Greg and Mandy's Travels

When we first discussed what we wanted to see in Japan, I had four requests. Ride a Shinkansen – tick. Walk across the crossing at the Shibuya Scramble – tick. See Mt Fuji – tick. And walk through those vermillion Torii gates you see in all the photos. Well, today was the day to tick this last one off the list.

But first it was down to the famous Nishiki Market for a walk through and breakfast. It’s a covered one-street market that’s 7 blocks long, though it doesn’t come alive until lunchtime, so the photos don’t do the chaos justice.…

For the first time last night as we were looking for dinner options, we came across several restaurants with signs in their window “Do not enter if you don’t speak Japanese”. Gladly.

Took a late morning train to Kyoto. Arrived around lunchtime and emerged from the metro to the sight of a full blown procession of warlords, samurai, geisha and whole stack of other things that we really couldn’t identify with any great precision. It’s a yearly parade which goes from the imperial palace all the way down the road to the main temple of the city highlighting traditional Japanese society down the ages.…

Well, we’ve liked Nagano. It’s modern, it’s open and spacious, and the facilities for everybody are terrific, but it’s time to move on.

Before we go, it’s time for a little recap. It’s now a week since we arrived in the land of the rising sun and in that time we have walked over 142,000 steps, which equates to somewhere close to 90 km, and have climbed 186 flights of stairs. Our calves are going to look pretty good by the time we get home.

So, has it been like I expected? Well it seems that Japan has changed a lot over the last 10 years, some of it no doubt due to COVID, and it’s getting more and more like any other country influenced by the west, so it’s been less different than I expected (if you get what I mean).…

So today was the day to see if we could find the elusive snow monkeys. Way up in the hills is a wild group of snow monkeys, and there is a park to which you can go to see them. However, it’s not like a zoo or wildlife park that we would know, but just a place where the monkeys sometimes come to congregate. 

Up in the hills there are a lot of natural hot springs that locals have built hot baths around (onsens).The snow monkeys got to like these onsens during the cold months when they would come for a dip with their family group (a troup of snow monkeys) to warm up.…

We all know that Japanese do a lot of bowing, and how deep you bow matters, but also, it seems, Japanese do a lot of pointing. It took me a couple of days to cotton on, but then I started noticing. Train drivers before they pull away from any station look out their front window and point ahead (as if the train had a choice of where to go). Train guards when they pull up at a station, stick their head out their guard’s window and point at the number on the platform to show that they have pulled up at the right place.…

Now you didn’t think you would get through a whole week in Japan without getting a potted history of the country did you? So here goes. 

The first communities started appearing in this part of the world around the 3rd century BC which corresponds roughly to the mythical founding of Japan by the God Emperor Jimmu. 

Around 600AD writing and sculpture appeared, Buddhism was introduced and the first temple was built. By 750AD emperors started taking control, situated their first capital in Nara, and built the first great temples. In 794AD the capital was relocated to Kyoto, and for the next 300 years a Chinese style monarchy dominated by a familial succession developed.…

Having experienced a number of Japanese rail stations now, we decided that the best way to make sure we catch our reserved trains was to be early, so we got up earlier than we planned, packed, and wandered down the street to our favourite chain cafe near the station for breakfast. Caused chaos with two suitcases in a cramped restaurant for 10, but of course they smiled, and were very polite about it. Seemed to be a lot of tittering as we arrived and they remembered us from the day before. Not that we stick out or anything, of course.

Why is it that a lot of restaurant chains have Bossa Nova music playing in the restaurant?…

Our day to leave the bustle of central Tokyo behind, and take a bullet train  out into the countryside to visit Nikko and the mountains nearby.

Founded in the 8th century by the Buddhist priest Shodo, it is home of 103 historic buildings, including nine national treasures and 94 important cultural properties and several renowned shrines and temples, The park has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Whilst it had always been the place where the religious went to contemplate and find solitude, it wasn’t until the period after WWII that the hills and lakes outside Nikko became popular with the occupying US forces as a weekend retreat and R&R resort.…

Well, I’m weary. We’ve walked 27,000 steps today – that’s 18km, and climbed 31 flights of stairs, so I’m entitled to be.

But first, today’s Japanese question with no answer. Why is it that Japanese school girls wear sailor’s uniforms?

It was raining when we woke up this morning. First order of business was to sort all of our train tickets for the next few weeks. Having a JR Rail Pass saves you heaps as you wander about Japan, but you have to buy it before you arrive in the country. It would be far too easy to actually send you a pass that you can use, but this is not Eurail.…

The first rule of Japan is – “don’t try to understand the logic – it just is” 

OK, so let me give you some examples.

It’s against the law to smoke outside coz it may annoy somebody, and you’ll get fined, but it’s perfectly fine to smoke in a restaurant at a table next to people eating.

“Recycling is life” proudly proclaims the sign in our Airbnb, but rubbish is only separated into ‘burnables’ (which includes soft plastics) and ‘non burnables’. All rubbish, burnable and non burnable alike, is put into plastic bags, and left on the footpath for collection. Our Airbnb kitchen has no cutlery and no crockery but three drawers are solely dedicated to plastic bags of three different sizes for three different bins.…