While I am sure there is some Japanese food I like, we pretty well avoided it while we were in Japan. I don't eat sushi, Californian rolls, roll mops, wasabi, miso soup and balls of rice. These are what I have tried. Yet I like Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese food, as it is served in Australia and certainly for foreigners in Thailand and Vietnam.
But the fresh fruit and veg in Japan made me very angry, angry with Australia and Australians that we accept such appalling quality fruit and vegetables. The bananas in Japan were sublime. The lettuce crisp and tasty. A Jonathon apple like nothing you ever get in Australia. A pear, almost orgasmic. Oh, and the tomatoes. Not always great looking but soft, tasty and luscious. Cherry tomatoes, so sweet. We did try some more exotic f & v too. All good.
These are vastly superior to anything you may recall from your childhood, given from a neighbour, grown yourself, organic or bought at a farmer's market.
We are told in Australia that for various reasons, storage, shelf life, transport, that that is how our fruit and vegetables must be. Much is grown in Japan locally and sold in nearby towns, but fruit and veg are always seasonal. In the humid season that follows spring, and before the full on summer, how can tomatoes be in season? They must be greenhouse grown or shipped from way down south, thereby disproving the point that good f & v need to be robust to be transported.
Every piece of fruit or vegetable I tried was better than what we get in Australia. Shame on us for accepting crap (there, I swore, shows you how strongly I feel about it)
The Western food we ate in Japan was always good too, although I did not try a steak or lamb chops.
Once we had McDonalds, for breakfast. The Maccas in Japan offers very superior food to what we get here too. The burgers their did actually taste good, rather than being just a gut filler.
I really feel sorry for any Japanese person who comes to Australia and has to eat our crappy fruit and vegetables. Suppose our spuds are ok.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Japan Day 5. 24/06
By 10AM we were on track 20 at Ueno Station. The Shinkansen arrived one minute late. Disgraceful. We were travelling on the Shink to the terminus at Hachinohe where we would transfer to a limited express to Aomori and then onto Hirosaki where our Friend in Japan, V, lives. V was to meet us a the station.
The train sped through the suburbs and was soon picking up speed to about 250 kmh. For the last leg of the journey the train reached 300kmh. Now that is a decent canter. I think the Eurostar may have been a bit smoother, but memory is a poor judge. The Shink was smooth enough and I did not get the feeling of slight disorientation that I felt on Eurostar, even though we were travelling a good bit faster.
At Hachinohe we had ten minutes to change trains and we pretty well followed the hoards, but it was a good distance. I misread the board and thought we left from track 3. Luckily I checked with an attendant and he said track 4. We launched ourselves into the train with five minutes to spare. Panic was quite unnecessary.
Even the limited express was fast, about 160kmh at a guess. It stopped a few times before we arrived in Aomori. Many left the train there and and those remaining started to do things with the seats. Ah, they were turning them around, we must be going to back the way we came and turn off the main track, which is what happened.
V was at the station as we exited and after a decent old hug, she took us for refreshment to a cafe within the station building called Douter. We checked into our hotel, the Toyoko Inn, which was right next to the station. Right, this hotel was much cheaper than where we stayed in Tokyo, but we were somewhat space compromised, with only space for one sitting chair and cases had to go under the bed.
V called for us later and led us to her office where we met her co-workers, most of whom we had heard about over the years she has been in Hirosaki. All were very pleasant and politely inquisitive.
We V, R and I trooped across the road to eat at Eat, one of her bosses restaurant. The boss, along with her husband, spoke English well and we left the choice of food and wine to them. The boss, H, had spent some time in America and was used to western ways and habits. We had a fine nosh up, some Chinese, some Italian and some just international. I highly recommend Eat. It was also very spacious and had food stuffs on shelves to buy and some fresh produce on consignment available.
R was worried that his bed was rock hard and he would have back problems. By the end of our stay, he wanted to bring the bed home.
After paying the bill, H, the owner
See the small green dots, counting down to when the signal goes red. Once red, the dots show red and count down as well.
It is not quite picked up by the camera, but the Japan Rail Pass was quite glittery and beautiful. Not sure about the image of a wave swamping a mountain though.
Our train arrives, the Hayate (Tohoku line) Shinkansen.
The Shink interior with plenty of leg space.
While there were wash basins in the toilets, there was also this much better basin outside. Left is auto soap onto your hands, right is auto warm water and at the front hot drying air.
The second highest mountain in Japan, Mount Iwaki, was visible from the limited express train as we neared Hirosaki.
This statue greeted us as we exited Hirosaki Station. Nice pecs and six pack.
Some azaleas somewhere.
Our hotel.
Rather wasteful in my opinion, but clean bedding, pyjamas and towels everyday. We didn't use the pyjamas, but they kept on leaving them until they noticed there was a pile of clean ones.
Very comfortable beds.
A room with a view, of the station yards.
The train sped through the suburbs and was soon picking up speed to about 250 kmh. For the last leg of the journey the train reached 300kmh. Now that is a decent canter. I think the Eurostar may have been a bit smoother, but memory is a poor judge. The Shink was smooth enough and I did not get the feeling of slight disorientation that I felt on Eurostar, even though we were travelling a good bit faster.
At Hachinohe we had ten minutes to change trains and we pretty well followed the hoards, but it was a good distance. I misread the board and thought we left from track 3. Luckily I checked with an attendant and he said track 4. We launched ourselves into the train with five minutes to spare. Panic was quite unnecessary.
Even the limited express was fast, about 160kmh at a guess. It stopped a few times before we arrived in Aomori. Many left the train there and and those remaining started to do things with the seats. Ah, they were turning them around, we must be going to back the way we came and turn off the main track, which is what happened.
V was at the station as we exited and after a decent old hug, she took us for refreshment to a cafe within the station building called Douter. We checked into our hotel, the Toyoko Inn, which was right next to the station. Right, this hotel was much cheaper than where we stayed in Tokyo, but we were somewhat space compromised, with only space for one sitting chair and cases had to go under the bed.
V called for us later and led us to her office where we met her co-workers, most of whom we had heard about over the years she has been in Hirosaki. All were very pleasant and politely inquisitive.
We V, R and I trooped across the road to eat at Eat, one of her bosses restaurant. The boss, along with her husband, spoke English well and we left the choice of food and wine to them. The boss, H, had spent some time in America and was used to western ways and habits. We had a fine nosh up, some Chinese, some Italian and some just international. I highly recommend Eat. It was also very spacious and had food stuffs on shelves to buy and some fresh produce on consignment available.
R was worried that his bed was rock hard and he would have back problems. By the end of our stay, he wanted to bring the bed home.
After paying the bill, H, the owner
See the small green dots, counting down to when the signal goes red. Once red, the dots show red and count down as well.
It is not quite picked up by the camera, but the Japan Rail Pass was quite glittery and beautiful. Not sure about the image of a wave swamping a mountain though.
Our train arrives, the Hayate (Tohoku line) Shinkansen.
The Shink interior with plenty of leg space.
While there were wash basins in the toilets, there was also this much better basin outside. Left is auto soap onto your hands, right is auto warm water and at the front hot drying air.
The second highest mountain in Japan, Mount Iwaki, was visible from the limited express train as we neared Hirosaki.
This statue greeted us as we exited Hirosaki Station. Nice pecs and six pack.
Some azaleas somewhere.
Our hotel.
Rather wasteful in my opinion, but clean bedding, pyjamas and towels everyday. We didn't use the pyjamas, but they kept on leaving them until they noticed there was a pile of clean ones.
Very comfortable beds.
A room with a view, of the station yards.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
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Smoking in Japan
It is a curious thing in Japan that people smoke indoors rather than outdoors. Most eating areas had smoking and non smoking sections and you often passed through the smoking area to get to the non smoking area and boy, could they smell. But with partitions and extraction fans, very little if any smoke penetrated the non smoking areas.
When people did smoke on the street, they were supposed to only do it at 'smoking stations', and most followed this practice, especially on busy main streets. Hence discarded cigarette butts were seldom seen in the street. Well, very little rubbish was seen anywhere. People took responsibility for their rubbish and kept it with them, as there were very few rubbish bins, although often one at vending machines for for bottles and cans.
Didn't North Sydney get rid of public bins over a decade ago and the amount of rubbish on the streets dropped markedly. It is an inconvenience that you would get used to.
I am not an anti smoking nazi, but it was disturbing to see how many young women smoked. Seemed to me a higher number than men. There were even many older women who smoked, or perhaps they were more visible because they patronised cafes etc. So far as I know, there was no smoking on public transport but many station platforms had smoking booths. Apart from concerns for the staff who have to work in smoky environments, I think the Japanese have public smoking worked out much better than we do here.
On one sign I saw, I carry a live 70 degree fire in my hand with people walking all around me. Another said, I am carrying my burning cigarette at the height of a child's eye.
A smoking station in Chuo Dori.
When people did smoke on the street, they were supposed to only do it at 'smoking stations', and most followed this practice, especially on busy main streets. Hence discarded cigarette butts were seldom seen in the street. Well, very little rubbish was seen anywhere. People took responsibility for their rubbish and kept it with them, as there were very few rubbish bins, although often one at vending machines for for bottles and cans.
Didn't North Sydney get rid of public bins over a decade ago and the amount of rubbish on the streets dropped markedly. It is an inconvenience that you would get used to.
I am not an anti smoking nazi, but it was disturbing to see how many young women smoked. Seemed to me a higher number than men. There were even many older women who smoked, or perhaps they were more visible because they patronised cafes etc. So far as I know, there was no smoking on public transport but many station platforms had smoking booths. Apart from concerns for the staff who have to work in smoky environments, I think the Japanese have public smoking worked out much better than we do here.
On one sign I saw, I carry a live 70 degree fire in my hand with people walking all around me. Another said, I am carrying my burning cigarette at the height of a child's eye.
A smoking station in Chuo Dori.
Japan Day 4 24/06
Given that when we booked our train trip north we could not get on the train we chose, we started to panic a little about our return journey as we planned to do something we would never of dream of doing in Australia, that is depend of the train system to deliver us some 600km to the airport to catch our flight home, and Jetstar waits for no one.
We decided to book our return trip at Ueno Station. We used the booking office this time. While the lasses English was not as good as the lass in the pass office, it was all computerised and no paper, apart from our tickets, was generated. The way she used the touch screen was extraordinary. Her fingers just flew so fast. In spite of my trust in Japan Rail, we left a good bit of fat between the train and the airport.
Then outside the office to buy tickets and find out how to get to Omiya Station to visit the Railway Museum. I studied maps, checked ticket vending machines that would only show English for five seconds and just gave up. We need help. We went into another booking office, a local one. The lass there could not tell us what we needed to know, so she came out and did it for us. She pressed the buttons on the machine, inserted our money and told us which train and track we needed. I will observe, if you are looking puzzled in the street and looking at a map, no one will help you in Japan. If you ask, you get no end of help.
With my small amount of knowledge of the route we were taking totally not matching stations passing by, I was worried big time. Where will we end up? At least we don't have to be somewhere at a certain time. Three times I arose from my seat to study the train map over the door and nothing was gelling. Finally, after twenty minutes, things seemed to come right with a familiar train station. The next one was Omiya. We did it. Well, we followed station staff directions but without any confidence that we had it right.
The next challenge was to catch the New Shuttle one stop to the Railway Museum. This time we managed to buy return tickets from the machine but to pass the gates, which of the two tickets should we use. There was an arrow on the ticket and I guessed it pointed to the direction of travel. Wrong, it was the arrow to indicate which way to put the ticket into the barrier reader. We had a 50% chance of using the right ticket. Yes, we got it wrong. A man appeared from somewhere and opened the gate manually for us. Thinking back, there was a good bit of manual gate opening for us when we used trains. Actually, unlike Melbourne, the gates were always open and only closed if your ticket was invalid. There is a time saving for commuters.
The New Shuttle is a rubber tyred guided train, if that is not an oxymoron. You felt like it was a train until it moved and then it felt like a bus.
Given we were 26 minutes by a very fast train from Ueno and so the land might be cheaper, the Railway Museum was huge. Four or so floors and a professional set up down to a t. Just recalling, there was perhaps two full length trains and a dozen engines, four simulators where you could pretend to drive the train with a track in front of you, including a steam train where you had to do the work, except for load the coal. I don't know what it cost, but it was very impressive. For twelve bucks, it was incredible value. Like Sydney's Power House Museum, you need more than one day's visit. It would have been good if more was in English, but hey, it is a local museum for local people.
I think we chose Chinese food for lunch in the caf.
Back to Omiya Station and we paid the smallest fare possible and topped up with the top up machine once we were back at Ueno. Pay at the end is a great idea.
We stopped off for coffee at Ueno Station's Hard Rock Cafe. The super trendy young Japanese seemed to favour this place and super trendy they were, staff included. I had not been to a HRC before, so I assume they all have prized memorabilia on the walls, such as a Ronnie Woods guitar. But oh, the music was too loud for those of us of a certain age.
R had earlier spied a Thank God It's Friday cafe, so for our last night in Tokyo, we ate there. Not cheap, but it was good.
There had been a brief shower and this appliance appeared at the lift on the ground floor. It dispenses plastic sleeves for wet umbrellas.
An emergency LED torch in a bracket. Every damn time I stood up from the desk after using the lappy, I knocked it and it fell out of its bracket.
Just guessing, but if you are wearing thongs or Crocs, be careful on the escalator.
This was my favourestis train engine.
Just for once, adequate English signage was present. It is part of train safe working mechanism. It dispenses something for the driver to carry when entering a single track. Nothing from the machine, do not proceed.
There were regal trains. We watched a steam train engine turn around on a turntable. Pretty boring, but there was good crowd there to see it. Perhaps the commentary was good.
A wonderful muriel.
Looking down on the kiddies area. There was a mini bus and a mini train. It looked like a great setup. To the right is the normal train line and to the left, the Shinkansen track.
I think this was the first Japanese train with a snow plough on the front. It was a nice looking beast too.
There was a refreshment area near the top of the building where you could watch the 'Shinks' go past. A timetable was posted and sure enough, dead on time.
A railway bus.
Back and close to our hotel, I didn't mean the flash to go off. R told me the guy looked very startled when it went off as his car was turning around on a turntable.
It is a big street near Ueno Station, but the local streets are narrow.
I guess all Hard Rock Cafes have similar memorabilia.
We decided to book our return trip at Ueno Station. We used the booking office this time. While the lasses English was not as good as the lass in the pass office, it was all computerised and no paper, apart from our tickets, was generated. The way she used the touch screen was extraordinary. Her fingers just flew so fast. In spite of my trust in Japan Rail, we left a good bit of fat between the train and the airport.
Then outside the office to buy tickets and find out how to get to Omiya Station to visit the Railway Museum. I studied maps, checked ticket vending machines that would only show English for five seconds and just gave up. We need help. We went into another booking office, a local one. The lass there could not tell us what we needed to know, so she came out and did it for us. She pressed the buttons on the machine, inserted our money and told us which train and track we needed. I will observe, if you are looking puzzled in the street and looking at a map, no one will help you in Japan. If you ask, you get no end of help.
With my small amount of knowledge of the route we were taking totally not matching stations passing by, I was worried big time. Where will we end up? At least we don't have to be somewhere at a certain time. Three times I arose from my seat to study the train map over the door and nothing was gelling. Finally, after twenty minutes, things seemed to come right with a familiar train station. The next one was Omiya. We did it. Well, we followed station staff directions but without any confidence that we had it right.
The next challenge was to catch the New Shuttle one stop to the Railway Museum. This time we managed to buy return tickets from the machine but to pass the gates, which of the two tickets should we use. There was an arrow on the ticket and I guessed it pointed to the direction of travel. Wrong, it was the arrow to indicate which way to put the ticket into the barrier reader. We had a 50% chance of using the right ticket. Yes, we got it wrong. A man appeared from somewhere and opened the gate manually for us. Thinking back, there was a good bit of manual gate opening for us when we used trains. Actually, unlike Melbourne, the gates were always open and only closed if your ticket was invalid. There is a time saving for commuters.
The New Shuttle is a rubber tyred guided train, if that is not an oxymoron. You felt like it was a train until it moved and then it felt like a bus.
Given we were 26 minutes by a very fast train from Ueno and so the land might be cheaper, the Railway Museum was huge. Four or so floors and a professional set up down to a t. Just recalling, there was perhaps two full length trains and a dozen engines, four simulators where you could pretend to drive the train with a track in front of you, including a steam train where you had to do the work, except for load the coal. I don't know what it cost, but it was very impressive. For twelve bucks, it was incredible value. Like Sydney's Power House Museum, you need more than one day's visit. It would have been good if more was in English, but hey, it is a local museum for local people.
I think we chose Chinese food for lunch in the caf.
Back to Omiya Station and we paid the smallest fare possible and topped up with the top up machine once we were back at Ueno. Pay at the end is a great idea.
We stopped off for coffee at Ueno Station's Hard Rock Cafe. The super trendy young Japanese seemed to favour this place and super trendy they were, staff included. I had not been to a HRC before, so I assume they all have prized memorabilia on the walls, such as a Ronnie Woods guitar. But oh, the music was too loud for those of us of a certain age.
R had earlier spied a Thank God It's Friday cafe, so for our last night in Tokyo, we ate there. Not cheap, but it was good.
There had been a brief shower and this appliance appeared at the lift on the ground floor. It dispenses plastic sleeves for wet umbrellas.
An emergency LED torch in a bracket. Every damn time I stood up from the desk after using the lappy, I knocked it and it fell out of its bracket.
Just guessing, but if you are wearing thongs or Crocs, be careful on the escalator.
This was my favourestis train engine.
Just for once, adequate English signage was present. It is part of train safe working mechanism. It dispenses something for the driver to carry when entering a single track. Nothing from the machine, do not proceed.
There were regal trains. We watched a steam train engine turn around on a turntable. Pretty boring, but there was good crowd there to see it. Perhaps the commentary was good.
A wonderful muriel.
Looking down on the kiddies area. There was a mini bus and a mini train. It looked like a great setup. To the right is the normal train line and to the left, the Shinkansen track.
I think this was the first Japanese train with a snow plough on the front. It was a nice looking beast too.
There was a refreshment area near the top of the building where you could watch the 'Shinks' go past. A timetable was posted and sure enough, dead on time.
A railway bus.
Back and close to our hotel, I didn't mean the flash to go off. R told me the guy looked very startled when it went off as his car was turning around on a turntable.
It is a big street near Ueno Station, but the local streets are narrow.
I guess all Hard Rock Cafes have similar memorabilia.
Monday, July 05, 2010
I will not watch........
I will not watch the new series of Dancing with the Stars.
I will not watch Dancing with the Stars.
I will not watch Dancing with the Stars.
And of course I did.
What happened to the blond male professional dancer who was kind of attractive? He had been in the show for a long time.
Melinda Schneider was just wonderful. Nice to see pro dancer Luda return. Co-host Sonia Kruger is as gorgeous as ever and still a bit wicked.
But hot guys are thin on the ground for me. Rob Palmer is the only one in the running really.
I will not watch Dancing with the Stars.
I will not watch Dancing with the Stars.
And of course I did.
What happened to the blond male professional dancer who was kind of attractive? He had been in the show for a long time.
Melinda Schneider was just wonderful. Nice to see pro dancer Luda return. Co-host Sonia Kruger is as gorgeous as ever and still a bit wicked.
But hot guys are thin on the ground for me. Rob Palmer is the only one in the running really.
Japan Day 3 22/06 Pt 2
Going up! The Hakone Ropeway.
It is Ubako Station. Please teach The station employee the person who gets off. I knew I would come across one of these somewhere.
Perfectly safe, I think.
Steam coming out of vents.
The black eggs are normal size and taste normal.
Our cruise boat. It moved almost silently.
I think everyone took photos of this ship.
The mist descending on the lake.
We stopped somewhere for some reason I can't recall. Noice garden.
A very colourful and eyecatching led sign indicating roadworks. Looked a bit like a catherine wheel spinning.
It is Ubako Station. Please teach The station employee the person who gets off. I knew I would come across one of these somewhere.
Perfectly safe, I think.
Steam coming out of vents.
The black eggs are normal size and taste normal.
Our cruise boat. It moved almost silently.
I think everyone took photos of this ship.
The mist descending on the lake.
We stopped somewhere for some reason I can't recall. Noice garden.
A very colourful and eyecatching led sign indicating roadworks. Looked a bit like a catherine wheel spinning.
Japan Day 3 22/06 Pt1
Do tell me where your magic travel moment was. For me landing in a plane onto the Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand, walking down Whitehall in London and having very expensive coffee at a cafe in Paris are a few of mine.
To these I must add standing so close to a place I have known for as long as I can remember, like when I was kid, Mount Fuji.
The hotel desk clerk wrote the name of Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal in Japanese for us to give to the taxi driver. Like almost everything in Japan, the cabs are spotless, with large anti antimacassars, the driver suited and with white gloves and what interested me most was that the driver closes and opens the rear left hand door electronically, well there is an electric motor I assume. It is hard to remember to not close the door as you leave the cab, but I have heard that once you are used to it, you have a habit once back in your own country of leaving cab doors wide open as you leave and getting abused by the taxi driver.
It was just way too hard to work out how to get to Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal by train, with a deadline.
Now the third day, well second full day, I was constantly confused with my sense of direction. Everything puzzled me and was not where I thought it should be. When the taxi headed off in the opposite direction to what I thought it should go, I realised why there was this constant confusion in the back of my mind. North and south are quite different and I had it totally wrong.
The bus terminal was where our tour to Mount Fuji departed. I was worried that we would not find the tour desk, but although a decent walk, the directions to the terminal were clear. We made ourselves known at the desk and I realised what a big operation the tour company was.
We had prime seats on the left hand side of the bus behind the tour guide. Hiro was easy enough to understand, although at times I noticed she was making some translations in her head as she was speaking.
The suburbs of Tokyo stretched on and on but without any traffic congestion. We had a bit of a handle on Japanese housing by the time we reached less densely settled areas. The greens of the trees and vegetation were so vibrant, the topography very sharp and steep. We were on the Chuo Expressway and I suppose it took a couple of hours or maybe more to get to the Mount Fuji visitor information centre in Yamanashi where we had a break.
The bus driver was a very good driver, as was the taxi driver earlier, except, they don't observe the speed limits. I am not saying they were driving too fast, just faster than the speed limit. From where I was sitting, with a slight stretch, I could see the bus speedometer.
From the visitor centre we drove along a steep winding road and at times we had glimpses of the mount, somewhat misted over. Hiro, our guide, said she never gives up with seeing the mist clear and her group being able to see the peak. But it was not boding well.
The bus dropped us off and left to park and we standing there in awe looking up at the peak of Mount Fuji, with the mist having just briefly cleared. Photos, photos photos, in case the mist comes back, and it did.
We had about an hour there and we investigated the souveneir shops and angles for taking photos and of course plenty of each other with the mount backdrop. We bought a tee shirt for Little Jo, yes with Mount Fuji on the front.
We left the mount and somewhere where there was an amusement park, we et our prepaid lunch in a nice enough restaurant. We were sat with two girls who had clearly just met and fallen for each other. One was English and one from Hong Kong. They were both students of the Japanese language and could speak Japanese reasonably well from what we noticed. The English lass had gotten drunk the night before, how English, and there was some peacemaking happening. She had bits of metal sticking out of face in various directions, whereas the Hong Kong lass looked more conservative. But ah, young love is great to see.
Now, to Lake Hakone. We took a trip in a chairlift to an area where steam was deliberately being released to reduce pressure on the mountains. It stank like Rotorura in NZ. We learnt about black eggs, boiled in water with sulphur added and the shells turn black. They seemed very popular with the Japanese. As we trooped back onto the bus, which had travelled up while we were on the chairlift, sorry, ropeway, Hiro asked if we walked to the building in the distance. Nope, we et a soft serve ice cream and looked at the majesty of Mount Fuji, now in the far distance and almost covered in cloud, but not quite.
We had encountered an American school group and boy, were the the teens large. Not that R and I are the trimmest, but at least half of them were obese. One family on our tour were American and while the parents were ok, again, the young daughter was huge. The dad was, as the American tourist stereotype goes, quite loud, but also had a good sense of humour. Yes, we overheard everything about him but he was quite self deprecating too.
Next was a cruise on Lake Hakone. Just as we alighted from the boat after the cruise, the mist came down over the lake. Bear in mind that while it was quite warm and humid, it looked cold.
We travelled back to Tokyo via the Tomei Expressway. We passed by Yokohama in the distance.
We were dropped off in Ginza and made our way back to Ueno by the subway. It was about 6.30 and I thought we might be pushed onto the train by people pushers, but while the train was crowded, it was no worse than in Melbourne.
Another visit to the 711 for better more expensive Chilean wine and we ate western food at a place near our hotel. We couldn't be bothered venturing far. Chicken and chips were nice, as was the garlic bread. R swears there was wasabi on the garlic bread, but I could not taste it. Perhaps we should have chosen the Chinese restaurant instead, but it looked a bit cramped.
It was a fantastic and magical day. I highly recommend Sunrise Tours and the price for the nine hour plus day including lunch was reasonable at $170 pp.
This was from the night before on our way back to the hotel. No idea what it is about. All Japanese to me, but it was a good model.
I think this was our first glimpse of Mount Fuji. Slightly right and down of centre.
She is just so majestic.
Local shops for non local people.
We took quite a few photos of Mount Fuji from the temple. It was a good viewing location. See the dude looking up at the mount.
I'm thinking you can travel up the mount on a horse. While I don't like horses, sorry LiD, it would be a lot easier than walking. Like Mecca for muslims, Japanese should always climb the mount once in their life. You need to be fit and a night walk up and then seeing the sunrise is popular. Horribly young Japanese school kids rush up the mountain to the top in a few hours and then run all the way back down. One Japanese bloke who was over one hundred years old climbed the mount and sprinkled some of his wife's ashes up there.
The mist came and went, quite nearby.
Getting misty now. How come we were hot and sticky and there is snow so close by?
A map of the area of Mount Fuji and the five lakes. All Japanese to me. I assume the red arrow says, 'you are here'.
There was an amusement park near where we had lunch.
Our lunch. I et it all, but without gusto and it was not what I think of as sustaining. It came with rice, fine, and miso soup, arrrghh.
We could have had coffee for extra yen where we ate. Instead we chose to have coffee at a bakery. The coffee was nice, the china was fine, the spoon so heavy it fell to the middle of the saucer every time you picked the cup up and it cost $7.50 a cup. It was one of the few times in Japan I felt ripped off.
To these I must add standing so close to a place I have known for as long as I can remember, like when I was kid, Mount Fuji.
The hotel desk clerk wrote the name of Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal in Japanese for us to give to the taxi driver. Like almost everything in Japan, the cabs are spotless, with large anti antimacassars, the driver suited and with white gloves and what interested me most was that the driver closes and opens the rear left hand door electronically, well there is an electric motor I assume. It is hard to remember to not close the door as you leave the cab, but I have heard that once you are used to it, you have a habit once back in your own country of leaving cab doors wide open as you leave and getting abused by the taxi driver.
It was just way too hard to work out how to get to Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal by train, with a deadline.
Now the third day, well second full day, I was constantly confused with my sense of direction. Everything puzzled me and was not where I thought it should be. When the taxi headed off in the opposite direction to what I thought it should go, I realised why there was this constant confusion in the back of my mind. North and south are quite different and I had it totally wrong.
The bus terminal was where our tour to Mount Fuji departed. I was worried that we would not find the tour desk, but although a decent walk, the directions to the terminal were clear. We made ourselves known at the desk and I realised what a big operation the tour company was.
We had prime seats on the left hand side of the bus behind the tour guide. Hiro was easy enough to understand, although at times I noticed she was making some translations in her head as she was speaking.
The suburbs of Tokyo stretched on and on but without any traffic congestion. We had a bit of a handle on Japanese housing by the time we reached less densely settled areas. The greens of the trees and vegetation were so vibrant, the topography very sharp and steep. We were on the Chuo Expressway and I suppose it took a couple of hours or maybe more to get to the Mount Fuji visitor information centre in Yamanashi where we had a break.
The bus driver was a very good driver, as was the taxi driver earlier, except, they don't observe the speed limits. I am not saying they were driving too fast, just faster than the speed limit. From where I was sitting, with a slight stretch, I could see the bus speedometer.
From the visitor centre we drove along a steep winding road and at times we had glimpses of the mount, somewhat misted over. Hiro, our guide, said she never gives up with seeing the mist clear and her group being able to see the peak. But it was not boding well.
The bus dropped us off and left to park and we standing there in awe looking up at the peak of Mount Fuji, with the mist having just briefly cleared. Photos, photos photos, in case the mist comes back, and it did.
We had about an hour there and we investigated the souveneir shops and angles for taking photos and of course plenty of each other with the mount backdrop. We bought a tee shirt for Little Jo, yes with Mount Fuji on the front.
We left the mount and somewhere where there was an amusement park, we et our prepaid lunch in a nice enough restaurant. We were sat with two girls who had clearly just met and fallen for each other. One was English and one from Hong Kong. They were both students of the Japanese language and could speak Japanese reasonably well from what we noticed. The English lass had gotten drunk the night before, how English, and there was some peacemaking happening. She had bits of metal sticking out of face in various directions, whereas the Hong Kong lass looked more conservative. But ah, young love is great to see.
Now, to Lake Hakone. We took a trip in a chairlift to an area where steam was deliberately being released to reduce pressure on the mountains. It stank like Rotorura in NZ. We learnt about black eggs, boiled in water with sulphur added and the shells turn black. They seemed very popular with the Japanese. As we trooped back onto the bus, which had travelled up while we were on the chairlift, sorry, ropeway, Hiro asked if we walked to the building in the distance. Nope, we et a soft serve ice cream and looked at the majesty of Mount Fuji, now in the far distance and almost covered in cloud, but not quite.
We had encountered an American school group and boy, were the the teens large. Not that R and I are the trimmest, but at least half of them were obese. One family on our tour were American and while the parents were ok, again, the young daughter was huge. The dad was, as the American tourist stereotype goes, quite loud, but also had a good sense of humour. Yes, we overheard everything about him but he was quite self deprecating too.
Next was a cruise on Lake Hakone. Just as we alighted from the boat after the cruise, the mist came down over the lake. Bear in mind that while it was quite warm and humid, it looked cold.
We travelled back to Tokyo via the Tomei Expressway. We passed by Yokohama in the distance.
We were dropped off in Ginza and made our way back to Ueno by the subway. It was about 6.30 and I thought we might be pushed onto the train by people pushers, but while the train was crowded, it was no worse than in Melbourne.
Another visit to the 711 for better more expensive Chilean wine and we ate western food at a place near our hotel. We couldn't be bothered venturing far. Chicken and chips were nice, as was the garlic bread. R swears there was wasabi on the garlic bread, but I could not taste it. Perhaps we should have chosen the Chinese restaurant instead, but it looked a bit cramped.
It was a fantastic and magical day. I highly recommend Sunrise Tours and the price for the nine hour plus day including lunch was reasonable at $170 pp.
This was from the night before on our way back to the hotel. No idea what it is about. All Japanese to me, but it was a good model.
I think this was our first glimpse of Mount Fuji. Slightly right and down of centre.
She is just so majestic.
Local shops for non local people.
We took quite a few photos of Mount Fuji from the temple. It was a good viewing location. See the dude looking up at the mount.
I'm thinking you can travel up the mount on a horse. While I don't like horses, sorry LiD, it would be a lot easier than walking. Like Mecca for muslims, Japanese should always climb the mount once in their life. You need to be fit and a night walk up and then seeing the sunrise is popular. Horribly young Japanese school kids rush up the mountain to the top in a few hours and then run all the way back down. One Japanese bloke who was over one hundred years old climbed the mount and sprinkled some of his wife's ashes up there.
The mist came and went, quite nearby.
Getting misty now. How come we were hot and sticky and there is snow so close by?
A map of the area of Mount Fuji and the five lakes. All Japanese to me. I assume the red arrow says, 'you are here'.
There was an amusement park near where we had lunch.
Our lunch. I et it all, but without gusto and it was not what I think of as sustaining. It came with rice, fine, and miso soup, arrrghh.
We could have had coffee for extra yen where we ate. Instead we chose to have coffee at a bakery. The coffee was nice, the china was fine, the spoon so heavy it fell to the middle of the saucer every time you picked the cup up and it cost $7.50 a cup. It was one of the few times in Japan I felt ripped off.
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