Episode 5: Aomori & and the Greatest Hostel Ever!

Goodbye Tokyo, we will meet again by the week's end. I woke up this morning, gathered my things and folded up the bedding, and departed my hostel for Tokyo station. It was and is still very muggy outside, so I hope that the weather will be nice once I reach Aomori. Japan's weather is very diverse, for it being a small island and all. It's hot at the bottom and cold at the top. Hopefully I'll get to see a bit of snow, but I doubt that will happen because of the time of the year it is. Once I reached Tokyo station, I headed over to the JR ticket booth and got my ticket for the JR Hayate, which goes all the way up to Hachinohe. After waitig in line to get my ticket, I stopped off at one of the many bakeries and picked up a couple of snacks for the long ride. One of the most delicious being a read bean doughnut. Doughnuts in japan are so expensive! A single doughnut costs about 170 yen, which equates to almost 2 dollars, whereas in America doughnuts are like 50 cents. The I got one of my favorite Japanese drinks, Pokari Sweat. This is one of those drinks that they sell at any Japanese market in LA, so I'm sure some of you have had it. But for those who haven't, imagine drinking someone's organ fluids mixed with sugar and elctrolytes. It definitely has that slimey, watery texture to it. Supposedly they say it makes the body absorb it faster. After stocking up on food, I went to the Shinkansen and boarded my car. So now I'm sitting in my seat, enjoying the air conditioned ride up north.

So here I am, still riding the train after three hours. At least I've been kept full thanks to all of those pastries I bought. I was kinda wrong about the weather so far, but it wasn't too far off. It's still sticky outside, but the tempereture did drop a good 12/15 degrees. We'll have to see what it's like when I actually get to Aomori. My travel book says that they get about 35 feet of snow annualy. But I don't know if that is spread out over the year, or if it just all clumps down during winter. Hopefully it will be nice, at least it's raining right now. Anyways, the countryside here is beautiful. It's like the complete opposite of Tokyo in every way. There's only a single train that connects these towns, and the roads are wide and simple. There are rice patties on every side of me, along with multitudes of trees. This is a most enjoyable train ride, and I only hope it gets better.

And better it has gotten! I arrived in Aomori, right on schedule. After getting off the train end exiting the station, I went to the information center and got directions to Moya Kogen, a small stop where my hostel is located. I waited for the bus at the designated stop, but got on the wrong one. Lucky for me, the bus driver dropped me off at my stop because it was on the way, but he was still pissed off at me. I didn't care though. Once I got off the bus, I realized what a wondrous place I was in. The hostel is off a gravel driveway and the building is made out of a special type of cedar. They have a garden in the back, Japanese style tubs, a tatami mat clad reading room, and a little kitchen. The hostel is also the residence of an old man and his wife. The owner used to be a big cyclist back in the day, and rode around New Zealand and Ireland. He has a bunch of books from the places he's been, as well as a large collection of vintage Guinness beer cans on the wall. He even serves Guinness, but that is not the type of beer to have in japan, even if it does taste delicious. So I signed in and gave him my information, and then dropped my stuff next to a bed I chose. Back to talking about this beautiful place, there are only three other buildings within a mile if the hostel. Those three are right across the street, oneof them being a little old woman's home/restaurant that I ate at. I still can't believe how amazing the outer area of Aomori is. Think a mix between the house in My Neighbor Totoro and the land from Princess Mononoke. Yes, I know, quite astonishing. If you look up the street you get a perfect view of the magical looking misty mountainside, which looks like something out of a Japanese woodblock print. After settling in and staring at the scenery outside, I decided to go out for dinner. The hostel owner told me to go to the place next door, so I headed over. Now this was a great and not so great experience. The great experince was going into this place and seeing the inside, as well as eating the food. The house looks like a cabin straight from the rocky mountains, and so does the inside. Right when you walk in, you can see this woman's affinity for owls. She had these cute little glass owls, as well as owl plates mounted on the wall. The whole place was very cozy, especially with the sound of heavy rain coming from outside. Once she put some classical music on, I was sold! I stared out the window for at least 30 minutes before I noticed my food hadn't come yet. Turns out that the woman and I had a misunderstanding. I thought I ordered, and she thought I didn't. Her friends that the was sitting at a table with gave me a look, like they were finding it strange that I didn't order. I finally asked her if my food was ready, anxvthen everything was figured out. It was ok though and I didn't mind, but she felt bad. I told her it was completely fine and she calmed down. Right before all of that, though, the bad happened. Some French guy walked in and sat down. He pointed to what he wanted on an English menu the woman had, and she started on his order. Now the thing was was that the English menu had older prices, about a 50 yen difference, and she made this as clear as she possibly could (she didn't speak any English, mind you). Now, after he was finished with his meal, he went up to pay. She told him how much it was going to cost, and he didn't understand. I translated for her and then said "she asked if it was ok", and he responded "what if it's not?" I kinda shrugged it off, as I was enjoying myself too much, but he didn't pay the extra 50 yen, which is about 70 cent USD. Now that's just rude! She probably only gets about 10-15 customers a day on average. and then after returning to the hostel, I found out he's staying here. Now that i've talked to this guy, I can safely say that he is quite a nice person. He is also travelling to Hokkaido, but he is planning to go way up north, toward the tip of the island. Since I've been back, I've just been enjoying the countryside, staring out the window and sitting on the porch. I am also enjoying the woody smell and warmth of the common room. I hope anyone who gets the chance to come to japan will experience this as I have. This is definitely a top event of my adventure so far.

So what ithought was going to be the end of the night, actually turned out to be the beginning. What I like about this hostel so much is that it is like living with a family, albeit a family of five Japanese, a Frenchman, and a Jew. Damn, I just remembered that I should go visit the only synagogue in japan, but I can't remember where it's located. Anyways, all of sat down for some delicious tea that came from the manager's garden. It was a strange tea that changed color when you added lemon to it. We all talked, some of us I English, some in Japanese, me in both. I talked with the French guy for a while about random things, such as movies, traveling, and such. Then the manager's wife served us cookies and other little teats. It was just a grand ol' time. After that nice little experience, i decided to take a shower in the Japanese style bath. What you essentially do is sit down on a little stool, and then use a hosed shower to wash yourself off. When that is done, you turn a switch which brings the water out of faucet. You then fill up a bucket with water, and use that to wash the shampoo out of your hair. It was refreshing to wash off after being in Tokyo earlier, especially since I sweated so much from lugging around a packed suitcase all the way through Tokyo station. Now, about 5 minutes ago, a Japanese bee flew into the room after being attracted to the light. Man was that thing huge! I would say it was at least 1 1/2 inches long. It scared the shit out of me, but the guy next to me killed it. So, as yet another day of adventure occured, I leave you with knowledge.....because knowledge is power.