Day 7: Biking to Daio Wasabi Farm

Originally our plan today was to go up into the alps to a lily garden, but because we did less yesterday than planned, we decided to go to the Daio Wasabi Farm instead. It is the largest wasabi farm in Japan and was the filming location for one part of Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams." We took a limited express train to Hotaka station. It was already quite hot at 11 am, like around 90 degrees and sunny. As soon as we exited the small station, a man approached us and asked if we needed bicycles. He was just the man we were looking for, since we planned to rent bikes and ride to the farm. He spoke good English and showed us how to use the bikes. The lock and kickstand were quite ingenious... You have to see it to believe it. :P The bikes were very comfortable and easy to ride. We rode for 10-15 min to the farm through rural one-lane streets and rice paddies. At one point, we were riding with expansive paddies on both sides, alps before and behind us, and it was a truly magical moment!! Probably my second favorite memory so far.

The farm is free to enter. We parked our bikes and followed the other people into the complex. It felt a bit like a park or garden. We strolled alongside the riverbed where the wasabi is planted directly between rocks. Black tarps are used to block the intense sun from the plants. We were excited to take pictures with the waterwheels as they were in the movie I mentioned above. The water was so clear and fast, we wanted to go swimming in it! Unfortunately, that's not allowed. :) We walked through a couple gift shops selling wasabi everything before sitting down to eat a light lunch. We had a regional speciality called oyaki, steamed buns filled with various items, and I tried the wasabi soft serve, which was surprisingly good. After that we rode our bikes back to the station and caught a local train back to Matsumoto with about 200 high schoolers in uniform. :P

Tomorrow we leave Matsumoto for Kyoto. It's a bit sad to leave the alps area so soon, but I am so excited to see the ancient capital of Japan! Everything so far has been amazing, though. ^_^

Day 6: Matsumoto Castle

Today we woke to fluffy grey clouds giving way to beautiful blue skies. Matsumoto station has a temperature gauge on it, and this morning it was around 24 C (~75 F). Later in the day it got to 34 C or about 93 degrees F!! It was (is) very humid so we had to drink a LOT of water. Thankfully the water here is very clean and cool, and vending machines selling water bottles are everywhere.

We headed to Matsumoto Castle in the morning. The grounds were lovely, and the first glimpse of the castle was very exciting. Matsumoto Castle is one of very few original Japanese castles. It was built in the 1500s and restored in the mid 1800s due to lack of maintenance and a dangerous tilt. Now the castle is held in place by concrete hidden under the stone base. Just before the castle was a tent offering free English tours. We approached it and a super nice Japanese lady offered to take us on the tour. Her English was quite good and she was very informative. She even helped us take some pictures with a samurai. ;) At the entrance of the actual castle, we took off our shoes and carried them with us in plastic bags. The interior of the castle is mostly wood, so it felt good on my socked feet! It was dark inside so pictures were not easy to take. We wound through the castle, climbing up steep stairs almost like ladders, until we reached the top (sixth) floor. The view of Matsumoto and the alps was really spectacular. On the way down, we got to go inside the "moon-viewing room," an expansion of the castle made for partying. :P The whole walk up and down the castle was tough, but it was so worth it. No wonder Matsumoto Castle is considered a national treasure!

The rest of the day was pretty chill. We ate lunch at McDonald's and tried their "ebi filet-o" or shrimp burger. We both agreed it was really good!

Tomorrow morning we are venturing to the Daio Wasabi Farm. Thanks for reading!

Day 5: Relocating to Matsumoto

Today we left our cute traditional room in Tokyo and caught our first bullet train. It was so smooth and quiet (most of the time) and the seats were incredibly comfy! I don't know how fast ours got because it was a short ride- about an hour and fifteen minutes- but it did get going pretty good for a while. The scenery from Tokyo to Nagano changed from all city as far as the eye could see to fields of rice interspersed with neighborhoods. At Nagano station, I snuck a picture in with our train before we transferred to the Shinano "Wide View" limited express train for Matsumoto. This felt sorta similar to an Amtrak train with larger windows. It was raining then even though the forecast said only 20% chance of rain, and it continued even after we reached Matsumoto!

Our hotel had our room ready early so we checked in right when we arrived, wet luggage and all. The hotel is right across from the train station and close to many restaurants and convenience stores. I was surprised and impressed with the room size and how many amenities have been squeezed into it. :P We have our own bathroom, view of the alps, fridge, and large tv, although it only has Japanese channels. :)

We ate lunch at Mos Burger, a burger chain maybe comparable to Burgerville. Mom had an American style burger while I got the "Mos Rice Burger", where the bun is made of rice and the filling is a bunch of fried veggies and shrimp. It was delicious! Afterwards we did some shopping at a local department store and were helped by an adorable Japanese lady who understood a little bit of English. ^_^

I think my favorite part of the day, though, was experiencing a traditional Japanese festival! At 7:30 this evening we walked about half a mile to a shrine where there were lanterns lining the streets and around 30 food & game vendors set up. Mom said it had the feel of a fair in America. There were so many types of festival food- octopus dumplings, okonomiyaki, shaved ice, crepes, etc. We shared a small okonomiyaki-like pancake with egg cooked inside and Japanese fried chicken. Both were amazing. So glad we braved the crowd! They even had people doing traditional Japanese dancing & playing court music. The atmosphere was unforgettable. :)

Tomorrow we will go see Matsumoto's most well-known sight, Matsumoto Castle. Good night!

Day 4: Kamakura & Yokohama

Today we decided to do a day-trip south of Tokyo as the forecast called for rain and thunder storms. We made our way by train to Kamakura first. Here in Japan the high temperature of the day occurs between 11 am-1 pm, so by the time we arrived at Kamakura station, the air outside was like a sauna (one thermometer read 100 degrees where there was no breeze). We're both getting used to the heat, though! Sweating constantly is not so bad as it was our first couple days. Having handkerchiefs to wipe sweat and hand fans makes a HUGE difference, too. I see a lot of people using both. Anyway, we took a cute little electric train from Kamakura station to Hase station, and from there it was a 5-10 min walk to the Great Buddha. Along the way were many shops and restaurants, plenty geared towards foreigners. I probably saw more foreigners along that road than total so far in Japan! We paid 200 yen (about $2) to enter the small temple complex where the buddha lies. The bronze statue was originally cast in ~1250 AD and was enclosed by a temple. However, years later a tidal wave destroyed the temple, so now the buddha is open to the elements. It was quite large, though only the 2nd largest in Japan, and interesting to look at. Being a Tuesday, it wasn't very crowded, even though this is a major tourist spot. It was nice to stroll around the grounds. We sat down with drinks among the green foliage for a few minutes and enjoyed the peace despite a choir of cicadas serenading us. (They are everywhere here.)

After visiting the Great Buddha, we took the cute train back to Kamakura station and then hopped a local line for Yokohama. It was a very busy place there and we followed the sea of people to the shopping district that was our destination. The Landmark Plaza, where we ended up shopping and eating a late lunch, is a large mall connected to the Landmark Tower, the 3rd tallest structure & the tallest building in Japan. We found a nice Japanese restaurant to eat at and relatively successfully ordered in Japanese. :)

Two last comments and then I'll call it quits for tonight.
1) It may just be me, but at least 10 times a day, no matter where I am, I feel like I am swaying. Japan does have daily earthquakes, so maybe I'm feeling little tiny quakes or something? :P
2) On our way back from Yokohama, we experienced our first storm. We just made it onto a train and it began to POUR. BUCKETS. Not only that, but there was really strong lightning and thunder. The train actually sat at the station for about 5-10 min so the storm could pass!

(Monday) Day 3: Akihabara

Right now it is Tuesday morning. We were so tired last night we went to bed right after dinnertime, so this is the post I would have written last night for that day.

In the morning, we packed up and moved out of our first hotel. It was, again, an adventure to get from one side of Tokyo to the other with three suitcases, but we made it. We dropped off our luggage at our next place and left to find some lunch. Our new neighborhood is called Ikebukuro, a very nice business district with tons of restaurants and convenience stores. We found a small restaurant with plastic food models in the window that looked tasty. Inside, there was a machine where you order and pay for your food on a touch screen. I could read the names of the meals, but it was nice that everything had pictures, too. I ordered katsudon (pork cutlets with egg & onion on rice) and mom got a set that included rice, salad, hamburger patties, potatoes, green beans, and miso soup. The waitresses were super nice and helped us get a table. One asked me if I wanted a spoon and I said, "Kekkou desu", which basically means no thanks. She looked surprised and happy that I could speak some Japanese. I guess I don't look like I should be able to?  :P

After lunch, we hopped back on a train to the famous electronic district of Akihabara. Everywhere you look there are anime pictures, electronics stores, and capsule machines where  you can put in coins and get figures or other trinkets of your favorite anime or video game characters. We went inside a store called Animate (guess what they sold) that was around 6-8 floors high. They had so much manga and anime stuff it was kinda amazing. After that madness, we went in another store called Don Quixote, which sells literally everything. We got some passionfruit-flavored Kit Kats but they are almost gone now... Yum.

When we got back to our new place, it was time to check in. This place is called Kimi Ryokan and is a traditional Japanese style inn. The rooms are tatami mat and we slept on futon that I found really comfortable. They provide a lot of nice amenties here too, like free hot water and green tea, plus a microwave and kitchen. They even gave us yukata (cotton kimono) to wear, although I haven't tried mine on yet.

Okay, that was basically our day yesterday. We slept a lot so we're ready to have a good day. We're planning to see Kamakura and Yokohama today. See you later!

Day 2: Hama Rikyu Garden and Shinjuku

This morning we slept in for quite a while, which wasn't surprising I guess, because of that thing called jetlag. :P Anyway, we decided to change our plans a bit since it was later than anticipated and took a train to Shiodome, a business district of Tokyo. After walking for a while, we reached the Hama Rikyu Garden, a traditonal Japanese garden built back in the era of the shogun (~seventeenth century). There was a free English audio guide offered at the entrance by an enthusiastic man, so we picked that up. It took us on a 90-min walking course of the whole garden. Even though it was hotter today than yesterday, the garden was so beautiful that we didn't mind sweating too much. It wasn't crowded, either. From the garden, we could see the skyscrapers of Shiodome all around us, as well as Tokyo Tower and the Rainbow Bridge. Some friendly fishermen waved to us from their boat. :)

After the garden, we were both wiped, so we found a McDonald's to grab some dinner. I had a "chicken crisp" which is basically a mcchicken. It was really fresh and the chicken was way better than any MDonald's in the US! Mom had fun pointing to the picture menu to order. ^_^

Before dinner, we took a local train to Shinjuku, another business district. A ton of walking in an underground passageway (the McDonald's was down there) led us straight to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (TMG). The TMG has a free observatory on the 45th floor. It offered a really great view of Tokyo; unfortunately, Mt. Fuji was shy today, so we were unable to see it.

Oh yeah, after returning to our hotel, we walked to the Sensoji temple again so we could see it illuminated at night. See below.

Phew! Feels like we did a lot today. Just one more comment: People in service, like cashiers, are SUPER FRIENDLY, but people walking along the street just bump into you without caring. So weird! That's Japan, though. :P

Day 1: Sensoji Temple & Edo-Tokyo Museum

Today we woke up bright and early for our first day in Tokyo. The weather was pretty nice- 79 degrees, partly cloudy, and humid. We had our first convenience store experience, which was really cool. In fact, I was so tired that we ended up getting all three meals at the "konbini" as they're called here. The rice balls are AMAZING. :)

Anyway, after breakfast we headed over to Sensoji temple, one of the oldest and most famous sights in Tokyo. The number of people there was daunting but that's basically how it is nearly everywhere here. We're trying to get used to staying to the left- up stairs, down stairs, on sidewalks, getting on trains... Basically very different. Back to the temple though, the gates leading up to it and the temple itself were really beautiful. We didn't go inside but I got a lot of pics leading to it. The entrance street is lined with tourist shops with all kinds of things- mainly keychains & phone charms. On the way out, we grabbed some softserve- green tea and red bean- before going up to the 8th floor of a tourist info center, where there was a really good view of Tokyo.

After the temple and lunch, we took 1 subway and 2 trains to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, which was basically all about Tokyo's history. There was a replica of a kabuki theater and the first ever telephone booth in Japan. It also had info about the great Kanto earthquake of 1923. Speakng of which, at 3 this afternoon we were in our hotel and experienced our first earthquake here! It was small though, thankfully. Actually, mom felt one at 1 am but I slept through it.

It was a good day. Unfortunately, we are both jet-lagged and exhausted. And wary of the cockroach who scurried out of our room under the wall. -_- Ok, well, I'll see you  tomorrow!

First Morning

It's 6 am and we're preparing to head out for our first time in the daylight. Slept pretty good actually. Today we have a temple and a museum on our itinerary. I'll post again tonight after we return to the hotel! The pic below is the view from our hotel room.

Safe At Last

So after being awake for 21 hours and making it through Tokyo at rush hour, we finally reached our hotel! It feels amazing, but of course a bit scary. I need to sleep but didn't want to do so before posting to let everyone know we're safe. More to come whenever I wake up tomorrow. :)

One Week Countdown

Well, technically we leave a week from tomorrow, but close enough. Since the last time I posted, we have finished getting the rest of our travel preparations done. We bought rail passes, found a cheap way to rent cell phones, and just yesterday ordered some yen to start us off. We'll be using ATMs for the rest of our time in Japan, but we need cash right away for our first few days, so it seemed much easier to get some before we leave.

Top bill: 10000 yen worth ~$100; bottom bill: 1000 yen worth ~$10.

After some research, I discovered that Wells Fargo has a very good exchange rate for foreign currency, so we ordered from them and received the yen today. Holding the money in my hand, it feels like this is actually happening. I'm so nervous but I know we're going to have a great time. Everyone I've spoken to who has gone to Japan or any other country has been very encouraging. Anyway, next time I post, I will either be on my way to or in the Land of the Rising Sun. :)

~Traci