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

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.