Weather: hot, like home. Sweating like a horse · Sleep quality: excellent, I hadn’t slept this well in ages · Meals: local egg rice with chicken, Burger King One Pounder
A lazy Saturday. A real concept for the Japanese too. Today I got out of bed at 13:00. Honestly, I hadn’t slept this well in ages: eight and a half hours straight, without interruption. I went to bed late again — you ask why?
Yes. A few things came up in the night that are basically good news, and one doesn’t much like going to bed without getting to know them. Mostly the lab, stemming from the invention Zoli and I share. We have a great many ideas, and now that I get to live for science, I have to say I too think and brainstorm more freely. If only I can manage to do it all. Lucky there are AI tools I can use to keep track of my ideas.
Nagoya Castle
I headed for Nagoya Castle. I have to say the route toward the centre is pretty packed. Obviously to be expected — it’s Saturday, I’m travelling at peak time — but there’s just room on the metro and public transport. And yes: Nagoya is Japan’s third-largest city, and it has a fairly well-equipped metro that’s punctual in the usual way.
The castle sits beside an enormous park, with a wonderful view and tidy grounds. Green tree-lined avenues and a protected forest, broken by the cawing of crows in the blazing sunshine. In the humid heat the sunlight filters through the canopy, but even so the birds and the people are thirsty. Along the park, loads of little shops, eateries, everything that’s a pleasure to the eye and palate. And, of course, the chance to spend a good deal of money. The castle is just a stone’s throw from the park, and the metro station (Nagoyajō) is close too — easy to get to.
I won’t say much about the castle. For one, I got there a bit late, so unfortunately I couldn’t go inside. For another, I did manage to take a decent picture of it, showing its beauty, its enormous size, and that very cool aesthetic familiar from Kurosawa films.
But since we’re on aesthetics and history: Nagoya was the centre of the Tokugawa clan, and the castle was long the hub of the clan’s activity, after Japan was finally unified following the long clan wars and the Battle of Sekigahara. I recommend everyone read a little about this era of Japanese history — it’s very exciting.
After a loop, I went back to the eateries and decided to order a local specialty. I ordered from the waitress. I could see she was a little reserved, tense — I sensed she was waiting for the moment she could call a colleague so we could switch to English. But at one point I said “ima nihongo o benkyō-chū desu” (I’m learning Japanese right now) — and the ice completely broke! From then on she was natural, kind, and smiling. Obviously I don’t have a sign on me saying I’m learning Japanese and might get muddled by it — all that’s visible is that I’m not Japanese. But as you can see, that’s not such a big problem. Alongside my local specialty (egg rice with chicken) I had an Asahi beer, and then headed home.
On the way home I decided to buy another little drink. During and after lunch I’d noticed that the crows come unusually close and are tame. I could see one of them was thirsty. I felt a bit silly, because I’d have happily given it some water to freshen up, but I couldn’t gauge how foolish people would have thought me for it. Then in the end it sorted itself out: it started drinking from a puddle. And I decided to immortalise the tamer crow for posterity. What told me the most about Japan: a lady came out of the restaurant (with rubbish), and after throwing it out, she didn’t shoo away the crow sitting on the railing — she went around it! As if they don’t even want to particularly disturb a crow. Honestly, I’m often the same way: why bother animals at random?
And here’s the tamer crow:
After the metro route, I took the bus back to the dorm this time. Nothing special: the bus wasn’t crowded, I could sit comfortably after tapping my Suica card. I got home at last and rested a little after a long, sweaty day.
The Japanese and cycling
Right? The Japanese are the most polite and most reserved people in the world. Tatemae is a constant concept, and if you’re polite, don’t make demands, and aren’t a boor, you can’t get into trouble.
Then comes the moment a Japanese person gets on a bicycle and transforms into Takuma Sato — who rages at the Hungaroring because something isn’t to his liking. On the first day Mitsuko asked whether I’d like to get around by bike; I answered, not really. At that she said, relieved, that she was very glad, because it’s dangerous and the police watch closely and fine cycling accidents and violations. I wasn’t much moved by it: anyone who grew up in the Hungarian countryside knows what I mean (as a sporty nation, we go everywhere by bike — to the pub, the shop, the church, and crisscross too).
I’ll add: the biggest problem here isn’t that people get on a bike drunk or tired. The biggest problem is that, never mind the markings on the pavement, never mind the lanes, from then on the cyclist ignores the rules and slaloms as if they were at least drifting in an illegal night street race. Even when the little kid is sitting on the back seat: I literally heard a small child cheering their mum on to ride faster and more extreme. More than once I caught myself glaring back at someone because they would not, for the life of them, move out of the pedestrian lane.
I think this is how they vent their pent-up tension — or it’s just the eternal truth that the devil comes out in everyone behind the handlebars. After all, sport is good for relieving stress, isn’t it? Either way, the pavements really are quite dangerous; it doesn’t hurt to be careful and attentive.
Evening meal
My first thought was to go eat at Saizeriya — it was very tasty on Wednesday, I enjoyed it. But I was faced with a huge queue. So, much as I’m ashamed of it, I went over to Burger King. And since I was there, I tried the One Pounder: four whopper patties, with cheese and onion jam. It was tasty, with one problem — it really upset my stomach, so I hurried home.
I discovered that fact while buying water and cleaning supplies at the nearby supermarket. I’m starting to get the hang of life here; I find my way around quite quickly now.
I got home at last, another bath. The bathroom still isn’t very spacious, but it’s comfortable. And for the first time in years I took a soak in the tub (otherwise I shower all the time). And then I sat down to write this blog. This was a nice day too.
Photos
