On a whim to Nara

Household utilities and electronics are quite expensive here in Japan. For instance, a rice cooker cost easily 50 euro's, and those are the small, 1 person sized ones. A small oven or bread-baker is easily 100 euro's. Skillets and pans on the other hand are quite cheap and durable too. One of my enjoyments in life is a cooking/chef knife. Nothing beats a razor sharp knife that allows you to cut quickly and precisely. Those chef knives that are sold in the supermarket are top-notch. It simply cannot be compared to those regular knives in The Netherlands, plus you always get the creators initials or the name of the knife carved into the blade. How cool is that!?

After about 5 hours of sleep I woke up in the early evening, and without much to do I just roamed around in the city, ate some ramen, played some games and went into a pub. Nothing extreme as this was my first day in Japan after 2 years.

Brain: “Psst... hey... HEY! WAKE UP!”

Me: “Mmm...?”

Brain: “Rise and shine, it is morning!”

Me: “Oh, come on. It is 4:22.”

Brain: “The sun is almost up. If chickens can do it, you can too.”

Since it was early in the morning, the sun was about to break the day and I was starting to feel hungry I went for a quick breakfast at the konbini around the corner. After eating, I went for a 5km run as this is one of the best ways to deal with jet-lag.

According to the weather channel is was going to be sunny day of around 16 degrees, while in The Netherlands the temperature was around 5 degree. Late April and at the time of writing, it is snowing in The Netherlands. Ominous! Anyhow, since it was going to be a sunny day I just decided to go to Nara, for the third time, to see some deer's, temples and visit places in Nara which I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting. After arriving in Nara, it became clear to me that thousands of other people had the same idea of visiting Nara. It was quite crowded and it only became more crowded as the day passed. Especially the amount of Chinese visitors.

Not these deer's. They just chillin'

Around the afternoon I was famished and decided to go for a sweet potato which was grilled with charcoal, it was hell'a good. For those who have been to Nara know that you cannot eat anything near the temples without getting surrounded by deer's. One deer in particular, named Hank, was quite persistent. Hank acted more or less like a cat as he kept rubbing his head against my hands, shoulder or my head. After a while I gave him a piece of potato. After eating it, he did the same routine but this time Hank was a bit more vigorous. Meanwhile, without me noticing it, as I was paying attention to the deer that was trying to eat my potato, I was getting recorded by a few Chinese girls/women. The moment I noticed they were recording me, Hank took its chance, but rather then going for the potato, it went... for me. The bastard licked me on the lips. Of course they thought it to be humorous. I did not! Bloody deer kiss. After washing my face, I gave Hank the last part of the potato and went on my way to roam around Nara.

One of the things I noticed during my short breaks in Nara was that the Chinese people are big litters. They just throw their stuff on the ground: paper, plastic, anything. Unfortunately, there are many deers in Nara and I have seen them eat paper and plastic. Regrettably, I could not retrieve the plastic and paper from their mouths because by the time my hands reached their mouth they had already eaten it. This happened on multiple occasions. After giving a dirty look towards those litters, they simply just shrugged and walked off... The fuck?

One of the reasons I went to Nara again was a mountain I wanted to climb, as far as it can be called 'climbing', it is more like walking upwards. The mountain provides a lovely view over the entire city of Nara but regrettably it was closed until next Saturday.

Turtles are always cool!

Fun Fact: My Gaijin Force Field and Gaijin Deathstare are quite effective in Japan, especially in (local) trains.

Gaijin Deathstare, what?

As a foreigner, more specifically, foreigner looking you will get started at in Japan, a lot. A way to entertain yourself is to stare right back at them, and see who will be victorious. 9 out of 10, you will win. Sometimes you get a persistent person, and then the fun quickly dissipates. Usually from those cranky looking salary-man types.

The fun part of the Gaijin Deathstare is the moment you catch them looking or staring at you, is to look back at them, but without looking away. You can see them get nervous and uncomfortable quite fast. Its the little things in life that makes it fun to be alive.

There have been times where younger people, usually girls, stare at me from a distance as I walk towards the direction they are coming from and without looking away I too stare back at them. This usually ends up in either one of us or the both of us laughing out loud as we past each other. Fun times.

What about the Gaijin Force Field?

Well this is a interesting technique which unfortunately I do not have any control over. It happens in trains and buses where I, and probably those that have visited Japan before, have a 'force field' surrounding me which prevents anyone from entering the range of the force field. For example, there I am, sitting in the train during the early morning hours. Rush hour in Japan, namely Osaka, Kyoto and especially Tokyo is no joke. The trains are filled until you are packed like a sardine in a tin can. Whilst sitting I noticed the train getting more crowded as more and more people get on it as we pass each station. However, absolutely no one wants to sit next to the foreigner, me. They rather stands for 10, 15, 30 minutes than sit next to me. I do not believe I smell nor do I bite. In any case, it is somewhat relaxing as I have more space for myself on any train. This also happens when walking down the street. People actively avoid me, like something is pushing them to the side to let me pass. This skill however comes quite in handy during emergencies. If for instance, a person faints I can just stand around that person without anyone able to get close. This way, the person will actually have some space to breath.

We meet again, my dear friend!

Osu~

It has been quite a while since I have done anything on this blog. It is not that I had forgotten its existence, but rather there was nothing to write about. But that is going change. 

The reason I started this blog last year was to share my experience whilst living in Japan for the foreseeable future. I plan on updating this blog once a week, but once school starts and my free time dimishes over time, I will most likely update it less than before.

For starters, the first entrees after my arrival in Japan will be posted right after each other. This is because I was idiotic enough to forget my laptop in my hotel in Osaka after traveling to Tokyo. Yes, of all the things that you can forgot, I managed to forgot my laptop. Good job Brains.

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So here I am, on Schiphol airport around 23:30, (Yes, I use European time format) minding my own business. Walking around, exploring the vast and awfully quite airport. The reason for this is because my flight was in the early morning so I spent the night wandering the airport with my two large suitcases and large shoulder bag. Luckily there were trolleys available for use which made it so much easier to move around. Since I had roughly 7 hours to kill before I could check-in, or at least pass border control, I just sat down somewhere after a few hours and played a few games on my laptop. Before I knew it, morning had come and it was time to go. After waiting for a couple of hours I could finally board the plane and take off... and land about 450 kilometers East. The flight was not so bad, but city hoppers just feel a little too shabby for flight. Transfering planes at Frankfurt my journey resumed.

Now I am going to stop here for a second and explain a few things. I have been on several flight before, and all of them were great, at least I had no complaints, but this one... I would like to dub it: "Hell". Mind you, at this point in time I have been awake for, give and take, 55 hours, as I had about 2 hours of "sleep" before going to Schiphol. I do not know why I could not fall asleep. I was not nervous, anxious, or anything. I was just being myself. I did not get any sleep nor did I eat proper, so I was hangry. Knowing this was going to be a long flight and knowing myself, I cannot sit still for a long period of time, I was looking forward to finally being able to fall asleep after a few days and at the same time it would "lessen" the duration of the flight. Sleeping is like time-travel. One second you are in the present, the next second you wake up and several hours has passed.

1 day before leaving I was allowed to change seats in the plane. Seeing as my seat was a rather unfortnate one because I like to gaze through the window, I changed my seat from one right next to the wing to a seat in the back of the plane, about 10 meters back from where I was originally suppose to sit. I confirmed it, printed the documents and went on my way. I got on board, looked at my seat number and... then I noticed it was the same seat as before. Double checking it... Yup, the same seat. Since I could not change it anymore and complaining to the flight attendents would not help me at all I gave up because I was too tired to even start a conversation. Sat down, looked through the window... Oh wow, 1/4 of a view, nice~! Well, whatever. I was hoping to sleep most of the time anyways. The keyword is 'hoped' because the Law of Murphy was applied on this flight.

As I said I had not slept for quite a while, I was hangry (hungry and irritated) and not in the mood for anything but sleep. As more and more people started to board and find their seats, two people locked eyes with me and sat next to me. The person next to me was smelling like he had not taken a shower for a few days and his breath could use a few mints. We exchanged short introductions, and quickly did our thing. He probably noticed I was not in the mood to talk. During his introduction he, for some reason, mentioned he loves alcohol and that we was going to get drunk so he could sleep... Once the plane was full I noticed there were a total of 5 babies on the area were I was seated, and after the plane took off, I saw 3 more babies in the area behind me...

After a few hours I still did not feel tired and the guy next to me started to drink his first alcoholic drink... his second, then his third. As for me, I was watching a movie but I could hardly concentrate due to the lack of sleep and there were no interesting movies available. So I took my laptop and continue a game I was playing in Frankfurt. However, after a few minutes the person in front of me set his backseat all the way down so I hardly had any room for a laptop. So that was out of the question. So I took my phone and played Triple Triad.

Around 3 hours in the flight I started to feel tired from just staring at the screen whilst “watching” a movie. Finally, I thought this was it. I could finally get some sleep. I shut down the screen, put my noise cancelling ear pieces in and closed my eyes. 5 minutes... 10 minutes... 15 minutes... 30 minutes...

Me: “Brain! What are you doing?”

Brain: “Huh? What do you mean?”

Me: “Hook me up with some melatonin! I want to sleep!”

Brain: “Tsk, who died and made you king?”

“Whateva, I do wut I wan'”

Me: “. . .”

After failing to fall asleep, with hardly any room to move, I had to get away so I just started to walk around and do some stretches in the back of the plane. I tried to converse with some of the Japanese that were also standing there but alas, they did not feel like it. The flight attendences too were not in the mood for it as they were to busy with serving people. After about an hour I went back to my seat and played Triple Triad again. After about an hour I started feeling drowsy again. Closed my phone, put in my earpieces, made a small pillow and tried to get some sleep...5, 10, 15 minutes later.

Brain: “. . .” *giggle*

Me: “Are you serious?!”

Brain: “Hahahaha psych!”

Me: “M!@#%&*(^%#$”

I took my laptop and watched Gaki no Tsukai until the battery died.

Legs: “Could you at least give me some attention. I am hurt all over! Go walk around a bit, would you!”

Me: “Alright., alright”

Eyes: “Yo! Food's here!”

Stomach: “Wait your turn Legs! It is my turn now!”

After eating and walking around a bit, I was 6 hours or so in flight and changed my clothes to something more comfortable, sat down, closed my eyes and hoped for the better. Luckily I was able to sleep for about 2 hours. After waking up I still had roughly 2 hours left to fly. The guy and the Japanese in my row were sleeping like a baby. During the flight the babies too made quite the noise with their crying.

I know it sounds selfish as I was neither the only person on the plane and it was even tougher on the parents with their babies. I feel sorry for them, truly.

After a long and tedious flight, I finally landed in Kansai Airport.

This is my third time coming to Japan and as I remember the first time I came here, I remembered the intense euphoria. Unfortunately, it was not as intensive but still present. It felt rather more profound. Or maybe it was because I had only slept 6 hours in a time span of 72 hours. My scumbag brain did not create any serotonin, dopamine and melatonin... Thanks a lot, Brain!

Everything was more or less the same as I remembered. Took the special rapid services to Namba and from there the underground metro to Doubutsuenmae. I was staying in the same hotel from 7 years ago. If you happen to go to Osaka, try to arrange a room in Hotel Raizan South. They have private rooms quite cheap. The rooms and hotel are very clean, the staff are friendly and speak English too, plus they have a male and female onsen! The exterior did not change but the lobby did. They removed the wall between the South and North so it was one big lobby and the receptionist were young(er) people rather then the old couple. I did not make the same mistake as last time by sleeping on a futon. As a Western a bed is so much better. Regretabbly, I could not go to my room straight away. I had to wait another 2 hours but I could at least drop my luggage off. Carrying two large suitcases and a large shoulder bag on my bag is quite challenging with my exhausted body.

Tara and I were suppose to do lunch at 12:00 but unfortunately I could not make it and had to re-schedule it. So I just started walking around the area, trying to see what has changed over the past 7 years but no major changes were found. After a few hours of walking around I went back and could check-in. The first thing was a long shower to freshen up. Because I arrived around 8:30 in the morning in Osaka I had no choice but to be active the entire day in order to lessen the jetlag. Unfortunately, my body thought differently.

Brain: “Hey guys! What's up?”

Me: “... Hmm, nothing much. Just going to get something to eat. Right, Legs”

Legs: “Yeah, we are just going to the konbini because Stomach is hungry”

Stomach: “That's right.”

Brain: “Oh terrific! Well if Stomach is hungry then I have got something for him!”

“Here you go best buddy!”

Stomach&Legs&Arms&Me: “Heart, stop!”

Heart: “Sorry guys, I am just doing my job.”

Brain: “Here is the melatonin you asked for!”

Me: “No! Not now you unproductive piece of shit!”

Brain: “Sorry, I cannot hear you over the sound of dopamine”

Stomach&Legs&Arms&Me: “No~!!!!”

Brain: “KAPOW! Here, take my serotonin attack”

Me: “Legs, move your slow ass!”

“Arms, hurry up and change clothes!”

Arms:”Shut up! I am working magic already!”

Brain: “Cheers guys”

Me: “Aww cr...a...p”!