27 Mar Japan! The Final Blog…travelling home & cool stuff on the ground
Ah, the final part of my Japan trip. I actually feel a little sad…like now it really is over. heh. Or maybe I’m just reliving the feeling of the trip being over.
Beauty and Design permeates Japanese culture…all the way down to the sewer grates.
A little flashback photo for those of you that are familiar with my stuff…
Hockey playing Samurai?
Another morning with little to no sleep…luckily I wasn’t nearly as hungover this time. I must have drank 3 liters of water the last night/early morning. Still, it was a little bit of a mystery how exactly to get to the train station. Luckily, some part of my subconscious must have payed attention when Hiro took us there the other morning.
The streets were so narrow and of course, lacking signs. Cars actually drive down these…can you imagine an Escalade trying to navigate this route?
I’m really not sure what these things are. If I had to guess I’d say they were places for school
kids to line up.
Micah + snacks. We stopped at a 7-11 on the way there…and this time I knew where the
hot coffee was.
This is another one of my favorite pics from the trip. I can’t say it really says “Japan” but I really like it.
I really love train stations. I love riding the train. With so many lines in Japan I was happy as a clam.
We had 3 trains to take to get home. The first one took us from by Hiro’s (which I couldn’t find on a map now) to Shibuya, then the JR to Shinkjuku, then the Odakyu to Sobudai.
And we could use our PASMO cards for all of them. BAM!
Here’s Shibuya with a normal volume of people (maybe a little low actually)
And here’s what it looked like on Sunday morning…it was kind of shocking to see it so empty.
This river was so pretty. On one side were dirt ball fields were we saw people playing baseball
on the other we’d see people fishing.
I’m sure no one messed with this guy. He probably slept until he woke up. Because he was scary?
Because he smelled bad? No. Because the Japanese are polite.
Back “home.” I packed, tried to buy some shoes, but they didn’t have the ones I wanted in my size… I bought some snacks and treats for the flight. Mmmmmm dried squid.
I sorted and bagged up my stuff. Some of it I was carrying on the plane, some of it I was going to have
Micah mail me. I really didn’t want to get stuck checking a bag.
By the time I finished my errands and gotten packed it was time to go. In fact, the bus was finishing loading by the time Micah and I walked up to it.
This kid waved as we were stopped at the red light, then the whole way as we passed each
other.
It wasn’t until I was on my way to leave Japan that I started to see the countryside. Behind
the biker is what looks like a community garden, a bunch of small plots all together.
Another view from the bus.
I got the airport with plenty of time, I wandered around, had some noodles and tempura, bought some whiskey…oh yeah! I used a “Japanese” toilet. I could have used a western one, but I thought it would be a shame if I didn’t use one at least once while I was in Japan.
Whenever I fly, I always like to go wait at gate other than my own. Like one with no people. So I wandered down the terminal until I found one that was pretty empty. There was a little souvenir/snack shop/bar and I got a beer. Sooo tasty. Everywhere has good Japanese beer. It’s not like here where you might end up w/ a bar that only has Bud Light & Coors on tap.
I drank the beer, stretched, watched the sunset, and wrote a little bit in my journal.
The flight was long, but not too bad. With the beer and food I slept pretty good. I think the hardest part of the trip was waiting for the airport. Man, I really hate waiting for the airporter. Perhaps because the only time I’ve gotten consistently picked up at the airport has been when I’ve had a girlfriend to do so…and so waiting just reminds me that I don’t have someone “obligated” to pick me up.
In the van with me were some people traveling from Australia. I gave them some tips about the LA area and when they reached their destinations I gave them cards and offered to answer any questions they had.
None them of them called, but I can’t say I’m really surprised back that.
It was about 11:30am when I got back to my apartment. I think I’d been traveling for about 20 hours…if you start the trip leaving Hiro’s. I was really exhausted but I knew I couldn’t go to sleep. Must…stay..up…
Also, I was in the midst of an emotional crash. It usually happens to me after trips. Anyone else experience this?
Something about traveling, when I return, it’s like I was peaking at 11 for days, then I drop down to 4. Even thing seems a little less interesting and this time especially I felt really lonely. I tried to think of where I could go to be around people.
And then it hit me, it was Sunday morning. Too late for Church, but not too late for the Farmer’s Market. I thru
on a hat and headed out. I don’t even think I bought anything (besides some thai food) probably I just wandered around in a daze
and enjoyed being in the presence of a bunch of strangers.
That evening I went to an AFI screening with my friend Erica.
The next morning I worked on Carebears and gave gifts to my coworkers and my client Davis.
I was like a Zombie.
It was awesome.
-Luke
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