Postscript - Japanese Crockery

Almost a month since we bade farewell to Japan, the Japanese crockery we bought in Kyoto has arrived; putting it to good use we make some Japanese dishes- Ginger Pork, Pickled Cucumber, Tofu in Sesame Sauce and Salmon Nanbanzuke.

The bowls, plates and chopstick rests come from Kyoto, while the rest of the tableware was made for us by a very talented lady by the name of Adrienne Baba, who also runs Japanese cookery classes.

A great reminder of our holiday!

Day 14: Leaving Japan

An early morning (5am) wake-up to be ready for the shuttle bus back to Narita airport; wifi on the shuttle so we can keep track of where we are. For an early Saturday morning there's a lot of traffic on the road but fortunately most of it is heading in the opposite direction towards the centre of Tokyo.

The Green Tomato Shuttle

Sayonara, Tokyo

As was the case with our first journey here two weeks ago, our minibus driver takes pride in approaching barriers at high speed (which rise just in time).

We already checked in over wifi last night (the excellent hotel printed our boarding cards and even delivered them under the door in the middle of the night) so it's just a brief queue to check in baggage then explore shops. Alan finds a motherlode of KitKats (Hot Chilli, Red Bean and Strawberry Shortcake) and a big Totoro while Rachel is pleased with a bag that you fold out of a rectangle of cloth. Eat our breakfast, then through security to the gate; we find an ice cream vending machine at the gate to get rid of loose change and keep kids amused.

Onto the plane - Alan decides not to try and sleep but instead to cram in as may films as he can - Wolf of Wall Street, Like Father Like Son, The Past and 12 Years a Slave. Haven't movie binged like that since university.

On arrival back at Heathrow T5, pick up the car and short drive back to Premier Inn where, after supper we crash out for the night, before the drive back to Derbyshire in the morning. What a fantastic couple of weeks we've had - memories to last a lifetime.

Day 13: Matsumoto and back to Tokyo

After breakfast we take the ryokan minibus back to Takayama station and go to the adjacent bus station to catch the bus across the Japanese alps to Matsumoto - lots of very long tunnels, many public works (road mending after the very harsh winter), glorious views.

We arrive at Matsumoto and put our cases in the luggage lockers at the JR station - oh dear we're one locker short, but after hanging around for five minutes wondering what to do - take one case with us? leave one member of the family guarding a case? look for another locker at the bus station? - fortunately someone comes back to claim their luggage. Rachel is immensely relieved that her confidence in the system is not misplaced.

Then it's off to Matsumoto Castle, but first a stop for lunch at a charming studio cafe - the lady clears her laptop from the tables for us and we enjoy green tea with delightful cakes. Some were dog shaped, and some Tanuki (racoon dog) shaped:

Tanuki Cakes

On to the castle which proves quite a challenge as the many wooden stairs are steep and slippery in socks. Muscles will ache for several days afterwards. This castle, "Crow Castle" (for the black colour) unlike many others in Japan, is original and about 400 years old. Mostly a serious defensive building it also contains a later (and probably defensively foolish) "Moon viewing room" with large windows (as opposed to the arrow-slits elsewhere) on three walls. Samuel and Imogen pose with samurai in the grounds and we finally allow Samuel to buy a much-asked-for samurai sword - in the form of a key ring, so we trust it will not alarm airport security.

Japan, old & new again - in Matsumoto

Matsumoto Castle

Then, after one more ice cream from the parlour next to the restaurant advertising the local speciality (raw horse sashimi), and a walk back to the JR station, we reclaim our bags and get the piddly pom train to Shinjuku station.

We thought we could walk easily to the hotel from Shinjuku - how wrong we were. Huge crowds, very difficult to find our destination, so had to ask lots of people but eventually we find it (typical of the friendly and helpful experiences we had during our stay, some people came up to us as we were obviously looking lost and helpless to helped us out).

We dump our bags, and go find food - for the morning (croissants, kit kats from local 7-11), then a fast food cafe for supper (everyone too tired for anything more substantial or adventurous tonight).

Day 12: Takayama

This morning we drag our suitcases (nearly, but not quite, forgetting our passports we had stored securely in the room safe) to the subway to Osaka station, then get the shinkansen to Nagoya. At Nagoya station we get some lunch from the convenience store on the platform (sushi etc. - very good) then take a local train for Takayama through some gorgeous countryside.

We walk from the JR station at Takayama through the delghtful streets of the old town, over some bridges before we locate our ryokan Oyadu Yomakyu. Turns out they had tried to meet us at the station in their minibus  - never mind. Lovely place!

Tea at our ryokan

Simple, but beautiful rooms

We explore Takayama on foot, finding an ice cream to keep spirits up, and walk up the hill to get great views of the town and mountains.

This sugidama (ball of Japanese cedar) hanging outside indicates a brewery

Above Takayama

So sad about the cherry blossom...

Heading back to the ryokan we're snapped by the owner (she does this to all her guests).

Mug shot

Then, having earned our supper by our extensive walking tour this afternoon, we can do justice to a traditional Japanese supper on tatami matting; gorgeous food yet again.

 

Suitably replete, return to our rooms to find beds made up for us.

 

Time for a last glimpse of Japanese baseball on TV; tomorrow we head back to Tokyo for our final full day in Japan. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed.

Day 11: Osaka

We're leaving Miyajima today, but before we do so we've just got time to take the ropeway up Mt. Misen to get some breathtaking views of Japan's Inland Sea.

On the walk up we are urged on by signs imploring us to exert ourselves (as Beatrix Potter would say).
































The views from the top are well worth the effort:

After this it's time to take the ferry and train to Hiroshima JR station, followed by the Shinkansen to Osaka. At the local station in Miyajima port, I decide it's time to capture on film the glory that is the Japanese vending machine - you are never more than 50m from one of these no matter where you go in Japan.

On arrival in Osaka we catch the subway to our hotel (which this time we find easily), reunited with our cases once again (and for the last time).

Then it's time for a long walk up one of Osaka's big shopping streets (Dotombori) in search of a restaurant. Osaka doesn't strike me as having the same degree of character as the other places we've visited (although admittedly we don't really have much time to explore); perhaps it's the endless parade of (very high-end) shops that you could find in any big, affluent western city.

When we eventually find the restaurant it's perfect - it's in the Hep Navio building and is a deep-fry-it yourself all-you-can-eat establishment where you choose your skewers and cook them in the deep fat fryer in the middle of your table. I'm not sure such a thing would be legal in the UK, but it was a lot of fun!

The other thing I'd been meaning to photograph during our holiday were the many excellent examples of plastic food sculpture displays (サンプル) outside restaurants to let prospective customers know what's on offer. They are amazingly realistic, as these examples from a nearby restaurant in the same shopping complex demonstrate.

We take the subway back to the hotel, researching the best subway entrance for the morning when we will have our bags with us (we find the one with a lift).

Finally we watch a baseball game on the hotel room TV (will anyone ever score a run?). I try the grape and aloe drink from the vending machine (bits of grape in it) - surprisingly good.

Day 10: Hiroshima and Miyajima

Breakfast of champions

We have another excellent breakfast at the ryokan, beautifully prepared with a bewildering array of different dishes.

Wandering deer

  The deer are wandering around outside our room this morning.















We catch the ferry back to the mainland then a train to Hiroshima, followed by a tram into the city centre, buying day passes on the tram itself.

Our stop is the infamous A-bomb dome (600m above which "fat boy" exploded over Hiroshima on that terrible day in 1945), followed by reading the booklets left by survivors in the peace park, the moving memorial to the students who perished having come into the city to help and Cenotaph with its non-eternal Peace Flame (it will be extinguished when all of the nuclear weapons on the planet are destroyed). We decide to give the no doubt excellent peace museum a miss - too many horrors for one day; what is most striking is the attitude of the survivors - "first to forgive, and then to forget".

The A-Bomb Dome

We head towards the huge Fukuya department store so that everyone can stock up on reading matter for the remainder of the holiday (some Murakami for Alan) in the large and very comprehensive English-language section of the whole floor dedicated to books - why don't British department stores contain bookshops? - then grab some lunch (green tea smoothies, waffles etc.) from the bookstore cafe overlooking Hiroshima and its many building projects.

While we're here we decide that this might be the right time to order some Japanese crockery; we find another floor of Fukuya dedicated to dishes, bowls and the like and sure enough, there are lots of sets of 5 as we'd hoped. Via some hand waving and the enthusiastic and delightful help of some half dozen shop assistants, we eventually make our wishes clear - can we have this shipped back to England? The answer is yes, so in a two weeks' time we have a great reminder of our time in Japan (sets of 5 elegant bowls, plates and chopstick rests) turning up on our Derbyshire doorstep.

Smoothie

Then it's time to head back to Miyajima for our last night there. Tonight it's supper at a homely okonomiyaki a few doors down from the ryokan, with bar seating for about 10 and a TV burbling quietly in the background. The proprietess makes them while we watch; Imogen is a bit despondent as it looks like bacon is going into hers, but she does very well and fishes out the offending pieces to donate to the various carnivores in her party; even so the quantity proves too much for her, so Samuel steps in as the trencherman. James is somewhat taken aback by the sheer quantity of spring onions added as garnish (about four good sized handfuls).

Day 9: Miyajima

Today we take the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Hiroshima, and then onwards by local train to Miyajima port followed by ferry to the island.

Although the official name of the island is Itsukushima, it acquired the name Miyajima (meaning shrine island) due to the presence of a number of shrines on the island, the most famous one being associated with the O-torii gate (one of the most iconic images of Japan).

The O-torii Gate at Miyajima

Arriving on the island, a polite notice informs you that, whilst the many very tame deer that wander the streets are perfectly safe to approach, they do have a taste for passports, tickets and other bits of paper!

We wander the streets of the town for half an hour before stopping for lunch at a local cafe; the island has two specialities eel and oysters so for lunch I start with eel washed down with a local beer.

Speciality #1: Eel (with beer)

We wander around temple and look at the O-torii gate (later this evening we'll be able to get much closer) - James agrees to a rare pose so he can prove to his friends that he actually visited "the place with the gate".

.

KitKats and Green Tea

An unexpected bonus is that I finally find some Japanese Kit Kats - the local speciality for the Hiroshima area is citrus flavour.

James gets a "good luck with your exams" headband which will no doubt come in useful for his GCSEs next year (as long as he doesn't think that means he doesn't have to do any actual work).

Exam success, the Japanese way

We find our ryokan - maybe a little early, but our hostess is very welcoming with excellent English. She shows us where the baths are and how to use them. We settle in our rooms; as always with ryokan green tea and biscuits provided (plus supplementary kit kats).

After the last evening ferry leaves, the island loses its tourist bustle and takes on a quieter aspect. For supper, we try the Yamaichi Bekkan near the ferry terminal, which proves to be an excellent choice - the food is excellent and the chef is charming with a splendid command of English.

Eel

Giant Sushi Roll

Sashimi

Tempura

Speciality #2: Fried Oysters (with beer)

The lady at the ryokan told us that the evening tide will be out so we can get much closer to the O-torii gate, so after supper we walk back to take advantage of this.

The Gate after dark, tide out

Then back to our ryokan, for a spot of Japanese TV.

"Muppets" style TV programme teaching English