One lucky girl. This adventure came by chance when my New York Flight was redirected and compensation was a free ticket anywhere in the world. I thought let’s go somewhere you can’t afford but always wanted to see. My fascination with Eastern culture began when a Japanese friend lived with our family and later my father with his. Japan it was.
I chose to travel alone for two weeks, with a rucksack, sketchbook diary, Japanese rail pass, essential polite Japanese words (necessary bowing was practiced!) and no clue where I was going to stay…perfect. Preferring to choose a destination each day, I had a romantic notion of Nomadic meditation, minimalist Zen gardens, eating sushi, wearing kimonos and searching for modern Japanese architecture I’d studied as a student.
After an 11-hour flight I arrived in Tokyo. The Capital at first was deceptively familiar like some futuristic Western city but than you noticed the petite dark-haired inhabitants, smells of unfamiliar food, Karaoke bars, whilst locals stared at me ‘the foreigner’, men were inquisitive to why I, a woman should travel alone .My first days were spent in shock but liberated that this society was so extreme to ours: language, attitude, landscape, food. The relationship between the old and new Japan is fascinating: people in formal kimonos chatting to those dressed in business suits, young punks (typically orange hair) bowing in respect to their elders. Politeness and reserve is innate in this country. I was bowing on day one.
Ordering food was simple, I just pointed at the plastic replicas of food they displayed. I remember finding it funny – a suspended noodle with a fork hanging mid air. Also unusual was the machine dispensing knickers in the train station along with coffee in a can. Kindly disposable umbrellas were left around the rainy city. The subway was terrifying; during rush hour you were squashed like sardines in trains by ‘people pushers’ squeezing us on. Nightlife in Tokyo was as bright as the ‘pachinko’ pinball machine they were obsessed by. It was time to travel outside of the city.
Zooming around Japan was easy by using the fastest train in the world, the Shinkasen ‘bullet train. Kyoto was first than Nara, Kobe, Osaka, Hiroshima, Awaji and Mijiiama Island
Anxious moments included the slow train up Kobe’s steep mountain which unfortunately displayed pictures of it’s recent earthquake! But hours later I was rewarded, when in total darkness, I was happily singing and running down it’s snowy path to suddenly see the sparkling ‘Million Dollar View Of Osaka’ (that’s what the sign said) a breathtaking view of Osaka bay looking onto the Pacific ocean. A classic moment also was the criminal ‘wanted’ sign for a Japanese man, basically making me suspicious of every man I saw on my trip.
I stayed in cheap Hostels and Japanese inns (ryokans). Ryokans let you sample how the Japanese live. On arrival shoes were removed, slippers put on and green tea is served. There are even separate slippers for the toilet. Surroundings are modest, you have a bed on the ground that is rolled and stowed away, a dressing gown and a tea service, slippers are left outside your paper sliding door. I messed up the slipper ‘thing’ continuously. One ryokan had a strange toilet that played music…hmm they do like unusual gadgets. You also share a communal furo (bath) with the guests. This became my biggest obsession on my trip- bath time!
I returned with my sketches, kimono, green tea and a vow to live a Japanese way of life. But nothing compares to the original….time to get lucky again.
Camille O’Sullivan
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