trippin`

shinkansen! I love you!
a few norwegian men with important jobs should definitely take a little trip to japan (paid by tax money of course), to experience how the big trainguys do it. shinkansen is pure train happiness. it`s fast, it`s on schedule, it`s quiet...on the inside and all that stretch-your-legs-space feels like heaven...and, it looks like million dollars.
the 700 series with the round nose is my favourite, unfortunately I took a ride in the 300 series..damn, but still I`m satisfied. for more info and pictures, google: shinkansen wiki. enjoy!

I left tokyo (on schedule) sunday morning, heading for kyoto.
when I got there I realised that sunday, monday and tuesday were part of the golden week, the japanese spring vacation. so, in other words; kyoto was overcrowded by japanese tourist, dressed in hats, sunglasses, white gloves and umberellas. even if they travel in their own country, they travel in groups..big groups, and with a guide, obviously.
the whole city felt like one huge queue, I felt the panic sneaking up on me. I decided to take it easy, walk the japanese pace, follow flows and try to erase the image of all the people from my mind. good plan, but it didn`t work.
after two hours I found myself in the royal garden under a tree reading a book. there are no tempels open for visitors in the garden, so I was basically alone there. the rest of the day I spent walking about in the city, with no actual plan in mind. next day was a rainy one, so I went to a theater and watched geishas dance and play, I didn`t understand much, but I`m pretty sure geishas don`t make good actresses. they have incredible high pitched voices, sometimes it was so extreme that I almost laughed.

next: kanazawa.
I like this place. I love the SANAA museum, but one disappointing detail; the vacuum sticking hooks on the windows. ron mueck`s work is great. and the pool is, as they say in denmark; top dollar. I had a nice lunch on the lawn surrounding the museum. in the afternoon I headed for osaka, I had to stand up in the train for 2 1/2 hours, all the reserved tickets were gone. end of the golden week.

osaka is a big city. I arrived in the evening, and after leaving my stuff at the hostel I went for a walk.
I got a urge to talk to someone back home, so I went to a convini for an international telephonecard, hunted down a booth and followed the instructions on the card. it didn`t work, and I was all disppointed. I went to a bar to eat and drown my sorrows, it`s no fun to drown sorrows all alone, with a nonenglishspeaking bartender. but the waiter did make an effort to communicate. I`m not 100% sure what he wanted to express, I guess he spoke of a place I ought to visit. suddenly he bent over and pointed between his legs...so, yeah. exactly what that move was supposed to mean, only he knows. next day I went down to the bay and the aquarium, I`ve heard they had a shark! turned out that it was a whale shark, no maneater. I was really hoping for a beast with a whole lot of teeth. the place was both fascinating and sad, the animals didn`t look overjoyed. the penguins were cool, I think they had a meeting when I arrived. probably discussing all the stupid morons on the other side of the glass..like:
"hey guys, look at that fellow..brown belt and black shoes?? that`s soo not fashion dude...go get a tuxedo!"
"yeah! he doesn`t deserve a good picture, turn your backs to the window! do it, do it now!"
"aah, I could die for a martini right now...stirred, not shaken"
"oh don`t talk, bro.."
"anyone for a swim?"
"sorry, just ate"

the watertank is made by 30 cm thick plexiglass, and the biggest piece weighs 10 tons!

the suntory museum is located right next to the aquarium, tadao ando designed the building. I didn`t like it much.
ate lunch in the shadow of a ferris wheel. then I took the subway back in to town. on the top of a skyscraper I had fun taking pictures through binocluars, and the elevator shaft is a detached transparent sturcture, nice ride up to the 40th floor. spent the evening in osaka`s harajuku, peoplewatching and shopping. shopping is a great thing to do if you`re on your own, even though the anorexic creditcard is organizing a riot in my purse.

thursday I decided to go back to tokyo.
I`m getting old and this intense train and dormitory life is not for me anymore. sad fact, but true.
enjoyed three hours in a 300 series edition.

one thing I`ve forgotten to tell you about is a toilet visit in yoyogi park, it happened a few weeks ago.
sanna and I were meeting there to do nothing, I arrived and had to pee, so I went over to the public toilet. the women toilets were all taken, so I occupied the handicapped toilet. after peeing I do as I always do, (hahaha...what a story!) I flush. I chose the button with a finger pointed to it, this button turned out to be an alarm!
the only exit from this toilet is facing a square with lots of people drinking coffee and eating icecream...first I tried to unalarm the alarm, but it didn`t work...soo..I had no choise but to perform the ultimate humiliation..exit the handicapped toilet with a waving hand and a smile. not to my surprise all heads were turned towards the screaming building and the door to the toilet. (hello people, it`s only me! where`s the hole in the ground when you need it?) a guy came running and turned the siren off. then I had no idea what to do, so I walked over to a vending machine and bought a bottle of water..I guess my audience thought: "liquid? bad idea woman, bad idea"
well...I survived.