Homeward bound

And now we board the plane bound for DC. Finally caught up to the blog as they call our flight!

See you all at home!

Mount Fuji

If there was one place that this three month trip should have ended, it's Mount Fuji. We stayed in the little village of Kawaguchiko in the shadows of the tallest mountain in Japan. Only made it there for one night, but it was worth every minute. We took a bus up to the 5th stage, which is just below where the snow begins. Climbing the rest of the way is not permitted until late June, but we got the picture.

The great Fuji-san

Saved for a rainy day

Our next stop in Japan was the sleepy town of Takayama. We picked Takayama because it was a smaller town and we wanted to get off the tourist track for a couple days, stay in a classic Japanese ryokan, and maybe make some room for some onsen. The town was a great stop and would have actually been a great leaping off point for some mountain hikes (it's the gateway to the Japan Alps), but the rain kept us indoors, focusing on eating, sleeping, and the occasional onsen.

Takayama has a couple streets lined with shops like this one specializing in homemade sake and wood crafts.

Some mountains in the distance.

The ryokan included dinner and breakfast. Both were feasts. This is the beginning...

and this is the end.

A night in Nara

Next stop on the trail was in Nara, which is just 45 minutes south of Kyoto on the train line. It’s another cultural hotspot with many temples and shrines exhibiting Japanese heritage. We hit the highlights here, visiting the world’s largest wooden building (distant cousin of the Phoenix at Knoebels, world’s largest wooden rollercoaster circa 1990) and climbing Wakakusayama Hill to get the birdseye view of the city. Nara is also home to hundreds of tame deer that just roam the roads and grow fat eating crackers that vendors sell to tourists to feed them. We just hope these deer never make any plans to visit their American relatives in late September – that would be a true culture shock.

Right up there with the Phoenix for best wooden structures in my book. Not sure who my friend on the right is, but nice of her to smile at the camera.

Pretty common for Japanese schoolchildren to approach us and interview us in English for a school assignment. The peace sign is up in every single picture without fail.

We liked this guy - he claimed half our cracker packet.

Next time we’re going to need an onsen on the Shinkansen

From Tokyo we boarded the Shinkansen to Kyoto. The Shinkansen is a series of high speed bullet trains that run throughout Japan connecting all of the major cities. Then there are many other “rapid” or local trains that connect smaller cities and towns. Travel in Japan versus most of the rest of Asia is like being upgraded from Economy to First Class, and being given a map to boot. We invested in a 7-day rail pass, which means you can go anywhere you want in the country by train without buying a ticket – Japan is our oyster.

Kyoto was once the capital of Japan and is now considered the cultural capital. Proof of this title lies in the tourist map, which lists no less than 13 temples, 3 shrines, and a castle – all a “must-see.” We saw many of them by foot and bike over a couple days, but missed the castle due to a temporary [?] loss of direction.

Another timeless Japanese tradition is the onsen. Onsen are natural hot springs that serve as public baths. The term baths is used loosely here because you actually shower before going into the bath; it’s really more of a spa but bigger and absolutely no clothing is permitted. We took a few minutes to discard any inhibitions and then onsened with some members of the local 65+ crowd. For anyone who is curious, the bath was not coed (though they do exist).

The Shinkansen. Looks like a ride at Space Mountain.

A few Geisha making their way around the Gion neighborhood.

Kamo River running down the heart of Kyoto. I thought the DC canal path was a good running trail but this one kicks it up a notch.

How clean is Japan? This guy is sweeping leaves off of the moss.

The requisite temple pic. This one of the Golden Temple.

Going Once, Going Twice, Sold!

The second full day in Tokyo started at the crack of dawn. Or maybe before. But that’s what it takes to see the institution which is the Tsukiji Fish Market. At around five-thirty AM, you can watch them auctioning off the gargantuan, man-sized tuna just as they have for at least a hundred years. And they don’t mess around. They sell an entire warehouse of these 150-lb. bad-boys in about 20 minutes. And that’s just one of many warehouses filled with both fresh and frozen giant tuna. After the auction, we walked around the rest of the market to survey the strange and interesting delicacies for sale, before settling down to the freshest sashimi breakfast we’ve ever had. Wheaties doesn’t have anything on raw fish for breakfast.

Later that afternoon, Michael, Anne Marie, Russ and I headed to Ryogoku to see the day of Sumo matches. Talk about soaking in some Japanese culture. Sumo is about 10% sport and 90% ritual, but that adds up to 100% entertainment. Luckily, Michael and Anne Marie could fill us in on some of the significance of the wrestlers’ actions (e.g. throwing salt is to purify the ring). It was really interesting and we were fortunate to be in town while the May tourney is happening since they only have a few throughout the year. We’re just wondering when this is going to catch on at home?!

One of many rows of freshly caught tuna. The rear fins are cut to expose the flesh and let the buyers check out the quality of the meat.

A circle of finely tuned athletes preparing to sumo.

Don the Hapi and cheer for Yomuri

We arrived in Tokyo after a quick 5-hour flight from Hong Kong, took the shuttle from the airport downtown and hopped in a cab to reach Michael and Anne Marie’s place. No worries that the cabbie—who I might note was wearing a suit, white gloves, and had a cleaner car than I do—did not speak English because he could just plug the address into his GPS and we could watch the path en route—genius!

We were thankful to have the hospitality of Michael and Anne Marie who knew about several fun cultural events going on in Tokyo while we happened to be in town. The first morning we all, including their adorable six and three-year old daughters, donned Hapi coats and paraded through the streets of Tokyo following the shrine in the Kanda festival. It was really interesting to see this annual event—and even if we didn’t understand the chants, it was fun to clap along! That afternoon, Russ and I headed to the Tokyo Dome to see the Yomuri (Tokyo) Giants take on the Chunichi Dragons. The organized cheering that went on during the game was like nothing we’d ever seen—at one point the fans kept up one cheer for about a half-hour with no rest!

That night we had an interesting culinary experience—ordering a restaurant meal through a vending machine! Step 1: Insert Yen into vending machine. Step 2: Make dinner selections. Step 3: Hand tickets to maitre d’ and sit down to wait for food. It doesn’t get much more efficient than that. And, more importantly, the food was delish! The Japanese really take vending to a whole new level. About every 20 meters or so on the street you see a vending machine, similar to what you have in your office lunch room, except you can get all sorts of cold and hot drinks, ice cream, even ramen, and now dinner!

Shinto followers carrying the shrine in their Hapi coats. A great cultural experience and the participants were happy to see us outsiders joining in their celebration.

Michael and us during one of the breaks of the parade.

Post-game after the Giants pulled off an 8-7 nailbiter with Sakamoto hitting a 3-run shot in the bottom of the 8th. Definitely an exciting game for the home crowd.