Travel in the Time of Tiredness

Saturday 10th October 2009

AM

Least: At close to 9:30am, I sat on the nearly full train and sat in one of the few remaining seats. In the seat facing me was a young women who clearly had an appalling hangover. My guess is that she had been out all night and had caught a morning train home. The sour smell of booze and cigarette smoke hung in the air even after she departed a few stops down the line. Thankfully she didn't vomit in my lap.

Most: Between 9:13am and about 10:40pm, I travelled my usual route to Wakayama. Today I barely noticed the trip as if I was in some sort of travel coma. As usual I listened to my iPod and read a book - this time Joseph Conrad's tricky Nostromo. Despite a quarter of an hour delay at Izumi-Sunagawa, I barely registered the usual pain of travelling so far so early. It is amazing how the brain finally gives up resisting after many months of routine - I hope it lasts.

PM

Least: By 4:40pm, I was very nearly nodding off during a lesson. A few late nights and the inking of a flu left me dizzy with sleepy bordem. I tried to doze off just a little while my student was reading the textbook. I wonder if he noticed, and I wonder whether there's some type of Zen meditation that allows me to sleep while appearing to be fully awake?

Most: After 10:00pm, the night began to get cold. This unusual feeling left me reaching for the doona, and wondering when the right time will be to put the heater on. With the onset of summer, there was a pissing contest among some expats for who could last the longest without using an airconditioner. One paticularly ernest fellow claimed to have never switched it on despite the opressive heat. I wonder if I will recieve snarls when I finally decide it's cold enough to start heating the house?

The Tank and the Tricycle

AM

Least: At about 9:00am, I made the fightening discovery that I was nearly out of coffee. My morning challenge was to make an effective brew with less than the permitted amound of ground coffee to make a decent cup. With my mind filled with ratios and various brewing-time scenarios, I poured the recently boiled water into the plunger. Given that the coffee amount was at critically low levels, I allowed for a longer than usual brew. Despite my pseudo-scientific efforts, the results were not impressive. I ended up drinking an unacceptably weak coffee at low tide. My lesson is to keep a reserve tin of UCC coffee in case of emergency. At least if I ever die of coffee withdrawal I can be interred in their shrine at Koya San (above).


Most: Sometime close to 7:30am, I woke in the middle of a strange dream that work had infiltrated. I was roaming around a lush and large campus looking for my class. The place where my class was supposed to be had been overwhelmed by drunken college types who reluctantly moved away after being shouted at. Strangely, the breakthough moment came when I saw a battered battle tank driving up some stairs, dropping metal as it ploughed through the concrete. As it turned out, the tank driver was a student's mother arriving to pick her up. It seemed that driving tanks on errands had become something of a trend to show off your battle scars. I never found the class and now I sit bemused that my most interesting moment was in my sleeping hours.

PM

Least: Between 12:10pm and 12:30pm, I discovered that railway employees shared some common and boring features the world over. After going to the 'travelling today' desk to buy shinkansen tickets and refused service, Rosie and I entered the dreadfully long 'travelling in a few days' queue. The number of very old and tight people in the line didn't help, but the staff were moving as slowly as any of the single finger typists at the Flinders' Street V-Line office. Each transaction took far too many minutes and the clerks repeated every step more than enough times. Twenty minutes later we finally got our tickets to Shin-Yokohama I hope the wait was worth it.

Most: At nearly 5:00pm, I was staring aghast at an ancient man riding a tricycle (see file photo right) in Life supermarket. The old man was a sorry sight with an oxygen tank in his trike tray and tubes up his nose. Although he was carrying a massive walking frame, the tricyclist thought that the fastest way to the booze section was on wheels. Upon detecting the trike, the staff quickly stopped the offender in his tracks and assisted him in parking his vehicle outside like everyone else. By the look on the faces of the staff they knew this man well. I'm sure he'll be back attempting the same wild ride to the booze pile next week.

The Three Bad Smells of Japan

AM

Least: Sometime around 8:50am, I walked out the door for a stroll around the park carrying a large back of household rubbish. I added the bag to the mountain on the road and went on my way. About five minutes later, I discovered the third bad smell of Japan. The first is especially well documented - the stench of the drains that occasionally waft above ground to assault the senses. The second is the extreme body odour exuded by certain members of the middle management class who probably work too hard to care about armpit hygiene. My experience of the third came as I walked around the park. The smell was a complex combination of rotting park-garbage, cigarette smoke and dog piss - all baking to perfection in the morning sun. Thankfully, the second and third nose-sores are seasonal and only make and appearance in summer, leaving Japan with only one bad smell for much the rest of the year. I can live with one.

Most: At about 10:00pm as I ate my perfectly poached eggs in front of the television, I once again stumbled on the science-ish show 'The Making'. Normally, this would warrant a place in the above entry, however today something special stopped me from changing the channel in disgust. Today's episode centred on the mass production of pre-cooked, frozen okonomiyaki. The amazing thing was, that the incredibly complex machinery served only to replicate how the delicious dish is made in the restaurants. (see actual pack right) The highlight was probably the mechanical spatulae that were robotically nudging each okonomiyaki into shape as they cooked on a moving skillet. The finished product looked without fault as it was photographed, x-rayed, wrapped then snap frozen for the supermarket. On the strength of this television experience, I will buy a frozen okonomiyaki today and report back in a food note.


PM

Least: Closing in on 10:00pm, I realised that I'd blurred past Tezukayama station. I was alerted to my folly only by the sight of a Fusball complex which told me I was nearing Tengachaya station. I'm not sure if complacency, doziness or glassy-eyed boredom caused my lapse, but as my station came and went I was none the wiser. I was listening to the deceptively long 'Black Diamond Bay' by Bob Dylan at the time and perhaps those tropic isles in song took my thoughts far away from the Nankai line. Thankfully, I did not have to wait too long for the return trip.

Most: As I left the train at 10:12pm, I sensed a change in the atmosphere. For the first time in months, I felt a very faint chill in the air brought by a northerly breeze. I also noticed that the cicadas are gone, giving room for the crickets to annoy passers by. It will be interesting to see if the season changes from summer to autumn as quickly as how summer engulfed spring in June. Many locals claim that the weather has been very strange this year with oddly timed and located deluges across Japan. I actually thought it might have been wetter than it has been, with few days of rain, and few torrential downpours. The heat and humidity though have been a brutal and character-building experience that will be good to leave behind for six months.
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Food Note: For lunch I tried the frozen okonomiyaki as-seen-on-tv (see actual result right). For a frozen meal it had very good texture and taste, although it was a little small. The sauce, mayonnaise, seeweed and bonito were a nice addition to the pack and did not seem affected by their frozen ordeal. I will certainly eat this again - thanks tv!

Rhinos versus Flamingos

AM

Least: When I woke at 10:00am, it became clear that the morning period would produce no activity. Aside from lugging the vast bags of plastics down to the road, not much happened, and with only two hours left had little chance of doing so. Every night, I plan to rise early and go for a walk, or do something useful, but recently its promise has never been realised. If it wasn't like daylight outside the balcony all night, I could leave the curtains open and rise with the sun. No hope.

Most: By 10:20am, I had scanned all of the relevant websites and television channels in search of analysis of last night's historic change in government. Like most Japanese, I have spoken to there was general hope for change, but with little indication of what change is required. Perhaps the change is an unknown unknown and people just haven't been conscious of what they might possibly be missing. Maybe Japanese society will be able to climb out of it's weird post war funk (although sometimes I feel like it could be 1905 still). The trains still ran on time and the tram still shook our flat every five minutes - so it goes.

PM

Least: At exactly 12:54pm, I had finished the gruelling process of paying the rent through an ATM down at MUFJ Bank. Aside from the insurmountable language barrier, there seems a ridiculous number of options to choose from. Being the end of the month, the queue was especially long as people spent many minutes feeding cards and booklets into the machines, paying bills and such. It's been seven months but rent day has never approached being easy or interesting.

Most: Sometime after 9:35pm, I sat on the Midosuji line between Abiko and Tennoji thoroughly drained from a day of slicing flash cards. My minor cheer came from reading the subway courtesy posters (photo right). The theme of the advertisements is to discourage people from rushing onto the train and forcing the doors. Rather than use graven images of human beings, the Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau chose zoo animals to drive the point home. Cartoony drawings of a gorilla, a herd of Rhinos and a snake are depicted barging onto the train  terrifying a spectacled dog and several flamingoes - it's a jungle out there.

The Early Lunch and Late Dinner

AM


Least: At about 10:20am, I found myself still bleary and in the Life supermarket bike parking area. For some reason, maybe micro-geographical, it is the hottest place in Osaka. As soon as I rolled around the corner into the sea of shopping bicycles, it was as if I'd stepped into a hot, boring oven. Downstairs in the supermarket, the competition for aisle-space was hot too - with the hoonish old ducks stopping at nothing to get their wares. There seemed to a run on horrifically filled crustless sandwiches.

Most:  At 11:40am, I began cooking okonomiyaki for an early lunch. Thankfully, the packet of flours, seaweeds, and prawn-bubbles made the job pretty easy - I just had to add chopped cabbage, eggs and flour. For the flavour layer, I added mushrooms for Rosie and leanish pork on mine (above). The real trick to to be able to flip them over without destroying thier structural integrity. Okonomiyaki is always in danger of being bland, so it is crucial to had plenty of worcester sauce on standby if another squirt is required. Bonito flakes are a must - mayonnaise is optional. Being a work-day it was a little disappointing not to be chugging down a beer with our meal - maybe tomorrow.

PM

Least: Approaching 11:00pm, I sat at Nakamozu atation and watched an Out Of Service train arrive, empty and depart. In the excruciating time between that disappointment and my train, no less than three trains passed me by. It felt like Melbourne, but with the trains clearly labelled, my rage was kept to a minimum. The most uninteresting of trials become far less enraging when their outcome is entirely predictable.

Most: Just after 8:45pm, I walk out of my pink workplace and down a flight of stairs to a vast barn of an izakaya. Despite the occasional whiff of oil and smoke, I had never contemplated that such a complex had existed less than a metre beneath my feet. The feeding trough catered for all tastes, ranging from repellent pizzas and bakes, to silky sashimi and three kinds of grilled offal. I settled for the grilled vital organs and semi-dried squid. The beer was great too. My new awareness though, will make working upstairs drag on that little while longer.

The Man with the Magnets

AM

Least: At 10:15am, I began carefully poaching my eggs according to the tried and true Box method. When the crucial time for toasting arrived, I was devastated to discovered that we were breadless. Given the sensitive nature of the poaching process the only two options were to complete then eat the eggs or send them to the Osaka incinerators. The two eggs alone on the plate looked pathetic and lonely. In my panic, I had undercooked the eggs by approximately one minute.

Most: Just after 10:30am, I made a trip to Family Mart then a trip to Kohyo in search of bread. Upon arrival at Kohyo, I discovered that every overcashed housewife in Tezukayama was there. Normally, this fact and their ruthless shopping methods could only be recorded as uninteresting, however some barking piqued my curiosity. It appears that every one of the aforementioned housewives uses several cash and point-cards, one of which makes a machine bark like a puppy when scanned. An 'electronic money' dog named Happy Waon (above) specialises in point collecting and singing. His hobby is shopping. A small sign at the counter read 'Electric Money Can Be Used At This Counter'.

PM

Least: At 2:35pm, I was transported back to work and back into a very familiar routine. Everything was exactly as I'd left it. The staff, the building, the now out-of-date postings, the students, the awkward smalltalk and the lack of useful breaks. At least the sheer sameness of it all caused absolutely no stress. I'm sure it won't cause any stress for the rest of my time there.

Most: At about 9:05pm, I took my usual seat in the very last carriage of the Nankai Local at Nakamozu station. Some familiar characters were there, including the cougher in his brown suit, and the young pastry chef thumbing his latest edition of the glossy mag 'Super Patissier Book'. One stranger tended a finger wound with a tissue. Most interesting though, was an unfamiliar bloated wreck who, suffering some ailment, began placing numerous (about 30) adhesive magnets to his chest and wrists. I hope his illness wasn't serious. The tanned girl wearing her all-yellow softs didn't blink and fell asleep.

The Crazy Train That Was Late

AM

Least: According to my ticket, I bought my ticket fro the 10:35am train to Drouin at 10:27am. I rushed to Flinders Street in a taxi in the fear that I'd miss my date with platform 10. I needn't of worried, nor did I need to spend $20 on a taxi, for the train was half an hour late. At 10:40am, a crackling announcement assaulted the platform with the news that the train would be delayed by 15 minutes. Wishful thinking. The train was loud and slow and the cars were arranged in no particular order. There were three car Bs. I couldn't find seat number 65.

Most: At about 8:30am, I was delighting in sitting down to a deliciously western breakfast in the company of my sister, her husband and my niece. It was amazing to see how my niece had changed from the days-old baby into the laughing near-toddler of this morning. I left the house in Coburg on a family-high with the hope of catching a quick train into town.

PM

Least: At about 1:30ish pm, I began the too-long drive to Omeo. The terrain is so familiar that until the mountains it it pretty far from interesting. The dreary towns that interrupt the trip seem to get drearier each year. Unlike Japan, though, there are gaps in the ordinariness filled with over grazed paddocks. At least I didn't get car sick.

Most: At about 5:00pm, I disembarked onto the gravel of a driveway in Omeo. The temperature was about 7 degrees and especially relieving considering the 30 degree 90% humidity of Osaka-town. The hills surrounding the town are incredibly dry and sparse. With little else to do, splitting wood for the the fire was particularly satisfying.

The Irony of Ironing Non-Iron Shirts

AM

Least: Between 10:40am and about 10:55am, I sweated through the ironing of three non-iron shirts. The thin, chemical fabric is supposed to breathe and allow the lucky wearer to airily breeze through the day without fear of sweat-through. Even wearing a breathier undershirt, the sweat still beads on my forearms reaching the surface layer in an instant. Sometimes, I look as though I may have been washing dishes. I'd wear a short-sleeve shirt, but with a tie, I think I look like someone who's come to fix the photocopier.

Most: Somewhere around 11:50am, I went on my almost daily stroll up to the Family Mart. Today there were two queues of tradesmen. All were in the strict uniform of a flannel do-rag and massively inflated pants. As usual they had cleaned out the refrigerated shelves of food so I settled for a tray of egg-laden sushi and inari. I completed my lunch with some red miso soup with a couple of pipi-sized clams lurking in the bottom. It will be interesting to see how many of the next 9 hours the feed will fuel me for.

PM

Least: Between 3:45pm and 8:00pm, I fell victim once again to the global financial crisis. With so many teachers around and slightly less students, doing 'light office work' can rule for hours. Today it was in Kishiwada adding promotional materials to packets of tissues. It is incredibly common to be offered tissues on the street, but incredibly uncommon to see people emptying their noses in public. The underbelly of the recession is pretty far from interesting - especially when it's happening to me.

Most: Relieved of my working duties at 9:35pm, I legged it to the station to find that I'd missed the express train to Tengachaya. The next best, and more interesting option was to board the Rapi:t B for an extra 500yen. The Rapi:t B is a very interesting and fast machine. It has the face or a 1970s anime robot and the innards of the inside of a sleazy private jet from the same decade. The internet tells me that the Nankai 5000 series were designed by an architect with the design theme 'Outdated Future' and began rolling in 1995.