Sunday, April 27, 2014

Full Frontal Fuji

The alarm goes off at 6AM. It's too late. Both Barbara and I are already up. My body is still not quite sure what's going on with this time change. We get ready and head to breakfast. The apple juice here is...extraordinary. I'm not quite sure what it is that makes it that way. It may be just a different apple type that they juice. I don't know. Barbara had some the previous couple of days and I finally tried it. I should just learn to listen to my wife more.

I think it's about time we covered a topic that needs to be addressed. Toilets. There are a couple different toilets here; Our standard western toilets and the squat toilets. We've experienced the squat toilet while wandering around China. Every hotel we've stayed in, regardless of country, have had standard western toilets...until now. There is nothing standard about the western toilet here in Japan. They take it to the next level. The come with all kinds of upgrades and amenities. The one we have here in the hotel will wash you. You can choose the level of water pressure to use and it thankfully uses warm water. Ours has two different washing options; Bidet or Spray. It is a very strange sensation. I, myself
Our Bathroom Command & Control Center
prefer the Bidet.

Barbara has obviously experienced more variations on these wonders of modern science. She tells me tales of buttons that will make flushing noises for you without you wasting water flushing (to cover up any sounds you want to cover). Some of them have adjustments for water temperature and even a drying button. On Mount Fuji, she tells me the toilet seats are warmed for you.

That being covered, we move on. Down to the lobby we head to hook up with the tour to Mount Fuji & Hakone. We are going to drive to Fuji-san by bus and head back by bullet train! Turns out to be a large group. Very large. Like 5 busloads of people large. I guess this is a popular tour. I understand a little better now when they said that this was fully booked for yesterday.

On the two hour drive out our guide, Ami, tells us all about Mt Fuji. She tells us about the different local prefectures of Japan. She tells us about which fruits come from what prefecture and in what month. She continues to bombard us with information for quite some time. I can't catch even half of it. And in case I missed any of this information, she covers it all again several more times. I still miss much of it. She then leads us in a song about Mt Fuji. I'm pretty sure I sang this in Japanese class with Hasagawa-Sensei.

As we get into the mountains we are actually greeted with something that I thought we had missed; Cherry Blossoms. They only bloom a short while during the spring months. It is a big thing here in Japan to view the cherry blossoms. In Tokyo, that time has already passed. However, due to the slightly colder climate we are getting into, the trees are blossoming just for us. Both Barbara and I are thrilled to get to see them as we had already made peace with missing them entirely.
Cherry Blossoms
Mount Fuji is divided into stations with station 0 at the bottom of the mountain and station 10 as the summit. There is a road going up to station 5 that is open as soon as enough snow has left the mountain. We are told on the way to Fuji-san that until yesterday at 1pm, the road was only open to station 1. However, the season has started and Station 5 is now open for business. If we had actually gotten on the tour yesterday, we would only have gotten to station 1. But, we get to head up today! That's the universe smiling on us.

There was some decent cloud cover today that is most likely going to cover the upper reaches of Mt Fuji. The weather is a fickle thing and mountains can be pretty shy. Our first glimpses of the mountain shows exactly that. We can see both slopes going up, but, the clouds cover the upper cone. We pass through station 3 and BAM! the clouds part and we get a great shot of Mt. Fuji. Our driver pulls off to the side of the road for some pictures. You can't wait when a mountain decides to come out to dance. I have not fully checked all of the photos yet, but if they are half as good as what I was seeing, they should be pretty magnificent.
Fuji-San
We can't stay long on the side of the road as we have a schedule to keep. So, we pile back on the bus and continue our journey up the mountain. We make it to station five and I am thrilled for a couple things; First, the clouds are still staying out of our way and giving us stunning views of this renowned peak. Second, I brought a sweater. It's COLD up here!!!

Seems like no time at all passes and it's time to leave. Back in the bus and heading down the winding road. By the time we reach station 2, the clouds have rolled all the way back in. It was like they got out of the way just for us. I sure do appreciate it.

Our next stop is a river cruise on the Ashi river. Well, they call it a cruise. It's a 15 minute ferry ride. Other than the scenery, it was exactly that; A 15 minute ferry ride. That 'cruise' took us to the base of Mt. Komagatake, a volcanic cone of the Hakone mountain range. We get onto a gondola for a trip up to the summit. The views from the tram ride were nice. The colors of the trees were pretty varied. There were several trees of mountain cherry blossoms that spotted the landscape with their white flowers to add a splash of color to the various greens of the trees. At the summit of the mountain sits a Shinto Shrine.
Mountaintop Shrine
Not too much time is allowed for us to wander around on the top of the mountain. But, there's not really much to do except take photos and congratulate yourself for summitting. Seeing as we took a tram up, there's no point in celebrating. But, we did take some photos. At the base of the tram we have to wait for another car to bring the rest of our group back down, so we head into one of the local shops that is known for their woodworking. Spectacular! I could have spent quite a bit of time and money admiring some of the intriacate inlay work that was done in that shop. We picked up a couple things and I told the man behind the counter I thought his work was beautiful.

With the rest of our group down from the summit, we get back on the bus and head off for our final part of the tour; The bullet train back to Tokyo. What took 2 hours to drive to will take less than 37 minutes to return from. Oh, and it runs about $37. Why the hell is Amtrack so expensive?!? It's just a damned train on a track. This is a bullet train. Oh, and it was first put into service in 1964...fifty years ago in October. Not like it's new technology. Stupid Amtrack.

I would love to say that riding the train was different than any other train. But, it's not. Oh, it's fast alright. But, it's just a fast train ride. I do so appreciate that we didn't have to go back by bus...that was an option on the tour for $30 less. As we arrive into Tokyo station, we get off the train and head off to find a magic land that our tour guide told us about today; Ramen Street. It's apparently in the basement of the train station. There are many, many ramen shops that people supposedly stand in line in order to get in.

After quite a few bad turns and poor directional decisions, we find exactly what we are looking for, Ramen Street location achieved! Sure enough, there are several shops with Disneyland like lines to get in. Seriously, there's one line that had 'approximate wait times'. It went back to just about an hour wait to get in and eat ramen. We were too hungry for an hour. So, we wandered a bit. We finally found one that had a line that we felt we could handle. However, ordering was going to be interesting...
I can take your order...


That's the ordering vending machine. No waiter asking to take your order. No, you buy tickets for the meal you want and then wait in the line until there is a seat available for you. Then you hand the staff your tickets and he eventually brings you the food. Well, we got a couple bowls of ramen and a plate of gyoza. Faith in the ramen producing humanity is restored! Friends, this is the ramen we were told about. This was the ramen of our dreams. This. Is. Ramen. We actually ordered 'dipping' ramen. So, they gave us a bowl of the broth and another bowl filled with noodles. We were a bit stumped as to exactly what to do (we didn't know we ordered 'dipping' ramen at the time). Luckily for me, Barbara has very little shame in her game. She pulled the guy who sat us over and asked how to eat it. He smiled and nodded and told us to get some noodles and move them over into the broth. Eat those. That ramen will live in my dreams...

It was way past time to head back to our hotel, so we begin to head back to our hotel to call it a night...just after we pick up a couple of these delicious looking pastries from a shop here in the basement.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Subway Shopping

So, we have no plans for today. We sleep in until 7:15am. Head down...or up...to breakfast at the top of the hotel and prep for the day's activities. We plan to head down to Asakusa to do a little shopping. That will require us to figure out the subway system. At breakfast we are sat at window seats which give us a view of the Japanese gardens that are attached to the hotel. After seeing it from this height, we decide that we are going to stroll through the gardens before doing anything.

The gardens were initially landscaped in 1603 for a local samurai lord and have been kept up since then. We spend quite a bit of time wandering the gardens. They are pretty awesome. There's a fairly large waterfall here and many, many large koi. Heck, there's even a tepenyaki restaurant in the middle of the gardens. But, at $150 a person for dinner, we're going to pass.

After the gardens, we head out to brave the subway system. The ticket machines are easy to navigate (as they have an English button that switches languages). We get a pair of day passes and jump on the train. The train is pretty full, but, not nearly what you imagine. There are no 'pushers' shoving people onto the train. There's plenty of room to stand and I don't feel that my personal space is violated in any way. Several stops later we are at our destination and spend several hours going from shop to shop browsing and buying.

Imagine several paragraphs of all the shopping we did. Excellent. We're a touch hungry by this time (all that shopping takes a toll on the body) so we look around for something to dine on. Barbara's eyes light up when we spot a sushi-go-round. This was something that she REALLY wanted to find and try. You sit at the bar as plates of sushi pass by on a conveyor belt. You take what you want and you pay for what you eat by the color of the plate that you pick up. I have to say, that was pretty awesome. There's a constant stream of food passing by that you can just eat your fill with.

As we are heading to a department store at the end of the street (which we were told by our guide yesterday would have one of the items we are looking for), we stop to look at some goods at a shop. One of the ladies working there begins to show off the stores goods and we decide to buy a couple of them. Barbara starts talking up the lady behind the counter (who seems to be the owner) and we find out that her son went to Los Angeles many years ago to go to school at the San Diego University. I think she remembers that her son 'flew' to LAX in order to get to whichever of the schools he attended. At any rate, they go back and forth talking about various tid-bits that she remembered her son telling her about and then she tells us that we should take a couple more items free of charge...for us. She's extremely handy, that wife of mine.

The department store that we head into is much different than our department stores. Each 'department' is actually a different store. There's a book department, a craft department, several different apparel departments, even a fabric department. But, they all have their own employees and registers. Many times there are not even walls between the different departments.

We head back towards our hotel on the subway and stop off at a pub that we saw last night for a couple of drinks. We figure we could use a little break before dropping off our purchases and then heading out for dinner. We make the decision to head out for shabu-shabu. Barbara got the recommendation from someone who said we MUST try it. According to my very limited research, it's similar to fondue. We know the name of a place in the local neighborhood, so, we head out to find it. Well, we don't find it. This place apparently does not have its name on the sign in roman characters, only kanji. Hell, I didn't know all that many kanji symbols when I was actively learning the language. So, I sure wont be able to find it after 20 years.

We wander around looking for something that pulls us in. We find a different shabu-shabu place. They are booked for the evening. We wander on until we find a small ramen house. Perfect! That's on our list. We leave rather disappointed. Barbara's broth was overly salty while mine seemed to have a burnt flavor in it. I appreciated the experience there, but, did not really get the glorious ramen that I was looking for. While walking back to the hotel we just happened to walk by the same coffee and cake place from last night. Barbara had a chamomile tea (that smelled great) and I had the same coffee from last night. Still glorious!

Tomorrow...FUJI!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Whirlwind on a Stick

Today we have our only scheduled tour of the trip. Kind of a basic introduction to Tokyo. It was an extremely fast, whirlwind tour that I felt like a bonus is given to the operator if they can get us to each location and back within a certain time frame. We stopped by the Imperial Palace, but, were not allowed to get close to it. Obama beat us here as well. We got there just in time to see the Presidential Motorcade driving into the palace grounds. Not like we were going to get to go in anyway; The Emperor lives here. A walk through the beautiful manicured gardens was promised. There was no delivery of said walk.

Our next stop is Tokyo Tower. Very similar to the Eiffel tower. Just a bit taller. We take the elevator up to 'first' observatory station. You can go higher for an additional fee. We are not given the time. We were hustled along through the views and back onto the bus. Almost like we were never there.

Do Not Want!
Then we head off to the Sensoji Temple. This is the site of both a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple. There is also a bazaar of shops to poke around in. We cleanse ourselves with the pure water and purify ourselves with healing smoke of incense before heading into the temple. You can also pay 100 Yen for a fortune. They are not always good fortunes, we are told. If you don't like the fortune you are given you can tie it in a knot on, what looks like, a clothes line.

We wander the grounds here for a bit and then head off into the shops. At the suggestion of a couple from our tour group we get some green tea ice cream before heading back out to the bus.

On the way back to the hotel we get some information on things to do and see in Tokyo as well as discuss the subway system. We're on our own for the rest of the trip.

Barbara and I head towards a noodle shop to get ourselves some lunch. After an 80 dollar meal of delicious noodles, we decide it will probably be the last time we eat at the hotel. The pricing here is outrageous. Don't get me wrong, the food was fantastic and the service was exceptional. But, neither of us believe it was 80 dollars worth of fantastic.

We head to the room to pour over the various optional tours that are available. We choose a couple of them and head down to the concierge desk to get them booked. That's when we find out that a number of them are booked up solid. We had chosen a trip to Fuji-san. Booked on the day we wanted. So, we move some things around and get it scheduled for another day. We wanted to take a day trip to Kyoto - fully booked until Monday; We leave Monday. So, with many of the other optional tours not really to our liking (especially for the price of some of the half day tours), that gives us a couple days for exploration on our own.

We grab a map of the local walking area and head out into the night. We pass a number of very small eateries. Many of them have plastic replicas of each meal laid out showing what is served there. A number of them have signs stating that English menus are available. One place in particular catches my eye and nose. A yakitori place. There is no English sign or plastic food. We move on. After a number of blocks up and back through small alleys we find ourselves more and more hungry. We also find ourselves near the yakitori place. My Japanese is slowly returning to me and I can make out how much each thing costs on the displayed menu, but, not exactly what it is.

Barbara hears some English coming from within and steps inside. Sure enough, there is a group of guys standing at a table eating food on a stick and drinking beers. She asks if it was easy to order and they tell us that there is an English menu. One of them tells us to try the rectum. We chuckle. They are serious. Maybe we're in over our heads. We look over the menu and realize that most of what's on the menu is a little...exotic. Vocal chord, beef intestine, rectum (damned near killed 'em), root of tongue, throat, etc. We decide that we can order the waygu beef and minced pork, at least. We also order a couple of drinks. Barbara orders yuzu and I order a Red Hoppy. Looks like a type of malt liquor. They give us our glasses; Barb gets her yuzu with soda (as our server likes it) and I get a bottle with a glass...that already has about two fingers of liquid in it. No idea what that is. I sample it and it's some kind of iced liquor. I pour the contents of the bottle into the glass and give it a swig. It mixes well and doesn't taste much more than a mat liquor type drink that I would expect.

We are parked right in front of the grill. The chef points out our beef as he seasons it over the red hot coals. It's served, (as is everything here) on a stick and is quite fatty. Barb finishes half of it and gives me the rest. By this time, I'm a third of the way through my drink. That's a powerful force, there. I'm feeling a bit...looser. We decide to order a second round. Barb gets a grilled rice ball that we've been watching the chef meticulously prepare (which she really enjoyed) and I order up some tongue. Why not? I thought it was tasty when Marc tricked me into ordering it as a taco. This time it was a little chewy, but, had a glorious smoked flavor. All in all, a wonderful time was had. I would totally come back here again.

On our way back to the hotel we stop in at a coffee and cake shop. I order the Kilimanjaro coffee on the menu and Barbara orders some cheese cake. Barbara calls my attention to the strange contraption that they seem to be making my coffee with. I light up with excitement. This is something that I had read about in the past. It's a siphon system. It's a different way to make coffee. That coffee was fabulous. Very smooth. We will be back here before we leave the country.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Japan-a-go-go

We depart on our next adventure on a new airline for both of us; Singapore Airlines. Barb sweet talks the guy at check in into giving us a group of 3 seats so we are not packed in like sardines for this ten and a half hour flight. Unfortunately, that puts us in the middle section towards the back of the plane. We get through security and find our gate. Now we wait for a couple of hours until our flight boards. We head off to find ourselves something to do in the meantime.

I love international terminals. They just seem a bit more high class than domestic ones. The decor seems nicer. The seats are nicer. We post up at a wine bar and drink away our time. Of course this isn't a good idea right before getting on a long flight. The wine is just going to dehydrate us. But, we don't really care. We are on our way to Japan!

Our flight is filled with, what we can only presume is, a teen religious group on their way to do mission work or some such thing. There are about 40 late teens all dressed very nicely waiting to board the plane. Too nicely for a long international flight. Suits, dresses, ties, heels. After boarding the plane, we find ourselves right in the middle of the group. They all take turns in the on board restrooms and change into pajamas and comfortable flying attire. There is a profound lack of profanity and some small groups of singing during the flight. At least there are no crying infants around us. The Vonn Trapp family isn't that bad. The flight goes very well. If you have a chance to fly Singapore Airlines; Jump on it. In seat entertainment, WiFi, charging station...just great!

After landing, we find our tour group quickly and painlessly. We are numbers 3 and 4 out of 21 coming off the plane. Not sure how that works as we were some of the last people off the plane. ::shrug:: We find a couple seats and hang out while we wait. Barbara checks out the local restroom situation while I exchange our cash into Yen. It seems that two of the people that are in our group are missing. Like never got off the plane kind of missing. After two hours and several phone calls, we leave the airport without them. Maybe they missed their flight. I still don't know what happened to them. Nor do I really care. They are burning my vacation time.

On the way to the hotel, the Hotel Okura, we find that we have been bumped from that hotel into The New Otani (which was my preferred hotel). The other hotel had a somewhat surprise visitor; President Obama. He just happened to be in town at the same time as us. Our guide talks to us on our long trip from the airport to the hotel. It seems that most everyone on the bus are asleep however. Our bodies believe that it's around 4am. We get checked into the hotel and are asleep faster than you can say Rip Van...snore.