Itinerary of a Mad-man

 

Itinerary of a Madman – August 2023

 

This was started in 2023 when Caroline, Sam and I decided to climb Mount Fuji. Its taken me a long time to get around to completing it, but I decided I couldn’t let it slide completely.

 

We’ve had a bit of fun over the last couple of weeks and are currently embarking on a bit more. Certainly enough fun that I thought it was worth recording, you know, for posterity and the like.

Way back in 2019, Sam went to Japan not to ski, but in summer with friends. One of the key things they did while they were there was climb Mount Fuji. It sounded like a fun adventure and for a while I’ve been envious of the exploit.

Sam and I were talking about it earlier this year after our ski trip and he suggested that if I really wanted to, climbing Fuji was achievable over a long weekend and that he’d be up for doing it again. Sounded pretty mad, but the seed had been planted and began to germinate and finally, took root.

The proposed itinerary looked something like:

Friday Night: Fly overnight from Sydney to Tokyo, landing about 5 or 6 am Saturday. Travel to what’s known as the fifth station (about 3 hours) and the starting point for climbing one of the Fuji trails. Climb to the seventh or 8^th station, where there are huts you can book and sleep in (about 3-4 hours of ‘climbing’. Sleep for a while, get up at about 2am and ascend the rest of the way to the summit in time for sunrise (3 hours or so). Watch the big ball of flame come up, then walk back down again (3-4 hours). Travel back to Tokyo and fly out on the overnight flight and arrive in Sydney about 9am Sunday morning.

Crazy right?

That’s what I thought.

We started to look into it though; with the key challenges being booking a hut during climbing season on a weekend that was going to work. Initially we were targeting August which put it in the middle of hockey season and so Caroline was going to stay home and play hockey. By the time everything came together though, It became an end of August affair and Caroline decided that if her team didn’t make finals, she’d come along as well.

By way of preparation we did, well, nothing special. Caroline played hockey and I spent the usual amount of time at the gym on the elliptical trainer. I mean, a week before the climb I spent half an hour on the stair climber, but other than assuring me that a continuous climb was going to be hard work, I wouldn’t say it exactly conditioned me.

The most significant adjustment I made to the planned itinerary was to stay an extra day in Tokyo. It just seemed to make sense to me that I spend Sunday enjoying Tokyo rather than getting home wiped out.

Now somewhere in the background of all this, we’ve been building a holiday house down at Marion Bay. It started just after COVID and has taken way longer than we would have liked. As luck would have it, the builder was pushing to hand over the keys and with a few things on, we had to get there and make it happen because we were booked to go to Europe as well.

After much discussion about when we could manage the three hour drive (each way) to Marion Bay to effect handover of the holiday house, we realised that the answer was obvious. Utter insanity.

The solution was:

Wednesday after work: Drive to Marion Bay. Sleep in a tent for the night.

Thursday – Property hand over at 7:30am, finish by 9am, drive back to Adelaide to catch a 2pm flight to Sydney so that we’d be there in time for a 9pm departure for Tokyo.

Friday: arrive in Tokyo, drop bags at a hotel, travel to Fuji, ascend to 8^th station. Sleep.

Saturday: Get up early, pray for good weather, ascend to summit, enjoy sunrise, walk back down. Sleep.

Sunday: Enjoy Tokyo, Travel home.

Monday. Work from Sydney then fly back to Adelaide.

Simples.

 

So with all that booked in, we set off on our little adventure.

After work Wednesday, we drove to Marion Bay and arrived at about 11pm. Fortunately, even though we weren’t supposed to have access to the house, access was organised for us, so rather than sleeping in a tent, we slept on inflatable mattresses on the floor. So after arrival, we completed a after a brief inspection, looking for any defects we could find ahead of taking the keys the following morning.

We woke early at about 6 or so and had another look around the house with the benefit of daylight. The builder’s supervisor was due to meet us at 7:30, but was late. Turned out he’d hit a roo on the way down and had had to travel significantly more slowly than he’d liked. It meant that we rushed around and marked up all the defects we could find, watching the minutes tick by, super-conscious of the fact we had a three hour drive back to Adelaide that we couldn’t shorten.

We managed to getaway pretty much on time and made it back without incident which on reflection was a good thing!

The travel to Sydney and Tokyo similarly went off without a hitch other than a lack of sleep. After only 6 hours Wednesday night, I still failed to sleep much on the plane, grabbing maybe 2 hours overnight.

We landed and made our way to Fuji via the hotel (Where I ticked off number 1of my Tokyo eats – 7/11 fried chicken, taking longer than we would have liked while Sam sorted out some SIM card issues so we’d have comms if we split up. It was a casual 35 degrees or so in Tokyo and at one of the stations we needed to change trains at, I looked across the track to the next platform and spied something I’d not quite managed to take advantage of during our last ski trip – an ice-cream vending machine. Quickly checking the time, there was sufficient for Sam and I to get across to that platform and procure ourselves some sweet frozen treats.

I’d been laughing with Sam on the train about an add for an ice-cream because it was called ‘Coolish’. I mean, if someone offers you an ice-cream, Coolish seems kind of underdone, doesn’t it? I for one would prefer my ice-cream really cold, frozen even, not just ‘coolish.’

Turns out Coolish was an option in this vending machine and Sam told me it was supposed to be a soft-serve. Well, I had to try that. Turns out it was delicious.

 

We arrived in Gotemba and had to wait for the bus that would take us up the last stage and had a quick look around, which unfortunately didn’t include visiting the distillery that was nearby. We bussed to the start of the Subashiri trail and procured our walking stick to get stamped along the way.

With that done, we started our ascent. As it was in Tokyo, it was hot at the start of the climb, which on our trail, started in the forest which, while keeping us out of the direct sunlight, made for muggy conditions.

After a bit of experimentation we worked out that it was best to let Caroline set the pace and we, along with most of the others we saw in the early stages, took plenty of breaks, which also provided opportunities to peer out through the trees at the view from ever increasing points of elevation. We walked and scrambled up the path made of volcanic rock. It was uneven and in parts involved some big step-ups through those first hours.

Eventually the vegetation thinned and we were treated to more frequent and ever improving views back toward Tokyo and out over the mountains.

It took us four hours to make it to the station we were staying the night at, and by the time we were there, the sun was definitely disappearing and the temperature was dropping.

The overnight accommodation was … well …, functional, rather than luxurious. They call it a hut but its more like a dorm room. The sleeping quarters were divided into ‘pods’ for want of a better word. Not high enough to stand up in but high enough that you didn’t quite have to go all the way onto hands and knees. There were mattresses and blankets, but unfortunately, continuing my love affair with Japanese sleeping arrangements, no pillows. Delightful.

When you climb Fuji its expected that you carry off all the rubbish associated with what you’ve taken with you and of course you have to carry everything the whole way, so pillows weren’t on the packing list. All I had was my windcheater to roll up and try and use. To say it was inadequate would be a gross understatement.

Before we embarked on sleep adventures though, we enjoyed the gourmet collection of food we’d opted to carry up for dinner. Eating was in an assigned order based on arrival time so we waited to be called to table before we enjoyed the fruits of our labours … apples, pringles and in my case, a lone whiskey highball can.

I think it was about 5:30pm when we arrived at the hut and there were already people bunked down for the night so there wasn’t an awful lot to do other than eat and sleep. So around 7:30 we bunked down and attempted to sleep, with a plan to get up to the summit for sunrise, which mean leaving about 2:30am.

Amazingly, between the light pollution from Tokyo and the fact we were climbing in the light of a super-moon, there were less stars visible than there are on a standard night in Adelaide.

I barely slept and about midnight was awake and listening to the noises of the hut which involved a lot of people getting up, sorting out their gear and heading out and up toward the summit. By 12:30, still not sleeping, I heard Sam and Caroline stir and so suggested that if none of us were sleeping we may as well be climbing. So it was agreed to set out. We gathered our things and sorted ourselves out in the near dark dressing warmer than we had the day before. After all, the temperature was in the single digits now!

We hiked and climbed for about an hour at which point Sam offered to take Caroline’s backpack. It evened his weight distribution a little and unburdened Caroline and we made a bit better progress as a result.

At least until we ran into the human traffic jam. Our trail joined the most popular route (the Yoshida trail) to the top above the 8^th station and we ended up in a literal queue.

Looking ahead of us, all you could see was a zig-zagging line of headlamps making their way up the mountain.

There were areas where you could walk two abreast and sometime even squeeze a third, but there were also portions of the trail where single file was all that could be managed. Had we stood patiently in that line and meandered our way up there’s no way we would have managed sunrise. We were able to weave in and out a bit and scramble up some of the rougher side paths and after three or four hours made it to the summit.

The sky was clear but it was also cold and windy. We found ourselves a vantage point in the lee of a boulder or two from which to watch the sun come up, and snuggled down to wait. Unfortunately that small collection of rocks proved to be less helpful than we would have liked when it came to blocking the wind. Sam, being Sam, was in shorts and we hadn’t brought too many warm clothes because of the weight factor.

It was bloody cold. By the time the sun was up I was about as cold as I’ve ever been, probably second only to a day in Canada when we got a flat tyre while it was like -35C. We held out until the sun was up, grabbed some photos and headed back toward the huts where they serve food and drink.

We all bought cans of hot green tea from the limited selection of beverages and grabbed some food as well. We sat holding those hot cans until they really weren’t providing any further warmth and finally drank them.

You can walk around the rim of the crater at the top of the volcano, but Sam needed to be back down the bottom to meet someone (which given the time passed since this was originally written we can now admit was/is his girlfriend) and Caroline and I decided we were cold enough that we’d begin our descent as well (though at perhaps a more leisurely rate). The lack of sleep and effort expended to get to the top meant we were wary of what was still required to get us to the bottom.

So off we went. You don’t descend the same path you ascend. The way down is a broad path of semi-loose volcanic rock that switches back and forth down the side of the volcano. Its wide enough that four or five people could walk abreast if they wanted to (and in come cases, did).

Caroline employed the zig-zag approach to making her way down each leg of the switch back and set something of a cracking pace for me to keep up with. We only stopped half a dozen or so times, mostly to clear stones from our hiking boots and occasionally to use the bathroom facilities (which are all compost toilets that you have to pay to use). And boy do you know when you’re near them!

As with the way up, there were all sorts of people on the way down and many different styles of getting there. The ones that got me the most though were those that were essentially running down. There weren’t many of them, but there was a couple.

We agreed on the way down that pending rose-coloured memories, we wouldn’t be rushing to climb Fuji again. A couple of weeks later with a little tinting in the glasses and with the legs recovered, I’d qualify that with ‘without a bit more appropriate preparation’.

We were so incredibly lucky with the weather (despite freezing our proverbials off) that its hard to imagine getting a better opportunity. But maybe with a bit more juice in the legs I would have at least circumnavigated the caldera. There’s certainly no intent to rush back to do so.

We descended back to a different point from where we’d started because it enabled us to catch a single bus back into Shinjuku in Tokyo. We had a bit of time and collected a couple of souvenirs before boarding the bus for the three hour tour back to Tokyo.

At the top of the mountain, we’d run into a couple of German ladies with whom we played the ‘we’ll take photos for you if you take photos for us’ game. They ended up on the same bus as us on the way back and we found out that we weren’t the only people with mad itineraries. They had flown in, ascended the mountain in a single climb and descended all without even sleeping on the mountain! Not only that but they were flying out the following day as well. I had the distinct impression they were a bit fitter and more accustomed to wandering up and down mountains than we were.

Three hours later we were back in Tokyo. We were last off the bus and collected the luggage that we’d have to take back to the hotel. It was only after we’d left the bus stop and started travelling back that Caroline asked me where the bag of souvenirs was.

It was about that time that I remembered looking at the very last plastic shopping bag in the bus’ luggage compartment and declaring it wasn’t ours. Caroline gave it a quick check and because I’d planted the seed, also decided it wasn’t ours. Only it was.

We weren’t leaving anything earth-shattering behind, but it was enough that it was at least worth making an enquiry about. We went to the hotel and attempted to make contact with the bus company through the front desk and a little electronic translator. After a couple of back and forth we were advised they had it and were given some instructions on how to get there. They weren’t great, but we were going to give it a go Sunday morning.

Caroline and I set out to find somewhere to have a nice Yakitori dinner. With the aid of Google maps and some very tired legs, we set out to find a restaurant. Now it turns out that we were in an area around Kawasaki that if you wandered too far from the main strip became just ever so slightly um … seedy. Certainly the young girl Caroline stopped to attempt to ask where the restaurant she was looking for didn’t seem to be there for that purpose! We did manage to track something down though and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The following morning was time to try and retrieve our souvenirs. The joy of having Sam and even more so on this occasion, his girlfriend, to assist us was that we actually managed to get back to the office of the bus company where the bag was being held. Iif we’d set out to find that place with the instructions we were given, there was a snowball’s chance in hell that we ever would have found it. We would simply have wasted the day.

It put a bit of time pressure on the day, but our only real plan was to hit up a yakiniku restaurant that Sam had found that delivered the meat to your table sushi-train style. Unfortunately when the time came there wasn’t availability at the restaurant. So we had to settle for a nice upmarket Yakiniku place instead though we avoided some of the more exotic cuts and stuck to what we enjoy. And then it was time to fly home.

It certainly was a whirlwind!

Japan 2023 - Day 17

One of the best memories I have from our first trip to Nozawa Onsen was finding the Akari Swiss Bakery. It was open early, in time for a quick swing by for some beautiful fresh bread or the like for breakfast ahead of a day on the slopes. During the planning for this trip, I’d selected accommodation near where we’d been last time for both its proximity to the bakery and relatively easy access to the snow.

So today, Monday morning, day 18, I was excited to go find out what the bakery had to offer first thing. We’d checked the night before and it said they opened at 8am, but I got a message from Jason at 7:40 telling me that they weren’t open Mondays. Noooooooooooo!

The start to the day was incredibly frustrating for me. It was slow. I hate the chopped up snow at the end of the day and so really prefer to be out there early after the groomers have tidied it all up for me and today was one of those days where things weren’t going to my plan. I quite possibly got a little angry about it. When I was finally on my way up to the mountain I took these photos because it reminded me that as frustrated as I was and as bad as I thought the start to my day was, it can always be worse. 

At least it wasn’t raining. It was snowing which was a good thing for the planned day of skiing. It just didn’t happen to stop. At all. All day. Fortunately conditions weren’t terrible and we were happy to ski, though it limited where I was prepared to go because I was still concerned that my aging and fragile body wouldn’t hold up if I pushed myself too hard. I’ve become a lot more cautious than the rest of the family, but at least I’m still skiing.

We explored our way around the easier parts of the mountain while the nuts (mostly Thomas) went and found their own fun amongst trees and on steep slopes that this little black duck wasn’t about to engage in.

Nozawa Onsen is an interesting mountain and I hadn’t explored a lot of it last trip due to being a little lame from our time at Madarao. One of the differences at Madarao, is that you can go to the top and find a really long, green, easy run along the ridge line, but to get down from there, your only easy option is a long winding road (which is at least in most parts wide and easy to navigate). Your other option to get down either involves going to the top and taking an alternate long road that is significantly narrower and rated intermediate rather than beginner.

With the mixed ability we had skiing together at the time, we decided the green road down was the best way to go. And we nearly made it all the way down without incident. There was just one corner where everyone pulled up ahead of a somewhat steep bit and waited while Bel decided to maybe forget how to turn or stop or something? Not quite sure exactly what happened other than a sudden exclamation and an almost slow-motion plough into the group, seizing hold of Caroline briefly before her momentum took her past her, leaving her to seize hold of Rhianna and take her out as well. It was entirely comical and fortunately didn’t result in any injuries.

The road down was long. Like seven kilometres or so long but about two thirds of the way down there was an option to take a short intermediate run to cut the corner. We stopped at the top and everyone assessed it as not too steep and so down we went. Happy days.

I ended up at the back of the pack after that, deliberately waiting to make sure everyone was good ahead of me. Those at the front came upon another option to take an intermediate run to cut out some more of the green run. The only problem was, by the time you could assess how steep it was, you’d well and truly passed the point of continuing down the green run that I’d been wondering why everyone had opted out.

Unfortunately, it was significantly steeper than the other little red run. That’s okay, we were sure we’d all manage. Most of us skied our way down within our limits and left Thomas to help Aimee who certainly wasn’t feeling confident enough to tackle it on her own. So we waited at the bottom, watching and sending positive vibes.

It wasn’t to be though. The confidence wasn’t there, so Thomas kindly took Aimee’s skis for her and she opted for the direct, butt-slide down the mountain way out of trouble!

We skied at the bottom of the mountain for a bit, biding our time until lunch. On one of my runs I found Aimee taking off her skis at the bottom. I checked she was okay and she advised she was but was taking a break.

I didn’t realise that she’d had a fall ahead of taking her skis off. I headed back up for another run ahead of lunch only to come back down and find that Aimee appeared to be faring a fair bit worse than the okay she’d thought she’d been at when I’d checked. She was clearly in pain and struggling to get around. She’d been checked by ski patrol who’d advised that if needed the hospital was a possibility.  It was time for lunch though and no-one (except a Rowland *cough* Cameron *cough*) really likes going to a hospital in a foreign country, so the idea was to take some time for her to rest up and assess where things were at. She was struggling enough that even getting inside was looking tricky, so Sam and Thomas grabbed a chair from inside, sat her in it, and then carried her into the restaurant.

By the time lunch had been consumed, it was clear Aimee wasn’t going anywhere without assistance and so she and Bel called it a day and departed the scene in style.

Emily, Thomas and Sam were kind enough to ski back to deliver Bel and Aimee’s skis and poles back to our accommodation.

It was still snowing, and the rest of us skied on with half our minds wondering how Laimee was getting on.

Caroline, Emily and I were skiing up near the top of the mountain during the afternoon and I decided I needed a break and suggested we stop for a hot chocolate. While Caroline was taking advantage of the facilities on offer, Emily opted for a vending machine delivered hot chocolate, while I noticed a number of young people walking around with delicious looking ice-creams and decided that I was definitely up for getting intimate with one in the immediate future. I lined up with the kids and eagerly awaited delivery. I watched the young girl before me walk away with a luscious looking treat, ordered mine and watched eagerly as the kindly old gent serving me pulled the lever to deliver the icy creamy goodness. He swirled it around once, twice and pfft. There was no more. 

"So sorry, sold out," he declared, looking genuinely disappointed that he had to deliver that news to me. Devastated, I moped away, consoling myself with an icy cold can of coke while I waited for Caroline. She had just appeared when the old dude excitedly found me to announce that he'd refilled the machine and that I could get my ice cream. I gleefully followed him back to his little stall and watched as he pulled the lever.

And nothing happened. 

It was like being told you get a second chance at Christmas only to have it yanked from under your feet! He was extraordinarily sorry but I was still icecreamless. 

Caroline was finally sorted with her hot chocolate and so I sat with her, sipping my coke, lamenting the ice-cream that never was when for a second time I was hunted down and beckoned back to the ice-cream stand. I almost didn't go. Could I survive further disappointment? Was my day to be as bad as the person that had parked their car in someone's front-yard ditch? Warily I followed him. 

He pulled the lever.

Ice cream appeared.

He swirled ... and swirled ... and swirled ... and with great joy, I accepted the treasure and enjoyed every last bit of it! It may just have been the best ice cream I've ever had.

There’s a physio in Nozawa Onsen and Jason and Bel had found that there was an Australian-trained (and as it turned out, Australian) physio working there and so rather than commit to hospital, arranged for Aimee to go there for assessment before considering other options.

The rest of us headed out for a delicious ramen dinner at Deesuke with steamed apple buns for dessert.

Aimee reappeared eventually with a brace that was at least enabling her to stand and possibly even walk a bit but with an unknown amount of damage to her knee. We all hoped it would be minimal.

Oh and it was still snowing.

Japan 2023 - Days 15.5 and 16

 Sure, day 15.5 sounds a bit weird, but that's what happens when you forget something blogworthy!

Day 15.5

There was one minor hiccup in our travel to Shiga Kogen that I neglected to mention as my mind becomes befuddled by time and distance. One of the best things you can do if you’re travelling around Japan is buy a Japan Rail Pass. However, when you buy one, its quite alarming to realise that the money you’ve dropped (in the hundreds of dollars) is now represented by a rather flimsy looking ticket. A ticket that if you lose it, will not be replaced. And you have to put it through the ticket machine every time you enter and exit a relevant train station. That's a lot of times to potentially lose your ticket!

Caroline was rightfully paranoid upon realising we wouldn’t have a passbook kind of ticket as we’d had in previous years that would enable you to acquire tickets as and when you needed them. That was it. One ticket, one go, if lost, gone.

We made it all the way to Day 15 before that was an issue. We scrambled off the Shinkansen in Iiyama and Thomas was panicking because he couldn’t find his ticket. The train hadn’t left, but we had no idea what the dwell time at the station would be. It’s never a lot on the Japanese rail system. Caroline tried to ask a couple of railway staff who were on the platform, but they didn’t understand and the train left before anyone could do something like jump back on and look for it. D’oh. We had no option but to continue on and try and sort things out as we were going. We were hoping it would be found on the train and could be collected later.

... and day 16 ...

With our skiing done yesterday we were debating whether we’d squeeze in a morning of skiing but as we went to sort out dinner for the night, it started raining. We’ pretty much decided that skiing was unlikely but rain was the icing on the cake.

So that just left us to pack get to the bus stop and travel. The sort of day that leaves you with nothing to write about really.

Easy.

We enjoyed the buffet breakfast after something of a later start and set about packing to get to the busstop. For the first time on the trip since arriving in Japan, we had to take ALL of our gear with us … skis, boots, clothing, the whole shebang. Add to that the rain and it was a fully laden, sloshy trip to the bus stop. But at least we were there on time(ish). The Rowlands were of course more organised than us and were waiting so we joined them, mostly because the rain had resulted in enough ice on the ground that my attempts to get up the slight hill to join the back of the line were threating to land me on the proverbial and send me sliding back to where I was standing anyway, so I didn’t tempt fate.

Then the bus arrived, took a look at the people waiting and left. So did the next one which was as full as the first had been. Fortunately, it seems they bus company keeps calling for as many buses as are needed to meet the demand on the day, so it wasn’t too long before one came along that we were able to load our gear into.

The transit to Nozawa Onsen involved a bus from Shiga Kogen to Nagano, a Shinkansen from Nagano to Iiyama  and another bus from Iiyama to Nozawa Onsen. What could possibly go wrong?

For most of us, not much. But remember how Thomas had lost his ticket? He was going to have to buy one in Nagano to get him to Iiyama. Not a big deal. All went well, he had his ticket, we had ample time in Nagano and we just needed to catch the train. So I went to grab some food. When I returned, Caroline thought we might need a bit more and went to get some too. She took longer than Thomas, Emily and I were expecting.

By the time we had minutes to catch the train, we’d decided to meet her on the platform, shepherding all the luggage through the gates. Caroline caught up to us as we were doing that and we quickly worked out which platform we needed to be on.

But the ticket machine ate Thomas’ ticket and the next train was about two hours away.

Bugger.

He had someone helping him and we thought he, like us, knew which platform we needed to be on. Caroline, Emily and I scrambled onto the train (wrong car though) just in time to leave, thinking Thomas was also getting on. As we tried to steer all our crap down the aisle to the right car (about three cars away thanks to my misdirection) my phone rang.

Thomas wanted to know if we were on the train ... because he wasn’t.

We’d abandoned him.

At least he’s a competent adult who’s capable of sorting himself out, getting on the next train after a really disappointing delay and meeting us at the accommodation later on. He didn’t freak out and did an admirable job of not screaming down the phone (as may have happened if we’d done this to another member of the family).

Eventually he sent me a message to let me know he’d managed to get on an earlier train than he’d thought and we were much relieved. Until we got another message to let us know the train he’d boarded didn’t stop in Nagano as Iiyama as required. Did I say he was competent? Oops.

Eventually he did make it to join us, even in time to come and enjoy the burger dinner we had. He wasn’t lucky enough to get to partake in our first steamed apple bun of our time in Nozawa Onsen, but then neither was Emily who’d opted no to take part in our exploratory walk ahead of our first day of skiing! At least he made it and bore it in relatively good grace and was there in time for our first day of skiing.

And at least there was no sign of rain … it was snowing again.

Japan 2023 - Days 14 and 15

There isn't heaps to report from these two days as it was travel and then skiing with no-one being kind enough to provide me with blog-fodder. what a disgrace. In fact it was so exciting that one night Bel decided the best thing she could do was Japanese Where's Wally!

Travelling to Shiga Kogen meant travelling by train from Kyoto to Iiyama (with a stop at Nagano) and then by bus to Shiga Kogen itself. So that’s exactly what we did. We’d sent our ski equipment through ahead of us, so the luggage issue wasn’t too bad and the trip was uneventful though we did say goodbye to Sam for a couple of days as he’d opted to go elsewhere and meet up with us again to ski in Nozawa Onsen.

For dinner a local ‘pub’ selling Mexican food was selected. It turned out to be expensive and disappointing, but that’s one of the chances you take when travelling around. They can’t all be winners.

With only a single full day to ski, the Rowlands opted to rest weary legs and avoid the task of hiring and returning equipment, which left Caroline, Thomas Emily and I to ski. As usual we didn’t quite get the early start I’d have liked and Caroline had boot issues early which made her wonder if she was going to be able to ski at all, but we eventually sorted them out (utterly stress and hassle free of course – and I was calm, patient and … well none of those things really) and managed to make it onto the slopes.

We’d skied at Shiga Kogen twice previously and everyone other than Emily had at some point skied a run which we remembered as the Men’s Downhill which had been used during the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Emily hadn’t been willing to ski it on those occasions, but with vastly improved skills was dead keen to give it a go this time. So first up we headed up tot the top of the mountain and negotiated our way back down. It was everything I remembered, groomed, but on the bloody steep side of things. We all safely negotiated it and Emily was happy to have finally ticked that off her list of desired achievements. The weather was quite spectacular for the day and we worked our way up down, across and around the mountain, travelling as far as the place we’d stayed on our first trip there and ending in our happy place in Ichinose.

The Rowlands spent the day on a tour to see the snow monkeys and we all met up for dinner upon their return. The day ended with rain, which was a first for us in the mountains and certainly made our decision not to ski the following morning before travelling out again a better decision than we could have imagined at the time.

Japan 2023 - Day 13

Today saw us taken an excursion from Kyoto to Nara to see the deer there. For they unfamiliar, they will bow to you. You bow to them, they bow back, you feed them. What they don’t necessarily tell you is that once the deer know you have food, they’re not going to simply stand around and wait for you to politely bow and feed them.

It quickly became apparent the deer were none to backward about giving you a hint you should be feeding them. The bite on the butt certainly wasn’t subtle! I quickly gave up on bowing and waiting for a return and simply fed them quickly to avoid further hints, be they nips, butts or simply having them grab the deer biscuit from my hand.

We spent awhile in the park and walked through to a temple where a very large buddha statue resides, though most of us didn’t pay the additional fee to go through and inspect them .

Rhianna turned out to be the deer-whisperer and certainly persisted with the feeding well past the point where the rest of us had given up being abused by the deer.

Having enjoyed our sushi lunch so much the previous day it was suggested we find something similar in Nara before making our way back to Kyoto. We managed to find one and the food was good even if it didn’t have the express to table conveyor, nor the game for every five plates, but we walked out well and truly satiated!

We stopped at a supermarket after lunch and took advantage of the fact they had toilets available. unfortunately it was a traditional bowl in the ground squatter which I've never been able to adjust to. On the upside, they had a disabled toilet that had a western style bowl, so I used that. Happy to be done, I looked to flush away the evidence. There were no levers or buttons on the actual toilet itself (not uncommon) but neither did there look to be anything recognisable as a flush on the seat operation panel (you know, the one that sends jets of water or wafts of air up the backside). There was a stainless steel curved plate over a stainless steel rod of sorts, but I thought that might be the safety device that stopped you accidentally pressing the assist call button. Now I could have used google translate to check what the one other button was, but I decided it had to be the flush, so I pushed it. 

It didn't flush. Now I was really stumped as to which one was the button. While I pondered if I'd ever find a way to dispose of the evidence I heard footsteps, then an attempt to open the door and an enquiry in Japanese which I guessed was someone checking on my welfare to my utter embarrassment. At about the time he arrived I realised the stainless still components were the flush so I was able to open the door and assure the gentleman who'd come to rescue me that it was an error. I've got to say I was impressed with the timeliness of his arrival. If I'd been capable I would have found out who his boss was to compliment him on the efficiency of the service. 

We journeyed back to Kyoto and decided we had just enough time to cram in a visit to Kiyomizu-dera which we’d not visited on our previous trip to Kyoto. It was truly spectacular with amazing views of the city in addition to the temple itself.

That simply left getting home on the bus, dinner and packing for another day of travel. Being the end of the day the bus was jam-packed. Sam decided the 45 minute walk would be better and set off while the Rowlands were a bus stop away from us, so we separated and found our own way back. This time, we were headed for Shiga Kogen where we had decided during our final planning session to add a day’s skiing to the itinerary before heading to our final ski destination (Nozawa Onsen).

Japan 2023 - Day 12

The forecast for today is a maximum of about 4 degrees and we woke to snow drifting happily down from the sky. And we are going on a cycling tour of Kyoto. Winning. Apparently they sometimes cancel if there’s a lot of rain forecast but snow? Pfah! Toughen up.

So we all set out, appropriately rugged up (though me sans gloves because yep, they’re waiting for me in Shiga Kogen and Sam in his shorts of course) and set out on our cycle adventure. It was actually awesome. The guides had spare gloves and beanies so everyone was able to dress appropriately warmly as we cycled our way around.

Our first stop was Honganji Temple where I felt a little sorry for the family having some sort of ceremony while a bunch of tourists walk in behind them, kneel down, watch for a bit and leave, but at least we were quiet! 

We went from there to Kitano Tenmangu where we learned the shrine has a gate that is reserved exclusively for the emperor. Our guides weren’t aware of a time in recent history where that gate had actually been used, but it was quite ornate (I neglected to get a photo though).

Third stop on the tour was the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji). Last time we visited it, it was raining and quite miserable, but this time we actually managed to get some sunshine amongst the snow that fell throughout the day which presented some spectacular views of the pavilion.

Next stop was the imperial palace where we’d hoped to lure at least one Rowland into posing for a photo up against the wall just to set off the proximity warning that Michael had found on our trip many years ago. Unfortunately, as it was a guided tour, we had to skip over that little joke.

One of the highlights of the tour had to be the lunch we were treated to. Despite it being our fourth trip to Japan, it was the first time as a family that we’d been to a sushi-train restaurant! We were escorted to our pre-booked table and watched as the sushi went by because our guide told us we were better off ordering fresh dishes from the tablet rather than taking them from the conveyor as it went past. He started ordering for us and when a dish was ready, a second conveyor delivered it straight to the table. It was awesome. To top it off, every five plates you ordered entitled you to a game of chance to win some crappy little random prize. Must be a good one to get the kids sucked in! We ate very well and were surprised at just how economical it was. There’s no way we’d be getting away with eating what we did in Adelaide without taking out another mortgage.

With our bellies full, we continued on to the last of our tour stops, cycling along the Kamo River and into Gion, the Geisha district where amongst all the tea houses we saw a restaurant that specialised in puffer fish. It wasn’t something I’d ever thought of putting on my list of things to try in Japan and I’m not about to either! Apparently there’s still a couple of deaths a year, usually from amateurs eating this ‘delicacy’ but failing to prepare it properly.

With the cycle tour over I suggested that we slip in a visit to Fushimi Inari, but Caroline wasn’t feeling a hundred percent so we shipped everyone else off while she rested up before dinner. That was something of a mixed bag with Caroline not really up to eating and a hodge-podge of choices by everyone else. In the end Emily and I ended up eating at a Yakotori restaurant that Jason and Bel had also chosen to eat at. There wasn’t enough seats for the rest of the young adults who ended up at an Okonomiyaki restaurant instead. With that all done it was time for bed!

Japan 2023 - Day 11

 With USJ our of the way, we’d decided to explore Osaka using the Amazing Osaka pass on day 2. Its something I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone considering a visit here. It get’s you onto all the cities public transport (excluding the JR lines) and into a massive range of the city’s attractions waaay too many for the single day we had, but there’s a 2-day pass available too if you’re here longer than we were).

First stop was the Umeda Sky Building. Quite simply a stunning piece of architecture and engineering. It’s one of those places that words don’t really do justice. It happened to be valentine’s day today and there was something of a Valentine’s theme going on up the top of the sky building so we took advantage of it even though the day isn’t something we usually bother with.

Next stop was Osaka Castle with a plan to both walk the castle and take a boat ride around the moat. Turns out the moat doesn’t fully encircle the castle, but it was still pretty cool to get most of the way around and back again. We climbed the heights of the castle which not only gave us amazing views of the city, but an appreciation for the full extent of just how big the complex must have been during its heyday, built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (some 400 plus years ago thanks very much).

With the castle visit over, the next task was to find some lunch, which we decided to do at the next stop which was to be a visit to the Glico running man., something Sam had put me onto as one of those … you haven’t been to Osaka if you haven’t seen it kind of things. There was a market nearby where we thought we’d be able to pick up some food, but sadly by the time we arrived options were getting a bit limited and more people ate at Family Mart than from the market stalls (where seafood was one of the most common options.

Thomas managed to snag some half-priced sushi as they were packing up and he and Caroline shared a salmon skewer from one of the vendors that was very tasty. From there we headed from the running man, snapped some obligatory photos and I noted there was a Uni-Qlo just down the street and given I had under-dressed for the occasion, decided to seek out an extra layer of clothing to wear (and to be sure no-one missed me in as it turned out).

Remember the bargain gloves I’d bought back in Tokyo? Well given I had bought them for the mountainous areas and hadn’t needed them while we were in Tokyo, I figured I wouldn’t need them in Osaka and Kyoto either. Perhaps checking a weather forecast would have been a good idea because the temperature was getting down toward the freezing point! Sometimes I surprise even myself with how foolish I can be!

We opted to seek out a local ramen joint for dinner and Sam did some quick research to find us a highly rated place in the area, which was great until it only had eight seats. Given there were ten of us, the Temby’s opted to stay and the Rowlands went off to forage elsewhere. We thoroughly enjoyed our Ramen and Thomas kindly donated an Aussie $5 note to pin above the doorway where there were already a number of other foreign currencies. So if you’re in down town Osaka and spot one above a random little ramen joint, maybe it’s the one he left behind.

We rendezvoused back at the hotel where we collected the luggage we’d stored and set off for the train station to transfer to Kyoto for the next stage in our adventure.

Something I neglected to mention about our arrival in Osaka was the little mix up we had with our hotel bookings. Apparently I’d managed to book 5 double rooms … which would have meant that Sam and Thomas and Emily and Aimee would have been sharing beds. Fortunately for a small incremental cost increase we managed to get them into twin rooms instead.

Cue reception in Kyoto and apparently I’d even more cleverly managed to book five twin rooms … and this time there was no double room vacancy. Single beds for everyone! I may never be trusted to book accommodation again! Just quietly, I did sleep well though.