So let's see, this is a new blog so let's start at the beginning of my story!
Early on Monday morning, September 28th, I left Florida to return to Japan. I just finished spending a whopping 6 weeks at home after basically a 3 year absence. It was hard to leave. Even with all the reverse culture shock I felt when I went home, I realized that through and through I'm an American to my core and even more so I am my parent's daughter. It's amazing how much I've grown up since I was away and even more amazing how much I'm like them! (I talk JUST like my mom!)
I flew from Tampa to DC to Narita. Then I had 3 hours to go through customs, ship some baggage, get on a bus to Haneda airport and get on my next flight to inaka Kochi (Inaka means "countryside")
I arrived at around 8pm on Tuesday night (a little over 24 hours of travel...you do the math) My host brother picked me up and drove my up the mountain where I found my final resting place!
Until Saturday anyway. At 4:30am, because I was too worried about the drive to sleep, I said goodbye to my lovely host family and all my friends in Kochi, packed up my tiny overstuffed car and drove what was supposed to be a 7 hour trip to Okazaki City, right outside Nagoya.
I drove off the Shikoku island easily enough.
But then I promptly got lost in Osaka, the 2nd biggest city in Japan (at least during the day, check it out on Wikipedia, that was pretty interesting to learn)
Once I got my bearings and got back on the right road, I felt REALLY proud of myself and about 3 hours later I got REALLY lost in Nagoya.
Nagoya is Japans 3rd largest city. Since numbers mean nothing to me, I won't sprout the population like it's supposed to clear things up. Here's the deal. Tokyo is effing huge. It's not THE most densely populated city in the world but it's damn near close. Rush hour in Tokyo is murder...sometimes literally. And not because crimes are committed but because sometimes someone just happens to not move fast enough and well...no one is going to stop for someone who falls down. I kid you not.
Now, Nagoya. I have been to Nagoya before. I remember thinking it was just right. Not too big, not too small.
Welp, that was then. I wasn't driving a car then. I was only riding trains which are nice when you're in a populated city. They run ever 7 minutes so there's no real waiting. But driving?!
GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY!!! I have never seen so much traffic in my life!!!
FIRST, while I was driving, I instantly knew that I had arrived in Nagoya because suddenly the roads became much wider and much more elevated. In the beginning, I started noticing that there were no buildings higher than the road. I couldn't see the ground. And it seemed like we were just climbing and climbing into the sky. Like birds almost!
And that's when I started to panic. Every time I think of traveling long distances, I have these dreams that I fall off bridges to my doom. This felt incredibly like those dreams. And it didn't help that the wind was knocking my tiny car all over the place. But the real problem was that the bridges didn't last for just a few kilometers. They spanned the entire city! So, it's not surprising that I exited a few stops too soon.
It then took me almost an hour just to figure out where the hell I was. Then another hour to drive a short distance south to the school. EEE GADS! The traffic was horrible!
(that red circle indicating the elevated bits doesn't cover the city and how far those roads actually go. That's just the section I drove over.)
On my drive through the city from Nagoya to Okazaki, I pass not one, not two but 3 AEON shopping centers.
Kochi prefecture...the entire prefecture, has ONE AEON. Only one. I hope this illustrates just how much bigger this one city is compared to where I came from.
ESTIMATED TRAVEL TIME: 7 hours
TOTAL TIME RESTING: 30 minutes
TOTAL TIME LOST: 1 hour
TOTAL TIME STUCK IN TRAFFIC: 1 hour
TOTAL TIME SPENT DRIVING: 9 hours
Basically, once I arrived, besides being thrilled, I was exhausted and smelly. Sitting in a car all morning and afternoon'll do that to a person. I signed some paperwork and got my room key. Took me 10 minutes to drive across the street (3 min by bike) to my apartment and let myself in. This place is tiny...buuuut still not as tiny as I was expecting. Will post pictures when I get settled in.
I then unloaded my car and headed off to the nearest AEON for a futon to sleep on. The school is really awesome and will happily provide a complete futon set (futon, pillow, sheets) for around $200 but I already have everything else and I can get a decent futon for around $50. So that's just what I did.
AEON is about 3 blocks from my new apartment. The only AEON in Kochi used to be a 30 minute car ride through the back roads. This place took me 30 minutes to get into. The traffic was WALL TO WALL. Once I got inside, not only was it bigger and better than the Kochi AEON, but it had TONS more people! People with kids, people on dates, people in costume!!! Kochi didn't see much of the costume people just because...well, everyone knew you. There wasn't a whole lot worth dressing up for ;) (hahaha)
So I went in, feeling tired and lost, got my futon, got some food and drove the hell outta there. Took another 20 minutes to get home. Ate, took a shower and collapsed at 7:30pm. Which is why I'm now awake at 4am.
So far, this city is FAR from being inaka in anyway shape or form despite how people may complain that it is. I have doubts about my driving in this city and if I will continue to do so or not (which would be a shame, I do love driving so much), but I think that as soon as I get a bike I'll probably love this city to pieces.
We'll see :D
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