Due to the way that the days fall in October, we were all allowed an extra day off. I chose mine to make a 3 day weekend and decided to spend it in Kansai. For those who don't know, the Kansai region includes such cities as Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, and Nara. I went first to Kobe, then Kyoto, then Osaka.
Day 1: Kobe
Starting bright and early at 7:00am (usually I am able to wake up around 9 or 9:30, so this was a little rough), I got ready and made my way to the bus station. The bus to Kobe took somewhere close to 4 hours and was pretty uneventful. No one was seated behind me, which cooled my conscience and allowed me to fully recline my chair. It would have been perfect if I had some sunglasses or an eye shade, but alas my sunglasses broke last week. Sometimes life is just so difficult.
It was raining when I first arrived, so I decided to adventure around the shopping mall at the station. Bought some CDs like it was 1999. After the rain subsided, I headed out in search of Chinatown. Kobe's Chinatown has a pretty good reputation, and I think it was cool. Not great, but cool. There were a lot of food stands with food that didn't seem too different than convenience store food, and decorations that were Chinese-themed. I did get to read about it though and apparently before the war it was great but got burned to the ground. At home it was always one thing to hear about the things that happened during WWII, but to see the places it happened makes it less like a story and more a real event. Not that I'm some enlightened, better-than-thou wealth of information, it was just strange to stand somewhere knowing that was where it went down (then walking away in favor of some chicken on a stick). After I had gotten my Chinatown fix, I decided to wander to the water and see what I could find. I first happened upon the memorial park for the 1995 earthquake that hit the region. It was a nice park and right on the water. They had some pictures of all of the damage which was interesting and a bit eye-opening. Made me think... what is stopping that from happening again, right now? Luckily, there were no problems.
I wandered through the park and on the other side, I found a row of tents. This sort of tent set-up only happens when there is some sort of festival. Curious, I checked it out. The first tent inside was run by an Iranian man who spoke English. He told me that it was the 50th anniversary of the construction of
Kobe Tower. Most of the tents had traditional Japanese foods or little games for kids, but others were more interesting. I got some nice tea from one man and had a chat with a guy from Sweden promoting his business of Swedish goods. There was a big area with lots of wood crafts and another area with a stage. I wasn't sure who the people were; I only know that most were not good at their basketball shooting competition.
After that, I walked around a shopping area, of course stopped in at the H&M (deals on deals), and then walked back through a big shopping area. Just after thinking my feet were so tired, I saw a spa that was gloriously open until 10. It was almost 8, so I stopped in and got myself a 30 minute foot reflexology massage. Oh man, oh man. It even came with a free pair of socks! After that, I happened upon a restaurant selling Kobe beef. As that was one of my goals of this trip, I stopped in. The least expensive piece of beef was, I believe, 80 grams of lean beef. So I paid my 1500 yen (near $15) for the best 80 grams of beef I have ever had. Probably. Anyway, it was worth it. After, I took the train to Kyoto that night to stay with a host from Couch Surfing.
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| Hello, Chinatown! |
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| Duck BBQ wrap |
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| Panda-flavored ice cream? |
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| Street treats in Chinatown |
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| Kobe Tower- Happy 50th! |
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| Halloween performances |
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| Stopped in for some Kobe beef. Lives up to its rep! |
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| The restaurant in Kobe was the first to give me a Thank You banana upon exit. |
Day 2: Kyoto
Kyoto is such a cool city. I started off at a World Heritage Site, Kiyomizu Temple. It was really really beautiful, as expected. Many people comment on how touristy it is, but of course it is touristy- it's a tourist attraction. I suppose it wasn't so crowded for me because I went on a Monday. On the road leading up to the temple, there were a bunch of souvenier shops, which I couldn't say no to. After that, I wandered around Gion, which is the district known for its previous reputation of housing and employing geisha. I didn't see any geisha this time, but still saw some people dressed in yukata (which are traditionally worn in the summer). I was last in Kyoto in August, which was miserably hot and humid, and this time I was only a little uncomfortable in jeans and a T-shirt which was a vast improvement. After passing through Gion, I found a famous cat cafe! There are about 10 cats, maybe more, who live there and hang out all day. They nap and get pet and get fed. Shoot, that would be the life! One of them came over and sat on top of me, and when I was leaving, the woman gave me his business card. His name was Sumomo which I believe is a Japanese peach. Not going to google it. There were ebbs and flows of the action as the cats fell asleep and woke up again. It happened a surprising number of times which makes me a tiny bit curious about the sleeping patterns of cats. Only a tiny bit though. Also not going to google that.
After the cats, I wandered around a bit more. Found a covered shopping street and nearly bought a beautiful antique kimono, but with the obi and all of the ties it would have run about 10,000 yen, or just over $100. For something that I probably will wear almost never, I don't think that's worth it. It was beautiful though. Near that store, there was a restaurant that served burgers. Bacon cheeseburgers. This was a trip where I treated myself a bit- if you hadn't caught on yet. That night, I went out to some izakayas (Japanese bars) with my Couchsurfing host.
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| Kiyomizu Temple |
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| Kiyomizu Temple |
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| Kiyomizu Temple |
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| Kiyomizu Temple and view of Kyoto |
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| Kiyomizu Temple |
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| Famous in Kyoto: couples sitting by the river |
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| Hand-painted pottery |
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| Hand-painted pottery |
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| That is one happy cat. Not. |
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| "Oh hey, I'm just going to warm your shins for a bit" |
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| Cats gotta rest too. |
Day 3: Osaka
I woke up the next morning and headed over to Osaka on the train. There was a nice flower exhibit in the station that I poked around at. There are also two shopping buildings that have rooftop gardens. I visited one of them and it had a really great view of a building being demolished. It was actually a pretty cool thing to watch. After spending a little time shopping, I hopped on a bus and headed back home.
It was a great weekend and was so nice to be able to get out of Matsue for a bit.
Konnichi wa!
ReplyDeleteSo, I found your blog randomly while searching for review of Coco Juku. I have an interview with a recruiter (in 3 days!) about potentially working for them! It was a bit of a surprise and I'm going in rather blind. I've seen A LOT of negative reviews online for them though and was wondering if you wouldn't mind giving me an inside perspective. Should I even bother to interview with them? Or should I go with another company like Interac. Any advise greatly appreciated.
Onegai shimasu! ><
Hello!
DeleteIt's true, yes- there are a lot of negative reviews of COCO. It's a new company. They are still working out the kinks. I think it's important to keep in mind that although many people say negative things, probably those who are happy aren't making a big deal about telling everyone. As far as your experience could be, there's no telling. It really depends on your school and branch managers, number of students, coworkers, and location. Unfortunately for me, my school doesn't have many students. That can be for a number of reasons that shouldn't be aired on the internet. Not having many students means we have a lot of down time. For me, it feels like a waste of time most days. I have about 5 lessons a week on a good week. Usually it's between 1 and 4. That, along with the fact that my city is too small for me and that I just want to live in more countries is why I am choosing not to renew my contract. I am glad I took the job though. It depends why you want to come to Japan, I think. I wanted to find a way to live in another country and experience the culture firsthand. I wasn't concerned with much else. COCO fulfilled that desire. A lot of people make a fuss about it and yes, there are a lot of things that are unfair. It might just depend on how much you let your job run your life and effect your emotions.
As far as looking at other programs like Interac or JET, I think they are worth exploring. They are very different experiences though. At COCO, I run my classroom and a fair amount of freedom with lesson planning. In those programs, I think it is more about exposure to English speakers than you actually writing a full lesson plan. There are, however, a lot of good things especially about the JET Programme. They have a really good community. I think if I was really attached to Japan, I would try to apply to the JET Programme. There is more vacation time and there are a lot of good opportunities.
I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
V
Also, back in July I wrote a post about how it was up to that point. Feel free to check it out- it may have some more info. http://vanessainmatsue.blogspot.jp/2013/07/the-company.html
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