Tokyo to Sakaiminato Departure

Chugoku Region of Honshu Island

After leaving Tokyo on the 27th August, having spent the previous evening with my friend Alan, I headed down the main island of Honshu on the shinkansen in order to near my final Japan departure point of Sakaiminato. I had a few days to play with so decided to spend 1 night in Okayama and 2 nights in the city of Matsue, capital of Shimane Prefecture. Okayama was pleasant enough, but I was happy to leave after one night to inch closer to the ferry port.

The train journey between Okayama City and Matsue on the Yakumo train was a real showcase for the Japanese countryside. Ripe rice fields, heavily forested mountains, rivers, old wooden houses, and little family grave plots appearing here and there.

Matsue initially seemed like a poor choice of location to spend a couple of nights. The streets around my hotel were almost deserted during the day, but things quickened up in the evening, especially on Friday night. I found an Irish bar called St James’s Gate, run by a Canadian Serb. Having spent two nights there, I became quite friendly with all the customers – a fun couple of evenings.

Needing to check out of the Dormy (!) InnHotel at 10am on the 30th of August left me with quite a bit of time on my hands until my ferry departure. I hopped in a taxi and went in search of Tamatsukuri onsen, not too far from Matsue town centre for my last authentic Japanese bath. After a soak, a local pointed me in the direction of a soba restaurant - the husband and wife owners were kind beyond words. They didn't charge me for my oolong tea and then kindly brought me a cup of coffee. The husband then started leafing through brochures advising me of place to visit and handed me his business card. I’m glad my final day in Japan was littered with such acts of kindness.

 

MV Eastern Dream - Japan to Russia

The bus journey from Matsue to Sakaiminato was breathtaking. More rice fields, beautiful islands, lagoons, and traditional architecture. The perfect weather added to the general beauty. What a fantastic last day in Japan! I would recommend anyone to visit Shimane and Tottori Prefecutures.

Arriving at Sakaiminato, I had a couple of hours to kill. I found a small cafe, wrote a blog, and made sure I was familiar with the latest world news, including Russia's incursion into Ukraine. Then it was time to board the ferry.

Ferry doesn't really do the MV Eastern Dream justice – it has a bar, nightclub, large Japanese style bath, and other facilities. Once again, the people have so far been friendly. There seems to be a smattering of nationalities from around the world, but mainly Japanese and Koreans.

The departure from Japan couldn't have been better. The sun setting as the ferry pulled away from the quayside. Mountains in the distance and the craggy coastline slowly gliding by. It was hard not to think about all the memories accrued over the years and the wonderful people I was leaving behind. Clara was foremost in my mind.

Sunset departure from Japan

Now it is around 8.30pm and I’m sitting in my bunk but about to head out onto deck. Then maybe check out the bar and nightclub!! The ferry is juddering away as it steams towards Donghae where I will have around 4 hours of shore time before the last leg to Vladivostok.

 

My bunk

Choosing the ferry and the Trans Siberian Express as my way of leaving Japan looks more and more like the right decision. A swift and brutal departure from Narita Airport would have almost been disrespectful to the time I spend in this country. The two sharp blasts of the ships horn was a poignant salute to the country I was leaving behind.

So, 2 days to travel on the MV Eastern Dream with no doubt a few stories to tell before I reach Vladivostok.

Trip to Hokkaido

A holiday to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido beckons. We all really cannot wait.

Hokkaido is the last unspoiled area of Japan, so it will be soothing on the eyes to see some wilderness as opposed to the Tokyo cityscape.

Our rough itinerary is:

Depart Haneda Airport tomorrow (21st August)

Stay at Lake Akan

Visit Shiretoko Peninsula

Various places through the center of the island

Sapporo

Otaru

Finishing off with a night in Hakodate (25th August)

I will obviously be taking the camera along so there will be some blog postings shortly....may even try and do a few updates whilst we are in Hokkaido.

I am most looking forward to Lake Akan, where my university friends and I stayed about 16 years ago. I have always wanted to visit Sapporo, so that should also be a highlight.

Clara is in very good form as she is looking forward to more travels. She has also just bought a new Pokemon game for her Nintendo 3DS so she is on cloud 9.

Hakone and Gora

Happy to say that the weekend was excellent. Got home much earlier than usual on Friday, long overdue haircut, and then a couple of pints in anticipation of our trip away to Hakone and Gora. All good.

The main reason for our weekend away was to celebrate the 63rd birthday of Yuki's mother. Although I have been to the Hakone area a number of times, there were still many new places for us to visit. We were also looking forward to our stay at the Setsugetsuka Hotel which promised nice rooms, a selection of onsen, and great food. We were not disappointed.Before we arrived at our hotel, we stopped off to eat some soba and then the nearby Lalique Museum. I have always had a mild interest in Lalique, probably a result of watching the BBC's Antiques Roadshow each Sunday evening when I was growing up. The exhibits were certainly very nice, but not nice enough to get the pulse racing. To be honest, I was more impressed with the museum buildings and the immaculate lawn next to the cafe. I would have been happy to have sat there all day enjoying the sunshine and the cool mountain breeze. Very relaxing.

The Setsugetsuka Hotel was certainly a great place for us to stay. Large and comfortable rooms (each with a private outside bath on the balcony), the usual fantastic range of outdoor and indoor baths (onsen), and exquisite food. It is a terrible shame that I dislike seafood so much - I therefore have to appreciate the artistry of the sushi chefs. At times, food in Japan seems more like an art with all the amazing shapes, colours, and textures.We enjoyed our dinner very much, although I perhaps made a small mistake of also taking the 1 hour nomihodai option. As you can see from the link, nomihodai means all you can drink within the alloted time. I calculated that in order for this option to be economically viable, I would need to drink at least 3 beers during the 1 hour time limit. I ended up drinking 6, which was fun, but which contributed to me falling asleep on the bedroom floor whilst The Hurt Locker was blasting from my laptop computer. All good fun and a great way to de-stress from the rigours of city life.

I woke up this morning feeling remarkably fresh after an approximate 8 hours of sleep. Instead of going down to the large hotel onsen baths, I decide to try out the bath on the balcony of our room. The smell of the wooden bath, the sound of warbling birds, and the sight of trees swaying in the wind made for a quite satisfying experience. I can say without a doubt, that Japan is certainly is the traveller's paradise. After checking out this morning, we did a couple of touristy things before the drive back to Tokyo. The main event was taking the cable car up a volcanic mountain. This excursion started off badly as we had to suffer 5 screaming kids on our journey up the mountain - mothers and fathers oblivious to the irritation of their fellow passengers. It was also unfortunate that visibility was poor which prevented us from seeing Mt Fuji. Shame.Despite the poor start, once we arrived at the top station, I was very interested to see all the volcanic activity, the yellow sulfur which had formed around vents, and famous black eggs which are purported to give added longevity to those who eat them. Another great trip away from Tokyo. I will probably be visiting Scotland for a few days next month in order to drop Clara off at my parent's home in Inverness for her summer galavanting. The next big trip will be towards the end of August when we are all scheduled to travel up to Hokkaido (Japan's northernmost island) for a week. I can't wait for that one! Wishing you all a good week ahead. More to follow soon.

Shiobara Onsen

We are just back in Tokyo after an evening away at Shiobara onsen, not too far from where we used to live in Shimogo.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the New Shiobara Hotel. The large number of onsen / baths was a real plus point and it was especially pleasurable to sit in the outside bath whilst the snow slowly fell around me. I also took the chance to open the pores by suffering the sauna for 30 minutes.

Holidaying in Japan seems to be a real lottery. Sometimes you end up really disappointed despite paying a high price whilst at other times you find a real gem for a quite reasonable amount of money. I would really recommend the New Shiobara Hotel, as despite the age of the hotel, money had obviously been spent to keep it in tip top shape. The highlight was certainly the large number of different onsen to bathe in.

It was also fun to walk around in the heavy snow and have a snowball fight with Clara. Work starts again tomorrow but the happy memories of the weekend will help we get through. I now need to book my holidays for February and March - once these are organised, I can look ahead to some more fun.

Kinugawa Onsen

We all paid a brief visit to Kinugawa Onsen and stayed overnight at the Mikazuki Hotel. The principal reason for our visit was to take an onsen and let the waters do their magic.

The hotel was nice, although the room was slightly disappointing. It generally felt a bit Butlinesque as it was clearly designed to cater for the masses. And masses there were....oh the humanity! Humpf....not exactly the laid back break I had imagined, but nice nonetheless.

In no particular order, the highlights of our brief trip were:

• The hotel's chocolate fountain to which Clara made several visits due to her sweet tooth.
• The onsen - nice and not too busy.
• The walk over a suspension bridge to a pinnacle overlooking the area.
• The boat trip which we took down the river.

Ok, Actually, when I come to think of it, the boat trip was definately the highlight of the visit. The peace and tranquility of our 30 minutes glide down the Kinugawa River was soothing to a soul at odds with the Tokyo urban nightmare. Even just a small taste of the countryside was enough and an added bonus was that the town planning mess and decay called Kinugawa Town was hidden from view by the high valley sides. The gentle breeze and blue skies contributed to a feeling of contentment. I may have to change career and gain employment as a boatman on the Kinugawa River - it was that nice.

On the way back to Tokyo, I snoozed in the car trying to catch up on sleep which I had lost over the previous week. I was feeling really tired as I had only slept about 12 hours over a 4 day period - I won't go into details.... Around lunchtime on our drive back to Tokyo, Yuki's brother suggested we stop off at a restaurant which only sells gyoza - Japanese dumpling. Very satisfying, although a cold beer would also have been appreciated to help wash the food down.

A good weekend, if not a great one. However, it is always nice to experience something different. Until the next time.

Hakone

Japanese insurance companies often offer special travel / accommodation deals to customers who pay into their health insurance schemes. There are hundreds of hotels / resorts around Japan that are solely open to customers of insurance companies and are therefore not advertised or available to the general public. These places offer seemingly impossible low prices - it was therefore with some degree of trepidation that Yuki, Clara, and I went off to Hakone (100km from our home in Tokyo) to take up our 1 night reservation in the Toslove Hotel. From a search of the internet, the hotel does not even appear to have a webpage, the best I could find was this link.

Before our check in at 3pm, we decided to get some lunch and then take a boat trip on Lake Ashi which forms part of Hakone. We opted for an Italian restaurant on the shores of Lake Ashi - delicious, but the lasagna I ordered was of minuscule proportions and extortionately expensive. I felt a bit cheated but decided to hold my tongue and keep the atmosphere light.After lunch, we crossed the lake under very Scottish weather with heavy rain and high winds - invigorating and effective in blowing away some of the cobwebs accumulated by the hard Tokyo cityscape and charmless sterility of Makuhari (where I work).

Upon arrival at the hotel, the Porsche 911 parked outside reception was a portent of things to come. We checked in and all the signs were good - immaculate interior with gleaming marble floors, eager to please staff, and a quite fantastic and spacious room with large sliding doors looking towards lovely green trees. We loved the place immediately!

We stayed in our room for a while and exchanged superlatives before heading down to the hotel onsen (baths heated by geothermal energy with health giving minerals). I quickly showered and then got into the indoor bath - lovely and hot making the knots in my muscles slowly untie. After 5 minutes, I ventured out into the cold air to try the outside bath. Hot once again but the cold and wet mountain air made for a lovely contrast. I sat in the hot water as large raindrops from the overhanging trees splashed onto me to the soothing sound of singing forest birds in the background. I sat there with a smile on my face and really appreciated the moment, heightened further by the complete solitude - I was the only one there.

Once back in the room, Yuki and I opened some beer from the minibar and were quite surprised to discover that the charge for the contents was actually lower than supermarket prices. Making a profit is obviously not a big priority for the owners of the hotel. Clara watched a DVD from the selection on offer behind the hotel reception and then had fun on the PlayStation 2 which are also available for hotel guests.

After an hour of light drinking and reading, we went to the dining room for dinner and received a quite sumptuous menu of Japanese cuisine. I am not the most appreciative person when it comes to Japanese food but Yuki was clearly a very happy lady. After dinner, we relaxed in our room once again before heading down to the karaoke bar to sing a few songs and have a couple more drinks. I sang a few numbers but my performance was less than stellar. Clara was very brave singing a couple of songs in front of a group of other quests and hotel staff.

We returned to the room once again and dispatched a happy Clara off to bed. As one of the hotel staff members wanted to sing a couple of songs with me, I briefly returned to the karaoke bar once again. I was the only customer by this stage and did not have to worry about embarrassing myself in front of the other guests. After talking to the barman, it turns out that the Toslove Hotel only has 14 rooms and that July is the busiest month of the year. If July is the busiest month, the place must be deserted in November.....sounds perfect!

Back in the room, I tried to watch the Germany v Argentina World Cup game but found my head lolling around through tiredness and the effects of the beer and wine. Sleep came quickly once I forced myself off the sofa and onto my bed.

After breakfast the next morning, we made an early departure and resolved to make a return visit for a couple of days in September. Quite a fantastic place at a price that beggared belief! We will be back. We then went back to the lake to browse though some of the local shops and perhaps buy a souvenir or two. Hakone is famous for wooden products with distinctive designs. I still use wooden chopsticks from Hakone that were given to me 15 years ago by a student when I worked at GEOS language school in Tokyo. As can be seen from the following photo, there are quite a lot of Hakone products on offer. We also made a return to the lake, this time under our own propulsion. We hired a pedalo which left me a sweating wreck after 30 minutes of exertion. It was good fun for us all and allowed us to take some decent pictures of the famous tori gate which emerges from the lake. The time in the pedalo effectively marked the end of our brief visit to Hakone but we will definitely return in the not too distant future, probably for two or three nights next time. The highlight of our trip was clearly the hotel. It is not a place to party, but perfect for changing down a couple of gears and enjoying the finer things in life. I will take a good book with me next time and my swimming trunks for the hotel pool.

I haven't enjoyed myself so much in a long time - a great weekend with the family that will be repeated in the not too distance future.

Books and Art

My silence in the blogosphere accurately indicates a lack of things to report. Work is busy but enjoyable, Yuki has had a bad cold this week but seems to  be getting better, and I am coming to the end of a long weekend after having had the day off on Friday.

It is rare for me to visit central Tokyo, so it was nice to hop on a quiet midday train on Friday and make the journey into Shinjuku. Whenever I visit Shinjuku, the first location to visit is always Kinokuniya Book Shop. The shop has a healthy range of titles and I usually pick up a few books on each visit. On Friday though, nothing much seemed to inspire me and I was loathe to spend ¥2,000 on a book that risked being put down after a few pages. A lot of books can be fairly expensive to buy in Japan, so you really need to be sure you want to read one before making a purchase. Nothing really grabbed my attention but I ended up buying 'Kidnapped' by Robert Louis Stevenson and a book called 'In the Company of Heroes' by Michael Durant, a helicopter pilot who was shot down and captured in Mogadishu, Somalia. Both were pretty inexpensive, especially 'Kidnapped' which was only about ¥400. It was interesting to note that a lot of the old classics sell at a considerably less price than books recently published. I will be taking advantage of that fact next time I make a visit. 

After Kinokuniya, I walked back towards the train station and stopped off in the Dubliners Bar for a few pints. I don't really like the place to be honest, but it is convenient and lets me enjoy an overpriced pint of Kilkenny. 

The unexpected highlight of the weekend was visiting the local Higashimurayama Town Office to look at selected art work produced by local children. There are tens of primary schools in the area and therefore only 2 children from each class had their art work displayed. Clara was one of only two kids selected from her class to have a picture displayed and was therefore feeling a bit proud of herself.

As the pictures will attest, some of the art work was fantastic. It was hard to believe that some of the work was produced by primary school students. Perhaps I was more impressed than most of the other visitors as I have always been appalling at art. In my final year of mandatory art classes at Portree High School, I was ranked 116th out of the 117 students in my year. Number 117 was off sick for the year. When I return to Scotland and meet some of my old school friends, they often make a passing remark (along with a smirk) about the art work I used to produce. Perhaps my finest work was a packet of digestive biscuits.

The weekend is almost over and therefore I will be taking the usual early morning train across Tokyo to my job and small apartment in Chiba. I have been enjoying my work recently which is refreshing although I do not relish having to sort through about 300 emails when I return. 

I'll try and do an update soon. Although the long weekend is over, in less than a month we will all spend 3 days in the Fukushima countryside at a log cabin which has a nice onsen nearby. Not too long to wait until then.

A Journey North

On Saturday November the 1st, our long anticipated trip away to the countryside to the north of Tokyo finally took place. Sometimes I wonder if staying in Tokyo is really worth it. My desperation to see some flora and fauna seems to indicate that my fellow Tokyoites and I are starved of even the very basic of pleasures in life.

Our release from Tokyo was fantastic and gave us the chance to see the lovely autumnal foliage that the Japanese countryside has to offer. We drove up on Saturday morning and stopped off for lunch at an Italian restaurant that we have been to several times in the past. The further north we drove, the more chilly it became.

We had booked ourselves into the Grand Hotel in Ashinomaki. Ashinomaki is about 20 minutes drive from Shimogo, the town where we lived for nearly 4 years. As the hotel was so close to Shimogo, it was convenient to quickly drop by and say "Hi" to a couple of friends. Whilst in Shimogo, we drove past our old apartment and other places of interest and reminisced about our time spent living in the Japanese countryside. Perhaps my biggest regret is that I no longer have the chance to cycle. It was really gut wrenching to realise that if we were still living in Shimogo, I would undoubtedly have been on my mountain bike on such a fine and fresh day.

The hotel itself was adequate, but had seen better days. I speculate that the Grand Hotel was one of the original large scale hotels in Ashinomaki but has been superseded over the years by larger and plusher competitors such as the Okawaso and Marumine Kanko hotels. The hotel was showing signs of aging as the fixtures and fittings seemed a bit tired and in places a visit from the local painters and decorators was required. A bit of a shame really, as the investment needed to bring it up to a reasonably high level does not seem too great.

Despite that, the food was up to the usual Japanese high standard, the views from our room were lovely, and the onsen was absolute bliss. We all drank a bit in the evening and I fell immediately asleep as soon as my head hit the futon at 10pm.

The following morning, we had breakfast at 7.30am and then packed our bags. One reason for staying in Ashinomaki was that it would be easy for us to visit Shimogo and buy some of the locally produced rice. We bought 90kg of rice (3 bags) which should last a considerable length of time. Whilst waiting in the car park for the rice transaction to be completed, I picked a wild growing Cosmos flower and gave it to Clara. It seemed a fairly insignificant moment for myself, but when I looked at Clara 30 seconds later, she had a tear in her eye. I guess I must have struck a nerve.

From Shimogo, we drove to Nikko, one of the most important cultural sites in Japan. We visited Toshogu, a shrine complex which contains the mausoleum of Ieyasu Tokugawa, Japan's first Shogun, a man who can claim to have shaped Japan more than most other individuals. His dynasty ruled Japan for the following 200 years.

The roads became packed the closer we drove to Nikko, and eventually we decided to alight from the car and walk the rest of the way to the shrine complex. This is the time of year when Nikko is busiest. The autumn colours were at or near their peak and it was a long holiday weekend in Japan. There were thousands of people in and around the shrines but it we did not have to wait for too long at any of the points of interest.

The weather was beautiful, and the shrines covered in gold leaf perfectly complemented the various colours of the autumn trees in the fading afternoon light. It was truly lovely and I do not feel that the experience was harmed in any way by the hordes of other people milling around. I have visited the more famous temples and shrines of Kyoto, but have to say that Nikko was far more satisfying. The remarkable thing is that despite living on the doorstep of Nikko for nearly 4 years, we never once visited during our stay in Shimogo. The highlight for many of those who visit Nikko must be the site of Ieyasu Tokugawa's mausoleum. We had to queue up and around the 200 steps leading to the mausoleum, but the wait was done under the canopies of some very large and ancient trees. Once at the top, the monks who look after the shrine complex regulated the flow of people around the mausoleum, thus giving respite from the crowds and enabling some form of respectful tranquility to surround the scene.

Once we returned to the bottom we tried to buy some souvenirs to take back to our colleagues in Tokyo - a very Japanese tradition! We were surprised to encounter some difficultly in finding souvenir shops which was a little irritating at first and then completely refreshing. The Toshogu shrine complex must be the only touristy place in Japan that I have visited that does not try and cash-in on the visitors to the area by selling tacky souvenirs. It is refreshing to realise that some people still have a sense of pride and appropriateness. Well done!

We left Nikko as it started to get dark and hoped for a swift return to Tokyo. Unfortunately, the roads were packed with other cars and the journey took much longer than expected. But who cares? We still had a lovely escape from Tokyo and sampled some lovely scenery and some very interesting Japanese history.

We will visit Shimogo again on the 27th of December. I am looking forward to meeting up with old acquaintances and experiencing some Shimogo snow again. Thanks for reading.

A Trip to Gunma

We all recently went on a trip to Gunma Prefecture, only about 3 hours drive from Tokyo. Our trip was to celebrate the 60th birthday of Setsuko, Yuki's mum. Any trip outside of Tokyo is always eagerly awaited, and so the promise of 1 night away in the countryside was extremely appealing. We stayed at a small (and relatively unknown) resort called Sarugakyo The hotel bedroom was not the best I've stayed in, but who cares, we were out of Tokyo for the night and nothing was going to spoil our fun.

The highlights of our stay was the hotel's onsen (hot spring) and the local cuisine. The onsen was one of the nicest I have seen and guests were able to bathe inside the hotel in a lovely wooden bath or outside, under the green foliage of the surrounding trees.

The food was pretty enjoyable and I particularly liked the liquid tofu. The tofu was served in a shallow pan, under which a candle was placed. Once the candle heats the tofu, a skin forms on the top of the tofu which is known as yuba in Japan. The diner needs to continually remove and eat the skin with a bamboo stick as it forms on the surface. It may not sound appetising, but it was extremely delicious (creamy) and is apparently great for your health.

After dinner, we all made our way down to a room with an irori to sit and listen to an old crone regale us with Japanese folk stories. The folk stories were then followed by a mochi making lesson. Mochi is a popular Japanese cake made from rice. Part of the process involves beating the rice mixture with wooden hammers to create the right texture.

After mochi making, we returned to our rooms to drink a little wine and relax a bit more. Shortly afterwards, I promptly fell asleep on the futon and slept extremely soundly. A welcome break away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo.

Huis ten Bosch

After all the events in Nagasaki, we all travelled to Huis ten Bosch on Sunday the 14th of October. The journey took approximately 90 minutes by train from Nagasaki. The train journey was enjoyable and a great chance to rest whilst taking in the scenery of Kyushu. Having lived in Holland for over 2 years, I was very interested to see how successfully Huis ten Bosch reproduced Dutch life and architecture. We stayed at the very impressive ANA Hotel, modelled on Central Station in Amsterdam. Nice rooms, good service, nice breakfast, and nice onsen.

If my memory serves me correctly, we arrived at the ANA Hotel mid afternoon. We all had coffee in the lounge and then headed to our rooms to get organised and relax. We had a nice big room with great views over Huis ten Bosch. I then headed to the onsen for a soak.

Around dusk, we walked to the main area of Huis ten Bosch in order to find a place to eat. There was a nice ambience to the place and the other tourists seemed to be enjoying themselves. I was very impressed at how authentic the buildings looked and was looking forward to a nice dinner.

We decided to eat outside at an Italian restaurant. There were plenty of tables and chairs to sit at. As there were 5 people in our group, and each table only had 4 chairs, we naturally asked if we could move an extra chair to our table. Unfortunately, the answer to the question was less than natural. It was in fact bizarre! They said "NO"! What? Why? Are you joking? I am still totally bemused by the response. I still cannot imagine why the answer was in the negative. Baffled. There was no shortage of tables and no shortage of chairs. The only real shortage that the restaurant may have faced was a shortage of customers. I can only come to the conclusion that they did not want our business. Tossers.

We therefore decided to eat at a steak restaurant. Although a little expensive (thanks Mum and Joep), the food was satisfying. However, Clara's dinner arrived over 20 minutes after the steaks. Everyone had finished whilst poor Clara was still waiting. The manager knew I was fuming and did not return after I had given him an icy stare and instructions to find out what was going on. I couldn't believe the standard of service. During my time in Japan, I cannot remember the last time I had cause for complaint. Then in the space of half an hour, it felt as if I was dining at Fawlty Towers.

"He seemed to view us as a colossal inconvenience right from the start." - Michael Palin.

Anyway, we all got fed (eventually) and I was enjoying myself despite the best efforts of people who work in the service industry, but have no desire to actually serve people.

After dinner, we walked around, chatted, and generally had a good time. One high point of the evening was the fireworks and laser display. Very impressive, if slightly short. Once back in the hotel, Clara was dispatched off to bed and I met my parents on the 12th floor for a couple of evening drinks. I stayed a little later, enjoying the views over Huis ten Bosch, and the peace and quiet of the empty bar.

The next day promised to be a busy one. Not only did we have to complete a full tour of Huis ten Bosch, but we had to return to Tokyo that evening. No rest for the wicked. We visited the majority of attractions and had a great time, despite continuing to experience very poor service. It was odd that the only place I have experienced awful service in Japan was in a Dutch theme park.After a great time in Nagasaki and Huis ten Bosch, we all returned to Tokyo with many great memories. Mum and Joep had a few more days to enjoy Tokyo and spent their time sightseeing or playing with Clara. I am sure they enjoyed their visit to Japan, and are sure to visit many more times in the future. Their return to Scotland marked the end of a busy 5 weeks and it was time for me to return to my normal routine in Tokyo.

A slideshow of some of the pictures from Nagasaki can be seen by clicking this link.

Izu Oshima in Tokyo Bay

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.

While the cat's away.......

Yuki and Clara are both in Tokyo at the moment and will return to Shimogo on Wednesday. As they are in Tokyo, I thought it would be a good idea to invite Alan (a friend from Scotland) and his girlfriend to Shimogo. It proved to be a busy 2 days.

On Friday at about 9.30pm, I drove to a station called Aizu Kogen to pick them up. While I was driving through the town of Tajima, I noticed that the small van in front of me had stopped on the train level crossing. Seconds later, a woman got out of the van and ran towards my car. She told me that she had just broken down! I can't think of a worse place to break down, apart from on Haifa Street in Baghdad.

I got out of my car and managed to push the van off the tracks - seconds later, along came a train. I was in the right place at the right time. If I hadn't have been there, the train would certainly have collided with the van. Exciting stuff!!

We got back to Shimogo at about 10pm and then headed to Wakatsuki for some food and drink. Alan and Akie seemed impressed with Wakatsuki and were surprised that such a place existed in Shimogo. We left Wakatsuki fairly late and this probably has something to do with our late start on Saturday.On Saturday, we drove to a town called Tadami for the snow festival. The drive took about 90 minutes but it was a good opportunity for Alan and Akie to see the real Japanese countryside. I think Tadami probably is the most charming town in the local area. I was expecting the festival to be really busy, and so was very surprised to see few people at this event. It was raining and I think that drove a lot of people away. Another bad point of the Tadami Snow Festival was the smell of cooked mutton - the smell was really strong and making us all feel nauseous.

After our brief visit to the Tadami Snow Festival, we drove to Yurari Onsen for a bath followed by lunch and a nap.

On Saturday night, we went to a newish place called Doronko in Shimogo for dinner and more beers. I would like to go to Doronko more often but it is too far from the area where I stay. The food at Doronko is excellent. Doronko is run by a young couple called Rie and Nozomi. New businesses run by young people are rare in rural Japan but are vitally important for the future survival of Japanese rural settlements. I wish them luck.

Alan and Akie planned to return to Tokyo at 2.30pm on Sunday. This allowed me to show them another snow festival in Ouchijuku (technically part of Shimogo) and also show them a place called Tonohetsuri with its interesting rock formations. They were really pleased to see Ouchijuku with its charming houses with straw roofs. After lunch in Ouchijuku, I drove Alan and Akie to Tajima so they could catch their train back to Tokyo. A good couple of days but I'm certainly pretty tired after the visit (and a lot poorer).
There has been quite a lot of snow over the past couple of days so I paid a brief visit to Daikura today (Monday) for a spot of skiing. It was really busy today as it's a national holiday (Foundation Day) in Japan.

Next week will see me visit 3 different elementary schools for the last time before we move to Tokyo. On Tuesday night I'll be busy cleaning the flat in advance of the return of Yuki and Clara. Bye for now.