Japan Exodus - Day 35: Golden Week!

Golden Week, the name says it all doesn't it. In Japan, the official holidays set by the government denoted nine days of rest in one calendar year. Noting that a few fell along each other at the end of April and the beginning of May, nothing much was had. Until, the film industry noticed that sales for movie tickets where highest at this period of leisure activity. A push was made, and a new holiday created to trigger another law already set in motion which stated that any day resting between two holidays will in turn become a holiday itself. And just like that, Tuesday through Thursday (but really, the entire week of Monday through Friday and both weekends)  are enjoyed as a well needed break from work and school.

Since I am currently not involved with either of those, my entire life is a Golden Week. However, my friends do have work and with the arrival of these holidays, I am happy to see them again =)

In Kobe where I had not really explored much time before, I am all set to meet my friend Lico from back in Kochi. On this ideal, immaculate day at the Kobe peer, beer, wine, and food are served for anyone to grab a seat and enjoy. The perfect spot for a first destination with Lico, and to start off the Golden Week!

My friend Lico and I walked around a bit to let the beer settle and ended up finding this really nice Kushi-katsu restaurant. Literally translated into breaded skewers, we ordered the whole range on the menu and gave each other stern reminders that when you eat in a public place like this, you only dip once in the communal sauce, less you face an angry manager. 

Mmmmmmm, delicious! Don't ask me what's in everyone because I don't really know. Lotus flower in one, cheese in another, beef steak in yet another. 

There she is! Himeji! Finally got to see this castle, and on a beautifully clear day no less. Last year traveling with my sister, not only was the day filled with rain, the castle was under renovation tarps and we couldn't even see the fortress if we minded the rain. 

Now, a little more than two years later, I am amazed at how detailed the castle remains. I mean, I know that she is touched up and refined. Still, the building looks like a toy model from some angles. Really, really impressive, and even more so that the Kumamoto castle wall took a big hit with the big earthquake had there. 

Across from the castle a few vendors set up shop to sell old Japanese money, food, and some other trinkets to passing shoppers, both foreign and Japanese on vacation. Among the growing crowd I was happy to see some original art made from recycled parts. I now can take back all the bad things I said about there being no such thing in Japan. 

Later on in the day we took a walk and found ourselves in the China town of Kobe. Strange that this exists in Japan? I suppose not. What I would say is strange is to see street food vendors once again. Food on the street?! This cant be Japan. 

The deals on the street just didn't seem to peak at any of my interests. I guess I wasn't hungry enough or I just didn't want anything I saw really. Instead, we optioned for a seafood restaurant back near the center of town where we could relax in a quieter environment. Salad, I need to eat more of you.

One thing that Japan does, and does well, is make things look absolutely amazing when it comes to small treats, desserts, and guilty food pleasures. These hand made cakes all look similar enough to be machine made, but when you get in close to do a little observation, you can see the smallest natural differences made by human error alone. Not that I would call them errors at all. The cakes are perfect, just a little difference between this one and that one.  

Oh yeah!! Look at these things! I have a really problem with binging on these sweets when I see them all laid out before me. I am so happy that they are behind glass windows, I need that extra second in my decision process to tell myself that I don't really need these sweets. If they had been behind the self service sliding doors you find in local small town sweet bread shops, I would be broke or contract type two diabetes by now. Probably both.

 Oh Japanese, why are you so difficult sometimes? I was caught staring at this sign for a long time. Can you see the cat too? Thats all I could see. I knew there was something else there, but I was fixated on the image of a cat. Can you figure out what is written? 

Finally, we had walked around for maybe six hours today and where both tired. But, there is no way, no way at all that I was going to leave Kobe without visiting my friend Yoshi's bar. He is the cool Japanese guy that I met three times along my journey, only once was planed, when he came to stay with me in Tosa as he completed his cycling trip around Shikoku, praying at each of the 88 temples. 

We had many good times and I was happy to share with Lico the story of how we did some traveling together even though Yoshi was not there. He is still doing his own thing, working in Hokkaido last I heard. When I sent him this picture of me (I had not told him I was going to visit his bar), he was overjoyed. 


With Lico at Yoshi's bar, I would say that today is a perfect start to the Golden Week holiday. I was off my bike for the day, and got to use some muscles I had not used in a while. Furthermore, I was conversing with Lico all day in Japanese, so again, stretching muscles I needed to stretch. Though my time in Japan is limited, there is not some big clock at the back of my mind counting down my time or the coin in my wallet. These days I am fully experiencing and living in the moment. Sometimes that means putting experience over capturing the moment on film. Lucky for us, Lico took many photos =) I'll update them soon.

Golden Love,
-A