Japan part 2, Tokyo and Hakone

Our Japanese whistlestop route.
Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Kanazawa,
Nagano and back to Tokyo

 

Our daughter and her family arrived very late on December 21, and we caught up at breakfast on the 22nd.  Smiles and hugs all around!  This was their only day in Tokyo, so we hit the ground running...slowly, because each of us was either under the weather or exhausted from traveling across the ocean. Looking back, I am shocked at how much we saw and did in one day. 

To keep our audience (children) engaged, we took the train to the Shibuya area in the morning.  We started by strolling down Takeshita Street, what can only be described as one of the most visually enticing streets...for a kid...or anyone interested in shopping!  Welcome to capsule stores, Anime, food stalls, cute toy stores and many souvenir shops.  We were a bit early, luckily, and many shops were not open yet otherwise we may never have seen anything else that day!  Japan is a haven for toys!  There are so many small, kitschy toys just screaming to be purchased everywhere you go.  I am still not sure what the deal is with all the little stuffed animals hanging from the purses and backpacks of men, women and children everywhere.  I did not feel the need to join the trend.

What cuteness!!!

My winner for cutest store.

So many capsules to choose from!

So many crepes to choose from... all plastic examples, and all so beautiful!

 We walked...a lot...saw a lot...and headed back for naps all around.  We went back out that night to explore counter sushi, convenience store snacks, a gigantic retail store with an entire floor of toys (I hear Santa did some of his shopping here), meat on a stick and more food on the Omoide Yokocho Memory Lane.  A historic alley for street eats and spirits.  We all squeezed into one of the tiny places to have some meat and drinks.  The city is very alive at night!  I am sure we could have stayed out later, but with jet lag setting in for some and a full day of Tokyo sensory overload, we called it a night.

Anthony Bourdain ate here, we did not.

So much sushi and he ordered like a pro!

Food and drink alley

When jet lag hits, it hits hard 💕

Christmas cake to go!  The one on the right was amazing!!!

Our next stop was Hakone.  We took the bullet train and were seated in the Romance car.  This is the car at the front of the train with huge windows across the front.  Perfect bullet train intro for 2 train loving little boys...and their grandparents.  We did the Japanese thing and got our bento boxes and drinks for the ride.  Still amazed at how so many people eat and drink on the trains and leave no evidence behind.  Impressive.  We all enjoyed the ride!

The Romance Car

Bullet train food to go!

Hakone, a small town of about 11,000, is famous for its hot springs.  We stayed in a ryokan which is a traditional inn, complete with tatami matted floors (which were so nice to walk on), Onsens (hot spring baths), sliding doors, futon beds, traditional meals and traditional attire provided to wear during your stay.  This was our full immersion experience, and it was lovely.  I will admit, for some reason I was a bit apprehensive about this experience before we arrived.  I felt like it was a very immersive experience and not knowing the language, how to honor the customs, what to expect as far as the meal...and my first Onsen experience were all playing into my apprehension.  I shyly entered the peaceful ryokan and we were greeted by the polite bowing host and led to our room.  After his instructions, which I understood "most" of, I explored our very spacious accommodations!  Wow!  Very large bedroom, 2 futon mattresses up on a wood platform...that should be fun in the middle of the night...a living room with a traditional low table and floor chairs, a balcony with chairs looking out over the valley to the mountains, and then the bathroom.  The 2-room bathroom with a private (yes) Onsen!  There were two kimonos with wool jackets and those Japanese socks with the thong toes for us to wear to dinner.  It was peaceful and we felt like we were back in time.  The welcome beverage eased my anxiety about making any cultural mistakes.  

A lovely view!

                                                                   Here is a video tour!

A word or more about the Onsen experience.  It is luxurious!  A natural hot tub!  Like really hot tub.  The fact that there is cold water to add to cool it off says something.  The minerals naturally in the water make the water extra buoyant.  It felt like an anti-gravity tub in addition to the heat and the mineral treatment.  No wonder the Japanese people live so long.  I really appreciated these little surprising ways to get warm in the winter.  This may be TMI but sitting in an Onsen with its anti-gravity effects makes your body feel many years younger...all your parts feel like they are back to their original locations.  We both agreed that we need an Onsen in our lives!

We stayed at one more ryokan on this trip.  It was near Nagano and it was our last night together.  It was a similar yet different experience.  A much larger facility with more people staying the night.  The Onsens were public not private, but you could use them privately for 45 minutes at a time, which we did.  They were large baths!  The place seemed much more traditional with our futons right on the floor and a smaller room with two low chairs at a low table.  This was the point, or maybe it was just the end of the trip fatigue, that I decided I am just too tall for Japan.  Maybe too tall and too old.  I got tired of folding myself up to sit or go to bed.  It wasn't that I couldn't do it, but everything just started feeling low and small, and I am neither.  I am very thankful the tables and chairs for meals were "regular" height.  

Finally, the food in a ryokan.  You better come hungry...and be on time.  Dinner was a multi course affair of about 20 different foods!  Each in individual small portions for each of us.  I tried everything but I can't say I loved everything.  Definitely had my favorites, for example the oyster in the shell baked with sauce on top and a broccoli bite.  Any and all fish was good.  Some of the vegetable/sweet potato dishes were not my favorite.  

A+ for presentation!

This display was just the beginning!

Definitely one of my favorites that night.

Again, when jet lag hits, it hits hard.  
He was so excited about this meal and after he ate
his tamago and sushi, he was done.

Breakfast was a similar display of foods!  I definitely preferred dinner.  I was not quite ready for the number of different savory and fishy dishes we were served in the morning.  I was quite surprised that we were each served an entire fish at breakfast!  I hesitated to dive in but did so reluctantly.  I will admit, it was one of the best fish I have ever eaten...and probably the only one I have ever eaten for breakfast!  Another breakfast treat was the tamago (thin layers of egg omelet and Augie's favorite) served with 3 different condiments.  My personal favorite was the pickled or fermented cucumbers and daikon radishes.  

The winner...or loser
my least favorite food...of the entire trip!
Fishy broth, tomato, some kind of other root vegetable, a soggy fish cake
 and a whack of kale or seaweed on top...
for breakfast!

A little more like a real breakfast food,
tamago with sides.

Winner of most "surprising deliciousness",
especially for breakfast!

I can't believe I ate the whole thing.

I love this!
Breakfast shenanigans!

As you can tell, I could go on a lot longer, but I'll stop for now.  I'll continue in the next post with Kyoto, Kanazawa and Nagano.  We are definitely glad we had our son-in-law to plan so much of this trip!  He made reservations at the ryokans and booked the trains along the way which made the trip so easy for us!  It was nice to be led around instead of being the leader.  I am sure he may have felt like he had 4 kids at times!  It was a treat for us!