22/08/2009
A big day out in Osaka
This is the last in my series of "Summer Solo Excursions" since summer is now over... Maybe I'll do some Autumn ones...
Well this was definitely my biggest adventure, because it was the first time that I had ventured solo into Osaka which is a huge city. You may notice some hyperlinks, these link to photos I took this adventure. So firstly I had to get to Osaka, so I left on the Hankyu train from Nagaoka Tenjin Station on a train bound for Umeda. I didn't go all the way to Umeda, because I was planning to go to Shinsaibashi first and the easiest way to get there from the Hankyu Kyoto line is to change on the Subway at Awaji station. From Awaji I caught at train on the Sakaisuji subway line to Nagahoribashi. At Nagahoribashi I changed to the Nagahori Tsurumi-Ryokuchi subway line and rode it one stop to Shinsaibashi. At Shinsaibashi station it was a task and a half figuring out what exit to get out of the place and up to ground level. Once I made it to the ground level my first stop was the
Apple Store Osaka, where I purchased an OS X 10.5 upgrade for our G5 just a few days before they stopped selling it. So now I've upgraded the G5 to the last operating system that will run on it, hopefully the security patches should keep coming for a few more years. Then I had BLT sandwich for lunch at a very nice and inexpensive cafe in Amerika-mura. After lunch I went to the
Nike Store and purchased a pair of cross trainers (YES! they have sizes bigger than 27cm, the normal limit in Japanese shops). While there I had a good chat with the salesman in Japanese, because he's been to Australia and also has a Mac. After that I did
some more wanderings around Amerika-mura and then I decided to head to
Dotonbori. At Dotonbori I watched a few
street performers as well as having chats in Japanese to people who were sitting along the river. I met a few photographers, one even had an FM3a. Then I wandered back up to Shinsaibashi via the road, because the arcade was way too crowded and I then caught a train on the Midosuji subway line to Umeda. Walked all the way to the Umeda sky building in the sweltering heat, thankfully some of it was through underpasses. At the Umeda sky building I chatted with some high school students who were sitting in front of a fountain in shady spot for about an hour, using a mix of Japanese and English. Once I could see the light was becoming good I went up the top of Umeda Sky Building and got some shots from there (sorry I haven't posted those yet). Finally once I came back down, I got this snap of the building in the waning daylight. Walked all the way back to Umeda Station and caught a Limited Express on the Hankyu Kyoto line. I made it back home just a little bit later than the 1900 I had planned.
15/08/2009
Omi-Maiko
Another day trip into Shiga, this time with my lovely wife Ritsuko, and our friends Shinya and Chiyo and their daughter Ruth. We headed further up North along the shores of Lake Biwa this time, but not as North as I went in
2007. The place we visited is called Omi-Maiko (note the Kanji character for "Maiko" in the towns name is the same as that used for "Maiko" as in an apprentice Geisha, I'm not sure why though). Omi-Maiko is a popular swimming spot in the summer months, so I took a swim in the fresh waters of Lake Biwa.
I decided to go for a bit of a swim out to a rope, it was about 15m out from the shore. I made it to the rope, turned around and started to swim back doing freestyle. I made about three strokes when suddenly my wedding ring flew off from my hand when my arm was out of the water. Attempted to dive down to find it for a while, the water was about 2m deep. I had very little visibility so after about 5 minutes I called to Shinya to see if he had goggles. He said they're are back up on the beach, so I swam back to beach told Ritsuko that sad story and got the goggles. I prayed and asked God to help me find the ring, then I headed back to where I thought was the spot and proceeded to duck dive around looking for the ring. The bottom of the lake is pebbles. After about 15 minutes of duck diving I decided I might be more successful I skimmed along the surface. I spotted something gold in the water and duck dived down to find it was only a candy wrapper, but I was compelled to reach out just a bit further and suddenly my hand felt the ring! I picked it up and brought it back to shore and Ritsuko took care off it while I continued with an afternoon of swimming.
You can hear me talk about this experience here.
After the lake we headed for a nearby Onsen (hot spring) for a wash.
13/08/2009
A sortie in to Shiga
...and now for the second instalment in my "Summer Solo Excursions" series...
Back in
October 2006, Ritsuko and I attempted to walk from Hama-Otsu station to Ishiyama station following the shoreline of lake Biwa. This is a distance of about 7.2km. Our first attempt started well, with low 20s temperatures and mild conditions, but had to give up after about 2km because the weather became exceedingly adverse (heavy rain and strong wind). We also carried a lot (as we were travelling between accommodation) on that first attempt and I didn't get a chance to get the dSLR out the bag for any photos.
Well, I got it in my mind at having a second crack at completing the walk. This time I decided to travel lightly only taking my Casio EX-Z850, a small bag and an umbrella.
Firstly I went by JR train from Nagaokakyo to Yamashina. At Yamashina I changed on to the Keihan train and headed to Hama-Otsu station. I arrived at Hama-Otsu at 1650 and proceeded to the path along the shore line of lake Biwa. The weather was clear and about 30C and 86% humidity, not the most comfortable of conditions for a walk, but doable. Proceeded a long the shore line and the weather began to get rainy at about the 2km mark, pressed on. The rain became heavy by the time I reached the 3km mark, so I decided to check out the Prince Hotel (the tall building in the distance on the photo). Rain cleared at about 1740 so I headed on to a large bridge some 4.3km from the start point. Arrived at the bridge about 1800 and spotted a MOS Burger restaurant nearby and decided to have dinner there. Left MOS Burger about 1830 in almost dark though clear conditions. About 1900 rain started again and I had a strong head wind. Rain continued to increase in strength, dark conditions, little visibility, I pushed on. Arrived at the railway line at 2000, then attempted to follow it to the station, no straight path available, wound my way round back streets of traditional Japanese houses in pouring rain. Finally got to Ishiyama station at 2030, met a group of Canadian tourist, one of them said to me “You look flustered!”... Mission accomplished! Headed back home on the JR train from Ishiyama to Nagaokakyo.
Now as I look at the map of Lake Biwa (Biwa-ko) in my office, I realise I only covered a tiny fraction of it's 235.2 km shore line, so sometime in the future maybe I'll walk around the whole lake...
03/08/2009
An evening out
I spent an evening out on my own in Kyoto. Walking around taking in the sites, getting a few snapshots, sampling the food and fruit juices, and chatting to the shop assistants in Japanese without my safety net of having Ritsuko with me to do all the talking. I'm here for the long haul, so if my Japanese speaking is to get any better, sometimes I need to just go out and practice. Kyoto is a good place to do it, because there so many tourist that people don't expect your Japanese to be perfect. Actually it's amazing how happy shop assistants become when they see you making an effort to speak Japanese. It also helps to pay them a few complements! It's amazing what you can learn when you just start talking to people... Stay tuned a few more posts on some of my "Summer Solo Excursions" are in the pipeline.