How I spent my summer vacation #5
...tadaima!
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JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
From JR Osaka Station, I took the teal-colored local to Kyoto Station. So as not to have to deal with my bags, I skulked around, finding that the large coin lockers were all full. No worries...I headed down to the B2 floor baggage check and gladly paid the station staff to babysit my bags. Sometimes, it's good to know your way around the train station!
After getting rid of the nimotsu (luggage), it was off to the J-Phone/Vodafone store to get a prepaid keitai (cellphone). Japanese cellphones are small and feature-laden. I wish it worked here, because it makes the two I carry daily look like children's toys. The one I bought--one of two prepaid models on offer--cost USD$92. It's "jewel black"-- black infused with a subtle gold glitter. It was more expensive, but I prefer a clamshell style phone to a bar type phonel. The antenna lights up in a rainbow pattern, as does a row of lights underneath the camera lens, when the phone is in use. The row of lights underneath the camera lens also serves as the camera flash. The built-in camera offers quite a good optical zoom. This is the least expensive model Vodafone offers its regular subscribers, probably because it has much more technologically advanced numbers if you are willing to pay more. I did get a bonus--the ten'in forgot to charge me for the JPY5,000 (~USD$45) prepaid phone card. Looks like I'll need to return to Japan before my time runs out, ne? Making calls in Japan is a bit different anyway. Even if your keitai has the same prefix--say, 090--as your friend's keitai, you still have to dial 090 before the rest of the number. And it always seems that you have to dial '0' first no matter where you're calling (unless you're calling the police, who can be reached at 110 or fire department, who can be reached at 119).
After that, I went off to Uji, to get some tea. I highly recommend Kanbayashi. It's easier to explain how to get to the main Kanbayashi store from the Keihan Uji station than it is from the JR Uji station, so I'll do that. Exit Keihan Uji station and cross the street. Cross the river and take a left turn at the first street. Go up this street about halfway, until you see a shop with an emblem of three red suns in a pyramid on the right hand side of the street. This is Kanbayashi. There is a museum on the second floor, which you are welcome to visit--there are models of daimyo processions' bringing the tea from Uji, copies of handwritten orders dating back to the founding days. It's interesting, even if you don't read Japanese. You must try the tea. If you like ocha (green tea), this is the place for you. Last year, Okasan and her two sisters, one of whom is a sado (tea ceremony) sensei, brought me and a classmate who is studying sado to Kanbayashi. We ground our own matcha with a stone mill, then we each whipped our own bowls of tea. I had never before tasted such an exquisite bowl of tea. It was like drinking a dream...the flavor was subtle but complex. I can't do justice to it by writing about it--all I can do is urge you to visit Kanbayashi-sensei and taste his tea for yourself. I am sure you will buy it as a gift for yourself and for others, because it really is that good. This year, I had the honor of talking to Kanbayashi-sensei, and I told him of my experience, then proceeded to spend JPY100,000, mostly on gifts of ocha. It really is that good, and it's good for you, too.
After buying my tea, I headed back to Kyoto and tried out my new phone. After failing to place a call, I resorted to a card phone and was able to make my call. Okasan had been wondering where I was, because everyone'd been waiting! I explained the keitai difficulty, the baggage blockade, and that I'd be there ASAP. I scurried to the baggage check, power-walked through the tunnel to the Hachijo (8th Street) side, and found a taxi driver. If you've not been to Japan, then you probably don't know that street addresses don't exist as most foreigners know them. I did my best to explain where I needed to go, but I basically stumped the cab driver, who wasn't familiar with my point of reference.
...to be continued
After getting rid of the nimotsu (luggage), it was off to the J-Phone/Vodafone store to get a prepaid keitai (cellphone). Japanese cellphones are small and feature-laden. I wish it worked here, because it makes the two I carry daily look like children's toys. The one I bought--one of two prepaid models on offer--cost USD$92. It's "jewel black"-- black infused with a subtle gold glitter. It was more expensive, but I prefer a clamshell style phone to a bar type phonel. The antenna lights up in a rainbow pattern, as does a row of lights underneath the camera lens, when the phone is in use. The row of lights underneath the camera lens also serves as the camera flash. The built-in camera offers quite a good optical zoom. This is the least expensive model Vodafone offers its regular subscribers, probably because it has much more technologically advanced numbers if you are willing to pay more. I did get a bonus--the ten'in forgot to charge me for the JPY5,000 (~USD$45) prepaid phone card. Looks like I'll need to return to Japan before my time runs out, ne? Making calls in Japan is a bit different anyway. Even if your keitai has the same prefix--say, 090--as your friend's keitai, you still have to dial 090 before the rest of the number. And it always seems that you have to dial '0' first no matter where you're calling (unless you're calling the police, who can be reached at 110 or fire department, who can be reached at 119).
After that, I went off to Uji, to get some tea. I highly recommend Kanbayashi. It's easier to explain how to get to the main Kanbayashi store from the Keihan Uji station than it is from the JR Uji station, so I'll do that. Exit Keihan Uji station and cross the street. Cross the river and take a left turn at the first street. Go up this street about halfway, until you see a shop with an emblem of three red suns in a pyramid on the right hand side of the street. This is Kanbayashi. There is a museum on the second floor, which you are welcome to visit--there are models of daimyo processions' bringing the tea from Uji, copies of handwritten orders dating back to the founding days. It's interesting, even if you don't read Japanese. You must try the tea. If you like ocha (green tea), this is the place for you. Last year, Okasan and her two sisters, one of whom is a sado (tea ceremony) sensei, brought me and a classmate who is studying sado to Kanbayashi. We ground our own matcha with a stone mill, then we each whipped our own bowls of tea. I had never before tasted such an exquisite bowl of tea. It was like drinking a dream...the flavor was subtle but complex. I can't do justice to it by writing about it--all I can do is urge you to visit Kanbayashi-sensei and taste his tea for yourself. I am sure you will buy it as a gift for yourself and for others, because it really is that good. This year, I had the honor of talking to Kanbayashi-sensei, and I told him of my experience, then proceeded to spend JPY100,000, mostly on gifts of ocha. It really is that good, and it's good for you, too.
After buying my tea, I headed back to Kyoto and tried out my new phone. After failing to place a call, I resorted to a card phone and was able to make my call. Okasan had been wondering where I was, because everyone'd been waiting! I explained the keitai difficulty, the baggage blockade, and that I'd be there ASAP. I scurried to the baggage check, power-walked through the tunnel to the Hachijo (8th Street) side, and found a taxi driver. If you've not been to Japan, then you probably don't know that street addresses don't exist as most foreigners know them. I did my best to explain where I needed to go, but I basically stumped the cab driver, who wasn't familiar with my point of reference.
...to be continued