Louise & Rob: Day Nine

We wake up to cakes – which is the best type of waking up we can imagine! We fall into a tangley cuddle and end up setting off somewhat later than if we had gone with a tour, but since Expedia messed up our booking – we’re going solo!  We’re actually quite glad to be able to go at our own pace (particularly when we see tour groups milling around with silly hats and flags).

We get a bit confused when trying to book shinkansen tickets. When we ask the time of the train, the ticket clerk keeps showing us numbers on a calculator and it takes us a while to work out that she’s showing us the time, rather than massively expensive prices! We’re thrilled to learn the bullet train we’re catching is called the kodama – which is a type of forest spirit, which we’re familiar with thanks to Studio Ghibli.

The bullet train seems mostly normal, but slightly more fast and comfortable. And because you have to book tickets we don’t end up face-to-armpit like usual. The train is much quieter than inner city ones, but we’re seated across the aisle from a salaryman with an ekiben – and Rob keeps trying to peep to see what’s in there!

We arrive at Odawara station, and get a bit confused about where we’re supposed to go, but eventually get pointed in the direction of a tiny little train. Surely it can’t be that! We climb onboard and get nestled between a couple of tiny little old women, who carry on a conversation over us. The train reminded us of a toy train, with a weirdly-shaped track that was a series of hairpin bends –so it seemed we kept going one way, stopping and then going the complete other way – it seemed like we weren’t making any progress at all, until we noticed how high we were getting!

We find ourselves on yet another mode of transport – a big steep funicular that takes us up a big steep hill. It’s a bit busy to begin with, but lots of people get off half way up to go to a museum, with a garden full of strange statues – from what we can see! Louise is starting to get a bit travelworn, queasy and grumpy, but Rob cheers her up by reminded her she’ll soon get to see Fuji-san! If we can find him! 

Guess what’s next? Another mode of transport – yay! And this one isn’t for the faint-hearted. Louise hops happily into the glass cable car, while Rob edges in nervously – as we both realise just how high up we’re going. We get some beautiful views of sweeping green valleys and mountains, and eagle-eyed Rob spots the kanji symbol for big in amongst a forest. We spot lots of hot steam and sulphur spilling from the ground and it reminds us of iron town in Princess Mononoke – quite suitable about riding the Kodama! 

 

We stop halfway up the ropeway at Ōwakudani, which means Great Boiling Valley – and the name suits the place! We stop for some obligatory tourist snaps, and a meal. Louise gets some kind of noodle soup and manages to somehow get a noodle on her face –earning her the nickname of Noodle Nose. Rob eats katsu, and we both try the local specialty black eggs which are said to add seven years onto the life of anyone who eats them. Yum! 

Rob buys Louise a fox necklace from a local craftsman, and then we both search the skyline for the unmissable Mount Fuji – er, except we miss it. We can’t find it anywhere. Rob eventually asks a restaurant worker – who lifts a blind and points to the indeed unmissable Mount Fuji. It’s bloody massive. 

We clamber back into the cable car – after a short wait, during which we’re approached by a troupe of Japanese schoolchildren, who want to try their English skills on us. We eventually end up trapped in a glass car with some gobby Americans, who really annoy Louise by saying “Why can’t they use dollars here like the rest of the world? (It’s worth noting that at this time the exchange rate was 1 Japanese yen to 1 American cent. Braintingling eh!) 

We depart the cable car at Tōgendai, and sit a while near the peaceful waters of Lake Ashi – Rob is feeling a bit delicate – so Louise buys him a Hakone Ropeway badge, and hugs him until he feels better. We marvel at the pirate-shaped boats cruising the lake, but spurn them for a calming walk – where we bump into a pirate friend! 

We take our guidebook’s advice and take the coach home, but as it’s starting to get dark, and we’ve been on the coach for about an hour and a half Louise starts to panic, so we end up getting off the coach, and trying to find another way back to Shinjuku. This turns out to be a wise move in the end because, after some stressing and fussing and language issues at quiet ticket offices, we end up aboard the Romance Car – a wonderful, old-fashioned train with delicious buffet service and seats that swivel round through 90 degrees (thus removing the person behind’s legs if you don’t check first). It is indeed romantic, and we found ourselves wishing – for very much the first time that day – that our destination was actually further away than it was. There was time for Louise to enjoy a yuzu-flavoured sake drink, and Rob a large beer, from the well-stocked and friendly buffet lady, and for us to discuss the places we hoped to visit together in future – our adventure is certainly making us braver!

Alas, our journey did soon draw to a close, and we headed back to our hotel – albeit briefly, and before too long we were strangely reinvigorated and heading to Shibuya for a night on the town. We see the famous Shibuya Crossing, teeming with people, and pass many queues and excitable groups before deciding on a pizza restaurant for our evening meal. Here, Rob orders a spicy chorizo pizza and neither ends up with cheese on his face nor with the subsequent moniker “Cheesecicle-Face” (some of this last sentence may be inaccurate). 

Following our meal, we hit the arcades. Again. Seriously. This is becoming something of an obsession. But so long as we’re winning, what’s the problem? Laden with further armfuls of arcadian spoils, we stroll back through the seedier parts of Kabukicho (itself a pretty seedy part), before calling it a night. Night!

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Louise & Rob: Day Five

We wake early to a fresh fruit breakfast while watching Sunday morning anime, which appears to be about football-playing robots...’cept it’s all in Japanese – obviously. How we love Japanese TV. We make our way to the train station – excited about leaving Tokyo for the first time. We catch the train and end up nose to armpit with what seems like the entire population of Tokyo, including a group of anime-styled teenagers who spend the journey on their mobile phones and pulling faces at each other. Kamakura seems an awful long way away when you’re stuffed into a train car on a hot day.

When we arrive we decide to head downhill which Rob thinks will lead us to the beach, on our way we pass a tiny sushi shop, and after deliberating what’s in the interesting looking fishy ones pick cucumber maki rolls. Food in hand we pass by roadside shrines – filled with fresh flowers, incense, books and food offerings.

We’re also really amused by the sight of a KFC complete with full-size Colonel Sanders statue. Awesome.

The beach is a huge sandy stretch, surrounded by grassy hills and mountains – and the occasional mysterious sign, which seems to feature a huge black bird with some sort of warning...great. We debate whether this means we’re going to be eaten, or taken on a jolly flight. But by this time we’re starving so sit down to eat our sushi on the beach, watching local families paddle in the surf and poke sticks at crabs.

As we’re eating we become aware we’re being scouted out by giant black birds – which Rob suggests could be kites. However for now they seem to not be killing us – which is good. We do finish our meal more hastily than before though while keeping an eye on the birds.

After checking our guidebook we decide to head towards the giant bronze Buddha. We get distracted by a vending machine – Louise gets a peach drink, which tastes just like eating a peach. Japan feels a little bit like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory sometimes. We get completely lost and end up in a suburb-style area with some seriously big houses. We finally give in and decide to ask for directions and after being set on the right track we shelter from the blazing sun in a German-style cafe tucked off the main street.

Louise orders a mouse-shaped bun and is enthralled by the weird spiky flower on the table. After a cooling drink and sweet treat we head back onto the Buddha trail. We dip in and out of shops and realise how big an influence Hawaii has here. All of the shops are tuned into Hawaiian radios, and all seem to sell surfing gear, alongside wooden novelties and string dolls.

The day is so hot we grab a triangular icecream as we make our final ascent towards the Buddha. We pay a tiny amount to get in and are handed a wad of leaflets. And then we see the Buddha – it’s huge. There are huge pots of incense burning and plates piled high with oranges, and fresh flowers, and people. The whole area is vibrant and busy.

We both light a tightly packed bundle of incense, and decide not to go inside the Buddha’s claustrophobia-inducing belly despite the fact it’s ridiculously cheap. We look around the surrounding gardens and sit down in a shady secluded spot – it’s such a hot day.

After a quick recharge Louise is eager to be up and off again, but Rob has other plans...

Unbeknownst to Louise, Rob has been planning to propose this holiday, and this seems like the perfect time and place. By and large it goes well – especially when she says ‘yes’! The ring is only a makeshift one, purchased on the sly from a gift shop earlier in the day, and costing the princely sum of Y380. It’s a pink heart set in silver metal and Louise had wanted it when she saw it in the shop, but it didn’t fit the finger she was thinking of. Fortunately it fits her ring finger just fine!

We spend the rest of the day in a happy glow, ecstatically hopping from shop to shop, looking at gifts and planning our future. We’re so overjoyed we don’t even mind being crammed in the train on the way back.

On arriving in Shinjuku we return to the hotel for a bit of a rest before heading into Kabukicho for our evening meal and another night in the amusements. We find a tonkatsu restaurant which boasts sublime complimentary green tea, as well as delicious tonkatsu which we eat surrounded by businessmen and enjoy the boisterous, but smoky, atmosphere.

In the arcades we win Spirited Away playing cards and a Catbus flannel on the UFO catchers – thanks to Louise’s sheer skill. We also have a good go on the Taiko drumming game – a fantastic way of expending calories and by the time we’re done our arms are ready to drop off. Rob scores high while Louise bops along to the cheerful J-Pop beats.

We head back tired but happy, and so ends the best day of the best holiday of our lives so far.

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Louise & Rob: Day Three

We wake up super early again – a combination of jet lag and excitement, we’re going to Ueno Zoo today! This is one of the things we planned immediately when we decided to go to Tokyo, so we’re really looking forward to it, particularly because this will be the first time either of us have ever seen a panda. Louise starts the morning by squeezing herself into the short, but deep bathtub, and enjoy the feeling of being in a bath up to her ears, followed by flakey croissants from the konbini, washed down with matcha (a type of powdered green tea).

We try and find Shinjuku train station for the first time, and end up getting lost. Soon enough though, after following the huge train tracks (they must lead to a station eventually, right?) we happen across Shinjuku Station. How something this vast could have possibly escaped our attention is beyond us! Our first experience of Japanese rail travel is ultimately very positive, however the process was a confusing one to the uninitiated – ie. us! First, we must find our destination on a huge-giant complicated map.

 Photo from: Alien2Nrs

Then we find the corresponding fare, and insert this into an automated machine, which spits out two tickets. But what to do with them? We study the locals and see the turnstiles snatch the ticket from your hand, let you through, and zip the stamped ticket out the other end in under a second – everything here is as fast as it could be.

We then take our places on the platform (once we find it), which has clever markings on signifying where the doors will be once the train arrives. This means people get the chance to queue. And the Japanese are far better than us Brits at queuing – and that’s the one thing we’re known as being good at!

We arrive in Ueno and stroll through the park, enjoying the cooler weather and haughty looking cats weaving through our legs. The zoo is quite a walk away, so we have plenty of opportunity to view Japan at a slow, relaxed pace, which is great.

Upon arriving, we see a sign that tells us some very sad news – the zoo’s giant panda, Ling Ling, had died earlier that year. This is a shock to us, and while we’re sad we resolve not to let this ruin our day since we won’t have the chance to come back here for a long time.

Once we get a map of the zoo we see that there are still plenty of exciting animals to see. Louise is particularly excited about the Fennec fox and polar bears, and Rob can’t wait to see the gorillas and bears (his hairy cousins).

We’re really hungry so after gawping at a few monkeys and deer, and negotiating a few troops of schoolchildren, we head for the cafe. Armed with three different phrasebooks, Rob resolves to give the language a proper whirl this time. After establishing the fish and mushroom content of most of the menu items, we opt for chow mein noodle-stuffed omelettes, which are absolutely delicious, and we go back for shaved ice for dessert – partly because it looked really nice and is something Louise had always wanted to try, and partly because Rob wasn’t done experimenting with his Japanese!

After lunch, we take the monorail and head over to see some penguins, who were very diplomatically sharing their open enclosure with a visiting heron-style bird. It was probably amusing to see us more fascinated by this local creature than the actual exhibits.

We then wander off to look at a peculiar statue which, to our amazement, suddenly moves. That’s no statue, it’s a shoebill! We spend a while debating how often people must laugh at his face, and how sorry we feel for him, before deciding he’s handsome in an ugly kind of way. We are then distracted by okapis, which are among Louise’s favourite animals of all-time (half zebra, half giraffe – what’s not to love?). Next up is the vivarium, where we’re fooled for the second time of the day by an animal masquerading as an inanimate object. This time it’s the giant salamanders. Giant being the operative word – these things are huge, and appear to be made out of boulders. Here we also see arowana (our first view of these beautiful fish outside of Animal Crossing), alligators and Galapagos tortoise.

We see giraffes and rhinos on our way to the hippos – pygmy and regular. The crowds are enamoured with the normal hippos, and the poor pygmy is almost ignored even though he’s doing his best.

We start to get a little worried when we can’t find the Fennec foxes, despite following the map, before realising that they live in the small animal house which we’re standing right next to. Sadly this means no photography as they’re nocturnal, but that’s okay as we still get a really good look. Louise is amazed to find that Fennec foxes are even cuter in real life than she’d ever imagined. We’re also amazed by very bouncy kangaroo mice, a spindly-legged mouse deer and a very pink armadillo.

We take a stroll back to the East Garden to see the bears and big cats. We walk back by way of the giant anteater enclosure and we’re really amused to see the animal in a tree taking the biggest wee we have ever seen. Louise is giggling louder than the children watching.

We head for bear hill by way of the sealions and polar bears (which are bizarrely not part of bear hill). We spend a long time watching the polar bears (which Louise thinks look like puppies when they are wet) and trying to snap a good picture of them, as it’s rare to get polar bears in zoos back home. We’re pleased to see they aren’t exhibiting the same unhappy headbob as is common with captive bears.

We spend a while wandering around bear hill, before moving on to view the lions and tigers, and finally onto the gorillas, we find them particularly amusing as they adopt such human-like mannerisms. We end our day with a walk along the sun dappled woodland walk and buying Japanese sweets and panda-themed goodies from Little Trunk, the gift shop.

We catch the train back to Shinjuku, just as it begins to rain. We find the Japanese attitude to rain quite amusing, covering heads with newspapers, laptop bags, anything to hand really to keep them dry. Being British and from the North we’re fairly used to wet weather, so enjoy our walk back to the hotel, where we spend the evening with vending machine beers, crisps and more Pocky, and watch Japanese soap operas, with plenty of overwrought acting.

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Louise & Rob: Day Two

We wake up jetlagged, but pleased we didn’t draw the blinds, the view is still amazing, and we can watch ant-sized Japanese people rushing to work while we feast on Milk Pocky, Koala’s March biscuits and odd textured buns masquerading as donuts, all washed down with cold coffee and grape Fanta. Lament the fact that the only fanta we get in the UK is crap and tastes of mouldy oranges,

We decide to stick around Shinjuku for the day, as we’re really tired and not feeling hugely adventurous yet. I wear my owl top, and later notice lots of Japanese girls eyeing it up enviously. Good old Topshop. We take the terribly polite lift down to reception and prepare to get lost. We spend quite a while wandering around Shinjuku aimlessly, just enjoying the sights, sounds and general atmosphere, before too long we find ourselves at a large red Torii gate guarded by a pair of stone lions, sandwiched between offices, shops and restaurants – such is the nature of Tokyo.

Without even realising it, we’ve found Hanazono Shrine. The first thing we do is find a tree surrounded by paper fortunes. We go to a nearby kiosk and hand over 200 yen. We then shake a tin full of long sticks, each with a symbol on. When we each have a stick, we hand these over to woman behind the counter, who finds the corresponding fortune for us. Mine is good, however Rob is not so lucky. We then tie our fortunes to the fences surrounding the trees, as the Japanese believe the winds blow away bad luck and seal good luck.

We have a wander around and admire the shide (paper zig zags) that adorn the shrine. We throw lucky 5 yen coins into the collection tray, clap our hands and rings the bells, as custom dictates. We find it very hard to believe that somewhere so tranquil is in the centre of bustling Shinjuku.

 We leave the shrine behind and decide to head to Shinjuku Gyoen, on the way we spot an aquaria shop with bright blue jellyfish on sale. We then stop at a European-style cafe (my stomach is still really delicate from long distance flying!) and we order German-style hot dogs and sweet milk tea, which we decide to take and eat in the park, as it’s scandalous to eat in the street in Japan.

We arrive at the park, and get a little confused by the ticket machine, as you have to pay to get into the park, but there’s not a person in sight. We soon figure it out, pay our 200 yen and enter. We find a spot on the grass, in between artists sketching the park, children playing in the park, and families with picnics. We eat our food, particularly enjoying the tea - it’s our first taste of milk tea. After we’ve basked in the sun a while we spot a kiosk selling ice cream – one of the few foods it’s acceptable to eat on the move by the looks of it. We wander through the park and find a bench in the cool wooded area – Tokyo is still very hot in October, so the shade feels lovely. As we’re eating our ice cream we become surrounded by huge black birds, cawing, hopping and scuffling. We share bits of our cone with the appreciative birds before walking on.

We soon find ourselves near a huge pond with a pagoda in the distance and uniformly spherical bushes nearby.

We discover the pond is teeming with huge shimmering koi in bright orange, white and golden shades, alongside large leathery looking turtles. After spending time poking around the different areas on the park and watching the koi and turtles, we decide to leave. I use the bathroom before we go, and accidentally push a button which emits a loud buzzing noise, I become terrified that I’ve activated an intercom and swiftly leave. (I later discover that this is a sound effect, commonly used to disguise any toilet noises).

As we’re walking back to our hotel, I almost squeak with delight as I spot a huge, giant, massive Hello Kitty statue, (which I know know is the largest in the world). I feel like I’m heaven as I browse racks and racks of Sanrio merchandise. Rob shoos me out of the shop and emerges a long time afterwards clutching a bag full of goodies, including a bunch of scented gel pens and some chopsticks. He later confesses that the reason he took so long was because his Japanese wasn’t up to scratch, and he’d tried to buy things that he shouldn’t have...

We wondered a little more, before finding a giant stationary shop – this is shaping up to be a Louise-perfect day! We browse through many, many racks of postcards, picking the most suitable ones for friends and family (and some for ourselves – well, mostly Louise), including a Russian doll-style unfolding cat postcard. Ace! We also found a trove of Moomin goodies, and got Moomin diaries for Louise and Rob’s mum – two of the biggest Moomin fans in the world. We then head back to the hotel, proudly clutching our goodies, stopping for a McDonalds on the way back. We’re still not quite feeling brave enough to risk killing Louise (who has shellfish and mushroom allergies). We’re amazed by the fact that Japanese McDonald’s sell lots of different products to British ones.

Back in the room we wolf down cheeseburgers and fries, all washed down with tangy lemon water – with bright yellow jelly balls floating all around inside. The junk food makes us sleepy, so we nap on the bed, watching bizarre Japanese game shows. It seems that to get on the telly in Japan, it helps to have a penchant for stacking things on other things – on one show, we saw someone stack ramen noodle pots higher than themselves!

After a bit of a post-adventure (and post-junk food) catnap, we awake again feeling quite invigorated. Must be a combination of timezone confusion and Tokyo excitement! Whatever the reason, we elect that the best remedy would be to go out and exhaust ourselves all over again, in the grown-up playground that is Kabukicho.

Kabukicho is full of bright lights, amusement arcades, porn shops, peepshows, brothels and bars. The area has a great atmosphere, teenagers draped over benches and railings, salarymen stumbling along with arms around each other, cheeks glowing merrily pink and brothel workers trying to entice you inside with promises of ‘nice clean Japanese girls, who want to meet you’. We spend almost all of tomorrows budget in the arcades. At home we have a weakness for seaside grab machines, constantly frustrated at the ‘ungrip’ mechanism. Here in Japan, the UFO Catchers are difficult to get used to, but fair. We roll on back to hotel arms full of toy rabbits, bears,glowing Disney lanterns and soot sprites. We fall asleep with our purchases and winnings safely tucked away on the shelf behind the bed.

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Louise & Rob: Day One

 
We wake up after barely sleeping at all, Rob is anxious and excited as this is his first flight, and Louise is really nervous and excited because, well just because we’re finally going to Japan!

We checked in online yesterday (after a slight mistake of thinking we were flying a day earlier than we actually were!). Rob’s dad arrives to take us to the airport and we’re so excited we can’t stop jabbering on in the car. As we’re flying from a small airport we can’t fly direct to Narita, we have to fly via Amsterdam, We arrive on time for our flight, don’t have to wait long and we’re on our way. Rob is thrilled to like flying, enjoying clouds, sky and more clouds. Before long we’re in Amsterdam and Louise feels sick to her stomach, so Rob buys her a Happy Meal to settle her nerves, but she’s completely distraught to discover she has no toy!! Bah. So Rob buys her a penguin purse to keep her yen in.

Soon we’re on our giant plane and ready to go, we spend the long, long, long journey watching Friends, The Simpsons and Dexter’s Laboratory and listening to Goldfrapp and the Travelling Wilburys during ‘enforced sleepy times’. We also spend a lot of the time watching the flight map...and then, eventually, we’re there!

We speed through customs with no issues, despite Rob’s beard. We then find a stand for the limousine bus, and hand over 3,000 yen each and are told the bus will be outside within 5 minutes, and sure enough it is. We love the efficiency of the Japanese already.

On the bus we’re warned by a very friendly motherly sounding announcement that we should not use our mobiles, because it may annoy our neighbours, and spend the rest of the journey marvelling at the beautiful scenery that is our first glance of Japan.

As we watch the paddy fields and rustic streets turn into skyscrapers and giant zebra crossings, we realise we’re in Tokyo! After a little while we’re dropped off and given directions to our hotel, which we follow, get lost, ask for more directions, follow them, get lost...this went on for a while until someone very kindly pointed out our hotel to us.

The Shinjuku Prince is a business hotel in the heart of Shinjuku, it is surrounded by Kabukicho – a pleasure district full of peep shows, brothels, konbinis and amusement arcades and the streets are full of teenagers on dates, drunk businessmen and gaijin pimps. It’s awesome.

The hotel reception is beautiful, cream coloured marble and ikebana arrangements. After some confusion, and a slight language barrier we’re given a pair of key cards and directed to the 20th floor.

We’re tired and jetlagged, so decided just to hang around the hotel for now. The first thing Louise does is run to examine the famously high-tech toilet. She bashes the buttons and is upset when they don’t do anything, however Rob suggests that this may be due to weight sensor and presses on the seat, causing a stream of water to shoot Louise in the eye. Brilliant!

We then draw back the heavy window blind and are confronted with the hugest, sprawlingest, beautifulist view we have ever seen. Tokyo spreads as far as the eyes can see, and the skyscrapers really do scrape the sky. It’s amazing.

We’re both hungry after the arduous flight, so Rob heads down to the hotel patisserie/glass counter. Here, Rob selects a rather delicious-looking box of something called Leaf Pie, and discovers at this point that you don’t try to tip in Japan... Having hastily worked out a good 15-20%% (it’s the start of the holiday and he’s feeling generous) and leaving it in a very deliberate fashion in the money tray, he’s accosted on his way back to the lifts by the cashier, who informed him he’d left some of his change behind... silly Rob!

We nap for a while curled up like cats in each others’ arms sans covers, We wake up a little while later, as dusk is falling over the city. We watch red lights blink on the top of skyscrapers, the Epson sign outside of our room on a constant light loop, and the multi-coloured Human sign dancing in dark. We watch the office lights flick off one-by-one, leaving a few unlucky workers behind.

We freshen up and head for Kabukicho, we slip down side alleys and through pachinko parlours and past a man selling turtles by the roadside, before buying konbini snacks. We’re slightly sidetracked by the UFO catchers in the arcades, but eventually make it back to the hotel, where we eat our snacks, fill up on Pocky and fall asleep with views of the glittering city.

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