Neatsville: Japan Adventures Part 4: Kumamoto

≫第四章＿熊本＞八代

≫The fourth part of my trip was spent with my old pal Yuki Hatabe who resides in a rural area of Kumamoto called Yatsushiro. I took the shinkansen from Kagoshima which was a 45 minute trip. If you're not familiar with shinkansen, it's Japan's bullet train....hellllaaaa fast. My trip out there has a really funny side story which I feel compelled to share with ya'll right now....yeah I don't care if it's 2 in the morning, bthe Nyquil hasn't kicked in yet.

Well, I could have sworn the ride was gonna be at LEAST an hour right? So I take off on my own, without Chichan, no other Japanese friend, just me, my broken Japanese and my Zune. Coo, not a lot of people on the train, so I'm chillin, but after a good 30 minutes after departure I feel my stomach twist...shit, gotta get to a throne asap!

Safe! niceeee....smooth sailing from here, I can sit back, read my magazine and vibe out on my headphones. The train hits a few stops to pick some people up....whatever, I'm chillin. Then we hit this stop which to me seemed unusual since it's been a few minutes. Took off my headphones to see what was going on...then knock knock on my door, in Japanese of course..."sir! are you there?! this is the last stop! please open the door!"

Of course all of this Japanese spoken hastily to me got me all confused and scared! Fuck it, I'm not done pooping! Go back to pushing, trying to push it all out. The train employees start trippin even more! I'm trippin out too! This is no goooood, my poo's barely out! 5 minutes into this conversation through the door, I just scrape that last pieces off and suck it up...walking funny.

The train people already had all my luggage off the train! I was baffled by all this, I had no one to help me out. I get kicked off the train thinking...we still got an hour or so left till we get there right?! Nooooopeee....turns out that was the last stop!

Anyways, the train people got really worried about me and told my friend Yuki who was waiting at the bottom gates that there was one more passenger left who didn't make it off the train yet...which obviously was me! All in all, everyone that was worried laughed it all off after they found out the reason I was so late....how embarrassing

Oh well, I love Kumamoto! It was definitely a nice little retreat leaving the huge crowded cities behind for a few days and got in touch with my rural side. I got a chance to clear my head and thoughts. I love everything Japanese, especially the technology and fashion but coming out to the country side helped me realize where Japanese culture comes from and where tradition comes from....I hella respect that.

If you ever come out to Kumamoto make sure you get their signature raw horse sashimi! Mmmmm...馬刺しおいしかったぜぇぇぇ