Rainy season may not be ideal for hiking, but sometimes you just have to take what you're given. Kumi and I woke up early Sunday morning to grey skies and imminent rain, but we decided to bite the bullet and just head out anyway.
Mt. Kawanori is located in Okutama, the westernmost area of Tokyo, and getting here requires a bit of time. Even using the special Okutama Holiday express it still takes a good 2 hours from Shinjuku, so an early start is essential if you want to fit this hike into a day. At 7+ hours, it's the longest hike we've done so far, as well as the most grueling.
From Okutama station you'll need to take a bus (crammed full of hikers) headed for Kawanori-bashi. I figured everyone was going the same place as us, but when we got off I was surprised when most of the hundred or so other hikers didn't all get off with us. Not sure where they were headed, but I wasn't complaining. Still, at least 25 people were milling around the starting point, chatting, adjusting gear, streching, not to mention the obligatory few who wanted to power up their hiking lungs with a smoke or two. I resolved to let them all get ahead of Kumi and I. After putting on our boots, checking the bus timetable, our map, etc, they were all long gone, and we began a leisurely pace up the road.
Unfortunately the paved section lasted a long time, about 45 minutes up. Although our pace was pretty relaxed, it was steady and we did pass a few of the stragglers, probably the smokers.
Finally the pavement ended and the trail began. Mt. Kawanori is perhaps the first 'true' hike I've done in Japan so far. The trail is well defined, but there is little in the way of man-made contrivances to coddle or annoy you. No concrete, very few of those horrible 'hiking steps' that are always spaced too widely apart, no wooden benches or pavilions for rest stops, no temples or vending machines waiting for you on top.... It was perhaps for these reasons that, with the exception of the crowd at the beginning of the hike, we rarely saw any other people for the rest of the day.
Mt. Kawanori is all about water. The trail (up) follows a mountain stream, so small waterfalls, river pools, the sound of water splashing over rocks, etc. are with you almost the whole way up, all of which made this one of the more enjoyable hikes I've done. Not all the waterfalls are small either, Hyakuhiro falls (about 2.5 hours from our starting point) was about 40 meters high. Getting a close up shot was almost impossible as the falls were so high that they generated an impressive amount of wind and mist. Even from a safe vantage point my Tokina lens was getting a bit too fogged up for my comfort.
Of course with so much fresh water around, I had to take a dip. Taking off my boots and removing the leggings of my hiking pants I waded into the small pool in front of the falls, but the water must have just melted yesterday and although I tried four times, it was too icy to enter for more than a few seconds.
Up until Hyakuhiro falls, the trail had been pretty tame, but as we began our final acsent of Mt. Kawanori, the previous gentle rise turned into the climb of death. With the exception of Mt. Fuji, this was definitely the toughest climb I have yet done. Conversation dried up, photography was forgotten, both of us just concentrated in putting one foot in front of the other in the hopes of making it to the top of this seemingly never ending trail...
But of course it did end eventually. Here we are, finally on the peak of Mt. Kawanori, which translates roughly to 'ride the river' mountain.
To be honest there wasn't much to see from the top. The trees effectively screened out any view except for one small area, maybe about 30 degrees wide.
Like we'd sent the clouds some sort of signal, within a couple of minutes of reaching the peak, it started pouring rain. I took the shot below seconds before the downpour hit. Luckily for us though we both had rain gear. Kumi had just bought a new and expensive rain coat last week. Fortuitous timing.
Even without the rain, we realized that we pretty much had to start heading down right now or risk being caught out in the mountains at night, and I hadn't brought my headlamp with me this time. So down we went, after being on the peak for only about 5 minutes....
On the way down there was a sudden burst of frog/toad activity. I kept a running total and by the time we'd reached the bottom I had counted 17 frogs ranging in size from large to massive. The first one was a surprise, and Kumi and I paused for a while to get a better look. I even took out the D80 in the pouring rain just to get a few pics. However by the time we'd passed the tenth, we barely even glanced anymore. It was good to see so many though, and I can only imagine how many were around that we didn't see. Most were a greyish brown like the one below, but a couple were a brick red colour. They all seemed to react differently to us as well. Some hopped away quickly, some froze in the hopes of going unnoticed, while some didn't seem bothered by us at all. One frog was so scared he hopped straight up in the air as we approached. Another sat challengingly in the middle of the path and only reluctantly moved after a few seconds of standing toe to toe with me, or toe to head I suppose.
The way back was long, wet and except for the toads, uneventful to the point of being boring. Even with good rain gear, hiking in a downpour is only fun for a few minutes, then it quickly becomes miserable. It took us about 2 hours to reach the bottom but it seemed more like two days. Your whole existence becomes the ache in your knees, shins and toes from constantly decending, something neither of us have gotten used to.
Still, the first half of the hike was exceptional, and even though the decent in the rain was tough, it's the kind of memory that seems much better in retrospect. I'm already looking forward to my next hike!
Pepsi Shiso (Beefsteak Plant)... (Entered Jun. 23, 2009)
Rumor has it that the president of Pepsi was pushing hard for this year's summer flavour to be 'Pepsi Sashimi', but his board of directors threatened to fire him if he didn't settle down and start behaving himself. As a sort of compromise however, they agreed to let him make the next flavour sashimi related, as long as it was a vegetable. The lab's first two creations, Pepsi Daikon and Pepsi Wasabi ended up being failures.... What to do? The president was dejected but refused to give up. While rooting through a plate of sashimi at the local izakaya, he pulled out a shiso leaf, gave it an experimental sniff, then a lick, and is reported to have shouted out 'Eureka!' before getting kicked out by the restaurant manager.
Shiso is also known as perilla, and is sometimes even called beefsteak plant. Beefsteak plant? If only getting your hands on a big juicy steak for dinner was as easy as going out to the garden and plucking a few off the beefsteak bush. No doubt someday this will be possible but until then we'll be stuck drinking beefsteak Pepsi.
Ok so let's get serious. Shiso is a leaf, a herb related to the mint family to be more specific, with a distinct taste and smell that you'll probably find garnishing a plate of raw fish. It's other uses range from being sprinkled on salads, spagetti, pizza and occasionally used by corporations to make a promotional summer soft drink available for a limited time....
The verdict? Well I was all prepared to pan Pepsi Shiso the same way as I've panned Pepsi Cucumber, Blue Hawaii and White, but, surprise surprise, Pepsi Shiso is actually... good...? Seriously? Yes. Although shiso is not listed in the ingredients, they were obviously careful this time around to use a chemical combination that both tasted and smelled exactly like shiso. And although it was sweet, it wasn't overly sweet like Pepsi Cucumber was. So anyway, the flavour combined with the label and colour made quite a pleasant package overall. Well done Pepsi, your first win! (in my books at least, and let's be serious, who else's books matter?)
Nara! (Entered Jun. 19, 2009)
Located in the cultural shadows of Kyoto and Osaka, both which are roughly 30 minutes away by train, Nara is sometimes overlooked on tourist itineraries. This is unfortunate as it's arguably the most interesting part of the Kansai area. Realtively small and rural, it's interesting to note that this city was once, for a brief period, the capital of Japan.
Steve and I took a break from the pouring rain of Kyoto and headed here for half a day. When we arrived, the rain had stopped. A good start!
Nara might not have the deluge of temples and historical sites that Kyoto has, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. Todaiji temple, the largest wooden building in the world, houses the Daibutsu, which at 15 meters, is the largest bronze gilt statue of Buddha in the world. Located in Nara park, about 10 minutes away on foot from Nara station, the area is picturesque and serene (at least when we were there). One can easily spend all day walking around the park visiting various historical and modern sites.
The massive size of the temple has to be seen to be appreciated. On the inside it is just one single huge room that could probably fit several airplanes in it. Front and center is the 15 meter tall daibutsu. In the back there is a special column that has a hole in it. The hole is supposedly the same size as the buddha's nostril, and if you can squeeze through it, you will apparently be blessed with enlightenment in your next life. When I was here years ago I managed to get through, to applause from the surrounding people, but this time around there were about 200 school kids in line ahead of us, all wanting to get through. Steve decided to give enlightenment a miss, and since I'd already been blessed the last time I was here, we contined on.
Although it has some beautiful temples, Nara might be more well known for its deer, which roam freely around the entire city, and apparently number around 1200. The deer are revered in Nara as being messengers of the gods, so don't think you'll be eating venison in any nearby restaurants.
Although they appear tame, and you can buy special 'deer crackers' that you can feed to them, the deer can sometimes be aggressive, especially if you don't give up those crackers like, right now. If there aren't many other people in the park, you may be swarmed by deer who show their impatience by biting, nudging, butting you. Thankfully the deer are fairly small, at least by Canadian standards, but the males still have fairly big antlers that you need to watch out for.
Don't let them push you around though. Nara deer are specially trained to bow before getting the crackers. No joke. I really want to meet the guy that managed to train 1200 or so deer to bow. Does he take each baby deer away for some bowing training before releasing it back into the herd? Maybe it's become instinctual? Anyway to start the bowing ritual, hold the cracker up out of reach. If you just shove them in their faces the deer will forget to be polite.
If there are no deer crackers to be had, hungry and frustrated deer may eat whatever's handy so watch out. Metal chains, cameras, backpacks, small animals... any people reported missing in Nara?
Actually the deer were all fatties. No doubt they get fed like 100 deer crackers every day each.
A report on Nara wouldn't be complete without some video footage of Steve and I frolicing with the deer!
All humour aside, if you do head to Kansai, don't skip Nara, it may be the best part of your vacation! (Just make sure to keep an eye on your kids when feeding those hungry deer!)
Kyoto! (Entered Jun. 14, 2009)
For the true Japanophile, Kyoto represents the ultimate city and place to be. Every year millions of people, both Japanese and foreigners, flock there in the hopes of finding the exotic dream of 'ancient' Japan. And while this magical place may still exist, you won't find it simply by stepping out of Kyoto station. These days you're going to have to work a bit harder to see it.
Kyoto is a study in contrasts. On one hand you've got the traditions of old Japan, the temples, the geisha and maiko, the zen gardens, the love of nature/tranquility, etc, but from another perspective Kyoto sometimes looks like just another big, dirty, grey, modern day Japanese city.
In his book 'Dogs and Demons', Alex Kerr bemoaned the loss of 'old Kyoto', called Kyoto station a monstrosity and described the cityscape as 'one of the drearier sights of the modern world'.
Opinion, speculation or fact?
Actually I've been to Kyoto before, about 7 years ago, so I knew pretty much what was in store for me. So why go again? Two reasons. My brother (Steve) was here visiting me and expressed an interest in seeing it, providing me with a good excuse to go again and take some good pics with the D80.
We arrived in Kyoto around noon, had lunch, took a quick look around the station then headed off to the hotel to drop off our bags.
I'd forgotten that temples in Kyoto close at 5pm, so after taking our time with lunch, walking to our hotel, and trying to figure out Kyoto's transportation system, we found ourselves with only enough time left in the day to see one temple, which ended up being Kyomizu.
I remembered Kyomizu temple from last time, and what stood out for me was that the water flowing from it (see below) supposedly cures all your sicknesses and ailments, etc. You line up, take a ladel from the pile, fill it up with magic water and drink. Actually the water didn't taste too bad, but probably because I was thirsty. Dunno about its curative powers though, it didn't do anything for the stiff shoulders I had from carrying my backpack around all day. That's Steve on the left drinking water from his hand (he's not throwing up). Everyone was pouring the contents of the cups into their hands instead of drinking from the cups directly, when in Rome....
And how do you prevent the spread of germs? After you're done drinking, stick your ladel in the 'ultra violet sterilizer' to clean it. Very traditional I'm sure.
There wasn't really time to hit another temple today, but Maruyama park was nearby, so we made our way over. On the way there ran across these two lovely ladies, who were kind enough to pose for a picture.
After that we walked around Gion for a while, an area of Kyoto famous for traditional shops and sights, but we didn't see much as it was strangely empty. Needing a rest, we popped into a riverside restaurant for a few beers.
Once 5 o'clock passes, Kyoto's traditional options pretty much disappear, so our evenings were spent mainly finding a good place to eat, then finding a decent bar.
The next morning it was pouring rain, which put a bit of a damper on our plans for walking around and seeing some of the more interesting temples. What else is there to do in Kyoto though? Without any other options we gritted our teeth and headed out into the downpour.
First on the list was Kinkakuji, the 'Golden Pavilion' which is a World Heritage Site and probably my favourite of all the temples in Kyoto. No telephone wires, no signs, no plastic, no ugly buildings in the background.... Unfortunately however, even on a rainy Friday morning the crowds were in force. Obviously I did my best to keep them out of the picture.
A short distance up the hill was Ryoanji, a temple with a famous rock garden. We sludged through the rain and made it there on foot in about 20 minutes only to find a large sign at the entrance apologizing for the construction and loud noises going on inside. The entrance fee was still 500 yen though, and when you're going from temple to temple you start to realize something, temples aren't cheap. We decided to give Ryoanji a miss. Anyway I'd been there the first time I came to Kyoto.
Continuing up the hill we eventually got to Ninnaji, a large complex with various temples inside. We paid the 500 yen fee and hoped there would be no construction or noise.
Temples are hit and miss affairs. Without doing extensive research you're not sure what you're going to get before you pay to pass through the gates. Ninnaji was one of the good ones though. The grounds were large, and the architecture was picturesque. Another bonus was that it was relatively deserted, giving it almost a haikyo-like feel at times.
Taking pictures with one hand while holding an umbrella in the other was a chore, but I managed.
After Ninnaji, we headed to the city of Nara (which I will post about separately) for the rest of the day.
Fast forward to the next day. The weather had cleared up somewhat for our last day in Kyoto, and I wanted to head up to the North of Kyoto away from the crowds and fuss, in the hopes of finding some gems off the beaten path. A small brochure I received from the Kyoto tourism office on the first day had pictures and descriptions of a number of temples, and I liked the looks of one called Shinsendo. I planned for us to check that one out first, then head into the mountains up North to a temple called Jakkoin.
By now I'd kind of figured out the bus system here, and after a ride of about 40 minutes, we finally arrived at the stop near Shinsendo. Once again the entry fee was 500 yen, but this time the temple turned out to be a disappointment. It was small, crowded with nothing much to see except a small garden which while nice, wasn't really worth the money we paid.
Given that we had to be back at Kyoto station at 4pm to catch the train to Tokyo, and the fact that we were a bit tired of paying 5 bucks for every temple, we decided to forgo heading into the mountains and instead went back into the city to see some of the larger attractions, parts of which you can see for free.
We headed to Heian shrine first which turned out to be a nice distraction. Large, picturesque, free (the outer part) and sparsely populated.
From there we continued on foot and made our way to the Imperial Palace. The palace itself is rather small, but surrounding it is a truly massive park that is free to enter, and strangely enough for a Saturday, almost completely empty. Everywhere there were these huge, flat swaths of gravel, which seemed purposeless to me, but there were large sections of grass and trees as well, most of it blissfully empty and quiet. We spent the last few hours of our trip just sitting here, relaxing and talking.
Steve contemplates returning to Vancouver and the real world.
Ok so Kyoto may not be the enchanting city it used to be, it may be large, dreary, and grey, but how much does that bother me? I have to say, after living for years in Tokyo, the king of large, dreary and grey cities, Kyoto is a definite step up. The streets may me modernized, there may be plastic and concrete everywhere, but Kyoto has a cultural atmosphere that you can still feel just by walking around. In Tokyo people are from all over Japan, but at the same time it has no distinctness about it, no real cultural identity.
I enjoyed Kyoto both times I went. Maybe the secret to enjoying it is to go there without any expectations?
Green Tea Coke... (Entered Jun. 11, 2009)
With the exception of Vitamin C Coca Cola released last year, Coke has pretty much been sitting on the sidelines while Pepsi's been getting all the attention with its bizarrely flavoured drinks. The verdict is still out whether Pepsi is doing its image any good by mixing itself with various colours and chemicals, but Coke has finally decided to show Japan that it is just as capable of making a silly flavoured cola as anybody else. Maybe even better? I guess I'm going to find out.
The idea:
Far from being exciting, this whole idea of releasing your product with different colours and flavours is nothing new. Kit Kat paved the way and now it's pretty much the only marketing strategy available to snack food companies in Japan. Everywhere you look, chocolate bars, chips, drinks, etc, are all going off the flavour deep end.
Unlike Pepsi though, whose three short lived flavours didn't have any connection to Japan itself, Coke is taking something that Japanese people truly love, and mixing it with caramel colour, fizz and sugar. Sure it's bold, but it's analogous to doing something dumb like putting a piece of sashimi in a McDonald's hamburger. In other words, it'll be good for a few laughs but not much else.
The label:
A grey label? Really? Ok there are some bits of green and a few leaves near the bottom, but while looking over the (small) softdrink selection at my local combini my eyes passed over the stack of bottles at least three times before I managed to find them. It's almost like Coke is embarrased about its flavour foray. Perhaps they wondered to themselves at the last minute if this really was a good idea or not. Maybe the president ordered a grey label slapped on so people wouldn't really notice it...
The colour:
Nothing new here. Green Tea Coke is the same colour as the regular stuff. I guess Coke wanted to be different than Pepsi and its groovy colours, which I can respect, and went for a more 'subdued and serious' image. This might work for a bottle of wine or whiskey, but as a rule, soft drinks aren't serious things. I for one wanted green Coke.
The taste:
Diet Coke with extra aspartame is what comes to mind. Although green tea extract is listed in the ingredients, my tastebuds strained themselves to the limit of their powers to detect some a hint of tea flavour, and failed. To be fair, it's not bad tasting, but even though it supposedly has catechin in it (like anyone is really going to switch from tea to Coke to get their antioxidants), Green Tea Coke seems to be pretty green tea-less.
Not to be rude Coke, but I'm not sure I understand what the point of this drink is, or why you even bothered? We'll see if Pepsi does a better job in a week or two when it releases its new summer flavour: 'shiso' (beefsteak plant).
BE Labs Haikyo... (Entered Jun. 09, 2009)
Usually when it rains on a weekend you'll find me stuck glumly indoors, plans such as bicycling or hiking having been cancelled. There is one outdoor activity however where I find that rain is actually preferable to sunny skies, and that's haikyoing. Why? Perhaps it's because the mystery and foreboding of a haikyo are amplified in rainy weather. Add an isolated mountain location, and throw in some mist, and suddenly a rainy Sunday is looking pretty good.
MJG and I hit the road again, but this time instead of renting a car, we were picked up at Yokodai station by haikyo virgin Lucas and his trusty old Nissan Sunny.
Our destination this time around was BE Labs, not a labratory unfortunately but a small hotel/resort complex no doubt used as a getaway by company employees. Located in the mountains of Izu, it was quite easy to find.
And to enter. With no fences, security, locked doors, boarded windows or things to climb, this is strictly a beginner haikyo. In fact all the doors of the place were wide open in welcome. To be honest, this does take a bit of the thrill and challenge away from the experience...
As usual, the three of us split up upon entering, each of us going off on his own seperate adventure. The place wasn't that big, but it was big enough that the three of us rarely ran into each other.
Once again we were to meet some random strangers during our explorations, but unfortuntely this time around they weren't cute girl cosplayers. As I was walking around some rooms in the back I was startled to suddenly hear Japanese voices speaking. I froze in place wondering both if they were the authorities, and whether they'd already found MJG and Lucas out. As one voice came closer, I realized I couldn't leave my current location without being seen...
To avoid the weirdness of him walking in on me while I was just standing there, I started forward, intending to just walk by whoever it was nonchalantly. As I did so, I said 'konnichiwa' but he didn't even glance in my direction.... Turned out that Lucas and Mike had already talked to him so he wasn't surprised to see a some random foreigner walking out of a supposedly abandoned room. Lucas informed me that the guy had once worked here long ago, and had come back to relive lost memories or some such...
The Japanese guys didn't stay long, and we were once again left in silence, not to mention dust and decay. Usually when I haikyo I wear one of those surgical mask thingys (the ones you always see Japanese people wearing when they're sick or have allergies) in an effort to limit the amount of toxic chemicals such as abestos (which is present in these old buildings) that I breathe in. Most old Japanese buildings, as well as a lot of new ones, are still constructed with archaic safety regulations.
I forgot the mask today though, and the mustiness levels were very high. No doubt my lungs took a beating.
I also wear gloves, which I didn't forget. Too much caution? Maybe, but haikyos are filthy places. Something about that combination of inorganic materials fighting with organic ones makes for a nasty combination. No doubt about which one will eventually win though, and open doors and broken windows will only speed up the process.
Like the last haikyo I went on, there was one room where a homeless person had obviously lived for a while, full of garbage, old pots and pans, umbrellas, comic books, and what have you, and like before, it was a depressing sight. Not sure which would be worse, living in some cardboard boxes or living in some rotten old building. Hope I never have to find out.
Like I said before, the place was pretty small, so I had thoroughly seen everything in less than 2 hours. Lucus finished around the same time I did, but MJG, as usual needed more time to go over every square inch of the place.
We headed out again with two other destinations in mind, but of the three that were marked down on the map, one had already been destroyed and the other was either gone or very, very well hidden. We spent about 2 hours trying to find that last one, with Lucas stopping the car every 10 minutes, asking every single person we came across for directions, none of whom had any real clue. We finally gave up as the light started to fade, and headed home.
Not many big/interesting Kanto area haikyos left to discover, time to start heading farther afield!
Mt. Oyama Hiking... (Entered Jun. 02, 2009)
The peace and satisfaction of hiking in Japan's countryside contrasts sharply with the toil and hassle one has to go through to get in and out of the urban sprawl, in my case Tokyo. This time around, Kumi and I headed to Mt. Oyama in the Tanzawa area.
It was purely a last minute decision though. We had planned originally to go to another hike in Okutama, that required a good 3 hour train ride one way, but we woke up too late (7:00 am is too late for most day hikes in the Tokyo area), so we had to fall back on Mt. Oyama (one of the closer, shorter Tokyo area hikes) to have any hope of finishing the hiking circuit and getting back home at a reasonable time. We reached Isehara station on the Odakyu line and then after another 15 minute bus ride (which was severely crowded), we arrived at the starting point.
After a 10 minute walk up some stairs and past a bunch of Tofu restaurants, you have the choice of taking a cable car (which ends about halfway up at a temple) or going it on foot. Predictably most people opted to be pulled up the mountain, but Kumi and I came here to hike, not wimp out in the cable car.
After this pleasant and flat little bridge, the hike to the end of the cable car line became surprisingly steep and difficult, however it was well maintained with stone steps almost the whole way. Maybe it's just me, but hiking up stairs is more difficult than rough, uneven ground. Maybe because we deal with stairs every day that walking up them seems like the common drudgery of daily life? I find I have much more energy when the hiking path is just a rough trail.
The path following the cable car, although quiet, wasn't really very photogenic. There were fences, power lines, and construction poorly concealed by the surrounding nature.
Once we reached the last cable car stop, nature was replaced by what looked to be a brand new temple complex. I was expecting some old, quiet structure overgrown with vines and such, but this place looked like it was built yesterday. The flat, clean, almost plastic looking buildings had no soul or character to speak of. Off to the left was a little fenced enclosure with some sad looking deer waiting hopefully for handouts. To the right was a bunch of shops and restaurants with the propetiers shouting aggresively at all who passed by to come in and rest, eat, spend money, etc. We left quickly.
I felt that from this point onward was the beginning of the true hike. Construction, stone steps and wires (but not fences) finally disappeared, and we were left alone (for a short time) to hike in peace.
Kumi pauses for a break during our ascent.
I'm not sure what happened, but suddenly, about halfway up, tons of people appeared. At a small rest stop we were sitting on a bench when a group of about 20 hikers came down the trail. They immediately converged on our bench, started smoking, shouting to each other, and generally doing their best to ruin the peace and quiet of the surroundings. I couldn't take it for more than a couple minutes and we left. We continued up, but the narrow path was now being bombarded with huge groups of people descending. Sometimes we waited off to the side of the path for 5 minutes or so before a break in the crowds allowed us to continue up. It was less like a hike, and more like walking down the sidewalk in Shinjuku.
Another small lookout. The sky was becoming increasingly hazy and grey, but the rain did hold off for the whole time we were hiking, which was nice.
We reached the top to find a collection of rickety old shacks (one of them a snack shop selling beer, ice cream and softdrinks), and a bunch of people milling around. Climbing mountains makes me crave Coke, and Kumi and I couldn't resist getting one even though it was 250 yen for a can.
Strangely enough, everyone was on one side of the mountain, and didn't seem to know that there was another, nicer rest section on the other side. Kumi and I discovered it and sat around for a while in complete peace and silence while everyone else crowded unaware on the other side. Sweet.
The pinnicle of Mt. Oyama, hooray.
The hike down was everything the hike up wasn't. Checking the map, there were two ways to get down. One way is considerably faster (the way we came up) and I suppose that was the reason why everyone chose it to go back down again. Kumi and I took the longer way, and were rewarded by peace, silence, undisturbed nature and almost no people.
We even saw a wild deer, but it moved away before I could get my telephoto lens out, so I had to settle for a picture with my wide angle lens. Can you spot the deer? Hint, look carefully just down and to the left of the center of the picture. It's extremely hard to see, so if you can find it, pat yourself on the back. More fun than Where's Waldo!
About halfway down we reached a large rest/view area which is incidently where I took the HDR picture on the top of this post. Kumi snapped a picture while I took a quick break with my feet elevated.
The hike followed a mountain stream for a while which was an added bonus.
We decided that since we'd already hiked up the cable car route, there was no real reason to hike down it again. Planning to treat ourselves to a ride down, we discovered, upon arriving at the cable car, that it had already stopped running. Stealing ourselves for the hike down, we then found that there were two routes following the cable car. One was the 'woman trail', and the other was the 'man trail'. A sign on the trail described the woman's path to be safer as it was lighted at night. However I convinced Kumi to take the man trail as there was still daylight left, and we hadn't done it before. Big mistake. It was slightly shorter, but the whole thing was made up of insanely steep stone steps that, after the thousandth or so, were absolute torture on the legs. When we finally got down, my knees were wobbling and I could barely walk. For three days after my calves burned....
We got back to the bus station to find the bus conveniently waiting for us and headed back to Isehara where we indulged in yakiniku and some cold beers before heading back into the madness of Tokyo. Not a bad day!
I Ate a Biwa... (Entered May. 29, 2009)
You probably know them as those funny little orange things you sometimes see in the fruit section of your supermarket, but never buy because a) they're usually ridiculously expensive and b) you don't trust them. If they were any good you'd have tried them already in your home country right? What are they? The name on the package says fbiwa', and a quick dictionary check translates that to 'loquat'. Loquat might be fun to say, but it doesn't inspire much confidence...
Anyway trolling the supermarket the other day, I came upon a package of biwa for the low price of 398 yen. Paying 50 yen for a fruit that's only slightly bigger than a grape may not seem like a deal, but considering that a pack of 8 is usually something like 680 yen, I decided to grit my teeth and just go for it as I'm tired of people shaking their head in disbelief when meeting the man that's lived in Japan for 9 years without ever trying one of these things. After this I can safely prove my Japanese cultural-ness at that next social event by playing the 'I ate a biwa' card.
To me, biwa look a lot like those Japanese persimmons (called kaki) which I don't really like, so my expectations were low. However it was a classic case of judging a book by its cover. Although they may look hard, dry, and tasteless, they turned out to be pretty good! Biwa taste kind of like pears and have the same consistency, but are slightly tarter, lighter and less juicy.
At first I wasn't sure how to eat a biwa, so I brought out my knife and cutting board and prepared to hack them up in a way that ensured the most pleasing taste.
But it turned out they don't need any cutting. If they're ripe, the skin can be pulled off easily with no mess and little fuss. Just nibble away at the fruit, but don't accidently swallow too many of those big brown seeds inside as they're poisonous.
If you're like me, you can have a great time imagining that you're eating orange grapes.
Other interestings tidbits?
-Apparently biwa are related to apples! (really? not pears or grapes?)
-Wanna be sedated? Biwa have a calmative effect if you eat enough of them, (not sure how many you need to eat though, anybody want to experiment?) and have the added bonus of being legal!
-Biwa are full of vitamins and minerals and are healthier than... um... a really healthy thing.
Another cultural milestone surpassed!
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View this collection of antique and contemporary Japanese furniture. |
Mike's Blender Info:
Currently: Tokyo, Japan
Born: Ottawa, Canada
Email: mike[at]beddall[dot]net
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Stuff...
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2nd set of 2009! Three new paintings up! |
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Japangrish continues! Part 8 now up! |
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Page 48 of My Life is now up! |
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Mr. Donut vs. Krispy Kreme! |
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The Ab Project... |
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The Return of the King! |
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Ninja! |
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Kit Kat! |
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Kyushu and Yakushima! |
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Genki Drinks! |
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'THE' Store:
Mike's e-store has some new designs! Support Mike's Blender by buying silly, overpriced goods!
Buddies:
Michael John Grist
Comicrocosmos by SZLIN
Dalephonics
Genfab
Jacked In
Japan Vincent
JC's Blog
MacKenchi
Office Glenn
Philbuchan's Weblog
Rob Nugen
The Itinerant American
Japan Linkage:
Alive in Kyoto
An Englishman in Osaka
As I See Japan... From L.A.
Big on Japan
Gaijin in Japan
Gaijin Tonic
Japan Probe
Japan Soc
Japundit
Mottekaero jDonuts
Pink Tentacle
7:10 to Tokyo
Tokyo Times
Urutoranohi
Wide Island
Elsewhere:
A Broad in Costa Rica
Buy Absinthe
Degenerasian
Imoet
John H. Hollis IV Creative Design
Scribbles
The Daily Kimchi
The Impulsive Buy
The Invisible Blogger
Travel Photo Blogging
