The Ishiteji temple in Matsuyama

One of the strangest temples we've visited was Ishiteji in Matsuyama. We didn't know exactly where it was or what we were in store for...just had a brief description in our guide book about weird statues and secret tunnels. We arrived at what looked like a pretty standard temple, though a bit run-down looking yet very colorful. Thinking that perhaps this wasn't the right place, we started walking up the hill beside the temple complex, where we encountered these statues in what appeared to be a cemetery. Further up the hill we came to a large golden dome with this statue outside. Leo, being curious, entered the door in the middle of the dome and called for me to come in as well. The place was dark and smelled of mildew, but I climbed up the steps inside the door and found myself surrounded by at least a hundred carved wooden statues staring at me (with some random red cushioned theater seats scattered throughout the room).

Just across the street from the domed complex we found this tunnel opening, so of course we went inside. Several stone buddahs were set in a line in the middle of the tunnel, which was quite dark at times, and there were various rooms we explored filled with statues and drawings. I learned that day that I'm not a big fan of dark tunnels, so Leo held my hand much of the way. We emerged behind the main temple we had first come to that day.

Very odd place, but if you're in Matsuyama you definitely must go there.

Matsuyama

The next stop was Matsuyama. We decided while in Hakodate that we should try to visit the 4 major islands in Japan, so Matsuyama seemed an obvious choice for a location in Shikoku since it is the largest city on the island. We also found out that there was the oldest onsen in Japan in Dogo, a suburb of Matsuyama, so Leo was very excited to experience that.

For dinner on the first night we found a noddle place known for their 5 colored soba noodles. Although the noodles themselves tasted a bit like angel hair pasta, the sauce they were in and the fish served along with them were wonderful.

Both nights we were in Matsuyama, we went to ex-pat bars. We had expected them to be full of Brits or Australians (this is Jim, and yes he is British)
but they were filled with people from all over the place - Germany, China, Thailand, Israel. It really is a very interesting experience and we met some really great people.
We did make it to the onsen in Dogo. The building is beautiful and I'm told (since I haven't seen the movie yet) that this is the onsen which is in the movie "Spirited Away." In the bath, the walls are covered with white and blue painted tiles and the water pours out from a stone fountain. Even I was able to relax in such a nice place.

Hiroshima

The following day we took an early train to Hiroshima (thank goodness for these rail passes...I do believe we've gotten our monies worth). We dropped off our stuff at the hotel and headed over to the Peace Memorial Park, stopping off at the A-bomb dome on the way (one of the few remaining structures unrestored after the war). We walked from there though the Peace Park seeing the various memorialsand we also went to the Memorial Museum was a chilling and touching experience. Needing a bit of cheering up afterward, we found lunch in what is known as the Okonomiyaki Village (basically an office building with several okonomiyaki stalls on each floor). Lunch was huge and delicious.

We wandered around the large shopping arcades in the downtown area and also played some games in what are probably some of the nicest gaming arcades we've found in Japan. Here, Leo is living out his dreams of being a DJ.

We ended the night in the rotating bar at the top of our hotel.
This is were I realized that we were indeed rotating and it wasn't just that the windows were moving.

I promise, this is it for Kyoto

Twice on this trip I've gotten Leo to have dinner on the floor. This was the first time at a tempura restaurant in Kyoto along the canal. He's not all that flexible, so this is not easy for him, though he had a good time regardless.

On our final day in Kyoto, we visited even more shrines and temples on the east side of the city. These are the stepping stones in the garden of Heian Jingu. Next, we followed what is known as the Philosopher's Path to the Silver Pavilion. This is taken along the path (I don't think it gets more Japanese than this).

This is taken in the hills behind the Silver Pavilion, which isn't actually silver. For dinner we found a restaurant which has been serving eel for over a century. Leo is trying to figure out if the contraption in front of him is to cook the eel, just keep it warm, or for him to eat off of.

More Kyoto

We were in Kyoto during the perfect time to see the maple leaves changing colors (this is also why we had to pay a lot for a hotel room). For dinner on our second night we ate in a mall. Though, the meal was not like one you'd typically find in such surroundings. Instead it was a set meal of about 5-6 courses of amazing udon, sushi, pudding, and sweets.
Leo was actually very happy with this meal, though he didn't want to show it.

Day three started in the Nishiki marketwhich was filled with pickled things and lots of free samples. We then moved on to the Shogun palace of Nijo-jo and finally the Golden Pavilion (we had to take a cab there since it was a much longer walk than we had anticipated).

Kyoto

The next stop on our trip was Kyoto. On the train ride down we passed Mt. Fuji which really seemed to rise out of nowhere. For the time of year we were surprised that there was very little snow on top. Walking around Kyoto on the first evening, we were shocked to run into a former coworker of Leo's in one of the arcades. Kyoto is a very large and confusing city, and every map you get makes things look a lot closer than they are...that is if you ever find the places you're looking for. On our first night we tried desperately to find a bar, named A-bar (which didn't make it any easier). After about an hour and a half of searching, we settled on a different bar, where we ended up staying most of the night and befriending the staff and a family who was on vacation from Nagoya. The next day we walked miles around the east side of Kyoto, visiting various shrines and temples. This is the ceiling and alter of the Kenninji Temple. This is the huge tori gate outside of the National Museum of Modern Art (which surprisingly had a show of works from the Borghese Gallery in Rome.

More Hakodate

We were quite cold and my shoes and socks were wet, so we decided to head to the local onsen to soak in the hot, iron-rich water. This is a lovely park we passed on the way. Going to an onsen was something I never really had an interest in doing (public bathing doesn't really appeal to me) but I think I'm now hooked. I was really relaxing and not as awkward as I had thought it might be. This onsen is known for it's iron-rich waters, and the baths themselves were stained brown. Not very nice to look at, though it was a nice place to get out of the cold.

Though there wasn't much to do in Hakodate, and it was cold and wet, the real reason we went was for the food. They are known there for fresh seafood, particularly squid and crab. One night we stopped in a restaurant with huge fish tanks along the wall, filled with all sorts of sea creatures. We knew we wanted some crab, so Leo just asked for kani for the two of us. They pulled a huge crab out of the tank (we think it was a spider crab), bashed it over the head, made the legs into sashimi and then grilled up the body for us. We also ordered scallops, one was cooked inside the shell on a small grill with butter on top, and the other was made into sushi.

We were also able to get up relatively early one morning to see the seafood market. They mainly sell squid in all forms, salmon roe, and crab. We stopped at a small restaurant inside the market to have donburi for breakfast (fishy things over rice). The bowls may look small, but it was a very filling breakfast and I wasn't able to eat salmon roe for at least a day after this.

Hakodate

The next stop on our trip was Hakodate in Hokkaido. It took about 9 hours by 2 trains, one of which went through a tunnel 240 meters under ground, beneath the Tsugaru channel (which they kindly illustrated on the back of the train seats). When we got off the train in Hakodate, we were shocked by how much colder it was than in Tokyo and how under-dressed we were. We managed to find some hats at the 7-11 and some beer and salt ramen (a regional specialty) to keep us warm on the first night.

The next morning we woke up to a blizzard and though they were not ideal roaming conditions, we set out to explore the city. We visited the Museum of Northern Peoples and learned about the Ainu people, who used to inhabit the norther parts of Japan. Then for lunch we found Lucky Pierrot,a burger chain in Hokkaido which serves the kujira miso burger (miso flavored deep fried whale meat on a bun with a ton of mayonnaise and lettuce). I can't say I enjoyed it all that much...Leo describes it as eating an animal that was born from a dog and a fish...but it was an experience.


With our stomachs full of grease and whale we set off in the snow to see the churches of Hakodate. There is a Russian Orthodox church, and Catholic one and a Methodist one all next to each other along the base of the mountain.

Last day in Tokyo...for now

On our final day in Tokyo, we decided to head north to Ikebukuro to see what the much hyped Namjatown Sunshine City was like. We had heard it was an indoor amusement park with a food court called Gyoza stadium, where 32 gyoza vendors try to get your business. We were slightly underwhelmed by what we found, but the gyoza were excellent!

Because it was such a nice day out, we headed to Yoyogi Park in Shibuya and came across a festival just over the bridge containing tons of food vendors, children doing karate and cheer leading on the main stage, and games (including timed wood cutting). In the mood for a death march (and not actually knowing how far we'd be walking), we headed in the direction of Roppongi. A few hours later we got to Roppongi Hills which was quite a sight, though we were too tired to enjoy the area properly.

In the mood for a drink and dinner close to home (since we had a very early train the next morning), we went back to Shinjuku and had martinis in the Park Hyatt hotel on the 52nd floor, with amazing views of the city. For dinner we found a kaiten sushi place and ate to our hearts content.

Day 5 - Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Due to our late night the day before, we had a bit of a late start on day 5. For lunch we found an unagi (eel) restaurant in Shinjuku before heading into the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. The only problem about Tokyo, all of Japan in fact, is that the sun goes down around 4 pm. So we didn't have much time to explore the National Garden before it got dark. What we did see was beautiful.

That evening we had plans to meet a friend of the family (thank you Bob and Barbara!), Yukiko. She asked us meet her on the 50th floor of an office building in Shinjuku, and we knew we'd be in for a wonderful time. We had dinner at a restaurant called Neboke, where they served kaiseki meals from Shikoku (where Yukiko is from...and where we're headed on this trip for a few days). The meal was at least 10 course...from soup to sashimi to grilled fish to more soup to pickles...it was incredible. So incredible, I forgot to take any pictures. Plus we had the opportunity to ask Yukiko all of the etiquette questions we'd had since we arrived in Japan (where do we place our hot towels, when do we uncap and drink our soup, when do you pour a beer for someone else). It was a fantastic evening...thank you Yukiko!

Day 4 - Meguro, Ebisu, then north to homebase

We headed south on day 4 to Meguro, to see the area and visit the Parasitological Museum. After viewing all of the frightening things we could have living in our bodies, we thought we'd have some street food for lunch and picked up some takoyaki (octopus balls). From Meguro we headed north into Ebisu and stopped at the Yebisu , we sampled some of the beers on offer. The Yebisu Black is wonderful if you are able to find it.

We walked further north through Daikanyama, an area apparently filled with rich expats...which was obvious from all of the high class stores and English signs everywhere. We weren't very excited by this area, so we walked back up to Shibuya to find some dinner. Eventually we located an izakaya restaurant which was recommended in our guidebook. We had read that their specialty was meat, but opening the menu and seeing that it was all in Japanese with no pictures we were a bit dismayed. Luckily, one of the waiters who spoke a bit of English recommended some dishes for us. We started with an amazing mushroom salad with a ginger dressing, then raw horse meat served with bits of horse fat, then grilled beef (which is probably the best beef I've ever eaten), and they gave us a complementary dish of raw beef liver. Everything was delicious! We were still hungry so we also ordered some grilled wild boar.

Feeling invigorated from our meal, we went in search of the elusive Nyanpire doll at Kiddyland in Harajuku. Though we didn't have any luck, Leo found a doll called Cheburashka, which he had as a child. Apparently, since Cheburashka resembles Japanese characters (with his big eyes and head), the character was purchased by a Japanese company who is making toys out of it and will be creating a cartoon program.

We took the train back to Shinjuku and went to the Golden Gai to find a place to have a drink. The Golden Gai is a very old area in Shinjuku, with tiny bars lining the narrow streets. You can only fit about 7-10 people in most of these places and most cater to locals, so we were a bit intimidated to go into one. However, we passed a place called Aces where there was a sign on the door saying that foreigners were welcome and then the bartender caught my eye and waved for us to come in. We sat there for the next couple of hours drinking, eating candy (everyone had something they wanted us to try) and talking with some of the regulars, many of whom spoke English and translated for those who didn't. Around 3 in the morning we stumbled home.