OUR
STORY
Japan and Indonesia are a long way from Seattle (8 time zones to Tokyo,
10 to Bali) even if you are flying at 500 mph.The flight to our first
destination, Japan, involved a direct flight to Taiwan and a transfer
flight to Tokyo. Total elapsed time was about twenty-two hours
including a four hour layover at Taipei. Nevertheless the trip is worth
it. There's no place even close to Japan regards the beautiful cheery
trees, Buddhist and Shinto temples, the impeccable transportation
infrastructure, and the amazing organized life style that the Japanese
have created on their island nation. They're not perfect but close to
perfection in nearly all aspects of what are considered modern urban
ideals such as public awareness of acceptable personal conduct, clean
environments, effective recycling, and the social responsibility of
each citizen. There is no trash along the streets, no graffiti, and
very few indigents in the usual downtown locations. And they seem
relaxed and happy with their situation. We witnessed no examples of
rude behavior or dangerous driving practices there. If you like natural
beauty, order, efficient living conditions and extremely polite
strangers you will like this country.
Our first city to visit in Japan was Nikko. We arrived there after
spending one night at an Airbnb near the Tokyo Nerita Airport. Scott,
the owner of the BnB met us at the airport. He helped us right away to
convert our Japan Rail travel vouchers into Japan Rail travel passes
while we were still in the airport. He also helped us find an ATM where
we withdrew some Yen and then took us to his place about 20 minutes
away. Scott is an America who has lived the past 41 years with his
Japanese wife Noriko, at her family's property near Tokyo. Her family
owns quite a large area of land having been a farming family for
generations. Owning land in Japan indicates the potential for great
wealth since Japan has not much habitable land due to the rugged,
volcanic geography of the islands. The total population of Japan lives
on 13% of the land area. Their house sits next to the structure where
we stayed which was essentially another house with one bedroom, living
and dining room, kitchen and bathroom/toilet. They call it Guest house
Kibara. The name comes from the nearby village. Next to our place sat
an
ancient structure dating 500 years back to Japan's medieval period. The
ancient building was apparently a kind of fortress with extremely think
walls and only two windows at the second level, one on either end of
the building. Heavy wooden doors with wrought iron hinges and locks
were formidable protection for the inhabitants. Our place was much more
modern having several large windows and air conditioning, a high tech
bathroom with an electic bidet and a tub/shower with ample hot water.
The Airbnb deal came with breakfast. Noriko layed on a sumptuous,
western style meal including a large helping of scrambled eggs,
accompanied by steamed fresh veggies, sausage links with katsup, toast
& coissants, jam, fresh fruit, and very good coffee and tea.
Following breakfast we packed and still had time to wander around their
beautiful grounds. The first thing we noticed was the bamboo forest.
Nothing quite like that in the US that we've seen with large bamboo
trees maybe six inches in diameter or more. There were azelias and
rhododendrons very much the same as what we have in the Pacific NW. We
noticed a familiar gound cover plant (weed) exactly like ones we have
here. It has a particularly spicy taste and goes well in leaf salads.
Their property is on a level grade above several other houses and
fields so we could see quite a lot of the neighborhood that was
comprised of well built homes and large vegetable gardens and also some
rice paddies. This is located about 20 minutes from the Nerita
International Airport. If you are planning a trip to Japan and need
accommodations near the Nerita Airport in Tokyo here is the link for
Scott and Noriko's Airbnb accommodation:
Scott
& Noriko's Airbnb
He took us to the nearest train station where we caught a Japan Rail
commuter train into Tokyo central station. There we boarded the
Shinkansen bullet train heading north towards Utsunomiya
where we transferred
to a local train for the final leg to Nikko. The bullet trains are one
of Japan's most notable technical achievements. Here's a link that
provides a bit of history:
Shinkansen
All things considered, these fast trains are more user friendly than
flying between the cities in Japan. No check-in, no baggage
limitations, no TSA, much less ambient noise, much more leg room, huge
windows with something to see outside, very clean WCs with lots of
space, snack carts with reasonably priced items, and just so much more
space to move around in than even a wide body airplane. And Japan
Rail's
safety record is nearly perfect, much safer statistically than most
airlines. In fact throughout its 51 year operating history there has
never been a single passenger fatality attributable to the Shinkansen.
Hard to beat that performance.
Arriving on time in Utsunomiya,
we transferred to the local train to Nikko. Quite a different venue
from the Shinkansen. The local JR train is much more like the European
commuter trains that provide transportation within the cities and
towns. Bench seats, strap hangers, much more ambient noise, and fewer
WCs but still getting the folks to where they want to go safely.
Nikko is the end of the train line so no worries of missing the
station. In fact the town is served by two train lines, Japan Rail and
a private line. Not sure why but Japan has several private train lines
as well as the national line, Japan Rail. They seem to co-exist and
compete peacefully. During our time there we only rode on the JR lines
as we had purchased travel passes. These were really a good deal and
eliminated a lot of time buying tickets for our many rides. We did have
to purchase subway tickets in Tokyo because the subway is not part of
JR.
Once in Nikko we looked for our hotel. Didn't have to look far as it
was located about 100 meters from the train station in the center of
town. The hotel looked better in the photos than in reality. It was a
fairly shabby older building. The check-in desk was located at the back
of a really tacky looking little restaurant. We never saw anyone eat
there the two days we spent in Nikko. We certainly didn't. The desk
clerk was accommodating and friendly but hardly spoke a word of
English. This is really unusual for a Japanese hotel in a major tourist
center. Our room was on the 10th floor. Thank God the hotel had an
elevator that worked. The room itself was just as dark and shabby as
the rest of the hotel, definitely a candidate for a full renovation.
The bed was ok but the condition of the furniture and fixtures was
right
out of skid road. How it ever got a 3 star rating baffles me. Later we
came to find out that the hotel was not Japanese owned.... We
discovered this when we ventured into the Asian Grill next door looking
for something other than noodles and rice for dinner. The grill
featured dishes that were definitely not Japanese cuisine. The
main attraction was their beef steak dishes. Getting a decent steak in
the typical Japanese restaurant is not possible since only special
steak restaurants serve grilled beef except in traditional dishes such
as sukiyaki which uses thinly sliced beef fried in a skillet.... not
going to satisfy the need for a thick T-bone or New York Strip. Cuts of
beef vary all over the world apparently because we found the same
challenges in Europe. In Germany for example it is possible to get a
typical American cut from certain steak restaurants especially in large
cities where many tourists are dining. But get out of the big cities
and into the countryside and finding your favorite rib eye will be a
challenge. A cow's a cow you say, why the problem finding familiar
cuts? Apparently the American beef culture just hasn't penetrated
countries where eating beef is considered either a delicacy or a sin
(if you are Hindu) or cooking a steak over a charcoal fire is
considered barbaric or whatever. The closest we could find to an
American steak in Italy was a cut called "entrecote" which is somewhere
between a sirloin and a porterhouse. So be prepared for the beef
challenge if you venture out of the US/Canada into the rest of the
world. Perhaps Australia has similar cuts but since we haven't visited
that country yet we can't say for sure. In New Zealand I would order
lamb chops and skip the beef. But I digress....
The Asian Grill is owned by Bangledeshies, one of whom spoke excellent
English. That explains the non-Japanese menu. The hotel hotel is also
owned by Bengledeshies. That may explain the overall condition of the
building and the rooms. Lack of money could also be a factor although
the location in the middle of town next to the train stations is rather
prime. We concluded that it's more likely a matter of cultural
standards regards hotel accommodations than an issue of funds, but
never having visited Bangladesh we are making an assumption.... only
that.
We arrived Nikko late in the afternoon and a bit weary from hauling our
bags along the side walk from the train station. Not really enough time
to launch a tour of anything except the immediate area near the hotel
that included several restaurants, souvenir shops, convenience stores
etc. Decided to visit the tourist center in the private train station
across the street from the hotel. Lot's of good information there with
really helpful clerks who spoke English. We decided to buy bus tickets
for a ride up the mountain to Lake Chuzenji which was formed when Mt.
Nanti, Japan's sacred volcano, erupted and blocked the stream carrying
the runoff from the surrounding mountains. Here's a link:
Lake
Chuzenji
My dad took me fishing here in 1951 while we lived in Tokyo. He had
been assigned to the Tokyo Ordnance Depot that was supporting the US
Forces during the Korean War. He had returned from Korea after serving
a year there in Pusan. I had dim recollections of the fishing trip and
remembered a little about an old wooden hotel where we stayed. After we
arrived by bus we looked for this hotel without success in the village,
Chuzenjiko Onsen, that sits on the lake shore near the outflow stream
where I believe we fished. A short distance downstream from the lake is
a hot spring and a little further the Kegon Waterfall. Here is the link:
Kegon
Waterfall
On the bus ride back to Nikko we got off at the stop nearest the
Toshogu Shrine, Japan's most ornately decorated structure. The shrine
sits among several other shrines built by various leaders during
Japan's medieval period. Before hiking up the hill side to the shrines
we looked at the famous Shinkyo Bridge, a classic wooden structure from
the medieval period. The following links provide good photos and the
story of each point of interest:
Toshogu
Shrine
Shinkyo
Bridge
The climb to the shrines during the mid afternoon heat pretty much
finished us off for that day. We had arrived in Nikko during one of
Japan's national holiday weeks so the places to see were packed with
Japanese visitors. The wait line for tickets at the Toshogu Shrine was
long enough to discourage a visit that day. We decided to head back
to our hotel, have a bite somewhere along the way and freshen up. That
evening we explored the local food store where we found an amazing
selection of fresh sea food along with many products of which we had no
way of knowing the contents. We did of course see familiar items like
Coke, chips, and many other western products. Prices were not as high
as we had expected. We bought several snacks for the next day. Since
we'd eaten on the walk back from the shrines we decided to make an
early to bed routine after taking showers in the shared bathroom at the
hotel.
During the evening a new guest arrived in the adjacent room. The next
morning we arose with plans to visit the Toshogu Shrine before
departing Nikko. Of course the sun had disappeared and been replaced by
a steady downpour. Lana had noticed the night before that the new guest
had left some toiletries in the shared shower room including some
special skin creams and other body care lotions. We speculated the our
new guest was a gal..... we were wrong. On her way to the shared toilet
she entered the connecting hallway in time to get a good look at the
bare bottom of our new guest. A moment earlier and she would have
gotten a full monty view. He was tall, young and nicely
shaped
according to her report. Nothing like a pleasant surprise first thing
in the morning.
Off we went in a taxi to visit the Toshogu Shrine in the pouring rain.
Lana had a umbrella. I had only my water resistant parka having not
packed an umbrella. Guess who got soaked? But not before
seeing
the shrine which even in the downpour was worth getting wet for. Just
now way to describe the many features that the Japanese wood carvers
and painters created on the structures. It must have taken a huge
amount of time and effort to decorate the buildings. The link for this
shrine appears above and provides a much better description through the
photos than I could ever present in words. The shogun's crypt is
located at the highest elevation of the shrine. His remains are held by
a cylindrical iron casket about the size of a 55 gallon drum. It is
mounted vertically between two supports as is shown in the photos in
the shrine link. To view the crypt one must ascend several flights of
stone stairs. We were both breathing pretty hard by the time we finally
arrived. It must have taken quite an effort to lift this structure to
it position especially since it was done well before modern machinery
was invented. The trip back down was a bit tedious since there were no
hand rails and the stairs were covered with rain water. A fall could
have been very serious. I'm surprised that the Japanese have not
required hand rails at this site. Surely there have been accidents.
During the walk back to our hotel the sun came out lifting our spirits.
We managed to find a small cafe where we had a bite before arriving
back at the hotel. Once there we changed our wet clothes and packed to
leave for the trip to Kyoto. We boarded the local train back
to Utsunomiya
where we transferred to the Shinkansen to Tokyo. After a pleasant hour
and a half ride we arrived at the central Tokyo station where we
transferred to another bullet train for the trip south. By this time we
were getting pretty confident with the JR system and noticed how well
their staff spoke English. This was critical since there is usually
some confusion when transferring in a new station to a line you have
never traveled on before. But we managed it well, even arriving in time
at the new line to catch an earlier train than we had booked seat
reservations on. As it turned out, there were no problems traveling
without seat reservations. In every case we managed to find seats
together in the cars that had open seating.
Arriving in Kyoto mid afternoon, we decided to take a taxi to the
Airbnb apartment Lana had found that was located within walking
distance of several points of interest considered to be of exceptional
beauty and a shopping district located on the way to one of the more
famous shrines. Here are links to the places we visited:
Heian
Shrine
Yasaka
Gion Shrine
Maruyama
Park
Chionin
Temple
The Airbnb apartment we rented was compact, well organized, clean, and
very functional. It was situated along one of the recommended walking
tour routes shown on our visitor's map. There were four tour routes on
the map and we were only able to finish one of them in the 3 days we
spent in Kyoto. But even so we came away feeling like we had seen as
much as we could handle and still have time to enjoy ourselves, cook
our meals for the most part and chat about the things we'd seen each
day. There are something like 1600 temples and shrines in this city. No
way anyone is going to visit them all in 3 days. So we just did what we
could with the time we had. Near our apartment were several convenience
stores not unlike those found in the US except that most of the
products were of Japanese origin. Still it was not too difficult to
figure out what we needed so we stocked up on the basics for most of
our meals. One way to keep down costs is to prepare some of your own
meals if your apartment is equipped with a kitchen. And you can get
creative using new ingredients when you can't find exactly the supplies
you use at home. We did eat at a few local cafes and restaurants. The
selections were all tasty and about what you would expect if you have
eaten in Japanese places in the US. The prices were not particularly
steep as we had been led to expect. Our last day we were hoping to eat
at a Japanese steak house. We located one along the walking route as we
were returning to our apartment. They were closed as it was mid
afternoon so we jotted down the phone number and called them after we
returned to our place. Yes, the had open reservations. So we made one
for that evening. Then we got to thinking about the menu and
prices.... Turns out the cheapest menu item as about $200 per
person.... needless to say we didn't eat steak that evening.
The next morning we hailed a cab and headed to the train station to
board the Shinkansen for Tokyo. By now we were feeling very confident
about traveling by train. Although we had seat reservations we boarded
an earlier train so got to Tokyo an hour earlier than planned. Arriving
at the central Tokyo station we had to find the local train to get to
our hotel which was just a bit north of the Imperial Gardens. Following
directions Lana had from the hotel site we managed to get off at the
correct stop. Now it was a challenge to actually find this hotel since
it was located on a side street about 200 meters from the train
station. I guarded the bags while she reconnoitered the surrounding
streets. Eventually she found the hotel but it took quite a long time
even with a hand held GPS. The hotel was really quite nice, grand even
and very new. Our room was quiet and elegant. Tastefully decorated in a
modern but solid blend of finished wood cabinets and closets
accompanied by a kitchenette with granite counter, stainless steel
sink, microwave, two burner induction stove top and even a
washer/dryer. The bathroom/toilet was high tech Japanese with an
electric bidet/toilet and stall/tub shower. The beds were just right
for me. I like them firm. Lana likes them softer. Says it fits her
curves better. We could have enjoyed staying at this place for a week
or more. Just relaxed for the rest of the day after finding a small
cafe not far from the hotel where we had an early dinner.
The next morning we got up early to visit the Fish Market, one of the
highly recommended tourist sites in Tokyo. What we didn't realize was
getting up early meant getting up at 3 am. So we arrived at the Fish
Market around 9 am too late to view the auction. Seems they start the
auction around 5 am and only 60 people are admitted to watch. People
actually queue at 4 am to get in this place.
Tokyo
Fish Market
Next we used the subway to take us near the Imperial Palace Gardens. We
lucked out and found a tourist info center just near the subway exit
that provided maps, and folks who spoke English. The Imperial Palace is
only open to the public twice a year. Our visit didn't correspond to
either of these days so we could view it from across the moat that
surrounds the inner grounds. We were able to see the famous bridges,
Meganebashi and Nijubashi,
that lead to the Emperor's private residence.
Tokyo
Imperial Palace
Then we walked several hundred meters
to the East Gardens to see the
gardens and the ruins of the Edo Castle that was built by the Tokugawa
dynasty in the early 1600's when Tokyo was then called Edo. Edo became
the political center of Japan even though the capital remained in Kyoto
until the Meiji restoration moved it to Tokyo in 1868. For those of you
who have viewed the movie, Last Samurai, the plot is based on the
struggle between the new imperial family, the Meiji, and the samurai
who were still pledged in fealty to the Tokugawa Shogun. The
involvement of US cavalry officers in the struggle occurred when
Captain Nathan Algren (played by Tom Cruise) was hired by the Japanese
Emperor to train his army in the use of modern weapons.
Massive would be the best description
of the East Gardens. The Imperial
Gardens are to Tokyo what Central Park is to New York. Acre after acre
of well attended grounds, trimmed hedges, pathways, ponds, even
sections of woods left more or less in the plain state of nature. The
ruins of Edo Castle are now an elevated foundation of granite blocks
with stone stairs ways leading to the summit. From there one has a
great 360 degree view of the city and the Imperial Palace Gardens. The
castle was a wooden pagoda, the highest in Japan at the time. It burned
19 years after construction and was never rebuilt.
We departed Tokyo by air for Bali from
Haneda Airport. Tokyo has two.
The feeling was that we'd only just seen a miniscule number of
interesting places in the country. Overwhelmed was really the case. So
much history, art and beauty in this country. No wonder the Japanese
are so proud of their history and their culture.
Return to
Home