If you are thinking of going to Japan…do it!! It is an unbelievably beautiful and interesting country, with friendly and mysterious locals and food to die for!!

This is Kawaii Kay, signing off.

Tomorrow we check out of the Granvia and head to Itami Airport, where we will take a 2.30 flight to Narita, which will only take about an hour and a quarter. Then we wait – until 9.30pm, when our flight home will be ready to depart, flying through the night to arrive home in Brisbane at 7.10am – by golly will we be tired by then!!!

The last few days have been spent mostly shopping around, although today we visited Nara and saw the cute deer in the park, and two nights ago we caught up with Kiku, James’ email pen friend and had a great night out eating Okonomiyaki and laughing so much!! Kiku has a great sense of humour and I  really hope one day she visits Australia!

I decided to end this post with a list of things we will miss about Japan – there are some things we just don’t have at home!!

1. Mr Donuts (both James and I are very partial, especially to Angel Cream donuts)

2. Japanese ice coffee – straight black coffee, with loads of ice, to which you add sugar syrup. No cream, no ice-cream, no milk – yum!!

3. Vitamin Water – a drink that both James and I have become addicted to, it is a  lemony flavoured water with added vitamins – but still low in calories!

4.Yodabashi Camera – huge electronics stores  with everything you can imagine and staff who run to serve you.

5. Customer service – okay so retail and the  service industry is not glamourous, but here at least they pretend to want to help you, and no  one says ‘are you right?’ with a snarky face.

6. Efficient public transport – trains every five minutes, subway access to all parts of the city, cheap fares – it can’t be beat!!

7. Yummy, yummy Japanese food for cheap!! – Ramen, sushi, tonkatsu, okonomiyaki…..so much food, so little cost!! Japanese eat out a lot because they have tiny homes which they like to escape from as much as possible – this means that every night of the week hundreds of restaurants are open, and you can choose from cheap and cheerful to silver service and a different dish every night for months!!

8. This list could go on and on… but suffice to say Brisbane and Australia do have heaps to offer too – and it will be sweet to see Sooty running full pelt in the huge backyard we are so blessed to have!

Goodnight…see you all soon!

After this we travelled back to Umeda, and spent the late afternoon/evening in the shopping district around the Osaka hotel. There are quite a few department stores and other shopping arcades here – you could wander for hours and never see the sun, as so much of it is underground!! We found  a cool shopping plaza called Heps (Hankyu Entertainment Plaza) and it had some really wierd red whales in the centre of it hanging suspended (about the same size as the ones outside the Brisbane Museum, but painted red??) as well as a huge  red ferris wheel on the roof. There were heaps of groovy fashion shops and at the top an amusement parlour with loads of arcade games and a few rides. We went on one called ‘The Room of Living Dolls’, which was scary…you went into a small room, with 8 seats around a table. You sat down, put some headphones on and it all went dark. A very scary voice starts telling a story (in Japanese, thank goodness, if I could have understood the story it would have been totally scary!!!) and because you have the headphones on they have recorded it so that it sounds like she is standing right behind you whispering in your ear. At different points through the story the chairs shudder and a cold wind blows through the room, and lights flash – it was pretty cool, but like I said not too scary because we didn’t know what she was saying but from her voice you could tell it was a spooky story!! There was a Dad who had brought in his little girl, who seemed about 6 years old – she was all keen to go in, but was sobbing by the end, I think it might have been a bad choice on their part!!

Anyway, after this we needed to restore ourselves, so we went to one of the several cafes that sell enormous sundaes, and each had a huge dessert (well before dinner!!) of ice-cream, cream, toppings and fruit as well as the cornflakes that seem to be a ‘must have’ in every Japanese parfait.

We found the local Kinokuniya bookstore, and of course had to make a purchase, and then returned to the hotel room to regroup and pack a parcel each to send home before heading back out for dinner. This was when I discovered that the book I had just purchased was one I had purchased several weeks earlier in another bookstore (memory like a sieve). So before we went out for dinner we spent about 30 minutes wandering through the various arcades trying to find the bookstore again (it truly is like a rabbit warren around Umeda/Osaka station). Luckily they let me exchange it, and then we headed to the top of the Yodabashi Camera building for a yummy dinner of Tonkatsu, before heading back to the hotel room for bed.

Today was nice and fine, and our plan was to go to the post office to send off our parcels, and then to head to Nara to see the temples and deer park. The parcel sending went fine (we are getting it down to a fine art!!) but unfortunately when we got to the train station, we found out there had been an accident on the Nara line and they were not able to tell us when the line would be open again. Japan’s train lines are very very safe and efficient, but unfortunately there is a very high suicide rate in Japan, and frequently (particularly on Mondays although on other days too) people jump in front of trains and this is then called an ‘accident’ while the line is out of service. I hope that this was not the case on the Nara line  today but it apparently does happen quite often. This is one of the less happy aspects of the Japanese culture, and seems to be a side effect of the high pressure/high expectations that jobs place on people here.

We therefore changed our plans, and over coffee decided today would be a good day to visit Osaka-jo, the famous Osaka castle, and the Osaka aquarium.

We took the train to Osaka-jo, and spent a lovely morning wandering through the grounds and up to the castle, which is unfortunately only a replica, but what a replica it is!! It has been rebuilt with amazing attention to detail, and the thing I really enjoyed about it was that most of the signage and information was presented in English as well as Japanese, so I could learn about the story of the castle, and not just look at the displays with little comprehension. There are great views at the top, and displays of samurai armour, and the story of the castle is very interesting as was the house of the Toyatomi family, who were eventually defeated by Tokugawa – very important people in Japanese history.

In the grounds of the castle we also got to try Takoyaki, or octopus balls, which are a delicacy in Osaka, and which we have had in Australia many times, but to try the real thing, fresh off the hotplate was so good (even if I do now have a burnt lip from the hot batter!!). The takoyaki was much softer than at home, and was really really yummy. While we were eating them we made friends with two little Japanese  boys who were with their father sitting next to us. As they were leaving they shouted ‘goodbye!’ to us over and over, even when they were quite a long way away – it was a great game to them to say this English word, and people all around us were laughing as they yelled ‘goodbye!’ as they walked off into the distance!!

After this we headed off to the aquarium. We caught the train for several stations and then changed to subway for one more stop, before a brief walk took us to the aquarium which is part of a harbour complex that also includes the huge ferris wheel that seems mandatory at any sightseeing destination.

The aquarium was awesome – it had many smaller tanks that you walked past on one side of the corridor, with a huge central tank that houses the famous whale sharks and other large rays and sharks as well as many fish. They also have the cutest river otters, sea otters, a sloth (which I had never seen before), spider monkeys, dolphins, seals, massive deep sea king spider crabs, a jelly fish display and tanks and tanks of fish. It was a really cool aquarium – very similar to Underwater World, only I think they have more here in Osaka, but built sort of in the same style. Here James made another little friend, this time a little Japanese girl, and we decided to give her Kevin, our stuffed Koala who has been travelling with us – I think that her mum was a bit surprised by it, but James was really taken with her and wanted to give her something from Australia, and it was all we had.

We arrived back at the hotel and decided a food hall dinner was the go, so we split up and I bought some awesomely yummy chicken and some crab salad, as well as a beautiful blueberry cheesecake, and James bought a tonkatsu pork dish, and some cheesecake also – pretty awesome for a cheap meal!! We settled back in our hotel room to enjoy it, and here we are!!

We have changed our plans somewhat, as we have decided to see Nara on Friday if it is fine, and spend the next two days shopping and taking it a little easy. On Thursday we think we shall go our separate ways and do a little shopping alone, as I want to look at the bead shop I found and also see if I can find some bento box goodies, and James wants to find the sword shop he has read about. I can’t believe that this is our last few days in Japan – it has gone so fast, yet it feels like forever since we were home -I can’t wait to see Sooty again!!

Bye for now.

We had to catch the subway to Den Den Town, and one of the great things about the subway in Osaka is that at the major stations they have friendly attendants who just kind of hang around the machines where you buy your tickets, ready to help anyone who looks even just a little lost. We asked one such lady which station we needed to catch, and she explained to us that we needed Ebisucho, which required us to travel to a station just beyond Namba, and then to change lines for one station.

Believing myself (incorrectly as I later found out) to be quite the expert on Osakan geography (I don’t know how I came to this conclusion… I had only read the guidebook, and am hopeless at maps!!) I suggested to James that we not change subway trains as the lady suggested, but instead get off at Namba and walk to DenDen Town, sightseeing along the way. It seemed like a foolproof plan, as Den Den Town was sure to be huge and unable to be missed.

Several hours later, we staggered back to the subway station, having wandered in basically a large circle through the streets of the Namba district, following helpful people’s directions and consulting the map numerous times, ready to catch the subway directly to the station that the lady initially told us to that morning. Although we had a really interesting walk and took plenty of photos, and also managed to find a large Bic Camera electrical store, we had not found Den Den Town, and James was getting anxious!!

Once we change subway trains and arrived at Ebisucho, our luck changed. At the top of the subway stairs we could see posters advertising manga, and sure enough we stepped out right into the centre of Den Den Town!! Unlike Akihabara, which is a maze of winding passages and back streets, Den Den town runs along one street, and the shops all open up to street level, rather than being found up nondescript flights of stairs. We had a great time, James bought heaps of models and gundam, I continued my collection of tiny models of Japanese food (so cute and also bringing back yummy memories!!).

Just after we discovered Den Den Town we stopped for lunch, as it was about 2pm and we were starving!! Here we had our first taste of Osakan Okonomiyaki, or Japanese savoury pancake – you choose your ingredients (like pork or beef, prawns, oysters, squid, octopus) and then they bring out a bowl of these along with an egg and shredded cabbage. A staff member then stirs this all together, and tips it out on the hotplate which is in the centre of each table, and cooks your pancake for you right there at your table. Then they put bonito on it (shaved dried tuna, sounds odd, tastes awesome) and some brown sauce and mayonaise, and you eat it off the hotplate – soooo good!!!!!

After all of our walking  my knee had become quite sore, so we decided to head home (it was about 5pm) and James offered to get a sushi platter from the Daimaru food floor for dinner for each of us – how could a girl refuse!! He brought up also the most delicious and beautiful strawberry cream cake for me, and so I now feel thoroughly spoilt, having spent the rest of the evening eating fine food and surfing the internet!!

Signing off!!

James went to sleep rather early this evening, and I lay awake reading my book, and then tossed and turned throughout the night trying to get comfy on my futon. At 6.15am James shook me awake, but as we padded down the freezing hallways to go to the morning prayer, it became apparent that even monks sleep in on Saturdays, as it was all quiet and no one was around. Sure enough prayer did not begin until half an hour later today, so at 7am we heard the bell ringing and we made our way to the prayer room which was now lit and warmed with heaters. Today I enjoyed the prayer service much more, as instead of the room being filled with Korean tourists, there were only four other guests besides James and I. This meant that the monk encouraged us to come up to each of the alters around the room to make an offering, which was cool as I could see all of the statues and paintings up close all around the room, which I found very interesting.

After this we were shown to a breakfast room, where our breakfast was once again set out for us on trays on the floor. Once again there was a range of vegetable dishes, miso soup and rice, and I ate almost all of it this time, although I still love my toast and coffee!!

James wanted to see the the tomb of  Asano Takumi No Kami, from the story of the 47 samurai that was marked on our map which we had missed yesterday on our visit to Okoiun, so we headed straight out into the freezing morning to find it. Even though the rain had cleared, and no more snow had fallen, I think it was even colder this morning (and it was really only about 7.30am) but the walk was beautiful, with the sun streaming in through the huge cedar trees, lighting up the morning mist/fog in the air. We walked and walked and James took film of several places he thinks might have been the one, but unfortunately we were unable to definitely say we found it. The story of the 47 samurai (also known as 47 Ronin)  is from Japanese history, at the height of the samurai age. If you want to know more about it, I have found a link that gives you more info HERE.

After all of this walking, you would think we would have warmed up, but it continued to be icy cold!! We walked back to the monastery, picked up our bags and checked out. James asked about buying a prayer bead bracelet, and the friendly monk insisted on giving us one each as a ‘present’, as well as another woven colourful string like the one he had come around and given us last night at dinner, so we were well pleased. We had also received a booklet of postcards from the priest during breakfast, so we had been thoroughly spoilt!!!

Now began the long journey back  to Osaka. Neither of us felt too bright, having decided to forgo our morning shower in the freezing monastery and wait until we arrived in our hotel room in Osaka, and neither of us had really slept all that well, so the bus, cable car and four train rides seemed to go on forever. We finally arrived at our hotel in Osaka at about 1.00pm, only to be told that our room would not be available until 2pm. All we wanted was a hot shower and some clean clothes!! Anyway, we left our bags at the hotel and went out in search of some lunch, which we found very nearby, our terrific choice of the Granvia Hotel in Osaka meaning that the hotel sits right atop the station, and therefore very close to numerous department stores, restaurants and cafes. We had a delicious lunch of eel, sushi and rice, and then returned to pick up our room key.

Although James had clearly requested a non-smoking room, the room we had been assigned was not. We  dumped our bags, and as I had won rock paper scissors, I jumped in for the first shower. When I got out, James told me he was going to ask for another room, as this one smelt not only of smoke but also of the room deodoriser they use to try to hide it, and sitting there smelling it, he knew it would be a recipe for a headache for me. As we are spending 7 nights here I couldn’t help but agree, so after we had both showered, we boldly headed down to ask for a new room.

This is not like us, we usually just ‘put up with’ what we have been given because we don’t want to cause trouble, but the room was really not suitable. Luckily, all James had to say was that we wanted to change because it was a smoking room, and the different girl on the counter typed on her computer and told us that if we didn’t mind waiting for an hour or so, another room could be arranged. Of course we didn’t mind, and so we headed out to look at the huge Yodabashi Camera shop across the street from the station while we waited.

We had planned to buy a larger suitcase each when we got to Osaka, and Yodabashi has a great and cheap range, so we ended up buying a large case each while we were there. We hope to ship the bags we brought over here back home with our winter clothes inside them, as we won’t need them when we get back, and therefore we’ll have lots of space in our new ports for our goodies!!

When we arrived back at the hotel we found our new room was four floors higher than the previous one, and with a much nicer southern outlook overlooking the lights of Osaka rather than the rail lines – fantastic!! The room itself was much the same but definitely smelt much better. We flopped out for a while then headed out to grab some dinner, before walking back through Daimaru, where I purchased a groovy new purse which was on sale and then walking the 32 steps from the door of Daimaru to the hotel lifts (this could be dangerous!!)

I also forgot to mention that as well as the large Yodabashi camera electronics store across the street there is also a massive bead store (OMG!!) so I was fairly over the moon!!

So now I am typing this up and hoping to upload my photos onto flickr before I crash out asleep – tomorrow we plan to check out DenDen Town for more electronics goodness, as well as Amerika Mura and EuropeMura, two hip shopping districts where the ‘cool things’ of Osaka hang out.

Cheers!!

Tokyo to Koya-San, Koya-San

I am typing this while sitting on a tatami-matted floor. My knees are folded underneath a small table that is the height of a coffee table, however this coffee table has a quilt underneath the wooden table top, and underneath that is a heater – and boy do I need it!! James and I are in Mt Koya, or Koya-San as it seems to be known locally. It is sooooo cold – there is snow on the ground, and it is raining, and we have spent the day out and about in it. Before I continue however, I’ll fill you in on yesterday’s adventures.

We woke up nice and early, and hit the road at about 8am. We had to catch a local train from Shinjuku to Shinagawa, which is where we could catch the shinkansen from. Mt Koya is outside of Osaka, and so we made the three and a half hour journey by Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka, where we arrived at around 12.30. On the way we were fortunate enough to see Mt Fuji from the windows of the train (unfortunately we were on the other side of the carriage so I couldn’t take any photos) it truly is a majestic mountain, all snow-covered and sitting up there on the horizon all alone. It is rare that you see Fuji from the train, because although you pass right by it usually haze or rain obscures it, so I was really happy.

Once we arrived at Shin-Osaka we had some lunch at a cafe at the station, and then began our search for the subway that would take us to Namba, which is where the Koya train leaves from. Luckily the subway station we needed was in the same complex as the station, and so with our eyes peeled for signs, we eventually made our way down to the subway platform, and bought our tickets to Namba.

The subway ride took about 20 minutes, and when we arrived at Namba, we knew we had to find the Nankei Koya train. Again we were lucky enough to spot a sign that had the word Nankei on it, so we headed in that direction, hoping that it would lead us in the right direction. After walking for ages, we found the Nankei station (Nankei is the name of another train company, like JR – there are several rain companies in Japan, although the largest is the JR company, but unfortunately we have to pay for our fare on other train company’s lines. So we paid our fare of about $12 each, and thanks to the kind explanation of the train guard, we boarded the third carriage to Koya – part way through the journey the last two carriages of the six carriage train were unattached and they headed in a different direction, so we were very grateful for the diagram and explanation he gave us!!

This train journey took about 1.5 hours, the first half through suburban Osaka, before winding up through the mountains. The train got slower and slower as it took an increasingly windy path upwards, and while it was warm inside the train the icy cold windows told us that it was getting colder outside! The scenery changed from farmland to mountainous forests, with occasional small villages, and when we finally arrived at our station of Gokurakubashi, the train line ended as well. From here, we boarded a cable car – basically a train that is hauled backwards up the mountain side, a bit like the one Dad and I caught in Sydney all those years ago. You boarded at the front door, and then climbed the steps to find a seat in the stepped carriage – the mountainside is that steep.

As we climbed the mountain, I noticed ice on the ground, and then more ice, and then snow – yep, it was really cold up here!!! The cable car took only about 5 minutes, and when we arrived at the top of the mountain, another friendly rail guard directed us to a bus that would take us to our temple lodgings. I had been under the impression that we would walk from the cable car station to our accommodation, but there is no walking along the road between Koya-San and the station, and so a short bus ride later, we were dropped more or less at the door of Seikishoin, the temple where we would spend the next two nights.

We nervously rang the doorbell at the entrance to the temple, and James announced our name when asked. We were welcomed inside, and after taking our shoes off, James proceeded to fill in the required paperwork. There was some confusion regarding our name and the number of people booked (they thought our last name was ‘Party’ as it said Cantwell, Mr James Party on the paperwork, don’t ask why….it would be cool to have a last name of Party, but I like Cantwell better!!). This was soon worked out, and after a joke about Australians and ‘Mad Max’, we were shown to our room, through a labyrinth of corridors, with the friendly monk also pointing out where dinner would be served (at 5.30pm) and prayer the following morning (6.30am) which would be followed by breakfast at 7am.

Our room is seriously Japanese, and very cool (although thankfully not literally, it being snowing outside and all we were very happy when the monk turned on the heater for us!). We enter though a door off the corridor, which then takes us through a very short hallway which has our own toilet and bathroom off it. Then you slide open some screen like doors to enter a first room where large cupboards housed our futon bedding. A second set of sliding doors takes you into a slightly larger room, where there is the coffee table with quilt and heater as described earlier, a shelf and a small television and phone from the 1970′s. Another set of sliding doors opens up onto an enclosed verandah, with a final set of glass doors opening into a Japanese garden. It sounds huge, but really it would be the same size as all of our hotel rooms, just with a lot less furniture. The floor has tatami matting on it, and with the doors closed and the heater on it is really comfy.

We spent some time sorting ourselves out, and then ventured out and about, walking down what seemed to be the main street of Koya, keeping our eye on the time not wanting to be late for our dinner. Koya has many temples that offer lodging, and it seems like it is not until you get to the outskirts that there are temples that are open to the general public. We played with the snow and took photos of the temples that lined the street, and got as far as the Konpon Daito, which is a towering pagoda towards one end of the main stretch of Koya. We also saw Fudodo, which is a really old hall said to have been built in 1198, and is apparently the oldest structure in Koya. By this time it was time to turn back, and so we made our way back to our rooms, where we got changed into the traditional clothes that we had been told to wear for dinner – green drawstring pants, a green happy-coat and a blue heavier coat which was much needed for warmth. In this stunning ensemble, we both made our way down to the dining hall.

I was kind of expecting to eat in a large room with many others and possibly also the monks, but instead we were shown to an individual room where our meal was laid out waiting for us. It was a vegetarian ‘kaiseki’ meal – many small dishes on little trays that sat on the floor, as did we. I have to say that both James and I were very brave and we tried a little of every dish, with varying degrees of deliciousness. All of the dishes except for the rice, tea and clear soup were served cold, which was a bit odd to us considering the weather! There was a small selection of vegetable tempura, a serve of tofu with some wasabi, some pickled vegetables, konnyaku (which is like a weird black specked savoury jelly) with miso and also a small cube of red sweet jelly. As well there were some soy beans and a dish that I hope never to have to eat again, a goopy clear jelly type stuff in a bowl, with shimeji mushrooms and other types of vegetables, that tasted just horrible and had a really really disturbing ‘mucus-y’ texture – I am sorry but that is the only way to describe it!! To finish off we had slices of kiwi fruit and the yummiest persimmon (at least I think it was persimmon, it was orange and sweet, but soft a bit like mango but shaped like an apricot). The fruit was easily the best part!! Tonight as we will be eating alone again I assume I will bring my camera. The meal had really been beautifully prepared, and with a lot of effort. Overall it was ok, definitely an experience and I’m glad that we have tried it.

We headed back to our rooms, and discovered that while we had been gone, our futons had been laid out for us, with the table pushed to one side. We decided that as we had all day tomorrow to explore, we would stay in the warmth for tonight and not go out again into the cold, and so I snuggled down into bed to read, and James began to draw, and before long I was asleep!

James had set the alarm, but we were both awake at about 5.40am, after a night of a bit of tossing and turning, but not too much discomfort. We dressed once more in our traditional gear, (I kept my pajamas on underneath, the cotton drawstring pants and top were not really very warm, and they are one size fits all, so there was plenty of room underneath for an extra layer!!). We padded to the prayer room, where we met loads of Koreans who had stayed the night also on a ‘temple tour’. The prayers were really interesting. Thankfully there was not too much incense, and listening to the monks singing as I know that their order has done for a thousand years was quite surreal. What was less surreal was the ‘flash’ of the camera one of the other tourists had brought along to the prayer service; it wasn’t until the majority of them left that I felt I could really appreciate the beauty and serenity of the prayer room and the monks’ singing. It seemed that there was no rule about coming or going, and James and I were among only a few who stayed for the entire half hour, but I am glad that we did. Towards the end the friendly monk encouraged us to come us and make an offering with the incense – which was quite cool also.

After this we were shown back along the hallway, where we entered a room along with other guests of the temple, where we could eat breakfast. Once again breakfast was already laid out for us on small trays on the floor, and was mostly cold. There was rice again, a miso soup and green tea, and a couple of dishes of pickled vegetables as well as a soft spongy dough that sat in a cold sauce,that sounds yucky but didn’t actually taste too bad – I think it might have been fried tofu. James likes Mr Donuts better – I have to say toast is my choice, but again it was unique and definitely an experience!

After this we headed back to our rooms, had short showers (we were speedy because although the water was hot, the heating didn’t make it out into the bathroom area and it was freeeeeezing!!!). I lay down to read for a little while and (surprise surprise) fell asleep again. James woke me at about 9am, and we readied ourselves for a day outside in the cold, just as a monk arrived to replace our towels and show us how to roll up our futons for the day.

We headed out, this time in the opposite direction towards the famous Okunoin, an enormous graveyard. The day was sunny but cold. We walked along the Sando which is the entrance path, lined with huge cedars that are hundreds of years old, taking photos of moss and snow covered grave stones and temples. It was really atmospheric, and very, very beautiful. James saw a squirrel, and it was really peaceful and truly an amazing place. We walked along a side route that took us out to where there are ski fields in winter, then returned to the main path, which eventually led us to a large temple, and lots more people. We saw many monks walking in lines through the graveyard, before we turned around and took the lower road back towards the exit. The lower road seems to be the newer part of the graveyard, with some interesting graves that seemed to belong to different companies – we saw one large one that had the Nissan insignia on it, and another one with stone coffee cups and the label ‘UCC’ which is a famous brand of coffee in Japan. As we were coming to the end of the cemetery, there was one final grave which was really interesting – it was shaped like a rocket ship, standing about 3 metres into the air – I have no idea who that was for, but it certainly was the coolest grave I’ve ever seen!!

We walked back along the road, stopping at a coffee shop that had been suggested to us by our friendly monk, for coffee and cake, as we were both cold and starving. The coffee shop was run by a Japanese fellow and a girl who could only be described of as a ‘hippy’ – she was European, and stood behind the counter stirring a bowl of cake mix or similar, discussing with another girl who sat at the counter about ‘how life places you in certain situations….yada yada yada’. However the coffee was terrific and the chocolate cake nice and fudgy, so she was obviously doing something right. We walked through town and headed in the direction we had yesterday, taking a turn this time towards the Tokugawa Mausoleum. It was built in 1643 by the 3^rd Shogun, Iemitsu, and it contains the mausoleums of both Ieyasu and Hidetada, very famous for their roles in Japan’s history. Although they were very beautiful, they were only small and you couldn’t get up close to them, but I took heaps of photos (having just read Shogun by James Clavell I was in awe of the Tokugawa Shogunate)!!

By this stage it looked decidedly overcast, amazing considering how clear it had been this morning. We walked back toward town and stopped at a small family run restaurant for some yummy tonkatsu-curry (Japanese curry with a crumbed pork fillet). The lady who served us had the cutest baby tied to her back, overseeing everything with a big grin. With our tummies filled with warmth, we went back out into the cold. It was now spitting with rain, but we decided our coats could withstand a bit of damp, and so we pressed on. We saw the Reihokan Museum, which had some really old artworks and statues, and bought some postcards from there and then kept on walking in the soft rain towards the Daimon, which is the entrance gate to the entire Koya complex. By the time we got to the Daimon, it was pouring, and we were both freezing cold. I took a few photos of the gate, which is really impressive, standing at 25 metres high, with huge guardian demons glaring down, but we could see no view at all. There was a sign however which told us it was 3.2 degrees, and in the icy rain I believed it.

We put our heads down and walked for the 1.8kms or so back to the temple, getting progressively wetter and colder. We stopped at the little grocery store for some cup noodles to warm us up when we got back, and then headed for the warmth of our heated room.

That brings us to right now, where I am sitting in dry clothes in front of the heater, with my legs tucked under the heated coffee table, now sipping a cup of coffee, feeling much better. Dinner will be in about one hour or so. If it has stopped raining we may go out to take some night-time photos along the lantern lit path to the graveyard, as is a popular thing to do, but if not it will be another early night, preparing for our last morning in Koya and our return to the hub-bub of Osaka.

]]> http://kawaiikay.wordpress.com/2008/11/22/mt-koya-or-living-with-the-monks/feed/ 0 kawaiikay http://kawaiikay.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/yesterday-was-yokohama/ http://kawaiikay.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/yesterday-was-yokohama/#comments Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:45:09 +0000 KayC28 http://kawaiikay.wordpress.com/?p=139 ]]> Despite our plans to visit Hakone yesterday, we ended up spending the day in Yokohama instead, because when we awoke it looked a little overcast, and Hakone is definitely a fine weather day trip. It actually ended up clearing to a fine but hazy day, so we had a good time in Yokohama seeing the sights.

Following a guidebook article that I had pasted in my journal, we managed to see most of Yokohama’s main sights on foot. We caught the train there, the trip only taking about 20 minutes or so, which is amazing when you consider that Yokohama is another city to Tokyo, not just a suburb (in fact it is the second biggest city in Japan, but it and Tokyo are so close that they have merged into one giant metropolis for all intents and purposes).

Yokohama is quite an industrial, grey city, but along the bay area there are some great sights. Our first stop was the Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan, with the world’s fastest lift – it travels the 69 floors in about 40 seconds, and reaches a top speed of about 45km per hour.  From the top there are awesome views, although today they were a bit obscured by haze.

Next we walked along the ‘Kisha-Michi Promenade’, which was built along the route of an old freight railway track. You pass a giant ferris  wheel, and an amusement park as well as a massive shopping centre, before reaching the Aka Renga Soko, or Red Brick Warehouses, which are old dockside warehouses that have been turned into restaurant and arts centres. We had lunch here, and also stopped to look at the massive cruise ship that was docked at the passenger terminal at the end of the dock.

After this we walked along the waterfront until we reached Yokohama’s famous Chinatown. Just before entering Chinatown, you pass two landmarks – the Hotel New Grand, which was used by General Douglas MacArthur as headquarters, and the Marine tower, which was once the tallest building in Yokohama, and remains the tallest inland lighthouse, but is now dwarfed by all of the other buildings around it.

China town is home to the biggest  Chinese community in Japan, and it is a very interesting series of streets and alleys with many, many Chinese restaurants, shops selling souvinirs and the biggest pork buns I have ever seen in my life!! It was really crowded, and apparently is the closest thing you will get to China without going to China!!

I was feeling ready to go  home by this point. My knee has been swollen the last few days, and after all of the day’s walking I was beat. So we picked up some beer and noodles and headed back to the hotel for a quiet night.

Unfortunately I awoke this morning with a headache, (maybe because of the beer??) and even though we got up and left early enough to go to Hakone, as it was a bright sunny day, I just wasn’t feeling up to it. We have been going full on every day, and I think I just needed a break, and so after breakfast we returned to the hotel room, and I went  back to sleep for a little while.

Later in the day we decided to revisit  Akihabara and check out some of the places we missed first time around. As this was a weekday it was much less crowded than last time, and we had fun wandering around checking out the comic and computer stores.

We returned to the hotel later in the afternoon, and packed up our gear to be sent on to the Osaka Granvia. This way tomorrow when we go to Mt Koya, we will only have our backpacks with us, and not our luggage to drag around, which will be much better as we need to catch three different trains, a subway and a cable car to get to Mt Koya.  I don’t know if there will be any internet service up there as we are staying in a monastery, but I will email from Osaka, when we arrive there on Saturday 22nd.

Tonight we saw a beautiful sunset from our hotel window, and as it was still clear we could see Mt Fuji up against the orange sky which was awesome. We raced from our hotel room, and headed up to the Metropolitan Governnent Building which is right across the road from our hotel. It has an observatory at the top of its tower on the 45th floor, and we caught the last of the sunset before all of the lights came on over Tokyo – beautiful. I got some great shots, I hope that they turn out well!!

We had a drink at the bar there overlooking the city lights, and then went down to a restaurant we had been eyeing off each time we passed it. The restaurant served fish, which had been barbecued over an open flame, and we thought it looked interesting. The service was pretty gruff, but the fish, it was the best I have ever eaten – it melted in your mouth, and was really, really yummy. After this we headed home, ready for a big day tomorrow heading to Mt Koya. I will post again if there is internet, but I wouldn’t bet on it. I’ll fill you in when we get to Osaka!

Cheers!

Our first task (after washing our clothes in the bathtub and hanging them in every conceivable location all over the bathroom) was to try to get James a new rail pass. We promptly made our way to the Shinjuku rail office, where James presented his pitiful pass. After some conferring, the girl behind the counter told James the sad news that for reasons unknown (to us) the pass could not be replaced (we are talking about a cardboard pass the size of a small greeting card, nothing fancy) but that James could continue to use his mangled pass for the duration of its validity. Needless to say, although grateful it was not void, James was not pleased, as he now has to present this a4 piece of paper with his pass taped to it at each station gate, and it is more than a little embarassing. However it could be worse (much, much worse) and so looking on the bright side of things we began our sightseeing day by catching the subway to Ginza, where the Toho movie offices are and the statue of Godzilla.

After about 30 minutes we found the statue, which was actually only about 3 feet tall, set up on a stone pillar in a nondescript plaza between two buildings. James was thrilled, and we took many many shots, while Japanese people went past on their daily business probably wondering what our excitement was about.

We then caught the subway back to Yoyogi-koen, which is the large park at the back of Harajuku. We wandered through the park, which is a nice green space, with many trees but unfortunately (for them) many homeless sleeping rough also. Arriving at Harajuku, we cruised the streets checking out the cool shops. We went to LaForet, which is a big designer department store and checked out the Gothic Lolita stores on the bottom level, and also of course visited Kiddyland, the 5 floor toy store. We had lunch at Wendy’s, an American burger chain (we have now tried MosBurger, Lotteria and Wendy’s, the main burger joints apart from McDonalds, and MosBurger is easily the best, Lotteria the worst). On the way back we noticed a really, really long queue, and believe it or not it was people lining up to go into a new clothing store called H&M. It must be really, really good, because the queue snaked two blocks along and then almost one block around the corner – needless to say we  didn’t go there!!!

After this we caught the train back to Shinjuku, dropped off our purchases back at the hotel and headed out again, to explore Shinjuku. Shinjuku has been described as all of Tokyo combined in one suburb – it has it all – upmarket department stores, funky fashion districts, ‘pink’ areas (the dodgy area of town where the ‘hostess’ bars are – in Japan they use the word pink where westerners use blue), temples etc. We made a stop at the Kinokuniya bookstore, and purchased several volumes each on their ‘foreign’ i.e. english books level – again marvelling at how cheap books are in Japan. I bought a really pretty handkerchief from Innocent World, a Gothic Lolita store (for those reading this wondering what Gothic Lolita is, click HERE for a link to a wikipedia article) – it was about all I could afford – Gothic lolita stuff is so amazingly detailed it is understandably very expensive (and besides even if I was young enough to pull off the look, there is no way I am tiny enough to fit into those dresses!!!!!).

As we wandered along we spotted a sushi-train restaurant down some stairs, and so we headed down for some dinner. The sushi conveyor belt  was double deckered, and the store smelt like fresh fish. It was very plain, and obviously was mainly for the locals. You took a mug from a shelf and a green tea teabag, and pressed it against a tap set into the bench you sat at, and boiling water came out to make your tea. The sushi was AWESOME. It was soooo fresh and yummy, and cheap – each plate cost 105 yen, so our whole meal came to a little under $20, and believe me we ate heaps!!!!

Feeling very satisfied, we ascended to the street, and wandered further into Shinjuku, passing through the ‘dodgy’ district with its flashing lights and big signs advertising  ‘entertainment’, before we came across a temple that was packed with people. We had noticed people  carrying these strange looking bamboo ‘things’ along the street, and as we entered the temple area, we realised why. There was a festival going on which we later found out back at the hotel is known as Tori No Ichi, or Rake Fair. The decorated bamboo ‘things’ were actually rakes, which symbolise bringing in the good luck and money, and this explains why business men seemed to be holding the largest ones. There were stalls selling food, rakes, displays of drumming and literally thousands of people everywhere jammed into a small square, and the sound of clapping, as each time a rake is sold the seller and buyer apparently clap pieces of wood together in some harmonious pattern.

James didn’t really like the crowds, but I found it really exciting, and snapped away as many photos as I could (without losing sight of James amongst all of the people!!).

After this we headed back towards the station. I sampled a yummy green tea frozen yoghurt, we looked through the Bic Camera store in one of the Department stores and then dragged our weary selves back to the hotel.  We stopped and asked the guest relations desk about the festival, and after looking it up the man at the desk explained it to us, and then gave us some paper cranes which were on display. As we wandered away, he came running over to us, and gave us this awesome ball, made of origami, with a bell inside, and we were thrilled at the kind gesture.

Tomorrow we need to be at the station at 8am to go to Hakone, so I will sign off to get some sleep!!

Today was the day that James and I had to go our separate ways – he to a samurai sword lesson with the choreographer from Kill Bill (cool!!) and I to Asakusabashi, or Bead Town, to stock up  on some beads to make some new jewellery. We walked down to Shinjuku station together. Our original plan was to go to Harajuku in the morning to see the cosplayers, however as it was rainy, we took our time getting organised back at the hotel, and instead went straight to our respective destinations – James to the phenomenonally named ‘Jimbo-cho’ where his lesson was to be and myself to Bead Town.

I took a few minutes to work out what train I had to catch, and happily found one that went directly from Shinjuku. Asakusabashi is just on the other side of Akihabara, and so I found the trip followed basically the same line as the one we took yesterday, however I got off a station further along.

It took me a little while to get my head around the neighbourhood of Asakusabashi – the map I had seemed to indicate that there were bead shops all along a plaza where the station was, however when I arrived it became clear that the shops were all built in underneath the rail lines. Honestly, it was madness. There were so many bead shops, some with a couple of floors, all selling amazing beads and at ridiculous prices. Many were aimed at more commercial buyers, with long strands of beads, however several including Parts Club and Kiwa had literally thousands of packets of beads in numbers more suited to casual jewellery makers like myself, and it was so difficult to pick out what I wanted!! I was jealous of the girls and ladies I saw who had lists of items that they wanted to buy to make particular pieces – if I could come and go as I pleased, I would also have been more organised, but as this was my one shot at all of these shops, I just tried to pick out beads that I knew would go together, and findings that I knew I wouldn’t get at home. I got some beautiful swarovski crystal beads,  some nice glass pearl  beads and some really pretty chain, some cool earring hooks and a couple of really nice kits that will hopefully not be too hard to make up. I also got some charms to make a little Japan bracelet, and some sterling silver chain to link them onto, so hopefully I can get some nice and unique souvinirs out of them when I make them up. One of the hardest things is now having to wait until I get home before I get to play with them all!!

At about 2.30pm I had spent all of my money, and so I headed back to Shinjuku, where I spent some time wandering around the local department stores while I waited for James. We had arranged to meet in front of the lockers with a huge photo of puppies on the front of them, and at 4pm sure enough James arrived, really excited and pleased with how well his lesson had gone.

There was only one other girl and himself in the lesson, and so James had a translator all to himself, who translated what the teacher and his assistant said. The teacher did all of the fight scenes in Kill Bill including the famous restaurant  scene, so that was pretty awesome, and he has done heaps of work on other movies released in Japan also. They took photos of James and using his video camera they filmed him doing a mock’fight’ with the assistant, where James kills the assistant and then looks at the camera with a ‘hero’ shot, which is very very cool.

We went back to the hotel so that James could have a snack and we could drop of some stuff, and then headed back out with plans to do Nakano, which has a big Manga/Otaku shopping mall, and then go to Harajuku. First we got to Nakano, and I had read that the big shop called Nakano Broadway was immediately outside the North exit of the station. However we could see no signs to indicate so, only a covered  arcade, and so we walked around the block (it was a big block, and took about 20 minutes) before we came to the back of the arcade, where the Nakano Broadway building was. Apparently the arcade is part of the Broadway complex, however the instructions that I had had neglected to tell us this. Anyway, we spent an enjoyable couple of hours looking through an amazing array of shops – the wierdest combination I have ever seen – there were book stores, many branches of Mandarake selling comics, models, gashapon figures, otaku collectibles, etc, cd stores, record stores, cosplay stores, military stores selling replica weapons, toy stores – you name it, Nakano Broadway has it. Downstairs we found clothing, lingerie and fabric stores, as well as shoe stores and a darts store – crazy!!

We had seen all we wanted to see, and were heading to the station to go to Harajuku when disaster struck. It was about 6.10pm, and when James went to get his rail pass, he couldn’t find it. We searched everywhere, every pocket of his jeans, bag – and finally came to the conclusion that it had fallen out of his back pocket. We split up and retraced our steps, and when we met 20 minutes later, I found James looking miserable, holding in his hands the soggy, muddy remains of his pass – it had indeed fallen out, onto the pedestrian crossing, where it had sat in a puddle being stepped on for the past hour or two. Incredibly lucky enough to find it, (I had been doing some serious talking to ‘Tony’ (St Anthony) while I had been scouring the floors) even better was the fact that the part where James’ details were was relatively unscathed, and though soggy, was still readable.

We hurried to the rail office at Nakano station where in a mixture of English and actions, we tried to explain the situation. We were very lucky again to have a very friendly guy serve us, who had a good sense of humour, and when he saw the sad and sorry remains of the pass, instead of lecturing us he just gave a laugh, consulted with this colleagues and then said he would ring Shinjuku station, as they couldn’t do anything about it there. He came back out, grabbed a sheet of paper and sticky tape and said ‘I will repair’ – again with another laugh – and by this stage we had to see the funny side too.

He taped it together, and then wrote a note explaining the situation (in Japanese) which he attached to the sheet of paper. He then said ‘please, be careful…put in bag…!’ he told us that the note he had written would provide James with travel back to Shinjuku, and tomorrow morning we were to take the remains to the Shinjuku rail office, where as the date and James’ name were still readable (‘not broken’) luckily we should be able to get a replacement. This is really amazing, because if it is lost or destroyed it will not be replaced, and we are talking about several hundred dollars’ worth of rail travel…so clearly our guardian angels were looking after us tonight.

We thanked him profusely, and then proceeded to head straight back to Shinjuku. I’m not sure what he wrote on the note attached to the remains of James’ pass, but I think it might say something like ‘please accept this mangled JR Pass that this buffoon has dropped into a mud puddle’ – because every time James showed the note, the JR officer would giggle and let us through with a  funny smile…

So feeling a little stressed, we decided to eat the ultimate comfort food, Ramen, for dinner, which we washed down with a much needed beer. A quick visit to the nearby Lush store meant that we could head home to a relaxing bath, so we could soak away the day’s troubles and prepare for another full and hopefully less adventurous day tomorrow.

When we finally got to Shinjuku, we knew we had to head for the West exit – the only problem being there were only two exits from where we got off, being the South exit and the New South Exit. Being the practical couple that we are, we decided to take the South exit, and so we walked out onto the street with absolutely no idea of where we had to head – Shinjuku station is one of the largest in Tokyo, and taking a different exit will practically take you a kilometre in the wrong direction. We asked a friendly security guard ‘Keio Plaza doko deska?’ – Where is Keio Plaza? and thankfully he pointed out the right direction, which proved to be about four blocks to the North and several blocks West. Fighting more crowds than we had seen our whole time in Sapporo, we tiredly made our way to the Keio Plaza, and were never so glad to hand over our bags to the friendly doorman, who directed us to the lobby of what is the swankiest hotel we have stayed at so far – I mean really, really swanky – we were well impressed. Unfortunately we were less impressed when we were told there was no ‘no smoking’ rooms available, however they assured us that after this one night they would be able to move us to a no smoking room for the remainder of our stay. It was really no hassle at all, and our room did not smell, as they came and sprayed it with a ‘smell remover’ type spray that really did quite a good job. The view from the room, which was on the 17th floor was amazing – we could see the Govt building which is really cool, and there is an observation deck in this building which is free to access, and so we will definitely check it out sometime while we are here.

We had a meal of 2 minute noodles (me) and bento box (James) for dinner, which we bought from the convenience store type shop on the 2nd floor of the hotel, showered and crashed out, happy to be in Tokyo with our big day of travelling behind us.

James woke me up at about 8am, and after reading the newspaper, we headed out looking for some breakfast. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a Mr Donuts near the hotel, so we had to settle for Starbucks today, but James is sure we will locate one soon enough.  Over breakfast we planned our time in Tokyo – today Akihabara and Shibuya this evening, tomorrow Harajuku in the morning then in the afternoon we split up with James going to Jimbocho for his sword fighting lesson and me going to Bead town at Akasakusabashi. Monday will be our day trip to Hakone, and then the nextday, instead of going to Kamakura, we will go to Ginza to see Tokyo sword and the Godzilla statue and Odaiba, which is a reclaimed part of Tokyo with all of the television studios and a heap of cool buildings and places to see. Then on Wednesday we will spend the day in Yokohama, before heading to Koya-san on Thursday. Busy busy busy!!

Today in Akihabara was so much fun. It is the ‘electric town’ of Tokyo – where there is store after massive store selling technology, electronics and manga. The stores just go on and on forever – each one is up to 10 floors high, and each one sells innumerable computers, gadgets, electronics, manga, anime…. awesome!!

Early on in the morning we went to a Maid Cafe, which was really cool. In Akihabara there are many maid cafes. I think that they started off as kind of pervy business men places, where men got waited on by girls dressed in old fashioned/sexy maid costumes, but now they are a well known part of Akihabara, and I was so excited to go to one. There are maids often on the street handing out fliers advertising individual cafes. Some of them don’t welcome foreigners, and so when a friendly maid handed us a flier, we knew that this was our best chance, because she wouldn’t have given us a flier if they didn’t accept ‘gaijin’ (foreigners) into the cafe. We followed her directions and went up to the 3rd floor of a building that seemed to house a number of maid cafes. Sure enough, on the third floor there was a door and a maid who answered, and we entered a tiny cafe with about six tables. We were surprised to see a western girl working as a maid in the cafe, and after we had eaten our coffee and cake ( I had strawberry cake, it seemed kind of appropriate in this ‘girly’ store) and while we were waiting for my photo to develop (you could have a photo taken with a maid for 500 yen) we found out that she was Spanish, and studying Japanese for a year, working at the maid cafe to improve her Japanese language skills. The maid cafe was really cool, and I’m really pleased that we had the chance to go to one.

Lunch was yummy chicken donburi, in a building that I am sure is newly built since we were last in Akihabara two years ago. It was a pretty cool restaurant, and the food was really yummy, and it gave us heaps of energy to continue hitting the shops. We explored Yodabashi Camera, which is huge, as well as many tiny, tiny shops selling models and gashapon figures (little toys and figures that come from the egg dispensing machines you put coins into). Some of these stores were so tiny and crowded full of stuff that  there was only space for one person at a time to move through the shelves – they certainly pack as much as they can into tiny spaces in Akihabara!!

Just before we left, we got interviewed by some people with a video camera, who asked us what we liked about Japan, and where we came from etc etc. They were very keen to learn about how we found out about Tokyo and Akihabara, and so I showed them my book where I have put all of my research for the trip – and they were mightily impressed – they asked to see each page, and filmed it in great detail – so who knows, maybe somewhere in Japan we will be on TV sometime in the future!!!

After we left Akihabara, we caught the train back to the hotel room, which had been changed to one in the same south tower, but higher up (25th floor) which was a non smoking floor. We jazzed ourselves up and headed back out, this time up to the sky bar on the 45th floor of the main tower for a few very expensive cocktails in a bar called ‘Little Bear’. The view from Little Bear bar was unbelievable, as were the prices, and so after a short while,  we decided to head to Shibuya for some dinner and people watching.

Shibuya is a short train ride from Shinjuku,and is the ‘youth’ suburb where young ‘pretty’ things hang out and are seen. We wandered around for a couple of hours, before having dinner at an Italian restaurant – most of the restaurants here seemed ‘foreign’ with very few specialising in Japanese food – I guess when young Japanese are out for a night on the town they don’t want to eat what to them is everyday food. I had spaghetti amatriciana, which was certainly very edible, but just somehow not quite right, and James had bacon and camembert pasta, which to him was also delicious but just not quite Italian – Mum’s pasta is still the best!!!

After dinner, I had to visit Gas Panic, which is a famous Shibuya bar/nightclub well known to travellers/gaijin and the ‘shibuya’ crowd. What surprised us most about Gas Panic was its size – James and I both expected it to be huge, but it was tiny, just a bar and one small room where people were dancing around a few tables. There was an interesting mix of people – some Japanese, a few black Americans, some white guys that introduced themselves and who were British – and they were playing some hip-hop type music, which was quite cool. A couple of drinks later, we knew that we could now say ‘I’ve been to Gas Panic in Shibuya’, and so we headed up the stairs, and made our way to the station, past the statue of Hachiko (who I had to go and hug – his story of devotion to his master just melts my heart).

3 stations later we were at Shinjuku. Our walk home was a sobering experience (in more ways than one…). To get to our hotel we need to walk along an underground arcade, and as it was about 10.30 most of the shops were closed up. In the doorways of many of these shops the homeless of Tokyo were setting up their bedding for the night – many of them had large cardboard boxes, which they rigged up to make individual sleeping areas, and others built little ‘caves’ from the boxes in an attempt to keep out the wind and the stares I guess from the passers-by. It was difficult to see all of these people sleeping rough just metres from our plush hotel, and I admire their courage and the way they still take pride in themselves even at their worst moment – some were reading quietly, others smoothing their collared shirt for tomorrow’s wear – I think that there are lessons there that we can definitely learn abut gratitude and not taking things for granted.

Well, up here on the 25th floor it is definitely nearing bedtime, the lights in the Govt building are out, and my bedlight is about to go out too -

ja mata ne!!