Yes, you see right… I am back home - and home is from now on Spain… after nearly 12 months of exploring some of the most remote corners of this world, I got suddenly the urge to be productive again… and this led to my decission to go back to Spain and look for a job… funny, isn´t it as I thought I could go on exploring the world until the end of my life… it has been a wonderful experience, but I learned on the trip so many lessons and one I am following right now… if you want to do something, do it - not tomorrow, not in one week, do it now… and well, that is what I am doing… wish me good luck that I find the work I am looking for… all the best and thanks for following my blog…

Traveling Japan you will notice that something is missing… tourist cities on the coast… until the end of my trip I did not manage to get to some Brighton or Nice (Nizza for our German readers) of Japan… coastal towns strictly for leisure do not exits… and this although the coast line is really impressive… do not ask me for the reason, but I would estimate that either when you have a week of vacation as an average worker such places would economically make no sense or the threat of a Tsunami is simply to high … anyway I was determined to see the coast and had to go for… so I chose  Miyako as the last place on my trip… this is a city right on the pacific coast… and lucky me… Miyako had its summer festival right the day of my arrival… so after hurrying to see some of the beautiful coast I went back to the city… in all the crowed I counted just five western faces and the rest were people from Japan… guess we westerners drew the attention as every kid seems to stare at us… not sure why, but I guess this places do not have too much interaction with the tourist world and so countless times I was asked: Hello, how are you?… but my answer, I am fine and how are you?, only led to the fact that the people giggled and run away… but than, even from this limited conversation, I got more than one invitation for a beer (much more than one - hicks) and people appreciated that I made the effort to see and learn about their country… although in the end this is a pure guess, as the entire night I did not find a single person with whom I could have a communication longer than the one above…      

When you think of Japan, you most likely think of houses cramped next to each other and people everywhere… well that is much true for the Tokyo area but there is a big contrast once you see the north… lush green everywhere, rivers flowing through near pristine forest and no civilization not left nor right from your train window… it is so much difference but you are just some 300km or so away from the an area where people pay 1000 USD for a 10 square meter studio… it is hard to believe that this is so close but yet so different… for my part, I have to say this was the most impressing on Japan, the enormous contrasts this country has to offer… unless you know what is coming next, there is no way you can guess… out of Morioka, which was my base for all me northern exploration, I visited Kakunodate a village which has conserved several original Samurai and merchant houses from the Edo period… when you see this places you get somewhat a feel for how life was during the “cast” system… not really a cast system, but there were four distinctive different social classes… and lets say, to be a Samurai was definitely not the worst…

I can not believe this, but I think this should be treated as a hint that my journey throughout this wonderful country is soon to be over… buying a pack of these super tasting UFO noodles I did not notice but the clerk put a fork in my bag whereas one usually would get a pair of chop sticks… yes you see that even this guy knew it is time I get used to fork and knife again… please, do not ask why I do not have a great dinner out on my last day… because than I would get all angry about the fact that Japan still does not accept credit cards in the most places – and I simply run out of cash (and no, the ATM´s do not accept credit cards from Europe neither and no my hotel does not change money and no the banks are closed too)… but well than what better way to celebrate the last day of such a journey than with a ready made noodle dish straight from the family mart next door… besides my culinary delight tonight I know I still owe you many stories from my trip in the north (and there were some), but please be patient as I will type them up in the plane so that I get more time to enjoy now my last “real” Japanese dinner in… ahh, the other picture is taken from my hotel room and yes, the skyline is simply that colorful – you simply have to love this country…

OK, this was scary… somewhen around midnight tonight, I got up in fear… the entire room was rattling and shaking… wow… lucky me I was sleeping in a ryokan (means futon rather than western style beds) so I could not fall out of my bed… but this wake up call was scary… in my panic I looked for some shelter close to the wall (which is actually an error as I should have looked for shelter under the door bow)… so there with a pulse of 180 and my adrenalin at record high I was awaiting that any moment the house will collapse (the picture is the place I stayed in tonight - after the quake)… but 40 seconds or so later the room stood still and the shaking stopped… my neighbours in the hotel, all Japanese, were pretty relaxed about this… besides some mumbling from the other rooms, there were not much reaction from them… now I read that the earthquake had 6.8 on the Richter scale… and the epicenter was close to Morioka some 70km away from my shaking place… wow, even the bullet train to Morioka was suspended today (and this happened only once before)… that means I will take the slow train - 2 hour something compared to a 38 minute tide on the shinkansen… although I am scared of any after quake I still decided to go there as Morioka and the surroundings were supposed to be my most northern destination for this trip - and being Austrian, there has to be more than just the biggest earthquake this year to keep me away… honestly, I never experienced something like this, not even when I was living in San Francisco… what more to say that  I am so happy about Japanese technology… their technology in house construction might have saved my life tonight…

What to say… after my Osaka experience and my desire to see the villages in Japan, I have visited now 3 more or less small villages this week… although the first one Takayama is a weekend tourist attraction and was packed on the Sunday I arrived once I reach Monday it seems that I have traveled back in time – tranquil, silent and slow… the two other places, Nikko (host to few of the most impressive temples and shrines of all Japan and hence a world heritage site) and Hiraizumi (in the past home to one of the largest temple complexes of all Japan, but today only few of it is remaining and hence applying for world heritage status) was what I needed… this is such a different Japan… one would think he is somewhere in Eastern Europe or Mexico… as I arrived late in Nikko, this means at 19:17, there were no busses, no light, no nobody… everything closes at 18:00 and I was not even able to get a cab… so now that meant walking some 4km to my hotel – lucky me, it was raining – no, to be more precise, it was pouring down on my… and once I arrived, the receptionist told me he had given my room away… my question what has happened to my email reservation was quitted with a smile… a nice smile, however, the search went on – so that I finally settled in one of the luxury ryokans (this as Japanese style hotels, where you sleep on futons, have shared baths and pay double what a western single room costs)… same at Hiraizumi there also live ends at 6pm… good luck to find an open restaurant afterwards… and moreover, strolling through the streets, you can clearly see, that all homes are gaining their income from many businesses they run… I saw a butcher, which also has a taxi stand, a restaurant which is some kind of souvenir shop, a barber which also is the dry cleaner of the village – but one thing this romantic Japan has in common with its high-tech super cities… people are friendly, smile at you, and try to help you where they can (especially away from the tourist attractions English is as rare as an angry Japanese)… but this just makes this country better and better…

You might think what this stupid question is all about… at these times, nobody has spare money, the inflation, the housing costs and especially the party nights out are not cheap – shut up Gerald… but well, I still like to draw your attention to one topic… one of the most impressive things I have seen on my trip so far was the attempt to build a pyramid in the jungle… better said in the most remote village in the world… in Iquitos… remember, this is where I escaped out of the civilized world, to stay few days in the jungle… with this project an Englishman tries to fulfill his dream and build a floating pyramid right on the Amazonas… besides his shamanic self realization, the project has 7 very honorable missions… mainly targeted to increase the life of Peruvians… but now, close to the termination of his project he runs out of money… maybe you feel generous today and might help him with a small donation (even I did and you know that I am a cheapo)… have a look at his web page and decide on your own… www.pyramidperu.com …

Now I made it to Osaka… after the tranquility of Kotohira a sharp contrast… this multi-million city is a vibrant place… going out on Friday night was like you would have been in Alicante during summer… full of people, party everywhere… I guess, there are few places on earth which can keep up with such a large party crowd… and than, during day, the city shows its other face… a modern city, with a nice castle (but a concrete reconstruction – so not the real deal), beautiful museums as well as shrines and temples everywhere… a great blend, but I had to pass on Saturday evening… guess after nearly 3 weeks of traveling I needed some time to recharge and crashed in my hotel room… so now I decided to skip the large places and will from now on go to small villages to see the more rural Japan I have experienced in my “mountain” village…

Hehe, you might wonder what the title is all about… after staying now so much time in the big cities I decided to flee from the heat (here we heave tempretures north of 30 degrees Celsius everyday) and looked for a escape into cooler areas… searching for such a place I found in my precious lonely planet guide a mountain village which should host one of the most spectacular temples… what better than this… Kotohira was sold to me… to my surprise the train ride was fast but we never seemed to climb upwards… 2 hours and something from Matsuyama I got there, still at what I would consider sea level… even from my hotel room I was able to see the sea – it was on the 6^th floor and it appeared that any Tsunami would have wiped the village out… anyway, that is when you make your trip according to the book rather than asking someone… however, this small village was just superb… it hosted the oldest Kabuki as well as a temple complex where you had to climb up some odd 1369 steps… and this at some 35 degrees… anyway, besides that is was not in the mountain, it was just such a lovely place with his small village charm making up for the sea level location…

Well, actually it is not such a different Japan… Shikoku is one of the four major islands of Japan, but for some reason ´less visited… I took the fairy from Hiroshima to Matsuyama and found myself in a much slower paced Japan… although still a considerable city with half a million inhabitants, it is less visited than other places… however, if you have seen the enourmous castle overlooking this city you wonder why… it is an original castle from the Edo period (actually much older, but it was burned down many times, so that the last reconstruction is from the Edo period)… if you are into castles, this is a must see on your tour… besides this, the city hosts also the oldest Onsen of Japan… an Onsen is a bath or spring of natural hot water… and not only to soak your bones in it is fun, the entire procedure is superfun (or not, cause at one time a little Japanese girl ask you to undress – right in front of her) to get into your Yukata (kind of bathrobe)… but once you find out how and when, it is just fun… a super hot soak and a great tea – what more can you expect of life…