4 November 2019
Walkway to nowhere
Eastern side of Takasaki station and Korean food
Like many Japanese cities, the station is connected to nearby buildings by elevated walkways, these ensure all the stores on the street level get no customers ever again.
Tonight I went over to the other side of the station, checked out BIC Camera, then spotted an elevated walkway that went seemingly forever. I thought it must have been a monorail under construction, but no.
I was sure it must go somewhere, so I followed it, to the end. To nowhere. Then I walked back again. Quite the adventure.
Now for the fun fact of the day. I no longer use cash in Australia, ever. I have the same $100 in my wallet I withdrew before coming to Japan, last year, as emergency money. In Japan, I still have to use cash, their phone payment system is not compatible with non Japanese phones, even iphones have a different chip in Japan for their tap and pay thing. So I am now much more familiar with Japanese ATM's than Australian ATM's. That seems strange to me.
After my ATM visit and bewildering self-revelation I headed into the unfortunately named Labi, which is like BIC Camera but much bigger, and has restaurants on the 5th floor. Thats where I decided to be an edgelord and have Korean food. The restaurant was empty apart from me, due to the upcoming Korean / Japan war. Comfort girl movie is the main news story right now!
This is the midpoint of the walkway to nowhere, station in the distance.
When you get to the end, theres this building, and a display home village. Perhaps this building is the local council.
The far side of the station and the aforementioned, LABI.
Tomorrow in Australia is the annual horse killing festival that is a holiday in my state that I always miss. Huge vats of ice will be kept trackside, and any horse that needs to be shot in the head for not winning will be dipped in ice, loaded on the next plane and flown directly to Takasaki to be my dinner.
I elected on the spicy raw horse and tofu stew. Negotiating what size rice I wanted had the waitress giggling uncontrollably for no apparent reason. SMAAAALLLLLLLLLL.