(no subject)
I'm in Japan *and this keyboard is really weird and the space bar is really small and I keep missing it so pardon and bad errors like me not being able to find the parenthases and no spell check. the keyboard is so annoying that I can't write to much, like how I decided to come here 30 hours before my flight took off.
Today I am in the Mt. Fuji area. I got in around mid day and went out to this old timey village and then to these caves. since it's not that cold here, 40's, I am wearing flip flops and a skirt. So apart from being white i also turn heads for being really weird. There is only one bus here and it runs every hour, but not during the winter, it kind of runs every other hour. So I go to the village then a cave and I was going to go to the other cave which is about a 15 minute walk up the main road, no biggy. As I'm walking I see these cops, who seem more like public safety, they are driving a normal car with a green thing on it and their uniforms have the same green thing safety pinned to their arms, and they are going very slow up this hill. Then they go out of sight and come back and come to talk to me. They are worried about me being alone with flips flops and about 6 inches of exposed skin, and it is common for Japanese women to wear mini skirts, though they have some kind of tights on. They want to know where I'm going, if I have a place to stay, if I have family or friends here. Only the one guy speaks English, but they are very nice and clearly conserned. I say I'm fine and try to explain the bus. I eventually get them to go and make it to the cave, which I could see the entrance to this whole time as they were talking to me. But as I'm walking up the hill to the real entrance they close. If the cops hadn't stopped me I would have made it. But the cops come back. They were still worried about me and called the guy from the first cave, who directed me to the second cave, or something and they were going to take me back to wait at the first cave because the guy said that would be better. So they drive me back. At this point the next bus is in about an hour and the sun was going to set in maybe 30-40 minutes. A lot of talking in Japanese between the guy from the first cave and the police, a lot of them not listening to me say I'll be fine, I'm not cold, I have a book, and the police decide to drive me home. After I said they didn't have to about 10 times they drove me home and it was nice. Though they walked me into my hostel and the people behind the desk had this look like 'stupid American, why are the police here?'
They were seemed very conserned about me traveling alone. It makes you think about these more traditional societies. I wonder if this is a case of small town police with nothing better to do, or a cultural thing. Because I know that Korea is, and I think Japan is too, more traditional. So they are very western in many ways, very developed, and way more wired, but in many ways are just different. For example, in Korea when the cashier gives you your change or your recite, even if it's a couple of cents from something that costs less then a dollar, the have something they have a certain way of holding their hands and they kind of bow.
More about how I got to Japan, which is a bit of an adventure in and of itself, later!
Today I am in the Mt. Fuji area. I got in around mid day and went out to this old timey village and then to these caves. since it's not that cold here, 40's, I am wearing flip flops and a skirt. So apart from being white i also turn heads for being really weird. There is only one bus here and it runs every hour, but not during the winter, it kind of runs every other hour. So I go to the village then a cave and I was going to go to the other cave which is about a 15 minute walk up the main road, no biggy. As I'm walking I see these cops, who seem more like public safety, they are driving a normal car with a green thing on it and their uniforms have the same green thing safety pinned to their arms, and they are going very slow up this hill. Then they go out of sight and come back and come to talk to me. They are worried about me being alone with flips flops and about 6 inches of exposed skin, and it is common for Japanese women to wear mini skirts, though they have some kind of tights on. They want to know where I'm going, if I have a place to stay, if I have family or friends here. Only the one guy speaks English, but they are very nice and clearly conserned. I say I'm fine and try to explain the bus. I eventually get them to go and make it to the cave, which I could see the entrance to this whole time as they were talking to me. But as I'm walking up the hill to the real entrance they close. If the cops hadn't stopped me I would have made it. But the cops come back. They were still worried about me and called the guy from the first cave, who directed me to the second cave, or something and they were going to take me back to wait at the first cave because the guy said that would be better. So they drive me back. At this point the next bus is in about an hour and the sun was going to set in maybe 30-40 minutes. A lot of talking in Japanese between the guy from the first cave and the police, a lot of them not listening to me say I'll be fine, I'm not cold, I have a book, and the police decide to drive me home. After I said they didn't have to about 10 times they drove me home and it was nice. Though they walked me into my hostel and the people behind the desk had this look like 'stupid American, why are the police here?'
They were seemed very conserned about me traveling alone. It makes you think about these more traditional societies. I wonder if this is a case of small town police with nothing better to do, or a cultural thing. Because I know that Korea is, and I think Japan is too, more traditional. So they are very western in many ways, very developed, and way more wired, but in many ways are just different. For example, in Korea when the cashier gives you your change or your recite, even if it's a couple of cents from something that costs less then a dollar, the have something they have a certain way of holding their hands and they kind of bow.
More about how I got to Japan, which is a bit of an adventure in and of itself, later!