My Sweet Valentine

Well I am pleased to say that I spent a lovely Valentine’s Day with my boyfriend this year. I’m feeling like nothing can get me down. Before I tell you about my day, let me tell you a little bit about Valentine’s Day in Japan.

When you picture a typical American style Valentine’s Day, it usually consists of a couple dressing up, going on a nice dinner date to a fine restaurant, exchanging gifts like chocolate and flowers, and ending with a romantic and possibly sexy night together in bed. *wink wink*Actually, that’s basically what Christmas Eve is in Japan. Valentine’s Day in Japan is a bit different. It’s a day where girls confess their love to boys via chocolate. Boys don’t do anything on this day, and there are no dates or gifts exchanged.

 There are three kinds of chocolate, honmei-choco, tomo-choco, and ­giri-choco. Honmei-choco ­is what girls give to the boy who they love. Girlfriends give it to their boyfriends, wives give it to their husbands, and girls will give it to their crush as a way to confess their love. Tomo-choco is what girls give to their girl friends. It’s basically a way for girls to give and receive chocolate if they don’t have a lover to give it to. Lastly, giri-choco (or obligation chocolate) is what girls give to the boys they are indebted to such as their boss, coworkers, or anyone who has helped them recently in some way. Sometimes women make jokes about giving their husbands or boyfriends giri-choco instead of honmei-choco. I made the same joke to my boyfriend when I handed him chocolate this year. He asked, “Is this honmei-choco­?” to which I laughed and replied, “No, it’s giri-choco­.” He was just like, “OH, I see how it is…” Haha! Of course I said, “Just kidding! Just kidding! It’s honmei-choco!!”

Perhaps you are thinking, “Dang, Valentine’s Day in Japan sucks for girls. They have to do everything and the boys do nothing.” Well, that’s true, but exactly one month later on March 14^th, there is White Day. It’s a day for boys to give chocolate to girls. It’s slightly different though. Although I’m sure some boys may use this day to confess their love to girls via chocolate, it’s more so a day where boys return the favor of chocolate to girls. So basically, any boy who received chocolate on Valentine’s Day must give chocolate back to the girl they received it from. I always give a lot of giri-choco­ to my coworkers because I want to get a lot of chocolate back on White Day haha!

One thing that is big here in Japan is “making” your own chocolate. When I say “make,” I don’t actually mean to make chocolate from scratch with like cocoa beans. What Japanese people do is buy chocolate, melt it down, and pour it into small tins and such and then decorate it with sprinkles and other little decorations. Making other bite-size chocolate desserts is common too such as truffles, baby chocolate-filled pie crusts, chocolate rice crispies, and so on. This year I decided to make chocolate for the first time since I have a boyfriend and wanted to show him I care. Honmei-choco can be homemade or store bought, but obviously it means more if you make it yourself. I had a lot of fun doing it, and made it not only for my boyfriend, but for my coworkers, bosses, tea ceremony classmates, etc. It’s not hard to do at all! Just be careful not to let the boiling water get into your chocolate, or it will be ruined. Learned that the hard way.

Lining ups all the little tins and tras and getting ready to
melt the chocolate.

Sprinkles!

Here's a finished batch of some white chocolate ones.

This was my box full of chocolate for Shinya.

So now for my Valentine’s Day date. We kind of mixed Japanese and American Valentine’s Day traditions. We went on a date, but instead of exchanging gifts, I have him chocolate. Unfortunately, Shinya had to work late that day even though it was a Saturday. Since we didn’t know what time he would get off, we couldn’t make a dinner reservation. However, we picked out a nice looking Italian restaurant to try. He got off at about 7pm (he usually only has to work until 3:30pm on Saturdays…poor guy), so I went to meet him downtown instead of having him come home first and then going together. I had spent like two to three hours getting beautiful. I shaved, trimmed my eyebrows and nails, did my hair and makeup nicely, and wore a black lace dress (and my new black lace bra hehe! ;) I was so excited to find that I can actually find bras in my size in Japan recently, but that’s a whole other story). Shinya made me feel really happy and showed me he cares by preparing in advance by bringing his new watch I got him for his birthday, the sweater I got him as a souvenir in Taiwan, and his pair ring to work. That way, if he had to work late, which he did, he could still wear everything on the date. It meant a lot to me. *Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of us on Valentine’s Day. I wish I did!

Coincidentally, while riding the train downtown, he happened to enter the same train car as me and surprised me by sitting down next to me! I thought that was funny. When we got to the Italian restaurant, we found out that it was booked for the night which was a little disappointing, but I was prepared for that to happen since we didn’t have a reservation. We decided we would try going back a different time. So we walked a little bit and came across this really nice looking izakaya called わたしん家 (Watashinchi, My House). It doesn’t seem to have its own webpage, but if you simply Google the name in Japanese, it will show up on lots of websites like gnavi, hotpepper, and tabelog. I don’t think it’s a chain izakaya. When you walk in, at first you must walk down a long, dimly lit, hall which seemed kind of eerie, but actually the whole place was dimly lit and had a fancy feel to it. We were guided up narrow steps to our table which was our own private little room! It turns out that all the tables are in private little rooms. I was so surprised and happy! We even had a door we could close, so we could feel completely alone together. It was perfect and romantic! You could order everything on a screen and just press a button when you needed the staff. It turned out to be even better than going to the Italian restaurant. They even had pizza and pasta on the menu, which we ordered along with a lot of other stuff like sashimi, kimchi fried rice, fish, and spicy cucumbers. We were sooo full! They had a lot of fun, different alcoholic drinks too. I got this one drink that was basically like apple champagne but like jellified. I had no idea that it was going to be kind of jelly-ish when I ordered it, but it was a fun surprise. We leisurely spent two hours in our private little room enjoying time together.

I got this picture from the internet, but this is what
our room looked like.

After dinner, we decided to go to a bar we hadn’t been to in a long time. It’s a very special bar to us because it’s the bar we went to together on the night Shinya and I started dating. It was the first time for both of us to go there, so it’s kind of like our special bar. It’s a place called Shotbar Den, and it’s very small and classy. I think there are just six chairs at the bar, and that’s it. There is always jazz music playing and the décor is jazz themed. It’s a little pricier because the alcohol is good quality, and you get the most deliciously homemade seasoned peanuts as part of the service charge. We both drank two kinds of rum on the rocks that the bar master had specifically stocked for us because it’s our favorite. We spent time there quietly reminiscing about all the past dates and fun times we’ve had together. It was perfect.

Shinya began to get sleepy since it was getting late, and he had worked all day, so we decided to head home around 11pm. He slept with his head on my shoulder the whole train ride home. When we got back to our town, Shinya came to my apartment and slept over for the first time in like a month. It was so nice to sleep in his arms again. I made him breakfast in the morning: eggs, toast, strawberries, and coffee. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect Valentine’s Day. When it came time for him to head home, I made him come with me to a nearby flower shop, so I could pick out some Valentine’s Day flowers for his mother and send them home with him. I still haven’t met her yet, but I’m trying to win brownie points. Apparently she was very happy and said she had never received flowers before!  Who rocks? I rock! Haha! Anyway, I hope you all had a nice holiday as well and enjoyed reading!

Ikebana

This is a short but sweet little post. I just want to tell you that I tried ikebana the other day. Ikebana is the Japanese are of flower arranging. I’ve practiced sadou (Japanese Tea Ceremony) for around 6 years, but have never tried ikebana despite being interested in it. Living in Japan, it’s nice when I can experience new things and keep myself from getting too used to culture.

My coworker practices ikebana in town every week, so she invited me to try. I was instructed by a ninety-something year old woman! I literally had no idea what I was doing, but I had fun trimming the flowers, bending them, and arranging them. Ikebana is an expensive hobby, and since I already practice sadou, I don’t really have the time or money to participate regularly. However, I enjoyed the experience and would like to try again if the opportunity presents itself.

My first ikebana.

Pair Rings

Shinya did something very nice for me recently. He bought us pair rings! Actually, I’m going to help pay for about half of the cost, just not all at once because I’m poor haha. He said I don’t have to, but I feel like it’s something we should buy together. It’s just my belief.

I had never even thought of pair rings before, but buying them was something he mentioned doing in the beginning of our relationship. I thought it was a nice idea. However it didn’t come up for a while after he mentioned it. I thought he forgot about buying them, but it turns out that he was just waiting until it felt more appropriate. He said he wanted to get them before I go home to America in May I think as a way to feel more connected when we are apart. We went to look at them the other day with no plan to buy them on that day, but we got too excited and ended up buying them right away haha.

We have both had past relationships, but this was the first time for both of us to have pair rings. They aren’t the same as in America where you have “promise rings” which mean you are going to get married. My friend told me that Japan took that idea and changed it a little to basically mean that if you wear rings on your right hand, it simply means you are with someone and not available.

There are all sort of different pair rings. Some you can get engraved with your names, some are just simply matching, some have sayings or stones on them, etc. We liked the ones where if you put them next to each other, they form a shape, in our case, a heart. Since mine is the girl one, it has two white stones and one pink inside the half of the heart while Shinya’s is just plain silver with and engraving of half a heart. Since he can’t wear a ring on his finger at work because he works with machines, he got a chain to go with his ring so he can wear it around his neck. It wasn’t until after we got the rings that my coworker mentioned that a lot of couples will get rings with the birthstone color of the month they started dating which I think is such a cute idea. Oh well, I’m still happy with mine.

Our rings. :)

They make a heart! <3

Wearing the ring on my finger every day feels so nice. I look at it and think of him. It makes me feel connected to him, and I’m proud to wear it. Maybe the excitement of the ring will wear off, but I hope the feelings I feel towards him when I look at it don’t change. J

The Most Stressful Week of My Life in Japan

Hello friends, family, and those of you who may be reading this. Prepare for a somewhat long, rant-like post including not well thought out statements and no pictures. This post is a way for me to vent and try to relieve some stress because usually writing helps when I’m upset. So feel free to stop reading or just bear with me. You’ve been warned haha!

Going back to my “Crime in Japan” post, I have already gone in to detail about some of the things either my friends or I’ve personally experienced while living in Japan. If you are interested, please go back and read that post (it’s actually one of my most popular ones), but I will also recap some of it in this post.

 Well today, I have more to tell you. First, to the next person who tells me, “Japan is SOOOOOOO safe,” I want to literally punch you square in the face and tell you to pull your head out of your ass! I’ll admit, that I’ve been a little out of the loop with news lately, but I used to read it a lot, and I’ve picked it up again and am always shocked at the disgusting and horrifying crimes I read about EVERY DAY in this country. Today I woke up, and while blow-drying my hair, I read an article how they just arrested a man who is responsible for drugging and raping over 100 WOMEN!!!! SERIOUSLY WTF?!?! I’m not saying that there’s not bad news every day in other places. I’m just trying to say that Japan is no exception. Often, I feel like the crimes here are more weird and disturbing though if I’m being honest.

I have lived in America 22 years, and sure, I’ve seen some bad things like a drunk guy threatening my boyfriend at the time and I on a bus for no reason or a guy snatching a cell phone out of a girl’s pocket and running away, but that’s about it. I have never been involved in a situation where I’ve needed to go to the police. Well, in two and a half years of living in Japan, I’ve been to the police THREE freaking times! That’s not including things I didn’t go to the police for that I probably should have. Like how I told you in my “Crime in Japan” post about getting felt up in trains, bars, and clubs or when my friends got robbed or had creeps expose their genitals to them.

The first time I went to the police was when I had a stalker. Scary stuff. The second time was when a guy went crazy at my local bar and attacked me, my friend, and the bartender (please see my post “My Night at the Police Station”). Now for number three which happened about two weeks ago…long story short, I can join the ranks of my friends who have also gotten their wallet stolen.

I know I have always been an advocate of using lockers at dance clubs and “better to be safe than sorry” and so on, and I still am. It’s just kind of ironic because the one freaking time I decided not to use a locker, I get robbed. Let me tell you why I decided not to use a locker. Usually I am carrying a purse. It’s annoying to dance with a purse, and I feel like it would be easier for someone to steal a wallet out from a purse than say, a backpack because they could just kind of slide their hand in there and pull it out without anything moving or you noticing. If your bag is zipped up, it might be noticeable because you might feel them unzipping it though. So that’s why I lock up my purse. This time, I had a small backpack. I thought to myself, “I can dance with a backpack, and if someone unzips it or tries to put their hands in it, I’d definitely feel it tugging at my shoulders. Well, I was wrong.

One thing that keeps pissing me off is that when I tell a Japanese person I was robbed, a lot of them will say at first, “We’re you drinking?” Like if I was drinking then it’s my fault. I don’t know how to respond because, ya, I had been drinking before I went to the club, but was I super drunk or wasted? No.  I found that my foreign friends give me more sympathy and tell me it’s not my fault while Japanese blame me more (not all, but some). Some of them even assumed it was another foreigner that robbed me because there’s no way it could have been a Japanese person. They met me with blank faces when I told them that besides me there were only two other foreigners in the club of a few hundred people. I admit that I could have been safer by locking my bag up, but I still don’t think it was my fault. It’s not like I had a sign on me that said “rob me.”

So basically what happened was I went to a club I’ve been to like 20 times before with my friend. I had my wallet when I walked in. I showed my ID, put my wallet back into my backpack, zipped it up, and danced away. An hour or so later when I decided to take a break and get some gum out of my bag, I noticed that it was half open. I nervously put my hand inside, and was not surprised to find that my wallet was gone. Instead of panicking, I immediately told the staff. They said I could check up front to see if it was found, which I did. They hadn’t found it. I searched the floor with my phone flashlight, waited until the club closed, checked the floor again, asked the staff if they found it several times, and left them with my name and phone number. I also emailed and called them the next day. They told me they didn’t find it. I also called my mother right after it happened so she could stop my debit card for me. Luckily I didn’t have much money in my wallet (maybe $30 or $40…although I’m poor and that’s a lot to me, it could’ve been a lot worse).  It was all my important cards and stuff I was worried about.

The following Monday I had my supervisor help me notify the bank to stop my cash card and begin the process for making a new bank book and cash card which cost a little over $20. He also helped me go report the theft to the police and had the BOE give me a temporary health insurance form while my new insurance card was being made. He was such a big help! However, I still was unable to access my bank account in any way, and I couldn’t even begin to get a new residence card (the most important card that I am legally supposed to have on me at all times) until I got an official police report which took about 7 business days. It was sooooooo stressful! On top of that, my boyfriend who I needed comfort from while going through all of this was too busy at work to meet me. He didn’t even seem all that concerned about the situation. I really needed him to help alleviate my stress, but even when he had time on the weekend, he was too tired to stay the night with me. Luckily we were able to go on a date, but still, I really wanted the comfort of sleeping next to him.

I went back to the bank a few days later to receive my bank book to which I was shocked and angry when they said I couldn’t do it because they needed my residence card which would still take a while for me to obtain because I was still waiting for the police report. I kept asking why they couldn’t give me a new one when I was able to open my bank account without my residence card and stated that it was insane that I couldn’t have access to my own money. I had other forms of identification, but apparently my 2 years old certificate from the city hall saying I’m a resident of Shijonawate with my address on it is “too old.” Luckily after asking them my possibilities a few times, they agreed (or got tired of me complaining) to let me use my temporary insurance form as long as I brought the real new one in as soon as I receive it. I was so flustered by the end of it all. I was able to get my bank book which allows me to withdraw money during bank hours (which are extremely short and require me to take off work if I go). However, I have to wait 10 business days for my cash card which allows me to use ATMs to withdraw money any time. Not having a card is super inconvenient, and I won’t probably get it until after my next payday which means I will have to take off work for like the fifth time just so I can withdraw money.

My last complaint about the stupid bank is that when I received my insurance card, I left work early to go show them, and got there at 3:30 (the bank closes at 4), and for some unknown reason, it was closed! So stupid. They are just gona have to wait for it.

The last big stressful thing was going to get my new residence card. First I went to the police station to pick up my police report after they took a week to finish it. By the way, you have to go to the station that’s closest to where the crime happened, not closest to where you live which is a pain and expensive. After that, I went to the Osaka immigration Bureau. I had to bring my passport, police report, a reissue application, and recent passport photos which I prepared in advance ($8). Luckily they make the card for you right then and there. I was thinking that by making a new card, the expiration date would be extended, but it wasn’t, so I have to go back in a couple months again to apply for an extension and new card which is annoying and requires me to take off work and go at least two times (the train there is also expensive).

In any case, all the wallet stuff is slowly falling into place. Each time I got to a grocery store or order a pizza or whatever, I have to deal with the annoyance of making new member and point cards, but it’s not that big of a deal (although I was like only 3 stamps away from a free pizza and now I have to start over again…grrr!). My mom will send me my new debit card and hopefully Costco card in the mail as soon as she gets them.

This whole experience was so stressful and frustrating that I got physically ill from it. My whole body and head hurt. I went to bed at like 9 pm every night and didn’t want to leave my house. I had friends message me and support me. My supervisor and my family helped a lot, but the person I wanted comfort from the most, my boyfriend, wasn’t around which made me depressed. Like I said, things are settling and getting better…but wait, I’m not finished!

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more stressful, they did. I have learned that things can always be worse. About one week after my wallet was stolen, I left my apartment to go to work on a Tuesday morning like normal. I went to my apartment’s bike cubby and stood there for a second kind of spacing out. Was I blind? Where was my bike? I rode it home from work last night (right? I kept replaying riding my bike home from work over and over just to confirm that I actually did). I slowly pointed at each bike and said, “Not mine. Not mine. Not mine,” just to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. Sure enough, it wasn’t there. I could help but laugh out loud a little to myself in disbelief that I could have such bad luck. I had to rush to work by walking and got all sweaty and was a little late. I just wanted to smack my head on my desk and give up. May I add that all my boyfriend had to say about the incident was, “Guess you’ll just have to buy a new one.” Great, thanks for the advice…like I didn’t already know. I’m not saying my boyfriend is a bad guy. He really just is unimaginably busy with work working about 14 hours a day, and I guess just doesn’t have time to deal with any problems but his own.

You may be wondering, “Stephanie, how is it that you got your bike stolen? Wasn’t it locked?” Valid question. Way to point out all my flaws. I’m sorry I’m not freaking perfect. About a month early, I fell down on my bike while going to work (which hurt a lot by the way). When that happened, the lock got all smashed, and I couldn’t lock my bike anymore. I had intentions of replacing it, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Also, because Japan is sooooo safe, I thought it would be ok. I’m learning a lot of valuable lessons.

I had no desire to go back to the police and report it after all the stress I just went through with them for my wallet. I don’t have confidence that they’d find it anyway…or even give an effort to. It just really sucks to know that thieves and bad people are living so close to me right in my town. How did this person know about me and my bicycle? Did they scout me out or just come upon my bike by chance while searching for one to steal? May I add that there were other bikes in my cubby unlocked too… Anyway, it just makes me feel uneasy and unsafe in my own home which sucks!

Thank God for my bestie, Joe. He had an extra bike he was willing to sell to me. It may be a clunker, but it works! I would’ve been so depressed if I had to buy a new expensive bike because I simply can’t afford it. With all the running around I do around my town, a bike is necessary for me.

A somewhat funny thing about all of this was that in my wallet was my 大吉 (daikichi) fortune which means “very lucky.” I got that fortune at my first shrine visit of the year and it was supposed to mean that I’d be very lucky this year. HA! I guess the Japanese gods don’t give a sh*t about me. End rant.

I guess if one positive thing came out of this experience, it’s that I’m learning to be an adult on my own and deal with things (or that I just want to move back in with my mommy and daddy lol). I’ve learned to be more careful and to take precautions. I’m learning that Japan isn’t as safe as all the articles and such say. I am now an expert on what to do if your wallet gets stolen, so please come to me if it happens to you because I can help!

Happy 30th Birthday to My Sweetheart!

That’s it! No more jokes about me be being “around 30” or a “Christmas cake*!” Because you are ACTUALLY 30! Haha! January 11^th was my boyfriend’s 30^th birthday, so I made sure to plan something nice for him. We had a perfect date, and I’m proud of it, so I want to tell you a little about it.

*In Japan, a woman 25 years old or older is considered to be a “Christmas cake” because past the 25^th of December, Christmas cakes for sale at stores lose their value and nobody wants them…supposedly just like a girl who is 25 years or older is past their prime and not worth marrying…oh Japan, sometimes I hate your messed up logic, but whatever. These days they seem to be getting away from the idea that women should marry before 25. Thank God!

For Shinya’s birthday, I started off by taking him to a nice, expensive sit down sushi restaurant near Nagahoribashi Station. It was a surprise. He had no idea where we were going or what we were eating. I had called ahead and made a reservation. The restaurant’s name is Jinen, and I had been there twice before with coworkers. It sooooo delicious!

We of course got sashimi because we are obsessed with it.

It was kind of surprising because they sat us down at the sushi counter right next to one of my acquaintances! We said hello, but still kind of kept to ourselves while eating for the most part. We enjoyed delicious sushi over a few drinks. I got to try raw blow fish which was fun. No tingle though.

Fugu, raw blow fish.

Next, I gave Shinya some options of bars, and let him choose where he wanted to drink. We hit up two of his favorite bars in Tamatsukuri. The first place we had all to ourselves. At the next place, Bacchus, I enjoyed a super delicious and fragrant hot spiced wine with essence of orange and cloves

.

Spending a nice birthday together. <3

So delicious!

We took the last train home, and went back to my place where I surprised him with a birthday cake I had previously ordered and picked up that day. He was so surprised and happy! His name was on it and everything. There were three long candles to represent 30. I even sang happy birthday to him haha!

Happy Birthday!!

Next I sat him down on the couch and handed him his present. There were two parts. First, he opened up a nicely wrapped, small box and found a watch inside. He was so shocked! He said he never expected to get a watch. He had never had one because it wasn’t something he really would want to go out and buy from himself. I chose one that I thought suited his style and would go along well with his shoes and bag.

Next up was a love letter. I had spent a lot of time neatly writing a love letter to him in Japanese. I was so nervous as he read it. I thought about reading it out loud to him, but I felt too embarrassed. After reading it, he smiled at me and said, “Thank you. I can tell you really put a lot of feeling into this.” He seemed so happy.

His family didn’t give him any gifts or even say happy birthday to him (which I guess is somewhat common in Japanese culture once you reach a certain age, but I still thought it was weird), so I could tell that me preparing this birthday date for him meant a lot. He even told me so. I was so happy to do it for him too. We slept in each other’s arms, and for that day at least, everything was perfect.

Taiwan!!

I am slowly racking up the number of countries I’ve been to. Can you believe I’ve been to seven different countries (including America haha)?! For some people, maybe that’s not a lot. I think if you go to Europe, you can bounce around from country to country pretty easily and increase your number. I have not been to Europe yet. I dream of going there, but at this time in my life, it’s just not realist or cost effective. Eventually! In any case, I feel cool to say I’ve been to seven countries, and I think it’s a lot for a 25 year old girl. I can’t stress enough how much you learn and change from going abroad.

From January 4^th to January 7^th, 2015, I took a short trip to Taiwan. Let me tell you why I chose Taiwan. I think I actually mentioned it before in a previous post. Peach Aviation is a super cheap, new airline that has sprung up in Japan. It blows the competition out of the water. Yes, there are downfalls to Peach that compensate for it being so cheap, but if you don’t mind not checking baggage, small seats, no free refreshments, etc., then it’s a perfect way to fly super cheap. However, the places you can go are very limited. There are several destinations in Japan (I’ve used Peach to fly to Hokkaido and Okinawa), but there are only three overseas locations: South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. I’m always checking the website to see if they’ve added any other places.

So if you don’t already know, you might have guessed that Taiwan was the last remaining place for me to visit using Peach. That’s why I chose it haha! To be honest, I knew basically nothing about Taiwan. I went in with a very open slate and allowed myself to be impressed by whatever I saw. Sure, I did some research before going, but overall my attitude was like, “Alright, Taiwan. Let’s see what you’re all about.” It turned out to be pleasantly surprising!

Let’s go day by day…

I arrived at Taoyuan International Airport around 6 pm on Sunday January 4^th. After going through immigration, I found the bus terminal. I bought a ticket to Taipei Main Station. My first thought was, “Taiwanese dollars are really confusing.” That’s basically what I think every time I use money from a foreign country. I think it was like 1,000 Taiwanese dollars equaled like 33 U.S. dollars. I was pretty confused the whole time.

Taiwanese Dollars.

On the bus ride, I noticed a few things. First, like in America, they drive on the right side of the road. It was hard to see in the dark, but there seemed to be a lot of big buildings with pretty lights. Once we got more into downtown Taipei, a lot of familiar places started appearing: McDonald’s, Subway, KFC, Seven Eleven, Burger King, and even TGI Friday’s and Chili’s! That’s just to name a few. However, what was even more surprising to me was the abundance of Japanese chains. I saw Family Marts everywhere, Yoshinoya, Mister Donut, Saizeriya, Watami, and more! I suppose it makes sense since Taiwan was ruled by the Japanese for a period of time. Plus a lot of Japanese tourists go to Taiwan.

Once I arrived at Taipei Main Station, my friend came to meet me. Originally I was just going to go to Taiwan alone. However, two of my other friends were interested in going. I had already bought my plane tickets and booked my hostel, so I told them when I was going and where I was staying. They decided to go at the same time as me (they actually got there earlier and left later though) and stay at the same hostel, so we could hang out together. I was really happy about that! One of them had already been to Taiwan before and kind of knew where stuff was and how things worked which was really helpful!

While I was waiting for my friend to meet me at the station so she could show me the way to the hostel, I took in the atmosphere. First, although it was January, Taiwan is subtropical, and it wasn’t cold. Coming from cold Japan to mild Taiwan was really nice. All I needed was a jacket! I noticed immediately all the young fashionable people and couples around me. Since Taipei Main Station is a big hub, I couldn’t really tell whether the people around me were native Taiwanese or tourists. I suppose it’s beside the point because what I’m trying to say is that downtown Taipei had a very cool and hip feel to it.

My original feeling that became more apparent as time went on was that Taiwan felt very familiar. All around me were things I knew or had experienced but were arranged differently or spaced in a way that felt fresh. It took time to realize it, but for me, Taiwan was like a mix of the Asian countries I had already been to. Plus I’m sure there were things that resembled other Asian countries that I have not yet visited. For example, the structure and appearance of buildings and the greenery reminded me of Hong Kong, but the city had a very open and spacious feel to it like Korea. The lights and signs reminded me of parts of Macau, and everywhere you looked, there were things from Japan, mainly restaurant chains. I could hear familiar languages all around me: Korean, Japanese, English, and Chinese (ok, so I couldn’t tell the difference when someone was speaking Chinese or Taiwanese).

Once I arrived at the hostel, I was so very pleasantly surprised! I’ve stayed at several hostels before. There are fine hostels, and there are bad hostels in my opinion. On my most recent trip overseas before Taiwan, I stayed in the most shitty (pardon my language, but that is the best way to describe it) hostel in my life in Hong Kong. I thought it looked fine on the website, but it was not. So I did not have high expectations for my hostel in Taiwan, but I was shocked when I arrived to find the most beautiful hostel I’ve ever seen! It was nicer than some actual hotels I’ve stayed in. Everything was made out of wood. There were live plants growing inside. It was so open and spacious, and there were comfy chairs everywhere and little nooks and crannies you could relax in, including a tree house type space! I stayed in a dorm style room with a total of 4 bunk beds, but the bunks bed weren’t actually connected. It was more like cubbies in the wall. So if the person above or below you moved around, you couldn’t feel it. The mattresses, pillows, and blankets were very comfortable. Each bed came with its own little shelf, lights, curtain, and different types of electrical outlets. Each person also got an assigned wooden locker for their luggage (lock not provided, although I think you could rent/buy one). Also, in the lobby, each person has a shoe locker. You had to wear slippers once entering the common room and bedrooms. The slippers they provided were so comfortable though! Free breakfast every day was also included, and it was really delicious! The bathrooms were also nice and spacious. I would 100% recommend this place to anyone. It is called Star Hostel Taipei Main Station. The staff is very kind, helpful, and speak several languages. Perhaps the best part was that it was only around $20 a night to stay at such a nice place!

The tree house nook (and slippers).

My bunk.

Breakfast.

Enough about the hostel. Let’s get into what I did my first night. We met up with my friend’s friend and her boyfriend who are living in Taiwan as English teachers. They took us to Shilin Night Market near Jiantan station. I LOVE night markets! I got to experience them for the first time in Hong Kong. Taiwan’s night markets were a little different in that that were more food focused. I got to experience so much culture in my first night! I ate exotic fruits I’ve never seen like Taiwan’s famous “wax apple,” taro bubble tea, deep-fried whole baby crabs, and this really yummy egg/onion pancake thing with spicy sauce on it. The woman who made the pancake thing asked me how spicy I wanted it, and I kept saying, “Spicy! Spicy!” with a big grin on my face. She spoke in Chinese, but my friend’s friend translated and said that she was going to make it really spicy for me since I looked so happy haha! It was delicious!

ERMAIGERD crazy fruits!

Don't think I could manage to eat one of those.

...but the babies are ok.

Awesome lady who made my thingy spicy.

There was a small temple off of the night market that we checked out. Taiwanese temples are so different than the other ones I’ve seen in Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. They are so colorful, detailed, and elaborate. I got to take a fortune in the temple, although I couldn’t read it. Also, there these wooden block things where one side is flat, and one side is round. You throw two of them on the ground three times and try to get the both to face the same way 2 out of three times (or maybe is wasn’t face the same way…it might have been get them to face opposite ways. I don’t remember). Anyway, if you succeed, the god will grant your wish. I tried it and succeeded, so I made a wish hehe.

First experience with a Taiwanese temple.

Some other things I noticed my first night was that there were game arcades everywhere like Japan, tons of people had cute little dogs dressed up in cute clothes that they walked around with, and there were a lot of really creepy beggars. The beggars really bothered me. They weren’t just regular beggars. They all looked like mutants. Most of them were obviously mentally or physically handicapped. I saw one guy with no hands, just nubs, kneeling on the ground in front of a cup bowing low and rapidly. He was basically smacking his face on the cement. There was one point where the street was congested with people trying to walk through, and I realized that it was because there was a guy with like a box chained to his ankles who couldn’t walk squirming on the ground dragging the box around. People were stepping over him. It was so weird and terrifying. These are just a couple examples. I felt so sad for them.

Day 2 was VERY busy, but it was probably my favorite day because we got to see so much and go to the place I was looking forward to the most. We woke up early, and after breakfast, we hopped on a bus. The ride was beautiful. Full of green mountains, old buildings, and a view of the sea. First we arrived at Yehliu Geo Park. It was in an old port town. Before heading to the park itself, we sat down to enjoy one of Taiwan’s famous sea salt coffees. It was actually pretty good despite how it may sound!

The Geo Park itself was very cool. It looked like Mars in my opinion, and there were all sort of wonderful views. It was pretty hot outside even though it was January, so I was just wearing a t-shirt! We grabbed some convenience store snacks before hopping on the next bus to Jinguashi Gold Mine Village. I got to experiment with trying some fun Doritos flavors like American Buffalo Wings and Spicy Garlic. I also have THE BEST onigiri I’ve ever had in Taiwan. I know onigiri comes from Japan, but Taiwan has added their own spin to it. I got one with salmon and little fish eggs inside. It was mixed in a flavorful creamy sauce and the seaweed on the outside was seasoned and spicy! It was so good!!

Yehliu Geo Park.

Mars.

Spicy Garlic.

American Hot Wings. Shaped like lightening bolts.

Delicious onigiri.

The bus ride was like a rollercoaster. Seriously. I almost fell on my face several times as the driver whipped around the curves of the mountain and squeezed through impossible looking streets. I thought we were going to hit things..and people..many times. One of the passengers got pissed at the driver for honking, yelled something at him in Chinese and got off the bus haha.

Once we arrived at the gold mine village, we soon found out that most of the facilities were closed because apparently the first Monday of the month is their holiday. We were still able to have lunch and look around though. Just a lot of the little museum buildings and whatnot were closed. Honestly, I didn’t mind because this place was absolutely breathtaking! The mountains were humongous and covered in lush tropical greenery. You could see small temples at the tops. The pictures I took can’t even begin to show how amazing it really was. I left the village feeling refreshed…even though it felt like my feet were going to fall off haha.

Beautiful mountians.

More beautiful mountains.

Our next destination was to the place I was looking forward to the most, Jiufen. Juifen is a small town on the ocean in the north part of Taiwan. It has gained its fame from the popular Japanase Ghibli film, “Spirited Away,” by Hayao Miyazaki. Apparently, it’s from this town that he gained his inspiration to make that film. Once you get to Jiufen, it’s quite apparent from the style of buildings, narrow paths lined with stands, and the red lanterns everywhere. Although the place is quite touristy, it still has an authentic feel. Me being the Ghibli enthusiast that I am, I was so excited to check it out!

At first I was shocked by the amount of Japanese tourists. I felt like I was in Japan. Everyone around me was speaking Japanese. You begin by entering the narrow streets bustling with people. The streets have little shops and stands selling all sorts of food and souvenirs. I enjoyed what I would describe to be a peanut ice cream crepe. It’s basically like a maze. You can hardly see the sky, but then there are times where you take a side path that ends up leading you to the open air with a glorious mountain and ocean view. At dusk, the streets come alive, just like in the movie. The lanterns begin to glow. There is a sort of energy.

The streets of Jiufen.

I loved all the lanterns.

Stray kittehs.

Jiufen coming alive.

I had an epiphany moment (which I kind of explained in the opening of this post) while I was standing below a large tea house covered in sparkling yellow lights and vibrant red lanterns looking out to perhaps the most gorgeous scenery I’ve ever seen; Mountains covered in mist tailing off into the sea; Not being able to tell where the mountains, sea, and dimming sky begin and end. In this moment, I felt amazed at myself. I know there are people who are much younger than me who have been to many more countries around the world and have seen more things, but at 25 years old, having been to 7 different countries and seeing the things I have, I felt so incredible. I feel that it is such a big feat to be so young and to have seen the things I have, like these precious mountains. Things that most people in their life won’t experience. I felt so lucky and proud know that I had done most of this on my own. I still can’t help but think about how much left of the world there is to see and experience. So many wonders and treasures that I don’t know about or can even fathom. It makes my desire to travel grow so much more. I know that I can never possibly see everything, but the thought makes life seem so big and grand because I can spend my whole time living discovering new things.

I loved it here.

My epiphany moment.

Leaving Jiufen, we decided to take a taxi with two Japanese girls. It was dirt cheap and took half the time it would’ve taken by bus. Despite having such a full day, it wasn’t over yet. After making a brief stop at our hostel, we headed to Longshan Temple, one of the most famous temples in Taipei. My other friend who was also traveling in Taiwan met up with us there. We had a look around. It was beautiful to enjoy the scenery of the temple under a full moon.

Longshan Temple under the moon.

We then took a stroll around the nearby night market. We soon found out that it was not as touristy as the other one we had been to. I would describe this one as the “heavy metal market” because it was full of stands selling piles of animal organs for eating; huge cow tongues, livers, intestines, and things I couldn’t identify. Eww. No thanks. I instead searched around and found some yummy things to munch on like coconut jelly tea, jelly balls, and sugar apples (that were contrarily kind of sour).  We didn’t stick around long though. One of my friends and I decided to get a famous Taiwanese foot massage in the area before heading home. It was fun and felt good although at some times rough. It was fun attempting to speak in various languages with the workers.

"Heavy metal market."

Foot massages.

The next day was a bit more relaxed. We met my other friend again in the morning and went to Din Tai Fung, the famous dim sum place that I also went to in Hong Kong. However, Din Tai Fung is actually from Taiwan. It did not let us down. The service was great, atmosphere nice, and the food was delicious. After,  we decided to walk around the area a little bit while sipping on bubble tea (I got winter melon juice tea with bubbles), but there wasn’t much to see. We then headed to Taipei 101, the tallest building in Taiwan and 5^th in the world. We took the subway there, and it lets you out right at the base, so unfortunately, I couldn’t actually get a great view of the building. I saw it lit up a night when we were in the taxi the night before, but there were no good picture opportunities.

Din Tai Fung.

Only one of my friends and I decided to pay to go up to the top. I can’t say that it was much different from going to the top of any other building, but there was one interesting, and scary, thing. Taipei 101 has a huge 730 ton steel ball suspended inside towards the top of the building. Because the building is so close to a fault line, there are many earthquakes. This ball somehow reduces the swaying by 40%. In any case, despite the fact it was there for stability, I didn’t feel so comfortable know something so heavy was hanging in the building…how the hell did they get it up there anyway?! Science.

View from the top of Taipei 101.

My freind and I goofing around at the top,

Scary steel ball.

Next we headed to Ximen Ding which straight up looked like Seoul, Korea. It was a shopping area, and I started my shopping spree here. It was my last night in Taiwan, and I hadn’t bought anything for myself yet, so I bought myself shoes and a small backpack at first. The shoes were only like $6! This area was by far my favorite are in downtown Taipei. So much fun! The area had all sorts of fun lights, young people, fashion, foreign restaurants, and music.

Ximen Ding.

I want to go shopping here again!

Since we had enjoyed Shinlin Market (the market from the first night) so much, we decided to end the night there so we could get street food and more souvenirs. I bargained with people and got a sweater, winter beanie, and earrings. I also got a sweater for my boyfriend. I went crazy on the food since it was technically my dinner and my last chance to enjoy the night market food. I got this interesting potato thing that was basically a breaded and deep-fried whole potato that was the split open and covered in pineapple, corn, broccoli, nacho cheese, a sweet sour cream, and ham (which I picked out). I also got candied tomatoes and a mix of fresh starfruit and guava. I made sure to buy pineapple cakes for souvenirs for all my Japanese coworkers and acquaintances since they are the staple souvenir gift for Japanese people. I may or may not have indulged in a few myself.

Crazy potato.

Guava and starfruit.

Candy tomatoes.

I would say that my last day was quite uneventful seeing as it consisted of me just getting up, going to the airport, and going home, but there was something a little disturbing…besides the dang airport staff confiscating my Colgate toothpaste for being too big for my carry on (I was so pissed because I was so stoked to find Colgate in Taiwan!!). But the real disturbing thing was the couple I got sat next to on the plane. I think they were Taiwanese or Chinese. Anyway, they were a young couple, maybe around my age or younger. One was a prissy looking girl wearing loads of makeup, tons of jewelry, pink skimpy clothes, and just looked fake. Then her “boyfriend” was dressed like a normal guy but a little more fashionable. I put “boyfriend” in parenthesis because I’m not sure the boy was actually a boy. His voice was higher than the girl (like shockingly), his hands and whole body in general was smaller than the girl (the girl was already pretty small), and his face looked like a girl. Honestly, whatever he was, I don’t really care. I have nothing against people with sex changes or cross dressers or anything like that, but what I was disturbed by was the amount of pda going on inches away from me. Slobbery, loud, making out kisses that were in no way discreet. Giggling about it. Looking at me every few minutes. I tried hard to not look their way as much as possible. It didn’t end there however. The guy was blatantly feeling the girls boobs up and rubbing her nipples with his fingers. God I felt so uncomfortable. Ewwwwww! So ya, that was fun. One cool thing about the flight home though was that I could see the whole island of Awajishima from the window. I plan on going there with Shinya sometime this year. Connecting Awajishima to mainland Japan is the longest suspension bridge in the world which I could also see from the window. It was neat.

Before I end this long post about Taiwan, there are things I want to tell you about Taiwan in general that didn’t fit in anywhere in my story:

1.       I actually actively used Chinese by saying “Hello (Ni Hao),” “Sorry (Da Bu Qi),” and “Thank you (Xiexie).” One thing I really liked was that people attempt to speak to you in Chinese where as in Japan, they assume you don’t know their language and just try to speak broken English to you before giving you a chance.

2.       I didn’t get the rude feeling like I got when I was in Hong Kong. In fact, from day one, I felt totally comfortable in Taiwan! I think it would be a fun and easy place to live if it weren’t for the unbearable heat most of the year.

3.       There are stray cats and so many stray dogs everywhere. Maybe some of them belong to people, but they are not leashed and walk around weaving in and out of people casually like they own the place!

4.       On the topic of dogs, I actually briefly mentioned this, but people owning little toy-sized dogs in which they dressed up like cute little princesses and carried around in their arms was very common. You could see an old men walking around carrying little terriers dressed in sweaters with bows in their hair. It  was amusing.

This dog actually had a collar, but it was just walking around
like whatever.

5.       There are motor scooters everywhere!!! It has to be the most popular form of transportation. At the stoplights of intersections, like 20+ scooters will gather in front of the cars and zoom off as soon as the lights turn green. A lot of dogs rode between their owner’s feet which scared me. Seemed like they could just jump or fall off easily.

Scooters!!

6.       Despite it being past the New Year already, Christmas decorations were still thriving.

7.       Last, you weren’t supposed to flush toilet paper down the toilets because of low water pressure. There were garbage cans in each stall in which you were expected to throw away your used toilet paper. I didn’t enjoy that. Also, many times there was no toilet paper.

So that basically sums up my trip. It was so much fun! I feel like Taiwan is a little underrated, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Taipei, at least, is very foreign friendly and easy to navigate. It was clean and felt safe. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the opportunity to go back, but if I do, I will excitedly return!