June 10, Wednesday 1:28 pm, Shin-Osaka Station

We found J-Hoppers after about an hour last night. There were a lot of people on bikes, and still plenty of people in suits walking around, although the city was definitely quiet.



We went to sleep around 1：30. I woke up a few times through the night, but it was pretty comfortable.

I got up around 8:15 and showered. Looking out the window in our room, I could see many people walking by with umbrellas. I really like the clear ones.

We checked out around 10:30 after everyone had showered. We wandered outside looking for breakfast. A lot of people seemed to look at me first, probably because my hair’s not dark brown or black. We eventually decided on heading under Fukushima Station. Most places were closed still, but at an intersection, we found a breakfast joint. Outside were the famous fake displays of food.


It’s really amazing how realistic they look—it’s only the texture that looks a little off sometimes. After about 10 minutes of staring at the food outside, we finally went in. The whole place was run by one older Japanese man, and there were quite a few people for such a small place. I got the ‘ham-egg-toast’, or in katakana, the ‘alphabet’ for foreign words,　ハムエッグチイズ　[ha-mu-e-ggu-chi-i-zu].　Double letters means you sort of hold that syllable. It turned out to be a kind of sandwich.

It was absolutely delicious—it even had a little kick to it due to some sort of sauce. It was a really well spent 500 yen (円).　　The nice old man even gave us lemonade, which was probably the best lemonade I'd ever had, and it was on the house. The whole thing completely exceeded my expectations.

Afterward, we wandered around, eventually resting in a big hotel/department store lobby. After maybe 20 minutes, we went to nearby Osaka station and bought 160 yen tickets to Shin-Osaka station. The train was very smooth. We crossed a bridge over water to get there, which I hadn’t expected.. We arrived, hung around a bit, and then bought drinks from a vending machine (jidouhanbaiki or じどうはんばいき).

I got a water from 110 yen, and it was icy and as tasteless as anything can get, which was good. Finally we decided to go sit in the waiting area near a bunch of shops and cafes. We’re probably grabbing a train, the Raicho, to Kanazawa at 4:15 or so. Right now it’s about 1:45—we might go into the gift shop/food area soon. That’s it for now.


All photos can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=266917&id=736370424&l=37441abaf1

June 9th 11:26 pm Japan Time

NOTE: We just received our laptops today. I've been here for...almost 4 days. I'm　going to try to post as much as possible, and I've already got a backlog of around 5 more entries. Please stay tuned! Also, feel free to request information--like if you want me to add more about certain parts of our trips, or add more Japanese words and specific content, etc. I'll be happy to do what I can!

We're now　on　a　'limousine　bus'　which　goes　from　Kansai　International　Airport　near　Osaka　train　station.　 Originally, we　were　supposed　to　arrive　at　3:20　at　Kansai...　　Our　first　flight　was　delayed　a　half　hour　in　total,　thanks to　the　fuel　pump　being　full　of　rain　from　the　night's　thunderstorm, and heavy traffic and a low ceiling in　San Francisco. We arrived at our next gate in SF after literally crossing the entirety of the airport. Our next flight left relatively on time. However, 45 minutes in, we were notified that we were turning around. Supposedly the fuel filter wasn’t working right. For a good part of the flight back, we were dropping fuel in order to be light enough to land. When we arrived (again, they checked the fuel filter, but nothing was wrong with it. They ran the engine, and finally decided that the plane was unsafe to fly. We were told to get off and wait for instructions a few gates down. 3 o’clock we were told, but that changed soon after to 6 o’clock, which was when the crew and captain would be ready to go. So, we had 3 hours to sit around the airport. At 6ish western time, we finally took off, 6 and a half hours after we were originally scheduled. We arrived in Japan at approximately 9:15 pm Japan time on June 9th, which was this past Tuesday.

Kansai International Airport

I got stopped at Quarantine (pretty scary) due to my stuffy nose as well as the fact that I’d had a fever in the last week. Thankfully, my temperature was normal when they took it. I didn’t have the other symptoms of swine flu, but I was starting to doubt it was just allergies. I’m better now, so I think whatever I had passed and now it really IS just allergies. They sent me over to a little side room where a doctor very brokenly talked to me. I told him it was allergies, and they took my temperature with a thermometer where it just shines a red light and calculates the surface temperature of whatever it touches. That was pretty nerve-wracking, but I’m here!

We met the other member of our group, Xin Cai, around 9:45 since she had arrived over 12 hours earlier from Singapore. We used takyuubin, which is the Japanese parcel forwarding system, to deliver our big suitcases to the apartments in Kanazawa. It wouldn’t arrive until Thursday since we had arrived so late, which at the time was the day after tomorrow, so we had to rely on what we had packed in our carry-ons. It cost about 3400 yen to send both my bags, which is probably around 36 dollars or so. It was cheaper than I expected.

Insert from Right Now—We had reservations to stay at a hostel called J-Hoppers Osaka Central. From the airport, we ended up taking a ‘limousine’ bus instead of the train because the one we would have taken didn’t seem to be running anymore. The ride was 1500 yen for about an hour ride. For those unfamiliar, the optimal exchange rate is 100 yen to a dollar. Basically a yen to a penny. However, last I checked the dollar was pretty weak. Before we left, it was 94 or 95 yen to the dollar.

Back to Journal—We probably have a out a half hour till we get to Osaka station, from which we’ll walk 15 to 20 minutes to J-Hoppers. Guess we’ll shower in the morning?... We’ll leave tomorrow around 5 to get to Kanazawa…Finally. –From a bus in Osaka

Final Note : Doing this took an insane amount of time... I'm going to have to either switch sites, or just link you guys to the photos. Blogger is surprisingly picture unfriendly.