REEELY OLDE JAPAN: SHIRAKAWA-GO

Breakfast at the hotel then on the bus for the drive to Kanazawa, with a stop in the mountain village of Shirakawa-go, another UNESCO site, famous for its gassho-zukuri-style houses with thatched roofs designed to resemble two hands joined in prayer.  The ride took most of the morning and included a lot of the very long tunnels that we're becoming used to.  One of them today was 7 miles!  Once we arrived, our fearless driver took us on a very narrow, twisty, steep road that Yoshiko says most tours don't go up.  The payoff was a lovely view of the village from a hilltop.

This place gets a LOT of water runoff from the surrounding mountains, and they still cultivate rice in amongst the houses.  Each plot feeds a family of 4-5.  As they are rather isolated here, the rice is for their own consumption.  After everyone got their fill of snapshots, we headed down to a parking area on the right bank of the river you can see at lower right.  To get to the village proper, we had to cross a suspension bridge that was impressively long.  I think it would be a bit more exciting in the rainy season when those rocks below are covered with running water.  Chuck, Alice, & Loni are on there somewhere.

Once in the town, we were free to roam around until the meetup time, a couple of hours later.  The place isn't that big, so we had time to wander and enjoy the old architecture, rice paddies, etc.  This might be a big tourist attraction, but people live their ordinary lives here so you have to respect their private property.  We enjoyed the scarecrows arrayed along this building.  The locals take advantage of the abundant cool, running water.  The sluice in the top right pic holds various canned and bottled drinks for the merchant (out of sight), and a diversion sends the water down over them constantly.  Old roof construction, and a lily pond.

lChuck and Alice at the overlook; rice paddy; tourist store wares.

The houses are 2-300 years old, all built with steep roofs to shed all the snow they get here from storms off the Sea of Japan.  They're put together with posts, beams, and rope!

Most of them have doors on the second story so that they can get in and out when the drifts pile up.  The roofs get re-thatched every 20-40 years, depending on how bad the soot buildup gets on the inside.  The ceiling wood gets black, but apparently the soot dries and preserves the thatch.  When it is time to redo the roof, the whole town turns out, like a barn raising, and the new roof is up and ready in one day! They make quite a pretty picture.

 

 The thatch is, of course, a tremendous fire hazard and there are water stations throughout the town.  The entire village participates in fire drills.  The water nozzles are all gravity powered, and the pressure must be tremendous.  There's a photo in one of the buildings showing a practice run with all of the nozzles in the village going at the same time.

We got to visit the home of a farmer, half of which he lived in which was off limits, and the other half a museum.  This must have been a pretty wealthy guy at one time, as the woods, silkscreens, and carvings were all pretty fine.  Even had a Buddhist shrine.

We had a little time to spare, and we were hot from the walking, so we stopped off for an ice cream.  Japanese ice cream was uniformly good, with interesting flavor choices.  Had to encourage Loni to leave the trinkets behind so we could get back to the bridge and bus to continue on to Kanazawa.

 Kanazawa is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, on the eastern coast. It's known for well-preserved Edo-era districts and was the home of the second-most powerful samurai after the shogun.  Before going to the hotel, we did a tour of the Higashi Tea district, home to the geisha center of town.  Although we saw many women walking around in geisha garb, most all were just local teens and young women who were playing dress-up.  There might have been the occasional geisha apprentice, but we couldn't distinguish.  Yoshiko assured us that no self-respecting true geisha would be out at this time of day, and would never permit herself to be photographed.  It takes years of apprenticeship to become a geisha, learning singing, classic dance, tea service, etc.

We didn't bother to view the inside of any of the geisha parlors.  They wanted about $7 just to go in and look around, with no geisha present.  Pass.

After touring this area, we walked over to the samurai district to see the former home of the Nomuras, a wealthy samurai family who served the ruling Maeda family.  Yoshiko termed it a small house, but we thought it was quite large.  Lots of rich wood, painted panels, shrines, mats, and gardens.

Time to walk to our hotel where, we hope, our bags were delivered from the bus while we've been on walkabout.  We're staying at the Kanazawa Tokyu Hotel, quite nicely centrally located and across the street from a huge multi-level mall.  As is the case throughout Japan, these malls house huge food courts ranging from simple take-away to elaborate sitdown.  Collette was providing tonight, but it was at a buffet place that was an absolute madhouse.  It was clear that, in addition to locals, other tours were there as well.  This was not a high point of the tour.  Although the food was quite decent (tempura and sushi available), fighting for a table and then muscling around the various stations to fill your plate was a multi-bump-and-run affair.  We ate, but it was far from a calming evening.  Early crash for us after a very long, interesting day.

WET DAY IN TAKAYAMA

Between the last post and this, many days have passed, as Google, which owns and mishandles Blogger, is no longer playing nice with my blog composing program, Open Live Writer.  The internet is rife with complaints about the problem, so it isn't just me.  Something similar happened a couple years ago, and it took an angel at Google to freestyle a fix.  Hopefully, that will happen again, but can't count on it.  So, I'm reduced to using the vastly inferior Blogger engine to compose the blog.  This means no more easy positioning of photos.  They'll all be left justified.  No more wrap-around text for the photos.  No more lots of stuff.  So, if things look a little different, they are.

Shot from our hotel window. We both slept very well last night. Must be the total blackout shades in the hotel, the Takayama Green Hotel. Breakfast buffet at the Green Door restaurant was more eclectic. Many dim sum choices, German potato salad (?), and the usual rolls and eggs. We boarded the bus in a light rain for a short drive to the center of town where they have artisans’ shops and a farmer’s market. The fine woods used on the houses and shops was disfavored by the shogun at the time, so they were painted black to mimic cheaper wood more suitable for the merchant class. This was the old Japan that Loni was hoping to see.

 

At the farmer’s market, I tried a deep fried marshmallow square. Don’t ask me why. It tasted just like it sounds. I should have tried instead the octopus croquettes that the gal below was making. The Yen at this time was roughly 100 or so to the dollar, so these were three for about $2.

After wandering about the shops, we went off to visit one of the oldest administrative buildings in Japan, the Jinya government building. Another shoes off affair; I really should have brought along a pair of those complimentary slippers they hand out in the hotels. The rooms are all laid with tatami mats, the borders of which represent the class level of the occupants or allowed visitors. Everything was quite hierarchical in the 17th century, with separate entrances for the different classes, men and women, and rooms each was restricted to. Samurai from Edo, the capital, got a better entranceway than did the local warriors. Rank was also designated by how many tatami mats long and wide your space was. Note the blue borders on the mats below. Those were for higher ranks than mere black borders. The fish-on-a-stick was a method of adjusting the height of the kettle over the fire. The officials lived in this structure as well as administered from it.

 

The peasant-supplicants who had to deal with the bureaucracy had to stay down on the unpaved floor, while the officials sat up above on the mats. The roofs were a marvel of shingle layering. Count the number of layers on this eave. Stacks of shingles await repair work that was underway.

 

After finishing the tour, we had the afternoon free. Yoshiko gave us a few suggestions, one of which was to visit the museum for the town’s festival floats, the Takayama Matsuri Yatai Kaikan (whew!), a UNESCO site. That sounded pretty good to us, but only one other couple decided to go that way, so we set off with Bob and Noreen with Yoshiko leading us part of the way.

The Takayama Festival, held in spring (April 14 and 15) and autumn (October 9 and 10), is ranked as one of Japan's three most beautiful festivals (the other two are Kyoto's Gion Matsuri and the Chichibu Matsuri).

Four of the autumn festival's eleven floats (yatai) are exhibited at the museum, a hall next to Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine. The elaborately decorated floats are several hundred years old. We certainly were wowed. One of them had no wheels, weighed 2.5 tons, and would be carted around by 80 men under two long poles. It no longer appears in the parade, as they can’t find 80 suitable volunteers of equal height.

 

In an adjacent building was the Nikkokan, a display of 1/10 scale models of the different parts of Toshogu Shrine in Nikko, one of the most ornate and celebrated shrines in the country. As a former model train enthusiast, these creations were mind blowing. This is the Yomei-mon Gate, also called the Twilight Gate to imply that one could enjoy looking at its architecture all day until sunset.

 

This structure is the Honchido, where the Yakushi Buddha is stored:

 

A procession carrying one of the festival floats, and other views.

 

We really enjoyed this stuff and, along with Bob & Noreen, had the place to ourselves. I think the rest of the group really missed out on something special but, who knows what they found. After this, we were hungry, but we stepped outside to an absolute deluge. We tried to wait it out, but it didn’t seem like it was going to let up, so we sloshed off in search of a local place to eat, something authentic. We sure found it. B&N were at first reluctant, especially Bob: “Are you desperate or just really hungry?,” but we convinced them to take a chance. Turned out to be a one-woman operation, and she spoke absolutely no English. Ordering was comical and uncertain. We had no idea what would actually appear. The whole place consisted of two tables and three stools, and once the lone guy at the bar left, we were it. The back wall beyond Loni is only 18 inches away, altho it looks farther. The food came one dish at a time as she had to cook everything individually. As usual, I, as the slowest eater, was served last. It turned out to be a bunch of stuff on top of fried udon noodles which then was placed atop fried eggs. Looks dubious, but to these wet travelers it was manna from heaven. It was quite good. It cost 650 Yen, so just under $6. This really was a place that catered to locals, not tourists, so we were happy. And yes, so was Bob! He even had to get the owner to pose for a picture.

 

After this we split up as I wanted to find a 7-11 to use the ATM for some more yen. The rain had eased, so we could walk leisurely back to the hotel where we met a bunch of others from the group who all wanted to don kimonos for a group picture. I generally loath these things, but Loni really wanted to join the fun. We went upstairs and unwrapped our supplied kimonos and, feeling thoroughly embarrassed, trekked downstairs. Much confusion and order-giving, but we finally managed to get the shots taken. Some Japanese hotel patron wandered by as we were shooting away and asked if he could join in. Why not? He’s the ringer front center in the gals’ photo below.

 

The guy in the dark flowered kimono in the first row seated was our oldster whom we helped around once in a while. He was a funny guy, traveling solo, named Gwendell Hohensee. What a monicker! I give him full props for getting out there and doing it. We ate a later dinner in the hotel, fully expecting to get ripped off. What a surprise. Excellent food, very reasonably priced, in a nice dining room. Nice going Takayama Green Hotel!

CAW, CAW!

Friday, Aug. 31, 2018       Breakfast this morning was unusual.  It was served to our group in a set-off area of the hotel dining room, and all the places were preset, not just with crockery and silverware, but the food, too!  Eggs, toast, salad (?), fruit, sausages, breads (excellent, perhaps from the super bakery?) and coffee.  While it was all quite pretty, the eggs were barely warm.  It went down just fine, and we enjoyed the ambiance.

Something new, but old, is back.  I found a Wayback source for downloading the last available version of Picasa for the new computer I’m now using.  The pictures starting with this post will have been formatted using Picasa instead of the MS program I’ve been using (and not liking).  Hopefully, this might solve the right-side cutoff issues.  We’ll see after I complete and publish this post.  I still fear it’s a Blogger issue. At any rate, I already can see that the collages are easier to compile and don’t have that stupid watermark.

Close by the hotel, via a forest path along the lake, lies the Hakone Shrine.  When we were on the boat we saw the iconic Tori gate in the water for this shrine, but didn’t realize what it was.  [Credit for this photo to the Japan Travel Mate blog.]

We followed Yoshiko along the winding path through a gentle mist.  The lake is off to the right.

Hakone Shrine is famed for its massive-cedars-lined 90-step flight up from the lake, with the first of its Tori gates sitting in the water. This is the “floating” Peace gate.  Doesn’t look quite as impressive in my shot below, looking down over the people. But, if you’re a good photographer with better equipment and editing skills, this shot [credit: Japan Travel Mate blog] does the “floating” Tori Peace gate justice.

Hakone is a favorite destination for getaways from Tokyo, which is about two hours away.  Consequently, we had plenty of company, but it was still pretty neat.  The steps go up from the water to the shrine via a series of landings and Tori’s.

At the top of the stairs is the entrance to the Shrine, which also houses, of course, a gift shop.

Loni used another of the purification basins, but on the east side of the courtyard is an unique,  and very cool, chōzuya. This is the water purification basin for the sub-shrine of Kuzuryū-jinja, the 9-Headed-Dragon, and appropriately has 9 dragon heads with funnels coming out of the their mouths.

The courtyard (and gift shop), and adjacent shrines.  There also is a wall of twisted papers.  In both  shrines and temples one can buy o-mikuji for ¥100. These are small pieces of paper that reveal the fortunes (or misfortunes) that await you in all aspects of your life, from love, health, friendship, career, education, and so on. There are twelves levels of fortune (from “Great blessing” to “Great curse”). But if fate is not on your side, fear not! The decree of the gods can be annulled by twisting the o-mikuji around a tree or fence located nearby. That guy’s looking at a lot of bad luck!

Back to the hotel and we load into the bus for our trip to Matsumoto Castle, known as the “Crow Castle” for its black exterior.  Yoshiko is hopeful we’ll see a glimpse of Fuji, but it’s still pretty overcast.  The ride down the hill was again twisty, but there were some breaks in the clouds that gave us tantalizing peeks at what might be Fuji, or maybe not.  Lots of shutters clicking in anticipation.  To ease the frustration, Yoshiko put on a video documentary of Fuji.  Finally, things started clearing and we drove into better viewing areas, as this progression shows.

Doesn’t look quite the same without the signature snow cap, but what the heck. Here’s one of our photo op stops.

The ride to Matsumoto, not on freeways, took about 4 1/2 hours, but at least it was in clear weather.  We did more round-the-bus get-to-know-you’s with a portable mic.  I have to say, the sound system in this bus is the best I’ve experienced.  Excellent volume and clarity.  At Matsumoto, we were hungry and the first stop was for lunch.  Nothing fancy, rice beef bowl and a bowl of soba noodles.  Filling, but bland.  Afterwards, we walked next door to the Castle, the Crow, called that for both its color and also the way the swooping roofs look like wings.  It was very impressive.

Matsumoto Castle is one of five castles designated as ‘National Treasures of Japan’ and the oldest castle donjon remaining in Japan. Construction began in 1592.  Inside the castle are 6 floors accessed by steep (!)stairs and low ceilings leading past a few displays of armor and weapons from the Sengoku Period (Warring States Period) when the castle was built. The narrow wooden windows were used by archers and gunmen, and by the less skilled who simply dropped stones onto attackers.  It was never used for a residence, only as a military keep.  The stairs reminded me of the between-decks ladders we used on the Connie and Kitty Hawk, and they were a challenge for a lot of the visitors.  One flight had a 65 degree incline.  I have to say, the interior wasn’t all that interesting.  We also had to remove our shoes upon entering and walk around the place in our socks.  Good thing they didn’t polish all those wood floors and stairs.

 

After climbing around the Castle and grounds, we passed a huge lily pond that had mostly bloomed and gone, but I did find one blossom amongst the remnants.  We sat for a while eating ice cream from an adjacent store, then the rest of the afternoon was spent traveling in a steady rain to Takayama via a winding mountain & valley road, following a river that had a lot of tributaries and waterfalls.  This area is known as the Japanese Alps.  The road also sported a host of l-o-o-o-n-g tunnels, multi-miles in length.  I think we spent as much time in the dark as we did outside.  At Takayama, we settled into the courtyard of a 200-year-old sake brewery to taste the wares.  I was a little dubious as to partaking, as my only memories of sake were of the cheap firewater style that was all we could afford when I was on shore leave in Sasebo and Yokosuka 50 years ago.  That, plus the fact that I’ve not had virtually any hard liquor since my throat cancer ten years ago, which left me with a spot that seems to get inflamed if it contacts high-proof booze.  I’m glad I decided to risk it. Turns out the wine is only about 15%, and it was very, very smooth.  Yoshiko had to translate for the brewmaster as he was explaining the wines, and she got rather expressive.  We drank our samples out of these little wooden cups.  I think everyone was impressed.

Dinner was at an adjacent restaurant and was a cook-your-own Wagu beef dinner.  Everyone’s heard of Kobi beef, and this is just a regional variant.  Beautifully marbled, and melted in your mouth like butter.  We cooked the beef on our individual hibachi grills to our liking.  Again, kudos to Colette for a first-rate included dinner.  We were definitely happier than the dull faces in this picture.  Long day.

At the hotel, before we checked in, we got a demonstration of how to wear a kimono.  Seems that’s the thing here.  Guests dress up in them and parade around to the baths, and whatever.  Hmm.  We’ll see.  At the room, I couldn’t get the key (regular key, not card) to unlock the door.  After multiple attempts I went down and got a clerk to come up.  She was very gracious.  She also unlocked the door with no problem.  Seems their locks rotate the opposite of what we’re used to, and I was trying to force it in the other direction.  Very long day indeed.

UPDATE:  Just viewed this post online and am majorly ticked off.  If anything, the picture cutoff is worse and now the pictures look like they’ve been degraded to low-res.  Everything looks great in the draft on my computer, but is awful in the online version.  Augh!!

UPDATE 2:  After monkeying around, I’ve resized the pics to restore the right side cutoffs.

FROM HELL TO EDEN

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018      Today we leave the crush of Tokyo and end up in an incredibly serene spot.  Bags are to be outside the room by 7:30 for our 9:00 departure.  Time enough for our last go at the excellent breakfast buffet at the Prince Hotel.    I forgot to turn off my phone and, at 5:15, got a robocall from the U.S.  If I could get my hands on . . .  Couldn’t fall back to sleep, so we got up for early breakfast.  We eat like there’s no tomorrow.  Omelets, sausage, fruit, yoghurt, curried rice (!), danishes, OJ, and cafe americano.  We’re going to miss this place, methinks.  On the bus for an hour or so and we stopped at a highway rest for a bathroom break.  Japan gets lots of tourists from all over Asia, and many from the more rural areas of Japan as well.  I guess that some folk aren’t quite familiar with modern facilities, as we saw signs like these not only here, but all over, including in fancy hotels. We like the ones showing how NOT to squat.  Like most everything in Japan, even roadside bathrooms are immaculate.  While traveling this morning, we did a go-around on the bus where everyone introduced him/herself.  It helped pass the time to get a mini-bio of where folks were from.  On our other Colette tours, this was done at the first night welcome dinner, but this was a good alternative.  We learned from Yoshiko that Japan is 80% mountains and only 10% flat enough for agriculture (rice) and industry.  Guess the rest is residential.

Our morning stop today was at Owakudani crater, located in an active volcanic zone, created 3,000 years ago when Mt. Hakone erupted.  We are to ride the Hakone Ropeway, an aerial tram up to the rim of the crater, passing over a desolate swath that vents sulphur gas for your olfactory pleasure.  As I can smell nothing, I was the only one breathing easy in our car.   On a clear day, one allegedly can see Mt. Fuji from here, but it was cloudy today.

Nice little warning sign, eh?  Well, this was at the TOP of the ride, and nowhere to be found at the bottom where we boarded.  I have both asthma and respiratory disease!  I think I was in more danger of a panic attack when I read the signs at the top.  Fortunately, it was really windy at the top, and it was blowing all of the gases away from us.  I think on a calm day I’d have been in trouble.  Below, check out the wind blowing the girl’s hair next to Loni.  It was strong.  We had a bite to eat in the reception area, and bought our one and only souvenir, an inlaid wood depiction of a man smoking his pipe while gazing at Mt. Fuji.  Looks less kitschy than it sounds.  The map I’m standing behind pictures this area and our next destination for tonight, Lake Ashi and the resort town of Hakone.

Our driver had brought the bus up the winding road to the top, so we didn’t ride the cable down.  We descended a lot of switchbacks and went on to Lake Ashi.  We were dropped off at a ferry building (Chuck wanders in front) where we waited 30 minutes for our boat to arrive.  While we were sitting around outside, what should sail into sight but a pirate galleon (!).  Say, what?  That wasn’t our ride, but a competing excursion service.  There’s a couple of them on the lake.  According to Yoshiko, the tour used to use the pirate ship, but guests complained it was too fake.  I have to say, I agree.  Not the Japanese experience.  Loni’s posing by some of the more unusual watercraft.  Didn’t see any of them out today.  Yoshiko is pointing out our destination of Hakone-Kona on the map.  At the time, we’re located at the red dot on the left of the lake.

We had a more prosaic boat, a large ferry catamaran which I suspect was more comfortable than the pirate ship.  The lake is deceptively large, as it bends around so that you can’t see from one end to the other.  We passed our lodge as we motored down, the Odakyu Hotel de Yama, and it looked pretty nice from the water.  It was even better when we got there.

The cruise down the lake, surrounded by low mountains, reminded me of Scotland, of all places.  Maybe it was the low clouds.  We had a couple of stops before we disembarked on the dock at Moto-Hakone, the only village of any size on the lake.  We had a short while to wait for our bus to make its way to us from the ferry stop over the back roads.  Fortunately, we spied what looked like a bakery.  Boy, was it ever.  Named straightforwardly “Bakery Table #1,” it had a wide selection of breads, scones, pastries, you name it.  All excellent.  You could plunk this place down in Paris and it would do fine.

Yes, we were happy campers.  Utterly amazing to find this quality of bakestuffs in Japan.  This isn’t a regular part of their culinary culture.  Loni’s eating a sourdough bread filled with cream cheese and orange peel and honey, still warm from the oven.  I’ve got a scone packed with orange, cranberries and nuts, no butter needed. Not sure about Alice and Chuck, but no complaints.  Yoshiko says the place is famous, and I can believe it.  Amply tanked up, we boarded the bus for the short drive over to the Hotel de Yama.  I don’t hesitate to say this was my favorite stay of the entire trip.  I’m only sorry we couldn’t have had two nights and saved it for the end.  This was one of the most serene and calming places I’ve ever been in.  The room was nice, but not extraordinary, except for the view outside the window.

Oh, yeah.  The view.

This was the sculptured shrubs walking garden (note path) with the lake being visible just beyond.  Absolutely quiet.  No motors, no traffic, nothing but the occasional bird call.  Utterly peaceful.  I could have sat here for hours.  This, not Tokyo, is what I wanted to experience in Japan.  Thank you, Colette!  We left our sliding door open all night to savor the air.  The panoramic view distorts things, but shows the scope:

There were natural hot springs baths available, and kimonos in the closet to get us there, but it was au naturel only so we passed.  Nothing to see here, folks, move along.  We loafed about until it was time for dinner at the hotel.  I thought we’d be downstairs in the dining room, but we were escorted out the door, down the drive, and into a separate building nearer the lake.  Very nice setting.  The interior, which seemed to be undergoing a mild facelift, was set with tables for 7.  Turns out this is Colette’s 100th anniversary, and the 70th for the hotel.  We got a meal fit for both.  Sorta made up for the previous chicken disaster.

From Loni’s notes, I’ll reconstruct what we had in the hotel’s take on a “formal classic French cuisine” meal.  An appetizer pastry square with cheese and peppers, pumpkin soup, sea bream mousse on bread, roast “sheep leg” (lamb) with potatoes & green beans, roasted tomato, dessert plate of berry sorbet, cheese cake, fruit, and a white chocolate square. 

Everything was delicious.  Kudos, and happy anniversaries to Colette and Hotel de Yama!