Japan...What we MISS

I've been asked quite often what I miss or liked most about Japan. It was a huge hunk of time, especially for our first international trip together, and even more so when we were camping the entire way. Alright, I wouldn't really consider it camping since we had nice restrooms (which also acted as laundry and shower), fresh water (drink-able too, which was great for cooking and refilling our water bottles), plus we were up off the ground. Even now I would probably state I'm not a huge camping fan, but when it comes to travel I love urban camping and the price tag of 0.00 USD. Ok, back to what I miss, since I have my hammock hanging up as a bed, I can't really say I miss it. 

I miss the people and culture. Everyone was very polite, carrying, hospitable, and willing to go out of their way to help. It was a huge shock coming back to the states...I bowed whenever I said thank you for the first little while. Even now (a whole year later) I sometimes start to bow when I really want to say "thank you". In a way I feel (at least in my mind) just words don't carry the same weight anymore. Action, and bowing, which takes your whole body to do, shows how much you appreciate it - ie the deeper the bow, the more appreciative you are. Well that was an interesting side note....

FRESH fruit!!!

Yes these fruit prices range from 18 USD to 98 USD, generally they were cheaper, but these are for presents/gifts, not for general consumption....they just looked SO pretty.

We miss fresh fruit. Yes, you can walk into any grocery store in America and get "fresh" fruit, but do they look like this? And, I swear that the carrots, cabbage, pretty much every fruit and vegetable we ate there tasted a WHOLE lot better than what we get here in the States. 

I would also say I miss 7-Eleven. I've even gone to their Japanese site to day dream again about the amazing food they always had at the ready. The caramel macchiato ice cream cones, the pasta and rice curry they would microwave for me and the sticky buns filled with delicious meat and vegetables. And to know that they had all been fresh delivered to the store that morning or afternoon and not sat there for a week or more. Man I miss the fresh, convenience store food. We had heard tales about street food, especially in some of the less developed countries, but I had serious withdrawals from 7-Eleven, Lawson's, Cirlce-K, and Family Mart food. Sometimes, just to switch it up we would stop at an actual Grocery Store to raid their fresh, ready to eat food. Ahh, the dreams about handing over yen and saying "yes" to having the store attendant microwave my food, to then walk to a nearby park that would be our home for the night to eat dinner. Yes, I've actually dreamed in Japanese about the food and having them microwave it for me, sad? maybe, funny? heck yes!

Val (left) and I (Ash on the right) in front of the first Onsen we visited. This one is located in Beppu, which is known for its many many Onsen. The person that was kind enough to take the photo for us is a native Japanese girl (mid 20's) that we met in the bath and started chatting with us. 

While we did utilize many public bathrooms to wash, freshen up, brush teeth, deodorize, ect. we enjoyed the opportunities to enjoy traditional Japanese bathing. Onsens and how the Japanese regularly bathe by having a little shower that you sit in front of to scrub and rinse and then a large tub to soak in afterwards, makes so much sense. I've found myself countless time wishing for one of those little seats in front of a shower faucet, trying to balance in a shower as the curtain starts to engulf you isn't much fun. I think they have the right idea. We weren't able to take photos inside any of the public baths due to wanted privacy (I would be a little wary if they were willing to allow photographs when you're walking around nude), but I did find some photos on the internet.

Demonstrates the little stool in front of the spigot to scrub and wash
Plus the large bath to soak.  

Onsen that has an outdoor section. 

Japan: Week 7

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1. Sapporo to Wakkanai to Sapporo
2. Sapporo to Okayama
3. Okayama to Takamatsu to Imabari to Onomichi to Tokyo
4. Mitaka: Studio Ghibli Museum
5. Emperor's Garden, Tskiji Market, Sailor Moon, & Capsule Hotel
6. Kimi Ryokan
7. Tokyo Shopping and Flight to Seattle

Here is a map of the route we took and the exact places. Wow did we make it far during our first week. We were traveling at the speed of a Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train)! Sadly Google Map doesn't allow you to have all those points while in public transportation mode, but we did travel the entire way on JR train.

Cape Soya, Wakkanai
Most Northern point
of Mainland Japan

We went from Akita to Wakkanai. Ever sense I had seen a Japanese animation I had wanted to visit the most northern point of Japan. Wakkanai has an actual monument about an hour outside of the city that marks the most northern point. Ending our main travel by going from the south to the north was mindboggling to say the least.

To round out our large Island hopping we visited the last of the four main islands, Shikoku. We travelled over the only bridge that connects the main island of Honshu with that of Shikoku by train. The ride was even on a sleeper train, which we really wanted to experience if only to ride on, and we were just in luck, we each had our own bunk! We originally planned to bike across the Shimanami Kaido which is a bike/pedestrian bridge that goes from Imabari to Onomichi. We ended up instead traveling the same route by bus, as we were a little short on time. At the transfer site we found an amazing vending machine that basically materialized a fabulous banana icee for 200¥ or about 2 USD.

All the girls going shopping

Goodbye Japan! Hello Space Needle
and Seattle

After this final travel adventure, we headed back to Tokyo for a stay at a capsule hotel and some souvenir shopping before heading to the airport. After leaving the capsule hotel we saw all these Tokyo-ites with their suitcases. It had become a regular site to see many people walking around with suitcases. It helps them when shopping as they are easier to manage when getting on and off trains while also going up and down stairs or escalators which are everywhere around Tokyo and most of Japan. After some last moment shopping around Tokyo we headed to Narita Airport and eventually lift off. Our last official photo for our first excursion overseas was a photo of downtown Seattle and the Space Needle Seattle. Coming home was a lot different since we saw everything in a different light, and a new perspective.  The way only traveling gets you to question and experience new things and allows you to make new assessments about your own Country, State, City, and life choices!

Japan: Week 5

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1. Kumano Kodo & Gorge
2. Katsuura, Nachi, & Nagoya
3. Nagoya & Yamaguchi
4. Akiyoshidai & Asa
5. Asa & Matsue
6. Matsue & Kanazawa
7. Kanazawa & Wajima

Here is a map of the route we took and the exact places. Wow did we make it far during our first week. We were traveling at the speed of a Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train)! Sadly Google Map doesn't allow you to have all those points while in public transportation mode, but we did travel the entire way on JR train.

 

Rice field in Takahara about 4 hrs
into our pilgrimage

Woods on between Takahara
and Jujo-oji

Val found the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage on the National Geographic website. After the Onaida Nature Trail I was a little hesitant to go on another Japanese hike, but since National Geographic recommended it, we thought it shouldn’t be too hard, so we began our pilgrimage. The beginning of our hike began in a slight sprinkle but it eventually dried out. The cloud formations and atmosphere or the whole hike was miraculous. With the mist rolling in through the woods, the bright orange crabs crawling by, dark red wood chips covering the walkway, and the bright green leaves, the pilgrimage was interesting, but not as easy of a hike as we had hoped. At one point, we came out at a hilltop village surrounded by rice fields all the way near the top of this mountain range in the Kii Peninsula. By this time, we were completely exhausted, even though it was only six in the evening. We opted to set up our home and go to sleep. The next day we finished our pilgrimage, which ended at the next closest bus stop that would take us to the shrines.

Dorokyo Gorge in Shiko

Dorokyo Gorge in Shiko

Kurano Nashi Grand Shrine Torii

We eventually made our way the Grand Nachi Shrine, which was located by one of the tallest waterfalls in Japan. At the top of the stairs to the shrine, we were greeted by the unforgettable scent of incense. The pagoda with the waterfall in the distance was remarkable, even now it looks like it was photo-shopped, and the experience was surreal. The shrine was one of the best that we visited and the different shops that lined some of the walk-ways were nice. I found a fantastic re-usable bag for Val.

Kurano Nashi Pagoda
with "tallest" waterfall
in Japan

Leaving the Kii Peninsula we headed for Nagoya, which is also the closest connection to the Shinkansen to our next location. Interestingly we could not find a park in Nagoya to camp out in, but we did find a park-ish area that was around the Nagoya Noh Theater and that is where we slept. It was a great find for us. It was a little farther away from traffic, so it was quieter. In addition, it had less foot traffic as well, so we were able to sleep in.

After visiting a few other destinations, we eventually made it to Kanazawa. Before leaving this destination for the rice fields, we had to check out the castle. We had previously checked out Himeji Castle, but could not enter the main castle as it is under renovation. Here was us hoping we could see the interior of Kanazawa Castle…alas the actual castle was destroyed hundreds of years ago and they are working on reconstructing the castle following old photos, plans, and pieces that had survived from the original.

Japan: Week 2

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A day by day account of where we were and some of the experiences we had.

1. Nara
2. Himeji & Banshu Ako
3. Banshu Ako
4. Banshu Ako & Osaka
5. Hiroshima & Miyajima
6. Miyajima & Beppu
7. Beppu & Sakurajima

Here is a map of the route we took and the exact places. Sadly Google Map doesn't allow you to have all those points while in public transportation mode, but we did travel the entire way on JR train.

Nara, a little town outside of Kyoto, was one of the few places that we saw a bunch of other international tourists and we were all there for the same reason, to feed the famous deer. I believe that since of the high volume of visitors they had a higher proportion of street markets. We enjoyed visiting this city that offered some decent food from the grocery store in the train station and some photogenic and feisty deer.

Nara, Japan Market

Hiroshima, Japan
A-Bomb Dome and Eternal Flame

We felt that no trip would be complete without visiting Hiroshima and really respect our two countries history. The visit to the memorial museum was a somber event. Leaving Hiroshima, we took a ferry to Miyajima and the famous floating torii of Itsukushima Shrine. We did not feel that it would be right to urban camp in Hiroshima city so we opted for a more appropriate location on the island. Plus it would be a lot more secluded area meaning that we would not be anyone’s way. We found a perfect place that ended up surrounded by native deer and we even heard a couple of very load monkey screeches as darkness fell over us.

Miyajima Island
Floating Torii

Banshu Ako, Packs off to eat our
7-eleven cappuccino ice cream before
walking the rest of the way to the camp
ground

Ohmoto Park, Miyajima Island

By week two we were becoming overwhelmed by the big City, concrete, people everywhere, trains moving, and cramming into those trains and well.... Val was just exhausted and needed some down time. Information women at the train station called a campsite she knew of way out in the middle of nowhere... Banshu Ako.  During our walk to this campground we found a 7-11 store where we bought ice cream, we stopped at a shaded picnic bench, and I had Ash take a photo, all I wanted was there!  A bench, shade, ice cream and no pack, and better yet a nice view!  We finally made it to this campground, where we stayed 3 days. This place had showers, laundry, picnic tables, vending machines, kitchen set up for all to use... even a TV where we watched sumo. They were very kind and lent us two bicycles to get groceries. After realizing many people were there to go clamming, we purchased a sack and dug in the sand at low tide with all the locals.  I promptly got a slight burn, and many little tiny clams.  The campground personnel took our clams, poured them into a plastic tub, then poured lukewarm water over them and placed them in the shade with a piece of cardboard over the top, and motioned with their mouths that the clams needed to spit the sand out. Ash was new to the entire process... but found her fair share of clams too. They then loaned us a frying pan to cook them up in!  On our next trip to the market we purchased two boxes of ice cream and gave them to the staff to say thank you!  (They close the campground on a Tuesday I think, and were becoming worried we would never leave... we did little but rest) Upon our departure they had made a little care package of food (one of the gifts included were Ritz crackers filled with lemon cream filling... quickly became a favorite) and then drove us back to the train station so we didn't have to ride the bus or walk.... so very kind. This couple and their staff hold a special place in our hearts!

Beppu Park, Beppu

After such a great experience at Banshu Ako we wanted to take our chances in a Japanese Onsen. I knew that one place that we would be sure to find an onsen, Japanese bathhouse, was in Beppu. We picked out one that was relatively cheap and included about seven different types of baths, a sand bath, and a sauna.  After a nice soak we headed to a computer café and then on to bed in our hammocks. It was pure luck that we were able to camp next to a grove of bamboo.

Dinosaur Park, Sakurajima

From Beppu we headed even farther south to the city of Kagoshima and across the bay to Sakurajima. We had a bit of a hike up steep switchbacks to the Dinosaur Park, so named because of the life size dinosaurs and other animals statues located there. We found a perfect spot that had a functional bathroom, a little on the icky side, a nice outdoor sink, a rooftop patio, and a beautiful view of the active volcano and bay. It was the perfect place to camp out and we even had a pet hawk. We really liked this location except for the steep climb up side of the hill.