V in Japan - Day 8

Day 8: Exploring Takayama and the trip to Kanazawa

• Date: October 20
• Weather: Nice & sunny
• Mood: Re-energized

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

That morning, we woke up in the strangest of ways. Last evening, we set the alarm on Francis' iPhone so that we could wake up at 8 A.M. We also plugged the phone into an electricity socket. But when the alarm on Francis' iPhone went off at the set time, the television activated as well at the same time!

We awoke immediately and were quite freaked out at the occurrence, as we had no idea the TV had an alarm, let alone anyone setting the alarm. We fizzled around with the TV for a bit and turn it off.

I shaved my beard off again, while Francis returned to a half-asleep status and Steven went for another hot bath. When we were all ready/fully awake, we walked to the breakfast hall for breakfast.

Once again, we got quite a big breakfast. Bacon and eggs, Bread of various kinds, yogurt, fruit juice, coffee, etc. Steven had quite a variety of Japanese shizzle you sometimes didn't want to know what it was. He tried the natto beans for the third time and now finally gave up. I don’t care if it’s healthy, it’s so not worth eating it.

After breakfast, we packed up, left our stuff in the care of the owner of the hotel and walked to the station. Once there, we go to the tourist information spot and pick up a tourist map. We read the map and start exploring Takayama itself.

Exploring Takayama Pt. 1 - Market area and the festivity museum

We visited a small pagoda close by the hotel and then walked through a crowded morning market (one of the two or three in Takayama) next to the mountain river.

After seeing most of the market, we walked down some stairs and took a walk next to the mountain river. We noticed it was so clear you could see all the fishes swim.

A bit further, we walked towards the festivity museum. We didn't enter it, as the price was a bit expensive and we weren't that interested. But there were some nice things on the outside of the museum, so we explored the outside area a little.

Come over here, kid. Wash your hands with me. I won't bite. Muhahahaaaa....

At the festivity museum site, we went to a shrine on top of several stairs, which held the Kyoujin-isi (the madman stone). It said to turn anyone who touched the stone into madmen. I dared to touch it, but I’m still okay (at least I think so...).

At the same site, there was a fortune-telling machine (I wonder if Francis took a picture of it?) and Steven had to try his luck again after the bad fortune he got at the Senso-Ji (real credibility, mr. "I-don't-believe-in-fortunes"). The machine itself looked like an old fairground machine from the 70's or earlier; quite mechanical.

Steven entered a 100-yen coin. The fortune machine had some animation and threw him a "sealed" slip of paper. Steven opened it, but we could not understand a word of it, as there was no English explanation.

Exploring Takayama Pt. 2 - The walking course & Walking Path of Literature

After looking at the tourist map for a while, we decided to follow a walking course that passed by the highest point of Takayama and went past the "old house district". So off we went. The walking course itself was quite nice. The mountain area was quiet and felt like your typical mountain villages. Quite different from the busy city center, where the old house district was.

At one of the local shops close to the old house district, we bought a dango stick. It was not sweet, but dough-like and quiet good in terms of taste (70 yen? That’s cheap! Buy one!). We also spotted a vending machine with juice cans of Dragonball Z and Kamen Rider (lol). I bought a DBZ can, which had a Chao-Su-theme. After drinking from the Chao-Su can, I realized it was basically fanta.

After seeing the most interesting spots of the city center, we walked to the other side of the town because we wanted to see the Hida Folk Museum. On our walk there we passed by a random shop that had steel constructions, including an Alien-like chair. Quite funny, if you ask me.

After quite a walk, we ended up at the other side of the city. We spotted a few shops and entered the local shoe and clothing store to try out some of the local stuff (and use the sanitary environment to say it in a clean way).

We noticed that Japanese size of clothes are smaller than the European ones and that basically nothing fitted Steven (who is a giant when compared to the average Japanese person). After a few laughs, we head further to the folk area. We walked the “Walking Path of Literature” (nice views and some random rocks with Japanese poems carved in them) and ended up in a local restaurant, where we had lunch. I had Katsu kare (curry with deep-fried pork cutlet)! As I said before, I love that curry!

 

Exploring Takayama Pt. 3 - The 7 gods of fortune

After lunch, we walked into the wrong direction (again) and encountered a weird temple in the distance that wasn't drawn on the tourist map (Tourist maps don’t have all the roads printed on them? That kind of sucks). Only back at home (after a bit of researching) I found out that it's the Sukyo Mahikari Headquarters (Google maps, Google translate and Wikipedia did help me out).

We noticed where we went wrong, traced back our steps, found the right road and walked to the Hida Folk Village. But before entering there, we visited the place called the 7 gods of fortune (because we don't believe in good/bad fortunes, right?).

If you fancy giant wood carvings of ancient gods, this is your place. I personally thought it was just a big rip-off (500 yen entrance for 7 statues and nothing more… I was kind of underwhelmed). The entrance even had a note from the Guinness World Record book that they weren't selected for the book, because there are bigger wood carvings in South America (oh well, at least they tried?).

Seven goofy statues like these, were they laughing at us?

Hida Folk Village

After this short intermission, we went to the long-awaited Hida Folk Village. We entered and explored the place thoroughly.

It’s quite a nice place for the culture and history-minded. And while Steven and Francis were not so impressed by it all, I found it an interesting sight. Though I had to agree to what Steven said: We have the same thing in Belgium, but in Western style. It’s called Bokrijk and just like this one: It's nice, but it’s not THAT impressive.

After the village experience, Steven decided to randomly walk some street to get back to the station. Not surprisingly, we kind of got lost, since a lot of the streets we took were not really on the tourist map (did I mention that tourist maps suck? Because they do!). After checking on Google Maps at home, I realized the route we took, took us further away from the station instead (*facepalm*).

After and adventurous walk (I’m still surprised how we didn’t get hit by any car) and asking for directions a few times, we finally got back to the station. We got our stuff at the hotel and took the train to Kanazawa.

The awkward trip to Kanazawa

Due to our long walk in Takayama, we arrived in Kanazawa a little late (around 8 PM). Because of this late hour, the tourist information spot was closed (curses), so we couldn't really ask for directions or get tourist maps.

And even though we had printed out directions to the guesthouse we wanted to stay the night (Guesthouse Ochakare), we were kind of tired and didn't want to search for it in the dark. So we decided to take a taxi to the guesthouse we were going to stay.

Weirdly enough the taxi driver never heard of the place (admittingly, this guesthouse was still quite new). Even after giving him the Google maps printout and the address I got from the net, he still couldn't find it (awkward). After driving for five minutes or so, he turns off the counter and drives us to the taxi central, while apologizing to us (we were jokingly telling each other he would drive us into a dark alley and meet with the Yakuza).

At the taxi central, the driver took the google maps directions with him to his boss and came back 5 minutes later with GPS coordinates. And even then, it still took him 10 minutes or so to finally find the Guesthouse (WITH our help). That was probably the most awkward ride I had ever.

Though I have to mention (in the taxi driver's defense) that being a taxi driver or mailman in Japan must really suck. That's because not a single house has a number on it (it has the family name instead) and while the streets have a name, they’re hardly mentioned anywhere. Good luck finding a random house if you don’t have a GPS or google maps with you.

So, we checked into the Guesthouse and were quite surprised by the small size of the building. Although, the building was literally as it said: a guesthouse; a house that was modified to fit multiple guests. But while the house was just the same size as most city houses, it was modified so it could house 10 guests or so, plus the hosts.

As you can probably guess, the rooms were small… incredibly small. The three of us had a room right next to the living room… in a closet.

Smallest! Room! EVER!

Going out in Kanazawa

After we dropped off our luggage (in another small closet), the guesthouse owners asked us what specific things we wanted to visit in Kanazawa. Steven mentioned we wanted to at least see Kanazawa Castle, Kenrokuen Garden and The ninja temple. The guesthouse owners mentioned that they had arranged a guided tour for another English-speaking guest at the Kenroku-en garden and asked us if would be interested to join her (obviously, if the other guest wouldn't mind). We obviously agreed to it.

We meet up with that other English speaking guest (Colette from Wales, UK) and the owners asked her if we could join her on the gardens trip. Colette was quite social and happily mentioned she didn't mind having more English-speaking folks around.

Colette mentioned to us she was going to go to a bar for a beer and a few meat-sticks and asked us if we were going to join her. We happily accepted.

On our route to the bar we actually passed by the station and notice that it was about a 5-10 minute walk from the guesthouse. We realized we shouldn't have taken a taxi after all and told Collete the story about the awkward taxi ride.

At the bar, we got a drink and had a few meat-sticks (the type of snack you can get in a lot of Japanese cafés). Colette and us share stories about the places we had already been in Japan and the places we still were planning to visit.

While we were enjoying our drink and have a talk, Francis got hugged and dragged away by some drunk Japanese men, looking for somebody to talk too (poor Francis). They even tried to introduce him to some random girls (go for it, Francis!). But they were both apparently named Yûko and they were both apparently housewives. And the drunk guys believed it (*facepalm*). Obviously, the girls were not interested in the talk, but the drunk Japanese men kept rambling to the girls and to Francis.

After a while (and a few more beers) the drunk men started to get hung-over. Francis finally got loose and escaped from their "evil" clutches.

The unraveled fortune

After the beer we walked back to the guesthouse, but not before passing by Family Mart (which was still open at this late hour) to buy some more beers. And in case you're wondering: Yes, beer in pubs/cafes is frigging expensive. The cheapest way to enjoy drinks is to buy them in a supermarket and drink them in your hostel or guesthouse.

After the visit to the supermarket, we went back to the guesthouse and met up with the other (Japanese) guests. They were teenagers that hardly spoke English (though one of them could speak it a little). But thank god we had Steven to cross that language barrier a little (he has this hidden ability to somehow able to make himself understandable in any language, even if he hardly speaks it).

We had another drink and had a lot of laughs. Steven also gave them the fortune slip we got in Takayama (lol). Steven mentions he had a "worst kind of fortune" at the Senso-Ji, but couldn't read this one and asked if they could (roughly) translate it. The teens got really silent after hearing that last line and reading the note.

After a moment of awkward silence the teens gave back the note and the guy that could speak a little bit of English said it’s not the worst of luck, but it’s not good either. Francis and I can’t hold back our laughter, as Steven (who originally said he doesn't believe in this sh*t) doesn't look pleased.

We had some more laughs and talks and all went to bed... in our closet.

Tips for traveling in Japan - Tourist Information Spot and Tourist maps

In a lot of cities in Japan, there is a Tourist Information Spot. It's either inside or outside of the train station. It can help you if you have questions about the city you are in (tourist attractions, taxi stops, route to hotel, etc). If you don't immediately spot it, look around both the front and back end of the station.

One thing you can get in each Tourist Information spot, is a Tourist map of the designated city. They have all the interesting places to see and the routes towards those tourist traps.

But beware! You might have alraedy noticed it while reading my past blog entries, but tourist maps are not quite accurate (and that's saying it in a nice way).

The maps focus on getting tourists to their destination in the shortest fashion, but they often leave out half of the (unimportant) roads, or simply lie about distances (bad scaling). If you're walking to your destination or following a hiking course, this can cause quite some confusion/frustration.

But unless you're constantly checking Google maps on your smartphone/tablet, the tourist maps are the only thing to help you around the city; so you're stuck with it.

If you're a person that gets easily lost, it's best to either check google maps (in advance) to clearly locate the places you want to visit. And if you're afraid you might get lost, you can still drive a taxi to your destination.

If you don't get lost that easily, or are a bit adventurous (like the three of us), just don't be too afraid/stubborn to ask for directions when you do get lost.

A few side-notes:

1. The smaller the town, the less chance there is for it to have a Tourist Information Spot. But the moment there's some kind of tourist attraction in town, there might be an Information spot.
2. Tokyo does not have tourist maps like other, smaller cities (you would need an actual, really big map). But your hostel might have a tourist map for its environment (which is quite accurate).

V in Japan - Day 7

Day 7: Hiking in Kamikochi

• Date: October 19
• Weather: Sunny, but not that hot (it’s the mountains, eh)
• Mood: Ready for a walk!

Our hiking spot for the day: Kamikochi

We woke and refreshed ourselves. Steven went once again for a hot bath instead. I kept it to a quick refresh since I got a hot bath last evening.

When all three of us were ready, we had some breakfast in the dining hall (Japanese style) and discussed our plan for the day. Of all spots you could visit, we decided we would go to Kamikochi (where gods descend); a great place for hiking with amazing nature.

The Breakfast? Well, it had green tea, Miso Soup (the kettle in the middle of the table), apple juice, random raw vegetables, rice, a raw egg, seaweed slices (to roll some rice in, as the waitress explained), soy sauce, some vegetables that were being heated on a leaf, natto beans (again?) and a few random things I can’t remember.

After breakfast we walked out to the station to take the bus to Kamikochi. It’s an expensive bus trip back and forth (well over 5000 yen), but there's not really an alternative (unless you have a rented car, I suppose). The trip took close to two hours, including a stop to switch buses in between. At the stop, we bought some snacks and lunch for on the trip in the bus stop shop.

After the bus ride, we arrived at Kamikochi, which (surprisingly) is quite the tourist spot. It was also quite cold, even with my thick t-shirt and thick polar-fleece sweater. Both Steven and I bought an extra T-shirt in the tourist shop to have at least another layer of clothing.

After shopping, we set course for the Kappabashi bridge (unsurprisingly, the logo was a kappa). At this bridge most tourists gathered to take pictures (or shop). So we did the same!

The hiking course

After a few pictures around the bridge area, we started a hike in the beautiful fall scenery in the Japanese Alps. Pictures say more than words, so I’ll let them do the talking.

On the entire walk, each random encounter with Japanese people was accompanied with a “Konichiwaaaa”, which was a fun thing to do (and hear).

At noon, we took halt at a bridge (the one from the previous photo) to have lunch. We noticed that each side of the bridge was also a fork, so you could either go back a different path, or walk further on. Obviously we wanted to walk further on! We decided to do the path in an 8-figure, so we crossed the bridge and took the path that would take us further into the mountains.

Afterwards we walked further on. Further in the mountains we also encountered some wild monkeys, which weren't shy of humans.

A bit further on that path with the monkeys, we came across a fork. One went further on the same path while the other route went deeper into the mountains. At first we wanted to take the mountain-side path, but then we saw a sign that warned us of wild bears. We wisely decided to take the other path.

Path of confusion?

At a point we thought was the halfway point on our 8-figured route, we had a confusing situation.

The path we wanted to take was also noted on the local tourist map signs (oh, yeah, did I mention? Tourist maps are not that great), but several local boards said that this road was closed off for hikers (huh?).

To avoid complications, we walked back to the bridge we stayed at noon. One side of that bridge also had a resting point with a few vending machines. We had a coffee from the vending machine (like a Boss) and took the one route left we didn't take, which returned to the starting area.

 

Back to Takayama

When returning to the starting point (with tourist shops, Kappabashi bridge, etc) the hike was over. My feet were killing me at this moment, so I was kind of glad the hiking WAS over. Don’t misunderstand me. I liked the trip a lot, but I realized my feet were generating blisters at this point and each kilometer would mean another cm of new blister-area on my two feet.

With nothing else to do at this point, we took the bus back to Takayama. In the midway point we had to wait for our connecting bus (for nearly an hour). To kill the time, we had a steamed meat bun (special taste, but quite good) and visited the shop again.

Once back at the hotel, the mistress of the hotel asked us whether or not we wanted Japanese breakfast (or Western) next morning. Steven chose Japanese, while Francis and me went for the Western.

We took a bath at the hot bath (quite enjoyable after such a hike). And after we were refreshed, we went to a local restaurant for Yakisoba. This was nextdoor to the restaurant we went yesterday and was a lot more crowded (weird, I don't know why one has more customers than the other). We all had the Yakisoba with Egg and went back to the hotel.

The others were dead tired from the hike, so they fell asleep fast. While my feet were glad I sat down (I had to take care of those blisters), I wasn't tired at all (it wasn't even 9 PM).

I wanted to do something, but since my feet refused to move further than the door of our room and my buddies sound asleep, I was limited in my options. So, to kill the time, I played some Yu-gi-oh on my DS until I went to sleep as well.

Tips for traveling Japan - The Japanese Alps

First things first. Mount Fuji is NOT the only mountain in Japan. There are several regions in Japan that are known for its mountains and Mount Fuji is just one of them (yet, the most known one).

During our planning before the actual trip, we designated a 14-day route that would take us to Tokyo, Kyoto and the Japanese Alps (which is up north from Kyoto). The alps and not Fuji, just because we wanted to avoid tourist traps.

The J-Alps consist of 7 cities: Toyama, Omachi, Hida, Takayama, Azumino, Matsumoto and Shiojiri and each city has its own tourist attractions.

We decided to stay in Takayama and visited Kamikochi (which is in Matsumoto).

And that's what I wanted to share with you. Don't stare yourself too blindly on that one mountain (region) west of Tokyo. Visit the Japanese Alps.

V in Japan - Day 6

Day 6: Last day in Tokyo and travel to Takayama

• Date: October 18:
• Weather: Clouded & rainy
• Mood: kind of annoyed

Senso-Ji & the Kaminarimon

This day was our last day in Tokyo and we still had to visit the Kaminarimon & the Senso-Ji temple. K’s House Oasis is like a 5-minute walk away from those two spots, so we reserved it for our last day in Tokyo.

I woke up, wrote some cards home (my mom adores foreign stamps), skipped breakfast (my stomach wasn’t that great in the morning), packed my stuff and met up with the others. When packing my stuff I noticed I couldn't find my black vest anymore, but I could not remember where I forgot it.

We then walked to the temple. Weather started off with a bit of rain. But while the clouds stayed, the rain stopped soon after.

We were quite early at the Kaminarimon, so a lot of the souvenir shops were still opening up. We didn't mind, since it’s easier to walk with less tourists and less shopkeepers. In the few shops that were open Steven tried some random snacks for on the road and Francis got a T-shirt with the Kaminari symbol.

Look how adorable, a priest with a group of kids
(wait, again? Don't kids here EVER go to school?)

At the Senso-Ji temple itself, Steven and I had to try out our luck with the luck-sticks. You know the principle? Make a donation, shake the tube until a stick pops up. Compare the symbol on the sticks to the drawers. Spot/open up the designated drawer and pick up the top sheet in that drawer. That is your luck!

I got the best of luck (but I’m not allowed to brag about it), while Steven had the worst of luck, totally pissing him off. After Francis finished taking some more pictures with his fancy iPhone, he came to us. When he noticed the bad luck note, he suddenly didn’t want to draw a luck-stick anymore. Superstition all the way.

On the right-end is 2 sets of luck-stick cabinets, each with the drawers, donation slot and stick-tube.

Split up

After our visit to the temple environment, the three of us split up.

I went to the old Japanese style bar we went to two days ago, because I thought I forgot my vest over there. Steven and Francis on the other end went to the post office to find an ATM that accepts foreign cards (a rare sight in Japan, don’t forget that!).

When I arrived at the bar, I noticed that it was closed, so I had to return empty-handed (I still had another vest with me, so it's not like I needed it right now. But I liked that vest).

While I was at the pub, I took a few picture of the Tokyo Sky Tree & the Flame d’Or (nicknamed “the golden turd” by a lot of people I showed the picture to), since it’s so close by. Maybe a few places to visit the next time I go to Japan.

Back at K’s house, we Checked out, wrote something in the guestbook and took off. The guest books in K’s House Tokyo are a nice thing to read if you’re bored or if you have some free time. If you’re there, check Guestbook volume 12 – Filip from Belgium (that’s me).

The trip to Takayama

After checking out, we traveled to Tokyo Station, took the Shinkansen to Kyoto and then a local JR train to Takayama.

A few anime ads. The Laughing man (Ghost in the Shell) and One Piece.

By the evening, we arrived in Takayama and walked to our hotel, Hotakaso Yama no Iori. Yes, this is the Japanese Alps already. It’s over 500m above sea level.

The hotel was a nice Japanese-style Hotel that was in semi-Onsen style (didn't really get the semi part, but I'll go with it). It had a public hot bath (guests only), free Yukata, slippers for everyone and beds that looked like futon’s (but had mattresses and a plank bottom.

On the right you see the Emperor and his trusty secretary...

A fun thing about this hotel was that next to the slippers for everyone, it had special slippers for going to the toilet (you had to change slippers at that point). This was so you wouldn’t stain the slippers I guess.

After bathing, we chilled a bit in the lounge area (the only place that had Wi-Fi in this small hotel).

Don't we look zen?

After chilling for a while, we went out and checked a local restaurant to have some Udon noodles and a beer. We noticed there weren’t that many people in this restaurant, while the food was still good. Since there wasn't a lot of noise (outside of the kitchen noise) and since the TV was on, we watched some baseball (one of the most popular sports in Japan).

When back in the hotel, we looked a bit around on the ground floor of the hotel. We noticed that the hotel didn't have a bar, but it did have vending machines with beer (so kids can get one too? Weird), We bought a beer, drank it in our room and then went to sleep.

Udon noodles, with egg and seaweed and a Kirin beer bottle

Tips for traveling in Japan - Public baths and onsen

We went to a public bath a few times. The first one was here in Takayama, in this hotel. Later on we went to a real onsen (Japanese hot springs) in Kurama.

And believe me, it IS a weird feeling if you're not used to it. The correct term that describes your feelings upon entering for the first time is "awkwardness". You know, all males in the nude (or females if you're a female, obviously).

The best advice I can give you is: Flip the switch in your head and get over it. I know that sounds easier than it is, but just try and do it. But more importantly, DON'T STARE at everything you see. You don't want people staring at you too when they enter, right? So don't do it yourself. Just be calm and enjoy the hot bath.

If you think you'll have trouble with this, try and book a hotel like the one we went to, with an included hot bath. Only hotel guests were allowed in our hotel, and at most there will be one or two other people in the bath with you (sometimes you could even be alone in there).

I could explain how it works, but I get the feeling I would miss a few steps. But Japan-guide does give a few good pointers on the following page: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2292.html. Just remember that you rinse/clean yourself BEFORE you go into the hot bath.