Naoshima And Kyoto (Part 1)
I always wanted to go to Naoshima and didn’t manage to go the last three trips to Japan. It’s quite out of the way of the normal Japan sightseeing route, taking two trains from Okayama then a ferry. This time I planned my trip to include Okayama and Kurashiki en route to Naoshima. I thought two nights would be enough but that was a miscalculation of my part. I would’ve wanted to see Teshima, another art island, but with the additional long ferry ride, the advance ticket booking requirements for the museums, it was just too tight a squeeze. Never mind, there will be a next time.
I stayed in the Benesse House museum, see photos above (warning, you need to book and pay six months in advance and it goes very quickly) which houses a lot of magnificent art with just a small number of rooms. Another alternative is the. Benesse Park House, which also houses a lot of art and is near the outdoor art installations. The house museum has the advantage of a great view and you can walk around the building with no crowds until almost midnight. I didn’t realise you could also book the oval house, which has the magnificent swimming pool whose photo is shared online frequently, but that only has 6 rooms and no one else can enter it.
There are many open installations throughout the island, all which I think, if you’re there already, you should go see. Theres a Benesse shuttle bus that takes you around the island. I chose to walk most of it, for exercise and enjoyment. So many famous artists’ works around the island beautifully exhibited, it really does takes your breath away.
After Naoshima I proceeded to Kyoto for a medical checkup. This was the actual reason I was in Japan in the first place. My friend Kaori had continuously informed me about the efficiency and affordability of a general checkup in Japan, though of course, everything is in Japanese, but she kindly offered to fill up the countless forms and questionnaires, book my appointments and accompany me to all of them. She is, undoubtably, a star friend, a great host (along with husband Jonathan) and a great cook to top it all. The beautiful house was the icing on the cake. Many thanks to my amazing hosts for their hospitality and generosity. Now onto the medical so stop here if you aren’t interested in the Japanese way of the medical check up.
Firstly, you arrive the day before the check ups with pre organised clinic prepared meals for the day.
Not exactly your meal of choice being hospital food, but you just have to deal with it. Kaori spiced it up with a bit of udon since soba is too difficult to digest.
Then you have to drink a lot (I mean a lot!) of laxative to flush out everything. The first day consists of an endoscopy and colonoscopy, all done in 1.5 hours. They check your weight, blood pressure and height, give you a drip, you’re knocked out, then it’s all done! The doctor sees you, tells you if there are any irregularities or any tiny polyps they had to remove, gives you a smile, gives you a book with photos of your insides and a cd of the whole examination for later viewing if you so wish! The only thing they told me was it seems I have a huge intake of chillies (accurate) which may sometimes cause a little inflammation. I must say, for about 300 US dollars, it’s a steal since the equivalent in the UK is ten times the amount and the two procedures are done on two separate days. Of course hiring an interpreter will probably cost more than the procedure but you’re still ahead.
Day 2 was a bigger day. I had individual tests for all the major organs (ultrasound, X-rays, etc) and I wanted to have the biomarker tests for pre cancerous cells but my knee steroids would invalidate the results so that was axed. It was so efficient I felt like it was done like a formula one tire change. After the usual weight, blood pressure, height they escort you room after room for specialist screening with no wait time; kidney room, thyroid room, and so forth. I also had additional tests for allergies, dementia, Alzheimer’s, arterial calcification, osteoporosis and I’m sure a few more. The med tech is impressive, I stuck my foot into this machine for a couple of seconds and that was the osteoporosis test. Reminds me of the time I broke my ribs mountain biking in Japan; I stood in front of a mirror fully clothed with a coat, and I could see my insides including the ribs situation.
Additional note, they warm up the ultrasound gel so when you’re having the ultrasounds you feel like you’re having a warm massage so they had to wake me up after various organ checks. Very relaxing. They really are into the details.
After 3 hours all the tests finished and the lab technicians send the various tests to the specialists in each area, who I’m sure will send me photos and accompanying cds again! Total cost ( dependent of course on which tests you want to include) about 1.5 thousand US dollars I think that’s a bargain, frankly.
I’ll just need to wait for a few weeks for Kaori to come back to London and translate the voluminous books I’m sure I will receive. The Japanese are very thorough
Next chapter will be on food.
Comments
Post a Comment