Japan - some final thoughts

You all know KH has got this thing about the Italian curse - believing that the second time you visit a place would not be as good as the first, and in fact, the trip might be so bad, it would mar all your original memories of the place. Happened to us when we visited Italy for the second time. First time we went, the weather was great, we had surprise experiences that we treasured (like a mass in St Peter's conducted by the late Pope John Paull II), awesome places like Venice, the Cinque Terra etc, great accomodation and food and so on. Second time we went, hoping to re-capture the magic, it all flopped. The weather sucked, the accomodation choices lost their zing. Even places that captured our hearts the first time round, like Siena, seemed to have lost the mojo for us.

So understandably, he was worried about the Italian curse manifesting as the Japanese curse.

I am happy to say that it did not happen that way. In fact, I think this second trip was even better than the first.

1) We covered a great deal more ground, saw more of Japan than we did the first time round. There is a great deal more to Japan than the usual Tokyo-Kyoto circuit. I would really urge travellers to go further afield even though there is plenty to keep one occupied for weeks in these great places alone. I liked that we had time in the great metropolis of Tokyo and Osaka as well as contemplative, quiet time in Koyasan. While we enjoyed the rides in Disney resort, we also enjoyed the rituals we performed at the temples and shrines.

2) Accomodation choices really shone this time. We had such good accomodation, in top-notch places, with prices that did not bust our budget. In many places, we lived really really well. Kokuya, Auberge Watanabe, Hotel Villa Fontaine etc all provided different, unique experiences in their own way. I am glad that we experienced the full range of accomodation choices that Japan had to offer - from hostels to family-run inns, elegant ryokans to business hotels.

3) We visited lots of 5-star sights - Himeji, Itsukushima shrine, the Peace Park in Hiroshima, Okunoin on Koyasan, Kenrokoen in Kanazawa etc.

4) Great unforgettable experiences - onsen and kaiseki in Kokuya, snow in Zenkoji, shojin ryori and our own personal hanare in Koyasan, henro and omikuji in the temples and shrines etc.

5) The weather for the most part, co-operated, except for unpredictable Kyoto weather and the one day it poured in Disneysea. I think, even on hindsight, the wet nasty evening in Kyoto which was the lowest point for me, was an interesting experience. At least, it would be something I would not forget in a hurry! But this is travel isn't it? You take the good with the bad and it all adds up to what makes your trip so unique and interesting.

6) We familiarised ourselves with the train system and the timetables, enough to understand it well enough to optimise our time. By the end of the trip, we'd become savvy enough to hop on and off the shinkansen like it was the Toa Payoh feeder bus.

7) We were lucky enough to grab a very good MAS deal. At S$398 per person, this is still hard to beat. Right now, looking at fares coming out of NATAS, the cheapest is S$559 and even that is far off from the MAS deal.

When we arrived home and did our sums, and wept at our credit card bills, we realised that we had spent the better part of $17,000. But if you think about it - 15 days, a wide range of experiences, great accomodation, train travel, all food and incidental expenses in - for a family of seven! It could not be considered expensive. Especially when I just came from the NATAS fair and saw tour packages of about 6D5N to central Japan going for more than S$2200 per person! Had we taken a conventional tour package, extrapolating from the cost of one of these, it would have easily cost us about S$50,000 and that does not include ALL food/incidental costs either.

So I am very happy to say that we had a great trip, many unforgettable moments, we ate well, slept in lovely places and did not have to take out a second mortgage on my little yellow house for it.

Would I go back to Japan? Yes. Maybe not immediately, but I do want to return. Maybe next time I'd visit the places I didn't get to visit this time - Kamikochi in the Japanese alps, Takayama, Iya valley in Shikoku, Kinosaki Onsen on the Sea of Japan coast, Kusatsu Onsen and so on. I think the next time I go, it will be in spring. Autumn is very beautiful and the red leaves can be dramatic and showy but next time, it will be cherry blossom season and hanami!

The crowds are all heading to Hokkaido and the place is really being promoted at the travel fair. People I meet who say they are going to Japan, all say they are heading for Hokkaido! Don't know about you, but I just dislike heading to a place where the odds of me bumping into another Singaporean are higher than spotting the brown bears of the island. Nope, I'll stick to Honshu or Shikoku or Kyushu for now. I'll leave the pastures of Hokkaido for when the Singaporean crowd dwindles.

But whenever that will be, you can be sure I'll be back!

Day 15 Tokyo and home!

Last day in Japan!

Woke up to another great blue-sky day, which made me feel even more regretful that its my last in Japan. The buffet brekkie in the Villa Fontaine was really good value. It was packed with travelling business people. But at a table near ours, I thought I detected a familiar accent!

We wanted to take a quick walk to Hama Rikyu koen, just at the back of the hotel, across the road. We in fact made it as far as out of the hotel, right down to the cross junction with Hama Rikyu beckoning tantalisingly close across the road, before we decided we just didn't have enough time. But note to self - next visit to Tokyo, the Villa Fontaine will be my accomodation of choice again and this time, I will visit Hama Rikyu and also the famed Tsukiji Fish Market, 15 minutes away on foot.

From Villa Fontaine, we checked out and were soon walking back towards Shinbashi JR station. It was a weekend so the place was deserted - very similar to the ghost town that Shenton Way and our CBD turns into over the weekends. The black-suited penguins that hibernate in their glass cubes in the sky were nowhere to be seen. Shiodome felt abandoned and a bit depressing Or maybe that's just how I felt walking away, slowing leaving Japan by inches.

Getting back to Tokyo station and taking the Narita Express was easy. We used our JR Pass for the last time. I sat looking out as the train zoomed past, as if in a visual rewind, the ferro-concrete grey blocks of buildings, the unlit neon signs, then fields where kids were playing baseball, rivers and bridges, then bamboo groves, rice fields, red-bibbed Jizo on the road shoulder and all too soon, Narita airport.

Yes, can you tell? I was SAD. Only cheered up at the duty-free when I bought a box of mentaiko which was carefully packed in dry ice and insulation! Note: I have eaten half the mentaiko and every bite is bliss. The other half, I am slo-owly savouring knowing that, as with this trip report, once its over, its really over.

The plane ride was greeted with less boisterous excitement than before - perhaps everyone was feeling a bit down at going back home. The holiday was over. As usual, once on board, the kids were glued to the in-flight entertainment system so it was not difficult to keep them occupied.

We transited in KLIA for three hours which allowed us to grab some dinner. Too bad the food was overpriced and subpar (and I think I am being kind in describing it thus). We could not stomach paying RM16 for a plate of wonton mee which we could easily have gotten in the heart of KL for RM3 and at far better standards too!! What a rip-off. Settled for fast food but even that was like sawdust and cardboard. Either our tastebuds were spoiled after 15 days in Japan, or KLIA food was really an overpriced excuse for crappy food. Combination of both, probably.

Arrived in Singapore late, past midnight and took separate cabs home. The night was warm, so different from the crisp coolness that Japan had. Tigerlily greeted us with a meow. Home smells... familiar and comfortable! It always feels good to be home.

But how I wish home was somewhere in Japan!

Day 14 Miyajima and Tokyo

Last day in Japan! Woke up to fogged up windows, a sea of scarlet and gold leaves across the road, the murmur of water, a great breakfast and regret. I felt sad to leave Auberge Watanabe after being so well taken care of. Yuki and Shigeo had been very kind to us and we were sorry to leave. I also felt sad to leave Miyajima - I'm glad we decided to splurge out and stay the night. More than that, I knew that our trip was certainly coming to an end with Tokyo in sight for the night and our flight home waiting for us the next day.







We left our bags in Auberge Watanabe and walked across the creek to Daisho-in. Unlike many other temples we've been to, Daisho-in had a very comfortable air of being well-used - like a neighbourhood parish church instead of say, the town cathedral. Instead of being elegant and reverential, it bordered on the quirky, whimsical and cheeky.


For one, even before we passed through the big gate, we were already charmed by the tiny stone statues of little bald monks in varying playful poses scattered throughout the grounds. These impish little guys were sleeping, praying, grinning, dressed as a samurai, practising kung-fu, sitting, meditating, holding gold ingots and so on. The kids had a nice time running around looking for ever more of these cute little statues. I think we found easily more than 50 of these scattered everywhere - under bushes, beside paths, next to gurgly streams, on a bed of moss and so on.

Even the many sub-temples on the grounds were more fun, like a huge gathering of every Buddhist saint and deity under the sun, in various little houses. I thought it was fitting that Daisho-in was like a summary of all the temples and all the things we did at the temples throughout Japan this trip. So we got the omikuji (in English!), rang the huge temple bell for blessings, ran up and down stairs to twirl the Buddhist sutras for luck, doused the Jizos for the last time, ran the entire 88-temple Shikoku pilgrimage in one hall, said a silent prayer at the Kobo Daishi sub-temple, descended to the bowels of the main hall in another attempt to 'gain enlightenmight' or good luck - whichever works best! And of course, I got my lovely henro!


I also got to say a nice goodbye to Miyajima, fittingly, high up on Daisho-in in front of Kobo Daishi's shrine, where the hills of Miyajima spread around and the silver glints of the sea a little beyond.

Down from Daisho-in, we collected our bags and said goodbye to the good people at Watanabe. Shigeo was kind enough to give us a lift in his MPV down to Omotesando. There, we bought a typical Miyajima souvenir - momiji manju - soft buns shaped like maple leaves with filling inside. I liked the one with chunks of apple filling while the kids gravitated to the chocolate and cream cheese filling.

We also chanced upon a stall selling skewers of deepfried 'fishcake'. Particularly loved the prawn and veggie mix. It was so good the kids were clamouring for more. Had to go back and buy about two more skewers.






Back on the mainland, we retraced our steps to Hiroshima station, collected our bags from the lockers and took the shinkansen back to Shin-Osaka. From there, we changed shinkansen to one heading back to Tokyo. By this time, we had grown a lot savvier about shinkansen-hopping without the need for reservations, managing to find the right platform, the right carriage (non-smoking! Lesson learned after choking for more than half an hour on two separate occasions where we ended up in the smoking car!) right down to the right door. We could have taken the shinkansen from Okayama, several stops earlier than Shin-Osaka, but figured that Shin-Osaka being the busier station, we would have more chance at getting seats.


And we were right! Shin Osaka was a lot busier than Okayama but being early at the head of the queue meant we could get our choice seats. The work day was clearly ending by then as hordes of commuters also crammed on board the shinkansen. It was so packed that people were standing in the aisles - pretty much like a town bus or a commuter train - except that this was the shinkansen and the commute was a 2-hour journey all the way back to Tokyo!

So passed our last evening in Japan with the day's dying light casting long shadows on the platforms of Shin-Osaka. We passed the two hours napping, talking, eating. The crowd on the train never got less.

By the time we got to Tokyo station, it was night. But the place, the nexus of train transport in the city, was still buzzing with commuters hurrying off to their appointments. From Tokyo, we hopped on the Yamanote line two stops down to Shinbashi station. From there, we walked about 10 minutes to our hotel. We walked on a raised pedestrain walkway that led us beneath the Yurikamome monorial line and through the heart of Tokyo's futuristic city, Shiodome, encircled by towers of glass.


KH and the kids were wondering what kind of posh hotel I was leading them to since this area of Tokyo clearly looked expensive. I had a nice chuckle to myself since the Hotel Villa Fontaine is a nice, value-for-money find. I enjoyed watching their jaws drop as they saw the sprawling marble lobby and the soaring atrium. I could see the calculator ticking in KH's head! But in truth, the hotel offered decent-size, comfortable business-class rooms in a fantastic location at a fraction of the cost of its neighbour hotels in the same locality. It was great value and unlike other business hotels, also included a buffet breakfast in the price.


Lobby of the Hotel Villa Fontaine


Once the kids had gotten over their excitement and KH's jaw had been lifted off the ground, we dropped our bags off and headed out for dinner. We backtracked back to Shinbashi station. Lots of action going on there with a lively nightlife and restaurant culture. Packed into tiny slots beneath the JR tracks are smoky bars and izakaya filled with penguins (the black-suited corporate warriors) of nearby Ginza having a post-work drink. It was very atmospheric and I wish we could have walked around more but stomachs were growling and the natives were restless.


We settled on a small izakaya filled with locals, the red lanterns outside the door giving a welcoming glow. We were led upstairs to a small room with low tables. As usual, we had to take off our shoes and were shown to a low table with cushions next to a window. On the menu - DIY BBQ with salad, different cuts of chicken, pork and beef. The grill was on the table. The waiter could speak some English and could produce an English menu! The other tables in the room were filled and the sizzle of the grill and the smoke of cooking meats filled the air. The mood was quite festive.




This being our last night in Japan, we decided to splurge it. It was a great meal, memorable because it tasted good and was a novel experience. It also ended up costing us more than S$250!! But okay, no regrets!

As with the end of all wonderful trips, I felt wistful and nostalgic on the last night. I hadn't even left and yet I felt like I already had. We walked back, satisfied and bellies filled. The night air was cool and the lights and neon of Ginza glittered. We were in the heart of Tokyo's (perhaps the world's) most expensive bit of real estate, nestled in a future city of steel and glass. What a nice way to end the trip - looking to the future. It would not be the end, I reminded myself, just as I did two years ago on the Narita Express heading back to the airport. I will look towards the future and plan for a day when I would come back.

Day 13 Miyajima

Once in every trip, there are those really perfect blissed-out days when life seems like it couldn't get any better. Days you wished could last forever and places so lovely you wish you need never leave.

The Miyajima day is one of these.


I think for me, the greatest impression I got of the day was one of colour. Nature's palette really outdid itself in Miyajima that day. Gorgeous splashes of blue, yellow and red. The blue of the sky and the Inland Sea and the various hues of red - the maples, the five-storey pagoda, the Itsukushima shrine, the O-torii and the canary-gold of the gingko.


We started out with great weather. Most of the clothes had dried out overnight despite the lemon dryer we encountered. We packed enough for an overnight stay and left the other day backpacks in a large locker in Hiroshima station. Note that if lockers in the station were all full, you could try the lockers in the 2nd floor of the department store adjoining Hiroshima station.


It was easy hopping on a commuter train for the half hour ride to Miyajimaguchi. Once out the train station, the ferry terminal is less than 5minutes away. The JR pass let us ride for free.

Beautiful sunny hazy day with the hills of Miyajima drawing closer and of the greatest sights in Japan - the Itsukushima shrine and the huge O-torii floating in the glittering sea drawing nearer. Once out of the ferry terminal, we were greeted by the ever-present deer. We were warned by the guidebooks that these deer eat anything, even maps and tickets, so we were careful not to let anything remotely edible tempt them. The kids were thrilled to stroke them and coo over them though the mother in me worried about bites and fleas. They were everywhere - in the streets, lying on the sidewalk, as common as street cats are in our neighbourhood, and probably tamer. It was an interesting experience to see deer right in an urban environment.

The game plan was to go to Auberge Watanabe (about a 20min walk inland) to store the bag and then walk around, but the day was so nice we just lingered and took our time to slowly walk round the seafront promenade, stop at the beach for the kids to pore over a rockpool (they found a tiny hermit crab!) and then climb down the steps in front of the Itsukushima shrine to get a closer look at the O-torii. The torii itself was standing in water but it was low tide enough for people to walk around for a closer look. The kids of course, were more engrossed in looking for shells, crabs, and other tidal life than at the huge orange gate barely 50m away.


Back up on the promenade, the smell of oysters on the grill set our mouths watering. We stopped at the open window of a restaurant which was selling the oysters. Juicy fresh oysters shucked but left to grill in their open shells. You know you've got something good when the kids' faces light up and they start clamouring for "More!" especially since oysters were never really on the top 10 list of the kids' favourites before.

En route to Auberge Watanabe, we had to pass a shallow valley with a rushing stream. The maples overhead, the gurgle of the water and the deer on the banks of the stream all contribute to a really pretty picture. Auberge Watanabe is located at the end of the street just before Daisho-in.

It is a small family-run inn with only three rooms and run more like a cosy B&B than a formal ryokan. There is a small restaurant on the ground floor. This place is a gem. We were very very lucky to find it, particularly since I had booked right at the last minute.

Initially, I had booked an entire house at the other end of Miyajima to accomodate all of us. But then as things happened, it did not make much sense to book such a big place when our group was shrinking. Also, I really wanted to get a good ryokan/inn experience on Miyajima. But by the time I cancelled my house reservation and looked for something else, practically all rooms on Miyajima were taken. It was the peak autumn leaf season after all. By chance, I stumbled on Auberge Watanabe and was able to get a room. I had not heard much about this place before booking it, but as my experience went, I was so glad I did.

From the tiny lane outside the inn, there was a trail leading into the wooded area of Momijidani-koen. It was not difficult to walk and unlike the main streets of Miyajima, not crowded at all. The maples of Momijidani lived up to their name and provided a fiery canopy above us. The path occasionally opened up to gorgeous views that stretched all the way to the shimmering sea in the distance. We could pick out the landmarks of Sengokaku hall, and the crimson spire of the pagoda next to it, below us the grey-tiled rooftops of Miyajima.

From Momijidani, we took the cable-car up Mt Misen. The ride was broken into two legs - one in a tiny cabin that held just our family, similar to what you see on the Sentosa cableway, and the other a larger cabin that would have offered fabulous views across the Inland Sea had we not been squashed in one corner cheek by jowl with about a hundred other people. It felt like rush hour on the Tokyo lines all over again.



Up on Mt Misen, we oohed and ahhed over the view of the many islets scattered like green pebbles in the misty blue horizon of the Inland Sea. This is a slice of the Seto Naikai national park. It was hazy and hot so much that you couldn't really tell where the sea ended and the sky began. One day though, I would like to explore those islets in that hazy distance. On a sidenote, KH said he had sailed through the Seto Naikai Park once many years ago and certain passages were so tight and close to shore that people on board could look right into islanders' living rooms.

On the peak of Misen, monkeys and deer co-habit peacefully. As on the streets of Miyajima, the deer were everywhere. Paths and trails led down to other important temples and shrines that dotted the flanks of the mountain, leading all the way back down to town. I would have wanted to walk this route, passing the little temple where a fire has burned for more than a thousand years, courtesy of Kobo Daishi. There's that name again. Fresh from Koyasan, I was curious to see this but bowed to heat and cranky kids and took the easier way down - cable-car and bus.


It was already late afternoon by the time we arrived at the heart of town. The light was lovely then and gave the raw, unfinished wooden textures of Sengokaku Hall, a burnished glow. This long building was built to hold Buddhist sutras in 1587, but it was never completed. The beams and pillars were left unvarnished, unpainted and the wooden floors have been worn smooth by time and countless visitors. I liked the simplicity and the pared down sparseness of the hall.




In contrast, the five-storey pagoda on the grounds adjacent to Sengokaku was showy in bold fire engine red. You could see it for miles!


By this time, most of the day-trippers had left and the seafront promenade we walked on earlier in the day was largely quiet and empty. This was the secret Miyajima that people wrote about when they urged visitors not to just visit the island in a day, but to stay on for the night. Once the day-trippers leave, its really just you and the deer and the kami in the shrines.





Unlike the early part of the day, the Itsukushima shrine was nearly empty. We purified ourselves as usual, and went in. I tried an omikuji but for once, got a really bad one which is really rare for me in Japan so I sent the bad luck on its way and tied the scrap of paper to the lines. By evening, the tide had also come in so we were treated to the sight of Itsukushima as it was intended - floating on dark green water and beds of seaweed.


It was almost dark by the time we returned to Auberge Watanabe, not far from the shrine. Trin had fallen asleep and was a dead weight shared by Gillian, KH and I as we trudged back to the inn.

For some reason, just as we were seated at the table for our check-in formalities, Trin woke up and immediately went into a full-scale tantrum. Chalk it down to fatigue and possibly hunger, but she screamed blue murder. She was loud and it was embarrassing. I excused myself from the inn and tried to pacify her outside the inn but she wasn't having any of it and continued wailing and screaming. The inn's owner, Yuki, was concerned enough to come outside with us, wondering if she could do anything. But from experience, I knew there was nothing anyone could really do - just let her finish what she started. It was hard though, to hear the shrill fire-alarm screams and I was torn between feeling helpless and murderous.


Thankfully, in what seemed like an eternity but was probably 20min or so, she stopped screaming and we were able to go back to the inn to complete checking in. We were given the largest of the three rooms - Shiraito, a 16-mat room. The room was lovely. As you walk into the room, the cypress bath is on left of the glass-enclosed wooden corridor. Sliding shoji screens open up to a long room with tatami mats. On the other side of the room, sliding shoji screens open up to another long glass-enclosed veranda with casual seating.


Before and after dinner - tada, the futons come out by the time we finished dinner!

Dinner was in a private dining space on tatami mat with a low table. Okay, if we raved over Kokuya's food, let me just say that Auberge Watanabe's food really threw the game right out of the ballpark. Course after course of prettily presented morsels. The younger kids had bowls of niku udon but the rest of us enjoyed the full course. Deep-fried juicy oysters, hamachi sashimi, steak on a bed of straw mushrooms with a lemon butter sauce and more. Can I just say, wish you were there to try this?



After dinner, we took a quiet but chilly walk down to Itsukushima shrine again, hoping to see the shrine lit by lanterns. Sadly, all was dark that night. Only the O-torii was lit by floodlights in the distance. Even Yuki was puzzled as to why the shrine was not lit that night. That was our only disappointment in what was a fantastic day. Even Trin's major meltdown was not a real dent in the day.

The night was cold, but in our yukatas, snuggled deep under thick covers in our futons, we slept well. Outside the creek running below and the tiny fountain gurgled and burbled away.