kat-ventures

so i just finished 2 weeks of travelling with kat, and it was a load of fun. kinda bumpy at times, but what travel company isn't? after her safe arrival to tokyo (after the bloody hour train ride from narita airport) we wandered around Asakusa for an evening stroll, hunting for some good japanese food to start off the experience. we decided on yakiniku, which is cook-it-yourself meat, with a grill on every table and a plate of the meat of your choice. we rented the deluxe suite of k's house hostel so we could live luxurously for the first night (worked out to 48 bucks apiece. not too shabby). on the first morning we woke leisurely and headed to denny's for a traditional japanese breakfast. yes, denny's. over the next 24 hours we checked out ueno park, the crazy fashion of harajuku, the busy shibuya, and the 45th floor of the metropolitan tower in shinjuku. we started off the next morning by checking out the madness at the Tsukiji Fish Market. i still found it nuts to be in the presence of so much fish going so many places at once. here's an update to my previous fish-cut-by-bansaw shot: enter giant axe and piles of frozen corpses. we grabbed a plate of maguro sashimi (raw tuna), hit up a convenience store for some wasabi and soy sauce, and had an outdoor picnic in a nearby park. next we jumped on the monorail for a cheeky ride around odaiba, from which you can see a lot of downtown tokyo (it was cheeky because we bought a ticket for the next station over, but took the train to the end of the line and back before getting off). we decided fleeing the big city was a good idea, and so headed for enoshima, a town barely on the map just west of Kamakura. it is a tiny island with a cool shrine, awesome ocean-side walks, and a totally wild park decorated by 'mirrorbowler', a group that uses disco balls, candles, and various other trippy materials to create psychadelic environments. all the photos for that are on kat's camera. there was arcade-style mariokarting, bewildered pachinko playing, and a long walk on the beach - trying our hardest not to be blown over by the insane wind. the crowds of surfers were loving it, however.

next stop: hakone. the lonely planet called this place a 'tourist mecca', and were pretty on the ball with that - there were some sweet sights to see. unfortunately we were plagued with bus shortages, gondolas under repair, and an excess of volcanic gas (see photo, left) rendering the hiking trails unusable. this didn't stop us from eating the local delicacy, black eggs, cooked in the sulphuric waters of the local volcano's hot springs.

we got to check out great views of mt. fuji;

ride on a gaudy pirate ship;

play on giant net structures;

crawl around in a fiberglass tube-maze (these last two were at an absolutely fantastic outdoor art museum with everything from rodin to lorne harris to people you've never heard of);

wear some old japanese armour (at a village designed after the old straw hut style where we also watched soba noodle-making, and checked out some traditional paper and silk work);

that's all the net time for now. i'll update again when i can.

photos for 'off the map again'

hangin' out with some of the enormous trees at a shrine in Shuzenji Onsen.

pottery, japanese style: on a hand-turned wheel. since it apparently takes about 3 days to fire, dry, etc., they send it right to your house. booya. i can't wait to see what the finished product looks like....

what would Canada Village be without a beer? Just don't mention the fact that the cup is advertising american beer...

soaking in that rotenburo at the top of the ocean-side cliff. i had the place to myself for most of the time - an entirely unbelievable experience.

the granddaddy of engrish. leave a comment on what you think this note means. someone actually left a handwritten piece of paper with a real translation on it, so once i've gotten a few good guesses i'll reveal the big secret...

i can't quite figure out why this boat has all these huge light bulbs strung up. open sea grow op? seriously vision-impaired fisherman? i'd love to hear your guesses.

lazily fishing off the globby volcanic coast of Jogasaki.

a better view of the Jogasaki coast. note the hexagonal rock near the water. very similar (though less spectacular) to the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.

the gorgeous cherry trees blossoming at the top of mt. nesugata in Shimoda. the view was spectacular, the aroma powerful, and thus the atmosphere rather peacefu.

here's the cannon they had constantly trained on Commadore Perry's fleet when he arrived in the 1800s and had Japan open its borders. Shimoda is rather proud to be the town where this happened.

someone actually spent the time to knit a toque and make a cloak for this little statue. incredible. and this is by no means rare: every one of these statues i've seen is dressed similarly. they're statues of jizo, the protector of travellers and children. so, cheers to you, jizo, i respect and thank you for your work.
see? i wasn't kidding. rather less elaborate jizo clothes, but nonetheless all garbed.

that crazy ferry that zipped us smoothly over the whitecapped ocean waves to Oshima. that fin in front pivoted down to become a water ski sorta device.

the main crater of mt. nihara, the active volcano on Oshima. if you look close you can actually see wisps of smoke in the bottom of the crater. the colours were just brilliant!

my ferry 'seat', with comfort beer. 'e' class all the way, baby.

off the map again

back on the road again - and it feels good. my first week was a waiting period before i met kat in tokyo (which'll be happening in about 2 hours - booya), and i decided to drop off the map and head to some small towns on the izu hanto (izu peninsula). this place is known for its onsen (hot spring baths), its wild ocean coastline, and its fishing. thus, much of the last week has been spent soaking in spring water hot enough to skin a rhino. there's something to be said about wandering around a steamy room (or outside grotto) with a bunch of other naked men. no one's got anything to hide, everyone just wants to relax, and so the atmosphere is simply peaceful and refreshing. i experienced my first true public bath: an unmarked hut in the middle of town that i had to ask a few people to find. you just walk in, make sure you choose the 'men' door, and drop 'em. since i went in the evening, the place was full of middle aged locals coming for their daily baths (in this town many people don't have their own). it was like running into a bear in the forest: they were more startled by me than i was by them. this was in the town of shuzenji onsen.
day 2: i headed for dotomburi, known for its completely mad coastline, and this cave that left a great big skylight-hole in the mainland. it's got huge rocks jutting out of the ocean, a rock-bar (as opposed to a sand bar) heading to a big foresty island, and most importantly a 'rotenburo'. this translates to 'open air bath' - and it was one of the coolest experiences ever: it was a small hot spring you have to climb up a rocky embankment to get to. the bath is actually perched right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. it's outside, so you can soak and watch the clouds roll by, wave at the tourist boats - and while i was there - see the landscape and water turn orange with the sunset. i was the only one there for most of my visit, so i had ample time to sit and gaze.
day 3: in the town of shimoda i stayed at this incredibly cute ryokan (traditional japanese inn), where a cute old lady showed me to a cute japanese room with fresh tea and sweets awaited me. this town is noteworthy because it is where commadore perry landed in the 1800s and created the treaty that opened japan's borders after hundreds of years of isolation. there is a mountain called 'nesugata yama', which means 'mountain shaped like a sleeping person'. a cable car took you up to the top where a panoramic view, a photography museum, and an oldschool temple waited. there were cherry blossoms in bloom, and so i had the opportunity to sit on a bench under them and just take in the scent. i must stop and remark here about that: the smell of this place was spectacular - flowere were absolutely everywhere, and so my nose was just twitching with delight (including discovering a 'pineapple sage' named for the strangely tropical-fruity aroma).
i hopped on the train to go to jogasaki coast, where more crazy coastline rock formations awaited. this time it was all volcanic rock, melted and twisted into bizarre shapes, including some hexagonal formations like at the giant's causeway in ireland. very cool.
day 4: i got up to watch the sunrise, explored the park, then grabbed the crazy hydro-foil ferry to nearby ooshima (big island). this ferry had fins on the bottom that lowered into the water and essentially water-skiied you across the ocean. it was a really choppy day, so the waves were pretty big, but on this boat we skimmed across at 90km/h, smooth as a highway. it was astounding! ooshima is known for its active volcano, which last erupted in 1986. even now it's smoking and steaming like it's about to belch forth again. but i didn't actually see this until the next day. i must have a whole herd of horseshoes shoved so far up my rear that i can taste iron: the day i arrived was the 50th anniversary of the town, and so everything was free - hot springe, rotenburo, museums, the lot. bonus.
day 5: this is my day of volcano-climbing. my ferry to tokyo was at 3 o'clock, so i had plenty of time to wander and take my time. it was really spectacular to see all the twisted, lumpy rocks lying where they poured forth from the volcano mouth, and creating these long streams of piles of black lava. it looked like a moon landscape.
at 3 i jumped on the ferry to tokyo, which turns out to be as stratified as japanese society itself is: i bought the cheapest ticket, and thus was confined to a big room on deck 'E' whose floor was sectioned off in duct tape rectangles - each numbered for a passenger. i was #810, and so i sat on my piece of floor, bought some beer from the nearby vending machine, and listened to tunes until we arrived.
here i am in the mega-metropolis again, checking out the lights, skyscrapers, and crazy fashion of tokyo. in 5 minutes i'm off to stroll through the fancy shopping district (intending to buy nothing but a new journal - my other one is full) before i make the inconvenient train ride out to narita airport to meet kat. everyone marvels at how efficient tokyo's subway/train system is - but i argue the opposite: there are 2 subway companies, each requiring separate tickets; the JR trains, again, are separate; the ferry port doesn't have a subway or train stop near it; and the biggest airport is over an hour away, with no direct train to it. bugger all that - this is no efficient system.
hate to end with a complaint, but my net time is almost up.
cheers, all.

oh, if you're wondering at the lack of photos: it's going to be tough to upload them at cafes etc., so for the next while its text only. i'll fix that when i can - trust me i'm itching to.

-jesse