Tomorrow we’re homeward bound. It’s been a great month and we have been to so many places, seen so many things and ate so much good food!
Thank you all for riding along with us. I’ve enjoyed hearing from you and if there are any questions for me – I’ll do my best! Ask away.
Japanese cities make decorative manhole covers that have the symbols of their cities on them. Some are simple cast iron, some are painted and are quite lovely. It’s become quite a thing and people hunt them down quite obsessively. I’m not quite that dedicated, but here are a few that I found along the way.
Hokusai museum, SumidaYuzawa – cover for an underground fire hydrant Tomakomai, Hokkaido, where it gets cold enough to play hockey?Hakodate, Hokkaido
Well, actually it doesn’t so much these days. We’ve had some really great sushi and sashimi on our trip – for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some nights, when we’ve had a big lunch we will choose sushi for dinner as we are in total control of quantity. That’s if we don’t want convenience store sandwiches!
Back in the day conveyor belt sushi places were just that – the sushi chefs in the middle, making the food, putting it on the belt, in a little boat, a little train, whatever the thing was for that restaurant. We would wait and see what appeared, or ask for something especially. The dishes were colour coded for the price of the sushi and at the end the dishes were counted up and that was that.
When we started coming to Japan that was how things worked, but as technology has changed so to has the conveyor belt sushi restaurant. The first change was the there would be two tracks for delivery. On the lower track would be food selections on plates with plastic lids on them which we could take if we wanted them. The upper track was for specific deliveries. With a tablet at each table we could order anything we wanted and soon it would come zooming along and be shunted to a little siding in front of our position, when the tablet would announce that our order had arrived. The sushi chefs were not longer out front. The tablet kept track of what we had ordered, the dishes have a chip in them to ensure delivery and at the end of the evening there was a slot at the end of the table where they all went onto a third, hidden conveyor belt.
On this trip we tried a new to us chain called Sushiro. They are a big operation and it is slick. When you arrive you check in via a machine, telling them if you want a table or counter space. When your number is called you scan your ticket and it produces another ticket with your table number, which is also keyed to your tablet. The lower level conveyor belt no longer has sushi on plates – just ads for the special of the day. There was a case where some idiot internet goon was messing with the food on the belt and the stores said okay then, we won’t do that anymore. One bad apple…..
Beer and 14 dishes between us – total less than $20.00 apiece for all we could mange to eat.
Grilled eel – yum yum! The beer mugs arrive on a special tray so they don’t splash or tip – you can see two of them stacked in the lower right of the picture.
We always feel like we’ve eaten So Much Sushi, then we look over at the counter and people have 20 dishes stacked up, as well as a soup bowl just for themselves. I think we’re half milers, but then we haven’t had as much practice as the locals.
Wagyu beef sushi, with yuzu jelly and onions. So good.
Caught in the act!
And when we are done we tell the tablet that we’re ready to go – it totals our meal and shows it to us. From there we go to the checkout terminal in the front, scan our ticket and pay the machine. There are about 15 ways to pay. When we first started coming to Japan it was cash cash cash. Over the pandemic there was a move to have contactless pay and the options have expanded. We still find some places that are cash only, and others that are credit card only, but most have many choices – Apple Pay, a service called PayPay, Rakuten, our train cards. Lots of options now, and a lot less handling of cash by the staff.
Happy Thanksgiving! And its a holiday in Japan, too. It’s Sports Day. As is often the case with national holidays some things are open, some are not and sometimes there are special events. Wilf had us all lined up to go to a festival in the district of Jiyugoaka. We’ve been to this area before – had a nice lunch on a tree lined street, explored the area around the train station,, indulged in some great people watching. The area has a bit of a European look to it and is not full of high rise buildings. It looks like an area where prosperous senior management might live, where the ladies who lunch come to eat and browse the shops.
Of course our visit required another multi-transfer 45 minute ride across the city, but I was happy to see this poster at the transfer point for the last leg of the journey.
It is encouraging to find evidence of the event in advance! This is the Jiyugoaka Megami Festival, the 50th edition. Megami means goddess, and refers to the winged statue that stands in the square in front of the train station. I’m not sure what she is the goddess of – here’s a photo of her from the front side since the poster is a posterior view….
It’s a hilly neighbourhood – when we came out of the train station the train platform was above us – we went out, turned left, went down a slight incline and met the train line as a level crossing. Once over the tracks another block down the hill brought us to a street that used to be a creek bed. It has been filled – or culverted – to make a charming street with seating up the middle. The are flower shops and restaurants and all the usual clothing shops along the street. And the center of the street had been filled with tables, chairs and umbrellas. Further along – food tents! We got ourselves established and then took turns provisioning. First up = I went for beer and sparkling wine while Wilf chatted with people who were sharing our table. The Japanese are very reticent and they will share a table, knee to knee, with no conversation. But not when we’re there – either we start talking to them or their curiosity is too much and they talk to us. By the time I returned with drinks Wilf was chatting up several people. He went off for food and it was my turn to talk. Wilf found grilled chicken, rather than fried, and it hit the spot. After we had had our snack we wandered up the street.
There was a stage and a gal was singing – in English – jazzy songs. The next thing we knew she was out in the audience, selecting her victim.
She is singing and chatting while she draws a caricature of this young man, accompanied by a fellow noodling away on a guitar in a jazzy style.
I think he was just waiting for it to be over! But she kept hauling people up there, singing and chatting and drawing….
Just past her was a bug zoo, where the kids were handling the biggest beetles I’ve ever seen…
I’ve seen them in museums, but never on the hoof, as it were.
It was time to go back up the hill, over the tracks and to the stage in front of the train station for the first major performance of the afternoon.
It was hot – a lovely sunny day. We found a spot for Wilf to sit right at the front and I was standing in the shade when a Japanese lady came up to me, spoke quite insistently and then, when I clearly didn’t understand grabbed my arm and escorted me to a seat front and centre. Which was kind of her.
And who was performing?
The United States 7th Fleet jazz band!
So – sunny afternoon beside the train station, some jazz – what’s not to like?
Eventually it was time to move on in search of ice cream. That was when we found the other half of the festival!
I asked one of the volunteers if they knew where ice cream was to be had and after some discussion they suggested ‘Milkland’. And I remember that place from our last visit. All things milk, all from Hokkaido.
Needless to say it was crazy town there, but Wilf snagged a seat while I got the goods. They lean hard into the whole cow things here.
See the cow in the second story window asking ‘Milk today?’ Said cow continues to the downstairs…
Where it dominates the room!
Outside there is a cow that kids can milk…
Every so often the supervising staff member opened a port in the side of the cow to ensure there is still water for the kids to ‘milk’. I’m guessing for a lot of city kids this is as close to a cow as they’ll ever get.
We had soft service ice cream – milk flavour, of course – and an iced latte topped with fresh whipped cream. There was a cooler with probably 15 different brands of Hokkaido milk to buy and you could have flights of cheese or milk to sample a variety of products.
And as usual, Wilf was making friends,.,,,
The cow looks rather sceptical about this new relationship!
And then back across town – via another route with only one transfer at Shibuya station. Which is number two on the list of busiest Japanese train stations. I learned the hard way many years ago that the ‘ya’ in Shibuya meant valley and the Ginza subway line actually comes in above ground at this station. Which is confusing for a subway. There have been times when I thought we’d never get out of that train station. But they’ve been busy renovating the whole area and we made the connection from the train line out of the station and into the subway station without incident. A first for us!
This was a fun day at a very community based event – everyone enjoying themselves in the sunshine.
After a busy week with a lot of train trips and walking we planned an easy day for our second Saturday in Tokyo.
Let me tell you, folks, there is no such thing as an easy day in Tokyo. Everything is a long way away from everything else and that is just how it is. Remember – Tokyo is huge as well as being densely populated. Like, really huge!
Wilf had heard that there were places in Tokyo where you could go fishing – sometimes on a river, or a lake. Or in Saturday’s case, one of the moats of the Edo Castle. This sent us to the district of Akasaka (not to be confused with Asakusa, where we are staying….). And we did find the fishing club on the edge of the moat.
It was very hot, and while the boats up under the trees looked pretty and coolish, neither one of us was volunteering to row a boat up the moat. But – right next door we knew that we could visit the Japanese garden at The New Otani Hotel. So we did. The hotel is almost like a small city. It has two towers, one built in the 1960’s, the other the 1980’s. There are more than 40 stores on site and I don’t know how many restaurants. Rolls Royce has a dealership on the ground floor, which tells you something about the clientele.
The garden is lovely and would be nice to see at night all lit up. There are several stand alone restaurants nestled amongst the trees.
And of course there are koi..
And a very pretty waterfall,
After a bit of time enjoying the garden we walked up the street for lunch at a brewpub, then headed off to see a shrine.
Somewhere in the mists of time there was a rule made that shrines and temples had to involve as many stairs as possible, and the Hie Shrine was no exception. Well, it feels like that is the rule…..
Are we having fun yet?
When we arrived at the street below the shrine everyone was going to the left to go up through the tori gates. I was a little – shall we say – annoyed to discover later that if we had gone to the right there were escalators to take people up top. But – good things come to those who climb stairs, right? And it is a lovely temple.
This was something we hadn’t seen before. In effect it is a tree diaper on a ginkgo tree. The female trees produce fruit in the fall and it messy and the fruits go off quickly when they hit the ground. Not a pleasant smell at all. So these big nets are up to keep it all under control!
In November there is a ceremony held at Shinto shrines to bless children who are 3, 5 or 7 year old. Three and seven year old girls and 5 year old boys. They are dressed in traditional attire, there is a ceremony and many pictures are taken of the children and their families. This shrine is a particularly popular one for the ceremony and there were lots of families about .
Brother and sisterWe met this young man the week previous at another shrine.
In order to get photographs taken, and have the ceremony at the shrine, every weekend before the ‘official’ date of November is busy with kids having their pictures taken.
A long time ago Wilf heard/read about an excursion from Tokyo that sounded like a fun way to spend the day. It never seemed to fit into our itinerary – until today! And even that was touch and go as the weather has been iffy. But today was a lovely day.
The southwest entrance to Tokyo Bay is a peninsula – the Miura peninsula. There is a private rail line that runs almost to the end of the peninsula – to the town of Misakiguchi. A little further along is the port of Misaki, which is home to a tuna fishing fleet. The towns and the rail line have put together a package that makes a great day trip from Tokyo.
Wilf had assembled instructions on how it all worked, but we were a little uncertain as we set out this morning.
First thing was to get from where we are staying on the eastern side of Tokyo to Shinagawa Station in the southwest. This included a pretty wild ride on the JR Yamanote line during the morning rush, but we did it. The Keikyu line starts at Shinagawa, but it is not part of the JR system, so first we had to find our way out of the station, We had to ignore the ticket gate that said you could transfer from JR to Keikyu, but only if you already had a Keikyu ticket, which we did not. We went out of the station, turned left and found the Keikyu ticket office. Where they did not sell the tickets we needed, but the lady there had a series of big laminated cards that showed how to use the ticket machine in English mode to get the tickets. Back outside and we figured out which of the four ticket machines would actually sell the ticket we wanted – it was the one on the far left. And sure enough we were able to buy two sets of the Misaki Maguro tickets. Now we each had three tickets in hand. Ticket A is for train and bus fare. Ticket B is for lunch. Ticket C is for sightseeing or souvenirs. Through the ticket gate with Ticket A (which returned by the turnstile for the rest of the journey) and to our surprise we found the train – a limited express to Misakiguchi. The limited express part was important because we were getting on at station 1 and getting off at station 72 and stopping at Every Station would have been a bit much. The station was zoo because one of the Keikyu lines goes to Haneda airport and there were lots of people wrangling suitcases through the station.
The train was quite crowded until about Yokohama and thinned out after that. We did have to get off the train and wait for another to continue the journey at one point, but by that time it was pretty obvious that everyone was going to the same place so we all hung out together and hopped on the next train. It took about 90 minutes and we were in Misakiguchi town. Our information told us that bus #2 would meet the train and take us to the port, so we joined the crowd and hopped on the bus for a ride to the port.
Misaki town is a fishing town. A tuna town. In particular, maguro tuna, the really good stuff. One of the many things that I don’t understand about Japanese is why some words are written in kanji and some are written in hirigana, which represents the sound of the word. Sometimes it works to my advantage. Maguro is written phonetically, not in kanji, so as we walked around I could read the signs まぐろ。Lots to choose from! And we were on a roll – we had to use a machine to put ourselves on the wait list for the restaurant, which we did, and then when they called our number – I actually understood her! I was pretty pleased with myself.
We had a choice of several dishes and we both ordered the same thing – the tuna special! The large bowl had three slices of maguro tuna – it is the red tuna. Three slices of albacore tuna – the pale slices. A scoop of chopped tuna and green onion (from the cheek of the tuna). These were all sashimi – raw. There was also a bowl of miso soup, a dish of pickles and a dish of marinated cooked tuna. In the sashimi bowl (which had rice under the fish) there were also two pieces of rolled omelette. It was a substantial meal! And it was delicious! Included unlimited cold barley tea, too. And at the end we handed over Ticket B and went on our merry way.
I’m not sure why the banner outside of the restaurant had a tuna wearing a pumpkin and holding a radish, but you do you, tuna!
After lunch we decided to rent e-bikes and go across the bridge to Jagoshima Island to admire the views and the geology. Somehow we thought the bridge would be a small affair.
We were a little taken aback when we realized that was the bridge. How would we get up there? Turns out the port people knew we’d ask that and there were markings on the road to direct us. We were still uncertain but we found our way through the port and up to the bridge. There was a wide protected sidewalk so we decided that we could manage that. I was a little taken aback as I was whizzing along and a guy on a bike zoomed past me on the road way, but we crossed the bridge and found our way to a rest stop. We were reviewing our maps and drinking lemonade when a couple in wedding garb appeared, bouquets of flower in hand along with a couple of photographers. Okay – guess a sunny Friday afternoon is a good time for pictures. We said congratulations – おめでとう！as they went by, A few minutes later another pair with photographers – and their little dog in a tiny little tuxedo- passed us. Okay then – congrats to you too! As we rode out of the parking lot another car pulled up with a a woman in a wedding dress.
But we were off, riding along the path, pulling off at look outs. And at the second one….
Do you see the bride down on the beach – she has her back to us with the train of her dress displayed.
This was the shot they were aiming for with the bridal couple framed in the arch of stone. And there were lots of people on the rocks, hanging out and fishing. I was hoping that someone was in charge of watching the tide so they wouldn’t have to swim back.
Up above on the cliffs there were lots of trees that are wind swept in permanent curved shapes and the path has been cut through the trees making very scenic arch ways. We’re zipping along the path, come around a corner and yikes – another bridal party! By the time we were finished we passed six groups. Avoiding mowing down brides was only part of the problem. At one point we ran into a dead end. No more bike path. We were puzzling this out and saw a slightly muddy goat trail to one side, and through the trees some cars so we thought – okay, this will get us back to civilization. So now we’re off riding through the forest! Until we hit a flight of shallow steps. Well, dang it. Those e-bikes are heavy, but we got down to the bottom, turned onto the path, met another bride and groom and popped out into a parking lot.
Usually when I tell stories like I’m sure people are thinking to themselves ‘remind me never to go anywhere with those two ‘
We knew that there was a small ferry that would would go back to the port where we started and by this time we were thinking that we really didn’t want to have to go back up to that bridge and them back down again. And – sure enough – the ferry would come soon and we could either leave the bikes with the dock master there, or take them on the ferry and wind up back where we started. So that is what we did!
We’re not the first people to put the bikes on the ferry!
Short ride past the LPG carrier.
And if you are wondering what we did with Ticket C – there was a little shop where we could get gelato and a coffee with our ticket, so that is what we did.
The documentation that Wilf had put together about the trip and what to do and where to go was really excellent. We’re kind of far off the beaten track here and English is pretty sketchy, but we managed. But one really critical piece of information could be added to the whole thing – you can take your bike on the ferry and go across to Jagoshima Island that way – and then come back! No big bridge required!!!
We had just finished our gelato when the bus arrived and back to Misakiguchi station we went. 90 minutes later we were in Shinagawa station. And look who put in an appearance on our way back….
Can you see Mt Fuji peaking out just to the left of the setting sun?
And we arrived back at Shinagawa station just past 5:00 on a Friday night, which was not unlike entering the 7th circle of hell, but we got back to our hotel and are quite pleased with ourselves and our little adventure.
We’re big fans of KDramas on Netflix, and we’ve been exploring Korean food so we were keen to visit the Korea town district of Tokyo. We made an attempt when we were here in 2023. Picked the wrong day – it was a Sunday and honestly every young person in the city seemed to be on the street. The JR train station is small and dumps everyone right out onto the street (Shin-Okuba station). We got about a block down the street and gave up and decided to do something else that day.
Yesterday was not a particularly nice day – it was raining pretty seriously – but we decided that maybe a Tuesday morning in October would be a better time to visit. Armed with our new umbrellas we set off.
Wilf had his mind set on a restaurant called Delica Ondoru and since it was pretty popular I tackled their website, got myself registered and got us in line in advance. Step one done. Now we just had to find the restaurant. We had reviewed the map very carefully and with guidance from Mr Google we got out of the station, down the street and then turned onto what looked like an alley. When Mr Google announced that we were there there were several businesses in front of us – and then I realized ‘I can read the sign! I know which one it is!’ Even in a non-standard type face I could read it. Anyhoo. We presented ourselves at the door, showed the staff member our queue number on my phone and were sent upstairs for immediate seating. At first we just sat there looking at each other in astonishment – we found it and we got in!
They had a wide selection of Korean dishes but we were there to try the bowls. In this case the bowls are super heated stone that arrive with all the goodies sizzling away – sort of like fajitas but a bowl. Wilf had squid with cheese and I had beef. Being Korean food an array of six side dishes also arrived. And a bowl of soup.
The round metal thing above Wilf’s head is an exhaust fan. Should you choose to barbecue meat they pull it down right close to the grill and whoosh go all the fumes. We don’t know a huge amount about Korean food, but we have noticed that they like to put cheese on or in a lot of things where it might not be expected. Like with squid…. The little dishes had sprouted beans in a vinaigrette, kimchi radish, kimchi cabbage, something red and crunchy and sliced lotus root in mayonnaise. Over by Wilf there is a dish in the middle with what sort of looks like olives. I had it in my head that they were olives but they clearly were not. They were good but we could not figure out what they were.
We were so busy going down a ‘some form of vegetable’ rabbit hole that we were completely buffaloed. I finally asked the waiter and he said ‘tamago’ – egg. He dove into his phone to try and come up with the name and so did I – quail eggs. Turns out he wasn’t Japanese he was from Tibet, so he didn’t know the word for quail either. For your reference quail’s egg are: uzara no tamago. In this case, cooked hard and marinated. Yum yum! It was all very good and we had no trouble eating it – even the kimchi wasn’t too fiery for us. I don’t know if that means they’ve toned it down for the Japanese palate or we’re just getting used to it.
Besides the streets in this neighbourhood being full of Korean restaurants and kiosks there are two others exports that rule.
Skin care:
There were stores – big and small, one after another crammed full of cosmetics and skin care products.
And, of course, K-pop…
These are socks with the faces of Korean actors and idols on them.And these are fans with actors and idols.
By this time it was about 3:00 pm, the rain had stopped and the school kids were arriving…
School girls loading up on ‘fried things on sticks’This store selling hand made purses was very popular.
The street was getting crowded. Nothing like the first time we came, though. I’m glad we came back, had a good meal and got to see a bit of the district.
Have you ever seen five million of one thing? I don’t think I have, at least not until Monday. In a far suburb of Tokyo there is a park planted with five million red spider lily plants. Latin name Lycoris radiata, in Japanese they are called higanbana 彼岸花。
Pretty, eh?
Here’s a map of the park:
In the swoop of the river there is a lovely park, with cherry trees and maples trees and all the lilies. The little town is very organized. When we got off the train there was signage galore:
We had taken the subway, a train and then another train, and we had directions for the walk to the park. As it turns out the directions were not needed – everyone on the train was going where we were and there were banners the whole way along. The matsuri (festival) had been extended by a week as the flowers were still blooming. In many areas the were past their peak, but there were still lots to see. They were set up for a lot of people – the expectation was that some 200,000 would come during the festival. We were fortunate as it was not a madhouse.
The plants are quite tall – about 2feet or so. They don’t have the usual lily smell – not like Easter lilies or Stargazers. That would be rather much multiplied by the millions.
Rolling up the embankmentsAnd the food tents were there!
There was an assortment of vendors of both food and agricultural products. I may have had the best karaage ever – deep fried chicken so good!! And mango sorbet.
Lots of places to sit – very important!A few white ones snuck in…
Wilf tracked down an online nursery and just before we came to Japan a box of red spider lily bulbs was delivered to our house. They have been planted and we are hopeful that we will have blooms next fall. Not a display like this, but something beautiful to enjoy in the fall and remember the drifts of lilies under the trees.
It’s hot in Tokyo. And raining on and off. Today one of our travel umbrellas gave up the ghost. We bought them several years ago for $7.00 apiece, so they owe us nothing. Fortunately when it is raining in Japan places to buy umbrellas pop up like mushrooms and we were able to get upgraded versions easily. An extra three dollars and we have umbrellas that actually cover us!
On Saturday we set out to see the Sumida Hokusai museum. The Sumida River flows through this part of Tokyo, and the museum is not too far from us (again, in terms of Tokyo not too far….) so off we went.
In the West there are several iconic paintings – Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’, Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ being two. And Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave Off Kanagawa’ is probably in that class. We see it all the time, it is used in pop culture references, it is so familiar that it is easy to forget that it is a piece of art, not just a thing that has always been there.
The museum itself is quite an interesting building. From the subway we walked along a busy and interesting street, turned the corner and there across the park was …
It has some pretty neat views out over the neighbourhood, and of the Skytree in the distance, but mostly it is a dimly lit enclosed space. They have an extensive collection of Hokusai’s work – he was prolific both in his lifetime and posthumously.
I’m trying to think how to tell you about this without sounding like a dry dissertation. Especially since no photos could be taken inside the museum! We know Hokusai’s work, for the most part, from the woodblock prints. He didn’t just work with woodblock prints, however – he painted and drew and experimented throughout his life, always trying new things. He made popular prints that were not expensive, and were many copies were printed.
There is a story – perhaps true, perhaps not – that in the mid 1800”s when Japan had opened to the west and Japanese porcelain and art was being shipped to Europe that a shipment of porcelain was being unpacked and someone looked at the wrapping papers and thought they were nice – and they turned out to be Hokusai woodblock prints. True or not the prints greatly influenced the course of European art and were widely collected. The museum was fully bilingual, which was very helpful. I would say that the majority of the people visiting the day we were there were westerners. Due, I’m sure, to the fact that Hokusai’s woodblock prints, at least, are quite familiar to us.
Me, sneaking in a shot in front of the gift shop. After the big blue wave this is probably the second most famous of the 36 views of Mt Fuji.
Once left the museum we wandered along – feeling both hot and sweaty because it was 28C and clammy because it was raining hard. And what did we find? A fancy super spa. A stand alone public bath that can accommodate lots of people and offers a wide range of services in addition to a hot bath. So in we went. This one was pretty high tech. We each got a bracelet with a chip that we could use to charge food and drink. And we got some swishy lounge clothes. The idea is that you go for a soak in one of the many baths (there were 6 different baths, a sauna and a steam room in the ladies side, I assume the same for the men’s). Then you change into your lounge clothes and go for something to eat or drink. Or have a massage. Go to one of the lounges to watch tv, snooze, relax. Back to the bath for another round. And so on and the day goes by. It being a Saturday the place was full of young people. And of course no pictures. But Wilf and I met up in one of the relaxation rooms which had bean bags on the floor so we had a visit…..
As you can see people are working, snoozing, reading, generally chilling on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
And after all that we were powerfully thirsty. And wouldn’t you know we were just around the corner from one of Wilf’s favourite places in Tokyo: Beer Club Popeye, where they have 70 beers on tap.
That’s just a few of them!
The deal here is that if you order a beer you get an appy, Sounds fair, eh?
They have a VIP club that you can join, which we did in 2012. They were quite astounded when we showed up with our decade old membership card, but we were issued new ones to keep us in good stead. The place is always packed to the gills and yet they always manage to squeeze us in!
It was big Saturday! We were two tired puppies at the end of it all, but it was a good day.
We stayed in the cutest hotel. I told Wilf I was going to title this post (with apologies to Willie Nelson) ‘On the floor again’, but decided that wasn’t as clever as I thought.
Anyhoo. The hotel is called Shosenkaku Kagetsu and it is a traditional hotel right near the train station, practically underneath the gondola to the ski area. It is set back from the street amongst the trees. Our room was a traditional Japanese room…
It has a sitting area with chairs and a table, in addition to the low table and chairs in the main area. As you can see the beds are futons on the floor, and I will say (as I always do) that they are comfortable for sleeping its the getting up and down that is sometimes a challenge. We arrived after dark so could not see what was outside the window.
Our room looked down onto a koi pond.
Koi of all sizes, expecting a hand out..
There was a lovely public bath with one of the nicest outdoor baths we have been to. Smaller inns like this switch the baths back and forth one day to the next, so on Thursday the ladies use the area to the left and on Friday they use the area to the right. The big clue is that the curtains at the entrance change colour. In fact it was the public bath at a hotel years ago when I firmly leaned the kanji for man and for woman. We had gone to the bath before bed and when I got off the elevator I turned to the right. In the morning I decided to go back , got off the elevator and was in the process of turning to the right. From out of nowhere a tiny elderly lady in a kimono appeared, spun me around and pushed me through the curtain to the left, saving me from embarrassment. Advice for you – Ladies change room, restroom, whatever- signage is always in red. Men’s are blue. And the kanji for woman is 女 (looks sort of like a figure curtsying). Man is 男 (figure with a rice paddy for a head..)
The baths switch back and forth when they are different – one might have a view of the garden, another is outside. This way the guests can enjoy all of the options.
Throughout the hotel there were little niches with sculptures or displays of handcrafts, origami creations – always something interesting to look at. They had a nice lounge where we could have coffee in the morning and no matter where you sat there was a view into a little enclosed outdoor garden, each one different.
The lobby area had a little stream full of tiny little carp to enjoy. When we stepped off the elevator on our floor there was an interesting scent in the air. It turns out that the tatami mats on that floor had all been replaced recently and our room smelt so fresh, like a freshly mown field.
So – should you find yourself in Yuzawa, Niigata prefecture and you want a charming place to stay please do consider Shoshenkaku kagetsu.
In my most recent post I showed you pictures of Cats in Space in the Ginza 6 mall. At the time I didn’t know what it was all about. On our way out we found some information I’m not sure things are any clearer, but in case you are wondering – here we go!
Translated from Japanese into ArtSpeak, which uses English words but……
Where I'm At 