Our arrival into Japan was bumpy and fast. Once off the airplane we were shoved into buses and carted off to the actual airport. In the bus I had time to notice the landscape, which was flat with trees in the distance. It sorta looked like Florida, and with the heat and humidity it kinda felt like Florida, too. This was a bit of a disappointment. Anyway, after we got through customs and picked up our bags, we went to rent a car. Fortunately this went much smoother than in Brazil, as we were in a car in 45 minutes. The car, a blue Toyota Vitz, was about the size of a large suitcase. The guy from the car company watched, amused, as we stuffed 4 suitcases, 4 sleeping bags, 1 tent and ourselves into the car. By the time everything was in it bulged a bit. We started out of the parking spot with good directions. Of course, driving on the "wrong" (read:left) side of the street and several missed lights will screw up any directions. We didn't get out of the airport for a good half hour, setting what we believe is the world's record for longest time took to get out of Narita airport. After finishing the world record we set out for Kashima, at about 6:30 Japan time. By 7:30pm the time difference had put Chris and Eric to sleep and it was completely dark. Me and Dad still hadn't found a campsite and hadn't seen any at all yet. Failing asleep ourselves we admitted defeat and looked for a hotel. Naturally there were none to be found (we think, we really don't know, cause we can't read Kanji) and after half an hour of searching we admitted defeat and asked directions. The directions weren't very good but somehow or other we stumbled on to a hotel. Not just any hotel but a love hotel. Yippee! If I hadn't been falling asleep on my feet I would have ran. As it was we took a room. I slept in my sleeping bag and prayed their cleaning lady was thorough. Why do the Japanese (or why other people) need a love hotel? I was not stoked and made sure we left right after we got up the next day.
Because of the 16 hour time difference we woke up at 5:30am. Japan is in the wrong time-zone, because the sun sets at 7:30 and raises at 5. Very weird. We left the hotel and started driving north. We stopped at one of the billion convenience stores for something little until we saw a grocery store. Little did we know very little is open on the weekend. And what is open doesn't open till later. Eventually we stopped at another convenience store and got breakfast, took it to a near-by beach and ate. Back at the car we continued north, stopping at a big Home Depot/Walmart store, then at a fish market, filled with very raw, very smelly fish and fresh fruit, and then at a beach. Tons of people were swimming, so we jumped in. It wasn't too cold, the sun was bright, the waves were fun to ride, so we stayed there. For more than an hour. Salty, kinda sunburnt we got back into the car to start the campground hunt. Now I would like to say that anyone who can find anything in rural Japan with only three words of Japanese and no Kanji reading ability deserves a medal or at least some chocolate. Because it is hard. The road signs have English, but it doesn't help with restaurants, hotels, campgrounds, that kind of thing. Those are all in Kanji. The gas station attendants (who come running out to serve you) usually speak no English. It's ten billion times harder talking to people in Japan than in Brazil or Cuba. The most ridiculous language barrier ever. So you can see why we talked to 3 different people before we found the park. We got a spot, set up the tent and went back to talk to our favorite gas station attendant about where to eat. She sent us to a Walmart-like store that had a McDonalds. KFC, and several Japanese fast food chains in it. We ate, Eric at KFC, everyone else at a Japanese restaurant, then cruised the aisles looking at the goods. We spent the bulk of time grocery shopping for dinner and the next day's breakfast. Once back at the campground Dad, Chris, and Eric went to look around and I sat and read. By 7:30 we were all dead tired, but managed to stay up until 8pm.
Woke up at 4:30am, ate bread and jam at 5:00, then went to find a shower. Very unfortunately for everyone else, we couldn't find a shower. So we decided to pack up and ship out. Started driving north, stopped for a 2nd breakfast at a convenience store, and went back to driving north. After an unplanned detour through Sendai, northern Honshu's biggest city, we formulated a plan to drive north-western to Quasi National Park, where we would camp. First we stopped at Sega World, where Eric had wanted to visit for days. It turned out to be a huge, loud, bright, slightly nauseating room full of arcade games. After spending 200 yen (US$2) for a little bit of candy we left. Eric fully satisfied. Next we stopped at a Toys 'R Us, which was in a mall much like the one we ate dinner at last night. After spending 20 minutes (timed) in Toys 'R Us we went upstairs to find a Rite-Aid type store, Ben Franklin like store and flea market in progress. After looking at all the goods there we went back down to a grocery store, with a deli, for lunch Dad had sushi (tuna, very good, very spicy - wasabi!) Eric and Chris had corn dogs and hot dogs. I had some sushi and a piece of bread from our stash. Back in the car, munching on dessert, candy, we started the drive out of the greater Sendai area, inland, to the "mountains". The "mountains" are the size of the cascade foothills, and look awfully similar, with steep river gorges on the sides and a consistent tree covering. The trees are a combo of pines and "leafy" trees. The whole effect is lush and gorgeous. Eventually we found ourselves on a small mountain lane, winding through the hills. After asking directions once I thought I saw the Kanji letters for the campground we were looking for, but I wasn't sure so we asked directions again. The guy pointed us (literally) up a one lane road. Very skeptically we drive up anyway and suddenly I recognized the Kanji letters - the campground name!! I was so excited. I yelled at everyone a couple of times. We got a campsite in a grove of trees across from a ski hill! From 3pm - 6pm we read, wrote, knit and Dad did some laundry. I also decided to take a badly needed shower. Showering at campgrounds in Japan is really going to the accompanying onsen (hot spring) building, paying them, preparing for a communal shower and dip. I (actually Dad) paid 520 yen for a shower at the onsen, then I got on a little stool in front of a spigot and took a shower. Weird but very refreshing. At 6 pm we went to the Nakura Brewery, which was right by the campground, for dinner after having the chief come out to translate the menu we ordered. Eric got pizza, Chris got chicken, Dad got octopus balls, and I got potatoes in jo-jo form. The food was very good and halfway through the meal the chief came out with a bowl of lima beans. Surprised, we thanked him, then went back to eating. While waiting for the check, the chef again came out, this time with two plates of unidentifiable vegetables on them. We started to say - no, we're too full, but the chef pointed to the only other people in the restaurant, who waved. We thanked them and tried the veggies. Thankfully they were actually pretty good and we all ate several. I don't know if they were trying to play "gross out the foreigner" but they definitely didn't succeed. We left quick so they didn't buy us anymore veggies. Back at the tent we read, wrote, and then everyone started falling asleep. By eight we were all in bed.
Dad shook us awake at 5:15 am saying "It's Raining! We have to leave". We packed away the tent and sleeping bags wet and left quick. Driving north, did the convenience store breakfast thing, back to driving. We stopped at a shrine in a little town with a playground and a huge cemetery. The cemetery had sidewalks, a small brook, a Budda statue and a large tree lined lane. They bury 'em in style here. We left to go to Kakunodate. Kakunodate is a town with Samuri houses, preserved from the 1600's. It was still raining off and on, but we found a parking spot and trooped through the front yards of Sammuris. The houses were really cool but it started raining and we ended up in a cherry bark art museum. Checked that out till it stopped raining, went to the modern section of town for lunch. Dad got the sushi sampler (tuna, 2 types of white fish, caviar, shrimp and sponge Bob square Pants - Yes Dad ate something that looked like Sponge Bob. Terrible) while we checked every store hoping for a restaurant. Ready to give up and eat grocery store food we checked out one more store front and voila! a real Japanese soba dinner. We sat down, ordered blindly, and ended up with a delicious soba soup. After lunch we drive up the steepest tunneliest, greenest pass ever looking for a campsite. Although we had to ask 4 people and were literally driven there, we found it in the end. The campground was deserted until a biker came right before we left for dinner. The biker was Dad's hero, as he had just biked up a ridiculously steep road, but because of the language barrier Dad didn't say anything to him. Dinner was out of a convenience store and shortly after we went to sleep.
Woke up at six - whoa! sleeping in - took a walk around this nearby pond. So we got into the car at eight and drive off the mountain, westward, until we got to the town of Odate, where we stopped looking for something to do. We found a bakery, then continued to walk around town, munching on fortune cookies (we couldn't read the fortunes, though). On the way back to the car we passed the bakery again and Dad decided to go ask them where an Internet cafe was. Of course they couldn't figure out what he wanted, but they did let him use their computer, so he sent an email to Pat and Mom. We got back into the car and continued driving until we saw a department store/mall and Eric demanded we stop. I'm not sure if it was a typical Japanese mall, but it was definitely loud. The bottom floor had a grocery store and a Rite-Aid. The 2nd floor had clothes and shoes, and the 3rd floor had 3 restaurants and a huge arcade/gambling area. I'd like to say two words to the Japanese, "gambling addiction" because they've never heard these words together before. We had lunch there anyway at a place where the waitress was called to the table electronically. We left the mall to drive to the peninsula where we would be camping. It was supposed to be close by but driving lost, in circles around a peninsula adds up the km pretty quickly and we didn't find a campsite till later (i.e. 3pm) It was a private campground that must have been built when camping was big in Japan, but now we were the only people there. We had showers, a washing machine, a dryer and tree frogs on the wall of the bathrooms. All the amenities of home. We hung out there until it got dark, ate, then went into a big wooden living room to watch their TV. On TV was a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome, but we didn't see who won because it was after our bedtime, 8:15
The usual, wake up, pack up, fill up (on food). Then to our
amazement we were almost out of gas. After filling up we discovered
we had won a prize! A grill was in our possession. Then the worker
gave Dad the bill for the gas, Dad thought we had to pay for the
grill, cursing viscously he transformed into a lion and tried to
rob the place. After paying the GAS (not grill) bill we drove on
and we drove on and on and on after seeing lots of signs for Jusco
we tried to find on. After 4 tries and many signs later were
successful. Jusco is big. It's like a Fred Meyer on a steroids. We
found a snowboard shop (thanks to Kym's screaming) and took a peek.
Stuff is more expensive here. Kym and Dad talked to the worker who
happened to know about Mt. Hood. Pretty dead trip to the
campground. The older folks of our party took showers (Dad, Kym,
Chris - me). I get 3 minutes. They made me mad and I almost got
trapped in one. They are also complicated. :( Anyway there happened
to be some English speaking people from San Jose, CA who we talked
to. New batteries for the penlight raises our moral.
Jul 26
Woke up bright and early thanks to our wonderful father. We ditched he tent and sleeping bags. No more camping! Hallelujua! We split before anyone caught us. Got breakfast at a convenience store true to our normal routine. After driving many hours we stopped at some shrine/samari type place to stretch our legs. After 3 laps round the fish pond we headed out. More driving. Jusco. Kym found cheap makeup and was very excited. Eric spent more of his money. We ate, then we left and drove a ton more. We listened to music to pass the time. Arrived in Narita and drove around "like chickens with our heads cut off!!" (Kym quote) . Found a hotel and more English speakers. Kym and Dad took the car back to the airport while me and Eric watched cartoons that we couldn't understand. We then walked to an Internet cafe. It was $1 for 10 minutes. Well worth it. After much deliberation and arguing we finally found a restaurant suitable for all of us. Amazing, unfortunately for Mr. Flexible here (moi) it was a REAL Japanese restaurant. No chairs, cramps and smoker city. Good food and a baseball game on TV. Brightened spirits, back at the Hotel Let's we took showers and did other stuff.
Train Day. Mom was supposed to call us. She didn't. We groggily make our way to the station. Had a small breakfast and hopped on a train after some confusion. Somehow Eric thought we were only going on one train. We've ended up taking five, and Eric never let us forget it. He now hates trains. My skin is peeling and it is nasty. Stopped for a quick bite at a Family Mart. More trains. Arrived in Nagoya. Tried to stay at a youth hostel. No luck. Found a hotel, got 2 rooms Eric and Kym in one, me and Dad in the other. Rode the subway, Eric protested cause the subway is close to a train. tried to see a palace, closed, go figure. Kym stepped on a turtle/rock, after apologizing profusely we left. Ate at an Americanish restaurant with good food and service. Went to sleep.
Woke up and went down stairs (we were on the 5th floor) for a provided breakfast. Rolls with butter or jam and water. Yum yum. When we got to the train station we found an accident on our line. After asking if we could take a different route we waited 9 minutes and then the track was clear, they told us. Nagoya to Ogake to Maiboro to Kobe. Searched for a hotel in the blistering heat. Finally settled on the YMCA. Went to a "native" Japanese resterant. Good food. Went shopping, Grandma Jean would love it there. Kym almost bought something. On our way back to the hotel Dad emailed Pat from a Internet place. We then ate at a delicious cafe. Came back to the hotel goofed around and went to sleep.
I'm (Kym) writing again. Me, Chris, and Eric woke up to find Dad gone. That wasn't too worrisome because we knew he was waiting for Mom's call. He came up at 7:15am looking bummed. Mom hadn't called. We left to go to breakfast, which, because we only had 3 meal tickets, was just me, C and E. Breakfast food was okay and we all trooped back upstairs when suddenly the phone rang. We all jumped then Dad answered it and announced it was Mom. We spent 45 minutes talking to her. At 10am we left the hotel to go on a walking tour of Kobe. We went past a Mosque, a shrine, into a rich department store, through Chinatown to an ATM, then took the subway back to the YMCA. We spent 3 hours (2pm - 6) in the hotel room, reading and such. At 4:45 pm we left the hotel room to go to an English bookstore, which closed at 6:30pm. We still hadn't found it by then, so we gave up, and Dad got very, very depressed. Eric will now narrate and I, Kym, his servant and sister, will record. We ate pizza at an Italian Restaurant called La Pizza. Then we walked in circles around the mall until, back at our starting point we saw the entrance to the gondolas. We paid our money and went up. On the way up we saw a waterfall. It was very beautiful. Kym (I) got a quick flash of fear for heights but she (I) got over it soon. When we reached the top we found that the trail down was closed, but we jumped the gate anyway. We went down a very steep hill till we came to a road. Then we stopped at a bathroom to drink the cans of tea they had given us at the start of the gondola. Then we walked down the rest of the way. It was very confusing at places and um, lets see, we finally came to the train station and could see the mall we had eaten at. Then we walked back to the YMCA to get some sleep.
Best Hotel yet. Speaking of best, crazy Chris the courageous will be writing for as long as I'm forced to. Ate a healthy buffet breakfast, very tasty. 3 trains that day. Not too bad. Arrived at Tottori, checked into the Morris Green Hotel, or Green Hotel Morris or Hotel Green Morris. We weren't sure. We then went swimming in a big bathtub, also known as the Sea of Japan. Very salty and super good waves. K and E didn't like as much as Dad and me. While changing out of his swim suit Eric fell in the sand and got very sandy. So he went into the water again naked. All I can remember is his little butt before it disappeared into the waves. Hopefully he didn't pollute the water. After taking the train back to our hotel we collapsed in our beds. Eric is sad because he swears he put his hunk of bamboo that he found in the backpack but it's gone now :(
Woke up at 5:30 am and rode for 5 hours on the train until reaching Kyoto. Found a Japanese style hotel (Ryokan). Went to this buffet place. Eric saw and ate and ate and ate and ate. Kind of expensive but very very good. According to Kym almost everything in Japan has a certain taste and smell that she didn't really like, at this restaurant this was not the case, Kym was stoked. The train station is huge, 15 floors to be exact on the 9th floor was a computer which me and Kym used for 15 minutes. Went down to the basement floors to eat dinner. Massive food court and a grocery store occupied the rest of the floor. After grabbing the food we ate on top of the building where it threatened to rain. We ate up there anyway and it didn't rain and we walked back to the Ryokan. On the way there we stopped at a 100 yen shop where Dad talked with some Russian boy scouts. We arrived back at the Ryokan, then we pulled out our mats and went to sleep.
Woke up at 7:30am to Dad's incessant crys of "get up, get up!". We put our bean-bag pillows and mats away, then headed outside for a convenience store breakfast. We got on the subway and went to eastern Kyoto where I, Kym, the navigator and brains of the operation, had planned a walking tour. We left the subway station and went down a road with a river down the middle. I was carrying the map and directing Chris, who was talking a picture, when I dropped the map into the river. Fortunately the map stayed in the reeds on the side of the river, while I went down and got it. So by 9:30 I had already gotten wet. We continued down the street, saw a huge temple, then a shrine. then went down alleys through these awesome old houses. Saw some shops. Passed more temples and shrines (which are a dime a dozen in Kyoto), and then went through an outdoor-covered food market. Dad got a grilled fish, then we ate at an Italian Restaurant. Tired out from all our walking we took a bus back to the Ryokan, and chilled there for a while. It ended up being a long while because it started raining. Eventually it stopped raining so we went to the station to find out train times from Kyoto to Tokyo. On our way there we went through another temple and waited out some more rain. At the station Dad did something with/about his watch, then me, Chris and Eric read English newspapers while Dad bought train tickets. As we walked back to the Ryokan we looked for a place to eat dinner. Dad ate at a noodle shop, then me, C and E ate at a convenience store. We spent the evening in our room, figuring out train schedules and watching baseball. (Dad writing now) We had a vote about whether we should take a 8 hour train to Kokyo or break up the trip into 2 4-hour trips - there by loosing a day in Tokyo. 3 for 8 hour, 1 undecided.
(Dad) Rise at 6 for grueling 8 hour train. We take a 50 minute
break for lunch at 10:40am. Arrive in Tokyo at 4pm check out House
Ikebukuro but they say it's "full". We stroll away and see nothing
but love hotels and the "House Ikebukuro Annex". Go back to House
Ikebukuro and ask about the Annex - it's "full" too. Ask about
other hotels - she calls 2 or 3 of them - we talk while she's
waiting for one to call back. Then she asks "How long you want to
stay?" "1 day, maybe 2". She goes into the other room and comes
back with a registration sheet - we're in - go figure. This might
be the coolest place we've stayed - cooking and free Internet. We
rest a bit and go to entertainment district, Shinjuku, to
experience the lights of Toyko. Found a great noodle restaurant and
took a long walk. We were awed and dazzled by the sheer quantity of
neon and people and giant screen videos in the street. Headed back,
got some breakfast food (for tomorrow morning in our room) and
crash.
Aug 4
(Dad) Late start - Dad let the kids sleep in while he typed in trip notes on the free Internet. "House Ikebukuro" owner says we can stay one more night but maybe not two because of reservations. Take subway to Tokyo station and walk the imperial palace. A long walk and very hot. Lots of open space and park but you can't get real close to the palace. Take lots of pictures. Take subway to Akasuka and walk a big arcade shopping mall up to a shrine. Have lunch at a pretty fancy place.
Type in the rest of trip notes before kids awake. Slow start, ate cereal, found out we probably won't be able to stay one more night. Buy train day passes to go on shopping extravaganza. First stop Shibuya, a trendy kids shopping mecca. Kym & Chris buy a CD. Then go to a different train station that has used English books. The workers in the book store are all Americans! Buy lots of books, ask them about a place to eat. They send us to a great noodle shop that is pure Japanese. Our fumbling with the chop sticks causes the waiter to give us forks. Take next train to Sony Building to see latest gadgets. The kids are in heaven, especially the Playstation floor. Take next train to electronics district to check out computer parts. Stumble upon a vacuum tube amplifier store! Buy some souvenir parts and head back to hotel. Stop at grocery store on the way home and get noodles, carrots, and meat to cook in the hotel kitchen. We are told we will need to move out of our room since it's reserved to someone else. Move to hotel Chang Tee. This hotel has a smaller room but it's okay. Free Internet here too!
Eat cereal, stow our bags for last day of intense shopping. Go
to Tokyu Hands (like Home Depot) to buy bamboo for Eric. Shop at a
mega mall "Sunshine City". This place has more teen clothing stores
imaginable but no T-shirts that have Kanji on them - just English.
What country are we in? Chris goes on a hyper-mode shopping spree -
spending the remainder of his trip money. Stopped at pipe store.
Run back to hotel to get bags, stopping one last time at the 100
Yen store (dollar store). Take train to Nippori station to take
Kesai Line to Narita. Walk to Jusco (Eric's favorite store) to do
last last-minute gift shopping. T-shirts, candy, spending last Yen.
Walk back to train station, take to airport. Flight to Vancouver a
little bumpy but not bad. Four hour layover in Vancouver, we talk
about going downtown but no interest. Stop at Fry's on the drive
from PDX to EUG.