Japan Trip 5

I should be able to finish talking about the trip to Japan in this post, although I'm still pushing it to get in all the pictures that I want to post.  Nonetheless, I'm going to try to finish up. 

This day was going to be our only full day in Miyajima and we had decided to spend it climbing Mt. Misen.  This little picture is our room.  We got up and went and had breakfast in the ryokan first.  The breakfast was another awesome Japanese breakfast, which I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of.  The second morning we were there, they fed us an "American" breakfast, although it wasn't what I normally eat for breakfast. There was yogurt and fruit and salad.  Hmmmmm.  I don't recall what else, but I recall wishing we could have had the Japanese breakfast both days.    

Then we walked through the shopping district, most of which was still closed up since it was early.  On the way we came across the little guy and his Mom in the first picture of this post.  We figured he wasn't more than a few hours old and was probably born there in the shopping district.  

When we got to the O-torii it was low tide, so of course we had to walk out to it and be typical tourists.  Without seeing it I never would have believed that torii would be on dry land at low tide.

Then we walked through town to the start of the Daisho-in path and started up it.  Up.  Again I forgot exactly how "up" up is in Japan.  That path is 2.5 kilometers from the start to the top of Mt. Misen.  That's about 1.6 miles.  Or 3.2 miles round trip.  3.2 miles, for two people who routinely hike 6 to 10 miles on a day hike, and I've been known to hike 18 miles on a day hike.  That Mt. Misen hike kicked our collective asses.  My friend was at a bad time of month, and I had that cold, so maybe those things had some effect.  Or maybe we were still jet lagged and recovering.  And I know we had been going pretty non-stop for the whole trip.  And neither of us was used to the amount of humidity that was constantly in the air.  Whatever excuse you want to use, or not use, we just barely had enough energy to make the top.  Then we walked over to the ropeway and took the tram back down.  Probably covered 2 miles total.  Two very vertical miles.    

The hike itself was cool and you'd come to openings in the forest that gave you awesome views like this one looking down at the O-torii and the ferries.  The hike is mostly stone steps (going continuously upward), and it's very pretty.  On the hike up we came across a fair amount of wildlife, including lots of salamanders and lizards.  We also came across the scary looking centipede in the picture below.  This fellow was huge, about 6 inches long.  We also came up on this snake in the picture below that.  This is a mamushi, a viper in the same pit viper family that holds rattlesnakes.  Mamushi are also probably more poisonous than rattlesnakes.  I can tell you they are very aggressive.  My friend tried to convince this one to leave with the end of a very long stick, and he instead attacked the stick and came toward us.  We backed down the trail a bit and waited for him to leave on his own.

After riding the ropeway back down, we found another place to eat.  I had kitsune soba.   My cold didn't really bother me on the hike, but I remember I was dragging this afternoon.  We then spent what was left of the afternoon shopping.  

The next morning after breakfast we took the ferry back to Miyajimaguchi, then caught the Sanyo line back to Hiroshima.  We then caught the Shinkansens in reverse headed back north, Sakura to Shin-Osaka and then Kodama to Shinagawa.  From the Shinagawa Station we walked over to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, where we stayed our last two nights in Japan.   What I remember of this trip back toward Tokyo is that I was exhausted and I had managed to pull my back out heaving my suitcase.  I slept part of the train trip.  I think the cold caught up to me the worst on this day. 

On the train ride I was about to dump my guardian deities because they failed me fairly badly on this trip, between blisters and the cold.   Usually they look out for me considerably better than that, and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself.  At any rate the last time I was in Japan I missed seeing Mt. Fuji, although I passed it three times.  This trip we missed it on the way south also, so I thought to myself that if I saw Mt. Fuji, I'd give my deities another chance and wouldn't dump them.  We saw it!   Proof is in the final picture.  Guess they're still with me.

We ate curry in one of the hotel restaurants and then spent the evening deciding on our plan of attack on anime stores for the next two days.  

The next morning we got up and took the Yamanote rail line to Akihabara.   The Shinagawa Prince Hotel is right by the train station, so it was essentially convenient to everywhere.  We found the Animate store and did some shopping there.  We also walked around and found another anime store but weren’t that impressed with it.  I think we were both a little overwhelmed by  Akihabara. 

We decided to take the rail over to Nakano Broadway.  We were both starved by then since we'd skipped breakfast.  We stopped and had shabu shabu for lunch, which was fun and excellent.  They put a pot of boiling water in the center of the table and then load you up with thin strips of raw meat and vegetables and multiple sauces and spices.  You drop the meat and vegetables into the boiling pot and then fish them out when they're done, dip them in the sauces and spices and eat them.  Yum.  This is definitely a meal you want to use chopsticks for.  Of course we used them the whole time we were there, but shabu shabu kind of requires it.  We felt re-invigorated after eating and shopped a bunch at Nakano Broadway.  Both my cold and my feet were feeling pretty good this day. 

After shopping we returned to the hotel, stopping for food and beer at Kinokuniya in Shinigawa Station. 

The following morning we again took the Yamanote line, but this time in the opposite direction to Ikebukuro to find largest Animate store in Tokyo (or maybe the world).  It had moved from the location that Google had for it, so we did a bit of walking to get to it.   This puppy is one really big anime store.  We did major shopping there for multiple hours.

We then returned to the hotel and had lunch (shrimp tempura bowl) at the hotel restaurant.  I went back to the room to take a bath and rest, since I was again dragging somewhat.  My friend went back out, this time to a Shibuya Animate store, and came back with more loot and supper snacks for both of us.  Afterward we both packed for the trip home.  I had bought a small, carry-on sized piece of luggage at Nakano Broadway, knowing that we both were going overboard with our shopping and were going to need something to get it all back to the States in.    

The last morning of the trip, we gathered everything, checked out and then took the hotel shuttle bus to Narita. We arrived there about 8:30 am and caught the flight to DFW around 11:00 am.  We arrived at DFW at 8:30 am, essentially the same time and same day we were arriving at Narita.  Pretty cool, although it messes with your head a bit.

And that's the trip.  When I remember it, I don't remember the blisters and cold.  I remember the sights and smells and tastes.  I remember the shopping.  I remember the wonderful places we stayed and the nice people all the way throughout the trip.  It was an awesome trip, and I'm ready to do it again