One week in Japan
After our ocean cruise we were on our own for seven days in Japan. We spent three days in Kyoto, two days in Takayama and the final two in a suburb of Tokyo. All places were very interesting and different from one another.
Our cruise landed in Kobe. On these cruises they kick you off the boat pretty early as it needs to be prepared for the next group of people. From Kobe we taxied to Kyoto.
KYOTO
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
The trip home
Going Home
Day one in Kyoto
Kyoto is an ancient city and was the capitol of Japan for 1,000 years. Kyoto actually means "Capitol City" whereas Tokyo means "Eastern Capitol". One could reasonably assume that "kyo" means capitol.
Day one was a rather short day. We got to our hotel just after lunch and our guide for the afternoon showed up around 2:00 PM.
Kyoto is mostly known for its temples and shrines and we saw a few. We've certainly seen a lot on this trip.
So I don't recall what this one was...lots of gold on it though.
A nice garden we went to after the temple. The Japanese really like their gardens.
And a sake bar our guide took us to. We tried three different types of sake and all were very tasty.
Later we went to a geisha show. I must admit I just don't get it...these women all look like aliens and yet they're so popular.
Cameras weren't allowed during the show so no pics of the geishas. There was one in the audience though. She is the "date" of the guy next to her. Our guide told us what it would cost the guy but I don't recall. It was a lot though.
After the geisha show we go to another shrine (I think it was a shrine versus a temple) ...Christ you'd think I'd remember which is which by now.
I was happy to be somewhat colour coordinated.
Day two in Kyoto
Day two we went for a fairly lengthy bike tour. We had a guide, (JJ) who accompanied us. We drove through many back alleys where locals live and finally out into the country.
On the way we stopped at a few places.
Can't remember what this was...some sort of ancient school maybe.
The tree is like 500 years old (or so the guide said)...maybe he was lying.
We stopped at a kimono factory and saw a fashion show.
Here's the video.
Then we road to a historical park. Some old shogun lived here - or his concubines lived here...or something lived here
Here we are with Dieter and Brigitte - some friends we met on the cruise. We ran into them here and made this picture. Good folks.
At lunch I wanted to have a beer to go with the meal. JJ, our guide, didn't want me to have one. He said there is a law against driving a bike after consuming alcohol. Lying bastard!. He said instead I should have a alcohol free beer. So I did. My first and hopefully my last.
Another temple across the road from the restaurant - man! They're a dime-a-dozen here.
And then a ride outside of town to the bamboo forest
And finally at the end of the ride I get a proper beer. They do make some pretty good beers in Japan.
In the evening we're out searching for some decent food (we've discovered that we don't really like traditional Japanese foods - too many still-living things on the plate) so we're trying to find something we can relate to and we see the Kyoto Space Needle. We never went up as we were hungry.
We finally found an Italian restaurant - big mistake!
Day three in Kyoto
Day three we were on our own. No guides. We took a chance on the subway to go out of town into the country for a few adventures: to ride the "romantic train", to boat down the "wild rapids" and to visit the monkey farm. All were good adventures.
The romantic train is simply a train ride along a river through some beautiful countryside. Very touristy but what the hell?
Before we got to board the train we had some time to kill so we visited yet another shrine in the nearby countryside.
Here we are back at the station waiting to board the train and we meet up with some of Terri's long-lost relatives.
And before the train comes I have time to sample another Japanese beer. They really do make some good beer here.
Inside our car on the romantic train. Very soon after this picture it filled right up. This is the only car that has open sides. See video below. When we were buying the tickets some Chinese people from Vancouver, who were also vacationing here, told us to request this car just for that reason.
And a shot of the river and gorge on the way down.
The wee video. The first train in the video is the subway train that you take to get this far out of Kyoto. And then the second is the "romantic train".
After we get to the bottom we had to go back up on the regular train to get to the "wild rapids". In reality they are not that wild. It's fun but not very exciting.
A shot on the river.
At one point we stop because there's a vendor boat who has numerous things to sell.
Fresh food cooked right in front of your eyes. God only knows what kind of beast it is. We skipped buying anything.
And a wee video ofthe trip down stream.
And back on land we get a small video of this guy.
After the "wild" rapids we went to the monkey park.
This explains about it.
I'm not going to post too many monkey pics..seen one seen 'em all. Just a few.
It's funny how they get the callouses on their hind ends....to much sitting around I guess
I think these two were here hoping to adopt. It's always nice when the kids resemble the parents.
And a monkey video. It's 2-1/2 minutes long so go get some popcorn now!
Just a couple short videos.
In Japan this is what you do for a living if you didn't get an education:
A shot of what the subway is like:
And that's it for Kyoto.
Tomorrow we ride the bullet train to Takayama.
Day one in Takayama
Today we went to Takayama which is a town in a mountainous area of Japan. We'd asked our travel agent to suggest something out in the country and this is what they came up with. To get to Takayama we had to take a high speed bullet train to Nagoya and then a slower speed train the rest of the way. No big deal except figuring out which train to get on at the train station. It's a big place filled with really big trains. They seem a mile long but I suppose they're really not that long.
Here's a couple short vids - one of the train leaving and one of the train coming. See if you can figure out which is which. Duh!!!
And here's a bit longer one intended to show how fast these trains go. About the first 3/4 of the video was taken from the fast train from Kyoto to Nagoya and the remainder taken from the slower train from Nagoya to Takayama.
The amazing thing is they are so smooth. You don't know that you're traveling at 150 miles per hour ...or whatever! And the cars are clean and the seats are comfortable and the washrooms too and a guy comes around with a cart with drinks...totally civilized!
A couple shots of the car. It's almost like traveling on a jet.
Terri is very comfortable.
A few shots of the countryside (taken from the train) on the way to Takayama. It's a bit of a dull day but the scenery is very beautiful.
Our travel planner Audley Travel has arranged activities for us today and tomorrow. Today we're going on a five hour guided bike ride. Some shots follow.
The one below and above are rice fields. Above is waiting to be flooded and planted and the one below has been planted.
A farmer using a mechanical device to work the field. In the old days a big old ox would have done the work.
These school kids were out for a hike. Apparently physical exercise is very important in school in Japan and I can say that the amount of overweight people we saw in Japan was very low compared to USA and Canada.
Our guide took us to a farm right in town where these poor cows are being held captive until such time they are killed for food. Poor buggers.
Not even a clean place to lay down. The fucking farmer should be made to sleep with his cows in their shit.
A burial place / shrine. The Japs are into ancestor worship and they put up these shrines all over the place. Go figure!
These are a couple shots the guide took.
This old gal was living across the street from the captive cows and when we got back to our bikes she was waiting there with a treat to eat and some water. I had a feeling that our guide had arranged this but whatever! It was still kind of fun.
So after the bike ride we get back to the hotel and our room is ready now.
It's traditional Japanese room with little chairs and everything low to the ground.
We could have slept on a traditional Japanese bed, a futon on the floor, but chose western beds instead. Bad choice...the futons would probably have been better.
Our evening meal is included in the cost of the room and its a "traditional" Japanese meal.
Check out the menu:
Yum, who wouldn't like to have a steamed pike eel ovary cake with egg?
And of course we need to wear (well we probably didn't really need to) traditional Japanese clothes and eat with pointed sticks. I really suck at chopsticks but managed to get a few pieces into my mouth.
And at least part of the meal is recognizable. And we get to cook it ourself.
I think Terri is enjoying it more than I am. At least we have a bottle of red wine.
And there's just no way I can eat something that is staring at me. No way.
Anyway, we got through it all and that's the end of day one in Takayama.
Day two in Takayama
This is the view from our room in the Takayama hotel. The day is a bit cloudy.
So the first place
she (the guide) takes us to is a shrine...could'a guessed it! This one used to have two more levels but lightning took care of them years ago.
And here we are in front of an ancient tree...maybe a thousand years old? We have our jackets on - it's early and still a bit chilly.
In a short while this street will be full of tourists.
And the entrance to another shrine. MAN! these Japanese love their shrines.
Next we go to a place where they store all the "floats" (they're not really floats - I don't now what the hell they are) that are used twice a year in huge celebrations that take place in Takayama. I think in the old days they were carried by the local men but now they have wheels under them and now they are pulled.
Here's a YouTube that shows part of the celebration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_dME34rFes
And then guess what??..another bloody shrine!
After lunch we're on our own and we go to another tourist attraction - an ancient village where pre-modern Japanese people lived. Kind of interesting.
We had to walk all the way up there and all the way back to town as there are almost ZERO taxis in Takayama. I mean there are some - you just can't find them. It was about a six mile round trip walk.
Back at the hotel we have another mystery meal.
Check out the circled item..."salted entrails of trepang"...trepang if you don't know it is Sea Cucumber...so salted sea cucumber guts. Yummmmmyyyy
I think the salted sea cucumber entrails may have been a part of the plate below. I ate everything on the whole plate and none of of it was particularly horrible. I'm pretty sure though, that I'm never going to order salted trepang entrails.
It makes me wonder though who ever thought that eating the entrails of some slimy sea cumber would maybe be a good thing to do.....some hungry bastard I guess.
So finally something I recognize..thinly sliced beef that you cooks yourself in boiling water.
You take a few slices and throw them in the big white pot shown below. After a while you take them out and eat them...so essentially poached meat. YUM
So that was pretty much it for day two in Takayama. Tomorrow we take the bullet train to Tokyo where we'll spend the final two days.
Day one in Tokyo
So we take the slow train back to Nagoya and then the fast train to Tokyo.
Just some shots taken from the train of the beautiful green countryside.
We arrive in Tokyo station and hire a a cab to get us to our hotel. As we get near he tells us that he can't get any closer our hotel and we'll have to walk the rest of the way. He drops us off and points down the street and says it's down there on the left. At least that's what we think he said. So off we go in search of our hotel. There's thousands of people everywhere and all dressed very strangely. Mostly men.
Anyway we finally get to our hotel and are advised we have arrived on a very special day: a huge religious celebration is taking place today. JUST GREAT!
Some shots from an upper floor of the hotel.
This is just one street...they were everywhere. It was difficult even to walk there were so many.
A couple vids.
The first three pictures below show the enormous number of people out in the streets for the celebration.
We were supposed to take the subway to meet a guide at 5:00 PM for a "street food" excursion but after the eating experience in Takayama and considering how crowded the subway was likely to be we just screw it and ate at our hotel instead.
Finally it was over and the streets cleared up.
Day two in Tokyo
Our second day in Tokyo we had a guide for the full day. Akiko was her name. A good gal. That's her below. We're on the top of some really tall building taking in the scenery of Tokyo.
So where does she take us first....you guessed it...another shrine. This is the one we tried to get to yesterday afternoon but there were just too many people. Even today after the festival there are still lots of people hanging out here. These Japs really like their shrines.
Another one in the same complex. Lightning as not had any effect on this one yet - it's still very tall.
After the shrine we go down the river on a boat similar to this one.
And we get off at a park that used to belong to some big-shot shogun or the emperor or somebody. It's right in the middle of town so just imagine what the land is worth. It's a nice place for a stroll.
After the park we taxi over to another huge green space where there's another shrine...surprise! surprise!
These gate things are starting to look familiar..I think they always indicate you are entering a shrine.
It's a nice walk through the woods in any case.
And sure enough...heres the bloody shrine.
And there has just been a wedding here. The bride and groom below. You can't see it but she is the only one smiling. Does anyone know why brides always smile at their weddings? Email me and I'll tell you.
A pretty sombre looking lot. Hopefully somebody has brought a bottle of sake for the party after.
After the wedding we find a place to eat. Again traditional food only not so much intestines and things on the plate that may still be living. I insisted on some dead cow or pig meat well and fully cooked.
And after that we're walking around and we come across the strangest thing. An advertisement for a Hedgehog Cafe. This is popular thing in Tokyo...real cafes where you can enjoy the company of a variety of animals. Here's a link to a Trip Advisor page with some additional info.
Here's an advert for a cat cafe. As near as I can understand these cafes are for people who love cats or hedgehogs or whatever but can't own them because they live in very tiny apartments. So they have lunch or dinner at these kooky places.
And here's a guy with his own mobile cat cafe. It's bit tough to see but he's got about 12 cats on his cart. They got nutbars in Tokyo too I guess.
After this exciting action we go to the top of a very tall building to get a view of the entire city of Tokyo.
What follows is just a bunch of pictures taken from the top of this building. Apparently it's the best point in the city for this type of viewing.
A huge sports facility under construction.
Now the interesting thing about this shot is that it's a major highway going through Tokyo - but it's almost empty - hardly any cars! I think it is very expensive to own and operate a car in Tokyo and that just about everyone uses the subway or taxis or a bus. We experienced the same thing the next day on our ride to the airport which is about 50 km out of the city. The roads had vehicles but nowhere near what you'd expect.
Here's a wee video taken from atop the building.
After seeing Tokyo from above we asked our guide to take us to a neighborhood where the real people lived. So she did.
So this is a street where the normal Tokyo-ite lives. Not big enough for a car. Everybody walks or bikes to the subway top go to their job.
Even with so little space people still try to have a little bit of a yard with plants.
So that was pretty much it for our day with the guide.
That night, our last night in Japan, and after dinner which we again had at our hotel not wanting to take a chance on another "traditional" Japanese meal, we went out in inspect the area after the festival was truly finished. It was a totally different place.
These are all the tourist shops on the way to the temple complex - all now closed.
And these guys are guarding the way into the temple complex. They've got chicken wire protecting them because the pigeons don't give a hoot about big scary guys and would be only too happy to crap all over them given the chance.
The temples (or shrines...or whatever) look fantastic all lit up at night. They look totally different than during the day.
There are a few people strolling around but it's pretty much deserted. All the shops are closed and there are restaurants and bars open but not for us.
That's it for our last day in Japan. Back to Canada tomorrow.
Going Home
So we had a few hours to kill before going to the airport so we just walked around a bit.
The river we went down yesterday.
That tall thing is Tokyo's new radio tower. The gold thing laying on it's side is referred as "the turd" by the locals. It was supposed to be installed upright but there were so many complaints from the people in the apartment buildings behind it because it blocked the view that it was installed as you see it.
We come across what can only be a kindergarten outing and I get a couple pics. Terri hauls out her phone and one of the adults shouts at her..."NO PICTURES".Go figure.
It's nice riding at the front of the plane...thanks Tony, thanks Ryan, thanks Keeto!
The seats fold down flat and you can actually get a decent sleep.
Some shots of the Japanese countryside as we leave the airport. It really is a beautiful, green country. I think we will return someday.
The coastline.
And more familiar territory as we fly over British Columbia toward Kelowna.
THATS IT!