On Friday the 28th of September, I had to get up at 5am in order to catch the hydrofoil ferry from Takeshiba Sanbashi in Tokyo to
Izu Oshima. I've no idea the last time I dragged myself out of bed at such an early time.
Neil and I got a 6am train which was still fairly quiet as we were travelling just before rush hour. Once we reached Hamamatsucho station, it was just a short walk to the ferry terminal. We bought our tickets and loitered until we were able to board the hydrofoil.
We discovered that the boat was quite cramped and that we had to sit on aircraft style seats. Comfort had obviously been sacrificed for speed. However our enthusiasm was undimmed and we were in good spirits in anticipation of an exciting day ahead in what promised to be beautiful weather.
I always love travelling by ship, and Saturday was no exception. Tokyo Bay is always fascinating to observe, from the varied waterfront to the busy sea traffic. I never cease to be amazed at the size of the cargo ships which ferry products to and from Japan. To add an extra little bit of interest, the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) also had a number of ships at sea. The only slight disappointment of the crossing was the lack of any real perception of speed. Although the hydrofoil must have been travelling very quickly, the sensation of speed was little different from that of a conventional ferry. I always have something to complain about.
We arrived on Izu Oshima at about 9.30am. I was under the impression that we were going to disembark at a port called Motomachi but it turned out that we docked at the port of Okata, a much smaller village. This error had grave implications later in the evening.
Upon arrival, I spoke to the tourist information man and asked him to arrange accommodation for Neil and I. He booked us into a
minshuku called Asami Kan and the proprietor kindly collected us in a small bus a short time later. The driver / owner seemed slightly surly at first but warmed up considerably when I went through my repertoire of Japanese phrases. When we arrived, our initial reaction was that the place was a little spartan but cost ¥6,800 per person per night. We thought this was a little expensive but the cost was tempered by the fact that both dinner and breakfast were included in the price. Fair enough.
After checking in, we hired bicycles and decided to cycle the coastal road around the island. It was about a 50km cycle and we had a full day to complete the ride. The weather was gorgeous and I was really happy to get on the saddle again and have the chance to exercise again in the countryside. The mountain bikes looked in good condition when the minshuku owner presented them to us, but we were quick to discover that they had seen better days. My bike had the habit of slipping gears, especially when going up hill - I was expecting to crush my kegs on the crossbar at any moment. Neil's bike had the even more annoying habit of shedding its chain. He had to perform regular stops to put the chain back on his bike and spent most of the day with oil on his hands. Added to those inconveniences, every time we peddled, it sounded like we were stirring a pot full of nuts and bolts.
During the early part of our cycle, we attracted the attention of a carload of young people who would shout encouragement to us as they drove past us. They seemed friendly enough and gave me a big cheer when I gave them my best Royal Navy salute.
Despite the niggles with the bikes, we both loved the cycle. There were some great views, lovely beaches (with black volcanic sand), interesting people, and some challenging hills to climb. One of the hills took us a couple of hours to climb, but the cycle back down was ample compensation. The temperature was about 32C and Neil and I were both sunburnt when we returned to the minshuku for dinner, but not before we treated ourselves to an ice cold can of beer from a shop towards the end of our ride. Perfect!!!
As should be expected in Japan, dinner and breakfast consisted mostly of fish.
I really dislike fish but Neil managed to eat a fair amount. I confined myself to the rice, miso soup, tempura, and vegetables that were on offer and then had some Cup Noodles later that night. I think the owners were slightly disappointed that I left so much but I really do not like fish. It would be more accurate to say that I detest fish.
The biggest problem of the evening was that we had nothing to do. The town of Okata has nowhere to socialise or eat out, as we soon discovered after stumbling around in the dark for 45 minutes. We were forced to empty the beer vending machine at the minshuku and also bought a small carry out at one of the local shops. As we were not keen to spend the whole evening confined to our room, we sat on the front doorstep of the minshuku for a few hours and talked about old times, mostly about former friends and teachers at Portree High School.
It would have been much better if we had stayed in a town called Motomachi as we would have had a couple of places to dine and drink in the evening.
After sitting on the doorstep, we returned to our
tatami room to drink our remaining stocks of beer and wine. We were unpleasantly surprised by the number of cockroaches in our room!! Every building on the island had cockroaches in them and I can only assume that this is a common and unsolvable problem on the island.
The next morning (Saturday), we went for breakfast at 8.30 and hired bikes again for a short 6km cycle to Motomachi. The temperature had plummeted to 16C and it was drizzling. The drizzle felt great on my sunburnt arms. We got a bit wet cycling around the town, but we eventually found a public onsen where we could have a good bath and put on some dry clothes. After that, we sat in a large tatami room and drank coffee, read, slept, and I even made a few notes for this blog. What a good blogger I am! I spotted a couple of cockroaches running around but by that time, I had become used to them.
Neil found his introduction to Japanese communal bathing a little unsettling and he wanted to get into the bath with his swimming trunks on. I told him that this would not be the done thing and he reluctantly shed the trunks and made his way to the bath. The onsen felt lovely and relaxing but I had to keep my sunburnt arms out of the water as they were starting to get really sore.
We cycled back to the onsen in our wet clothes as it was still drizzling. Once back, we changed and the minshuku owner drove us back to Okata for the return journey to Tokyo. When we checked out, I was pleasantly surprised to be given an itemised bill, rare in Japan. We could easily confirm that all the amounts charged to us were correct. Often in Japan, especially in bars, you receive a bit of paper with the final amount written on it. This system is often abused by unscrupulous owners who calculate the amount by choosing the first random number which appears in their head. The only rule required in the calculation is that the final figure should be more than the actual amount owed. I am surprised that I have never mentioned this in the blog before because it is something which happens often and continues to grate. It's theft, plain and simple.
Anyway, we had a fantastic time on the island and I was happy to see another part of Japan. We didn't visit one of the islands main attractions, the volcano called Mount Mihara. I'll see the volcano next time - we had no desire to cycle to the top after our 50km round trip.
We returned to Tokyo and Neil spent the remainder of his holiday sightseeing in Tokyo and drinking beer with myself in my local bar called Bo Jangles. Neil returned to Scotland on the 3rd of October, after a last minute rush to Narita Airport. He thought he was due to leave on Thursday night, but discovered at 5pm on Wednesday that he was leaving that same night at 10pm. It was great to see him again and I hope he returns many more times in future. A
slideshow of Neil's holiday can be found by clicking on the link.
After our road trip around Mount Fuji, we returned to Tokyo for a nice dinner which Yuki's mum had prepared. Following dinner, Andrew suggested a trip to a karaoke box. Yuki, Clara, Andrew and I crammed a lot of songs into the hour we spent there and we all left in good spirits. Later in the evening, Andrew and I returned to my local bar (Bo Jangles) for some beers and rum and then returned to the karaoke box once more. The quality of the singing seemed high and after 2 more hours we returned home slightly the worse for wear.
