Kumamoto castle is really worth a visit and I loved walking around the vast castle area. It reminds you of samurai films. I was a bit annoyed because I left my camera battery in the locker at the station. So unfortunately no picture this time (don't want to steal any). But have a look at this website for a glance at the castle:
From Kumamoto I travelled on to Aso National park in the center of Kyushu. I had seen a picture in some brochure and since then really wanted to visit the place. Aso-san caldera is the largest in the world and a popular destination for hikes. It's not so well-known with foreign visitors however.
I checked in at Aso youth hostel first. On the way there I met a Japanese guy. I had read in some book that the Japanese don't usually travel on their own. But if you meet a solo traveller then it would be a slightly nerdy guy who'd carry the entire J-Rail timetable with him. Funnily enought that guy did have the entire J-Rail timetable with him (well, just the Kyushu part, but still...). Later we were sent to bed by the hostel owners, two elderly ladies who made it very clear that 11 o'clock was the latest time you could go to bed... The next morning we took a bus to Mt. Aso. A cablecar ride took us to the caldera. The place was crowded with lazy tourists who just took the cablecar up there. We decided to go for a hike further up on the mountain and around the caldera. I was with Lidia, a French psychologist whom I had met at the youth hostel and Peter, a Dutch photographer who has been in Japan to do a new photo book.
On the top of the mountain we met Yuya and Kosuke, two Japanese guys who are hitchhiking through Japan with their tent on the back. They were pretty laid-back and cool. We asked them where they had met and Yuya said they had met at a station when Kosuke was trying to steal his wallet. But they also showed some a 
bit typical Japanse traits later on.
bit typical Japanse traits later on. We wanted to go down a path that was not on their map and when we asked they said it was forbidden - we didn't think that was true though, but couldn't read the kanji. It was probably more because the way was a bit more dangerous than the one we had taken to reach the mountain top. They said they hated to go back the on the same path, but it still seemed to be the more correct option.
Well, the way down wasn't that bad, though a sign down there said you should have sufficient climbing equipment (which is over the top, really). On the way down we hid in the bushes to scare the Hungarian couple who was walking behind us. When they appeared we jumped out and screamed "banzai", that was really funny. We met the Japanese guys again at the station and they were happy 
we had survived... Lidia and I just crossed the street somewhere and the two guys said we shouldn't do this. We explained that we do that all the time back there in our countries. Yuya said he had done it in India too and and said that in Japan you should not do things like that. Is it that Japanese can behave in a less disciplined fashion abroad, but as soon as they're on Japanese soil they need to comply again? It's really interesting how people here can be non-conformist and conformist at the same time, depending on what it is about. We waited for the train with them, eating from our bento boxes and chatting.
we had survived... Lidia and I just crossed the street somewhere and the two guys said we shouldn't do this. We explained that we do that all the time back there in our countries. Yuya said he had done it in India too and and said that in Japan you should not do things like that. Is it that Japanese can behave in a less disciplined fashion abroad, but as soon as they're on Japanese soil they need to comply again? It's really interesting how people here can be non-conformist and conformist at the same time, depending on what it is about. We waited for the train with them, eating from our bento boxes and chatting. In the evening I met two French guys at the hostel and we were talking about my plans to stay in Japan for a while. One of them used to work in Sourcing as well (but had become a history teacher meanwhile) and has some contacts to the "Societé Génerale" in Tokyo. He asked for my e-mail and when I'd be in Tokyo for a potential interview. You see - you may encounter helpful people randomly. I will continue to speak about my plans in any case...
No comments:
Post a Comment