointed out; less opens space than in Korea, also less western-looking; saw a traditional women's archery team with like 8' bows! Very cool. Couldn't get a pic though, sadly.

Kyoto's incredible station

Our hotel had mirrored ceilings

See what I mean about Japan's use of space!

Japanese currency is HUGE

Went for a walk in the rain in search of a cheap noodle place to grab a bite for my grumbling stummy [stomach]. I'm pretty convinced there's no such thing as "cheap" here in Japan. This may just be the death of me. Ended up at a fantastic local falavel place--not as local in genre or substance as I'd hoped for, but the atmospehre and food were superbly spot-on. Really dug the place and the three others I adventured with... We decided to rent bikes and tour around but the intensified rain convinced us otherwise. Ended up walking into a swollen river for a pic before heading back. Three record stores have denied me [a Japanese album I was looking for], but I am not dissuaded! I will find that EP!

Georgia?! Reminded me of home!

A silly tanooki

A really sweet record store... THAT DIDN'T HAVE THE ALBUM I WANTED

Sweet cycle rental place-- we thought better because of the weather

Some aaaaaart

Inside the sweet Falafel joint

Maria and Jack

Kyoto!

YUM!!! Not what I was looking for, but yum nonetheless

Cycle attempt, take 2

A river, swollen from the rain

Me in the river, courtesy of Jack Spalding

At the time I'm not sure that these games had been announced in the US, so this was an exciting discovery

Manga heaven

After wandering around Kyoto for a while in the rain, the others decided to stay in for the evening and recoup after our day of travel. I, however, had seen a sign for a live jazz night, and was for some reason strongly called to check it out. After trying futilely to collect some companions, I set out by myself, and ended up having one of the most incredible nights of my life. Here's what I wrote in my journal:

Holy fuck! Had a great goddamn time at Murra Jazz/Blues bar. Takashi Kudo on piano and Yoshie Ichikawa on vox tore it up! I was groovin' so hard I broke a sweat! Awesome tiny bar atmosphere, 2000 ¥ cover + 2x 600 ¥ Kirin was a bit much, but the show was totally worth it-- super glad I could rev up some local musicians! They fed off my energy and we all ended up bonding-- "Mark" [a fellow bar-goer] translated for me, Yoshie said it was fate and dedicated "Georgia on my Mind" to me! It was fuckin incredible. So goddamn lucky! Holy shit. "Mark" lived in Georgia for a time and spoke good English; Takashi based a song of his on WWE and super-emphatically described it to me through Mark; Yoshie named her hawks after Haku from Miyazaki films; she sung phenomenal English. Very soulful voice. It was incredible to be accepted so fully into such an awesome scene!

Murra's bar

The piano

Yoshie and Takashi

Me with the band!!!!!

THE FEELS!!!