The begining of the end

Well, only a few days left.. I biked to Sendai yesterday, and looking at my options, it was either use alot of time and money to get to the Japan Sea coast to be able to bike a bit before using alot of time and money to make it back to Tokyo...

Bike through Fukushima and its radiation on which data is lacking (8 hours a day for like 2 days in the sun and all..)

..Or take the Shinkansen to the South and work my way back north to Tokyo.

After 2 hours of biking and it being bumpy and making my back hurt.. I decided to take the bullet Train to Osaka that afternoon, using the opportunity to visit Kyoto, Nara, and places near and aroubnd Osaka that Ive wanted to see, or re-visit in a while. Plus I get to nag Arijann(sp?) at her job.

So I arrived in Osaka, start putting up my bike outside, in a non-smoking area, and I swear.. in the 10m it took me to assemble it, I had to tell off 15 people who just came near me and started to smoke in my face, from a few meters away. And there were like 20 non-smoking signs.. People would sit AROUND a non-smoking sign and light-up.. I got annoyed, at one point a mother and her two little kids come and she lights up.. I do the polite thing and inform her that its a non smoking zone.

She looks at me and takes a puff.

Okay... I tell her that seh is bothering me..

Just the stare and abnother puff...

At that point, I wasnt gonna take no shit, so I just got up, took her cigarette, put it out on the ground and gave it back to her. All in the most gentlemanly fashion, being careful not to touch her in the process.

It fortunately ended at that. I just hate smokers here...

Anyhoo, I biked a bit around Osaka, Met Ari near a cafe where she works and we talked a while, then went to McDs because on top of being a poor student paying tuition, shes doing an un-paid internship in Japan...

And Japanese McDonalds have this wonderful thing called 100-yen menus. 1 burger 1 buck. Win.

The night ended late with debates about Game of Thrones and ethical problems in movies and how we should approach them. Been a while since I waqs in a debate, and I still suck inn organizing my thoughts in a matter that is not only coherent, but convincing. But Ari is a good conversationalist, and it was fun.

Looking for a place to stay that night, I got lost and ended up in the wrong part of town.. slumville.
A whole park with discarded appliances, tarps, umbrellas making crude houses, the smell of urine and excrement.. people sleeping on the sidewalk,m or just standing there in a daze.... Yeah. My hotel was near there.

My funds set aside for my Japan Trip are running low, so I need to cut somewhere :P

Anyhoo, the Hotel was old and cheap, but the sheets were clean.

I went to Mount Koya for the day today, and hiked a bit, and visited quite a few sites. its very pretty, up there in the mountains, I reccomend it to anyone in the Osaka/Nara region. They have these special dishes, that are basically traditionnal Japanese dishes, but vegetarian, since some of the monks couldnt eat animals. It was quite the experience for me.. I could eat a high-class Japanese set course without having to worry about having fish hiding somewhere inside! I could eat miso soup that was made with kinoko-dashi(mushroom stock) instead of the normal katsuo-dashi(fish based stock), eat boiled vegetables that were boiled in somethinng OTHER than fish-based broth(the popular o-den  you can get anywhere has katsuo dashi).... It was a real eye-opener.. Without all that katsuo-dashi everywhere traditional japanese food is like.. 10x tastier! At least for me.

Im back at a slightly better hotel for tonight and tomorrow. Oh did i mention the crazy japanese guy who tried to kill me? That was two days ago, near Sendai.

CrazyFuck was trying to get out of a parking lot and on the road, but not doing anything for about a minute, so i got tired of waiting and tried to pass in front of him (in hindsight i should have tries back, but there were ditches and stuff), but i cant make it to the  other side because the car was too close to the concrete blocks separating the road from sidewalk.

So I stop and ask him to back up a bit so I can pass.
He.. slowly pushes into me and stops..
Just enough so my pedal gets wedged in his bumber, pinning my left ankle between it and the car..
I frantically motion him to back off.
He pushes about another half a metre. luckily I have slick tires so my bike isnt completely beinng run down, but sorta skids on the road, stuck to the car. he stops and stares at me.
I motion for him to back off, pointing behing him and telling him in japanese to reverse.
At this point a Japanese mom in the parking notices and calls the police.
The guy advances another metre. By that time my bike it at a 45 degree angle and by foot still lodged between the peddle and bumper.

..I half half a nmind to try and lift the car or.. do SOMETHING, but with my busted back I knew I wouldnt be doing any feats of　strength anytime soon, So I reach into my fanny pack and take a picture of him and his liscence plate and  I tell myself if he advances one more time, I'm totally gonna start flailing at his hood.

Fortunately thats when the police came, and Lo and behold, when THEY tell him to back off, he shifts and backs up...

After 2 hours of waiting and stuff.. They tell me he is a bit senile and thought he was backing off. 4 times in a row. when he was going forward. And then backed off the second the police told him to.

Riiight.

Anyhoo, my bike was scratched, but nothing functionnal was broken, so they asked me If everything was ok... My ankle was a bit sore from being stuck between my bike and the bumper, but nothing broken..  However.. I dont know what that old man was thinking, but I dont buy that senility crap, and I told them i wanted to have my bike fixed. An hour later the insurance person came, we went to the bike shop and were told, you cant just repair scratches.. You would need to buy a new frame.. but the supplier website was down and stuff, so I got the insurance company's info and theyre gonna contact me later. Dont know about getteing a whole new frame, but I'm sure we can work somethinng out.

Anyhoo.. Tomorrow Ill go to Kyoto for the day, come back to osaka, meet Ari one last time, Then im on my way to the Nagoya region to meet with some old friends there, before going to Tokyo.