I did a long train travel in asleep

As I wrote before, recently I traveled to Nagoya, Aichi.

I got on local trains for the travel.
It took about 3 and half hours from Osaka to Nagoya by the trains.
I had to transfer trains 2 times.
My first train of the day was from the Osaka station to the Maibara station.
2nd one was from the Maibara station to the Ogaki station.
Last one was from the Ogaki station to the Nagoya station.

I had not reserved any special seats as usual.
Fortunately, I could sit a free seat every time I got on a train in the day.
At the travel season local train is always crowded, so I was lucky to find seats so soon.
I had awoken earlier time than usual for a long travel, thus I was very sleepy.
As soon as I got on the first train, I fell asleep.
When I woke up, the train was almost arriving at the Maibara station.
I got off the train at the station.
I had some waiting time to got on the next train.
While I was waiting on platform, I was half asleep standing.
Next train arrived, I got on, found a seat, sat there and fell asleep.
When I woke up, the train was almost arriving at the Ogaki station.
I don't have any clear memory about my stay at the Ogaki station at the time, anyway it seemed I got on the correct train.
When I woke up, well, the train was almost arriving at the Nagoya station.
After I got off the train, I was getting awake.
I wandered around the station and after half an hour, I could meet my friend.
We enjoyed chats and a little trip in Nagoya.

I don't describe that again, but I was same in my way home as the way come.
I traveled in asleep again.
The Interesting fact was, while I traveled in asleep, I felt the long travel very short.
Sleeping in local trains is not very safe, because sometimes there are thieves or perverts.
So I don't recommend everyone to try it.
But in some cases, you can try a travel in sleep like me.
If you do, you will have a strange experience.

Kokyuu choco (The chocolate which breathes) in Osaka

Kokyuu choco is a famous chacolate brand in Osaka.
A discount candy distributor Marushige provides the chocolate at their shops or online.
They claim the Kokyuu choco is so fresh as "it breathes" and it have been popular among people in Kitashinchi, the stylish town in Osaka.
"Kokyuu" means breath or to breathe.
Almond and mascarpone cheese is used for the chocolate, and it covered by cocoa powder.
I have tasted the chocolate once or twice, and it was quite tasty.

By they way, today I had a terrible experience for the chocolate.
I have a plan to visit a friend who lives in other prefecture, so I thought the Kokyuu choco will be a souvenir for him.
Kokyuu choco is sold only in Osaka, so sometimes people buy it as souvenir.
I went to a local Marushige shop.
I searched inside the shop, but their weren't any Kokyuu choko products.
I asked a worker in the shop about the chocolate.
"Excuse me, do you sell Kokyuu choco?"
She stared at me.
She looked a bit surprised.
"No, we don't."
I was a bit confused.
"But..."
"Marushige-san sells Kokyuu choco, don't they? It isn't Marushige shop."
I was shocked.
I have thought the shop was Marushige for long time, but it wasn't.
Long time ago Marushige shop was located same place.
However they moved away, then the other candy shop started their business at the place.
I haven't noticed the fact, because their interior were almost similar.
Anyways, I apologized to the worker and went away without Kokyuu choco.
I was ashamed so much.

If you want to buy Kokyuu choco products, please go to Marushige shop, not other candy shops.

A breakfast at the place everyone knows

This morning I went to a local McDonald's restaurant to buy my breakfast.
Recently I have been working at night shift, and I was hungry after the work.
I bought a breakfast set of avocado muffin.
I bought it to take out.
An avocado muffin, a hash browns and a large coke costed me 510 yen.
I guess it is not very cheap, but when you are very hungry and other restaurants haven't opened yet, you will be thankful that you can buy the meal at an early morning.
I enjoyed the meal.

In Japan, it is a bit difficult to find restaurants or cafes which open from early morning.
If you are in countryside, it is more difficult.
In contrast, McDonald's restaurants are open from 6:00 am or 5:00 am.
Some of them are open in 24 hours.
Besides, in most of the restaurants "Asa Mac (a breakfast menu)" is served from 6:00 am to 10:30 am.
If you want a breakfast or a little break with a cup of coffee at an early morning in Japan, try MacDonald's restaurants.

Cup noodles in a hurry

I need to go out in a half hour for job tonight.
I don't much time to eat, so I eat a cup noodle instead of a proper meal.

Cup noodles are kind of instant noodles which are sold in a paper cup.
Maybe you already have known them better.
The cup noodles are not very good meal for your health, but if we are in a hurry, they are so convenient.
Also for a budget travel, they will help you.
Sometimes I take some of them with me in travel, get some hot water in a destination and eat them.
I can't eat them as our every meal in travel, but I often feel they are helpful.
Moreover, there are always brand-new type of cup noodles in supermarkets or shops, so it is kind of fun to find and try these new type of noodles.

If you have a chance to visit Japan, I suggest you to search local cup noodles here.
You will find a one which can be a souvenir for yourself.

For when you are a bit hungry, The small Tokyo Ramen instant noodles

The "Tokyo Ramen" is a brand name of small size instant noodles.
Tokyo Ramen company provides the brand (a funny thing is, the company is located in Tochighi prefecture even though they have Tokyo on their name).
You can find the products in supermarkets or some groceries in all over Japan.

The noodles are small, and have a right size for a mug.
If you are a bit hungry, the products are convenient for a light snack.
Each Tokyo Ramen are sold in a set which consists of 4 noodles.
A set costs about 100 yen.
Currently they have 5 types of the noodles.
They are chicken, salty shrimp tonkotsu, kimchi, curry and garlic seasonings.

I often eat the noodles as a night snack.
When I eat the noodles, most of time I use 2 noodles at one time.
I like to mix the curry noodle and the garlic noodle.
It is a bit insufficient for a lunch, but enough for a midnight snack.

I won't recommend you to eat the cheap foods like the noodles everyday in your stay in Japan.
However if you like to do a budget travel through Japan, using the noodles may save your expense.

Sometimes, I really can't write any articles about decent subjects

Yesterday morning, I went back to home from the travel to Kagoshima.
Still I feel a bit tired.

While I was traveling, a lot of nice ideas (at least I thought so) to write were in my mind.
However once I come back to my usual life, it is a bit hard to remember things in my mind while I was traveling.
I have written my diary in the travel days, so I will read it later to search the subjects for this blog.

Tonight I will go to bed soon without any achievements.
But I would start to write many articles about my travel and Kagoshima from tomorrow.
I promise.
Thank you for always reading my blog.
See you tomorrow!

Great Saigo Takamori

I respect Saigo Takamori as well as Shimazu Yoshihiro.
Saigo Takamori was a service man and politician from Kagoshima prefecture.
His character was impressed me so much, too.
I want to tour around the sites of him.

Notes: I will rewrite this article after I came back from my travel

The historical sites of Shimazu Yoshihiro

Shimazu Yoshihiro is one of my favorite daimyo and warlord at the Sengoku period.

His strong and manly way of life impress me so much.

At Kagoshima, I want to tour around the historical sites of him.

Notes: I will rewrite this article after I came back from my travel

Shirokuma ice cream at Tenmonkan

Besides Kagoshima ramen, the Shirokuma ice cream is famous in Kagoshima.
It is a sort of ice cream that used various fruits for ingredients.
I can buy Shirokuma ice cream in local super markets in Osaka.
However, if I try Shirokuma ice cream in its original place Kagoshima, I guess I can enjoy it more than before.
I am looking forward to it, too.

Notes: I will rewrite this article after I came back from my travel

Great Kagoshima ramen

Kyushu region has famous for its various Tonkotsu (soup made of pork born) soup style ramen.
Especially Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Kagoshima are famous for their Tonkotsu ramen.
I have been to Fukuoka several times and I love ramen there.
However I haven't eaten Kagoshima ramen before, so a bit hungry for them.
I will eat great Kagoshima ramen as many as I can.

Notes: I will rewrite this article after I came back from my travel

A travel to Kagoshima: day 1, the night on the ferry boat

I began a travel to Kagoshima prefecture.
I have been there in my childhood, but I can't remember how there was like.
Kagoshima has the beautiful view of Mt. Sakurajima.
I have wanted to go there again for a long time.

In the early evening of the day, I got on a ferry boat named "Sunflower" at the Nanko port, Osaka.
I have got the ferry boat once before.
When I was a little kid, me and my family traveled to Kagoshima with this same ferry boat.
So I was a bit excited to get on the boat in my memory of good childhood days.

The inside of the ferry boat was not so special, but clean and comfortable.
I went on deck, sat on a bench there and enjoyed the view of sea and the port in an evening.
The boat started to leave the port to Kagoshima.

After the departure, I went to the restaurant.
They served a buffet style dinner there.
It costed 1540 yen and it was not cheap for me, but I wanted to try it.
I tried and enjoyed it.
They had various nice foods I could enjoy.
I ate too much foods and felt stuffed.

I went back to my room, took a rest.
The ferry boat had various rooms of various grades, and I had reserved a kind of steerage room.
The passage fare for the room was about 7000 yen and it was suitable for me.
It was a big room with large floor.
You take off your shoes at the entrance of the room and step on the floor that covered by carpet.
There were pillow and other bedding for each passenger.
The ferry boat had a storage for variables so we can keep them safe, but you have to take large baggage with you.
The steerage room didn't have enough space for large baggage, so I put my backpack on my pillow side.

There were other passengers.
They were truck drivers, young parents with little children, elder couples and solo travelers like me.
Me and they spent the night in the same floor.
It was an unusual experience to slept with stranger in same space.
The room was not so crowded, therefore the bedtime there was almost comfortable.
One thing I hated was, tut-tutting sounds from some middle aged guys.
There were little children as I mentioned.
Sometimes they giggled with little voice for fun to spent a night in the unusual atmosphere.
I thought they were lovely, but it seemed the guys didn't like them.
Each time kids giggled, some of the guys did tut-tutting back.
I was rather irritated with the rude sounds the guys made.
In addition, one guy who made many tut-tutting sounds started snore as soon as he went asleep.
Another tut-tutting guy was talking loudly with a cellular phone in the room.
How could they blame the tiny giggling of little children?
I hoped the children and their young parents didn't care much about the rude guys.

Anyways I could sleep well at the floor with strangers, until the boat started shaking at the next morning.

My lighthearted daily life with Haiku in English

Recently I have learnt to compose Haiku (Japanese traditional short poem) in English.
In Japan, students learn about Haiku in Koten (studies of Japanese traditional literature and language) class at junior high school and high school.
I forget about how the classes like in my school days, but I guess at least I have studied about the famous Haiku poets, Matsuo Basho or Kobayashi Issa.

Including the school days, I had not been interested enough to Haiku and other traditional literature until recently, so I didn't know about them so much.
So, naturally I haven't composed any Haiku in my life before.
But since I saw the Haiku in English which composed by western people, all of a sudden I wanted to compose Haiku myself.
Because the Haiku by foreign language looked new and very attractive to me.

Haiku consists of 17 syllables.
Basically we have to compose it in 5-7-5 syllabic form.
Besides that, Kigo (the seasonal words) is required in Haiku.
However in English Haiku, it seems the rules are less strict than Japanese ones.

Each Kigo are defined by things from the four seasons in Japan, so if you would be strict to original Haiku rules, you have to have Saijiki (a catalog of seasonal words).
However I decided to start my Haiku life with easy way (or lazy way) at first.
I didn't get any Saijiki, and I won't be so strict to rules of Haiku.
I only pay attention to syllables and seasonal wards as I can.
With this way, I can enjoy my Haiku life without much difficulty.

Sometimes I suffer for my lack of the knowledge of seasonal words to compose Haiku, so maybe I will learn more of the words or get Saijiki.
Until that time, I would go on my Haiku life lightheartedly.

Your lightheartedness
Nobody judges you until
the end of our summer

B.M.