The day started at around 8 a.m. in the morning i.e. 7 a.m. in Singapore. It has been freaking dinosaur years since I last woke up at this hour. Sometimes I really wonder if I will start to hate the teaching job some day, not because of the work and stress, but rather the routine of pulling myself out of bed early in the morning. I really hate waking up early!
So the boys, worried that Kim and I will oversleep, were very nice to come knocking on our door. There was even an announcement but because it was in Japanese, we weren’t sure if it was meant for us. All we knew was that it definitely woke us up!
So off we went to join the rest of the students to embark on our day trip to Kyoto. The day started really gloomy with rain splattering all over the streets of Osaka. People were really enthusiastic about the trip but the 4 of us, too weary from the long hours of travelling felt really chilled on the bus journey.
The tour guide spoke in Japanese but the other Japanese students were really nice to translate for us from time to time. The bus journey to Kyoto took around 1.5 hours and the 4 of us instantly became sleeping logs.!
The first stop was a tourist boat trip that resembled a white water rafting journey. The rain froze our ashes despite the 3 layers of clothing were being put on. There’s this really really funny Japanese student that never fails to make all of us laugh our asses off and kept us warm. Apparently, when you laugh, you feel warmer.
The 4 of us were split into two boats and Gabriel and I were lucky to be with this group of Japanese students who had been to Singapore in early November. Communication was made easier by the translator that the students have in their cell phones. Whenever we see a particular species of bird or plant, they will start to describe it to us and tell us the Japanese name of the bird or plant. Then they will discuss among themselves how to tell us in English. Fortunately, we had another professor from KG University who is quite proficient in English. However, his Japanese accent is quite strong so at certain times, it was hard to make out the words. I really appreciate his effort in guiding us along the way though.
The boat trip lasted around an hour and the boatmen commented that if we had been there a few days earlier, the scenery would have been much more perfect because by the time we visit, most of the leaves have already fallen. Out of nowhere, the professor and another student commented that I resemble a Japanese athletic, in fact a runner, Q-chan. I don’t remember her Japanese name despite them continuously chanting it and telling others.
“Do I really look like a Japanese?”
It is not the first time that I have heard comments about me being Japanese. When I was overseas in Europe, Australia, etc. people often spoke Japanese to me. Back then, I assumed it was due to the lack of recognition of the existence of us, the tiny red dot. Instead, the Japanese travel frequently and thus most people relate Asians to Japanese. Now that I am in Japan, even the Japanese themselves assume that I am Japanese!
The next stop was lunch and we went shopping for souvenirs! J Kyoto is a really beautiful place. If I had gotten my facts right, Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan! Correct me if I am wrong. J I love the old school buildings, traditional Japanese style! Because of the rain, this kind-hearted Japanese student actually sheltered me with his umbrella! I see the rain as a blessing in disguise because he himself is from Kyoto thus along the way, I was able to get a good reception and introduction about Kyoto. I bet he utilized every single English vocabulary that he knew while explaining to me about Kyoto. At certain times, I think I asked really intriguing questions and though he knew the answer, he wasn’t able to respond to my question because he couldn’t find the right word to put it across!
Over lunch, gab asked Yuki a question, “Do you like shopping?” and he answered, “Yes, I DO!” So we made fun of him by telling him that you only say that when you are agreeing to marry someone. It was something that a girl would give in response to a guy’s proposal. So we went on to asked them if girls in Japan propose to guys and how guys in Japan propose to girls? Apparently it wasn’t that difficult to answer the question and Japanese guys, according to them, ain’t romantic so flowers and a ring get the job done. No kneeling, no candles by the beach, hilltop restaurant proposals, etc. It was the first question that set the table rocking because Kim wanted to demonstrate how the question would be put forth in the Singapore context, as they didn’t understand our question. Ended up, the girl repeated whatever Kim said and asked Yuki if he will marry her? It was so hilarious! Ended up, the answer was more of a “NO, Japanese girls don’t do that.”
After lunch, it was time to board on the old school train. The train is operated for coal miners if I had gotten the explanation correctly and it is a technology that was imported from Germany. It was really noisy cause it operated in an underground tunnel but it is a really nice experience.
Our last stop was Isetan in Kyoto. J It is a wonderland for girls I assure you! The whole building is 10-storeys high and the escalators were sloped down in a single direction. Since Christmas’s round the corner, you expect to see a lot of ongoing Christmas sales but we hardly shopped. The YEN is getting stronger with each passing day thus everything was considered expensive! The basement can be voted to be the best place to hang out because there were so many Japanese snacks, sashimi, sakae, plum wine, etc. waiting for us! Ahhh! Went around trying the sakae and I have to tell Linky that the sakae in Japan is way better than the one we had at Raku, impromptu over lunch!
Dinner was the bomb as we were brought to a really high class Japanese restaurant! It was traditional Japanese dining where everyone were seated in an U-shape with their shoes taken off and kneeling on the ground! Apparently girls and guys are supposed to be seated in different postures with girls literally kneeling on their knees and guys free to sit cross-legged like how we do it during morning assemblies in primary or secondary school. However, Kim and I were totally unaware of it so we simply did it the guy’s style. Haha! Forgive us and it is not that we are uncultured or uncivilized but rather, it was awkward having to change our positions halfway during the meal!
I am not a big fan of red meat, especially beef, thus I only consume beef when circumstances require. Nonetheless, if I get to consume beef of that quality during normal meals, I don’t mind eating beef every single day! The beef simply melts in your mouth (oh not like M&M’s) and after you chew it, it makes you linger for more! One lesson I took home about the Japanese culture is that, THEY REALLY LOVE RICE! They hardly eat udon, ramen, soba as proper meals, rather these are more of side dishes to them! J Every meal comes with a bowl of rice! I bet I must have put on a few kilos from that 2 days, pampered to every single detail!
After dinner, it was time to head back to Osaka and part ways with some of the students who reside in Kyoto! However, the programme did not end. We were sent back to our hostel to shower and we were heading out for the night, for some drinks and karaoke together with the Korean students and some of the local students.
The Koreans can really drink! We had Japanese plum wine, sakae, Korean Soyu (can’t remember the name) and we did bottoms up in three different styles. The Koreans taught us their way of “Cheers” – it was like kallang wave but in drinking fashion. The first person bottoms up first then the person on the left will then continue and so on and so forth. But I still like the Singapore style best. We did the “YUM SENG” as loud as we could and the whole atmosphere in the drink house was lifted up, real high and rowdy! Finally, as a tribute to the Japanese students, we did the Japanese way last. By the completion of the 3 rounds of drinks (Neat or On the Rocks), some of the students were feeling drowsy, others flew high, talked at the top of the voice but it was really merry!! I love the feeling of how everyone who had just been acquainted instantaneously mingling together. The few drops of alcohol definitely helped.
It was already 1 a.m. by the time we left the beer house and we headed for karaoke. I thought I loved singing and am passionate about Karaoke but I was so wrong. The Koreans and Japanese totally beat Kel, Gab, and I flat down! Every single Korean song, which had some English words, had a few dance steps that accompanied the song and the 3 of us could only afford to laugh our asses off. The Japanese on the other hand were screaming at the top of their lungs like metallic rock bands! When we were made to sing, it was the ballads that were being brought on stage. The Japanese love Teresa Teng and so do the Koreans! So a modern jukebox like me was forced to turn time back and sing some oldies for them. I thought I sang really badly because my throat was hoarse from all the drinking!
Karaoke ended at around 3.30 a.m. and Kel and I decided not to sleep because we had flights to catch at 945 a.m. and 10 a.m. respectively. It was really good to have a companion because we could have breakfast at the airport and did some shopping before we fly off to our own respective destinations!
I wrap up the whole trip by specifically mentioning two people.
First is Sayuri, the graduate student, who arranged our accommodation and sent us to the airport on the 4th morning. Japanese girls are really sweet and subservient! She speaks really softly, and pastes stickers on notes that she writes for us! Don’t you think that’s damn cute?! I can’t even recall when was the last time I used stickers, for goodness sake! She even brought us a few packets of Japanese snacks and everything was so beautifully wrapped up that you can’t even bear to remove the wrapper!
Next is Yuki, the Kyoto boy, who showed us around and made us laugh frantically over his expressions and jokes! He was very nice to shelter me all the way from the harbour to the restaurant and then from the restaurant to the coal miner’s train station. We had to cut through woods and forests and all the time, ¾ of the umbrella was over my head and half of his body was all wet.! I felt quite guilty about it and offered to hold the umbrella so that I could give him more shelter but he refused to let me hold it. On the other hand, gab shared an umbrella with a Japanese girl and the girl actually held the umbrella for him!!!!!!!!! The girl volunteered and gab actually allowed her to do that.!
Gab and Kel kept complaining about how Singaporeans girls like Kim and I are demanding and that we should learn from the Japanese girls. But we kept reiterating the point that it is the culture that sets the difference and of course, stereotypes. If Kim and I were to start pasting stickers, people would think that we are trying to act cute! They even criticized us for not putting enough powder and having our eye lashes all curling in the same direction! So we kept emphasizing on the point of “NATURAL BEAUTY”
So what about the Singaporean guys then? Letting a girl shelter you is an act of gentleman-ness? Yeah, Japanese guys may be more chauvinistic compared to Singaporean guys but at least they never let girls do the physical chores (from our two days’ of observations). So just give and take and don’t complain about us, Singaporean girls. Likewise, we won’t complain about you guys too in future!
----- Looking forward to being back in Japan ------
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