Into the Mountians

I thought that today would be my favorite day of the tour.  The itinerary was Mt. Fuji, the Owakudani hot sulfur pools at Hakone, a cruise on Lake Ashi and the Hakone ropeway.  Unfortunately, the rainy season changed the itinerary around.
Breakfast at the hotel was on the 30th floor, which had beautiful views of Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow Bridge, which was featured in Cars 2.  The buffet was a combination of traditional Asian dishes and typical western items, so there was plenty to eat.

The tour bus picked us up at the hotel and we started our trip to Mt. Fuji.  As we drove out of Tokyo, there was a pretty abrupt divide between the city and countryside.  I only noticed a small suburban area.  We drove through the prefecture where Yokohama is located -- the setting of the most recent Studio Ghibli picture, From Up on Poppy Hill.  The countryside is absolutely beautiful -- lush green trees, abundant rice paddies and traditional two story houses.

Along the way, Hide-san gave us an introduction to Japanese history and culture.  He provided us with a cheat sheet of Japanese phases that would assist us in communicating with people.  You'd be amazed at how far you can get in a country where you don't speak the language by pointing and saying please and thank you in the native language. It's worked for me in every country to which we have been. So far I have mastered "arigato gozaimasu" (thank you) and "ohayo gozaimasu" (good morning).
One of the most interesting things Hide-san pointed out to us was the new maglev train Japan is developing.  Maglev is short for magnetic levitation.  When finished, this train will be faster than the Shinkansen (bullet train), traveling approximately 360 miles per hour.  Unfortunately, it will take almost thirty years to complete.  Kevin and I hope that it won't be like the Schuykill Expressway -- outdated before it is completed.

From the bus, we got our first glimpse of Mt. Fuji.  The summit was obstructed by the cloud cover, but it was still impressive.  We stopped at the Mt. Fuji Welcome Center, which had some English exhibits. When we got back on the bus, Hide-san announced that he had some bad news.  The approaching storms were brining high winds and the road leading up to the fifth station stop on Mt. Fuji was closed to traffic.  I was devastated as I was really looking forward to going at least part of the way up the mountain.  I may have to plan a return trip to Japan next summer when the trails are open for hiking.

Hide-san was also fairly certain that the weather, which was expected to deteriorate even further during the day, would have things shut down in Hakone, so he took us to Kachi Kachi Yama Ropeway instead. Kachi kachi is the sound effect for crackling fire in Japanese.  The mountain gets its name from a local fairy tale about a war between a rabbit and a raccoon dog.  At one point, the raccoon dog is carrying a pile of logs on his back.  The rabbit lights the logs on fire, hence kachi kachi.  I don't fully understand the significance of the fairy tale.  I might have to look that up later.

The cable car ride took us 220 meters up the mountain and took only three minutes.  At the top there was an observation deck with exquisite views of Mt. Fuji.  From the observation deck it was a ten minute climb to the summit of Mt. Tenjo.



We rode the cable car back down to the bottom where our bus was waiting for us and drove us around Lake Kawaguchi, one of the five lakes surrounding Mt. Fuji, and then to a hotel for a buffet lunch.  It's a good thing that we are doing a lot of walking on this tour, as I think that we are doing twice as much eating.  John Lennon and Yoko Ono had stayed at this same hotel in 1978.

Our meals frequently include "pumpkin," although I don't think it's the same as the pumpkin we have in the U.S.  We had pumpkin to grill at the yakiniku restaurant, pumpkin salad at breakfast, and now pumpkin soup at lunch.  It is delicious, almost like a sweet potato but with a thicker green skin which you can eat.

After lunch, we set off for Hakone.  Along the way, Hide-san pointed out the numerous cedar trees lining the roads.  He said that the cedar trees were planted after World War II, as cedar wood was traditionally used in construction and would be needed in the rebuilding.  However, rather than using the cedars most of the wood was imported, so now Japan has large cedar forests.
Hide-san was correct about Hakone.  The weather had deteriorate even farther and nearly everything was closed.  We attempted to stop at the Owakudani hot sulfur pools where eggs are boiled in the pools.  The sulfur turns the shell of the egg black.  It is said that if you eat these eggs, you will live seven years longer.  Unfortunately the wind had gotten so strong at Owakudani that our driver was not able to open the bus door.

We drove back down the mountain to Lake Ashi where we briefly stopped to look at the lake.  It looked more like the ocean and they wouldn't even allow us to walk out on the docks.
Since the weather was so bad, Hide-san decided that we would drive to Atami and arrive at our hotel, Hotel New Akao, a few hours early.  Atami is on the Izu Peninsula, which juts out into the Pacific Ocean southwest of Tokyo, only a 45 minute ride by Shinkansen.  It is a bit of a resort town, famous for its hot springs, called "onsen" in Japanese. In many ways it reminded me of Atlantic City -- very nice out by the water, although a little dated, but somewhat depressed as you drove through town.

"Atami" means hot sea.  According to legend, a local fisherman was concerned about a geyser spewing forth into the sea and killing all of the fish.  He asked a Buddhist monk to intervene and pray for a solution to the problem.  The prayers were answered and the geyser moved itself to the beach.  Not only was the marine life spared but the townspeople were given hot-spring water in which they could bathe.
The Hotel New Akao, situated right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, was a bit of a hybrid between a traditional Japanese ryokan and a glamorous resort.  I thought our first hotel was incredible, but I liked this one even better.  The lobby was actually on the top floor, in this case the seventeenth, and the remainder of the floors were built down into the cliffside.  When we walked into the lobby, we had the most stunning view of the Pacific Ocean.  We were even given welcome drinks -- a glass of sweet peach juice.  I told Kevin not to get too used to this as it will be Econo Lodges and Best Westerns when we get back to the U.S.
Ryokans were developed during the Edo Period when daimyo (feudal lords) were required to travel to and from Edo (present-day Tokyo) every two years.  The Ryokan provided enough rooms for the daimyo's entire entourage. I say that the Hotel New Akao is a hybrid because the lobby and hallways were western and we were allowed to keep our shoes on, but the room itself was traditional Japanese style.

When we entered our room, we immediately took off our shoes and changed into slippers before stepping onto the tatami floor (like a straw mat).  There was a sliding rice-paper door between the entranceway and the main room.  When we entered a small, low table and floor cushions were in the middle of the room.  We opened the curtains in the sitting area to reveal the most amazing view of the city and Pacific Ocean.



There is an order to doing things in a Ryokan.  I am finding that the Japanese are very structured.  First, you are supposed to change into a yukata.  We skipped that part.  Next, you relax from your travels with a cup of green tea.  Next, we went to the onsen for a hot bath. This was actually a far more enjoyable experience than I was expecting.  Our ryokan had outdoor baths that opened to view the cliffside and ocean.  The water in the bath was infused with minerals and floating rose buds.
After bathing, we returned to our room and relaxed until dinner.  We had a traditional ryokan dinner of kaiseki with our entire tour group.  Kaiseki is an elaborate meal consisting of several small plate course.  Our particular kaiseki was ten courses.  We removed our shoes and entered the dining room, which also had a tatami floor.  There were four lines of individual trays placed on the floor and we sat on cushions facing each other.  There was space between the rows for our servers to navigate.

Hide-san had showed us a video explaining kaiseki on the bus.  The menu changes seasonally as only the freshest ingredients are chosen.  Chefs try to showcase local flavors, too.  Each plate is carefully prepared and arranged with thought even being put into the selection of the serving dish to enhance the color, texture and shape of each piece of food. I'd hate to be the person responsible for doing the dishes at the end of the meal.
We started with a salad (probably westernized for our group) and pickled vegetables.  Eating cherry tomatoes with chopsticks is a bit challenging.  After that, the order got a little fuzzy, but I remember having sashimi, a type of savory egg custard, seafood hot pot, chicken hot pot, soba (buckwheat noodle soup), lobster, tempura (deep fried meats and veggies), rice and fruit.
When dinner was finished we went to a rice pounding demonstration.  This is typically only done at New Year but our ryokan had a demonstration.  A wooden mallet was used to pound the glutenous rice until it was like a stretchy taffy. It was then cut into pieces and served to us with ground peanut powder to roll it in.
When we returned to our room, the table had been moved and our futons were set out for the night.  It was nice to fall asleep listing to the surf pounding into the cliffside.