#Japan16 Hakone to Osaka

After the best night's sleep I'd had in a week, I went straight downstairs for an early morning dip in the Onsen. It was just as relaxing as I'd remembered, and again I had it to myself. I pinched another ice lolly on the way back to my room, admiring the view out over the valley from my balcony. The steam from the hot springs was rising up to merge into the clouds. It was beautiful.
I had breakfast arranged, and I had my own vegetarian breakfast of tofu, rice, pickles, omelette, beans, miso soup and steamed vegetables (cooked in a little heater on my table). It was all good excel for some weird mushrooms in my soup. I thought my soup was a bit fishy, but I know it is common to use fish stock in food over here. The mushroom I ate seemed to be the sauce of the fishiness though, and the texture was... Odd. I carefully finished my mouthful before inspecting another one. No, it was definitely some deformed sea creature! I felt quite unwell, but I finished everything except the soup, knowing my next meal was uncertain. I left the hostel, boycotting the funicular (now I knew the route) to enjoy an atmosphere walk through misty Goya. I took this time to appreciate that I was really in Japan, and it looked just as mysterious and beautiful as I'd hoped. The weather was cool and damp, perfect for hiking, but Osaka was calling, so I got on the train!

The offending 'mushroom'. Just looking at
it makes me feel queasy!

It was a long journey to Osaka, but on the way I befriended a young Chinese -American man, who waas telling me of his love for Akihabara (Tokyo), where he had bought a suitcase, and a suitcase worth of video games! He was studying to become a composer of music for video games, and we exchanged soundtracks, which made the journey much more pleasant, and we exchanged details before we parted company at Osaka station.

I didn't linger in the city but got a local train straight out to the suburb of Mono -o/Minoo/Minoh (depending on who you ask). There I bought a Japanese sweet, a green putty made of rice, with a core of sweet beancurd. The ladies at the cafe who had enticed me in were very friendly and also gave me a sort of gelatious bean sweet, and a cup of bean tea. Now that is exotic even for my kind of teas! I can't say I enjoyed it but it was interesting!

Bean cake, bean sweet, and bean tea. Yummy...

From the cafe I walked into Minoo park, a serene place tracking a clear, shallow river for nearly three kilometres. Signs warned me of wild monkeys, but sadly I didn't see any. The walk culminated in a beautiful red bridge over the river, begin which stood a tall waterfall. Three boys were filming each other boxing on the bridge, but they left after a while and I got some photos. Unfortunately the foliage was still a bit barren from winter, but it was nonetheless worth the trip.
By the time I got back to the city centre, dusk was falling. The buildings we passed looked spectacular in the lowlight with their rainbow signage, so I impulsively decided to take my camera for a wander around the Umeda area of the city.


Setting my camera down on any stable surfaces I could find, and playing with the shutter speed, I got some fantastic photos of neon Osaka. I stumbled into my new Hostel, Guesthouse Morizou, at 7.45. It was a tiny place, cosy and very cute, covered in handwritten notes secured with Washi tape saying things like "please mind your head! :)", and plastic figurines. The beds had curtains with friendship bracelet tie-backs, and the staff were very friendly, the girls even called me "kawaii"!

So much neon. And so many bikes!

 I ditched my bag there and messaged my new friend from the train. He was staying with a friend, and the three of us agreed to meet for dinner, so I hopped on the Japan Railways train to Namba station, where I came across several young people dancing in the street. Literally. It was like a scene from one of the Step Up movies - some cool break dancing street gang. I wanted to stop and watch, but didn't want to put them off, as I was a lot more conspicuous in Osaka than in Tokyo (Osaka is less touristy) and I had people to meet! I walked "Namba walk" which was a strange underground shopping and food arcade, and also an art gallery! At the other end was the station where my new friends were waiting, and we went to Dotomburi. Dotombori was recommended in my guidebook as one of the best places to eat in Osaka, a city renowned for its food, but we were limited by my vegetarianism. Finally we found a place with a number of meat free small dishes, and to my delight we ordered by vending machine! I entered all of my small change, selected the numbers of the items I wanted, and received three tickets, which I then presented to the waitress inside the restaurant.

My first vending machine dinner. Not sure how I missed the cat!

I had rice, Kimchi, and beansprouts. Although rice is rarely exceptional, the Kimchi was quite nice and the beansprouts and seaweed which came with it was absolutely delicious! After that we wandered down to see the famous Glici "running man". I thought he was a poster but it:s actually an enormous neon sign. Of course it:s neon - this is Osaka. Osaka was such a vibrant, happy city, I liked it much more than I expected. The guys dropped me at the nearest subway station and I made it back to my stop just in time for curfew. As I hurrid back to the hostel, someone came up behind me and made me jump. It was one of my room mates, a Korean girl who I had chatted briefly to as I unpacked.

She was lovely to talk to as we strolled back. She had discovered that he two Japanese girls in opur dorm were in Osaka for the same reason as her - to watch a Japan Idol concert live in Osaka Castle Park the next day! Unfortunately I didn:t have the spae time to join them, but we laughed at the thought. She asked what I:d had for dinner, and when I told her about my Kimchi, she explained that Japanese Kimchi is different to the original -  less salty, less spicy, and sweeter apparently. Personally I thought Japanese sounded better, but I wasn't going to tell her that! She also identified my strange breakfast sea creature as a clam!!

#Japan16 Lost in Hakone

I left Khaosan Kabuki Hostel with a heart almost as heavy as my backpack (which, believe me, is less comfortable than it looks!) . I could happily have spent another day in Tokyo, it is an enormous city, which unlike London or Glasgow which seem to shrink, it only seemed to get bigger the more you explored it.

Me and my baggage leaving Khaosan Kabuki Hostel

I journeyed to Tokyo station, from which I grabbed a bento box brunch, and had the pleasure of seeing the train cleaners bowing to a shinkhansen as it pulled into the station, before boarding it, turning the seats, and thoroughly cleaning it within ten minutes. They moved fast, and looked fantastic in their pink uniform with a Sakura print. I'd seen a video of this on youtube beforehand, so I was quite excited by it. All the more so because I then boarded the shinkhansen myself and settled down in one of the newly clean seats!

My pickled vegetable brunch, mm-mm!

Despite being able to travel at more than 200 mph, the shinkhansen didn't feel any faster than a normal train. It was a bit smoother though, and much brighter and more comfortable. As the train left the city, I caught my first glimpse of a misty Mount Fuji. I was so excited!

Shortly after, we stopped at Odawara station, where I collected four stamps in black, red, and purple, and I bought my misleadingly named Hakone Free Pass for 4000y. This allowed me to board the local train into Hakone-Yumuto station, from where I got a mountain railway up into the hills for Gora. The mountain railway is apparently the only full size one of its kind in Japan, and features three switchbacks up the hill, which is cool but takes absolutely ages. Everyone on the train was dozing, myself included, luckily my destination was the terminal.

A brief flicker of the fantastic mountain scenery

from Gora (where I got another stamp!) I took the 'cable car' (funicular railway) directly up the mountain, stopping at Naka-Gora for my Ryokan. There were a lot of lost tourists wandering around consulting maps and smartphones, but I happily made my way directly to my destination, thanks to the numerous maps they had sent me, besides the fact it was a straight walk down the road directly out of the station.

Suirinso Ryokan has a deceptively modern exterior, but inside was not only traditional, but old and worn in a less romantic sense too. Regardless, I was very impressed, not only by the array of slippers available, the fast food vending machine, and the free ice lollies, but also the traditional style rooms with Tatami mat floors and kneeling chairs, which I peeked at through paper doors on my way to the toilet.

Having used the facilities, decanted my sightseeing essentials into my day-pack, and stolen a yogurt flavour ice-lolly, I boarded the funicular again and visited the Hakone Open-Air Museum, an art gallery (predominantly sculptural) set into the beautiful hillside. I was very happy here. I saw no less than three Henry Moore statues (I had studied his work at school, but I got a much better understanding of it in person) besides an impressive number of fascinating and thought provoking artworks, the symphonic sculpture (a cylindrical tower of stained glass with a spiral staircase inside, which illuminated beautifully in the afternoon sunshine, and a large gallery dedicated entirely to original Picassos!

A lot of the art was very easy to enjoy

My plan had been next to get the ropeway (an actual cable car) down to Lake Ashi, so that I could get a cruise as included in my free pass. However, the ropeway was closed due to heightened volcanic activity in the area (don't worry Mum!) so I had to get a bus. "no problem" I thought, clambering onto a tourist bus (also included in mh pass) which was going the right direction. The scenery was spectacular, and once I got a seat, (most people got off at the same stop, about half way through the journey) I really enjoyed the ride. The bus driver was a character, announcing to all his passengers as he checked each mirror every time before he pulled off. He too wore a smart peaked cap, shirt and tie, and little white gloves.

Finally the board at the front of the bus showed that we were approaching our final stop. To our dismay, we arrived at Gotemba outlet centre. I spoke to the bus driver as I got off. "Togenda?" I asked him. He told me I should have changed where everyone else got off. I gesticulated to ask if I could stay on the bus "next bus four" he told me. I hopped off and thanked him, and settled down for my four minute wait. I made several bad assumptions here.
1) this is not Tokyo, therefore public transport would be not as frequent and prompt
2) the queue of four schoolgirls at the stop did nor mean a bus was due
3) "four" did not mean four hours, but 4pm. It was ten past three.
I realised this with only five minutes until the bus was due, when the queue was forty or more people long, and my lack of sleep had started to catch up with me in the form of shivering cold. If I had realised earlier I could at least have walked around the outlet, although from what I saw it was just a disappointing version of the Swindon designer outlet.

At 4pm, I rode the bus to Sengoku, hopped off, and waited for the Togenda bus, shivering with exhaustion and feeling pretty miserable. When the bus finally arrived (10 minutes late. Where do they think this is? England?!) I cheered up at the prospect of potentially getting some good sunset shots of Lake Ashi and Mt Fuji. I had given up on getting traditional dinner delivered to my room at the Ryokan, but found that if I got off the cruise at Hal way point, there was a restaurant in the information guide, which offered vegetarian adjustments to the dishes. As my bus pulled in at the lake, I was dismayed to see that the last boat had just left the dock. It was pulling away as the bus halted, and the gate to the jetty had closed. The last ferry was supposed to be at 5pm, but it was 4.35.

I was freezing and feeling very miserable. My day had not turned out at all as planned, almost entirely consumed with travelling. I got on the next bus, even though it would only take me to Hakone-Yamote station (at the foot of the long mountain railway) but the bus was stuck in terrible traffic. At the station I grabbed a plastic pot dinner and a cream cake just like the night before, and sat jn the cafe watching trains rumble in and out of the station. It was surprisingly pleasant until they started playing One Direction background music!

I rode the mountain railway up to Goya, but the funicular had closed for the night. The station master advised me to wait for a taxi, but I was in a bit of a fluster, and knew I could almost see my station from here, so I decided to walk it. As I started up the hill, a Japanese lady called up to me "No, stop, you can't walk! Too far!" I thanked her but insisted that I wanted to. I only had my light backpack, and these shoes didn't hurt, so I determinedly scrambled up the steep road. I got to my station easily, but there was no bridge or underpass. I looked down at the cable track. I had seen someone jump across it earlier in the afternoon, and it seemed to be the only way across, but I have a strange fear (and recurring nightmares) about train tracks, and I know that I wasn't supposed to... I walked back and forth along the platform to make my mind up, then walked back down the hill to the nearest underpass. With google maps leading the way, I began to walk along the block to my Ryokan, when I heard a car approaching. As it slowed down, my heart began to race, but I turned to recognise the lady from the station. She wound her window down "I worry about you." She told me, beckoning for me to get in. Her daughter watched me with interest from the back seat. I got into the car. She introduced herself, as did I, and asked me where I was staying. It was a very short drive to the Ryokan and I thanked her repeatedly. I know it isn't appropriate to tip in Japanese culture, but they do like gifts. I wish I'd thought on my feet but I was too exhausted.

Luckily when I entered the Ryokan, a little old Japanese lady was just tidying the reception area. She gave me a tour and then I headed straight down to the onsen bath, just as three Japanese ladies were leaving. In a way this was good because I didn't feel self conscious. The water was cloudy and smelt of rocks and minerals. It was naturally hot from the spring so the effect was like a bath that never gets cold. It was the best thing all day. I got an early night, sleeping on the futon I prepared myself with a pillow of sand(?), and slept in my Yukata robe.

My Japanese room, complete with tatami mats, kneeling chair, and paper door.

#Japan16 Kamakura and night time Tokyo Bay

hi Today was the first that I ventured outside of Tokyo. I wanted to leave early so I could return to the city for the evening, but woke much earlier than intended at 5.30am (that's 8pm Sunday UK time) once again unable to return to sleep, so I headed out at 6.30. This meant I had the pleasure of seeing the Japanese businessmen hurrying into work. They looked so stuffy, I was very happy to see the stereotype fulfilled. Many of them fell asleep on the train. I also saw more Japanese schoolgirls, in blazer, shirt and tie, with invariably short pleated skirts and knee high socks. My trains were never too busy, but I also witnessed the famously crushed commuter carriages, which put London's 8.30am central line look like first class!

An unhappy Sardine., and a curious advert!

I was on my way to Kamakura, but disembarked at Ofusa to see an immense white statue of the head of Kannon (goddess of mercy), which looks down over Ofusa town. The Ofusa temple is known for its roses and wqind chimes, and has a lovely back story, but I have read that it is only really worth visiting Autumn-Spring. My Ofusa train station stamp featured the statue, I was very pleased with that - my first stamp of the day! I also got myself breakfast for the first time - sushi cucumber rolls! I miss my muesli!

The main reason I stopped here, however, was to change to the Shonan Monorail, a suspended monorail which actually serves a purpose for local residents instead of a tram or train. I was really excited to ride the suspended monorail, and it was very interesting to see a normal (i.e. nopt touristy) Japanese town from such an unusual angle. I was disappointed to find, however, that the carriages didn't swing out at the corners nearly as much as I'd hoped they would!It looked a lot more exciting on Rollercoaster Tycoon...

My view out of the back of the monorail.
Apparently it's over 45 years old!

The Monorail terminated at Enoshima, and I caught my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, and noticed tsunami evacuation direction signs printed in the pavements. That made me pause for thought.

Then I collected my Enoshima stamp and boarded the Electric railway (basically a tram) for Kamakura. The electric railway was fun! the seating was (like the Tokyo trains) two opposing benches, so passengers can see out over their opposites heads. I moved sides so I could see the beach! The sand there was volcanic grey, and at the time there was a blanket of white cloud, so none of my photos of it came out right! As the two previous days though, the sun did come out with a vengeance later, luckily for me just in time for the important photo opportunity, at Hase Dera temple!

The temple was set in beautiful grounds, with a large Koi pond, a number of incense and candle shrines including a natural cave, a fantastic sea view, and most importantly, an immense collection of Jizō statues. Jizo is the god of travelers and of unborn children. These statues have been placed over centuries to commemorate children lost to miscarriage, abortion, or stillbirth. There are thousands of them, placed by grieving parents. There are also a lot of bunches of flowers, it was as very special place. Here's a link for more information about Jizo: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/03/31/our-lives/a-guide-to-jizo-guardian-of-travelers-and-the-weak/ 

Next I wanted to visit Hokokuji Temple, also known as Bamboo temple, for it's magical bamboo gardens. Although the complex was only small, there was a fantastic serenity and calmness to the place. It was a much needed break after the 45 minute walk from Hase Dera, and I sipped my bottle of cold green tea and munched on pastry fish (my lunch, and a Japanese specialty)

Bamboo gardens

I mooched back to the station enjoying the glorious sunshine. My feet were hurting though, so I decided to head back to Tokyo. Getting the JR train all the way back, I got back to Ofusa in less than half the time, and effectively for free on my JR pass. Feeling pleased at having made it back so much earlier than planned, I elected to walk from the station back to Asakusa. Again I was deceived by my map. By the time I returned, I couldn't face anything more exciting than waiting in the hostel for my new Partner in Crime (the other British girl, we'll call her Tsusonoka) to arrive back.


She appeared at exactly 6pm, as planned, and we headed out to Tokyo Dome for the arcade, which I had come across by sheer  accident the previous day. in the arcade was an exciting photo booth called 'Heroine Face', with the enticing caption 'I want to be the last heroine'. It makes literally no sense, but that was part of the attraction! Tsusonoka and I scrabbled together 400 yen, and our Heroine Face experience began! We struck a few ridiculous poses involving Tsusonoka's cuddly rabbit (we'll call him Stuart 2) but managed about two photos before collapsing in giggles. When our photos were done, we were directed to a second booth, where we customised the photos with stars, crowns, kisses and sunglasses, besides such poignant poignant captions "Secret face", "Happy Date" and "Chu!". We might have gone a little over the top, but we had so much fun, the funniest moment of my trip so far!

We didn:t even come close to keeping it together,
we were in hysterics!

Tsusonoka (definitely not her real name) customising our Heroine Faces

Next we decided to hunt down a famous fifteen metre tall robot in the dark, by route of a rainbow bridge! Unfortunately this involved shelling out for a specific ticket (500y) and when we arrived at the distinctly underwhelming rainbow bridge, we were four minutes too late to cross it on foot, so I had to lay another 500y to get across it on the train! (Tsusonoka had a Pasmo card, which is basically a Tokyo Oyster card) the rainbow bridge took us onto a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, which is pretty cool. This raised all kinds of questions about engineering and sea levels (why did this not flood Tokyo?) which I will have to ask Wikipedia about later! It did remind me of the last Superman movie, and I was telling Tsusonoka about how the baddie had made an island and put kryptonite in it. Tsusonoka said we were obviously not superheroes, as the island was not making us weak, but I advised her not to fall over or injure herself here as a precaution.



The robot was pretty cool. Unnervingly, as we approached, he turned his head and followed us with his gaze. This was totally coincidental, but being Tokyo I actually believed for a moment that it had detected our presence with some kind of motion sensor! we took some photos with the robot, then moved on to Palette town, of Pokemon fame! Unfortunately this had nothing to do with Ash Ketchum's home town, I don't even think it's spelt the same, but to make up for this disappointment, there were some uplit arches with water vapour that appeared to glow in the light. Tsusonoka and I struck some inspiring poses I the lights, some of which looked genuinely cool, and wandered to the nearest station which wouldn't require spending any further yen. This caused all kinds of confusion and although the ticket inspectors were very helpful, they didn't understand English, or even my efforts at Pictionary! However in the end we sorted it out, and limped (literally in my case) back to the hotel, collecting some interesting food on the way.


Both Tsusonoka and I bought the traditional Japanese omelette and rice. It looked vegetarian! A mound of link sticky rice was snuggled under a plain omelette, with a dribble of gravy over the top. We decided to eat it cold rather than use the hostel microwave, as we couldn't tell if the Japanese packaging said it should be warmed up. Unfortunately hidden in the pink rice were tiny balls of meat (not fish!) the exact same size and colour as the rice grains. We were ravenous though, so we picked out the meat and ate the rest. For desert I had a sort of egg custard/omelette type thing (theme unintended) and Tsusonoka had a delicious custard and cream pastry! We had half of each, then went to bed. It was long past midnight by the time I got to sleep.

#Japan16 Embracing Tokyo

Cover photo: One of the first stamps I collected!

I woke at 6am, too excited and full of plans to return to sleep. The others in my dorm woke at about seven thirty when I finally started shuffling about to get ready. One is another English girl, who also takes annual leave to travel the world independently. She is planning Tokyo-Kyoto-Hakone plus day trips, whereas I am planning Tokyo-Hakone-Osaka-Koya San-Hiroshima-Miyajima-Kyoto plus day trips for the same period of time!

First I got on a metro train heading for Harajuko, which I hadn't really done justice the previous day. Part way into the journey I realised Akihabara anime district. I jumped off the train spontaneously and realised that a) I was going in the wrong direction for Harajuku anyway and b) I had got off at the ideal stop to change for Akihibara! Lucky accident...

Electric Town, Akihabara

I completed my second successful fully Japanese transaction, gleefully purchasing some 'Lotte' koala mini biscuits to banish my hunger pangs, (which I then remembered I couldn't eat in the street!) and walked to the Akihabara Electric district, where there was an immense queue of Japanese men about my age, apparently for the release of a new saga anime game! Everywhere you looked, starry eyed manga girls with ridiculous proportions begged you to play with them or buy something (usually both)

Unfortunately the Anime museum and shop, my second priorities to see after Electric Town itself, were closed, as Mondays in Japan are like Sundays in Britain. However, in the same building, I found myself a very interesting breakfast of tea and cake. The cake was not like what I'm used to, the sweet potato cake being particularly... challenging, but at least it was pushing me out of my comfort zone a little!

Sweet potato cake. Just as stodgy as it looks!
Interestingly, Japanese packaged cakes come
 with these drying sachets inside!

Whilst I was in Akihabara, I got far too excited about finding a normal toilet (no frightening buttons that have the potential to shoot jets of water at you whilst you're sat, and not a squat either!), and I also bought some amazing souveniers...

Chihuahua waffle anyone? Or would you prefer a St Bernard Burger?

Next, I went to Tokyo station to begin my Japan stamp collection (no really), and see the Imperial Palace. The station is attractive, although not very Japanese looking, and sits in the middle of the high rise metallic business district of Tokyo. I took some photos, collected my stamp, and then headed on to the imperial palace.

Tokyo station is so large, it calls itself a city in its own right!

The imperial palace gardens were closed for Monday, as I knew they would be, but I enjoyed the fountain park and walking the perimeter of the palace. I honed the art of selfies further, but still can't balance my phone and manage a peace sign at the same time. Happily, there wasn't much to see, so it's not a major issue that my face fills most of the photo!

God I'm so happy!

With my first stamp in my notebook, I boldly returned to the hostel to grab my Japan Rail pass, and commenced a tour of Tokyo via the Yamanote line (an over-ground loop of the city), disembarking at every stop and stamping my little notebook. I got to visit Shimbashi (the home of Japanese railways), Kanda, re-visited Ueno, Akihabara, and Shibuya (the latter in the dark, for what I hoped would be more dramatic photos of the neon) and finally arrived at Harajuku. Harajuku is amazing. The closest thing I can compare it to is London's camden market, but without the seedy, druggyness, and more Kuwai (cute!). There were also crepe stores offering ridiculous crepes involving things from cheesecake to Tuna Curry. I personally opted for green tea icecream and 'brown sugar syrup'. It contained three weird gelatinous balls, and the 'syrup' was pretty gelatinous too and, come to mention it, so was the sauce which I had taken to be whipped cream... but the green tea icecream was nice! I'd had a fruit smoothie from Shimbashi for lunch as I'm concerned about the nutrition I've been not getting.

An Harajuku Crepe. Ew.

Last stop was Ginza, as I was hoping to watch a Kabuki performance - Japan's traditional theatre, in which famously only men are allowed to perform, many of whom as female characters. It promised to be an amazing spectacle, but unfortunately my city map was hopelessly vague, and and after I explored all street corners within a three minute (one block) walk of Ginza metro station, I only later discovered that it was ten minutes away. I got very frustrated at that. However Ginza was a beautiful place, full of polished, expensive high end shops, and I came across my first Japanese busker - a talented lady playing a saxophone to a respectable gathering of onlookers. This didn't seem quite right in Japanese culture - in a country where waiters do not accept tips, and eating and drinking in public spaces is not permitted, it seemed to clash with the practice of paying people playing music in the street.

Finally I mooched back to the hostel. Tomorrow my metro pass expires, as I will be going out of town for at least a few hours to explore the seaside town of Kamakura.