25th – Nagano

I had signed up for a day tour in Nagano starting at 0930 which meant I had to depart Tokyo two hours before. That meant an alarm at 0600. And I apparently do this voluntarily.

 But everything went as scheduled (of course) and I arrived on time with the other 46 people who had signed up for the tour. While it’s far from every day the group is as large as it was today it apparently isn’t unheard of, either, but due to the group size the two guides (German & American) decided to split us up in two. I ended up in the American’s group, and during roll call I was asked what I preferred to be called after struggling with pronouncing my name. My answer – as usual in these cases – was jokingly “God Emperor”. But in this case it was taken to heart so throughout the day I was referred to as God Emperor. I guess I could have been called (much) worse.

Our half started the day with going to a sake tasting where we went through app. 10 small cups of different varieties – including some non-alcoholic which were milky-white with a creamy consistency. That was a weird experience. Also, with the stronger tasting sakes I confirmed that I very likely will never be good friends with them. Just not really to my taste.

After that joyous start of the day we headed out to the Zenkoji Temple. Apparently it’s a nondenominational temple so people of all faiths are allowed to pray inside. It was built in the 7^th century and the city was built up around it. The temple’s main Buddha statue is allegedly the first statue that came to Japan, and the temple commands total secrecy so no one are allowed to see the statue, not even the high priests. You can pray to it; you are let into a completely darkened room where it is located at the end of a long hallway and you must feel your way to the prayer spot and back. A replica is taken out for people to see every 6 years or so, and during those 1½-2 months literally millions come to Nagano to see it.

 

Zenkoji Temple.

Also; something a bit more down to earth the bell that was rung to initiate the winter Olympics in 1998 is located just outside the temple.

 

Not quite Big Ben but they did seem a bit proud of it.

At noon we walked over to the restaurant where we had lunch (a bit of shabu-shabu) before getting back into our bus and driving to the monkey national park. The 45 minute drive felt much shorter than that, probably because I managed to nod off half way there.

Form the parking lot we had a 2km walk ahead of us where 1½ of them was on a 1-1½m wide dirt path in the forest with a drop on one side and steep hill on the other. Being in a cold area there was still patches of compressed snow lying around so at times you had to be very careful where you put your feet. Luckily the majority of the path was flat and any incline had steps put into the ground. But with the narrow path and people returning down it did get frustrating at times getting stuck behind people who clearly were in no hurry to see the monkeys and walking as if they were just learning how to walk.

But finally I made it to the end; seeing the macaques in the pool was enormously soothing. Sitting there they all just seemed so relaxed. I must admit, though, that the pool was significantly smaller than I had expected, and I had always assumed there would be more than one. You ended up focusing so much on them that you completely forgot about all the others on the cliffs and hills around you, and also running on railings and on the ground just past your feet. Overall it was just a joy to see all the monkeys relaxing and seemingly having a good time despite our close presence. And sitting there with their eyes half closed zen-like in the steam they were just so photogenic.

It was pretty cold on the day – no wonder the monkeys preferred soaking in the pool – but I was stubborn and insisted on staying as long as possible. And I’m glad I did; right before close, around 1545, the rangers came out with buckets of feed which was something that immediately got everyone out of the pool. With all of them moving around near the rangers you suddenly realized how many were actually present and how many were hidden in the surrounding landscape. And yet, despite the numbers, it was all happening in a calm manner; there was barely any fighting and none of them went for the buckets but instead waited patiently for the feed to be thrown out to them. While the staff does feed them it is not enough for them to survive, only just enough to keep them interested and keep them coming to the pool for the enjoyment of the tourists.

 

Based on all the photos I had seen of the monkeys before seeing them myself 

I assumed the pool was much larger than it was, but it turned out to be quite small.

From our group we were 2 left plus the German guide, and when the feeding was done we went back down to the bus where we arrived as the last a few minutes before the 1630 deadline. The rest had arrived some time ago and had just been waiting – a waste of time in my eyes with all those monkeys on display. We returned to the station (with another nap along the way) where I got onto the train back to Tokyo before heading to the hotel and going to bed.

21st – 24th – Tokyo pt. 1

The first day in Tokyo wasn’t actually spent in Tokyo. I met up with 2 others from the group in the hotel lobby, and before anything else we said goodbye to our guide who was there and greeting all the tour’s participants as they left – even those leaving early at 0530. He was told not to but did it anyway; such a cool guy!

The three of us grabbed a train and travelled north of Tokyo to Nikko, an old town with a lot of history and a large area with old shrines and temples. Add to that a beautiful backdrop of mountains to spice it up. Considering the cultural history of the location there were surprisingly few tourists here compared to other places we had visited along the way, but natural bottlenecks at the temples and shrines did make it feel crowded at times, making me happy that it didn’t seem to be too popular a place to visit. The temples here were with finely carved details – and while that is fairly common among the temples in general, one stood out here, famously so with a trio of monkeys doing the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” which was used as inspiration as the ditto emoticon. The similarities were obvious. Returning to Tokyo we visited an amazing running sushi restaurant near the hotel where the pieces had small amounts of rice and huge chunks of delicious fish. I’m going to miss this place. 

 

Back in Tokyo for your mandatory night shots.

 

An area consisted of hundreds of small bars, only large enough to seat 8-10. 

The following day I once again left the city, this time alone. For the tour had been given rail passes that covered all rail by the JR operator and it would be expiring today. These are quite expensive so I decided to have one last hurrah with mine as to not let it go to waste. And wanting to go somewhere new where we hadn’t visited during the tour, I ended up getting onto a shinkansen going as far north I could get on Honshu (the main island) to a small town called Aomori. 3 hours with the shinkansen from Tokyo to get there and back – that train pass needed to be fully utilized!

Arriving in Aomori I was surprised to see how different it was compared to everywhere else we had been. Located where there is plenty of room there is no premium on space so things are spread out and main streets are open and wide. It felt more like an American or Canadian town with Japanese signs than an actual Japanese town. It was weird. There wasn’t much to do there, but they did have a very large Buddha statue which would be worth a look. I decided to walk there, I figured I’d have time to walk both ways and still catch my train home (I had managed to leave Tokyo a bit later than originally planned so I had only 4,5 hours in Aomori before having to return). Getting to the statue it seemed completely empty – I was surprised I didn’t see tumbleweeds flying across the parking lot. I was worried I had wasted the 8km walk there from the station but it turned out it was open it was just far outside tourist season. A lot of materials and tools were lying around being used for the ongoing restorations of the temples and shrines so it all seemed a bit messy. The highlight was definitely the very tall Buddha statue towering above the rest of the area and buildings. 

 

Open range in Aomori.

Leaving I realized it was perfectly timed with a bus passing by every 1-1½ hours and I quickly climbed onboard. Assuming it just went back to the town center I was surprised to realize that it took all the backroads, really reaching the rural parts of the town. There’s a single worn tori gate, there’s a pile of trash and two banged up fridges, another gate followed by an old empty rusty oil drum. A bit of everything. 45 minutes later I got off in the central part of town where I had a walk around along the coast and enjoying the view of the surrounding mountains and the city skyline from the pier at the cruise terminal. Walking around on the pier it was once again obvious it was outside the tourist season – there was absolutely nothing there. Completely desolate. Most tourists come here to go trekking and discovering the surrounding nature so it makes sense there are no one here at this time of the year. 

 

Aomori Prefecture Tourism Information Center. 

To me it looks more like a supervillain's base.

I ended up getting the local train back to the shinkansen station, grabbed a bit to eat and boarded the shinkansen back to Tokyo.

The following two days were mostly spent moving to my new hotel and walking the streets trying to get a better feel of the city when not using subways and trains. With a checkout from the hotel I left my main bag for storage before heading out and having a short walk to have a look around in a local camera shop (because why not? And it was amazing – so much on display on 5 floors) before heading to Tokyo station and getting tickets for my shinkansen ride to Nagano on Monday.

From here I walked south, passed Hamarikyu Gardens (but didn’t enter as it required a fee to enter – had the weather been better I would likely have entered) before continuing to my new hotel where I checked in. From here I started heading west, effectively circling south of the imperial palace and gardens, passing Shiba Park, passing through Minato before slowly heading north-ish, crossing through Shibuya and arriving at my old hotel. Going through Shibuya was an adventure; lots of people were out and having a great time, and going along the main street I probably passed by every high-end brand store you’d think of. 

At the hotel around 1900 I went back to the government building observation deck. Despite it being overcast it did not affect the visibility over the city. Unfortuntaely there was a lot of interior lighting which made it nearly impossible to get any good shots at all. It was so bad that at times you barely could just look out due to the reflections. Why do they do this?! Not enough observations decks have outdoor balconies. Coming back down I spent a few moments enjoying the end of a lightshow on the entire façade of the building before getting sushi for dinner, picking up my bag at the hotel and returning to my new hotel.

 

So many reflections...

 

Fancy lightshow on the outside when leaving.

The following day I walked north up to Ueno Park. This is definitely a place to go to see the cherry trees blossoming due to the thousands of trees – everything has been set up to be able to handle the massive amounts of people that will be descending in the coming weeks to see the blossoming. Looking at the recent forecasts I’m starting to realize that due to the large amounts of rain and less than expected sun in the past months the blossoming is postponed for a week or more – which is deeply frustrating as that means I will just get to see the meager start and the full blossoming won’t happen until at least a week after I have left. Walking around in the park there were plenty of food stalls so I had a late lunch (meat skewers, okonomiyaki and Taiwanese buns) before heading east to the Sensoji temple and Taitou and from there slowly making my way south along the Sumida River, eventually getting me back to Chuo City and Ginza where dinner was had and an early end to the day around 2030 back at the hotel.

 

 Old among the new

 

May I offer you a cup?

 

The walk up to Sensoji Temple.