Jap Blog 15th August 1996

A beautiful day. Checked out of the hotel. Went to the airport but not much info was on offer. Rang JAP and they booked me in for a different flight to Hong Kong tomorrow. Went back to the Hotel Clio Court and persuaded them to give me the same room as before. They didn’t want to as it hadn’t been cleaned but I explained that it was my mess so it wouldn’t bother me and that I would leave straight away to allow them to clean it. Great service from the staff. Typhoon Kirk [author’s note – it sounds a bit strange to give an English name to a typhoon in Japan] is gone now and the weather couldn’t be better. At the hotel they use an honours system for the minibar. You write on a list what you have taken and hand that into reception when you leave to be added onto the bill [author’s note – something that would not catch on in Australia].

Took the train to Karatsu, a town. Photos of Karatsu Shrine and Karatsu-jo. Met a pain-in-the-arse American by the name of Julia [author’s note – can’t for the life of me think what she said but it must have involved much unnecessary complaining about the buses or somesuch]. Yanks are certainly thin-skinned [author’s note – once again, whatever bothered her and ended up bothering me has been erased from my memory banks]. Took a bus to Yobuko, a fishing town. Farily boring. Back in Karatsu I was trying to match the Kanji for Hakata with the same price I paid to get to Karatsu in my train timetable. It didn’t match. Some guy wanted to help and speak English. He had been to Hayman Island for his honeymoon but wasn’t sure if he spent 7 or 10 days there. Japanese women don’t wear overpowering perfume, unlike Western women.

Back at the hotel and to another of the restaurants for tea. The waiter, a young fella, translated the menu for me. Chicken, pork, beef teriyaki. He asked, “You don’t drink alcohol? Where are you from? Australia? Australians drink like fish! That is how I identify them.”

Ordered some more food – hors d’oeuvres and chicken teriyaki. He gave me another serving of radish and said, “You can kill your time with this.” Which was referring to the wait for my second order. When I told the waiter, Kuroki, about the insurance business (paying for the stay in the hotel and my meals) he said, “You know you’re not full.” Only part of the menu I could read was the French hors d’oeuvres. [author’s note – I put the whole meal, about $A50, on my credit card and the insurance company reimbursed me. I am yet to receive a bill from my credit card company!! So, I have eaten the meal and been PAID to do so. Talk about having your cake and eating it]

- posted by Hammy @ 8:04 am