Standing on the balcony of the ryokan this evening, all I can hear is birds tweeting and the odd cicada. No shouting, no fire engines or police, no music. I can’t see any other dwelling- only trees. All I can smell is the steam rising from the onsen. Contrast is what this adventure is all about.
Our day started with the usual buffet (which I still did justice to after a ropey night) and a dash to the train station. For the first time we saw evidence of drunk Japanese who hadn’t made it home. Apparently this is a real problem but the first time we had experienced it. We also saw a fight outside our hotel and had to hustle our staring children away from it. Somehow it made the area seem much seedier than it had the night before when all the music was blaring and the neon lights were flashing.
I do not recommend tying to catch a 9am train from Shinjuku station as your first overland journey. It was terrifying. I have never seen so many people in one place so intent on their own business. I read that the population of Canada passes through this station every day. Now I believe it! We had to ask for help twice and an aggressive uniformed man armed with a stamp activated our Japan Rail passes. By the time we made it onto the train (which wasn’t a bullet train to the disappointment of the children) we were all hot and tired. And it was 9am. We were all instantly reanimated by the family in front of us who pressed a button on a pair of seats and SPUN THEM ROUND! You can choose which way your seats face so you can look at each other or not as you prefer. Japan is great!
Our plan was to hop off the train at Matsumoto to visit the castle recommended by Will. Everything was made a little harder by the day sacks we were all carrying. Neither Keith nor Danny have any padding on their shoulders and their straps rub on their collarbones. Needless to say my padding served me well!
We managed to look up, catch, pay for and get off the public bus in the right place and made it to the castle. We were very proud!
A lot of the places we have visited have volunteer guides- Japanese people who look to be of retirement age and who do a rota of free English tours of their local tourist sites. We decided that the castle would be a good place to get one and we were right. We had a lovely lady whose name meant “peaceful standing in a field” and her trainee whose first name meant “always beautiful”. After we had communicated how much we liked the shade, the tour was excellent and highly recommended. It was clear that they really enjoyed their day of volunteering and talked about spreading world harmony by helping tourists to understand their culture.
So, what did we learn? The castle at Matsumoto is the only one in Japan where you can see water (It has 3 moats) the Japanese alps and the castle all at once. It has 3 moats because it was built on a plain – not a mountain- and was therefore vulnerable to attack. It never was attacked, but they built a special place for the Lord to commit suicide just in case! Nothing like thinking ahead.
It was really hot again today and we were grateful to get inside. The castle is one of the oldest remaining in Japan at 400 years old, so it was built approximately when Shakespeare was writing plays. It has 6 floors (one secret!) With 60 degree angle staircases and was sooo much cooler than outside. We saw muskets, swords and Samurii armour. Mila had her photo taken with a ninja. Danny didn’t like the look of him so wouldn’t play that game!
To the south of the castle, the Lord had built a moon gazing room. He built it when the Shogun was planning to come and stay but typically he never turned up! Our guide told us that they regularly saw three moons: the real one, the image in the moat and the third one was caused by drunkenness.
The lovely guides spent over an hour showing us around, talking about construction and the protection from fire: “the greatest enemy of a Japanese castle”, but they looked a bit nonplussed when Mila asked them why they didn’t just build it from stone!
I felt a bit bemused. When you have spent time in stone castles in the UK with metre thick walls and draw bridges and enormous metal cannons you can’t feel safe in a wooden house where they have hand guns and rocks to drop on people. In fact I am not sure they should be allowed to call it a castle. Don’t get me wrong, it was fascinating and the guides were fab… It was just more of a pagoda than a castle!
Anyway, we managed to get back to the station (with a lot of moaning: heavy bags and sore feet and 34 degrees) and onto the next leg of our journey (also not a bullet train… sigh).
The views from both trains today have added to the intense feeling of contrast. It took an hour to get out of Tokyo and then almost immediately we were in the mountains. I don’t know how anyone moved between villages before the roads and railways were carved into the rocks. The mountains are not that high, but so steep you could go up and down all day and make no progress along.
It was exciting to see the paddy fields and some stands of bamboo. Really made it feel like we were in Japan, until Mila looked up from her phone and said ” it is just like Madeira isn’t it Mummy?”.
Our transfer to the ryokan was super smooth and required no thought at all. Our check-in was speedy and a Kaiseki supper was served 20 minutes later in a private dining room. 2 hours and more than 7 courses later we had all managed to find something we could eat. I am proud to be able to say that I tried horse intestine, a fish created by breeding trout and salmon together, and cooked and ate my own apple fed Wagu beef. I think even Keith is ready to crack on his pronouncement that no Mcdonalds shall be tasted on this trip. We are all desperate for ‘normal’ food and I am pretty sure the kids are losing weight!
After supper we tried the Onsen. No pictures I am afraid as you go in nude and taking a camera might have caused a scene. But imagine a hot tub with added oil outside in the dark with other random naked people and you have got it. Mila and I were lucky enough to have the ladies’ one to ourselves and it was very relaxing; Keith and Danny met a Australian man with his young son in their Onsen. Individual bubbly tubs and larger calm ones outside, then a small cold pool and a large calm pool inside. They must add oil to the water as our skin felt so smooth afterwards.
There was nothing to do but fall into bed, well onto the floor, after that and listen to the silence. One thing we are not having a problem with is getting the kids to sleep!