The land of the rising sun! We arrived in port this morning, got molested by the thermoscan device (we all thought it would be something cool like an x-ray machine, but it ended up turning out to be a video camera-looking thing we walked past), and the ship quickly emptied out as most everyone went to pick up their Japan Rail Passes and went onto Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, and Tokyo. Due to some unforseen circumstances, my Japan group ended up having to kill our plan of Kyoto/Osaka/Nara, and instead of making a day trip or two to those cities.
This morning, however, I found out everyone in my group was on the waiting list for overnight homestays and that every single one of them got in, meaning that I will be solo for two days. They get back on Friday afternoon, and we will be travelling to Kyoto either that night or the next.
Today we spent the day shopping in the Sannomiya district of Kobe, where I finally purchased a new camera – a Canon Ixy Digital 90 (which I believe is the same as the Ixus/PowerShot SD900). Pictures and videos shall return!
FYI: No one has been able to get cell service here. It’s not because our cell phones don’t support the GSM bands here (Some of us have multiband ‘world’ phones), but it may be that Cingular and T-Mobile haven’t set up international roaming with the local providers. This is quite inconvenient for many of us – I may actually have to purchase my first phone card.
While at this mall, I was finally able to find a rap CD. You see, I’ve been trying to get my hands on asian rap and hip-hop CDs since Malaysia, but have had no success. I picked up Mic Banditz – Sixth Sense and have been enjoying it for the past hour.
Lessons learned:
-ATMs that would accept our cards were somewhat difficult to find. We did eventually find one, but it would only spit out 10,000 yen bills (about $83 USD).
-Sushi is REALLY, REALLY hard to find in Kobe. We ended up settling for a restaurant that at least had some sashimi.
-Japanese people are super nice. We’ve had to ask several for directions, and they’ve always pointed us to a direction and have even walked alongside a short distance to guide us. Also, the ex-pats living here have been tremendously helpful in clearing up confusion with directions. Shout outs to the Brits!