Brave or Foolhardy

We have drifted sideways into Tokyo for our last night. We left Osaka this morning on the Nozomi Shinkansen which cut 30 mins of normal Shinkansen journeys. It did feel faster even though the train was still an N700. I was hoping for the green Nozomi in the film bullet train but you can’t win them all.

I am sitting here writing this on the window seat in our 30th floor room at the Park Hotel. Another amazing choice I would say. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the view is stunning.

We have the train station to our left and the monorail and traffic intersection on the right. The kids got a double aspect panoramic view which is currently being photographed for a time lapse over night. Fingers crossed for that. We went out for tea and having Ezra, Luke and Susie choose the restaurant was fab. They picked a good one. We had to wait outside for a while as it was super busy but truly worth the wait. The restaurant was based around skewers and you order 20 or so at a time with drinks. Simple food, meat and vegetables plus fries, some food lightly fried, others with teriyaki style sauces. Yum!

This holiday has been different in that it is not until halfway through at least that we felt truly relaxed. Partly this was due to having to be “on it” learning the right way to do things. Manners is so much part of the culture and that strikes a chord with me so I want to get it right. I want to be respectful. I hope wee didn’t tread too heavily on our interaction with the lovely folk we have come across. Almost everyone has gone out of their way, some literally, to help us feel welcome. For our part I think the prep made all the difference and I cannot imagine arriving without a full plan of where to stay and how to get around.

The general feeling is that we would love to come back and see more of the North parts, maybe in a Springtime period. However we have higher priority places in the world now we would explore first that we have no experience of.

Tomorrow we take the local train back to Narita airport and begin the double whammy flight home. We need to stay up late, get up reasonably, have coffee in the morning then try and sleep on the flights. We will obviously be incommunicado for a while after tomorrow morning so assume all is well.

We will summarise when we get back and add some retrospective photos and links to videos but for now this is Phil signing off. Sayonara!

The second and last full day in Osaka was very cool. For multiple reasons.

We ventured out first thing to the Cup Noodle museum on this cool refurbished old train. Yes you read that correctly, a cup noodle museum. From the early 70’s the pot noodle style dish has been manufactured by Nissin and there is a museum where you can see the history and you get to make a custom pot noodle with your selection of ingredients and sauce. They then package it around the cup you designed and shrink wrap it just like you would get at home. It was jolly good fun and while the queue was long, it was so worth it. Here is what we made.

We dashed back to rest at the condo before heading out late afternoon. The destination was Osaka castle with an onward look at the neon lights around Dotonbori. The blessing was that a huge stripe of low cloud had come over which brought wind and shade! Oh the delight! So we mooched around the castle grounds much more relaxed and without hunting shady routes before grabbing a cross town metro to Namba and Dotonbori. The food stop we made looked better from a decor point of view than the ultimate food belied. We all wanted to “hot foot” it out of there ASAP. My issue was I didn’t read the menu correctly but several of the family didn’t enjoy theirs as much either. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Anyway the lights were fantastic as were the street performers. Top marks went to three chaps who had teamed up to do basketball tricks with a beatboxer introducing each “play”

Today was mostly a travelling day but the distances were short so there was time to fit some cool stuff in. We dived back on the limited express train to Osaka which was alright once we had found the right train to match our reservations. I thought we were on Shinkansen but that was false. When we got to Osaka the walk was blistering and tricky as there were lots of of town planners dreams in play at once. Overhead walkways, traditional roads with complex crossings and two levels of subterranean walking options. Google maps does not handle more than one vertical level well.

We found the condo we were scheduled in for and left our bags in a container at the back locked with cycle locks. This left us with day packs and a hunger for lunch. Noticing the big ferris wheel we couldn’t resist a view of the city that starts on the 7th floor. The views were incredible! After that we stumbled across, under the railway arches, a Korean restaurant and Jenni ordered Italian from the menu. It was not the best 🙂 however the rest of the food tasted alright and it was an air conditioned break. We found our next pursuit right outside. Big Echo is a chain of karaoke were you can hire a room for a couple of hours and sing your heart out. This was very much on “the list” and I might have got a bit carried away. Sorry to the folk in the surrounding cabins 🙂

This evening was one of the highlights we had been looking forward to and the reason there was no blog last night. We didn’t get home until 11:00 and I was mashed.

The fireworks and boat festival sees nearly 1.3m people descend on Osaka for an event of gargantuan proportions. The river is lined up on both sides for about 1.5km with food stalls and just about everyone in Japan it feels like. You can get noodles, toffee apples, shaved ice, dumplings, drinks and then watch the boats and floating floats process up the river banging drums and shouting/dancing etc. This is the end of the mid-summer festivals and we happened across a seating area that was filling up for the fireworks. The compromise was that you couldn’t see the river but the fireworks view was spot on. Since we had seen some of the boats and the were perambulatory we thought this was right. It was a good call – the fireworks were great and so many. Eventually we were exhausted and tried to start back but the roads and bridges were closed to even pedestrians as the festival was still in full flow.

We ventured back into the crowd to get more food and I fell/tripped over a giant rock in the near dark. What a dummy. Never mind. As I said at the beginning we got back really late but we also felt very much part of it all.

We awoke to another beautiful day in Kyoto. The house is proving to be a hit and allows a modicum of normality in an otherwise busy travel agenda. We have got stuff washed, had time to refresh without having to make a special trip. So after a little breakfast we ventured out towards the bamboo forest. We took the train and walked through to to the part of the district containing the shrines and bamboo forest. It is strange because the city just stops and there you are in the forest. The only thing separating the two are a line of souvenir shops.

The shrine with the sand gardens had a fantastic overlooking temple where you can sit and contemplate. Other than that the sand gardens were not even close to those we saw yesterday at the silver temple.

Here is a view nonetheless.

After the temple was the bamboo forest itself which was amazing, not quite as green as in the guidebooks and tourist shop views but awe inspiring.

We walked back to the centre and then out again to the monkey sanctuary which involved a significant climb up to the crest of a hill. The monkeys were pretty cool although having been warned off them earlier in the holiday I was less keen to be so close up. I guess I was also remembering a time on a previous trip where a monkey became aggressive with us. It was fab though and they were swimming to keep cool. It was real play jumping in and dunking each other. The stand out bonus for me was the panorama of the city that you can see from the top. Oh my goodness it was amazing. See for yourself…

We hustled back after a cherry blossom ice cream for me and strawberry or granita options for the family. The feeling of relief after the heat was the most poignant I had felt.

After some respite we headed out to find the action around the summer festivals and the Gion area where the Geisha prepare and walk through the streets. It was a long walk but totally worth it to see the parade floats starting off. We finished the night off by grabbing some ramen in a restaurant and taking a breath. Tomorrow we head out for Osaka and the firework festival which marks the general end of festivities centred around mid-summer. We have been very lucky in the timing of everything. Luck didn’t really play as much a part in it at all, as we have an amazing coordinator, who is also Jenni, who is also mum.

We had two main items on the agenda today. A walking tour around the Sakyo ward of Kyoto including the silver temple and a cooking class.

We had huge fun *sarcasm* getting around by bus today. This is easy if you are in the know and another steep learning curve if you don’t. You need the right money or an IC contactless card. We haven’t charged ours up so we were using cash today. It had to be exactly 230 Yen but we used all our exact money yesterday. So you have to get on boldly and when the bus isn’t moving, but before you are due to get off you have to move past everyone and use a change machine under the fare machine next to the driver. It gives you two sets of adult fare per 500 yen coin so you need to change 3 per trip when there are 5 of you. Handfuls of change distributed, we continued our 19 stop journey.

The philosopher’s path was worth the wait though and when we did trek up to the silver temple the groomed zen sand gardens and bonsai and moss woods were breathtaking. I took loads of photos on the big camera and will pop some here. Really sweltering though today, super humid.

The afternoon was spent cooking at Sun Cooking school. What a lovely bunch that run the classes. The ladies were so friendly, helpful and informative. They were genuinely interested in where we have been and what food we had tried. We learned how to make dashi and teriyaki, how to make minced chicken meatballs, marinated cucumber, pumpkin soup and soy sweet sorbet among other things. The food was fab, the explanation clear and concise, and the ambiance just a lot more relaxing than I was bargaining for. My hot head melted into the experience and I could have stayed there all day even without the Sake! This would be on my top 5 things to do in Japan.

It is officially half way through our holiday – hump day. It is all down hill but not from a fun standpoint. Loads more to do! Today we moved out of Hiroshima and caught the Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka and then a local express from Osaka to Kyoto.
Here is a view of the sunset over the peace memorial from the rooftop bar in Hiroshima. We also did a Timelapse capture but I am not sure whether I have the room to render 4000+ images on this iPad so that might be uploaded in future.

What made the Shinkansen fab was that we were travelling over lunch time, so we were able to get our Ekiben thing going on. Ekiben is a pre-packaged bento box of food to eat on Shinkansen and sold at most large city stations. As always the choice (once we found the right shop) was immense and we honestly had no idea what we might get inside. We are learning that looks and taste can be completely unrelated. I plumped for the Chicken Yakitori which was a fairly safe bet of chicken skewers in rice. Others were more brave, Susie thought hers was also chicken but it turned out to be eel! Luke nearly had a nosebleed into his and had to dash off. Anyway the opportunity to eat at 200kph plus was exhilarating. When we arrived at the changeover station we got on a local express also covered by our rail passes. The train had an almost completely glass front like a rail-car observation carriage in the UK.

We arrived hot and bothered into the capital of global climate action. We were 10 mins too early for the check in so we had to amuse ourselves down the road while we left the luggage at the villa. The only answer that made sense was a snow-cone or shaved ice snack. These are better than they sound and the choice of flavour really affects the outcome. We went for strawberry or melon and both were fab.

We were finally able to check in and as this is a whole house booking. So we have a kitchen and a washing machine. Yay! The bed was comfy but the duvet only half size so it was tug of war overnight.

In the evening before retiring we sought out a Gyoza restaurant as this was on the must do list for Kyoto. Wow is all I can say. We ordered seconds! They are very more-ish.

We are in a lovely hotel overlooking the Peace Memorial Park and had a quick look last night after the temperature had cooled off. We were quite peckish after trying lots of Japanese cuisine so grabbed a burger in Kembys micro brewery pub. It is odd and feels odd to be eating in an ostensibly American sports bar in Hiroshima but the food and hospitality was fabulous and the beer super tasty. Jenni and Susie played pool and we unwound from travelling. At this point the appetite for blogging left me so we held over until today.

This morning we were up early to catch a boat ride from the Memorial Park to the Torii gate . The Torii gate is a famous shrine entrance that sits out on the waterfront and at high tide the supports are covered in water so it appears to be floating. The gardens surrounding the Torii gate were fab and hot again but we saw Koi, waterfalls, beautiful bridges and pools. We grabbed breakfast, a combination of western ham and cheese toasties and fresh roasted coffee and memiji pastries which were rather fabulous. Such a lot of shops and all good quality stuff, not too much tourist tat. We also found a shop selling studio Ghibli merchandise including lot of “My neighbour Totoro”.

The gate was fab but also there are wild deer mooching around and the boat ride getting there hit my boat buttons. I love the harbour around Hiroshima.

This afternoon we split up to achieve several goals. Lunch, anti histamine for big bug bites, baseball apparel from the Hiroshima Carps team and a photo expedition for me. I will let the pictures tell the story but there is nothing but future hope or peace to remark about the H-Bomb and its effects. The building you can see is the only one left standing at the blast epicentre. It was left as a memorial untouched since the blast with minor renovation to make it safe. It is harrowing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorial

In the evening we went to an Okonomiyaki restaurant. It is curious that in Japan a good restaurant will only do one dish, albeit with different toppings or styles. So you have to prepare and agree where to go and confirm everyone wants that food before you go out.

Okonomyaki is a pancake really with corn starch, noodles and vegetables with a little pork, often topped with an egg and a special spicy sauce. They do vegan options if you don’t mind the shared grill and it was super tasty. However it was also super filling. I made the mistake of ordering a litre of Asahi Dry draft beer and had to neck it down like a greedy hobbit (the glass was huge) because you shouldn’t stay too long when there is a queue outside to get in. How full was I? My goodness!

We are doing a lot of travel today. The temporary pause at the hot springs was an eye of the storm moment, but a beautiful one. It was also fab that the temperature in the higher altitudes was a blessing. The Japanese breakfast is stunning. Highlights and lowlights, you choose. Squid with fish roe, a smashed dried mackerel, miso, fish custard, pickled vegetables, melon, coffee…

Checking out from the hotel we ambled into town towards the station, it was not too late in the morning so lots of people about and many tourists leaving and arriving. We narrowly missed the RomanceCar express so caught the standard Hakone train back to Odawara. Arriving into Odawara we needed to get a series of Shinkansen. The ticket office took 20 mins straight to sort 15 seat reservations on three trains. It would have taken us an hour to fight with it. The total time on trains was over 4.5 hours but in a rather cool act of planning our ticket angel orgsnised it so we never had to change train platforms for our journey!

Needless to say I was in bullet train heaven. So many trains and so fast. Here are some of the pictures we took on the way and the end of day 4. We also discovered that apple juice is not always apple juice. Konjac is a jelly based drink. It is quite weird and not refreshing really but it is sort of juicy. However it warns that it is in fact less than 10% juice.

We moved to Hakone today from Tokyo and so it was up sharpish with breakfast in our room. I have discovered the best drink ever, Chinese pear juice, it’s the best! Just so much fragrance and flavour and massively refreshing.

After leaving a spacious 85 mins to get to the station for the inaugural Davies shinkansen trip I managed to blow a significant portion of it going in the wrong entrance on the subway and cancelling all our cards.  The stress was palpable.  We eventually got through to Ueno and made the change to overground trains to Tokyo central station.  However the train was not leaving for 10 mins leaving only 13 mins to navigate to the bullet train. Have you ever seen five stressed jet lagged English folk move like a blur in 38 degree heat?  Now you have.  We boarded the train with minutes to go and got sat down.  It was a class 700 Komada 711 train to Shin-Osaka but we were only going 3 stops 30 mins to Odawara.  Here we got off and bought Hakone Passes to enjoy the highlands activities and sort train fares for the region.  We are now checked in at Hakone and have left our luggage before a steep rail ascent with 3 switchbacks as the height is too much for the train to do in one go.  It reminds us of Ecuador and Peru.

A quick stop for more curry after the cable car overlooking a sulphurous crater half way up the volcano and a craft cider called. Lots of local breweries to try the wares from. Following the cable car as it is called here we went on a cable car as we would call it (here called the rope walk). And immediately after that a cruise. Everything is back to back and is included in the Hakone free pass. Finally a bus back to check in proper and what do you know, we are on TV! They are filming segments about Hakone and they must have thought let’s grab the 5 sweatiest Brits who have just stomped up a Hill in 95% humidity and film them saying “Hakone is number 1!”

This is a super posh hotel and comes with a welcome reception from literally all the staff, drinks, a tour of the rooms and then each has its private hot spring bath overlooking the mountain. THIS is the holiday bit and it is fabulous. Jenni had a snooze and I stayed in the hot spring for as long as I could without passing out. We will be collected for dinner and are wearing traditional dress. This could be fabulous, hilarious or humiliating, maybe all three 🙂

Today was much like the rest in that it was insanely hot. The “feel” temperature taking into account humidity and wind was 50 C. So while we were only in 38-39 for real it was still oppressive. So we had a march on to do the walking tour in the morning, stop back for food and to pick up Luke ready for booked Aquarium tickets. The walking tour was actually one of my favourite bits because you get to see the not so visible nooks and crannies. The old mixed with the new and the diversity. Where fashion follows trend which more often has not followed history.
Here are some of the pictures from the walking tour. From some of the oldest streets to the newest architecture it was what I imagined Tokyo would be like. Sadly the Samurai museum, the observatory and the park were shut on the tour. No reason, just not there or closed.

In the afternoon we journeyed back to Sunshine City mall and got the museum-itis that always comes with ambling round somewhere. However on the list of aquariums it is definitely up there. The characterful seals, sealions and fish were susperstars. We all loved it. Following the aquarium it was Pokémon Centre and a break for coffee before a Katsu curry of giant proportions. On the way to Sunshine city we exchanged our rail passes and booked on to the Tokaido Shinkansen ready to go to the highland (relatively) resort of Hakone. Early start folks so the jet lag will strike but hope to take some train photos and then take in some spa action. After feeling like the fish in the first photo for a couple of days we’re are aiming for the chill of the second, both courtesy of the aquarium!