Travel-lover

Instead of people, I fall in love with countries and cities. Japan, Istanbul, Cyprus, now it’s also Budapest – and who knows how many more wait for me in future. While new ones add to the list, my love to previous ones never fades. The unique charm of each place is alive in my heart.

It’s both different and similar with normal human romance.  The same anticipation before meeting – I am thrilled when I board a plane! It’s also a sensual pleasure, when a country surrounds me with its air, when I walk along its streets, taking in its sights, its smells, I can even taste a country…

And then there are memories, little things. I like to buy in my travels somehing I can wear – clothes, shoes, accessories. A skirt from Yokohama. Summer shoes from Hiratsuka (they don’t already exist, such a pity). A warm, soft baggy tunic that I found on Cyprus. A copper ring  from Istanbul, from those numerous stalls with handmade accessories. Rings and earrings are my favourite. As if I am engaged to each country with a ring…

And then it’s parting and separation. It can be also painful, it can hurt even to see photographs of the places where I’ve been. Especially with Japan, because I can’t return there so easily. How long I haven’t been there?…  Random things remind me about it, like some special color of the sky, or a smell on a car parking. I see dreams about Japan and other countries, even unknown countries, and I feel happy in these dreams. Is it bad? Is it addiction? I don’t think so. I prefer to call it love.

Japan: Story of my love. Part 4 – Beach, cakes and other things

One of the days I had no appointments with my friends and decided to go to a beach. I was staying in Hiratsuka city, Kanagawa Prefecture, and knew that there was a good beach in Chigasaki which is the next station by railway. So I took a train to Chigasaki. 

I really have a passion to explore various places by my own, but there was just a little problem. I knew how to ask a question like “Sorry, where is something?” in Japanese, but absolutely couldn’t understand the answer. When I approached a young girl in the street to ask where was the sea, I had a hope she would just point the direction. But she started explaining it in many words among which I could only understand “station”. So I returned to the station and started my search once more. After I asked a group of guys about the beach, they quite reasonably didn’t even try to explain the way but advised me to take a taxi instead. There really was a taxi stand nearby. While thinking what to do next, I discovered there a map of surroundings, very good and detailed. So lucky! The sea could be seen Southwards. Now I knew the right direction and began walking.

The part of Chigasaki lying between the station and the sea was all small streets and houses with tiny gardens. I could see people watering their gardens on that hot summer day. The walk took about half an hour. Houses ended and I saw a highway. By direction signs and some surfers making their way to the sea by cars and bicycles, it was clear: the beach is somewhere there!

Oh yes, it was there. A wast sandy beach and the great Pacific ocean. By the time I already had a short glance of it in Kamakura when we went down to the seaside together with Chie, already in twilight. I was impressed by strong waves and their roaring sound. Here it was the same: tall roaring waves. That beach was absolutely different from those I had known in Russia, for example at the Black sea. Sea is not an ocean, you know. Waves rarely become tall, and a lot of people are swimming. Even more people are lying under the sun, covering the whole place all over like seals. We have quite a little part of sea coast for such a big country, so every summer it is really packed with vacationists.

Japanese beach was totally different. Not crowded at all, which really surprised me. People were coming with families and putting tents to protect themselves from the sun. Children played in shallow water, and fathers were teaching them to surf. Are Japanese all surfers? Anyway, it must be a really hard job to swim in such waves. But I wanted to feel them, I wanted to enter this wonderful ocean.

Here one more problem came up. There were no changing cabins or any other facilities in sight, nothing at all! The beach seemed absolutely wild. (Later I discovered another beach equipped with all necessary things just next to that place). Where could I change into the swimwear? Why am I so stupid? I should have done it beforehand! Oh no… Looking around desperately, I found a sort of a low fence enclosing some empty space. It was deserted, far from the water and could shield me from strangers’ eyes quite well. So I went and climbed over that bamboo fence and quickly changed there. Still don’t know its purpose, but that time it really saved me!

Now I could enter the water! I put my clothes and handbag on the sand, not far from someone’s tent. In Russia such carelessness about personal belongings is simply impossible. When a family or a group of people goes to swim, one of them always stays to watch the things. But here I could leave it without fear. The ocean at last! Yes, I couldn’t swim there but I could play with the waves letting them roll over me and sway me and knock me down. Fantastic feeling! The water was very warm and very salty. The sand had unusual dark colour, looking almost black when wet. I enjoyed the ocean as long as I could and left the beach reluctantly, trying to hold in memory the powerful sound of waves. 

What else I wanted to tell about? There were so many fascinating things I discovered during that trip. Cakes in a cake shop at my station – I wanted to taste them all! Sometimes I bought one when returned from sightseeing in the evening and took it to my hotel room. Other kinds of shops – oh yes, I love shopping in Japan! I bought some clothes and shoes, and presents for my daughter and others. I even had to buy an extra bag to pack all the presents. Among them there were pretty soft toys from a theme shop with goods from Hayao Miyazaki animation. Everybody will be so glad! 

The trip was going to an end. I didn’t want to leave but was eager to share my impressions with family and friends and give them presents. Bye, Japan!  I did return there again several times, but that first encounter was really unforgettable. I still keep some souvenirs from that time. Don’t know when will be the next, but I will sure see you again. It’s a promise!

 

Japan: Story of My Love – Part 3. My Friends

It’s summer now, and this hot summer weather revives my memories even brighter. So, I was there! One afternoon to explore the town, and on the next day I was to meet my first Japanese friend in real life. It was a woman of about the same age as myself, named Rie. She was also kind of my colleague, a translator, so her English was perfect.

Of course I worried before this meeting. First of all, how I will greet her? Russian girls hug and kiss easily, showing their friendship, but what about Japanese? I knew nothing about proper manners. Furthermore, I didn’t know how to eat with chopsticks! Oh well, I had a chance to train this skill a little during the breakfast in the hotel. I was just watching the other people and tried to copy their ways – yes, difficult, but I managed it somehow. Then I got on a train and went to the station where we had arranged to meet.

Rie was waiting for me there on the platform. Her attitude was very simple and friendly. She came up to me and hugged slightly with one arm, and I was relieved. From the first moment we were communicating absolutely freely, talking about everything without slightest embarrassment. We spent two consecutive days exploring Tokyo. She showed me around usual touristic destinations like Imperial Palace Garden, a big shrine (shame, but at that time I couldn’t remember the names of places) and Tokyo Tower, as well as the places which were special only for her. She was wearing comfortable clothes and was a restless walker, which I liked too.

 

In the evening of our first day she said: “Now we are going to a restaurant. My boss is coming too. He heard that you are from Russia and became interested.” Oh no! I was not ready to meet a boss! I felt panic again. Official manners and so on…  no, no! But this came out not scary as well. The boss of the small translation company was on very friendly terms with his employee, they were exchanging jokes all the way. Of course he also spoke good English. He paid for the dinner – I suppose it was an expensive one (including delicious eel!) He greeted me by shaking hands and really asked a lot of questions about Russia. Little by little I became more confident from hearty encouragement by two of them. I showed photographs of Russia which I specially brought there. I tried to pronounce the few Japanese words I knew by the moment – and was praised and encouraged again. Then they both showed me how to make paper cranes (“Origami”). It was really a nice evening, without any strain.

The next person I met was a guy named Keiichi. He also arranged to meet on Tokyo Station, and there I was lost. Those who know Tokyo Station can imagine that. It’s a huge place with so many entrances, passages and so on.  I was running back and forth in confusion, together with crowds of people. Keiichi called and sent me messages on the mobile, but it little helped. At last I found the place where to wait. As he told me in the message, “I am wearing white shirt, black trousers, glasses and carrying a black case.” But it was the time when working day ended. Crowds of office workers poured out of the station, all wearing white shirts, black trousers and carrying black cases! Luckily, I stood out too distinctly as a foreigner, so he was the first to notice me. I had seen a picture of Keiichi before, but it was not very good, he was much better in reality. A charming guy, but too busy. We had only short time to meet. He took me for a drive around evening Tokyo and to Haneda Airport, to look at the airplanes. We talked about our families and countries and parted as very good friends.

Whom else did I meet? My best and dearest friend Chie, who worked as a tourist guide in Kamakura. She knew the place perfectly and introduced it to me. In course of the sight-seeing we entered little shops and cafes now and then, for rest and shopping. We also went to eat Okonomiyaki, in a fry-it-yourself restaurant where frying pan is built into a table. It was fun – and delicious too! In the evening we went to Karaoke, which turned out shame for me again. Actually I got prepared for it, having learned some songs. But… I had the lyrics in Romaji, and was caught by surprise when saw the text on the screen in real Japanese – Hiragana and Kanji! (I wonder what else should I have expected?) Of course I immediately forgot everything I had learned. But Chie helped me kindly, and it was all right in the end. After singing I danced for her. I am not very good, but wanted to show it anyway. It was a great memory for us. 

And the last was my Indian friend, a guy named Prasad. He lived in Yokohama that time, working as an engineer in some high-tech area. (Now he returned to India.) In the very beginning, when we just became pen-friends, he stated out the condition: “NO ROMANCE! I am looking for friends only.” I readily agreed with this, because I actually wanted the same. He was really a good friend, and then, he could share the experience of a foreigner in Japan. Right from my arrival he was giving me a lot of advice by e-mail: “It’s so hot. Do drink much water!”, “Please take a fan when you go out!” and the like. We met on the last day on my stay there, and he introduced me Yokohama. It’s still one of my beloved places in Japan – Sakuragicho, Minatomirai, Yamashita Park… We walked and talked a lot. He laughed at my English pronunciation, but felt respect for my efforts in studying Japanese (Prasad himself could speak Japanese a little, but couldn’t read or write). We sat relaxedly on the stone steps near the calm water of Yokohama Bay. We ate Indian Curry. We exchanged presents (I don’t remember what I gave him). And then the day ended, and that was the end of my trip. 

My dear friends, I am so grateful to you all. I still keep correspondence with some of you, but some people have already disappeared from my view. I know it happens, being quite a normal thing with pen-friends when relationships come to the end for some reason. I remember you all, and these memories are only good and tender. Sometimes I wonder: where you are? How is your life going on? Please, please, be all in good health, safe and happy!