We were up early this morning because Kuniko had to go to work, and so we got organized and walked over to the taxi stand at Higashi Futami station. The bad news – for the first time that I’ve ever seen, there was not a taxi to be seen.
In Japan there are taxis all over the place, and they tend to cluster at train stations. The one at Higashi Futami is a big one – they’ve got a garage across the street, there is a flower garden that the drivers maintain while they are waiting around, and even a TV that they can watch from their cars.
This morning, nobody. We were bummed out because we needed to get Kuniko home and then to work, and so we had to call for a cab and wait around until he got there. Luckily Kuniko messaged me later that she arrived at work on time, so that was a relief.
It was a gorgeous day, and normally I would be at work, so I decided to go out and enjoy it. I organized my stuff and took the train into Kobe to climb Mt. Maya.
I’ve done the Maya climb before, and it’s pretty arduous. On the way up the mountain behind Shin-Kobe station I bumped into an American who lives on the hillside, a professor at a nearby university. He’s got a doctorate in linguistics, and his hobby is photographing bugs. We hiked together part of the way, and he told me all about where he was from, what he’s doing in Japan, and he struck me as a really smart guy. His speech patterns were different from what I’m used to – he spoke as if he was reading a book.
An interesting thing was that he had lived in Japan for a couple of years, and he had some of the same philosophies that I do. He seemed like a really patient guy, and unlike many of the other foreigners that you meet in Japan, he wasn’t complaining, making fun of the Japanese, or wishing things were more like home. You meet a lot of bitter ex-pats in Japan, but he stood out in stark contrast from the norm. Nice guy.
Anyway, we split ways at the top of the hill – I was going on to Maya, and he was going to the Shinto shrine down the hill aways.
I powered up the hill, passing entire hiking groups. People were nice enough to step aside for me, and by the time I got to the top of the next mountain I was really huffing and puffing. It was good to get out there and do some hiking – it’s been a long time for me.
Going to Mt. Maya is really tough – you have to climb up and down several other mountains to get to that one. All the altitude you gain climbing you lose again going down the other side. I was on the last mountain before reaching Maya when a funny thing happened. My phone rang.
It was Kuniko. She was in Kobe on a lunchbreak, and wanted to know if I could meet up. I was almost to a trail down the hill, so we decided to meet up in town. I sped down the hill, making good time because gravity was on my side. About an hour later I was in the Kitano area of Kobe, sweaty and tired. Kuniko tracked me down and I got a chance to meet one of her students, Sarah.
Kuniko teaches English to Japanese students at her school, but she is also teaching a class to foreign high school students on an exchange program. Sarah is a high school student from Washington state back in the States, and she is living in Japan on a homestay while going to school here. I talked with her for a little while, and it seems like she is really enjoying Japan.
From there Kuniko and I took off to catch lunch. We ate at an Indian restaurant that I had never tried before. They had a buffet set up, so I ate lots of spicy food, and then we walked around the Sannomiya area. The place was crowded with people enjoying the weather and a day off.
After walking, shopping, eating and drinking, we caught a train back to my place and relaxed for an hour or so here. Kuniko was off to meet some friends in Himeji, so we walked to the Tsuchiyama station together, and then I came home.
Dinner tonight was rice balls that I had bought for lunch, but ended up not needing, along with tamagoyaki and some miso soup. I watched Survivor, and then did just a little bit of studying before hitting the hay.
