09.08.2015 ~ Travel from Yokohama to Yamagata (& Yamadera)

I woke at 07:00 and went for breakfast while M slept on. The breakfast selection was good and varied. We packed up and checked out and caught the 09:19 JR Line to Tokyo.

(Lego Shinkansen! Amazingly kawaii)

Once at Tokyo station we caught the 10:00 Tsubasa 133 Shinkansen at track 21. Once on the train I noticed that the electronic signage was showing the wrong stations - argh! Have we got on the wrong train?! Where were we going?! After asking a conductor it transpired that there were 2 trains together that would split along the journey. The car we were in was the back of the train that was going all the way North and we needed to leave the train to get on the front train which was going to Yamagata. So we walked the length of the train from car 3 to car 10 so that we could get off and back on again as quickly as possible at the next station. Once back on the train we walked from car 11 to cars 16/17 to the unreserved seats... of which there were no 2 seats together (Tsubasa Shinkansen is seemingly smaller than West Japan Shinkansen as there are only 2x2 seats). Our suitcases wouldn't fit in the luggage rack in the corridor so we had to take up a full row of 4 seats when they became available.

The journey from Ueno to Yonezawa was very scenic; it felt like we were right up in the clouds at some points, then through low valleys with steep mountains either side of us. 

From Yonezawa to Yamagata there was more industry and more houses close to the tracks with the tall mountains in the background all around.

We arrived at Yamagata at 12:44 and left the station via the East exit in order to get to the Richmond hotel which was directly opposite over a gravel carpark. We dropped our luggage in the hotel and then looked for lunch in a shopping centre on the corner of the station plaza however the restaurant floor was a bit intimidating and with no English, so we headed back to the station where we'd seen a tonkatsu restaurant. M had large cheese tonkatsu and I had regular tonkatsu, plus rice and miso soup each, and 1 beer for ¥3780 total.

We caught the 14:56 Senzan Line to Yamadera to go to the temple of 1000 steps (Risshakuji Temple) which was a 20 minute journey. On arrival at Yamadera station we lightened the load of the one bag and put the other bag in a locker (¥300 for a few hours). Then it was about a 10 minute walk to the base of the temple and then a 2 minute walk through the grounds to the entry fee booth (¥600 for two adults). There were very few non-Japanese people climbing the the steps & it took about 40 minutes to climb to the top for us (moderately unfit late-20s-year-olds) and thankfully there are platforms to rest and take photos along the way which were very much needed as I am definitely not a stair master.
**Stretch before climbing!**
There were 14 shrines open/accessible on this day (some were closed off with scaffolding and sheeting) most of which we saw on our climb as well as what I can only describe as 'money trees' - lots of ¥100 coins forced into the bark of particularly old trees at platform levels. The views from the top were breath-taking, though there are beautiful views the whole way up/down.

 (money tree!)

It took 20 minutes to go down the steps; the route down to road level brings you out at a different point to the entrance of the temple. From here you can go left or right to go over a bridge to take you back to the station (we went right but I suspect left could be quicker). The trains are once/hour in either direction E.g. Arrive 15:14 heading towards Sendai; Depart 17:13 heading towards Yamagata.

Once back in Yamagata we checked into the hotel and rested for an hour or so before heading out to MaxValue Supermarket around the corner to get dinner. Surprisingly not much choice of ready made food that needed no cooking. We ended up buying two noodle pots to add boiling water to at the hotel, battered chicken bites, baguette, sandwich for M and apple juice/water. The noodle pots were actually pretty good considering it was complete guesswork as to what flavours we'd picked up, especially good with baguette dipped in!

Standard showers before bed and then much needed sleep.

08.08.2015 ~ Travel from Hakone to Yokohama

We woke at 08:30 after a restless night due to hard floor, hard futon, and bean bag pillow. We packed the suitcases and decided to catch the bus to Lake Ashi to try to see Mt Fuji... However as we stepped outside we saw it was cloudy again so decided to go straight to the train station to catch the train to Odawara to get the Shinkansen to Shin-Yokohama (which was a 20 minute journey). We got the JR Line to Tsurumi and then walked 5 minutes to the Best Western Hotel.

After leaving the bags in the hotel and a family mart lunch we got the train from Tsurumi to Namamugi Station to go to the Kirin Beer Village. It's an easy 10 minute walk from the station, and we were in time to go on the 13:30 tour. There were about 20 people in our group & we were the only non-Japanese on the tour but they gave us an English guide to read at the different sections of the tour. Overall the tour took 45-50 minutes and was really interesting and the guidebook was very informative. At the end of the tour you get 3 tokens each to taste the different beers produced; as M doesn't like dark beer he had 4 Kirin Ichiban half pints, and I had 1 half pint and an apple juice. The tour and tasting is completely free and very worthwhile, especially if you're staying in Tsurumi as we were as it is on the way to Yokohama city centre.

After finishing the tasting session (for which you get 20 minutes) we went back to the station to go to Yokohama centre. We took the JR Line one stop from Yokohama to Sakuragicho to be closer to the Landmark Tower. There's a covered walkway with travelators that take you to just outside the Tower Plaza. On the way there was a lot of Pikachu stuff going on (not clear what) and I gained a Pikachu hat, which turned out to give discount at the Landmark Tower so we got 2 tickets for ¥1400 instead of ¥2000! (who knew!).

The lift travels 69 floors in 40 seconds (! ears popped twice) and is very smooth and silent. The 69th floor is the observation deck with 3 'sides' of windows and a shop on the last side and a bar and toilets in the middle. We did a circuit then had a beer and a wine (¥1500) while we took in the view which was stunning (though unfortunately still cloudy so no Mt Fuji here either).

After another circuit we got the lift back down into Landmark Plaza which is a huge shopping centre. We stopped by the Pokémon Centre to try to find a Pikachu lanyard but no luck (are lanyards not a thing in Japan?) then went down to Basement level 2 to go to the Dockyard Restaurants to look for dinner. We chose a restaurant that had steak as M had craving for it again and ended up eating our steak with chopsticks, a novel experience! M had beef steak with potatoes and veg (¥2000) while I had honey black pepper pork steak and beansprouts (¥800); we shared 3 sections of garlic bread and had glass of wine each. The meal totalled ¥5300 and although the food and wine were good, there wasn't enough.

(huge shopping centre!)

(Top middle is the restaurant we went to)

So once we'd got back to Tsurumi we bought a convenience store Tonkatsu Kare to share plus our staple of apple juice and our first chocolate of the holiday! Two weeks without chocolate was surprisingly easy, though we think that we replaced the sugar of normal chocolate intake with apple juice. We checked into hotel and ate our second dinner then I put washing on for ¥300 and a dry for ¥100. We had showers and baths then early bed as we hadn't slept well at Azito and planned to leave at 08:00 in the morning for our long travel tomorrow...

07.08.2015 ~ Travel from Kyoto to Hakone

We were up at 07:15 to pack the suitcases, however I decided to go back to the Nishijin fabric shop to get the rolls of fabric and M needed more sleep. So I got the 101 bus from outside Shijo station to Horikawa-Imadegawa stop which is directly outside the Nishijin Textile Centre (¥230/journey; wish we'd known about the bus on the first day!). I went straight to the fabric rolls and ended up buying two 5m rolls for ¥10000 (£55 - such great value!). Back on the bus to the hotel where we packed the suitcases and checked out at 11:45.

 One of my 5m rolls

The other 5m roll

We caught the 12:33 Hikari Shinkansen from Kyoto station to Odawara which was 123 minute journey! (We had wanted to go to the Totoro House but it was an hour's journey from Nagoya station with no guarantee we'd get a ticket so we skipped past Nagoya & carried on). At Odawara we changed for the Hakone Tozan Line at Track 11 after buying tickets to Hakone-Yumoto as JR Pass doesn't cover private lines (¥130 single/adult).

We were booked to stay in Azito Guesthouse which was a 12 minute walk from the station (7 of those minutes was trying to push suitcase up Very steep hill). Once we'd put our bags in the private room we asked the owner (Yuta) to phone the Hakone-Yuryo Onsen to book a private room for us. We walked back down the hill & onto the main shopping street - what a difference! It was about 16:30 by this point and what had been a busy street full of shops now had most of the shutters pulled down and just a few places remained open. We were justly slightly nervous about how & where to get dinner later...

The free shuttle bus takes you from the train station up a super steep hill (>20% incline) to the Onsen at the top (4 minute ride). On the way we passed a high-ropes course & forest-adventure place which could be worth a look but we were limited on time. We arrived at the onsen and paid ¥3900 (~£20) for our private room for an hour. It was SO worth it. We were given the room key and a bag with 2 small & 2 large towels. The room had an entrance lobby and main room with low-level table & floor-chairs, mirror & dressing table, fridge and hangers. The sliding doors led out to the outdoor bath where there was also the expected onsen style shower. It was beautiful, peaceful and very private.

We both showered first as required & then got into the bath, very slowly as the water was 41C! It was bliss, though we realised we couldn't stay in the water for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. However we managed 3 rounds with cold showers between each dip. It completed relaxed us and took away the aches of 1.5 weeks of travelling. After drying and dressing we returned the key & bag to reception. We decided not to eat at the onsen as it was still a bit early so we headed back to the parking lot to catch the shuttle bus.

(entrance to Yuryo-Onsen)

Back down into town and all shops now closed and most restaurants seemingly closing soon too (18:20 at this point). We walked to Yoshiike Hotel Restaurant which was halfway to the Azito guest, but were told they were fully reserved until close (even though more than half the seats were empty..?) So we walked back down the hill to a little Soba place we'd seen. Hatsuhana Soba was open til 19:00 so we dashed in and had 2 chicken soba in hot dashi soup with a large bottle of beer & bottle of sake for (¥3250).

Afterwards we walked back up to Azito (19:15 and everything in town is closed, now what?). However Yuta invited us to cook/eat soba with him & his friends, so we went back down at 20:00 to socialise. Downstairs in the entrance room/porch there was Sai-chan & his Schnauzer dog; Shiho-chan; Kuni-chan and Yuta-chan. Everyone was friendly and enjoying each other's company and drinking. Sai-chan was a middle aged neighbour; and Shiho-chan & Kuni-chan were friends of Yuta who worked at the hotel down the hill. An elderly female neighbour came along with her Schnauzer-Yorkie cross, cooked the food on a big square portable hot plate and then left (?).

Yuta and Kuni speak excellent English so we had good conversation about music, English & Japanese language amongst other topics. Beware pronunciation! Yuta said my pronunciation of 'Kawaii' (cute) was closer to that of 'Kowai' (scary) which explained why when taking a photo for a Japanese family the boy pulled 'grr' face and did claw hands... oops!

About 21:30 a Spanish couple (Montse & Miguel) arrived back from a different Onsen and joined us so we had good conversation with them as well. It was a good evening and we went to bed at midnight, just as well as we'd had 3 bottles of umeshu and 1 bottled beer between us (for only ¥2000!)

  Our room at Azito Guesthouse

06.08.2015 ~ Kyoto (Fushimi Inari)

Woke at 08:15; I went to put some washing on and went to Family Mart to get breakfast to eat while we waited for it to finish. (We saw on TV that today was the anniversary of the Hiroshima A-Bomb)

Once we'd left the hotel we travelled from Shijo Subway to Kyoto station where we caught the local line to Nara for 2 stops to get off at Inari. The entrance for Fushimi-Inari Shrine is right outside the train station and there's a supermarket next to the station (very needed on the way back!)

There are excellent photo opportunities the whole way round the site with so many varieties of image to capture. It was the middle of the day in the middle of Summer and yet it wasn't that crowded, which was good as that enabled good photography; M was impressed with my photography skills as I managed to capture the torii gate walk without people in shot:

The lines of torii gates are behind the main shrine building at the base of the mountain and it took around 25 minutes to walk to point 1 where a sign told us it would take 55 minutes to reach the top. I was feeling a bit strange from unusual food last night so we decided to go to point 2 (10 minutes from point 1) and then walk down the back route (20 minutes on the way down). The back route was seemingly though private houses and shrines and we were blown away that people rode bikes and drove cars up the super steep, narrow, winding road. The way down was equally picturesque as the main route and with more visual variety.

Skeletor Dragonfly!

Back at the station we rode one stop to Tofukuji and changed to the subway to get to Gion-Shijo so we could try to see the Geiko/Maiko. We'd read reviews of Gion and it seemed as though the best chance of seeing them would be around 17:00-18:00. We arrived too early and had to wait around as the main street of Gion is very touristy and very pricey. We stopped for a drink in a French Café and then it was time to start the search. There many others doing the same as we were, all without luck. The buildings of old Gion are beautiful; wooden with shoji screens and latticework so the walk was visually beautiful. I'd heard that the Geiko/Maiko usually entertain business men, so when we saw a businessman on his phone as though he were getting directions, we followed him for 10 minutes or so in the hope of seeing them. However there were queues at each building so it seems the tearooms open at 18:00 so after an hour of walking and searching (and getting bitten twice by bloodsuckers!) we gave up and headed back to the hotel.

By the way the 'bus & subway map' is much better than the tourist map so I'd say go for that one instead.
After showers/rest at the hotel we went for dinner at 'Nishinotoin' directly opposite the hotel which was canteen style in that you pick up what you want to eat from the counter, ask for rice & miso soup and then find a space to sit. The food was good and fresh and good price.

05.08.2015 ~ Kyoto

We had a needed lie-in until 08:30 and were out by 09:30. We took the subway from Shijo to Imadegawa station from where it looked like a few blocks walk to the Nishijin Textile Centre. This highlighted how much of a perpetual optimist I am; why I hadn't stopped believing the maps by this point I don't know... 25 minutes later and we still hadn't found it. We ducked into the Kyoto Archaeological Museum to ask for directions, which was definitely worth the quick stop as the temporary exhibit on the ground floor had some beautiful examples of kimono and ceramics.

The kind lady manning the exhibition told us the textile centre was back one street and down on the right (not even on the same street as on the map!). So we finally made it to Nishijin Textile Centre in time for the 11:45 Kimono Catwalk Show which was good as it showed different combinations of kimono, obi and accessories.

(Each model did the catwalk & then there was chance for a group shot at the end)

The upper floor of NTC is mostly shop with some looms on the back wall one of which was in use by a demonstrator when we were there. The prices in the shop were tourist prices and too much for the items. However on the way in we'd seen a shop next door that had woven silk items so we headed outside to look in there.

AMAZING! There were 5m rolls, swatches, and products, all for amazing prices. There were about thirty different 5m rolls in a box all for around ¥5000 each (that's £5.50/m!) I was sorely tempted but we had much more to do that day and I couldn't carry 2 big rolls around all day.

On the way out of NTC we'd asked how to get to the Manga Museum (our next stop) and she'd suggested getting the 101 bus from directly opposite NTC to Nijo castle and then a 10 minute walk. We were feeling pretty good so after an ice cream from the Lawsons on the corner we decided to walk there instead. WRONG! It was another 30 minute walk... Although this may have been the turning point of my optimism/belief in Japan Maps.

However we arrived at the International Manga Museum and paid ¥800/person entry fee after stowing our bags in the lockers provided. This was one of M's choices of places to go and he was very impressed with it. Just after the entrance is the foreign language section of Manga (about 15 languages I think). Quite impressive though obviously a fairly select variety of books. However as we walked around the museum we were staggered by the amount of Japanese language Manga that lined the walls and the amount of people that also lined the walls reading it. There was a kids room that was full of reading children, and every available seat & wallspace in the corridors, main rooms, everywhere was filled with teenagers, adults and some OAPs reading Manga. It was really good to see that in such a technological age (& country) that people still read with such conviction.

Unbeknownst to us before we went to Japan the anniversaries of the Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombings were on the 6th & 9th August and therefore the temporary exhibits all revolved around 'Manga & War', both Japanese opinions and foreign opinions. It was very interesting and quite sad as one of the Manga I read was written by a child survivor who'd seen it all.
We spent about 2 hours here but you could easily spend the whole day reading; it seems to be a museum-cum-library to the locals.

Next we got the subway from Karasuma-oike to Higashiyama to go to the Kyoto Handicrafts Centre. Walking up the main street from the subway station we saw a huge torii gate and stopped in a shop to buy 4 obi swatches for ¥2000. 

Continuing on down this street we came to Heian Shrine (you can just see it at the end in the above picture). We stopped here for a shade break and to take photos:

After this we walked to where we thought the Handicrafts centre was but there was building work going on so some roads were closed. However a local traffic cop directed us to the right place which we wouldn't have found by ourselves as you have to go down a little side road, again the map suggested it was close to the temple on the main road... (Turns out that place was the Museum of Traditional Handicrafts, however I think we did better going to the centre)

The Handicrafts Centre was brilliant! It is free entry because it is actually a shop; ground floor of one building and 3 floors of building next door. In the first building are beautiful examples of lacquerware, multiple types of jewellery in varying materials and woodblock prints. The second building holds all sorts; on the top floor (scrolls, bags, ceramics, fans, dolls, temari balls etc) with the second floor containing swords and kimono/yukata. I bought 2 yukata for ¥3300 each and an age 3-4 haori jacket suit for ¥2500 (super kawaii!). The ground floor had a generic looking book/tourist shop and 2 men who stopped us at the exit to ask if they could record our voices to gather data on intonation and inflection as part of research for audio information devices (!).

 (staggered by this price- roughly £2200 for this beautiful mini screen)

We were due to meet Tomo at Shijo station at 18:00 so we hi-tailed it back to Higashiyama station and got the train to Shijo-Gion (we were on the other line and weren't able to get directly to our station). This meant we had a 20 minute walk down the busy high-end shopping street to our hotel. We had rapid showers and changed clothes and then we met Tomo who took us to a restaurant/bar where we asked him to order the food to experience proper Kyoto food. Tomo ordered 5-6 small dishes of his favourites and local specialities to share including fried potatoes, a type of beef stew, fish in a clear sauce and some others. For drinks I had a peach umeshu and then a lime umeshu (peach was definitely better). Tomo & M had sake and then beer - this was M's chance to question the amount of froth on Japanese beer! Tomo said it must be a cultural thing and that he wasn't too sure how else you could have it. So I poured a 'Japanese' beer and a 'UK' beer so he could see the difference; he agreed with M that UK beer is better as you get more beer (!). Tomo's English was excellent and we talked about many things including politics, tax, social structure; it was interesting for all of us to learn about the other's culture and government. We bought the meal as a thank you for rescuing us, and then we set off for another place for more drinks and food. Unsure if this is what normally happens for Japanese meals out or if Tomo was trying to show us more places. (*Important to not pour your own drink! Need to be aware of how much everyone else is drinking to be ready to top up their glass)

On the way Tomo started singing under his breath; he explained that he'd got disorientated and that there's a song about the streets of Kyoto so you can find/know where you are! Very clever! At the next place we had gyoza and more sake and umeshu, and talked some more.
We finally separated at 21:45, back to the hotel and bed!

04.08.2015 ~ Travel from Kobe to Kyoto (& Nara)

After a disappointing breakfast (only 5 choices of food and not very appetising) we went to the Takenaka Carpentry Museum which was a 20 minute walk from the hotel, one street away from Shin-Kobe station (another tourist map scale fail).

I was really looking forward to this museum & I wasn't disappointed. The museum was great! The entrance fee is ¥800/adult which is totally worth it, especially if you pick up the free audio tour on iPad (we didn't listen to the audio but we did watch the videos which were really good). All the exhibits were very good and gave a real sense of the master craftsmanship required to construct the temples and buildings all over Japan.

(scale model of 5-storey Pagoda)

(full scale replica of part of temple)

The model of the tearoom was beautifully executed, especially the wooden screen:

There were interactive areas which kept us entertained as we tried to figure out how the joints came apart & went back together, and an area showing all the different woods used in tree & shaving form smelled amazing!

We easily spent 1.5 hours at the museum and bought little box of wooden 'lego' at the front desk when we gave back the iPads. We then walked back to the hotel (more map problems) to pick up our luggage and catch the 13:35 Shinkansen to Kyoto (30 minute journey).

(This was in the 'central reservation' between the 2 lanes of traffic!)

The subways are very straight forward in Japan on the whole, unfortunately we got lost in Kyoto as Google Maps had said the station we needed was Korasuma, which it turned out couldn't be reached directly from Kyoto station; So we ended up at Korasuma-Oiji when we actually needed Shijo station to get to the hotel. Luckily a man (called Tomo) saw us looking lost and asked if we needed help. He told us we were a 15 minute walk from the station we wanted and 20 minute walk from the hotel. He very kindly then proceeded to show us the way to the hotel, right the way to the front door! We exchanged email addresses as we wanted to thank him for his kindness.

We arrived at the hotel at 15:15 and were able to check in straight away, we had booked 3 nights at Unizo Kyoto Shijo Korasuma. Once we'd recovered from our long walk with suitcases we headed out to feed the deer at Nara Park! We caught the subway from Shijo to Kyoto, then got the 16:05 local line to Nara, arriving at 16:50. We took the yellow bus from bus stop 2 to N7 stop as this looked like the place with the most deer! We bought 2 packs of deer crackers (¥150/pack) at the first shop on the street then went to engage the deer. There were deer everywhere; walking, standing, sitting, posing, singularly and in groups. I took the first cracker and looked to find a deer to give it to when suddenly there was one at my elbow:

So I got in a space and bowed to the deer; obviously my first attempt was not a deep enough bow, but on my second bow the deer bowed back. I was thrilled!

(photo of first attempt)

I bowed and fed a few more and then it was M's turn. He instantly had a crowd around him:

We didn't want to give away all our crackers at once so we tried to stash them away in bags; The deer are not daft, they knew exactly what was going on. I fed 2 deer in a group and got nibbled on the elbow and rib during the process, so then I tried walking away and one bit me in the butt! More of a firm nibble really but it was definitely a surprise. We found that the deer are very persistent but fairly gentle in their insistence for crackers, although I would say not to let under 10's feed them alone/get separated from parents as the antlers are pretty unnerving and at child eye-height.

We found that showing them 2 splayed open hands to indicate no more crackers worked and the deer would wander off. We managed to make it to the massive temple gate unhindered but then realised we'd been completely absorbed in deer-feeding and so had missed the temple which closed at 17:30. Oops! However both the gate and temple were very impressive from the outside, next time we go we'll do the deer feeding after we sightsee.

After we walked along two sides of the temple we walked back through the main gate; what a difference 30-40 minutes makes! Nearly all the deer were gone, there only 3-4 left when before there'd been at least 40!
One of the remaining deer was a real clever one that knew exactly where to pose for optimal attention:

We got videos of ourselves bowing and feeding this deer, it was perfect. We'd found that some deer waited for you to bow before they would and others bowed on their way to you to speed the process up. This one waited for you to start bowing and then dipped her head right to the floor and back up; very good bow! She got about 7 crackers but was totally worth it for the ultimate deer bowing.

With no more crackers left it was time to pick our way back up the street through the minefield of deer poop. The shop keepers were hosing down the floor as we made our back, which I imagine they must do every night so its presentable for the next day's tourists.

Back at Nara station we bought ice cream and plum wine then caught the 18:55 Rapid Service back to Kyoto. Coming out of Shijo subway station we bought dinner at Family Mart and stayed in to rest and start uploading photos to cloud storage to empty the camera's SD card. We also emailed Tomo asking him to dinner the next evening...