Japan Edukaizen Trip 2017: Day 2 - Journey to Shizuoka

I was rudely awoken by Muhaimin’s alarm which sounded more like a fire alarm than a phone alarm! But Muhaimin continued to sleep like a log. I find such people fascinating. I think they could sleep through volcanic eruptions, until they feel too hot because the lava is flowing outside their homes.

I took my shower and then woke him up, which wasn’t too difficult to accomplish thankfully. He showered and then we prayed Fajr together. We were supposed to wear formal clothing that day for our meeting with the Education Director of Shizuoka Prefecture. Muhaimin didn’t have any, so I lent him mine. Of course it wasn’t a big deal whether we wore formal or semi-formal clothes, but it was a good thing he agreed to wear my shirt because later that evening, he sat right next to Dr MAZA during the meeting with the director at the city council chambers.

We went down and decided to have western breakfast in the same building. I don’t usually take rice for breakfast anyway, as I find it to be too heavy. We then went out and boarded the bus chartered for our group, – we knew it was the right bus as there was an ‘Edukaizen’ label on it -  being the earliest to do so. Slowly, one by one the rest of the group boarded the bus and we set off for Shizuoka.

Most of us fell asleep not long after the bus started moving because we barely had a few hours of sleep the night before. I tried to sleep but couldn’t so I just looked out the window. There was nothing much to see in Tokyo apart from people dressed formally walking to work. One thing you would notice when looking around is that, it’s very difficult to see overweight, let alone obese, Japanese people. Their balanced diet and active lifestyle – they walk and cycle a lot – help them have long and healthy lives.

As we continued our journey and left Tokyo, the number of buildings diminished and the beauty of nature became more apparent. Trees of red, yellow and brown leaves lined the roads and the hills, giving a beautiful autumnal feel to the journey. We stopped by at a rest and service area for a toilet break. Most of us got down to use the toilet and buy some snacks to munch along the way. I on the other hand decided to scout around the area to take photos of the beautiful trees and misty hills. It was quite cold and so my fingers became slightly numb, but it was bearable.

The innocent and ever polite Muhaimin

Beautiful autumnal trees

Misty mountains

As I was walking about the service area, I saw Kak Shomi who had just finished using one of the toilets. She clearly was very fascinated by the toilet. Cleanliness was of course a given, no need to even talk about that. The toilet seats though were quite interesting. Most of their toilets had electronic bidets which was a great relief for us since we wash ourselves with water. In addition, some toilets like the one Kak Shomi was fascinated about, had a button with the picture of musical notes and the word ‘privacy’. You could press it and music would play, so that nobody could hear what you were doing in the toilet. The fact that the manufacturers thought about privacy in that sense, is truly amazing. Kudos to musical toilet seats! No wonder Kak Shomi was fascinated.

After 15 minutes, we all boarded the bus again and continued the journey. As we moved deeper into Shizuoka prefecture, the fantastic icon of Japan, Mount Fuji appeared on our right. It was there all along but we couldn’t see it as it was obscured by the clouds. So when the clouds moved away to reveal the magnificent mountain, we all took out our cameras to take a picture. I was seated on the other side of the bus, so taking a picture was difficult. So I just beheld the mountain with my eyes. Even though most of the mountain could not be seen from our angle as it was behind other smaller mountains, the snowy peak was still quite a sight to behold. I don’t think anybody can have enough of it. Everywhere you go in Shizuoka, you can see it. It’s so tall that it can even be seen from Tokyo. It is a unique mountain in that it almost a perfect cone, standing solitarily, not connected to any mountainous range.

Kak Shaz explained to us that Shizuoka is famous amongst musicians because it is synonymous with the brands Kawai and Yamaha, the companies that make pianos and other musical instruments. My piano at home is a Kawai piano, so obviously I was excited at this revelation. She also mentioned that there is a famous museum of musical instruments in Hamamatsu. I would’ve liked to visit the museum if there had been more time but we had already made an appointment to visit a kindergarten that morning. Maybe, if I visit Shizuoka again in future, I will visit the museum and the factories, insya Allah.