Notes on Kansai Public Transportation and Road Networks

I am a little bit jealous of Japanese because Kansai is such a walkable city and that they have access to efficient public transportation.

Imagine pedestrian lanes on every street. Imagine just crossing the street without the fear of being run over by a car. You get what I mean? Here in Manila, the stop lights are red, and yet cars speed through. Everywhere we went around Kansai, we saw people bike commuting. One day, we rented bikes to temple hop. Haaaay. What an experience to pedal on the roads without the thought that a bus might side sweep you. There are designated bike parking for convenience, and we saw people just leaving their bikes without putting chains and locks.

We kept getting lost, and we would ask strangers for directions. The Japanese know their city very well because they walk through those streets. They get a feel of their city, they get to experience their community.

They also have the option of taking the train. It’s fast and has a vast network that connects you to most corners of the city. One time, the train was late for a few seconds. It is known to be super punctual, and true to that reputation, we heard a apology blasting though the sound system.

Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara

Here is my Japan; Japan that is less about robots, anime, and karaoke. We were trying to avoid the cliches, so we opted for the country side. It was about castles and temples; the cultural and the historical. Kansai Prefecture was about going slow, walking placidly and observing every small detail.

And yet, it would always somehow come back to the cliches, especially for me who was stepping in Japan for the first time. We know about Japan; I read about the country, I watched a lot of anime, and I hear lots of stories. But I only got the essence  when I was physically there.  It was multiple cases of yun pala yun. Take for example how, in reality, the cartoons we watched as kids were very cheeky. Remember Dragon Ball Z? Trunks and his family had names derived from underwear- Trunks, Tights, Mr. and Mrs. Brief, Bulma (Buruma=Bloomers), and Bulla (Bura= Bra).  Some names were puns for vegetables- Vegeta (vegetables), Raditz (radish), Broly (brocolli), Paragus (asparagus), and Onio (Onion).

On our 4th day, we went to Nara. I was against petting the deer as I believed they were meant to be in the wild, not domesticated. But I got there, saw the herd of deer, and I just wanted to hug them all.  I also said I wouldn’t shop, and I’ve always done a great job of controlling my spending. Until I went to Tokyu Hands Lifestyle Shops. It took all my money, my heart and my soul.

Of course, we ate a lot. Osaka introduced me to the word kuidaore: eating yourself to ruin. And we didn’t really care if we would gain weight. We were enjoying every bit of the meals we stuffed our faces with. After the eating comes the crapping. Let me tell you about the most surreal excretory experience I had. (Or maybe I shouldn’t? Is that crass?)  Oh, those Japanese restrooms with all those buttons for all your needs, and the other options you didn’t even think of, but maaaan do you need that too. Minty aloe vera option on the bidet? Yes!

We went to Chiang Mai without preparing an itinerary. We read a few travel articles and clicked on links we could find online. We had an inkling of what to expect, but tedious day to day planning…we skipped on that part.

So, what did we do for 3 days?

Nothing prepared me for this exercise on stillness. Karen and I took a 20 hour train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and then another 18 hour ride from Chiang Mai to Bangkok a few days after.

6 things: Beijing 

What does a year with a desk job with weekends spent on the beach, plus add a full month of traveling abroad look like?

Fair face, dark arms and legs, and pale feet

New York, May 2012

Dear Stranger, by Shizuka Yokomizo

For this 1998-2000 series of portraits, photographer Shizuka Yokomizo left several anonymous letters on the doorsteps of random ground floor apartments that read:

“Dear Stranger,

I am an artist working on a photographic project which involves people I do not know…. I would like to take a photograph of you standing in your front room from the street in the evening.”

The letter specified a certain ten-minute period during which the artist would approach, take the picture, and slip back into the darkness. She would only reveal her identity once her subjects received a print and contact information (so that they could let her know if they objected to their portrait being exhibited).

Yokomizo made sure that when the photos were taken, the light would be too dark outside to see her — it would only allow her subjects to see their own reflections in the window they were looking out of.

Yup, me and Hana were bursting with energy. Milk tea for breakfast, lunch and dinner and you have two girls ready to take on the daunting challenge of roaming Taipei in just three days.

There are milk tea shops in ever corner in Taipei. In this post, we try to rate the various milk tea we tasted.

8 Things: Taipei, Taiwan

7 things: Maldives