R.O.A.R.: Japan - Enjoyable Week

20th July 2012

Konnichiwa All,

Why a China report so soon, you ask? Well, because I'm actually reporting on a very enjoyable week's holiday in Japan. The things that impressed me most are:

The cleanliness of Tokyo: hardly a rubbish bin to be found, yet not a smidgen of rubbish to be seen anywhere. I guess people are expected to take their drink bottles and paper bags home - unless they happen to come across a bin at a train station. There they have 3 slots for rubbish: a small one for 'bottles', the next size for 'cans' and the biggest opening for 'pets'? Perhaps, you can't take your pet poodle dog on the train? Or is that the terminology for a big bottle?
The politeness of the people: always a respectful bow and a thank-you 'arigatou'.
The orderliness and respect for others: at the train station you wait in a straight single line to get on, after waiting for passengers to get off; you are not permitted to talk on your mobile phone on a bus or a train; no one speaks loudly - how peaceful it all is!
Lastly, the food was absolutely delicious: everything I tried was very tasty.

Apart from having a good look around Tokyo: harbour cruise, a monorail quick view of the city, and lot's of walking and shopping, the highlight of the trip was climbing Mt Fuji. We were lucky to have booked a good-weather day, giving us a great view of the snow-capped mountain and the valleys and lakes below. It did, however, start to cloud over with heavy winds and some rain, near the top. The walk to the summit was estimated at 6-8 hours of climbing and 3-4 hours descent! As that was more time than we had available, and we were not prepared for such eventual cold and rain we made it to the 8th station (some 600 metres from the top). The climb wasn't steps, as is often the case in China, but mostly rock climbing/scrambling towards the top. It was much harder than I had expected and the descent, for the next hour, was tricky in the wet conditions, but the whole experience was very exhilarating, finishing up in clear skies and bright sunshine again.

The next day we took a bullet-train ride to Kyoto, the ancient and former capital city of Japan. That was a little disappointing to me as the Imperial Castle was closed, it was overcast with showers, and we were left with mostly gardens and temples to see - we were a bit sore and 'templed out' by that stage. We did, however, treat ourselves to a typically tasty Japanese meal before we left.

Back in Tokyo we had a quick visit to the Innovation Museum where we were supposed to see how things were going to look like in 50 years time, but time did not allow us to take it all in. The most innovative thing I saw was when I went to their 2012 public toilet - wow, the buttons and features of the toilet: heated seat, 'shower' for your bottom, 'bidet' for ladies, and variable warm air to dry off - it beats the Chinese 'hole-in-the-ground' and the Aussie 'dunny' any day!

After so much fun something had to go wrong, and it did! On the Sunday morning, one day before I was due to fly out at 9:30am, the hotel calls me at 11:30am informing me that I was due to check out at 11:00am. I told them that they had it wrong: I had always had it in my mind that I was due to fly out on Monday. However, just to make sure I checked my flight tickets and to my horror I was in fact due to fly out that morning!!! Not only did I have to pay for another night's accommodation at a mere 11,500 yen (~$170) but my special-priced return ticket with Japan Airlines was strictly on a no-change, no-refund, no-nothing basis to which I had agreed to get the special price of (~$620 return). I then called Japan Airlines, apologised for my stupidity and asked "can you get me on tomorrow's flight instead" to which they replied "certainly sir, but you'll have to pay for the one-way fare back to China". As it was my fault, I figured I'll just have to wear the cost, until she said "will you be paying the $2,620 by credit card?". After picking myself off the floor I calmly said "no, I think you have it wrong, it only cost me $620 for the return ticket", to which she equally calmly explained that I had bought my tickets at a special price and that she was now quoting me normal price. With my best professional groveling voice I pleaded for leniency. Thirty minutes later she called me and said "good news Mr Rossi, we'll put you on tomorrow's flight at no extra charge" - viva Japanese Airlines, they'll have my business whenever the opportunity arises: what a satisfying finish to great week in Japan.

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