Destroy, White Boy

Snow near Nagoya taken from the Shinkansen at 300 kms per hour

I’m on my way back to Osaka from Tokyo sitting on the Shinkansen Super Express, the Japanese super-fast bullet train as I write this (515 kms in 3 hours. Pretty fast I’d say.) Taking full advantage of my rail pass I purchased in Australia, I can travel anywhere in the country on these trains just two return trips to Osaka from Tokyo pays for the ticket and with the amount of travelling I have done on this pass, the ticket has well and truly paid for itself.

I’m now almost halfway through my Japanese backpacking adventure and if there are three pieces of advice I can give it is this:

1. Plan little

2. Travel alone

3. Stay in hostels.

I’m generally getting berated for my severe lack of organisation, but it seems to have finally paid off. With no schedule to adhere to and unlimited travel anywhere in Japan I have simply travelled to whatever location is recommended to me by myself, with new friends and every now and then a very nice girl I have met on my travels, which makes the trip all the more interesting.

Mr Yano.

By all means sketch out a rough itinerary and things that you want to see, but creating a detailed list with exact dates and times to see things leaves the trip resembling a paid guided tour with no real excitement of spontaneity. Plus it makes you stressed if something comes up and you can’t stick to it. I’ve done the guided tour before and I can safely say that is the worst way to discover any country you’re visiting unless you’re at least 60 years old and not interested in meeting people from the country you’re in. Making my own way has been so much more rewarding.

Some friends and some unsuspecting Japanese people on the subway in Tokyo

My trip now to Osaka was made on the spur of the moment. A friend who I met at my first hostel in Osaka told me about a big 7^th anniversary party at one of the live venues in Osaka. As I’d already experienced what Osaka’s nightlife has to offer, I couldn’t refuse. So here I am with my rail pass in hand travelling on a bullet train, that makes some awesome futuristic sounds, across Japan’s amazing terrain. And all because I planned next to nothing apart from a few places I knew I had to see while here. I know the things I want to see, but I have no urgency to see them and I can go whenever I want. I have experienced more of the Japanese culture than I could ever have imagined.

Now travelling alone, I believe, is an extremely rewarding experience. Many people travel with their partners, which is perfectly fine too. But if you are a single person thinking of going overseas and the only thing holding you back is the fact none of your friends can afford it, stop hesitating and get the hell overseas. If you are travelling to Japan then you are in one of the safest countries in the world. Plus being a westerner in a country where 96% of the population is Japanese does have it’s perks. Particularly with the opposite sex. So  this could be somewhat of an incentive to certain people coming to visit. Especially if you know the right locations to go and I don’t mean any red light district or the like. You will meet people though from all over the world and end up going on trips with them before parting ways. Many, many people and this is why I feel the most important point to make is stay in hostels.

Osaka from the Sky Tower

In Japan the hostels are extremely clean and the staff very friendly. I stayed at J-Hoppers hostel in Fukushima, Osaka and have never felt so welcome. If you are travelling to Osaka I would highly recommend this hostel. My first night there happened to fall on the regular weekly party the hostel holds for their guests. This is where I met Mr Yano, the 60 year old hostel cleaner who takes out all his guests for sake and beer. His regular catchphrase “It’s okaaay”, and his very little English creates a lot of hilarity.  Well worth the stay just for Mr Yano even. The hostel lounge is where I have met the majority of my friends. On several occasions I have ended up travelling around Japan the people I met at the hostel. I have finally discovered that Facebook does actually have a valuable use other than cyber stalking. My friends list has never seen such a fast increase. While I may never see most of these people again, there are a few friends I have made for life from all over the world. This is an experience you would never get in a hotel. By going to a hostel you find people who are doing exactly the same thing as you, which means you can travel alone and plan very little as things just come up and you’re on your way to another adventure.

I guess this store is only for skinny people?

I have 2 weeks left in Japan, with most of it to be spent in Tokyo and taking small trips outside of the capital. I cannot recommend Japan enough to visit. The people are extremely helpful and warm, and there has been not one instance yet where a person has hounded me to buy their cheap crappy product at massively inflated prices only for it to fall apart the next day. And the trains. The trains! In Osaka a train was delayed by 1 minute. The people on the platform were furious and there were apologies all over the intercom. Coming back to Sydney where a 5 minute late train is not even considered late is going to shit me to no end now that I have discovered the awesomeness that is Japan rail travel.

I really am going to be sad to leave this place. But after only 2 weeks I’m hooked to this crazy and very strange culture. I am yet to experience in detail the nuttiness that is Tokyo’s Shinjuku and Akihabara areas but that is next on my list. Once I’ve recovered from my next few big nights in Osaka. The problem is that the nightlife is just as exciting as the the sites I see during the day, which means my body has been quite unhappy with the lack of sleep I’ve had. But it’s only a month. I can sleep when I return. For now there’s still too much to do and too little time to do it.

indeed