Jap Blog 14th August 1996

Almost no sleep last night. Too hot, too noisy and the Korean guy next to me wanted to roll onto my futon. Koreans call whites “John” or “Mary”. They asked me if my name was John.

Tried to ring the airport but it was engaged. No breakfast because I hadn’t ordered the night before. Arrived at the train station only to find that the trains had been stopped due to the typhoon (Kirk). Met Catherine, a Kiwi, and we took a bus to Futsukaichi onsen only to find no trains or buses. Rang JAL – flight cancelled buy my ticket from Okinawa to Hong Kong was still valid. Fat lot of good that does me as I am not in Okinawa. Rang the insurance company – difficult to access the “collect call” service. The bus driver saw a bucket in the middle of the road and so he stopped the bus, got out, and removed it. Took a taxi with Catherine to Hakata Station. Cost 3700 Yen.

Booked into Hotel Clio Court. Had a Japanese massage by an old woman for 4000 Yen [author’s note – must have had some money to burn]. Tea was in the New York Grill Windows Restaurant on the 14th floor of the hotel. There wasn’t a place expensive enough in the malls in the train station [author’s note – did I mention that insurance was to cover my costs up to about $A600 per day due to the interruption to my trip by the weather? Time to screw them over]. They had a problem due to the weather and had to stop the restaurant from rotating. Then they asked me if this was ok. I don’t know what they would have done if I had said no [author’s note – they are big on not offending anybody in this country]. The restaurant is an interesting concept. The centre doesn’t move or the outer piece but the bit in between where one is seated does. Black tea isn’t called black tea. It’s called “straight”. The best service in a restaurant I’ve ever had and the food, although small in portion, was delicious.

Ads on TV that feature music inform you of the musicians – a nice touch. Watched TV and one show featured photographs of Nagasaki – camphor trees, one-legged torii and the cathedral – taken just after the blast and compare with how Nagasaki now looks. I enjoy Japanese game shows. Even Japanese who speak English have great difficulty in understanding when I say phone numbers or spell my name.

- posted by Hammy @ 8:05 am