Meaf's Adventures Abroad

Mount Takao

After the Halloween party, most people were too tired to do the usual karaoke until 5am thing, so we went our seperate ways. I, for one thing, felt like drinking... so I did. The next morning I had quite a headache from the cheap convieniance store wine but was determined to keep the good times rollin'. So I decided to hike up Mount Takao which is the closest escape from the concrete playground that is Tokyo. I left in the afternoon, so by the time I got there, most people were on their way down. The scenery was phenomenal. As soon as I stepped off the train it was like being in a whole other world. There were trees everywhere! And Hills so steep they were only a few degrees shy of being cliffs. Armed with a chocolate bar and a bottle of Gatorade I began the steep ascent. It took me nearly 2 hours (mostly because I stopped to explore sidetrails and take a zillion pictures.) The path was clear, in fact paved, and the route was littered with statues and shrines. Near the very top was the main temple and shrine (Buddhism and Shintoism coexist) where there were great statues of the Wind and Thunder Gods as well as monks doing their evening meditations. When I had almost reached the top, I passed a young man who seemed to be in a rush. I nodded and walked past him, but he suddenly turned and came back. He told me that he would go with me to the top. Grateful for company, we marched off together. While we walked we talked as best we could. After reaching the top, it was quite clear that it was getting dark and we were the only ones left that high up the mountain. I was unconcerned about this, but Akki appeared to be afraid of the dark. Later on, near the bottom, he explained that there were scary stories regarding the spirits of this mountain and thats what he was afraid of. But as long as there were two of us, he was okay. We got along incredibly well and when we got to the bottom, we met up with his friends who had just started dating that day on the mountain. They thought it absolutely hilarious that Akki went up alone and came down with a foreigner. They invited me for dinner and I was happy to join them. We went to a Korean Barbeque (you order raw meat and cook in the middle of your table) where all three of them work. So it was a very friendly atmosphere and the two guys were hilarious. Talk ranged from Canada to porno to the ability of Yoshi's girlfriend to break a man's heart with a simple little sex-y (pronounced sex-why) gesture. It was pretty amazing how we managed to spend 4-5 hours together having a great time even though noone could speak the other's language with any fluency. What a great frickin' weekend.

posted by M. Sullivan @ 8:51 AM 0 comments

This past weekend was definately the best one I've had yet. On Saturday I went to Yokohama which is the second largest city in Japan but only a short train ride from Tokyo. From my place in Funabashi, it is on the other side of the bay, but about an hour and a bit on the train. So Reeshma and I decided to go check this place out and we definately weren't disappointed. The city is supermodern and the architecture is stunning. Sitting on Tokyo bay its is Japan's busiest port, but from Minami-Nori 21 (Pier 21?) its just picturesque. The open spaces and seabreeze was a pleasant respite from Tokyo and where there wasn't room for grass, they put in on the rooves of buildings like a penthouse park... We just wandered around taking in the sights with the ultimate goal of Yokohama's famous Chinatown. On the way we stopped at the base of Landmark Tower (tallest building in country) and watched an American street-performer. With all honesty I can say that it was probably the most entertaining street show I have seen. Despite having no idea what he was saying cause his Japanese was impeccable, I laughed and clapped with the rest of the audience. And at the end the children and adults rushed toward him to fill his hat with money.
Then we continued to walk and chat down the shore until we reached Chinatown where we tried the ever-popular Chinese dumplings and some sort of Seasame ball with chestnut in it. We examined fine Chinese clothing and bought some massage finger things from a woman who simply grabbed my hand and started to massage it followed by shoulders, arms, back, etc. So after that I felt compelled to buy something from her. We also checked out a Chinese shrine. While there we were instructed on how to pray and to whom of course we were praying to. It was my first time actually in a shrine so it was pretty neat.
Then it was a long ride to Gyotoku, made worse by some train exchange mistakes by yours truly, where it was time for a Halloween meal. Funny thing is, raw, whole squids and octopus tenticles are exactly what one might expect to eat on Halloween, but here it was simply part of the normal menu.

posted by M. Sullivan @ 10:44 PM 0 comments