An Epilogue

Well, the characters in this adventure made it through to the end of their Japan and Rugby World Cup journey. DiStar and Bob, The Rose, (who was too much of a liability and remained deflated in the luggage for the entire trip) left for Singapore and Indonesia adventures relating to offshore wind farming. She decided she will not be blogging from Singapore because it would just be a blog full of big sexy boat photos, remarks about her vast food consumption and how it is rather really quite hot. She is looking forward to returning to London soon for B...onfire Night and errr, the other 'B'.

Paul remained in Japan for another week where he got up to some aimless wandering without Divya to set a daily agenda for him. He had a great time.

Author's Note

This blog is dedicated to my parents who were going through a challenging time whilst I was gallivanting around the world. I hope you enjoyed my adventures and I promise the drinking was never excessive! And thank you to Linda, for your remote, virtual support.

Chapter 14 - Japan's Quirks

I can think of no other country on this majestic Earth of ours that I would have been willing to travel around for four weeks to attend the Rugby World Cup.

View from my Asakusa hotel room of the Tokyo Sky Tower - my last night in Japan.

New Zealand could have been in the top spot if I hadn't spent four weeks there almost two years ago.

It makes me think back to 2011, when the Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand. I remember watching matches early in the morning at home, following a night shift. I hoped I would have the chance then to attend a RWC, but thanks to a plan made with Paul sometime during the 2015 RWC held in England, I had the means, the motive, the opportunity to try to make this trip happen.

Rugby World Cup Richmond Fanzone 2015
When we were younger!

Japan is an awesome country made so great by its people. One of the most heartwarming things I experience here is when I use my very limited Japanese phrases to begin communications, and the person replies back in full on Japanese, and instead of getting frustrated with each other, we still somehow manage to communicate! I have had many conversations with strangers about my time in Japan just by going through my photo album on my phone. I can even explain how I build offshore windfarms, travel to Singapore, and discuss Japan's nuclear power concerns - all without actually speaking Japanese! When I am wearing my England or RWC clothes, it opens up so much interest and chat from the friendly strangers.

They said the Japanese are very helpful and friendly to strangers, and it's true. I found myself catching this phenomenon and would find myself approaching lost looking Westerners to see if I could help them (something I avoid with a vengeance amongst tourists in London, likely because you don't know if they are a genuine tourist or a scammer trying to steal my purse).

I felt really safe in Japan, something I am used to in Singapore but know I shouldn't take for granted whilst there. It was so nice to relax and not feel like everyone and everything was out to get me and do me harm, which is how I feel when I am in London. All the bleeding time. It really wears me down and keeps me indoors at home as often as I can be. Most weekends, I don't even like to go out to put my rubbish in the bin outside my house in case some creep is lurking!

In Japan, I found it clean and calming. What may have been lacking by the high cost of things, was made up by how I felt the high price came with a high value. Accommodation was clean and safe. Food tasted good and fresh. And, even the bleeding highways were mostly smooth and efficient (tunnels thru mountains), making the toll fares worthwhile.

I did notice that there is a lot of smoking and drinking, with alcohol so cheap to buy in convenience stores. I am sure cigarettes work out cheap too. I observed a lot of polite binge drinking and drunks on the street, with some just blatantly spending the night on the street after a heavy session. In the UK, their shoes (let along their valuables) would be nicked!

Monday morning, 8am, Shinjuku, Tokyo. 

He is lying above the steps to the metro, still dressed nicely in his fancy shoes and shirt!

And, speeding on the highway was quite a common occurrence but I can hardly talk about that. And their other vice? Gambling! There are many venues with gambling machines, with a slot game called Pachinko the nose popular. They also encourage the gambling early by these lucky dip toy dispensers, where kids collect toys at random. These dispensers are everywhere.

Kids' gambling machines - lucky dip toy dispensers

So between all that and the easily available prostitution, it is actually quite a marvel that Japan is this super functioning and super healthy affluent country. I believe, much like in Singapore, there could be more than meets the eye behind the scenes. We just don't see the statistics on how many people die of lung and liver disease in Japan. Maybe they bury the truth and when I am not looking, the drunk, smoking, gambling, whoring Japanese descend into impolite behaviour, urinating on the streets, act ludicrous and start fights - you know, like Brits (at home and abroad).

I was constantly surprised by how many international brands and companies there are Japanese. Yakult surprised me and it seems like all the car brands of the world come from Japan.

Would I return to Japan? You bet.
Is it likely I will remember any of the tiny amount of Japanese I have learnt? Doubt it.
Will England win the Rugby World Cup here in Japan? They stand a good chance.

These are some quirky things I saw in Japan:

I liked the women only train carriages and floors in capsule hotels / hostels.

It does beg the question - what do gender-neutral people do?!

I could have dedicated a whole chapter to Japanese toilets!

Heated seats (not to be confused with 'warm' seats), lots of water washing / bidets, pressure adjustments, deodorizers, ability to play sound to drown out toilet noises. One could spend quite some time in the toilet cubicle in Japan - and also may need a phd to understand how they work!

Some fun signs!

Ladies in kimonos out to take the best of the best Instagram photos was a common site!

They weren't dressed up to go to a shrine, they dress up for photos. Made things quite colourful!

Plastic food to display what the restaurant serves or what's in the box (like at the airport) was a common sight. So realistic!

Cute safety barrier!

And hello! How have I not come across Triangular Glue before? Of course it makes sense, it means the edges of paper can be neatly glued down compared to the round glue sticks.

A lot of restaurant and food kiosks have a pre purchase vending machine that is used to first purchase the item you want (like a bowl of ramen), pay for it, then you take the ticket to the counter for the food to be prepared. It means food handlers do not need to handle money too. Very efficient.

I think I used a vending machine more times in four weeks than my entire life before then!

Chapter 13 - Sapporo (Northern Japan)

Sapporo City: Tuesday 8, Friday 11 - Monday 14 October 2019.

Post writing disclaimer: this one is mostly about what I have been eating, sorry about that to any hungry readers waiting for lunchtime!

I love the city of Sapporo! Ol' Typhoon Hagibis meant we had to pitch up longer than planned in northern Japan, missing out on spending my final days in Tokyo.
But that's ok as Tokyo to me was just an anonymous, shapeless metropolis that didn't really warm me ol' cold heart. I missed out on some crucial Tokyo sightseeing like err, some gardens and a palace, but I think I have had such a great time seeing similar things in Japan's other cities. I will do some last minute shopping in Tokyo, before heading to the airport to fly to Singapore.

So on to Sapporo! We spent one night in the city before travelling to the mountains for two days (see: Chapter 12). That first night I dumped my bags and headed out to eat on my own. I wandered around the Susikino area, but Sapporo isn't that huge, so all of it's eating, nightlife and shopping is pretty much on top of each other. Not long after I hit the streets I passed a Mexican bolt hole, a tiny restaurant full to the brim. I am a sucker for Mexican food so I didn't even made a conscious decision, I knew I would be eating there. I went for a walk, had a Tom Collins in a bar, and looped back to the Mexican place called "Viva Mexico". I had the best tacos (shrimp) I have ever eaten outside of Mexico (and I have barely been to Mexico!). Over margaritas and tequila I made some new friends, and experienced how it is always possible to communicate, even if you don't speak each other's languages.

A couple of days later we were back in Sapporo but this time knowing we were going to stay an extra two nights to avoid Typhoon Hagibis down in Tokyo. We visited a sake museum with the hope we may learn something about sake and taste it. But that wasn't so successful other than it sold sake flavoured soft scoop ice-cream, so we tried that. We headed to the rope way in Sapporo.

Advertised as 'one of three most beautiful nightscapes in Japan', and given how we enjoy a good cable car experience, we went to Mt Moiwa, which is located south of Sapporo city. The city is surrounded by mountains or the coast. The ropeways consisted of a cable car and then a funicular to get to the summit. We ascended at night to 531m, so the city was lit up with the orange glow from sodium lamps while the surrounding mountains and water created blackout spots. It would have been quite eerie if it hadn't been so busy! On our descent, I kept feeling like the car was going to plummet due to my experience earlier in the week riding rollercoasters (gulp)!

After the mountain, we went in search of some British food. We had casseroles, bangers and mash, gravy, pies on our mind - and didn't find it (I am still craving mash and gravy with sausages). We did find an Irish / American sports bar, where we watched the Australia v Georgia match. A lot of smoking goes on in pubs / bars / restaurants here, despite not being allowed to smoke on the streets (there are special designated smoking areas on the streets), it gets quite annoying especially because the smoke feels more acrid than I remember it being back in the UK days of smoking indoors. Just a little irritation I feel in Japan!

Fried spaghetti snack, weird but good. 

My teeth started to hurt after a while.

Paul and I have been saying how we need to be adventurous and not keep going to pubs, and that instead we need to go into the bars that are in the upper stories of buildings. So we tried to do that but kept walking into brothels*! Turns out we had picked the red light area to try this out in 😂.

*Not really brothels, but bars where 'entertainment' is provided by women to patrons. It is the oldest profession in the world, who am I to judge it! I do wonder if they are unionised in Japan and protected, as it is hard to think that women would be disrespected in Japan when everyone is so polite. All the bowing, gentleness and kindness is probably a great big facade!

The following night I did go to bar in the upper stories of a building, ten stories to be exact. So I achieved my goal. I drank this 'Coriander Black' beer which is brewed locally in Sapporo. It wasn't as good as the coriander seeds I love to eat but it had an unusual, not unlikeable, flavour to it!

Sapporo is a big brewing city, with lots of craft beer popups too. It is also a winter / ski season city, and within a few weeks it will get busy as the skiers / snowboarder arrive, including many from Australia and New Zealand.
What I really like about my time in Sapporo is that I have barely seen more than five Westerners out here, and this has really immersed me into making  Japanese connections out here.

In fact, I popped into another restaurant my new Sapporo friend Kazuhiro owns - Always Hawaii. I ate the best battered fish (mahi-mahi) on this side of the Pacific. Sitting at the bar in that restaurant, and being introduced to Kazu's regular patrons, made me feel like part of a community. It was awesome.
The locals continue to be excited by my participation in the Rugby World Cup. I whipped out the Eddie Jones and me photo again and it caused a bit of a hoo-ha of excitement.

During the day I had found my happy place, aka my happy pancake place, at 'A Happy Pancake'. It is the same chain as in Osaka, this time I ate the special edition pumpkin pancakes.

Then, the next day, I went back to eat the cream cheese and blackberry compote pancakes. I cannot get enough of these bad boys!! Souffle pancakes, made to order and cooked to perfection.

I also took a day trip / afternoon trip outside of Sapporo to the town of Otaru. I thought Otaru may be the equivalent of a British seaside town based on the marketing leaflets, but it was mostly just the equivalent of Grimsby (not a diss to my Grimsby peeps, you know I love it up there!) Otaru had a good sake store listed on Google so I walked there and finally got to sample some sake to understand why it is I like some sake over other types of sake. Turns out I have expensive tastes because the more expensive sake (meaning the rice has been polished for longer, meaning the end result is smoother) is my preferred sake (jyunmai ginjyo sake). I also sampled plum wine, which everyone knows is just delicious (oiishi)!

Disused rail line in Otaru and the Sea of Japan

Japan v Scotland was on for my last night in Sapporo, also marking the last match of the pool stages for the tournament. It was a crunch match, and we pitched up in a Japanese bar (not an Irish one, finally!) to support the Blossoms. It was such a thrilling match and the atmosphere was electric, the Japanese supporters are entertainment in their own right for their gasps, squeals and excitement. I was watching the last few minutes through my hands and quite short of breath. But alas, Japan beat Scotland and all was right in the world.

Japan v Scotland Bar - 'Rugby Bar Sapporo'

The tournament now moves onto the knockout stages, with four matches to be held next Saturday and Sunday. England v Australia, New Zealand v Ireland, Wales v France and Japan v South Africa. I will be in Singapore, watching on near enough local time, sweating (and likely, swearing) it out in equitorial heat.

Speaking of climate change, I was on Typhoon Hagibis watch all weekend and this image caught my attention. Doesn't she look sweet and innocent from this angle?

DiStar Consumption Index:
Pancakes x 2 (I'm gonna miss those beauts)
And,

Another Katsu at Katsuya 

Conveyor belt sushi, my first time - I haven't even been to Yo Sushi before!

Chapter 12 - Daisetsu National Park, Hokkaido (Northern Japan)

Wednesday 9 - Friday 11 October 2019

This is the actual view as I start writing this chapter. I am at 1,300m above sea level up a mountain in the Daisetsu National Park in Hokkaido, northern Japan.

It is a glorious blue sky only kinda day up here, and I'm told it snowed at the peak of Mt Kurodake last night. But it is the colours of the tree leaves that is impressing me. It is so pretty here! Autumn is upon us and the vividly coloured leaves are breathtaking, and the maple red reminds me of what could be a really good lipstick colour.

The leaves begin to turn at the summit in September, slowly spreading down to the foothills of Sounkyo Onsen town over a month. Sounkyo is at 670 m and is where we are currently staying.

I popped into the museum to observe some wildlife, including a fine specimen of a Japanese Biker Man that happened to be on display....

A wise WOL

"Here we have a common male rider, sexius motorbicus, observing the animal kingdom he dominates. He survives by travelling vast distances on his steel horse." 

Then I ascended the mountain via the ropeway cable car to the 5th station. Hikers can hike up to the peak from here, non-hikers can take a chair lift to the 7th station and take a stroll to waterfalls up there. Unfortunately, the chair lift is closed today due to yesterday's weather so obviously, goes without saying, I am not hiking up any further than this spot!

I had lunch up here so I think overall this is a good achievement for my mountaineering shenanigans. Paul was out early to hike to the peak, I hope he was prepared for the snow!
Hi

Post writing update: he wasn't, he had to wring out his wet socks up t'mountain sitting in a little hut. Turns out his trainers have holes in them. He said the climb was quite warm because the sun was out and the mountain was shielding against the winds, but at the peak the winds were very chilly.

We arrived yesterday to grey skies and high winds. I put on my hoodie and coat for the first time in three weeks! The hotel is a little like The Shining meets Dirty Dancing. This is because there are creepy corridors and due to the mountain backdrop. And also because there are tannoy announcements every so often for the start of activities such as bingo or the dining room opening, a la Dirty Dancing.
I know which 'Johnny' I would prefer to see here ❤️ (let's pause to remember Mr Swayze....).

The accommodation (Sounkyo Choya Hotel) is half board so it was quite cosy to stay in the hotel and eat from their gigantic buffet. Now, I am a buffet professional (thanks to Not-DONG) and even this buffet threw me off my game. It was quite an overwhelmingly Japanese buffet with lots of mystery items plus a full on soft scoop ice-cream dispenser (Hokkaido is famous for ice-cream and other milk products due to having some spiffy cows).

I made a Genghis Khan both nights. Say what? You bring a burner and cast iron pan to the table, and load it up with veggies, fish, meat to cook at the table.
Now, we all know I tend to go off script when it comes to food combinations. The Japanese around us must have been quite amused by my combinations.
The first night I sizzled salmon, tofu, bean sprouts, onions, peppers - all wrong.
It should have been a pre-mixed beef combination, instead I went around a buffet picking up other items.
The second night, I sizzled already cooked tempura vegetables (including a potato / rice patty, a lot like gnocchi).

And I drizzled the lot of it with a Chinese salad dressing for flavour as it cooked. Then I would eat the pieces dipped in sesame seeds and wasabi powder.

Conventionally, I did finally eat tuna sashimi (raw tuna) with wasabi and picked ginger, which was on my food list for this trip.

Sounkyo Onsen is a hot springs town so I had to onsen (sit in the water) here. Thankfully, I was able to take a dip into the springy sulphur water in a private bath. You have to onsen naked, even in the public baths. The rules are:

1. Take off clothes in change room
2. Rinse or wash body
3. Soak in bath (do not put head under water)
4. Relax and enjoy
5. Rinse and wash body after bath

I did all that but privately during a 50 min slot. The water is not drained and replaced between bathers, much like a jacuzzi isn't either. The onsen water felt cleaner than jacuzzi water, perhaps because bathers must wash prior to use and the Japanese are unlikely to skip this part. The onsen water also felt hot, hot, hot. I had to climb out twice to cool down. I can't say if the water is healing and calming because I felt sick afterwards, a little like if I had just spent the day sweating outdoors in Singapore. I had to have a nap afterwards to recover so I think long term, an onsen isn't for me!

One fun observation: if you soap your butt and sit back down on the stool, there is a high chance you slide right off the stool only the floor. It may or may not have happened to me....

Entry area in the private bathing room

Pre and post (posterior?) cleaning 

The drive out of the mountains was very pretty, as it was another blue sky morning. I think I am a big fan of gorgeous 'gorge' gorges.

I could potentially become a Gorge Gorge blogger, full time? Chasing gorge gorges around the world in my helicopter (memo to self: learn to fly a helo).


In fact, this photo has been the screensaver on my phone for almost two years.

It is the very Gorge Gorge Kawarau gorge in Queenstown, New Zealand. I was eyeballing it as part of my Lord Of The Rings tour, and is actually where the Fellowship sailed in the scene as they pass the Gates of Argonath / Pillars of the Kings and He (Lord Aragorn, son of Arathorn, true heir to Gondor, King of my Heart) and Frodo look upon the giant stone statues of the kings. I actually ache to watch that film right now!

So you know, we played Bingo at the hotel, Japanese style. Luckily the numbers themselves were in English numerics. Paul won a bottle of sake, I tried to be pleased for him but I am a sore loser when it comes to Bingo. I think I prefer playing down Gala, with a dabber!

Back to Sapporo today, where we are bunkering down for Typhoon Haggis / Hagibis. "This is Divya Patel, reporting live from the eye of the storm, back to the studio .... "