The funniest thing that happened before we left on our trip for 2 weeks to Japan was the number of times people would ask "why are you going there?" I wouldn't have thought it was
such a strange choice for a destination, and it certainly didn't prove to be. When we first decided on Japan, we didn't have a whole lot of ideas about what we were going to do, but as we planned, there was more and more we wanted to squeeze into our 2 weeks. We would have happily had more time, if our wallet could have handled it!
There has ended up being so much to write about, I've split my blog out into separate posts on:
And of course the photos here.
Our trip started off with one night in Osaka. As a tourist destination Osaka didn't have a lot of promise, but on reflection it would have been our favourite big city. And without many big attractions, we got to just enjoy our first day in a very foreign city, wandering in and taking in all the difference. The first thing that struck us was the cleanliness. Everything is just spotless. In our whole of 2 weeks, I cannot recall once seeing a piece of litter, food or even cigarette butt (and they're all smoking) on the street. No tagging either. It was quite refreshing, if maybe a little sterile. But you also had a feeling of safeness you'd never get in a Western city.
It didn't take me long to make my first big faux pas. We were only dropping our bags off at our hotel and we used the toilet on the ground floor. This was my first introduction to a Japanese toilet, which come complete with a control board something akin to Captain Kirk's command chair on the USS Enterprise. Faced with this I wasn't quite sure how to flush the bloody toilet. Somewhat unwisely, I took to just randomly hitting the buttons hoping for the right result. Well, I got a result alright. Suddenly, a rod started to extend itself from the back of the toilet. A second later I'm taking evasive action as a jet of water flies past my head and hits the opposite door a meter behind me and about 5 feet up! Worst off all, I couldn't work out how to turn it off. I ended up having to close the lid and then must have finally struck the right button to turn it off. There was water everywhere. (Obviously I had mistakenly hit the bidet button, also after I had increased the water pressure to maximum. But anybody who uses a jet of water that powerful to clean their backside must have serious problems!)
Slinking off we went about exploring Osaka. Some places were strangely empty and quiet. But then others would be a throng of people. We also discovered that Japanese cities have a whole underground - literally. In the centre, just about any street you are walking along will likely have another street beneath - complete with shops, restaurants, offices, etc. Topside, the Japanese city is an eclectic mix of box-like buildings of varying heights and ages, all lined up next to each other, squeezing into the block and battling for space (of which there is none).
We also found our way to the first of many markets - which every city seems to have. Here we had our first delicious sushi experience (sashimi to be more exact, served by who must have been Andre the Giant's Japanese twin brother) and the fried octopus balls that Osaka is famous for (yes, they are as weird as they sound).
Later that day we made out way to the tallest building Osaka and the viewing deck to watch the sunset, but when the real lights of the city come on. On the way though, we past some weird Michael Jackson tribute 'thing' going on in the plaza. It seemed that is was an open event to come along dressed in your best Wacko Jacko outfit and bring out your best King of Pop dance moves in front of the crowd. It was a shame we didn't get the invite...
Later that night we just wandered around the nightlife district, taking great amusement from the fashion on show and had the best Ramen ever (more in that in the Food post). It was a great first day, and I felt like if we were going home the next day already the experience was worth it.
However, the next day we weren't going home, but were instead taking a 2 hour train ride to Koyasan, a mountain plateau, home to a famous Buddhist cemetery and a number of Monasteries you can stay the night at, which is what we were doing. The cemetery was very cool - an eerie mix of tall cedars, long shadows, and overgrown stone statues and monuments - that you easily lost yourself in for a couple of hours.
You could also lose yourself in the Monastery we were staying in. Lots of twists ands turns, and numerous different slippers you were suppose to wear and not wear in certain places. It was hard to keep tract. The small number of young monks run the Monastery, being very polite and precise. Though I don't think the life of a monk is one for us. The vegan meals were extremely bitter, and I don't think Anna could have repeated the 6am wake up for prayers.
The next day we travelled back and made our way to Kyoto, where we had 3 nights. Kyoto is all about the temple experience.We must have visited about 15 in the time we were there. Japanese travel from all over the visit these temples, though we seemed quite lucky in that they did not seem overly busy. It seemed that we had timed our trip just prior to when the Fall colours really came out. Which meant that we probably didn't see the temples in all their splendour, but at least we got to see them! The temples were pretty impressive with their ornate buildings and manicured gardens. Very zen. Though, by the end of the 3 days we were ready to put the tick alongside "temples".
We also managed a day trip out to discover the Saga District in Northwest Kyoto, maybe our highlight and not even mentioned by the Lonely Planet. There was also the Gion District, which was a strange mix of Parnell and Fort Street. Looked wealthy and high end, but had an underlying dodgy feel to it. At night, there were lots of young guys standing around in suits, seemingly standing guard outside their 'establishment', and attractive young girls tarted up and strutting about amongst the predominately businessmen crowd.
From Kyoto we started our tiki tour through the Japanese Alps on our way through to Tokyo. Our first stop was Kanazawa, which lies on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Anna had booked us to stay in our very own traditional Japanese townhouse right in the middle of the historical district. It was amazing, little nooks and crannies, stairwells and rooms (though it should be noted that when Anna booked it she thought the price was for both of us and not per person!). Kanazawa itself was an awesome little city as well. It has one of the most famous gardens in all of Japan, which was quite spectacular. There was also a Castle Park, where a friendly old man talked us through its history and enthusiastically told us how Pohutukawas were his favourite tree after visiting New Zealand. We also stumbled across an art gallery with some fun exhibits.
We also had our first public bath experience. We trotted off that night to the neighbourhood bath, not quite sure what it was all about. The baths are split into male and female, though the desk of old woman who managed it looked into both changing rooms. We certainly stuck out, being about 100 years younger than everyone else in there, and our skin a 100 shades lighter. Tentatively watching others, you pick up that you are meant to wash ourselves first before jumping in the baths. It was a little unnerving though being obviously scrutinised to see if you were washing yourself enough. After I had removed the dirt, sweat and about 3 years worth of skin growth, I dared to jump into one of the baths. After jumping in the bath I wished I had hat skin back, as the water was scorching! It is then a little odd just sitting there with others in the bath, being stared at. I was fortunate in that it was very quiet on the men's side, Anna later told me that the women would keep on saying something and all start laughing. A bit of fun nevertheless.
After our bath we headed out to try and find dinner. We passed a place not far from our townhouse that from the sounds of things was pretty busy and would be suit us. Stumbling in we found ourselves in a small smoky Izakaya bar with about 40 men (no women) drinking and eating, who all stopped and turned to look at us. Before we had a chance to think twice, two spots at the bar we were for us and we were ushered in. Struck up a bit of 'conversation' with the guy next to me. When I say conversation, that pretty much means some acknowledgement of "rugby" and "bungy" once they learn we are from New Zealand (it seems that is what we are known for). He also tried to start buying rounds for us, but by the time I had finished each of my beers he seemed to have hardly started - but he seemed to be getting drunk nonetheless (the Japanese really can't handle their alcohol).
On the other side of us, the guy let us try his cold soba noodles. Something we might not have tried otherwise, but after that something we tried to track down. It ended up being a fun night. I think Anna being in there was a bit of a novelty. The draught Sapporo tasted good (especially after that bath) and grilled skewers tasted good - though we got home smelling like a grill ourselves.
The next day we were heading into the Alps proper and the World Heritage village of Shirakawa-go. The area experiences some of the heaviest snow in all of Japan and so the houses are constructed to withstand these elements, with steeply-sided thatched roofs. Despite the practical uses, for us tourists they are just pretty, and you have the opportunity to stay in one of these 'Gassho'. And the benefit of staying is that the tourist buses all head out at 5pm and you nearly have the place to yourself (well, at least until the next day's buses arrive at 7.30am).
Getting there was quite spectacular as well, the Japanese not taking mountains as any obstacle in taking the straightest line to their destination. Why they need this highway through what is a very sparsely populated area I am not sure, but it was hard not to be impressed, especially by one of the tunnels that was 11.4km long! The shame of State Highway 1...
After our night in our little Gassho, falling asleep to the sound of the river and sweating it out on the heated floor, we moved onto the city of Takayama. Takayama contained a very relaxed historical district that was just pleasant to wander amongst the dark wood paneled houses. We just enjoyed the vibe of this city and enjoyed wandering around.
Takayama was also a good spot for which to visit Kamakochi National Park, which we did the next day. The day before we thought we had cleverly organised at the Takayama Tourist Office to be able to drop our bags off at the tourist office of the small Onsen (spa) town we were staying at on the fringe of the National Park before our bus continued on. It was a tight thing, as we had to run the bags across to the office before the bus carried on. When I went to drop the bags off the old man in the office has absolutely no English whatsoever. After more time than we could afford to take and Anna holding the bus up across the road, I finally organised it all (or I hoped I had!) and we could continue on do our hike.
We had decided to take the Shin-hotaka Cable Car halfway up one side a range and then hike up over the 2385m pass before descending down into the main valley of the National Park on the other wise. Though when we tried to buy one way tickets at the Cable Car the guy looked at us like we were crazy because we didn't have enough kit with us for an ascent of Everest. This was even after we showed him our hiking boots and bag with jackets, food and water. It was only a 4 hour hike for gods sake! But us we saw later on, the Japanese don't do such things by halves. Even for a short stroll along a riverbed they seem to be prepared with enough tramping gear for the onset of Armageddon.
Though for most in the cable car, that seemed to be sum total of their adventure for the day. And did they enjoy it! Though the bi they seemed to enjoy the most was when they could wave at the people going back down in the reverse car.
Leaving the cable car, it was about a 1 hour steep hike up to the top of the ridge. Which doesn't sound much, but when you are setting off at an altitude above 2000m already, it's not your usually stroll up the hill. The 6km down the other side was easier on the lungs, but much harder on the legs. A real quad burner! Again it was very steep with some tricky scrambles. We had hardly seem anyone else, as just when we were thinking we were very intrepid, we meet a group of grandmas going the other way! There was some very difficult climbing ahead of them so it says a lot for the health of the elderly over there.
By the time we got to the bottom we were quite knackered. We had enough energy to walk around Kamikochi and along the river. It would have been nice to have more time (and drink more of the water - some of the finest I have ever tasted), but we were pretty keen on getting back to our accommodation and to the onsens! Some of the pools were ridiculously hot, but the setting was pretty awesome. Even if it was still hard to get used to wandering around the pools naked (they are gender split).
The next day we woke up to it absolutely pissing down. Which was great, as our day composed of traveling to our next destination. And we were especially it hadn't happened the day before as it would have ruined our plans for the hike. The first part was a bus trip to Matsumoto, through some ridiculous gorges when putting a road shouldn't have even been possible. We had a couple of hours in Matsumoto before our train left, which was perfect to go check out the Matsumoto Castle. We took up the complimentary guide, I think a group of elderly who use it to practice their English. Found out plenty more than we would have otherwise, especially that that he needed to clean his teeth more!
Our next nights were in the Kiso Valley before heading to Tokyo. The two towns we were staying in - Tsumago and Magome - were old posts on the Nakasendo, a old highway from from the 17th century, and the towns have been kept in much of the same condition they would have been then. In Tsumago we were staying in a beautiful Ryoken (Japanese Inn) with the nicest hosts with an interesting background. None of the properties in Tsumago can be leased, sold or demolished. So when the current owner's grandfather passed away, he had to give up his banking career in Italy to come back and run the Ryoken, otherwise it would have had to be handed over to the government. Along with us, he had Spanish and Italian quests that night, and could speak to them all.
The next day it was sunny again, which was perfect as we had planned to hike the 8km between Tsumago and Magome (we actually got the bus to Magome with our gear and walked back) - a mix of the old Nakasendo highway and woodland paths. You were also meant to take a bell with you to warm off bears, but disappointingly we never saw one. Halfway along the hike we were ushered into a rest stop by some elderly Japanese walkers. The rest stop came complete with old man who served green tea and snacks (boiled peanuts and some delicious unknown berries). The Japanese group seem to be having a hoot trying to converse with us. It seemed we were fated to be but of the jokes of 70 year olds on this trip.
Arriving back in Tsumago we thought we had plenty of time for some lunch before catching the bus back. Only to get to the bus stop after taking our time to find out that it left back for Magome at 2.27pm and not 2.47pm as Anna had thought. Ended up being an expensive $50 mistake to get the taxi as that was the last bus of the day.
Where Tsumago had been nestled into a valley (and shrouded in mist on the day we arrived), Magome was perched down a hillside with a steep cobblestone street running up it. This was to be our last night at an Inn-type accommodation, and while we looking forward to having some variety from the provided for dinners and breakfasts (as good as they were), they did make things easy. But we had a special treat on our last night - the hosts gave lessons in traditional Kiso dance. We were the only gringos and there were no instructions in English, so we were limited to "left" and "right" and a lot of pointing at feet. It was all very amusing as we tried to join in the dance around the fire. I am sure there was plenty of context given as part of the instructions, but it was all lost on us.
We were now nearing the end of the trip, with just out 3 nights in Tokyo left. To get there were getting the chance to take the bullet train (Shinkansen) from Nagano to Tokyo. You don't really get the feel on traveling - except that the train seems to sway up and down rather and side to side - but making the 350km in around 1hr40min, it obviously is. But at $170 each, it wasn't cheap. Got me thinking that if we had such a service from Auckland to Wellington, would cheap-arse Kiwis actually use it (despite the ease at which it makes traveling). Disappointingly, didn't get the chance to see Mt Fuji, but did get to see the clouds that surround Mt Fuji.
Tokyo is a very cosmopolitan city. A much larger mix of Westerners than we had seen in any other cities, with obviously many living and working in the city. I felt Tokyo could have been world city, lacing the character we had observed though the rest of Japan. In retrospect I would have been happy to spend that time elsewhere.
Though there were a few gems. We took a trip out to the suburb of Shimokitazawa, only because there was a pub I wanted to visit. But the area itself proved to be very cool, lots of little clothes shops and cafes, and surprisingly for a Japanese city, low rise buildings.
We tripped around the main Tokyo areas, a ridiculous number of department stores and shops. There would be a giant Zara (or replace with name of any other department store of your choice) and then four blocks down he road there would be another Zara. There was some pretty stunning architecture though, you can't ignore the modernity that Tokyo exudes.
One experience not to miss in Tokyo is a visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market. This place is huge - blocks and blocks and blocks of fish. There was a lot of fish! I guess when you are feeding a city with a population of 12m fish eaters, you need to. But wandering around this place you can't help but feel that the fish is fucked! Of course, we probably didn't help by going to one of the small sushi restaurants alongside the market. But when in Rome...
Our last day and we had a little rain again. We were very lucky as the time of year can see a lot of rain, but we had great weather for most of the trip. There was one funny episode before we left. Walking around the Harajuku district, I noticed a bunch of Japanese guys taking weird close up photos along the street. I started talking to one of them to find out they w
ere celebrating the 5 year release of this camera they were using. All a bit weird. But then they ask if they can take photos of me, and next thing I know there is a line up of then snapping away, making me look like some kind of celeb wandering the streets of Tokyo!
And that was pretty much that. An awesome couple of weeks that gave us the taste for wanting to come back. We'd have to start saving though, it would be one of the most expensive places we have visited. At one stage it seemed as if we were taking out 50,000 yen a day, the equivalent of $850! We also probably need to study up on our Japanese a bit more, though we did well with our 2 and a half words. Except Anna of course, who made a habit of walking up to people and saying "arigato" ("goodbye").
Sayonara
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