Going home

Morning at the Honke Bankyu.

Woke up to bright sunlight flooding the room. For a minute I thought I overslept till noon. The light looked like the morning was already well underway, but actually it was only 4am. The morning mist coated the hills around Yunishigawa onsen, lending it a rather dreamy vibe. It was lovely to sink back into the futon and drift back to sleep.

Here's the vine bridge and the annex across the river where I had dinner the night before. Breakfast, however, was in the main building. It was a cheery affair with a generous buffet. Honestly, I had no clue as to some of what I was eating but everything tasted good! I liked the shishamo, the soft eggs and the onsen tamago. Gohan, as always, in Japan, was light and fluffy - a huge improvement over what we get in Japanese restaurants here in Singapore. Maybe its the water.

After I checked out, I left my bags in the reception area of the ryokan and went for a walk around the river. I still had some time to kill before the bus arrived.

Spring had arrived and flowers were out in bloom. Dandelions, marigold... the riverbanks were a riot of colour. With the warm breeze and blue skies, the teal-green of the water, it was one of those days when you just want to take a deep breath and feel great to be alive.

Across the new red lacquered bridge, there was a tiny shrine and small cemetery directly in front of the ryokan. But what was a great find was the tiny pool in a hollow of rocks. That was a natural hot spring where hot water gushed up from a slash in the rocks. It was just too tempting to remove my shoes and socks and soak my feet in the pool. The fact that there were rough steps carved up from rocks leading to the pool and an absence of bath/shower facilities made it obvious that this was meant more as footbath. So I sat there, feet in water, gazing at the ryokan across the river, insects buzzing around and a slight wind played with the branches above. In all honesty, I wish I didn't have to leave, or that this moment would just freeze in time. It was a very idyllic spot on a lovely day.

But regrettably, I had to go. The shoes were waiting. The bus was coming and 6000miles away, the kids would be clamouring to go pick me up from the airport. My 'me' time was coming to an end. But I was glad it ended on that note, at the tiny hotspring pool, before I had to return to Tokyo, to Singapore and the rest of my life.

True to form the bus arrived exactly on time. We trundled back the same way we came and once again, my journey in reverse, I was alone on the bus ride. Back at the JR Yunishigawa onsen stop, the bus stopped its engine while the driver took a break. He sportingly took a picture of me with my pack on the empty bus. I also asked to skip across the road to take this picture of an old rail bridge and the lake. It was an incredibly scenic place.


Back in Tokyo after three hours, I had some time to kill before catching a train back to Narita. At Asakusa, I was again tempted to go to Sensoji but found the crowds overwhelming. I did make a quick round of Nakamachi dori for cheap souvenirs - in particular Owain's request for a tiny samurai sword before I took the subway back to Ueno where I stuffed the backpack into the lockers at the Keisei Ueno station. I bought my ticket for the Skyliner and then wandered for a bit around Ueno park, seeing the Kannon temple which the kids visited. I had missed seeing this in 2007 when I had to make the long commute back to Chidoricho station and Kangetsu ryokan to search for that blasted brand new Burberry we lost!

The Kannon temple was quiet. I took the opportunity to do what I usually do, write an ema tablet and hang it up. I was in good company. Around me were ema tablets written in Korean, in Chinese, in Spanish, in French, in Russian. It was a place of hope. I liked reading the messages. A Taiwanese (presumably since it was written in the long-form Chinese) woman gave thanks and expressed her love for her husband (newly-wed) and requested for a baby to come their way. One in French asked for blessings of happiness and health (deciphered from the remnants of very rough rudimentary French that I still remembered).

I asked for health, happiness, peace for all of us and for Cait to get into the national training squad. And so far, its been more than half a year and Kannon has looked upon us favourably! Perhaps that Taiwanese lady also has the baby she asked for!


The afternoon was getting uncomfortably warm. As I stood by the lotus pond near Shinobazu pond at the Benten Hall, an Indian man asked me for directions. Guess what, the guy was also from Singapore! For a tiny nation like us, we are either an incredibly well-travelled lot or the world is really a tinier place than I realised! This journey was just full of chance meetings with Singaporeans!

I could not leave Tokyo without a last go at some sushi. I remembered a stall in Ameyoko across from Ueno. I didn't have much time but I thought I could just make it. It took me a good 10minutes to walk into the market, past the fish stalls, the dried goods stalls, the garment outlets etc before I spotted the colourful stall front. This was a place we had seen the last time we visited Tokyo in 2009. I remembered the cheap plates of sushi-don in various mouth-watering configurations blown up in colourful photographs and was determined to have a go at this.

Oh so tempting... should it be ikura-don, or maguro-don? Or uni? I gave in to the bowl of pale pink minced toro with ikura. Sitting at the tiny stall, a paper cup of tea and gulping down the fish - this was what I enjoyed so much about being in Tokyo. Great food, inexpensive sushi, a street-side food experience in a lively market.


From here, it was a brisk walk back to Keisei Ueno, catching the Skyliner back to Narita. At Narita, I was foolishly forgetful and absent-mindedly tried to get past immigration with Owain's tiny samurai sword still in my bag. I was stopped, bag searched and scanned several times before they realised it was the toy sword. I pointed out to them that this was plastic, helpfully jabbing myself in the arm to demo. They hemmed and hawwed and made lots of polite noises. I realised I was making it difficult for them to say no. At that point, I really wanted to just give up the sword but they were extremely helpful and apologetic. The immigration officer walked me out back to the JAL check-in counters where the staff (with more animated bowing, nodding, smiles and rapid-fire Japanese) took the sword from me, dropped it into a cardboard box and checked it in.

It was a bit embarrassing and I was vexed with myself for making this sort of dumb mistake and inconveniencing everyone. But they were very good about it and I was escorted back through immigration without re-joining the queue. So that experience really summed up why the Japanese are so polite to a fault, and so well-known for their service culture! Had this incident taken place in another country known for hostile lengthy interrogations at immigration where visitors are known as 'aliens' (take a guess) I don't think I would have had such a gracious or kind reception.

So ends my solo trip to Japan. I really liked this trip. I liked being on my own and I had good experiences all round. I thank the Japan National Tourist Organisation, JAL and the good people of Tokyo Disney Resort for making this trip possible.

Now, looking forward - Japan in early spring 2011! But before that, look out for posts on Tioman and Hong Kong.

At large with a Princess in Tokyo

It was raining the night I left Disney for the bright neon of Ginza. A stuffed backpack on my back, a bulging Monsters Inc. briefcase in one hand and a Disney plastic lunchbox swinging crazily by its neon-green strap where I had haphazardly tied it to my pack, I must have looked quite a sight.

The Princess I was travelling with, on the other hand, looked spiffy in her colour-coordinated pink ruffled dress and coat and boots, pulling along not one, but TWO suitcases. We may be friends but we’re as different as chalk and cheese. We were teased earlier about how different we both were in spite of our friendship. She is the posh publisher who wears only colour-coordinated dresses and accessories, travelling with suitcases packed with glam stuff and accessories including curlers! I was the diametrically opposite independent traveler who is happy to live in scruffy jeans and tees out of a backpack.

That said backpack was now a deadweight thanks to the mad spree I went on in Disney.

Why oh why did I succumb to temptation and buy so many Disney souvenirs? With no KH there to stop me, I went on a Disney binge in the resort’s shops – buying boxes of Mickey crackers, Tinkerbell souvenir plates (porcelain for heaven’s sake!), lunch boxes, bags, key chains and all nature of paraphernalia. Thank God I stopped short of buying the blue Monsters Inc. helmet – though I was sorely tempted – because now, lugging all this behind me in a rainy net to make two train changes and one long commute to Shiodome was just not fun anymore. After struggling less than 200m into Ikspiari, the mall leading to the JR Maihama station, I sat for a rest.

The Princess surveyed me with amusement. This is why, she said loftily, I would never travel with a backpack. You have too much stuff. Go into the Disney store and buy a spare bag, she advised. The large one with Mickey and Minnie on it, she directed. It was canvas and looked like the tacky large ones that hold all manner of sundry, usually seen on rural trains in China. But apparently the Princess was not above one of these. It was on sale anyway, so buy it I did. But to my immediate dismay the bag was so large and unwieldy that it was practically dragging on the floor! Glumly I folded it back and added it to my already groaning bags. One more for the road.

We plodded through the rest of Iskpiari and I resolutely walked past the cute bakery that tempted me earlier, with the milk roll and oh-so-kawaii cow-print bag it came with. I ignored the colourful scarves on a cart nearby. I could NOT add to my already stuffed bags anymore. Wisely the Princess also decided not to stop and shop.

We made it to JR Maihaima. And here’s where I slipped into familiarity and navigated the ticket machine like a native. The Princess, being a Princess, left the ticket-buying to me. Once in, I had to scout around for a lift to take the Princess and her bags to the platform level. My turn to feel loftily smug. This, I told her, is why I would never travel with suitcases! It would not be the last time I would rub it in as our slow journey through the train stations to our hotel would be punctuated with attempts to look for lifts.

Once in the train to Tokyo, we chatted – about life, loves, present and past, children, travel, just catching up on the 20-odd years that had elapsed since we last met. Back then she was a sales executive and I was a fresh reporter working for the same magazine. Today she is a publisher of well-known travel magazines and I am a mother of five. She asked, not cruelly, “What happened to you? I always thought you were ambitious.”

What can I say? Life happens in ways you never expect.

It's not as if there were no doors open. But like the game shows, you walk through the door of your choice. Had I walked through those, my five children would not have happened and my life would have been very different. I chose a different door. Still, one man's booby prize is another man's lottery win. I think it’s where you are in the present that counts and right now, my life is in a pretty good place. I have no money, no status, no designer togs and my resume now reads as simply ‘mother of five’. But being where I was that night – sitting in a train on a rainy night in Japan, my kids waiting back home, I felt so thankful already, like life had already taken me further than I had ever expected. It was not grand, but it was fine.

In Tokyo station, after navigating streams of black-suited penguins again on the long walk from the Keiyo line and always pointing the Princess to the lifts, we found ourselves in front of glass-fronted station cafes, suddenly starving. She plumped for kare raisu (curry rice) and I opted for that tempting bowl of rice with a dollop of mentaiko next door.

It was not until I sat at the counter, salarymen tucking into steaming bowls of udon on either side that it hit me – I was really and truly in Tokyo. Back in Japan! It was hard to hold back the squeal of excitement so I just ended up choking a bit on the mentaiko.

The Princess later told me that was the best kare raisu she’d had. And this was just a mere faceless hole-in the-wall shop in the bowels of Tokyo station!

At Shinbashi station, the Princess met her waterloo – no lifts! She motioned me to go ahead on the escalators. I said drily that I would feel safer being BEHIND her! Nonetheless I went ahead and waited at ground level to see what she would do.

And of all things? The old damsel in distress trick. She batted her eyelashes and smiled winningly at a passing salary man who happened to speak a bit of English and he helped navigate her bags down the escalator, whereupon she thanked him sweetly.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle but the Princess had had enough. We’ll take a cab, she decided briskly. And so in less than 3 minutes, we had arrived at the Villa Fontaine Shiodome. The ride had cost us 710yen. Sometimes, there are perks travelling with a princess.

Minutes later, we had checked in easily. The Princess was miffed to be given a room on the second floor and tried to no avail to get her room changed. I, on the other hand, was given what I think is the best room – on the highest floor, in a corner where the view peeked directly out onto Hama Rikyu garden and Tokyo Bay! No way was I going to swop rooms with the Princess! It didn’t matter even when my room reeked of stale smoke because – check out the view! And never mind that the view was one of raindrops silhouetted against a black night, I was here in Tokyo and all on my own.

Now that was what mattered!

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 2 18 Nov 2007 Tokyo Meiji Jingu, Shinjuku

The hotel provided a simple buffet spread for breakfast. Less than the full spread one would get at the big hotels, but decent enough and better value than many Australian motels would. The Family Fifty's at Maihama hotel is similar in structure and set-up to chain motels in the US eg Motel 6, in France like the Formula 1 chain. But I think this offers better value. For Tokyo, the rooms are a decent size, holding a double bed and a sofa bed which converts into a single bed, ensuite bathrooms and breakfast.

We had cold hardboiled eggs (orange yolks!) , bread, pastry, juice, milk, cereal, fruit and salad (I discovered the lovely tanginess of a Japanese sesame dressing!) . Then it was off to a day of sightseeing in Tokyo itself.

We took a bus to the train station (not cheap - it cost 200yen per adult, 100yen for a child, so all in the bus trip alone cost 700yen for all of us) which was two stops away. From there, at the station, we studied the big train map carefully and surveyed the automatic ticket vending machine with some trepidation before giving up and asking the man at the counter. KH and I used the Suica stored value card but had to buy tickets for the kids.

Up on the platform, it was sunny, briskly cool and windy - perfect day. Kasai Rinkai Koen spread out before us. We could see the large ferris wheel, the Tokyo Sea Life Park, the lovely resthouse fronting the manmade shoreline. I was thrilled to see that the leaves on the trees were already well coloured! I was a bit apprehensive that they would not be since before departure, I was religiously checking the Japanese sites for koyo updates and the picture did not look good - the sites were saying that lots of places were still relatively green or were just beginning to turn.

On the platform, noticed it was so cute that each train station had their own little piece of music that played when the train was departing. (Later on I would discover that Maihama station's music was a Disney theme - fitting since it was the station for Disneyland!)

We had no problems arriving at Tokyo but noted that the walk from the Keiyo line to the Tokyo station was a long one. From there, we plunged into bustling Tokyo station and changed trains to the green Yamanote line which took us all the way to Harajuku station.

Harajuku station on a Sunday was packed with people. I was hoping to spot the infamous Cosplay kids but only saw a couple on the bridge to the park. We headed for the Meiji Jingu shrine in the heart of the park. Lovely day to walk. Lots of Tokyo-ites and tourists leisurely moving into the shrine. It was about a shady 500m walk in, flanked by greenery and tall shady trees on both sides. We had to pass under two huge wooden torii gates en route. The wood was 1500year-old cypress from Taiwan. We saw lots of very very cute little boys and girls dressed in gorgeous kimonos!

It was the weekend for Shichi-Go-San. Literally 7-5-3. A festival for children aged 7, 5 or 3 yos where they would dress up in their best, go to the shrines with their families seek blessings for good health, success etc. Those little girls in their vibrant red, purple, mauve kimonos, some with a fur collar etc, in their tiny getas, hair piled up and pinned with flowers, looked so demure and so cute! We took lots of pictures of these little ones and were not alone in doing so - lots of other gaijins were also busy snapping away, grinning from ear to ear.

At the shrine, we did our first purification ritual for the trip - the first of many! Ladle some water from the trough, pour over one hand, then the other. Some people poured water into their cupped palms, gargled and spat into the drain below, but we just kept to the hand-washing bit. When we entered the shrine, we saw we were in luck! There was a Shinto wedding going on. The bride, powdered white and dressed in a white brocade kimono, stood under a tree with her groom, dressed in sober black and grey traditional robes. Later we saw the full procession, led by the Shinto priest.

The main deity enshrined in the Meiji Jingu shrine was the Meiji emperor and his empress. The kids and KH wanted to make wishes in front of the shrine, so we observed what everyone was doing and followed suit - drop a few yen into the collection box, clap twice, bow, hands clasped and make a wish.

I saw the ema votive tablets and decided to buy one for 500yen and write a wish on it. The ema would be hung up with the others and prayers offered for it the next morning by the Shinto priests. I wished for a speedy recovery for dad, Gillian passing her PSLE and good wishes for all of us. So far, two out of three ain't bad!

We also bought an omamori for Gillian. This is a charm for success in an entrance exam. Very pretty thing in white brocade with the purpose of the charm and the shrine's name embroidered on it. I also took the opportunity to get my 'fortune' slip - a stanza of a poem written by the Meiji emperor. It was a beautiful verse and I found it meaningful.

Mizu

Utsuwa niha

shitagai nagara

iwagane mo

tosu ha mizu no

chikara narikere

It means: Water does not oppose any vessels and takes the form of its vessel. Water seems to be obedient, flexible, and not self-assertive. However, water can break rocks with its consecutive concentrated drops. So people should also have flexibility for any situation such as thought and human relationship, and have consecutive concentration to do something important. I found this very meaningful.

After the shrine, we walked across to Harajuku and the very busy Takeshita-dori. More Cosplay kids were coming out now. The trend seemed to be doll-like 19th century dressing with stiff corsets, flowery prints, stiff petticoat skirts, high frilled lace collars and bonnets - paired incongruously with kohl-lined gothic make-up! We also saw a grown man dressed as a baby - complete with baby bonnet and giant pacifier! The kids couldn't take their eyes off the guy asked me why the man was dressed like that. I said that some people just enjoy dressing up like that for fun. Lame, I know.

Owain was whining for McDonalds or sushi but there wasn't a sushi joint in sight. So we pushed on, followed our noses which led us up a flight of stairs to a teensy ramen joint, bar counter seating, vending machine for tickets and a queue that stretched halfway down the stairs with the locals so we figured must be good.

When we finally got a seat, we filled up 2/3 of the restaurant! The ramen was very good and came with an extra bowl of rice. We had to order extra bowls of noodles cos the kids loved the ramen so much. I think it was about 600-700yen a bowl (with the rice). But I think I was conscious that we could not take our time to eat leisurely as the queue was forming already outside the place. When we left, I practised my teensy bit of pidgin Japanese and to the choruses of "arigato-gozaimashite" from the cook and the helper, I said "Gochiso-sama deshita!" and it was good to see their looks of surprised pleasure!

We walked down Omotesando Blvd - the Orchard Rd of Tokyo but much much higher end. Saw Prada, Issey Miyake and all the big names. At one point, I remember KH lifting Owain onto his shoulders for a view. Because the street was a slope, we all turned back to look down the slope and my gosh - it was a just a huge sea, a constant wide rushing river of people that just kept coming and coming. Where do all these people come from? I had to keep reminding myself that Tokyo was a city of 16million.

On Omotesando you really see all kinds of people. Dogs dressed up in turtle neck sweaters. Goths. Lolitas. And a very weird old man on a bike dressed in a skirt, with a flowery hat and two fishbowls of live goldfish dangling from his ears or his hat or something like that.

We took the subway to Shinjuku and walked to the TMG - it was 4pm, almost sunset by then. The picture on the right is the Citizens Plaza. Up on the north tower, we could see the lights of Tokyo coming on, the neon of Shinjuku just starting to glow and the sun setting, Mt Fuji in silhouette. Far below was the vast expanse of green that was Yoyogi Park and a glimpse of the turquoise roofs of Meiji Jingu shrine. It struck me how much a concrete sprawl Tokyo was, how huge.

When we got down, we walked for a while in East Shinjuku checking out dinner options before settling on a kaiten sushi place. 105yen per plate for 'normal' sushi and 210 for the more expensive cuts. We were too big a group to sit together so we split up. The older kids sat together and KH and the younger kids and I took another space. With no one to 'control' how much they could take, the bigger kids went wild - plates of ikura, maguro etc piled up quickly. I tried some natto - ugh. For the first time in my life I actually left some sushi uneaten. I thought it was uni (sea urchin) but it wasn't. The smell was just too overpowering. I'd tried uni in Singapore and never had a problem so I think this was probably not uni but natto.

We went to the Alta building, famed for the big screen and where everyone seemed to be waiting for everyone else. Crowds of young people stood there on the chilly pavement, oblivious to the crowd and the cold, busy flipping open their mobile phones and texting away or playing games. After a while it was a case of too much neon, too tired kids and too cold! So we took a train back to Tokyo station. On a hunch after I checked the map, we took an escalator up and voila - the Tokyo International Forum - one of the most interesting architectural landmarks in Tokyo. The building, meant for conventions and meetings, was built like a glass ship - lots of steel and glass soaring upwards connected by sky bridges. It was beautiful, especially when lit at night.

So ends our first day in Tokyo.

Other little things that struck me today - how the Japanese religiously separated their trash. You'd never find a bin that one can just throw rubbish in. We found ourselves carrying bits of used tissue paper and accumulating them because we just could not find a bin to throw them in. Waste receptacles were clearly labelled: bottles, PET bottles, cans, newspapers/papers. Now why couldn't we do a similar thing in Singapore? Just using less plastic bags in Singapore already created so much resistance. And here in Japan, people were readily, automatically already separating their trash in public - don't even talk about how they do this at home!

Another thing that struck me - the keep left unspoken rule. On an escalator, everyone keeps left, leaving the right a clear path to move up. Back in Singapore I've seen this happen too, but not as religiously as in Japan. You could get a scolding from someone in a hurry if you did not keep left!

Also while walking in Takeshita Dori, I saw someone carrying a baby in an MIM sling! He saw me and we sort of nodded/smiled a bit - must be from the same neck of the woods!

And when we were at the very busy Shinjuku station, Trinity decided to lie facedown on the station floor to do the breaststroke. All attempts to lift her up were met with screams. So we decided it was best to just let her be. sigh. The Tokyoites just stepped around her and went on their way but not before casting curious looks - I don't think their kids behave like this in public. Come to think of it, I don't think their kids behave badly at all! I've never seen a Japanese kid scream or throw a fit in public. Nor have I seen Japanese parents stand and furiously tell their kids off, fingers wagging - as I have done.

More tomorrow!

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/chongbrood/Day2Tokyo