MudNCrud Forums
Out'n about... just not Climbing => Biking => Topic started by: NOAL on October 03, 2024, 01:50:18 PM
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Last year's bike trip to Japan was so much fun I decided to do it again this year. This year's destination was the Southern most island of Kyushu. Here's a map of the route I rode. Well, there's a couple of sections where I took a train. Who can pass up an opportunity to ride the Shinkansen bullet train, the fastest train in the world? More about that later.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54041077735_f0caab1eea_c.jpg)
I think I ended up riding in the neighborhood of 450 or so miles.
Just like last year I boxed up the bike in a cardboard box and hopped on a flight to Fukuoka the largest city in Kyushu. Population is about 1.5 million. Twice the population of SF. Before I purchased the ticket I checked the average temps for September. Usually temps are around 80. Considerably warmer than last year's trip to Hokkaido but the prospect of a sort of tropical trip seemed appealing. I figured if things got hot I could just hit the beach to cool off. Little did I know that Japan would have a heat wave the ten days that I was there and temps would be more like 97. What can you do?
Landed in Fukuoka early in the afternoon. I booked a hotel a few blocks from the airport. Turned out the hotel was a few blocks from the domestic terminal. To get to the domestic terminal I would need to take a shuttle bus. The line was long and people were packed on the bus. Did I mention it was hot? My chances of getting a large cardboard box on the shuttle bus did not look good. I decided to go ahead and put the bike together and somehow ride to the hotel with a massive bike box.
Putting the bike together at the airport
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Somehow over the course of an hour I did a combination of riding and pushing with the box on top of the bike and made it to the hotel. Once I got there I then partially disassembled the bike and put it in the bike bag. This trip every time I stayed in a hotel I would just put the bike in the bag like luggage. This reduced a lot of stress for the hotel desk clerks. By the end of the trip I got pretty fast at doing it. About 20 mins or so. Every time it requires removing the handle bars, seat, front wheel and all of the bike bags.
DAY 1 FUKUOKA to SAGA 65 kilometers
Had a good nights sleep woke up around 5;30 and hit the free Japanese style breakfast at 6. By the time I hit the road around 8 it was already getting warm. For most of the trip it never dropped below 80 at night. Started riding towards the mountains to the West of town. Fukuoka is a pretty large city. I planned on spending a couple of days there at the end of the trip. There are quite a few canals that run through the city.
Fukuoka in the morning
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It took about 45 minutes or so to get out of the city and start the climb up the mountain. After a 1/2 hour of so I saw this thing on the side of the road.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54026640409_1ed36341e9.jpg)
This trip did not disappoint in the department of wacky roadside stuff and strangely 400 something miles later I would encounter another identical statue of liberty.
Got to the top of the mountain and somehow missed the turn that would keep me on the highway across the top of the range. By the time I realized I missed the turn I had already descended back into flat land. Oops. After consulting the map I decided to do another hill climb and check out a waterfall. It was past 10 a.m. and it was warming up. Usually by this time of day the temp would already be about 90. By noon it would be about 98 and would stay like that until 4 or so. According to the forecast with the humidity thrown in it would feel like 108.
I think people in Kyushu are accustomed to warm weather but this was definitely a heat wave and most folks were staying indoors during the peak hours. Between the hours of 12-4 I would get some strange looks especially if I was hill climbing. Here's a funny thing that happened on the way to the waterfall. I was riding of a bike path on the side of the road. Totally off of the road. There were three cars going down the mountain in the opposite direction. All three of the drivers were rubbernecking getting a good look at the crazy Gaijin (foreigner) riding up a mountain in a heat wave. The first driver braked hard and the other two cars rear ended the first car and each other. I did not stop.
The waterfall was on a side road which required a lot of steep climbing for a couple of miles but at least it was in the shade. About half way there I jumped in a creek on the side of the road. Eventually I made it to the waterfall.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54026564403_aac4b2648f.jpg)
View looking back down the mountain
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There were quite a few people at the waterfall. I guess it is a place to beat the heat. Kind of like Whitney Portal. Just like Whitney Portal there were people fishing in the pools below the falls. There was a little concession stand where you could buy grilled salted trout on a stick. I got one and it was tasty!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54025427577_ecc1fd7143.jpg)
There was also an option to rent a fishing pole catch your own fish and the guy at the grill would cook it up for you. Very cool thing to do with little kids
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54026769710_c815c04f85.jpg)
And for the people looking for food options to cool down there were somen noodles that travel down water in bamboo chutes. Each family stands around a the chute and helps themselves to the river of noodles. Then you dip them in cold broth. I wanted to try it but a little weird to do by yourself.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54026563348_c57d282b31.jpg)
After finishing my fish and chilling in the waterfall mist it was time to hit the road. The rest of the climb up the mountain was hot but still nice. The road narrowed down and there was little traffic. Seems like most people going up the mountain only go as far as the waterfall. After about an hour of riding I reached the summit and started to descend towards the next major city Saga. I eventually arrived at a reservoir. Turned out that weekend was the Saga games which is kind of like Olympic style competitions for Japan. The rowing event was being held at the reservoir. It was now about 3 o'clock so I would need to make a decision about lodging soon. Judging from the amount of people attending the rowing event trying to find a hotel in Saga with the games going on might not be a good prospect. I decided to head towards another reservoir that had a campground about 20 miles away. This required another mountain pass and it was hot. It was so hot that this frog even wanted cold drinks.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54026326341_51a925191b.jpg)
This vending machine was in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. I was hanging out with the frog when this old guy rode up on one of those scamp things that old folks ride in the super market. I tried to make small talk with him in my limited Japanese but he told me he can't hear and that he was 98 years old. He also only had 3 teeth so it was a brief conversation but we both agreed it was freakin' hot or so they say in Japanese totemo atsui!
Made it to the campground and set up camp. The campground was part of a park below a dam. There was a couple of guys swimming in the pools below the flood gates. There was a sign that said if you heard an alarm or there was a rain storm to get out of the river. The alarm went off a couple of times but the dudes swimming were not phased. Strange. I went for a swim and rinsed out my bike shorts and jersey.
All of the water spigots for the park had the tap handles removed. As if the park was closed for the season. Luckily there was a shrine in the parking lot with a natural spring. A gallon of water was 40yen. There were quite a few locals showing up filling multiple gallons. Must be where they get their drinking water. I had neglected to stock up on food so all I had was a box of chocolate covered almonds. I ate them while I watched the sun set and then went to bed.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54026568748_762f0b681c.jpg)
Swimming Hole
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Loving it so far (again).
Funniest part was the old guy with almost no teeth.
Keep it comin' dude...(please).
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Last year's FOOD trip to Japan was so much fun I decided to do it again this year.
I figured I'd change your opening line so that we're all on the same page from the first words.
Sasebo and Nagasaki coming up. I'm very curious of your impressions about both.
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Thanks JC. I will post some more tomorrow.
I figured I'd change your opening line so that we're all on the same page from the first words.
Sasebo and Nagasaki coming up. I'm very curious of your impressions about both.
Kinda funny because I did not even get dinner the first night.
Did not visit Sasebo but I did spend two days in Nagasaki which is coming up. There are a lot of things to see and do around Sasebo but spending a day there would not get in enough miles for the day. The heat really took a couple of days to get accustomed to riding. I would wake up around 5 and then try to get in as many miles with few breaks before 10 as I could. After 10 things would get bad. I'll try and write about it. It was worse than any hot day I have experienced at Pinnacles.
I had a slight anxiety at the beginning of the trip that I would not be able to do the route I had in mind.
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The heat really took a couple of days to get accustomed to riding. I would wake up around 5 and then try to get in as many miles with few breaks before 10 as I could. After 10 things would get bad. I'll try and write about it. It was worse than any hot day I have experienced at Pinnacles.
Awesome venture again Noal! Looking forward to reading the continuation.
The heat really took a couple of days to get accustomed to riding. I would wake up around 5 and then try to get in as many miles with few breaks before 10 as I could. After 10 things would get bad. I'll try and write about it. It was worse than any hot day I have experienced at Pinnacles.
Island heat is gnarly, like warm lead slowly filling your lungs so you can't breathe and weighing you down so you can't move. I felt shocked on my first hike last year on the Big Island(like I'd suddenly turned Brad and JC's age in a hour and a half), it took me a while to acclimate and a lot of anxiety on the next couple of hikes. Pinnacles heat kills you kinder.
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We're waiting....
Off for now though to do our annual SPH group trail work day. I'll be home this evening.
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Yes, want more…
Walking on the Mamalahoa Bypass Rd at 10 minutes before sunrise to beat the heat. Pinkish to the purpleish clouds.
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DAY 2 Sayonomizumi Lake to Hario Island 45 miles
This was a pretty uninteresting day of the trip as far as scenery, riding, and points of interest. The scenery got better towards the end of the day when I crossed over to Hario Island. Not many photos taken but this is also due to trying to conserve the battery on my phone. One downside (among many) of the more primitive camping situations is nowhere to charge things. Before I go on these trips I spend hours on Google maps marking all of the places on the map that could be useful or interesting. This way I can keep the phone on airplane mode and not need internet to update the map. As much as I try to prepare there are still many instances where what looked good at home in reality turns out not to be a good option and I need the internet to find an alternative. This is crucial at the end of the day for booking a hotel room or trying to find a campground and depending where you are this eats the battery super fast.
As I mentioned in my TR about Hokkaido the convenience stores or konbinis as they are called in Japan are pretty awesome. Kyushu has the same ones as Hokkaido Lawson, Family Mart, and 7 Eleven but they do not have Seico Mart. That's a local Hokkaido convenience store. Many people insist that 7 Eleven is the best of the three but I'm gonna be a little controversial and say Lawson is the best all around, Family Mart is second and 7 Eleven is last. Family Mart beats out 7 Eleven because many of them have an air conditioned seating area set up to do office work. There's usually a desk like area with charging ports. You can hang out, drink coffee, charge your devices, eat snacks as long as you like. Family Mart's food is not as good as Lawson but it's still pretty good. Maybe I'll make a list of my favorite foods from konbinis. Konbini food is good but after awhile it gets old. It's great if you need snacks to eat while riding the bike and maybe in a pinch good for dinner if you are camping and have no choice but I will always take supermarket food or a hot meal from a restaurant any day over the conbini.
See a lot of tourists on Youtube visiting Japan who are on a budget, or maybe don't speak Japanese and are intimidated by ordering at a restaurant who eat primarily at konbinis. While food at conbinis might be 100x better than U.S. convenience stores or fake Japanese restaurants it's important to remember that it's still processed food. Not something to eat for every meal every day. At least not for me. Maybe that's some people's thing. One of the best feelings is to get out of your comfort zone, suck it up ,and go into that restaurant full of all Japanese people. Yeah sometimes it's like that scene in Animal House when they visit the bar. When you go inside a small Izakaya all the talking might stop and everybody might stare at you for a couple of seconds but 9 times out of 10 you will have a great meal and experience.
There was a pretty good descent down from the reservoir campground. Maybe 4 miles or so which was a nice start to the morning but from there the riding got flat with no shade. I think it was also the weekend so there was a ton of traffic. Many of the roads in Kyushu do not have a shoulder. Sometimes there is a sidewalk/ bike path which is good for hill climbs with no shoulder but bad for descents and flat areas. This is primarily because vegetation grows really fast there and busts through the side walk making cracks and crap you have to ride through. Definitely not good for riding fast or especially downhill sections.
There was quite a bit of cheesy touristy stuff in this area too. The penultimate being Huis Ten Bosch a theme park that recreates the Netherlands with Dutch windmills canals etc https://english.huistenbosch.co.jp/ (https://english.huistenbosch.co.jp/) or Arita Porcelain park a theme park with a recreation of Germany's Zwinger palace https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/771/ (https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/771/) Now I'm sure that in true Japanese style these theme parks are done very tastefully and probably are good quality but it's really not what I traveled half way around the world to see.
So long story short I eventually escaped this region after I crossed over a bridge to a area called Hario. Did I mention it was hot?
Scenery getting better
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My bookmarking at home worked and the campground turned out to be pretty good. There was a section for reserved sites and a big field area for "free camping" meaning you can set up anywhere in the field. I had the whole field to myself which meant I also had the shower and kitchen area to myself. Best part was there was an outlet in the kitchen to charge my phone.
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View of the bay
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kitchen shower facilities
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View of the bay at sunrise.
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I had asked the campground host earlier if there was anywhere to eat close by. I actually had this whole conversation in Japanese without having to use Google translate or any English. One of the first times I did that. Pat myself on the back. There was a restaurant across the street that did not get a recommendation from the host and another 20 minutes down the road that did get a recommendation. I was done riding for the day and getting back would require a major hill climb in the dark so I decided to try out the place across the road. Walked in and was denied. I guess no dining for single people. Only rooms for groups by reservation. Looks like I would be grabbing dinner from the Lawson next door. Had a box meal with noodles, a packet of sweet potato salad, a croquette, and green salad. Like I said earlier acceptable food but not the best. At least it was better than camping the night before with no dinner. Ate dinner and went to bed.
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Yes, want more…
Walking on the Mamalahoa Bypass Rd at 10 minutes before sunrise to beat the heat. Pinkish to the purpleish clouds.
Post some photos.
Sorry for the delay. Started writing at the end of work yesterday. Was a little hard to come up with something to say about one of the most uneventful days of the trip. I also do not have any internet service in the apartment where I now live. This is to keep me from doing work at home and watching TV.
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Day 3 Hario to Nagasaki 105 miles
Alrighty, now that I added up the miles for this day some things make more sense! Had no idea at the time that I did a century.. I am kinda of shocked right now because there was quite a bit of constant up and down along the coast which from the hours of 12 to 3 made things kind of slow and hairy. No tunnels through hills like in Hokkaido. About 1km down hill and another 1km uphill. This resulted in me laying flat out on the ground on the side of the road in the shade of a electrical pole, laying in the shade of vending machines, hiding out in a public toilet for 1/2 hour, and pretty much stopping at about 2 dozen vending machines. Got a lot of strange looks. I also even had time to stop at a roadside station for a full lunch. I guess this is the day when I decided (maybe subconsciously) what pattern the trip would need to take to deal with the heat.
As I said earlier I had already figured out that the most progress would be made early in the day between 5-10. After that it was just a battle to stay hydrated and keep my body temp down . Once I would feel my body temp go way up my brain/head would start to feel like it was going to explode and my mind would start to experience a sort of delirium. The weather was identical to what I experienced growing up in Alabama. Humidity was the killer. Shade will only help a bit and you still continue to sweat. So what this requires is a constant intake of liquid and dozens of stops.
Let's talk about vending machines for a second here. Last trip I made the claim that Japan does not have recycling by the vending machines. Well folks I'm here to tell you that was poor reporting on my part and the good news is almost all of the vending machines in Kyushu have recycling bins! This helped out a ton in the heat but also resulted in me spending about $200 on cold drinks. I have drank all of the different types of drinks for vending machines in Kyushu. Coffee, tea, sodas, sparkling water, flavored water, water, even tomato juice.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54041268914_74ba9fe8ea_c.jpg)
Some favorites include: any Georgia brand coffee drinks especially the iced latte, Momo (peach) water, Pocari Sweat this stuff helps restore the salt you lose sweating kind of like Gatorade but maybe better, and tomato juice with lemon which is surprising refreshing when cold and good with a sandwich.
Headed out around 5:30 when the sun was coming up. From Hario I crossed over to Saikaicho. Around this area is a U.S. naval base. Here's a shot where you can barely see a naval ship.
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I had bookmarked a limestone cave near this area that looked really good but one of the disadvantages to riding early is some sight seeing spots are closed. Surprisingly I found that most museums on the trip opened at 8 a.m. Even art museums.
Another shot of one of the many small fishing towns that are everywhere in coastal Japan
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At one of the points where I was laying on the side of the road in my semi catatonic state I looked up and saw there were tons of caterpillars. Fortunately they were not smoking hookah pipes and did not start talking to me.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54045372454_dde207b8c3_c.jpg)
From what I could tell these guys turn in a very large black butterfly (which is hard to photograph) Also saw a lot of dragonflys and frogs. The one animal I wanted to see (live) but only saw as roadkill was the Tanooki Dog or raccoon dog which looks exactly like it's name. There's tons of ceramic statues of these guys outside of restaurants and tourists spots
Around 2 o'clock I was really feeling it. Having to stop every 10 mins or so. I was in the middle of a hill climb and found a concrete embankment to take a nap on. Every time I found a good shady space I was tempted to just stay there until 4 o'clock . That's how I was feeling at this spot. I made a rule with myself that every time I thought I felt good enough to ride again I would wait an additional 10 minutes. This spot was too good. So after 20 minutes I forced myself to finish the hill climb and boy o boy when I got to the top I sure was glad that I did! At the top was a roadside station and it was a really good one!
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farmer's market in station
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I talked about roadside stations in the Hokkaido TR. These places are the bees knees. It's like a rest stop in the U.S. but each one usually has a farmer's market where locals bring their produce to sell. There's also prepared food and snacks made by locals that showcase what the region is known for. I think I said it before but I will say it again never pass one of these places up. They stomp a convenience store into the ground and usually there is a restaurant attached that will have some grannies cooking up local seafood,meat, veggies etc. This one was no exception the restaurant was fantastic.
There was an option of 4 different main dishes. Around $12 each. You pay at the door and then once you get in the rest of the accompanying food is buffet style. So I got tempura. Then at the buffet there's a few different kinds of soup with your choice of extras. Bits of dried tofu, seaweed, mushrooms. There was also a big table of pickled veggies, and a salad bar that included macaroni and pasta salads, potato salad and of course there was also a giant rice cooker of all you can eat rice.
Also can't forget all road side stations usually have soft serve made with local cow's milk. Never pass up the soft serve.
View from the restaurant. The building below is a museum for the writer Endo Shusaku. I did not visit the museum.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54045371999_8a3dd26c95_c.jpg)
This roadside station is called Yuhigaoka Sotome. It is up on a point after a small town called Sotome. I forgot until just now that this where I had a small conversation with an elderly Japanese nun while I was resting in the shade. Kyushu has a long history of foreign influence that started as far back as I believe the 1600's. Kagoshima is one of the ports that was always open even when Japan closed it's doors to foreigners prior to the Meiji Restoration. Kagoshima would end up being the city that started the restoration in the late 1800's and Japan's push to modernize. In Sotome there is a large Catholic church/convent.
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DAY 2 Sayonomizumi Lake to Hario Island 45 miles
"...I actually had this whole conversation in Japanese without having to use Google translate or any English. One of the first times I did that. Pat myself on the back.
This is pretty impressive.
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At one of the points where I was laying on the side of the road in my semi catatonic state I looked up and saw there were tons of caterpillars. Fortunately they were not smoking hookah pipes and did not start talking to me.
There was a dancing spider off the lanai that I videoed this morning, it didn't talk or sing either.
Post some photos.
I tried to email myself a few but got nada. So no next step of using my Flicker skills acquired from my tutelage under Shaman Cook. My iPhone is possessed.
Day 3 Hario to Nagasaki 105 miles
Alrighty, now that I added up the miles for this day some things make more sense! Had no idea at the time that I did a century for this day. I am kinda of shocked right now because there was quite a bit of constant up and down along the coast which from the hours of 12 to 3 made things kind of slow and hairy. No tunnels through hills like in Hokkaido. About 1km down hill and another 1km uphill. This resulted in me laying flat out on the ground on the side of the road in the shade of a electrical pole, laying in the shade of vending machines, hiding out in a public toilet for 1/2 hour, and pretty much stopping at about 2 dozen vending machines. Got a lot of strange looks. I also even had time to stop at a roadside station for a full lunch. I guess this is the day when I decided (maybe subconsciously) what pattern the trip would need to take to deal with the heat.
Brutal, but made me laugh thinking about the way you went about commandeering any available shade.
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The one animal I wanted to see (live) but only saw as roadkill was the Tanooki Dog or raccoon dog which looks exactly like it's name. There's tons of ceramic statues of these guys outside of restaurants and tourists spots
Reminded of the promised second coming of Christ and what you actually get while waiting. Roadkill and statues. Thank God for spices!
This spot was too good. So after 20 minutes I forced myself to finish the hill climb and boy o boy when I got to the top I sure was glad that I did! At the top was a roadside station and it was a really good one!
I talked about roadside stations in the Hokkaido TR. These places are the bees knees. It's like a rest stop in the U.S. but each one usually has a farmer's market where locals bring their produce to sell. There's also prepared food and snacks made by locals that showcase what the region is known for. I think I said it before but I will say it again never pass one of these places up. They stomp a convenience store into the ground and usually there is a restaurant attached that will have some grannies cooking up local seafood,meat, veggies etc. This one was no exception the restaurant was fantastic.
There was an option of 4 different main dishes. Around $12 each. You pay at the door and then once you get in the rest of the accompanying food is buffet style. So I got tempura. Then at the buffet there's a few different kinds of soup with your choice of extras. Bits of dried tofu, seaweed, mushrooms. There was also a big table of pickled veggies, and a salad bar that included macaroni and pasta salads, potato salad and of course there was also a giant rice cooker of all you can eat rice.
Also can't forget all road side stations usually have soft serve made with local cow's milk. Never pass up the soft serve.
Sounds delicious! Heaven! No pics of the grannies?
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Nice views of the water.
I took a few notes as I read - jotting down some of "cultural" references that came to mind (not all of them)
Day 1
Can we dance wif yo dates?
Wally World in Japan – complete with John Candy sumo look-alike
Day 2 –
Lawson’s conjures ice cold cream soda on a hot summer day and the “Roll on Big O” commercial (childhood musings)
I can just see you employing your strategies for rest/shade – cracked me up – even though there is nothing funny about heat exhaustion or heat stroke! Nice job surviving dude :thumbup:
I’ll lay here on my back ….in a semi catatonic state…
Gotta love Granny’s cookin' – any possum grits?
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I’ll lay here on my back ….in a semi catatonic state…
Laying on your back on the side of the road does take a little thought. First you want to find a spot you can prop your bike up that is really visible. Second a good position is to put your hands behind your head so it looks like you are relaxing. Otherwise there's a good chance someone will think you've been injured or are sick. Sick like ill not like sick in the head.
The helmet police out there will love this one. The third day
I chucked my helmet. The helmet channels sweat down your face making all the sunscreen get in your eyes which burns like mother and blinds you. Goodbye helmet.
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After the stop at the roadside station things remained really hot for another couple of hours. I rode for about an hour until 3 o'clock. Time to start thinking about finding somewhere to stay for the night. Consulting the map I did not have anywhere bookmarked for this stretch of the coast. I would need to get to a small town where there was internet to look more thoroughly. This is when I hid out in the public bathroom. Getting out of the sun makes looking at the map easier too. Turned out there was no good prospects for inns or camping. Hmmm. what to do? This is definitely where I got the extra miles to get over 100 for the day.
I decided to ride another 40 or so kilometers to Nagasaki. I had enough time to get there before sunset and with all the extra miles I gained I could spend two nights and have a full day to visit museums sight see etc. The internet was good enough that I was able to book a business hotel at the train station in the middle of the city. Japan rail or JR has their own chain of business hotels that are part of the train station. They are excellent quality especially for $50 a night and super convenient. Most of the time in larger cities the train station is kind of like the center of town. There will be a everything you need inside of an 8 or ten story shopping center. They have plazas in front that have food festivals on the weekend. For example Nagasaki's food fest that weekend was local craft beers and burgers.
Once the hotel was booked I was motivated by the promise of a shower and air conditioning so I put the hammer down. Nagasaki is located in a valley that has large hills/mtns on three sides. The coastal highway I was on from the North enters the city by a long tunnel. It's kind of like a magic portal. Enter the tunnel and 15 minutes later you are magically in Nagasaki! Ta da! I got there right at sunset just as it started to drizzle rain.
Central Nagasaki at sunset. You can see the street car in the lower middle of the image
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Checked into the hotel, took a shower, closed my eyes,and enjoyed the A/C for about 1/2 hr. Since it was raining I decided to explore the mall in the train station ( air conditioned too). The train station malls are very nice. They have 4 or five floors of shopping for clothes, a book store, a grocery store, a floor of gourmet food/ food for gifts, and a pharmacy. When it comes to restaurants there is usually a top floor that has 2 or 3 high end restaurants, a floor underneath that has about 12 sit down restaurants, and then there's almost always a food court somewhere closer to the street that has more inexpensive takeout and fast food. Long story short it can take awhile to make up your mind. I went for sushi where you sit in a cubicle at a bar and order on a touch screen. After that grabbed some snacky stuff and went to watch TV in the room.
ZERO DAY NAGASAKI
Slept in and woke up around 6! Went down to the train station for some coffee and to buy a day pass for the street car. The public transportation for the central portion of Nagasaki is a system of about 4 street car lines. As I said earlier the city is in a sort of box canyon with mountains on three sides. The street cars cover most of the flat areas in the valley/flat portion of the city. A day pass is only 500 yen or $3.00 which is a really good deal if you want to sight see. Turns out the visitor center in the train station sells passes but they do not open until 8. I drank coffee and walked around the station some more making mental notes for later.
At 8 I got my pass and hopped on the street car.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051323479_dbcb740b6d_c.jpg)
First stop was the one legged Tori gate. This gate is less than a 1/2 kilometer from the bomb epicenter. It was one of the few things standing after the bomb.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051012321_2d60458d42_c.jpg)
The other pieces of the gate
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54041194593_6155e06fe0_c.jpg)
This camphor tree also survived the blast. It is at the base of the steps to the shrine. It truly is a testament to resiliency and rebirth. The second tree grew after the bomb.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051263933_10579045b7_c.jpg)
photo of the tree right after the bomb
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051331064_56fda18f5a_c.jpg)
both trees
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051257798_69ebc1c340_c.jpg)
From here it is a short walk to the Atomic Bomb Museum, the epicenter, and the peace plaza.
Museum
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54050140462_71fd00b4f0_c.jpg)
It's hard to put into words the museum experience but it did make me tear up quite a bit. It starts out at the entrance with this clock. The hands stopped at 11:05 the minute the bomb hit.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051451910_22685c36ea_c.jpg)
This was the only photo I took even though the museum encourages you to take as many as you like and to share. The exhibits are extremely well thought out to show a progression of evidence so that most humans will arrive at the conclusion that not just nuclear weapons but all things nuclear should be abolished. There is a large portion where you can touch objects from the blast. There also is a section where Japan's history of their colonization of Asia from the Meiji Restoration up to the bomb is explained. It's a fantastic museum but very emotional. I highly recommend. As a society we should be beyond war and old men grinding axes at the expense of innocent people.
After the bomb museum I checked out the art museum next door. It was only 100 yen or 75 cents. All the museums that I visited were very affordable. I think the bomb museum was 800yen or 5 bucks. I wish museums in the U.S. would be subsidized more. Last time I went to the museum in SF it was $40. Totally wack.
bomb epicenter
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051001866_d6a4b917e5_c.jpg)
peace plaza
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051001036_ae0b74636b_c.jpg)
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Nice post. Cool statue. Sobering information.
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One part towards the end of the museum is a wall about 20 feet long that has all of the nuclear oopsies that have occurred in the world. These are not minor oopsies they are major fuck ups. I forget the exact number but if I remember correctly it is somewhere in the range of 150-200. Nukes that were detonated by accident in transport, reactor meltdowns, intentional detonations that had unforeseen consequences that were carried out as "experiments", and reactors damaged by natural disasters such as the 2016 earthquake in Japan.
There were many reasons for the U.S. to develop the A bomb but the argument that it was just to end a war does not hold water. The U.S. government had the bomb in mind way before WW2 and the war was just an excuse to perform an "experiment" at the expense of innocent human beings. It was also a political flex. There was an exact replica of the bomb in the museum that showed the cross section of the four or five different layers. At the center was the nuke which would create about a 3-4 second flash stronger than the strength of the sun vaporizing everyone in a kilometer or so from the epicenter. Around the nuke was about 4 more layers of different kinds of explosives with the intent to level/destroy/burn everything in the valley.
Seeing how the U.S. had already detonated some A bombs prior to bombing Japan one can only come to the conclusion that one of the reasons for bombing Nagasaki and Hiroshima was to experiment on actual human beings. In my eyes this is no different than the experiments performed by the Nazis in concentration camps. Pure evil.
One of the other displays shown were canisters with transmitters inside that were dropped with the bomb in the surrounding countryside/mountains. These canisters radioed back to U.S. naval base in Guam data about the explosion.
I realize that some might have a differering opinion on the subject but I would appreciate it if you do not post on this thread. If you want to talk to me about it DM or talk to me in person.
additional reading with photos of quotes from the museum https://thebulletin.org/2020/08/memorial-days/ (https://thebulletin.org/2020/08/memorial-days/)
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It was about 11 when I finished checking out all the stuff around the museum. It was starting to get hot. I popped into an air conditioned shopping mall down the street, had some takoyaki, and browsed the bookstore. Next I hopped on the street car and headed to see the Megane (eyeglasses) bridge.
Megane Bridge
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051264918_0f33368b2c_c.jpg)
The bridge was built sometime in the 1600's and if the water is really smooth the reflection looks like a pair of eyeglasses.
Across the canal from here is an area called Hamamachi where the streets are closed to traffic and covered. Essentially a shopping mall. Most every larger city has an area like this. There are a lot of restaurants in Hamamachi so it was time to grab some lunch. There are about four culinary things Kyushu is known for green tea, sweet potatoes, shochu (rice liquour), and Kurobuta pigs. The Kurabota pig is a black pig that I believe is also called a Berkshire. This pork is considered some of the best if not the best in the world. It is super tender and flavorful. The prefecture in Kyushu where the pigs are farmed is Kagoshima. I was not yet to Kagoshima but I figured I'd try this restaurant to have a something to compare to the best which I should stress SHOULD be in Kagoshima. The meal was fantastic. It was so good that it takes the #2 spot out of the four Tonkatsu restaurants I visited. I will later describe the Tonkatsu restaurant experience and what makes it different than Tonkatsu that you can get here in the U.S.
When you eat deep fried pork for lunch in 98 degree weather it puts a damper on your sight seeing energy. Went back to the hotel and took a nap. Headed back out around 4 to Maruyamachi the ward adjacent to Hamamachi I visited earlier for lunch. This neighborhood was one of my favorite of the trip and I wish I had more time to spend exploring. I think I could have spent an additional day just there. Many of the stone structures such as stairs and walls survived the A bomb. A good portion of this ward is on a hillside with a couple of dozen shrines, and many cemeteries, gardens, and residences. It's a maze of staircases, narrow passages , and walkways. Many of the residences cannot be accessed by car only by foot. The flatter portions of the ward where many restaurants and Izayakas are located are also an unplanned neighborhood. Just a maze and some of things you encounter make you wonder if it's a place that you should be walking around at night. Love that.
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This shrine had another very large Camphor tree. This one was supposed to be the largest in Nagasaki. It's also pretty old.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051444055_56f711845d_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54050994171_037ddedaa4_c.jpg)
Cats knocked out by the heat. There are hundreds of cats in this neighborhood.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051242803_3992f3228a_c.jpg)
Sometimes you see really modern style buildings next to Showa era buildings that are falling apart
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54050993226_bfc79fdc1d_c.jpg)
This one is an art gallery/cafe. The top floor is the gallery and the bottom floor the cafe/bar where you can listen to jazz records. I was peeking through the window and the owner beckoned me in and gave me a tour. He lived in Fukuoka and would come down to put up exhibits in the gallery.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54051319624_4a290c0b71_c.jpg)
Had dinner at an Izakaya/ yakitori place and then headed back to the hotel. Was planning on taking the rope way up to the observatory on top of the mountain but it started raining.
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wow
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DAY 5 NAGASAKI to AMAKUSA 50 miles
I really enjoyed visiting Nagasaki. Have to say Nagasaki and Fukuoka were my top two favorite cities for the trip. If anyone out there is thinking about visiting there I would suggest staying for a minimum of two days. It is a small city but there is a lot of sight seeing, good food to eat, and neighborhoods to explore. I recommend.
There is not a tunnel through the hills on the East side of the city so there was a little bit of climbing early in the day but nothing heinous. I started riding at 6 and made really good time and before I knew it arrived at the onsen resort town Obama. This onsen has been used for about 1300 years and is super hot with temps around 100 celsius. As nice as the town looked and as tempting as it was to stay at one of the Ryokans there it would not give me enough mileage for the day.
Obama
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067592243_c9a0dfd23e_c.jpg)
Cool building with cafe on the first floor and design firm on second floor
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067793620_2be0ff0899_c.jpg)
closed bummer
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067331436_12f8ddc454_c.jpg)
A problem that I encountered on this trip was that many of things that I wanted to visit in rural or small towns were not open during the week. For instance there was an eco village in Obama that I wanted to visit that was not open and also there were numerous pottery villages that were closed during the week. This type of scheduling also holds true for inns. Seems many inns are closed Monday-Wed and some might only be open Fri-Sat. Something to keep in mind if you are planning a trip. I'm pretty flexible about things and if a trip turns out totally different than what I had imagined I'm o.k with it. This especially true with doing a bicycle trip. A good tactic would probably be to visit larger cities during the week and rural places on the weekend.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067589508_a06f1ce375_c.jpg)
So after a slow ride through town I continued down the coast towards the ferry for Amakusa.
Like usual it was hot so these are always a welcome sight
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067329826_32a893f113_c.jpg)
These covered sections of road reminded me of riding on the coast in Hokkaido except they go on for miles there.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067328051_9db9073d0e_c.jpg)
cool rock
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54066452642_18fcf67a00_c.jpg)
Like usual it was hot. Stopped at this beach and went swimming. I was the only person there but judging from the facilities this place must be packed during the summer.
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(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067656339_d39a17501d_c.jpg)
I floated around in the water for about 1/2hr. Ten minutes from the beach was the ferry terminal. Went inside and bought a ticket. I had about an hour till the next boat so got lunch at the Italian restaurant in the building. Italian food and Indian food from what I can tell are very popular in Kyushu. Had linguine with mushrooms and Italian sausage. Had just enough time to eat and then board the ferry.
Cars and motorcycles waiting to board.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067585028_66c99e9cb3_c.jpg)
Ferry workers. Check out the air conditioned jacket. Many of the workers I saw had these air conditioned jackets. It has fans on the back on both sides that kind of inflate the jacket and keep you cool.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067655379_2911d71ca5_c.jpg)
bike tethered to rail on the ferry. I like how they put the wooden blocks under the wheels.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54067786900_4020d2a770_c.jpg)
Inside ferry
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The ferry ride was pretty short. Maybe 1/2 hour. Once I arrived on the other side I consulted the map to see what my lodging options looked like. I had bookmarked a campground about a mile from the ferry landing. The reviews said it was nice but sort of primitive camping. Checked it out and there was not anywhere to charge the phone and the nearby prospects of food were not good. Decided to head into Amakusa and look for an inn or hotel.
Amakusa is famous for being the island that Christians hid in the 1700 and 1800's to avoid being executed. I had read up on this a bit before the trip and was mildly interested. There is clearly strong Western/European influences in Kyushu. In Nagasaki there was a neighborhood called Dutch slope that was an area with European style buildings where foreigners merchants lived. It's called Dutch slope because all Europeans were called Dutch at one time.
It appears there is plenty of site seeing on the island but the actual city of Amakusa was not the place to do it. This city was one of the least interesting and I hate to say this and hope that my limited interaction with the locals is not a true representation of the rest of the population, it was also the most unfriendly. Started out looking for a guest house or inn. First I tried an inn. Poked my head in the genkan and said konnichiwa. A woman appeared and just kind of shook her head and shooed me away. From there I rode a couple of streets over to a place called a business inn. Looked like you get a room with a tatami floor and they cook dinner and breakfast. Online review said the owner was really nice.
Here's a travel tip if you know very little or no Japanese. If you ask a question and the reply begins with Sumimasen (sorry) the answer is gonna be no. If you hear a sentence and it ends with Nai that means no. Walked in to this business in and before I could ask about a room heard the sentence that ends in Nai. Tried to ask where might be a good option and then got yelled at with just a big ole NAI!!! and both arms held up to make a X. I left.
Next I tried the 10 story business hotel in the middle of town. The guy at the desk here was pretty nice. $45 for the night and he saw my bicycle and said I could park it in the lobby. Did not have to even ask.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54066449457_835e20e1fc_c.jpg)
Took a shower and then tried to figure out dinner prospects. Looked like there were a fair amount of places with good reviews. Went out for a walk and yep, they were all closed. Came back and had dinner at the hotel. I was the only person in the restaurant. Aji fry or fried fish. It was pretty good. Went back to the room after that and watched some TV. (https://flic.kr/p/2qnLvkS)
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DAY 6 AMAKUSA to SATSUMASENDAI 71 miles
I was a little bit torn about what route to take. I could cut across the island and ride down the Western coast or just head South of Amakusa and ride the bay side of the island. From the map it looked like the West side of the island had quite a bit of site seeing stuff and an onsen town but would they be open during the middle of the week? I opted to just ride South.
Early morning bay side
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54069213577_804edd87d1_c.jpg)
Morning coffee from vending machine in the woods
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54070342823_70352e11b4_c.jpg)
It's about 40 miles to the bottom of the island and the next ferry landing. I was a little worried that I made the wrong decision by taking the Eastern route but soon those feelings were put to rest. This section of riding was one of my favorite of the trip. The road narrowed down to a single lane and stayed right on the edge of the water for most of the time. Every few kilometers there would be a small fishing village tucked into a cove usually followed by small stretches of hill climbing through forests that would drop into another cove. Almost no traffic.
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(http://[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54070543200_e3b74d12e6_c.jpg)
This area seemed to be very less traveled. There were quite a few abandoned houses but there appeared to still be a fair amount of elderly people living there. Many of them were out in the morning doing gardening, farming ,or working on stuff.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54070341298_aee64fdf01_c.jpg)
Woman with umbrella in rice field
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I arrived at the terminal and had about an hour to kill. Took a look at the shops in the area. First I stopped in this bakery. They had French style pastries, bread, and sandwiches. Very nice.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54070083346_0719d11b1e_c.jpg)
Also stopped in this gift shop.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54069210002_0ff0583033_c.jpg)
The owner was very nice. I bought a sake cup. As I was leaving he said " wait wait" ran to the back of the shop and came back with a small hand towel that he gave to me. This is a great example of getting judged by a Japanese person in a softened manner. Turns out most everyone carries a handkerchief. They are especially handy in the summer to wipe off excess sweat. This way when let's say you are resting your arms on the edge of a counter at the hotel reception you don't leave sweat marks or in this instance I am sure when I entered his shop I got droplets of sweat on his floor. In a nice way he was letting me know "you nasty". If you visit get a handkerchief and the locals will think you are civilized.
Still had some time before the ferry so ate the bakery stuff.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54069209572_f3fcb19cf8_c.jpg)
The ferry ride was pretty much the same as the one before.
Welcome to Nagashima It's Balls Hot Here!!
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That's right it was extremely hot here. There was also a significant hill climb with no shade to get out of the port. They did have this thing at the port which lightened the mood a little. It's made from pine tree branches and pine cones.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54070412959_df15cdc280_c.jpg)
View from one of the hill climbs. Really beautiful coastal views but not easy access to the beaches. The heat made me want to jump in the ocean but the jump would be off a 200 ft cliff. I suppose the same is true for the California coast.
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Once again I was rewarded with a roadside station on a nasty hill climb!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54070081291_47e1be5531_c.jpg)
bought some dried bantan (pomelo) with sugar and strawberry popsicle.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54070338148_cb2b585812_c.jpg)
a little ways down the road was a sweet potato farm that had this outside.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54070411904_7859e3e094_c.jpg)
He looks like a mushroom but is supposed to be a sweet potato. I might have mentioned earlier that Kagoshima is known for having some of the best sweet potatoes in the world. The farm had a gift shop with all kinds of funny merch featuring this character but there was no one manning the shop. I walked around for 10 minutes trying to find someone to take my money. I was really hoping to try some sweet potatoes. None of that happened so I had to jet. Had a baked sweet potato later in Kagoshima. Got it out of a sweet potato vending machine. Yep that's a thing.
One downside of growing the best sweet potatoes is the need for a lot of fertilizer. Stinky and did I mention hot? Very hot.
Next town and where I was hoping to finally stay at an inn was Akune. Got there and not much going on in Akune. Many closed businesses. Thought I found the inn but it turned out to be the onsen next door. The lady at the onsen told me no rooms today at the inn. What to do? There was a campground near by but it was on a island only accessible by ferry. I could camp in the public park.... When things are confusing take a break at the Lawson.
Having nowhere to sit inside Lawson I took the usual spot leaning against the front of the building. It had been a hot day. One of those days when the sweat leaves salt marks all over your shirt. I was hot and in a foul mood. Moments like these are when I am glad that I am traveling alone. In my bad mood I was also struggling to open a plastic packet of soy sauce which ended up squirting all over my shirt. I then had to pour water all over myself to get it out. I decided to vent my frustration by just riding to the next city Satsumasendai.
My riding had seemed kind of sluggish all day. Turned out the air pressure in my back tire was low. Filled it up and started riding. This 1.5 hours of riding was not my favorite scenery wise but was the best in putting down some quick miles. I was able to stay in the top gear on the big chain ring the whole time. The road was rolling , where you are riding downhill spinning the top gear and the next uphill section is short enough that you don't have to down shift. There was traffic from people getting off work. My mood improved immedialtely as I jammed down the road riding as fast or faster than traffic. For most of the trip I did not listen to music but I had the headphones listening to some GVSB
(https://flic.kr/p/2qo224N)
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That first picture of the bay looks so peaceful and I liked the imagery of you flying down the road in top gear keeping up with or passing traffic.
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The owner was very nice. I bought a sake cup. As I was leaving he said " wait wait" ran to the back of the shop and came back with a small hand towel that he gave to me. This is a great example of getting judged by a Japanese person in a softened manner. Turns out most everyone carries a handkerchief. They are especially handy in the summer to wipe off excess sweat. This way when let's say you are resting your arms on the edge of a counter at the hotel reception you don't leave sweat marks or in this instance I am sure when I entered his shop I got droplets of sweat on his floor. In a nice way he was letting me know "you nasty". If you visit get a handkerchief and the locals will think you are civilized.
Now I know why I had gotten so many beautiful handkerchiefs from my cousins. I thought they just love me so much. :P
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Morning coffee from vending machine in the woods
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54070342823_70352e11b4_c.jpg)
OK, this is wild. Is it really out there by itself? Or is it part of more civilization behind your back as you take the shot?
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OK, this is wild. Is it really out there by itself? Or is it part of more civilization behind your back as you take the shot?
There are these kind of vending machines in China too. I was so happy to see them by the side of the road when I was running in Beijing and Hainan province.
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OK, this is wild. Is it really out there by itself? Or is it part of more civilization behind your back as you take the shot?
It's really in the middle of a forest. No buildings or other man made stuff in sight. It's oddly beautiful. I have a book of photography by Eiji Ohashi of roadside vending machines in Japan. Scroll down on the site page. Beautiful work. https://eijiohashi.com/en/work/roadside-lights-i (https://eijiohashi.com/en/work/roadside-lights-i)
I thought they just love me so much.
Gets you to thinking.... I try to be as observant as I can on these trips but many things get past me. Once I thought about the hand towel gift immediately in the next 1/2 hour I noticed almost everyone had a hankerchief and was using them often. I think even if you are a foreigner and live there it would take years or maybe never to be able to learn all of the etiquette. It's very nuanced sometimes.
The way the shopowner handled the situation made me think about Japanese manners and soceity. People there generally keep to themselves meaning they dont really strike up conversations with complete strangers. For example , no one asked once on the trip anything about me riding a bicycle. In the U.S. people would be asking where are you going, where are you from , how far are you riding etc. Not in Japan. You can sense that everyone is aware of each other but there is a feeling that it is to make sure everyone is following the rules. Here's the catch hardly anyone says anything to your face if you are doing something minorly wrong. You just get a dirty look and maybe they will make a side remark as they pass you. If you are doing something pretty bad they might just try to help with a suggestion to nudge you back into following the rules. That's what the shopkeeper did . He was making a suggestion in the form of a gift that would push me back into the norm and he was helping others by keeping them from being subjected to my nasty sweat.
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That first picture of the bay looks so peaceful and I liked the imagery of you flying down the road in top gear keeping up with or passing traffic.
I think I recently converted from a sunset guy to a sunrise guy. Sunrise can be very peaceful.
There's a certain simple joy and freedom in riding a bicycle sometimes. It seems when I was a kid I had that feeling more often but it still happens occasionally as an adult so I got that going for me.
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Very much enjoyed!! Thx for embedding the images and linking to Eiji Ohashi! The vending machines in the middle of nowhere are pretty cool. Somewhat the opposite of the ethos here in that we think of a vending machine being in a forest as sort of anathema. It just doesn't belong. But there, lit up at night, all by itself, it kind of makes sense in the broader contextual/cultural picture of the that you've painted for us.
ありがとう
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Yes! Just think how good a Japanese vending machine would look in the High Peaks.
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Yes! Just think how good a Japanese vending machine would look in the High Peaks.
In the name of making all things safe and delightful!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54080236546_6d929b818e_b.jpg)
A Camp 6 installation with hot and cold vending choices would save lives(and haul bag weight) and bi-weekly garbage service there is greatly needed.
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The helmet police out there will love this one. The third day
I chucked my helmet. The helmet channels sweat down your face making all the sunscreen get in your eyes which burns like mother and blinds you. Goodbye helmet.
My first morning walk location in Hawaii was a poor choice. The vegetation left a much too narrow path against a lane of many fast moving vehicles and I told myself to not walk this particular road again. On my way back, a guy who had been riding a scooter was laying, unmoving in the road. He was wearing a helmet. This happened right across from an Urgent Care, a few people were preparing to roll him onto a stretcher.
Post some photos.
I switched locations to a "bypass highway" with wider shoulders and minimal traffic.
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I parked by an access to this area, fished here the next morning.
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This little piggy was on his way back from the market.
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This little piggy was not wearing a helmet and didn't look both ways before crossing the road on his way home.
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There were more cruise ships at Kona than last year or so it seemed to us. The aftermath of the Lahaina fire last year?
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54079259787_de1f056a22_z.jpg)
Claire's comment on this one was "Why would you name a cruise ship like this the Edge? They should have named it the Wedge!" I tried to explain that Edge sounds edgy and wedge... anyway, she couldn't be convinced that Wedge was not the most appropriate name for this humongous ship.
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I tried to explain that Edge sounds edgy and wedge... anyway,
Maybe it's time for...well...you know.
Are you sure that is not U2's private yacht?
Apologies to Noal for silliness on his thread.
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Maybe it's time for...well...you know.
Are you sure that is not U2's private yacht?
...there is an article in Scientific American today titled, You Don’t Need Words to Think.
Nope, just hordes of bonofide tourists.
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...there is an article in Scientific American today titled, You Don’t Need Words to Think.
I modified my post and sent you a message too (in case the modification doesn't spark a conclusion).
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I read your message. The telepathy worked!
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Nice pics Clink. What kind of fish do you catch there?
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Shore fishing was a recent discovery for me. I like to fish Sierra streams with the water flowing and trying to find good spots on the banks, but lakes, not so much. The shore fishing on the Kona coast has a similar dynamic to stream fishing, moving water and keeping aware of waves and negotiating the lava. Johnny and I tried it a few months ago and really enjoyed it!
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The Emporer fish has molars. I was told it is the Holy Grail of Kona spear fishing and a rare catch with a pole from shore. The spiny yellow with red spots one was a bitch to get off the hook.
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I made it to Satsumasendai around 5:30. Just before the bridge that crosses into town there was the Royal Business Inn. $50 including free Japanese breakfast. Deal. By the time I checked in and packed the bike into the bag it was dark. What I could gather from the map is that there was an area right across the river from the hotel where all of the restaurants and bars were located. Interesting because it was not the usual situation where the train station is where everything is happening.
As usual I was running on about a 12% charge for my phone battery so I could basically just do a quick walk through of the hood and check out what I bookmarked on the phone and then make a decision. This town was unlike any other town I had visited. Not much to look at and very dark. What gave it an even more grittier feel was that many restaurants did not open to 10 p.m. There were about 25 izakayas in 4 square blocks. I was trying not to drink very much on this trip so an Izakaya was not calling out to me. Finally ended up finding a ramen shop. At this point my phone was dead so no Google translate to read the menu. Picked from looking at the photo and got Tonkatsu ramen. No fried pork in tonkatsu ramen just a more hearty pork broth. It was very good. Just the cook,the waitress, a couple of other guys eating, and a small group of teenage girls. At least one of them must have been the waitress' younger sister. I could hear them whispering back and forth if any of them spoke English. They probably wanted to know why I was there. I told them I spoke a little Japanese but this just resulted in a lot of giggling and them getting embarrassed. It was pretty funny.
On the way back to the hotel I saw group of about 50-75 guys hanging around outside of a store front. Across the street there was another group about the same size. It appeared they were preparing for some kind of event. Whatever was going on was obviously not that night but I guess to prepare they needed to drink a lot for team building. When I got back to the hotel I checked it out and turns out Satsumasendai is home to the Japan's largest tug o war! It was happening that weekend. It was Wednesday. Dang it. The rope weighs 7 tons! Check it out
https://www.kagoshima-kankou.com/for/events/51897 (https://www.kagoshima-kankou.com/for/events/51897)
Here's a couple of funny business hotel shots
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and a super cool car
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DAY 7 SATSUMASENDAI to KAGOSHIMA 40 miles
Had the free Japanese breakfast at the hotel which was pretty good. I never pass it up if it's free . Sometimes it's an extra cost which can involve being served. Rarely do this because it takes up too much time but if you are not in a rush the paid version is usually really good.
Put the bike back together and hit the road. Today's ride to Kagoshima was pretty short which gave me a fair amount of time to explore the city. Tried to visit a pottery village just outside of Satsumasendai but it was only open on weekends. After that it was a nice ride inland through some hills. Stopped at a roadside station on the way that had a big farmer's market. Had some soft serve.
Kagoshima is on a bay. In the middle of the bay is an island with the active volcano Sakurajima. The citizens often carry umbrellas to keep from being dusted with ash. There are also street sweepers that vacuum up. It's a unique and historical city . Checked out the Meiji Restoration Museum. Very interesting. In the basement they have a 30 minute show with robot versions of important historical figures. No photos allowed. I was surprised that most of the visitors at the museum were young people who were actually taking the time to watch all of the videos in the exhibits. The other tourist activity in Kagoshima is to visit the birthplaces and former homes of a couple of dozen important historical figures. Many of these spots are marked with bronze statues of the person.
The historical figure that seems to be the most famous and liked is the samurai Saigo Takamori who is also known as the last Samurai. Yes, this is the guy the movie starring Tom Cruise is based on. When you see a photo of Saigo and read about him it's kind of ridiculous that Cruise was chosen to play him. Anyway, everybody loves Saigo. I even visited a shop called Kagomania that has all kinds of humorous t shirts, hats etc with cartoon drawings of Saigo. He was a remarkable fellow.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saig%C5%8D_Takamori (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saig%C5%8D_Takamori)
I had a booked another business hotel by the train station but could not check into 4pm. Most every hotel I stayed at the check out time was 10 a.m and check in was 4pm. I guess that 6 hr window gives them time to really clean the rooms. After I visited he museum I spent the rest of the time riding around Kagoshima getting an idea of the layout of the city and where I might want to walk later in the evening. Rode down to the harbor where you can catch the ferry to Sakurajima.
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Around 3:30 I rode over to the hotel and disassembled the bike, put it in the bag, and checked in at 4. They are really strict about check in time I tried at 3:50 and was told I need to wait 10 minutes. Rules are rules. Like usual took a shower, changed clothes,and tried to get a charge on the phone. Around 5 I set out for the observation at the nearby Shiroyama park to get a good view of the city and Sakurajima. It was about a 15 minute walk to the trailhead.
Big tori gate for the temple at Shiroyama park.
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Start of the trail up the hill. More like a road closed to traffic. Many people were out doing their evening run or walk.
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observation area and of course vending machines. One with ice cream!
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view of the Sakurajima and city
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pretty sizable city
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By the time I walked down from the observation deck it was starting to get dark. Being that Kagoshima is known for Kurobuta there was only one logical choice for dinner. One of top Tonkatsu restaurants Kawakyu was a few blocks from the hotel. Reviews said pricey 4000 yen or $27 but worth it if you wanted to eat Kurobuta Tonkatsu. It's funny what is considered pricey there. My phone was almost dead so I made a mental note where it was located. I apologize for the lack of food porn photos. Here's a link to a photo of the interior of the restaurant. https://img.retty.me/img_repo/l/01/2791910.jpg (https://img.retty.me/img_repo/l/01/2791910.jpg) and one of a tonkatsu dinner there. https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZyxyG5jD36sNptu3A (https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZyxyG5jD36sNptu3A) As you can see it is a no frills restaurant. I did not get to sit at the raised platform and tatami mats. I think that is usually for larger groups or families.
This restaurant was challenging because the menu was all in Japanese. No English version, no photos on the menu, and the wait staff did not speak or understand any English. I did alright. At most of the Tonkatsu places the menu options are for a few different kinds of pork (Kurobuta will be the most expensive on the menu) an option to double your portion to 2 cutlets and an add on option of a big fried prawn. With my ability to read hiragana/katakana and through the process of elimination I was able to figure out what was what on the menu. The funniest part was I wanted a beer and I could read the word biru in katakana on the menu but the waiter acted like he did not know what I was talking about. Biru onegaishimasu was not gonna cut it. I had to say the full sentence "I would like to drink this beer in this size". I guess it would kind of be the same situation ordering in English but this waiter was making me work for it.
Kawakyu takes the number two spot for best Kurobuta on the trip. Don't get me wrong it was delicious and no doubt one of the best Tonkatsu places in Kagoshima. Japanese people get really psyched for the Tonkatsu. There was a family sitting across from me and you can tell the husband was super excited about his meal. It was a big deal. When it came out he was clapping his hands and smiling ear to ear. He then got the phone out an snapped off some photos. After that all the preparation to eat took an additional five minutes to get things just right. For this meal I watched closely and took note of what he was doing. When I get to the tour winner I will describe the process.
It was an excellent meal. Not too much to do in Kagoshima at night. I walked around a bit through the train station and then headed back to the hotel to watch some funny TV shows.
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This is probably a stupid question but do you have to lock your bike when you are visiting one of these places?
I am always amazed at how close some cities are to active volcanoes. If that one decides to really blow it is not going to erupt like one in Hawaii either. :yikes:
I was going to comment on clink's post but it looks like that ship has sailed. Guess I'm off the hook.
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Posts: 6620
my density has brought me to you...
Re: Kyushu Kurobuta Tonkatsu Tour
« Reply #40 on: Today at 04:13:00 PM »
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This is probably a stupid question but do you have to lock your bike when you are visiting one of these places?
Not a stupid question at all. In the next city I visit Kumamoto there's a related topic.
People for the most part don't steal things in Japan. It's totally fine to not lock up your bike. The majority of bikes you see people riding are commuter style bikes nicknamed "mom" bikes
These bikes have a built in wheel lock. Many people.will lock the wheel in larger cities. I have heard that people get their bike stolen sometimes and I think the likely scenario is someone.mistaking your bike for theirs or "borrowing" it. I dont think it's like the U.S. where some body steals.it to resale or part out.
No stealing is one of the reasons I like to visit. It takes a little.getting used to. It's especially nice if you are cycling solo.
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KAGOSHIMA to KUMAMOTO via SHINKANSEN
Kagoshima is pretty much the bottom of the island of Kyushu. My options were to ride the ferry to Sakurajima and then head to Miyazaki prefecture or go north towards Kumamoto. I only had about five days left on the trip and I was planning on spending 2 of those in Fukuoka. The riding on the coast north did not look particularly interesting. From Kagoshima I could take an hour and forty five minute ride on the Shinkasen and spend a whole day visiting Kumamoto. Hmmm air conditioned ride on the fastest train on the world? Yes!
I had the free breakfast and then walked a couple of blocks to the train station. When I buy train tickets in Japan I like to buy them in the ticket office. When you have large baggage such as the bicycle you need to purchase a reserved seat. I could buy the ticket at the machine but having the agent at the counter is a good way to practice my Japanese and to make sure I don't screw up and buy the wrong ticket. One of the cool things about the Shinkasen is that there are trains every hour. Pretty amazing because I believe the train goes all the way to Osaka and then you can transfer to say Tokyo or elsewhere. With the Shinkansen everywhere in Japan becomes a day trip.
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And like magic I am in Kumamoto! It was around 11 which means I had 6 hrs to explore the city. The big attraction is Kumamoto castle which is located pretty much in the center of the city. It took me about 20 minutes to get the bike assembled and then I was off. The castle was about 10 minutes from the train station. Right across the street I found a bicycle parking lot. This was the first time I encountered such a thing on my trip and it seemed like a great place to put the bike. The concept is just like a parking deck here in the U.S. Take a ticket, come back later insert ticket in the machine pay and use ticket to exit. Cool.
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lots of mamachari or mom bikes!
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with the bike parked I headed over to the castle. The castle was severely damaged in the 2016 earthquake. Many building and the walls fell down. This made it kind of tricky to find the entrance. Of course I took the long way and ended up having to navigate through a bunch of sections that were closed for construction before I coud find the main entrance. This was actually a cool accident becasue it allowed me to see the process of putting the castle back together which is amazing.
Here's a section of wall that they have not gotten to yet that looks like it is in the exact state of after the earthquake.
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Stones sorted and laid out in preparation for reassembly.
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The process for reassembling is pretty bananas. Every stone has a number painted on it that lets the construction workers know it location and orientation. That's right every stone is being put back in it's exact original location. Think about that for a minute cause it's pretty mind blowing.
Putting a wall back together
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They were out there in 98 degree heat toiling away.
I was glad I took the long way to the entrance but it sure was hot.
Check out the corners of the walls and think about putting something like that back together. sheesh.
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The castle has 6 floors and it would take few hours if you read all of the exhibits. They were all in Japanese so not possible for me to read. They did have an app to download for other languages but seemed like something that would kill my phone battery. There was plenty to look at. Each floor showcases a different century or era and the top floor is a 360 observation room of the city.
model of castle in the castle
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View of the city.
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Kumamoto is the 3rd largest city in Kyushu. The population is about the same as San Francisco
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Excellent installment - thanks!
That is a shit ton of big stones (they look heavy too).
How the hell they figure out what numbers to assign is beyond me (after seeing that giant unsorted mess).
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i=WwfwPuuNKbVKiXpw
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That is some amazing craftsmanship.
I was chuckling when they said the support frame was 420 tons...dude.
The snippets of the woodworkers and the wall stones were great.
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Last I heard they plan to be done in 2052. No joke.
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After I left the castle I walked around the surrounding neighborhood which has a lot of shopping, restaurants and museums. Went back to get the bike out of the parking garage. Parking for 4 hrs came out to 200 yen or $1.50. Not bad. I still had some time before I could check into the hotel so I decided to cruise around some more neighborhoods. I saw that a shopping mall had one of my former employers stores so I decided to pop in quickly just to look. Always wondered what the Japanese version looks like. Just as I was leaning my bike up against a railing I was approached by a police man. No parking bicycles on the street. He pointed me in the direction of another garage about a block away. Things were starting to make sense.
Entrance to underground bike parking garage
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Inside garage
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Turns out parking in the bicycle garage is not optional it is mandatory. You are not allowed to park your bike anywhere on the street for the majority of the city. There is also no on street parking for cars in congested areas. They also have to park in a garage.
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parking for cars is pretty inexpensive too. 100 yen parking hero
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In the Bay Area we tend to have a bicycle vs. cars mentality so my initial reaction was the city of Kumamoto must not like bikes. Then I realized that cars can't park on the street. It just solves a lot of problems if everybody parks in a garage. I came back to get my bike in less than an hour and it turns out that the first hour is free. So if someone is running errands or just popping in somewhere you don't get penalized for that.
The other cool thing about Kumamoto and Fukuoka is that bicycles are allowed to ride on the sidewalk if you ride slow. If you want to ride fast there are bicycle lanes on the street. The sidewalks are wider so that helps some. Many people use bicycles especially the mom bikes as their primary form of transportation. Also, pedestrians and bicycles both stop at crosswalks when there is a don't walk. The majority of people obey this rule even when there is no traffic in sight.
After I left the garage I found a cool shop that sold Zori or traditional Japanese sandals made from rush/grass. Sometimes it's hard to tell what a business sells so you have to peek through the window.
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Here's the owner. He sits behind the counter making sandals all day. I bought a pair from him. They are 3,000 yen or $20 a pair. A real deal for something handmade.
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It was time to check into the business hotel by the train station. This was a pretty big one. 24 stories. I had a room on the 18th floor. All they had left when I booked it was smoking room. That's still a thing there. It turned out not to be stinky.
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Late night existential anxiety? Don't worry we got you covered.
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It was Friday night so after the check in routine headed down to the train station plaza to check out the sake festival.
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For 1400 yen or $11 you get three tickets to use at any of the vendors. The vendors were all local to Kumamoto serving cold sake. I am not too knowledgeable about sake but from what I could gather the two major choices are dry or sweet. I prefer dry. There were also food vendors selling meat and seafood on skewers.
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Fun event. There were many people there having a good start to their weekend.
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Maybe they sprayed your room with pooph.
That snack jar looks yummy!
I'm bet the cold sake wasn't too cold. Although you did not mention the temp in this post - I'm guessing it was still toasty and you're just kind of over continuing to remind us at this point.
Those sandals look cool.
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Poop?!
The snack jar came from the vending machine in the lobby that has beer and mixed drinks in cans. The machine will only dispense cans so they made the package the same shape. In Hokkaido vending machines with alcohol were in every hotel and onsen. Sometimes even on the street. Most of the hotels in Kyushu did not have them. This chain called Tokoyo did. When I was buying these snacks I bought a tall can of Asahi. When I made the selection the machine malfunctioned and spit out about 8 tall boys all at the same time. it was like winning the jackpot at a casino and the sound got the attention of everyone in the lobby. The lady at the reception desk ran over and immediately took away the extra 7 beers. It was for the best.
The sake was cold. They keep it in fridges or on ice. it was still in the upper 90's. It was that way for the whole trip until my last 2 days in Fukuoka when it dropped down into the upper 80's which was a huge difference.
If that snack mix with the little dried fish looks good you can usually find it here in the states at Asian markets. Never seen it in a vending machine in such clever packaging.
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It's actually spelled pooph but pronounced poof. It is a product advertised on TV. It is billed as a pet odor product but scroll down and there is a dancing turd. We need that icon added to the forum.
https://www.pooph.com/?mid=12017247&dttrpx=1&vendor=bing&campaignid=382867585&adgroupid=1222657417265550&targetid=kwd-76416445328774:loc-190&mt=e&network=o&device=c&adid=&keyword=Pooph&querystring=pooph&productgroup=&productchannel=&productid=&msclkid=14cdfe08817c1969b296992900821d1b&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Pooph%20TM&utm_term=Pooph&utm_content=Pooph%20TM-01
That jackpot turned denied made me chuckle.
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Sushi and Sapporo.
I was going to inject this in the route words, but really it belongs here.
Since you posted these trip reports I’ve quadrupled my visits to Japanese restaurants. I’ve gone from gingerly sampling to full on addiction.
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Good to see you have been inspired by my TR. Add riding a bike into the equation and you can eat even more!
Do you have a favorite when you go out to eat Japanese food?
I rarely go out to eat unless I am on vacation. Maybe once a month on the average.
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Sushi Garden Aptos is next to my bank. Akira is in the Trout Gulch area where my bank office used to be located. Both are good quality in my opinion and I’ve probably been spoiled.
My favorites have been a variety of the different mixed rolls.
We were traveling last week from Denver to Utah, to Reno, but I refrained from trying any sushi that far from the coast.
Claire had an excellent trout dinner in Reno, which was area appropriate.
What is your restaurant recommendation for the Bay Area?
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I'd eat Japanese food for 8 out of 10 meals if I could. That's not a common type of restaurant up here though (there are a few in Sonora).
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We were traveling last week from Denver to Utah, to Reno, but I refrained from trying any sushi that far from the coast.
Most of the fish used for sushi is flash frozen or is flown in from somewhere else so it could be just fine. We used to go to dinner in Half Moon Bay quite a bit. Most everything on the menu at seafood restaurants is not from California. It is flown in from Hawaii or frozen. For instance, Sam's Chowder House is packed but commercial clams come from the East Coast or Washington State. Go figure. The best restaurant in Half Moon Bay IMO is not seafood it's Nepalese!
I really like the fish market at the harbor in Santa Cruz (the cat is out of the bag. I actually like something in Santa Cruz!) Their selection is pretty much all caught local. Notice the tuna on their website it says flown in from Hawaii. https://www.hhfreshfish.com/current-selection (https://www.hhfreshfish.com/current-selection) Another good one is Sea Forager in SF all local seafood subscription https://www.seaforager.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA3Na5BhAZEiwAzrfagGYxXsE79EVq6jmx1E_SbJNqSCJK7Uks7Ywf2UBdSlCssUoNE28MUBoC_1gQAvD_BwE (https://www.seaforager.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA3Na5BhAZEiwAzrfagGYxXsE79EVq6jmx1E_SbJNqSCJK7Uks7Ywf2UBdSlCssUoNE28MUBoC_1gQAvD_BwE) The owner Kirk Lombard also wrote an excellent book about Sea Foraging in Northern California. Great read if you want to poke pole, dig for clams, catch sardines, harvest seaweed etc. https://www.seaforager.com/book?gclid=CjwKCAiA3Na5BhAZEiwAzrfagGYxXsE79EVq6jmx1E_SbJNqSCJK7Uks7Ywf2UBdSlCssUoNE28MUBoC_1gQAvD_BwE (https://www.seaforager.com/book?gclid=CjwKCAiA3Na5BhAZEiwAzrfagGYxXsE79EVq6jmx1E_SbJNqSCJK7Uks7Ywf2UBdSlCssUoNE28MUBoC_1gQAvD_BwE)
I don't really have a suggestion for Bay Area Sushi restaurants. I like Sushi but it is kind of a special occasion thing for me. For SF I like Sobakatsu a Soba noodle shop https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/sobakatsu-sf-soba-noodles-19596459.php (https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/sobakatsu-sf-soba-noodles-19596459.php) Two old guys who make their own noodles. Shop only seats about 10. It is open until 7 but many times they run out of noodles around 4:30.
Also like Bon Nene
https://www.bonnene.com/dinner (https://www.bonnene.com/dinner)
For Curry https://curryhyuga.com/ (https://curryhyuga.com/)
All three of these restaurants are I believe Japanese owned.
I suppose I cook a fair amount of "Japanese" food at home. I also cook Chinese, Vietnamese,Thai, French,Korean, Cuban, Turkish, Italian ,El Salvadorean, Indian etc. Having really diverse options for shopping in the Bay Area make cooking cuisine from all over the world very accessible. A mish mash of all of the above cuisines have become a regular part of my diet. I do try to buy most of my food from Korean, Chinese or sometimes Japanese markets. Japanese markets are the most expensive of the three so just go there when I need something I cannot get anywhere else. Latin markets, Indian, and Middle Eastern markets are interesting too. I enjoy eating at home way more than eating out.
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I suppose I cook a fair amount of "Japanese" food at home. I also cook Chinese, Vietnamese,Thai, French,Korean, Cuban, Turkish, Italian ,El Salvadorean, Indian etc. Having really diverse options for shopping in the Bay Area make cooking cuisine from all over the world very accessible. A mish mash of all of the above cuisines have become a regular part of my diet. I do try to buy most of my food from Korean, Chinese or sometimes Japanese markets. Japanese markets are the most expensive of the three so just go there when I need something I cannot get anywhere else. Latin markets, Indian, and Middle Eastern markets are interesting too. I enjoy eating at home way more than eating out.
You do realize that if you posted this on your profile on a dating site, that the all gender line to meet you would form from Treasure Island to around McPhee's Grill in Templeton.
Noal, you are truly the Sexiest Man Alive!
Sorry JK, People got it wrong.
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The line disappears when they find out they have to do the dishes.
That list might sound impressive or maybe a bit (or a lot) pretentious but its not really that.
I had a job for a couple of years working in a fish market. I learned how to cut fish and also used to go to fisherman's wharf super early to help with the buying. We also made prepared foods at the market. Most of the prepared stuff was made from the odd pieces of fish that did not look good on a tray in the display case. Not much was thrown away. Even things like lobster shells and shrimp shells were put in the freezer to make lobster bisque for the holidays or shrimp stock for soups. Since it's a business the bottom line is priority and yielding the most from the fish was the goal. One of the owners who had been a chef at Aliotto's in Fisherman's Wharf once told me he never ate seafood at a restaurant because nothing gets thrown away even if it is old.
My ex girlfriend and I when we first met would eat out on the average about three times a week. I found that in that period I was feeling shitty often. I was at a used book store one day and found this book for $1 https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/frank-stitts-southern-table-recipes-and-gracious-traditions-from-highlands-bar-and-grill_pat-conroy_frank-stitt/311420/item/7163050/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=high_vol_midlist_standard_shopping_retention&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=666159745081&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_9u5BhCUARIsABbMSPvQZQy77SBcasGhThA4KAt-YbIZzXnU7B4Hw3HRwmGZ8Iiz_Yx-0XAaAhzVEALw_wcB#idiq=7163050&edition=4602568 (https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/frank-stitts-southern-table-recipes-and-gracious-traditions-from-highlands-bar-and-grill_pat-conroy_frank-stitt/311420/item/7163050/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=high_vol_midlist_standard_shopping_retention&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=666159745081&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_9u5BhCUARIsABbMSPvQZQy77SBcasGhThA4KAt-YbIZzXnU7B4Hw3HRwmGZ8Iiz_Yx-0XAaAhzVEALw_wcB#idiq=7163050&edition=4602568)
The author of the book Frank Stitt is the owner of Highland Bar and Grill in my hometown Birmingham Alabama. He has been awarded the James Beard award and studied cooking with Alice Waters at Chez Panise in Berkeley. Like Waters much of his menu is based on seasonal ingredients local to Alabama. This is pretty common now but when he opened in the 1980's not many people and definitely no one in Alabama was doing this. Most of the dishes in the book are a mixture of French and Southern cooking. I pretty much cooked every single thing in the book and they are all bangers. After that I bought his second book for his other restaurant Bottega which is Italian food. I also made every recipe in that book.
It took a couple for years to work through both of those books and by doing so I inadvertently cut out eating in restaurants. What I discovered was that I no longer felt like shit a few times a week. It took awhile for me to make the connection but when I did I asked my girlfriend if she noticed any changes and she said she experienced the same thing.
The restaurant business is about the bottom line. While there are passionate restaurant owners out there who care about quality believe me they are still concerned about their bottom line. That applies to upscale restaurants all the way down to Super Tacqueria. The main goal is to make money. Many use old or low quality ingredients and cut corners on things like changing out old oil in fryers.
Long story short for all the countries listed in my previous post I learned how to cook that kind of food at home so I would not have to get sick from eating in a restaurant. Most basic dishes are not that hard or too expensive to make at home. For instance, I like papusas so I learned how to make them and turns out it's not that hard. Same goes for pad thai, Mapo tofu, twice cooked pork, Oyako don, making wontons/dumplings etc etc. After awhile I kind of stopped thinking of cooking these basic dishes as something different it's just making food and the more you do it the easier it gets and it's not a big deal.
I suggest to everyone try not eating out for a month, eat more vegetables and fruits, cut out as much processed food as you can, and see how you feel.
Also I am not a foodie type person. I don't eat in restaurants and at home I don't have a bunch of fancy cooking equipment. For instance, my favorite knife is made by Kitchen Aid and I bought it at TJmaxx. I just like basic everyday food from all over the world. Not too interested in fancy fusion cuisine or hipster fine dining.
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Noal, you are truly the Sexiest Man Alive!
Sorry JK, People got it wrong.
Today's clues brought to you by clink the clever.
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Today's clues brought to you by clink the clever.
Yes, the anger management classes have helped me immensely, I have been able to permanently dropped the 'a' from Clink The Cleaver.
Last of the Summarily.
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O.K. back to the trip.
After the sake festival I thought I would head over to the other side of the river for dinner. Like usual my phone's battery was low so I was only able to get an quick overview of the neighborhood I picked. There was a Tonkatsu restaurant and a few blocks away a public bath which could be nice for post dinner relaxation. I crossed over the bridge and continued down a wide 4 lane street. Not the most scenic neighborhood. Before too long I passed the onsen. To get to the restaurant I needed to hang a right through a more residential area. It was not very well lit and for the next 6 blocks or so I was wondering if my choice for dinner was a good idea. There was no sign of any shops or restaurants. In my mind I was picturing me showing up at a small neighborhood restaurant for an awkward meal.
Turned out the restaurant Katsuretsutei was pretty large and in the same parking lot as a grocery store. Now I know after after reading up that it is one of the best places for Tonkatsu in Japan.
It does not have a Michelin star but is in the Michelin guide. Stepped inside to discover a genkan with cubby holes to put your shoes. Uh-oh, I was wearing the sandals I had bought earlier in the day. No socks. I quickly walked over and stood in front of the reception so they could not see my feet. The waitress lead me to a table and I was seated and able hide my feet under the table.
This restaurant was big and there were a lot of groups of people having dinner. Seemed like the kind of place you would go for a special occasion, birthday, business meeting etc. The closest thing we have here atmosphere wise would be a nice steak house. The menu was very easy to understand mainly because it had photos and not a ton of options. Just like the other places I had been you can pick what type of pork, portion size , and add on of big shrimp. So I ordered the Kurobuta.
After the waitress took my order she returned with this set of instructions in English.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54090247097_6c87823b67_c.jpg)
Here's the dinner
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54091123241_2df0b80623_c.jpg)
This place is the winner of my Kurobuta tour. Everything was perfect. You can kind of figure out from the instruction card the idea is to create different bites with each piece of pork depending on what you dip or put on it. Maybe dip in the traditional sauce and a little mustard, or just press a piece into a dish of salt with a little mustard, etc. Two different sauces, salt, and hot mustard give enough combos to make one cutlet very interesting and I can see why someone might want to get the double portion. The winner!
After dinner I was able to find my way back to the main road and the public bath/onsen. It was a couple of hours later now and this place was jumping. I'm still trying to process this place. Coming from the U.S. I am inclined to think something a little risque was going on but I still truly don't know. For one thing, it was dark now and the parking lot for the bath was shared with a place that appeared to be some kind of hotel with red light coming through the blinds on all the rooms. Hmmm. The entrance looked like a take on a Roman bath with columns and such. Hmmm. What the hey, I would at least go in the lobby and check it out if it seemed weird I could just bail.
The lobby was even more perplexing. There were men and women which was normal for onsens and there was blue entrance for men and red entrance for women. O.K. but unlike other onsens the lighting was a little dimmer, there was a fair amoung of neon lighting and loud music More like a nightclub. Adjoining the lobby was a snack bar type thing and from what I could gather no alcohol just dessert type offerings. Hmmm. To get into the bath you had to buy a ticket at a machine which is normal. Luckily I had just enough battery for Google translate so I could read what the 2 dozen buttons said. I was able to find in the top rows the button for men's bath and towel. I think the onsen ticket was 500 yen and the towel 200 yen so after exchange rate about $5. I gave the ticket to the woman at the counter and she gave me my towel.
I was all set so I went in. The setup was the same as any onsen. There's first a room to change clothes, blow dry your hair, etc with lockers to put your belongings. The next part was pretty standard too. A bunch of stations to scrub down and clean off. O.K. I was just doing my thing just trying to stand out too much. Thing is when you are the only naked Westerner standing out is unavoidable to some extent. One thing I don't think I have mentioned before is that tattoos are not permitted in onsens. Reason being that Yakuza or Japanese gangsters have tattoos and used to hang out in public baths to have meetings etc. To keep the Yakuza out of onsens there was a no tattoo rule put in place. So if you are Japanese and have tattoos almost all onsens are not going to let you in. It is a slightly different story for non Asian Westerners. I have tattoos but no one has ever said anything to me about them. I'm a white guy so there's no way I am Yakuza.
Once I was done rinsing off I headed to the bath. There were a lot of guys there in their early 20's. I would say about 30 or so guys all in their early 20's. The busiest onsen I have been to. I got into the large bath with about a dozen other guys. Within about two minutes I was the only guy in the bath. All the dudes got out and moved to the other side of the room. I hung out for another 10 minutes or so. Nobody got back in the bath. I then decided to check out another pool. All the dudes who got out were now at the other pool hanging out joking around talking etc. It became apparent that almost everyone in the room knew each other. When I walked over to the area of the pool it got real silent. I decided it was wise to hit the cool off pool instead where nobody was and then jet.
It was an interesting experience. I was feeling good from the onsen but the atmosphere was weird and perplexing. Thug hangout? Love hotel in the parking lot? Strange.
After the strange onsen I decided to continue the seedy side of life theme by popping into a pachinko parlor. So far on my Japanese adventures I had not visited one. There are a lot of them and in suburban places they are huge. Basically pachinko parlors are casinos. The pachinko machine is like a combination of a slot machine, pin ball machine, and video game. So, I went in with a 1000 yen in hand and left about 15 minutes later without it. The pachinko parlour was also a slightly awkward experience. When I went in I showed the woman at the front the 1000 yen and said I wanted to play. She looked really uncomfortable and said wait a minute. The manager showed up and he showed me how the machine works. The basic idea is you put money in the machine and all these metal balls fill up a reservoir at the bottom. Then you shoot the balls like in pinball and they randomly go to different areas where you might get awarded with jackpots of other balls. What makes it really confusing is there is a video screen in the middle with a separate controller that you need to use when certain things happen on the screen. It's super confusing and before long your money and all the balls are gone. I knew I was most likely going to lose the 1000 yen when I went in but I don't think the staff knew that hence them being uncomfortable. Like slots there are a bunch of down and out old people chain smoking in the parlor. Kinda of depressing but maybe you want to check it out once. Once was enough for me.
It was an interesting night. Headed back to the business hotel and watched some TV.
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Thanks for the laughs dude. :thumbup: :guitar:
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The behavior you experienced in the onsen seems very un-Japanese. It would never have occurred to me that they might be a (tight-knit?) group of Yakuza (or something just short of it). But yeah, what else?
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Thanks for the laughs dude.
It truly was funny. It's hard sometimes as a foreigner to look at different kinds of situations without preconceptions. I think for a good portion of Westerners getting naked and bathing with a group strangers is difficult. Things get more awkward when you are the only non Japanese because everyone is going to take notice of you. You are naked and not inconspicuous.
Some of the places I visit on these trips are off the beaten path and definitely not visited by Westerners or tourists. There's just not much there that most tourists would find interesting. On my trip to Hokkaido some of the people in small towns would ask "what are you doing here?" It's hard to imagine but even in Japan there are places where seeing a white person is very rare.
I think my experience in the onsen was very Japanese. Japan is an island nation. That is one of the reasons they have been able to maintain a strong cultural identity for thousands of years and they are very proud of it. If you are Gaijin or foreigner they have no problem treating you as an outsider and sometimes making you very aware of the fact. I think it could be a good experience for many white westerners to see how this feels. I for one accept it and don't mind because I am the visitor. I find uncomfortable experiences interesting and perspective changing.
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I find uncomfortable experiences interesting and perspective changing.
This explains the parallels to climbing at Pinnacles. Legit.
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Yes, I have had many experiences at Pinnacles where I had to shelf my preconceived notion,step out of my comfort zone., and come away with a new perspective.