Adventures in Japan: Hilarious Experiences and Interesting Tales (Part 1)

in #travel7 years ago (edited)

Dear Steemians!

DSC_0148.jpg

DSC_0088.jpg

I recently spent two weeks zipping around Japan on the Shinkansen and I would love to share my experiences with you. Obviously a picture tells a 1000 words so I'll include loads of images :)

DSC_0454.jpg

DSC_0288.jpg

DSC_0007.jpg

The Toilets: Futuristic Porcelain

Here in Australia I usually sit down on primitive porcelain without multiple buttons to press. However, as many already know, most Japanese toilets are things to marvel. Buttons shoot water, deironise the surrounding air, and heat the seat. It must be expensive to install these toilets because you would probably need to hire both an electrician and a plumber to set everything up to code. Feeling adventurous, as you do, I set about to press all the buttons on the thing. However, one toilet, for some strange reason, gave me a concentrated burst of sharp water straight to my bum.

Needless to say, ouch! I was more careful in the future instances of button-pressing.

DSC_0162.jpg

DSC_0106.jpg

Transportation from Heaven

Everything in Japan works. Unlike Australia, which has intermittent services that are usually late, Japan's transportation system runs smoothly. We didn't experience rush hour in Tokyo and being pushed onto the metro like fish in a can because my wife is pregnant, but we enjoyed close to rush hour while still keeping our personal space. It makes me wonder that some Social Justice Warriors complain about lack of personal space on trains, trams, and buses here in Australia, to the extent that they create wooden boxes to stop people from getting too close. In Japan people are respectfully close without "traumatising" others. It's a ridiculous response to crowding to assume you can just simply take up more space through bringing a box strapped to your body and think you've solved the issue by being selfish.

DSC_0385.jpg

DSC_0614.jpg

DSC_0053.jpg

The Shinkansen are definitely the way to travel. Visitors can get a JR Pass which covers you for all Sinkansen (except the fastest Nozomi trains) and some local JR services. If you do your research you will probably save money with the JR Pass. It must be booked and paid for in advance. I think the 14 days for two people for us was about $1100AUD. Totally worth it because you don't have to be probed by the alien-wannabes at airport security and the services are all running quite regular. Fair warning, most Japanese public transport finishes at around midnight or 25:00 (1am). Japanese also have this weird time called 2500 which is 1am (probably to cut down on confusion between 1pm and 1am which is not a bad idea). Plan your trip and book seats in advance, get to the platform and find your train car because some of the trains do not wait around for very long. Once my bag was caught in the door and became stuck. There're people on the platform watching out for these sorts of issues so they were able to fix it fast.

DSC_0259.jpg

DSC_0243.jpg

Check out the station masters signalling each other to cut down on time spent at each station - this is how the trains are able to continually be on time. Also etiquette regarding passing through a car dictates that the conductors should bow to the passengers when leaving each train car and transitioning to the next. Also the buses have completely opposite entry and exit processes. In Australia you get on the bus and walk past the driver paying if needed or swiping your electronic pass. In Japan you get on at the back and pay when you leave if you don't have a pass.

DSC_0044.jpg

DSC_0267.jpg

DSC_0407.jpg

Foreign Bathing Rituals

Japanese Onsen present a challenge to those who don't have a clue (like me!). It's a tiered or layered approach to bathing. First you get completely naked. Second you wash yourself free of the day's grim making sure to get rid of all soap. Third you go into the communal bath and sit for awhile. Finally you rinse and scrub yourself off with the showers. The water from the communal bath is considered clean so usually it only gets changed once a day or so regardless if multiple people use it. While I probably wouldn't enjoy my time in communal bathhouses with strangers, we were lucky to spend time in hotels that had couple's baths which featured the magical invention of a lock on the door. Incredible! Would definitely bath again.

DSC_0103.jpg

DSC_0338.jpg

DSC_0359.jpg

Two Hachiko statues: the famous one outside of Shibuya station and the newer one reuniting Hachiko with Prof. Ueno outside of Tokyo University's Agricultural Department.

Thanks for reading :)

Sort:  

Congratulations. This post features in my latest Curation Article. This post received a 100% upvote from Mr Squiggle the #TeamAustralia Curation Martian.

Fantastic news glad you picked it up :) Thanks @mrsquiggle (I definitely tuned into you many times as a child haha!)

Looks like a fun time. I'm doing China but Japan is on my list. Keep it up. I enjoyed the post.

Awesome stuff I did China overland in a truck from Xinjiang to Beijing a few years back with an adventure tourism company. Unfortunately I didn't have a decent camera at the time (nor the skills to take proper photos) - I would love to go back :) Cheers followed!

Great pictures and explanation. I love Japan and can't wait to go back.

Thanks for reading :) Me too I would love to go back :)

I love Japan, love its culture very much, I have been to there on May, you got many good photos, thank you for sharing.

Thanks for reading :) Glad you had a great time there too ;) Followed :)

wow your a great writer - i have been posting some of my Japan holiday pics too and now i realise i should write much more and make it better for the readers - rock on -David

Thanks for the feedback @daydreams4rock! I usually try and balance the photos with some narrative but every picture is worth a 1000 words or maybe even more so it's still lopsided. Still trying to break into the treading category with some of my posts haha :)

Great post! Hope I will visit Japan someday... I love travel photography too, followed you ;)

I hope you do you will have a blast! Followed back :)