J is for...

Japan!

The following is a copy of an email I sent on Monday 4th June 2001 near the end of my first trip to Japan.

hi everybody...

moshi moshi konichi-wa from Japan...I'm having a ball, Japan is an onslaught to the senses!

Here is 12 reasons why I love japan;

1/I love vending machines... I love the 20 million different sorts of drinks you can buy from them, and I love that everyone is a surprise because i cant read what they are!!! I love that I can buy film and batteries and Hagan daaz Ice cream from them, and if I drank beer and smoked I would love buying them from vending machines too!

2/I love heated toilet seats... I love them even more when they have a Boedau thing (yeah I know I can't spell, but you know, the wash your bum thing!) the restaurant we went to last night even had a fake flush sound function... don't ask me why I have no idea! some of the toilets have an automatic hand wash tap and basin thing which starts when you flush, then the water goes into the thing and becomes the water for the next flush, very economical. I love that Dave’s toilet comes with instructions including diagrams of how to sit or stand! (he doesn’t have a heated seat though!!!)(p.s. note to the girls... squat toilets are no fun when you have your period, well sorry but it’s true!)

3/I love big Buddha’s... Ive seen the two biggest ones in Japan, and millions of little Buddhas and lots of Buddhist art... and about 20 million shrines and temples and more Buddhas.

4/I love MOS burgers... I don’t care that they are about half the size and twice the price of McDonald's (and twice as greasy!) they taste damn good, were just around the corner from where I stayed in Kyoto, and have no pickle!

5/I love all the other new food Ive tried... yes I have had raw fish,* not so bad. David took me for Kaiten Zushi (revolving sushi) and i had salmon and tuna and that was a week ago and i’m still alive!!! I’ve also had Okonomyaki (As you like pancakes) and i must say that my pancake flipping skills are much better than Dave's. Shabu Shabu (One pot veggies and meat) you cook both of the last two things yourself at the table. Last night I was forced to try octopus... and we had a ‘surprise parfait’ between 5 of us and we could still only get half way through! Lots of different meat on a skewer type things and of course, god old Mos burger!

6/i love pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate called ‘Pocky’ (you can get them from vending machines too!)

7/I love tacky souvenir shopping... I love tacky souvenir shopping anywhere as some of you well know, but it’s even more fun in Japan... Haven't gone overboard but have bought myself a Kimono which I’m sending home to mum, and it’s not a tacky one at all... so someone needs to come up with an excuse for me to wear it when I get back. I could have spent so much money on crazy camera stuff and books and all the usuals... lucky I don’t have the room.

8/I love that I got to feel an earthquake... just a little one!

9/I love that I’ve seen some really cool photography exhibitions... One you would have liked Julie T was called ‘moonlight blue earth’ where all the shots were lit only by moonlight, not your average startrails!

10/I love checking out the toy dept’s** in the department stores... nothing on Myer Melbourne toys! They’ve all been relatively small, a little bit of Lego, lots of collectible Barbies (but not many pink box, note to Jenny-Anne, Black lingerie barbie and the blonde one with the white lingerie were 7000 yen, so about 100-120 dollars) but lots of Hello Kitty as to be expected... not as much pokemon as I thought, thank god!

11/I love walking out of Shinjuku station for my first glimpse of Tokyo which feels like your walking onto another planet!

12/I love that everyone is so nice and polite (except on trains) and patient with me for not speaking any of the language (and every time I attempt it I pronounce it wrong!) the guy next to me on the plane (who i’d hardly even spoken to) gave me one of each Japanese coins with a little chart of each one he had drawn on a napkin, so I gave him a caramello koala! And the lady at the inn I stayed at in Kyoto also gave me a little present but I had left my caramello koala’s at Dave's! (note to mum, send more caramello koalas!!)

Well that's it for this episode of ‘Allison’s observations of the world... I leave for the states on the 6th and start at camp on the 10th. Hope everyone is well and please keep me up to date with all important gossip!!!
Lots of Love,
Alli

*remember this is 8 years ago and sushi wasn’t as common in western countries as it is now.

**I had just finished up a year of working at Myer toys so it was on my mind!

reading over this has been a blast from the past!

I have been back to Japan twice since then. The 3rd time was only for one night but it still counts OK! (I was on my way to the States and the Japan airlines flight co-ordination meant a 20 hour stopover with supplied hotel room, my travel agent knew I had friends there so offered me that one. They were a little surprised when I emailed them and said "what are you doing on the night of such-and-such coz I was just wondering if you wanted to take me out for dinner!")

I cant believe how green I was and it's interesting to see what was important to me then. Also many of my favourite aspects of Japan are not mentioned (maybe I didn't discover them until the second trip) like Harajuku on a Sunday and that huge massive toy store over four levels and Onsen and the food area of the department stores where you can pretty much fill yourself up for lunch on samples (gotta love free samples!) and my favourite shopping experience...

The vast range of condoms available! my favourite being 'No Touch' which have little tabs so you can open the packet and avoid touching both the condom and the penis because obviously when you are having sex you do not actually want to touch the person!!!