Days Three and Four, Nara/Kobe and Returning to Korea

And once again, we woke up really early and hopped on a train, this time stopping for coffee and pastries at a cafe at the train station.

The agenda for this day was a morning and lunch in Nara and the afternoon in Kobe.

The scenery on the way to Nara from Osaka was far more flat and open than I expected. I guess I've gotten really used to Korea where the mountain press in everywhere. In Japan, they're ever present, but not always so close.

Nara itself is a pretty little city mostly known for being Japan's first real capital. It apparently only lasted about 75 years before being moved to Kyoto, but it still counts. On the east side of the city is a huge park area filled with pagodas, temples and shrines, all of which are beautiful (not to say we saw them all, but those we did were pretty sweet). In particular, I loved the five story pagoda. The park is also populated by a large herd of tame deer. You can buy deer biscuits from vendors then just stand there as you are mobbed by a herd of greedy deer trying to get at the biscuits before you've even unwrapped them. I feared for my fingers.

In the park, we finallly saw the beginnings of the cherry blossoms. I think we arrived about a week too soon to see them in their full glory (we barely saw any in Kyoto), but they were still all pretty and pink and white.

After a few hours in the park, we made our way back to town for lunch. We found a great tempura place, thanks to the Lonely Planet. We had shrimp, scallop, yam, potato, pepper, mushroom, crab, squid, fish, and baby corn, all battered and fried into light and crispy perfection. As well, the meal set we ordered came with a bowl of cold soba noodles which were great dipped in a sauce of tempura soy, wasabi, shredded daikon, and green onion. So good.

When lunch was over, it was off to Kobe, via Osaka. We had excellent timing for the trains and got there rather quickly. The scenery between Osaka and Kobe was exactly as expected, nothing but city.

Kobe is a nice city. There didn't seem to be anything particularly special about it, but I can see it being a nice place to live. We stopped at the HMV where we all went a little nuts trying to find some Japanese-only releases with bonus tracks and such. We all did rather well. I ended up with the new Beck, Guero (which has three extra tracks on it including one called "Clap Hands" on the cover and "Crap Hands" on the Japanese insert), the Matthew Sweet album he released only in Japan (I realize he is releasing it in North America with another album, maybe already has, but buying the actual Japanese release was pretty cool), and a Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her album with songs I've never heard before. I could have purchased some other Japanese bands like Buck Tick Romance (which I think I may have inadvertantly experienced for free in the park in Nara), Chicken Garlic Steak, or the ever popular Bump of Chicken, but I decided to pass on them.

After the music shopping we did some book shopping. Jon got himself a manga book. I considered doing the same but came to the realization that comic books/manga art/futuristic sci-fi have never really appealed to me so I refrained.

Following that we had a tired and frustrating time finding a pub that ended up not being worth finding. Then we went back to Osaka to hunt out some dinner.

The search for food was extremely difficult as we were all so exhausted and incapable of deciding on anything. We did, however, eventually end up at a really good Mexican restaurant in Minami. I'm not sure if it's because I haven't had decent Mexican food in a almost, or possibly more than, a year, but this was great stuff. It seemed pretty authentic and even came with a selection of Mexican beers (well, not "came with" as in free, they were 700 yen each). We were all satisfied and content with our meal.

After dinner we went back to the hotel with the thought of going out for one last Asahi before going to bed. Alas, it was not to be as the place near the hotel was closed and we were all too tired and grumpy to try elsewhere. It's probbably for the best that we just went to bed.

And so that brings us to today. We got up, cruised to the train station and, after a short worry about times and transfers, got ourselves on the express to the airport. It ended up being a rather expensive ride as our rail passes had expired and there was an extra fee for the express train (total cost, nearly 1800 yen), but we got to the airport in plenty of time.

The flight was remarkably uneventful, as was the train back to Miryang.

Being back in Korea makes me realize just how different the two countries are. Japan is generally quieter, tidier, and more subdued than Korea. People even seem to wear fewer bright colours in Japan. It obviously goes much deeper than that, and I did only have three days in Japan so there's a lot I've missed. If ten months in Korea can go by and I still can't say I've figured things out that much, a weekend in Japan isn't going to enlighten me that much at all. One thing, though, it is nice to back in a place where I can read the signs and order food. I had forgotten how difficult that could be. That said, I will go back to Japan. I need to see more.

Guy