Surprising Osaka

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On our way into Osaka-jo, we met two falconers. Very appropriate, as this is a feudal castle. This is actually a hawk, according to the man with him. 

Osakans are known for being very outgoing to strangers. Here are Roxana and Cathy with a man we met on the street and asked for a restaurant recommendation for the local specialty, Okonomiyaki. He insisted on walking us there, which was useful, because it was a very small establishment (15 seats) up an easy-to-miss narrow staircase to the second floor. Food was great! 

Dave and I split this pork okonomiyaki. I had a much small version (with octopus) for breakfast the next morning at the hotel.

I've Found Heaven: Koyasan

Typhoon 28 is rattling the outside screens in our tatami room, & pouring down rain, but we are snug & cozy on the sacred Buddhist mountain of Koya. We are spending the night in an inn attached to one of the many temples on this mountain. Even arriving in the dark and rain, we could tell the gardens are wonderful, with carefully raked patterns in the gravel & we are all looking forward to seeing them in daylight. 

Tomorrow we will be up before six am to join the monks in their morning chanting. Then breakfast, and hopefully another chance to soak in the onsen ... heaven. 

Our vegetarian dinner.

According to its advertising, this is the only inn on the mountain with an onsen, and it is a doozy. Indoor and outdoor baths, and a sauna. Because of a little mix-up, I can tell you that both the men's and the women's bath areas are lovely. 

Yes, in a stunning re-creation of my Budapest mis-adventure, somehow I managed to enter the men's bath. But really, if they are going to use pink hangings for the men's bath, what do they expect? It was Dave who pointed to the rather obvious sign next to the pink:

Somehow I entered when no one else was there, disrobed, checked out both the indoor and outdoor baths, and sat in the sauna for 10 minutes, all stark naked, without encountering a soul. It wasn't until I exited that I ran into Dave, on his way to dinner. The look of horror on his face was a sight to behold. 

However, I can now report that the men's outdoor bath area is a bit larger: 3 separate round cedar soaking tubs in a beautiful garden setting. The women's outdoor area has a rock pool in a much smaller area. Indoor soaking pools are similar, but the woman's changing room has blow-dryers ( should have been my first clue). 

Tomorrow we will explore some of the temples on Koyasan before returning to Osaka for our final night in Japan. 

2 Rainy Days in Kyoto

We are staying in a very nice western style hotel, which makes Dave happy because there are chairs, and which would have been fine with me a week ago, but it lacks an onsen (traditional communal bath) and I have learned to love these!

It is conveniently located near the train station, which makes using public transportation easy, as it is also the city bus terminal. 

Here's my attempt at haiku:

Dueling umbrellas

on Kiyomizu-dori

Kyoto in the rain

For those of you counting syllables, the two speakers of Japanese assure me that Kyoto only has two syllables!

It was pouring when we arrived in Kyoto at lunchtime. We dropped our packs at the hotel, and set off sightseeing. 

The dragon fountain at Kinkakuji temple. 

Entering Kiyomizu temple. 

The street up to Kiyomizu temple was highly congested (mobbed, really) with groups of school kids visiting from all over Japan. Add the normal tourists and the umbrellas, and it was difficult to move. What a difference from walking the Nakasendo!

Thank goodness Roxana had another route planned for our exit, through the Buddhist cemetery. 

We were all soaked by now, and Dave had had it. We took the bus and dropped him back at the hotel, then Cathy, Roxana and I continued on to Gion, the old part of Kyoto. We were in Gion at 3:50, but missed the Geisha rush hour because we got side-tracked by some beautiful hand made clothing in a  handicraft store. Did see one geisha before we left Gion. 

Halloween in Japan

Happy Halloween from Kyoto! Probably not the post you expected from a city known for its gardens and UNESCO World Heritage sites, but we all posed in the 'photo spot' we passed on our way out of Kyoto Station. The Japanese are mad for Halloween!

But just as they have given Italian food a Japanese spin (eggplant & lotus root pizza), they have taken Halloween to some different places. Here are a few examples:

Halloween-themed pastries

A Halloween gingerbread house (not sure if the flavor is gingerbread, or just the concept).

Halloween tenugui (dyed cloth). 

And my personal favorite, in the window of a traditional medicine provider, a model showing the meridian lines used in eastern medicine (if you enlarge the photo you can see them):

But the piece-de-resistance was the nightly light show on the stairs at the Kyoto train station. I've got it captured on video, but you'll have to wait - the mobile blogging app won't post video.

On the Bullet Train: Nagoya to Kyoto

This gives me a perfect opportunity to talk about how I am able to blog on this trip. I've left my iPhone in airplane mode since taking off from LAX. I also turned off data roaming. Which means I am dependent on Wi-Fi connections. Not difficult in a big city hotel, but less common once we got on the Nakesendo - until we hit Magome, which gets many international visitors. There I noticed free Wi-Fi signs in the Tourist Information Office and a few coffee shops.

Has not been a problem for me, however, as Roxana has rented a Wi-Fi connector for the duration of the journey:

She arranged to have it mailed to our Tokyo hotel, and it was waiting for her on check-in. About the size of a cell phone, so easy to carry. She turned it on in the train, and, voila, I have Internet connection.

Post-trip Update: Cost (at current exchange rate) is about US$85 for two weeks, which is reasonable. I did not try using Skype, and the connection speed might be too slow for that (it took forever to upload a 1 minute video to Facebook), but it worked fine for checking email, keeping up with Facebook, and writing my daily blog posts, even in rural Japan. Here's the website for more info: http://www.rentafonejapan.com/Mobile-Internet.html

You can find similar WiFi rentals for other countries; here's one I found for Europe, Australia, and New Zealand: http://www.tepwireless.com/wifi/australia . Do a web search for 'pocket wifi rental' to find other choices.

Finally, the New York Times Travel section has a great article on other options to keep overseas roaming charges under control: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/travel/how-to-beat-roaming-fees-while-traveling-abroad.html?_r=0

Tsumago to Magome

After a truly magical stay at Koshinzuka minshuku, we started off for our last day of hiking the Nakasendo. But not before breakfast in front of the fire pit. 

See the fish on the bottom plate? Our hostess informed us that it was intended to be eaten whole, head and all. So I gamely picked it up with my chopsticks, and chomped off the head.  (really - Dave has the photo to prove it). A bit crunchy, but actually pretty good. 

I had to ask our host about this photo framed on the wall:

That is the father of the current owner of Koshinzuka, holding a rifle, taken about 30 years ago, in front of the room where we were sitting. The bear ( you didn't miss him, did you?) was shot along the trail we were about to take. Hmmm, might be something to all those bear bells along the trail.

This portion of the Nakasendo, from Tsumago to Mangome, is the most popular, and we met lots of other hikers on the trail. It was actually a bit jarring to run into so many Americans again. But the scenery was beautiful, and even with stopping frequently to take pictures, we were in Mangome at 1:30. 

Leaving Koshinzuka minshuku

The trail started just across the road from our minshuku.

We shortly encountered two waterfalls. I'll let you guess which is the 'female' and which is the 'male'. 

Just before reaching Magome Pass, we came to this rest house, where we were served tea and sliced persimmon. And who should we run into but our trail friend  who was hiking the Nakesendo for the second time. 

Rest house.

Will finish post tonight, so come back & there will be more!

Tsumago

Sun! It was so warm I changed into my short-sleeve tee when we reached our starting point a half-hour train ride from Kiso-Fukushima.

Our walk today was mostly on road, but followed the Kiso River, and again through small towns, where every home has a garden plot. 

Kiso River

Friendly dog guarding his owner's drying beans.

Rice field.

Garden plot

Futons airing out on a beautiful day.

The real treasure was our inn for the night: a 110 year-old traditional home. This is a true minshuku, as the family still lives here ( in an additional built 100 years ago), and they rent out the tatami rooms in the oldest part of the home. We were the only guests. 

One of our tatami 'bedrooms'. While we were at dinner in the main room, the children of the family moved the table to the side and pulled the futons from the day storage closet in the room. There were only sliding shoji screens between us, and it was delightful to hear their giggles as they made up our beds (each  with a barley hull pillow).

Dinner. This was the first time even Roxana had eaten in an inn that lit the old cooking pit. This fire is also the only source of heat, and it is banked for the night ( the entire structure is wood). But we were very cozy in our futons with thick covers. I also noticed that wood panels were put up outside the external shoji screens at night, I assume to help with heat retention.

Then we had an additional treat; the current owner ( his great-grandfather built the house) sang us a traditional folk song, Kisobushi. A cappella, in a beautiful voice. 

The actual kitchen is in the newer 100 year old section, but what a treat to have the fire in the original fire pit. Would have been difficult to create this meal with just the fire pit:

The red meat, BTW, is horse. I was all ready to give it a try until I found out what is was. Know it is not rational to be okay eating cow but not horse, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so.

Second course - absolutely delicious salt-encrusted grilled fish. There was also a tempura course and a soba (cold buckwheat noodles) course which I forgot to photograph.

And I haven't mentioned the bath yet! A very traditional cedar soaking tub. 

Mt. Ontake

Today was our day to hike Mt. Ontake, the second highest volcano in Japan, one of the hundred famous mountains of Japan, and a sacred mountain that draws Shinto pilgrims to climb the path to the top. Not so much today, though, as it was pouring rain. 

http://japanhike.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/mt-ontake

One of the many shrines along the hiking path. 

The bus ride from Kiso-Fukushima to the trailhead took an hour. Gorgeous mist-shrouded scenery, looking like a wood-block print. We even saw more monkeys along the road! Roxana says these monkeys are famous for soaking in the hot springs when the ground is covered in snow. 

By good chance, we had made a quick stop at an enticing bakery on our walk to the bus this morning, and look at the pastry Dave choose because it had a chocolate filling:

We hiked for an hour, but the rain became even more intense, & we decided to turn around and take the 12:45 bus back to Kiso-Fukushima and a soak in the bath. 

Temperature at bottom of trail.

We had a bit of time to wait for the bus, and discovered a bare-bones cafe in a building near the bus stop. But it had heat, and absolutely the best ramen I have ever had! 

Not that we have been eating poorly; our inn is renowned for its food. Here's pics of tonight's dinner. There are multiple pics because there are multiple courses. We are served in a private tatami-floored dining room. 

1st course place-setting. The presentation is beautiful. That's sashimi in upper right, with a dipping sauce; a hollowed out persimmon with a compote in the hollow, at the top; and several elegant tidbits surrounding 2 pieces of pork on the bottom plate.

Sukiyaki was also part of first course.

Also in first course. Various pressed fish cakes in a warm broth.

2nd course (you remove the leaf wrapping to eat the baked fish inside).

3rd course. Lotus root in a seaweed base. Note the little basket in which it is served - presentation is everything!

4th course. A dumpling. 

I missed a photo of the 5th course, a clear broth with a shellfish that could have been a scallop - being allergic to scallops, I passed. That's also the course where the rice was served - Roxana says that in gourmet Japanese meals, the rice is always part of the last course (before dessert). 

6th course - dessert. Those are melon balls with a sweet bean paste and a custardy base in a sweet syrup. 

So you can see we are definitely not going hungry - and the breakfasts are almost as hearty!

We leave this inn tomorrow for more walking on the Nakasendo to Tsumango, which Roxana says is even more beautiful than Narai - hard to believe.