Brother Annie

Even though Nara was on our list of places to go, the boys ended up heading off to Hiroshima after we arrived back in the Kansai area, and I stayed in good ole Hirakata. But before I get ahead of myself, I have to tell you about Nagano and the snow monkeys.

When we arrived in Nagano, it was already dark, and we managed to catch a cab to our hostel. It wasn’t until the next day that we were able to explore. At the hostel, we relaxed with the strangest beer I’ve ever had–Chocolate Beer. It was pretty good, in Paul and my opinions, but Jace was not fan. To me it just tasted like a really really dark beer. Though lacking in snow,  Nagano was still a cold place, and we kept our sole heater turned on for as long as possible before falling asleep. Nagano the city is pretty average as far as Japanese cities go. The transportation was really expensive to get anywhere, and the hostel we stayed in smelled like smoke, but the dodgy neighborhood reminded me of Tennoji back in Osaka. Things were starting to feel familiar again.

However, our destination in Nagano was actually outside the familiar looking city sprawl, and way way way out in the countryside. It cost a hell of a lot to get there, but it was worth it. It was called Snow Monkey Park. Even though Nagano city was dry, the park which was way up in the mountains was still covered in a blanket of white. After taking a pricey train ride and a bus, we then had to hike for a good half hour to find the park. The trails were very deceiving, and the signs didn’t help at all, and after taking a good hour or so of getting completely lost, we found the monkeys.

As cute as they are, you may be wondering what is so cool about these guys. The cool thing is that the monkeys at this park aren’t here just to live–they’re here to relax. At the Snow Monkey Park, there is a hot spring (an onsen, remember?), but it’s not for people to enjoy. It’s for the monkeys.

After having our fill of squealing over the adorableness, we headed back into the city. We still had a few hours of daylight to kill, so we decided to hit up a shrine on the way home.

We bummed around Nagano station until it got dark. We were going to take yet another night bus. These moments were easily the most boring of our trip. Waiting for the next train, bus, subway, ferry, car ride, whatever, to the next destination. But we were used to it by now, I think. For five hours we snoozed our way to Kyoto, though for a good hour of the bus ride the damn bus driver wouldn’t shut up. How many safety procedures do we really need to know?

The bus dropped us off in Kyoto, where we took the first train to Hirakata city. It was still dark outside when we arrived at Hirakata station. Having no where to go, we waited for the nearest Starbucks to open so we could have a warm place to rest. As the familiar area became light at last, we met up with some Kansai Gaidai friends of  ours. That night was sort of the last night of the trip for me. It wasn’t over for Jace and Paul, who went to visit Hiroshima (I’d already been before), but for me, I spent the night somewhere else. Since I wasn’t able to move into the dorms until the following morning, I had no choice but to stay at a manga cafe.

The place was called Ring. It was actually more than a manga cafe. You paid by the hour for free access to a ton of things. You could sing karaoke, you could play pool, darts, ping-pong, read manga, surf the internet—AND get all the free non-alcoholic drinks you wanted. For me though, it was just a place to spend the night. If you ask to use the internet, you are given your own little booth with a couch, TV monitor, and computer with headphones and everything. So, with blaring music and obnoxious drunken laughter in my ears, I went to sleep, glad to be back in a place I call home.

The end.

School is back in session now, and I’m already up to my ears in new kanji to learn. I feel settled at last in the dorms, and I’m loving it. I’m glad to announce that after this post I will resume normal, regular blogging about Japanese culture and the like. I hope you all enjoyed hearing about my adventures!

Happy rice making, kids.