Day 6: Fuji-Goko

Day 6: Fuji-Goko

Woke up bright and early at 0615, got into my blue and white striped kimono-like thing, and went out to walk about. The sun had already beaten me to the hotel lobby, and there were already signs of others about. Dumped my clothing into the wash, and went out for more punishment into the public baths again. I made my way out to the indoor bath and was greeted by a breathtaking and absolutely pristine view of Mt Fuji in full all the way out from west to eastern borders, and totally crystal clear, the hot water vapours from the onsen clearing the 6 metre wide window in front of me spotless. A deep sapphire blue sky covered the horizon, with Mt Fuji claiming the centre stage, and a small white puff of smoke clinging desperately to the peaks of the mountain. I got thoroughly wrinkled and hyperthermic once again, and finally made my way down for breakfast. A feast awaited me, with continental style western foods; toast, eggs, sausages, spreads, mixed with the Japanese style breakfast; rice, seaweed, miso soup, fish, salmon, dumplings. Pigged out, then headed out.

Waited for bus from sunnide village, socialised with the ducks, got a ride to the station, then on the loop and made my way to the bat caves. Paid my bit, walked along the track, down to the caves, and followed the procession of other tourists in, through, round, and out of the caves. Very, very low ceilings in the place, I was surprised to find that old ladies at least 3 times my age going through easily the places I struggled to fit through, the roof was that low. Even the squat-bend wasn't enough to get me under some of the ceilings, I had to resort to sidearching too. I shuddered at the thought of what it would feel like if the roof collapsed on me, with the hard stony coldness breaking into my skin and shattering my chest and bones. I caught the bus to the next location, and walked down a similar bambooed path, passing the old grumpy and bored men manning the toll boothes, and reached the next cave. Apparently these were all formed when lava leaked from Mt Fuji a long time ago, splitting the one lake into 5 (hence the name of the area) and forming these now newly discovered underground cave systems. Made my way down some icy caves, looped around and came back up. Was bored, so decided to trek around the area - went bushwalking for a while mapless, didn't reach the next bus stop area as expected, so went back. Had myself some cheap noodles (tempura soba - small and not up to scratch), a curry donut and a steamed soft mooncake thing. Bussed back to the village, fell asleep.

Arrived back at the stop, outside a coffee-like shop and park next to the lake, full of japanese tourists. Changed buses and made it back to Sunnide, got my trusty old bike and rode back to the park and tourists. Zoomed around the people, and followed the lake around the southern border. I put up with my sore bum (from my previous long ride), and rode along the bumpy gravel track, passing fishermen, walkers, sightseers, and young couples along the way. Found a named temple just as I was about to give up riding westwards, and found some stone statues of people sweeping. Explored around the deserted temple buildings, then finally left and made my way back. Watched as the sun sunk below a lonesome tree in the horizon amongst lowly shrubs, then slowly trundled back to my home. Dropped off my bag, and since I was waiting for dinner to happen, I grabbed my camera and made my way out to the little side-road near the village where I had passed some photographers the previous night.
Using my little hand-sized tripod for my camera, I unsuccessfully tried to take a few shots of the sunset-backgrounded mountain, by walking down the grassy area, trod inside the flowery gardens, and in and around the little stones scattered around the red rosy garden. After a few shots from the various stones around the area, an elderly Japanese man, with a grin on his face, decided to take pity on me, and offered one of his many tripods for me to use for my camera. Using both my very limited Japanese (with the aid of my translator book) and his limited English, we gradually exchanged stories. His was a retired gentleman, with his only real hobby being photography (being quite knowledgable in the field), and was out on his second night trying to get the perfect shot of Mt Fuji with the sunset and the moon. In retrospect, I was sure I had seen him the night before as I rode past at dusk on my bike. He had spent the night before awake the whole night waiting in the cold silence, biding for that perfect moment of clarity from the stars, as his wife was asleep in the car beside him. We both stood in silence as the minutes passed, not knowing any more about each other, not even our names, but only appreciating the scene before us.

Finally, it was time for my dinner, and so I thanked him in my broken Japanese, returned the equipment, and made my way back to the hotel. An individually catered meal awaited me back at the hotel, including personalised room number table booking, and a patient waitress that was always prepared to explained to me what I was meant to do with all the little bowls in front of me. I suki-yaki like meal was the course for that day, along with a serving of green tea, and little entrees of pickled vegetables and fish-like objects. I retired for the night afterwards, journaled, and finished off the rest of my Fuji wine.

Outside the hotel

Which way?

Karee donatsu!

Lakeside village

Island Home

Garden

Again Fuji

Day 5: Saturday 7th of October

Day 5: Tokyo - Mt Fuji

Woke up late in Shinjuku at about 9-ish, tired. Once again completely packed my bags, and ran out of the building by 10. After taking a few snapshots on the way to the large Shinjuku train station that catered for long distance travel, I arrived hoping to jump on the next train out, but found out at the last minute that my JR train pass didn't work. I had bought this back in Melbourne, one of the 14 day passes which lets me travel on all JR lines in Japan, and since I had a 19 day trip planned in total, I had wanted to start using it on day 5 or so in the hopes that I could rush back to the airport on the last day to catch a flight back home (still using the JR pass, to save money). What I found out today was that what I bought was just a voucher - I had to redeem it for the pass. After lining up for ages at the ticket office, I finally made it to the front - to find out that I needed to go to a travel agency to get the pass. This opened at 11am. Not happy. Bummed around the station, grabbed myself some McDonalds breakfast, and got some Boss koohii. Got back, luckily worked out that I didn't need to pre-order tickets all the time, could just hop on and get an unreserved seat, and made my way to - Mt Fuji!

Long train journey, transfer off my shinkansen at Ootsuki, and took an old fashioned train/tram up to kawaguchi-ko. Found a very helpful info desk on arrival, most hotels were booked around the station, but managed to find a spot in Hotel Sunnide (sunny day?), across the lake from the station (15 min bus trip), probably a less popular destination as it was further away from the transportation (kawaguchi-ko is one of the small towns/villages around the 5 lakes area just north of Mt Fuji. Unfortunately found out that there was no transportation up to Fujisan as it was off season, even though I had read it was still climbable in October. Oh well. Made my way around to the hotel, off in a little village by itself on the north shores of Lake Kawaguchiko, found it had a splendid view of both the lake, but also of the Mountain itself, and settled into what was my favourite hotel in my trip! Asked around with my little Eng-Jap translator booklet that was a companion to LP (which stayed in my left pocket for most of my trip, along with my wallet) and worked out there was a complimentary (oldish) bicycle that could be borrowed from the hotel for !free. Rode around the lake, visited the small hamlets around the lake, which were mostly small shops based around a larger hotel or group of hotels. Passed an art museum on the way, a wedding reception place, some parks and gardens, found my way back to the station area I originally alighted from (less than 15 minutes by bike), passed a small docks, and some old temples. It was getting late, and being smart, I took a different route back, thinking I'd be able to navigate back without a map and go by gut feeling. Got to dusk, then nightfall, and I found myself riding past open dry rice paddies and old thatched huts, and eventually a small, ruralish village full of traditional styled houses, bamboo and browned glass appearance. Found a traffic light in the middle of nowhere, hung a left, and found myself back in familiar territory after about 20 minutes time, pedalling my way through relaxing open aired darkened grasslanded scenery. Found a small noodle place 700m away from my hotel as measured afterwards, and had myself an awesome awesome udon tempura meal. Drool. Back to the hotel afterwards, change into my hotel supplied gowns (which both male and female were wearing while walking around the hotel) and had myself my first genuine japanese onsen bath.

A short carpeted walk from the hotel was a public bath (shared with the hotel next door), with both a male and female bath (separated). With every part of the bath routine enshrined in custom, I took my designated slippers at the appropriate place, made my way upstairs (where the male bath reportedly had a better view - of the scenery), and found my way into the bathroom. Despite my preparation from my reading, I was still a bit startled to find an area where people viewed nakedness as the norm (naked family baths are the norm over in Japan), and tried to do as the locals did. Knowing that I should wash before entering the bath (from my readings), used my broken Japanese, with no companion translator book handy, and worked out that the wash place was next to the bath itself. 2 taps, 2 old bottles with half rubbed out katakana, and a small wooden stool were what greeted me, and after washing my hair out thoroughly with body soap and getting my skin nicely conditioned silky smooth (I later realised), I made my way into the bath with a bunch of naked men hmmm. Anyway, very hot. Only in the temperature sense though. Really. Only lasted about 5 minutes, then had to go out from what was really hyperthermia and ?2nd degree burns. Made my way back to the hotel, still overheated for the next hour or so. Had some wine from the vending machine, and fell asleep.

Shinjuku from the middle of the street

The journey

Around the lakes

My travelling companion

Fuji san

Awesome Udon meal

Day 4: Friday 6th October

Day 4: Cheesy tour -> Shinjuku

Started day in Asakusa. Had booked a tour the previous day Hammamotsucho, one of the bus terminals near the south west of Tokyo, where most of the guided tours seemed to leave from. Being the first time I'd been in peak hour traffic, I realised how bad it actually was. Left the old hotel a little late and rushed, gave myself a good 1hr 15min to travel, but arrived late. Couldn't find the right tour company that I had booked for for ages, and when I finally found them about 5min post the original 9am start, they had already sold out the tickets! (even though I had booked). With a press of obviously touristy people wandering around, I managed to negotiate a ticket on another tour, unfortunately one that I wasn't as keen to go on as I had already visited some of the places on my first day in Tokyo. I coughed up my 5000yen(!) and was on my way.

Firstly it was a ride to Eiffel's evil twin, and a ride up to the midway level for not too impressive views - mostly because the weather was horrible outside like we were in the middle of a typhoon or something. Nice interactive computery displays on deck showing where and what all the major landmarks were in the surrounding area. Couldn't see Mt. Fuji (96km away) that day. When I finally found the exit, realised had to walk through 3 floors of gawdy and garrulous displays of cheap plastics souvenirs before the tower finally allowed me to exit. Next stop was the temple district - back in Asakusa! It was at this stage that I got my friend LP out to see how far this place was from the old hotel - and realised I didn't have it with me! After searching through the entirety of all 11kg of my combined backpacks, I realised that I had left it in the hotel in Asakusa. I quickly took a few happy snaps and gave my 100yen worth of prayer at the temple, and dashed out into the rain, with only my memory from my first night wandering Asakusa to guide me, and with another 30min before the bus would leave without me (and all my belongings). Wading through rain and scattered puddles, I finally found the Skycourt Asakusa, ran in, found ol' LP (which I had left in the bathroom), grabbed it, and ran back out into the rain. Quite fatigued, I half ran-puffed back the way I came, and luckily made it back with 5min - totally soaked. Oh well. Next stop - the Pearl Gallery.

Not totally clear on where I was, we were taken upstairs for a demonstration and display of how some guy discovered a new way of harvesting and growing pearls using a giant oyster and rehersed humour. Had a lucky draw for a free pearl which i didn't win, then we were once again marched through numerous displays of pearls, quite beautiful, but way beyond my budget, before being set free. The courtesy bus offered a ride to my hotel, or at least nearby, which I took. Unfortunately the traffic was once again terrible (maybe it was always like this) and it took over 1.5 hours to get to near my hotel. I took a nap.

When I couldn't think the weather could get any worse, I was dropped off about 1.5km from my destination and with my overloaded backpack, and I would say easily 100kmh winds, I trodded across the concrete laden government building courtyard area eventually arrived at my hotel. I dumped my stuff, had a shower, changed into fresh dry stuff, and made my way out looking for a decent meal (I hadn't had any meals yet that day). Most of the entries in LP were either non-findable, or more probably closed down already, but I eventually found a ramen place by the name of ..., that I had passed a few times already because the first word of the name didn't match up with the one the in LP. Fed myself, then made my way to the infamous Kabukicho red-light district, which unfortunately wasn't too exciting - lots of bright neon advertisements strewn around the place, people walking around, hawkers and peddlers scattered here and there, but generally not too different from the usual Japan that I had so far experienced. Found my way back to the ramen post wanderings, had another delicious fatty ramen meal, this time with the lot, and then made my way into a little narrow bar squished between 2 three storey buildings. Spending a few hours with LP in one hand, and various assorted spirits in the other, I entertained myself with trying to communicate with the Japanese waiters, observing the patrons that frequented the place, and reading various exerpts from my good friend LP.

Back to hotel and collapsed into bed.

Shinto shrine decor

pa-chink!(o)

woo

Control panel

Day 3: Thursday 5th of October

Day 3: Asakusa, Miraikan and Ebisu

Caught an early start, and being a nerdy type I eagerly headed off towards the Miraikan, the museum of emerging science! I dropped off a stop early and walked around the aqua-portish entertainment district, which was supposedly all build on reclaimed land in the harbour, and pondered the physics and science of making land in the middle of a bay but ensuring that stuff wouldn't slip and slide over again. The quayside area, full of wooden boardwalks soaring above the roads below, was largely deserted and devoid of people, probably because of early time that day. Soggy wooden planks were left behind and I threaded my way around the area, stopping off at McD for breakky. The bacon and egg mcmuffins were the same over there, despite their weird spelling. Passed a few overly touristy sites, through a quiet park, and to... Miraikan!

The first thing to greet me inside the shell shaped building was a giant LED embedded globe, with constantly changing uptodate weather, geographical, and tectonic information buzzing around. There were displays ranging from new fuel cell cars, to demos on medical science (i played around with a pair of laproscope instruments for a while), VR and robotics demonstrations, to used space shuttle/station modules. Spending quite a few decent hours there, I finally drained the place of all its information and then it was sadly time to leave. Walking outside, I was cheerfully greeted by a humongous downpour, so I quickly made my way to the next destination - Ebisu!

Ebisu, the quiet unassuming district. Reportedly full of cafes and restaurants, a nice quiet place to stroll during the day. I ignored all of that and made my way to the Sapporo beer musueum. Deciding to get a bite to eat beforehand, I consulted my trusty LP and found the 39 story Ebisu Garden Place tower and scaled my way to the top 2 floors where exotic delicacies awaited my palate. Unfortunately for me, I was too early (I had skipped lunch earlier and was now starving, especially given all the running I had done to avoid the rain) and all restaurants, bar one, were closed. Sitting down, the patrons next to me were having a mountain of a feast, a iron hot plate was located inside the table in front of them, with numerous small dishes of succulent meats and exotic vegetables and mushrooms were scattered around the cooking area, and all of this facing a gorgeous panoramic 39th story view of Ebisu and greater Tokyo. Knowing that I didn't have the capacity to consume what was in front of my neighbours, I went and ordered a bowl of soup and noodles.

With my stomach safely coated, I proceded to the beer musuem, but I ended up largely disappointed as all the exhibits were in Japanese. Of interest were some sizely beer mugs, plastic versions of some tasty brews, and a well presented (and affordable!) taster tray of some of Sapporo's mixes. Just squeezing out of the place at closing time, I now made my way to - Roppongi!

Roppongi, the gaijin district. The place were the well-to-do foreigners hung out to party. The first thing to greet me was a giant sandstone-like laden indoor and partly outdoor shopping 'suburb', mountain of designer clothes stores and classy boutique shops - most of which I ignored. I wandered around outside, onto the now damp and windy streets, along the darkened but neonlighted sidewalks around past restaurants, pubs, and a few jazz clubs, until my legs and feet were thoroughly sore (and soaked). I finally made my way into the a lively sushi restaurant, was once again greeted by 'Irashaimase!!!!!' that would plague my every visit to any shop in Japan, and made my way to a table. I ordered the 'sushi special', and despite the apparent high turnover and may visitors to this place, I ended up with a less than fresh sushi platter that nonetheless looked great. Planning to visit a Jazz club (one of my goals of my trip), I was just way too buggered, my legs too sore, my eyelids too weak, and so I proceded home.

Prawn Burger?

Way ahead of us

This is where they grow them

A world of LED

Torture device?

Meal on 39th floor

I love you too, Beer!

Eiffel's evil twin brother

2nd dinner
Galaxy! Finally!