Off on our holidays!

The Japanese do not take their holiday entitlement. So the government create public holidays in order to force people to have a rest. In May there is a three day public holiday called Golden week. (mmm yeh I know 3 days does not a week make!) So Dominic and I took the whole week off and the week before it!

So wearing my Snoopy chocks away t-shirt we headed off to the south west islands of Japan, Ishigaki, Myakojima and Okinawa. 

Ishigaki - a direct flight from Tokyo. Met at the airport by a very laid-back Korean hostel owner after we'd seen various posters displaying the poisonous wildlife in the area.  We rented the owners car- no paperwork to fill-in, no surveying the car beforehand and I don't even think he checked whether we had a driving license! 

Jimmy the jockey!

 



He had drawn a map of the local area on which he marked the various local beaches, bakeries, cafes and restaurants and where to watch sunsets.  

We went down to a beach from which you're not allowed to swim because they don't want people interfering with the pearl cultivation beds. The water was a fabulous turquoise. 

We spent the next 5 days driving around going swimming, snorkeling and venturing to 2 nearby islands.  The furthest one is known as the jungle of Japan. We weren't sure whether to go or not but eventually did and went to do the trip down the mangrove river and then walk to a few waterfalls. Down at the river at the ticket "office"  the woman selling the tickets asks "where are you from?" Dominic says Ireland and her immediate response is "cold". The bloke in the ticket booth with her who we assume is her husband pipes up that he lived in Ireland for two years. He's a jockey he says the name of the stable he used to work at,  Dominic is able to tell the guy that his mum and dad know the owner! Bonkers!

I feel that the lonely planet guide loves telling its readers to go to way out places and then suggest going somewhere even further away that is absolutely brilliant. They said the best beach in Japan is Moon beach on this jungle island, so we decided to head for it. At the bus stop we can't work out what the schedule is. Thankfully someone tells us we have a two hour wait. We asked them if they know our favourite beach on Ishigaki. They do so we asked them how Moon beach compares. Without hesitation they say our beach is better. So we head straight back to the ferry. Ha! Lonely planet we have beaten you! 

View from our bedroom

However at the beach I realise I haven't got my snorkel gear. Dominic has and is telling me that he can't describe how fabulous the fish are. (His snorkel mask is fitted with prescription lenses so borrowing them would not be the best!)    But then the sea goes absolutely flat, I am just standing in the water up to my waist and I can see perfectly the fish swimming around me.

We tried out the various local restaurants; the only issue being that you would typically bump into somebody from the hostel and then there would be the awkward question of whether you should eat together....

Best snorkeling

 

Sat here and enjoyed a pizza!

Next Myakojima, my favourite island. It's actually one island linked to 4 others by very impressive bridges. One of which I think is the longest bridge in Japan. How on earth such a small community can afford or justify the expense I have no idea but it was very handy for us.

There are many beautiful beaches. We stayed at a weird Moroccan place that was expensive and had shared toilets and bathrooms. The owner was great at knowing what the weather was doing and which direction the wind was blowing and based on this was able to tell us the best                                                              beaches to go to.

We went to what was labelled the best snorkeling beach.  We just walked in from the beach and within a few yards it was just like swimming in an aquarium. The guy renting out the umbrellas and chairs played an Okinawan instrument that sounded very plinky-plonky. It was most surreal to be snorkeling and hearing this music.

 


The Japanese apparently love getting kitted out for any activities. So they went into the water with a full wet suit, booties, gloves!, and often a flotation vest.  We just had our swimming gear but it made me wonder if they knew something we didn't.

Our last island was Okinawa. It's bigger and it's famous for having about 20,000 American troops living there. Someone commented that the best areas are fenced off for their training activities.

We flew into the capital Naha which does not look attractive and headed out for an hour to get to the Marriot hotel. Our friendly relocation agent in Tokyo, Louise, had moved in December to work there. She had arranged a great hotel rate and somehow managed to get us upgraded twice. From our massive luxurious room we could see the huge pool below. We had fun with Louise going to a tourist village recreation thing which normally I would not like but it had lots of crafts you could do.  So between us we made a candle!

trendy coffee van

Fabulous Japanese meal at the Marriot!

Also visited the massive aquarium. Beaches looked great but you could only swim in the netted area. So even if you walked out to the deepest bit you were still not up to your armpits. So we were glad that we had maxed out on swimming and snorkeling at the previous islands. 

We headed home.  And I joined a four week intensive Japanese course the next day. 

April events....

Friends A and G arrived into a very wet Tokyo. Impressibly spurting Japanese words and full of cultural knowledge. They put us to shame (as normal!)

They were keen to go to NohTheatre. An ancient Japanese art form. We went to a performance with English subtitles. We were also handed an English summary sheet as we walked in. Good eh? However the session started off with a 30 minute talk by a Japanese man who stood on the same spot and had no visuals to accompany his talk. He laughed in several places but I checked and the Japanese in the audience we not laughing along with him. In fact a guy in the front row had hit head right back enjoying a good sleep.  Know how he felt as it was incredibly difficult to stay awake! 

With the rain we thought all the blossoms might have disappeared but we decided to go and seek them out anyway. We then managed to find a Gyozo dumpling place someone had recommended and gorged on them with grated carrots and beer. (The beer was not grated). 

For discussion class, talking
about needs found this!

Doing the Shibuya crossing but going their own route!

Ordered a Deuter 20L for the weekend!

Our friends then disappeared to do some travelling around Japan and the following Friday we met them in Hiroshima for the weekend.(I'd decided my Deuter 10L was not up to the visit so ordered a 20L joining Amazon prime to get it in time.  I'd been hanging out to get it in Kiwi Turquoise but it was not to be found anywhere...I've included a photo as I know everyone will be interested. If you need me to send you the link to a video showing all the features just let me know.

In our hotel room on the eighth floor? We were woken up at 1 AM by the earthquake....

The next day A & G had arranged a guide to take us to the shrine built on stilts in the water and then to do all things related to the atomic bomb. Thankfully the old photos were suitably grainy so I could not see the full horror of it all.  All the various venues focus on peace rather than war. A number of kids were out in town collecting signatures to stop nuclear weapons, to give to Obama on his visit.(list of signatures not nuclear weapons).

Know where we are but no idea how
to get to where we want!

Intrepid explorers!

The next day we went to a temple with lots of waterfalls. Lovely.Decided to go on the recommended walk which came without a map. Never a great idea. Several paths were roped off and we ended up climbing down another way. And then following a service road that is in the process of being made. Visitors at the temple were surprised to see us appear from the river!

We all got ourselves lunch at the station and headed off to a park. One of the nicest I've ever been to. Dominic and I then returned to the train station to go home. 

We got to go to a baseball game to see the Giants play, luxuriously from a box. In the cheap seats on everyone's chair was a freebie of a Giants branded t shirt.  I did not realise but some were orange and some were black.  When you looked at the crowd something was cleverly spelt out in kanji.

A&G returned to base. We went with them to the cheapest bar in Tokyo.  It's a set of vending machines that unusually stock alcoholic drinks.  So everyone buys whatever they want and stands or sits around drinking. 

We finished off their holiday with a display of ikebana, then to a garden with bonsai trees.  It's part of some wedding complex. So you cannot move for brides and grooms and their entourages. 

That's it! 

Cherried out!

Well St Patrick's day arrived and went in a flurry of drinking, eating and lots of green tinsel!  
We went to the Emerald ball which was good fun and involved a lot of dancing.There's even a parade at a high street near us.  So we signed ourselves and our friends A&A, who were visiting from the UK, up.  Perhaps not the most Japanese thing to do on day 3 of your holiday!  

A couple were sitting having lunch with a box on their table...I peeked in and this is what I saw!

We had several visits to a shop called Tokyu hands - it does loads of stuff from wood to Snoopy stickers...and lots of pens and pencils. You know those bulky biro contraptionswhere you can choose from 4 different colours red, blue, black or green in one device?  Well here you can choose the empty device and then pick the colours that you want!!! Amaze balls! 

Mount Fuji - looking great!

We went away for a night to Hakone - we did the fabulous open air museum and the following day we took a bus, a cable car to get a good view of Mount Fuji, a boat across the lake (pirate themed of course!) and then walked part of an ancient path.  The Japanese have a fascination with taking multiple forms of transport and that is one reason why Hakone is so popular. 

For the final night together we went to Andy's - Andy is a northern lad who has been out here for ages and runs a typical Isakaya restaurant (pub) which is squeezed under the railway arches. He goes to the famous Tokyo fish market each day. Fermented sea cucumber was not available so he suggested sea pineapple. We asked what it was like and he said it was one of the most disgusting things you could put in your mouth. So we ordered a portion!  A couple asked to see the dessert menus, Andy said there are none…but then produced a few After Eights from his own personal supply!

Chocolate tart with cherries.  Coffee with a pastry containing marmalade to add to your coffee - the marmalade not the pastry!

Blossom...with a bird!

Naka Meguro

We waved our friends off the next day at 6am, and at 9:30am were installed at our first hanami (Blossom watching) party! The Japanese don't really do picnic blankets instead they use massive bits of blue tarpaulin to mark their space.  Peeps from our group had arrived on site at 6 am to grab the space under the biggest cherry tree. We started off with yoga and having finished this the beers were opened!! Food ranged from sashimi, fried chicken, Doritos, cheesecake to a Dominos pizza that was delivered! We then went to another party on a housing estate it featured various random entertainers. Apparently it is very traditional for people to balance spinning tops on the edge of fans and swords!  The excitement!  The local school brass band was the finale. 
A place called Naka Meguro is famous for blossom watching - has loads of trees either side of a river which join each other over the water. Great viewpoints from the various bridges. The place is also full of stalls selling food and drink. I treated myself to a Sakura flavoured fizzy wine for around three quid. Dominic managed to hold out till he saw the pink Chandon for £3.50 a glass!  We were blossomed out! 

Another public holiday! Shrines and racing.....

Well it was another public holiday so we went off to Nikko famous for its shrines.

Luckily for us that evening the statues along the river were being lit by candle light.  So we checked in, had a coffee went and had a look at the famous red lacquer bridge and then walked along the river and waited for it to get dark!

Next day we arrived early at the shrines - beautiful setting with lots of trees and some snow on the rooftops. Saw the three monkeys and exhausted our phone batteries with all the photos we took. 

The monkeys!

 I suggested to Dominic that that we should treat ourselves to lunch as I had read about a place nearby. It was cold outside but the restaurant was very cozy and Dominic soon spotted a 15 quid bottle of fizzy Moet and kind of asked "should we order that?"  We did and toasted the arrival of Charles. The staff were keen to serve us as quickly as possible but eventually they understood that we wanted to just sit and relax!

More shrines in the afternoon. At the last one which was my favourite Dominic bumped into the woman that sits next to him at work. Taking the bus back

to the hotel Dominic got off early to go to the onsen. I did a bit of shopping along the High Street at a kind of antique junk vintage shop- very enjoyable.

The next day we went to Chozen lake. There were a few snow igloo type houses in which were displayed impressive ice sculptures.

We found a walk to do and the tourist office said our shoes were fine and that the snow was only 3 inches deep. Within five minutes of starting the walk I was knee deep in snow!  We continued for a while but I suggested we should turn back. Having got back to the main drag Dominic realised the bus was due in five minutes so we ran up the hill to the bus stop. The bus arrived and we got on puffing and red-faced only to hear from the back of the bus "konnichiwa!" Dominic's colleague again. She commented "Dominic you are sweating."

We stopped for some noodles and I took my shoes and socks off in order to dry them out!  Had a look at the waterfall and then got on the bus back to the hotel. However we got off early to go to a recommended coffee place which turned out to be fantastic and then we decided to go to the onsen. It was on the roof of the building and from it we would get a great view of the fireworks further down the river.

How do they do those circle things?

So I sat in a bath outside waiting for the fireworks to start. I was joined by three Japanese women. I smiled at them to try and look friendly and so they then started to talk to me in English and Japanese. The fireworks started and we all jumped out of the bath to get a better view. There was much oohing and aahing and clapping. Once finished we all got back into the bath to warm up. Some piped music was playing and they asked me if I knew the song. I didn't so the three of them started to sing it to me. It was very lovely that they were so chatty and friendly so I gave one of them my card and said if they were in my area could we go for coffee? 

Next day we visited the temple which has been in the process of being renovated since 2013 and I think is not due to be completed until 2019. The time lapse film of the shrine been deconstructed was interesting.  Catching the bus back I whispered to Dominic that I thought I recognised one of the women from the onsen but I wasn't sure because she had clothes on! 

waterfall

The next weekend we were invited by Hide to go and watch his friend, Yutaka’s, horse race.  We were told the food at the race track was rubbish so to bring our own.  Yutaka is a very friendly and smiley chap.  He gave me his rosette for the day, which meant that I was the horse owner.  The officials looked somewhat confused at having to let me in everywhere with this door opening rosette!

A day at the races!

I know this is an American product but I love them, mints in the shape of Snoopy and Charlie Brown!  Cannot believe they have not used Peppermint Patty somewhere in the range?!

Dominic went off to see some Ricoh rugby and I decided to luxuriate at home with some new material, my sewing machine and a packet of chocolate chip cookies!

Dominic had a couple of very busy weeks and was out for five days on the trot with Friday evening or should I say Saturday morning causing some damage! Unfortunately he incorrectly set his alarm for a meeting on Friday afternoon which went off at 4:30 AM on Saturday morning. Needless to say he didn't hear it!

Had been trying to book a holiday for May and got in touch with a travel agent I said I wanted mid to low range hotels but at £500 a night I don't think her definition of mid-range quite matches mine!  


For Christmas I got Dominic a Japanese cookery lesson. We headed off to Mayuko's Little kitchen. It turned out to be just us two. Mayuko was very welcoming and started off with the basics of what ingredients were and then we got chopping and cooking. Her sister joined us. She makes clothes and had lived in the London. We swapped stories of the various courses we had done at Morley College!

Cooked by the man himself!

That evening Leslie was on her way back to London and was booked into chez nous for 4 nights. Sunday we went to lunch at a photographer's home. He cooked up a storm and was full of chat of the amazing people he had photographed and met and his home was full of stuff.(Note to Saskia - it looked as though the burglars had been!)

We went to Harajuku where women dress up as schoolgirls and popped into McDonald's to have their new fries with chocolate sauce.  A different kind of culture!  

Fries with milk chocolate and white chocolate sauce!

Went to Mori art museum to see Marakame and have a look at the view before going to find some wagyu beef. 



Dominic had Monday off work to be the tour guide doing bonsai and dolls.

I had Tuesday off... Leslie and Dominic discovered a fabulous pen shop the night before which is about 500 metres from home. Leslie and I spent over an hour in the shop before heading to do the plan for the day. First up origami centre next electric town. 

Bad timing - most of the time the guy was not looking at what he was doing!

We went to a place called honey and toast - a 12 cm loaf of bread. It's been toasted so it's crispy. The inside has been taken out and chopped into big crispy croutons these are then put back into the loaf and then a variety of ice cream and sauce is put on top; in our case banana ice cream chocolate sauce and bananas. OMG it was delicious. How do the Japanese women stay so slim?  

Tricky to resist!

On the way home we went to see some illuminations - most finish 14 Feb. 

Next week shrine central……to add some culture rather than just food!

January is here....stayed at The Peninsula! Interviewed on tv!

January started in a whirl of lessons and a couple of new students.

Through someone at church I got a very part-time job at Tsukuba School for the visually impaired. Very excited about it. Ironically I'd been to a volunteer group meeting and the thing that appealed to me most was doing English interview practice with 18-year-olds as part of their university application.  It's at the same place so I get to be more involved and paid!

January11th is a public holiday so another four day week!  Dominic had booked a weekend away on the Izu Peninsula, about 50 minutes on the train from Tokyo. Volcanic lava flow has created a rocky coastline, with lovely beaches further south.  What is strange is that ugly horrible buildings are right beside these beautiful beaches.  

 One beach had a similar rock formation to the Giants Causeway, perhaps Finn came here on his holidays? 

We joined the locals enjoying bowls of fish and noodles.

The area is famous for hot springs.  One ryokan (a type of traditional Japanese inn that originated in the Edo period (1603–1868). They typically feature tatami-matted rooms and communal baths) has a wooden 1,000 people bath.

Men and women normally bathe separately (you are starkers).  But in some places the women can go into the men's!! The assumption is that the men will be lucky if this happens. The reverse is not true and is not allowed!   It was very confusing but I went into the men's side. Women are allowed to wear a towel which is weird. One                                                 woman had a specifically designed outfit for the occasion.

The next day we got to take a chairlift up to the rim of the volcano. The bottom of the crater is used for archery!  We got a good view of Mount Fuji or Fuji-san as they call him.

The area is also famous for dried fish and there are various contraptions all around town for this.  However we went to a place recommended for okonomiyaki pancakes and ordered two jumbo ones. The female owner looked alarmed and said that one would be enough. She was right but it only cost about four quid so not sure we were her most profitable customers that evening.

We stayed at a hostel which was a 100-year-old wooden building, basically a hotel without any ensuite rooms!  I loved it and we had a massive room. It had a few communal rooms too which looked out over the river and there was a very small strip of decking.  In typical Japanese style this tiny area had been used to create a lovely garden.

We went to another mixed bathing place.  Accessed via a funicular railway!  We had the place to ourselves. It really felt as though we were on holiday.  A tenner to have exclusive use of it for an hour!

 The following weekend we went to a temple known for its number of cat statues. Shop owners buy a statue and leave it at the temple believing that it will bring their business money and good luck.  A TV crew were there interviewing foreigners to find out why they were visiting the temple and what they did there.  They asked us a few questions and then asked if they could follow us around the temple. That was weird!

Perhaps they thought he was Harrison Ford?

Festive season

Well Christmas Day was a normal working day in Japan. But not for us!

Before Christmas we went out to a tiny cafe - one big table seating about 12.  It does world breakfasts.  On offer was English and French.  The French one had a boiled egg served in an egg cup with long pieces of toasted baguette. Surely this is more English egg and soldiers?  Our neighbours chose the french breakfast and were given copious instructions by the waitress on how to take the top off the egg! They gingerly tapped around the egg with a knife.  It was a new experience for them.  It caused much excitement and laughter. This explains why I haven't seen an egg cup in Tokyo because they don't exist!

Having some extra time in a metro station I decided to go to the stand-up noodle bar.  Was one of those places where you put your money in the machine press a button to make a choice and it spits out a ticket that you then present to the staff dishing out the food. Luckily I spotted the English menu button so choosing what I wanted was easy even though I didn't know what it was!

There were seats! So I grabbed one. The way to eat noodles is to get hold of some with your chopsticks and then slurp them up. Putting my head over a massive bowl of incredibly hot noodles is bound to make my nose run.  We are wondering if when the locals are slurping food they are managing also to snort up their snot. They are not fans of people blowing their nose, we believe they think it is disgusting, but I had to several times over!  

Dominic decided that he wanted to have a traditional Christmas lunch. Sprouts very expensive. A friend paid £4 for a parsnip.  I've only recently decided that I need to stop comparing UK and Japan prices for fruit and veg or we will end up with scurvy! 

Jo arrived in and I had my second Christmas dinner of the day with her and Dominic launched into the Christmas pudding! 

We decided a breath of fresh air would be good and we went to see the Christmas lights. Luckily we got there just before they were switched off for the year at 10pm. 

On Boxing day we went to an area that sells all kinds of kitchen stuff and then on to the temple that has a busy street of market traders on its approach.

Next day off on the Shinkansen to Kyoto.  It was cold there and we ended up buying thermals! We templed ourselves out.

We also found a fantastic cafe doing ice creams.(yes I know we should have been looking for hot soup!)  At the entrance they have a display showing the products available in fake food format. They look fantastic so we decided to try the real thing!

We headed back to Tokyo to see what happens over New Year.  We met up with Matt a friend of a friend and and wondered round a part of town new to us.   We said we'd be having noodles at home with tempura like the locals and Matt offered to make sushi as well.

Very impressive it was too. I put a bit of the skin of a citrus fruit yuzu in with the noodles, you can also put the whole fruit in your bath to keep you healthy.

So full of food and alcohol we headed off to the local temple to hear the bell been rung 108 times. Apparently there are 108 things we can do wrong and ringing the bell gets rid of them.  We arrived and were told to get a number. We soon realised that between us we would be ringing number 63 and 64 gongs!  We watched to see how others rang the bell so that we did not embarrass ourselves.

We then walked up to the massive temple and joined the throng of people who were queuing up to spend 30 seconds in front of the temple.  We thought it might take an hour to get to the front of the queue so we decided to head home.

We went to a great exhibition at the MORI  Museum by Takeshi Murakami one of the few places that are open every year over New Year and went up the tower to get a view over town.  Then we went to Gonpachi the restaurant associated with Kill Bill.

We spent ages looking for one of the Japanese photo booth places only to be told it had shut down and to be shown the empty site amongst the buildings!

There is a whole area known as fabric town but as it's mainly wholesalers it too was shut. However week three I found a fabric store that I think is really good so Jo and I headed out there on Sunday. We had intended to go somewhere else as well but we did three floors of the shop and then had a break for coffee and cake. We then headed back in to do the final two floors and make our purchases!  It was great fun - Jo advised that a stripy fabric which had illustrations of otters, armadillos and badgers would not suit me, the same for the spotty fabric with pink pugs on it.  I settled for the flowers with a polar bear poking his head through them. We made it home just in time to go out for dinner with Kayo the person I met through a cultural exchange website.

We put Jo on the airport train just before 7am and we waited on the same platform to get a train to Kamakura to see the big Buddha and the sea. Glorious weather so much so Dominic zipped off the bottom of his trousers!  

Look at the flavours!

 

Drying fish on a bike!