Japan

10/12/02 - Tokyo  We slept until 11am and then headed to the Imperial Palace.  The palace is difficult to see, but the grounds are beautiful, with well manicured trees.  Next was Harajuku and a visit to a shrine/temple.  The nearby garden was serene with carp ponds and a quaint teahouse.  Leanne and I then split up, she went off to eat unspeakable seafood in a Shinjuku department store and I went to Akihabara, my promised land.  Akihabara has an endless sea of multi-storied electronics stores.  It’s Vegas meets Best Buy.  Beneath the bright lights and neon are rice cookers, mouse pads, computers, cameras, watches, stereos, TVs, cables, gadgets, gadgets and gadgets.  When geeks die, they don’t go to heaven, they come here (so someday I’ll be back).  I got back to our ryokan at 8:30pm and we headed back out to see the bright lights of Shinjuku, the times square of Tokyo.  It was seedier than I remembered, with a lot of porn shops and unseemly types in the street.  I must say the ladies were finding me quite irresistible and 3 found the courage to speak with me.  Leanne is of the view that they were professionals, but I know how good I look in my quick dry travel gear.

10/13/02 - Kamakura & Yokohama  We checked out of our ryokan and rode 20 minutes to Yokohama, Leanne’s aunt Yoko’s hometown.  We were met at the station by Kiyoko, Yoko’s niece.  She couldn’t be nicer.  We went back to her family home to drop off the bags and then headed off by train and bus to Kamakura.  The first stop was a temple.  We had some green tea (I pretended) and walked through a small, beautiful bamboo forest.  Next was another temple with few snack opportunities and no Sony products.  Next was… a temple where one could wash a dry their money, for luck.  Last we visited the mother of all Buddha’s, a giant 38 ft statue.  It was then back to Yokohama where we met Kiyoko’s mom (Sumiko) and dad.  They were extremely nice.  They spoke no English, so communication was limited.  Dad put on the Carpenters Greatest Hits (We’ve only just begun…♫).  We had a fantastic dinner of salad, beef, rice, egg drop soup and sliced Japanese pear.  Later we met Kiyoko’s younger brother and sister.  All five never stopped smiling, they were delightful.  They were all very interested to see our trip photos on the laptop.  Later we climbed into our Japanese style bed in a loft above our room.  We slept until awakened by the morning tremors, which no one else seemed to notice.

10/14/02 - Yokohama  I went for a morning run and accomplished my assigned task of finding the Denny’s Leanne had spotted from the train.  Much to her dismay, I found that “Moons Over My Hammy” and their other classics were not on the menu.  We had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs at the Yokokawa’s.  Afterwards, I wanted to do some laundry, but there was no stopping Sumiko from doing it for me.  We hung it on the terrace line and then Kiyoko, Leanne and I took the subway into Yokohama.  We caught a bus to a beautiful Japanese garden.  It was quite large with a bamboo forest, a pagoda and a pond with ducks, carp and turtles.  We took a bus back to downtown Yokohama and got stuck in very slow, very bad traffic.  Shamefully, lunch was at T.G.I. Fridays, we were ready for an hour of America.  Kiyoko then left us to meet a friend and we explored a little.  We took a ride on the world's largest Ferris wheel (350 ft.) and then wandered through a huge department store.  On the subway platform we amazingly bumped into Kiyoko and we rode home together.  Dinner was chicken, pizza and rice and then the family looked at more of our photos on the laptop.

10/15/02 - Kyoto  Kiyoko guided us to the post office to ship off a box we had prepared to send back home.  It mostly contained items Leanne purchased while her bag was missing.  We caught a 10:30am bullet train (Shinkansen) to Kyoto and arrived at 1pm.  We took the JR one stop and were then picked up by the owner of our guesthouse and driven the final ½ mile to our new home (heated seat, no jet wash).  We headed back to Kyoto station and loaded up on information at the tourist center.  The next hour was spent catching up on email and we then walked around for a while, ending in the Gion district, famous for entertainment and geisha.  Hanami-kōji is a quaint street lined with teahouses, restaurants and lanterns.  We were looking for geisha girls, and spotted 3 shuffling off to their appointments.

10/16/02 - Kyoto  The non-English speaking inn operator drove us to a sister guesthouse where we rented two bikes (5 bucks each).  We pedaled a short distance to the main Kyoto rail station and got some grub before biking the 40 minutes to the golden temple.  We detoured through the pleasant grounds of the Imperial Palace en route.  The temple was truly spectacular, gleaming in the sun on the edge of a reflective pond.  Nearby is a very famous Zen rock garden, we read something about it in Time magazine on one of our recent flights.  It did nothing for us, didn't even bother with a photo.  Zen Schmen.  Back on our bikes (one speed jobs with a wire Toto basket up front - my knees hit the handlebars) and we shot off to the Nijo castle.  Pretty swank, with tatami mat floors, rice paper panels and a wooden main corridor that creaks with the sound of nightingales when you walk on it - intended to alert the good guys that bad guys are coming.  We tried to squeeze in one more temple by the river, but were too late.  I changed into the running clothes I had brought and ran along the river.  Leanne went off to the university plaza to use the free Internet terminals.  I met her there and checked the web as well.  It was then back to Kyoto station for dinner.  It's a huge complex with lots of good choices.  Our waitress didn't speak a word of English, so we led her into the hallway and pointed at the plastic food replicas that appealed to us.  Shockingly, mine was a pizza.  We finished our evening with a ride to Kyoto City Hall where I recalled seeing gas lampposts from Boston when I was here in '87 (Kyoto is Boston's sister city).  Yep, they're still there, look like lampposts.  On the way back we stumbled upon a bizarre indoor shopping arcade.  It ran through the center of a block and was 5 or 6 blocks long.  It was impossibly big, brightly lit and buzzing with life and commerce.  It had stores like a mall, but looked and felt like a covered street (I think it is).  We returned the bikes and walked/trained back to our ryokan.  Did I mention the giant beetle?  Yeah, he was still there.  Well, at least we're sleeping on the floor...

10/17/02 - Kyoto, Himeji & Okayama  Non-English speaking guy drove us the 1/2 mile to the train station, as we had our bags today.  We stored them in a locker and got a couple of Egg McMuffins.  After the tourist office, ATM and campus plaza Internetting we returned to the temple we'd missed the night before.  It was pretty cool, with 1001 identical 40-armed goddesses.  We caught a bullet train and in about 45 minutes were in Himeji, home of Japan's finest castle.  I had been here before and it is as fantastic to look at as I remember.  We walked 15 minutes, removed our shoes and had a look around.  Only hit my head once.  Inside the castle is almost entirely constructed of dark colored wood.  We climbed the steep stairs to all 6 floors, each one smaller than the one before.  The castle was virtually empty and generally a disappointment.  It's best viewed from the outside.  Next door was an allegedly beautiful Japanese garden.  It turns out it's actually nine gardens separated by high stone walls.  We found it claustrophobic and depressing.  High security miniature golf, without the orange ball and mini pencil.  We hustled back to the station and caught a bullet train to Okayama and transferred to a local train to our rural villas in Fukuwatari.  The ride took about 50 minutes and was full of locals and school kids.  We loaded up with groceries at a market near the station and walked the 1km in the dark to the villa.  We had a good map.  The 10 room villa is subsidized by the local government to encourage travelers into the Japanese country.  It had a large dining room, kitchen and laundry facility; we were the only guests.  It's located along the river and has a large onsen (hot bath).  We went to our respective bath houses, sat on plastic tubs with a few of our closest naked Japanese friends and scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed.  Then it was time for a hot soak.  Leanne made a spaghetti and broccoli dinner with Japanese pear for desert.  We watched "Arachnophobia" on the computer before turning in.

10/18/02 - Okayama & Hiroshima  We slept until 10, had some banana yogurt and went for a run along the river and rice fields.  Then it was scrub and soak time.  We hung out in the villa for a while, ate leftovers, ramen noodles and did some laundry.  At about 2:30pm we made the walk back to town and caught a train to Okayama and transferred to a bullet train for Hiroshima.  We arrived at about 5:00pm and stowed our bags in a coin locker.  We took a streetcar to have a first look at the A-bomb dome, a heavily damaged building with a distinctive dome structure.  It was left standing as a memorial.  It became dark, so we meandered down the shopping arcade and used the free Internet at the monstrous Deo Deo electronics store.  We grabbed some McDonalds (deep fried tofu sandwich for me), bought some flowers for Sumiko and took a local train one stop to Mukainada.  Sumiko (my friend from my 1987 and 1990 visits to Japan) met us at the station.  It was wonderful to see her again.  She gave us a tour of the house, I remembered it quite well.  It is a western style home, with one Japanese room, where we slept.  Her 3 boys are grown and gone and her husband is studying Asian medicine in Osaka, so it was just the 3 of us in the house.  She made us feel very much at home.

10/19/02 - Hiroshima & Miyajima  Sumiko made us a great breakfast, actually I cooked the scrambled eggs.  At 8:30 she drove us to Peace Park and we visited the museum, full of terrible facts and artifacts relating to the A-bomb.  Surrounding the museum are memorials, the cenotaph and the A-bomb dome.  It is a sobering, yet peaceful place.  We then took a street car to the main station and a 25 minute local train to the harbor's edge.  We caught a 15 minute ferry to the island of Miyajima, a small mountainous island with several temples and shrines and the famous red gate in the water.  It also has tons of curiously tame deer that are hand fed by the tourists.  We walked through the very green and wooded parks and visited some of the shrines.  The terrain was hilly and lush, probably similar to what we'll see in Vietnam.  That evening Sumiko made us a rockin' beef and rice dish.  We ended the day at a fun local Shinto festival.  The shrine was decorated with illuminated lanterns and there were hundreds of people at various booths and watching an ancient warrior dance, complete with flowing colorful costumes.  It had strange foods as well as cotton candy and popcorn.  Back at the house I helped Sumiko hang some ornamental paper around the house to commemorate the day.

10/20/02 - Hiroshima & Kamagari  Sumiko goes for a long walk along the river every morning at 6:30.  I joined her for a run, doubling back every 10 minutes, to keep her in sight.  At about 9:00 Leanne ran a similar route on her own.  We piled in the car at 11:00 and drove 90 min. to the beautiful island of Kamagari.  Sumiko has a long time friend who lives there.  Sumiko stopped at the head of the long suspension bridge and suggested that we walk across.  She was waiting for us on the other side.  We had lunch with her friend and two of their American friends.  After lunch we went to the friend's beautiful Japanese style home, complete with a small Japanese garden in the front.  We sat on her tatami floored living room and chatted over some fruit and drinks.  It was raining but Sumiko was determined to show us her favorite spots on the island.  She is so cute.  We walked about 15 minutes with umbrellas to a great vista where we enjoyed a Hawaii-like beach, island and sea views.  Another favorite revealed a natural rock formation in the shape of an elephants head.    On my 1990 visit Sumiko took me to a restaurant for a traditional Hiroshima dish okonomiyaki (batter, egg, cabbage, noodles, etc. grilled in front of you).  We went to a similar place for dinner.  Back home, we chatted, Internetted on the laptop and packed. Leanne called her parents before turning in. 

10/21/02 - Hiroshima, Iya Valley & Beppu  We were off to the train station at 7:15am.  Sumiko packed sandwiches, peeled hard boiled eggs, fruit and two plastic bottles of juice.  She mapped out every detail of our train schedules, transfers and platforms.  She was very anxious that every detail was perfectly worked out.  She's the best.  We bullet trained to Okayama and made a perfect connection to Awa Ikeda, a small town in the Iya Valley with zero English.  We saw a bus and after some charades determined it was the one to the vine bridge.  The ride was 90 minutes through some beautiful gorges.  Nishi Iya is a small mountainous town, pretty touristy due to the presence of the bridge.  We walked around a bit and then had a go at it.  It was wiggly and a bit disquieting, but not too bad.  Thankfully, if you look closely, you can see that the bridge is reinforced with steel cables.   We decided there was no need to press further into the valley and we backtracked, again with perfect connections.  Awa Ikeda, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kokura and finally Beppu.  Leanne spied a business hotel next to the station with a good price, and we were home.  We walked a short distance towards the ocean and had dinner at Jolly Pasta.  The hotel onsen was open until 11pm (men only) so I had a scrub 'n dip.

10/22/02 - Beppu  We had a morning run along the ocean (not so pretty) and then rented bikes at a nearby hotel.  Forty minutes and some decent hills later we were at Umi Jingoku, a gurgling, steaming hot spring.  It was similar to what we had seen at Yellowstone, and really not that interesting.  We decided to skip the other "hells" and head to an onsen.  We split off to the men's and women's sides and once again sat on tiny little tubs and scrubbed.  There were very nice indoor and outdoor hot baths and Leanne even gave the hot sand a shot.  Back on the bikes and we were off to lunch at Joyfull (sic) 24,  a Denny's-like restaurant.  We rode back to town and got great advice and free Internet from the tourist info desk.  We even got 2 free tickets to a fancy onsen (not sure why).  It was a Japanese only onsen in a nice hotel, so they called ahead to see if a couple of foreigners were welcome.  We had a leisurely evening, including a call to Aunt Elly for her birthday and then headed to the fancy onsen at about 10pm.  It had a beautiful indoor hot bath with a high wooden roof, and an outdoor pool with some trees and a perfect view of the full moon.  On the way back to the hotel I gave mom and dad a ring on the phone.  Back at the hotel, Leanne tormented me by trying some dried squid she picked up at a convenience store earlier in the day.

Shiragiku onsen

10/23/02 - Beppu & Fukuoka  We packed up, stowed our bags in the lobby and hopped on our bikes.  It was about 3 miles to a nearby mountain where the town's monkeys have been corralled.  I recommended that several seek out an ointment for the same area I had so carefully cleaned back in Tokyo.  We returned the bikes and did some free Internetting at both the hotel and at the friendly information desk.  We had planned to train to the Mt. Aso volcano, but learned that this was one of the many days when the level of dangerous gasses was too high.  We caught the same train that goes to the mountain but remained onboard for the full 3 1/2 hours and shot straight through to Kumamoto.  Another 1.5 hour train ride and we were in Fukuoka.  We got a good price at the Green Hotel 2 immediately outside of the station (Panasonic toilet seat: front and back positions, with warmed water!).  We investigated town a bit and had a nice Italian dinner.  Leanne did laundry while I worked on the photos, web site and journal.

10/24/02 - Fukuoka  We decided that we had covered a lot of ground in Japan and would leave today (a day earlier than scheduled) for Taiwan.  I got up at 7am and went for a run in the city, very urban.  By 8:45 we were on the short subway ride to the airport.  We're off for Taipei is at 10:45am.

Japan Summary  We had a great visit.  Meeting Kiyoko and her family was a delight, as was seeing Sumiko in Hiroshima.  Japan is so very culturally different that every day is interesting, and a bit of work.  Of course, everything is very modern, clean and efficient.  The train system is simply flawless.  The country can seem crowded and there is a lot of concrete and steel, so it can feel claustrophobic at times.  It was surprising how infrequently we saw non-Japanese, even at the tourist spots.  Signs, doors, lamps, benches, luggage carts, etc. are still dangerously low for me.  There was always enough English to get by and people were always exceptionally nice and helpful.  Overall, after three visits I still love visiting Japan and will likely be back again.  Weather: 60s and 70s with occasional rain.  Currency: $1 = ¥125.