April 4th
(1) Flew from San Diego to Los Angeles, leaving at 10:30am.
(2) Flew from Los Angeles to Osaka on a 747. They showed 2 movies - including
'1900'. It took about 12 hours, flying circularly over
Vancouver. The flight attendants were very helpful, carefully explaining how
to catch my plane from Osaka to Fukuoka after we
landed.
(3) After arriving in Osaka, the plane was late and I had only 45 minutes to catch
the next flight. I made it. The flight took about one
hour, arriving at 8:20pm (on April 5th), Fukuoka time. (That's about 18 hours
of flying including layovers in Los Angeles and Osaka.)
April 5th
(1) I met my friend at the airport and we took a subway train from the airport to a
station that was closest to the hotel where my friend
made reservations for me -- 'Green Hotel 2'. (I think that this was my first
subway ride; I did it in Japan.) She got me an overnight
businessman's room since I'd only be staying there that night. It was very
small -- about 15 feet long by 8 feet wide. The bed was
jammed into a corner and I hit my head on the bathroom doorway the first time that I
went into it.
(2) After settling in, we walked down the street to a restaurant. (The
temperature was about 55 degrees.) The restaurants were
packed wall-to-wall inside mini-malls. We ordered our meal via a data entry
pad. (I noticed that, when someone either makes or
receives a cellular phone call, they leave wherever they're sitting and go someplace
where they can speak without bothering other
people.)
(3) When we walked back to the hotel, I noticed that the walk signals had timers on
them that indicated to the pedestrians -- and
motorists -- how much time was left before the signal would expire. I've never
seen anything like that in the United States.
April 6th
(1) I had breakfast at a donut shop that was located inside the subway station near
the hotel. My friend arranged to pick me up at noon,
so I walked around downtown Fukuoka checking out the scenery.
(Pink and white cherry blossom trees along a river near downtown Fukuoka.)
(Click me.)
I noticed the following (in chronological order) -- a strong diesel odor; unlike
the United States, people don't usually wear sunglasses
when walking; there were many bicycles and mopeds; most of the cars there are not
available in the United States and are
extraordinarily small, many having 1.0-liter engines; I saw a minor traffic
accident where a taxi rear-ended a car (The gentlemen
involved were actually smiling/grinning at each other as they got out of their
cars!); many of the sidewalks have raised yellow dividers
to separate pedestrians; motorists drive on the left side of the road -- one of
three countries that do that, I was told.
(2) I got lost trying to return to the hotel and found a Japan Airlines (JAL) office
on the street. One of the employees explained in
broken English how to get to the subway station. I got there and proceeded to
get lost in the subway station. So, I asked an employee
there how to find the hotel and she pointed out the direction to me. (I
noticed that about 1 out of 10 people wore masks covering their
noses and mouths. I later learned that it was to avoid a cedar tree-related
allergy.)
(3) My friend picked me up at about noon and we walked down the road where we rented
a car from a Mazda agency. She drove and we
went to pick up her mother who lived in the suburbs. The plans were to drive
about two hours south to a hot springs hotel. The three
of us first went to a nearby restaurant for lunch.
(Here is a cherry blossom tree, the rental car, and me -- for size reference.)
(Click me.)
(4) Afterwards, we drove south to an area -- Ikiryu, near a city named Kabeyu --
that is located near the center of Kyushu Island. We
checked into the hot springs ("onsen") hotel and then drove around the countryside
("hondakogen") near the cities Kusu and Kokonoe.
I took pictures of steam geysers ("aso"). (My friend had taken several trips
to the area when she was growing up. She remembered
many of the roads from those trips.) The geysers are used to create energy.
Aso!
(5) We returned to the hotel at about sunset. My friend and her mom took a
bath in the hot springs inside the hotel while I took a nap.
(The hotel wasn't designed with someone my height in mind.)
(Click me.)
(I had some jet lag to work out.) The hotel was old fashioned with stray mats
for carpeting and low doorways. I had to duck down to
avoid bumping my head. The chairs had no legs and the table was raised about
14 inches off of the floor. We had dinner and then
called it a day. They slept in one room while I slept in the other one.
We slept on mats on the floors.
April 7th
(1) I woke up and walked across the street to take a bath in the hot springs.
However, it wasn't open by 6:00 and I returned later at
7:30. There was a changing room where one undresses and then you walk into
the bathing room. (The floors were made of cement but
it was warm because of the heat of the springs.) Their was a large, 10 foot
by 15 foot, window that looked threw surrounding bamboo
trees, across the small stream adjacent to the bathhouse, and to the street about 60
feet away. While I was in the bath, I saw a teenage
girl ride on her motorcycle. She saw me.
(2) We ate a Japanese-style breakfast that was vegetable-oriented. Afterwards,
we drove to 2 different geyser areas including Mount
Aso.
(The lake at the top of Mount Aso where the geyser erupts.)
(Click me.)
We took a cable car from the parking area to the top of the mountain. In
Japanese, the operator provided information about the area.
When she was done, my friend pointed out that one of
the things mentioned was that several Japanese high school students had been
killed on the mountain six years before when the mountain unexpectedly erupted.
It blew off a chunk of the mountain on one side.
People are no longer allowed to walk to that remaining area any longer. Later,
one person did and the rangers hustled him out, back to
the permitted area.
(3) Later, we drove to Ikiryu -- another hot springs area. It was a controlled
energy source unless Mount Aso. Then, we drove to the
top of a nearby mountain and got a panoramic view of the surrounding valleys.
There were mountaintops as far as you could see.
(4) My friend's mother insisted on paying for the hotel. (I'll be sending her
something to thank her.) We then drove back to Fukuoka,
passing through the city Kumamoto. Occasionally, I noticed non-Japanese cars
such as Mercedes Benzes, Fords, and BMW's.
(5) After saying our good-byes, I took the bullet train ("shingansen") from Fukuoka
to Kyoto.
(The bullet train that I took from Fukuoka to Kyoto.)
(Click me.)
It took about one-and-a-half hours and
arrived at about 8:30pm. (The fastest bullet train is 'Nozomi' and the slowest
one is 'Kodama'. I took the second fastest.
Interestingly, this is the first train ride that I remember haven taken.) I
saw the Pacific Ocean, the sun set over Hiroshima, and the city
Kobe.
(6) Another friend met me at the station and we rode the subway to his apartment
(within 3 blocks anyway). I stayed at the apartment
with him and his wife. After getting myself organized, he handed me the latest
version of 'Newsweek' to which his wife had recently
subscribed. Interestingly and ironically, the feature article was about the
cultural changes occurring in Japan.
April 8th
(1) After breakfast, we went sightseeing around Kyoto via subway and several buses.
I noticed that the majority of people who
commuted this way were either younger than 25 or older than 55, by my age guessing.
Two temples that we saw were 'The Golden
Pavilion' (Kankaku) and the 'Ryoanji Temple'. The former existed as long
ago as the 1220's and the latter since at least the 1500's.
(2) We walked through a couple of neighborhoods to a favorite restaurant of theirs
but it was under construction. So, we ate at
another restaurant that was nestled underneath some apartment buildings.
Afterwards, we went to the emperor's palace. Wow! For
one, we slipped in just as they were closing the front gates for the day. The
other reason was the grounds themselves. This palace
existed for more than 1,500 years and had the architecture. My friends
pointed out that the other palace in Tokyo was much more
modern. It was immaculately kept and I probably took more pictures there than
at any other single location. Humorously, the guards
would scurry us and the other latecomers along so that they could shut down for the
day. Nevertheless, they smiled and were friendly.
When I was in the process of taking a picture, one of them noticed that he was in
the way and ran to get out of the way. Little did he
know that I was taking a picture of him along with some of the other guards!
(3) We then went shopping in downtown Kyoto for souvenirs. (Being that it was
a Saturday, the streets and sidewalks were overflowing
with people. At one point, I heard my friend's wife gasp when she noticed how
many people were walking towards us in the crosswalk
from the other side of the street.)
(4) After sunset, we went to the shrine Kizomizu-Dera. It and the entire
surrounding area were lit up to celebrate the cherry blossom
season. They were in full bloom throughout the area. A statue was on
display. It was only done once every 33 years. What are the
odds of me being there for that? (I asked my friends if they had 33 statues and
they were cycled every year.) Afterwards, we went back
to their place, had dinner, watched some of "The Masters" golf tournament, and
called it a day. (I noticed that I would pick up
Japanese easier while listening to the Japanese broadcasters cover the tournament.)
April 9th
(1) We took the subway and saw 3 shrines and 1 temple. I was told that
temples have priests and nuns ("meko") and that shrines can
either be stand-alone or reside
within temples. The shrines and temples were 'Heian Jingu', 'Yasaka Jinja',
'Maruyamakoen', and
'Chionin'.
(The entrance to one of the temples.)
(Click me.)
We had lunch after visiting Yasaka Jinja. At
Maruyamakoen, there were hundreds of people drinking and partying. It was
to celebrate the cherry blossom season. (If we would have stayed, I'm
sure that I could have made many new friends.)
(People celebrating the cherry blossom festival. And were they ever!)
(Click me.)
At Chionin, my friends took a picture of me on the stairs. Afterwards, I went
shopping for more souvenirs and gifts.
(2) On the way home, we bought groceries for dinner. We went to four
different stores until we finally found some blowfish ("fugu"). It
was very expensive -- $10 for about 8 ounces. Blowfish (or pufferfish),
if not made correctly or if one eats the liver, is deadly.
(3) After eating dinner, my friends helped me to determine which bullet and
subway trains I needed to take in order to get to my hotel in
Tokyo the next morning.
April 10th
(1) With my friend's wife's help, we took two subway trains from their apartment
to the Kyoto bullet train station. All told, it took about
3 hours and I arrived in Tokyo at about 12:45pm. While riding on the
shingansen, it began sprinkling at about 10:00 but stopped within
minutes.
(2) After arriving, I took one subway train to the Akihabara Station. I
tried to take the next train to Asakasubashi but got lost. I found
it four trains and 40 minutes later. Another friend was waiting in the
hotel lobby. I apologized for being about one hour late. We had
lunch at a tiny, but tasty, restaurant. (As was the case with a similar
restaurant that I had lunch at with my friends in Kyoto, it was buried
inside a neighborhood.)
(3) After finishing, we went souvenir and gift shopping. Then, we visited
the 'Sensoji' temple and shrine. He wanted to show me what a
geisha dance show was all about but we discovered that they only "performed" on
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Instead, we
took a cruise around Tokyo Harbor while drinking beer and sake (Japanese rice
wine for those of you who've never had it). The cruise
lasted for about 30 minutes and was based out of the Asakusa-Sumidagawa Port.
(4) It turned out to be my friend's birthday, so he needed to return home where
his family had plans for him. After he left, I considered
going to the Shinjuku district (where I was told that a lot of social activities
go on). However, the hotel clerk informed me that I needed
to take a 30-minute train ride. I decided to take it easy for the night
and ended up watching a San Diego Padres-Montreal Expos
baseball game in my room for the rest of the night.
April 11th
(1) I woke up the next morning to overcast skies that cleared to sunshine by 9:00.
I had a Japanese breakfast at the restaurant. It
included rice, miso soup, a raw egg, beans, and a small piece of salmon.
Hmmm!
(2) When I went walking around the area near the hotel, I noticed that the
buildings were so tightly jammed together that there was
essentially no grass anywhere. I did a test run on the subway trains to
prepare for the next day's flight to Taiwan. (After the previous
day's experience, I needed the peace of mind.) There
are vending machines everywhere for various items and I noticed that a 10-ounce
coke cost 120 yen or about $1.20.
(3) I took a subway train and visited the Imperial Palace. It was
extraordinarily large with a moat around it and walls inside that
measured about 80 feet high.
(The wall and moat around the imperial palace in Tokyo.)
(Click me.)
I took nearly as many pictures there as I'd
taken at the palace in Kyoto. After spending about one hour
there and checking out nearby sights, I returned to my hotel room.
(4) At about 6:30, I went to the Shinjuku district. I bought sushi at a
restaurant on the 7th in the station called 'My City'. Afterwards, I
walked around the area. It was nearly overwhelming. The best was
that I can describe it is a cross between New York city and Las
Vegas -- tall building and flashing neon signs in a 5-block by 5-block area.
I was approached several times by men trying to coax me
into strip joints. While I was there, I bought two non-functioning cellular
phones for one dollar each. They are much thinner and lighter
than the United States' comparable phones. I left at about 9:00.
(5) I took the subway back to the hotel area. While walking to the hotel, a
girl approached me and asked if I was interested in (No, not
that!) going to a karaoke bar. I thought about it and said 'Yes'. I
went in and spent about one hour drinking all the beer that I could
stand and talking with a girl from Singapore. It was pricey at about $50 but
was worth the experience.
April 12th
(1) After making a couple of mistakes, I took the correct subway train to Tokyo
Station. I took the bullet train to Shinosaka (the "New
Osaka" station), arriving about three hours later. Then, I took the subway
station to Kansai Airport. After a 2:10 layover there, I
flew from Osaka to Taiwan. (Before doing so, it was necessary to pay
approximately 2,650 yen for an airport tax fee. This is
necessary if the airport isn't simply a transit between other locations.)
(2) After arriving in Taipei, I took a bus from the international airport to the
domestic airport. (I couldn't take a plane from the
international airport because there were no seats available on the flights.)
Regarding the bus trip, it was somewhat difficult. It was
necessary to exchange United States dollars from new Taiwanese dollars -- $1 for
NT$30.01. With that money, it was necessary to buy
a ticket at the counter and then use it to get on the bus. A taxi driver
in the airport kept trying to get my business. He wanted $40 but
I told him that I was going to take the bus for $2.
(3) I took a plane to my friend's city in southern Taiwan, Kao-hsiung. (I
noticed that it was spelled several different ways in English.) I
had trouble finding the one suitcase that I'd checked in earlier. After
that, my friend wasn't there so I tried to call him but couldn't
figure out how to use the telephone. I went to the airlines' counter and
they helped me to find my bag. Then, I waited at the airport
arrival sidewalk for about 20 minutes until my friend showed up. (I was
starting to wonder whether or not the Taiwan leg of the trip
was such a good idea.) He drove us, including his girlfriend, to a
restaurant for dinner and then back to his sister's house where he
lives. I was exhausted and went to bed nearly immediately.
April 13th
(1) It was very warm in Kao-hsiung -- much too warm for blue jeans or even
slacks. (As the days went by, I became acclimated and
wore blue jeans once.) The city is a third world-type. There is
no sewage system, no control on housing and building developments,
animals (mostly scrawny, undernourished dogs) wander the streets and restaurants,
traffic signals are frequently ignored, and there is a
constant buzzing noise on the streets whose source couldn't be pinpointed.
(2) My friend's sister left us some breakfast including some very rich milk.
We later went to a golf driving range. After that, we
visited one of his cousins who owns a fruit, vegetable, and shrimp-growing farm.
They were extremely hospitable people and even
opened up their best bottle of wine for us. My friend then showed me a
footbridge that stretched across a dry riverbed. It was only
wide enough for two people to cross. Then, we went to a karaoke bar
located in the nearby hills. The owners are natives whose
ancestors lived on the island when it was called 'Formosa'. The
government takes care of their fundamental needs such as health care.
(3) After that, we drove to the place in the suburbs where several of his
relatives lived. The central building was built around 1880 and
his father was staying there at the time. However, he was out "on the
town" and couldn't be found. So, we visited with some of my
friend's other relatives. Then, we visited some of my friend's friends
in the city. One of them was interested in astronomy and wanted
to talk to both about it and the telescope that I'd finished building one year
before. We grabbed a bite to eat at one of the local
restaurants. We then went home and I met his sister and one of her two
daughters.
(4) I noted that, like Tokyo, there was virtually no grass within the city
limits. However, by driving about 3 or 4 miles out of town, there
was an overabundance of vegetation including rice sugar cane fields, papaya and
banana and palm trees, etc.
April 14th
(1) We got going late in the morning. I tried to cash a travelers check
but the bank that we went to wouldn't do it without my passport.
We left and I noted an interesting phenomenon. Young-looking girls could
be seen sitting in green and blue booths every half-mile or so
wearing very provocative clothing. I asked my friend about it and he
said that they were selling a type of gum called "bean long." It's
grown locally. The girls are usually between 13 and 25 years old.
I told him that I'd like to try some -- gum, that is.
(2) My friend had made arrangements to meet some of his lady friends and spend
time partying with them later that day and evening.
They were nurses who worked in the mountains taking care of folks like the ones
mentioned above who owned the karaoke bar that we
went to the day before. The women had seen very few Americans before,
if any, and were extremely interested in meeting me. We
picked one of them up in the city and drove her to her car. Then, we
followed her and met one of the others at a coffee shop where we
spent about 30 minutes talking.
(A couple of native women in Taiwan.)
(Click me.)
Since it was a Friday, the woman that we met
there went home for the weekend and we again followed
the first woman in her Jeep Cherokee. (This was one of the few trucks,
let alone sport utility vehicles, to be found in the area.) We
drove another hour or so to the hospital where they all worked. We met
two more of the nurses there who also were on their way
home for the weekend. We then went to her house where we took a break.
We then went out to dinner and then to her sister's
karaoke bar. Around 10:30, we took off for my friend's house in
Kao-hsiung.
April 15th
(1) With my friend, his sister, and her husband, we went to a shadow
puppeteering show at a local community arts location. We spent
time inspecting the various cultures and methods involved in implementing the
art.
(2) Afterwards, we went to a Buddhist temple that was located on a hill that
overlooked downtown Kao-hsiung and its harbor. (My
friend mentioned that it is the 4th largest/busiest port in the world.)
Then we went to the 'Kao-hsiung Martyrs Shrine. I took a picture
of the founding father of Taiwan.
(3) We left there and drove to the entrance to the port, the open sea.
It is located just beyond Kao-hsiung University. After spending a
few minutes there, we drove around the harbor and had dinner at one of the
nicest restaurants that I'd seen in Kao-hsiung.
(4) After we finished eating, we went to a Dow temple. The previous
temples were Buddhist-oriented.
(A temple in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.)
(Click me.)
We finished the day by my friend and I singing karaoke songs at their house
for about an hour.
April 16th
(1) I had breakfast with my friend, his girlfriend, and his sister. My
friend, his girlfriend, and I drove around the southernmost part of
the island that day. We went to one beach. (A nuclear power
plant was located about 500 yards away from it.) Then we went to one of
the two southernmost points on the island. It was very windy and
lightly sprinkling. He then showed me a spot less than one mile away
where the sand from the beach about 200 feet below gets blown so hard that it
sometimes covers the road.
(2) We drove to a 7-11 store and bought some snacks. We then walked
across the street and I bought some souvenirs and some gifts.
We then went to another beach named 'White Sands Beach'. There weren't
very many people there and my friend brought a couple of
golf clubs where we hit a golf ball back and forth.
(3) We finished the day by driving through the abandoned portion of an active
military base, drove back to Kao-hsiung, and had dinner.
April 17th
(1) On the way to the airport, I asked my friend to take a picture of me with
one of the 'bean long' girls. (He took two pictures.) My
friend and I flew to Taipei to both do some sightseeing and for him to work
with his brother on the floundering United States stock
market situation. We took a taxi to his brother's condominium in the
Tien-mu area. Comparatively, it is like the La Jolla part of San
Diego.
(2) My friend borrowed his car and we drove up a mountain located within a
couple of miles from his condominium. We spent time at a
tavern that overlooked Taipei. We drove to a national park nearby.
Then we went to a white lily farm where he bought some for his
brother's wife.
(3) After we returned, he, his brother, and I went to dinner at the top of a
tower that overlooks the entire Taipei valley. It slowly spins.
After that, they dropped me off about three blocks from the condominium in
an area where I could check out the night life scene.
(There wasn't much happening considering it was a Monday night.) After
spending the last half-hour at a 'TGIF' restaurant talking to
one of the bartenders, I met my friend's brother at the designated meeting
location at about 10:30.
April 18th
(1) While my friend was catching up on the stock market situation that
morning, his brother got a taxi and showed me the scenes in and
around the Taipei downtown area. We saw several city and national
government buildings.
(One of Taipei's government buildings -- at least most of it.)
(Click me.)
We saw memorial parks, one of which was
built for a past successful president of Taiwan. Another was
dedicated to the founding father of Taiwan. We saw the Taiwanese
version of 'The White House'. Official work is done there but the
presidents never live there. We saw the temple 'Shin-tien-gong', the
most famous one in Taipei. We saw the flower clock in
Yang-ming, a national park. We saw the unique artistic design of the
subway
station headquarters.
(2) At about 2:00, my friend and I flew back to Kao-hsiung. When we
arrived at his house, he phoned his lady friends that we'd met
three days before and whom we had planned on spending some time with that
night. However, complications arose and the plans fell
through. My friend and I walked down the street where he took me to
a place where women wash your hair and give you a head and
neck massage. (Everyone should try that at least once.) We
ended up singing some karaoke at their house. We went to dinner at
a
very nice restaurant. We had an after-dinner stroll at the
Grand Hotel, a much smaller version of the one in Taipei yet still impressive.
We finished the night -- and my trip in Taiwan - by going bowling until
about midnight.
April 19th
The rest of the trip was spent flying from Taiwan through Japan and back to
the United States. I flew from Kao-hsiung to Taipei. I
took a bus from the domestic airport to the international airport.
After arriving, I checked in for the flight to Tokyo only one hour and
twenty minutes before the flight; no questions were asked. I flew from
Tokyo to Los Angeles. Finally, I flew from Los Angeles to San
Diego. Altogether, about 20 hours was spent either flying or
experiencing layovers in airports.
(I took approximately 200 photographs while I was in Japan and Taiwan.
The ones that are displayed here are what I consider the most interesting.