Well people I am now in western Japan.
Managed to get the cash and get out of Tokyo without street signs. I have no idea how they do it. It's the same in Kyoto which really sucks as it just screws up the whole experience. Even a number of the people I have asked could not tell me where they were. Twice I have asked at convenience stores and the guy who works there could not tell me were it was! Two of the travel information centres have looked up addresses and the position ended up being wrong so something is not right here.
Went looking for a place for dinner and got lost. Got some directions from a pair of beautifull Japanese girls in a sushi shop were I ended up having a snack before the main course. Pretty sure this was my first sushi in Japan too. Delicious crab meat with roe and pickle.
So they point me to the road outside and tell which way to head up it till I come to the main road near were I am staying. 15mins later and I still haven't come to the turn so I turn, things get familar and wouldn't you know it I come across the street I was after signed at this intersection but I had to double back. I had crossed the street I was after without knowing it as they don't sign any streets at all intersections. Neither of the roads involved are minor at any stage either so I have no idea how or why they do it this way but they must have a trick. Really amazes me how the cities are so large but they only sign one in 1000 streets and they don't sign them at every intersection or even major intersection's.
Got one of the two Japan West rail passes. One company, two passes which overlap but neither covers the other entirely! Plus the rail system in Kyoto that covers the majority of the city is not included so things are gonna get pricey or I'm gonna waste alot of time finding a point were the street I am on is signed.
Looks like Sendai is gonna be the highlight. Simple to navigate, plenty of action and damn good food.
On the shinkansen here we pasted Mt Fuji and I managed to get a couple reasonable shots that have been uploaded. I have checked into the hostel I am staying at for the next four nights. Pretty good location but tomorrow morning I will be putting landmarks on the maps I have. Thats the other thing that sucks, the maps. Saw this enourmous mall when I was lost and thought, thats gotta be on the map. This thing is like queen street with 5 levels and all indoors. What do you know, neither of the two maps I have had it on then! Between the two maps I don't even have names for all the major roads which doesn't really matter when the streets don't have the names on them in RL anyhow.
Now if they put the Pachinko parlours on the maps it'd be impossible to get lost :>
I dunno how things are gonna go from here, If I can't figure out how to reliably navigate It's gonna screw up this part of the trip. I'm already thinking twice about going to a few places because of this which is stupid but ....
Here's hoping Hrioshima has signed streets.
Till next time
1 comment:
Hey Rich,
Sorry to hear that it's all so confusin, which it sounds like it is! Aren't you jealous that we went to New York which is numbered and Washington which is alphabetical :) I hope it works out ok, I think you'll have to befriend a few folk at the hostel and you can all bumble around together, at least that makes it a little more fun! Or maybe think about couch surfing in the other place you were talking about if possible cause they might actually be able to show you round?
You copied my clocks idea! I'm sorry but I didn't add Japan to my blog I figured you're not going to be there long enough to warrant a clock although you do get a clock on my desktop.
Good luck navigating those streets and remember, "Those Japanese are crazy!"
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