Thursday, June 27th 2013 - Kyoto, Round 2

Today we wanted to see the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine grounds. It is famous for having approximately 10,000 torii gates (literally!) and a lot of stone foxes. It sounded like a bit of a hike, so our plan was to get up early and catch the first bus out there before it got hot and crowded. Turns out it is very hard to convince yourself to get up early when you are on vacation. We left around 9:30. We stopped at a conbini to get a few shrine-viewing pan because every day before this, we say that we'll just grab some conbini food when we get to the shrine and there is never a conbini near the shrine. We decided to be smart this time (so of course the first thing we saw off the bus was a Lawson).

Fushimi Inari is at the foot of Mt. Inari, but the bus ride was only about 20min. The admission is free and there are many shops selling cute fox goods if you so desire. The million-billion torii gates starts almost immediately and everyone wants to take their picture in the tunnel of gates. Do not wait in line to take a picture here. The entire mountain is torii gates, you will find numerous other picture opportunities if you plan on hiking the whole path. Which you should. It is a unique and beautiful Japanese experience and it counts as exercise! It is not for the weak of heart or leg, however. It is on a mountain, remember, so a large part of your experience involves stone steps. It's the original stair climber. When we completed the trail (and prayed at approximately 6,000 fox shrines), Mc found a sign that said the total trail is about 8K or around 5 miles. That's right, five miles of stairs. For our dear friends the O family, I'm sure that is nothing, but for the Mc family it was an impressive feat and we were definitely glad we waited to do that one till that last day.

On our way back down to the bus stop, we stopped at a little restaurant called Nezameya and I highly recommend it! It is right across the street from a big hashi (chopstick) shop, closer to the bus stop than the shrine on the south side of the street. Not only do they have an English menu and delicious, reasonably-priced food (we ate for less than 800¥ each), but it was founded in 1540 and not a lot of Americans get the opportunity to eat in a restaurant that has been in business for 400 years. I had oyakodon (chicken and egg over rice) and Mc had tamago soba (egg and noodles in hot soup) and even though it was quite warm outside, the hot food was very good.

We were pretty tired after our hike and the urge to take a nap was strong, however there was one more shrine I wanted to go to and since it was already 2pm I was worried it would close soon. So we rode back to Kyoto station bought our shinkansen ticket back to Tokyo for the next day, and hopped on the bus to the Sanjusangendo.

*SuperNova Travel Tip: Buy your Shinkansen (bullet train) ticket in advance if possible. The ticket counter agents speak great English and if you chooe to go the reserved seat route (about 600¥ more per person), then you can guarantee yourself a window seat - be sure to ask to be on the Mt. Fuji side!

Sanjusangendo is just about the only famous shrine that is within walking distance of Kyoto station. However, it's not a lovely walk and it was very hot, so we decided to make the most of our all-day bus pass. This shrine is my favorite. It's a huge building (sanjusan means 33 and gendo means the space between architectural pillars) filled with 10,000 hand-carved statues. Because they are all hand-carved, each one is unique. It is quiet and peaceful and you are not allowed to take pictures inside which forces you to just enjoy the experience. As we left the main hall, the afternoon sun was streaming through the windows and the quiet calm was the perfect way to end the day. Because we weren't allowed to take pictures, this temple is one you are going to have to experience for yourself.

When we got back to the hostel, we did take a short nap before trekking out to have dinner in a restaurant our last night in Kyoto. We went to Donguri, which I chose because Mc had not yet tried okanomiyaki. Okanomiyaki is difficult to describe; it's basically a big dinner pancake you cook yourself on a griddle. They all have the same base - cabbage, egg, and batter - and then you can order different types of other ingredients. We chose a seafood one and a beef one. Unfortunately, at this chain they do not let you cook your own okinomiyaki, they bring it to you cooked and slide it onto your table grill to stay hot. This was disappointing as I wanted Mc to have the experience of cooking it himself at the table like I did the first time I had okonomiyaki. However, he still got to try a new food. (I recommend the seafood variety and it's always better with a beer.)

Okonomiyaki at Donguri

Off to Tokyo tomorrow to visit our friend IB!

Wednesday, June 26th - Nara

This morning I was awakened by the sound of rushing water. Not being a light sleeper, at first I thought someone showering and then I thought that maybe the hostel was flooding. It took a moment to realize that it was raining. I was hoping that maybe it was just morning showers, but sure enough, when I consulted weather.com it was rain with 100% chance of rain. The hour by hour stated that it would rain until 1pm, at which time it would change to heavy rain.

We had wanted to take a "relax day" while in Kyoto, meaning that you set aside a day where you don't have to be up at a certain time and you just dink around all day doing stuff like laundry or travel writing. We had planned to take our relax day on Thursday, however given the weather I woke up my handsome husby to see if he wanted to move it up to today. In the end, we decided to forge ahead with our plans to see Nara today, despite the downpour. We are Oregonians after all and I figured that at least the temples wouldn't be crowded (this turned out to be wildly inaccurate).

We had our breakfast of random conbini pan (mine turned out to be bread with soft cheese in the middle and walnuts on top, Mc ended up with what he thinks was a Hello Kitty-brand cheeseburger) and I had left over lemon tea while Mc drank his Darth Vader coffee jelly. We grabbed a couple of the numerous umbrellas the K's House has set out for you to borrow and took off for the train station. The train station is maybe a 10 min. walk and we were drenched from the knees down by the time we got to the station. We had to stop halfway to get cash out of the ATM at 7-11 (which does accept US debit cards and even has a handy English option, in case you were wondering).

Yes, cafe jelly means there are jello-bits in your coffee. Mc claims it's quite good, actually.

At Kyoto Station we looked at the train line board trying to see the best route, but we didn't see a line that went directly to Nara, which the internet had led us to believe did exist. So we decided to ask. Kyoto Station has a very handy train information desk where they speak very good English. The lady there told us that the train to Nara left in 6 min. (Actually, the conversation went more like, "Ohayo! What is the best way to Nara?" "JR line." "Yes . . . which line." "Nara line." "OK, but where is it?" "Ah, go through this gate, then upstairs turn left, it is #8, [glances at watch] it leaves at 10:04." She said this last part very nonchalantly, as if it it was inconceivable that we wouldn't be able to make a train when we had 6 whole minutes to find the line and get there.) Thus began Mc's first experience running for the train. He was a champ; he didn't even knock anyone over and we got seats with like 30 seconds to spare.

The express train to Nara takes just under an hour. Once we arrived we saw that it was pouring in Nara as well. We made our way to the information office (which contained a bizarre 3 foot statue of a monk-looking guy with deer antlers) and asked how to get to the Todaiji Daibutsu (big Buddha). The Todaiji Daibutsu is what the Kamakura Daibustu was modeled after. The one in Nara is a little bit bigger and his house didn't blow away in a typhoon (although it did burn down twice). His house, in fact, is the largest wooden structure in the world. Since I love the Kamakura Daibutsu so much, it only made sense to visit his brother, especially when I found out how close he was to Kyoto. The lady at the Nara information desk got out an English map and then traced the road to the Daibutsu with a red pencil. Mc and I looked outside and then at each other and I asked, "Isn't there a bus?" "Oh, you want to take bus?" We looked outside again and said, "Yes," wondering briefly if she was unable to see the downpour out the window or if she thought that foreigners preferred to swim to tourist attractions. She directed us to bus #2 which picks up right outside the information office. Nara does not appear to have an all day bus pass, and it costs 200¥ to get to the Todaiji Daibutsu each way.

The big Buddha and the building he is housed in are both incredibly impressive and totally worth the trip to Nara. Admission is 500¥. This big Buddha is in a totally different pose from the one in Kamakura, he has one hand up and his eyes are looking at you. Mc and I bought a candle (it's another way to pray or make wishes) and as Mc picked a candle from the unattended candle box and lit it, looking around at this extremely old, paraffin soaked building he looked at me and asked, "Really? They're just going to let me light a candle in here?" To which I responded, "Well, it's only burned down twice." (A note about Japan: Everything is made of wood and any sight you go see is a 500 year old impeccable replica of the 1,000 year old original that burned down at least twice. It would seem that, like when a kid kicks over an ant hill, the Japanese just get right back to building it the exact same way in the exact same spot of the exact same stuff. Although that's not totally true - the ants must have gotten tired in the case of the Todaiji Daibutsu as his current house is but two-thirds the size of the original. Anyway, everything in Japan has burned down.) This Buddha is also flanked by two large and impressive guardian statues. While I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, I still prefer my fellow in Kamakura.

Todaiji Daibutsu building (those specks are people)

Todaiji Daibutsu

Nara is also famous for having a lot of shika (deer) wandering around the huge park. I was worried that we wouldn't get to see any because of the weather, and it turns out that was silly. There are deer everywhere. (Due to a legend about a god riding a white deer to visit a family in Nara, deer here are protected and have done as they please ever since and have developed quite the attitude.) There are stands along the path to the big Buddha selling shika senbei (deer crackers) for 150¥. Apparently the deer are pretty tame. Of course we needed a picture with a deer and on our way back from the big Buddha, we stopped to buy some shika senbei. In my mind, the picture would be me kneeling down near a shika (Japanese deer are very small), maybe wrapping one arm around it as it nibbled delicately at a cracker while sharing my umbrella. What happened was a gang of shika saw us head towards the shika senbei stand and followed us, flipping a coin menacingly in the air. Once I had paid the lady and unwrapped the senbei, I looked up to find myself completely surrounded by shika armed with antlers and I think I saw a chain and a lead pipe. Holding an umbrella and a stack of senbei and a camera while a shika has his head in my purse (in the off chance I snuck a cracker in there when he wasn't looking) was difficult at best. Mc had to free me of the shika in my purse rather forcibly before I could hand off the camera to him for a picture of me essentially being mugged by adorable deer. As soon as the senbei were gone, the shika gang spotted another easy mark and were off. We definitely got pictures of deer, but I doubt they were very cute.

Deceptively cute shika

We thought this sign was hilarious . . . at first

After that, we decided to call it a day. Our shoes were soaked through and the umbrellas were only really working to keep our heads mostly dry. Once back at Nara station, we were looking for a conbini so we could get a lunch for the train when Mc spotted a MOS Burger. MOS Burger is the Japanese version of McDonalds. MOS stands for Mountain Ocean Sun, although I have no idea how that relates to fast food. They are 2nd only to McDonalds in Japan. Their unique feature is that they offer a few sandwiches with pressed rice as the bun. Much to my disappointment, they no longer offer the yakiniku (beef) version of this. So instead I got the tobikiri with cheese set (set is what we would call a meal), while Mc ordered the W thousand yasai burger set with onion rings, 2 to be exact, and his first neon green melon soda. They have a new menu item which appears to be a taco on naan bread topped with nacho cheese, which was very popular among customers eating around us.

After we got back to Kyoto, we bought stuff for dinner in and just dinked around the rest of the evening. The highlight was going to Family Mart and getting a pizza-man. Man is the Japanese word for soft white steamed buns filled with a variety of things. The Chinese call them bao. In Japan you will find them stuffed with yakiniku, beef stew, curry, a number of delicious options. However, like many things in Japan, some of the flavors are seasonal (only available during certain times). My favorite was always the pizza flavor and I was ecstatic to see that they are in season while we are here! Mc got one too and declared it delicious.

Tomorrow is our 2nd dose of Kyoto history. Until then, back to dinking around . . .

Tuesday, June 25th 2013 - Kyoto, Round 1

Kyoto is full of temples and shrines, so many that it can be a little overwhelming trying to decide what to see when you're there. It should also be noted that most of the shrines/temples are pretty far apart, so you can't see them all. Mc and I scanned through the Lonely Planet Japan pages on Kyoto that I had copied and noted any places that had a unique or interesting-sounding feature. Then, since our hostel had free Wi-Fi, Mc got online and started looking at TripAdvisor reviews. Unfortunately, every review stated that the shrine/temple they were reviewing was the most beautiful and scenic with lovely gardens. What we took from this was that all the temples and shrines are beautiful and we basically couldn't go wrong and went back to our original list, cross-referencing points of interest with locations on the map.

*SuperNova Travel Tip: When you arrive and you pick up some information from the information desk, always always look at the calendar of events. If there is a local festival or event going on while you're there, go. Local festivals and activities are so much fun and will make your travel experience unique. The last time I was in Kyoto, I went to a fire-walking festival that was incredible.

The only thing going on while Mc and I were in Kyoto was a flea market at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine. We decided to go first thing in the morning before it got hot. (However, since the sun comes up at like 4am, you can never really get up early enough for it to not be hot, but we gave it a shot.) In Kyoto there is a Kyoto City Bus 1 Day Pass that you can buy for 500¥ and is a great deal. You can use the pass all day on both the sight-seeing buses and the regular city buses and the boundaries reach even to the far away shrines. You can easily pick one up at Kyoto Station (they also sell them at the front desk of K's House) and they work sort of like a Suica card - there's a machine on the bus that you send it through.

When we got to the flea market, it was hot. Individuals had set up covered stands and set out tables with various goods, or things were just laid out on the ground. There was fabric, antiques, knick-knacks, toys, collectibles, it was a lot like a giant garage sale, minus the baby clothes and furniture. Mc spotted a stand selling scrolls (a Japanese scroll is a painting or kanji mounted on a silk backing so it can be rolled up and stored when not displayed) and remembered that I had told him that the one thing I regretted not buying in Japan the first time was a scroll. I was skeptical, assuming that they'd all be really expensive, but we stopped and took a look. The people who owned the stand had cleverly taken a picture of each scroll and put them in books by type - animals, landscapes, kanji, etc. We looked through the landscape book and we found 2 that we liked that were under $100, I was shocked and wondering what the catch was. When we pointed out the first picture that we liked, a man found the corresponding numbered scroll in a plastic bin, hung it on a hook at the back of his stand, and dramatically let the scroll drop. It was beautiful, a mountain scene with one lone fisherman in the foreground mounted on gold fabric and was 6 feet tall. The couple beckoned us over, encouraging us to take a closer look, and we noticed it had tiny rust-colored age spots on it. We decided to look at scroll number two. It had no age spots, was smaller and mounted on light pink fabric, and was also lovely. It was a difficult decision; I liked the first painting more, but the second one was cleaner . . . and I would be standing there still trying to decide if I didn't have my amazing, decisive husband who also liked the first one better and didn't care about age spots you can't see unless you're very close to it. The scroll was 6,000¥ and 70 years old and was our 1st anniversary present (1st anniversary = paper) to each other. We continued on and the flea market was super long. On our way back, we looked for the scroll stand . . . and it was gone. I'm sure that we just missed it, but I'm sticking with the story that we happened upon a ghost scroll stand.

We also went to the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, which was lovely, and since this was the closest thing to a festival we were going to get (festival season in Japan doesn't usually start till July) we also got some of the food - a taiyaki (fish-shaped cake filled with custard cream) and these little round versions of okonomiyaki, both delicious.

Kitano Tenmangu

Walking through the chenowa wreath to get rid of misfortune and pray for good health

We decided to head to Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion), which is SUPER famous because the main building is entirely covered in gold leaf. As we walked onto the grounds we spotted a soft cream stand and Mc got to try macha (green tea) flavor this time. Definitely the least favorite so far. Kinkakuji is beautiful, be prepared to stand in line to take your pictures in front of it, and there is a marked path that you follow around the grounds. Admission is 400¥. 

Kinkakuji - it looks yellow here, but it's covered in gold leaf

Is there any other way?

When we were done, it made sense to us to head to Ginkakuji Temple (Silver Pavilion), which is not entirely covered in silver leaf. Apparently, they had intended to do it up all silver and went ahead and named it, then didn't. Surprisingly, the admission is more than Kinkakuji - 500¥. It's still worth seeing, the rock gardens and shrine grounds make up for the lack of sparkle on the building.

Ginkakuji - not-so-Silver Pavilion

We ended the day with Kiyomizudera. If you only have time to see one temple while in Kyoto, go to this one. One of the cheapest admissions (300¥) with the most to see and do. First of all, it's way up on a hillside so there is a great view. Secondly, when you arrive and wash your hands, there is a section of the shrine where you pay 100¥ and a man will hand you a bag for your shoes. Then you are directed to hold onto a handrail and go downstairs. Within a minute, you are submerged in complete darkness as you come to a level, concrete path. There is zero ambient light, so definitely do not let go of the handrail and accept the fact that you will get stepped on by the person behind you but this is evened out by the fact that you will step on the person in front of you. There are no more stairs after the first ones, so don't worry about that. After a while, you will see a beam of light ahead. There is a single light in the ceiling highlighting a rotating carved stone. Because there was a light, I turned to look at Mc, but the light is such a tight beam that I still couldn't see behind me. When it's your turn, you are supposed to turn the stone while making a wish. Then behind the stone is a curtain and you're back out into the light. It sounds skippable, I didn't think I would want to do it when I read about it, but it's an amazing experience, Mc's favorite of the trip. 

Kiyomizudera

Entrance to stairs down into the dark

Also on the same grounds is the Kyoto Jishu Shrine. This is the love shrine where you can pick up lots of omamori (good luck charms) for love and marriage, pray to the love gods, and do the walk of the love-fortune-telling stones. If you can walk in a straight line from one rock to the other with your eyes closed, your love will be realized. Mc did it perfectly (with many impressed exclamations of "hehhhhhhhhhh!" from the ladies watching), but I maintain that's because his love is realized. I did it when I first came and of course found Mc, but there was a 5 year gap so your love will be realized . . . eventually. 

There are many sights and photo spots and a lovely walk that takes you to the Otowa-Spring where you wait in line to drink the spring water from which Kyomizudera gets its name. The ladles used to catch the falling water are sterilized in the ultra-violet oven, but even then you're supposed to drink the water out of your hand, not the ladle. 

view from Kiyomizudera

After that we headed back. Some important notes for visiting shrines:
*Most of them close at 4pm, so keep that in mind if you want to do things like going down the dark stairs.
*Expect to spend at least an hour (although usually more) at each shrine. There is actually a lot to see as the grounds around the main attraction are generally large and beautiful. So if you think you're going to hit 10 shrines in one day, think again.
*None of the shrines are that close together, or that close to the bus stop for that matter. So with waiting for the bus, walking to the shrine, looking around, then walking back, waiting for the next bus, and then the bus ride, each shrine takes some time even though the buses run very often.
*Admission fees are anywhere from free to 1,000¥, so be prepared for that. It is easy to break any size bill in Japan, they ticket window person will not even bat an eyelash if you pay for a 600¥ admission with a 10,000¥ note. Don't forget to save some change for tossing into the shrine boxes before you pray. If you have ignored my advice about learning the change and have a ton of coins in your pocket, now is your chance to unburden yourself.

We thought about trying another night walk in a geisha district, but we were tired and Mc said, "If we see a geisha, ok, but it's not like it's a monkey," meaning that we rounded out the evening with a delicious conbini dinner and a solid round of watching Japanese commercials (I highly recommend this activity. They have beer commercials in Japan with the same frequency that we have car commercials in America and they are hilarious - Hard day of playing soccer and working out? You should probably have a beer . . . ).

Monday, June 24th 2013 - Shinkansen to Kyoto!

Monday morning we said good-bye to the N family. S had to to work (in Japan, teachers still have to report to work most days in the summer) and take A-kun to daycare (N-sensei was staying home with Y-chan who was still a touch under the weather). So we all got up early and hugged and Mc and I made them promise to visit us in America when Y-chan was old enough. I miss S a lot, but am comforted by the thought that we will continue to communicate through letters/packages (and I have already sent the kids more Pop Rocks) and the knowledge that they are planning on visiting us some day.

We took the train from Higashi-Omiya to Tokyo Station so we could buy shinkansen (bullet train) tickets to Kyoto. Kyoto is one of the old capitals of Japan and is the home to approximately a million-billion ancient shrines. If you go to Japan and you have the time, you should go to Kyoto, it's good for your culture. When you go, you will want to take the bullet train because Kyoto is far and the shinkansen is FAST and you can take a plane anywhere but the bullet train is only in Japan. Buying tickets is easy as the ticket people in Tokyo Station speak pretty good English, so no excuses! When you buy tickets, you have the option of paying extra for assigned seating, which we did because 2 hours is a long time to stand up with your luggage if you can't find a seat.

*SuperNova Travel Tip: When you visit Japan from another country like the US, you are eligible to buy a Japan Rail Pass. You have to buy them in your home country before you leave on your trip. You pay a set fee for the pass and then when you arrive in Japan you can use the pass like a Suica for pretty much all the useful trains, even the bullet train to Kyoto, as much as you want for 7 days (or 14 days depending on which pass you buy). However, we discovered that in Japan they don't really do the "buy more, pay less" thing. If you see a double pack of something, it will be exactly twice the price as the regular amount. They have sales in Japan, but besides that, everything pretty much costs what it costs. It does not generally save you much to buy more (which is a foreign concept in the US). So make sure before you go through the process of obtaining a Rail Pass that it's worth it. You definitely need to take at least 3 big trips to make the 7 day pass worth the cost (for example, one of your airport trips, Kyoto, and Hiroshima). Mc and I don't travel that way - I don't like to cram a lot of big trips in a few days because then you can't ever get a feel for a place - and so after some careful research (and a lot of hypothetical train mapping on jorudan.com http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/) we discovered it would not in fact save us any money to get the passes. It's an awesome deal if you have a short amount of time and want to see things that are not close together. Here's the website if you want to look into it further http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en001.html

The shinkansen is awesome and another reason to go to Kyoto! We were on the N700 (which goes 170mph), but we later discovered while looking at train goods (of course they made the shinkansen into a cute character with tons of products, quit pretending to be surprised) that one of the trains is named Dr. Yellow! Why do any of them have boring names like N700 if names like Dr. Yellow are an option?!  Anyway, taking the shinkansen is like riding an old-fashioned murder mystery train (except super-modern and less death). There are bathrooms and smoking cars, ladies who push food carts down the aisles, and a real train ticket guy in a fancy uniform complete with gloves who comes along and punches your ticket! OK, it's a stamp, but he makes a punching motion with it . . . Anyway, I love the shinkansen and I believe Mc is a fan now too.

Kyoto station is HUGE. When you arrive, find the information desk. Be careful, because there are several - one for train information, one just for information about the station itself and the attached mall, etc. - so make sure you find the one for tourist information. We didn't know what we wanted to do yet, so I just walked up to the man at the counter with a big smile and asked if he had any information in English for Kyoto and Nara, which he did. Before we ventured out of the station, I went to the bathroom. As I walked back to Mc, a woman came running after me and I realized I'd left my purse in the bathroom and the woman saw it and chased me down (did I mention how safe Japan is?). After that, we hauled out the map the hostel had emailed us before we left and started off to find K's House.

Mc found K's House on tripadvisor.com and the reviews were excellent. Even though it was a hostel, it offered private double rooms so we went ahead and booked it. It was pretty easy to find, a 10 min. walk from the station. As hostels go, it was good - it was very large with 2 communal rooms with kitchens, there was always an English speaker at the front counter, they had a restaurant/bar next door, the rooms had A/C, and the shared bathrooms had consistent hot water. However, our room was extremely small, just a touch wider than the bed, and the walls were very thin (I could clearly hear our neighbor having a looooong conversation in French at 2am). But it was cheap and we're not fancy and so it was fine for our 5 day trip.

Once checked in, we unpacked a little (very little, there was zero room for extraneous things outside the luggage) and started to read the literature we'd picked up from the information office as well as the Kyoto pages I'd copied from our Japan travel guide. It was late afternoon, but the day was not over, and we decided to head to Ponto-cho, which I read was a geisha district and a lovely night walk. In order to get there, we needed to take the subway from Kyoto Station to Shijo Station. There are only 2 subway lines in Kyoto; east-west and north-south. However, the underground area goes on forever. We got to our stop with no problem, but finding the ground level again was another matter. There was definitely a point at which I mentally prepared myself for a life underground and wondered if the mole people were an accepting bunch. We eventually surfaced at a shopping mall. Usually, Mc is pretty good with directions and a map, and if we had just walked out of the station he would have been set. But since we walked so far underground, when we finally found ground-level, we were a little turned around. So Mc picked a direction that seemed right to him and off we went. We happened upon the Nishiki Food Market entirely by accident, which ran into the shopping arcade, and both were pretty cool. We saw Nishiki Tenman-gu Shrine, which was an odd shrine that had a few animatronic features that I found more spooky than anything else.

Having found the shopping street on our map, we headed off in the direction of Ponto-cho. Then we came to a major street and looked at the map and we were not where we thought we were. So we set off again. And again. We did this for a while, looking for a geisha-style area. What we finally figured out was that Ponto-cho was not a street, but a sandy path by the river. Eye roll.

*SuperNova Travel Tip: What you read in travel guides may not match what you find in person. It's OK. Roll with it, most of the time you find neat things along the way. Or, if it's a total bust, it usually turns out to be a good story.

Once we found what we were looking for, we started to look for a restaurant for dinner. We found one down a little alley that claimed to have an English menu (I forgot to write down the name, but it was down the first alley past the start of the path) and we went inside. It was only 6pm, so it was too early for the Japanese, but we were starving and they were open. We removed our shoes and sat at the bar which was . . . um, let's see. Have I mentioned the holes in the floor in restaurants in Japan? OK, so the floor is built up high and then there are rectangular pits built into the floor. Then there are low rectangular tables slightly larger than the pits set on top of the pits. This is so you can still sit on the floor on zabuton (floor cushions), but you can put your legs under the table (instead of sitting on your knees). So the bar we sat at was like that - we sat on the floor with our legs in a pit at a bar that the cooks were standing on the other side of. That might be hard to picture, but it's the best I can do.

Anyway, they brought us an English menu which was a touch vague. We got the "Kyoto style 3 plates" and "fried sticks - cheese, fish, pork . . . " (the ellipses was included in the menu) and Mc got a beer. Kyoto style 3 plates ended up being a long dish with 3 sections, one had daikon (white radish, Mario used to throw them in SuperMario 2) with mentaiko (teeny fish eggs), sweet pepper, and tofu with vegetables. Oh, and all of them were topped with a small pile of teeny-tiny fish called whitebait (most people don't even notice that they're fish, but if you look closely, you can see their itty-bitty eyeballs).  It's always good to try the local cuisine and we have no regrets, but no new favorites either. The fried sticks were a much bigger hit - a plate with several sticks delicately deep-fried; pork, fish, quail eggs (which were amazing; still soft in the center), sweet potato, zucchini, and a wedge of brie cheese. Since we were the only ones there we chatted a little with the cook and had an extremely pleasant time.

Kyoto style 3 plates and fried sticks

After dinner, we went back to Ponto-cho and walked along the river. Ponto-cho runs behind a large section of expensive restaurants. There were several couples sitting along the river, including an adorable school-girl and school-boy sitting very close together on the a bench, holding hands. In Japan, several of the rivers are paved, so the path was not terribly scenic. But I was in Kyoto with my love and could not be happier.

Sunday, June 23rd 2013 - My Old Stomping Grounds

SuperNova Travel Tip: If you have the opportunity to stay with someone from the country you are visiting, do so. I don't mean hop in the car of random strangers or run away with the gelato man. I mean if you know someone, even if it's a friend of a friend, and they offer to let you stay, do it. When I first arrived in Japan (the first time), I did 3 overnight stays with 3 different families and they were each an invaluable experience. And there's a good chance you will never have had such delicious food.

So on Sunday, S asked us if we wanted to go make pottery. We said yes. Despite the fact that Mc generally avoids art-like activities and puts them in the same stress-inducing category as final exams, we said yes because we had never done pottery in Japan before and when you're traveling, you try new things, and if you're going to say no to things just because you think you might not enjoy it, then why did you leave home in the first place?!

N-sensei was supposed to spend the day with us this time, but unfortunately, Y-chan had woken up with a fever and N-sensei had to take him to the doctor (yes, on a Sunday, apparently the health care in Japan is amazing). So S, A-kun, Mc and I loaded into the car and off we went to spend the day in Omiya. This is one of the things I love about staying with different people. S is an art teacher, so of course she knows about an awesome place to do pottery, something we never would have thought of doing on our vacation. We arrived in a little studio, donned aprons, and sat around a long table while a pottery guru gave us each a huge chunk of clay and taught us how to make serving dishes largely by demonstration. It was surprisingly easy and Mc even enjoyed himself.  And in 6-8 weeks S will send us some authentic pottery, made in Japan!

Tougei (pottery)

After we washed up, we went to lunch. Apparently, S remembered that I told her neighbor boy that my favorite food was gyoza, because we ended up at Gyoza no Ooshyo, a Chinese restaurant known for their gyoza (fried/steamed dumplings similar to pot stickers but way better). We got there just before it opened, and there was a huge line behind us. Lunch was awesome, the gyoza was delicious, and I recommend this restaurant if you stumble upon one.

Lunch was followed by a trip to the Omiya Bonsai Museum. Museums are quiet, but the tiny tree museum was silent. It was also beautiful. They had an exhibit of trees that were 200-300 years old. (This is astounding to me because I cannot keep a plant alive for 2 months.) Mc found the museum to be fascinating and admired and appreciated the trees like an adult. My favorite part of the museum was the sign that said that you could NOT take pictures of the trees. Why? Am I going to steal the image of the tree and scandalously reproduce it over the next 300 years? Are the trees camera shy? Or are they just high-maintenance diva trees? There was a small section of trees in the courtyard that you could photograph, and they were beautiful works of tree-art.

One of the less uppity trees at the Bonsai Museum

For fun, S decided to take us to my old apartment complex in Haraichi. Mc got to see my old apartment building and one of the apartments was vacant, so he even got to look in the window and see the layout. I showed him my tiny train station and the vending machine where I'd buy ice cream sometimes on my way home and the daycare next door that would keep me awake when I stayed home sick. We went to my old conbini (Family Mart, still my favorite because old loyalties die hard) and the Seims drugstore where S helped us buy some headache medicine as our Advil had run out. (If you need ibuprofen while visiting Japan, Eve is a safe brand. Mc had seen a commercial for it and guessed that it was pain medication, but S confirmed so we got some. However, it is not as strong as Advil, only 150mg per tablet, so make the appropriate adjustments to your dosage.) It was really neat getting to show Mc where I lived and how far I had to bike to work and the okonomiyaki place that S first took me to.

When we got back to the N family house, Mc and I had a surprise jet-lag attack and had to take a nap. We got up 2 hours later and went upstairs to find that not only had dinner been made, but they had constructed a noodle chute in their living room. Earlier, S had asked what we might want for dinner and Mc loves noodles, so S thought of somen (very thin Japanese noodles). Apparently there are restaurants in Japan where somen comes down a chute of running water and you have to try to catch it with your chopsticks, dip it in your tsuyu (sauce garnished with green onions and ginger), and eat it fresh off the chute. The N family had built a chute in their living room with cartons cut in half, lined with plastic, propped up on a chair with a bowl at one end. A-kun positioned himself at the end of the chute by the bowl, and Mc and I were on either side as N-sensei and Y-chan dropped noodles and poured water down the chute and the three of us had a chopstick competition. It was so much fun! I highly recommend building a noodle chute in your living room if you're making somen! It was also delicious, but (of course) merely the first course of dinner. After the chute fun was over, we went over to the table where S had made more somen, hamburger steak, and 3 kinds of sashimi (raw fish slices). After a while, there were only a few slices of sashimi and a small hamburger steak left and they offered it to Mc, who took it to be polite and because it was delicious, even though he was full. Then S brought out another course of more gratin (a second dish from this morning), which Mc also finished to be polite. Then came a surprise dessert course and Mc died. Well, not literally. Dessert was mochi dango (3 mochi balls on a stick with various toppings - seaweed, thick sweet teriyaki sauce, or brownish powder) and sakuranbo (Y-chan hates sakuranbo but loves feeding them to Mc.) Mc had to try the mochi dango, but could only split 1 stick with me and I laughingly reminded him of when he asked me if there would be food at S's house.

Somen chute

Amazing dinner

Saturday, June 22nd 2013 - Kappabashi Dori & Yomiuri Giants vs. Chunichi Dragons

Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast of potato gratin and green salad (Japan is not really a "these are breakfast foods" type country) with S, A-kun, and Y-chan. N-sensei had to go to a handball tournament and had already left. We showered and then S asked us if we had ever been to Kappabashi Dori before. We had not, so off we went. This time we walked to the train station. As we left S's house, S told us the neighbor boy wanted to ask us a question in English. (He clearly did not want to speak to us in English.) We stopped and smiled and he said hello and we said how are you and he stood there, hanging on his front yard fence, terrified smile frozen on his face while his mother yelled at him from the sliding door. So we smiled and waved and said good-bye and started to move away to let him off the hook. As we started to leave, S told us that he had wanted to ask us what our favorite food was (see, we went with the "how are you" conversation, which was not what he had planned, and we broke him), so we went back and I said that my favorite food was gyoza. He was relieved having completed his mother-assigned task and we were happy to help. We waved and walked away.

Our final destination was Tawaramachi station, but we paused in Ueno station for lunch because it's a large station with some restaurant options. S took us to a soba shop where Mc got cold soba noodles for the first time (they come on a slatted wooden box and you dip them in a cold broth) and a bowl of rice with kakiage on top (vegetables dipped in tempura batter and fried in a mass), while I had cold soba with teriyaki chicken. S had to leave because Y-chan was suddenly and randomly inconsolable, so while she pushed his stroller around the station, Mc and I tried to figure out what the teapot on our tray was about. We tried to ask A-kun, but he was very busy constructing things of napkins and table accoutrements. The men sitting next to us (who were having a very fun lunch consisting of mostly sake), overheard our musings and explained that it was the water that the soba had been boiled in. When you're done eating, you pour it into your bowl and drink it and it is very good for your health. Generally in Japan, "Very good for health," is code for "This tastes terrible," but we tried it and it's actually quite good, especially if you mix it with a little of your dipping broth. S came back, Y-chan was appeased with an Anpanman juice, we finished lunch, and found our way to Tawamachi station.

Kappabashi Dori is also known as Kitchen Town and it's where you go to find all the extremely realistic plastic food you see in displays outside restaurants. When you go to this street you will see kappas everywhere - a kappa is a mythical Japanese creature that lives in the water and will try to drown you (this was to keep kids away from dangerous waters). Kappas have an indentation on the top of their head shaped a little like a bowl, and if their bowl is full of water from the river/lake where they live, then they can walk around on land and harass you. If a kappa is harassing you, try tricking it into dumping out it's water (for example, bow deeply and the kappa will bow in return, spilling his water) which renders them immobile. No, they don't have anything to do with kitchens, why would you think that? Anyway, I imagined the streets being lined with shops with very cheap plastic vegetables in bulk in bins, so you could essentially just fill up a basket with play food. That is not the case. All the food is sold in display sets that are very expensive. And realistic! There was a can of beer with ice on the sides that I would have sworn was real if it wasn't so hot out. You can buy little pieces of food, like life-size pieces of sushi stuck on a magnet, but those run about $10 each, which seemed like a lot for a magnet to us. However, it's worth a look because the fake food they sell there is amazing. Also, only a small portion of the shops sell plastic food. The rest sell kitchen accoutrements from things to set up your new restaurant to things to complete your home kitchen. We bought an ice tray that makes perfectly round ice cubes the size of marbles. S bought her kids an ice tray with dinosaur shapes and also got a set of hashi oki (chopstick rests). It was quite a good time and we enjoyed it very much.

*SuperNova Travel Tip: Japan is super safe. You do not need to bring a money belt to Japan (although if you've read my other travel writing, you know I don't take a money belt anywhere because there's nothing so awkward as fishing money out of the waist of your pants). When I lived in Japan, I once accidentally left my wallet in the basket of my bicycle when I went into a shop, and it was untouched when I returned in a panic. S had a stroller with several bags of stuff in it and when we would go into the crowded shops, she would just leave it outside the shop. I'm not saying you should do stupid things, but it's one of the very few places you will travel to where you can breathe easy in crowded places (which is good, because all places are crowded places in Japan).

We had tickets to a baseball game in Tokyo Dome City at 6:00pm, and instead of ditching us to head home with the kids, which would have been perfectly reasonable, S took us all the way to Tokyo Dome City and just arranged for N-sensei to meet them there with the car. She also brought a bag of fan gear for us to use at the game. We took a group photo outside the stadium, and then the happy, thoughtful, wonderful N family waved good-bye and headed home.

Tokyo Dome City is a resort/amusement park built up around the Tokyo Dome. If you don't already know, baseball is Japan's number 2 sport, right behind sumo wrestling. Mc is a huge baseball fan and so of course we had to see a game while we were there. Even if you are just a sort of baseball fan, you should go to a game. It's crazy. First of all, cheering is very polite. If you are a fan of the away team, then you sit in your designated section. Then ONLY the fans of the team at bat are allowed to cheer. Secondly, cheering is organized. There is a band and flag wavers and specific songs and chants and hand motions. (Just look around you and find someone who clearly knows what they're doing and then do that. They are very easy and you will catch on quickly). Thirdly, there's the beer wenches. Very pretty Japanese girls wearing girly baseball uniforms running up and down the stands with a beer keg on their back. When you wave one down, she will kneel next to you and pour your beer. Fourth, besides the beer you buy from wenches (about 800¥ each), everything in the stadium is about the same price you'd pay outside the stadium. I had a gyudon bowl and Mc had curry katsu and they were only about 500¥ each. They even have a sort of conbini/fan store and again, drinks were what you would pay at any conbini. Fifth, you never know what you'll see. Sure, there was a baseball game, but there was also Ronald McDonald. And then there were the cheerleaders because obviously baseball needs cheerleaders. And the Giabbit (the mascot for the Giants is an orange rabbit, so he is the Giabbit) and his sister. Drawbacks: the seats are very small. I am 5'9" and when I sit back in the seat, my knees touch the back of the seat in front of me. If you go see the Yomiuri Giants play, they are the number 1 team in Japan, so when we went it was very crowded and hot. It was uncomfortable. 

Yebisu Beer Wench (be careful who you flag down or you may end up with a lemonade wench by accident)

Baseball cheerleaders

In the end, the Giants lost 2-0 to the Chunichi Dragons and while it was uncomfortable, it was worth going. At the very least Mc got a cool Yomiuri Giants hat and I will cherish my small, garishly orange stuffed Giabbit. We found the train station without issue (generally I would confidently tell you to follow the crowd, but the crowd might be taking the subway, so you should bolster following the crowd with looking for signs) and we even managed to not get on a rapid. As we exited the train at S's station, I heard Mc blow out a big sigh behind me. When questioned, he told me that he almost lost his wallet (he was carrying all our cash). Apparently, as we started to walk off the train, someone tapped Mc on the arm and when he looked back the person gestured at his wallet on the seat. Did I mention Japan was safe?

Friday, June 21st 2013 - part 2, The N Family

When I moved to Japan to teach English with the JET program, the school administration assigned S, the art teacher, the glamorous duty of making sure I understood how to function in my new town. I assume they picked S because she was about my age, also single, and lived relatively close to the apartment they chose for me. They did not seem concerned with the fact that S did not speak English. If S was put out by any of this, you would never have known, she was always laughing and easy-going about everything.

S went so far above and beyond whatever the school had told her to do. On one of my first nights in Japan, she made me dinner and handed me Aquarius (Japanese sports drink) just I was contemplating passing out on the floor from heat exhaustion. She showed me how to get to two grocery stores from my apartment. She showed me where the video rental store was (yes, video rental, shut up) and then after that she took me to a restaurant. She sat me down, ordered two beers and what I learned was okonomiyaki, took out a spiral notepad and a pen, and we started talking. We used lots of hand gestures (think Charades) and any time we got stuck, the ingenious art teacher would draw a picture on the notepad and understanding was restored. (S said something about taco, and I got excited and drew a picture of a taco and asked, "Taco?" S looked at my picture and laughed. She pointed to it and said, "Tacosu." Then she drew a picture of an octopus and said, "Tako." My disappointment was vastly overshadowed by the fun of our conversation AND I was learning important and easy to remember nouns.) The more beer we had, the better our communication skills got until our friendship was permanently sealed.

I have such fond memories of S. She took me to my first cherry blossom viewing picnic in Omiya park. I took her on her first all-night clubbing experience in Roppongi. She would have little dinner parties with 2 other teachers from our school and taught me about holidays like Girl's Day and Japanese Valentine's Day. I took her to the Air Force base in Yokota to visit my friends and taught her about Taco Bell (she was pretty impressed with the size of the soda pop cup and kept it as a souvenir). When I was hit by a car, she was the only one who visited me and she brought me dinner and we played games. I would not have thought, logically, that two people who did not speak each other's language could become real friends - friendly acquaintances perhaps, sharing wacky exchanges once in a while, but not true friends. However, S stayed in touch even after I had to change schools my 2nd year in Japan. And then after I came home, we continued to communicate a few times every year with letters and packages. A few years after I left Japan, S got married. I actually knew her husband; she married the PE teacher at the school we taught at. I was very happy for her because he was extremely nice (and very good-looking!) and they had 2 boys, so she hasn't had a chance to visit me yet. Every time she had a big life event, she would send me pictures and a long letter, and I would do the same for her (except she is way ahead of me in the game of Life). S has always had a special place in my heart and I was so excited to see her again and for her to meet my husband.

When we met S at the train station, she looked exactly the same. I always forget how small she is (she only comes up to my shoulder) and she was stylishly dressed and still beautiful. She had brought her oldest, A-kun who is 5, with her and he looks just like her. When we arrived at her house, her husband N-sensei met us at the door carrying Y-chan, who is 2, with big smiles and warm handshakes. S has such a happy, warm family. They gave us a tour of their lovely home and we gave out our American omiyage (step 1 in winning over the kids). Then S sat us down for dinner while the boys decided that the best thing to do would be to open and try all the candy at once. S told us that she had a friend who was a tour guide and had asked him what Japanese food foreigners liked the most and then had made that. She made two kinds of katsu (S is an amazing cook and taught me everything I know about cooking Japanese food) and rice, salad, fish tubes stuffed with cheese, and so many other things I cannot remember them all. Dinner was a lot of fun and although N-sensei's English is limited, S did a great job translating (her English was actually quite good by the time I left Japan. I had assumed it was because she was just rusty at first and it had improved with practice. However, she told Mc that she wasn't interested in English before she met me, so it's possible that she studied) and N-sensei's smartphone had an app he could talk into and it would translate simple words and phrases. And of course Mc had listened to the language CDs and knew enough words to impress.

At dinner N-sensei asked Mc if he would like whiskey or beer. Mc chose beer and when N-sensei asked if he'd like another, he said yes because it was just beer and we were having good times with new friends. What he didn't realize was that the question wasn't "beer or whiskey" it was "which one first?" After dinner, whiskey came in large glasses with ice. S and I were chatting and when I glanced over at Mc I was a little surprised how red he'd gotten. He leaned over and whispered, "They stop asking if you want more! I just looked over and my glass was full again!"

*SuperNova Travel Tip: Japanese people generally love to drink, especially the men. If you are at a party, there will likely be one huge bottle of beer on the table and you will have a small juice-sized glass. The custom is that if you see someone's glass getting low, you grab the bottle and fill their glass for them. It's actually a great tradition, because then you can grab a bottle and go pour for people and chat with different guests at the party. If you want more drink, you cannot pour for yourself, so what you do is you find someone at the table near you and fill up your glass and then they will say thank you, notice your glass, and do the same for you (although people get a tad less meticulous the more alcohol that gets poured). This is important: If you don't want more, leave your glass full. It seems like a waste, but if there's any room at the top of your glass, you're getting more.

After dinner, Mc taught the boys how to use the remote control car and played with them till they were screaming with laughter and 100% won over. Around 11pm Satoko showed us to our room where she had laid out 2 futons with matching comforters, taught us how to use the electronic blinds and our air conditioner, and we slept like rocks.

Friday, June 21st 2013 - Nikko, Day 2

When we arrived at Rindou no Ie, we had the option of ordering breakfast for the next day, which we took advantage of. We got to choose western-style or Japanese-style and since Mc had yet to have the unique experience of a Japanese breakfast, we opted for Japanese-style. We had to be in the dining room downstairs by 8:00am, and when we arrived Shizuo slid back the door to reveal a huge tatami  room with a long, low table covered with our breakfast set out like a piece of art. Each plate was meticulously arranged. The Japanese believe that you eat first with your eyes, and that concept was in full play here. If you eat Japanese food or buy sushi at the grocery store, you are familiar with the little plastic garnishes added for decoration. All of the decorations and garnishes on our table were snippets of actual plants, but were so perfect that they seemed plastic. We seated ourselves across from each other on the zabuton (floor cushions) and Shizuo brought us hot green tea and bowls of rice. Then he left us to enjoy the beauty and calm of our artful breakfast.

Japanese-style breakfast at Rindou no Ie

Was it delicious? Um, no. I wanted Mc to try a Japanese breakfast because it is weird to eat fish first thing in the morning. A LOT of the things the Japanese will eat for breakfast are weird; for example there were 3 cold meatballs on a lettuce leaf. There were also 3 cherry tomatoes that had been inexplicably boiled and peeled. Mc got to try a umeboshi (pickled salt plum), which he hated (because they are disgusting). I also don't really care for pickled/salty salads and there were plenty of those. However, I don't eat much for breakfast anyway, the tamago (egg) was delicious, and it was awesome cultural exposure for a whopping 700¥.

After breakfast we wanted to explore the nature part of Nikko, and of course Shizuo insisted he drive us to town and hold our bags, and then deliver them to the station when we were ready to leave (I CANNOT recommend this minshuku highly enough!). Once in town, we took a bus to the Chuzenji Onsen bus stop (about 1 hour). That drops you off right next to Chuzenji-ko (the main lake area). From there it is a very quick walk to Kegon Falls. I will say right off that these are beautiful and impressive falls, unless you are from Oregon, in which case, they are about half the size of Multnomah Falls. However, I wanted to take Mc here because when I came here with my mom oh-so-long-ago, that's where we saw monkeys. Mc likes monkeys and when he heard that they had real, wild monkeys in Japan, he got very excited. In a manly, adult sort of way of course. So, because I love him and want him to experience everything on this trip, I wanted to show him monkeys. 

Kegon Falls

We got to ride a very long elevator (that is the only access to view the falls; it costs 500¥ to ride the elevator), be interviewed by more school children, and visit lots of omiyage shops, but saw no monkeys. So after the falls (where we bought lemon soft cream, as lemon appears to be the local flavor of the area - it was the BEST soft cream!), we decided to hike around the lake in hopes that if we got away from the populated area, maybe we would see monkeys. We walked along the lake and followed a random trail and eventually ended up at the Italian Embassy Memorial Park entirely by accident, which was nice enough if you like parks commemorating when the ambassadors all had homes on Nikko Lake. Still no monkeys. We finally had to head back to catch the bus, and Mc tried to not be wildly disappointed. We walked along the road and headed to the bus stop, which was a huge parking lot, and there were monkeys. Lots of them. By the bus stop. Of course. There was a tree nearby with small red berries and two monkeys were hanging out, doing monkey stuff. In a small chunk of parking lot behind a gate, a mama monkey was chillin' with her baby. And while Mc was taking pictures, an adolescent monkey jumped up on the gate and strutted by. (Note: monkeys are cute, but they will steal your stuff. Do not get close enough for them to grab your camera because they will grab your camera and then you will hate monkeys.) There were plenty of monkeys to fulfill the deepest monkey desires and I was delighted. Monkeys: check.

In every trip, there will be travel snafus, and the rest of this day was made up purely of travel snafus. We were supposed to meet my dear friend S at Higashi-Omiya station at 5:30pm. We arrived at 7:40pm. This was horrible because I am usually so meticulous and good at planning. I'd like to blame jet-lag, so I'm going to. Stupid jet-lag. Our first mistake was that when we looked at the bus schedule posted at the bus stop to see when the last bus was that we needed to catch back from the lake, we looked at the schedule by the drop-off stop, not the pick-up stop. So we were off by 30 min. there. Then our bus driver was awesome, flying down the switch-backs with expertise and confidence, but he got stuck behind what I assume was the new guy, who was taking each turn with EXTREME caution. When we finally reached the station, we had to wait for Shizuo to come with our bag, and then the next train going back towards Omiya wasn't until 4pm and then while we were on the train I realized that when I was calculating the times I read the length as 1 hour 40 min. when what it actually said was 140min., which is a huge difference, and then there was the rapid. A rapid is a train that goes super fast because it doesn't stop at all the little stops, just the major ones. And in case your wondering, Higashi-Omiya is not a main stop. (This was another time I was super glad that we had rented a cell phone, so I could let S know instead of having her wait at the train station for us indefinitely.) And lastly, S had told us to wait at the east exit and when she tapped my shoulder from behind and told us she had been waiting at the other exit, she asked, "Nishi is east?" (It's west.)

But we made it. And S was so kind and gracious and completely unbothered by the fact that we were embarrassingly late. She drove us (yup, she has a car) to her home in Omiya (she and her husband had a house built a few years ago) and gave us a tour. She introduced us to her family, and presented us with a homemade feast. (On the train, as it was getting very late, Mc asked innocently if there would be food at S's house or if we should pick up dinner at a conbini. All I could do was smile and tell him that there would be food there. Of course, after staying with S's family for 3 days, he felt ridiculous that he had ever asked. If you go to a Japanese home for dinner, it's possible that you will have never seen so much food in your life. And then comes the 2nd course . . . ) Seeing S again was a highlight of the trip and I cannot wait to write about her ad nauseum (is there any other way?) tomorrow.

Thursday, June 20th 2013 - Nikko Mountain, Day 1

Thursday morning we had a delightful breakfast with R at Mister Donut before heading out on our next side trip adventure. Mister Donut is a chain, you will see them all over Japan, and is very easy to navigate. You simply grab a tray and some tongs, pick out the donuts that look the most enticing (much like conbini pan, this will largely be a crap-shoot - R got a frosted donut that would otherwise look harmless, but turned out to be part of a Calpis flavored-everything campaign and was... interesting) and just pay at the register. If you want coffee, you can ask for it (coffee = ko-hee) and they will likely understand you, a great place to go if you want something easy.

From Mister Donut, it was a short walk to the station. (ANOTHER bonus of staying with friends is that if your friends are centrally-located and really kind, generous, wonderful people, they will let you leave your big suitcase with them while you take side trips with only your carry-on. You should definitely bring them omiyage.) The train ride to Nikko from Tokyo is pretty long, about 2 hours north. Mc and I had been traveling around Japan for almost a week and were feeling pretty confident about our train skills. Till one particularly long stop. Mc looked out the open train doors and noticed that the sign said that the train was ending at a station before Tobu-Nikko (our goal station), which was concerning. We were sure that we had gotten on the correct train, ending in Tobu-Nikko. We grabbed our bags and hopped off the train, looked around in a puzzled-fashion, and then I stopped a train worker and asked if the train was going to Tobu-Nikko (the awesome thing about Japanese is that you can turn anything into a question by adding "desuka" to the end of it, so I just said, "Tobu-Nikko desuka?" while pointing at the train and looking confused, which worked just fine) and he said no and gestured with a pushing-type motion, then hurried off. Relieved that we caught our mistake, we tried to figure out when the next train was coming and wandered in the direction he had waved us. We started to sit down on a bench to wait when the train guy came back around, noticed us, and told us to get on the train that was still there. Confused, we apologized for not understanding his gesture, jumped up and got on the train. The best we can figure was that at this station, the train we were on split in 2 and went different directions. So while we did get on the correct train for Tobu-Nikko, we did not get on the right section of the train. The moral of this story is NEVER let yourself feel confident in your train skills, because that's when the train will get you!

Anyway, we did eventually get to Nikko station and for those of you wanting to visit, you should know that the train station is really small, it doesn't even have a full conbini inside (I know, unfathomable)! It does have an information office and I always recommend taking advantage of them, even if it's just to walk up and ask if they have any information/handouts in English. (You will use them later.) However, please note that they only have English-speakers at the information desk during certain hours (when we were there it was until 4pm), so don't think you can just go there any time.

Mc had done some research and booked us a room at a minshuku (guesthouse, kind of like a bed and breakfast) called Rindou no Ie. Once we booked it online, we received an email from Shizuo thanking us for choosing his guesthouse and telling us that once we arrive to please call him and he would pick us up (Note: if you'll recall, we rented a phone at the airport and I highly recommend it as it was infinitely useful to have for situations like this one. However, there are still pay phones all over Japan - just look for the green handset), which we did and he arrived within 10 minutes. Because we were early, our room wasn't ready. He offered to take our luggage on ahead, encouraged us to go sightseeing, and call him when we were done, even though we offered to walk (it's about a 15 min. walk, just over a kilometer, but we were grateful for the offer of a ride since it was raining).

*SuperNova Travel Tip: Book your lodging before you leave. I know that some travelers prefer the freedom of just showing up in a place and seeing what happens (because life is for the living!), but those people have to be  prepared for/ok with sharing a bedroom with 2 random dudes in what you were told was a hostel, but may, in fact, be a squatter community. I have done it both ways (that was not a random example) and I personally find the benefits of planning far outweigh any benefits of winging it. 1. You know the costs in advance and have factored them into your budget, 2. you don't have to spend valuable vacation time in a dark internet cafe frantically researching reviews on TripAdvisor, 3. when you book in advance, the good and affordable hostels/guesthouses/hotels are still available so you don't have to settle for a place that has a roach you were sure was a mouse at first glance. If planning makes you feel restricted and panicky, remember that reservations are just reservations, and as long as you note their cancellation policy, you can change your mind at any time. But it's much easier to cancel a reservation than spend forever trying to make one.

This was really the first time that the rainy season was rearing its dampish head. I was worried about Mc because it was cooler on the mountain than in Tokyo and rainy, but Mc claimed it was still too hot for his raincoat. We solved this problem by picking up a small umbrella for 350¥, figuring that it was small enough to take home and we could always use another umbrella. (The umbrella is currently sitting long-forgotten in S's umbrella stand.)  Then we hopped on the bus (the stop is right outside the train station and your Suica works on the bus) for some shrine viewing.

There are several shrines and temples in the Nikko area, but I specifically wanted to take Mc to see Nikko Toshogu Shrine. When I lived in Japan, Toshogu Shrine was the first experience I had where I went to a place that looked exactly like the slides from my Asian Art History class. The bus ride is relatively short and admission is 1,300¥ to see all 3 treasures (which you should). Your ticket will come with 3 stubs, so you'll know you're about to see one of the highlights when a temple-bouncer rips off part of your ticket. I do a lot of writing, but attempting to describe Toshogu Shrine will come off as an attempt to use all the thesaurus has to offer for alternatives to "awesome" or "amazing." So I will stick to things you should know and experiences we had and you'll just have to go visit for the visual part. 

Things of note: The shrine is huge. It is worth the admission as there is a lot to see and you will spend some time there. There are a lot of dragons incorporated into the decor. There are some presentations; they are not in English. However, if you pay attention to body language and just relax and look around, you'll get the gist and none of the presentations are very long but they are all worth doing. One of the first things you see when you walk in is a carving of the 3 monkeys (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil) and it is awesome to see where that originated. It will be packed. We were there on a Thursday and it was rainy and it was still full of people. 

Many of those people were school groups, since school was not out yet in Japan. If you are obviously foreign, you may become the target of one of these school groups. It is not uncommon for teachers to assign their students an English dialogue when they know they are taking their students somewhere English speakers frequent. We were surrounded by just such a group, each student nervously clutching their A4 worksheet with their carefully printed script, never making eye contact, as they ask you what your favorite color is. If you are the subject of one of these interviews, keep your answers short and predictable. (If you vary from the script, they will not know what to do and will panic. These kids are adorable and you don't want to scare them away.) After Mc and I answered the same questions fifteen times ("Where are you from? Do you like Japanese food? . . ."), we were able to continue our sightseeing. I'm glad Mc got to experience this; it's really fun, very cute, and it totally makes you feel like a rock star. Later, wandering through the grounds we would inevitably see the group of students again. No longer encumbered by their terrifying speech, the brave ones shouted, "HARO!" and once you respond, "Hello!" you are caught in an infinite loop of saying hello to every student as many times as they can get you to say it before their group walks too far away. I honestly do not think that they are making fun, I think that they are super excited to try out a word that they've been required to learn but never get to use and then lose it when they find that it actually works. While I was in the bathroom, some super brave students approached Mc and asked if he would take a picture. He thought they meant take it for them, but soon found out they meant with him in it. Once he agreed, he was a celebrity for the next 10 min. as student after student needed a picture with him. I love Japanese students.

*SuperNova Travel Tip: Don't let the weather keep you inside. It was rainy (I purposely won't say it was "raining" because I am from Oregon and we have more words for rain than Eskimos have for snow and it wasn't raining, just drizzly) and we got wet, but it wasn't cold and we had an amazing time and the weather actually made for some great pictures - the low clouds and mist giving the beautiful shrine an ancient ambiance.

After a few hours, we were damp and tired from traveling and headed back to the station, where we met Shizuo. Our room at the minshuku was wonderful. It was a traditional tatami room with sliding doors. Green tea was already set out for us on the low table in the middle of the room. We had our own air conditioner and the wifi password was framed on the TV stand. We sat on our knees on zabuton (Japanese floor cushions) and drank hot green tea out of tea cups with no handles. After we felt settled, we went downstairs to ask if Shizuo would recommend a restaurant for dinner. Not only did he haul out the map and draw on several locations, but once we picked one, he insisted on driving us. 

The izakaya he recommended was delicious. (I had the name of it written down, but alas, we kept the wrong map.) They had an English menu (meaning they had a regular menu on which they had printed and taped tiny English translations - you see this a lot) and we saw an opportunity to try deep-fried ray. It came in strips and was awesome. It had an almost sweet taste and was just a little bit chewy. Everything we had there was good.

Once back at the minshuku, we pushed back the tea table, unfolded our large, cushy futons, donned our yukata-style robes, and kicked back. After a little while, I decided to take a bath before the evening rush. The bath was downstairs and was huge and I had it all to myself. After showering at one of the 2 shower stations, I went over to the massive bathtub and pulled back the cover. It was filled to the top and had bath salts mixed in that turned the water an opaque milky white. It was relaxing and wonderful smelling. As I pulled back the next section of bath cover, an image of a body floating to the top of the water FREAKED ME OUT and then there was no way I was getting in. But since I am a rational person (obviously), I figured I just needed to sweep the bottom of the tub. The only thing I could find was the little bucket they provide so you can rinse yourself, so there I was, dredging the bottom of a perfectly lovely bathtub for bodies. I didn't find any (surprise), so logically as I got into the bath and sank in up to my shoulders, my mind changed the image to that of a pale white hand shooting up out of the water and pulling me under. The setting was perfect - way out in the mountains, downstairs away from my husband, we don't speak Japanese so of course we would not have heard the rumors of how people keep disappearing or the story of the girl who drowned while working in a minshuku . . . I could basically write the horror movie in my head, and I needed to STOP because I needed to take a bath like a reasonable adult. So I sang. I sang every song I could think of while forcing myself to enjoy the heat of the water, and of course it worked. It is fun to sing in a huge bath room like that, the acoustics are excellent and if anyone could hear me, no one beat on the walls. The water made my skin feel soft and SOMETHING TOUCHED MY FOOT!!! After I restarted my heart, I discovered it was the pull string for the bath plug and this is why is a curse to have an active imagination, not a blessing. Bath over.