Gifu & Nagoya_May 3 to 5 (updated)

Just finished my Kanji Exam and hopefully I can pass. My brain was being r*ped with alien words for 2 days. Perhaps one of my talents is cramming overnight before exam :p

Anyway, time to update my travels since my last entry on 30 April, Mon (1st half of golden week holidays) I am a good student so I didn't skip my class on 1 & 2 May (surprisingly May 1 is not holiday in Japan)

Gifu & Nagoya (3 - 5 May)

I left for Gifu at 11:30 pm on May 2. Like my trip from Kyoto to Tokyo, I had problem looking for my bus cos waiting areas for overnight buses in Shinjuku are 10 times bigger and more complex than Kyoto Station.

1st Day in Gifu (May 3)

I reached Nagoya at 7am and Koh-chan came all the way to Nagoya to pick me up. Domo!!! Then I went to Gifu, his hometown, rested for a while and went around in town with his white Odessy haha...

First, we went to his high school and saw students playing tennis and baseball.

Pic 1: Gizan High School located beside the mountain as it name says.
Pic 2: Mr. Kohsuke @ a proud Gizan's ex-student
Pic 3: Me (don't know how to pose)

After that was a shopping mall where we played some games - picked up some soft toys but in vain. Then, we changed to Jackpot and guess what. We won Super Jackpot! I can't remember how many times we won but the biggest one is 792 coins superjacket. At the end, we won like 3000yen worth of coins which is 6 times of our principal.


Pic 4: 792 coins of Super Jackpot

Pic 5: Another 200 coins
Pic 6: Kohsuke waiting for the coins

Like superjackpot which I've never won such amount in my life, I went to watch his brother's baseball game (also first time in my life to watch a baseball game at the stadium).


Pic 7: Kyohei @ Kohsuke's brother (don't know which one haha... maybe the batter???)
Pic 8: Japanese culture (baseball & obento)

After that we went shopping again and at night went for dinner at a Yakiniku Restaurant with his family.


Pic 9: Me & Kyohei (Koh-chan's little bro) with long sausage
Pic 10: The super long sausage with super hot chillies
Pic 11: Famous beef (so delicious and so expensive. those few steaks on the plate cost around 3000yen if I'm not wrong)
Pic 12: Japanese Yakiniku (a bit different right? They don't use butter or oil)

After dinner, Koh-chan, his father, brother and me went to Ofuro. That Ofuro is the biggest I've ever been in Japan. They have several indoor pools, both hot and cold (cold one is only 15'C and hot one is nearly 50'C I guess), one big dry sauna with TV, one outdoor pool on rooftop. I lost 2 kg after Ofuro and sauna :D The best thing to do in winter (it was already Spring then, but due to bad weather this year's Spring was cold) is to go to Ofuro. So comfortable! Whatelse can I say? Kimochiiiiiiiii.

Cultural shock?
I still remember that on the very first day of my arrival in Japan 6 years ago, I was so shocked when I found out that we (100 ASEAN high school students) had to go to Ofuro. Some people gave various excuses to avoid and some wore pants or big towels inside. But, after 2 weeks of Ofuro everyday, we all enjoyed it.

Reflection on Japanese Culture & my History Class

Some people might think why conservative Japanese people like to go to public bath house or Ofuro. Japanese people are very open about their bodies. In fact, the public bath were not separated into male & female rooms until Meiji Period after Perry opened Japan to the west. It was westerners who complained about this mixed public bath where mother & sons, father & daughers, brothers & sisters, etc. went together and later it was separated. But there are still mixed one even today.

Jokes on Japanese Culture (Warning: R-rated! Underaged are not suggested to read :p)
In Burmese, a very common phrase called "Bathing in Japanese style" means bathing in naked. Well, I know what you guys are thinking. Everyone is naked when they are bathing. So, what's the big deal? But, this story took place in WWII period when Myanmar was under Japan's rule. At that time, there was no bathroom at every house in most of villages in Myanmar (which is still common nowadays in some parts, so they had to go the lake or well in the village to bathe and do laundry. It's in open air and no wall nor separation. So, they cannot take a bath in public in a birthday suit. So many sidetracks...haha... anyway going back to the point, those villagers wear "Longyi" while bathing in the pubic well or lake. But, when the Japanese soldiers came, they just bathed in naked and the local of cause complained to the head of villagers who requested these soldiers to wear "Longyi" when they were going to bathe. So, next time they all wore Longyi when they went to the well. Everyone lined up neatly in Longyi (as requested by the village) to wait for their turn to bathe. And when one's turn came, they took off Longyi and bathed in naked while the rest were waiting in Longyi. (Cos they translated directly and misinterpreted the meaing.) In the end, the villagers couldn't help laughing and forgot to complain. haha...

2nd Day (May 4)
We went to Nagoya in the moring.

First, Nagoya Castle!

Pic 1: Don't know whose statue it is haha..
Pic 2: Outside Nagoya Castle
Pic 3: The famous Dolphin-look-alike fish on top of the roof
Pic 4: Macha or Japanese green tea with gold powder plus some sweets wrapped in the leaf


Pic 5: Miso Udon for lunch at over 3pm (one of the Nagoya's famous foods) We had to wait for one hour plus to eat this.


Pic 6: Nagoya Station
Pic 7: Sleepy Koh-chan & Midland Square (tallest bldg in Nagoya where Toyota Showroom is?)

We went to Midland Square & took the very very fast escalator to the observatories at the top.

Pic 8: Nagoya Station seen from the escalator
Pic 9: View from the top of Midland Sq (I zoomed in while taking the pic)


Pic 10: Panoramic View of Nagoya (can you see Shinkansen at the right bottom & the highway in the middle?)

After that we went to Sakae Station where Nagoya TV Tower is.


Pic 11: Hentai???
Pic 12: Forgot the name of that bldg but very nice, isn't it? On top, there is a big pool with water fountain.


Pic 13: The bldg in pic 12 (seen from below. we are going to the glass rooftop)
Pic 14: Nagoya TV Tower (We are on the glass rooftop of the bldg in Pic 12)


Pic 15: Robots showroom (The best selling robot is the one in the middle :p)

3rd Day in Gifu (May 5)
We went for shopping and ate Miso Katsu Restaurant. After that went to one Aquarium. This is the third Aquarium which I've been since March. But, this is one different from the other two cos this is for creatures living in freshwater, which I 've harldy seen in other aquarium.

Pic 1: As usual, car otaku is engrossed in driving
Pic 2: Koh chan checking how to go on his GPS. Cool sia??? It has Radio & CD Player behind.



Pic 3: Reached the Aquarium & Amusement Park
Pic 4: Inside Aquarium

After that we went back home, saying goodbye to his family and left for dinner at Beto Kon (VietCong) Ramen shop which is Koh-chan's favorite. It's VietNamese style ramen with many garlic and chilli. Though I can eat spicy food much more than any other friends in Japan and Singapore, I gave up this time. We reached the shop before 6 pm, so we went to one shrine & walked along the riverside and took some pictures.

Pic 5: Me with Koh-chan's hospital family: father, bro, me, grandfather, mother (from L to R)
Pic 6: Gifu river & other scenaries along the way.

Gifu is a city by the foot of many mountains. The poplulation is not that crowded so highrise buildgings are super rare. The famous festival (forgot the name) is held on the river where people use some kinds of birds to catch fish which is later eaten by the audience. When the royal family comes to Gifu, they stay at the hotel which is by the riverside (the pic in the middle where I'm standing in front of the river and the mountain). Japanese people really liked Castle in the past. You can see Gifu castle on top of the mountain. (upper right corner pic).

Pic 7: I'm a member of "Jump if you are from SMU! " club in Facebook! haha...



Pic 8: Ramen Vs Me (I lost this time T_T)