July, 2009: Qing Dao, China

I have been warned about QingDao. My friend from Beijing had told me that in the middle of summer, Qingdao is a hot destination. It is not so much the temperature I need to worry about, but the crowd. The signs before I arrive wasn't good either, most of the hotel cheap and good enough was fully booked for the weekend I was there. When I arrive, there was indeed quite a crowd in the city centre and on the beach.

Fortunately, I was able to get a hotel right on the step of the ferry terminal and then move out later to one opposite the railway station.

However, my luck ran out with the train to Beijing. The High-speed train was fully booked on Sunday. There weren't even standing ticket. All the trains leaving on Saturday for Beijing have only standing tickets. I booked the standing tix and hope that someone would vacate their seats along the way. That means I have only a full day to take in as much sight as possible.

Even late in the evening, the beaches in Qingdao was crowded. The tourists, many whom may have came from further inland, took full advantage of their seaside vacation. Even when it is getting dark at sea, many can still be seen bopping up and down in the water.

The beaches were still busy with snack kiosks, souvenir (sea shell, corals, etc) sellers. One Chinese guy was sitting beside his own scrawling on the seaside broadwalk, complaining about police persecution. Of course he attracted the crowd...and the local police.
Well, if the beaches are that crowded at night, it should be more so when the hot summer sun comes up.

Qingdao reminds me of another Cinese seaside city: Xiamen. It is not just the sea and the blamy breeze, but also because the local folks in both places seems to operate at a more relaxed pace than the rest of China. I assume the relax-looking folks are locals, since the tourists would be busy shopping/eating/doing as much as they can cram in.

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July, 2009: Orient Ferry. Slow Boat to China

It shouldn't come as a surprise that there are a anumber of international ferry services plying between Japan and her East Asia neighbours. Japan is after all, an island nation.

Japan Railway (JR) actually claims that they have an international line. This would sound absurb if you are imagining railway track over (or under) the Japan Sea from Japan to China or Korea. What the "JR Internationl Line" really is, is a high-speed hydrofoil ferry from Hakata to Busan in South Korea. I took this many years ago for a Hakata->Busan->Seoul trip. They even have a name for this ferry: the Beetle. And no, you can't use your JR rail pass on this service. Other than Beetle, there are others ferries plying S. Korea and China, mostly departing from ports in Kobe, Osaka, Hakata or Shimonoseki. I choose the Shimonoseki->Qingdao route mainly because it is the shortest jump across the Japan Sea. It takes about 27 hours, leaving Shimonoseki around noon, and arriving late in the afternoon in Qingdao, the next day. I couldn't imagine being on a ferry for more than one night, the fear is that I would run out of things to do.

For the Orient Ferry, however, the 27 hours seem to fly pass quite easily.
I started out by staying on the deck as the ferry put out of Shimoseki port, until Japan disappear behind the horizon and there are no more land in sight.

Next I while away some time settling down in the 'cabin' I shared with 15 others. It looks like most of them are Chinese. Some are on package tours to Kyushu (from the higher volume of their voice), some young Chinese (students, I assume). There is at least one young Japanaese chap (from the Chinese phrasebook he was carrying most time of his waking hours). There is one Caucasian (Australian, if I remember correctly), who I later realised speaks better Japanese than me. Actually on this international ferry it's not surprising to meet parents who speaks in Mandarin while they kids (I assume they are their kids) speaking Japanese.

After this, it's a little tour of this tiny-world that I will spend the next 20-plus hour. Some kids were having the same idea. They seems to better having great fun running along the narrow corridors as the ship rocks from side-to-side.
The ferry has facilities like satellite public phone....probably expensive to make calls. Surprising, there is even a Japanese-style bathroom. There is a duty-free shop and a vending machine corner.

There is even KTV hall that double up as movies theatre. I was about to 'retreat' to my sleeping mat when an annoucement came on that they are showing a movie. Seeing that it will take at least 1 over hour from my boredom, I went up to the KTV hall. It was an old movie with its locality in Shimonoseki, about a how a young recent widow trying to secure her share of her late husband's estate. It ends with her jumping off a cliff. Occasionally, the director throws in scenes of Shimonoseki, with emphasis that it is a fishing port. There are scene of fishmonger trading their catch on the early morning trains.

After the movie, it was almost time for dinner. The canteen serves both Chinese and Japanese meals. You pick your choice at the vending machine at the door and buy a ticket for the meal of your choice. Meals are nothing to shout about.

Later, after the dinner, I went back to the KTV hall. Fuelled by a bottle of QingDao beer, I pick up the courage to go to the front of the hall to belt out a few of my Chinese favourite. After that, it is time for bed. The next morning, some of the Chinese ladies serve as alarm clock. I was up before 9am, not really of my choosing. But anyway, there was no lack of things to do. There is TV on the lounge, a mini gym to visit, and socket to charge up my laptop. And hanging around the deck, lounge, vending machine is a good way to gather info on what to expect at Qingdao (like 'don't bother to get on a taxi, the public bus can get you from the ferry terminal to the city centre quite easily and cheaply'). There is also a mini library with books (mostly Japanese) left behind by previous passengers. It was a bit of surprise to find a book on MushashiNo.

I went for a late lunch at the vending machine corner, supplemented with a can of horsemeat from the dutyfree shop.

Right after lunch, sea weed can be seen floating on the sea. It looks like the same in news about seaweed booming which could have disrupted the Olympic races in Qingdao. I am sure land is getting closer.

As the port of QingDao comes into view, the passengers started to stir into activity: packing up their bags, sending it to the porters, enquiries of currency exchange and most important of all: photo-taking on the deck. The crew got everyone at the looby to take temperature as the H1N1 virus was going around.

I was worry about accomodation for the night since I have not made any reservation. But the worry went away as the ferry approaches the port, and signboards of several hotels were visible from the ship.

We docked more-or-less on time. The Qingdao custom was pretty efficient and friendly. They did want to do a thorough check of my lugguage, since it consist of quite a number of books and reading material. I beleive they were interested to see if there were any porn or "anti-communist" material. But after two smaller bags, and a box, they gave up and send me through into China.

I stepped out of the ferry terminal into a bright, sunny but cool afternoon.

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July, 2009: Shiminoseki, Japan to Qingdao, China. Slow Boat to China

There is a Japanese term, Kara-yuki-san. The "Kara" has the kanji of Tang (as in Tang dynasty.) It's a pretty old term to mean Japanese who travel to China, either for employment or business. But more likely, it meant Japanese who who was persuaded/forced/cheated into prostituition in China. That the direction of similar human traffic is Today largely reversed, it is obvious this term was used many years ago.
Most of the girls would be from poor villages in Kyushu. Human traffickers scoured the countryside, bring them across the straits to Shimonoseki in Honshu. From here, they will be shipped to China. Others may end up in the Nanyang regions, today's Singapore and West and East Malaysia. Even here, the Japanese prostitutes were considered second-rated. The Chinese coolies here would seek out Chinese prostitutes, and possibly one from the same home town. For those who lacks the fund, they will go to the cheaper Japanese one.
But some years before the War, as Japan grew in power, a royal decree from the Emporer put a stop to this. The decree mandated that it is not longer legal for Japanese to work oversea as prostitutes.
To me, this is the most significant event to mark Japanese's arrival at the world stage. More so than Pearl Harbor, or their victory against the Russian, or the Shimonoseki Treaty.
What more powerful statement can a strong country made than to tell the world that their women are no longer available for export as sex slave. My theory is that things would have turn out much better for everyone in East Asia if the Japanese realized this back then, that there is no need for the strong to turn aggressor to show their strenght.
It is partly because of my little fascination of this piece of history that brought me to Shimonoseki. The Orient Ferry will take me by sea over to Qingdao in China. To most people's surprise, it is a short 27hr journey. The short crossing is probably why Shimonoseki was chosen by the human traffickers back then.

July, 2009: Shimonoseki, by way of Fukuoka, Japan

After leaving Fujinomiya, headed south to Fukuoka. The main reason is to stay at the same capsule hotel I stayed in almost a year ago. The carpet at lobby still smells like fresh laundry. In the span of 2 days, JR has taken me down south from Hokkaido to Kyushu.
Shimonoseki looks like an ordinary sea/fishing port, famous for her puffer fish cuisine. But because of an event back in 1937, it has a big part to play in history.
In the 12th year of Showa, following their defeat in the Shino-Japan war, Chinese diplomats with their premier Li Hong Zhang arrived in Shimonoseki. They were to sign the 'peace' treaty that handed Taiwan over to the Japanese government.
With a ferry to catch that same morning, I could only squeeze in a visit to the museum for the Shimonoseki treaty.



The actual location where the treaty was signed, Shunpanro (Spring Sail building) is now a restaurant and hotel. The museum is located at a smaller wing at the entrance.

July, 2009: Fujinomiya, Shizuoka

The nearest Shinkansen station from Fujinomiya is Shin-Fuji. The express Shinkansen don't even 'bother' to stop here. But the town/city has a big attraction, Mount Fuji-san.
While it is in Shizuoka prefecture, it's a pretty short drive from Yamanashi ken. While I was being driven around in the Yamanashi side of Fujisan, I believe Noriko Sakai was hiding in Yamanashi, too. She was then a fugitive because of her drug habit.
Some young chaps taking picture before a waterfall in the mountain. I thought they were Mongolian, and even tried chatting them up in mandarin. Turns out they were Japanese and know not a single word of Chinese. Why they are in those costume remains a mystery till this day.
Anyway, the path near the waterfall was rocky and wet. I took a tumble and this was one of the pictures taken by my Nikon L16, aka "Good-boy", before it broke my fall.

July, 2009: Sapporo to Fujinomiya, Shizuoka

After the unevenful Furano trip, it is time to zip back to Honshyu, and onwards to Shizuoka.

It's the same night train Hamanasu, so there isn't much to write about, except.....

The two times I crossed the undersea tunnel, I have notice some of the Japanese chomping on what looks like really delicious bento from the Aomori platform kiosk. I made a mental note that I must have it.
It turns out the bento is a Saba Sushi bento. Unlike must sushi with pieces of raw fish on vinegared rice, this has a generous slab of saba (mackerel) grilled with light soy sauce on rice. It tasted good because the fish was really fatty (must be because of the cold rough sea in the area.) You can feel your lips turning glossy from the fish fat. Yummy.