Dearest Rachel –
April continues to move on, and we’ve made our way as far south as we wil. It’s finally warm enough for us to go around in T-shirts (not that Daniel is willing to shed his layers of clothing just yet), so we sit on the veranda balcony as we wait for our level to be called so that we can submit our entrance documentation yet again, thereby allowing us to set foot back in the country of Japan.
As we sit waiting for our level number to be called (eighth and ninth decks go first – rank has its privileges, after all), we listen to soothing piano music being played on shore (although we can’t see any piano being played; we assume it’s just a recording). Regardless, it’s pleasant to listen to – and then, suddenly, we realize we recognize the song being played; it’s “Itsumo Nando Demo,” the closing song from Spirited Away, which we all always used to enjoy in its wistful melody.
Ten-thirty rolls around, and our level is called; but only the even-numbered rooms, and ours is room 6079. So we continue to wait, listening to the piano, and keeping the veranda door open to let the cool fresh air inside. I’ve had much worse times sitting around waiting for this or that.
Finally, we’re summoned to the lounge to go through the immigration procedure. It occurs to me suddenly that everyone on board, even those with no plan to go ashore today, will have to go through this, seeing as we’ve all come from Korea yesterday.
The line is much like at Haneda; it moves fast, but it’s still long enough that it takes a while, regardless. Just before we have our face-to-face interview, I find myself checking my phone to see whether we need to say ‘ohayo’ or ‘konnichiwa’ when greeting the official.
I hadn’t realized that the xeroxed copy of the customs form we got last night was what we needed to fill out; as a result, I end up have to fill one out on the spot. Fortunately, it’s not as if we’re bringing in anything that would require declaration, so it’s a relatively simple matter.
***
Somehow, the maps I had collected before breakfast fell out of my pocket when we went upstairs after passing immigration and customs; so we’re going to be flying blind today once again. Fortunately, we’re not the only tourists trying to make our way into the city on our own; we fall in with a group looking for the local train station. Unfortunately, the lot of us take a wrong turn and get lost trying to do even that simple task. Blind guides and all that.
We also learned that after purchasing two tickets for each of us, one is specifically for the trip out, and the other is for the trip back. I don’t realize this at first, since I put in the correct ticket to get the turnstile, but Daniel picks the wrong one and gets stuck. At least there’s an attendant to help him through.
After winding our way through a three-story mall, we make it outside. We take a quick note of where we need to get back to, and head on.
Upon emerging into the sunlight, we spot a sign on the ground, directing the pedestrian to Kokura Castle, some six hundred meters off. So we head in that direction, dodging construction sites here and there along the side of the street.
It’s not long though before we find ourselves once again in the midst of the shopping arcade, so we know we’re on the right track.
Speaking of taste… Daniel’s actually getting a bit hungry, and desirous of a place to sit down. It proves somewhat challenging to find a restaurant that’s open and from which we can actually read the menu and order from.
We do want to find something slightly familiar; Daniel doesn’t want to be served fish by accident, after all. In fact, he actually hankering for something we might consider a bit pedestrian; he hasn’t had a Japanese curry since we left Tokyo. The thing is, he points out, the food on ship has a deliberately international flair, but Japan hasn’t been one of the nations featured, and he kind of misses it.
We find ourselves going up and down the escalators, from the second basement (where the parking lot begins) to the tenth floor…
We don’t find much worth purchasing, as such; we’re just mildly agog about how the place just keeps going and going, up and up and up. It’s the vertical equivalent of the horizontal endlessness of the shopping arcade. Sure, we have our Randhursts and Woodfields back home, but it’s really something how the Kokura district stretches the experience in every possible direction.
And with that having been said, I leave it to Daniel to make the final assessment of our visit here. He acknowledges that the cultural aspects of each location are interesting and important and all that, but sometimes you just need to get into the city, and experience what the locals do in a given day. We’ve done that for the last couple of days, here and in Busan, and it just feels a little more real.
I have to agree with him; it’s part of what I remember about Kyoto, even though I couldn’t go into any of the businesses, because everything was closed that day (for obvious reasons). He may not get the same impression of that place that I did (but how could he, after all?), but he and I are clearly on the same page in this respect.
It’s not as if you and I were together able to introduce him to this country we both enjoyed in our own ways, but I hope you would be pleased with the end I’ve been able to hold up.
Anyway, we’ve still got a number of places to stop at, so continue to keep an eye on us, and wish us luck. We’re going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 