We sure did take the long way home.
I suppose since that was my Thursday and Friday, I can just tell you all about it first, can't I?
Overall, I did enjoy the trip, but it was a little tedious from time to time, and much more expensive than I expected it to be. We went to a place in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture. It's above Tokyo, up in the mountains.
So, Thursday morning, I was supposed to wait with my friend from back home at 9:30 AM to be picked up by our Japanese friends.
Of course, as is often to be expected from young adults, they were late. They got stuck in traffic, and my friend and I were left waiting until about 10:30 AM, when they finally came to get us.
Afterwards, we pulled up by the train station and waited for another thirty minutes, at least, on another three girls, who were all relatively late. It wasn't until about 11:15, a short while after the girls we were waiting on got there, that we left.
I think it was with the driving that I started noticing something that seemed to be a cultural difference that I had not noticed, and a rather frustrating one, at that. Or, it could just be a thing for young adults in general, and since I'm impatient and like to get things done a lot of the time, I got frustrated.
We stopped at a convenient store for snacks right after we left, which was perfectly all right. I understand the desire for snacks while driving around on the road.
Even saw these guys along the way. How cute.
But, maybe an hour after being on the road, we stopped again to meet the rest of our bunch.
... In a food court.
Because they were somehow hungry. Of course, because I had quickly inhaled something for breakfast that morning, I hadn't bought anything at the convenient store, so I was indeed fairly hungry. I ate some udon noodle soup, and only realised about halfway through that we were supposed to be waiting on the others to arrive before we ate.
It took us another hour to get back on the road.
I think that was what was one of the more frustrating things for me--because my aunt and I take very long trips from time to time, I've learned to want to make rest stops as little as possible to save time. As a result, it seems like I get very irritated when road trips get dragged out pointlessly. After all, we were going camping, and I wanted to get there as fast as possible so that I might actually enjoy camping. It had already gone down from being two nights to just being one, and so I wanted to get what I could out of it.
Finally, though, we got back in the car and started going again.
Along the car trip, I managed to get some photos of mountains--Japanese people find my fixation on mountains hilarious, but I cannot help myself. The Mississippi Delta is flat. Very, very flat.
Both views from the car window, of course.
So the quality may not be the best.
But the point is.
Mountains!
We reached our destination [about an hour and a half away, keep in mind, had we made one trip, maybe one quick pit-stop in a convenience store] at 4 PM after leaving at 11:30 AM.
But the place was absolutely stunning.
These were like the "front yards," with space for pets [and people] to play.
My friends and I played a lot of things like soccer and with frisbees and such for a while.
One of the views I was able to get.
Went swimming in that. The current was pretty strong, but the water felt wonderful.
Yay. I love rivers~
An example of the cabins. Successfully held 10 people that night.
Just another view.
I took to, having grown up out in the countryside, laying on the grass and watching the clouds, so I watched the sunset while others played and chatted.
After we got to the cabin, we promptly went to go swimming, though we didn't do so for as long as I would have liked. That's all right, though--it was getting dark, after all.
Our remaining light gave us plenty of time to make dinner, which was, being as cheap as we could be, Japanese-style curry. While dinner was cooking, some of the people decided they wanted to go to the local onsen, hot-spring public bath, that was just a short walk away. Since there's a requirement of being naked [it's divided by gender, so there's really no problem], I wasn't quite willing to go, as I'm painfully modest. Some places allow for towels and such, but sometimes, I've heard they're a little picky about keeping their water clean [with good reason], so I did not want to risk it. I'll try to go once before I leave Japan, but I'm not quite ready yet.
We ate dinner, and then proceeded to eat snacks and have a bit to drink. I'm supposing it's another young-person thing, but Japanese people here sure do seem fond of their alcohol. I didn't drink much--I didn't have to, as the Japanese cannot hold their liquor very well and were all quite tipsy by the time I was feeling a slight buzz, so once I reached that point, I stopped and simply watched them. I don't have a problem with watching people drink, and I don't mind it, myself, but I don't enjoy losing control, and as a result, I've got the self-restraint to not allow myself to get drunk or have too much inclination in general to "party hard." Never been too rebellious as a teenager, really. At least, perhaps not in the stereotypical sense.
There was only one person who really got on everyone's nerves when he was drunk, and it was only because he kept us all awake until about four in the morning. All in all, out of about eight drunk people, I suppose having one bad egg isn't all that bad.
I won't divulge too much, for his sake, but I did lose quite a bit of respect for him after having seen him in such a state. He's a nice fellow, but he's a little pathetic when he's not sober.
We woke up at about seven [I was tired and getting grouchy by this point; I hadn't slept too well the night before], and wandered around and just generally enjoyed our last few hours at the campsite. A new friend of mine and I went down to the river and played in the water just a little bit more, as it was cooler by the river than it was up in the cabin [a trick I remembered from my old Girl Scout days], and we came back up to eat breakfast, leftover curry, with everyone, once it had warmed up and was ready to be eaten. Afterwards, we began tidying up the campsite and getting ready for the return home.
Except, I found out at our next rest stop for lunch [only a little over an hour away; I couldn't see how anyone would be hungry again so quickly after that], they weren't ready to be done.
Well, all right, I admitted to myself. It was a little early to call it a day, and if they wanted to do something, great. I'd be willing to hang out with them a little longer--they're a fun bunch, really.
Deciding that they wanted to go to the Tokyo Sky Tree, we hopped back in the car and were on our way.
Well, sort of.
This is the part where I started to get a little frustrated again, because they decided to go by car. In the countryside, of course having a car is a good idea, but in the middle of the city, particularly Tokyo? Heck, even around Machida, having a car gets to be a bit of a trouble. From where we were, about the halfway point between Chichibu and Fuchinobe, I'm supposing, it should have only taken about another hour or two by vehicle to get back to where we were going.
However, Ueno, which should technically only be about two hours away, took us about four or five to get there.
Because of traffic.
Sure, the trains can be a little expensive sometimes [but overall, they are cheaper when contrasted with Japan's high gas prices], and sometimes a little crowded during rush hours [although it's never as bad as it's hyped up to be], they are better than cars, by far, when travelling within city limits.
I had
A lot of time
To notice
Interesting scenes.
So much time, in fact, that at times, I got sick of looking at said interesting scenes.
Once we hit Tokyo Proper, it seemed to me that it would just be faster to walk.
Finally, though, we got to the Sky Tree, and they all decided that they wanted to eat.
Again.
This time, after not only being tired of spending money [I had spent a lot, but more on that later], but absolutely nauseated by the thought of having to eat again, I skipped out on meal time and simply watched the others eating, eating a piece of a friend's takoyaki after she offered some to me, and what was left over from another friend's crepe only. After we ate, they went out to look at the Sky Tree, take a couple of pictures, and...
Yeah. That was pretty much it. So my American friend and I were a little frustrated--we came all of that way to just look at a flashy radio tower. As lovely as it may be, it took far too long to get there just to look at it for five seconds and go home.
So, to be honest, I didn't enjoy that part of the trip that much.
But I did get some pretty swell photos of it.
Daytime, in the car, looking for a place to park.
Nighttime.
My group of people in the car and I decided to get a better view of it from afar, so we stopped at a place that had a bridge, and looked at it from a distance for a while. It was nice, but by this point, I just wanted to be home.
There are more pictures, but I won't bombard you with them. If you want to see more, with as enamoured as the Japanese are by this building, there are bound to be tons of more professional looking photos on the internet.
As an offhand, happy comment of sorts, though, that shade of blue that it's giving off does happen to be my favourite shade of blue. One of my favourite colours, as a matter of fact.
We left at eight.
A trip that would usually be about one hour, maybe an hour and a half if you had to wait while switching trains, took us three hours, and we didn't get back to the dormitory until 11PM.
At that point, I was tired of being cooped up in a car and rather livid.
But I put on a happy face, because I really did enjoy the majority of the trip, said my farewells, went home, checked everything, took a shower, and went to bed.
So, overall, I promise I did enjoy myself, but it was something that when I got frustrated, I got so frustrated that it scarred my opinion of the whole thing. In about six months, I'll look back, and think "Oh, that was a great time!" without hesitation, but I can't do that just yet.
Saturday, I spent my day recuperating. Sunday, I went to Machida with a friend of mine, and wound up buying a couple of cheap new manga--I've set myself to read about half of one a day, although, I've realised that my Japanese isn't still quite ready to handle all of that yet, as it took me about an hour to read and understand about 12 pages. I'll work as quickly as I can, though, and it's not impossible for me to read it, just really slow.
Monday was a party for another friend of mine back home, about to leave to return home. She left today, as a matter of fact. That night, I had a couple of friends of mine looking for an apartment stay with me, which was quite a good time, although they went to bed much earlier than I have been recently, and as a result, trying to sleep once they had gone to bed was a little difficult. But that's just trifles--the point was, it was also quite enjoyable.
Yesterday I spent reading my manga and watching Rurouni Kenshin, the anime, in preparation for a live-action version of the film due for release next Saturday. When I was younger, I bought a copy of a different version of the series, which was shorter and much more serious, and as a result, I've got a bit of a soft spot for the series, although I haven't seen the parts that everyone else knows the best. So, I'm working on watching that, and I hope to have the entire series watched in time for the actual movie's release next Saturday. Eight episodes watched, about sixty more to go. Wish me luck! Haha. I'm not very good at marathoning shows and movies, but I'll do my best. It helps that it's really good Japanese practice for me, listening-wise. I've accustomed myself a bit better to older-fashioned speaking styles, thanks to it. It's really interesting.
Anyway, if that's your kind of thing, and you [somehow] haven't seen the series yet, do check it out. It's quite good.
This is the trailer for the live-action version--the main actor, Takeru Satou, is super adorable:
I think they're hoping for a worldwide release of the film at some point. Fingers crossed! I'm definitely expecting it'll be good. Well, at least really hoping so, at any rate.
Today, a friend of mine came over and we hung out for a little while before going out and eating some sushi--I've really taken to eating cold foods during the summer. Not just like salads and sandwiches and the like, like we only have back in the states--but in Japan, they eat a lot of things such as sushi, cold noodles, and other things like that, especially during the summer.
It seems like a pretty good idea, and I've taken a pretty strong liking to it.
All right! Still with me? That's my week's review--sorry for it being the length of a novel!
Now for money saving tips.
I've only really got one or two tips this week, though.
If you're going to go book shopping in Japan, particularly for manga/comic books, and games as well, be sure to check a chain store called Book-Off first and foremost--they're an, if I'm not mistaken, lightly used store--I've mentioned it before, but usually the brand-new manga are about 500 yen, whereas the most expensive ones I've bought at Book-Off are only 350, with most of them actually being 105 if you look in the right areas. The quality at the stores is still absolutely pristine--I've never noticed anything wrong with any of the books, and I'm relatively sure the games would be just as good.
They also have a lot of older consoles that you can get for really cheap prices. I think the Gameboy Colour they had there, my first console of any kind, for about 2,000 yen. Oh, nostalgia.
Secondly.
Do not use cars in Japan; at least not in the cities. Gas here, if I did my math correctly, is about $7 to the gallon, which pretty much blew my mind. In the cities, it's much more time and money-efficient to just take a train. Heck, it may be more efficient in the countryside, too. I don't know.
There are expensive toll booths in Japan, too, and even dividing it all up between ten people, I still shelled out about 2,500 yen for the roadtrip. It would have cost me about the same to just have taken the trains and have gotten there faster without having to worry about parking lots. Don't take road trips if you're looking to save a buck or two--unless you're going with someone willing to pay for everything, just take the train.
Camping really is a cheap alternative for having a good time, even in Japan. Renting out the cabin was only about 4,500 a person, which, compared to renting out a hotel, is really cheap. The only part that made it really expensive was taking cars and buying so much freaking alcohol. Had things been handled a bit more efficiently, it would have only run me about 7-8,000 yen, but with all of the pit stops and the useless trip to Sky Tree, I wound up spending somewhere around 12,000 to keep from owing anyone for gas or anything.
But if handled better, it could have cost about half of that, yeah?
So it's a good idea to go camping if you're running on a budget, I think. Besides, it was a good time.
Just--learn from my mistakes on this one. It may be better for you.
That's all for this week!
Sorry about the novel, hope you didn't mind reading all of it. Haha.
Take care, guys.
Talk to you next week!
I'm going to see the Avengers on Monday, so I'll probably have something to say about that, even though all of you have already seen it. That's beside the point.
TTFN, ta-ta for now~
-RD
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