I woke up around 5ish and drank a couple glasses of water and two cups of coffee despite it already being after sunrise. I’m willing to abide by a 7am cutoff to start the daily fast, but it would be pretty ridiculous to adopt the habit of waking up at 4am to eat a big meal then immediately going back to sleep.
I hung out in the living room for several hours, working on my stuff. I was surprised by how long it took before I saw any signs of life among other people in the hostel–as in, I basically didn’t see anyone until around 11am when I decided to finally head out for the day to see some of the city.
I took the subway over to the Shinkansen station, which sits right up on the foothills. Behind the station there is a path leading to a series of waterfalls. According the the plethora of area maps posted helpfully at every corner, there were also trails heading full on into the mountains to reach temples, reservoirs, and parks. After appreciating the waterfall a minute, and checking out some lookout points to see the city and the water, I followed a short (800 meter) trail along the hills to come down into another scenic section of town–“Kitano” (technically “north barbarian”)–where there is a cluster of historic buildings that were part of a foreigner enclave that developed in the city after it was opened up to foreign trade. To actually visit inside any of the half dozen buildings would have been prohibitively expensive, but I strolled about enjoying the views from the outside and people watching. I noticed a handful of Korean and a truckload of Chinese tourists in the area.
I was slightly grateful for the determination to fast because I could pass right by all the ice cream shops without the slightest wavering hesitation. I headed downhill to check out a Shinto shrine (Ikuta) that reportedly dates back to 201 CE. I was surprised to see it so tightly packed into an urban section, but it successfully transports one to a remote mountainside.
I followed some shopping arcades west for a while, taking a detour through Chinatown, which was jam-packed with eateries offering all sorts of sit down meals and street food. I blew right by all of them without even casually perusing pricing.
I continued my stroll through the town, aiming towards an area called Harborland. It is one of the bits of land that jut out into the harbor, housing a large shopping mall, a ferris wheel, and a children’s museum. I wasn’t interested in any of that, but I was looking for a statue of Elvis Presley, which I had seen marked on a map. Lo and behold, there really was one… for some reason. For the last part of my day-tour I went looking for another feature marked on the tourist maps, a drawbridge.
On the way, I got distracted by a bit of public exercise equipment. I did a set of 15 pullups. I did the math afterwards, and it had been exactly 2 weeks since I last ran across a pullup bar (in Matsuyama) and busted out a set. So, despite losing quite a bit of weight with all the walking and sporadic eating, I haven’t lost any strength.
Before reaching the drawbridge (which wasn’t particularly interesting, despite anchoring the narrative), a group of school children were attempting to fish a baseball out of the water. I watched them for a while as one boy tentatively perched on the rocky embankment and tried to snag it with a tree branch. Just as I decided to intercede and was gathering up a bit of rope that was just lying there, they solved their problem on their own. I think the opposite of a hero isn’t a villain or an anti-hero, but a schmuck. At least, that is how I felt as a slunk off.
By this point, I had walked most of the distance back to the hostel, so I finished the journey on foot, getting back around 4pm. I plopped down on a beanbag and rested a bit, before studiously poring over the area map with restaurant recommendations. Two hours before I could eat, but food was all I could think of.
A portly Japanese man entered the cafe, and I went to fetch a staff member to help him. He ordered a soda and sat down in the living room intent on having an interaction with foreigners, i.e. me. He didn’t really speak any English, but we communicated a bit through the help of translators and L, the Japanese-American staff member, who was in and out of the room (as she had other work to do as well).
About twenty minutes to sundown, I went over to the supermarket to get a fizzy drink and a salad. It took me far less time to do the food run, so I was stuck staring at it for about ten minutes before breaking my fast. Meanwhile, I chatted a bit with one of the fellows from the previous night.
I devoured the salad, then set out to get some restaurant food as a second course. There were tons of options, but most of the recommendations in the area veered towards barbeque, yakitori, or fried skewers. I cross-referenced for something truly unique to the area and found a reference to “sobameshi.” One restaurant was highlighted on the area map for that so I went there. It was a full teppanyaki place and I ordered my sobameshi (stirfried noodles and rice, basically) and a glass of water. The alcohol menu was tempting and everyone else in the crowded establishment was drinking. Grrr.. The food was a decent sized portion, but not enough for me, so after much thinking and perusal of the menu (with the help of a dictionary), I also ordered a savory pancake thing. It was a long wait, and I ate it as quickly as I could because I was starting to feel bad for occupying space while potential customers were waiting at the door.
I swung by the grocery store on the way back and picked up a traditional Japanese sweet (skewers with mochi balls). There was a large group of people (several from the sister hostel) hanging out on the balcony so I joined them for a while. Eventually, it was getting too chilly outside and the conversation died down as various folks wandered off to do whatever. So, I went upstairs to bed.
| Subway | 230 |
| Salad | 295 |
| Teppanyaki (sobameshi + negiyaki) | 1360 |
| Snack | 84 |
| Total: | 1969 JPY (126 RMB) (USD 18.50) |