I am somewhat hesitant to write this entry for a number of reasons. My most prominent reason for being somewhat apprehensive: my grandparents read this blog. This was not a weekend full of drunken debauchery (ok maybe a little) or mad sexual exploits, but it was a weekend which was not, perhaps, the most safe, nor very well planned. But in the end all was well, and I think the sheer adventure of this weekend was well worth the risk. Secondly I simply don't want to give off the idea that this always happens, or that every place in the world can expect to go like this, nor the idea that I am ALWAYS this unprepared. The events of this weekend were nothing if not very lucky, and also very unusual, do not try this at home kids. Lastly just for the quality of this post's photos. I shoot all of my photos at the moment with a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX5V which is absolutely fantastic at shooting low-light photos, given that it's a point and shoot. Even so, though, it's still a point and shoot, and the low light photos (which are most of the photos) in this post did not turn out fantastic. I apologize for this in advance. Also this is a whole weekend of insanity, so the post is considerably longer than I thought it would be. Now, onward!
As I mentioned yesterday, be prepared is the motto of The Boy Scouts of America. A long-standing organization. An organization which prepares young boys with many skills. An organization of which I was at no point a member. This might explain to some degree the circumstances under which I arrived in the beautiful seaside town of Ise.
I set out for Ise, in the northeast of the Kansai region on the Pacific ocean to see the Ise shrines. The Outer and Inner shrines at Ise are the most important shrines in Japan, as they are the shrines to Amaterasu. I packed my hiking backpack with a tent, changes of clothes, dried food, 2 liters of water, and some other essentials and headed out. Boarding a rapid express (not a bullet train) at Tsuruhashi station in Osaka, the high rises and downtown of Osaka were quickly left behind. This being Japan though, the urban sprawl continued for quite a while. 45 minutes later the urban setting
slowly but surely began to give way to rolling mountains and countryside.
The sun slowly set as we headed north east across Kansai, showing some beautiful panoramas which I just found impossible to capture. The downside to the beautiful sunset from aboard the train was that by the time I reached Iseshi-eki, it was pitch black. I stepped off of the train and onto the platform and felt a number of things: pride at finding the Japanese train system so easy to navigate, confusion as I had expected the central station at Ise to be much larger than it appeared to be, and some mild apprehension.
"Why apprehension?" you might ask. As I stepped out of the station and onto the street I realized a number of things. There were no local maps at the station, which I had been expecting, and so I had no map of Ise. I also realized everything was closed as Friday night in the countryside is not exactly huge. I also realized that not only did I not have a map, but that I had never even thought to look at a map of Ise. I had no idea where the station was in Ise, where the shrines were, or where a campsite or hiking trail heads could be found. In essence I had no idea where I was, where I was going, how to get there, or where I was going to sleep.
Faced with this I did the most logical thing for Mike DeLue to do, and simply began walking north, under the mistaken impression that this was the way to the beach. I walked for two and half hours into the outskirts of Ise before coming across a park which told me that I was not at the beach, but at the side of a river. This confused me deeply, but at least the sign was cheerful.
I was lost. This was not scary in the least, but frustrating. I just wanted to sit down, set up my tent, and chow down on some onigiri I'd brought with me. I soon walked across a highway bridge, found a convenience store, bought a sandwich and a map, and began to follow the river to the beach. The map didn't make complete sense, but I was convinced that was mostly due to the fact that it was covered in kanji I didn't understand and could not read. I found the bridge I'd just crossed, got my bearings, and headed on my way expecting to hear crashing waves and have the sand between my toes in roughly 45 minutes.
Three hours later I was sitting at the side of a country road, 2 kilometers from anything in any direction, with the map splayed out in front of me.
At this point I am thoroughly confused. My map repeatedly fails me. No matter where I think I am the roads just don't make sense. Nothing looks to be what I've seen as I've wandered through fields of greenhouses, small towns, residential neighborhoods, a construction site, two marinas, and seen the same disgruntled Japanese man walking the streets twice. I am convinced that the gods of luck have abandoned me completely at this point. But they were simply distracted as they prepared for me what happened next.
As I sat on the side of the road trying to decide what to do about my predicament a jeep passed by. I thought nothing of it until I heard it stop, turn around, and head back in my direction. At this point I'm somewhat relieved that someone wants to help the lost gaijin, and somewhat paranoid as I don't know where I am and am far from anything. As the jeep comes to a stop a young looking guy steps from the car and asks me if I need any help. I explain what's going on, that I'm here to hike and camp and am just trying to make it to the beach. He takes my map and looks at it somewhat confused. He takes about five minutes to look at the map and examine it. He then hands the map to me and says:
「この地図にはいせがない。」 - "This is not a map of Ise."
Things at this point begin to make perfect sense. My map reading skills aren't awful, as I'd been thinking. I just didn't have the right map. Those kanji at the top of the map didn't say Ise, they say Matsusaka, a city a good bit north of Ise. Granted, I had almost walked to Matsusaka, but I wasn't there, and my map was useless. He then offered to drive me to a campsite near the beach, explaining that it would take me 2 hours to get there by foot, but only about 10 minutes by car. I somewhat hesitantly accepted his offer, and at this point, things took a significantly awesome turn.
Sure enough, about 15 minutes later we arrive at the beach. The beach has a campsite, which is awesome, complete with showers, water, and bathrooms. What more could a guy ask for?! How about a club/bar.
Done.We step out of the jeep and walk into this big open-air beach house and bar where he explains to someone that he found some crazy American with a wrong map wandering along the side of the road. He seems to know everybody, but has other plans, and so immediately gets in his car and leaves.
At this point I'm much relieved, but also somewhat nervous. I'm now standing alone in a bar full of people I've never met, all of whom are staring at me expectantly. I order a glass of sake, and that seems to be all that's necessary to start them wondering about me. I'm soon the topic of conversation as they ask me all about why I'm in Japan, why I'm in Ise, what my plans are. They're all shocked by a number of things: the fact that I like Japanese alcohol (apparently not a common trait among gaijin), the fact that I've walked almost all the way here from the Ise train station, but most of all by the fact that I'm 20.
This is where I learn a little Japanglish: no plan-no hito, or " a man without a plan ". They love my story and we're soon talking very animatedly about a million things. Likewise the owner is enjoying shoving a new type of alcohol in my hand every time I finish a glass. He's astounded by the fact that no matter what he hands me I down it, enjoy it, and am still completely in control. I'm enjoying myself thoroughly, and soon make a big group of new friends.
There's even a halfpipe at this place, and skaters are in and out all the time. At one point one of the guys I've been talking to at the bar decides he wants to try out this whole "skateboarding" thing. It doesn't go too well.In general he starts out iffy...
...then something goes even more wrong...
...and it inevitably ends up a disaster, albeit a hilarious one.
Nobody could claim this guy didn't have perseverance though. Rinse and repeat this guy went over and over again. He never did really succeed though, and the fact that he was doing it in ill-fitting crocs didn't help the matter.
At about 2am the bar is winding down and I ride with the owner into Ise to go to a club, where we drink and party until 8am. He then let's me crash in his spare room. I haven't even had to pitch a tent, and I've only payed for one drink. This weekend is starting off well.
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I wake up the next day at around noon, shower, and head to the beach house again to kick back and relax. I lay in the hammock and just enjoy the beautiful weather and the smell of salt-water. I also finally get to see the beach today, as I'd been more enthralled by conversation the night before. The beach is gorgeous and glassy and things are just very chill. Almost nobody is there, and yet more shenanigans were had on the halfpipe. I had my turn as well, but things did not go smoothly for me.
It wasn't long before the sun started to fall in the sky and a few people began to trickle into the bar, some of whom I recognized. At this point something completely unexpected to me happened: a truck full of Spaniards arrived.
In Ise there is (apparently) a Spanish themed amusement park called Parque España, where Spanish people come and work and do what Spaniards do for the amusement of the Japanese. In any case, a large group of Spaniards and a few Brazilians and Portuguese showed up to have a fantastic time cooking Paella, a traditional Spanish dish cooked in massive quantities over an open flame on huge pans. At this point I learned that all the Spanish I ever knew is currently useless, as about halfway through any Spanish sentence I tried to speak I switched fluidly into Japanese. I eventually gave up and just spoke mostly in Japanese, letting them speak to me in Spanish. It was a night of many foreign languages.
The paella turned out delicious.
And the skaters were again out in force, though tonight the story seemed to be more awesome, and less painful.
Except possibly for this guy, though I can't really tell. His board is thrashed, but the look on his face isn't too bad. He is either just a really good sport, or that's the same look of pride I saw on the face of the guy I met who'd just broken a guard rifle over his own hand.
Again around 2am things started to quiet down and off I went again to the club. I barely made it to the 8am closing time, working on 4 hours of sleep and all. But I learned my lesson and slept until 2:30 in the afternoon the next day.
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Out of some massive lucky coincidence, this is the last weekend this bar was open, as it was in the process of closing down for the off season. This means Sunday was final party day, and the place was absolutely packed. I arrived back at the Beach House Daruma somewhere around 3pm, and immediately went for a swim in the ocean, showered, and by 4:30 the barbecue had begun.
This was the smallest amount of meat on that grill for the next 6 hours. The meat seemed to materialize out of nowhere and seemed to have no end. It was delicious.
I managed to slip away for a little solitary time and take a few photos at this point. I even got to watch the sun slowly set over the mountains that ring the Ise area to the west.
Upon my return the party just went on forever. There were rappers and arm wrestling and more food. The evening was just fantastic and I was happy to be a part of it.
I did not participate in the epic arm wrestling, though I did sumo wrestle afterwards. I was somewhat unstoppable and they were almost as surprised to discover that I weigh over 100 kilos as they were to find out I was only 20 two nights before.
Over the course of this night I met a very nice couple and talked to them a lot. When they discovered that I'd come all the way to Ise to see the sights, but instead spent three nights drinking and partying they insisted on taking me to see the inner shrine the next day. I was happy to accept their offer and I even got a decent nights sleep as the party ended at 3 and I got to sleep from 4 until 10:30.
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The next morning at 10:45 on the dot I get a call from my new friends Ken and Tsubasa. Just as promised they arrive at 11:00, I say a short goodbye to my host's mother letting my host sleep, and we're soon on our way to the Inner Shrine at Ise.
This was Monday, which was Respect for the Aged day, a national holiday here in Japan, so the shrine was predictably packed.
Normally I have little interest in having photos of myself taken at places I'm visiting. I took only two over the course of 10 days in Europe. But Ken and Tsubasa insisted on a number of occasions, and I'm glad for it.
After first crossing over a bridge from a residential neighborhood into the shrine area you walk through a number of packed old looking shops and restaurants. We left these for later and headed straight for the shrine proper. This huge torii gate marks the entrance.
You then pass through the gate and over this bridge. If the Torii and bridge look remarkably new that's because they are. The Ise shrines are entirely rebuilt every 30 years according to Shinto tradition. The most recent rebuilding is still underway and the entrence was rebuilt just this past year, so everything looks very new.
Once inside you cleanse your hands, and then there's a river where one can do the same. The water here is amazingly clean and cool. Many people swim in the river just outside the temple, though nobody does inside.
The temple is filled with trees, and incorporates seemlessly the timeless Japanese architecture and the natural world around it. It was beautiful.
These stairs lead up to the temple entrance. The larger "temple" is not really a temple at all, but simply the surrounding area, this staircase leads up to the actual entrance where you stand, pray, and give (traditionally) a 5 yen coin as an offering.
The idea of the 5 yen coin as an offering was explained to me, though it was difficult, by my new friends. "5 yen" is go-en in Japanese, "go" meaning five, and "en" being the counter for yen. En, however, is also a Japanese word meaning connection, fate, bond, link or relationship while Go is also a Japanese honorable prefix. Additionally the Japanese 5 yen coin has a hole in its center. It signifies a circle and simultaneously is supposed to bring luck and create a connection and is thus the most common donation at Shinto temples. Awesomesauce.
So you toss your 5 yen coin in and then head back through the rest of where you just came from. That's right, before you see my awesome pictures and head off to see the holiest Shinto temple in the land I've got a bummer for you. You don't actually get to see the temple. Nobody does. Ever. It's kinda a bummer, but only the royal family may enter the temples at Ise, and large walls are erected around it. The visit is much more about the journey and the experience than about actual fruition, much like my weekend.
We made our way back out into the streets outside. These were filled with shops and vendors (and a monumental amount of people) and we wandered around and saw a million cool things.
We went inside this place and had Akafuku, a traditional Ise treat of Mochi covered in red bean paste.
Just so you know, it's amazing.
As we were hanging out and eating our Akafuku they asked if there was anything else I had planned to see in Ise. I mentioned that I had also wanted to see the Meotoiwa, the wedded rocks. They said it was 5 minutes away, so we would go. I didn't want to argue, so we were on our way.
The rocks represent the union of man and wife and are connected by a traditional Shinto rope made of rice straw that weighs over a ton and has to be replaced several times a year. I'd like to come back and see this ceremony.
After this my new friends drove me to Ise-shi station, we bid farewell and I thanked them profusely for their kindness and was sure to tell them if they were ever in Osaka to give me a call. As they drove off the gods of luck seemed to clap their hands, admire their job well done, and turn to more important things. I could have used just 5 more minutes of their time though.
As I stepped into the station I remembered a series of disturbing things. I had only 1000 yen on me, roughly 10 dollars US. The cheapest ticket home was 1500 yen, and the one I was likely to buy (faster by 2 hours) was 3000 yen. I wandered around downtown Ise (deja vu) for about an hour and a half, trying convenience store after convenience store before I found an ATM which would accept my card. Luckily I did finally find one, boarded a train, and was on my way home again. I called my host in Ise, Akira, and thanked him profusely (now that he'd woken up) and assured him that I would be back to visit.
I hope you enjoyed this insane tale, as it took me 4 hours to write and upload the pics for this insane diatribe. I would again not encourage being as unprepared as I was. I got very lucky, and I would not count on it happening again, nor in any other place.
If you like my photos I put the best of the best up on flickr, just search DeLue and you're sure to find me. I also tag many of them on a map, so you can follow my photographic journeys around the country.
Also many thanks to all of you who read and pass this on to friends. The more people I know are reading the more I feel like I'm not wasting my time. You're all awesome. Drop me a comment to let me know what you think and pass it on to friends, family, enemies, pets that can read, anybody you like.
My next entry will be Kyoto. Don't miss it!
Stay stoked mis amigos,
Mahalo
