It wasn't a great start to the second week of Japan. I was ill again. Perhaps the intensity of finally skiing/boarding again and the change to the cold weather had me a little run down but either way Emma was did a fantastic job in taking control organising everything as we made our way to Hakone.
Side note: Japan is a relatively easy place to travel around considering they don't speak English well. They make it idiot proof. The signage for everything is on point and they have a more than a necessary amount of people helping you through at the airports, train terminals or anywhere else tourists may visit. The classic tourist with all their big bags, stood there blocking pathways, like a deer in the headlights, is officially extinct in Japan.
With our suitcases full of North Fake ski gear they have become heavier. My bag also has broken wheel which is proving to be quite the nuisance. So the only thing that is tough travelling around Japan is manoeuvring our big bags given how busy the cities are. Well, whatever inefficiency it is, Japan has a solution! Through some online travel guides I learnt Japan also has an amazingly advanced and cheap luggage delivery network to make bullet train travel even more comfortable. For £12 each we shipped our big ones on to Osaka, packing some smaller ones, allowing us to move through Hakone and Kyoto with the same light and airy feeling one might get after checking bags in at the airport. Freedom! Still, with me ill, it remained a tough journey which was somewhat alleviated with a Pocari Sweat. I love Pocari Sweat, it tastes like a less sugary version of a still lemon lucozade and is my go to dehydrated drink in Asia. Have been hoping since 2012 they'd bring it over but no such luck yet.
Upon arrival in Hakone Yumoto town we crossed a beautiful bridge to arrive at our hotel, Rohen Hakone Yumoto. The cherry blossoms were in full sight, and the wooden architecture amongst nature looked stunning. While the Japanese are amazing at efficiency, they are also a stickler for the rules and when we arrived 4h before our check in time there was no chance of getting the room early. This brand new hotel was stylish but had super simple bedrooms reminiscent of a hostel, with literally a mattress on the floor and a bag full of free toiletries and PJs. It had shared bathrooms and showers. With a 10am checkout time I have no idea why they needed the 6h turnaround time to get the rooms ready. We observed as we waited in the common area and based on housekeeper activity we know the room was ready many hours preceding our official check in.
Hakone Yumoto was picturesque. The town was very pretty and we spent a bit of time walking around before I retired to the bedroom to get some rest whilst Emma prepared an amazing 7-eleven dinner. The next day I had recovered slightly so we were able to take a day trip to see Mt Fuji from Lake Ashi. Unfortunately, we'd got a bit too complacent with Japan travels and ended up on a couple of wrong buses. Our lack of luck continued when we arrived and there was cloud cover blocking the view, but even then, catching glimpses of the snow capped volcano was insanely impressive and just seeing half of it properly for 5 mins was definitely worth the additional 2 days on our Japan tour. One day I hope to go back and see it in the sun!
In any relationship one party usually has more of the power at a given time, so is the dynamic between restaurants and customers across the world. Customers usually have the power. In most restaurants they can just waltz in, order variations or order off menu, rearrange seats and all this is taken for granted. Not in Japan. Japanese restaurants have this effect on you where you feel privileged to even be inside one. Some have their doors closed and if you brave it through the uninviting exterior, it's likely that you may be told there's no space or the extra seats have been reserved. How to reserve a seat I am yet to find out.. Vegan ones whilst slightly more welcoming have another issue.. popularity! The secret must be out because I've noticed them busy the whole way through our travels and maybe because of the high proportion of vegan travellers and low proportion of vegan restaurants in Japan they are insanely busy. Because of this we had many failed attempts to eat in Japan and this continued in Hakone. 'International cuisine' places set up for tourists were more welcoming and so we ended up eating twice at a pizza restaurant, 808 Monsmare, and once at a burger place, Box Burger. While we felt quite uncultured, it was great food and the burger place finally gave us the floor dining experience we had been seeking and getting turned away from.
Our journey to Kyoto was delayed by us fearing the 5 min walk to the train station in the pouring rain. Pouring doesn't do it justice. For 4 hours straight it was full torrential rainfall and I've never seen that type of rain go on for so long. Finally there was a clearing and we went out making our way. We arrived in Kyoto to our traditional style accomodation, Hakuzi Kyoto, which was a large ground floor property, mainly wooden with paper doors and mattresses on the floor. Any bonfires would have a field day. It also had a study room fully equipped with a wooden samurai sword so obviously I had a little go.
Kyoto was a lovely city to walk around. Cherry blossom trees everywhere and much of the traditional architecture was in the hotspots. We were both excited to visit Kiyumizu Dera and the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Both places were insanely busy and our thoughts were flooded with trying to imagine just how tranquil both places would be without the thousands of tourists. Either way they were still incredible and it was no surprise that everyone goes there.
Kiyomizu Dera has impressive temples built into the hills with gardens and passageways getting you from on to the other. The Japanese tend to build these sites in the outskirts of the city, closer to nature and the mountains to make them more peaceful and feel more spiritual. It is a Buddhist temple which was established in 778 but most of the construction of the present building was done in 1633. Not a single nail used!
The views are sensational and one things I noticed there, which is true of all Japan is that they are so good at planting trees. Every garden has a variety of trees, all different heights, all nice looking so that no matter where you stand you have a great view. It was done so well at Kiyomizu Dera and we loved it.
Fushimi Inari is essentially the head shrine to the Shinto god of rice and agriculture, Inari. Merchants also worship Inari as the patron of business. Each of roughly 10,000 torii (the classic Japanese gate style structure) was donated by a Japanese business, and approximately 800 of these are set in a row to form the Senbon Torii, creating the impression of a tunnel. Naturally this makes it a great spot for instagrammers. Thankfully the whole thing is a built on hills and as we explored further and further up the mountain the number of snapping tourists diminished allowing us to experience the place with some tranquility and of course, Emma was able get some decent content.
Side note: The fox is meant to be the spirit messenger for Inari and apparently foxes love deep fried tofu. So the Japanese have created Inari sushi (with the corners resembling fox ears) and dedicated this food to the fox. Now we know the origins of the tofu packets we love so much!
Given we accidentally came during cherry blossom season I felt compelled to go to a great viewing spot and we walked up to the Keage Incline, an abandoned train track line which boasted Sakura trees down either side making for another good photoshoot location.
The rest of our time in Kyoto was spent eating, drinking and waking around marvelling at the many temples, gardens and architecture. Highlights included:
Gion Soy Milk Ramen, a creamy vegan ramen place that we managed to get into just before the queues out the door.
Izayaka Vegan Nijiya Farm, an amazing izakaya (small bar type restaurant), which we waited 2 hours in the cold to get into and was worth it.
Musashi Sushi, a sushi train restaurant where we tried corn on the cob sushi and loved it.
Having some 7-eleven peach flavoured drinks on the river, celebrating my niece Iyla's birth!
A welcoming Izayaka type bar with friendly barman who Emma was guiding through his desired career as a data scientist and who was explaining to us about the declining wealth of the Japanese.
Osaka was our final stop in Japan and Emma’s favourite city from her last trip. It's easy to why. It felt more laid back and friendly than Tokyo and Kyoto.
We picked up our big bags and reflected on how good the delivery service is before hitting up Osaka Castle. The castle was impressive but after being in Kyoto we didn't take as much interest and headed to the busy district of Dotonbori. It was mental. Neon signs everywhere, huge malls, restaurants, bars, cafes. A feast for the eyes. Conscious that we were going to another (likely busy) vegan restaurant in Japan and not wanting a similar wait to occur as in Kyoto we decided to start queuing outside Oko Okonomiyaki 15 mins before opening time. There were already 9 people in front of us and by the time it was officially open, I counted 35 in the queue! Great okonomiyaki (savoury Japanese style pancake) in a quirky restaurant with notes and writing on the wall everywhere.
One thing I noticed was the number of times I saw the word Ebisu and a figure looking like the Evisu fat man logo from the Japanese street wear brand I really like. Upon some light googling we discovered Ebisu is the Shinto god of fisherman and fortune so naturally was more prevalent in a port city like Osaka, and was clearly what Evisu was named after.
From Osaka we planned to do a couple of days trips and first up was Nara. It used to be the old capital prior to Kyoto and also had impressive temples, shrines and gardens but in addition many free roaming deer. You could buy special crackers, which the deers loved. We learnt the tradition is to bow to the deer and let them bow back before giving them some food as a sign of respect. The younger ones were much more greedy just going straight for the food and will give a nudge or a bite on the butt to try and get more. Clearly traditions not passing down to the youth, who like to rebel against the order, is not only a human trait. After a short hike to catch another decent view of Nara from a small mountain, we got some amazing lunch at Koushi. We headed back to meet our friends Greg and Hannah from university who were doing a similar trip, but in a van! It was such a fun evening as we chatted the night away, drinking beers and discussing topics like van life, our initial dating experiences, starting a business and predicting cancer treatment efficacy using data from a biopsy sample. We almost made it out to karaoke and after some deliberation at 2am, something that would have been a no brainer in our late teens in Bristol was just a no in our 30s.
The next day we both woke up with hangovers. Emma had some admin to take care of but being a Shah and wanting to make full use of my JR unlimited bullet train pass (which now, was looking like a bad financial choice at the £450 price point), I decided to go on another day trip to Hiroshima. Hiroshima was on my list and also I love the bullet trains, so was excited to nurse the hangover with some gentle train rocking sleep on the way there and back.
It was a sombre affair. From the moment I arrived at the peace memorial park I could feel the immense gravity of what had happened all those years ago. Even with it being a sunny day there was this eerie seriousness looming over and you could just feel the historical importance of the place. I started to walk around and take in all the sights including the children's memorial, the flame and the dome. It was already becoming an emotionally difficult day. I quickly loaded up on a coffee and braced myself before going into the Hiroshima Peace Memorial museum.
It was amazingly to the point and informative where it needed to be explaining exactly the events preceding the ‘Little Boy’ atomic bomb being dropped on that fateful day. It also poignantly showcased the many personal stories of the people that were affected and continue to be affected since. Perhaps with the hangover causing my emotional side to come out even more I couldn't hold back the continuous stream of tears as I read story after story. Each detailing the innocent lives destroyed in a matter of seconds and all the severe collateral damage that followed. It just seemed so unjust. There were photos of burnt victims all disfigured, photos showing rows and rows of children's skeletons. There were tattered clothes and other items on display that had been destroyed from the initial explosion. I read moving letters and stories of first hand experiences that perfectly captured the emotional trauma and physical destruction. It was raw. Another exhibit went into more detail about nuclear weapons through the political lens. Initially going through theoretical physics, then testing and on to various arms races and finally treaties to de-escalate and cut back on development. While it all remained extremely factual, free of any bias it certainly had the right to employ, it was still so clear to see the futility and self destructive nature of it all. I felt a sense of anger at the world and in particular the world leaders past and present for all indulging in this mutually destructive game of prisoners dilemma. And for what.. power? A perceived notion of stability.. not sure I buy that. Given what's currently going on with the world in Eastern Europe and the middle east it made me feel sick in my stomach to think another nuclear attack has probably been discussed. Not to mention the world is now rife with Hydrogen bombs which are over 1000 times more powerful than the Atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima. The estimates say over 100,000 people died either that day or over the next several weeks as a result of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which makes the maths of the H-bomb truly sickening. I think every world leader should be made to go through that museum or at least be properly exposed to the full spectrum of events and aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki so they can better understand the consequences of nuclear programmes intended for war.
Unable to liven up, upon returning back to Osaka, I met Emma at an organic restaurant 堀江発酵堂, where we had a tasty but quiet, reflective dinner to close out Japan.
What an amazing country with so much variety in things to do and see. And once again excellent food. Next up Sri Lanka..
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