Pragmatic Traveller

Yomimaru - Japanese reading website

2015-04-25T00:03:00.000-07:00

A lot of travelling and spending six months in Japan, I ended up in Sydney, Australia. It's beautiful here, but I think I left my heart in Fukuoka. So instead of travelling I decided to put 100% effort into studying Japanese and I already plan my next trip to Japan.

However during my studies I realized that there are not enough materials to read for Japanese beginners, elementary and pre-intermediate learners. I have decided to change it and started a website called yomimaru with articles and stories written in simple Japanese with furigana (pronunciation help above kanji, the complicated characters).

Nagasaki in Two Days

2014-09-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

Nagasaki is a city in the westernmost part of Japan. It has a rich history of trade and war. Because it used to be the only port open to the outside world during the isolation period, there are a lot of foreign influences all over the city. If you have just two days to visit Nagasaki, here's a little guide based on my experience.

Most people will arrive in Nagasaki by train. If you are planning to come by train as well, check my 7 tips for train travel in Japan. The train station is the best place to start. First of all if you are staying in a hotel that is on the list on this page, do check-in first. You will receive a discount card valid for three days that will be used through out this guide.

Nagasaki is best explored by foot and using the streetcars (tramways). You can get an all day pass for 500 yen in your hotel. Single ride is 120 yen regardless the distance. I've put all points of interest described in this guide to a Google map below.

Gunkanjima

Hashima is a small island near Nagasaki famous for coal mines and looking like a battleship, hence the name "Gunkanjima" or "Battleship Island". It also featured in the Bond movie Skyfall recently. If you have arrived in Nagasaki in the morning, there is a tour at 10:40am. Another tour starts at 2pm. It might be a good idea to make your reservation anyway. It costs 3900 yen and you will need to show your passport.

The tour company is located near Ourakaigandori station, about 30 minutes walk from Nagasaki train station. I recommend starting there and if you are lucky, go on the morning tour. The tour consists of a boat trip to the island with plenty of time to take pictures and a small tour on the island itself.

The tour guide is a former Gunkanjima worker. English commentary is available, but it's not as funny as the uncle's story. The island was once the most densely populated place in the world. Now it's a ghost town. In case of rough sea, the landing is too dangerous and the island tour is cancelled.

The whole tour takes a little above two hours.

Dutch Slope and the Glover Garden

The next part of the itinerary is best explored before the 2pm tour or after the 10:40am tour. The Dutch Slope was originally a street when Europeans used to hang out. Now it's an area with schools and museums. It's a steep slope and it's nearby the Gunkanjima tour office. There are also some western houses of westerners who traded with Japan and lived in Nagasaki. Walk through it to the other side and find pointers to Glover Garden.

Mr. Glover was a Scottish businessman and Glover Garden is where his house stands. The garden is basically a park and a museum. The garden offers gorgeous views of the Nagasaki harbour. You can also rent a European costume and wander around dressed like a historical figure among the Japanese girls, who seem to enjoy this past time.

If you feel tired, you can enjoy a cup of dutch iced coffee in the coffee house. The former restaurant features the cold brew apparatus, again view of the harbour and you can have your first slice of the Castella cake here.

Leaving the garden, you can visit the Oura church nearby. On the way down, there are a lot of shops that sell Castella, a sponge cake originally brought by the Portuguese and perfected in Japan. The Izumiya cake makes among others has a huge shop there where you can sample not only the original sponge cake but also green tea, chocolate and other variants. You can also eat braised pork belly in a bun on the same street. It's a Nagasaki speciality.

Chinatown, Hamamachi and Maruyama

There is a really picturesque Chinatown in Nagasaki. One of the most beautiful ones in Japan. Red gates, Chinese food and shops. It's tiny and you can easily walk the whole Chinatown in few minutes.

Hamamachi area is one big street mall. If you are interested in shopping for anything, it's the right place to go. In Maruyama, there is an old Castella shop called Fukusaya. No posters, just a plain simple shop selling the best Castella in town since 1624. It's also a former red light district.

These three city quarters are the right destination for foodies. Best time to visit will be dinner time. Good restaurants serving a mix of Chinese and Japanese cuisine are located near Shianbashi station. Nagasaki's soul dish is Chanpon. It's a pork and seafood noodle dish.

Another famous example of Nagasaki cuisine is saraudon (literally plate udon, as opposed to regular bowl udon I guess). You can get a little weird "baribari" saraudon with crunchy noodles. Feels like not cooked.

Inasayama at night and Dejima wharf

Mt. Inasa offers the best view of the Nagasaki city especially at night. They call it ten million dollar view and it's definitely worth the 610 yen for the cable car return ticket. Without the discount ticket it's actually 1230 yen and a lot of Japanese will rather go there by car or walk.

To get there, take a bus from the Nagasaki station to the cable car at Fuchijinja, which is a quite nice shinto shrine by the way. The cable car runs frequently and it's a short ride. The viewing platform is free.

If you feel hungry afterwards, Dejima wharf offers some of the best seafood in Nagasaki along with live music often playing from an English pub there.

The Atomic Bomb Site and Museum

The next day, head to the Atomic bomb site. The Atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on 9th August 1945 at 11:02 in the northern part of the city. The bomb exploded high above the ground and right below is now a small park that commemorates the event. There are statues, pieces of walls of nearby structures such as an old church and even an unearthed site with rubble that was kept intact since the explosion. To get to the are take the street car to Matsuyamamachi station.

The museum is only 100 yen for the discount card holders. It's emotional, be prepared to see some tough truth about the bombing. There are artifacts such as bones of a hand fused with glass, melted rosaries and other Christian artifacts, pictures of people suffering from the burns and radiation and others not so pleasant results of the war. Everything is explained in English and pretty scary.

The park, the nearby Peace Park with the Peace Statue and the museum are all bustling with tourists and sometimes school children on assignments.

If you have more time left...

This concludes a relaxing two day visit to Nagasaki, but there's more to see. There are a lot of churches around the city. As in every Japanese city, shrines and temples are also available for viewing. Others recommend penguin aquarium short train ride away. Grab a map at the tourist information center at the station. It points out the major sight and see the map below for all the points of interest mentioned in the article. Have fun in Nagasaki!

7 Tips to Master Japanese Trains

2014-09-18T02:41:00.000-07:00

Trains are the most comfortable way of travel in Japan. Planes are faster and often cheaper but boarding takes time and airports tend to be far from the city. Buses are cheaper but they don't offer much comfort. Here are 7 tips that will help you to get the most out of the Japanese trains.

1. There's more than just Japan Railways Group

While JR operates the shinkansen trains and covers most of Japan, there are other companies such as Nishitetsu in the west or Keikyu in Kanto region (including Tokyo). JR Group itself consists of several companies.

It is always advisable to check which company offers the best and cheapest way to get to your destination. Unless you own JR Pass, the non-JR companies are often better (faster, cheaper and also servicing more remote areas). Which leads us to...

2. JR Pass

This is the best option for foreigners and non-residents who plan to use shinkansen a lot. JR Pass offers unlimited travels on JR Group trains and JR operated buses and ships for one, two or three weeks. It can be purchased only outside of Japan. The one week pass costs about the same price as a ticket to Osaka and back. If you are going to do more than this one trip, then it will save you a lot of money. I travelled all the way from Tokyo to Aomori, while visiting Fukushima and then back to Tokyo followed by trip to Kyoto on JR Pass. JR Pass includes free seat reservation.

For more information, check the official website. It lists all official resellers in all countries. There is an online service offering the JR pass and sending it by mail, but I haven't tried it, so I can't say anything about it...

3. JR Pass is not the only pass...

JR Group companies offer their own separate passes and some of them are really sweet deals. For example JR East (covers Tokyo) offers a 5 days pass but those 5 days don't have to be consecutive. JR West has variety of passes and so on. These passes can be purchased in Japan with a valid tourist stamp from the immigration (the sticker in your passport). You can visit all the websites of the companies from the main page of JR pass.

4. Discounted tickets are often better than the passes

A lot of people don't know about these tickets and that includes the Japanese. There are shops at major stations that sell discounted tickets. Not just train tickets but buses, concert tickets and so on. Usually they come from people who sell them for whatever reason. The shops also hunt for bulk discounts and then resell those tickets.

For example JR Kyushu offers special group and return tickets. They are called "juumaikippu" (literally: ten piece ticket). This ticket is available from JR on some routes (such as popular Fukuoka - Nagasaki). 10 piece ticket costs cca 25700 yen, therefore 2570 per piece. Single ticket is 4500 yen. The shop sells the ticket fora bit more than 2570 yen and makes everybody happy. If you can't find it, you can still purchase "X - mai - kippu" yourself from JR. Useful when travelling with a group!

This is how such shops look like. The first example is easy, because it says: "TICKET"

The second example is more tricky, because it says Chiketto Fukuoka only in Japanese.

5. When lost, find the place where they exchange JR Passes at the station

All major stations have a place that changes the vouchers for passes. Check the official website for locations. These little kiosks always have English speaking staff and they can actually make all your reservations for any kind of JR trains. There are also shorter queues!

6. Use Hyperdia

Japan has a route planner for public transport called Hyperdia. The website is great and it can find all trains, buses and domestic flights between two points for you. And it's in English. They also have apps, but the apps can only be purchased in USA and Japan and you have to pay for them monthly.

7. Need internet?

Free wireless internet is still not a standard in Japan. Because Japanese telco operators were very quick in providing Wi-Fi for their customers, there was no need for the free one. The good news is that some of the convenient stores now provide free Wi-Fi and they are located at most of the stations.

Two notable examples are 7/11 (7SPOT) and FamilyMart (Famima_Wi-fi). Other konbinis are not as easy to use or are paid. You can find instructions how to connect to Famima_Wi-fi here. However the easiest way is to ask the staff. While they most likely won't speak English, here's a simple broken Japanese phrase for you: "Intaanetto oh' oshiete kudasai" which means "teach me internet please". You will have to login each time you will be using the internet, so pay attention.

Note that Starbucks, some information counters, tourist areas and hotels now also provide free wi-fi.

My Study at GenkiJACS - The Good, the Bad (and the Ugly)

2014-08-28T03:54:00.000-07:00

The end of my studies at GenkiJACS is near. I am going to finish in two weeks. It's time to summarize my experience.

I was very lucky in the beginning. I was in a class with people who had real interest in learning Japanese and challenged me every day to get better. Most of them had already some knowledge of the language which made me work really hard. The first three months were amazing. I got solid foundations in Japanese that I use every day.

After forced three weeks break I came back to school and found it extremely crowded. Most of my classmates were gone. For a few weeks new classmates were coming and going and the progress was stalled. It seemed that first two weeks we didn't do any progress at all. It got better later on, but I felt like we are not learning enough, because we didn't get as much practice.

I wanted to finish the Genki 2 textbook and I calculated that I am more than 3 weeks short. I decided to jump to a higher class in the middle of the second term. I also didn't get along with some of the new classmates. Fortunately in the higher class, all of the students had real interest in learning the language again and they were all better than me, forcing me to push myself again. The class also got smaller giving me room to breath.

Here's a list of what went well, what didn't and what I really didn't like:

The Good

Teachers - Certainly the teachers and the staff. Everybody was very helpful and tried to entertain everybody. Which was not always good as covered in "The Bad".
Progress - I made remarkable progress from having zero knowledge to being able to communicate with Japanese people. Even though I make a lot of mistakes, I can have a conversation about daily life.
Textbook and materials - The textbook is well organized and the extra materials and bonus grammar covered by the school proved useful.
Location - The school is in the city center, easy to commute.
Accommodation - Even though the apartment was really small, it offered comfortable stay for six months.

The Bad

Grammar was not practiced enough - We learned new grammar, practiced it for a week and moved to a new chapter. While in the beginning this was fine, because I use the foundations every day, later I easily forgot what I learned two weeks ago. The difficult grammar is not used as often in daily conversation.
You can join the school with any level of knowledge at any time of the year - Why was this bad? Selfish reasons only. Especially later on, there were students of various levels and from different backgrounds in the same class. Some of them got bored, while others had troubles keeping up.
Some teachers didn't use Kanji when writing on whiteboard and wrote everything in Hiragana - therefore we didn't practice Kanji as much as we could have. Maybe this was partly caused by the point above. I kept reminding them.
Summer holidays - The school was crowded during summer holidays. High school and university students flooded GenkiJACS. The website claims that classes are limited to a maximum of 7 students, and usually have around 4, giving you plenty of chance to practice with the teacher. During summer the usual was 6 to 7 and I have been in class with 8 students more than once. Some of the classrooms are not big enough for six people. During the two summer months, I never had enough space. The lounge was often packed and there was no room to sit.
No windows - The classrooms have no windows, only air conditioners. The rooms were created by splitting a big room into smaller ones. Some of the rooms ended up with a huge airconditioner and they were either freezing or hot. And of course there was no fresh air.

Summary

I liked the school, especially the first three months. I never had so much fun learning a language from a scratch as in GenkiJACS and I believe they taught me well. However the second term was not as much fun. Some of the fun teachers teach only the Beginner 1 and I really missed them in the second term. The progress was not as smooth as before and I also didn't get along with some classmates. I don't get annoyed easily and I did get annoyed in GenkiJACS in summer more than I would like.

The decision to jump to higher class seems like a good idea now, but I spent tough three weeks studying in the new class while trying to catch up. It's over now. Two more weeks to go and I think I am going to enjoy the school again.

Fukuoka is a nice place to be, but everybody said this year's weather was worse than usual. We got a lot of rain and only a couple of weeks of beach weather. It was better here in spring than it is now in summer and I am hoping for nice indian summer.

I'd choose GenkiJACS again if I could study in spring and I'd probably pay for at least one extra private lesson per week to go through last week's grammar to make up for the lack of practice.

GenkiJACS Test After the Genki 1 Book

2014-07-30T00:43:00.001-07:00

If you study at GenkiJACS long enough, you will have to take take a big test. This test comes after finishing the first textbook, Genki 1. The test consists of a grammar, listening, interview and vocabulary part.

The grammar test is very similar to the tests the school gives you every few lessons. Most of the questions ask you to fill in a particle or write a sentence using a correct form. This part is scored with points and 70% is needed to pass.

The listening was pretty hard. It sounded easy and we all laughed at the beginning because the voice was speaking slowly and monotonously, but everybody had troubles with it. Scoring was the same as grammar.

Interview was probably the easiest part. It is performed by the examining teacher and the questions don't require any special grammar, just a very basic conversation skills. It is also scored leniently using A - F marks (I think).

Vocabulary test contains kanji as well. Multiple choice questions, pretty easy. Scored by points and same requirement as the grammar and listening.

If you don't pass the test, not much happens, but the school can put you in lower class again to go through the lessons again... I did not study for the test, but I did all my homeworks and never skipped a lesson. The only problem was the listening which I knew will be my weakness.

Nose Flute

2014-07-24T01:46:00.000-07:00

While living in Japan I had a chance to visit a birthday party and a concert of a Japanese musician playing on a set of rather uncommon instruments. I had a chance to try three of them and discovered a hidden talent: playing a simple wooden nose flute :)

It took me just a few seconds and I could perform simple tunes. The flute uses mount as a resonating chamber and it is somewhat similar to whistling. If you are like me not playing any instruments, give this one a try. It's really simple!

The flute I own now comes from Vietnam, but you can get it anywhere. Here's a video of me playing Happy Birthday song.

Genki 1 by The Japan Times

2014-07-18T02:06:00.001-07:00

Genki 1 by The Japan Times is a textbook that my language school GenkiJACS uses to teach Japanese to beginners. The book expects you to know hiragana while katana and kanji are not required. Genki contains a hiragana table, but you won't be able to learn anything without being proficient in hiragana. You will gradually learn katakana by using Japanese words that originated from English and the book teaches Kanji with extra vocabulary.

The book si very well organized and the school doesn't deviate much from the course set by the book. It teaches basic grammar first, but each chapter contain listening and reading parts, too. At school, the speaking excercises are done as well. There are a few things I don't like about the book, but they are just really minor nitpicks. For example once a special case of a rule was added as new grammar and later explained fully. However this style is good for people who want to learn only some parts of the language.

The intensive course covers about 1 chapter per week which feels like an ideal pace. The first book contains 12 chapters. While studying with Genki I had a feeling for very long time that I can't use any Japanese. However around chapter 8, I suddenly started to feel that I can communicate with the Japanese people. It all somehow clicked together at that time.

Genki at GenkiJACS

The school is using both Genki books, Genki 1 and Genki 2. There are also workbooks available for both the first and the second book, but we don't have them and we are using photocopies and other excercises created by the teachers. The answer key is of course available as well, if you want to spoil your study...

If you are planning to study at GenkiJACS I can highly recommend getting at least the first book and study the first 3 chapters yourself. They are very easy and it will save you 3 weeks of relatively easy topics.

GenkiJACS - Accommodation Options, Private Apartment

2014-07-08T02:45:00.001-07:00

While studying Japanese, one needs a nice place to rest, recharge and do homework. GenkiJACS provides accommodation as well. It is optional, but it made everything much easier for me. I picked a private apartment, because for six months study it was only 53,000 JPY per month and I needed my own space for work.

There are of course other options available and you can read about them on GenkiJACS website. From other schoolmates experience, I can say that homestay can be both good and bad. The website claims 40 mins from school on average, but you can end up an hour bus ride far as well. But of course you have the option to speak Japanese every day with the family. Note that host family is sometimes just one person.

Dorm is good for people who like to hangout with other foreigners and I would definitely pick it for shorter stay. I only know one person who stayed in shared apartment. The upside was that it was in the same building as the school. The downside - it was noisy, small and of course you have no say in who will live with you.

My apartment is quite small, but it has everything I need. It came with everything including TV, wi-fi, table, chair, bed, fridge, fully equipped kitchenette and also washing machine, hair dryer, iron and vacuum cleaner. It is a wooden floor type apartment with a bed and a tiny Japanese style bathroom. You can see the main room on the picture.

It is however not 5-10 mins walk from the school as the website claims, but rather a 40 mins brisk walk. There's also no direct bus nor subway and I ended up buying a bike. It takes me about 15 minutes to reach the school with it. At first it looked like a nuisance, but in the end I am glad I was forced to buy the bike. Fukuoka is very bicycle friendly.

The location itself is very nice though. Quiet at night but has plenty of bars, restaurants and services nearby. It's only about 2 mins from subway and bus station. There's a konbini (7/11) at the bus stop and a post office and a big gym are also nearby. A bit further, but still just 10 mins walk is a 24h supermarket with better prices than the konbini.

Because I like running, I am quite happy with the 2km distance to the great runners friendly park Ohori koen.

I met the agent who takes are of the apartment when I came to Fukuoka and in about 10 minutes I was already living in my new home. He also takes care of all the bills and I must say I am very happy in this place now.

6 Places in Japan You Wouldn't Think of Visiting But Are Totally Worth It

2014-06-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you plan a trip to Japan and your itinerary says Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, you are missing a lot of beautiful places that are well worth visiting. Here's a list of my six favourite places I have visited and are missed by majority of tourists and travellers alike.

6. Hakone

Very well known among the Japanese as a place to relax in an onsen hot spring, Hakone offers beautiful nature, forests and lakes and stunning views of nearby Mount Fuji in good weather. And it's really near Tokyo, accessible by train. The picture above is not from Mordor, but from a local sulfur mine. The hot springs in Hakone contain sulfur and are used to cook eggs that turn black in the sulfur water.

5. Goshiki-numa, Fukushima

Fukushima is probably not very popular now, but there are still places you should not miss. One of them is a cluster of five volcanic lakes called Goshiki-numa, created only in 1888 by eruption of nearby volcano Mt. Bandai. Each lake has a different color due to mineral deposits.

4. Hirosaki

Hirosaki is located in Aomori prefecture, the northernmost prefecture of the Japan's largest island Honshu. A famous sakura festival is happening in Hirosaki near its beautiful castle at the end of April. Japanese love their sakura and they love ohanami (kind of a picnic with viewing the cherry blossom trees). Each year there's a forecast when the trees start blossoming. But in Hirosaki the festival date is fixed. The trees are kept in cold using dry ice to start blossoming at the right moment. If you have missed sakura in other parts of Japan, a trip to Hirosaki might just save the day.

3. Arashiyama

You might have seen the above bamboo forest somewhere already. It's quite popular scenic spot among nature photographers. And if you are planning a trip to Kyoto, you might see it as well. The bamboo forest is located just a short train ride away from Kyoto in a small town called Arashiyama. The town itself has beautiful temples as well and it feels much more relaxed than Kyoto with its package tours.

2. Tottori

photo by eweliyi

It's not somewhere in Africa, this is Japan, too. Tottori is definitely not a major tourist hot spot, but if you are on the way to Hiroshima or elsewhere in western Japan and love sand dunes, give it a try. The dunes are located in a park just next to the sea and they look exactly like the ones in movies. There's also a sand boarding rental shop and sliding on sand from the top of the dune to the beach was one of the best experiences in my life.

1. Jigokudani snow monkey park near Shibu Onsen, Nagano

One of the strangest experiences from Japan that I have is a bath with a monkey. It happened in Shibu onsen when a monkey wandered from a nearby park to have a bath in a hotel onsen. The monkeys have their own hot spring there and they learned how to use it in winter to keep them warm. But it's not the only attraction of Shibu onsen. Staying in a ryokan during winter, having a bath every time you return from a walk in the picturesque village, nearby forests or the monkey park and eating local speciality, soba noodles, felt just so good...

GenkiJACS - Learning Japanese in Fukuoka, The Beginning

2014-06-12T07:12:00.002-07:00

When I first read throught the whole GenkiJACS page, I really liked two things: The instant estimate that was quite close to the final price and the chat with GenkiJACS representative. I had all the information I needed before I even asked them for the final price.

I wanted to go to Fukuoka because it seemed like a nice city. It has a small beach and the weather is nice, if you don't mind a short rainy period and hot summer. Fukuoka's rainy period looks like Central European spring, but it's a bit warmer. And since I spent 4 years in Malaysia, hot&humid is what I am used to as well. The city is just the right size to have everything and not feel crowded at the same time.
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People are a bit friendlier here and not as busy as in other Japanese big cities. There are also a lot of families with young children. If you've only visited Tokyo or Osaka with a trip to Kyoto, you will be very surprised.

The school is located in a nice district, close to the centre. If you arrive at the school during a lesson, it will feel quiet. Which happened to me when I went to take the orientation test. But during the breaks, you realize how busy the school actually is...

At the entrance there's a shoe rack and you have to change to slippers. Just by looking at the number of shoes gives you a good idea how many students study there. The receptionists are very friendly and if you came for the first time, they will help you get around.

GenkiJACS has a big lounge and it's gonna be the first room you'll see. You can eat there and socialize with the other students. Since you can't eat in classrooms, so this room gets full during lunch break :) It's easy to start conversation with other students, because most of them have similar interests... And they all study Japanese :)

The classrooms are small, designed for a maximum of 6 students. It happened to me that we had 7 students in the classroom, but some of the original classmates left after a few weeks and our class has only 4 people now. It's an ideal number where everyone gets time to speak. And it was actually fine to have more people in the class in the beginning, because there wasn't much talking. I've become a good friend with my classmates in the first few days and it always felt sad when classmates finished their studies and left...

It's been now ten weeks since I joined the school. It's the first half of my study with GenkiJACS and I am going to resume studying after a three weeks holiday that I really need right now :) But I can say that afte 10 weeks studying Japanese I am able to communicate with locals when I initiate the conversation and it feels great!

Mt. Aso - A day trip to Japan's largest active volcano

2014-06-09T06:12:00.002-07:00

Mt. Aso or Aso-san (阿蘇山) is one of the largest volcanoes in the world and it is the largest active in Japan. It's located in Kumamoto prefecture on the Kyushu island and it's one of the biggest attractions of Kyushu.

Mt. Aso is more an area than just a mountain. What is usually called Mt. Aso now consists of five major peaks. Mt. Naka or Naka-dake in Japanese is the currently active one. I was lucky to be taken to Mt. Aso by friends by a car, which looked like by far the easiest way. There is a parking lot just next to the main crater. Bus tours usually end at the base of a cable car which is used to get to the volcanic rim. It is closed when the volcanic activity raises.

The way to the Mt. Naka was very beautiful and there were scenic spots everywhere. Many people stopped their cars at designated areas to take pictures. So did we...

The rice fields were clearly visible from the mountain. The weather was good the view was stunning.

The crater of Mt. Naka is active and poisonous. The Japanese take the threat seriously and the mountain is closed when there's is any danger. When I visited, the status was orange, which already means danger to people with health problems such as asthma. There are even little concrete bunkers in case the mountain wakes up.

But the view of the creater was well worth it.

On the way back we stopped in an onsen to relax and for dinner we decided to eat local famous dish, basashi. The whole area is famous for horse meat and basashi is in fact raw horse meat. Like a horse sashimi. Not something I'd like to eat every day, but it was an interesting experience.

Fortunately cooked horse meat was also available in the form of yakiniku (grilled meat that you grill by yourself at the table) and later we ate a horse steak which was delicious.

Mt. Aso was really beautiful and it made an amazing one day trip.

My first visit to Japan in 2007

2014-06-01T08:06:00.001-07:00

My first visit to Japan happened in 2007. I was a student back themequipped with only a very bad digital 2MPix camera and I did not know much about travelling. It was my first big trip on my own.

I did experience a culture shock when I first arrived to Japan, but I experienced another one when I came back. Japan is really different from any other country. The language barrier can be a problem, but everything else works so smoothly in Japan, I got used to it quickly and then I missed all the little things back in Europe.

In Japan everything is convenient (especially if you understand Japanese) and people who offer any kind of service are always trying to do their best to give the best service possible. Sometimes I was surprised how they already expected what I wanted. Even with zero Japanese I was still able to get around just fine.

During my first visit I got my share of a good food, history&culture and weird Japan. One of the weirdest experiences was a visit to a parasitology museum in Meguro, Tokyo which I happily revisited during my other visits as well.

However the first visit was a bit scary and I can highly recommend visiting it only after you've eaten. I went there before lunch and I planned to eat sukiyaki that day, a really delicious dish, that unfortunately includes handling raw beef, cooking it yourself and dipping it in a raw egg.

I have gladly left the cooking up to the nice waitress who guessed I have no idea how to cook or eat it.

After spending a few days in Tokyo I went to see the beautiful temples in Kyoto. I had a JR pass, a very convenient ticket from Japanese Railways that allows unlimited travel using trains and some buses around Japan except in the most expensive shinkansen trains.

I went to meet a friend of friend in Kyoto and I told her a wrong time of arrival. I did not have a phone andwith zero Japanese I tried to explain to the person sitting next to me on the train that I really need to call somebody. Fortunately the nice gentleman was accompanied by a very friendly and English speaking Japanese woman who explained everything to him and later we all became good friends. Everything went better than expected :)

But it was raining in Kyoto and I soon realized that weekends in Kyoto are a bad idea. Even in the rain, every temple was crowded and I really wonder how can anyone take such beautiful pictures of them without the crowds...

Boryeong Mud Festival - Must see and do in Korea

2014-05-24T20:39:00.002-07:00

Boryeong Mud Festival that takes place every summer in Korea is definitely worth a visit. The mud in the region is said to have healing properties. And it's true, because having fun is good for you and you will have a lot of fun there. The next festival is happening between 18th July 2014 and 27th July 2014.

Boryeong (보령시) is a city on the west coast of Korea. The festival is located in Daecheon (대천동), which is a small township near the city center. Getting to Boryeong is very easy, there's a train from Seoul all the way there (Yongsan station, approx two and half hours).

When you get to Boryeong, you need to take a bus to Daecheon. It stops at the train station. Remember to say: "Beach-e", when you want to go to the beach. That's how you pronounce beach in Korea ;)

I visited the festival in 2011 and it was simply awesome. Everything was mud and mud is fun. Mud slides, pools, showers. There were plenty of games that will hep you make friends very quickly. Some of the games ended up in a mud lynch.I quickly learned that the most important thing when you lose is to cover you ears!

I've been to the festival twice the same year. Both days were equally fun. Most of the visitors were young Koreans and travellers. Some other travellers a I met said it was not as much fun during the weekend. I guess it gets a bit crowded (with sexy people though :)). I also made a lot of new friends, even though there were some funny misunderstandings between us, because they did not really speak English and I of course speak zero Korean. One moment totally cracked me up, when one of the guys offered me to go on a slide with his girlfriend by saying: "Do you want to enjoy with her?"

Here's some more info about the festival:

Budget travelling or travelling on a shoestring if you like idioms...

2014-05-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

The cost of travelling can be divided into four groups: transportation, accommodation, food and other expenses. I've been always able to cut the cost of my travels to minimum by paying nothing for accommodation and it is certainly possible to save on the other three as well.

Free accommodation?

While people usually try to save by going to cheaper hotel or hostel, it's possible to pay absolutely nothing. Today I received my new couchsurfing.org (CS) postcard. CS is one of the social network and its target audience are travellers. There's more than just CS in the same category, but I have been using CS the longest. The oldest is probably hospitalityclub.org and one of the newest ones is bewelcome.org.

The postcard is just a proof that I live where I claim to live ;)

In all these networks you are able to find friends that will host you at their homes. By visiting meetings and being a good guest and host yourself, you become more trustworthy, increasing your chances of finding a host or friends.

Living a place instead of just visiting

People all around the world like to meet travellers and show them around (for many reasons... :)). I've seen the world from a different perspective. I like to travel to a destination and live there instead of being just a tourist. And the traveller social networks certainly enable me to do so. When I am lucky the locals invite me to their homes and their lives and that's more valuable to me than just sightseeing. They say that the best things in life are free. I don't agree, because nothing is really free. The saying should read: "The best things in life can't be bought." and I'd agree with that one. Travelling on tight budget gave me more than I could ever buy.

Learn Japanese in Japan - Picking the right school - GenkiJACS vs. Asahi Nihongo

2014-05-01T04:34:00.000-07:00

I have always loved Japan and I sometimes wonder myself how could have I spent so much time there without knowing any Japanese and how did I manage to find such great friends with a huge language barrier. I must have been very lucky.

I keep visiting Japan every year, and last year I decided to learn the language. When I was looking for the right school, I did not want to go to a city as big as Tokyo and I picked Fukuoka instead. As ramen lover, it was an easy choice, because Fukuoka is home to Hakata ramen, a heavenly tonkotsu broth variant of my favourite dish.

After some research I narrowed the schools down to two candidates: Asahi Nihongo and GenkiJACS. They offered similar packages with accommodation and they both give cost estimates on their websites. I contacted both schools at the same time. If I remember correctly, GenkiJACS website last year wasn't as sexy as it is now, but the thing I really loved was the instant chat that help me a lot in my decision.

Overall GenkiJACS was a bit more responsive and that was the deciding factor. Otherwise it would be a coin flip.

I will continue blogging about Japan, Japanese language and GenkiJACS. I've studying a month and a half with them now. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!

In the meantime you can read some more info about GenkiJACS here:

Practical guide to Japanese hot springs & baths - onsen & sento

2014-05-01T00:26:00.000-07:00

You've probably read or heard about Japanese bathing culture. Everything is true. You enter the hot bath naked and there can be other naked people as well. But most guides won't tell you one secret - you can actually bath all by yourself or with your partner (or anyone you wish ;)).

Types of bath

There are two basic types of baths: sentō and onsen. Sentō is a public bath and the water is just a reagular heated up tap water. Onsen on the other hand uses natural mineral water that is usually cooled down. Onsen usually has more facilities and serves more like a spa.

Mixed bath

You won't find many mixed baths nowadays. However natural onsens with no facilities are considered mixed and bathing in one of those can be a great experience. BTW if you are a man, find a public mixed bath and you think it might be a great idea to go there with your spouse/girlfriend, so do the other male occupants there (about your companion).

Separate sexes bath

By far the most common type of bath. Probably every bath has it. There's a large public area for men and separate area for women. Usually they are exactly the same size and shape. There will be a small shower area with a number of seats available.

Family bath

For some reason most of the guides won't give you information about one of the best options and that is a family bath (try asking for private room in English or kazokuburo). Family bath is usually more expensive, but you get your own room with your own bath or a big tub. They often have the best views as well. And it's not just for shy people or couples and families, having your own space is simply more comfortable.

How to use the bath

Usually you pay first in the bath house. You will get a key to a locker (or electronic tag) and sometimes there are special lockers for shoes. As everywhere in Japan, take you shoes off first and either lock them or place them in a shoe rack. Nobody will steal shoes in Japan, so don't worry. Often you have to remove your shoes even before you pay, right at the entrance.

Every time when there is a separate area for men and women, the Japanese use blue color for men and red for women. Look for little curtains. They lead to a locker area, where you are supposed to take off all your clothes. If you rented the family room, somebody will show you the way.

Most onsens provide towels for free, but sometimes not. But they will have an option to "rent" one. Take only a small onsen towel to the bath (it's long, but small).

After the lockers, there's usually a shower area that looks like this in both public bath and family onsen.

Shower area in family room

Shower gel, shampoo and sometimes conditioner are provided. The old school way is to use the bucket, but most of the baths will have showers. You should enter the bath clean with no soap. And remember, you must be naked.

Family room private bath

The bath is usually very hot, above 40°C. Be careful if you are not used to it, I've experienced people fainting in the heat.

Take shower after the bath as well. The mineral water can benefit the skin, but you probably don't want to keep the minerals on your skin for too long.

Where to find those baths?

Well, they are everywhere in Japan. Most hotels will have a public bath too. In capsule hotels, this might be the only available bath and the same is true for small inns (ryokan) all over Japan.

You can use this handy locator to find onsens in your area, but the best way is to ask at a local information counter. Every bigger train station will have one and the staff usually speaks English!

Souvenirs

Japanese often bring home omiyage, a small souvenir from the travels. Onsens are a great place to get those!

Kuala Lumpur Taxi Guide & Tips

2014-03-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

Taxi is one of the most convenient ways of getting around in Malaysia and especially in Kuala Lumpur. There are public transport options, but they don't cover the whole city and can be unreliable.

Taxi types

Kuala Lumpur and Malaysian taxis in general can be divided into two basic groups: budget and executive. All taxis have a sign "TAXI BERMETER" on the roof. It's lit when the taxi is available, but it's not a reliable sign.

Budget

Budget taxis are usually red and white (as seen on the picture above) or just red. But you can also meet yellow, green and violet ones. The main airport terminal (KLIA) is served by black taxis, but they don't have the "TEKSI BERMETER" sign on top and can't be flagged on the road. Majority of budget taxis are Protons, the Malaysian local car manufacturer and they use LPG (gas). Only four passengers can ride this taxi.They can use meter, coupons or "fixed price". See below.

Executive

Executive taxis are blue and usually bigger, most of them are compact MPVs and can fit more people. Executive taxis use either coupons or meter. They cost double the price of the budget taxi.

Payment options

There are basically three options: meter, coupon and "fixed price". Most of the printed guides will tell you that you should always insist on turning on the meter. But let me assure you, things work a bit differently in South East Asia...

Meter

Most of the budget and all executive taxis are equipped with meters. Flagging fee is 3 RM, 1 km is about 1 RM, but nowadays waiting in a traffic jam will count to the final price too. Between midnight and 6am, 50% charge is added. Executive taxis means double price.

Maybe half of the taxi drivers will turn on a meter without question. All taxi drivers that work for on-call or on-line service will turn on the meter if you booked them through the service. The service fee is 2 RM that will be added by the taxi driver to the final price.

You have to pay all tolls on the way.

Coupon

Very common at airports, stations and premium malls. Basically you go to a taxi counter, tell them where are you going, pay fixed price and then give the driver just the receipt. Night charge applies and the prices are usually higher than using the meter, but you have no option, because the taxi drivers waiting there will send you to the coupon stand if you try to go on meter. Some of them will go, but charge you "fixed price" and it will be even more expensive. Tolls are usually included.

Fixed price

Half of the time you flag a taxi on the street and taxis at several taxi stands operate with "fixed price". Basically you haggle with the driver, but he always gets some extra. You can try using your guide book advice and insist on meter, but the taxi driver will say bye and leave. You can threaten him by calling whoever you want, but you will lose anyway. Being nice and friendly can usually get you a discount, always haggle. Tolls are incouded. BTW these taxis have meters, but they are usually turned off and covered by cloth.

How to get a taxi and avoid paying extra

The best way to avoid paying extra is to use on-call or on-line services. Don't forget to buy a SIM card when you get to Malaysia and either get a taxi service number or install an app to your smartphone. Here are the two most reliable services I've used:

http://www.sunlighttaxi.com/ - on-call service in Kuala Lumpur
http://grabtaxi.com/myteksi/ - international on-line service operating in Malaysia, good choice if you have a smartphone with data plan.

If you want to flag a taxi on the street, use the common Asian "come here" gesture. You can see it in this video.

Stay safe and further advice

As always, common sense rules apply. Some of the taxis are pretty old and they do breakdown. Taxi drivers are usually friendly or at least neutral. Unless you are on really tight budget, please realize that the taxis are in fact very cheap and sometimes little extra cost will get you to your destination faster and more comfortably.

Here's a list of situations that can happen and you should be aware of:

All taxis can breakdown and Proton cars are not the most reliable ones on the market.
Kuala Lumpur suffers from massive traffic jams especially during rush hours and holidays, incuding school holidays.
Taxis can run out of fuel and Malaysian taxi drivers are well known to make trips to gas station as part of your ride. It can take 10-20 extra minutes!
If you flag a "fixed price" taxi and insist on using a meter on the street, you will get no taxi.
If you insist on meter at a taxi stand, a very friendly driver will offer his services and takes you few meters further where his executive taxi is parked.

Image (c) Two Hundred Percent, CC-BY-SA