Indepenedent travellers - Takayama

Stop !! Before you read this - have you read the one we posted earlier today entitled "Our Ikeda Home". If not, maybe you should or you will get even more confused

Takayama is a big tourist objective but mainly for the Japanese and independent travellers as it’s a fair way from the shinkansen system. In particular it has two festivals, one in spring and one in the autumn where huge roof-high floats are dragged through the town. The spring one was due only days after we were to be there. I t might have been fun but I doubt we would have got a room and there was plenty to do and see anyway.

 

We arrived late afternoon and walked to our hotel, or rather past it as there were not signs other than in Japanese, it wasn’t precisely where it said it was on the map and it didn’t really look much like a hotel. Fortunately a very nice young lady from a neighbouring rather more up-market hotel accosted us and graciously re-directed us to our proper station. Inside it was a bit faded but perfectly fine, just not aimed at the international jet-setting market.

 

Before it got dark we had time to take a quick tour around the historic quarter which borders the river, a bit like Nara but less polished and no less interesting for that. There are a couple of streets where gifts shops and restaurants are targeted at visitors but we wandered away a few blocks and found a small restaurant where no English was spoken but as most places the menu took the form  of coloured photographs and we correctly identified beer, shrimps and sashimi. Very nicely done (though Margot passed her cuttlefish over to Peter) and a pleasant local atmosphere.

 

A lazy start to the following day meant we just caught the tail end of the ‘early morning market’, a mixture of gifts, trinkets and vegetables sold by little old ladies. We made some purchases and then walked back along the old streets which now revealed some rather tasteful shops with some lovely things. We bought considerably fewer items for considerably larger numbers of yen. Apart from price our choices are dictated by weight and bulk and flexibility so many of our future hosts will be getting tea-towels and carrier bags.

 

In the afternoon we caught a bus out to Hida Folk Village where a number of buildings have been relocated a couple of miles outside the town. The majority are farm houses though some of fairly wealthy and influential landowners and you can wander in and out freely - provided you take your shoes off of course - as well as catching great views across to the snow covered peaks to the north. 

We were there until closing time which meant we missed the last bus but it was a pleasant walk back down the hill. On either side of the road were immaculate smallholdings which felled Peter with good intentions about his plot back home, though he is secretly hoping Jim and Becca will have woven their magic in his absence and it will have gotten off to a better start than it did last year.

 

There was also a massive megalomaniac-type temple recently built by a new Korean cult that dominates that side of the town. It seems it’s a bit of an embarrassment and is resolutely ignored in the official guide books though it’s impossible to ignore on the ground.

 Back in town we had a bit of an evening stroll before getting our supper at a convenience store and heading for the hotel.

 Next day our last day so we were up early, packed and took our bags down to the station for storage before heading of to the exhibition hall down along the river bank. It was a lovely day so we decided instead to go for a walk up the hill around the back. At the top of a steep climb is a park and a Buddhist graveyard and then a walk along the ridge before walking back down to the town past little houses each with their own allotment. Grow your own is definitely the thing around here. With a couple of hours still to spare we headed for the Heritage house right at the far end of town only to find it closed on Monday – we knew this but had forgotten that today was Monday, easy to do when you are on holiday. It did mean we had thoroughly explored the town in all directions and although small and provincial compare with the earlier part of our time here in Japan it was a very interesting and relaxing time, as well as a bit of a challenge.

Our final week - Yokohama

We were spending our last few days in Yokohama with Eno's family. The train journey was another opportunity to see Mt Fuji as the trip out had been at night but foiled yet again by a low cloud cover. Eno met us off the train from Ngoya and led us through another of these huge station cum shopping mall complexes to a traditional restaurant known for its Hokkaido (northern Japan, a part we hadn’t managed to get to) menu. This was the second of our reunion meals. The food was terrific with much mixing and matching and, with a higher proportion of fluent English speakers the conversation flowed freely. We simple souls were impressed by the wi-fi ordering console set in the traditional low table and seating arrangement but in the end our orders were taken by a flesh and blood waitress. We imagined that, in these private dining spaces, the remote as an option to preserve the privacy of your intimate dinner date.

 

Dinner over, and still dragging our baggage we headed for Hodagaya, the suburb where Eno lived. A taxi took us up the steep hill overlooking Yokohama and dropped us at the top of long step steps leading down to their house, in fact three houses built intone by Eno’s father an interior designer. Not only was there space for us and Eno but also an independent space for Eno’s granny, an amazingly sprightly and still able to negotiate the steps on her trips out to the day centre. After a cup of green tea we were shown to our room, once again the tatami room but with a little study attached for dressing – and doing the blog.

 

After a full Japanese breakfast and a full washing machine, we set of with Eno to the island of Enoshima across a long causeway from the mainland. Despite occasional rain showers we climbed to the top of the hill and then on up a modern observation tower set in luscious gardens which gave us great views of the island and the dozens of sea eagles that inhabit it. We then clambered down onto a rocky beach on the far side of the island before re-tracing our steps and having lunch in a restaurant with huge picture windows with the eagles floating by only feet away, probably eyeing our lunch

 

Returning to the mainland we took an old-fashioned train that squeezes down streets ands through people’s back yards for several miles along the coast to Kamakura. From the station we walked through a long bazaar, another chance for gift shopping, to arrive at the temple at dusk and in a light rain. The temple itself was closed so we missed the large reclining Buddha but the grounds still worth the visit worthwhile.

 When we got back there was a fantastic supper ready with wine to celebrate our 30^th wedding anniversary. With Eno’s parents married some 40 years we spent happy times discussing the secrets of happy marriages and swapping family photos.

Last Day in Yokohama

 

Our last full day we explored Yokohama itself. Famous as Japan’s major seaport and the first city opened up to foreigners we headed for the harbour but by way of Motoamchi where we explored the foreigners cemetery. It was in fact closed but a very accommodating gardener let us in any way, possibly thinking we had relatives there, and we had the whole rambling overgrown little park to ourselves.From there it wa a short walk through Chinatown to the waterside.

 

The Maritime Tower which promised panoramic views of the harbour area was closed for renovation (tip for travellers – getting your Lonely Planet guidebook from a charity shop is a false economy) so we walked along the esplanade which runs back into the city centre. It is lined with parks and historic boats and ferries and is a great spot to people watch. We also saw a 40 foot mechanical spider being run through its paces in preparation for a parade at the weekend. Hopping on a ferry that took us across the harbour we stopped for lunch at the red brick warehouses that had been converted into designer shops and restaurants before walking on in, past a square rigger being rigged by high school kids and the fire department frogmen practising a rescue drill, to the Landmark Tower.

 

This is not only the tallest tower in Japan, but it was open too! Nevertheless Mont Fuji refused to reveal itself despite our waiting up there over an hour as the clouds seem to be dispersing. When it was clear they were just playing with our emotions we gave up and headed back to the station and Hodagaya

 

Y the time we got back to Eno’s house it was time to pack as the next day we flew out to the US. In the morning Eno’s mother led us for a little stroll to the top of the hill where more often than not Mount Fuji could be seen. Our last chance, but no luck. Returning to the house we had tea in the beautifully tended garden with granny joining us with tales of her amazingly recent travels when she won a lottery prize to Spain and another to Dubai.

 

Finally Eno led us back into town and put us on the Narita Express to the airport. By evening we were on our way to LA and a different world. Or, as we say, nearly exhausting our grasp of the Japanese language “Sayanoro” Japan and “Konichiwa” America

 

A completely new experience for Peter and a chance for Margot to fill in the gaps left from the odd days off between seminars and lectures on previous visits. We had a wonderful time and more than ever  grateful for the hospitality of Margot’s former colleagues and their families who put up with our lack of language and overlooked our clumsy, if unintentional, abuse of their cultural niceties.