Events

We're baaack! Spent the last couple nights in Hakone, close to Mt Fuji in an old-school typical Japanese Inn called a ryokan. Of course, there was no internet but it was simply amazing and something you have to experience. We were nestled in a little valley and had to take a 6min cable car down to our inn, where we were treated with the utmost respect and taken care of by the cutest old lady who spoke no english but was always trying to explain things to us and we were doing our best with our Japanese phrasebook.

• Took the shinkansen 2.5 hours to Odawara and from there took an old railway up the mountain to Miyanoshita where our ryokan, Taiseikan, was located. We were checked into their 100-yr-old suite, as they knew we were celebrating our 1-year anniversary, and we had the perfect view of the mountains and rushing river below us.

• The room had tatami mats where we sat and (tried to) kneel/sit while being served our kaiseki (Japanes set meal) dinner/breakfast each day. Our dinners were seriously meant for kings/queens. The first night, we had something like a 10-15 course meal full of Japanese dishes, some we recognized, some we didn't but we devoured them all. One of them was like a giant clam that (we think) was still alive as it was cooking under a hot plate while we ate the other dishes. The second night we had shabu shabu and shared 10 pieces of beef plus a whole slew of other dishes. VERY VERY good, and the breakfasts we were served always set us up for a long day of sight-seeing and travelling. Mama-san, the cute old lady who was always our waitress, always amazed me by setting the dishes in a set way for both of us, each dish had it's own location, and then carrying away the dirty dishes when she left. I am truly amazed at the service we get and how much pride all Japanese people take in their work...love it!!

• On our full day in Hakone, we had to take a variety of different types of transportation to actually get to Hakone from our ryokan. A combination of old railway cars, two cable cars across the mountains, and a 30 min ride aboard a pirate-looking ship across Lake Ashi was what it took to get to Hakone. Trust me, the travel to Hakone was much better than Hakone itself, lol, but we did only have 2 hrs in the area before we had to leave and catch our dinner back at the ryokan.

• We had public bath and private bath at our ryokan - meaning public and private hot springs. AMAZING EXPERIENCE! Everything we though about a hot spring we had - hot water (not warmed by any artificial means) piped from the mountain, rock/garden surroundings. The public bath was quite the experience too as you had to go buck-naked into the main area share by other people (men and women were separated though) and use a little stool and tabo to clean yourself before going in. And the water is scalding hot! Seriously, you have to try an onsen if you are in Japan...

• At one of our stops on the way to Hakone, we stopped at a natural sulphor-emitting place where it stank like rotten eggs and there was smoke coming out of the mountain. But we had these black eggs that supposedly gave us 7 yrs of happiness!

• If you are ever in Japan, you must visit the country/outskirts, get away from the city for a bit and try a ryokan. Taiseikan, in Miyanoshita, highly recommended!

• Again, pics will be posted when we get back..or next month when my monthly upload limit resets..

Now we're back in Tokyo, bright lights, big city and spending the weekend until Tuesday here. One last hurrah in Tokyo before coming back to O CANADA! I think today we will try to go to Roppongi or Shinjuku and tonight we will try to have a drink at the bar featured in Lost in Translation...

• Took the subway/JR special express to Kyoto station (trust me, if you can do luggage forwarding service, it might be worth it - imagine lugging around 2 full-size luggages down stairs in the middle of Union station at rush hour..)..and onto Hotel Okura, right in the middle of Kyoto and a central starting point to visit the many sites around here.

• Had our Kobe beef 1 year anniversary dinner (!!!) at Ashiya (down a very small alleyway in Kiyomizu) and it was worth every penny! The courses served around the actual beef were typical north american fare (salad, baked potato, etc.) but the actual beef was so tender and was like butter when biting down on it. I now know why this type of meat is on the high end scale and is probably the best cut of beef i've ever had, hands down. Ashiya is a family-run restaurant and our waitress, the grand-daughter of the mama-san (who by the way played 3 practical jokes on me!) is in geisha school..

• Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion) - Took the 59 bus to the Golden Pavillion temple; place was packed with tourists. Basically, it's a temple covered in gold leaf paper surrounded by water and you can't actually go into it but rather just walk around and take nice pictures.

• Ryojani Temple (Zen rock garden) - This is one of Japan's most famous rock gardens and its only 25x10m big. Interesting to see and there is a viewing area in which you could sit and contemplate stuff i guess but i guess with all the other tourists there, it was hard to do that. Still, a defiinte must-see.

• Kiyomizu Temple - huge temple in the Kiyomizu area, about 15 min cab ride from our hotel. Probably the most popular temple in Kyoto and well worth the visit. Again, ton of tourists here and 90% of them were schoolkids on day trips or something. Here, you get an awesome view of Kyoto and on the narrow street to get up to the temple, there were many food stalls and little shops to buy good souveniers.

• Fushimi Inari Shrine - Shinto shrine in Kyoto, dedicated to Inari, the God of rice. A TON of red torii gates here and this temple is located on a hill so to get to the top, the path is lined with hundreds, if not thousands of torii gates and its ALL UPHILL. Wow, it was hot getting up and i think i read that the path was like 4km long...with two washroom stops..lol. This place was also featured in Memoirs of a Geisha.

• Saw our first Geishas today! (4 of them walked right by us!)

• I love how the retail store employees bow to the store before they go into the backroom. Everyone is so polite and helpful and do their best to try and communicate with you even though their english is almost non-existent

• Arashiyama - very, very nice quiet river-side town sort of like a Niagara-on-the-Lake town

• Gion district - Had dinner at a small place called Yagembori - AWESOME, must go here and service is excellent! Wasn't quite the pub-feel we were looking for but the food was amazing (probably the best toro (fatty tuna) i've ever had) and when conversing with them, i gave compliments to the chef in Japanese and when we left, the whol restaurant walked us to the door! The daughter was going to Winnipeg in September for studies too. After we went to an izakaya by our hotel called Manzara Honten - place was ok but the tax driver went the ten extra miles to make sure we found the place (he didnt speak english at all!).

• Somehow i accidentally went over my upload limit for pictures for the month for the site..will have to re-update with pics in June.
  

Off to Hakone in the morning (right by Mt Fuji) for a ryokan experience (and kaiseki meal)..woohoo!

• Took the shinkansen (Nozomi) from Tokyo station to Shin-Osaka (2.5 hrs on a bullet train!). Once we got to the Shin-Osaka train station, we had to navigate our way to the subway with 2 pieces of luggage and catch the Midsoduri line about 7-8 stops to Namba station. Going to look into the luggage forwarding service for the next couple legs of the trip..

• We're staying at the Cross Hotel right in the Namba area (amazing hotel and location), about 2 blocks from Dotomburi - this whole area is filled with tons of shopping and boardwalk-like walks with lots of neon signs and huge plastic models (of octupus, clown faces, etc..) on the fronts of the restaurants. Great place to people-watch and nice and lively at night. There's also a big hostess-bar type area one street away running parallel...jokes.

• Tried the Okonomiyaki (like a pancake)..not a fan...similar to the Takoyaki tried earlier..

• Floating Garden Observatory (Umeda Sky Building) - this Umeda Floating Garden Observatory is a doughnut-shaped structure in between two towers, about 45 floors up. Close to the top, you take a glass elevator up and then a glass escalator to see 360 degree views of Osaka. About 700 YEN (7 CDN) to go up the building towers.

• Standard business wear for Japanese women - black suit with above-knee skirt, white shirt with collar butterflied out...seriously we saw so many of them today and Japanese men in fitted black suits, white shirt and tie. Saw a ton of these at the floating garden office towers..

• Day trip to Himeji Castle (as seen in The Last Samurai) - WOW. Actually i don't even remember this in the movie but this castle is about 6-7 floors up and towers over the city of Himeji. You have to remove your shoes when going up the main tower and step on classic nightinggale floors that creak when you move abruptly on them (sort of an early alarm system for intruders...). It is a 400-yr old castle that has never been destroyed in any wars and thus is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

• Rinku Premium Outlets - lol, yeah we had to...about 30 mins by local train, close to Kansai airport. Lots of unique stores and the usual brands but the funny thing is that i am an XL (usually) in Japanese sizes, so it was pretty hard to try anything on..hahah. What's great is that each store has it's own style and after a while, it actually gets a bit tiring/overwhelming to see new store after new store and thinking what the heck is 'in' and what is 'out'? Overall, it's easy to see why Japan has a huge variety of fashion and wearing absolutely anything (or combination thereof) can work and nobody gives anybody weird looks about what they're wearing...and trust me, we've seen some off-the-wall stuff already..now if only i can sneak a pic of them lol.

• Namba Parks - very cool modern shopping centre that is connected to Namba station and Swisotel Osaka. Will be going back there for sure to check out some stores. The usual stores like Diesel and even Onitsuka Tiger are very well laid-out and everything is in perfect order. Oh boy, might do some damage if we go back..

• Checked out a local pub next door, Pig and the Whistle - very english-style pub and funny because it had lots of non-Japanese guys with Japanese girls there. One thing about Japan, and i asked the bartender, is that there is NO tipping. So a pint of beer cost me 700 YEN (7CDN) and it works out the same as in Canada!
  

Off to Kyoto, the capital of Japan until the 1800s and tons of temples and shrines, old-school Japan. Maybe we'll catch a geisha or even a ninja!

• Tsujiki Fish Market - walked down to the market from our hotel around 7am (10 mins) and it was quite a sight. We didn't get to see the tuna auction (its been recently closed to the public) but we did get to have the biggest sushi breakfast we've ever had. Seriously, the pieces were huge and some new pieces were horse mackerel and red clam. A nice bottle of sake in the morning also hit the spot..

• Took the Ginza line to Shibuya and this place is THE place for the young and trendy of Tokyo (try Shibuya 109 store, common style though there were millions, short shorts and black knee-high stockings, dresses with black tights underneath..). Shibuya crossing is definitely a sight to see/experience and it was just cool to watch from the 2nd floor Starbucks all the people crossing in all different directions before the light turned red.

• Shibuya has a million different stores/designers and it was very easy to see why this place is the place to go to see the latest fashions..on the racks and on the streets. Department stores had a ton of one-of-a-kind designers on several different floors..overwhelming to say the least.

• The BAPE store was pretty cool.

• 300ml bottle of sake at the corner store was 3.71CDN..love it.

• Dinner at Gonpachi in Nishi-Azawa (near Roppongi subway exit), not too bad, caters mainly to foreigners looking for that izakaya-style feel. Waitress spoke the best english so far..a big difference from the last places we went where it was no english spoken. Checked out ALife bar/lounge after..super weak, hardly anyone there and they were plying 90s old school rnb jams..

Onto Osaka in the morning!

• Took the subway for the first time today - went to Agahashi-Ginza station and rode the Asakusa line 2 stops to Daimon to walk to the Hamamatsucho Bus terminal. Joined a Viator half-day tour of tokyo and it wasn't the greatest. It was good to drive around half of Tokyo and stop at some places and then we didn't have to go back anymore which was cool since this vacation itinerary is 99% on our own..

• Tokyo Tower - red and white eiffel tower-like structure - We've seen the CN Tower and the Seattle Space Needle and honestly, this was pretty much the same thing.

• Asakusa - cool temple (Senso-Ji) in the middle of the city and this place was packed with people today. Today is a national holiday (Children's Day) and there was a little procession with kids walking in yellow robes and kids on a float. We also tried these Takoyaki - octopus and shrimp dough balls from the local vendors...once was good enough.

• Imperial Palace - we actually didn't see the palace, nobody is allowed to for fear of criticism and if we can see the palace, then other radicals can also (as i was told..). Walked around the outer part and the actual grounds are separated by a 40-50 foot moat.

• Ginza - walked through a tiny bit of Ginza close to where we are staying and it's like a Bloor St/Yorkdale-type area with TONS of retail stores/high-end department stores and restaurants. Funny, we went to a restaurant that had plastic food outside so we figured we would just point-and-choose upstairs...lol, no luck. There was no pictures and nobody spoke Japanese. Suffice to say, the waiter pointed to one item, said 'chicken'..and we ordered two. Grilled chicken bento box for 8.50CDN.