2/16 On the way to Kyoto

Blog Notes

2/16/2013: I woke up before anyone else in the hostel after a decent night's sleep. Went to bed around 11pm, got up around 7am, showered, then quietly packed up my stuff and went down and hung out in the common area. 8am the hostel employees showed up to open up shop. I asked for recommendations on a good place to get breakfast. They recommended a place a few blocks away. The place had fake dishes displayed in their front window. I walked in and sat down at a table. The waitress started speaking Japanese to me, quickly realized I don't speak Japanese, then guided me over to a little electronic kiosk where you pay and select your dish. I had no idea what I picked, but the picture looked good. The food arrived a little later, and apparently I'd ordered some curry-type dish, which was really tasty. There was some meat (maybe pork?) and an egg "over easy," noodles, and cabbage, all in a big boiling bowl. This also contained what looked like a hot dog but tasted more like a little smokey. There was a dish of steamed white rice, and then also an odd "fried" sausage patty or some kind of patty. All in all, very tasty first meal in Japan. I returned to the hostel, got my things in order, checked out, and the girl at the hostel helped me figure out how to get to the "shinkansen" (bullet train) to make my way to Kyoto. So far, people are very friendly and helpful, although I've had some trouble getting around and figuring out train maps, buying tickets, etc. because of the language barrier.

I'm currently reading "The Roads to Sata," which was written by a British guy in the 80's who walked from the northernmost tip of Hokkaido (the northernmost major island of Japan) to Sata, the southernmost tip of Japan. It is around 2,000 miles. He points out that the difference in latitudes for this walk is equivalent to going from Ottawa to Mobile, Alabama. I had no idea Japan covered so many latitudes. Apparently the southern islands of Japan are warm year-round and are almost tropical. Hokkaido, on the other hand, is currently experiencing the Siberian winter. That's where I'm heading after Kyoto to do some skiing.

Japan first impressions: lots of men in suits (at least in Tokyo). Even more people wearing masks over their mouths. Lots of Australians at the hostel. Extremely orderly.

I am so pumped to eat a lot of noodles. Also I saw at the hostel that there is a cat café somewhere in Tokyo. That might be fun, if one was the type of person that enjoyed the company of cats. I saw a lady with huge earmuffs, each earmuff was a cat face. I bet she'd like that café.