A Walk in Hachioji (formerly Sakado)

I bounced a train to Shin-Yokohama and then caught the bullet train, the Nozomi Super Epxress, to Nagoya.  I don’t know why it is called the super express though.  The bullet train in Taiwan runs much faster even though the manufacturer is the same.  And the trains in France would run circles around the Nozomi Super Express.  Oh well.  From Nagoya I switched over to the Kodama bullet train to get to my stop in Gifu.  Aichi and Gifu prefecture really are so different from Tokyo and its surrounding areas.  The areas around Tokyo are surrounded by office buildings and condominiums.  There are some factories, but not many.  In Aichi and Gifu, the flat land is covered in factories, small and large–I guess that is why Aichi is considered the industrial heart of Japan.

It was good to see Nagoya again, all the familiar sites–Takashimya towers, the red Meitetsu trains, the crowded area right around the train station.  I first came to Japan on a summer internship in 2002 working in one of Sumitomo’s many industries.  The factory took up an entire industrial park and was located about 30 minutes from Nagoya in Ohbu city, right next to Toyota city.   I would go to Nagoya on the weekends and just walk around the city looking for something interesting.  Funny how some things have changed but haven’t changed.  I understand Japan and Japanese people so much better now than I did then.  However, I’m still living and working in the countryside so close to a large urban area and left wondering what everyone in the city is doing, wondering if they lead interesting lives and wondering what it is like not to have to worry about train schedules back to the countryside.

I really wonder sometimes whether I’m really cut out to be an engineer.  I can do the work and handle the concepts, but I’m not sure if I fit into the “culture”.  Even on the train ride back to Yokohama the other engineers were talking about the project or some other technical issue.  I just don’t understand how they can completely ignore the world outside the window going by at 100 km/h.  There is so much to see–talk about the latest wireless technology news can wait for later!  I wonder if accountants, lawyers and bankers talk about their work constantly?  Are they more well-rounded?  Or are they always talking about money or the law? I do wonder.

I had to go into work Saturday and I decided to walk to work since I’d be the only one in the office and it would not matter how much of a sweat I worked up in this awful humidity. As such, I grabbed my camera to take some photos of things around Hachioji on the trip to and from work. Why don’t you join me? I’ll show you the real Hachioji, the back roads and alleys and tiny streets that I use to walk the 4 km to get to and from work.

First, how about a little background on Hachioji? Hachioji means Eight princes in Japanese. The city begins right by the foothills of the Tama mountain range and continues well into the mountainous areas. The climate is quite intense–summers are extremely humid and hot with little to no wind, and winters are very dry and cold with no snow but gray skies and strong wind. Hachioji is still for the most part an industrial city with factories as well as large universities due to the amount of open land. During World War II, based on what I’ve learned from coworkers, there were many chemical products and weapons manufacturing plants in Haichioji. Due to various industrial accidents as well as allied bombing, many died working in the factories. It is said that ghosts still haunt the industrial grounds with the new factories. Whether that is true or not I do not know, but some I have talked to have interesting ghost stories. As China and Korea are quickly overtaking Japan as the manufacturing hub in East Asia, Hachioji is starting to see a shift from manufacturing to new high-tech areas. Hachioji is a growing center for small and medium-sized companies in the wireless communications industry.

So enough background, let’s being our walk!

The power and telephone lines stretch everywhere. It is my belief that the power and telephone lines run above ground in case of earthquakes. After all, it is much easier to repair the lines if you don’t have to dig up the streets. But I may be mistaken.

Typical condominium building - when this building was new, the average condo unit probably went for around 40,000,000 yen (US$400,000) because this building is within ten minutes of Hachioji station. Just because you’re not close to downtown doesn’t mean it is not expensive.

Here is your average apartment building. The lower floors are usually shops such as dry cleaners or barber shops, and the upper floors are usually be rented by single men in their twenties and thirties.

The intersection for the Rt. 16 bypass and Rt. 20 with the condominium buildings lining the streets. Rt. 16 goes from Yokohama, through Kanagawa prefecture, through Hachioji and western Tokyo, and then through Saitama all the way to the city of Omiya. On a weekday it took me a little over three hours to get from Hachioji to Yokohama–don’t drive in suburban Tokyo unless you must! Rt. 20, known as Koshu Kaido, goes from downtown Tokyo and Shinjuku, all the way into the mountains and into Yamanashi Prefecture. During warmer weather the biker gangs from the countryside like to cruise this road roaring their engines at 3 AM to wake up the neighborhood. As usual, the police do nothing.

A typical street in the suburbs of Tokyo

The Eastern Japan Railway Co. Central Line (Chuo-sen) train - it runs from Tokyo Station to Takao station. Hachioji is two stops before Takao station. It takes about one hour to get to Tokyo station from Hachioji most of the time.

A good way to distract an electronic engineer - impedance matching, anyone?

The building in the far distance is the Tokyo Power building. It is probably the tallest building in Hachioji. The base floor houses a supermarket, the lower floors house Tokyo Power offices and other business offices, and the rest of the floors are condos owned by salaried professionals probably making good money. Public schools and tennis clubs are also located nearby making this a very convenient place to live around.

Another street in the suburbs - the streets and houses spread on and on forever.

Part of a neighborhood Shinto shrine - I love the architecture of the roof!

The main building of the shrine - notice how the local motorcycle shops borrows the roadside space to show its wares. Don’t try to borrow such spaces to park you car for awhile, the police will arrive quickly to slap a parking violation on your windshield.

A scooter and motorcycle repair shop - I remember vividly a similar type shop I saw in Yonghe in Taiwan. They look very much the same–crowded and with plenty of work!

Rt. 16 (not the bypass, but the actual route) heading towards Yokohama. No cars on a Saturday? Odd…

The main temple building of a local cemetery

More suburban streets stretching as far as the eye can see

Shinshouin (信松院) - a Buddhist temple between Hachioji and Nishi-Hachioji station. The grounds of this temple house a beautiful Japanese garden and the temple itself is considered a “municipal treasure” by the Tokyo government.

Huge houses like this one are common all over Hachioji. I am always amazed to see four-level compounds, not houses, but compounds, all over the place. I suspect that such home owners are local businessmen who are long time land owners that were able to sell land at a premium as downtown Tokyo filled up and everyone had to start moving west. Or perhaps there are just a lot of successful business owners in Hachioji?

Public housing - If I stay in Japan long-term this might be the best option. When talking with some Chinese colleagues from the PRC about the housing discrimination issue, they recommend public housing as a stress-free alternative to private landlords and real-estate system. Apparently no guarantor is required, and tenants cannot be discriminated against due to their background (i.e. family status, job history, nationality, et cetera).

There is always a supermarket located near the station - this time Nishi-Hachioji station

Shiro-bai (White bike) patrol officer is searching for drivers making illegal turns, speeding, or any other sort of traffic violation. Because Hachioji sits at the intersection of two major traffic routes, these patrol officers are everywhere during all hours of the day. Every day when I walk home it never fails that someone with a license plate from outside of the area is pulled over by the patrol officers. Be careful driving in Hachioji!

A condominium located just in front of the Nishi-Hachioji station taxi pool - it must have cost a lot for the residents to purchase a condo unit here, but the convenience in daily life is well worth it!

Italian Gyoza (pot stickers) - probably with a meat and tomato sauce filling rather than the traditional pork and leek filling. I actually want to try these some day, it might be good.

A busy street running parallel to the train tracks in Nishi-Hachioji

Akutsu-san, a local politician - this guy is with the DPJ, the party challenging and giving lots of headaches to the LDP (the party that is in bed with the public works construction companies responsible for taking every piece of open land and covering it with ugly gray concrete). He looks like a former lawyer, doesn’t he? I hope that he has the same amount of power that he tries to project in his political posters.

At the bottom of this poster it says, “Hashire. Hiroyuki!” meaning, “Run Hiroyuki!” But why should he run? Perhaps he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar?

The local Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) station - you can find one in every city in Japan. Like British Telecom and Deutsche Telekom in Europe, NTT was once operated as a government-funded company. It is now a private company though it still owns all of the telephone lines. These days NTT is fighting a losing battle against mobile telephone operators. Many young people choose not to subscribe to a fixed telephone line, and as such the price of obtaining a permit has plummeted in my short time in Japan. Though it still offers fixed line telephone service, NTT is gradually shifting towards fiber optical data networks with high-speed Internet access and IP telephony.

Yakult - your friendly neighborhood drink service. In the mornings, armies of middle-age and elder women saddle up on these bikes and deliver milk, yogurt-based drinks and juices to businesses and residents in the nearby neighborhoods. I suspect as their children get older some women chose to do this to help supplement income in their household. Or perhaps they’re earning money for vacations in Hawaii or Gold Coast? Despite recent advances, there is still very much gender discrimination in the work place for women who left the workforce to raise small children and then try to return years later. It is one of the biggest social issues in 21st century Japan.

A surf shop in Hachioji, how do they stay in business??? Maybe someone should inform the owner he might do better selling skis and snowboards…what with the mountains being just an hour away…

A mini vending machine - notice the store behind it is closed. Out this far from the main part of Hachioji, most stores do not stay open beyond 5 PM, and often the stores do not open on weekends either.

Shidax is a karaoke (or if you’re from Taiwan, KTV) shop that is common all over the suburban parts of Eastern Japan. Recently my niece, an avid and energetic Karaoke singer, has become the victim of the prefectural government interfering in the private lives of its citizens. The government passed a law in Saitama prefecture that will not admit children in Karaoke shops at night as it believes children should be sleeping–even on weekends.

A bit fuzzy as the light of the day begins to fade away - I love this traditional gates at the entrances of some homes. I’m sure the garden on the inside is also equally beautiful.

A tiny alley beside a local print shop - the print shop must be over 50 years old judging by the look of the building and the equipment you can see through the windows.

Well, thanks for joining me on the walk. For comparison I will try to put up a photo journal of a walk around the neighborhood of Yonghe in Taiwan that I took last December. Yonghe is much more urban and offers lots of interesting sights as well. Maybe I’ll try some different routes around Hachioji as well, I certainly enjoyed taking these photos and writing this entry. (I also learned how to do batch photo resizing in OS X — wish I had known about it much longer ago!)

Finally, I should also say that though my blog often contains rants and moaning about life in Hachioji, at the end of the day, it isn’t such a bad place. In fact if you don’t like city life and you don’t care about professional networking and evening adult education, Hachioji is really quite convenient. It is probably a good place to raise a family once you have settled down. Most of my issues are due to my disappointment and frustration with my career choice in life. It is something that is going to require a lot of time, commitment and energy to remedy.

It was looking to be a bad day, I woke up really tired and was already starting to worry about the next project at work and its impossible deadline.  It never ends.  The bus ride to work was steaming due to the humidity and the number of people trapped in the small space of the bus.  I entered the office, dropped by bag by the desk and I eventually sat down and started on my project.  I couldn’t get the damn machine to work they way I needed it to.  Things were not going well, I started to run my hand through my hair like I always do when I get stressed out.  I even said “F@ck you!” to the screen of the machine and then realized I might have said that just a little too loud.  Eventually time came around and I threw my hands and went to read the news and have my tuna sandwich.

After lunch though my day turned around completely.  Perhaps I just needed the mental break and needed to cool down, whatever, but from 12:30 to 18:00 everything just went smoothly.  I met the deadline that I was worried I wouldn’t be able to meet this week, wrote up my weekly status report, caught up with my e-mail, and by 18:45 I was out the door and headed to Asaka city in Saitama prefecture to meet a good friend.

I arrived at Kita-Asaka station at eight o’clock and the heat of the day had completely disappeared.  The air was extremely humid but it felt good with the mild breeze blowing over the plains of Saitama (there is never any wind in Hachioji during the summer).  I received a message on my mobile from my friend saying he would be late due to a stoppage in the Tobu Tojo Line due to an accident.  I thought someone might have thrown themselves in front of a train again, but you never know, sometimes a car gets stuck on the tracks or  something else.

The area around Kita-Asaka and Asakadai stations is really nice in my opinion.  First of all, with the two stations right beside each other it is easy to travel in Saitama, Western Tokyo, and even Western Chiba.  The the area around the station is quite small and quickly disappears into Saitama-style suburbs, but the area around the stations has a lot to offer.  There is a sports club, a 24-hour super market, various restaurants and Japanese-style bars, day care centers, and so much more.  My wife and I tried to move to this area almost two years ago, we found the perfect apartment about 10 minutes by the station nearby the river.  Unfortunately the owner, like so many landlords in Saitama, didn’t want to have a foreigner in his building (though he couldn’t just come out and say that, he had to keep making impossible requests for the contract).  Japan would really be a nice place to settle down if it weren’t for the real estate system.  I digress…

What is nice about the area is that the coffee shops and restaurants have outdoor tables (very rare outside of the Roppongi and Odaiba areas of Tokyo!) laid out during spring and summer.  I needed to kill some time so I grabed a table at the local chain of Segafredo Zanetti cafe and I ordered a Castello Rossa beer and sat outside enjoying the gentle breeze, the fruity taste of the beer, and watching all the people come and go near the station. It turned out to be the perfect ending of the day.

The Taipei Times is reporting that there will be a “ban” (i.e. voluntary abstaining) on disposable chopsticks in convenience stores and supermarkets. This is the good start to something that should have been done a long time ago. At least here in Japan, the disposible chopsticks at convencience stores and supermarkets are usually used by workers with their lunches or by truck drivers often buying any meal of the day. There is no reason workers can’t carry a set of chopsticks in their backpacks or briefcases or purses. The same goes for truck drivers, they can keep it in their personal belongings or even in the glove compartment. For about one hundred yen one can buy 4 pairs of plastic chopsticks, so there is no financial reason not to! I keep a pair at work for just such occasions; they are about 10 cm long and fit in a small plastic case that I keep in my desk. If I had to I could always throw them in my backpack before going out to eat lunch somewhere as well.

The next step is going to be getting the restaurants to use plastic chopsticks rather than the wooden disposable ones. I imagine there might be a lot of moaning from those worried about cleanliness(I’d ask them how they feel about their plates and cups then), but when a restaurant only offers plastic chopsticks, I’ve never seen anyone make noise over it yet. If the customer doesn’t like they can always bring their own pair of chopsticks. If the stores and restaurants offer disposable chopsticks, all but the most pro-environmental will probably use them out of convenience I suspect. However, if they are not offered as a choice to begin with, we have a very simple change in our modern lifestyle that can help go along way in reducing the waste produced and unnecessary resource consumption. As it stands now, disposable chopsticks aren’t even recycled, they are thrown away with normal burnable trash and incinerated at a waste processing center.

Today I visited the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum in Hachioji to see an exhibition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義). All in all I felt it was a very nice exhibition. The first part consisted of floating-world style paintings from scenes in the story by both Chinese artists and Japanese artists. I particularly remember looking at one wall scroll painting and thinking to myself that it seemed so Japanese. There was a rising sun in the distance and a graceful crane at the center of the scene. Sure enough, when I looked at the information plaque for the painting it was done by a Japanese artist in the 19th century. There were also lots of portrait-style paintings of characters from the story like Guan Yu (關羽) and all of this friends. I have not read the story yet so unfortunately I couldn’t put a face to a character.

There were also various samples of text from the story. It was amazing to see versions of the story from the 1600s. The Chinese was all written with a brush and the handwriting was absolutely beautiful. I cannot even imagine how much skill it requires to write traditional Chinese so beautifully. The translated Japanese versions from the 19th century were also on display and it was so interested to see how Japanese has changed. During that time the majority of the writing on a page was with Chinese characters (often with furigana beside them) and there was very little hiragana in the texts.

The second part of the exhibition consisted of sculptures, metalwork and pottery with representations of scenes from the story. While these were all very nice, I was more captivated by the samples of the text and the scroll paintings of scenes from the story. I should add that the informational plaques besides the exhibition pieces were very well done and very foreigner-friendly. The title was written in Chinese with Japanese furigana above. Below the Chinese was the Japanese translation of the Chinese, and below the Japanese was an English translation. The rest of the information, such as the era of the work, where the piece came from, and the history behind it was all presented in Japanese.

I also was not aware that this epic had a modern significance in Japan. At the end of the exhibition, there were some stands setup with craftsmen from China doing custom choks or painting. There were all sorts of other stuff on sale, but what seemed to captivate the children were the action figurines and the anime on the TV. In Japanese, 三國演義 is known as 三国志 and there is an entire illustrated comic book (manga) series as well as an animated cartoon (anime) series.

Before going to the museum this afternoon I did some research about this epic, and having seen the exhibition I think I’m going to have to read the epic now. I’ll either read the children’s version in Chinese, or I’ll read the English translation. There is no way you’ll find me trying to read classical Chinese. One day I hope, but not for now.

So I was going to not mention this, but I feel I have to. This is my second time going to a museum in Japan. I first went to an exhibition on Dresden in the Western Museum of Art in Tokyo (Ueno). It was so packed with people that it was hard to enjoy the exhibition. Today was not quite as crowded, but the manners of the people were no different. The musuem was filled with people pushing each other out of the way trying to see the exhibits or kids running around. Even worse wes the people who buy the audio tours and just walk around bumping into people while they listen to their damn audio guide.

I am convinced that if you want to go to a museum in Japan, you should not go on the weekend. You should take a day off from work and go on a weekday. It still won’t be perfect as the old people like to talk a lot in loud voices, but at least you’ll be able to enjoy the exhibits without people pushing you out of the way. I just don’t get it, Japanese people can behave so orderly most of the time. If the crosswalk sign says don’t cross, people in Tokyo won’t cross until it turns green, even if there are no cars to be seen and it is 1 AM. But put them in an art museum and they push and stomp feet and cut in queue like they are in a school playground. Be warned!

Around the lake there were not too many places to eat lunch, but there was tourist hotel with dining hall on the ground floor, so we decided to have a quick lunch there.  It was not anything special, a fish dish (pictured below), a vegetable stir-fry, some sort of beef dish, rice, Taiwanese pears, and Japanese style miso soup.

This was a wonderfully tender fish–the meat separated from the bone just with the touch of chopsticks.  I suppose the fish was steamed?  The sauce at the bottom of the pan was really great, I believe a vinegar base.

While we were having lunch, there were many other Taiwanese families having large lunch parties.  When I say families, I mean extended families, not your typical nuclear family.  The men were drinking together at one table toasting from time to time, and at a separate table the women were chatting, and at a third table the children were laughing and eating.  Was it a family reunion?  Perhaps just a family party at the lake?  It sure looked like fun though.

The cabbie drove us around the lake trying to convince us to get out and take pictures here and there.  Really we just wanted to see a few sites, but when he stopped by a pier on the lake, we had to get out and take a look.  The water was a beautiful green color and it reminded me a lot of the Atlantic Ocean in southeastern Virginia.When we went back to the car the driver was nowhere to be seen.  After a few seconds he emerged from an alley with a bag of groceries.  Apparently he thought we’d take long and used the time to do some grocery shopping.  Oh well, at least we didn’t have to wait for the guy to show up at the car.

We stopped at a temple halfway up the mountain just to look around.  From the outside it looked like a rather simple structure.

Outside the temple was a taiko drum, I don’t know why I took this picture actually.

Inside the temple there were two female monks handing out bottled water and Buddhist literature.  My wife noticed that the temple had a connection with Thailand from a sign near the street.  I thought this stand with the small statue and the candles were really nice.  There wasn’t much for a tourist to see so we quickly went back to the cab.

We really just wanted to go to Tzu-en pagoda and eventually the driver dropped us off.  It was a fifteen minute hike up a zig-zagging path and buy the time we reached the top.  We stopped to take a break and I noticed a particular looking tree I’d never seen before.

What interesting foliage!

The ground below the tree was covered in the foliage.  It looked liked a garden of worms in some ways.

Tzu-en pagoda - there was no elevator so it was a climb up the stairs all of the way to the top.  I knew that I woud want to see the view over the lake, so I started my way up the staircase.

At the top was a bell that anyone could ring.  Just as I was about to snap a photo some punk kids decided to right the bell.  I nearly dropped my camera over the edge of the pagoda…

It was hazy over the lake unfortunately, but the view was still amazing.

The view on the opposite side away from the lake

This was the other half of the lake which we didn’t have time to see

Mountains and hills all around

When we trekked back down to the bottom of the hill, our cabbie was hanging out with some other Taiwanese cabbies, shooting the breeze and laughing and chatting.  I guess that isn’t such a bad job for a man aged 60+.  He’d been driving the cab for years and I suspect that most of the cabbies are all friends.  We told the cabbie that we were ready to go back to the station, and he drove us back to the bus station where we paid him and thanked him for his service.  Looking back now I’m so glad that he approached us and didn’t give up when he noticed we couldn’t speak Taiwanese.  We were so lucky he could speak some Japanese, and we were so lucky that we didn’t waste a few hours trying to figure out how to get to the places we wanted to see.

The bus ride back was such an amazing ride.  My wife just wanted to sleep so I grabbed the seat by the window and let her fall asleep on my shoulder.  The bus driver started playing a video on the TV screen, yet another Hong Kong triad gangster film.  That was no problem though, my entertainment the view out of my window!  As the bus pulled away from the lake I started my scan of the scenery. There were signs for an aboriginal resevoir.  Some day I would like to visit such a place in Taiwan, maybe on the Eastern coast.  Perhaps it sounds silly, but I’d just like to see the way they live their lives and try to preserve their culture.  I wouldn’t mind paying money to see it either, I know they have to earn money to support their way of life somehow.

As the elevation lowered there were towering palm trees everyone–it was an amazing sight.  Along the road there were patches of shops, always two level shops with the ground level as the shop and the second level where the owner probably lived.  Some shops were little restaurants, some were little food markets, some where fruit markets…so different from the urban vibe of Taipei!  Everyone once in awhile bus would pass through little towns with giant government facilities buildings and schools in the center.  There was no real sign of private business outside of the small contractors located in the outskirts of these towns.

Unlike the grey skies of Northern Taiwan like Jiufen, Jilung and Jinshang, the skies were bright blue and everything was green.   As the sun set I couldn’t help but notice all of the neon by the road side stands.  “Nah…, ” I thought to myself, “couldn’t be.”  Sure enough, it was the infamous betel nut stands and the betel nut beauties. And sure enough there were women, both young and … aging, in clothing ranging from summer casual to scantily clad.  And sure enough there were truck drivers pulled over buying the nuts and and chatting with the women.  As you can tell from the side bar of my blog, I read a lot of blogs about Taiwan.  Betel nuts stands are often mentioned, but I never thought I’d see one.  I did not see any around Taipei or the countryside areas of Northern Taiwan.  It was only on this road from Taichung to the central part of the country.  As the last moment of natural lighted faded away and night spread over the skies, the bus returned to Taichung High Speed Rail station, but we stayed on to head to the final stop: Taichung rail station.

We arrived at Taichung rail station and before going to dinner my wife wanted to get some お土産 (omiyage, souvenirs) for her family and coworkers.  Our guide book listed a shop for some sort of famous Taiwanese treat.  Inside of the treat is a kind of pineapple flavored filling, and the outside is like a basted french pastry.  I forget what it is called, but even my friend in Taipei recommended we try it–it must be famous.   I made the foolish mistake of cracking open the guide book to figure out how to walk to the shop from the station.  We were immediately swarmed by about ten taxi drivers offering to take me somewhere in English.  I tried to tell them we wanted to walk, but some said, “Oh!  Too far, you ride, I take you.”  I refused and refused and eventually the swarm gave up and when back to their cabs.  On driver remained behind and pointed to the street we needed to walk down.  All throughout our trip Taiwanese helped us when we were lost or not sure where to go.  Sure enough, it was just a five minute walk.  Be careful with the cabbies!

After we bought the souvenirs we caught a cab to a “tea house” style restaurant in Taichung.  It was very much Japanese now that I think about it–just like the Ukai group restaurants here in Hachioji.  In the middle of the restaurant was a large pond with koi and greenery.  Surrounding the pond were dining areas, some with regular table and chairs and some with tatami-style floors.  It was a very nice and relaxing dining experience.

The”tea house” restaurant

We were lucky in that there was going to be a performance of a traditional Chinese instrument.  Around 20:00 a young woman came to a stage area near the pond and starting playing.  I was expecting traditional Chinese songs, but song after song my wife would say, “Hey, I know this song.  It’s from ~~~~~.”   You can imagine how disappointed I was.

The picture is blurry because I don’t know how to take pictures in the dark very well, sorry.  I’m not sure what the instrument is, but it looks like a 揚琴 (yangqin).  The woman was playing from a song book, believe it or not.  I guess someone produces sheet music for modern Japanese songs for this instrument.  Amazing.  I was hoping to hear at least one traditional Chinese song, but the entire hour it was Japanese song after Japanese song.  I can understand why though.  The clientele of the restaurant was mostly Japanese tourists and young Taiwanese people.  Both probably don’t want to hear traditional Chinese songs.  I guess I’m just not hip and with the times.

Our waitress, who spoke fluent and perfect Japanese, called a cab for us after we paid the bill and within a few minutes we were in the cab racing towards Taichung High Speed Rail (HSR) station.  The whole time we were in Taichung it was dark so I don’t have much of a visual memory of the city.  The area around the train station was very dark and not well lit.  There were thousands of small shops, half of which were closed by the time we arrived in Taichung.  While in the cab leaving the restaurant we went down streets in much more vibrant and active areas.  It was shocking to me that the train station area was so dead at 19:00, yet the rest of Taichung, probably 5 to 6 km from the station, was so active and alive.  Eventually the cab turned onto the main road that seemed to run parallel to the train tracks, the same road that the bus followed to take us into Taichung.

Taichung HSR station was very quiet and there were few passengers.  The station is quite beautiful and modern and from the size of it you’d think there would be more passengers.  It much different from Taipei HSR station, which is like Tokyo station in that it is just a small part of a huge rail exchange.  Taichung HSR station, on the other hand, had nothing around it but highways: no rail transfers, no urban area.  It must be rather inconvenient for the people living around Taichung to use the HSR.  Our train eventually arrived, the next to last train of the day.  It is hard to believe that we saw everything we had planned and we had no trouble with the transportation.  We were very lucky I think!  At least in my experience, nothing ever seems to happen according to my plans and schedules.

Back on the THSR train…just as if I were returning from Sendai…

When we arrived in Taipei station it was deserted as well.   As we headed towards the exit another swarm of cab drivers accosted us with their demands to ride their cabs.  I made a very critical mistake though, I accepted a ride from one of these fellows.  I knew better than this, I knew we should have walked on by them and tried to pick up a cab on the main street, not a cab waiting at the station.  But my wife and I were both tired and I was expecting a little professionalism like the cabbies in Tokyo always offer.  Big mistake!

I handed one of the men the business card for our hotel, and the other cab drivers looked angry and said some to the other driver, probably cursing him, but he waved them off and replied with a short utterance, probably something profane.  He then handed us off to a cabbie waiting in the middle of the taxi pool.  The cabbie in the car inspected the business card for our hotel and we were off.

From the beginning I noticed something was wrong with this cab.  The driver was not taking the streets that we had taken in the morning.  I may not know the streets of Taipei and I may just be a tourist, but I have always had a very good sense of direction and a visual memory for streets.  I always look out the window when I’m in a car and I do my best to try to learn my way around, even if it is just for a few days.  Clearly the driver was up to something!

We arrived at the K-Hotel, just not the one in Yonghe.  He was scamming us because the moment he stopped the car he apologized and said he misread the address on the business car.  He didn’t wait for us to tell him that it was not our hotel.  I was really in no mood to argue with the cabbie so I just told him to forget about it and go to Yonghe.  The driver overhead my wife and I talking in Japanese at some point, and to probably ease the tension in the car, he decided to put on a CD of Japanese 演歌 (enka), a kind of folk music in Japan popular with the 40+ age groups.

This character was humming along with the songs while turning left and right onto various small streets in a part of Taipei I’d never seen before.  “Bastard is just running up the meter!”, I thought to myself.  Eventually we turned onto the familiar bridge crossing  the river leading into the Yonghe area I had become so familiar with.  We arrived in front of the hotel, and the fair was about NR$100 more than usual.  The cabbie said to me he would take NT$30 off the meter for his mistake of taking us to the wrong hotel.  It was still too expensive, but I honestly did not have the energy to argue with this Scheißer.  So I paid and we got out of the cab.  I stopped for a moment because I was about to go back and argue with him, but in the end I just gave in and went into the hotel.  This trip was my vacation and my trip to one of my favorite places in the world.  I didn’t want to waste my short and precious time trying to fight over US $2.

We went up to our room, dropped off our swag from Taichung, and after resting for a minute, we pushed on!  It was midnight, our last night in Taiwan, and the night market near the hotel was bustling and calling us to visit just one more time.

I went to Hachioji Intl. Center on Friday hoping to find a flyer for Mandarin private lessons–I really want to work on my speaking and listening skills.  I’ve seen flyers for private lessons in French or Spanish before, but this time there were no flyers at all.  I did find a flyer for an NPO’s (Japan-China Friendship Association) Chinese class.  I faxed in my application and this weekend the teacher asked me to go ahead and come to class.  I just finished the first lesson tonight…wow, I’ve forgotten so many basic vocabulary words.  I guess that is what I get for just focusing on grammar all of these years.  This class looks to be a good chance for me to work on my pronunciation and listening skills.  It feels really good to be back in a class learning again.  After I finished my university studies, I had envisioned myself taking night courses in language or business from time to time.  It was shocking for me when I  found out that Japanese don’t take night courses or go back to school for the most part (well, except for English lessons).  I’m just happy to be in a learning environment again.

The problem with wireless communication systems engineers is that when you go to eat at a very nice restaurant in the mountains, instead of enjoying the tranquility and environment, they are searching for base station antennas and complaining about the “out of service” signals on their mobile phones.

It has been quite a long week. Out the door at seven thirty, meetings all day, dinner with a partner company, back home at ten, hit the shower, sleep. The humidity is back and the air is heavy and sticky, here comes summer! Blogging
on a mobile phone is not easy…

We arrived at Taipei Rail Station around 7 AM to catch an early train on the Taiwan Highspeed Rail System (HSR) to Taichung.  After boarding the train I noticed that the manufacturer was Hitachi, and the inside of the train was exactly like that of the bullet trains in Japan.  My imagintion brought me back to 2005 when I traveled all over Japan on sales trips via the bullet train.  I was awoken from my day dreaming when announcements in Mandarin, English, Taiwanese, and some other Chinese dialect started.  How multilingual!

From Taipei the bullet train was almost empty and I was looking forward to a quiet ride to Taichung.  Around Hsinchu, however, a tour group of retirees boarded the train and made the high school kids on the train from Keelung seem quiet and well-behaved.  One guy at the front of the car was yapping away on his phone at every opportunity he had. I shut them out though by focusing on what I saw outside of the train from the window.  As the train jetted through the countryside from Hsinchu to Taichung, I couldn’t help but feel like I was back in Japan.  It felt like I was on a business trip speeding through Shizuoka on my way to Nagoya or Osaka.  At full speed I simply could not determine if I was in Japan or Taiwan based on what I saw out the window.

After exiting from the train at Taichung HSR station we quickly searched for our bus stop on the ground location.  We would be taking a local bus from the station all the way to Sun Moon Lake and I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss the bus as it only ran every two hours.  As buses pulled up, each time the driver got out to ask if anyone was boarding the bus.  I didn’t understand the drivers each time, so I showed them the print-out that I received from my friend in Taipei for the bus I wanted to ride, and each driver would then wave their hands signaling “no”.  Eventually our bus arrived, and luckily we had a nice spot in the queue and were able to get a seat on the bus.  As more and more customers boarded the bus, some had to sit in the exit areas or on the floor in the aisles.

So what can I say about the bus ride?  I thoroughly enjoyed it and every sight out the window was something new and exiting for me.  As the bus left Taichung, we slowly ascended in the mountains; the modern buildings disappeared, the roads became smaller, and the greenery slowly encroached all around.  I will have more to say about this in a future post. It was really beautiful, and seeing the countryside helped me to understand the dynamics in Taiwan just a little bit more.

After two hours we arrived at Sun Moon Lake.  We got off the bus and we were not really sure where to go.  We were on a street with restaurants and coffee shops and no signs indicating the tourist track.  The bus pulled away and an old Taiwanese man approached and started talking to us.  I had no idea what he was saying, but he kept pointing at the tour guide in Chie’s hands.  It hit Chie a few seconds later, but he was speaking in Japanese to us.  I still could not understand him due to his heavy accent but Chie was able to understand him for the most part.  He showed us a map of the lake and told us that he often showed Japanese tourists around the lake.  Unlike the cabbies in Taipei and Keelung, this man had a gentle manner about him and a nice smile and felt genuinely honest.  He offered to drive us around the lake at the rate of NT $1200 for four hours.  Since our time was limited, there were no other drivers around, and he spoke Japanese, we accepted the rate and started off on our sight-seeing tour.

Our first destination was Wenwu temple.  It was a beautiful day, about twenty degrees centigrade, with beautiful, vast blue skies.  Wenwu temple’s orange roof tiles stood out so beautifully in such an environment.

 I love the dragon sitting on top of the ball.  There was one on each side of the temple, but I couldn’t fit the temple and both dragons in the camera lens.

 A guardion lion near the entrance - it looks like a cross between a lion and a fish

 Another temple guardian, this time distinctively lion-like.

 A ceiling inside the temple above an altar - I can’t get over the ornate decoration and carving in Buddhist temples in not only Taiwan but also Japan.  It is so beautiful, I wish I understood what it all meant.  The agian, if I understood it, it wouldn’t be as fascinating and beautiful.

 On the structural beams running across the temple there were many artistic scenes like this.  Since Wenwu temple is confuscian, I wonder if these are depictions of scenes from confuscian literature?

 Incense burning at the temple

 An idol extruding from a support pilar

 Another idol inside the temple - it looks like pictures of Confucious from one of my Mandarin textbooks

 I am still very curious about these two idols, especially the one with the red face.  Perhaps I should read up on traditional Chinese religion?  If anyone has any reading suggestions, I would appreciate it!

 Candles inside the temple

 I notced that some of the worshippers were grabbing these on the way out after their prayers, and from the sign it seems to indicate that they are free for taking.  What was it?  I decided to have a close look…

 I’m think it is ghost money actually.  Near the entrance of the temple I saw some men tossing bundles like these into a large oven.  Perhaps they were burning this ghost money for their ancestors?

 Beautiful, tall palm trees!  Like those in a dream!  Having grown up in the mid-atlantic part of the USA, palm trees like this were only something I could only see in the movies.

 Sometimes words are not needed…

I really appreciate that temples are free and open to toursits in Taiwan.  I understand that it is because the locals use and support the temples, but still it is nice.  Besides the small, local neighborhood temples in Japan, all of the big temples have entrance fees for each part of the temple sites (like Nikko, etc.).  I suppose that is because the temples are old and require more upkeep than the relatively new temples in Taiwan, but for tourism I think Taiwan is doing it right by not following Japan and its decision to charge money for everything.

Across the street from Wenwu temple were a few small food stands and a hotel with a restaurant.  We met up with the driver and he told us we better get lunch now as there would be few places to eat from this place onward.  We were getting very hungry so we heeded his advice and had a quick lunch before continuing.