The last blog in our Japan adventure series! I haven't had the opportunity to post anything for a few days, whether that was due to transit or just plain tiredness, so I've knocked up the final leg of our trip into a single story.
So we arrived in Shinjuku to pure madness. A larger population than Brisbane lives in this single suburb of greater Tokyo city. We had directions in the itinerary to 'take the west exit and head towards the Keio Plaza hotel'. There is absolutely no way in hell we could have found this place without a friendly old man seeing our blank looks and approaching us to help. He in fact led us the whole way to our hotel, the opposite of his intended direction, for the cost of some English conversation (he was quite excited that I'm from the Gold Coast originally!).
So we checked in and went for a look around our (my) highest priority tourist location - Electric Street. This place is about the size of a city block, packed full of consumer electronic stores, eateries and gaming parlours. We saw the weirdness of Japan in it's utmost… weirdness. Neon lights abound. We found shops dedicated to specific devices - a shop the size of JB Hifi that only stocks watches. Another that only does cameras. A massive 6 story pavilion of phones, computers and tv's. The higher the level, the stranger things got as we reached the toy stores and the vending machines on the top floors. These vending machines were bizarre. Pop you yen in and turn the crank to get plastic collectable frogs, anime characters, trading cards - this is a room the size of my house lined wall to wall with these machines. Right at the back there was one that stocked small figurines of girls in naughty positions, boobs hanging out or most disturbingly, little girls sucking their thumbs and holding pillows. Enough said.
Apparently this town is the home of the weird and wonderfully dressed, but we only saw a few examples of that. One that stood out was two girls dressed in pseudo 1800's regalia, but with skirts hiked right up, lace fishnets and umbrellas. Fashion is definitely the hallmark of the town however. We later learned that the recent generation of young adults still live at home and have almost no expenses, thus 90% disposable income which is spent on electronics and largely fashion. All the men get around with sharp suits and jackets, the girls mostly in just over knee high stockings or tights, short shirts and expensive jackets. We both felt pretty out of place - me in my old black jeans and boots, Alana in an assortment of whatever clothes she could find to keep her warm!
The other thing I noticed is the prevalence of anime pornography. It was literally sold on the streets by magazine vendors in the open. News agents had on the front shelf facing street side the men's magazines with girls (cartoon or otherwise) showing themselves off. I didn’t look that hard of course…
The following day after our arrival we had intended to go to Disney land. Unfortunately it was raining and blowing a gale, which wasn't going to make rides or walking around the park much fun. So we resorted to a day's shopping (yay…). It ended up being a pretty interesting experience and I managed to get past my usual 3 shops or 2 hours rule. Department stores rule in Shinjuku. They are everywhere. This is truly a shoppers heaven. If you've got the money. The first store we found was themed around sports wear - adidas, golfing, snow, etc. On it's own it was just short of the size of a Myers in Australia. The next just over the road was directed towards the 40 + demographic, with more sophisticated clothing for the mature man and stately women. Again, the size of a Myer's department store. The next was a more middle of the range type - bottom floor had assortments of bags, shoes and accessories, the higher floors a general assortment of wares. The NEXT two stores (yeah I was pretty over it by this stage), appeared to be directed towards this 'brat' age of youth with money to burn - Burbury, Calvin Klein, almost an entire floor dedicated to Chanel. If you want a massive range and have the money to spend, Japan is a shopping wonderland. Being a shopper of needs, not wants, neither of us could really justify $180 for a long sleeve shirt (albeit a very nice one).
We did find one awesome floor of shops - the food section. The only place I've seen so far that serves fresh bread, salads and a massive range of other dinners that were not wrapped in plastic. It was fresh and delicious - we picked up lunch and dinner for the next few days! Again the most prevalent food was sweets. Shop after shop did sweet breads, biscuits, cakes and cream buns. I'm still amazed how little overweight Japanese we saw. Especially considering the lack of fruit and vegetables in the shops and meals. Most of the dinners, with the exception of Shabu Shabu, were predominantly noodle or rice based, with a little bit of meat and a little greenery (usually just some cabbage or shallot), in a soup or spice. All very tasty, but it was clear that in the winter months fresh greens weren't easy to come by. We found a rockmelon, tied in a bow, for about $120 AUD. No joke. Apples were 5 bucks each, when you found them.
After picking up some food we retired for a rest, with plans to head back out again tonight and check out the other side of the train station. I thought all the lights and that truly Japanese style nightlife was centred on Electric Street - WRONG. It doesn’t end. We walked to the other side of the train station and found the essence of the Japan nightlife you see on the tv. Massive plasma screens on the side of buildings, neon lights up the side of every building. Eateries everywhere. More shopping malls and heaps of individual stores down the street. And it keeps going in every direction. In total we spent 3 nights exploring Japan's night life and didn't come close to seeing even a fraction of it. We were thoroughly worn out after a 3 hours and some new clothes later and so kicked back to the hotel to get some sleep in prep for our Mt Fuji tour the next day. I'll mention here that our hotel was pretty swanky - chandeliers and all - but still we got two separate single beds. They don’t do doubles. I just don’t get it.
The Fuji tour was fantastic, but would have been much better if we had more than 50M VISIBILITY!!! It had snowed even in Tokyo the night before and the weather was still up. The cloud did bring a sense of the primeval to the mountainous regions we drove through in the coach and made the enormous valleys we passed over amazing. Our tour guide was fantastic. We learned more about Japanese culture in that trip that the entire journey combined. Ask me about it sometime - a lot of parallels with Australia and some quite disturbing facts as well.
We made it up the 2nd station of Fuji - about 1600m up of somewhere near 3000m. We couldn't go higher courtesy of the snow and clouds. Even here we had less than 100m visibility. You couldn't see anything at all. Except the tourist shop selling trinkets of course. We did meet a lovely old man with a 1920's camera who liked to take pictures of foreigners. We obliged in exchanged for some fantastic pictures of Mt Fuji he had taken a few weeks earlier.
The next stop on the tour was a temple in Hakone. A brief stop to use some time as our crap Fuji experience was cut short, it more than made up for it. Sifu - you would absolutely love this place. The cloud and fog made it magical. They had statues of ornamental lions from every Asian country - China, Thailand, India and everything in between. The flanked the pathway to an enormous pure white Buddhist template, with a golden Buddha in the centre. The gardens were incredible - they demonstrated the control of man over nature, whilst still purveying its beauty. Another highlight - a 20m piece of slate rock, flat and about 20cm thick, with massive golden writing carved into it, standing vertical in the centre of a rock garden. I loved it but it was over to soon as the coach sped us off to lunch. Which was pretty uneventful by comparison.
The next leg was the gondola ride back up the mountain ranges. At this altitude, you are looking at less than 50m visibility. The over head wires literally disappeared into the whiteness. Couldn't see a bloody thing. We left the gondola for the sulphur pits, which were a far more awesome. And smelly. The canyon had vents of gas steaming forth, with yellow sulphur leaking from each base. It smelt like pure ass but it was incredible to see. By this stage the rain and wind had picked up to unbearable levels so we experience much of this through the window of a coffee shop sipping hot chocolate. Interesting, we found our first bottle of lemonade. It was the only lemonade we'd seen o the entire trip, after some pretty funny attempts to explain what it is and then getting it with vodka (At another hotel - "Lemon Sour???", "Errr… ok I'll try that" My face actually screwed itself inside out.)
After the sulphur pits we reached the final leg of tour and the greatest. We trundled down to an Alpine lake - a crater in the mountains, clouded in fog, small fishing villages abound - and promptly got on board a pirate ship. Decked out with a crew of pirates, we sailed the pristine lake for close to an hour. The alpine forest was ancient. I expected dinosaurs to charge out of the forest, but was disappointed. Apparently full of trout, I wanted to join the other crazy's in their tiny boats in the freezing wet weather and fish the points and rocky overhangs. We finally pulled into a small fishing town and boarded the coach again for home. We slept most of it.
Our last day was dedicated to buying presents and seeing some of Tokyo's more famous landmarks. By this stage we both admit we were getting ready to go home. Rice for lunch and dinner, sweet breads and complete and utter lack of fresh fruit and vegetables was starting to take its toll. We dragged ourselves out to Asakusa, where the famed Sensoji temple and a number of shrines and gates stood, lined with market stalls full of nik naks and touristy wares. The opening gates were incredible. Two massive demons stood caged within either side, at least 10 m tall. Through the gate, with cherry blossoms in early bloom, was the market street full of ornamental fans, chop sticks, komodo's (Japanese dressing gown of sorts), porcelain dolls, swords, food and bobble heads. Just beyond the reach of the market were other craft stores with oriental style bags, stone ware and leather products. We picked up presents for everyone and for ourselves we got a nice set of rice bowls, mugs and painting with a Japanese poem, originally painted in the 1800's. The template and shrines of the grounds were spectacular. We drew in the smoke from the fires of the lucky well (name forgotten very sorry), paid homage to the spirits of the house and inspected the intricate gold work and other treasures of the temple proper. More gardens, buddhist statues and keen tour guides begging for our business. I wish we had enough time to really explore the place, but we unfortunately had a train to catch. It was time to come home at last.
The trip back to the Gold Coast was uneventful. The 8 or so hour flight from 8pm to 6pm (local) time was sleepless. Customs was a pain in the ass. The usual. We have a brief flight down to Melbourne for a wedding then we are back home again for good. We're already planning our next trip. It will be Falls Creek in September I think, with a road trip down to Victoria. Rumours of a Canada snow trip or perhaps another to the north island of Japan abound.
We were ready to leave Japan. We'd had a good time on the snow, just long enough. We'd had a whirlwind time in greater Japan, around Tokyo and I know there is a million other things to do. Now that I'm on the way home, I looking forward to working on my house again and getting it finished outside. But I'm also keen on planning my next trip away. I 150% recommend you visit Japan. It was an incredible experience. For me it was the furthest I've been from home and my comfort zone. It was challenging to get around in some instances, but generally quite accessible with English being the second language for many. It has something for everyone - every landscape and environment in the book, snow, country, city and shopping. It has as many cultural differences as similarities, which really brought home the fact that we're all same really - human.
Thanks for reading and goodbye!
P.S. Photos will be posted upon arriving home
