Brave or Foolhardy

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!

We chose perhaps the hottest day to find out a bit more about what Tokyo has to offer. Also to learn a few lessons about booking things. We started off grabbing some breakfast out before heading to Sunshine City where we had hoped to fix the shopping bug and visit the aquarium. Sadly the heat set light to our shopping as we just didn’t have the energy and when we enquired about the aquarium after queuing we established that all tickets for today were sold out. So much for plan A. So we reverted to visiting the imperial palace and gardens where the heat was turned up to 11! We basically had to hide in shade and take some photos as it was simply unbearable in the business district.

The afternoon was more successful. We ventured to a pre-booked all senses immersive experience called TeamLABS. It was fab and a real break from the norm and the heat. Part of it was the sharing of a flame above that has been transported by guests to over 400k destinations around the world. We will bring ours back to Hampshire. Following that was a lovely traditional “Japanese” meal where we were only accompanied by tourists 🙂

What we did do eventually was book the aquarium for tomorrow and once that was done Susie and I dashed out in the slightly milder evening air to hit the Anime capital for Otaku. We geeked out in front of the myriad shops and signs and people congregating at this late hour.

For me quite an inauspicious start as I managed to get dehydrated and then sick in the hours up to the 9am scheduled bike ride. Jenni took over with the 10% contribution I would have made and had to sort the directions, a train journey, topping up contactless travel cards and keep up the spirits of three jet lagged children. I slept.

The bike ride was fab though and while it was in the mid 30s temperature wise, the team put in a sterling effort. Tokyo was made for cyclists. You can cycle on pavements, roads, up one way roads the wrong way etc. Overall people are just more geared up for it. We have seen so few cars. It is like the whole of the city is how London now is with the ULEZ zone.

Below we have the entrance to the Atago shrine, Zojoji temple garden with figurines representing children lost through miscarriage and more recently prayers for healthy children.

This afternoon, we then grabbed a bite at a restaurant where commonly you enter the dish you want on a ticket machine in the lobby and then pay. You hand the ticket to the chef and then they bring it to you when it is ready. We have so many etiquette pieces to learn that sometimes they overlap themselves and you find yourself simultaneously in the way, not doing the right thing, bringing the restaurant to shut down status with 5 people. It is amazing we got any food at all but everyone was trying so hard to help and we were so grateful to finally eat something.

After lunch we went on a cruise up the river. A company that the cycling team spotted on the way back. It was another “guess the script” occasion but we did eventually get on the right boat. The sky tree was a popular photo subject from the river.

The temptation to go back to the hotel was strong with the people who didn’t sleep off their sickness but we managed to cajole everyone into a visit to the sky tree tower. Some waiting and shopping and waiting later we got in the cramped lifts and were treated to a spectacular sunset overlooking Mount Fuji. We were so expecting not to see it at all, so to see it on our first day suggested the holiday has gotten off to a fabulous start. We grabbed some food in the food court on the way out and mulled over the day. Some real tired and sore folk now so a train back to the hotel completed the festivities.

The sunrise on the morning of our flight to the land of the rising sun was spectacular. The advantage of getting up earlier to reduce jet lag resulted in a very prompt departure. We are checked in and having a nibble of breakfast in the lounge. So far so good.

A quick update on some of the things we have coming up on the trip….

Cycle tour of Tokyo – tomorrow morning!
Cooking lesson in Kyoto
Team lab in Tokyo
Spa in Hakone


We will be taking in the Kyoto skyline, visiting the memorial in Hiroshima, seeing the Osaka fireworks festival and getting to almost everywhere by Shinkansen.

It feels like we have less than half the luggage of everyone else here today. I don’t think the lounge was expecting a whole family. The army of single road warriors had an air of disapproval wafting across. No speaking is the norm isn’t it, but is it because that is respectful or because people don’t want to talk to other people before they fly. Maybe it was because it was 07:00.

We were undeterred however and as the crescendo of work life is deadened by elevator Muzak in the lounge and a glass of bubbly is duelling with a handsome breakfast brains appear to be repairing themselves. Children who have hardly said a word are remembering the art of communication and quality time together as a family. We need this!

Next stop Abu Dhabi for a plane changeover.

It feels almost unreal that we are in the final stages of getting ready to go to Japan. It seems to have taken ages and then, all at once it is upon us. We have planned a packed agenda for the couple of weeks and over the course of the trip we will be posting updates here to let you know what is going on.