Miserable rain poured down the day I arrived in Gifu. The boys in my new apartment were nice enough to leave me a welcome note, and I went through the motions of unpacking. Where is Gifu? The ‘city’ of 400,000 certainly isn’t the pulsing drama of Tokyo that I had requested as a placement, but for the time being I’ll give Gifu a chance to prove itself.

It’s an easy sized city which behaves more like a satellite suburb of Nagoya. Gifu’s downtown area does little to flatter itself but my apartment is pleasantly situated at the foot of Kinka-zan mountain. It gets better. There is an insect museum next door. And a history museum and park area. And the ‘cherry on the top’ is actually a castle on the top of Mt Kinka.
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I woke up early and over energised, scratching to get out of my Osaka hostel and go on a mission. I had read about Nara, Japans first capital that boasts 8 Unesco World Heritage sites. Small town Nara is only a short day trip away and I weighed it up as a good alternative to cruising around dazed and confused in Osaka central. I Sumimasen’d my way to the right train track and came out the other end at JR Nara station happy to see another tourist information booth. Two early observations – maps are free and everywhere and so are clean public toilets.

I passed a NOVA building (the language corporation Ill begin working for) on my way into the heart of old Nara. I strolled in to some temple grounds where a three storied Pagoda stood, and where around the back families and worshippers splashed gravestones with blessed water, tended them with fresh flowers and where incense wafted through the air. That smell bought back to me the things I loved in my SE Asia travels. Taking my shoes off at the foot of the main temple I slid the door open. Some surprised but friendly eyes greeted me in a room of elderly Japanese. The service had not quite started and I was offered green tea and rice biscuits. A monk, born in Singapore, approached me and we talked in English for a while and handed me some writings on Pure Land Buddhism. I listened to the service for a while, not understanding the words, but feeling in a nice space.

Up a stepped pathway to another temple complex I bumped into a deer. And then another one. Deer were tamely strolling amongst tourists and followers through the park. They gravitated around food stands where deer biscuits were on sale for 150yen, obviously hoping to be the beneficiaries. Japanese girls are funny to watch. They like deer because deer are cute, but they’re afraid of deer because… well I’m not sure why. One girl bought some deer biscuits, saw the deer coming over to her, shrieked, tried to run away in heels while throwing deer biscuits over her shoulder, and with the deer trotting close behind like some kind of game. Classic. Apparently, for the record, the deer in pre Buddhist times were considered messengers of the gods and now enjoy the status of national treasures.
Todai-ji temple in Nara Koen (park) houses the great Daibutsu (great Buddha) cast in 746ad from 437tonnes of bronze and 130 kg of gold and standing a massive 16metres high. (substantially more gold than the Kiwis won in these Commonwealth Games.) Todai-ji temple itself is the largest wooden building in the world. What can I say, it’s massive and beautiful - from the gateways to the garden surrounds - and I cant wait for the cherry blossoms to really start bursting out as some are tantalisingly beginning to do.

Following the park trails up to Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do halls on the mountainside gave a great view onto the traditional curved roofs below something like the set of ‘Crouching Tiger’. I slurped on a bowl of noodles (you’ve got to slurp’em) in a thatched hut and at Kasuga Taisha shine near the back of the park I stumbled on a wedding party graced in traditional Kimono and formal wear.
In late afternoon I began my trail back through the wooded setting on paths lined with traditional stone lanterns and more sacred deer. Beside some of the smaller trails little carved Buddha sat, a bit like garden gnomes garbed with ‘hello kitty’ fabric. I passed the man selling hotdogs, still watching baseball, and down onto the main streets where bakers were murdering some doughy paste with mallets and chanting between blows, and unafraid of flipping the dough with their hands just before his friends mallet came down again.
I made the call to head into Osaka city from Nara rather than follow the same route back home. A pretty Japanese girl opposite preened herself every second stop, transfixed like a budgie by her appearance in the little mirror. The underground Namba station in central Osaka is a pretty amazing maze of designer shops and restaurants. I followed the maps to the Dotombori district of concrete and screaming neon and exited where the cool kidz were busting out some dance moves in the square. So this is where it is supposed to happen, but exactly where I still have no idea. I just meandered through the energy and past the girls with Prada, Chanel and Gucci everythings and guys whose jeans had been designer ripped. I checked out a Pachinko parlour on the 4th floor of a typically pulsing building. Pachinko is a Japanese craze something like vertical pinball. I tried to see how it was played, or what the aim of the game was but all that was lost on me – throw ball bearings in, watch the lights flash, repeat?

Vending machines are everywhere (as anyone who’s seen ‘lost in translation’ will tell you) so I shouldn’t have been surprised to order my dinner from one and take the ticket to the noodle bar. Behind me there were yelps of delight at giant video screen. Out came the camera phones and !Crick! the kids were taking snaps of themselves flashed up on the screen. Everyone’s famous for 15 seconds. In the end I left downtown Dotomburi to it and returned to the hostel for a bath soak.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be meeting the other new instructors on my way to Gifu, my new hometown. It’s all about to begin.

I touched down in the Land of the Rising Sun in the late afternoon, just as it seemed ready to set. The flyover approach showed off Osaka as a massive sprawling city halted only by the coastline. The 12 hour flight from Auckland should’ve tired me but instead I was wide awake in anticipation of the new.

Tourist Information comforted me by speaking a little English and directing me to the train ticketing machines. For a moment I stood there beaten, each Hiragana button seeming as likely as the next to deliver me the correct ticket. Help came in a smiling Japanese girl who spoke as much English as I did Japanese but who understood I wanted to go to Nagai and got me on my way. (Could someone in Auckland please help 1 lost Japanese tomorrow to repay the favour and boost our Karma?)

Leaving the man-made Island airport (another sign of development pushed beyond city limits) I reached for my phrasebook (thanks to the good people at Ads for that) and learnt my first new word – ‘Sumimasen’. I have a feeling I’ll be saying ‘excuse me’ and pointing and acting a lot. My guesthouse, check this, is on the upper floors of Nagai stadium http://www.cerezo.co.jp/english/stadium.html home to Cerezo Osaka FC. With a prompting that shoes are to be taken off at the door I took my dorm key, got refreshed and took a walk around the suburban streets.

Hungry, I stumbled into a small restaurant, the archetypical kind with lanterns and sliding doors, and took a seat. I told the one chef I couldn’t speak Nihongo but with some helpful pointing I chose the fish next to the plate of tentacles. With that little mission accomplished I sat back and watched the ninja / samurai flick playing in the background and reflected on my new beginnings. The other new NOVA recruits aren’t arriving for another day (I found a much cheaper flight). Tomorrow is for exploring…

Thanks for the welcome home New Zealand - 4 seasons in one day. Some things never change! The first question on everyones lips - So what does it feel like to be back? Well it feels good, I think.. it feels the same. And theres nothing wrong with that. Travelling in some of the places Ive been gives you a greater appreciation of what we have - much more of an appreciation than just saying it would have you believe. What have you all been doing this past 1 1/2 years? Im looking forward to seeing a lot of you in this whirlwind stopover before heading off again to Japan to teach Engrish. I can’t sit still.

And ps, Im hoping at some point to write up some back dated posts on Tibet, Pakistan, Europe and Egypt and Jordan, we’ll see how I go.

Oh, and Ive given in to advertising on this site. Please feel free to click a link on the side - Im hoping to earn enough beans from this to pay for my website hosting and domain name registration.