Takayama and back

Beautiful Takayama........

We arrived in Takayama expecting that we would have a break from the heat we had in Kyoto, only to get off the train and find it was about 96 degrees! At least it wasn’t also humid. Takayama is up in the Japan Alps and is surrounded by mountains. It is very well preserved and has beautiful traditional wood houses throughout, many of which are hundreds of years old. Once of the nicer things about it is that it is small – we could walk from one end to the other which was a nice change from huge Tokyo and big Kyoto. It definitely has a small town feel and we found that the people were SO friendly.

The train ride here was spectacular –it followed the river (with beautiful blue-green pools and limestone banks) up the canyon filled with bamboo and cedar trees. We’d go through

On our first day we decided check out the Japan Alps National Park. They have a tram that goes up to the top of the mountains. We thought we could hike back down but found this wasn’t possible (probably because they are so steep). It was still beautiful and nice to be up so high. It was also amazingly crowded with Japanese tourists, the first time we’ve really felt like we were here during the high tourist period.

At the top of the Japan Alps!

There was a hot springs at the top, where they were cooking eggs in the hot water. We got a couple, just to try, as they are supposed to be good for you. The consistency was strange. The yolk was hard but the white was runny. I was pretty sure that the kids would NOT like this. On the contrary – they slurped them down and begged for more!

We did manage to get our hiking in the next day. We went to a nearby park that housed the ruins of the Takayama castle, which was originally situated on top of the big hill that made up most of the park. It was drizzling and muddy so we had the whole place to ourselves. We wound through the park on stair paths with bamboo risers through the pine trees and bamboo. It was hard to believe that the little town was just down the hill.

Hiking through the trees

Discovering the original walls and gate to the Takayama Castle

To reward ourselves for our hiking efforts, we decided to try a burger place we’d read about, Center 4 Burgers. The region Takayama is in Hida which is supposed to be famous for it’s beef. We ended up at this crazy place with 1930’s American memorabilia and Johnny Cash playing in the background. The Canadian tourist at the table next to us was devouring his second burger as we sat down. There was a good reason why – they were awesome – better than most at home! The guy who ran the place told us he had never been to the US but had learned to make burgers from a place he had worked at in Tokyo. He wants to open his own restaurant in the US…we had to explain that unlike Japan, there are burger places all over in the US. He was surprised!

Dylan considers taking a tenured position at Center 4 Burgers...

That night, we were fortunate enough to be in town for a summertime fireworks display over the river. The whole town seemed to come out and were all dressed in their summer kimonos. Carny-type food stands were up all over the place with not so familiar Japanese carny food like takoyaki (puffy little pastry balls with octopus inside them covered with teriyaki-ish sauce), shave ice (snow-cones), and fish paste on sticks. It was so cool to see all different generations together – even the hipsters in their traditional kimonos (you could tell because they still had their Duran Duran hairstyles) – all enjoying the evening. It was a different vibe than we had experienced in big Tokyo and Kyoto.

The next day we went to check out the nearby folk village. While there were a few houses originally in the village location, most had been relocated from another valley where they built a hydroelectric dam. Even thought it was a little contrived, it was still pretty cool to see the houses (you could go inside) and realize that they had been built without nails. Most of the houses were 200-300 years old.

David and Dylan check out the folk village

Checking out the construction without nails...

The kids loved navigating the village using the map and running around. Their favorite part, however, was probably dressing up in the traditional clothes and pulling the wagon. David refused to smile because he said if he did, no one would think he was working hard and make him do more.

Hmm...looks like David must be doing all the hard work...

David before his Takayama barber experience.

David after his Takayama barber experience!

We decided to go from Takayama back to Hakone and to attempt to climb Mount Fuji. You can climb it during the day or go up at night so you can watch the sunrise in the morning. We have decided on the nighttime trip but it will be too much for the kids so Dylan will go up on Sunday night and then return Monday morning and I will go up on Monday night and return Tuesday morning.

Leaving Kyoto

On another train and finally getting around to posting again. We left Kyoto this morning after 12 nights there, and are heading to Takayama, up in the mountains. Kyoto is a beautiful, interesting city but the stifling heat and humidity kept us from fully enjoying it. We still managed to spend a fair amount of time away from our air-conditioned apartment and probably logged 5-6 miles a day of walking around the city. Highlights include:

- crossing paths with a real-life Maiko (apprentice geisha) in an alleyway near our apartment one night, whose "house-mother" insisted we get a picture with her and Emma and David

- the Gion Matsuri festival which happened to coincide with our first morning in Kyoto; giant, 10-ton floats on massive wooden wheels are dragged through the streets by dozens of men; to turn a corner they have to lay down bamboo under the wheels and push/pull the float around; the whole process takes about 10 minutes, with the drums and flutes from the band riding along on the top of the float ringing out the whole time.

- a day trip to Nara, and the spectacular Todai-Ji temple, which is the largest wooden building in the world (and only 2/3 its original size) and which houses a giant wooden buddha that dates from the 8th century

- feeding and petting the deer at Nara

- the imported foods store we discovered, and the italian meats, cheese, pasta, and red wine we stocked up on (We have not been entirely successful in adapting to the japanese diet; small portions, mainly fish, not a lot of protein. We have been craving a big steak since our first week here, but have settled for a couple of visits to McDonald's.)

- a visit to the beautiful riverside Arashiyama area, and walk through the bamboo path

- al fresco riverside dining on the deck at Tsuruse

- Tokugawa's castle; dating from early 1600s and amazingly preserved; contains the room where the 16th Tokugawa shogun handed rule of Japan back to the emperor, thus ending 250+ years of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Unfortunately most of our pictures from Kyoto were accidentally deleted, which is a bummer but we're over it. I'll post the ones that survived.

We are looking forward to getting back up the mountains where it is hopefully a bit cooler. After 5 nights in Takayama we're heading back to Hakone and the Fujiya hotel where, if we muster up the courage, we just might make a run at climbing Mt Fuji...

Kyoto riverside dinner haiku

Wendy:
A full moon on the river
My loves by my side
A seven course dinner. Yum!

Dylan:
Kyoto gives her bounty.
Pickled fish gives strength.
We use to climb Mt. Fuji!

Emma:
I am at a restaurant.
Eating yummy food
Underneath the full moon. Yeah!

David:
Sake warms my body up.
I don't like sake.
Sake is very, very disgusting.

David #2:
Lanterns in the sky are bright.
They are beautiful
Lined up on the river bank.

Wendy #2:
Sake warms my belly.
Bells ring in the night.
The full moon shines in your eyes.

A few pix from Hakone, Fujiya Hotel, and Tokkaido Highway

In the Footsteps of the Samurai

We are on the Shinkansen headed to Kyoto and using the opportunity to (finally) do some blogging. We just spent 2 nights at the Fujiya hotel in Hakone/Miyanoshita which was amazing. It was built in 1878, the oldest resort hotel in Japan. Everything about the hotel felt like we had stepped back in time, from the cedar wood smell in the hallways, to the uniformed porters complete with little round caps, to the old pictures on the walls of past guests (Helen Keller, Dwight Eisenhower, John Lennon with Yoko and Sean) including The Shining-style New Years Eve gatherings with everyone in tuxedos huddled together in the ballroom looking up at the camera (one from 1916 looked eerily like me; apparently I've always been the caretaker there). It was an amazing, magical kind of place (looking out of our sliding wooden panel window, through the rain and fog, across the tiled roofs at the forested mountain rising on the opposite side of the valley) and quite a contrast from our ultra modern, 32nd floor hotel in Tokyo.

We hiked a length of the old Tokkaido highway, which the samurai used to travel between Kyoto and Tokyo. I will have a hard time describing how cool this was. It's almost jungle-like how thick the forest is, but it sheltered us from the wind howling above. Everything was wet and muddy, and every step treacherous as we climbed up and back down the steepest trail I've ever climbed. It took us two hours to cover about two miles in the mud and thick vegetation, and we ended up at a 350 year old sake house. It was amazing to imagine the samurai who had travelled the same path for hundreds of years and rested with a cup of sake under the same roof.

And now we are traveling at 200+ miles per hour to Kyoto. These old vs new contrasts have been a defining characteristic of Japan for me so far. Everywhere you turn you are bumping into either really old and historic buildings or temples or hotels or hiking trails or customs (even the baseball park we went to in Tokyo was built in a the 1920s and had welcomed the likes of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig) or you are bumping into the high- tech future, like the vending machines that are everywhere, the incredible public transportation system, the forests of skyscrapers in Tokyo and the vast underground complexes of walkways and restaurants and shops and, of course, the toilet seats that anticipate your every need.

We have an apartment that we've rented for a week in Kyoto and, despite the amazing Japanese hospitality we've encountered at the hotels (with no tipping!), we are looking forward to having our own place for a while, with a kitchen.

All for now. Love to everyone!

Onsen, Ninjas, and Thriller

July 12, 2010

We spent the day at the onsen (hot springs) on Odiaba island in the Sumida river built to look like a 18th century Japanese bath. Once we went in, we were all given yukata (cotton kimonos) to wear around. In a huge hall there were food stalls, ice cream stands and memento stands in the shadow of a huge painting of Mount Fuji under the night sky.

Modeling our yukata.

From there we split - Dylan and David to the mens’ bath and Emma and I to the womens’ bath. The Japanese bath consists of taking a seated shower in a little stall where you get as clean as you can and then soaking in a super-hot bath, like a jacuzzi without bubbles. This particular onsen had 6-7 different hot pools inside (each with different types of mineral water pumped up from 2 miles below) and two outside pools. It was incredibly relaxing.

After we were all relaxed, David and Emma were super-excited to find that there was going to be a Ninja show. It was more like a Ninja musical complete with a finale dance to “Thriller” but I am sure it will end up being the highlight of their trip.

David is ready to take the Ninjas on - just one of many karate moves he practiced.

Mesmerized by the fighting ninja....

Equally mesmerized by the "Thriller" ninja...

Emma happily slurping her noodles....according to Japanese manners.

Japanese Baseball

July 10, 2010

After being rained out last night, we made it to the Yakult Swallows game! While some of it was familiar and just like going to a baseball game at home, other parts definitely were not.

Go Swallows (David accidentally kept cheering for the Dodgers)!

We were recommended to buy food and drinks to bring into the game - gyoza (dumplings), noodles and egg rolls were being sold at stalls leading up to the park. When the Swallows hit a home run, all Swallows fans open small aqua umbrellas and sing. There is no booing the other team. Vendors walk around selling Suntory (Japanese whisky cocktails). Yakult Swallows 5, Hiroshima Carp 2. Go Swallows!

Home run celebration with umbrellas...why not!

How could you NOT boo these Carp fans?!

Fifth home run celebration...with the cheerleaders too.

Fish Market Success

July 8, 2010

We made it to the fish market! We arrived a little later than we had wanted (5a instead of 4:30a) as we were delayed trying to make our way through trucks, motorized trollies and scooters as we wound through the market. The market is the size of 10 Los Angeles Central Markets. The tuna auction is only open to the public from 5a-6:30a, so we had to be there early. It was worth it! In the huge refrigerated room were hundreds of tuna, each probably weighing 200 pounds. Pallets of 10-12 tuna were auctioned off by men jumping up on boxes left and right who called out bids as they “danced” (according to David) and rang their bells. The tuna on the pallets had small chunks cut out of the tail areas which were placed on the fish so prospective buyers could evaluate their quality. On another table, thin slices of a darker red tuna were laid out where buyers used flashlights to examine them before bidding. To us it looked like chaos, but it was somehow a very precise and organized process that has been going on for years.

Pallets o' tuna

Checking the tuna out with the flashlight

"Dancing" auctioneer

After the auction, we wandered around the other parts of the fish market and saw all sort of sea creatures - all kinds of crabs, clams, oysters and eels. Many of the fish sellers there go back several generations. We heard that some marriages had even been arranged to improve business!

To reward ourselves for being up early, we went to one of the sushi bars in the market (the one with the biggest line) and treated ourselves to a fabulous sushi breakfast. The tuna, of course was delicious, the abalone not so much, and the surprise was the Spanish mackerel. The sushi chef was impressed with Emma and David who chowed down 4-5 tuna rolls. We couldn’t believe we’d already had a full day by 9am!!

First Day in Tokyo

We made it to Tokyo! And more importantly we managed to make it to our hotel. We read two guidebooks and countless websites and could still not figure out how to get to the hotel from the airport. We wanted to use the public transportation because it costs about $300 to take a taxi from the airport. Between trains, subways, monorails and buses, it got a little confusing. We decided that we would just wait until we got and see what happened, knowing that Japan is very well-organized and that we were probably just missing something. As we expected, once we got directions from the information desk, it mostly made sense. After changing trains once and walking through a maze of underground tunnels, found our hotel.

We have a great view of the Sumida river from our hotel room. The room is nice, but pretty small for 4 huge Americans! From the 32nd floor of our modern, high-rise hotel, we look out over a garden that was used by the shoguns. Right away we were struck by the contrast between old and new side-by-side.

One of the good things about the hotel is that it is right near the Tsujiki fish market - one of the biggest fish markets in the world. It is famous for the tuna auctions that takes place at 5:30am. As we had jet lag, we figured we should go this morning as we’d be up anyway. However, since we had jet lag, we also failed to read the information in the lobby that it would be closed today for a holiday!

Since we were up and had nothing else to do at 5am, we walked over to the area where the market is and grabbed a quick Japanese breakfast - an assortment of raw fish on a bowl of rice. It was delicious and as we sat at the counter of the outside (covered) food stall, a huge rain storm poured down. The kids liked it but David was hungry again a half-hour!

After breakfast, we decided to brave the metro on our own and hopped on the metro to Asakusa - an older, more traditional part of Tokyo. During WWII, much of Tokyo was bombed and so not many older parts still exist. Asakusa still has many of the older wood buildings and narrow winding streets. It also has the Senso-ji temple, one of the most famous temples in Tokyo.

Painted storefront doors in Asasuka...before the tourists arrive

We visited the Senso-ji temple early, before the crowds arrived. It wasn't just tourists - business men, housewives and even the construction guys working on the restoration of the temple came in to make their offerings. David especially liked the protective deities guarding the temple - they looked like some sort of demons but are scary to keep the bad spirits away. The temple was constructed to house a gold statue that was found in the river nearby hundreds of years ago. The statue is kept in a special box and the box in on display at the temple. The temple itself was built in the 1800s but was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in the 1950s. The exterior was being restored when we were there, so we didn't take any pictures.

Emma and David on the way to the Senso-ji Temple

Watching the carp from the bridge near the temple

We went into one smaller temple (built to honor the fisherman who found the gold statue in the Senso-ji temple) and were taken under the wing of this older Japanese woman. She talked a lot (in Japanese) and we did a lot of nodding. She took us back over the Senso-ji temple and showed us how to wash ourselves in the fountain before entering the temple (use the ladle to pour water on left hand, then right hand, then pour some into your left hand again and drink a little and then spit it out). They have fortunes at the temple. You put 100 yen into a box and then pick up a cylinder with a little hole on top and filled with what look like chopsticks with numbers (in Japanese) on them. You shake the cylinder until one comes out and then go over to a wall of drawers and find the one with the number that corresponds with your chopstick. Your fortune is in there. If it is good, you keep it. If it is bad you can tie it onto a wire next to the drawers and it is undone. Ours warned against trying to avoid danger (not good) so the little lady showed me how to tie it to the wire. She also showed the kids how to rub the smoke from the incense on themselves for good fortune - they loved it.

While we were wandering around we were approached by a Japanese camera crew asking if we would answer some questions about being tourists in Japan. David did most of the talking! I think they liked that he answered "slurping noodles" was one of the things he was looking forward to doing in Japan. If they choose to use it, it will probably air tomorrow night on channel 12!

We ended our outing with a boat trip from Asakusa back to our neighborhood, Shiodome, along the Sumida river. Not the most picturesque but they did have their own special beer on the boat.

We are planning on making it to the fish market tomorrow!!

Waiting for our riverboat with the Asahi beer tower in the background.

It looks like a glass of beer!

Last morning in the USA for a while

Tough to say goodbye to Waikiki, but Tokyo here we come!

Fourth of July in Waikiki

July 4, 2010

Happy fourth of July! We spent most of today at the beach watching the annual Outrigger canoe race and hanging out with our friend Waikiki Jenny. The energy on the beach was awesome - everyone was so excited - tourists and locals alike. The races start early in the morning with the little kids and then progress to the adults later in the day. The adult races leave from the shore and then paddle out about a quarter mile and then paddle back. The waves were pretty big so it was a little challenging for them to paddle back in - we saw two canoes capsize while coming back. Luckily everyone was fine and the crowds helped to ease the canoes back into the shore.

Our surfing for the day was curtailed because of the races - they closed off part of Canoes - the area we usually surf- so there were twice as many people trying catch waves. The best part of paddling out wasn’t catching anything, but just being way out and watching the races from there. Outside of where the waves were breaking a bunch of sail boats had anchored to watch the canoe races and were basically having a floating party. When Dylan paddled out he saw that a huge pontoon boat had arrived with a full band playing on it! Rather than compete for the waves, he paddled out to the party and had a beer with them - we are already planning on how to be there for next year’s celebration.

Emma and David had a great day surfing. Jenny (she is a surf instructor) took them out in the water and pushed them into oncoming waves. It took a few rounds, but pretty soon they were feeling comfortable and trying to stand up! They both loved it and didn’t want to get out.

We ended today with mai-tais, sunset and dinner at Duke’s on beach. We didn’t end up making it to the fireworks but it was still a great send off to Japan tomorrow!

Emma standing up!

David catching a wave (and Daddy catching him)!

Waikiki

Diamond Head in the background