Travelling around Japan
This morning at 8:15am sirens sounded across Japan. We were asked by our hosts to put our names on origami cranes, which will be taken to Peace Park in Hiroshima.
The first atomic bomb was dropped 73 years ago today, killing an estimated 140,000 people between the 6th August and the end of 1945.
For our next Ryokan we travelled to Miyajima island, just off the coast of mainland Japan near to Hiroshima. A multi-part journey from Kyoto (taxi, Shinkansen, local train, ferry and car was needed, but it was well worth the effort. The Watanabe Ryokan was billed as being the highest quality accommodation – it is certainly of a very high standard. Catering for only 3 room (6 guests) it felt a lot more family-run than previous lodgings.
Rooms are huge, with en-suite facilities, each with a cypress bath, and a balcony with seating.
On arrival we were collected from the port by our hosts, and as our paperwork was filled in we were served cold green tea, a cold/frozen wet flannel and a snack.
The food was excellent. Kiseiki meals which weren’t too extreme, slightly different courses for the kids where the adult option was challenging (fish head or caviar, for example) and service in a personal dining room.
Location was excellent, found just outside the village centre and away from the majority of tourists, and very close to the beautiful Daishoin temple complex. And with generous lifts being provided to and from the port, there was little concern for the 15 minute walk!
All in all, a fantastic Ryokan, with amazing English-speaking hosts, where guests are very well catered for.
Fruit and vegetables are very expensive in Japan. Chemists must make a fortune on digestive remedies. That’s all I have to say about that.
We had booked a taxi for 7.30am to get us to Kyoto station in time to catch our next Shinkansen. It all went swimmingly and we even had time to buy breakfast and train snacks before we boarded.
Keith’s face every time he sees the front of a Shinkansen is worth every penny we spent on this holiday. Pure little boy bliss!
Even I would agree that they are a marvel of engineering and less vomit inducing than British tilting trains.
The views were not as spectacular on this leg… lots of tunnel… flashes of paddy fields and towns… and then lots more tunnel.
We changed to a very busy, boring, local train for the section of the journey between Hiroshima and Miyojima and then onto a RORO ferry across to the island. It tickled me greatly that we were directed a different (step free) way onto the ferry as we had big wheeled suitcases with us. Our way was straight into an air conditioned lounge… with a door on the other side labelled “Miyojima” so we got to use the ferry exactly as it was designed!
The second part of today’s journey was absolutely heaving with tourists. We particularly liked the gaggle of 4 girls and one boy in Armani shoes, Rolex watches, fake boobs and over-painted lipstick to make their bottom lip look enormous. My Dad would NOT have let me out of the house in any of their outfits and it made a marked contrast to the four principles of the tea ceremony from yesterday: harmony, respect, purity and tranquility. Hmmm. The older Japanese people on the train did not know where to look and there was one older lady pursing her lips on disapproval at the 6 inch high wedges they were in danger of falling off when the train moved.
As planned, the tourist office called our Ryokan when we arrived and they were kind enough to pop down to collect us. The hostess has excellent English and navigated the extremely narrow streets with great competency. I am glad I wasn’t driving.
The rooms weren’t quite ready for us, so after drinking our cold green tea and eating a local biscuit delicacy, we went back out to brave the heat. We started with Okonmiyaki, recommended by our lovely hostess before heading off to the Itsukushima Temple. It is built on stilts over the beach so that at high tide there is water all around. There are multiple buildings and platform connected by walkways.
It is a shame that the water was full of floating detritis. It was mostly organic matter but contained quite a bit of polystyrene. There were workmen on the beach trying to clean it up, so I wondered if it was a symptom of the recent tropical storm.
Anyway, the wildlife didn’t seem to mind. We saw crabs, little fish, hermit crabs, water snails and a stork managing to catch and eat one of the little fish.
Mila got another page completed in her stamp book and then we set off to our next appointment for the afternoon. I had discovered that the trek Tim and Keith thought was a good idea took more than three hours and was reportedly very steep. Using ninja-like transport skills, I found a free shuttle bus that took us right up to the first cable car. We bought some shaved ice on the way to wait for it and that cooled us down a bit.
The first cable car took us up to the next and then we were at the top. The views were spectacular but they both felt a bit rickety. Danny did not like it at all and didn’t really feel the benefit of the view.
When I say the cable car took you to the top, that is not strictly true. There were signs for a 30 minute hike to the summit. Right next to the sign that warned about venomous snakes in the area.
Deer: fine;
bears the size of dogs: ok;
boars: take care;
hornets: take great care;
venomous snakes: no.
So we took pictures from where we were and then went back down. The breeze at the top was very pleasant but I was very pleased that the children are independently mobile. There was an Italian family at the top with a nearly naked sweaty baby and very hot toddler. They both wanted carrying and it looked exhausting.
On the way back, Mila had a bit of excitement with a large wasp that wanted to get on the bus with her, but then we were back at sea level.
Air conditioning and showers were calling, so we returned to the Ryokan and got ready for dinner.
We were presented with another epic feast. The adults got more courses than the children got this time and the two winners were fish head cooked in soy sauce and sugar and the cloudy sake which was delicious.
Danny’s quote of the day (see title of post) was inspired by a lovely plain looking course of beef and vegetables. There was even broccoli which was recognisable, but sadly incorrectly flavoured!
After dinner we walked back down to the beach for the low tide. At this point the red gate was completely exposed by the low tide and you could walk out to it over the sand (we told the children it was sand but it was clearly a shifting mass of shelled creatures: wriggle…).
Having missed the fireworks in Kanazawa, I was very happy to see some fireworks over Hiroshima while we were on the beach. They were a long way away and clearly quite a lot were on the ground but the ones we could see were good. They also sparked a conversation about the difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound.
I made the mistake of turning the torch on my phone on and Mila immediately started screaming and put her flip-flops back on. The number of little hermit crabs was like a scene from Indiana Jones!
When we went out a bit further there were some small depressions in the ground. I put on my convincing voice and told the rest of the family they were the homes of the wiggly snake fish we had seen in the Tokyo Aquarium. You never know- it might be true. Anyway, it made them both hop about trying not to stand on them which was funny!
I was the only one with bare feet by this point and was getting a good pedicure from the rough and stony ground. I did have to stop and put my sandals back on once we got the path though as it was worse than Screw Road (Dorling family reference). When we did stop, we noticed that you could see bats flying in and out of the massive spot lights trained on the gate. This creeped Mila out even more so we walked at some speed back to the ryokan.
It is very disconcerting being so hot when it is so dark. More than 30 degrees and pitch black. It doesn’t do that in Yorkshire.
As we walked back up the road, Keith saw a little crab walking sideways across the road. I presume it had come up from the drain as it must have been more than 300m from the beach.
Our last encounter for the evening (who knew there would be so much wildlife on our walk!) was with a little lizard sitting on the door frame of our Ryokan eating insects buzzing around the light.
That was enough excitement for one day so we washed our feet again and went to bed.
(I thought it was raining when we got to our room, but actually it was a waterfall outside the ryokan. I hadn’t heard it before AS THE BLOODY CICADAS MAKE SO MUCH NOISE ALL DAY!!)
Washed feet and went to bed.
For four nights in the Gion district of Kyoto we stayed in a Machiya (town house). Basically a little house, it was nice to be out of a hotel or Ryokan and have a space to ourselves for a change.
The Machiya is located down a tiny alleyway, alongside another similarly modest property occupied by a man who seemed to spend all his time outside his front door smoking and coughing up his lungs. He needs to stop.
Inside it’s a tiny maze of rooms, some hidden (ninja-style). The main room is 6 tatami mats big (6-jo). The tatami mat is the way the Japanese measure room size, and it’s literally a flooring mat 1.653 square metres made from rush and cloth – think a smooth wicker surface.
Furnished only with a table and 4 floor chairs, a pair of futons were the adults’ sleeping arrangement each night. Sadly the mattress was nowhere near as comfortable as others we’d experienced so we had to call for help and a second mattress. To be honest it was still inadequate – they need to invest in far better futon mattresses!!
Off the main room are the kitchen, a large store cupboard and the main bathroom – all hidden behind 4 huge moving screens. Very clever.
Upstairs is a western-style bedroom (real beds for the kids) and a toilet, with another toilet downstairs for the adults. There is also a 2-jo secret room – we used it to store luggage!
The property also had a tiny garden – enclosed in a courtyard, which can be seen from the bath!
Location was ideal, being very close to an underground station, a little shop, the tourist area of Gion and huge numbers of restaurants – however not so close it was noisy.
Overall, a really nice property – the futon mattresses were truly rubbish though, and the owners need to speak to the futon suppliers at the Fujioto Ryokan in Tsumago.
