Archive for May 2013
Thursday 9th May 2013: Matsumoto
We dropped the car off at lunchtime in Matsumoto to give us time to have a wander about and also to post back to Martin and Tilly the spoon we had stolen to eat our yogurts on Monday. The people in the post office were so helpful and charming it made us embarrassed on behalf of anyone having to use the post office in UK and Spain when they can’t speak the language.
Flower clock, Matsumoto
The castle, ‘Matsumoto-jo’ is one of four castles designated as ‘national treasures’, but it was closed by the time we got there. Still, from the outside it was quite lovely:
Beautiful Matsumoto Castle
- Lovely Helen and Randall at Matsumoto Castle
The castle gate. Knobs and knockers jokes.
Castle grounds, and Randall
Castle gates
Matsumoto nightlife
Dirty burger, Aloha Hawaiian burger joint.
Tuesday 7th – Thursday 9th May 2013: Bessho Onsen and Nagano Snow Monkeys
We loitered in Matsumoto on Tuesday longer than planned as we had to wait for our luggage to arrive from Sumiyoshi – luckily we were able to track its progress online, so as soon as it arrived in town we had the hotel call the post office and summon our luggage thenceforth. Once we had rather relievedly received our luggage (despite reassurances from the guidebook and t’interwebs we were somewhat nervous about signing it over to some guy in a convenience store on Sunday) we headed across the road to the Nissan car rental where we had a reservation as they were the only rental place in town that dealt in Engrish.
Our pink chariot – Nissan March (we think it was a Micra)
Our plan was to visit the Snow Monkeys in Yudanaka, but by the time we arrived it was raining and almost time for the park to close, so instead we headed back to our ‘experience’ for the night, a stay in a Ryokan in Bessho Onsen , an ancient spa town mentioned in The Pillow Book .
Our ryokan for the night was Uematsuya Ryokan – not especially traditional or historical but reviewed as being friendly to non-Japanese with some English spoken. As the Onsen /Ryokan experience was billed as being very typical Japanese and not ‘touristy’ ie non-Japanese tourists, we thought this would be a gentler experience. We were right, as when we were just getting a bit concerned about finding the place and had pulled up to consult a map, we had a knock on the car window to find the lovely Wan-chen out to look for us in her car as we were late! She spoke great English and checked us in and explained how everything worked – a good thing as it was all rather complicated and we would have been exceptionally confused otherwise!
Me in my ‘Yukata’ cotton kimono/dressing gown.
We had a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats, so all footwear to be removed before entering. They provided slippers as well as the yukata for moving around the ryokan, and even managed to find a biggish pair that weren’t too tiny for Randall.
As we’d arrived late-ish, dinner of traditional Japanese ‘haute-cuisine’ was served almost immediately in our room.
Randall marvelling at what turned out to be just the starters!
Helen getting into the spirit of things.
Local wine, sashimi, and all sorts of goodies!
Really, it was the kind of meal where we couldn’t identify half the items, and very possibly ate the garnish in more than one case, but it was mostly very tasty – the sashimi was fantastic and the roast fish was pretty good too.
After dinner it was time to bathe – separate baths for men and women that get swapped over each evening so everyone gets a go in each of the indoor and outdoor baths.
Changing room for baths #1
Changing rooms for baths #1 (women’s in the evening, men’s the next morning)
The onsen are *not* for washing – you have to clean yourself thoroughly (so everyone can see you have!!) before getting in for a soak.
Ablutions area for baths #1 (women’s in the evening, men’s the next morning)
Indoor bath #1 (women’s in the evening, men’s the next morning)
Outdoor bath #1 (women’s in the evening, men’s the next morning)
I had a beautiful solo bath in the outdoor bath, reading my book. It was dark at the time (these photos were taken the next morning) so there were lovely views of twinkling lights over the ceramic-tiled rooves of the houses in the town.
I am sooooo going to buy some yukata – they are so comfortable!
Outdoor bath
Wooden octagonal bath.
This reminded me of THAT Ewan McGregor scene in The Pillow Book (the 1996 Peter Greenaway film, not the original!)
Outdoor bath on the other side (men’s that evening, women’s the following morning)
View from our balcony down the valley the next morning.
Breakfast was served communally but very Japanese-style, on the floor on tatami mats – fish, seaweed, rice and pickles.
On check-out we had a photo with Wan-chen for their blog pages as they don’t have many western guests:
The delightful Wan-chen and us in reception.
She also very kindly drove us to the next ryokan we were going to stay in (even though it was technically ‘the competition’) as she was concerned that no-one there spoke English and she wanted to ensure that everything was set up for our arrival, including leaving our bags there while we went off for the day. What a star – we highly recommend Uematsuya Ryokan to anyone.
So, now it was time for take 2 of the snow monkeys experience. This time we managed to get onto the highway instead of the local road, and Randall decided to be outrageous and ignore the 80km/h speed limit (usually I would object, but I could see it was doing bad things to his blood pressure) so we arrived in just over an hour with a stop for second breakfast (pickles and fish hadn’t really hit the spot).
On arrival at the monkey park (TERRIBLY signposted, in case you are ever considering it!) we paid 500 yen for parking and started the walk to the Snow Monkeys , duly warned:
Do not feed the monkeys!
Randall and some geyser.
Monkeys!
Hot pool, with the river running alongside.
Monkey contemplating his reflection in the hot water pool.
Biggie and littlie drinking hot sulphurous water from the pools.
Grooming.
Bathing monkeys
Snow Monkeys!
Bathing monkeys.
Monkey!
Post-monkeys, we went for a short drive and hike around the Shiga-Kogen area (1998 Winter Olympics site).
Cryptic map.
We were a little concerned in case this sign – at the start of our walk – said ‘beware of the bears’.
Then it was time to head back to Bessho Onsen fo some more hot water action:
Hanaya Ryokan
The beautiful, historical and traditional Hanaya Ryokan has been serving travellers since the 17th century. It was a wonderful experience although we were glad we had warmed up at Uematsuya Ryokan the night before, as very little English was spoken and it would have been completely baffling otherwise!
Hanaya Ryokan
Carp pond, Hanaya Ryokan
Gardens, Hanaya Ryokan
Unfortunately they didn’t have Randall-sized slippers…
But they did have rather marvellous toe-socks!
and splendid yukata!
Love that one is expected to walk around the hotel in your dressing gown and slippers.
Our lovely little house, with private onsen:
Hanaya Ryokan
Our little house / suite
Snug, view over the gardens
Super-retro phone
Our private hot-spring bath in our suite.
The gardens were stunning – all fantastic levels of trees and shrubs, koi carp pools, little wooden bridges and walkways – just gorgeous:
Beautiful gardens of Hanaya Ryokan
Beautiful gardens of Hanaya Ryokan – and Helen
Lost in the woods…
Prease reave shoes.
Outdoor baths – red curtain for girls, blue for boys.
Changing rooms for one of the two indoor baths (the ‘Marble baths)
One of the two marble baths.
We didn’t manage to photograph the outdoor baths or the ‘Observation bath’ as they were populated but both were absolutely lovely, however we didn’t use them as we had the luxury of our own private one in our suite!
Dinner was served in our room as is traditional:
Uh oh…so much unidentifiable food!
While we were out having a post-prandial stroll. the magic elves laid out our futons.
Love the gargoyles!
Monday 6th May 2013: The Alpen Route, Japan Alps.
The plan was to do the supposedly spectacular Alpen Route , leaving early from Martin and Tilly’s on Monday morning and arriving at the other end in time for the last train to Matsumoto, having seen some spectacular views and done some short hikes along the way.
When we took the first two modes of transport – the train from Toyama to Tateyama and then the ‘cable car’ (funicular to us) for the first 500m up the mountain – this still looked reasonable.
Waiting for the ‘Cable Car’
However by the time we were at about 1500m, about halfway to Murodo on the bus, a heavy mist had rolled in and the snow was starting to fall as we drove through the famous snow corridor:
Snow Corridor
In Murodo, at 2500m, we’d been planning to hike around the pretty lake there and maybe even visit the ‘Hell Valley’ , although we saw a sign that the latter was closed to walkers because of dangerous gases released by recent increased ‘fumarolic’ volcanic activity. However there was such a white-out at the top that walking really wasn’t on the cards:
Snow!
So we took the next three means of transport; the electric ‘trolley bus’ through the tunnel, followed by the spectacular, over 1000m single-span cable car / ropeway and then another funicular down to the Kurobe dam:
Looking down from the top ropeway staion
Warning sign on the funicular
Kurobe Dam (1962)
Kurobe Dam
At Kurobe Dam
From the dam the final means of transport were another electric trolley-bus, then a local bus for half an hour, then finally a JR train to Matsumoto to check in to our hotel for the night.
We found an izakaya near the hotel for food and a couple of beers while listening to locals be raucous (well, mainly local girls be squeaky and screechy!) before crashing for the night.
Edamame, sashimi etc…yummy!
Needless to say, the next morning the mountains were clear and the sky was blue!
View from our hotel
Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th May 2013: Sumiyoshi, Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto
On Friday morning we left Kyoto and travelled by taxi, VERY crowded JR Special Rapid service to Osaka and then local train to Sumiyoshi, to stay with the lovely Martin and Tilly – old friends of Randall’s – and their two delightful 7-year-old boys.
It was a festival weekend – part of Golden Week – and in Kobe (their nearest town) there was a flower-petal festival a bit like the one in Sitges for Corpus Christi:
Kobe flower petal festival. Tom with balloon samurai sword.
Kobe flower petal festival
Peculiar dinosaur/dragon type creature.
Balloon lady who made balloon samurai swords for the boys.
Balloon woman and the twins.
We wandered up through Kitano to the temple/shrine at the top of the hill via a small plaza where an audience of locals were enjoying watching a performing monkey – little outfit, glasses and all. Cultural differences…
Prayers at the shrine.
Holy Cow!
Kobe – Kitano shrine
At the shrine above Kitano, Kobe
View of Kobe from Kitano
I have found my spiritual home…
Shrine, Kobe town
Randall and Martin
The boys had been learning how to make origami Samurai hats:
Many hats!
My attempt
That evening we headed into the bright lights of Osaka, although apparently it was very quiet compared to usual as it was a holiday. Still, we met one of Martin’s work colleagues and had a great dinner and some beers in a Japanese/Hawaiian fusion place.
The Osaka Station Water Clock
The next morning Randall and I slept late, and were surprisingly not woken by a noisy parade banging and crashing its way past. However luckily there was another so we didn’t miss out:
The moving shrine
The moving shrine
The moving shrine parade
It was really quite spectacular, with all the local children ‘pulling’ the cart up the road on a long rope, and teenagers hanging off the roof at alarming angles waving their flags and chanting.
The moving shrine parade #2
Even better, the local fire service were supervising the proceedings and gave Tom and Jack a ride in the fire engine!
Fireman friendly.
It was late-ish before we caught the train to Kyoto to go shrine visiting – a bus from the station took us close to Kiyomizu-dera, we walked the rest of the way up the hill lined with little cafes and curio shops.
Strange machine we spent ages puzzling over in a shop window.
It makes cookies!
It was early evening by the time we arrived, but as it turned out that meant that the light was just amazing.
View down the hill from Kiyomizu-dera Shrine
Gate to Kiyomizu-dera Shrine
Bell at Kiyomizu-dera Shrine
Bell at Kiyomizu-dera Shrine
Kiyomizu-dera Shrine
The red pagoda across from the main building.
The red pagoda
By the time we got back to Sumiyoshi it was late evening and there was a festival going on around the local shrine with stalls for winning goldfish etc and most importantly great street food, so I finally got the takoyaki I’d been fixated on since reading ‘Sushi and Beyond – what the Japanese know about cooking’ (thanks Symon and Zoe for the recommendation!).
Yummy takoyaki = happy Helen
Martin pondering whether to get a ‘sausage-onna-stick’.
On Sunday Tilly was feeling under the weather so the rest of us headed off to Arashiyama on the outskirts of Kyoto to the famous Bamboo Forest. It was a beautiful day so we first went boating on the river:
Obelix – I mean Randall – rowing
Being in a rowing boat with Randall – particularly when you are responsible not only for navigation but also for the well-being of a sevenyear-old without a life jacket – is not the most relaxing as one travels everywhere at full ramming speed. A bit like when Obelix rows. Still, it was very picturesque and we only had a couple of collisions.
Preparing to repel boarders
Scenery
Our first attempt at taking on supplies failed – just as we were ordering from the nice lady someone leapt into their boat, shouted a command and they zipped off at high speed. The second attempt was more successful and we managed some drinks and popcorn before drifting away to make space for the next customers.
Floating caff
All that rowing (or in my case lounging in the back of the boat) had made us hungry – time for more takoyaki!
Takoyaki stall at the riverside.
From here we headed to the actual bamboo forest:
Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
In rather typical Japanese fashion it was all very regulated – no wandering through little meandering paths in the forest, just a wide tarmac path along with the other tourists, the rickshaws and the bicycles. It was pretty but not overwhelming, so Martin took Caroline and the boys back via the temple while Randall and I continued walking for a little while and then found a spot in the sun for a couple of beers:
Beer garden.
Art gallery that the beer garden belonged to.
We headed back to Sumiyoshi in time to drop off our luggage at a convenience store for the apparently famous Japanese luggage forwarding service as the next day we were heading to the mountains for the Alpen Route where big bags aren’t allowed. We hope to see our luggage again soon.
Our stay was rounded off by a night out in Kobe with live music by The Tardy Boys – drinking, dancing and much fun!
Kobe by night
Tuesday 30th April – Friday 3rd May 2013: Kyoto
I’d been pretty excited about the bullet trains but they turned out to be almost exactly like the AVE between Barcelona and Madrid (which is, it has to be said, VERY cool!). In fact, in business and first class on the AVE they actually feed you whereas Green Class on the Shinkansen had a trolley service. Still, it was clean, fast and efficient, getting us to Kyoto in 2.5 hours (distance of about 450km)
Our Kyoto hotel, the Hearton, turned out to be 3 stops on the subway from the main station (thanks to Randall for carrying my suitcase up and down I don’t know how many stairs – they don’t do ‘accessible’ in Japan) and right in the middle of town, so once checked in and sorted out (free wifi in the lobby only) we were able to walk through Nijo-dori, a street with numerous cafes and restaurants, to the river. The restaurants with riverside terraces all seemed to be traditional Japanese places doing expensive set menus, but we found a café and had a bottle of sparkling wine and some Japanese-Italian fusion antipasti with delightful service.
On the way home we called in at the Hello Cafe Bibliotec for tea and cake in my case and coffee and milkshake for Randall.
Our hotel turned out to be a mid-range one catering to tour groups and business meetings, so reasonably international while still being small-ish. It turned out to do a well-priced breakfast buffet with a mix of western and Japanese items so the next morning we indulged ourselves with bacon, eggs and coffee. Just as well, as finding the kind of cheap-and-cheerful food we’d mainly been eating in Tokyo turned out to be a bit more tricky in Kyoto.
Time for some sight-seeing. With instructions and a map from the hotel reception we managed to successfully negotiate taking a local bus to the Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) temple at the start of the Philosopher’s Walk .
Map of the Silver Temple
Raked gravel zen garden of the Silver Pavilion
Randall consulting the instructions.
Beautiful trees
One of the pavilion complex buildings
View of the pavilion over one of the many small lakes.
View from the paths through the trees above the pavilion.
Somewhat hungry already, we tried the green tea cream buns on offer (not recommended)…
Green tea everything
Green tea cream buns
Not really convinced.
…before starting down the canalside walk and finding the lovely Pomme café, where a charming gentleman served us drinks and slices of cake homemade by his wife:
Pomme cafe on the Philosopher’s Walk
Yummy home-made cakes
Tea and cake
At the end of the Philosopher’s walk we headed towards town with the idea of following the streams as far as Gion, the famous geisha district. We couldn’t resist popping into the Lake Bawa Aqueduct Museum but gave the Zoo and the National Museum of Art a miss.
Randall outside the Museum of Art
Following the canals was a pretty journey through residential areas…
Traditional wooden houses along the canals
Someone’s pet goldfish ‘hutch’ in the canal.
…but when we finally arrived in Gion it was something of a disappointment. On Shirakawa street, tipped as ‘one of the most beautiful streets in Asia’, only a few of the original tree-lined streets with wooden houses remain…
Shirakawa street, Gion
Shirakawa Street, Gion
Shirakawa Street, Gion
…and they are surrounded by concrete monstrosities full of what seem to be essentially brothels. As it was now after 3pm we couldn’t get food anywhere (everything seems to close between 3 and 5 or 6) despite walking all the way up Pontocho so we headed back to Café Bibliotec for a snack and a bit of a sit-down with our books.
Hungry again, we headed down to the Sanjo-dori covered shopping arcade in search of a recommended Kaiten-sushi place. This time we were actually successful! While it wasn’t the most stylish and sophisticated sushi, it was fun and cheap and we ate loads before staggering back to the hotel for an early night.
Kaiten sushi
Yum!
On Thursday, after intending to have an early start and pack in loads of things, we ended up not leaving the hotel until after midday – oops.
We headed to the station to check out the architecture and view the city from the top of the Kyoto Tower…
The Kyoto Tower
Kyoto Tower, reflected in the station building.
Kyoto station building.
Kyoto Station Building
Kyoto station building.
From the top of the tower.
The station from the tower.
From the top of the tower.
…before taking a bus back into Gion to see one of the other areas that is still apparently well-preserved, ‘Hanami-koji’ which turned out to be much more extensive than the area we’d visited the day before, with traditional wooden tea houses, and merchants houses now turned into very expensive restaurants. We saw a few geiko and maiko (Kyoto dialect for geisha and trainee geisha) tiptoeing purposefully around in their amazing outfits and wooden shoes, presumably on their way to appointments.
After wandering around looking for somewhere we could just have a drink instead of a full-on 15 course set meal for thousands of yen we gave up and headed back into the main bit of town across the river.
The view across the river from Gion.
We decided not to go for the more formal dining atmosphere of Pontocho and instead wandered up Nishikiyamachi-dōri which is more studenty. We eventually settled on a slightly more upmarket spot that, to my delight, had a ‘summoning bell’ for the staff:
The summoning bell.
Helen and Randall on the road 
