How We Survived Japan With a 7 Day JR Pass

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Japan- the land of the rising sun. Been there, saw it rise, and survived! That's because we were up before the sun, chasing down trains. It was a mad dash to see how much of Japan two people could possibly squeeze in a course of seven days. Well, the answer is "a lot" and we were only equipped with a Japan Rail pass, an outdated Lonely Planet, and two bad senses of direction.

We started off the trip in Pusan, a port town an hour away by train from where we live. We did the research and found it more economical to take the ferry to Fukuoka, Japan rather than flying into Tokyo, so we set off to fight the high seas. The Sea of Japan was a little too rough the day we left, which made Lauren second guess our decision to take the ferry. Our boat rocked back and forth as it crashed through 6 foot swells, which caused Lauren to turn blue and green in the face. She spent the entire ride next to a trashcan waiting to revisit her breakfast. Three hours later we reached Japan.

We noticed a clear difference in our setting upon landing in Japan. There weren't anymore more Kias on the streets, just Toyotas! Joking aside, there was a huge difference in scenery. Everything seemed orderly, the streets were new and clean, the architecture was simple, and there was no garbage to be found. Plus, everyone was so polite and courteous. We didn't stay in Fukuoka long because it was just a starting point for us. We only stayed the night in Fukuoka because the ferry trip included a 1 night hotel with the package. We used our time in Fukuoka to acquire our JR passes and to let Lauren recover from her seasickness.


The next morning our intense schedule began. We rose with the sun at 6:00 am with high spirits and a need to cram as much sightseeing in as possible. We left Fukuoka and hopped on a train to Hiroshima to visit the site where the atomic bomb was dropped. I must be a masochist to have put myself through the painful sight of such a horrific tragedy and a sadist to make Lauren come with me. The museum left its visitors with a powerful message - stop the use of nuclear warfare.

We left Hiroshima and sought out a hotel in Kyoto. This was the beginning of our navigation problems. Lauren was at the helm and I was no help to her! Kyoto is the second largest city in Japan and has a labyrinth of streets with Japanese street signs. Just to let everyone know, we didn't take an introductory Japanese language course before we left, so Japanese street signs were useless to us. Add to the equation an outdated Lonely Planet, two headstrong individuals being completely confused, and the result is a lot of choice words thrown at each other. Here are some examples: "You just don't listen to me!", "I don't know, you figure it out!", "I told you I was right!" and "No, it's this way!". We eventually settled into a Japanese style hotel that cost about 70 bucks. The English translation for a Japanese style room is a 10x10ft straw matted room with two blankets and two pillows. The room doesn't include a bathroom or a shower because you have the pleasure of sharing those amenities with the rest of the hotel guests. These things don't bother us anymore, because we have been living in Asia for so long, but it was the price that got my goat.

The highlight of Kyoto was seeing the geishas. They are like celebrities so everyone stops to take pictures of them. We were walking down a small street in old Kyoto when we saw a crowd gather outside a building where a taxi was idling. Curiosity got the best of us and we began staring at the door waiting for something to happen. The crowd grew larger in size and finally a geisha appeared. It turned out that we were waiting outside a geisha house and that the taxi was there to chauffeur her off to a client. It was pretty cool to see. I started thinking about how honor is perceived in Japanese society and how only their culture could make prostitution an honorable profession.

The next leg of the trip will be called "Flying Monkey, Running Deer, and the Evil Castle". I'm starting to realize that Lauren just wants to go to the circus on vacation because that is what the next part of our trip felt like. We headed to Nara to go to the world's oldest petting zoo. The deer in Nara are considered sacred and are free to roam the grounds. They just hang out and get fed by tourists who go to see temples, museums, and Japanese gardens. What a cushy life! I can honestly say I have never seen so many tame deer in my life and been so close to them. However, there were manicured gardens and temples in the background, which made it a perfect day in Japan.

After the deer in Nara, we went to Matsumoto to see a castle. This castle has weathered over 400 years of hardships. However, it has never been attacked. We got a tour from a retired volunteer who was more that eager to use his English. He chased us down and insisted that we take a tour with him. I was on my guard and refused the tour, but Lauren accepted. It turned out that he didn't want any money and just wanted to help out, which really confused me. You wouldn't be able to tell that he wasn't getting paid by the way he ran to get his bag and then ran back to meet us. You could really feel the Japanese willingness to help.


Finally, the monkeys- we can't visit a new country without seeing a monkey. We headed up to the highlands of Japan to see crazy monkeys in Yudanaka. It was a change of pace, things moved slower, and we got a break from our hectic traveling schedule. The best part of our Yudanaka trip was the country feel we got from the town and enjoying the hotel spa. We were traveling in the slow season so there was only one other guest staying with us and the lodge owner's dog. It felt good just to relax up in the mountains with our new monkey friends and the owner's dog. LIVE MONKEY CAM

After chillin' with the monkeys, we made a brief stop to see a ninja museum and walked through a forested path to a temple in Togakushi. Our next stop was the bright lights of Tokyo. We arrived in Tokyo at night with no accommodation. Not a good idea! We were exhausted and needed a beer, so we stopped at a British pub for a drink to discuss our sleeping arrangements. The best solution, that we came up with over a few drinks, was a love motel. These "hotels" can be rented by the hour or by the night between the hours of 10PM-9AM. There was nothing lovely about this hotel at all. A key was handed to me through a small window and I was told to check out by 9am. We felt disgusted, but it was cheap and we only needed a place to crash for five hours because we were going to see the fish market in the morning. I still can't believe Lauren didn't scream more than she did!


We were anxious to leave in the morning so we quickly showered the filth off of us and ran out of the love shack (I think I remember throwing the key at the desk attendant). We were also in a hurry because according to Lauren we were going to miss the morning fish arrival at the market. She was screaming at me to move faster at six in the morning, "We are going to miss the fish, HURRY UP, all the fish come in before 7am!" Please keep in mind that I don't function well in the morning, especially in a foreign country with only 4 hours of sleep under my belt, but somehow she got me moving. From what I recall from my dazed sleep walk, we were hopping on trains left and right. Lauren was like Rainman with a map! We were getting on a blue train, then a red train, and then we got on a completely different rail system with more colored trains. It was very confusing and the whole time I was thinking that the map looked like a really complicated mathematical matrix - it could give a rocket scientist a headache. I already had a headache because Lauren kept on saying "We aren't going to make it, the fish stop coming at 7:00 am, HURRY UP OLD MAN!" It turns out that the best time to see the market is before 8 am. I could have killed her!


We walked the streets of Tokyo the rest of the day in search of the Sony building, the Leica gallery, a sushi restaurant, and a cafe. We found all them with ease besides the Leica gallery. The problem with using an outdated travel guide is that sometimes you end up looking for places that have moved locations or gone out of business. The Leica gallery had moved locations and a few more choice words were said that afternoon while we tried finding a place that was no longer on the map. The same problem happened two days earlier in Matsumoto, but that time the hotel we were looking for at midnight, had gone out of business. We went searching for other hotels in the area, but the map in the Lonely Planet was terrible. We didn't check into the Ace hotel located right next to the train station we arrived at until 2am. I want those 2 painful hours back from my life Lonely Planet!

We spent our last night in the big city near Ueno and went out to a Turkish restaurant. Why were we eating Turkish food in Japan? I have no clue, but I am glad we did because I never laughed so hard in my life. The owner was half Japanese/half Turkish (1/2 Japanese + 1/2 Turkish = full entertainer). We all sat on the floor and got served a meal that could feed an army. Everyone in the restaurant paid a flat fee of 2,000 yen and then the food started arriving. There was Turkish salad, Uzbekistan salad, dates, pickled mango, regular pickles, olives, beef soup,a whole chicken, beef triangles, fish, bread, tea, yogurt, Turkish delights, etc.. The owner would head into the kitchen and come back bearing a tray full of food. He must have come back with ten different courses before we had to start refusing him because we were too full. To top the night off, there was also belly dancing. We left early and he was still serving up more food.

We stopped by a random pub before heading back to our hotel. It became the climax of our evening because it was so unique and inviting. It was smaller than a walk in closet and there were three local DJ's hanging out inside together. The guys looked like they were in their late 20's or early 30's, but the music started playing and their true age was revealed. We were rocking out to the sounds of Unlimited Touch, Billy Ocean, Robbie Dupree, and Gino Soccio. May disco live on forever!

That concludes our trip to Japan. We spent the whole next day traveling back home. Oh wait..I wanted to get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji but the clouds were to thick, making it impossible to see in the town of Fuji. Guess we have to go back now.

Funniest part of the trip: Lauren saying "I can't figure out the toilet, it is too confusing, their are too many Japanese buttons to push"

The tune to our trip: "We fought Japan and Japan won!" (sung to the tune of "I fought the law and the law won".)

Most unusual part of the trip: Sitting at a street vendor restaurant eating cow tongue.