4th of July and tired

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this next email. I'm really busy these days. Here's one of my favorite days in Japan. It was July 4th, the first time I have ever missed an American holiday because I was away in a far far away land.

Happy Independence Day all you Americans!

I can't believe that this is the first time in my life that I haven't celebrated a holiday. I'll miss the fireworks but how can I give up this wonderful experience in Japan? I keep forgetting that everyone is a day behind me here but by the time you get this it will be the 4th of July.

Ok well... Today. Today... hmmm where to begin.

Ohayoo (goodmorning pronounced like the state Ohio). It was a perfect morning. The first night that I slept the entire time without waking up in the middle of the night due to jet lag or really early in the morning due to birds. I had some wonderful vanilla yogurt for breakfast and while eating it the doorbell rang. Erin was already gone and Felix was in the shower. I opened the door and it was a package delivery man. He spoke in Japanese and tried to motion that I should sign for the package but I was clueless as to where. I said I didn't speak Japanese. He said "No Japanese" in English but then spoke in Japanese again. I motioned for just a second and yelled for Felix. It's really hard to function when you can't talk. The package was for Felix's computer help business. I felt bad because even for something as simple as a package delivery I couldn't do much.

After Felix was ready we both headed for the train station. He had to go setup a wireless network and I was going to Kobe (pronounced co-bay) to go hiking for the day up in the mountains. We had to pack into the train like sardines. I really had to suck in my stomach and turn sideways so my backpack didn't stick out the door of the train. Morning rush hour indeed.

Arriving at the Nishinomiya main train station, I got off to catch another train to Oji-something station. This is where the city of Kobe is, where I first went to go to church. When I got off I walked a few blocks and again found myself in another covered street mall area. There are so many of these covered street malls and they all look the same, which is why I thought I was in a place I was before but wasn't. They all have different stores and this one seemed to focus more on fruits. I just walked by all the little shops because I wanted to begin my hike before the hot sun came out and made it too unbearable to hike. I thought I would come back later to browse the stores if I had time.

I walked out of the covered street mall and started climbing the steep graded streets of Kobe that looked like a good place where I could find the cable cars that Erin talked about. Now when I say steep graded I don't mean just steep but a tad below nearly almost practically vertical. I'm not kidding and people walk this all the time because they have apartments up there. As I was walking I noticed that the places I saw looked familiar. Soon I found myself standing next to the Kobe Union Church. The door was open so I went in to fill up my water bottle. The pastor was there and a couple of other people. They remembered me from Sunday and gave me directions to the Maya Cable Car. I thanked them and also thanked them for the water. Then I set off.


(In the picture you can see Mt. Maya in the background and a canal that runs down the center of the street.)

Before I left I snuck into the chapel and took this picture.

Their directions were great I found the Maya Cable Car station after about a 15 minute walk up steep hills and after looking at many signs with Japanese characters trying to match them to what the pastor wrote down on a little note card.

I went up to the ticket booth and bought a pass to the very top of Mt. Maya. Then I sat down and waited for the train. It was there that I felt a sudden rush of "Oh No." My nalgene water bottle! I left it at the church!!! Oh well I thought. The cable car station had vending machines with water bottles. I purchased one because the day was already getting hot and I was sweating. I sat back down again and an older Japanese man said konnishiwa and I also said konnishwa (hi). Then he started talking in Japanese and I was bewildered. He caught on after awhile that I couldn't speak Japanese and then spoke in English. I was amazed and thankful. Not too many people speak fluent English and those that can are usually younger.

He said he was 76 years old and he goes up this mountain nearly every morning to go hiking and to enjoy the fresh smelling air. He asked if I would like to join him because he wanted to know what I was going to do up there and I just said I was going to hike around and try and find interesting things. He said that he knew of a beautiful lake that is his favorite place to visit and told me I had to see it.

I was happy to meet him and while on the cable car ride up the mountain we talked about lots of things. He said he visited San Francisco when he was my age and he went to school there. He also told me about a friend he has in Florida that works in cruising. I figured out later that he meant that his friend works on a cruise ship. He wants to go visit Florida someday so he said he wanted to talk to me to make his English better. He asked what my name was and I told him and he told me his name was Ichiro. Like Ichiro Suzuki the famous Japanese baseball player on the Seattle Mariners. He was really excited to talk about baseball and said that I should watch a Japanese baseball game in Kobe. He told me that Ichiro Suzuki actually lived in Kobe, Japan.

Now the cable car ride was amazing. Immediately the ground dropped off and we were high in the air above lush green forests and the city of Kobe was masked behind the morning fog. The ride took about 15 minutes to get to the very top of Mt. Maya, the tallest mountain in the area at 690 meters. Which if I remember my conversions right from chemistry, should be approximately 2200 ft.

Now for a 76 year old man he was extremely fit. Though I've noticed that all the older Japanese people get around very well here. I've even seen really old people riding around on their bicycles like they were still young kids.

We hiked the trails on Mt. Maya for a few kilometers. Then he went off of the main trail and said "follow me". We went down a long embankment and after pushing through dense jungle vines and trees we came to a clearing with a wonderful lake. It was great.

I asked if it was a natural lake or if it had a dam. He said that it was man made and that if I wanted to go see it. I said sure and so we headed off again on another unmarked trail and soon came to the dam. Then we went back to the main trail and he took me up to see a famous temple on the side of the mountain.

He said here it is, but all I could see though was thousands of marble steps.

We began climbing, step after step. Nearly halfway was a place to pray and ring a bell. Then step after step... finally we reached the top where the temple was.

The temple had many religious statues and they were all wearing red "eating aprons" as Ichiro described them as. I liked the frog and this giant impression of a two feet. Many of the statues were also places to pray and people would give offerings to them. Every single one of them were wearing these red aprons. I asked what their meaning was but Ichiro said he didn't know because he is not of this religion but said that a few days ago every statue was wearing white aprons.

After the temple, we hiked up Mt. Maya again. We came to a place that had a cable swing and rope pulley. I zoomed down it and Ichiro took a picture. Then we waited for the cable car to go down and went to an overlook area to view the city of Kobe. From the top of the mountain I could see Osaka and the airport that I flew into.

(It's passed midnight here and I'm tired so the following will be quick)

We took the cable car down. I told Ichiro I needed to get my waterbottle at the Kobe Church and he had me ride on a bus with him. We got off and he purchased an ice cream cone for me and I thanked him very much. Domo Arigoto. Then he said sayonara and wished me a wonderful stay in Japan. I thanked him for his kindness.

I walked tiredly up the steep streets to pick up my nalgene water bottle at the church and after that I finally went to the train station and rode home to Erin's apartment. There Felix had prepared a wonderful delicious soup that was so good that I will be dreaming of it tonight.

Then we went out to eat at a wonderful place that served Japanese style pancakes. These were amazing! Very delicious. They are a mixture of egg, cabbage and whatever else they put in there. Absolutely wonderful. And now I shall sleep.

Goodnight all.

Love,

Steven