Recs & stuff

Ok... here is a bunch of things I've been meaning to talk about. I'll still make one more post about the classes one of these days.....

Practical things

At least for Kyodai, already during the application process you'd better be prepared for long waits, after which you suddenly need to get things done really fast. It's best to take care of all obligatory things as soon as you can (the doctor's certificate and language tests and such), so you won't have to suddenly rush with them.

Also, after Japan I won't be complaining about Finnish bureaucracy ever again. You'll need to go to your ward office to get your alien card stamped with your address and to sign for the national health insurance and the pension system (the latter of which you won't have to pay because students are exempted, but it's still obligatory. Remember to take your student card with you so you won't have to go there again for that... as a certain someone had to do..... >_>)

In any case, it will take some time and involve filling all kinds of forms, but it's best to get it done as soon as you can. There was a big group of us going to our ward office on one day (a Monday, it was, after we'd moved to our dorm on the previous Thursday), and at least our ward office was prepared for us. They took us all to a separate room to fill forms, and there was even someone there to explain everything in English. And of course, when you leave from Japan, you've got to go to make the moving out notice, and cancel the pension and the health insurance. >_> That took at least an hour and a half, and involved filling forms and queuing at least for four different desks....

JASSO & Japanese bank account

If you're lucky enough to get JASSO, congrats! It does make life quite a lot easier... Be prepared: you're going to need to get a Japanese bank account. (This might be true for also other Japanese scholarships, I'd imagine.) And you might not have too much time to do it... I was told about it on a Thursday, Friday was all booked on all kinds of info things, on Monday I went to take care of official business at the ward office... and I needed to have the bank account by next Thursday. Not too many days to do it.

I considered between some options, but ended up going to the JP Post Bank. It was a good decision, I think. There's a post office at Hyakumanben by the university, you can do it e.g. there. I had Japanese friend with me, just in case, for I  really wasn't confident about going to take care of bank business in Japanese, but in the end I would have managed fine on my own. They do know what they do there - I bet they get quite many exchange students who need bank accounts there. Of course, it was still kind of nice to have someone reading the papers over my shoulder, as I had no clue what I really was signing under there. xD

But anyway, the Post Bank doesn't require you to have hanko or Japanese phone number, so it was the simplest place to do it.

Oh, and one thing about JASSO: the way it works is that you've got to go to sign a paper in the beginning of each month, and then they pay it for you at the end of the month. You have normally until the 9th or so to do it - but don't plan for a long trip in the beginning of the month, or you'll lose the money. Also, you just need to be there on the first day to sign the paper, whether you leave home right after that or not doesn't matter. So if for example you are, like I was, there for the autumn term, you can still get the JASSO for March if you just are there signing the paper on March 1st. Of course, it will be paid on your Japanese bank account, but at least in the case of the Post Bank you can just leave the money to lie there, waiting for you to come back to Japan, or then you can arrange it somehow with friends.

The dorms (of Kyodai)

I, like pretty much everyone I talked with, had put the dorm on Yoshida campus as the first option back when we were applying for dorm places. In the end I'm kind of happy I didn't get there. Of course, the location would have been great - we actually had our Japanese classes in the same building. But just because of that I'm glad I was somewhere else. Do you really want to live in your school? I was quite happy to get out when the school day was over...

I lived in Shugakuin, and for me that was the perfect place. The only downside of Shugakuin is the location. It's not far from the uni, only some 3,5 km if   I remember right (15 min by bike, easily - once made it in 10), but it's 3,5 km to completely wrong direction, away from downtown, which would be the same distance to the other direction. But it was quite cheap, and also, as I'm clearly older than most other students, I was able to get friends of my own age there, for there are also researchers living at the place. It was more like living in an ordinary apartment house than in a dorm. (Of course, that might be just me. I'm such a recluse, barely ever going to the common room.)

I also visited Satsuki, which is more like a student dorm, and it has really good location and really nice and strong community spirit, so to say. If you want people to party with, try to get there. Also Misasagi seemed like a similar, nice place, but I went there only once so I don't know much about it. One thing: there's an insanely huge hill on the way there. Seriously. It took four minutes to come downhill on bike, and I didn't stop a single time. (Had my phone recording when I came down...) Be ready for exercise if you're going there. xD The good thing about Misasagi is that the electricity is included in the rent so you don't have to pay for that yourself...

And that made me think I could say a word or two about

 Living Costs...

Electricity is one thing. As I said, Shugakuin is a cheap place, but you've got to pay for the electricity, and there's one thing about Japanese houses: they're cold. Seriously cold. When I returned from a week's trip to Okinawa in February, it was 11C in my apartment... And heating is done by air conditioners, so it's not that cheap. So either you're cold or you pay a lot. (Buy hiitotekku at Uniqlo! xD) My electricity bills during winter were 40-50 euros per month... but I did have the married couple room (bigger area to try to keep warm, in other words) and though I didn't heat that much, at some point I kind of got tired of being cold...

As for food, Japan isn't exactly cheap, but you've got to find the right things. Fruit and some vegetables can be quite expensive, but other things are really cheap, like some mushroom and sprouts. Also, there are more little stores in Japan than in Finland, and there might be big differences between them. There were three on different sides of the same crossing near Shugakuin: I bought my fruit and veggies in one of them and drinks at another. Also, there are French bakeries here and there, buy your bread from them, if you want to have any kind of proper bread.

Local traffic & bikes

The buses within Kyoto have standard pay, 230 yen. You have to pay with exact amount when you leave the bus, but you can also change money (not the bigger bills) in the buses. I rarely used bus, though, as they're so slow. From Shugakuin it's handier to go by the Eiden/Keihan train both to the uni (though there's a short walk at the other end) and to downtown. To uni it was only 210 yen, to Sanjo 400 yen. You can buy a travel card (ICOCA) from some of the ticket selling machines. It's handy to have, you can load money there and then you don't need to worry about whether or not you've got cash with you.

But anyway, I would tell you to get a bike. Right away. I used bike always and everywhere, if I just could.... They're not that expensive, either. There's one place on Imadegawa pretty close to Kyodai (Eirin, they have stores also elsewhere.) My (new) bike was almost 12 000 yen - and they bought it back for 5000. Just remember to take good care of the papers they give you, or you might not be able to sell it back, at least not for such good price. Also, you need your alien card when you're buying your bike. It's best if you have already taken care of all business at the ward office, so that you've got your address stamped on it, but it's not obligatory.

But remember, though it's easy to go from one place to another by bike in Kyoto, you can't park your bike just anywhere. If there are "no bikes" signs, it just might be a good idea to pay attention to them, even if (no if about it, really) others have left bikes there, too. It just might be your bike won't be there anymore when you return, and you'll need to go to pay the fine somewhere to get it back. There are parking lots for bikes here and there, they're not that expensive so it's better to use them.

Travel & hike recs

I'm still kind of sad I couldn't do the hike between Kurama and Kifune, because a typhoon had felled trees on the path. It's usually done from Kurama to Kifune, but I was planning on the opposite, as I wanted to go to the Kurama onsen after the hike. I did walk as far as you could, and go to the onsen too, and that I can rec. Go there in autumn, the foliage is amazing! And talking about onsens, the one in Ohara was wonderful too!

Also, climbing on Hieizan was quite great. I've written a long post about that, so I won't get into it here. Note my trouble in getting down from there..... xD

The  river boat ride on Hozugawa was awesome as well.

Kobe and Osaka are kind of matter-of-fact places. Of course, Osaka is the place to go out in the evening, but I also went there for kabuki, and had great okonomiyaki there at a place called Chibo.

And Okinawa! There were so many places where I'd have wanted to go but didn't have time (or money) to go everywhere.... but I'm so happy I did go to Okinawa. It's a paradise. I went there in February, to see sakura blooming (second week of Feb is good time for that), and it was so beautiful, and the weather was perfect for me - warm but not hot. Of course, the sea is so beautiful there, but it was a bit too early to go to beach then...

Other than that, I only went to Hiroshima. By shinkansen.... which was an experience in itself, but I confess, I wouldn't have done that on my own. (I went there with my father, and he bought the tickets......) It's expensive, but if you've got the money, it's definitely, as I said, and experience. We did only a day-trip there, so there wasn't time to do much. It would be worth it, I think, to spend a weekend there, if you can.

ETA: Oh, I forgot about Takatori! It was a great little trip! They have the samurai festival in autumn, in the end of November (23rd, I think), and I'm so happy we went there! So much fun. And it's kind of... not so touristy. Me and my friend were basically the only foreigners there. And in any case, Takatori is a really nice little town, so even if you can't go there for the festival, you can go there just for fun. There are some castle ruins we didn't have time to go to see....

KOKOKA

This place definitely deserves a mention. I'm kind of sad I started going there only at the end of the year. It's the Kyoto city international foundation. They have all kinds of happenings (to which I didn't go...) for foreigners in Kyoto, but they also have volunteer taught Japanese classes, which cost hundred yen/time. Yep, less than one euro. Definitely worth checking out!


Annnnddd... I just have to mention Cafe Rumbita here, last but not least. ^^ If you have any interest at all in dancing salsa, bachata etc.... check this place out. They have great lessons, lots of really nice people (chance to meet all kinds of locals, young and old), and you can stay there dancing after the lessons. Fun place, I miss it~~~

Okinawa part II: Naha

First night in Naha.

After Motobu, I returned to Naha. I had only two full days there, which is way too little, but then again, wouldn't be able to see everything in a full week either, so.

First things first, so I started by going to see the Shuri castle. It was the palace of the Ryukyu kingdom between 1429 and 1879. In the battle of Okinawa (1945) it was destroyed almost completely. This, in fact, struck me quite hard in Naha. Not just the damage to the castle, but so many other places and things lost in the war... so utterly depressing.

Starting with this tree:

You could stop for some tea and traditional Okinawan cookies in the castle.

The only room inside where you were allowed to take photos:

After visiting the castle I ate at a place called Ryukyu Sabo Ashibiuna - very popular place close to the castle, so prepare to queue. It was worth the wait, though. Okinawan food, reasonably priced and quite tasty:

Then I spent a while walking all over in the area. Walked first down and then back up the Shurikinjocho stone path road that leads to the castle. It was nice... but based on the comments I'd read I was kind of expecting more about it. Half the time I wondered  if I'm on the right path. xD Especially as there were comments claiming it'd be somehow  a hard climb. Not. At all. But nice.

Visited also the Tamaudun mausoleum. It's one of the three royal mausoleums of the Ryukyu Kingdom, built in 1501. The last burial there was that of Shō Ten, son of the last king of Ryukyu, in 1920. This place too was badly damaged during the Battle of Okinawa, but it has been partly restored.

Also visited the Kannondo temple... and realized I'd left my goshuin book in Kyoto. Typical.

In the evening I ate in an izakaya called Masara, having read good reviews of it online. And I agree with them, excellent place! Near Miebashi station. Also, the review I read mentioned they have no English menu, but this has changed since then.

 Next day I headed first to Yogi park, which would in one week host the Naha Sakura Festival. It was a bit... well, after places like Mt. Yaedake, not that special. (Sorry.)

 

Then I, half-accidentally, ended up exploring the pottery district of Naha. I'd somewhere seen the add of Tsuboya pottery museum, and as it was kind of on the way when I walked back from Yogi park, I thought I'd stop there. I enjoyed the museum too, but also walking down the Yachimun street, that has dozens and dozens of pottery shops. Dangerous place, though. I'd have wanted to buy so many things... A little tip: if you see something you like, you might want to check the other stores first. They might also have it, but the prices were varying quite a lot. A cup I bought for about 900 costed 1200 and 1600 (!!!) at other places.

And! If you go to Naha, do not miss the cafe called Ball Donut Park. Best doughnuts I've eaten ever anywhere. The coffee was good too.

In the evening I ended up spending some more money, and went to this restaurant where you can follow Okinawan dances as you eat. It was fun enough, and the food was good, but given that I'd eaten my share of Okinawan food by then (though I love it, btw) and that the dances weren't that different from things I've seen before, I think I might have spared that money... Though there I tasted for the first time mimigaa, shredded pig's ear, and to my surprise loved it. The stuff on the right in the pic below:

And then it was the day I was leaving Okinawa. I'd planned in the morning to take a walk in the Fukushūen garden, which was next door to my airbnb... arrived there a few minutes past 9 (when it was supposed to open), saw some people opening the gate... and then they told me the place was closed on that day. :/ So I just had to peek through the little windows...

I'd walked by here many times, thinking how tempting it'd be to climb up here in to the park. Now even more so.... xD

Oh well. Took the Yui rail to airport, Peach carried me back home (eh, to Kyoto), and that was it.

Quite fittingly, the Aqua fantasy thing at Kyoto station was playing Sakura, Sakura when I walked by it.

Okinawa part I: Motobu

Came back from Okinawa last week's Wednesday. This was an amazing trip, one week, first four nights in Motobu and then three in Naha. I was at first wondering if a week was a bit too long, but nope, it was perfect for this. Though I was quite happy to return when I did, it was a pretty tiring trip, too...

A few practical notes, in the case you're considering a trip to Okinawa:

1) I flew there with Peach. a Japanese LCC. It was the cheapest option, though Jetstar came close. Peach was fine. The flight to Naha was 50 min late, but these things happen with all airlines, and the one from there was perfectly on schedule. In Naha, Peach arrives (and leaves from) to the cargo part of the airport, so you need to take shuttle bus to the main terminal. In that sense Jetstar would have a been a bit handier as it uses the main domestic terminal. Peach's terminal does have a small souvenir shop and a little cafe where you can get food too (and not too expensive), so it was ok too.

2) When I was talking about going to Okinawa, people kept on telling me to rent a car. Apparently Japanese people always do when they go there - and I can understand why. I didn't, as although I've got driver's license I drive really seldom, and didn't want to be practicing driving on my own on strange roads in left-hand traffic...

So I took a bus from the airport to Motobu, and in Motobu I either walked or used buses.... but the thing is, the buses don't run too often, there might be one bus every one or two hours. The result is that I ended up walking an awful lot... rough estimate is that I walked 10km every day in Motobu just going from one place to another (and add to that the walking I did when I reached my destination.) It honestly didn't feel like that much, though, and I enjoyed walking there. You can see much more when you walk. The best part was when I took taxi up to Mt Yae and then walked down to Motobu. I'd actually recommend doing it that way and not going there with your own car. Best walk ever, and not too bad, going downhill. (Uphill would have been a different story.... xD)

I stayed in Motobu in Guesthouse Pole Pole and in Naha at an airbnb that goes by ゆめの家. Both were great, but especially the latter one. Really nice place with great location.

The main reason I went to Okinawa now was that I wanted to see sakura. I'm leaving home on March 10, and sakura will bloom in Kyoto in late March/April. In Okinawa the full bloom's in the recent years been on the second week of February, and so it was now too. The mot common cherry variety on Okinawa is called kanhizakura. Its flowers are deeper pink, and a bit bell-like.

I had one goal in Motobu: to get a good photo of メジロ, the Japanese white eye. I think this remains as the best shot I managed to take:
  

But just because, a couple of more. The first one's an accident. I was photographing the spider, after nearly walking into its web.

But, yes. Obviously I saw some sakura. 😄 They were amazing.

And next follows... well, what else? An overdose of photos. (I took way too many. How did I take so many photos. It's amazing in itself. Nearly a thousand.......)

Setting off!

On the first day in Motobu I went to Nakijin castle ruins, a Ryukyuan gusuku (castle), the construction of which was began in the 13th century. It was destroyed in 1609 when the Japanese domain of Satsuma invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom.

 

 Little birds, big butterflies. It's the same butterfly in both pics, the first one's just a bit dark photo. I'm still not quite sure what it is. Found some photos online that claimed its Papilio bianor okinawensis, the Okinawa peacock, but I don't think it's that. The peacock one should have blue/green tinge in the wings and black body. This looks more like Pachliopta aristolochiae, the common rose, but doesn't have those white spots in the wings. (Common rose? Why is a black butterfly called common rose?)

After returning to Motobu, I went to Bise no Fukugi tree road, rented a bike there cause I'd walked enough for that day. It is a just a nice trail to walk/bike among fukugi trees, leading to the Cape Bizezaki. That's a nice place to watch the sun setting behind Iejima island, though on the day I was there it was a bit cloudy, and I didn't wait for the sunset at the cape as I was there early.

You can see I've refound the panorama function in my phone.... ^_^

Nice sceneries, but one problem.... :/

But this fellow's still happy.

I ate at Bise and headed then to the bus stop, only to see that the next bus would come over an hour later. Started walking home. No problem otherwise, but they don't really believe in streetlights in Motobu.(Of course it wasn't as dark as it looks like in the photo, but still.)

Next day it was time to get up on Yaedake. I left in the morning to check out Motobu town - well, not too much to be seen, really. But I found a really good cafe/lunch place, ｒａ・ｓｈｉ・ｓａ, where I had brunch. Very nice place, good food, and nice owners. I asked them if there really is no bus toward Mt. Yae, as I hadn't been able to find one, and then we concluded it's best to go there by taxi, which they kindly called for me. And as I said before, that was quite perfect. Of course taxi is hardly a cheap way to go places, but even so.

I simply loved Yaedake. Great sceneries, beautiful sakura, and other interesting things on the way.

Zooming from the highest point where the taxi took me: there is the town of Motobu, and Iejima island, where I went next day.

For a while I was quite confused on this mountain: it was full of what seemed to me like seashells. Turned out they were the shells of land snails. Kind of awesome.

Note also the ice cream add in this picture. They were advertising ice cream everywhere, but I had to walk a couple of hours before I found a place that sold them. (There was one stand that claimed to be open, but there was no one anywhere near....)

After walking a while I came to a sign that pointed toward the ruins of Yaedake Field Hospital, and headed that way. However, the area was closed, and based on the condition of this info sign, it probably hasn't been open for a while.

 But! There was this extremely tempting little path, and I simply cannot resist paths. Paths are made to be followed, right? This one wasn't (luckily, maybe) a long one. It led to a couple of holes in the ground, some kind of war time dugouts, maybe?

 Look at that path! How can you not follow?

 And how can you not go to check these lil caves.... 

(I'm so happy there's a torch on the cell phone, though.)

There was also this tree that had two (now) broken bottles (just the bottoms left, really) placed by it... difficult to see, but one's in the right bottom corer, the other on the left side in the middle.

And on I went! As I approached Sakura no mori, the forest of sakura (wouldn't really call it a sakura forest) which is the family park part of the place, I finally got my ice cream.

Sakura no mori has two pathways built in the hillside. They are supposedly for nice family strolls, based on this pic:

Well, the first one was quite nice. I was totally out of breath after it, though, but hey, I'm me, and not that fit. It was a lovely path, in case:

 See the building in the pic below? It's an observatory. A bit below it, on the left, you can see bit of the road. I started my way downward from there.

After a short break I headed for the other walk. And that one was hard! Not to mention a bit scary at times. Wouldn't really rec it for children. The stairway was really steep at times, and there were a couple of places where really had to take care how to proceed.

 A few photos from the walk to/in Motobu, after leaving the mountain behind:

And, on we go! God, this will be a huge post. Next, off to Iejima. Took the first ferry in the morning. The ferries don't go too often either, with 2-3 hours interval, and the last ferry from Iejima leaves at 4 pm, so better go there early.

I rented a bike there. By far the handiest way to move around that island, in my mind. It was a really hot day. I hadn't thought it'd be that sunny, so I hadn't prepared... burned my skin a bit biking there.

 The first stop (that I first drove by because it was too nice day for biking) was at the Nyatya cave. During the battle of Okinawa, this cave was used as an air-raid shelter. It is also called Sennin, thousand people, for it's said it sheltered that many people.

Wajee viewpoint! The sea was so beautiful.

There were many other places I could have went to, but I wasn't going to spend too much time there, so I just drove around a little, and headed then to Mt. Gusuku.

I'd been planning to go to see the ocean expo park in the afternoon, but didn't feel like it. Ended up walking some more, to Sesoko island, chasing after some delicacies.

And I'm happy I went there! The beach at the other end of the Sesoko bridge was amazing.

Having found the stuff I'd been looking for I returned to the beach, thinking I'd eat there, but 1) the water was wonderful, the beach not so (trash, trash everywhere), 2) the clouds seemed a bit worrisome. Figured I might not be wanting to cross that bridge in rain and wind. So I just gave my toes a quick dip and went on.

Just FYI, here's the bus timetable of Sesoko island. xD

The last ferry from Iejima returning to Motobu.

 

Couldn't resist pausing to eat on the other side, though. So good! Filled with whipped cream  and  strawberries and pineapple. (Btw.... at this point Iejima had mystically disappeared. You should be able to see it in the background of that photo below......)

And then it started raining, hard, and it was windy too, and of course I didn't have my rain coat with, just the umbrella. Luckily it didn't break. xD


Last day in Motobu. I was heading back to Naha in the afternoon, but there was still time to go to check that ocean expo park I'd skipped. The place has an aquarium, but I didn't go in there. Just saw manatees and sea turtles that weren't in the main aquarium (and didn't require any pay.) Then I walked through the native Okinawan village, and basically ran through the Oceanic Culture Museum and didn't have time at all for the Planetarium.... regretted a bit not waking up earlier and going there right when the place opened.

This fish was like glued to the turtle. I first saw them from behind and thought that I didn't know turtles had tails like that... xD

I wish I'd had more time to explore the museum...there were so many interesting things. Like this kula canoe and exchange objects.

 

But I had a bus to catch to Naha. Goodbye to Motobu, then. It was a wonderful place.