02-09-2012 Beyond Tokyo
Having stayed in Tokyo for a while, we had planned to head out and see Nagoya on the fast train. I was still a little bit difficult to travel with being all tired and confused but Natalie and Mum did a good job of looking after me. We found some delicious food at the train station - I had cold soba noodles, which reminded me of a country trip I did but in the day, and chicken and egg on rice which I don't believe I've eaten since we made it in Japanese class in high school but I have always fondly remembered.
Natalie took us to Nagoya castle which was really impressive. We had a great look around the outside and the started on the museum. It had separate staircases for going up and down - Mum was on the lookout for the one going nowhere just for sure :). It was close to closing time though so we only managed a couple of floors of traditional treasures. Despite being shooed, we did manage to race around the last couple of floors, which included a mock village. They played Auld Lang Syne on repeat to aid with the shooing process... We had ice creams before and after to help us deal with the heat - including a soda ice cream which was blue and really did taste like soda. My desire to try random things was tempered by the temperature so I didn't buy a stick of rice paste covered in sweet miso (although I believe I tried it in Tokyo at a later time).
I enjoyed the musical 'Wicked', in particular the spirited performances. I was greatly assisted in having read the libretto beforehand because I don't think I could have followed otherwise. We didn't dawdle on the way out, having preemptively bought souvenirs, but when we arrived at the station was discovered the absolute last train to Tokyo was going to leave in a manner of minutes. The ticket sellers urged us to run and talk it through with the train conductor so we did - running through barriers before the guards. We made it on time, and thanks to some quick thinking by Mum managed to find seats.
When the conductor did arrive the first order of business was to work out where we had boarded the train. Apparently you're supposed to have a little stamped thing but the had been no time. Natalie was bravely negotiating it all and showed the theatre tickets. His reaction was 'seriously?' but he took it on board, particularly since Mum then found her reservation ticket for the trip down that hadn't been swallowed. That being established he drew up tickets and asked us to pay... cash! Slight problem there, I had enough on me and then under his watchful gaze we started pooling pennies to try and pay for Nat's ticket (Mum had her rail pass). We got quite close but no luck, at which place the conductor disappeared for ages. He eventually returned triumphant with a crumble bit of paper with a stamp (from another passenger? Who knows?) so that we could prove our journey to the office on the other end. So all worked out for the best in the end and we got home :) Nat later discovered a note tucked away in her bag that might have made the difference but in a way I'm glad we didn't find it otherwise we couldn't have afforded ice creams!
The next day was an excursion with Natalie and Rachel. We found the Beauty and the Beast show with no difficulty but it was slightly harder to find a lunch place with no queue. Having suitably fed we entered and I bought some ridiculous bling to decorate my bag. The show was great, I really enjoyed it but I was still in a weird 'not sleeping at night' phase. I hadn't been this tired since I started prepa and I used one of the tricks I learnt there - sneakily eating sweets that I wasn't supposed to have. I brought sweets from France over precisely for eating at shows and this was the first time I had been told I shouldn't eat them. It may sound lame that sneaking a couple gave me a bit of adrenaline but there you go it helped me not to miss an awesome show.
We finally managed to have dinner all the four of us. We went looking for shabu-shabu but couldn't find any. Getting hungry we opted for a place where you have a brazier in the middle of the table over which you grill your meat. Judging by the kimchi the restaurant was Korean and super tasty. My umbeboschi cocktail wasn't quite what I was expecting but still quite refreshing...
Next morning we all had coffee at the place that had become our staple coffee place. Then Mum and Nat set off for Kyoto and Richard and I went off to explore Tokyo a bit. First stop was to the surrounds of Chuo university which had been his stomping ground. Thee was an awesome city roller coaster outside the metro which was unfortunately not working. We wandered some time in a nearby Japanese garden that was ate lovely then went up a tower for a free overview of the Tokyo cityscape. We then went a journey to find the electronics district - I think we only found the outskirts which may well be a Good Thing given "All my vices are devices".
Richard had the lovely thought of us going down to the waterfront for lunch, only it really wasn't how he expected it to be. The shops all disappeared and we found ourselves in a very CBD district without even a convenience store in sight. We were hot and discouraged by this time but luckily we happened on a side stet with a locals pub/restaurant. We managed to discuss the menu in Japanese and had curry Katsu-don which was awesomeness. The place was one of those slightly trendy retro places, we were sitting on what looked like refurbished bins. Richard was curious about the 'Hoppy' beer advertised by a smiling dog so we tried to order it. He ended up with Asahi which may have been optimal as I think I deciphered that the other was alcohol-free or otherwise light.
From there we made our way to Ghilbi. It was a delightful walk down, with Totoro signs giving us directions and lots of greenery. The place itself looked like a manor that had had several different eccentric masters make adjustments, and was fun to look at. Richard approved of the inside with its wrought iron staircases and open plan. I think my favourite part was walking through the mock ups of artist studios and seeing all the work that went into design and production. The moving displays downstairs were also great, if sometimes a little trippy. I deposited Richard to wait in the cafe while I tried to shop in the store (eventually emerging with just a cat dangle and some postcards). I surreptitiously joined him - he was halfway through the best beer he had had in Japan. Declared better than Swiss beer indeed. In order to legitimize my position I *had* to order the parfait :) For once the ability to order a Japanese version of the delicacy and hunger were in sync! It was really good too, I wonder if I still have the little Totoro flag secreted somewhere.
I think it was our walk home that caused us to be eaten alive and get the most attractive massive welts on our legs. But we didn't discover that til later, we enjoyed the twilight walk in the relative cool of the evening. Coming home we were intrigued by the advertisement of 'painful' ramen so in the interests of crusty wE decided to dine there. The ramen was in black soup and rather strange but we couldn't fathom why it had the 'painful' epithet, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. There was a LOT of food there, in articulate mine which was brimming with bean sprouts. Flush with his beer success, Richard ordered one, and not only was it cheap tap stuff but there was an icicle floating in it - beer slushy!
The next morning was an early start, which felt normal to my strange body clock. We took the Shinkansen down to Kyoto but missed seeing Mt Fuji as the people on the other side had their blinds down and we weren't sure when we'd pass it. We glimpsed it on the trip back however. Arriving at the station we had a mild moment since we had neglected to find out how to get to our hotel, but a quick talk (in Japanese :) ) to the information staff helped us out. My first impression of Kyoto was a busy bus station with vents spraying mist down on the crowds. We arranged to meet up with Nat and Mum later (they were on their way out to breakfast) and started out by inhabiting the coffee store downstairs. It wasn't brilliant but it did give us a cool, calm moment to write some postcards. We'd seen the nearby post office and it had inspired us.
We set out to explore Kyoto - Richard had googled 'markets' and we headed off in that direction. We had a really interesting time exploring back alleys and coming across temples and gardens but turned back to ensure we had time to eat lunch before meeting up for the afternoon tour. We found a place that we weren't sure was even a restaurant and walked into the loveliest traditional local's bar. It had a few traditional tables on one side and a bench running along the side of the bar that you could sit at. The decoration was tatami and wood and the bar mainly served sake. They panicked as we came and and said the was no English menu but we reassured them and 'had what he's having'. It was delicious tempura with locally caught fish as part of a full traditional lunch set. The Japanese classy fish and chips that had us over the moon!
The Nara tour was hosted but a talkative guide who was lots of fun. First stop was the Deer park on which we visited the 'largest metal Buddha' at the Todaiji temple. The statue was impressive and the deer were inquisitive. It was really wonderful to come back 15 years later to various things that were highlights of my year 9 trip with Rhianna. Richard even got to wander the park a little and spot birds although I was more exited by the baby mini-deer. We arrived at the Kasuga shrine, a Shinto place with an alley of lanterns that looked like it was straight out of a Ghilbi cartoon. However while we was explaining the Shinto significance of the deer, the rain clouds decided to burst. Nat and Mum had been shopping that morning and found an awesome large, foldable umbrella which I became the happy second beneficiary whereas Richard just ran. It was a beautiful place, actually the rain was rather atmospheric.
On the way home we stopped off at a shopping place. I looked for a 'Nara' dongle but ended up buying a little turtle one that will be our house spirit animal and go on our key chain ;) In the spirit of 'try random things' I also bought some triangles of stuff with red bean paste inside liberally sprinkled with cinnamon. They went well with the ice cream Mum bought.
That night we wandered downtown and found a shabu-shabu place - not a dedicated one so they had a machine they had to plug in. We had a lot of fun ordering all kinds of random sides with it - from cold tofu dishes to gyosa to tempura ;) So much deliciousness!
The next morning Richard and I went to a coffee house we'd spotted 'Seatlle best' and got some awesome mango slushy, cheesy focaccia and banana walnut muffin with bonus chocolate bits. I'm glad Richard didn't find out til later that it actually was a new sub-set if Starbucks aimed at being more 'working class'. Then it was time for our day tour of Kyoto :)
This time we had a Buddhist guide, and the first stop was one of the seemingly many 'home centers' of her type of Buddism (the Nishi Honganji was its name I believe). Unfortunately the Imperial palace was closed, but this was an interesting structure to start off with all the same. It had some claims to being biggest wooden structure (but with caveats) I think. It was fun to introduce Richard to walking on tatami mats and a beautiful structure.
Next up was Nijo castle, which was the Kyoto Residence of the Tokugawa Shogun built in 1603. It gave us a glimpse into how society was structured at the time. I do like that the 'intimidating' pictures were lions and tigers - the painter having thought that they were the male and female of the same species. They were doing some brilliant restoration work on old panels, so we could see them as they were, but left some old ones in which was good because somehow we have it inbuilt to want to see the 'original'.
Last stop of the morning was the Golden Pavillion (Kinkakuji temple). Not only was the Pavillion spectacular but we also got to wander around a beautiful Japanese garden. We had fun looking at all the charms you could buy, and ended up buying one for the 'happiness of people in the house'. I hope it gets through customs Ok. I also got a mini turtle charm just because ;) Richard tried the 'Exoresso tea' which turned out to be super sweet milky tea but it sure perked him up.
The organised lunch was in a massive hall, and it was a real smorgasbord of little things. Some nicer than ither's but all edible for those of us that actually tried them. It was nice to have some a traditional meal and to receive things that we probably wouldn't order for ourselves.
First stop in the afternoon was the temple where Rhianna and I first coined the term 'borange' (bright orange) - the Heian shrine. It is visually stunning ;) but we didn't make a wish on a little piece of paper and tie it to the trees. The next place was also amazing and I would've loved to be allowed to take photos. The Sanju-Sangendo Hall has a thousand statues of Buddha with many helping hands to fix the world, flanking a gigantic Buddha in the middle. There are also thirty stone sculptures of guardians involving many Hindi deities as well as a few home grown ones. After marveling at the statues we raced down the back where there was a little museum about the building. The long hall was used for an intense archery test where archers shot steadily for 24 hours the length of the hall which was no mean feat. The overall scores of some winners were very impressive ;)
Last but not least was the Kiyomizu temple. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of a hill crowded with little shops and the temple looked out over it at the top. I took the opportunity to bless my hat with more water as I was trying to avoid heat stroke and went in to marvel at the temple. We made an offering to the god of wealth just in case :D The top also gave us a sweeping view of Kyoto and is a popular place for people to come kitted out in Kimonos so there was plenty to see.
I had a filled crepe in the way home, which was a long way from the epic crepes I remembered eating in Tikyo all those years ago. I talked Richard into eating e black sesame ice cream - not and bit really tastes like sesame! We went looking for little souvenirs with the left over time and in the continuing spirit of trying random stuff I bought some stamped steam buns - they turned out to be full of tasty meat, causing Richard to exclaim 'its the Japanese meat pie' :)
Home again, home again jiggedy-jig. Natalie resourcefully managed to find me a place to eat Okonomiyaki. We couldn't cook it in front of ourselves but it was everything that I remembered all the same. Then she managed to find us parfait so we could actually have
The ice cream to celebrate the sale of the house!
Next morning the girls went to the dress-up house and Richard went wandering. Mum was an excellent support while Natalie and I got dressed up like a Geiko and Maiko. It was lots of fun and the photos were surprisingly lovely despite how awkward some of the poses felt at the time. However e Geiko sash really doesn't go well with my ribs...
We had lunch in the station - including I think some sticks of squished rice with sweet miso paste afterwards. There was just enough time to do some last minute shopping - I'd manage to break another pair of earrings. We also found out how to access the Skywalk which was fun - though not nearly as romantic as its enthusiasts had claimed. Perhaps at night? I scored random squishy sweets for Richard to really try some traditional stuff and we sampled on the train back to Tokyo.
I think the fact that Richard had relaxed into his holiday is best demonstrated by the fact that he actually was excited to be near to Disneyland/sea at the end of the trip. We'd booked a partner hotel and to get there we needed to take the bus from outside a park. It was rather surreal to ride an elevated monorail with Mickey shaped windows and see castles and volcanoes poking out of the Tokyo skyline. If only they had sold after 6 tickets on Sundays, I do believe I could have got him to come in with me that evening! Instead we had another delicious Korean dinner near the hotel, with lots of 'pancakes'.
Next morning I accompanied Richard down to his airport bus relatively early in the morning. We failed to figure out the coffee machine but discovered that the 7 eleven had cans of coffee in a heated cabinet - and bottles which was practical since you could put the lid back on. So we handed our bags to the concierge and waiting at the stop with ore people. The bus pulled up, the driver jumped out and put our bags on then he jumped back in and drove off! We were left curbside with the ticket wondering what just happened and panicking since the bags included the cabin luggage with my computer in it. We alerted the staff, who also panicked and found numbers to call. So in the end Richard was quickly packed into one of the hotel cars and raced to the buses next stop. I reassured panicked staff on our end and Richard got a magic upgrade so all's well that ends well.
