２０２４年の反省 - Reflecting on 2024

With 2024 coming to a close in a few hours (at least here in Japan), I thought I would take the time for a bit of 反省 (hansei/self reflection) on this year. Compared to previous years, a lot of big things have happened for me this year - both good and bad. 

So below are my highlights for 2024, with links pointing to the relevant posts.

I was hospitalized for the first time in Japan.

As a result of a bad diet, I was admitted to hospital for a little over a week. Compared to my experiences with ambulance crew when I had the CCP virus, the nurses at the hospital were actually rather friendly and kind. 

This experience was also a wakeup call to make significant changes to my diet. I'm trying to cook more often, and avoiding a lot of oily food, especially deep-fried food. So no more karaage, or curry and rice. Hell, I haven't had McDonald's or even Mos Burger since then.

I got engaged.

Yeah, after 10 years, my girlfriend (now fiancée) and I finally got engaged, and we are going through the process of getting officially married before having the wedding ceremony. Furthermore, we are looking to move to a new apartment so that we can officially live together.

I visited the future mother-in-law.

Earlier this month, I travelled to Kagawa prefecture. While my fiancée had some other business to do here, it was an opportunity to do a bit of sightseeing in a part of Japan that I have never been to before. However, the main purpose was to visit my fiancée's mother for the very first time in all the years that we had been dating. Her mother was happy and approved of me (even though I had proposed before that), and my fiancée gave her approval of my performance when meeting her mother for dinner.

I went overseas this year.

I travelled overseas for the first time in 5 years. While I didn't go back home to Australia, I did go to the Philippines to see mum and the rest of my mum's side of the family. It's been nearly 20 years since I went to the Philippines, and it's also the first time to go to the Philippines without Dad since he passed away. 

So what will 2025 bring? Hopefully more good news than bad. In any case with just under 3 hours left here in Japan as of this post, よいお年を/Have a happy new year!

A short trip to Udon-land aka Sanuki aka Kagawa prefecture

So I got back from Kagawa prefecture earlier today, and thought I would share my experiences of my short trip there. As mentioned previously, the main purpose was to visit my future mother-in-law(義母). It did not set in until a few hours before when my fiancee started coaching/drilling on what things I should and shouldn't talk about. Fortunately, despite initial nervousness, the dinner/meeting went well. I can confirm with certainty as my fiancee gave her official seal of approval on my performance for the evening. We also gave her some おみやげ that we purchased in Ikebukuro, including cakes and せんべい (crackers). She in turn gave us an engagement gift of a rather generous amount of money that we (reluctantly) accepted, though we reached a compromise in that we would set the money aside the next time she will visit us in Tokyo, or for emergencies.

Aside from meeting 未来の義母, I also did some sightseeing, though time only permitted for two places to visit.
The first place I went to was Ogijima (男木島). As the name suggests, it is an island that requires taking a ferry from Takamatsu. Fortunately the ferry trip only takes about 40 minutes one way. The first thing I noticed upon arriving was how quiet it was. Ogijima is a very very small island, with less than 200 residents, though there is apparently a school here. All the houses are located close to the ferry port. I spent some time taking in the views, and stopped at a small bakery for a muffin and coffee. After, I followed the trail and headed to the island's main attraction, the lighthouse. Aside from 2 or 3 other tourists, I did not encounter anybody else along the trail. As I got closer to the lighthouse, the wind got stronger, and there weren't any trees to protect from the wind. I spent a bit of time admiring the view, and the made my way back, but not before stopping at another cafe for some tea and pumpkin icecream... served inside an actual pumpkin, though you are told to not eat the actual pumpkin. Aside from myself, there was a group of 3 elderly people that were seemingly residents, based on where they were going afterwards (I left shortly after they did, on my way to the ferry).

Ogijima has very narrow roads, not even big enough for cars

You can get some really nice views overlooking nearby islands

Ogijima's lighthouse, but there's not much here to protect from the strong winds

The other place I went to was Ritsurin Koen (栗林公園). It is a big park, and we didn't get the chance to explore it all. It kind of reminded me of the park in Okayama I visited last year, though you also have a nice close up view of Mt. Shiun (紫雲山) to go with the nice scenic photos you can take. Fortunately, there weren't many people at the time, but there was also a light up event happening later in the evening, and my fiancee and I suspected this was the reason for fewer visitors. Even so, it certainly is quite a sight to see, even during the day. It's location is also rather convenient in that there are bus stops surrounding the park, and the train station is nearby too.

Lots of bonsai trees in to see

Mt. Shiun is smack bang in front of Ritsurin Koen

Interestingly, Kagawa is the smallest prefecture in all of Japan. It is also one of the more quiet places in the country, but certainly not as quiet as some places I have travelled to. There definitely is not much to do around here, but if you are looking for a change of pace away from your Tokyos, Osakas and Kyotos, Kagawa prefecture is certainly a place to check out. Though if you do like your udon, then it would be a good opportunity to check out what is described as being the origin of Sanuki udon. Funnily enough, Kagawa used to be called Sanuki before its name change. 

Toji in ... the Philippines?

For the first time in a few years, I'm posting this entry from outside of Japan. Currently I am in Manilla waiting for my connecting flight to Cebu.

Travelling to the Philippines is a big deal for me this time for several reasons. First, it's been 5 years since I have travelled overseas. It's been an hour since I arrived in the Philippines and it feels so... weird. For one, having staff speak to me in English took a little getting used to. Plus the whole driving system is the opposite of Japan. 

The second is that it's been about 20 years since I last went to the Philippines. When I was younger, my family and I would go the Philippines every few years to visit Mum's side of the family. Her family is rather big, so it's hard for me to remember everybody's names, while they only have to remember me. Sadly all of Mum's siblings have passed away save one that is in Australia, so it's just visiting cousins this time round.

The final reason is that this will be the first time to travel to the Philippines without Dad. As neither Dad and I can speak a lick of Tagalog or any of the dialects, while mum and her family talk away, Dad and I would just talk to each other. Fortunately, Dad was able to go to the Philippines with Mum a few years back, so he was able to at least see Mum's family and relatives before he passed. I only wishes Dad was able to visit Japan just once, even if it was just Ibaraki prefecture.

One other thing I noticed while going through Narita airport to my flight to Manilla, is that mainland Chinese are usually the most difficult tourists to deal with. A simple purchase/transaction at a store that should only take 1 minute or 2 suddenly becomes longer: and I'm standing there just waiting to pay cash for a bottle of water. I have to commend the shop staff at Narita airport for having the patience to deal with them, because I certainly don't, even when I was working in hospitality.

I will be in the Philippines for two weeks, but expect some photos of my trip after returning to 日本.

Japan easing border controls from March

Recently, the Japanese government announced that it will start easing up on border controls from March. This will include increasing the current cap of international arrivals from 3500 people to 5000 people a day, and cutting the quarantine period upon arrival from 1 week to 3 days. These rules will apply not just to Japanese citizens returning home, but also foreigners who are entering Japan for purposes besides tourism. Furthermore, those that have received three doses of the vaccine for the CCP virus will be exempt from any sort of quarantine.

This will be good for many companies that rely on employing foreigners - especially ALT dispatch companies, who are looking for new ALTs for the new school year starting from April. This will also be good for students who had planned to study in Japan before the strict borders came up in November last year in reaction to the omicron (aka Xi) variant of the CCP virus.

A trip to Kusatsu

Recently, I went to Kusatsu in Gunma prefecture with my girlfriend. For those not familiar with Kusatsu, it's a popular tourist destination, known famously for its hot springs. The water there is said to have healing properties, so naturally people go there to rest and recover. You can get to Kusatsu by bus or by train, but we took the bus due to being the cheaper option of the two. However, from Tokyo, the trip takes about 4 hours with a pit stop or two along the way.

One thing you will notice when you get to Kusatsu is the smell of rotten eggs. That's the smell of sulfur, and it is most prevalent in the central area, Yubatake. I am not sure if I am in the minority, but I suffered from headaches during my stay, due to the sulfur. It eased up when I moved away from Yubatake (or stayed in my hotel room), but my headaches were at their worst when I was hanging around there. For anyone who suffers from the same reactions like I did should be aware. Weirdly enough, my girlfriend had no problem with the smell at all.

Yubatake

In any case, upon arrival to Kusatsu, we headed to the hot springs, specifically the Sainokawara Open-air bath. Admittedly, I have never been a fan of the hot springs, despite having been a number of times in the past. I am really self conscious about entering a public bath naked with a bunch of other people, especially when you're the only foreigner there. In the past, when I traveled with a friend, it took the edge off, as we could just go to one corner and talk. But my friend wasn't there this time, and since the hot spring is divided in to the men's and women's section, I was pretty much going on my own. Fortunately, I was left alone to my own thoughts and admiring the scenery of the open air bath, and people went about minding their own business. Despite that, I'm still not a fan of hot springs - though I am willing to give it a try from time to time.

Afterwards, we finally checked in to our hotel. My girlfriend had booked everything and it was a nice, spacious room that had its own private outdoor bath. The outdoor bath section also had a small latch so we could have a view of outside if we wanted, but due to construction that seems to be ongoing, it was mostly a view of scaffolding. Fortunately, the outdoor bath was set up in such a way that nobody else can see in to other customers' baths. 

Room with included private outdoor bath.

The next day, we headed over to Kusatsu Onsen Netsunoyu, a pretty short walk from our hotel. The main attraction there is the showcasing of the dance used to cool down the water. The idea behind it is that the hot water is usually around 95 degrees celcius - too hot for people to enter - and that this dance was developed to cool down the water without diluting its natural healing properties. They showed a video before the performance explaining the history of the dance, and it even included English subtitles - though for some reason, the subtitles stopped 3/4 in to the video. Apparently the translator just gave up at that point. The dance was fascinating to watch, in the way that it's supposed to cool down the water just enough for people to be able to enter it.

We later checked out a small zoo, Kusatsu Tropical Wonderland, which apparently focused on tropical plants and animals. My girlfriend enjoyed feeding the monkeys, but the main section - a tropical dome - contained the majority of the zoo's animals, including various reptiles, birds and monkeys - including one monkey that was born in the 1960s. 

Eventually, we left Kusatsu at around 3pm by bus, and didn't get back to Tokyo until after 8pm. However, unlike the trip going to Kusatsu, there was only two other people besides us in the bus, so we had ample space, and silence, to be able to take a nap. 

It has been a while since we went for a trip somewhere that wasn't Tokyo or Chiba. If it wasn't for the CCP virus, I would definitely recommend checking out Kusatsu and the hot springs. Just be aware that The place is going to smell like bad eggs, especially around Yubatake - and if you're body doesn't take too kindly to the sulfur, there are other places in Japan where you can enjoy hot springs - though Kusatsu has recently been named as the number 1 spot in Japan for hot springs.

An Empty Kyoto

 I just came across this video, highlighting the effect of the CCP virus on a city like Kyoto, which largely relies on visitors (both domestic and international).

I found it interesting that many of the older people do reminisce of a time when this quieter Kyoto was the norm, but in recent years it has become more lively due to the increase in visitors. I definitely noticed this when I went to Kyoto in 2013 for the first time, then went there to study in 2014 - 2015, there was a significant increase in visitors coming to Kyoto. 

As many of the people in the video have said, on the one hand, the absence of visitors certainly makes it easy to get around Kyoto, and it's possible to truly appreciate many of the attractions that the city has to offer. On the other hand, that very absence of visitors does make it difficult for many businesses to make a living, some even being forced to close down for good. 

 It also has been a little while since I was last in Kyoto (it's been at least over a year). While many of the friends I made no longer live in Kyoto, I would still want to go back and enjoy the sights, and even take a walk around Ryukoku University, just to see how much it has changed since my time there. I had been there at least once to attend my girlfriend's graduation ceremony. Finally, I would also want to go back and see the owner of the convenience store that is right across from my old dorm which has since been sold off. Despite the dorm being sold off, the owner has been kind enough to hold on to many of the dorm's photos for former students who lived there and want to reminisce. Hopefully I will get a chance to visit Kyoto again sooner, rather than later.

Another Trip Back Home

I just returned from a trip back home yesterday. I arrived early in the morning yesterday, but the one thing that surprised me was how quickly I got through immigration. In the past, I have to wait in a ridiculously long line to get my re-entry permit sorted. This time however, there were probably only 2 other people ahead of me before I was sorted out. I get the feeling the guy who sorted out my re-entry permit was either drinking the night before, or dead inside - I really couldn't tell which. Likewise, getting through customs was pretty easy too - no questions about what I had in my suitcase. Previously they have asked me, and when I answer snacks - specifically chocolate and biscuits/cookies, they wave me through without even checking. Then again, this is the first time I arrived to Japan early in the morning, as previous times I arrived either at night, or in the afternoon.

So my trip back home is the same as previous times: Spend time with the family and catch up with friends. Ten days went by really quickly, and I wasn't able to catch up with everyone. I caught up with my usual circle of friends I've known since high school, but even now we usually catch up on a regular basis anyway. I also was able to catch up with one friend I've known since Primary school, and I'm pretty sure it's been about 3-4 years since I last saw him.
However, one thing I noticed a lot more this time compared to my other trips is how far my home country has really pushed to being a mostly cashless society. While I believe there will always be a need for cash in some capacity, people mostly pay by card. One of my friends has been doing it for years now, but since he has tied his card/account to his phone, he pays everything by phone. So I will admit, it did feel a little weird to be paying by cash, especially as cashiers were expecting a card payment when they got the card reader/eftpos machine prepared in anticipation, only to see me pull out money.
Speaking of money, I had a really strange experience during my stay. I'm not sure how recent, though I known it's only been since this year, but my country has introduced new versions of our paper money: 5s, 10s, 20s, 50s and 100s.  I have read that initially there were problems with these new bills as many vending machines/ticket machines were not able to read them, though I had thought that by the time I arrived, the problem was sorted. Apparently not, as we went out for lunch for my Dad's birthday, and we weren't able to pay for parking, as it wouldn't take the 20 dollar notes we had, which happened to be the new ones. Even stranger, the machine was very specific in that it wouldn't take anything higher than a 20 - no 50s or 100s allowed, and all I had were the old versions of the 50s on hand. We even tried paying by card, though it seems there was a problem with the card reader in that it wouldn't accept any of our cards. Fortunately, a staff member in charge of parking was kind enough to waive the fee and let us out with no problem. Still, I found that really inconvenient in they only accept certain types of bills, but not all.

In any case, I have one week left before I start the new semester. Nothing really planned, aside from gym, and perhaps practicing my drawing.