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Day 6

N.B. This was written shortly after I returned and will be rewritten as and when I get time.

We all headed up the maintain on a cable car to the source of the onsen today, the sulphurous springs in the Owakudani valley. The cable car had rain drops on the windows however which meant photo-taking was futile apart from a few shots.

The springs themselves come out piping out, so we got to sample one of the “Black eggs” which are cooked in the sulphurous waters. Once you get past the black shell however, it’s basically just a boiled egg, but one purported to give you 7 years of extra life.

Heading back down the valley we grabbed a gaudy pirate ship across the lake when it promptly starting pissing it down with rain.

With a walk around the forest now treacherous to say the least, we headed into a local museum which resembled someone taking stuff out of their garage and putting it on display. A really random collection of things like clocks, cameras, cabinets and samurai armour.

With the rain now mist, we headed down the cedar lined alley of what used to be the old Tokkaido trail between Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo).

I also managed to snap a picture of a tori-gate in the mist which turned out to be one of my favourite photos.

After wandering about lower Hakone for the afternoon everyone headed back for a relaxing evening at the guest house and making use of the onsen.

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18 September 2006

Day 5

N.B. This was written shortly after I returned and will be rewritten as and when I get time.

Heading out from Kamakura first thing we got a train to Hakone which is nestled in mountains, literally. How they got all the machinery and builders up to build this fantastic town is beyond me, but such an achievement. When we got the bus from the train station to our guest house, there were road works and a bus ahead broke down meaning it was a long and tortuous journey up the hills.

The guest house itself was rocking, a family run establishment, it had a few young female staff, one of which (called Taki) was again extremely cute but our tour leader James seemed to have a thing for her so that was a bit peculiar.

The typhoon had stirred up the weather again meaning the afternoon trip to the Open Air Sculpture museum was a bit wet. Heading back on the bus however was an exercise in terror. The bus driver was taking hairpin bends down this mountain at maybe 40mph, bearing in mind the road is wet and the bus is full of (now scared) tourists. The driver was completely dead-pan throughout it which was slightly worrying.

The evening I managed to sample the onsen. My word. Relaxation doesn’t even begin to sum it up. The water was milky with minerals (mainly sulphur) and at about 28-30 degrees celsius and I could have spent hours in there.

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17 September 2006

Day 1 – Travel and tourism

N.B. This was written shortly after I returned and will be rewritten as and when I get time.

Went through passport control and customs then met up with the tour leader, James as well as another group member, Lisa. James got our JR Rail Passes there then gave us instructions for getting to the hotel in Tokyo. Essentially it’s an hour and half train journey from Narita airport to Tokyo and James had to meet others at the airport so didn’t have time to take us to the hotel personally.

Dropped my bag off at the hotel (no check-in until 4pm) then went with Lisa to Senso-ji which is a temple just round the corner from the hotel.

By this time there was a fine rain or mist around and after 14+ hours of travelling it was nice just to wander in the peacefulness and soak in some of the ambience. The story behind the temple involves 2 fisherman finding a statue of the goddess Kanon while fishing; figuring it was uber holy they built a temple up around it which became Senso-ji. The figure is not on display as it’s considered too holy for us common people to view.

After a spot of lunch (menu pointing is the only way to go) Lisa and I split up and I went off to Tokyo Tower, which – as nice and touristy as it was – didn’t really hit home in the rain and mist.

By now the subway was becoming quite familiar: it was quick, efficient, clean, easy to navigate and generally quite awesome. There is of course the concept of a “Gaijin Raidus”, whereby if other passengers can possibly help it, the seats either side and in front of you will not be filled. When you’re the only westerner in a 10+ carriage train I can kind of understand it.

Now able to check into the hotel, I came upon the glory of the Japanese toilet:

Having been awake for 28+ hours and being faced with this, it was a case of “I just want to use this thing not drive it.” So you can heat the toilet seat (apparently very useful in winter-time up in the mountains) and get front and back water streams (of which you can control the water pressure). Without putting too fine a point on it, these things have impeccable aim.

Now 5pm, I couldn’t be bothered going to scavenge for food so I went to bed and slept on and off until the next day.

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13 September 2006