Day 6-Tokyo

The return trip to Tokyo was pretty uneventful except for a brief view of Mt. Fuji at 150mph. 

We decided to spend the afternoon at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park.  The park encompasses a huge area  that once held an enormous Buddhist Temple. 

Unfortunately for the monks, they sided with the shogun in the final days of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and when the shogun surrendered  to the emperor, the emperor leveled the temple and monastery.  In addition to the park, there are Shinto shrines and several national museums. 

The Tokyo National Museum houses permanent collections of Japanese art including calligraphy, ceramics, laquerware, swords, and armor,

Thee was a room that contained stutues of Buddhist deities including one that was similar to the Kannons we saw yesterday, but were unable to photograph.

There are also gardens with old teahouses that had been relocated from other parts of Japan.

The park’s main walkways are lined with cherry trees and it is a major cherry blossom viewing venue in the spring.  We had to imagine.

Tonight, we decided that we had enough Japanese food for a while and we found a fantastic Indian restaurant just around the corner from our hotel.  A real treat!

Got some nice photos to and from the restaurant

and from our hotel room.

Last night in Tokyo proper.  Hiking and off to Narita tomorrow.

Day 7- Takao Mountain

Woke up to the tower still lit up, different colors, though.

                                      

Our original plan today was to take the train to Takao Mountain about an hour outside of Tokyo and then take a sushi making class before leaving for Narita but the last shuttle to the airport left at 4:30 and the sushi class ended at 5:30, so our options were somewhat limited.  Since Jeri and Brendan make such good sushi anywqy, we elected to pass on the cooking school and get to Narita by the simplest method.

Yushiko decided that after a week of walking with us she would take the cable car to the top of the mountain while Jeri and I walked.  She said she was concerned she would slow us down.  Hmmmm.

We planned to meet her at the visitor’s center at the top and figured it would take us 1-1 ½ hours.  We made it in 1:10 and the top was covered with school kids (we passed kindergarteners climbing!). 

I think at least half of Tokyo was here. There was nothing that looked like a visitor’s center, and Yasuko was nowhere to be found.  I finally broke down and used my cell, but got her voice mail (I think-  there was a lot of Japanese and then a beep).  Jeri and I decided to split up (temporarily only), she was staying in a prominent location, and I was out trolling. After about anther 15 min., I spotted her and we collected Jeri and started back down the mountain.  I suggested that she consider alternative headwear since her hat is the same worn by most of the female Japanese population. 

The hike down was harder on the quads and back than Jeri and I would have preferred.  We took a different route than we used to ascend and it was paved (though much of it steeper than our driveway).  Partway down we came upon a Buddhist temple, Yakuo-in (why we were surprised?) built in the 8^th century.  The temple and associate buildings  are built into the mountainside connected by stone stairways.   

The trail to the base is dotted with statues and wooden donation plaques.

There was also an “octopus tree” that is revered by the worshipers here.

Finally made it to the bottom and a well deserved ice cream cone.  Soft serve ice cream here is about as plentiful as shrines (Yasuko told us there were between 20,000 and 30,000 shrines and temples in Japan, excluding private ones in people’s homes), but they have some very different flavors.  Matcha, or green tea soft serve is everywhere.  Yesterday, at the museum we found chestnut soft serve, and today, purple sweet potato ice cream!  It was actually pretty good.  We’ll have to see if Dairy Twirl or Fore-U will start carrying it.

We actually got seats on the trains back to Tokyo.  We were amused by the 7 people that sat across from us.  At any given time 5/7 were fast asleep.  If one awoke, another would nod off to take his/her place.

We also found an amazing and rare sight  Litter on the floor of the train.  One of the employees unobtrusively picked it up, though at the next stop.  Phew!

                             

We actually got back to the hotel an hour early and were able to get on an earlier bus.  We said goodbye to Yasuko and headed off to Narita.  It took an hour of driving around Tokyo, picking up people from other hotels before finally heading out on the expressway to Narita.

A few random observations about Japan:

1  1.    No (well almost no) litter and absolutely no graffiti (not even any fines for littering)

    2.    People just don’t jump queues.  They follow rules to the letter.

    3.  Japanese people overly polite not wanting to offend, saying ”yes” even when meaning “no”.

4  4.   Super toilet seats everywhere (even higher end than ours), heated  almost everywhere including subway public toilets, tops of mountains, and bus stations.  Many have music to cover any offensive noise. But incongruously, many public bathrooms lack soap or paper towels.

    5.   Trains are more punctual than even the Swiss trains.

    6.   There are tons of subway and train lines crisscrossing Tokyo.

    7.     People do not use street names as part of their address.  We still can’t figure out how people find each other.

    8.   Very concerned about the environment, Busses turn off engines at stoplights.

9  9.    On the other hand, they have no problem with overuse of water (high water pressure in showers-everywhere) or electricity (keep toilet seats heated in public rest rooms)

   10.    Alot of Toyotas with a smattering of Mercedes and BMW’s.  No Fords anywhere. (I wonder how their airbags are).

1 11.    Can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a shrine or temple

   12.    Need a better variety of ice cream

   13.    Had a hard time finding restaurants open for breakfast before 10am                        

e      even on weekday.  

   14. No Daylight Savings Time.  Gets dark here real early (4:30-5) 

   15.     50^th anniversary of the Bullet Train and we can’t even get one built.  

 

 16.     There is really annoying music that plays when trains arrive at a station.

Kind of makes you want to run out screaming.

17.     After trying a variety of Japanese food, stick to Udon noodles, tempura, and sushi/sashimi.