Today is the day we left Tokyo for Kobe on the bullet train. After making sure I was packed up, my uncle informed me that his colleague had made arrangements for the 10:03 Hikari train, which worked out just fine for me since the only trains my JR Pass won't allow me to board without paying a fare are the Nozomi Shinkansen. We took a taxi down to Tokyo Station, got coffee, and boarded the train.
The Shinkansen cars themselves remind me quite a bit of airplane cabins, albeit they are much more spatious. The seats are smaller, but I was able to fit into one without problems. I'd feel bad for anyone larger, though, because it would be very difficult for them. Fortunately for me, the train ride was filled with spectacular views of hills, towns, and Mt. Fuji, which I tried to capture on film but may have failed. Unfortunately for me, the only seats still available on the train (I SHOULD have saved a seat earlier) were in one of the two smoking cars. My eyes began burning before I even sat down, and the car soon filled up with burned-out retirees and Japanese salarymen hacking, coughing, and wheezing as they lit up their cigarettes. Ugh. This is absolutely disgusting. I can't wait to get off of this train. No amount of wonderful scenery is going to make up for the fact that my lungs are gasping for air. I'm actually starting to feel a bit lightheaded.
Only 5 more stops to go. Please hurry up Shinkansen, I feel like I'm getting lung cancer as I type this.
The train did empty out around Kyoto, which improved the quality of the air somewhat, but it was still toxic. I was never happier to deboard a vehicle in my entire life, even WITH the extra leg room, that toxic air almost did me in.
Now I'm in Kobe... looks a lot like Tokyo, but surrounded by nature. To compare: if Tokyo is New York, then Kobe is Seattle or Minneapolis (closer to Seattle due to the insane mountains and hills I can see right outside my hotel room). I'm going to go explore for a bit but make sure I'm back in time to eat dinner with my uncle and his colleagues. Socializing with native Japanese is fun. One thing I noticed but not quickly enough were the conversation lounges in Tokyo - apparently there are a few places that are free admission for native English speakers and give the Japanese a chance to practice on us. That would have been fun, I'll have to check that out next time I'm here. I also noticed, after washing up and changing clothes after that disgusting train ride, that my pants are beginning to fit looser. I think all of this walking and Japanese cuisine is starting to shrink my oversized American belly. YAY!~
Anyways, it seems my uncle dropped us right into the high-fashion district of Kobe. Everywhere I looked there were skinny-as-rails Japanese girls holding hands with Squall and Tidus wannabes, going into stores with names like OIOI and Narcissus. And I got a lot of stares. At first I assumed I stood out because I was ah...bigger, and taller, than most of the people there, but then I realized something else. NO OTHER GAIJIN. ANYWHERE. FUCK!
In Tokyo, just about everywhere I went, I noticed there were other foreigners around, so it made sense that the natives were used to seeing people not from Japan on a regular basis. Not here in Kobe. And apparently I was a magnet for attention for the people handing out free stuff. A few bags of the typical tissue, along with a kanji-filled piece of paper from an older Japanese guy that was yelling "Rucifer hates rogos!!!"
...?
This is going to be an interesting couple of days.
I found a gigantic mall not too far from my hotel, and went in. All high-fashion. Yeah. Except...I noticed a sign in a small, out-of-the-way corner advertising a game and manga shop. Thank GOD. On my way downstairs (yeah, it was hidden in the bowels, shunned by the "main denizens" of the mall), and on the way down hit the photo MOTHERLODE of my entire trip to Japan, check this out (and no, Laki and Kat, because I know one of you is gonna ask, I didn't go in to get a souvenir) :
One more floor down was a gigantic complex devoted to anime and video games. Aaaah. That's better. I'm home again. All that "cool culture" was beginning to make me feel as icky as I did on that Shinkansen. On the basement floor, there were also loads of mini prize dispensers, slot machines, and a huge table gaming area where the card game otaku are busy playing away at what I could assume is the Japanese equivalent of Star Trek or Magic: The Gathering. I couldn't make out what card game it was, but it looked unfamiliar and complicated, and there were a lot of guys in there.
I snatched up one last thing, something I couldn't find in Akihabara (still under the $400 limit, by some miracle), and returned to the hotel. I feel awkward out there, I think I'll rest here for awhile, wait for my uncle to come back from his exhibition, and enjoy my milky-white CALPIS soda. It tastes kind of like...well...Squirt citrus soda, with milk added. Don't know what's in it, and I don't really want to know, either. But it is refreshing after that long walk and train ride, and that's all that matters right now.
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