Woops. Well, it seems like it’s been almost a week since these events have unfolded and I’m just now making a blog post about it all. Since I’ve arrived back in the states, missing Tokyo immensely, I have been on such an extraordinary sleep schedule, sleeping for at most four hours at a time. It’s been odd, but I’m sure I’ll be back to normal in a few days.
Because of this lag, I have been uninspired to write about anything (and busy with going back to work), until now, at 3am, unable to sleep. So, I decided to grab some Koala snacks (today’s flavor is chocolate) and some Anpanman gummies and sit back and wish I was still in Tokyo.
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So, we awoke in the morning after our rest in the traditional Japanese hotel room, sleeping the longest amount of time since we’ve been there – about 10 hours! We slept til 8:30 or so, then got ready, ate some breakfast at the hotel, and headed off to catch our bus to begin our departure back to wards Tokyo. Now, this wasn’t a straight journey. We took many different forms of transportation so that we took our time, saw some scenery, and experienced it all.
We awoke in the middle of a cloud. It was extremely foggy and wet outside as we got into the bus and left the hotel.
This is what it looked like outside. And to top that off, it was VERY breezy – I’m talking about 4omph gusts that blew us away.
Onwards, we changed buses a few times and while we had some time at one of the stations be went into a small shop for some snacks, and to much of my surprise, they had some beloved toy capsule machines. Yes, I love those things. This particular one that I visited had some Hello Kitty merchandise, such as small pouches and watches. So, I got a kickass Hello Kitty pouch that I kept on my belt loop and kept all my coins in:
I was styling in that, I know. Mana and Brittany got a kick out of it (Mana called me Ben-chan haha).
One of the main attractions that we visited on our journey down the mountains was to visit the hot springs that were prevalent along certain spots. It said at one point that these hot springs could reach up to 80° Celcius!
So, why not. Let’s go check them out.
After what seemed like a half mile worth of steps up towards where the springs were in this particular location (and through a cloud, none the less), we arrived at a small peak where there were pools of hot springs all around.
This one was larger than some of the other ones around. A note about this spot: they had carriages that rode on ropes/wires that were guided some 100ft above the walkways that carried eggs from the peak to the bottom to be transported. These eggs were hard boiled in the sulfur water of the hot springs, then taken out to be sold and eaten. There was a small shop at the the peak that we visited and Mr. Watanabe purchases some eggs for us.
This is what they look like before you eat them, and they’re hot too! They feel like they came right out of the boiling water.
Well, you peel the shells off, pour a bit of salt on the eggs and you devour. Well, they taste like a hard boiled egg! Imagine that. Now, as legend goes, eggs that are boiled in these hot springs give whoever eats them increased longevity and lifespan. So, I just gained 5 years from that egg. Go me.
The next highlight of the descent that we visited was getting on a ropeway car to take us down the mountain to catch a train. Now, as I mentioned earlier, it was very windy this high up and the thought of being suspended by a couple cables a few hundred feet above a sloping landscape was not a pleasant thought and I was a bit unwiling to that idea.
By the time we rounded the corner and looked at the equipment, and how it was not nearly as primitive as my mind made it out to be (I’m sure the name “ropeway” didn’t help), I was rather comforted. The ride down the mountain was very smooth and quiet, and it had such a wonderful view.
You could see everything from the height and perspective. It was also rather nifty that at the 11o’clock angle from the zipline, there was a kanji carved in the mountain. “Big” is what it represented, I was told. Pretty clever. You can’t really do that with English words, in my opinion. It’s not as simple and symbolic as the Japanese writing is, though that could be my biased perspective.
We landed safely after the ropeway ride into a transportation station, where we had a few minutes to hang around. So, we went out to a deck area that had a great view of the scenery to take some photos!
He we are, the four of us again! Notice that Mana is standing on the ledge and is barely taller than all of us. Haha. So tiny…
Finally, a few train rides later, we arrive in a small town that has many small shops and restaurants. Our final train back to Tokyo left about two hours after we got there, so we got some lunch, shopped a bit, and hung out there for a while.
Here is Mr. Watanabe showing us our current transportation on a map. He is pointing to where our hotel was, and we are currently at the big red spot on the far right-middle on the map. Our journey took us north along the lake, then headed east through all the words that are on the map, until we arrived in this small town.
Here’s an image of the sidewalk of the small town. Its just a bunch of small shops and souvenir stores all along the main road. Brittany, Tyler and I spent a good hour going up and down these stores, buying things for ourselves and for gifts for other, while the rest of the group went to a public garden to see the flowers on display there.
And hour later, we all met up at the train station to catch our final ride back to Tokyo. We took a “Romancecar” which took us straight to Shinjuku station.
Here is the Romancecar arriving to pick us all up. Now, this was a semi-direct passenger train for personal transportation. The seats were comparable to an airplane, but with much more legroom. It was a very comfortable ride back to Tokyo.
The train ride was a solid hour-and-a-half journey, which was enough time to see some rice fields along the way, take a short nap, and snap a interesting photo in the reflection of the window.
The girl that was sitting a few seats in front of me was just being cute the whole ride. She is facing towards me because the seats can be turned around to face the rear of the train if people you know are sitting behind you and you can pull out a larger table. So, her seat was turned around and it was humorous to watch her be cute the whole way, and to get an interesting reflection photo.
Now, we have arrived back in Tokyo and I had to pick up my tripod from the reception place for the wedding, as I left it there by mistake (I had an epiphany a day prior and remembered that I didn’t have it, so we called and they held it for us). So, I journeyed out there with Mrs. Watanabe as my guide so I didn’t get lost, then met back up with everyone else, plus Bill, in Shibuya as I wanted to get photos of the incredibly busy intersection and busy lifestyle there. So, what’s the best place to meet people in Shibuya? By the Hachiko statue of course!
This is Hachiko, the dog (well, his statue). For those unfamiliar with the story of Hachiko, here’s a brief summary: he was a loyal dog during the 1930′s to a man who took the trains across Tokyo for work. Hachiko met his owner at the local train station in Shibuya every evening to greet him and head back home, but one day, the owner died while at work and never returned. Hachiko, being the loyal dog that he is waited there for the rest of his life for the owner, escaping from those who tried to adopt him. For the next 10+ years, he lived around the Shibuya station, fed and cared for by those that frequented the station. This is the second statue erected for him 1948, as the first statue was used for it’s metal during WWII.
Okay, so I was moved by his story. Gotta love such an adorable, loyal dog.
At this point, we all were together and headed for some familiar food – American Pizza at Shakey’s. It was VERY cheesy, but a solid meal for all of since it was such a familiar recipe.
Filled tummies, a bit of shopping in the hip area of Shibuya, then I couldn’t leave without getting a good view of the intersection.
This is of decent quality considering the circumstances: I had to shoot through reinforced (by small wires embedded in it) glass, on top of not being able to use my tripod to it’s full abilities as I couldn’t place my camera directly against the glass while on the tripod. I needed to place it against the glass to get rid of all the lines in the glass and to minimize any glare from the lights, though you can still see a lot of glare, especially on the left side of the image.
But, you get the picture (haha…). A busy, awesome place. I could see myself hanging out in a place like this.
So, we headed back to bed at this point. It was getting late, and our final day in Japan was coming up, which we had planned to be a full shopping day throughout the whole city.
There are many, many more photos on my Flickr page too if you want to see more! (Follow the link on the right sidebar. It says “Flickr.” Can’t go wrong.
-Ben
