Pack for Asia or buy there?

You are going to Asia and you know there will be lots of cheap clothes.   Should you pack hardly anything and buy new clothes there?

The answer is yes or no. 

If you are travelling independently you can hit the markets as soon as you arrive so that would be a yes.   However do some research about what’s available first.

If you are a larger Western woman, you may find that all the clothes are for smaller Asian women and you may not find anything that fits.    

If you are going on a tour the answer is no.  Don’t assume you will have free time to shop. The tour activities might have you kept busy on a very full schedule.

That’s what happened to me on a trip to India. 

Assuming I would soon be decked out in new Indian clothes, I didn’t take much with me and I regretted it.

We arrived late at night and early the next morning, without enough sleep, we were on a bus that spent days trundling around amidst overladen trucks, cows and camels, on endless roads, while I recycled my scant wardrobe, rinsing stuff out at a different hotel each night. 

It wasn’t until later in the tour that there was a chance to buy clothes. 

Then there was bliss.  Not just the chance to buy clothes but the chance to have clothes tailor made for me in just a few hours.

And what a fabulous joy it was to choose your fabric from amongst a glorious display of silks.

But I wish I had packed more clothes.

Which Way Now?

The Australian Writers Centre has a fabulous monthly competition called Furious Fiction.  You get 55 hours to write a 500-word story and each month there are three rules.

This month's criteria were  - that the story's first line had to have exactly three words, the story had to include a first of some kind, and thirdly, the story had to include a candle.

They received over 1000 entries and guess where my entry came?  Give up.  That's a statement, not a question.  Mine came somewhere after they had stopped counting.

But here it is - a short piece of fiction based on an experience that I had in Japan.

Which way now?  It was my first time in Japan and finding my way from Tokyo to Kamakura by train had been easy as the signs and announcements were in English, as well as Japanese, but once I arrived it was more difficult. 

With my suitcase trundling behind me like a reluctant child, I wandered around a labyrinth of laneways.  Coming to a corner, I saw a word I understood written on the footpath.  It said tsunami and had an arrow pointing in which direction to run.    

My guest house was close to the sea and, a little unnerved, I headed in the direction opposite to the arrow.

Eventually I found my home for the night. My room was a shoebox, next to the bar which was filled with bright young Japanese. The room was hot so I went to the bar, taking my travel book with me. I am a Shakespeare nut and was re-reading MacBeth.

When in Japan do as the Japanese do, right?  So I ordered a bottle of sake then noticed that none of the Japanese were drinking it.  They all had beer or drinks like gin and tonic.  However, that didn’t stop me and I ordered a second sake.

There was only one other older person, a man, thin and middle-aged, looking tired.  I assumed he was the owner and spoke to him but he looked at me blankly.

The kid behind the bar told me that the man was waiting for his son who was on a hiking trip with a friend and he didn’t speak a word of English.

Then the door from the laneway opened and two boys sauntered in.  One of them was beautiful, the symmetry of his face enhanced by his hair which was centre parted.  The boys were laughing together but fell silent when the older man said hello. 

The beautiful boy slumped.  He and his friend flopped down a couch.  His father stayed at the bar, drinking beer, talking to them as if nothing was wrong and the boys answered flatly.   Obviously I didn’t understand the exact words but I could see that the boys, while being polite, were discouraging any communication.

Then I heard the man say clearly, “How is your mother?”.  

Of course that was not possible but an alarm had sounded.  The bright young Japanese with their beers and gin and tonics froze for a moment and when they began to talk and drink again it was with caution.   The son said something so low that even if it had been in English I would not have caught it.   

Then the beautiful boy and his friend erupted in anger and berated the older man. He started to sob softly then walked to the door. He looked left and then right. Aware that I was staring, I cast my gaze back onto my book and Macbeth's metaphor for life. "Out, out brief candle!"

Then I peeped up and watched the man turn left towards the sea.

50 Random Tips for Japan

1.      Enough people speak enough English to make Japan a good place to visit for English speaking people

2.      Young people are more likely to speak English than older people.

3.      Many people who don’t speak English, such as accommodation providers or staff at train stations, know enough to answer the usual tourist questions.

4.      If someone does not understand you, they may well whip out a phone and look up a translation.

5.      If you are lost, someone may take you where you are going.  That happened to me on a train in Tokyo.  A woman who didn’t speak English saw me looking at a map and got me to point to where I was going.  She then took my hand, led me off the train at the next stop, caught another train with me, signalled to me when it was my station, hopped off the train with me, then waved good bye and caught another train to go on her way.

6.      There is tons of info on JNTO – the Japanese National Tourist Information https://www.jnto.org.au/

7.      Buy your travel pass before you go.  Different regions have different passes.  Pour a glass of wine or a cup of tea or coffee and allow yourself time to figure out what you want. If you rush it, you will get confused and cranky 

8.      Tokyo is way more expensive and more overwhelming than anywhere else.

9.      Kyoto is low rise and chockers with temples and culture and is easily accessible from Osaka which has an international airport.

10.  You can buy cheap food in supermarkets such as tempura and sushi.  Late afternoon it is heavily discounted.

11.  Some supermarkets have an area where you can wash your hands and heat your food in a microwave.

12.  On trains and many busses, oral and visual information is given in both English and Japanese.

13.  If you have tattoos you will not be allowed in an onsen, a Japanese hot spring.

14.  If you go to Japan and do not go to an onsen you are a sad case.

15.  Sento are public bath houses and are a great way to get clean and hang out with locals. Personally I can’t imagine my neighbourhood women – teachers, shop staff, stay at home mums, all stripping off in front of each other, taking showers then hanging out naked in a big bath, soaking and chatting, but maybe we’d have less pretensions if we did.

16.  At onsen and sento you wash under a shower.  The baths are for soaking, not for cleaning.

17.  Winter is cold but there are not so many tourists unless you are on a ski field.

18.  Spring is gorgeous.

19.  Autumn, I believe, is wonderful and that’s going to be the season for my next visit.

20.  Summer is hot and humid, I’ve heard, but I haven’t visited then.

21.  You can see geisha, or more accurately maiko, the apprentice geisha, in some places, like Gion in Kyoto.

22.  Maiko come out at dusk, like gloriously colourful butterflies in the gathering greyness.

23.  You can get an added joy from visiting Kyoto if you read Memoirs of a Geisha and visit the sites.

24.  To be a geisha is like having a PhD in culture – language, music, dance, manners etc.

25.  Look for free walking tours.  Actually they aren’t really free as you make a donation at the end.   You learn about a neighbourhood from a local.

26.  Japanese are wonderfully polite.  You will probably come home with a new appreciation of how rude your own culture is.

27.  Japanese respect older people.  I know.  It is extraordinary, isn’t it.

28.  Ryokans – Japanese guest houses – can be cheap and atmospheric to stay in but usually have futons on the floor to sleep on.  If your hips or spine need a bed, rather than a futon, check when you book. 

29.  At most places you take your shoes off when you go indoors so wear shoes that are easy to get on and off and wear clean socks.

30.  Some places have special toilet shoes.  Do remember to take them off when you leave the toilet.   At a temple stay, the toilet shoes I left outside the temple in a sea of house slippers was somewhat disturbing.

31.  There are fabulous Buddhist temples that take paying guests and temple stays are wonderful experiences.  Often you have to pay in cash, so check when booking.  The food is supposedly vego but I found bits of meat.  You can buy drinks like sake.  https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2025_temple_lodgings.html

32.  There are different train companies with different lines.  Check which line you need to travel on.

33.  You can save money by staying in ryokans that have communal bathrooms.  This being Japan, they will be spotless.

34.  The museum of kaleidoscopes in Kyoto is a gem.

35.  Catching a bullet train between Kyoto and Tokyo is fun and comfortable but don’t count on seeing views of Fuji along the way.   I have been lucky catching views of this breath taking mammoth mountain in both directions but if the weather is overcast you won’t see it.

36.  There are no touts at temples or attractions.  Japan is a tout free part of Asia.

37.  The gorgeous ancient temples are very much in use and not just for tourists so be aware and respectful that people go there to pray.

38.  Your normal atm card will work at most atm machines.  If it doesn’t work in one, try a different type of atm. 

39.  If you want to travel extensively in Japan, your travel pass will be third major expense after fares and accommodation.

40.  Travel passes for visitors gives you much cheaper fares than the Japanese pay.

41.  If you want to save money you can get a travel pass just for Kansai area. There’s plenty to see and do in that one region.

42.  You may want to carry some of your own supplies if you plan to buy food at supermarkets. In one pocket of my day pack I had a Japanese deli – wasabi, soy, chopsticks and serviettes.

43.  Public toilets are Western style or Japanese style squat.  Disabled toilets are Western.

44.  Taxies are spotless and the drivers don’t cheat on fares.

45.  Tipping is not customary. If you leave money beside your plate someone will run after you to give it back to you.

46.  Japanese are much cleaner than us.  You will see people polishing handrails on escalators and hanging straps on trains. 

47.  Check if you want an express or local train and make sure you get the right one.  If you want an express and get a local, the trip will take hours longer. If you want a local and get an express you will be carried a long way past your destination.  I know.  I have done both.

48.  If you love textiles you will be in heaven at the markets in Kyoto that sell vintage kimono.  Check the market dates before booking your trip if visiting one of these markets is a must.

49.  Get to the most popular attractions early in the morning before the crowds.

50.  There are so many fabulous places to see that it is worth researching the less popular ones.  If they weren’t in the shadow of their more famous cousins, they’d be world class and they will be far less crowded.