Playing tourist

So today, since I had no plans written in my phone, I decided to play tourist for a while. I went on a drive to Yufuin, and then onwards to Kokonoe. I had been through Yufuin before, on my way to Kumamoto, but I hadn't ever taken the turn to Kokonoe.

Way back when, Kyushu was formed by a volcano. Specifically, this volcano is Aso-san, and it sits kind of in the middle of the island. Most of Aso, though, sits in Kumamoto-ken. So because of the volcano, a mountain chain also runs through the island. Around my former home, Aki, you can see hills, but not mountains. The plateaus are further inland.

So when you leave Beppu and are driving to Yufuin, the first thing you come upon is Kijima kogen. 'Kogen' is 'plateau' in Japanese. It's really quite a change from the darker greens near the ocean.

Then you get into Yufuin.


Yufuin is a bit of a tourist trap. Shop after shop sell the same things, and the big draw is all the onsen, or hot springs.

It's interesting that I had forgotten what guide books written in Japanese look like. In English, they list attractions mainly, with hotel/restaurant/bar guides. However, it seems that Japanese people are more concerned about what they are going to get to eat when they travel. Japanese travel guides are best described as gastronomic pornography, with page after page of color photos showing what restaurants have on offer.

In addition to gastronomic pornography, guidebook writers also believe in retail therapy, where the food shots are followed by page after page of shop reviews, along with their products.

So take someplace like Himeji-jo. Himeji-jo is the famous 'white crane' castle that is just outside the Kansai. A lot of tourist brochures for Japan are sure to have a photo of the castle. It is a cool castle, by the way. Anyway, a Japanese guidebook for Himeji may have a small mention about the castle itself-- which is a World Heritage site as well as a national treasure, and plays a significant role in Japanese history--, but then be followed by a two-page spread on the small tea house at the bottom of the footpath.

So, with all this in mind, what did I choose for my 'local product' lunch while in Yufuin? A 100 yen corndog from the convenience store.

A lot of the other JETs I remember traveled the same way-- the food from the convenience store is usually going to be okay, with no unpleasant surprises, and you can get the same stuff as in a restaurant but for cheaper, and it's easier too. Another trick I used (and still do), as do others, is going to a supermarket or department store for bento.

Anyway, following my local product lunch (the corndog was fine, by the way) and my failure to engage in retail therapy due to not finding anything I wanted, I got back in the car and proceeded toward Kokonoe. There is a second plateau, Handa kogen. This, too, is strikingly beautiful:

ただいま

Last night I had dinner with my English conversation class. We went to Kankokuen, a new yakiniku place in Beppu, across from Tokiwa. Yakiniku, for those who don't know, translates to 'fried meat'. Yakiniku comes from Korea originally-- hence the 'kankoku' reference (Kankoku is 'Korea' in Japanese). You sit around a table and order plates of raw meat and vegetables. Then you put the slices of meat on the barbecue, dip in sauce, and eat.

It reminds me of that scene in Lost in Translation, where Bill Murray questions what kind of a restaurant expects you to cook your own food.

Anyway, just before I left, one of my students, Kyoko, gave me a golden egg-looking thing held together with two strings. She was very explicit on how it was to be opened. She also specified that it be hung from a high place.

Well, the closest high place I had in my hotel was the bathroom door hook.

I opened it, and found:


The scroll is wound on two pieces of bamboo, and the scroll itself is a wonderful-feeling rice paper. The Japanese says 'Jeshika okaeri'. 'Jeshika' is my name in katakana, and 'okaeri' roughly translates to 'welcome back' in this case.

The pictures are:

The bird is Mejiron, the mascot of the Oita prefecture games. The prefecture games are going to start in October, so you see pictures of Mejiron everywhere. The writing to the right is a label for Oita cha, a type of bottled tea sold in Oita.



This is an exact copy of a Kirin beer label.

All of this is drawn by hand, incidentally.

'Okaeri' is used in Japanese homes when someone returns home from work or school, to which the proper reply is 'tadaima', or 'I'm back'.

This was a wonderful surprise and an equally wonderful gift.

Ja... tadaima!

Gulf Arabs 'Risk Heart Attacks in Olympics'

Curiosity killed yet another cat, and I logged into the Gulf Times just in time to find today's gem. While I don't claim to know everything at this point, I had no clue whatsoever that sports could cause heart attacks in many different forms...

Gulf Arabs ‘risk heart attacks in Olympics’

Published: Wednesday, 6 August, 2008, 01:38 AM Doha Time

DUBAI: A top cardiologist has warned television viewers in the United Arab Emirates to try to stay calm during the Olympics because they were particularly vulnerable to suffering heart attacks while watching sports.
Klaus Kallmayer, head of cardiology at City Hospital in Dubai and the German Heart Centre in Bremen, said cardiovascular incidents increase during sporting events as spectators get caught up in the moment.
“Watching a stressful sports game involving the national team can more than double the risk of an acute cardiovascular event. And the UAE’s poor cardiovascular record means spectators here can be even more at risk,” Kallmayer said in a statement.
“Sports enthusiasts who prefer watching the proceedings from the sofa rather than engaging in physical activity themselves should be aware that statistically the comfort of their living room is no safer than actually competing,” he said.
Kallmayer said he did not wish to scare people away from watching the Games but cautioned them to avoid exceptional stress levels. – Reuters

First day in Oita

So anyway, 1 day after I planned so, and 2 days after I started out, I landed in Oita today at 11.15 am. Like all sleepy corners of the world, Oita, too, hasn't changed drastically. Last night I thought about how ironic it was that a mere 5 years ago, in 2003, I was just coming to Japan to settle in. I knew nothing about what I was getting into at the time. This time, though, I recognized Himeshima out the window, as well as Kunisaki and Musashi (D&D, home of cheap beer, I am pleased to report, is still there). It was a very happy homecoming.

I met my friends Fujiwara-san, her son Toshihiro, Kimura-san, her daughter Ai, Kyoko-chan, Shimpei, and Yuriki at the airport. We then made a plan to have lunch at Saki in Musashi, following the acquisition of my hired car.

Little did I know that hiring a car would take 3o minutes.

Silly me, I wanted to protect my cash supply by paying for the hired car with the exact same credit card I used to make my reservation with. I naively thought that since I was dealing with an international rent-a-car company (Mazda), and I had made a reservation using a credit card, I could also pay with it. However, as it turns out, Japan is still a relatively closed society when it comes to credit cards.

It took 30 minutes for them to call to assure that my credit card was, indeed, quite valid, and that I quite indeed had credit available (I've been a Faithful and Promptly-Paying Member since 2001...). In fact, I'm so Faithful and Reliable that I now have a WorldPoints account. This world, obviously, does not include the Oita airport branch of Mazda rent-a-car. As I learned.

Now, in my defense, the Doha training is doing quite a bit of good. At no time during this ordeal did I get impatient, or irritated, or even feel inconvenienced in the least. In fact, I found nothing wrong with the whole thing. Hell, in Doha, this would have probably taken a week and fallen under the 'inshallah' business principal (where things happen if they are willed, in lieu of careful planning or prior organisation for the occurrence of an event). Then again, since Doha as a whole has recognized that this is 2008, and that people do come from other countries with credit cards issued in those places, and that credit cards are an international 'thing'.

I heard that Post Office ATMs here are finally linked to the Cirrus network, so that means I could go get cash from one. I will have to try this out. However, the concept of an ATM being open and available 24 hours a day is still stuck in immigration (or at the car hire shop, if you will).

But it's wonderful to be back. I ended up changing my hotel reservation. I shelled out a bit more for a carpark (the most important thing, particularly with a hired car), Internet in my room, my own bathroom, and no curfew. Works for me.

Most things remain the same here, which is comforting in a way. A few more combinis that were not here before, a new department store, shops closed here and there...

So it goes.

Luggage cart versatility

Here is something I forgot to blog about. Listen:

Back when I moved to Doha, I bought an inexpensive luggage cart at Carrefour. I had bought it primarily to haul cylinders to and from my flat, although it soon became my dive kit cart. I had also, in other cases, used it to haul supplies to other flats for parties.

However, I went to the QDC (beer souk) to purchase my Ramadan supplies early. The QDC closes all through Ramadan, so one is required to stock up beforehand in order to avoid disappointment.

I found, then, that my luggage also holds 5 cases of beer-- although the going was a bit rough due to the small wheel size. If I were to pimp my cart up, I could haul all kinds of things around--



I don't suppose the Luggage Cart People had this use in mind when they created the advertisements for their cheap travel accessory.

Arrived safely!

Al hamdu lillah (thanks be to God), I have arrived in Japan safely, with no more problems. It is funny how, as I was riding the train today to my hotel in Osaka, in many ways I feel like I have never left. Which is true in quite a few ways. After I left Japan to return to the States, I mentally spent most of my time in Japan still. And when I got my job in Doha, I had promised myself that my first home leave would be back to Japan.

Emirates hasn't stopped with the service yet. When I got off the plane in Osaka, I saw a JAL lady holding a sign with my name on it. I identified myself, and she gave me a bilingual letter from Emirates (stamped and everything) as an official certificate that I had been delayed on my flight.

In Doha, a representative came to the lounge to tell me that everything had been set up for me no problem, and also gave me the airline printout showing 'involuntary rerouting'. Just in case I have any problems.

So far, I checked into my hotel tonight, and there were no problems whatsoever with the change.

Still in Doha...

It is Friday at noon, and I was supposed to be in Osaka now. Instead, I am still sitting in my flat overlooking West Bay in Doha.

I went to the airport last night to go to Dubai. Well, as it turns out, the flight was delayed at least 45 minutes. So, with Dubai being an hour ahead of Doha, I wouldn't arrive until at least 2 am. This means I wouldn't make my connection to Kansai.

So, thus far, I've lost a day of my holiday.

Emirates, bless them, takes care of their business class passengers pretty well. Probably before I had even gotten up to the counter, I had already been rebooked on the next flight to Kansai, which leaves tonight, so I was sure to have a seat. Also, a hotel had already been booked in Dubai on my behalf.

However, as at that point I was frustrated and it was getting late, I said please can I just go home and fly tomorrow afternoon? That way I can sleep in my own bed, get a good rest, and try it again tomorrow. It was no problem whatsoever. I'm flying the late afternoon flight now today.

It would have probably been at least 3.30 am in Dubai by the time I got taken to my hotel and gotten checked in, as I would have had to go through immigration (with visa formalities, as obviously I didn't have a visa for the Emirates-- although I'm guessing Emirates also has a Al Maha service like Qatar Airways, where they do it for you), get my bag, go through baggage screening again, and so on and so forth. With staying in Doha instead, I got back home by 10.15 pm, had a drink, watched the rest of a movie I had started, and also got a good night's rest. The only thing was I had to nip over to Carrefour this morning to get a small bit of food for brunch, since I had eaten everything in anticipation of being gone.

Emirates also, on my behalf, immediately contacted ANA and rebooked my domestic flight in Japan so I would have the same flight, but one day later. Emirates and ANA have no alliance affiliation, by the way. Now I can even see my ANA flight on my Emirates itinerary online.

The very helpful, but very stressed, Emirates employee (she was the only one behind the counter who worked directly for Emirates-- the rest are airport personnel who work the check-in counters) also took the contact information for my two hotels in Japan, as well as the rent-a-car company. She said a memo would be sent to the Emirates office in Japan, and someone there would phone the places and rebook my car and hotels on my behalf as soon as possible. It was almost 10 pm here (4 am there), so places there couldn't be contacted until business day started. Also, too, it was good of them to rearrange things for me-- while I can do okay in Japanese, the phone is more difficult. Also, as I'm not always the most fluent, having someone from the airline who can speak better than I can would make things go a lot more smoothly.

We shall see how the rest of the trip goes, but so far Emirates did everything they could to help me. Business class, although it does cost more, *does* come with a lot more services as needed. Had I been in Economy, I would have probably been put on my own, and been forced to cancel my trip as I couldn't get everything rearranged in time. The security and stress-free travel rearrangement this way, alone, is worth the extra money.