Japan 2024: Part 3

Back again for some more thrilling tales of our Japan travels for 2024! If you missed Part 1 and Part 2, there are the links for you to do some catching up. I was going to wrap it up here, but I did a quick word count check on the previous two parts, and that second was quite lengthy. Part 3 was turning out to be the same if not worse, so there will be a Part 4. 

Thanks for reading along if you are still here! 

And now, leaving Tokyo. 

It was Tuesday morning and officially Day 10 of the trip when we packed up and left Tokyo. We were headed north to the mountains for a couple of days staying at Kinugawa-onsen. We followed the directions from Google Maps about which trains to take, and ended up on a more expensive reserved seat express train. We didn't mind the extra price though, since the seats were much more comfortable than a regular train would have been, especially with all our luggage. There was space to hang our jackets on and blinds for the windows, and tray tables so we could read or colour. 

When we arrived in Kinugawa-onsen though, the weather was pretty terrible. It had been raining when we left Tokyo, but up in the mountains it was raining and freezing. I was very thankful for my new and much thicker Uniqlo jacket and also that I'd packed everyone's raincoats. We had another ten minute walk to from the station to our accomodation, and the wind blowing the rain in our faces for the whole walk was very unwelcoming. 

We arrived before lunch, so dropped our bags off and then had to wander around in the cold looking for somewhere to eat. Thankfully we found a delicious restaurant and Steve had the best beer of the trip, delivered to him with the smallest glass ever. 

The wind and rain was really making me re-think everything we had planned for our time in the mountains, but as we ate our lunch and talked things over, we just came to the realisation that we would make the most of it. Even if tomorrow was nothing but staying in and enjoying playing the card games we had packed, that would be ok. 

The rain died down after lunch so we wandered around the town some more and looked at all the souvenirs. Steve found this box of "Strawberries, impregnated with chocolate" that he immediately bought. 

We went into the tourist place to ask about a few things we had been keen to do. River boat cruise - not open until the following week. Edo Wonderland - closed on a Wednesday. Things were not looking good for us! Thankfully the information person was super helpful at suggesting lots of other things we could do instead. So with ideas in hand, we followed her advice for the afternoon and wandered down to the suspension bridge over the river. 

The girls had loads of fun finding these oni, which translates as demons in English, though I'm not sure that really captures what they are. There were lots of cherry blossoms on the main street (which was actually named sakura-chou (Cherry Blossom Street), that we of course took photos with. 

We went back to our accomodation by four to properly check in and went to our room. One thing I'd been looking forward to here was going to the onsen and since the day was so cold and rainy, the girls were very keen too. Steve and I were still trying to sort out bags and unpack slightly and they were already getting their things ready to go. 

I wasn't sure how they would take the onsen, but I'd explained how it all worked, and I was there with them, so it went fine. Great actually! I had been worried they would find the water too hot, but they both loved soaking and chatting. The place we stayed had an inside and outside onsen, and even though the weather was still very rubbish, the outside one was still nice to sit in. 

For dinner we wandered back into town and found a ramen place to eat at. Simple but warm and filling on this cold and rainy day. 

Since we'd gotten to Japan, I'd seen the signs for karaoke places everywhere and had semi-jokingly said to the girls "we should do karaoke!" At first, they were not keen, but as the week had gone by, and they'd asked more questions about what it was like, they were more and more interested. It was now the point that they were actively asking if we could do karaoke before we left. 

So as we left the ramen place, and noticed that next door said karaoke, prompted by the girls we checked it out. It was already 8pm, so we didn't stay, but the people in the karaoke place did say they were open tomorrow (even though it was Wednesday), they had a dinner menu and the kids were fine. The girls were delighted to hear all of these things. 

Wednesday morning dawned bright and beautiful. The rain clouds of yesterday were gone and blue skies awaited us. We all wore so many less layers and I don't think I even packed our rain coats. It was so different to the previous day. 

Our first stop was to a Begonia Farm, thanks to the suggestions from the information lady yesterday. We took a bus there from the main station in Kinugawa-onsen. There was a strawberry farm next door, but we opted not to pick any, since we've done that in Australia. Instead, we paid our entrance to the Begonia Farm and walked on in. 

I had no idea it was a thing, but these begonia were hanging from the roof and flowers were cascading all around. On the sides, were potted plants with flowers as big as Rachel's face. 

This place had been suggested to us because it had a baby animal area where kids could feed, pat and watch small animals, but I'll tell you what, those flowers were impressive too! 

Each one was different in colour, shape or petal type. It was so amazing it was also a little overwhelming. 

After wandering around here, we went through to the animals where the girls nearly died of delight seeing tiny gerbils, chipmunks, guinea pigs and rabbits. 

Steve also got to see an axolotl! 

The girls could have stayed for longer, but we wanted to keep moving, so we caught another bus to a train station. Unfortunately this is where my plans came a little unstuck, because our timing was off and the rural train wasn't due for another hour! Rather than wait around, we opted to call for and pay a somewhat expensive taxi fare to get us into Nikko. 

Nikko is the historic site for a number of temples and shrines. Usually the ones you see on the tourist brochure for Japan. Before we went into the main area, we stopped for lunch. This was the right choice, since having to climb all the stairs in the temple precinct would have been a nightmare with hungry children. 

As it was, we found a Manten chicken place and had the most delicious chicken burgers ever. Again, making Sophie happy with this more western styled meal, but we were all pretty blown away by how great it was. 

We went up into Toshougu and found the Three Monkeys and the Sleeping Cat. 

It was busy, but people were moving through so that was good. The temples are really in the forest, so it was cool to be surrounded by the cool green calm as we wandered around these old buildings. 

After walking around for a bit, we went back down the main street into town to catch a train back to Kinugawa-onsen. Along the way, we saw more cool random things like this fountain. 

And also this picturesque bridge that we couldn't walk over, but took this photo from a bridge just down from it that we could. 

We stopped for some vending machine ice cream for the girls, and some fun Japanese puddings in cute little jars for Steve and I. We got to take the cute jars home too. 

It was still a beautiful day which was so nice, especially given the previous day's weather! Train ride back into Kinugawa-onsen and a last stop at the souvenir stores there before we went back to our accomodation for another trip into the onsen. Aside from the strange Strawberries, Impregnated with Chocolate, the other interesting food item we bought was this cake that looked like it had been cooked on a rotisserie, where a new layer of cake batter was added every now and then. It was a little dry, but still cake-like and sweet. 

That night, the girls lived their karaoke dream! We turned up at the place right about 7, when they opened. Because it was a small town, there weren't private rooms like most karaoke places in Japan, but just one main room with lots of TVs for the lyrics. We were early, since the girls don't do great if they don't get enough sleep, so it was pretty empty, with just a couple of other Japanese guys turning up and humouring us as we sang along. 

The girls wanted to do more karaoke after this experience, which I'm pretty happy about. This was our last night in Kinugawa-onsen, so it was a good way to finish up. Then it was back to sleep on tatami and futon one more time before we left the mountains for Kyoto the next day. 

One final picture before we go of the koi no bori (carp kites) hanging up in the main square next to the train station. See that beautiful blue sky? So lovely! 

See you next time for the final part of our journey down to Kyoto. 

Japan 2024: Part 2

Welcome back for Part 2! If you missed out - you can read about Part 1 here. 

Day four and our first full day in Tokyo, we went to Shinjuku to pick up some train tickets for the next day, and then wandered around. Sophie had a dream of getting Pokemon display things while in Japan, so Steve looked up an anime hobby store and we trekked there in the drizzle to search for her. Anime in Japan can be quite overwhelming, and all we know or like about it barely scratches the surface of what is available and out there. Sophie was successful in finding some well priced Pokemon so she was pretty happy with her morning. 

We then continued on to Harajuku for an explore around. Harajuku is a bit of a weird place, and the weather continued to be very meh (drizzle rain making for lots of umbrellas crowding the street and making it super hard to move), but we enjoyed it. We'd actually eaten so much for lunch that we didn't feel hungry enough for crepes when we got there, much to my horror. Who comes to Harajuku and doesn't get crepes?! 

The girls spotted a cat cafe they were desperate to go into, so while Steve took them there, I drifted down to a second hand store I'd noticed and found some kimono gear for cheap. I picked up a cool new obi and a yukata there. Trying to moderate and pace myself with just these two purchases; it's only day four after all. In the end, we did stay long enough in Harajuku to grab a crepe before riding the Yamanote loop line back to our place. 

Before going home, I met up with a friend of mine from high school at the train station. It was really great to see him even just for a half hour at a Starbucks before he had to go off to Chinese lessons. I had packed some omiyage (souvenirs) from Australia to give him, but then forgot to bring them with us on our big day. Steve, champion that he is, took the girls back to our apartment in the rain and then raced out again to bring the gifts back before my friend had to go. 

With the rainy weather outside, we opted to stay in for dinner, so I made a round of curry rice for everyone. The local convince store (called mai-basuketto which translates pretty directly to "My Basket") was a bit like a tiny grocery store and had everything we needed. We had been eating breakfast at home too, since our Tokyo place had a mini kitchen. Lots of thick Japanese bread toasted in the frypan on the induction stove and eggs for the girls while Steve and I enjoyed melon-pan and other convince store delicacies. 

The grey skies continued the next day, but we had an early morning and were on the Romance Car Train from Shinkjuku to the Hakone region for the day. We covered a lot of ground this day, and in hindsight would have been better off staying for a night in the district, but it is what it is. Even though we spent most of the day traveling, we really enjoyed things because it was a bit of a slower pace. The girls packed their bags and read books on the longer train stretches and I had a hand sewing project that I was working on too. 

When we got to Hakone, we did a cable car and then a sky rail up and over the mountains to Lake Ashi. At the lake we took a pirate ship ride around which was just so much fun. 

Too bad it was absolutely freezing and we couldn't spend more time outside. Still, just cruizing around the lake was lots of fun. We saw this red torii gate across the lake, but unfortunately it was too cloudy to see Mt Fuji at all. 

They were really embracing the pirate theme at the restaurant on the lake. We had skewers of meat and veg on sword shaped skewers (Rachel wanted to take ours home) and Steve had a beer in a barrel mug. Not a beer to get again, but a fun experience none the less. 

Steve did pick up the first of his souvenirs this day too, in the form of some locally brewed craft beer from the Hakone region, a place called Gora. Carried them home safely and enjoyed them over our nights in Tokyo. 

We made it back into Tokyo around six and met up with Sarah, her Stephen and Hugo for dinner. The cousins were happy to see each other and we had shabu shabu together. This was a really filling and delicious dinner. Japanese places aren't really equipped for "large groups" so we had the kids at one table and the four adults at another. I was a little nervous leaving the kids alone with the hot pot in the middle, but they did a great job of cooking for themselves. 

Rachel and Sophie are pretty used to this meal, since we have it at home at least once a month, and even though Sophie isn't as good with the chopsticks, the challenge of looking after cooking things herself really levelled her up. Us adults had sukiyaki flavour and yuzu (my fav!) as well as the kombu.  Delicious! Home to bed and sleep because the next day (still counting? We are up to day six right?) we went to Disney Sea! 

I love Disney Sea. It's just such a fun place. I love the balance of things to look at and do in-between the rides. I remember there being more shows, but I think Covid must have had an impact on that, which is to be expected. Overall though, we had a much better day here than we had at Universal Studios (though that wouldn't have been too hard really :P).

Knowing we wanted to spend most of the day there and the evening for the lights and fireworks shows, we thought we would take it easy in the morning and arrive later than the opening time. I'd been keeping an eye on the wait times on rides the previous two days via the app and it seemed to be pretty manageable and consistent, so we didn't feel that it would impact us too much to get there closer to ten than nine. 

In the end, we were up and ready to go, so we arrived just after nine anyway. We'd read that you weren't allowed outside food in, so we didn't pack, but we wish we had. Not that the food inside was outrageously expensive, but it would have been nice to have some healthier options to snack on in-between the meals (like the carrot sticks and apple slices I'd been taking on our previous days). 

One of the best things for the girls about Disney Sea was that they got to see their cousin Hugo again. Having other people there with us really did make the day easier and more fun. The kids could spend lots of time in line without complaining when they were all together, because they entertained each other quite happily. Having extra people also meant it was easier to split up and do rides and not have to worry about looking after kids so much. Disney Sea also has a great fast pass type system for rides and often a single rider line so you can skip queues pretty easily, or at least make them significantly shorter. 

I remembered the Aladdin area being really fun, but lots of it was closed sadly. I'm guessing they are preparing to re-design it for another Disney brand (Encanto maybe?) We spent loads of time in the Little Mermaid section because there is this excellent playground there with loads of things to explore and the kids just had lots of fun playing together. Sophie told me we could have left the three kids there to play for days and they would have been happy. 

There was a main show at 7:15pm that was staged on the main lake/water area in the park. They put out four huge barges that lit up and people danced and sang from, as well as a main light/screen/fireworks thing in the middle and the pirate ship from Peter Pan sailing around too. Everything lit up and hearing the classic Disney songs is just so fun. The girls had a great time, even though I was singing along to most things. 

That show ended up being so great we didn't really bother hanging around for the 8:30 fireworks, but just decided to head home. It had already been a long day for us and the kids and we had enjoyed ourselves immensely. 

Our next day was a chilled morning at home and then onto the train to visit my homestay family. I was so excited to be seeing them after 18 years. Steve had seen my homestay dad in 2017 when they met up in the States, and we had seen Kana in 2013 when Sophie was born, but all of them together - and my homestay mum and brother - it had really been a long time! 

We had such a delightful lunch together. My homestay dad was just the same, joking with me about how we had brought such horrible weather and now the BBQ plans had to change. 

He and Steve cooked outside while my homestay mum, Kana, the girls and I chatted inside and ate all the food. Sophie was delighted about how much meat there was, and Rachel couldn't wait for the veggies. 

The girls were a little shy at first, but they warmed up when my homestay mum produced a pack of origami paper. They quickly set about showing all they could do and creating origami to fill the whole table. My homestay brother, Yuta, dropped in briefly with his two girls (3 years and 1 year old). They only live a few mins walk away, but his younger daughter wasn't a happy camper, so they left again. It was a little weird to see a guy I remember mostly as a fairly awkward 15 year old come in with two children (wearing the baby carrier and everything!). Changes everywhere!

After we ate, Rachel showed off her balloon animal making skills and impressed everyone. Then my homestay family's lovely, if somewhat excitable, golden retriever, Amelie, came out to show us her tricks. She was very good and delighted the girls, but did take a while to settle down. 

Then it was suddenly over and we had to think about going. I had mentioned that we were not super prepared for the cold weather (no singlets for the girls and only a thin jacket for me), and that we would need to stop at a Uniqlo tomorrow to fix things. My homestay family immediately insisted on driving us to get decked out at their local Uniqlo, which was very handy. Then they drove us to visit another friend of mine who lives in Abiko. 

Saying goodbye was so sudden again and it really made me miss my Japanese family so much more. Even though I knew our time would be short, it had been so wonderful to be together again. 

We had dinner with my friend Michiko, who made us some delicious karaage which was sadly hard to eat because we were so full from the BBQ lunch we'd had. Again, it was beautiful to spend time with a long time friend. I've seen Michiko slightly more frequently than my homestay family because she's made a couple of trips to Australia in the last 15 years. She has unquenchable energy and love for life. 

Back into Tokyo with us on the train (I don't think I could ever get sick or riding on such efficient modes of transportation) and to bed for another night. 

Can't even remember what day we are up to of the trip, but it's now Sunday which is exactly a week after we left Australia. We enjoyed a sleep in and another great breakfast of eggs and toast. This was the last day of catching up with friends of mine from when I lived in Japan 20 years ago. 

Haruka was probably my closest friend from my time at high school in Japan, since we were in the same class and caught the same train to school each day. I haven't seen her since she came to our wedding in 2008, so it was really great to see her and meet her little four year old son, Toru. 

We met at a big park in Shinjuku, which we thought we could just walk through, but with Cherry Blossom season in full swing, the park was actually ticketed access only! We stood at the entrance reading the sign (both English and Japanese) that told us all the tickets were sold out for today wondering what we should do, when a group of obaasan (grandmas) walked past and told us that since we had kids with us, we'd be able to get in at the main gate. Knew we had those kids for a reason!

Anyway, we trekked down to the main gate and the security guards there saw our kids and waved us through. We adults still had to buy tickets, but the kids got in for free. Once in, we walked around admiring all the stunning flowers. The weather was finally warm and sunny (after four days of cold and grey and rain) and it was a beautiful day. 

Rachel was pretty happy trying to find all the different types of blossoms listed on the information flyer we got. Sophie was happy when I was catching Pokemon. Haruka's little boy, Toru, ran around everywhere asking "Where will we play?" which was pretty hilarious but understandable since there was no playground anywhere. We only stayed for about an hour or so before we knew it was time to wander out and find somewhere for lunch. 

Haruka told me that Toru didn't love rice, but would eat anything noodle related, so we ended up at a spaghetti place. Sophie was pretty happy to eat something not Japanese for a change, and it was delicious pasta. I had asparagus and bacon while Steve had a carbonara. Girls and Toru had spagbol. Rachel used her last two balloons at the restaurant to make a trumpet turtle armband and bird on a swing for Toru. 

All too soon time to say goodbye, so we wandered off to explore a bit more of Shinjuku (also known as "find the second hand kimono stores".) I found a good kimono place pretty quickly and got a few things (I think a haori, yukata and two packs of fabric off-cuts (one for Rachel!)). The girls got bored so Steve took them for a little walk up and back the street. I think we ended up finding one more hobby store for Sophie to get some more Pokemon in before we started feeling like needing a break. 

We did see Godzilla doing some roar-ing above the buildings of Shinjuku on the hour. 

Then I ended up taking the girls home and Steve took a train to explore Akihabara (Electric Town) for a couple of hours. This was the first time we really split up, and since we only had one wifi, it was somewhat risky, but we were pretty confident with the trains (particularly the Yamanote Loop Line) and the way home at that point that it was fine. I needed to do some washing and spend some time at the coin laundry drying everything anyway. 

We had dinner that night at a Katsu restaurant near our local station that was delicious, and let the girls explore the 100 Yen store there where we picked up some fun Japanese things. 

Last full day in Tokyo and we hit Asakusa early in the morning. Again, early was the right choice to miss the crowds. It did get busy pretty quickly, but we spent a couple of hours there eating lots of street food and just enjoying looking around at all the old-new mix of things that is Japan. 

Rachel's favourite thing was these candied fruit (like a toffee apple, but way more fruit options. I would rate the strawberries!) and Sophie loved the detour we took to find her some curry pan (curry bread) that turned out to have surprise cheese in it. 

I left Steve with the girls for a bit to visit another kimono shop and came back with my first ever hakama (skirt/pants to wear with kimono), a men's obi and some obi-jime. The shop I went to was hard to find on the third floor above another random shop and a sukiyaki restaurant. The guy inside was also very disinterested in me which was a complete 180 from the excellent service I'd had in Shinjuku the previous day. Still, a successful shop.

While Sophie was eating her curry-pan, Rachel and I looked in the shop across the street and she made a purchase of a small wooden cow daruma. The one in the shop was sitting on a flat cushion that you could also buy, but Rachel told me she could just sew her own, especially since we'd gotten fabric from the second hand kimono store and I had my housewife with us for the trip. 

After that, we walked over to the Skytree tower, even though it was booked out and we couldn't go up, it was still a fun walk and interesting to see. The walk over was fun too, because we found more cherry blossom trees and walked over a bridge, so we got to watch the blossoms falling into the water for a bit too. 

I think lunch that day was in a food court type place with lots of different places you could get food. Steve and I had tempura and cold udon noodles, Rachel got a bowl of raw salmon on rice and Sophie had karaage. 

We went to the Pokemon Centre in Skytree, and while the girls lingered for a long time, Sophie especially considering purchase options, we walked out without anything. 

Now it was my turn to adventure on my own while Steve took the girls home for the rest of the afternoon. I went off to Nippori to visit Fabric Town. 

It was actually very strange to be there because after a very busy Asakusa and Skytree, which were both packed full of tourists, Nippori was practically empty. The fabric stores had customers, both tourists and locals, but it was comparatively a ghost town. I had fun looking through the fabric and trying my best to be reasonable about things. 

One thing I did find was that I'm not great at shopping by myself for fabric, because I like to have someone else's input. Good thing that I had the wifi, and when Steve got back to our holiday place, he also had wifi. Though the fabric was so cheap, compared to Australian prices, I was pretty careful about the purchases, knowing that we still had another week of carting all our luggage around and whether I liked it or not, fabric is heavy! 

My only disappointment here was that I couldn't get any kimono fabric. I found only once place that had a potential bolt, but it was on the more expensive side. Steve was advocating for me to get it and have no regrets, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I left with some pretty fabric and hope for our time in Kyoto to deliver a bolt of kimono fabric for me. Stay tuned for what I make with the pretty pretty fabric!

Our last night in Tokyo we had dinner from mai-basuketto again. Sophie was feeling pretty over the choices (since the only onigiri she would eat was the plain rice, I can kind of understand her being over that food choice), but we found some frozen gyoza for her that I cooked up on the stove at home. Whew! Here is a photo of Rachel with her choice.

Yes, she had a bowl of raw salmon for lunch, and also raw salmon and king fish nigiri for dinner. I think she could live here quite happily; just saying. 

We spent the night repacking and shuffling bags around. Our purchases (mostly my slowly growing kimono acquisitions and fabric) had warranted a reshuffle of the suitcases. We had strategically packed two duffle bags in our suitcase for this purpose and one of them came out now. I'd be hoping to put it off, but it was the right choice to balance things out and make sure nothing was too heavy. 

The next morning we'd be off on an adventure to another part of Japan, but I think this post is probably already long enough, so I'll sign off until then. Thanks for reading!