maid, flight attendant, and nurse
Bean's personal Edemame meal
Hot spring!!Friday June 25 (Day 23)
Today we were to catch a JR train for a very long 7-7.5 hour ride towards Matsuyama. This was our first weekend business trip, so we packed up our backpacks with suit clothing and pajamas and headed out the door. Our first train left at 8am, so the alarm sounded bright and early. Getting to Tokyo Station was a breeze. We then proceeded to go to the ticket office, cutting the time slightly close. In fact, when we bought our tickets the lady simply looked at us and said “Uhhh…run!” Sweating profusely from the abnormal high humidity in Japan, Bean and I continued to run up stairs and around corners and people till we reached the platform we thought was ours. Not wanting to make a dire mistake, I showed my ticket, with a quizzical “Yes? Help me?” look on my face, to a woman in line. Leading us down the two flights of stairs she quickly pointed us towards the right platform and finally, after a few more flights of stairs, we jumped on the train. Sitting on the train we couldn’t stop laughing (and breathing heavily) because of our realization that the past 10+ minutes were spent looked ridiculous running through the station with large backpacks, and yelling “Sumimasen” (excuse me) with our JR ticket in hand. But, all is well that ends well and we were off towards the eastern island of Matsuyama. The first two hours we remember very little simply because we passed out to the truest definition of the phrase. Somehow awaking from our slumber, we spent the rest of the first leg (4-5 hours) talking, looking at the scenery, and watching The Guardian till we arrived. In all, our first train ride to Okayama was fairly easy and sleep-filled, and we soon switched to the Okayama-Matsuyama line. The next ride was for roughly 2.5 hours. We made our infamous lunch of PB&J and watched the awe-inspiring scenery of Japan’s coast and islands. For a large leg of the trip the train was sandwiched between the side of the island and the ocean, giving us the feeling that we were on the edge looking out into the scenery. Although rainy most of the day, the landscape filled with green forests, rice fields, and a foggy, blue ocean were equally stunning. We arrived at our final destination around 4:15pm and took a taxi to our hotel to wait for Koji-san and Yama-san’s arrival from the airport. When they arrived we met them in the lobby and were informed that all they wanted to do first was go to a hot spring. Japanese hot springs are a traditional way of bathing where men and women are separated, occasionally with one co-ed room, and bathe in a communal type hot spring bathtub. The kicker…no clothes or bathing suits allowed. This particular hot spring is one of the oldest in all of Japan and the building was at least 100 years old. Having done this once before, I knew what to expect, but Bean was in for a good experience. Sparing details of what our eyes saw, the hot spring experience was overall very refreshing and we felt cleaner than we had in a while. Next we searched for a good place to eat dinner and found ourselves at a suggested yakitori restaurant. Yakitori is a “genre” of Japanese restaurants that are similar to tapas. The menu mostly consists of small plates that are often skewers, appetizers, deserts, and miscellaneous food items that are, of course, delicious. Unaware that we were to be joined by other businessmen until we sat down at the table, we were told that Dirty Man (our friend), and 3 other men from Nippon Ham were going to eat with us. Dinner was delicious and mainly full of rice (too much), beef and pork skewers, and edamame (which Bean devoured). I thought after dinner everyone would get a good night sleep before the long business day tomorrow (like normal people?), but I should have known that isn’t the Japanese way. Instead, Bean and I found ourselves going to karaoke with 6 men. Not only was it karaoke, but unlike the karaoke places in Tokyo, this one had costumes. I am not sure exactly how, but Bean ended up being a maid, I was a flight attendant, Dirty Man was a nurse, and Sonada-san was ...we think...another flight attendant (costume did not fit him!). I would say this was a very bonding moment for all of us. At least flight attendants wear a suit-like uniform…I wasn’t too embarrassed ha. One of the men had a wonderful voice, and the rest of us tried to sing up to his level. A mixture of English and Japanese songs were sang, and the night was complete with new nicknames and jokes for Dirty Man. Apparently in Japan many business men will go out to karaoke before a large seminar so that they can be on a more friend-like basis the next day. Ok, I accept! Finally, by about midnight, we headed back to the hotel and “hit the hay”
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