The Joys of Retirement Production Company

We have been watching a website forecasting the view of Mt Fuji for months,  checking the weather,  and frankly hoping we got a good week!  And we did!  Almost every day it forecast to be good sighting of the mountain, but Sunday the 19th looked the best!  We reserved a private driver for the day to take us to the prime viewing places on the north side of the mountain.   it was a bit more expensive than taking the train but we saw so much more and at a relaxed pace. it was well worth the money! 

Our driver picked us up at 6AM!  Sounds early but it was s great decision.   the crowds weren’t there at any of the sights we visited,  yet!  We started with the pagoda at the shrine,  seen in many Fuji posts. Luckily there were even still a few cherry blossoms in full bloom!  Great photos!

Next we visited 2 is the 5 lakes on that side of the mountain,  Kawaguchiko and Saito

There is a rebuilt village there,  once destroyed by a landslide in 1910, it was rebuilt as a tourist site,  an open air museum in 2004.  We visited some of the houses / shops and had a lunch of a local houtou noodle.

Lunch

we visited a couple spots to view Fuji made famous by Instagram,  but we had seen the best already!  having a private driver and stopping where we wanted was the best way!

spectacular Fuji!

Ueno park is just 3 stops up from our station and full of museums and flowers.  We had decided toto do 1 museum and choose Tokyo’s National Museum,  the oldest! 

The park turned out to be hosting a Sake tasting festival with entertainment and food!  Just in time for us for lunch!

Our afternoon we planned to add a workshop doing the art of Kintsugi, golden repair,  the Idea that just because something is broken it still has value.  It is the repair of broken pottery with resin (or super glue in modern times) and not hiding the crack, but embellishing the flaw with gold.  It is a wonderful concept,  that the old,  broken things can be beautiful and still useful!  Perfect for 4 Seventy somethings!

Great afternoon!  and a great souvenir of Japan when we finished

Today we took the trains and Metro Around Tokyo,  visited Shinjuku and Shibuya Stations. We also went up the Tokyo Municipal government building for the free panoramic view. Here’s a few glimpses of the trip

And the views!

Most days there is no view of Fuji!  The humidity and pollution often obscure it! 

In late afternoon,  Cheryl and I took the trains to Kameiko Tenjin Shrine.  It has beautiful wisteria in full bloom.  The scents are amazing too! 

We topped the evening with 3 is us enjoying a Great Sushi dinner!

Another great day!

Our last city to visit,  Tokyo has so much to offer,  that after our train from Nakatsugama. we decided to visit one of the important sites,  Asakusa Temple and Shrine.   We were lucky to get a great glimpse of Fuji from the train on our way.   It was closer and bigger than I had imagined!  there were just a few clouds but we could see a bit of the summit!

Asakusa is a short metro ride from our hotel near Kanda Station. the same neighborhood we stayed in when we visited in 2017.  We left our bags at the hotel and adventures out,  since our rooms are not ready until 3PM.

After getting checked into our hotel, taking a nice soak and rest,  we found a good wagyu beef restaurant for a hibachi dinner!  delicious!  Our first dinner on Tokyo!  Let’s see what tomorrow brings!  But we are happy to see,  no rain. and nice comfortable temperatures! 

Our next destination was another adventure!  There is an old trail between the 2 capitals of Japan,  the ancient capital,  Kyoto and the new capital, Tokyo. 

The Nakasendo Trail is a historic 534-kilometer (332-mile) walking route connecting Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto, featuring 69 post towns established in the 17th century. Passing through the mountainous Kiso Valley, it is famous for well-preserved villages—notably Magome and Tsumago—offering a 2-3 hour hike through rural landscapes.  We hiked between these last 2 villages,  about 8 km. 

The old post town of Magome-juku was our starting point for this hike, leaving about 9:45.

Soon you are out of the village and the climb to the Magome pass begins.

Sights along the way

Finally,  we reach the summit of the pass,  but we are only 2.2km into the walk!  At least the last 6.8 were basically downhill!

The Free Tea stop

The flowering fruit trees were in full bloom,  cherry and possibly plum, in not sure.  one was over 250 years old!  some were grafted so that 2 types of fruit,  or 2 varietals of a fruit,  grew on 1 tree

It was hopeful when the distance we had covered was more than what we had to still travel!  And Thankfully,  it was mostly downhill! 

We passed small waterfalls,  a couple small post towns and farms along the way,  a cemetery,  a small shrine,  and more flowers of all kinds!

another small village

And a few sprinkles of rain began to fall.  

And Finally!  Tsumaga,  our destination!

We found a lunch place for Soba noodles and mountain mushrooms,  and the information about the bus beach to Naratsugawa!  a long hike but a cool experience of the old Samurai road.

finished our hike at about 1, lunch and bus,  back to our hotel for a soak in the onsen by 4!  8 miles total walking,  and a great feeling of accomplishment,  hiking this portion of the Nakasendo Trail!

We planned 2 nights in the small town of Yamanouchi at an onsen ryokan, JUST to visit the snow monkey park.  

Yamanouchi,  the Onsen town closest to the Snow Monkey Park.   Onsen means it sits on top of hot springs!  Many lodgings, hotels and ryokans here are onsens, having a natural Hot springs connection. like ours. The views from town are spectacular!

Around the little town

Our onsen, Rakki Onsen Ryokan, and our ryokan tatami mat room.

Our Onsen offered free transportation to the park in the morning and we took the city bus back about noon.   The walk from our drop off point was a great path through the woods! 

The snow monkeys are fed and protected in an area with their own onsen! 

This baby loved Cheryl’s shoe laces

Mom was not happy when baby strayed too far.   She would just grab him up in her arms and take him back!  Here she is grooming him

Emmett gets great pics by getting down on their level!

What a fun day!  Emmett will have some great pics on the FB group.

We planned another special experience for Cheryl for her birthday!  The Kimono experience!  Professional photos will follow,  but here is a glimpse of our fun day,  dressing up!

Before and After!  choosing our kimono and obi.  An attended helped choose coordinating colors for the obi,  tie,  and an accent scarf.   We choose a bag and shoes and proceeded to the dressing department.   no pictures allowed there

After…. it is easier getting out of the layers than it is getting into them!  They simply drop to the floor as the ties are loosened!

We had a few minutes until our professional could arrive so we met him at the entrance to the castle and Emmett took a few pics as we waited

when the professional ones are ready, I will post them here!  fun day! 

April 11th is Cheryl’s birthday,  and we planned a special dinner to celebrate.   Sukiyaki is a popular Japanese hot pot dish featuring thinly sliced beef, tofu, vegetables, and noodles simmered in a sweet and savory soy sauce broth (warishita). It was cooked at our table in a shallow iron pot, the meat dipped in raw egg before eating. 

We had a small private room and a special menu for just us!

Our menu included 3 small ‘sake snacks’, marinated baby squid,  tofu and seaweed, followed by a small dish of Sashimi and portion of rice.  

The service was elegant and quiet,  as the attended brought in dishes and removed the empty ones.   The Wagyu beef was brought in with the vegetables and a chef prepared the sukiyaki at our table as we wsalted.

First a large piece of beef per person was cooked with a little fat coating the pan,  some sugar melted in that and teriyaki sauce poured on the meet as it was sauted.

That piece of beef be have to each of us too shop on the bowl of beaten egg.

Then he placed the vegetables, mushrooms and Tofu into the sauce pan and brought more meat,  3 more pieces for each of us,  to add to the vegetables. 

As we took out some registration, we could add another piece of meat and more vegetables from the 2nd bowl of them.   it was a large amount of food, and delicious

The last part of the fish is too add very thin himi upon noodles and a broth to the leftover fond in the dish.

But the meal still wasn’t done!  it included a small dish of red bean ice cream with a small rice cake flower to top it all off!

Candles would have melted the ice cream so we skipped those and just wished Cheryl a very Happy birthday!

We had planned our first full day in Kanazawa to visit an ancient village in the mountains called Shirakawa-go and a tour Kanazawa’s beautiful Kenrokuen Garden,  and the Higashiyama area where the Geisha still live and work.   We met our guide and bus at the train station for the hour + drive to Shirakawa-go.  It was a very rainy day,  but that does not stop anything in Japan.

Shirakawa-go village with the iconic thatched roofs and the multi-story houses was an amazing glimpse into Japanese agricultural and feudal history.   These people were farmers and warriors!  They planted rice and also made gunpowder!

We visited the inside of one of the 5 story houses, Kanda House,  to see something about the way of life for a hundred years! 

The upstairs display of implements and household tools, even woven shoes,  was interesting

We found a little ramen spot for lunch,  and it got us out of the train for a bit.

it was a lovely village,  even in the rain!

When we returned to Kanazawa,  we visited Kenrokuen Gardens,  one of the most beautiful gardens in all of Japan.   Number 3, our guide said!  the pink pond is cherry blossom petals floating! 

I was able to leave the group for a couple hours and see a chiropractor.   My back had been bothering me for about a week.  The group went on to Higashiyama area, a place you might recognize from a photo of us,  used in our blog and our ‘retirement’ card.   it is the Geisha district of Kanazawa.

We knew this would be one of our most challenging travel days,  since we needed to change trains 2 times. And it was! 

We went to the station last night to get the tickets so we would be prepared!  Good plan.   We got the help of a very nice agent to use the green machine ourselves.  She walked us thru which clicks to make on the machine to purchase half our tickets and then we were going to do it again for our other 2 travel companions….. She moved quickly and of course,  trying to do it the 2nd time,  I missed a crucial step!  She kindly showed me again!  We made it thru the process,  successfully purchasing the 3 train tickets in sequential rows!  So far,  so good!

So this morning we arrived about half hour early and we’re able to find our track ok.  However,  on looking over our tickets, We realized that we weren’t in the same car on the 2nd leg but at least there were 2 of us together so we had a buddy!  And,     our transfer times between trains were really SHORT!  Scary short!   8 or 9 minutes to get off your train, queue for the escalator or elevator,  since we had bags,  get to the transfer level,  find the signs with the next track and find an escalator down or up… all in the large station of Osaka.  Murphys law,  it turned out to be impossible for us!  Oh and We didn’t realize that the little pile of printed tickets we purchased needed to be inserted into the ticket machine all together,  so that slowed us all down at the entrance to our section! 

Bottom line:  we missed our train, our leg from Osaka to Tsuruga… and the last leg too.  We had to go to the office and get another train.   We had reserved seat tickets,  and we learned later,  we could possibly just have  hoped onto the unreserved seat car on the next train to that destination… but who knew?  Anyway,  another nice young lady at the ticket office said,  “missed trains aren’t refunded”!  PANIC!  Almost! But she would do it for us just this 1 time!  She printed us all new tickets,  all together,  so we were of again.   We had only about 15 minutes to get back to the track we needed,  but we did it! 

OK!  We were on the 2nd leg. and it was ticketed with another very short transfer time.   This time we had a map of the next station and a video of how to go from the regional line’s incoming track to the Shinkansen tracks, which really helped!  We found each escalator and ticket gate ok  but Emmett’s ticket for caught in the machine…. don’t ask!  it just jammed.  Bert and Cheryl rushed on ahead, up the escalator,  and jumped in the first open door,  figuring they would just walk thru to the right car!  good decision!  In the meantime,  Emmett had no ticket!   The agent opened the machine and just gave him another ticket…. not his seat,  but he took it and ran!  I was waiting at the escalator and at the top,  we just ran for the first open door,  1 minute before the train started moving!  We were at car 10 and our seats were in car 4!  We pushed out way thru all those cars as the train picked up speed and were delighted to find Bert and Cheryl in their seats!  What a relief! 

The adventure wasn’t over though,  even though we’re we arrived at our destination,  we still needed to put our tickets through the exit machine…. all is them.  Emmett had them in his pocket but the ticket the agent had given him worked for him so he was outside the gates,  and none of our single tickets worked!  We asked at the agents window why and she said we needed all the tickets,  so  he brought me back the stack of missed train tickets!  yea! She paired them off and found the 3 pairs and said these are ok, but she found an extra and wanted us to pay the fare again for that 1?  for what?  there were  only 3 of us needing a ticket out, we had 3 pairs of tickets to get out!  I couldn’t understand what the problem was!  I just picked up each pair, gave 1 set to Cheryl and 1 to Bert and walked back over to the exit machine, put both tickets in and left! 

By then we were all exhausted and on our one last nerve!  We only had a15 minute walk to our hotel,  straight out of the station,  and we managed to get down there, still baffled and confused by the fiasco at the station!  And thankfully,  we were all still friends,  still talking to each other,  and just a few blocks to walk!

Our hotel was markedly nicer than the last one and welcoming as we checked in…. well, 3 of us did!  Then Cheryl got to the desk and there was no reservation in her name!  Some time ago,  she had found she had 2 reservations,  1 I had made for 3 rooms when we were first planning and then 1 she made when everyone decided to pay their own,  rather than me having all the hotels on my card.   She saw 2 and canceled 1, but had accidentally canceled the wrong one!  Luckily,  the desk said they had rooms,  but it would be cheaper for her to go back on line and book it! 

Finally we are all here,  and resting after an early dinner ( no lunch option during all that train travel!).

I can’t even count the number of lessons learned today!  But I’m glad today is over!  Thank God. he was watching over us and got us here!