Mastumoto Castle
I rode buses quite a bit while I was in Japan, starting with my trip to Kyoto. I've ridden only a very few American buses (especially in California), and I've noticed that the routine is a bit different. In Japan, you enter the bus from the rear instead of up front. Unless you have a pre-paid ticket, take a ticket from the dispenser when you board. The ticket has a number on it. Above the driver's head, a digital display board will show you how much your ticket is worth when you exit the bus. The amount assigned to the number on your ticket will increment after several stops. When you are ready to leave, you simply pay the amount that is assigned to the number on your ticket when you exit at the front of the bus. Doesn't this make sense? In America, I've had to ask the driver how much it costs to get to where I want. Although i guess it operates on the honors system, where you pay after riding the bus. I guess that wouldn't fly in America.
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The train ride from Nagoya to Matsumoto didn't take too long, but it featured lots of excellent scenery. At the train station, a woman's voice calls out "Matsumotoooo" three times for every arriving train. The first thing I did was to find the travel service information office, which I found by taking a right once I exited the station. I was expecting it to be significantly cooler in Matsumoto in the summer, but the temperature difference was disappointingly smaller than I thought. The evenings were a bit cooler though, so that was good.
I really came to like Matsumoto while I was staying there. It's a pretty cool small city. Not too large, not too rural. I kept thinking how nice it would be to get an English teaching job there. Matsumoto Castle is another castle that was never destroyed from earthquake or bombings, and Matsumoto is like the cultural heritage capital of Nagano Prefecture.
But going back to the topic of the youth hostel, this place was more of a traditional youth hostel in that each room had bunk beds that slept at least eight people. The first night I had a room all to myself, so that was great. Later evenings, there was a French kid a year or two younger than me who could speak only a little bit of English. I wasn't interested in joining forces with anybody for sightseeing though, as I wanted to enjoy the solitude in the beautiful mountains. There was another night that this one weird Japanese guy slept in the bunk next to mine, and he seemed a bit odd and I wonder if he had some sort of mental problem. One night I swore I heard this guy masturbating in his bunk and it woke me from sleep. I heard him chuckling "a ha ha ha" as he wiped up the mess with a tissue. OK, so that was one life experience I was not anticipating. I don't know why he couldn't just go to the bathroom like anybody else to do that, but then again, he did seem half a bubble off. When I met him, he kept talking to me, but he seemed to have a speech impediment and I couldn't understand him very well at all. Still, I liked him better than the French guy, because that guy snored.
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Monday, July 27th was the first day in Matsumoto. I didn't do much, just poked around town. That evening, Mayu took the train from her city of Okaya to Matsumoto and we had dinner together. We continued to date each other throughout the rest of the week. The next day, I visited Okaya, the city where Mayu lives. It wasn't too special, not a lot of sights to see, but it was nice to visit Lake Suwa, known as the "navel of Japan" because it is in the center of the Japanese archipelago. It's a pretty town, but not a whole lot to do and see. I returned to Matsumoto and when the youth hostel opened at 3pm, I took a nap for a couple of hours. All the nonstop travel was really draining, especially since I wasn't wearing good walking shoes. I just took it easy that night and studied Japanese at the youth hostel.
For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, I just sat under the big, shady trees of the small park area in front of Matsumoto Station. I studied Japanese, watched people going by, and even took a nap. It was a nice time to just enjoy staying still. Mayu arrived at the station at 4pm and we went to Matsumoto castle together. It started raining while we were inside, and at the top floor we sat beside each other by an open window and watched the rain fall on the city for a long time as a cool breeze blew on us. It was a wonderful moment, just enjoying being next to each other. After the castle, Mayu showed me a favorite bookstore of hers. I even found a series of Japanese Star Wars manga, which I thought was so cool. It wasn't until later that this series was released in English by Dark Horse Comics. We had dinner at a restaurant called Utompa and later we sat on the bench outside of the youth hostel and talked. When it was time for her to go, I walked her to the bus stop to say goodbye and held her close.
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The next day I took the train to Nagano City. The big sight to see there was Zenkou-Ji, a large temple. The city was pleasant, and the people there were friendly. When I visited the temple, I had a class of children ask me to sign their books. I felt like a celebrity. The teacher told me that they had a class assignment to do while they visited Zenkou-Ji, and getting a signature from a foreign tourist was one thing they had to do.
There wasn't a whole lot to do in Nagano City that I found to be particularly interesting. I could've gone to go see some silly monkeys taking a bath, but I didn't bother. I just walked around the shopping arcades ("shotengai"). The 1998 Winter Olympics was held in Nagano Prefecture earlier that year, so I saw a lot of Olympics memorabilia for sale there. In fact, a shinkansen line had been built to Nagano City to accomodate the traffic for the Olympics. I visited an English school while I was there, just to ask some questions. I hadn't graduated college yet, but I just thought it would be nice to make a relationship with that school.
That night, I had another date with Mayu-chan. We went to an Internet Cafe called Peoples. It was more like a small bar with Internet access, actually. Live performances are held there, but we didn't see one. It was just a neat place to hang out. I ordered a shrimp, octopus, and squid pizza there. Mayu-chan had a pizza with pepperoni, potato, and corn. Somehow, putting potato and corn on a pizza sounds weirder than squid or mayonnaise to me. They were showing episodes of The Simpsons on the TV there, subtitled in Japanese. I found that interesting.
On Friday, I visited the Japan Ukiyo-e Museum. Ukiyo-e is Japanese woodblock print artwork, the first real mass-produced pop art of Japan, produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries. The small train left Matsumoto Station and headed down a single track through the countryside. The small "station" I exited was more like a wood shack than anything else. I put my ticket into a wooden box and there wasn't even anyone attending the train station at all. I had to walk quite a ways down a road to get to the museum, but it was a pleasant stroll and the houses and neighborhoods I passed by were pretty. The building of the museum is rather modern, which contrasts with the traditional artwork inside. Mayu told me that she thinks that ukiyo-e is boring, but it's probably because she's Japanese and she grew up with it. I hadn't been to see an ukiyo-e gallery since the exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum my first year of college. I spent two hours there. Each time I see such a display of ukiyo-e, I gain a deeper understanding and a greater appreciation for its simplicity. On this trip, I discovered the artwork of Hiroshige Ga. I found his prints to be especially beautiful. I went back to Matsumoto and did laundry. The next day, I checked out of the youth hostel and took the train to Okaya. There I met up with Mayu-chan, and we took the train together to stay with her family in Iijima. |
For images of Nagano Prefecture, visit my Nagano Photography Page
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"Chicken Teriyaki:" The name of the only living Kamikazi pilot.
On Wednesday, I was craving a pancake and eggs breakfast at the Denny's I had spotted in town previously. I figured that they must have it, since I knew that Japanese people do enjoy pancakes. I wasn't exactly expecting a Grand Slam breakfast, but perhaps something similar. The closest thing I could find on the menu was an a la carte order of 3 carrot pancakes. They were dry and carroty. Oh well! That's what I get for making assumptions. It wasn't a pleasant breakfast.