The Big Picture
Mt. Fuji > Game…. seriously!
I finally see the big picture of this trip and the climax is yet to come. The last couple of days were exhausting, hot, smelly, and basically not what I expected out of Japan. I thought that maybe it just wasn’t the best time to visit the country, because August is it’s most humid season as well as the official Japanese traveling month. The waits were long, the streets were busy and overcrowded, and the supposed air conditioned trains were hot due to all the simultaneous breathe-in-and-outs.
To review, Murray and I have visited Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Osaka, and Kyoto so far with Nagano/Nozawa Onsen & Tokyo to follow. Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Miyajima were great as the whole being in Japan glory feeling extended its freshness allowing me to look passed the heat, sweat, and other stinky backpacker’s shoes(some people, seriously… their shoes are dirty stank). Osaka and Kyoto, being very cool cities nonetheless, left me bitter and unpleased. It seemed as if we were doing and seeing the same thing over and over again, only a more ghetto fabulous version. I probably wouldn’t have thought so low of Osaka if it weren’t for the irritating heat and sweatmarks on my shirt(and how I’m overly self-conscious about the way I look). Kyoto at first looked like a pretty happening place as well, but once again the heat, lack of original things to do, and lousy air conditioning in the hostel led to bitterness. Kyoto was saved by my friend Noritake Khotoda who took us around to see the OUTSIDE of Imperial Palace(you needed a permit to get in which is given by municipal officials), and a manga museum. It was fun hanging around a perfectly bilingual Japanese young, as we joked about all the loser otakus we saw reading manga at the museum.
Finally, the big picture. Making it to Kawaguchiko was a challenge. Quick thinking(more like train guessing) between our stops aboard the Shinkansen allowed a safe though awkward trip. Arriving at Otsuki, the JR to local train hub, Murray and I were slapped in the face with the biggest train fare ever to be offered in Japan. 1110 yen to ride from Otsuki to Kawaguchiko station. Talk about overpriced! The train was empty leaving the station, but picked up more and more really hot school girls and cute girls in kimono.
Getting off the train, we noticed even more girls in kimono and a few guys in yukata… Without thinking about it we threw our stuff in the hostel and found out that we were visitng Kawaguchiko at the best-ever time. When booking this place, we had no idea that today….
You know in Love Hina, and all of those other romantic-comedy animes, how they usually have an episode or two with the characters all going to some festival? Fireworks, neat snacks, foods, kimonos, yukatas, and silly couple-ey games?
I finally realized the big picture. Hard work, sweat, determination, interaction, communication, and interpretation leads to amusement, entertainment, relaxation, refreshment, and revelation. Japan > Game.
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2 Responses to “The Big Picture”
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We did discuss the August humidity in Japan, but it is also a month with a lot of activities. Kyoto is a beautiful place and hopefully, you would go back and visit there at a different time of the year to really appreciate it.
OMG U GUYS ARE GOING TO A FIREWORKS FESTIVAL!?!?!??!?!?! T_T Take LOTS of VIDS PLOX!!!