3
October 2016, APA Hotel, Ueno, Tokyo
As our flights had been very cheap, we had
treated ourselves to seats with extra leg room (poor man’s business class).
Thus, the flight was quite comfortable, plus we found our hotel easily, always
a bonus when arriving late at night.
The weather has been a different experience
for us from previous visits to Japan in October. It is rainy and hot today,
with a typhoon threatening in the south. We slipped back into the “Asian
shuffle” to avoid the oppressive heat and to settle in, did the rounds of a few
of our favourites - Harajuku, the Meiji gardens and temple and, of course, the
bright lights of Akihabara (Electric Town).
4
October, APA Hotel, Ueno, Tokyo
Having done all our favourite Tokyo things
yesterday, we were a bit over the city so decided to visit Yokohama, 30 minutes
away by train. We had stopped in Yokohama on a previous trip, just for a bit of
a walk about and were left a bit non-plussed. Perhaps we should have given the
city more of a chance.
Yokohama and nearby Kawasaki were local
trading ports up until the arrival of the “Black Ships” of Commodore Perry in
1853. The use of the word “Black” does not necessarily have anything to do with
the intent of the US Fleet. Ships of that era were wooden and sealed with tar. As
well, the steam ships pumped black smoke into the air. However, within a few
years, the good folk of Yokohama and indeed, Japan as a whole, were probably
ascribing darker meanings to the term “Black Ships”. By then, the usual flock
of Western traders had arrived and virtually colonized the port of Yokohama. It
wasn’t all bad though. Condensing several decades of history into one sentence;
the port prospered, land was reclaimed, a war was fought over opium and Japan
was rapidly modernised.
The legacy of this history and the more
modern destruction of the city, firstly by a major earthquake in 1923 and then
by an air raid by 517 B29 bombers on 29 May 1945, has been the spacious, well-planned
city that is present day Yokohama.
We had planned several museum visits, but
were foiled by the fact that Tuesday is the closing day in Yokohama of many of
its museums. Serious disappointment! Our highlight was to have been the “Cup
Noodles” museum. While we did score the fantastic Museum of Modern Art and the Maritime
Museum, what would have been a great day by the bay was sheer hell weather-wise.
The sun shone, the wind was calm, the temperature hovered around 32C and the
humidity was a killer. The port area attractions are well worth the trip down
from Tokyo and easily accessible by foot. There is a circle bus, but buses are
difficult to manage without Japanese language skills, so we staggered on
through the seriously tropical heat. It is October!! What the…!
5
October, Wing International Hotel, Nagoya
We are starting to wonder whether we just
keep coming back to Japan because we like riding on fast trains. We have spent
much of our time so far on this trip riding the rails. The Shinkansen route
south to Nagoya is one we have taken before, but we still marvel at the almost
constant string of cities that line the 300 plus kilometres from Tokyo to
Nagoya. The Shinkansen on this line leave every 8 – 10 minutes. They are always
packed with up to 1500 passengers. Some of the fools back in Australia who think
they can build efficient high-speed railways between east coast cities, need to
spend some time here in Japan or in China to see just how great a population
density is required to make such an enormous investment viable.
Nagoya is Japan’s third largest city. It
also has the world’s largest railway station by area. Not as daunting as it may
sound, because most of it is shops!
The typhoon remains a threat, so the hot
and humid weather is still with us. We have stayed here before and we think we
visited its castle, but we are really only in Nagoya because Kyoto’s hotels are
very expensive this weekend. With an afternoon to kill, we visited the Nagoya
Science Museum and Planetarium. Great decision. We hadn’t ever been to a
planetarium, so we forked out the extra 300 yen for the experience. Even though
the commentary was in Japanese, we got the general drift and the visuals were
spectacular. The rest of the afternoon we played with the exhibits on the six
floors of this great museum.
It is five years since our first visit to
Japan. Then, English was not widely spoken, except in hotels and tourist
attractions. That wasn’t a major problem for us as we have learned the value of
the point and smile method of communication. Progressively over the years and
three more trips, a lot of this has changed. Most Japanese we encounter speak
enough English to help us get by. As always, we feel guilty, being unable to
speak only a few words of Japanese, but it is so relaxing not to have to worry
about communicating.
6
October, Wing International Hotel, Nagoya
Still hot today, but the humidity has
dropped away from the South-East Asian levels we have had so far. Today was one
of the clearest days we have ever experienced in Asia, with the bluest of blue
skies and almost unlimited visibility.
We are still treading over old ground,
attempting to see anything we may have missed on previous trips. We couldn’t
remember which of Kyoto’s many temples and palaces we had visited before so we
just headed off on one of the Tourist Loop buses and hoped for the best.
Kyoto has a magnificent bus network which, once
you get used to it, is cheap and efficient. A day pass is 500 yen (about $7 at
current rates). There is a subway as well, but the buses seem to better serve
the major sights. As it turned out we managed one new sight out of the three we
selected - the beautiful Kinkaku, Golden Temple. Paul had made a model of the
temple on his Japanese-themed railway layout, but we had never seen it.
This coming weekend is a long weekend with
a public holiday on the Monday. We had been alerted to this when we tried to
book hotels in popular spots like Kyoto and Hiroshima. Hotel prices were
through the roof, often ten times the normal rate. We dodged the problem and
the additional cost, by staying in less popular cities near the tourist “hot
spots”. Nagoya is just 40 minutes by Shinkansen from Kyoto. We have planned the
same thing for our visit to Hiroshima, booking a couple of nights in nearby
Fukuyama. We were pretty proud of our “cunning plan” until we went to reserve
Shinkansen tickets for the next few days. “Sorry, Sir. All booked out!” We were
not too concerned, as we knew we had some options but, on reflection, decided
to try again when we got back to Nagoya. This time the booking clerk was a little
more creative and, under a little pressure from us, managed to re-schedule and
confirm reservations for what is looming as a very busy weekend.
8
October, AreaOne Hotel, Fukuyama
On this trip, we have been struggling to
discover new places that might interest us. We had planned to re-visit Hiroshima
from Fukuyama as a day trip. Instead, we opted for a day trip to the little
known village of Tomo-no-ura.
The bus trip through the burbs of Fukuyama
was less than inspiring. The decades-long decline in the Japanese economy is
really showing in smaller cities like Fukuyama. Buildings and infrastructure
are very run-down and even private houses, generally well kept in Japan, are
getting a bit dilapidated here.
Tomo-no-ura was a bit of a find. Just as advertised,
it was a traditional fishing village that took us back to what Japan may have
been like before the war. The village smelt of fish, sea hawks swooped over the
boats moored at the fish processing factory and, best of all, there were very
few people about - a real “Last of the Summer Wine” experience, complete with
an older gentleman sitting at the harbour, watching the world go by. After a
few temples and the local Historical Museum, the heat and humidity began to get
to us, so we took a bus back to Fukuyama in time for a late lunch.
9
October, Tottori City Hotel, Tottori
A long and, as it turned out, expensive day
on the trains today. We decided some weeks back to visit the western coast of
Honshu, partly because it was one of the areas we had not visited before and
also because it is a bit off the beaten track. We have become very confident
travelling in Japan and have begun to enjoy finding more isolated spots.
Tottori is probably well-known in Japan, but it is well off the normal tourist
route for non-Japanese. Our train journey to get here was not a terribly
difficult one to organise and all was going well until the conductor on our
second leg north from Okayama asked for our tickets. We had what we thought
were the correct tickets but, as it turned out, part of the line from Okayama
to Tottori is not JR, so our passes weren’t valid for the whole journey. No
great drama, nothing ever is in Japan, but we had to fork out an extra $50 for
the trip!
Both Tottori and Fukuyama are fairly small
cities by Japanese standards and the usual press of people on the streets is
non-existent. “Sleepy” just doesn’t do it as a descriptor in comparison to
larger Japanese cities; it is more like “Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio.” Best
of all, other than locals, there are no tourists.
We have been using local buses a bit lately
and, though we normally shy away from buses in Japan in favour of trains and
subways, we are starting to get the hang of it. The most difficult part of
using buses is knowing when to get off, followed closely by how to get back to
your starting point. Add to this, the issue of knowing what the fare is and you
can see why we favour trains. So far we haven’t been carried on past our
destination and we have found our way home. We have even figured out the
interesting Japanese system of paying as you get off the bus.
10 October, Tottori City Hotel, Tottori
Just when we thought we had the buses in
Japan mastered, our over-confidence brought us undone this morning. On the
excellent advice of the Tourist Information Office in Tottori, we were all set
for a 20 minute trip out to the largest sand dunes in Japan. It doesn’t sound
too exciting, a bit like visiting the largest Shinto shrine in Kalgoorlie, but
you never know.
After a quick breakfast at a station café,
we bolted out to the bus station, having noticed that the special #0 bus for
the dunes was about to depart. We made it with seconds to spare. The first sign
of a possible problem was that there were only two people on the bus and this
was a holiday weekend in Japan. After many maze-like turns through city back
streets, our phone’s GPS maps showed that we were not heading for the dunes at
all. Eventually, we found ourselves back at the station. Luckily, our bus was a
special 100 yen city loop bus and the driver wasn’t interested in taking our
fare when he understood our plight.
Fitted out with the right ticket and on the
right bus, we eventually made it to the dunes. Wow! The crowds on the bus went
wild - the Japanese do get very excited. We must admit, though, it was a spectacular
sight, blue skies, golden sands, camels and a few palm trees. Where were we?
Standing on the top of the dunes, we were equally stunned by the natural beauty
and the thousands of Japanese walking, running and climbing on the dunes. It
was like a giant ants’ nest, but boy were they having fun.
We don’t have as much interaction with the
Japanese as we do with the locals of most other countries we have travelled in.
Not because they are rude or unsociable, just because of the language barrier.
It is rare to run into people who speak enough English to converse comfortably.
Every now and then you’ll find someone who speaks good English, or they will
seek you out, but is a fairly rare occurrence. Japanese we have met on our travels
outside Japan tell us that most Japanese speak some English but that they lack
confidence to speak to foreigners. We have found this to be fairly accurate. In
shops, on the streets and in hotels, whenever we have sought help, people have
understood us and communicated reasonably well. We think the main problem is
accent. Not ours. No not ours! We have
often been told that we have very neutral English accents. The problem is that
we are not attuned to heavily accented Japanese English. After many a confusing
interaction with a train conductor or shop assistant, we later realise that
they were attempting to help us in English. We just couldn’t get the accent.
Another cultural observation we have made
on this trip is that Japanese culture is, deep down, still very conformist,
regimented and committed to group outcomes rather than individual success.
These easily manipulated characteristics had a frightening impact on Asia in
the 1930s and 1940s and these directions are unimaginable in the Japan of the
21st century. But are they limiting creativity and the ability of
Japan to solve some of its many economic problems?
On our first visit here, we were impressed
with the industry, infrastructure and economic power of Japan. Five years on,
things are fraying a little around the edges. The odd rusty pole, weeds in
suburban streets and the homeless on station steps at night. Don’t get us
wrong. We love Japan and we keep coming back, but sadly, decades of stagnation
are beginning to show.
Later (much) same night…
Went searching for dinner on this holiday
long weekend in Japan. Although it was National Health and Fitness Day, we
succeeded in getting smashed with a couple of locals in a local pub just up the
deserted main street of Tottori. We were looking for a cheap feed but, as it
turned out, we happened upon a nice little bar with a bar tender who spoke a
tiny bit of English to match our even smaller Japanese vocab. As chance might
have it, there was a young woman at the bar who had better English than she thought
and we were able to chat away despite the fairly frightening tally of our final
food and bar bill! Nevertheless, just the sort of experience we continue to travel
for.
12 October, Kanazawa Central Hotel, Kanazawa
As we have
commented before, “in every life some rain must fall.” Yesterday was the time
for it to fall on us! Our long trip from Tottori was fairly uneventful, except
for being hit up again for the extra charge for travelling on a non- JR sector
of the line. There are only a few of these and they are clearly stated on the
JR Pass, but who reads the detail? The real “rain” was yet to hit!
After the usual back street wanderings, we
found our hotel and with the confidence born of hundreds of hotel check-ins in
foreign countries, we presented our passports and smiled our best “don’t ask us
anything complicated” smiles. Consternation and near panic behind the counter,
which in Japan translates to apologetic bowing and many “so sorry.. so sorrys.”
We had a booking confirmation, but the hotel had no booking in our name.
In the end it transpired that a technical
glitch in our booking agent, Agoda’s site had caused our booking to be
cancelled. Never fear. Agoda has since felt the full wrath of dissatisfied
travellers. A flurry of emails finally extracted an apology and a 15% discount
on our next booking. We have to give full credit to the hotel staff. In a
typical Japanese way, they helped solve the problem, absorbing all the blame
themselves which was not at all the case, but it is their way.
The booking debacle had one positive
outcome, we ended up in possibly the biggest room we have ever stayed in in Japan!
Kanazawa is the second largest city in
Japan to have been spared destruction by US B29 bombers. Sixty-seven cities
were fire bombed in 1945. The largest city to be spared was Kyoto. As it was
spared, Kanazawa has some well-preserved old districts which we wandered around
today, walking many more kms that we have in a long time. Sadly, the castle didn’t
escape destruction, not by US bombs, but by fire. Today’s magnificent edifice
was reconstructed progressively from the late 1990s. A modern reconstruction it
may be, but it does capture the scale and grandeur of the original.
13 October, Montagne Hotel, Matsuyama
Getting near the end of our trip, we are
once again “turning Japanese.” What grows on us more than anything else is the
universal politeness and fantastic service. It is just so relaxing to know that
whatever problem we might encounter, we can rely on it being resolved in the
most civilised way imaginable. Our train connections today went with our now
customary efficiency, delivering us to Matsuyama in the mid-afternoon. We only
have one night here, so we needed to get checked-in and on our way to the local
castle, yes another one, in this case one of only 12 original castles surviving
in Japan.
Given our dramas in Kanazawa, we were a
little tentative as we approached the front desk. All was good, in fact very
good. Struggling with his English, the check-in clerk finally got the message
across that we were to be up graded. Ok. Oh dear! What an upgrade. The biggest
room we have ever seen in Japan, bigger even that a US motel room. It was
difficult to leave our room to make our scheduled visit to Matsuyama Castle.
14
October, Unizo Inn, Nagoya
Japanese castles are a lot like European
Cathedrals. Once you have seen a few you get the general idea, but still they
always seem to pop up on the “must see” list. To be fair, both the cathedrals
and the castles seem to offer something slightly different each time, mostly
very slightly different!
Yesterday and today were devoted to castle
chasing. Matsuyama castle, visited yesterday, has actually been partially
rebuilt, but is quite spectacular nevertheless. Inuyama Castle was less
exciting, but, as with many things in Japan, getting there is half the fun.
We decided to stay in Nagoya on our way
back to Tokyo simply because hotels here are way cheaper than in other cities
in the area. So today we spent many hours on trains. Matsuyama to Nagoya is one
of the most scenic trips we have done in Japan. Most of the journey was through
spectacular mountain scenery with small valley villages reminiscent of
Switzerland. Rice harvest is in full swing and fields alternate between pure
gold and straw coloured stubble. There is an early autumn tinge in the trees
with the yellow capturing the bright sunshine.
Looking for something to fill in the
afternoon around Nagoya, we happened upon the Inuyama castle, like Matsuyama, a
National Treasure. To get to Inuyama we had to make a couple of local
connections through Gifu, then Unuma, from where we walked to Inuyama to find
the castle. Not a difficult task as it turned out, as it dominates the whole
plain from a hill easily spotted from the station. The climb looked like a bit of
a challenge from the station, but it turned out to be a gradual slope and a
pleasant walk of a couple of kilometres through the near-deserted town and
provided a fantastic view of the broad valley that it was built to dominate.
Back in Nagoya by 4:30pm, we had expected a
major crush on the subway connecting us to our hotel. We had left our bags in a
locker at Nagoya station, always a bit scary in big stations, not because of theft,
but the worry of not being able to find the correct bank of lockers. All was
good this time because we had spent a couple of nights here a few days ago and
knew our way around the station and subway.
18
October, Home
Our last stop was the Kawasaki City Hotel, Kawasaki.
Not because we had any great longing to visit the home of the motorbike of the
same name, but because it had cheap hotel rooms. We dropped our bags at the not
so fabulous Kawasaki Central Hotel and spent the afternoon exploring the city -
read “window shopping.” While there don’t seem to be any major tourist type
attractions in Kawasaki, it is an interesting city to people watch and it
obviously has something to offer for young folk who were flooding into the city
as we headed back to our hotel to do our final pack before heading off to the
airport.
The “not so fabulous” Kawasaki Central
wasn’t really that bad, just an average business hotel, but there was an upside
for us, as it was Sunday, breakfast was served until 10:30 and checkout was
12:00. Just the thing to help kill our time before our 8:30pm flight.
We always seem to be in this position on
our last day in Japan. Not game to travel too far away and right out of local
things to do. We had read that the town of Narita was worth a visit for those
transiting through the airport. The trains were a little tricky, but we took
the NEX to the airport, dumped our bags in a locker and went back to Narita.
What a great spot to kill an afternoon. The main street is full of old style
Japanese shops and houses, most of which have been converted into restaurants,
specialty and gift shops. There were heaps of traditional “street food” style
places to grab a snack but sadly, we had had lunch. The focus of the town was a
fairly large temple complex. Narita town is a highly recommended spot to kill time
on that last afternoon in Japan, or on a long transit stopover. It took us
roughly two hours all up from the airport and back, including a long slow
stroll to the temple. The trains leave on the same line as the NEX, but they
are not as regular as inner city trains, so we paid particular attention to the
timetable. Anybody considering Narita as a stopover visit should have at least
five hours, or for more comfort, a six hour stopover.
As usual we had left ourselves several hours’
leeway for our flight, but we were able to find a Lawsons in the terminal that
dispensed beer at normal city prices and a great food court in which to consume
it. We had again treated ourselves to “poor man’s business class seats”, so our
return flight was also fairly comfortable.
REVIEW
This was our fifth trip to Japan and we are
perhaps a little over it at the moment. While it is still a great place to
visit, we have just about seen and experienced everything that we think would
interest us. Having said this, we did find several new and exciting places and
had some new experiences and really, that’s what travel is all about. One of us
is more “over it” than the other, but there must be still a few hidden places
yet to find and other grandchildren to treat to a Japan trip, so there is a
high probability of yet another visit sometime in the future.
