11th – 12th of March –Takayama

In the morning we checked out of the hotel and took the shinkansen to Toyama where we changed to a local train that brought us to Takayama in a couple of hours. The drive took us through a changing landscape into an alpine environment with snow still covering the ground.

We had a bit of panic on arrival in Takayama as a group member had forgotten or lost their phone on the train. Luckily the train was stopped on the station for a bit as it was being combined with another, so the guide and a few others rushed in and looked (apparently when they went on the floor looking the rest of the passengers in the cabin dived down to help them look without hesitation) and fortunately they managed to return with success before the train left the station. We were picked up by a bus which took us to the Sato Folk Village, a small museum village where they had gathered 40 buildings from the region and moved them here for protection to let people see them up close and learn of the history behind them. They all had some kind of purpose; rice farmers, silk farmers, normal residential houses, storage with various sleds etc. It was nice walking around seeing the different buildings and their differences depending on where they were from and how they were built to handle the local weather conditions. And the snow-covered roofs made it all seem just a bit nicer. And there were probably the largest mallards I have ever seen, at least twice the size than the ones at home. Fascinating!

 

Sato Folk village

 

The warmth of spring hadn't quite gotten hold here yet.

From here we were picked up by our bus and went to our hotel. This was a tradition inn with rooms with mattresses on the floor (and no chairs), a small common area, shared toilets in the hallway and shared baths ad an onsen. Scrub yourself down with your small towel – there were 4 showers lined up – and when you were nice and clean you could dip into the pool, filled with water that was surprisingly hot and steaming in an already warm and humid room. 

 

My room.

Relocating and getting settled in (we were the only ones there) we left for dinner; a restaurant specializing in hida beef, a delicious local beef. Not near the level of Kobe beef, but still very good!

According to the original plan we were supposed to visit the Sato Folk Village on our second day but due to the weather forecasts we ended up going right after arrival. And good thing we did that as when we left in the morning it was raining endlessly, so having waterproofs was vital. We had a walk through the morning market where I grabbed a hida beef skewer and rice ball filled with hida beef. What a nice breakfast. Still raining we walked through the older part of the city before ending at the local government building (the only original old building for government use in the district). 

The rain started getting a bit sleet-y so we returned to the old/shop district and did a sake tasting. I’m not a big fan but there was one I truly enjoyed; a lemon-y one, tasted like limoncello so it covered up the usual sake taste, and it was only 7% as opposed to sake’s usual 20%. I guess the lack of the taste of sake made it taste as good as it did. Lunch was had at a soba noodle restaurant with delicious noodles. There were 7 of us and we were seated at a floor-table after getting out of all our wet clothes and shoes. It felt really good, but less so when leaving and having to get back into the wet shoes – apparently there is a limit to my shoes’ waterproofness. 

A small walk around in the sleet and snow before returning to the hotel where I got to get warm again and dry my outer layers and everything that had been in my pockets.

The weather turned into real snow in the afternoon before we left for a local place to have dinner. It was more of a café with a full variety of food as in it was a place to go if you preferred western food instead of the usual classic Japanese dishes. It was probably the closest we’d get to visiting a fast food place on the tour yet they had the longest wait after ordering food. 

Some people in the group had done some grocery shopping so they could have dinner at the hotel, and considering the weather and the layer of snow we waded through getting to the café and back that seemed like a very good idea at the time. Despite the weather – or maybe because of it – we did have a good time there after all.

8th – 10th of March – Tokyo – Kanazawa

The group met at 1745 (which ended up being 1800) in a small meeting room on the hotel’s top floor. I believe I’ve previously said that the tours with the highest average age have been the ones to the Arctic and Antarctic. Not anymore. We are still missing 3 people but most of the others present at the meeting seem to be retirees – a couple may be in the 50s, but that’s the youngest apart from me. Oh, well. Nice to feel young for once. It says in the tour description that you should be capable of carrying your own bags to and from stations and navigating sometimes busy stations and platforms. A few seemed shocked or even half panicked when this was briefly mentioned during the briefing. We are walking to the station tomorrow which is maybe 500m – they apparently took a cab when arriving. This could get interesting.

There is an area near the hotel with tons of eateries which our guide led us to and we slowly disappeared into our selected dinner places. An easy bowl of ramen + gyoza was my choice. Extra noodles for ¥10 (app. 0.44dkr/0.06 USD)? Don’t mind if I do!

There was even a huge camera shot in the area. I obviously had to take a look. So much interesting stuff I don’t have room for or can afford.

The following morning we checked out and met – including the 3 missing from last night – at 1100 where we were handed our rail passes. With the 3 newcomers I am no longer the youngest with a dad and his daughter in her 20s so the average has gone down slightly but is mostly countered by the two older people joining. We wandered to the station and chaos ensued. Apparently it confused several people how to use our rail passes in the access gates at the entrance but finally we all made it through – until it turned out two were missing; one had gone somewhere, his wife went looking for him, he returned, the guide went looking for her, she returned, and our guide passed right by her completely missing her until our collective yelling got his attention and got them through the gates, gathering us all again. Our guide had us park our bags so we could get some lunch for the 3-hour train ride to our destination. And finally we were all on the shinkansen, found our seats and on the way.

I really need more patience sometimes. 

 

Kanazawa station. Notice the small clock in the front; it's actually lines of small water spouts 

that get illuminated so they form the necessary numbers to show the current time.

We arrived in Kanazawa a few minutes late (what’s up with Japan’s otherwise renowned train-on-time precision??) and walked the 2 minutes to the hotel. We were all checked in around 1545 and an hour later we went out to find a place for dinner. 11 of us followed our guide to a local sushi place which turned out required a 1+ hour wait to get in. Quite popular but it is quite normal seeing people lining up outside restaurants waiting for a free spot. We did end up waiting almost double the time we were promised, but the food and company was worth it. 

 

Today's quiz: shower head or microphone?

Leaving the restaurant and returning to the hotel it had started snowing. The following morning it had stopped snowing (fortunately!) but there was still snow lying around though streets and sidewalks were mostly just covered in wet chunks. On top of the it was chilly with a very cold wind. We left the hotel at 0830 to visit the Kenrokuen Garden. The garden was a, well, typical Japanese garden; a patch of water, trees, lanterns, the occasional shrine and just a feeling of calm. Apparently as opposed to western gardens that are made to be aesthetic Japanese gardens are more focused on imitating the wild. The garden was (is) connected to the castle which is located across the street (which previously was a moat) but instead of seeing that afterwards we grabbed a bus to see the samurai quarter. 

 

Kenrokuen garden.

 

Many trees were tied up like this; it's for them to keep their shape, 

even when they get weighed down by snow.

 

Blooming trees.

Here the samurai lived during the Edo/samurai period. A lot of old buildings still standing and protected from being changed or removed. 

From here we went to the central fish market to have lunch – and there were plenty of other restaurants if fish wasn’t your thing. And needing something with a bit of substance after yesterday’s sushi I ended up with a pork katsu with rice and curry. Meeting with the group in front of the donut shop at the market obviously meant that I had to get a donut for lunch-dessert.

From there we headed on towards the geisha district. The town is apparently known for pottery and goldleaf art – the town is the source of more than 98% of all goldleaf used in Japan, made from gold imported as their own gold mines have run dry. The goldleaf central, which also means that pretty much every ice cream parlor in the city also lets you get ice cream covered in goldleaf. Because why not? Apart from old buildings (some still in use with traditional geisha shows; dancing and playing) we had a look at a few shops – one with paintings and pottery and one with goldleaf’ed products. The latter had a toilet where the walls in the woman’s were gold plated and the men’s were platinum plated. Not something you see every day. 

 

Geisha district.

 

Look, I don't normally take photos in the women's bathrooms, but if the walls are covered in gold? Duh!

From there the scheduled plan was technically over but those who were interested following the guide to the castle park where we had a walk around and having a look at the remaining buildings. Only 3 are original as the others either burned down due to lightning or just worn down. Due to political reasons any destroyed buildings were not rebuilt as not to appear as a threat to the imperial army, and instead they chose to focus on their skills in arts & crafts, giving them a lot of soft power. 

 

Kanazawa castle.

 

The castle park.

 

I ended up in the hotel around 1750 and 10 minutes later we were 6 people who met up for dinner. We ended up in a place with seats on the floor but holes in the floor which meant you sat as on a normal chair, but on the floor. Dinner was ordered and it was just whatever dishes that looked interesting on the menu which were brought to the table and shared among us all. It was extensive and delicious – and in the end much cheaper than expected.

4th – 8th of March – Osaka, Himeji and Kobe

Leaving Tokyo I got a ticket for the shinkansen to Osaka. I didn’t get a window seat but no one were sitting at the window so I practically had it anyway. The weather was clear so we had a beautiful view of Fuji outside Tokyo. Unfortunately they didn’t show the speed of the train on the screens in the cabin so you never knew how fast exactly you were going. But the ride was so smooth (and acceleration was very obvious when leaving a station) so it never felt particularly fast. I want them to have an open carriage so you can sit outside and really get a feel of the speed!

Fuji seen from the Shinkansen.

Arriving in Osaka I changed to the subway and got off at my planned station. When I had finally waddled my way to the hotel with my bags and very sore legs I realized that had I gotten off at the station before I could have exited the station on the same block as the hotel. “Could have” is an important wording as the stations often have 20+ exits and because they span such large areas, if you don’t know the area it’s pretty easy to get confused when you exit about where you are.

The hotel here turns out to be a bit oddly located. I specifically didn’t go for a more expensive hotel in the center and neither a cheaper option on the city outskirts, but the one I ended with was nicely positioned in the middle and in comfortable walking distance from Dotonbori, an area recommended for tourists. It turns out the area is pretty fancy; directly across from the hotel there is a McLaren retailer, one block down a Lamborghini retailer, another block down a Ferrari one, and following that you’d find Roles, Dior, Georgio Armani etc. Definitely not a place you’d find the average riff-raff. 

 

A casual shop across the street from the hotel.

I rested my legs for a bit before going for a walk to the part of town called Dotonbori. It’s basically just a area with a large collection of eateries, restaurants, booths and whatnot on all streets and back alleys. Absolute chaos – it’s a popular place everybody goes to in the evening, apparently. Amidst it all I managed to find a place with no line and very nice ramen. 

 

Row, row, row your boat...

Returning to the hotel around 2000 I sat down on the bed to do some reading which resulted in me waking up 2 hours later. I decided that meant I ought to get ready to go to bed for real. I went to bed – and woke up at 4 and concluded that I should probably also turn off all the lights in the room before waking up another 2 hours later where I actually made it up and turn off the lights before falling asleep again and slept for another 2 hours before finally waking up.

The following day I decided to aim for Osaka castle so obviously I didn’t find it at all and instead ended somewhere completely else. I had to circle around and diligently follow the map for me to finally arrive at my intended destination. A large green area with the castle – a single building – towering in the center surrounded by moats. The weather hadn’t really changed all day, unfortunately, so it kept being overcast, windy and with the occasionally shower so I didn’t hang around for long. After a break back at the hotel I returned to Dotonbori where I found some delicious Takoyaki (dumplings – similar to Danish æbleskiver but savory – with a piece of octopus and cheese in the center). I was also looking for some okonomiyaki (basically a thick cabbage pancake with various protein mixed in) but the places I found all had long queues outside that didn’t seem to be moving – and it was still raining. So I decided to skip that plan for now. Both Takoyaki and okonomiyaki are specialties of Osaka. 

 

Osaka castle.

 

The walls were built from stone cut to size. This wall consists of the biggest piece found at the castle. 

The "octopus stone", app. 5,5m x 11,7m and 108 tons.

 

On the Wednesday – the 6^th – I grabbed the shinkansen to Himeji as I was interested in seeing the Himeji castle, the largest castle in Japan. I thought it was quite beautiful and it was clearly very well maintained and a pride of the Japanese. It’s not just the castle itself but a larger area (and 3 main buildings) protected by the inner moat. I booked a 2-hour tour at 1300 and before that I went out to grab lunch at a place with Japanese curry; rice with a fried port cutlet (“pork katsu”) smothered in curry (but not like what you’d find in India but it’s distinctly Japanese). The tour brought us around and into the castle, but when entering we were to take off our shoes and put them in a bag we were handed. With no heating that was definitely a chilly affair. But walking around in the castle and getting stuff pointed out by our guide was really interesting. Reaching the upper levels the stairs turned narrow and steep – almost ladders – with very little headroom. When they built the castle back in the 1600’s they clearly didn’t have Westerners in mind. How inconsiderate. 

 

Himeji castle. Slightly bigger than Osaka castle.

After the tour I realized that it may not have been as necessary as I had thought; everyone had the same access as us and there were plenty of informational plaques spread out throughout the castle. Though it does add a bit having a guide, and on a daily basis there are only 2 English tours with 10 clients at most each time, so I was still glad that I had made it.

I did a quick walk around the castle grounds before returning to the train station and taking the shinkansen to Kobe. As I was a bit early for my dinner reservation I had a walk around the main station area. I don’t think I have ever seen this many steak and meat restaurants gathered in one place. Not even in Argentina. It was beautiful. 

 

 The train from Himeji to Kobe.

Entering the restaurant you were facing the counter where the cooks did their magic on the heat plates with the customers facing them on the opposite side of the counter. There was a slight cooked meat-haze setting the mood for the evening. I sat down, were handed the menu and couldn’t decide what to have. On principle I ended up with their finest selection (A5, grade 12) and getting a 200g ribeye and 90g fillet. Two very different kinds of meat, both with their pros and cons. The full menu was a starter (3 slices of wagyu roast beef – the tenderest I’ve ever had), soup (best miso soup ever), salad and vegetables with the meat. The steaks were amazing – the taste was intense and no matter how much wasabi or extra salt & pepper you’d add you could still easily taste the meat. The fillet was tender like soft butter – it was impressive and mind blowing. When the chef gave me the last two pieces he apologized that it was the chewy parts of the meat, but I had to tell him they were still more tender than any other steak I had had outside this restaurant. 

 

My dinner. A ribeye and filet. It was even better than it looks. 

 

A certificate to prove it was genuine A5 wagyu beef. Notice the nose print from the cow. 

Throughout cooking the fatty edges had been removed and the chef had been chopping them up in small pieces, moving them around on the heat plate letting them simmer in their own juices and greasing the plate for the other bits he was cooking at the time. In the end he piled on a large handful of bean sprouts on top, mixed it up, let it all get warm and served it as a finishing touch. No meat when to waste. As “dessert” I was served a thick slice of a very sweet potato cooked in the remaining meat juices. Delicious!

Leaving the restaurant I was happier, fuller and a bit poorer (you definitely get to pay a premium for eating “real” top of the line Kobe beef and not “just” wagyu) than when I arrived, with a certificate in my hand confirming it was real Kobe beef and the family tree to grandparents of the cow I had (and not being able to get a finger print of a cow I instead got a snout print!). I returned to the station and took the shinkansen back to Osaka.

On my last full day in Osaka I visited the aquarium, a large square, almost cubic, building, where the majority of the path you followed circled the center of the building holding a giant tank containing among other things two whale sharks. On the outer side of the path there were other large pools where the biggest had some incredibly playful dolphins. 

After this I returned to Dotonbori where I found a small hole-in-the-wall place making some delicious okonomiyaki (and a couple of takoyakis as starters). Relaxing the rest of the afternoon I was ready to head out and return to Dotonbori where I had a pile of sushi for dinner. 

 

Takoyaki stand in Dotonbori.

 

 

Dotonbori by night.

Checking out on the Friday was a breeze and so it was getting to the Shin-Osaka station. But from there it started going downhill. I noticed something wasn’t right when I noticed much more chaos than expected around the gates to the shinkansen area, and it didn’t take long for me to notice the information notices informing passengers about a “contact between person and vehicle”. The entire shinkansen network and been stopped resulting in extensive delays and cancellations. Some trains had at this point been delayed for more than 2 hours. My train had been cancelled up to a few stops before Osaka and otherwise “only” delayed 25 minutes. After the extensive wait we were finally on our way and arriving in Tokyo the delay had increased to 40 minutes. In Japanese terms this was significant. This meant that I had gotten to Tokyo at around 1500 and my biggest worry was to go across the city in a local train in the middle of rush hour with all my luggage, but it seemed like I managed to miss the worst part. I checked into the hotel where my tour would start and waited for the start of the tour welcome meeting.