We arrived in Tokyo on Sunday, September 7 at 10pm. At the airport everything seems very quiet and an odd sense of order can be felt. We hurried to catch the last train into town and find the ticketing machine oddly easy to use. The train schedule is kept to the second and we are soon travelling across the night lit city. We reach our hotel in Hamamatsusho, an area slightly south of the town center, near the station, in less than 30mn.
On our first days, we walked through town discovering the beautiful Zojzoji and Senso-ji temples, the Imperial Palace and its beautiful and immaculate gardens, the beautiful refurbished train station ultra modern on one side while the other is an old orange and white old building. We crossed and walked along wide avenues, modern sky scrapers and modern constructions. Like all capitals, Tokyo has its large avenues of beautiful shops and luxurious brands (Ginza is the most famous), its skyscrapers and its underground. But strangely Tokyo is quiet. Even in its its crazy and surrealistic districts, only the neon lights seem noisy. Almost the antithesis of the posh neighborhoods: Akhihabara, the electric city, and its avenues of tall buildings covered in neon signs and billboards. The streets are full of 5 storeys buildings, filled with casinos and slot machines, large rooms equipped with all sort of electronic games, cyber cafes and manga stores. We were puzzled and somewhat shocked to see massive manga shops, on the main road, full of men in suits completely addicted and devouring those cartoon characters and fantasising on drawings of young girls in tiny school uniforms. This is very strange! Our visit to the Manga Museum later that week, will confirm that strange passion that the Japanese have for Manga with more adults than kids reading the comics. Most of the hotels we stayed also had a room turned library dedicated to manga books that guests can borrow during their stay.
We spent a lot of time in the massive Yodobashi store, a 10 storey technology and IT supermarket with a whole floor allocated to photography. Ranj is in heaven, he spent hours in there!
Shinjuku and Shiboya are huge commercial areas with massive carrefours and businesses of all kinds in 10 floor buildings covered in neon signs and advertising hoardings. The masses of people crossing its junctions are impressive. In the rain, the streets seem even busier, and are filled with transparent umbrellas and bright and colourful reflections of the lights in the puddles.
There, we went to see the show at the Robot Restaurant (originally we wanted to see real Japanese robots amongst which those at the Honda Center, speaking and walking alone). A huge success in Japan, the show is a mad 2h of human robots and unusual machines dancing to very loud techno music, with neons and laser lights, lightly dressed dancers, and futurist percussionists. We were stunned by the surrealism and the extravagance of the show. Max loved it and even got to fight – and win of course- against the robots. The most amazing was the space the show was held in: a tiny room, possibly 20x10m, hosting probably 75/100 people leaving enough room for a center stage and big machines, we knew they were good at space optimisation but this beats all records! We would never see such a show in a small space in London !
We stayed in Tokyo five days instead of three, partly because we were fascinated by this multi-faceted city but also because of logistical issues: internet access was very scarce and for a few days we struggled withdrawing money, most of the banks refusing foreign cards. So we had to tour many banks to find some that worked and in a panic we eventually withdrew much more than we needed! The most surprising was the difficulty we had to get internet access, what a shock considering internet was widely available throughout our journey in South America.
To make the most of Japan, we took a Rail Pass for 7 days. During these seven days, we travel every day exploring the country far and wide .
From Tokyo, we went for a day visit Nikko, a small town 2 hours by train from the capital, very well known for its temples. In fact, an area slightly over the city contains 5 major temples and numerous shrines, each as beautiful as the other. Surrounded by greenery and nature, water features, moss, wood and bamboo are everywhere, adding to these places already spiritual, a magical dimension. Thus, we visit Ryukoin Temple, Toshogu temple and Okuinogoto shrine. From there, we jumped on a bus that took us all the way up the mountain, to Lake Chuzenji onsen where we saw the impressive Kegon waterfall and walked along the lake towards the Chuzen-ji temple passing magnificent villas belonging to the French and German embassies. On our way, the children had a tag carved by an old lady with their name in Japanese. I quickly ran up to visit a last temple whilst Ranj and the boys were enjoying the lake side. As it is the case in many temples, I got held up by a “marketing prayer”, where the monks start praying and then it swiftly turns into a selling exercise, promoting “home made” medals and jewellery which bring luck and fortune to their owners.
Despite our run back to the bus station, we missed the bus back and took time to enjoy a coffee/ice cream whilst waiting for the next ride.
We returned late to Tokyo and we spent our last night in our Airbnb apartment. We were packing to leave the following morning without knowing where we would stay the following night. I left it to Ranj to organise our visit to Japan. But Ranj likes going with the flow and improvising. It’s a nice idea but not always practical especially as we are 4 and when it falls on a big bank holiday weekend and everything is full!
To escape busy and super expensive Tokyo, we decide to head to Matsumoto in the Japanese Alps and jump on the first train available. The train takes us through the beautiful green countryside and towards gorgeous snow capped mountains. In Matsumoto, we visit the large Black Castle (feudal Edo era) and the beautiful gardens surrounding its huge moat. The interior is empty but it allows us to see the great beams of the structure and the “running gallery” where Samurais, around 1600, had to run from one side of the castle to the other to defend it from its assailants, dressed with their full 10 layers warrior costume. The village is cute, full of little antique shops, tea shops and old ninja houses and wooden huts along the river). We would have liked to see the villages of Magome and Tsumago an hour’s drive from here but can not rent a car to get there and time is short.
That night, the children take their first Onsen, or public bath. We are at the Tourist Hotel and although it is basic, like most Japanese hotels there is a public bath. They have to follow the rules and respect the rituals: Ranj and children get dressed in their kimono. Once there you sit on a stool, wash yourself very well with soap and shampoo. And only once you are thoroughly rinsed, you may slip into the hot baths. But beware, the towel kept to cover your intimacy must never touch the water ! It has to be skilfully lifted as you enter the water and then placed on your head until you are ready to get out. The Kids loved it!
Sunday evening, we reach Kyoto that will be our new base for a week. We took a small apartment with washing machine next to the station. Very simple and convenient, we returned from our excursions a little more tired every night.
Kyoto is a smaller city, more quiet and traditional, very quiet and pleasant with everyone biking. We decide to rent bikes to visit the city. We see women dressed in traditional kimono on every street corner; our first day is a bank holiday and as we visit the local temples, we enjoy the sights of couples in traditional outfits, young and old it was superb. There are temples in blackened wood at every turn of a street, most houses are small and traditional, covered with wooden slats and the entrance door is covered under by a red or black textile with Japanese inscriptions. In many restaurants, the tables are low and one needs to kneel or sit cross legged. It is fun to start with but our European bodies are not used to staying in this position! In Kyoto we will visit Gion, the geisha district. We will see entire streets lined with traditional houses, with their simple wooden exterior and hidden windows. In order to experience the various traditional Japanese arts, we attended the show at Gion Corner where we enjoyed the traditional Tea ceremony performed by a Geisha, Bunraku (traditional puppet show), the Kuomai (the tradional dance Geisha) , Gagaku (chamber music) and Kyogen (satirical theater) . I really wanted to see a Kabuki show (theater), but the shows lasted 3:30h and none of the boys were keen on joining me! We also visited some of the many temples such as Kiomizu Temple, built high on its foundations; the golden Kinkaku Shrine, pavillion covered in gold leaf and surrounded by water and beautiful gardens already in their autumnal colours; the famous Fushimi Shrine and its hundreds of bright red doors creeping through the forest and circling the mountain. Another beautiful long walk to add to our records !
Monday morning we take the Shinkansen train between Kyoto and Kanazawa city along the coast north of Kyoto. Kanazawa is a beautiful little town where we found the most beautiful Japanese garden: the Kenrokuen Garden. We took a huge amount of pictures that day, absolutely overwhelmed by the beauty of these gardens where water, stone, wood, moss and greenery making this place absolutely magical. We enjoyed a Macha, the traditional green tea, served in a small wooden house with a thatched roof overlooking a large pond, squatting on mats and served on a coffee table accompanied by a small round and green sweet made from almond and chestnut paste.
After Kyoto, Kanazawa city is the next largest city in keeping with the Geisha traditions. By bicycle, we visited the Higashi Chaya district filled with small wooden houses. We visited one of them, now converted into a gold products shop to commemorate the wealth of the town. In the house, surrounding a small green inner patio, one room is now completely covered in gold leaf. In the shop, one may find gold covered cakes, gold plated tableware, and gold painted hand bags… Later we will see a Geisha at work, keeping a businessman company for dinner. The next day, on the other side of town we visit the neighborhood of Nagamashi, the old Samurai district . There we will visit a former Samurai house with its elegant interior, painted murals, tatami mats flooring, paper panelled sliding doors and its inevitable shrine. In the back, the wooden deck overlooks the typical garden with its traditional waterhole and carp, manicured bonzais and rounded pine trees. There we saw our first original Samurai armour, which would have just fitted our 10 year old Max.
We have become accustomed to “working” on a train : it’s time to plan the city tours, places to visit, update the blog and do some homework. It is a lot of organising and with so many trips, we are getting tired, too many late evenings on top of the fatigue created by our environment where nothing is in English and sounds and writing are totally foreign.
The next day we will visit Hiroshima as requested by the children. Our visit was short and purely focused on the Hiroshima museum and Peace Park where are the various memorials. It was however a very moving half day. The museum explains and shows the sequence of events on August 8, 1944. The photos are explicit and the items on display are tangible evidence of the extent of the damage. We are all very touched, I can’t help but have a tear in my eye. In the Peace Park, a flame is lit and will only be put out the day the last nuclear weapon on Earth will be destroyed. Further, the Children Memorial is decorated with thousands of paper birds garlands. This began with the death of a little girl called Sadako Sasaki who died of Leukemia after being contaminated. She started making garlands, a movement that continues as a sign of peace and longevity children worldwide still today.
We will spend that afternoon visiting the small town of Himeji and its magnificent castle, unfortunately presently under restoration. The castle was used to film some of the scenes of the movie “the Last Samurai” and although the main tower was closed, we were lucky enough to be able to visit the Princess’ powder room, the long wooden corridors, the rooms once occupied by the ladies in waiting and the beautiful gardens. Our last stop was the Museum of History where our lucky Alex had the opportunity to dress up in a real Samurai armour. An exceptional opportunity only given to one child per day by the museum. Poor Max was EXTREMELY disappointed and it is on that morose note that we headed back to our temporary flat. Nothing a good chicken noodle soup couldn’t fix!
During our last few days in Japan, we will take time to see more of Kyoto and will visit the Bamboo forest at the edge of the city ; we will tour the Imperial Palace grounds by bicycle ; visit kilometres of shopping galleries from the most popular to the most elegant. We explore shops of second hand kimonos and eat in small local restaurants discovering food of all shape, colour and texture, often unsure of what we are eating!
We spend an afternoon feeding and caressing fawns and deer in Nara Park and we take the opportunity to sign the children up to learn ‘ The Ways of the sword ” dressed in traditional outfits. A unique and memorable experience that the children enjoyed very much!
We knew that Japan would surprise us, and we certainly didn’t feel disappointed ! During our entire stay in Japan, we felt a great paradox between the ultra modern and the traditional conformism, both in the behaviour and in the daily life of the Japanese people . Ultra conformist & traditionalists on one hand (all men are dressed in white shirt and dark suit, flawless respect of the markings on the ground, excessive greetings, prayers at the temples, women in kimono on the streets, etc.) they also have a rebellious side that often seems to lead to excess : weekend wear of the youngsters is very eccentric, success of the manga, excessive gambling and drinking. Their creations are often extravagant and innovative as it is well know in the fields of architecture and art. Yet it is very difficult to withdraw money with a foreign card or find a public place with internet connection! We have been fascinated by this surprising country and feel the need to see more…
We relished the fresh sushi, noodle soups and the food of exotic shapes, colour and flavour. We smiled at the many gadgets that are part of every day life in Japan : the automatic taxi doors, the multi function toilets with heating, jet shower and air dryer ; the sun umbrellas hooks on the bikes ; The socks with toes for flip flops ; the strollers for dogs. But most of all, we were incredibly surprised by the amiability of the younger generations, the honesty and incomparable sense of security that we felt throughout our journey.
‘ Arigato ‘ and ‘ sayonara ‘ Japan , we will be back!
A little tour around the World 