Day 13: Earthquake, Tokyo Dome Baseball, Ginza and Home

So this morning, fairly early (I’d like to estimate around 4am) we both woke up thinking: ‘are the beds moving? That’s weird’ but promptly went back to sleep and thought not much more of it. As it so happens (and this makes complete sense), I’d felt my first earthquake as one struck off the coast of north eastern Japan today. So this trip has had a typhoon, and and earthquake. Logically there is only one form of Japanese natural disaster still to come.

Retrospectively though the weather has not been that bad for us on this trip, save for our Hiroshima day which was truly torrential and a couple of oppressively hot days towards the end, it hasn’t really been all that bad. The typhoon changed our plans but had mostly blown away from Tokyo, and we had a few unexpected downpours of rain here and there, but nothing overly unmanageable.

I’m cheating a bit for today’s blog post by counting our activities last night as part of today (pretty much because today will be a very light on one). Last night we went to the Tokyo Dome to watch the Yomiuri Tokyo Giants take on the Hanshin Osaka Tigers.

The Tokyo Dome is an amazing venue, and actually for us the baseball itself was kind of secondary to the overall experience (for the record the Tigers easily beat the Giants 12 – 4). For me, the most incredulous thing (other than the fact that the entire Tokyo Dome is comfortably air conditioned) were the women who carry around kegs of beer and other beverages on their backs and go throughout the crowd selling their wares. There was even a woman who was serving Suntory Whisky! I also was really intrigued by the fact that, unlike back home, there didn’t seem to be any brand exclusivity. The women worked for a range of beer brands (Kirin, Suntory, Yebisu, Asashi) and soft drink companies (Asahi, Coke, Pepsi).

Also of great interest was the really loud and consistent support from the fans in terms of chanting. I must admit that the Tigers fans easily had the Giants fans covered in this area as well, having chants for individual players, when their team scored or got on base and then just chants for general play as well.

The variety of good vendors was decent too, although pricier than many where else (it seems like stadium prices are a thing worldwide). What really annoyed me was as we were lining up to go in seeing all the people who were bringing in their own drinks (including alcoholic beverages) and snacks. This never would have occurred to me. So expensive stadium food it was then!

All in all, the baseball, which I had been looking forward to a long time before the trip was a….

This morning, post earthquake shakes, we had a bit of a lie in and then we packed (well, my wife packed, I only succeeded in breaking the popcorn container we’d bought the day before). After packing and checking out of the hotel we set out for Ginza.

Ginza is a super up market, super expensive area in Tokyo. Basically Cartier is your ‘simple’ shopping in Ginza. We had stayed at the Mercure in Ginza on our last trip (it was a pretty decent and affordable hotel) and returned so that we could go to a particular chocolate shop to get some particular chocolates that we’d bought last time. The chocolate shop was still there but alas, the chocs were not. This being a bit of a bust we stopped at a cafe, contemplated what to do and decided on returning to Tokyo Dome City as we really did not have the time or energy to devote to exploring a new area of Tokyo. Back at Tokyo Dome City we had an overly filling lunch and simply wandered around it a bit more.

Now we’re back at the lobby of the hotel just killing a bit of time before going to get our flight later. I’ll probably do a bit of a debrief blog tomorrow, likely after I get my cat back. Sayonara Japan, G’day Oz.

Day 12: Nihon-Minkaen and Ikebukuro

From one extreme to the other. A bit windy and rainy last night, but not quite the super typhoon we were fearing. Today though was definitely the hottest day we’ve had over here. I’m actually glad it hasn’t been all sunshine and no clouds this holiday because the sun basically reflects off of the concrete and into your soul (hence the Latin word for sun being sol, yes?).

This morning we set out for Nihon-minkaen in the Kawasaki district, a 30 minute train ride on the Odakyu railway from Shinjuku station. Nihon-minkaen has a whole lot of older Japanese dwellings from all around Japan. I found out about it by accident when looking for a quick trip from Tokyo. I’m glad I found it because it was truly excellent and helped to somewhat fill the Takayama and Hida no Sato shaped hole in my heart from this holiday. The size of Nihon-minkaen was also quite surprising, so much so that, to me at least, all of the houses seemed to blend together. They were really interesting and, despite the heat, quite cool inside. One of the houses offered a hearth for you to sit around and relax, which I can’t imagine doing when it felt about 40 degrees (Celsius that is) outside.

From Nihon-minkaen and the oppressive heat in the area we sought to retreat to Ikebukuro and the shopping complex ‘Sunshine City’ which offered something a bit different and, despite the name ‘Sunshine City’ actually offered a good escape from the sun and into air conditioned comfort.

First things first though, and lunch was calling. Specifically, it was calling ‘Aloha’ for it was Hawaiian burgers time (I couldn’t consider eating Ramen or something like that on a day like today). And Mahalo to you burgers, for you were delicious.

Following lunch we did a bit of shopping and then discovered the insanity that is Namja town. You can buy admission for 500 yen or a ‘passport’ which covers entrance and rides/games for 3000 yen. We went with the admission only entrance because rides are not a huge draw card for us, though we did end up playing an air hockey game called ‘Pac Man Smash’. I think my wife beat me (which sucks) although we weren’t 100% sure if a higher score was better or worse. The game lit up quite excitedly for both of us, but I’m pretty sure she won. Namja town was just madness though, there was a large strip of different restaurants with a lot of creepily themed rooms for people to sit and eat in. Despite the fact that we only played one game, it was more than worth the price of admission.

Despite promising to ourselves that we would not go to the Calico Cat Cafe in Shinjuku again (not that it was bad, but we’d already done it last trip), neither of us could have predicted Nekobukuro! This was basically the Ikebukuro version of a cat cafe and man, cats are awesome. It’s such a uniquely Japanese thing, though I hear that others are popping up in places like Melbourne, and they make so much sense. All of the awesomeness of cats without having to actually own one. I still wouldn’t betray my cat though (I’m sorry Pippi, I’ll be home soon!).

There was still a lot left that we didn’t end up exploring in Ikebukuro (my feet were stuffed after all the walking we’ve done this trip), including an Aquarium (in a freaking shopping centre!), another amusement style park (J World – based on Dragonball Z and Naruto I think) and an Observation Tower (and today was the only real weather we could have actually seen a lot!)

We have tickets to go to the Baseball at the Tokyo Dome (let’s go Giants!) but I’ll probably end up writing about that tomorrow (or perhaps the day after depending on Internet availability) as we only have the one day left and there is not much planned for tomorrow except for a bit of a lie in and maybe some shopping as my holiday plan pretty much involves going back to work the day after we return home, so some rest would be good. I’m pretty excited for the baseball though.

Day 11: Yokohama – more like Yokoharder right?

Actually Yokohama was pretty good, I just wanted to start off with a truly awful pun. It’s not even really a pun, it’s just a crap play on words. I don’t even know what to call it (as clearly, I’m not that good with words).

So today was day two of our amended plans. It all sort of returns to normal tomorrow as, although I have some different activities planned, tomorrow was going to be a write off day that initially involved a lot of traveling. In lieu of being in Takayama today we thought we’d see something slightly different to Tokyo and made the short trip down to Yokohama. Despite being Japan’s second largest city and only 25 minutes from Tokyo, Yokohama is not high on many people’s ‘Places to See’ lists, but seeing as we had scored the extra day in the Tokyo region and have seen a lot of what we want to in Tokyo both this trip and last trip already, a short jaunt down to Yokohama seemed like just the thing.

The only thing that made this trip ‘Yokoharder’ was our need to use busses for a portion of the travel. I hate busses. Why is it that train lines have clearly identified maps that show you where the lines go, what order the stations are in, where you need to change etc., whilst busses have none of that? More importantly, trains are on rails, so how badly off course can you really go? Whereas a bloody bus could take you anywhere! The bus we took in Hakone was pretty straightforward, providing the traveller with an announcement of the upcoming stop both in Japanese and English, clearly spoken and written, so you knew when to notify the driver that you wished to get off.

The bus today in Yokohama made a conciliatory effort at doing something like that, but it was a half hearted attempt. Don’t be fooled by the above image that deceives you into thinking there is a clear map or easy to follow system of stops, there wasn’t. The English announcement was often after the stop or just as you arrived at it (if it was displayed or said at all) and the announcements, both in Japanese and English (and English was a rarity) required DareDevil esque hearing to pick up. In reality, the bus trip wasn’t too bad, paying with the Suica cards was easy enough and we were savvy enough to not miss our stops. Still, it intensified the levels of concentration required and associated stress enough to make the journey a bit unpleasant.

Anyway, after alighting from the bus we had found our way to Sankeien Gardens in Honmoko, Yokohama. The gardens are relatively new by Japanese standards, but I think that walking around them was a worthwhile experience. The gardens were quite pretty and then, the crowning moment, seeing a mother cat taking care of her kitten cat (kitten cat?) was mind blowing. Obviously the cat on cat affection is not guaranteed and should not be the main draw card of the gardens but, if you are not as anti-bus as I am (and they really aren’t as hard as I’ve made them seem), you should check out the Sankeien gardens if you happen to be in Yokohama.

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After visiting the gardens we got the bus again (yay!) to the Chinatown in Yokohama, apparently Japan’s largest Chinatown area. We just wandered around taking in the different sights. It’s interesting the completely different architectural styles and the stark contrast between Japanese structures, especially,traditionally styled ones and Chinese structures. It’s silly of me to say that of course, because the fact that two completely different cultures have huge difference should be of no surprise to anyone, but it still made for an interesting effect.

More important than wandering around and taking in the sights though was stopping and taking in lunch! Chinese barbecued pork, don’t mind if I do!

The two morning/early afternoon activities pretty much made up the main part of our day trip to Yokohama. We did do some (and by some, I mean a fair bit) of walking after that along the foreshore including the Yamashita park and the really interesting Red Brick Warehouses shops.

One final stop, and we couldn’t not go in, despite not really getting involved in the activities and not knowing Japanese was the Cup Noodle Museum. The room full of all of the different Cup Noodle Products throughout history and the little video demonstrating the thought conception behind cup noodles was worth the price of admission alone.

Overall Yokohama was pretty fun. I agree that it wouldn’t be a ‘must see’ as there are a lot of other a Tokyo day trips and things to see that I’d do first, but it was a pretty good way to spend an extra day in this area.

Day 10: A tale of two Japans – Kyoto and Tokyo

So today was the first ‘changed’ day in our schedule. Originally today we were meant to travel out to Takayama. However, due to the weather situation we decided to extend our stay at our hotel in Tokyo. Still, this morning we started out in Kyoto. It seems like I have effectively infected my wife with the chest infection I have had for a while. Seeing as I have adapted to this infection, I went out in the morning for a quick solo exploration of some temples in Kyoto I had not been to before. Sadly we never found time to go to Fushimi-Inari again, and this was probably the highlight of our last trip. That said, Kyoto this morning in the sun, even at 9am is some of the hottest weather I have actively been outdoors for (playing and watching cricket weather excepted). I started out by visiting Sanjusangendo, the temple with ‘1000 life size Kannon’. These life size Buddhist statues were somewhat impressive, but overall I was a bit let down, nay, bored by this temple. Maybe it was the fact that I was powering through the temple because I was on a schedule, or the fact that you couldn’t take any pictures inside (and I follow these rules, Sistine Chapel excepted) but I think my main issue was that I like a good Buddhist or Shinto temple to have a nice garden, and Sanjusangendo simply had an asphalt garden on approach. Insides of temple a don’t away me like the insides or churches or cathedrals in Europe so, so this temple didn’t really get to me.

Oh, side note: Last night I met a really cool dude who runs a donut shop as a side hobby in Kyoto. His ‘healthy’ donuts, which are soy based, ignore the fact that they are soy based and remained delicious. I think the copious amounts of sugar helped. Still, if you’re in Kyoto they’re just across from the Vista Premio Hotel, or around the corner from Loft on Karamawachi-Dori and they were pretty good. The guy was nice and good to chat to and I went back for more. Highly recommended. My three donuts cost less than my one cup of Starbucks tea.

Anyway, after Sanjusangendo I went to the Tofukuji temple. Now this was a temple I could appreciate. It was in such a large complex that I actually got lost trying to explore it. Again I was in a bit of a rush which is probably not the best way to try and see such places, but I particularly liked the checkerboard esque rock garden. The grounds of the temple were especially pretty. In a future visit I’d likely make a half day of seeing this temple and then walking down to Fushimi-Inari shrine.

After such a peaceful (though still hot) temple, the next portion of my day provided quite a contrast. The two experiences juxtaposed against each other in an interesting way. Following a check in to my next hotel, I went out to explore Akihabara, the somewhat seedy electric town in Tokyo. Here are a lot of video game memorabilia or any game you can think of to be had. Also, every store seems to double as sort of a purveyor of adult goods or adult ‘media’. If you so desire you can purchase pictures of Japanese women for 100yen (they’re not stripping or nude or anything, but you can buy their photos if you wish) or you could visit a maid cafe, buy a pretty much nude figurine or whatever. All I know is, if you’ve ever thought of or seen the ‘crazy’ super Japanese side of Tokyo, Akihabara is it.

Finally, to conclude the day was one of my more enjoyable nights out. Not just in Japan but in general. I went back to my favourite part of Tokyo, Shinjuku, to find a small establishment ‘Paddy’s Junction’. The reason: to watch the Rugby League State of Origin Game Three. I almost left early on because the proprietor was running a pretty unreliable and suspect stream of the game which dropped out every few minutes. However, I persisted and by halftime I’d met a nice couple from the UK who now lived in Brisbane, had had a good chat with the bartender/owner and met someone who, in all of the worlds craziest coincidences turned out to have gone to the same high school in Western Sydney that I went to, and in fact we probably overlapped at some point. The craziest part is that he lives in Japan now and, in one of those ‘it’s a small world after all’ situations we were able to talk about teachers we’d both had and common experiences. Shinjuku – I love you.

Day 9: Arashiyama

Thanks for all the new followers! I don’t know how much you’ll have to follow after my return home and debrief (I’m sure I’ll come up with something) but it’s nice to see other people who are interested in travel in Japan (I doubt anyone is here just because they’re interested in me).

Today the weather was the first day that properly felt like summer because it was pretty damn warm and humid all day. Can’t complain (and won’t) because we avoided any really significant rain today (cue the weather gods to come and get me for my folly after this). We set out for the Western Kyoto region of Arashiyama, an area we visited when we did a cycling tour last year but didn’t spend a lot of time in properly. We missed some of the ‘big sites’ today such as the bamboo grove and Golden Pavilion, again though, this is because we were here in October and wanted to see some different things.

What we ended up doing was fantastic. The combined Saga Scenic Railway with the Hozugawa River Cruise was incredible. This could be purchased from the JR Torroku station right next to the JR Saga-Arashiyama station. Both the train, boat cruise and bus transfer could be purchased from the station. The cost for the two of us was just shy of AUD $100 but it was well worth it.

First the Scenic Railway. It seems like every 2nd train in a mountain railway here in Japan is some form of ‘Romance Railway’ (can you feel the love tonight?), but I think so far of the trains we’ve taken the scenery from this one was the best. The open air nature of the train also lent a lot to the atmosphere it created.

At the end of the scenic train trip we got our bus transfer down to the boat pier. Soon we were on our boat, number 86 and were setting off down the river. This trip took about 1 hour and 45 minutes and I think I tried to take photos for most of that time. The scenery was incredible and, though it was pretty warm and I just wanted to jump into the river at some points to cool down, I can’t imagine how warm it was for the guys working the boat. Their skill, fitness and strength was impressive. Even more impressive was that whichever was in charge of rowing the boat (they rotated between rowing, steering and…poling?) was providing commentary and telling jokes the entire time. Alas, as I don’t speak or understand Japanese, none of the jokes or commentary made any sense to me, but this did not detract from the experience in the slightest. I’ll only put up a few pictures, but I’d almost have been willing to just make this whole blog post pictures of the boat cruise.

That done we had a quick bite for lunch right next to the Togetsukyo bridge and then we went to the Monkey Park! There is a bit of a trick to the Monkey Park in that it’s kind of up a hill. And by hill, I mean mountain. And you kind of have to walk up it. They trick you, because the entrance to the monkey park is at the bottom of the mountain, so you pay your 550 yen and do you think ‘well that was easy’, and then you walk up this massive hill and think ‘we’re almost there’ only to see a map and realise, you’re not almost there, you have a long way to go. That said, the Monkey Park at the top is pretty awesome. Feeding the monkeys was a lot of fun (even though they stink, and some fight and they have no qualms about running right past you or almost into you when they call each other or want to fight each other) and the views over Arashiyama and Kyoto were stunning. If you can handle a huge walk (and, like us, in pretty hot and humid weather), I definitely recommend a visit.

Also, walking back down, this cat on the path could not care less for you or your need to use the path. You’re on it’s turf, you play by its rules baby.

After the boat trip and the walk up to the monkey park we’d had a pretty long day already and were fairly tired. Still, we had one more stop in Arashiyama that we hadn’t covered previously. That was the Tenryuji temple and its delightful gardens. Some of the decorations within the temple were really impressive and the garden was nice and serene. We sat for a bit on the temple and just chilled for a bit. I get zen and relaxation after seeing all these temples and the amazing places they are in. The best part about this temple is that it’s built on a flat. The geniuses decided not to put it up a hill like every other temple in Kyoto.

Train back to our hotel where I’m, well, doing this. Probably go to our favourite sushi place again for dinner (even though we went there twice last trip and have already been once this trip) and then a bit of an intermediate day tomorrow. A bit of time here in Kyoto in the morning before traveling to Tokyo where we may go to Akihabara in the afternoon. Weather reports still uncertain on what it will be like in a Tokyo or Takayama on Thursday and Friday. With the information we had at hand we still made the right decision, just means that from here on out I’m not following as much of a specified plan as before.

Day 8: Hiroshima

A bit of an unexpectedly stressful day today in a few ways. Firstly my flu/chest infection/god knows what that I’ve had for a bit has developed into more consistent coughing and a bit of light headed ness (I probably ought to see a doctor when I get home). Secondly it was torrential today in Hiroshima. Yesterday I made the when it rains, it pours joke regarding my newfound enjoyment of onsen. Today it was some of the worst weather I have ever been outside in (that’s and odd sentence). As such we had to amend our plans a little bit and spent less time exploring the Peace Park than I would have liked and had to skip the Shikkuen Gardens. Finally, due to the imminent arrival of ‘super typhoon’ Neoguri (which we only found out about today), we made the snap decision to cancel our trip to Takayama. I am bitterly disappointed about that as I was very much looking forward to seeing Takayama and Shirakawa-Go but in the end it seemed like the more sensible decision to amend our plans and return instead to Tokyo where the effects of the typhoon (I keep going to instinctively call it a cyclone) are supposed to be a bit less and where there are more inside alternatives available. From the looks of the weather report our whole time in Takayama on Thursday would have been a forced retreat inside anyway so I think the right decision was made given the information. Gives me another excuse to come back to Japan one day anyway.

Last night we had our ryokan meal which was nice and did a boat tour to the Itsukushima Shrine which was beautiful. Couldn’t really capture it with any justice in the pictures I’ve taken.

In the morning we checked out and set out for Hiroshima. When we got off the tram at the A-bomb dome I foolishly remarked: “the weather is not that bad”, at which point the weather gods turned on me (which also happened because after the first week I thought how lucky we’d been with the weather – cue super typhoon). We visited the Hiroshima Peace Park and the museum. I didn’t take a lot of pictures here because it wouldn’t have felt respectful. The museum was outstanding in terms of the message of peace and nuclear disarmament it is trying to get across and the marvelous way it presents the message to the public.

Next we took a taxi (see: weather) to Hiroshima Castle. I love a good castle, even if it is a reconstruction. However the weather and weather reports had put a bit of a dampener (Ha!) on how I was feeling so we didn’t spend a great deal of time there. We spent just enough time though for me to make a fool of myself.

Lunch time. Having heard about Okinomyakai, and hearing that it’s a specialty in Hiroshima, we went to Okinomimura to try some. I quite liked mine although not quite as much as I thought I might. It was kind of like a pancake meets kebab with a lot of cabbage, spring onions and noodles thrown in for good measure. It was a fun lunchtime though.

Back on the train the Kyoto where Australia’s deadliest predators struck. No, not the Great White Shark, or the Redback Spider, or the Brown Snake, but the Great (White) Idiotic Tourists. In Japan, things are quite orderly. Everything runs on time, people queue up. It works. People don’t loudly barge in front of a queue, hold everybody up trying to get on the train, run about the carriage trying to find your assigned seat and then carry on with conversations in a completely silent carriage. The gift of the Great White Idiotic Tourist though is that it can achieve all of these marvelous feats and more!

Back to Kyoto for an easy afternoon of shopping near the hotel and a friggen awesome Japanese hamburger steak dinner (if you come to Japan, Japanese hamburger steaks are a must) and now I’m trying to recover health wise and plan around the super typhoon and our amended accommodation and itinerary. Sucks to have to change it but you gotta roll with the punches, or something like that. Hopefully I can keep this blog varied. With the weather, who knows what we’ll get up to. I’m sure we will find something.

Day 7: Miyajima

After a bit of a poor showing yesterday (though let’s face it, even my poor showings are pretty solid), I’m hoping for a return to form today. My internet however is once again being a bit etch-a-sketchy which is not a major surprise given my beautiful surroundings.

Today began like many others have and a few more will, riding the rails. This time in the form of a Shinkansen bound for Hiroshima.

A pretty quick trip (less than 2 hours) and we pulled into Hiroshima station. Here we changed for the JR to Miyajimaguchi station. The rail network in Hiroshima was noticeably less advanced than others, or at the very least not as tourist friendly in offering language alternatives. But even the signage and vocal notification of what station you’re at was down from Kyoto and Tokyo (they still have Cityrail comfortably covered though).

Side Note: I just took a break from writing this blog to have another onsen relax. (When it rains men, it pours), and at this ryokan the onsen was incredible. Nice wood paneled interior (no, I’m not selling a car here). The best part was the outside portion of the onsen, contrasting the warm soaking water with the outside rain, nearby sounds of running water and the passing deer was simply sublime.

Anyway, after negotiating garbled announcements we made it to Miyajimaguchi where some light rain had just begun (the actual rain was yet to arrive) and we took the ferry full of people (mainly tourists, us included) across to Miyajima. I also came to the realisation that I really truly detest hearing the Australian accent overseas. It’s grating and it doesn’t make me feel comfortable or at home whatsoever. If anything it makes me question ‘do we really sound like that?’, ‘do I sound like that?’ (yea mate, ya do) and it really irritates me.

Arriving on the island of Miyajima we initially planned to walk around for a while before finding our accommodation. As luck would have it the shuttle service for our accommodation was arriving so we simply took that up to the ryokan. The bus wound it’s way up mountains, around backstreets and it seemed like we’d chosen somewhere that was in the middle of nowhere and miles away from anything. As it turns out, it is nicely in the middle of nowhere but not far from the main sites.

I’d almost rather not mention the next chapter but, for you dear readers I will not self censor every detail. The good must come with the bad (am I the ugly in that case?), and the truth must be told. We had an abortive expedition to Mt Misen. We paid our fairly large amount to get the return rope way journey up the mountain. However, partway through our first rope way portion we both realised just how much we hate rope ways and wanted to return. So we did, and as such, did not see the top of the mountain or the views from it. Not a major loss but admittedly a bit of a disappointment. For my part I wish I had researched a bit better in terms of cost and what was involved, and some better decisions could have been made. There’s a lesson for you. Do I get paid overtime for educating people on my holidays? (No is the answer there. With the way things are going, we’ll all be lucky to get paid at all, but enough politics).

The rope way adventure successfully aborted (can you successfully abort a mission? I suppose the Gallipoli withdrawal is counted as a ‘success’ even though it was a retreat, so yes), we made our way down to the shrines which dot the island. We first went to Senjokaku which is a huge open shrine/temple that you are able to walk around. From here we could see the large 5 storeys pagoda. It was a nice spot to sit and relax and unwind after the previous hour.

I almost forgot our foods on sticks! My wife had roasted corn on a stick (boring! But probably quite tasty) and I went with the deep fried oysters on a stick (less boring! Pretty tasty, the jury is still a bit undecided though).

We wandered around for a while just checking out different shops and the area around the main shrine (we were waiting for high tide) before stopping for proper lunch (not stick lunch).

It was raining fairly heavily at this stage (and was to rain heavier later – I have only just realised that the “wet season” is not just a clever name, who knew? – that said, the temperature today was pretty good and the rain actually served to make everything look beautiful) and we made an unplanned stop at Miyajima aquarium. This is a pretty small scale aquarium, and I felt a bit bad for the otters who were on display at their living quarters were not that large (I will never pass up a chance to see otters though, if I was insanely rich, I wouldn’t have tiger cages Mike Tyson style or monkeys Michael Jackson style (Also what is it with “Mike’s” and animals?), I’d have a huge otter park with like a dozen otters that had room to run around and swim around and just go nuts. It would be otter mayhem! Yes, I did just do a terrible pun and a bracket within a bracket – bracketception. The aquarium had some kinky eels I had never seen the likes of before.

Next stop in the increasingly heavy rain was Daisho-In temple, a Buddhist temple at the foot of Mt Misen. As I mentioned previously, it was bucketing down now, though the atmosphere this created, coupled with the scent of incense and the sounds of running water and the drumming of a ritual is enough to make anyone at least somewhat spiritual.

Finally our last stop before returning and actually checking in to the ryokan was the Itsukushima shrine with its famous Torii gate over the water, the shrine itself also being elevated. The Torii gate was not precisely a surprise, it is the most recognizable symbol of Miyajima island and viewable from practically anywhere. The tide was not a particularly high one today though it was worthwhile going at high tide and seeing the water, in part, come up to the shrine. Words don’t adequately describe places like this (well, they probably do, my words don’t) and I’m not an expert photographer so you’ll kind of just to accept my word that it was great.

I think I’ll just try and chill out now. Tonight will be a ryokan dinner (not our first ever), and hopefully a night boat tour around the floating Torii gate. Tomorrow we head to Hiroshima proper to check out the Peace Park, Castle and other areas (depending on time and tiredness) before returning to Kyoto.

Day 6: A Pilgrim’s Progress to Kyoto

Just before we leave Hakone and the wonderful Fujiya Hotel, I finally manned up last night (and also nuded up) and had an onsen bath. It was pretty damn relaxing, though early I had the weird balance of trying not to be a creepy perve, but also trying to determine the precise process I should be undertaking. A bit of pre onsen online research helped a bit with this endeavor.

Today was dominated in large part by travel. Leaving Hakone relatively early to get a Shinkansen to Kyoto. The train was quick and comfy, I took the time to catch some extra shut eye. I’d also taken the opportunity to pre book a lot of reserved seating for future travel. I’ve got tickets for days.

Arriving in Kyoto we checked in and then took the time to visit our favourite sushi restaurant from last time. 137 yen for any plate. What a freaking bargain. And delicious.

Then a bit of wandering into an area we somehow missed last time, the Gion district (I also apologise if this blog post is not up to scratch, my mind is similarly wandering a bit tonight). The Gion district had a real old world feel about it and has helped to increase our anticipation of Takayama.

Up from Gion to the Kodaji temple. We skipped Kiyomizudera temple this time as we went in our last trip in October and did not really have the time, nor the inclination to ascend the huge incline, to see the temple. Kodaji had its own fair share of steps and hills but I thought it was quite beautiful and relaxing.

Back to the hotel and then to a couple of nearby shopping arcades and Nishiki market to just check things out and have a couple of nibblies here and there. Kyoto was packed today, it’s easy on holiday to lose perception of days of the week and we’d forgotten that today was a Saturday.

Last for today was dinner and dessert. Despite our best intentions to not spend a fortune on food, we went to the Pontocho area for dinner and had a great, grill your own meat experience. The meat strips were fantastic, magnificently marbled and the meal was more than worthwhile. We returned afterwards to the worlds greatest selection of parfaits (alas, I don’t know the name of the store). A big trip ahead of us tomorrow. Hopefully will still have Internet.

Day 5 – Round the Twist, Hakone Round Course

So I have to begin today’s blog by finishing off yesterday’s. We ended up having dinner in the Hotel’s French Restaurant last night. It was ridiculously expensive but also pretty delicious. Once I got over being a worry wart about spending oodles of money on food (instead of spending less money on noodles), the dinner itself was a fun experience and it was interesting to dine in a grand dining room with nice views of the hotel itself (which is a beautiful structure). The menu was only in French and Japanese. The benefit of a French menu is that I could at least guess what the meal was. I’m pretty sure mine was “Sole with a sauce made of 75% butter and 25% cream”. My wife had the beef ragout which was itself quite amazing.

I did however chicken out on my attempted onsen experience. I went down there, started stripping down and then noticed that the onsen was chokka-block with…..people. And they were cleaning in a way unfamiliar to me and a bit intimidating in that I didn’t want to make a big fool of myself. Proverbial tail between my legs, I retreated back to my room to have a traditional ‘western’ bath (that is to say, bath for a party of one). At least the hot water was from the hot springs, so that was nice. (Also I bought a beer from a vending machine to enjoy with my bath, so it really was a party for one).

Today started with a decent buffet breakfast and a really neatly presented omelet, mine (if I ever make them – which I don’t), resemble, well, not something pleasant. This one just looked incredible. Watching the chef make it was a show in and of itself.

Following breakfast we took the Tozan train up to our first stop on the round course (and Free with the Hakone Freepass), Gorky Park.

Ugh, damn typos. I meant Gora park (a bit less depressing than the bleak Russian alternative). You’ll notice a lot of typos on this blog. I’ll blame my iPad, the inconsistent internet and my fat fingers, not my lack of proof reading. After walking up a friggen massive hill, we made it to the park, which was quite pretty and pretty quiet too.

The next step was riding the cable car and the rope way. Unlike the worlds steepest railway and rope way back home, this cable car and rope way actually takes you to places. (I ain’t hating on the mountains, just observing. Come at me council! – actually, please don’t – I’m sorry, I love you guys).

The rope way freaked me out in concept (I hate heights), but it was a fun journey. The fog meant we did not see Fuji (though we did see Fuji kit kat cheesecake!) but it has really good views nonetheless.

At the rope way changeover we went to Owakudani where there is a lot of bubbling hot springs and the remnants of the volcano that the Hakone region inhabits. Best of all, black eggs! These are eggs that are cooked in the volcanic waters (not eggs that are the outsiders of the bunch) and have their exteriors turned black. We bought some at the top of the walk and then enjoyed our eggselenct (I’m sorry) snacks. My wife had some trepidation regarding the black eggs at first, but she came around. The eggs were really hot though, and peeling them was difficult. I shared a fun moment with a Japanese tourist where we both expressed our surprise at how hot the eggs were, but not in the same language.

Down the rope way to Lake Ashinoko where we caught the faux pirate ships (the best kind) across to Hakone-machi. For today, we decided to do the sensible thing and actually stop to get lunch. I had a delicious curry udon meal. I don’t know what was in it, but, like a tasty meat pie, that’s not the question to ask. It was good.

After lunch we walked to the Checkpoint Museum (I suppose it’s called that), which was mostly in Japanese but had some funny displays that had sounds acted out – I liked the fake stable. From what I gathered, this was a reconstruction on the site of an old checkpoint between Edo (Tokyo) and the south. One display in English mentioned that females were particularly scrutinised to stop female hostages (who were often exchanged between daimyos) from escaping. After the Checkpoint we took a stroll through a Cedar avenue (which was pretty sodden underfoot) and then a bus ride back to the hotel. The bus ride was good except for the random whities (not us) hitting the button not at their stop and stuffing it up for everyone, also helping to give tourists a bad name. (Which is why I hate tourists when they visit where I live).

A pretty nice slow pace today, we enjoyed tea back at the hotel and will wander out somewhere for dinner later. Tomorrow will mostly consist of our travel down to Kyoto and just sort of wait and see what we end up,doing. The day after we head down to Hiroshima and Miyajima, so we have a bit of traveling to do. The road meanders (as they say on the buses here in Hakone) on and on.

Day 4 – Up to the Misty Mountains – Hakone

Sketchy internet here readers! It’s entirely possible that I’ll lose all of this progress. My mobile internet is working to view websites and social media (like OMG, imagine if that didn’t work) but WordPress really didn’t like it. I’ve made my way done to the lobby to leech their wifi, so far, so good.

Today we left Shinjuku 😦 and took the Odakyu Romance Car down to Hakone. The idea was for us to leave our hotel with plenty of time, have a nice leisurely time for breakfast and then an easy trip down here. Well, leaving early (my wife’s idea) was in fact a brilliant idea because I got us lost in Shinjuku station trying to find the Odakyu portion. At one point the signs required us to go through a ticketed section, and I was too foolish to realise that I needed all four tickets (reservations + free passes), not just one. So we walked out and around Shinjuku station, which was quite a mission and makes my Lord of The Rings allusion in the title all the more telling.

The RomanceCar itself was ok, but our giant luggage does not make for a comfortable trip. We then (mainly me) got quite stressed on the packed Tozan car to our little station. The old switchback train is nice for sightseeing, but not nice with huge luggage and a sardined in carriage that you can’t see a clear way to get out of. We avoided bringing big luggage to Japan last time because I knew it would be difficult to cart around, but then we ended up having to buy more luggage to bring our goods home. I refuse to buy more luggage again. That said, all the stress and worry was for nothing and we made it fine to our hotel.

And what a hotel. Japan’s oldest apparently. Has had guests including the Imperial Family, the Swedish royals, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas MacArthur (after the war) and John Lennon, who is best known for his famous quote: “You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not.” (Thank you Dinner for Schmucks for that gem).

We went up a couple of stops to the Hakone Open Air museum, the only real ‘site’ I had planned for us to visit today. The museum features a lot of sculptures (outside, hence the name, it’s not just a clever title). The sculptures were fascinating, and we both found the Picasso exhibit a bit unimpressive (he draws like a child, yes that’s the point but c’mon man – I’ll note this was not my observation, but I mostly agree).

The museum was where we had a brief ‘lunch’ as we had not yet really had a proper meal at all during the day. The museum gift shop after also had the best jigsaw puzzle I’ve ever seen (and bought), but there’ll be more on that in the post trip gift/goods recap. Also I almost forgot the best part – relaxing with their free foot bath hot springs. That was awesome. My funky toes in particular need a bit of loving. I don’t treat them right. More like poordiatry – am I right?

After that, back to the hotel – not before seeing the cutest and cheekiest primary school kids on the train. The hotel itself has been a big part of today. Went for a great swim in the indoor pool and for a stroll in their gardens. I was going to blog later about my hopeful nuding up, having dinner at the French restaurant here and using the onsen. Hopefully you figured out that’s not quite the order I plan to do those activities in.

Tomorrow we’ll be out and about a bit more exploring around the Hakone region. Hopefully I can recap dinner and my onsen experience (if I man up for it) then.