Exploring Aichi, Ishikawa and Gifu.

After a year of Haruka living in Japan, I finally made time to visit her new abode in Nagoya. It was refreshing after the hectic summer of newbies arriving in the city, and just what I needed for some me time.
In a moment of madness, I thought it best to take my first ever night bus to and from Nagoya. Following the questionable looks I got from most people, I was expecting the worst, but frankly I slept like a baby and couldn’t wait for my adventures.

I mainly spent the weekend at Haruka’s enjoying aspects of her new life; meeting friends, relaxing in her local area, and spending time together like in our uni days. Despite Nagoya being one of the bigger cities in Japan, I was surprised at having felt like one day was sufficient enough to see all I wanted to see.
We strolled around the famous Osu shopping district then headed to Nagoya Castle. My highlight? Briefly chatting with a yakuza member on vacation, in what could only be described as a plaid two piece, as he eyed up my gold leaf soy ice cream.

After spending the weekend together, I embarked on some solo travels to some places I’ve always wanted to visit. First up was Kanazawa in Ishikawa; somewhere I`d been introduced to pretty recently. The famous sight is Kenrokuen, when in winter the pine trees have structures erected to keep them from collapsing in the heavy snow. I strolled around all day, visited Omicho market, old samurai houses and even stopped to make my own lacquer jewellery box decorated in gold leaf.

Fun fact: tanukis (raccoon dogs) were believed to have magically expanding scrotums that could stretch to the size of eight tatami mats. Back in the day, metal workers in Kanazawa would wrap gold in the tanuki testicles and hammer it to make the thinnest gold leaf possible. Hence, needing a skin that could stretch.
No doubt my favourite thing to arise from this is the slag for testicles, kintama,  from the words meaning "small ball of gold". The balls began being sold as wallets, said to stretch your money the way they stretched gold. Alas I`m yet to find one, nor were any tanuki`s harmed in the making of my lacquer box.

Next stop was Gifu, visiting the adorable quaint villages of Shirakawa-go and Takayama. When I first arrived, I held back and let the wave of tourists visiting rush ahead to the observation point. As the morning dew began to lift, a light drizzle came over the village, creating a mystical fairytale vibe. The smell of burning wood from the the stoves of the thatched houses added to the atmosphere.


It`s easy to understand why Shirakawa-go is an UNESCO World Heritage site, but what saddened me was that most visitors seem to rush about to take photos before heading on their way. I was grateful to have the day there, to really enjoy the nature and even take a quick dip in the local onsen overlooking the river.

Takayama was unbelievably still when I arrived, with the sun beginning to set. The mountain air was brisk even in early autumn, and few besides locals were wandering the streets. Never the less, thanks to my new found love (read *the beautiful English speaking hostel manager who I`ve vowed to marry, unbeknownst to him*) I entertained myself at an archery range and scouted out some must visit places for the next day. The next morning was spent walking through the morning markets, trying an abundance of higa beef specialities, and a quick sake tasting at a local brewery before heading back to Nagoya to begin the journey home.

So far, I think visiting the Hida region has been my favourite solo trip to date. Usually I`m not one to embrace things like free tours, but I threw caution to the wind this time and met the nicest of people. In Kenrokuen, since few people were there so early, I took up a tour guides offer to show me around. She was a super sweet, retired teacher who taught me some interesting things about the park, and acted as my personal photographer despite my protests.
In Shirakawa-go, I met a university student who was offering free tours in English. Turns out I was the first person in two days to take her up on her offer, as most people visit there fleetingly. We walked around, chatted and ate lunch together before I headed to the onsen. Whilst I`m one to always have a full schedule day to day, its little things like that which make me appreciate having time to spend to myself and just embrace a little bit of freedom.


Although all of these places would have been a million times more magical in winter, I had to weigh the pros and cons of being committed to using countryside buses in heavy snow. I consumed way too much miso over the few days, and felt my first "miso hangover". Not quite comparable to the beef jerky salt consumption incident in Sasebo (Olivia, Sheridan and Sim... how are we even alive?!), but enough to make me hold off for a little while. When in Hida, hey. That`s the only downside to not having a travel partner, they`re great when it comes to trying all sorts of local delicacies.

All in all, I managed to cross off three new prefectures during a five day weekend, and I’m nearing the halfway mark out of all 47. I could do better, but now I`ve done all of the places nearby, it requires much more time, planning and money to do what I want. That, coupled with a lot of big events in the upcoming year, means the bucket list is getting smaller but even more exciting. Nevertheless, I`m not stopping, and am absolutely loving visiting charming spots around the country.

Hakone: my new favourite onsen town

Hakone is an onsen town in Kanagawa prefecture that I’ve wanted to visit ever since I discovered my love for onsens. Historically, it was used as a checkpoint for travellers along the road which linked Edo (now Tokyo) and Kyoto. 

It was known for being one of the strictest checkpoints used by the Tokugawa government at the time, employing “hitomi-onna” who specialised in spotting feminine features, to prevent wives and children (disguised as men) from escaping their lives as hostages to feudal lords.

Some parts of this old route still exist, and while you can walk it, our trip was focused on being a relaxing retreat in the middle of the school semester. There is a recommended route for travellers visiting Hakone for a short time – aiming to do a loop around the most famous spots - but Haruka and I decided that we’d much rather do things at our own pace.

 

We’d chosen a long weekend in February, meaning it was risky, but we trusted in Japanese people to be working on Saturday and headed up nice and early to miss the wave. We rode the Odakyu Romance car from near Haruka’s family home, and began our first day by heading to Owakudani.

We began our journey on the Tozan railway, the only mountain railway in Japan. As it’s such a steep incline, there are switchbacks starting halfway up the mountain allowing the train to change direction, which is a unique experience in itself. However, during that journey, the light flurry of snow turned into thick fog by the time we’d reached Gora and were about to ride the cable car up to the caldera.

 

Quote: “Owakudani has good views of Mt. Fuji on clear days”. The audio commentary whilst riding the ropeway was amusing to say the least; hearing about the beautiful views of Fuji in the distance, despite only seeing crisp white outside the windows. Thankfully, just as we reached the crater, the fog cleared slightly so we were able to see a glimpse of the sulphur fields we’d came for. 

The famous “kuro-tamago”, or black egg boiled in the nearby hot spring, is said to increase your life by seven years after eating one. However, we decided to try egg flavoured soft cream, despite the fact the wind at this point was blowing the snow sideways. That was a nice surprise, and I don’t know why we both thought it would be savoury, but it tasted exactly like Ambrosia custard in soft cream form.

We could have carried on for the second part of the ropeway towards Lake Ashi, but we decided to head there the next day, in the hopes the weather would get better and I’d bag some Mt Fuji snaps. Instead, we headed to a nearby onsen and done what we’d gone to Hakone to do. 

After the onsen, despite attempting to force our way into a fully reserved yakitori restaurant, we settled on something from the only convenience store in a 10 mile radius. Slight exaggeration, but it felt like it at the time, but all was well when we headed back to the hostel, befriended some Chiba boys during our expensive cup ramen dinner, and spent the evening drinking cheap sake together.

The next morning started with breakfast at the most adorable café near the station, and a horrifically nauseous journey to Hakone Shrine. Before you say it, it wasn’t hangover induced, I get very badly car sick. Granted the sake stomach didn’t help, so fair warning to anyone in the same boat as me… be prepared for the worst bus journey of your life and the prospect of having to almost vomit into Lake Ashi upon arrival. 

Hakone Shrine is famous for having its tori gate sat in the water of Lake Ashi. It’s similar to the more famous Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima, however in Hakone you are able to walk out easily to the gate from land. 

Hundreds of people were lining up to take photos under the gate, and it seemed like a well-rehearsed affair, with the assumption that the person behind would be your photographer. All was going well until it was almost our turn, when some idiots in paddle boats decided to get right the background of the photo op. 

Thank god they moved, because I was most definitely not in the mood to be dealing with a swan boat in my patiently-awaited shrine picture.

Once we ate lunch and experienced round two of the deathly bus journey in a peachier mood, we headed back to get some last minute souvenirs and Hakone pudding. The streets near to the train station are lined with numerous craft stores, selling the local wooden craft of yosegi zaiku and stalls selling my favourite winter snack, onsen manju. 

I’d love to go back again, especially when the Tozan train route is surrounded by blooming hydrangeas. Next time, I’m hoping to visit a different hot spring, visit craft houses, and venture into some traditional tea houses hidden along the old road. The less we talk about Mt. Fuji the better. At this rate I’m never going to see the bloody thing properly until I climb it.

Sasebo getaway

My first trip of the new year was to Sasebo, a city in Nagasaki known for having a large US Navy base. What was originally just me accompanying Sheridan on a day trip to get a new tattoo, turned into an impromptu weekend getaway, with Olivia and Simona joining in on the action. It wasn’t the most eventful and jam packed of trips, but it was the change of scenery we needed.

That weekend Sasebo was almost dead, to my surprise, but that was because all but one of the Navy ships were out at sea. 

I’m sure that once all the Americans are back in town, the atmosphere changes completely and that’s something I’m wanting to see.

 It was still pretty damn cold, so after a day of mooching we had a decidedly chill night in, complete with face masks, Netflix and eating about 3 days’ worth of sodium in one sitting due to a badly judged beef jerky binge. Living in Japan makes you crave the oddest foods, especially when you have access to all the goodies from the US base. 

We had our first taste of the famous Sasebo burger, which honestly was nothing to write home about, but the cowboy hats at the restaurant definitely make it feel like I was in 'merica.

The next day we became complete tourists and visited Kyujuukushima, or the group of 99 (but officially 208) islands. The cruise on a pirate-esque ship took about an hour, weaving its way through the shallow channels. 

Some of the islands had an array of ladders into the water, which I can imagine would be great to canoe out to, and spend the day swimming in the clear water slightly away from the busier areas. 

 

Being January, obviously we didn’t do anything quite as exotic, but we did have lots of laughs. It goes to show that sometimes you don’t need to have a crazy schedule somewhere, and the right company can make for the best retreat.