Day 13 | Discovering Gobo by bike, money problem and karate

Let's continue our story with the next day. Yesterday I moved to my 3rd host family and spent 2-3 days with grandparents Yanase. They organized me a welcome party with lots of food and drink and afterwards we went to the nearby Karaoke bar and spent there 2 hours. Let's see what happened today.

The problem with the credit card and cash

I woke up early in the morning again, about 6-7 a. m. as I could not sleep because of the sun and then simply stared at the ceiling of the room. After an hour or so of lying on the bed I decided to move and go have breakfast.

I had nothing particular planned for that day and even if I had had the Internet connection I would not have liked the idea of spending the whole day at home. But there was something else that bothered me.

I had spent almost all of the cash I had reserved for the free time. And yet I needed it to save for the upcoming 2 weeks when we planned to visit many places by camp. Not to forget the possibility to go shopping rigth now in Gobo alone. You might be asking yourself right now why I simply would not use the Visa card. Well, I tried that at a few places and they told me they unfortunatelly cannot accept the credit cards. It happened to me in the huge shopping center in Gobo when I wanted to buy some comics. I felt uncomfortable with this problem there as I could not use the money I had on my credit card and was not sure what to do next.

After breakfast I went to grandma Yanase and tried to explain her the problem. Since I knew it was going to be very difficult I decided to literally draw my problem before showing her. I took a paper and draw the process of getting money from the ATM or at the bank. I put three squares, one for the credit cards then the arrow which leads to Japanese Yens and the last arrow to a questionmark. While explaining her the problem I was showing multiple times my credit card and the questionmark and repeated "mondai arimasen, mondai arimasen" ("there is a problem, we have a problem"). I would then point out my empty wallet and repeat "genkin arimasen" ("no money"). After a minute we understood each other perfectly. She told me to wait a bit (chotto matte).

Then we went to the shop to tell the others we were going to go somewhere. I asked her if we can go to the bank maybe. We entered our car and drove off to the center. She found some bank and we went in. I hoped they could help me.

Helpless in the bank

We got in. My first time in a Japanese bank! Not much different from the ones we have at home though. After the entrance there were 3-4 rows of seats for the visitors who had to wait. Ok, maybe that is a new thing, at least has more seats than in the banks I visited at home. We waited a bit until there was one number and office free. Grandma Yanase ran there and talked with one younger banker about my problem. Then she invited me. I already prepared the illustrated paper and my visa and tried a little bit in English explaining the problem. Since English was there as well of no help I switched to Japanese and somehow we understood the problem. Now what to do?

They took my card and I waited 5 minutes. They called for different person but still helpless. I was first happy as I though the bank should solve the problem. But nothing happened and I was a bit desperate. We also called Mamiko-san to see if she could come to help as she spoke English and might solve some language barrier problems. She came as well and I was pretty thankful but even then we were not able to do anything. We then tried using the ATM machine but it was only in Japanese and nothing happened. I had no clue what to do and if in the bank we had only failure what to do next? And the solution came to us.

Problem solved at the post office

We headed to one more place and that was the post. I was a bit sceptic about it but let us give it a try, no more options left.

We went there and Mamiko-san spoke with the post's staff. One guy then came and told us we could try again with the ATM machine. He then took my credit card and tried to solve the situation. First two times it did not work. Then he turned to us and said "Oh, I got it. It should work now. And you can also choose to do the steps in English". Mamiko-san translated this to me and we all started to dance for few seconds out of joy. We were following the process in Japanese and I understood perfectly the part where I had the option to choose the amount of money I would like to get in my hands. So let us go for English now and put an end to the drama! All we had to do was to click "withdraw". Back in the bank it seemed they did not get the part with "withdraw from the card" even in Japanese. And the ATM there had no options to be read in English. Otherwise I believe I would be able to quickly see the problem and avoid the further complications. However, in the end we managed to do what was needed. I took a larger amount of money just to make sure I had enough. I did not use all of that money in Japan and never needed again to go to the ATM to withdraw more. Hopefully that money will be used next time someone from the family goes there.

We were happy again, thanked the postman and bowed one thousand times and left for home. Mamiko-san returned to her family and I thanked again she went to help me.

Shopping for the lunch and watching TV

Instead of going straight home grandma Yanase said we go to the shop to buy something for lunch and other ingredients we missed at home. I do not remember which shop was it now precisely, probably the big one in the center. She told me to choose anything for the lunch so I picked up something that was mixture of Japanese and Western food (no fast food, trust me, I never ate it while with my host families).

After preparing lunch at home and enjoying it I was left alone for almost an hour. I then turned on TV and tried to watch something. There were some soaps / telenovelas and crime series. I spent 20 minutes watching the soaps and once I realized they were going to cry I quickly grabbed my camera and started recording everything. Because hey! How many of you have seen the Japanese soaps? Could not miss the opportunity. I wasn't able to understand some phrases and words. When switching to something much more intersting - the series about detectives and solving the murder cases I even had the subtitles but in Japanese. I was thinking how fast my brain should be working to register within 1-3 seconds all the text that had been written there in 3 scripts! My eyes just caught a few signs each text, separate syllables, and almost no understandable Kanji. Yet, it was a small success when compared to the beginning a week earlier when everything was totally alien to me.

Going for the bike tour around Gobo

After lunch I went to ask my host family if they kept somewhere any bicycle. And they indeed had one. We went to the storage on the yard and found a pretty good bike for the town with a basket in front. Since we had to pump up the tires we went to another nearby storage house and found something inside to pump it up. And then finally the bike was ready to be taken into the town!

We came back to our house so I could take something from the fridge to drink on my way on the road. I took two Pocari drinks into my backpack and then returned downstairs. Since my grandma Yanase was back in the store I went there by bike, left it outside (remember - no one was going to still anything there) and went upstairs to the office to tell Mr. and Ms. Yanase that I was going to go a bit around the town with my camera. So that they did not have to worry about me and I really did not want to give them any reasons for that.

Going randomly to the city center and back

Off we go! The beautiful feeling when you are riding a bike. I am sure all of you who are reading this enjoy cycling. And I prefer to use the bicycle almost always when I have one available. I am very lucky to have one in Japan and it also makes it pretty special. So far I was able to have a ride with both my host families from Austria and Switzerland during previous 2 summer exchanges. And now in Japan I think I might have spent the maximum of my time on the bike (in total about 10 hours or more).

I was now on my bike with a cap on my head and headphones, ready to start discovering the streets of Gobo. I went on the main road and headed towards the city center in the west. Since I did not want to get lost I planned to avoid the smaller streets and stick to the main one and the landmarks that would help me remember the route. In the end, after an hour of ride it was not much of a problem.

It took me about 10 minutes to reach the city center (let's say it was) with the big shopping center at the corner. I was paddling through the main street with lots of houses around. I even went to one garden where there was a pretty traditional looking one and took a few photos. I had no idea back then that the street on the other side of the crossing was leading me to my 4th family I still had to meet other day. I continued further until passing by the washing car service and a railway. Few more minutes and I came to the crossing in front of the big shopping center. I also met lots of students coming back from school in black and white suits which greeted me and I to them. Including the seniors who were returning from the shops having their bags in the baskets of the bikes.

I continued to the south by the next big street and passed by the Book Market Store which I actually visited two times later and bought some materials for home. I continued 10 more minutes being curious about what else could I see, passed by some mini factories and lots of other stores until reaching one bridge that would go over Hidaka river. I decided to turn around and go home now as I was a bit tired and needed a short break in the shadows. I returned the same way.

Next on the list - Anchin

I came back to their office (both were up) to tell them everything was fine and that I'll go now to Anchin. I was about to leave when they asked me (or tried to explain the question) if I had a hat for the sun. I actually put mine in the backpack and showed it to them but they did not get it maybe. Then Mr. Yanase told me to wait a little bit. I had no idea what was going to happen. Grandma Yanase was gone for 2-3 minutes and then came back with two straw hats. They asked me which one I like more. I was again shocked as they wanted to do everything to make my time there amazing and I did not expect it nor ever asked for it. After rejecting my refusal and kept pushing me to take one, smiling I picked one. The one that reminded me of the cartoon Samurai Jack.

I thanked them with 'doumo arigatou' and bowed one hundred times then ran out happy and excited to go for a bike ride. They also gave me a towel to put around my neck. I noticed even earlier that many citizens had a towel around them when walking or riding a bike on the streets. Since it was very hot and humid there in summer you would sweat easily. But the towel kept the sweat from going under your clothes. That was a good thing. You were not sweating all over your body and it also protected your neck from the sun.

After examining the route to Anchin I found one way that was about a kilometer and a half long and I guessed it would take me about 10 minutes to get there. I was passing through one not that crowded street with several houses and lots of fields with grass and plantations around. I continued for about a few hundred meters until reaching another road under 90 degrees and headed towards the river in the east. I also had the headphones which made it even more epic. There were several other Japanese neigbhours who were on a bike or walking, both seniors and students, so we greeted each other when passing by.

When I was doing the same trip to the restaurant again I also decided to record the route. I was riding now through a much more important street with one or two cars going through and there were family houses on both sides. I was then also observing what the gardens and the exterior looked like. It was mostly gray or black and I do not remember seeing much of the clothing getting dry outside. Mostly everyone had their drying machines within the bathroom.

I came to the last crossing and then the street looked sort of familiar to me from a prior experience being in a car on our way home to the restaurant and also from the map. I turned left and now had a few more minutes until reaching the restaurant. The street was pretty narrow just as it was the case with the others. So when there was one car coming in my direction or behind me I would try to go as much as possible to the side or stop until they pass me. I also saw a few Honda car services which look totally different than those we are used to in the bigger places with luxurious stores. In Japan, the home of all those brands, in smaller places it is much more modest, simple and pretty normal to the given standards.

After a few minutes I found another road and had to be a bit more careful here. Now in front of me I saw the very familiar scenery with green fields around and the next neighbourhood - Hidaka. At the end of the road I was right now on, waiting at the traffic light, there was the restaurant Anchin and you could also see a smaller hill hiding the temple Doujouji behind the trees. Far around were the dark-green coloured mountains with forests. As I wrote in my other analyses the Japanese towns in Kansai region (or maybe in general) are always to be found in the valleys surrounded with the mountains.

About 50 meters more and I had to stop before the railway. There is one train going through Gobo and there is the train station "Doujouji" close by. Luckily, no trains and though the light was green for the cars to go on the other side you always have to check just to make sure something does not happen. I went on the other side and was now pretty happy. Few more minutes and I was there. I passed through the first streets and the area on my 2nd day in Japan and reached Anchin.

I parked the bike in front and surprised everyone inside. I spent there a little bit of my time and then told them I had to go further but we would see each other soon.

Circle over the bridge and back home

I went towards my new home more or less the same way but instead of stopping at our garage I decided to use more of my time on the bike and go around. I went to one of the main streets and followed it until ending up on the dyke and close to the bridge. Now this is what I wanted!

I had the opportunity to go across the red bridge in front of me to the other side but decided to move on along the dyke and then return home over the red one. I saw in total 3 bridges that were close by. I went over one that was half a kilometer away and went over to the other side. Hidaka river is pretty broad at this part and I think even broader than Sava in Zagreb (except for the raining seasons).

I saw a golf terrain alongside the river, above it eastern bank. There was only one man walking with his dog. I continued further over the bridge and then towards an unusual one. On my right was now again some neighbourhood but did not pay much attention to it. However, what was interesting was kind of a company and a place where you could order and buy the statues for the garden, grave and even some bigger sculptures. I stopped to take a few photos of it and continued further.

I was now in front of this old bridge that looked pretty cool with lots of metal. It had one road in the middle for the vehicles and if I am not mistaken only one car could go over the bridge at the same time. It confused me a bit as what would happend if two cars go from two different sides... but I would guess it is only one direction bridge. Still not sure. On two of it sides it had a path for passengers. And I saw that some high school students were approaching thus I left my bike and backpack aside and took only my analog camera. Time for one documentary photo and I prayed it would look good later! When the student arrived I waited for the perfect moment and *click*. I thanked him and he was a bit confused when he saw who was behind the camera. I continued to the other side and passed by the red bridge. Maybe some other time I'll go over it. I came home now tired and a bit hungry.

Watching karate training

The last activity of the day was going with my host famiy; mom and the grandkids to the karate training at one school. I first thought there might have been some kind of competition but it was a bit different. We arrived to a school, have no idea where as it was alrready night, and there were only three kids who were training that evening. I think the other kid was the son of the karate mentor.

We stayed there for about an hour and I watched them perform the warm-up. They also invited me to join them but I was a bit tired and did not want to embarrass myself since I had no clue and would might slow them down only. I also had to go to the toilet to be honest and I was not fond of the idea to jump around when under the pressure (if you know what I mean).

After warming up they were revising some martial art techniques from the last week which all reminded me of DragonBall and I wanted to learn it. Later on they switched to pairs and did the excercises together as a team which was interesting to follow. The last one was doing a combat respecting the rules and the techniques they learned.

When everything was over we made a small tour around the hall and I saw there was a stage at the end of the it. This is another thing I noticed in Japanese schools that we do not do the same way. They showed me there some framed documents and notes that should be present during karate training explaining me the rules. Since the mentor and the host mom spoke a little English they searched for the karate rules and notes that everyone should respect in English on the Internet.

Once we were done with the training we put back our shoes on (yes, taking off the shoes and walking in the slippers is also a must-do here) and we went back home for dinner. I was about to change my host family for the last time tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Photo gallery