Saturday, August 27, 2011

2011 - NZ To SF - Day 106

Day 106: (27 August 2011):
- Wake up @ moderate time in morning (~10am?) to go to Kobe.
- Dog poop. Ruin my view of Japan?
- Considered getting kobe beef, but had slightly blocked nose / slightly sick, so leaning against. Tired still.
- Make our way to Umeda. Try to meet another CanAsian friend of Ben’s, but apparently difficult to arrange things with him.
- Story about a friend who just doesn’t try to learn Japanese. Says English with Japanese accent and hope it works. Even basic food ordering is not done in Japanese.
- Get on one of the better express trains at Umeda.
- Ben tell me of the confusing express system & ranking, with non-descriptive or counterintuitive names.
- Train surprisingly cheap. Only slightly more than the subway ride to station.
- Got in mild AC car, move.
- As per usual in Japan, very on-time, extremely clean & neat.
- Thought the burgundy trains looked very old-fashioned.
- 3-4 trains left at same time. Cool to be part of the “pack” of trains, all leaving ~ same time, same speed across the bridge. (To the place where the pronunciation of the place is strange).
- Train is very smooth & fast. Houses wizz by. Head toward the mountains & hills. Blds on hills & valleys.
- Arrive is busy station. We both struggle in the humid heat. Glad to see it wasn’t just me.
- Walk along a pretty cool & very busy covered arcade.
- Discussions with Canasian friend (Alberto?) continuing.
- 1st stop: Kobe’s famous Chinatown. Hot & sunny.
- Chinatown area has traditional entry gates & blds. Red decorations, lanterns. Strange seeing Chinese greeting & speaking Japanese. Can tell the difference. Almost like they resent repeating so much & getting tired of it.
- Lots of food stores: combo restaurant & snack stand. Fried foods, steamed buns & sheng jian bao seem popular. Pork belly buns & pre-made Peking duck - steamed bread sandwiches. Fake food, as with all restaurants in Japan. Food surprisingly expensive.
- Want to eat at this steamed bun place Ben read about, but very long line in the sun. Decide walk around first. Kobe beef croquette, OK, but I believe Kobe beef should never be ground.
- Finally, decide wait in line. I use umbrella. Statues & pagodas.
- Happy to be inside mildly A/C room, as unbearably hot outside.
- Buns surprisingly cheap. Looks like it’s all they make. Wrapping take-aways in paper together.
- Ordered set of 3 for each. Eat-in. Found a bit of table space. Cup of tea & vineagar.
- Store with panda eating food socks for every Jap. region (almost).
- Surprisingly good, Had that umami taste, in same league as the shen jian bao of Shanghai. Clearly not as good, but remind me of the goodness level of xiao long bao in Shanghai.
- Continue explore the small, but happening & compact area. Useful map signs on streets.
- Suddenly, rain. Duck in a conbini for shelter.
- Ben debating about buying an umbrella: he only believes in the Y100 ones. Then “trade up” as he loses a series of umbrellas at parties, restaurants, etc.
- Seems like some others also hanging out, read magazines.
- Quite enjoyable. Wonder if hanging out in conbinis is acceptable & normal.
- Rain starts, & ends, eventually Ben buys umbrella.
- I’m always jealous of the clear umbrellas in Japan.
- Rain doesn’t continue for that much longer.
- Walk to the water. Cool statues, some cool buildings.
- Hot. Take any chance to go into AC.
- Walk by tower & cruise terminal, then to a cluster of malls. Familiar suburban mall feel, once again, surprisingly busy. These malls are moving the core of Kobe.
- Buy Y1000 shoe inserts to fix “grid problem.” Ben translate for me. Very interesting situation.
- I will climb Mt. Fuji in those shoes? “sugoi!” Seems to be the common reaction I get (Ben’s Jap. friends, co-workers.) Making me very concerned.
- Tired, enjoy sitting on benches under basement escalators by supermarket.
- Cool, “tiered” escalators in mall. Seems inefficient & unnecessary.
- Meet Alberto in mall, he buy a shirt, on sale.
- Decide visit Ijinkan.
- Raining outside again. Looped around through a parking lot accidentally.
- Quite cozy in rain, with low-level hum of people, lights, traffic, trains.
- Left shoe extremely wet. Keep complaining about it. Recurring problem. Even in non-puddle wetness. in SF: investigate, huge gash of poor quality rubber coming apart.
- Increasingly tired, but end up walking entire way.
- Guide arrows / maps on road.
- Getting dark, can’t see much. Didn’t see anything that was obvious colonial foreign houses.
- A bit hilly, small shops. Atmosphere did remind me of SF.
- Walk back in dir. of train station. Decide not hungry enough for cheap all you can eat Kobe yakiniku places.
- Quite a chill but busy environment. Like it very much.
- End up deciding to eat back in Osaka.
- Meet Ben’s friend at Namba. As with all, think I am Japanese & introduce herself in Japanese, ask me, etc.
- 1st place she led us to (in the covered promenade) had long wait but looked very good.
- Settle on okonomiyaki & negiyaki. Spatula tool with “fork” section. Heard from Jap. lady “yakisoba” when Ben translated my Q. Surprised I understood. Ben act as translator again. “Ichiban oishi manjuyaki wa doko desu ka?” meant monjaiyaki. Throughout visit, random phrases, which I have a habit of doing. Best purase” ichiban sugoi ramen wa doko desu ka?
- Negiyaki looked like pile of negi, which magically turned into a pancake.
- Reaction to Fuju plan.
- Drink a bit. Head back after dinner.
- Happy to sleep & rest. Exhausted for some reason.
- Make tentative plans for next day. More Fuji e-mails.
- Getting used to cozy room & bathroom set up.

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