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.

Tsukiji - land of fish and swords

It was grey but very bright at 4.30am when I woke up.

The plan was to head to Tsukiji market, load up on the freshest sushi ever before continuing on the next leg of my solo adventure to Honke Bankkyu. That was the plan.


But it was raining – the cold drizzly rain that drips down your neck and makes you utterly miserable – and it was soooo tempting to just snuggle back under the covers. Plus unlike other hotels, the Villa Fontaine actually offered a decent Japanese breakfast buffet!


I alternated between the mental tug-of-war and actual sleep before I jumped up at 5am, deciding it was time to haul my lazy protesting butt out of bed and get some seafood. I’ve been to Japan twice before and never had the chance to visit Tsukiji. Third time, I was determined, had to be the charm.

The Princess was supposed to come with me but repeated calls to her room went unanswered. So off I went. I was pretty happy to go alone – liked the sense of liberty.

The Villa Fontaine is very well-placed for a visit to Tsukiji – arguably the largest and the most famous fish market in the world. It was either a 15-minute walk or a 3-minute ride via the subway from Shiodome. Had the weather been more obliging, I would have chosen to walk since I could see more stuff above ground than in a train. I would also have loved to cover the Hama Rikyu garden. But it was wet and chilly, so subway it would be!

I got an umbrella from the front desk, hopped down the escalator and voila – the subway was just there. That early in the morning, there were less than five people on the platform of the Shiodome station on the Ginza line. I was the only woman. In any other subway, in any other major city in the world, I would have thought twice about this. But this was Tokyo. About the only other place in the world as safe as this would be Singapore.

Once out of the train, you know immediately where you are from the unmistakeable smell of – fish!

I followed the stream of people to the entrance of the market. A notice on the walls clearly state the new rules: limited numbers of visitors to the tuna auction, no visitors in the market until after 9am. I was already too late for the tuna auction so that was okay, but the other new rule – meh! I chose to ignore it but decided to make a mental note to keep out of the way and to look unobtrusive. Here’s where looking Asian helped – I think!

First impressions – lots of lorries, refrigerator vans, motorised carts, puddles. The place was like an airplane hanger – huge. And that was just the entrance!

I made my way to the outer market – trial and error, skipping puddles and dodging vans and trucks. The outer market is a made up rows of shops back to back. Here were the food stalls and sundry stalls that sold everything and anything that had to do with Japanese food – seaweed, condiments, wasabi roots, pickles, rice, utensils, right down to some really cool t-shirts!

But all that could wait. I had to see the inner market first before all the action died down.

Let me say two things right up front – the inner market is well worth a visit even if you can’t make it to the tuna auction because all of God’s weird and wondrous undersea creations are here – you just have to guess what they are if you don’t know Japanese. Second, wear grungy shoes. The place is riddled with puddles and slippery cobblestones. The motorised cart derby guys do their best to avoid making you roadkill in the market but dodging them may mean jumping into the nearest icky puddle – unless you are very nimble. So you have been warned.


Clams as big as my face, abalone as thick as my fist, wriggly streams of eels, bulbous puffers, all sea creatures great and small, spiny and smooth, they are all there and – apparently – all edible and waiting to be served on someone’s dinner table! The stars of course, were the gigantic tuna and the men who cut, sawed, hacked and filleted them to precise requirements.

The kids would have loved the dangerous-looking metre-long swords, the industrial saws, the axes, wicked-looking hooks and all manner of iron that served to reduce the blood-red meat to more manageable proportions.

The tuna auctions long over, I saw the silver, frost-coated torpedoes lined up on floors, covered by sackcloth. These giant fish looked heavy but the workers just hooked them and flipped them over with ease.

All around, people were looking busy, talking on handphones, writing orders etc. I presume these are the smaller restauranteurs and retailers checking out the day's best buys. Some did look at me curiously but no one said anything about the fact that I should not be in the market before 9am. There were other tourists also wandering about so I was not alone in flouting this rule.



After seeing all that fish, I went back to the outer market in search of my sushi brekkie. You can't get sushi fresher than this, straight from the world's largest fish market!

I saw the line outside Sushi-Daiwa, one of the well-known sushi restaurants in Tsukiji. They had queue poles outside which already told me that the place is used to queues. Plus the line was stretching right around the block! People were queuing in the rain for goodness sake. Look, I love sushi, but I don't love it that much!

There were faded small mom-and-pop shops which sold noodles too and you can tell these were authentic with workers still in their wellies at the counter slurping away. But I was looking for sushi and finally found a warmly-lit welcoming tiny place. It wasn't until I sat down at the teensy sushi bar that I realised that the place was full of gaijin! Wrong place to be since this is likely to be less than authentic and catered more to gaijin tastes! But since I was in already, I sat down. The chef could speak English and he sang while he worked - all in the name of showmanship I guess!

I ordered the largest set which cost 3600yen. Came with all the usual suspects including my favourites - including those glistening vermillion spheres of ikura, a long, generous slice of anago, the lushly succulent pale pink otoro and the orange morsel of uni (sea urchin). The set also included miso soup with large prawns.


Next to me was an Irish girl and her British boyfriend. They were sushi virgins. The girl ordered by telling the chef that she'll have what I have! When her set came, she didn't know what to do with it so I told her about the different types of fishes on her platter, how to eat it etc. But it didn't do much good - they tore apart each piece of sushi to 'share' and all the best cuts were left either uneaten , nibbled at or worse, spat out - very gross! I don't know about the chef but I thought that was an appalling waste of food. They were not the only ones. As I left, I noticed other platters left with many pieces of sushi/fish left uneaten. What a waste of good fish!


I know travel is an experience and an experience in a sushi joint in Tsukiji would have counted as an 'experience' to be savoured too. But to me, travel also means preparing oneself for the experience and if sushi was really new to these guys, they would have been better off trying out the stuff at a kaitan-sushi joint first. Culturally, they would also have gotten more out of the experience had they read up a bit and tried out a bit of the baseline sushi (eg maguro, shake etc) before coming to Tsukiji and trying out all the more adventurous cuts. Call me a sushi snob, but I think the fish deserve better.

Brekkie over, I indulged in some retail therapy and ended up paying too much for two t-shirts at 4500yen a piece. The prints were really nice though, and I did not see them sold anywhere else. I know, I know - I am trying to console myself!

From Tsukiji, I headed back to the hotel to pack. I had a long and slightly complicated journey ahead of me to the Honke Bankyu ryokan in the remote area of Yunishigawa, up at Tochigi prefecture. More on that in the next post!

Day 7 Kanazawa

Bright and early we left the hotel for Kanazawa's, or indeed one of Japan's, star sights - Kenrokoen. This large sprawling garden is one of Japan's top 3 gardens. This early in the morning, Kenrokoen was free of crowds. The morning light also made photography a delight.



From the hotel, we took the Kanazawa Loop Bus. We'd bought the full-day pass (500yen per adult, half price for kids) which entitled us to hop on and off the Loop Bus as well as any other city bus. The Loop Bus is a quaint, gaily painted mini bus that takes visitors round to 19 attractions around Kanazawa, beginning and ending at the Kanazawa station. This early in the morning though, the Loop Bus hadn't even begun running yet, so we took a city bus, packed with locals and school-children beginning their day.


Just outside Kenrokoen, a voice coming over loud-hailers split the early morning calm. Elections! I don't know what office they are running for, perhaps a city council seat or municipal seat, but it was interesting to see this. Obviously we don't get much of this where I come from given all the walkovers by the PAP!

Trin had also gotten into an early morning tantrum so we left her at the bus-stop with KH to deal with her while the others and I walked ahead to get the tickets to the park. Between her ear-splitting screams of rage and the loud-hailers across the street, I think it was probably a tie.

Up the hill, we detoured to the bridge and plaza leading to Kanazawa castle's entrance. The weather was lovely with deep blue skies. The reds of Owain's and Gillian's jackets glowed in that kind of light. Here you can see the castle walls in the background. Unlike most castles, this was not built upwards but spread out in a low-rise configuration. We didn't go in because we were eager to visit Kenrokoen across the road.





To pacify a still-raging Trin, I let her touch the mossy ground and explained a bit about the moss and why it grew so abundantly here. Then we had some 'breakfast' at a teahouse near the entrance. They only had dango, balls of rice flour in various flavours, some with red bean fillings. Hot green tea was complimentary. Still, the kids liked the dango and it was gone in no time!


Our aim was to find the famous two-legged lantern in the garden's lake. The scene of the Kotoji-toro can be found on many a promo brochure on Kanazawa and Japan. We thought we'd have to walk a long way, but barely 30m from the tea house, there it was. One foot in the lake and the other perched on land, a reddening maple fanning out its branches above it.


To be honest, after all the hype, I was a bit disappointed to see it. I don't know what I was expecting, but the scene is not one of showy beauty but a restful one. As we stood around, taking pictures, it grew on me and I think it is a quietly beautiful scene, one that invites contemplation amidst all the admiration.

Isn't it pretty? I really like the colours, although I think the maples were not 100% at peak red yet. But there's just something about the mossy greens, the texture of stone and the red of the maples, the water and the sky that comes together so nicely. Below is another picture of that scene.

A nice Japanese gentleman offered to take a picture of us as a family on the stone bridge in front of the kotoji-toro. I don't know if he was a professional guide, but quite coincidentally, the group he was with had some Singaporeans there. They had gone to Nagoya for a conference and detoured to Kanazawa for a flying visit before leaving.

I don't know about you but whenever I meet Singaporeans while I'm overseas, I get a nice thrill of pleasure. It's so nice to hear a familiar accent and meet someone from the same tiny dot that I hail from. How small is the world anyway right? But back home, catch me in a traffic jam, a crowded MRT train, or any incident that brings out the usual 'lovable' Singaporean traits and I'd be scoffing and rolling my eyes away at my fellow Singaporeans. Love-hate relationship. That, or I am just borderline pyschotic.

We chatted with the Singaporeans briefly before going our separate ways. We saw another emblematic scene of Kanazawa - the Karasaki pines with their familiar umbrellas of rope to break the heavy snowfall and prevent damage to the centuries-old pines.

We saw workmen putting up the ropes over a cherry tree which had lost most of its leaves. We wondered why until we read the sign. The trees were a rare species of cherry which produces 300 petals per flower when in bloom in spring. Must be a lovely sight to behold!






Adjacent to the park is the entrance to a simple-looking two storey wooden villa built by the daimyo for his mother. Seisonkaku Villa was a retirement home for the daimyo's mother when she returned from Edo. Typical of Japanese design, it had wrap-around verandas which opened out pretty garden scenes. The admission fee was pricey at 700yen per adult but we went in anyway.



Seisonkaku was undergoing some restoration work but the lovely gardens could still be seen. Mossy ground, pines, a small stream, blushing maples, stone urns. Its so carefully put together but so pretty. As with major tourist attractions, Seisonkaku had stamps as well, so I gleefully stamped my little notebook!

Down the road from Kenrokoen is the very unusual and interesting 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. Its a circular building set amid grassy lawns. Here, you see the children sitting around - family meeting. There were other outdoor art installations scattered on the grounds. The kids had a lot of fun scampering on those. While Kenrokoen was a stately and beautiful park to stroll in, it was also nice for the kids to be able to run around freely and release some energy in the large lawns around the museum.


Inside the museum, it was equally interesting. Pity we didn't have much time to really linger and browse the exhibits. The kids got to 'drive' these interesting and colourful vehicles for a while at least. These 'vehicles' are actually art pieces by an Italian artist.




Caitlin was fascinated with the design of the sinks and so was I. It had two nozzles for soap and water and on the other side, a slot for hot air so it works as a hand-dryer as well. Minimises drip issues on the toilet floor.



Earth calling Mars?


Next stop was not Mars but Myoryuji, also known as Ninjadera, or the Ninja Temple.


Built on the south bank of the Asano river, in the Teramachi district which is full of temples, Myoryuji looks deceptively like any other temple there, a simple wooden building with small grounds. But go within and you'll discover that this temple is not like the others.


First a bit of background. Kanazawa was built in such a way that it is ringed by temples. The Teramachi district is just one of the outlying areas of Kanazawa that has several temples. In the past, while the daimyo or lord, could not build forts to protect his turf (it was deemed as aggressive and ambitious behavior that the shogun would not condone), the daimyo of Kanazawa decided to build a ring of temples instead. While these are really legit places of worship, they were also places where he could leave some soldiers or men, who could sound early warnings if the city was about to be invaded and pose the first line of defence.


However, Myoryuji is unique. It was constructed to defend and so within the innocuous wooden walls, is a warren of traps, cunning hidey-holes, hidden staircases, secret rooms and even a tunnel which was rumoured to go all the way to Kanazawa castle across the river. While no ninjas trained here, the place is called ninjadera because of the maze of tricks that were part of its construction. Incidentally though, the temple was never used in defence or in battle at all. The Maeda clan, who ruled Kanazawa for centuries, played a far shrewder game of political alliances and they were so good at it, the clan and the city was highly prosperous for many centuries, staying well within the shogun's favour.




It was quite a hike from the Loop Bus stop across the river to Myoryuji. Children below the age of 6 were not allowed to join the tour. Admission and tour cost about 800yen per adult. The tour is entirely in Japanese but we were given an excellent English language translation in a file, complete with numbered sights and photographs. Isaac, Cait and I went first while the rest went for lunch. I was fascinated with the place and I think the kids were too.


How the Japanese maximise space and utilise it is a real art. You see it in their homes today (tiny and compact but they manage). And apparently not a recent architectural skill either if you go by how Myoryuji was designed. It looks like a two-storey building from the outside. But inside, there are actually six levels! There's even a small windowless room for seppuku (suicide by ritual disembowellment) whose door once closed cannot be opened from the inside. Gruesome but the kids' eyes lit up!

The rest of the day was spent with a ramen lunch, visit to the Nagamachi district where old samurai houses still stand, the Oyama shrine where the first lord of the Maeda clan is enshrined and ending off with seafood shopping at Omicho market and then gorging ourselves silly on sushi and sashimi - to the point of gagging!



The old Nagamachi district is the former samurai quarter. The little lanes and the ochre walls surrounding the compounds still stand. We didn't really visit any house but stepped into one of the gardens for a look.

From there it was a short walk to the commercial Korinbo district and the Oyama shrine. Went the wrong way and ended up going in from the back entrance. But it was a good thing for it led us to the small wooded area and garden which had the look of being once cultivated but now forgotten and left uncared for, thus growing a bit wild. The kids loved the pond, the wooden plank bridges, the stepping stones. While horsing around, despite repeated warnings not to, the inevitable happened and Owain's jacket fell into the pond. KH was fuming mad.

Its been a long day but we still had one more stop - dinner! We took the Loop Bus down to Omicho market where the kids eyes goggled at the massive crabs and salivated over the juicy cuts of salmon and maguro and roe. We ended up buying and buying. And as if it were not enough, we returned to the supermarket at the train station and bought some more! I must have been mad. Or greedy. Likely both!

We ate our haul around the small table as we did the night before. I was hauling out tray after tray and it still seemed never-ending. Got to a point when even Gillian gave up on the minced negi-toro and I found myself, for the first time in my life, pushing myself to finish sushi. It was just too much. But gosh, it was dang good and if I ever had to die of a sushi overdose, this would have been a good time.

Party over, we cleared up and KH did the laundry, dropping Owain's jacket in the wash. Excellent washer and dryer. Everything worked well. Long day and we were really exhausted but it would be past midnight when I finally dropped into my comfy bed. Next: Kyoto!

Day 6 Shibu Onsen & Kanazawa

Manhole drain cover in Shibu Onsen. Cute huh?

It was very early morning when we woke up. I spent 20min luxuriating in the lovely outdoor bath before heading out to explore the neighbourhood and collect the 9 stamps of each bathhouse. Maybe because I had an empty stomach, or because of my high blood pressure but the 20min in the bath left me feeling slightly light-headed.

KH and the kids came with me. Isaac stayed in the room to enjoy his time in the bath alone.

In the early morning, Shibu Onsen was still very quiet. It was so cold we could see our breath misting the air when we spoke. Steam from the hot waters running from the pipes outside the bathhouses rose into the streets. We only saw shopkeepers opening up their shops for the day, school children going to school and the occasional tourist who took pictures of us in our yukatas and getas! Perhaps they thought we were really Japanese?

We walked around the narrow streets to visit the 9 bathhouses. Or at least, I did. The children retreated to the warmth of the ryokan after visiting the second bathhouse! It was just too cold!

We ventured in to see what a bathhousewas like. They all looked similar and after opening the first few bathhouses to have a look, we did not open the rest. To be honest, it looked a bit grotty and I would not want to take a bath in there. With Kokuya having 6 or more baths for its guests, you'd already have to stay submerged pretty much the whole day to experience all of them.



The big wooden plaque is attached to the key to the bathhouse. Guests of the ryokans use the bathhouse for free but have to bring the big key along. Had a lot of fun walking to each bath house to collect the different stamps.

Around the neighbourhood in the early morning, a fresh produce grocer. The hills surrounding the town were flecked with a light dusting of snow.

Almost next to Kokuya is the main bath with a temple just above it. The temple also has a hot spring footbath which anyone can use, free of charge. I can't read Japanese but would presume some of the kanji (chinese characters) have similar meaning. So I have to stress that I am GUESSING here. The tiny temple apparently, is the place to pray for good loving relationships for husband and wife. This stone carving, calcified by the minerals from the hot spring water trickling down on it for years, is of a man and his wife. Both KH and I touched the water trickling down and said a silent wish that we would be thus blessed as well.

Just outside the ryokan, hot spring water runs over a basket of eggs. These are known as onsen tamago and they are lovely half-boiled egges thanks to the heat of the water. Just drop 50yen into the box if you want one. The money goes towards community-building needs in Shibu Onsen. We were served onsen tamago as part of breakfast.

By the time we returned, we were famished. Cold really does something to the appetite. Breakfast is held in the same big dining hall. Everything was already nicely laid out by the time we came in. We had (from left clockwise): simmered tofu in vegetable broth, boiled salmon, salad, seaweed, onsen tamago served with a light soya broth, simmered veg, pickles and rice. After breakfast, in the midst of packing, the kids and KH found time to have one last soak in their tubs. KH and Owain are seen here soaking in the outdoor bath in my room, Sakura. The outdoor area shown here is part of the veranda in Ayame, the children's room. You can see the corner of the wooden tub. The kids liked hanging out here, some in the tub, some playing Monopoly Deal!




All too soon, it was time to go. When we went down to the lobby, our shoes were neatly arranged all ready for us.

The hotel arranged transport for us to Yudanaka station and everything was timed just right so that we did not have to wait long. It was just enough time to get to the station, buy our tickets and get on board.

This was a place we wish we could have stayed longer. Maybe two nghts in the area might have done it more justice. Seemed like a pity that we could not explore the area more, maybe gone up into the hills or into Shiga Kogen or even explored the temple at the top of the hill. What a memorable experience this has been!

The hostess, the staff at the ryokan all exemplified the excellent, quiet, understated service that Japan is renowned for. There was nothing sloppy in the service at all. For a day and a night, we were pampered and lived like royalty. This has been a great first ryokan experience. I just wonder if we would be so spoiled by this that nothing else might come close.

Here's a last look at the pastoral scenes around Yudanaka:

Back into the real world we hurtled on the Dentetsu train. We were headed for Nagano once again. We had some time to kill before catching our next train so we stocked up with drinks and food. We're beginning to get the hang of combini shopping. Owain has even learned how to scope out the stores for different types of soft candy and the mentaiko-onigiri gang has learned how to differentiate among the different onigiri packaging for the right mentaiko filling. We enjoy experimenting with different sort of drinks (different teas!) from the combini. On this trip, I bought a pretty-looking bottle of earl grey flavoured tea, but in general, the kids have settled on Ice Lemon Tea as their favourite - its the only tea with sugar or any flavouring in it! So if anyone asks if we did any shopping in Japan, I'd say yes - at the combinis in stations across Japan!

There was a McDonalds at the station and that, as far as Trin was concerned, is pretty much her staple diet for the trip. So we bought some nuggets and fries for the fussy one. While waiting, I noticed that McDonalds had these nifty little carrels for road warriors and their laptops. It was free wifi so all you had to do was plug your laptop to a LAN cable to the point provided and you could surf, perched on a tall stool and slurping your McFlurry. Power points were also provided for AC cables. The carrel was designed in such a way that there was even a small step where you can leave your bag or rest your legs. Now why can't McDonalds Singapore implement something like this? I like noticing little design details like this but KH thinks I am silly to take pictures of stuff like this.

Today was a day of travelling, just getting from point A to point B. We were headed for Kanazawa on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The train journey from Nagano entailed a change of train at Naoetsu but apart from that, it was a straight train journey which passed pretty valleys as the track hugged hillsides of cedar, past farms, small villages, distant mountain ranges and snow as the following pictures will show!

Our train with the wide windows for a panoramic view.

The first half of the train journey to Naoetsu was lovely. It was sunny and the skies were blue. Because it was a local train, it was not very crowded and we had pretty much almost the whole compartment to ourselves. The kids, Trinity especially, did not demand for much attention so I even had the luxury to jot a few notes into my journal, look at the passing scenery, snap a few shots.

The pretty scenery lasted until we reached Naoetsu. From Naoetsu to Kanazawa, the train hugged the coast at times but often veered inland and the scenery was one of industry, grey towns, rice fields, some unfinished construction, glimpses of gun-metal grey sea and the feel was generally gloomy. The rainy dark grey skies contributed to this and followed us all the way to Kanazawa.

We arrived at Kanazawa after dark. It was wet, rainy and very cold. Luckily, our hotel is just across the road from the station. I knew that it would have been aggravating to arrive late after a full day's travel and still have to take a bus, find our way around etc in the dark, so I deliberately chose a place which was very near the station and also near the bus-stop for the Loop Bus which would take us around the key sights of Kanazawa.

The Dormy Inn Kanazawa is a new hotel, just across from the station. It is classified as a business hotel but unlike most business hotels, the rooms are spacious. The generosity of space is a rarity in Japanese business hotels which are usually so small they only have room for a bed and barely anything else! In Dormy Inn, the rooms were very generously-sized.

We took two rooms - each had twin beds and a tatami mat seating area which allowed for two futons. Each room had a small entry-way or foyer with a sliding door before accessing the tatami-mat seating area. The hotel prided itself on being ecologically sound, so lights can be controlled by motion sensors, air fresheners use negative ions, soap and shampoo are biodegradable green-friendly.

On the right, Trin is watching sumo on the flat-screen TV in the room. This is the tatami mat area. The beds are in the foreground (see left picture).

In the interest of space-saving functionality, the fridge, sink, kettle etc are placed in a nook just at the entrance. The shower and toilet is behind the door on the left. Love Japanese showers - piping hot, solid good spray and hand-held shower heads which are useful for bathing small children. Rain showers and all may sound lovely and relaxing but parents of young children on holiday will know how important it is to have hand-held shower heads!

And while I am on the subject of toilets - I will say here that I have grown to be very fond of heated toilet seats. And the Japanese, bless them, have toilet seats that are heated so warm that I would sit on them even if I didn't have to go. This is not a luxury but a necessity when you live in a cold country like Japan. It is no fun making a midnight run to the loo and facing icy cold toilet seats. So those oh-so-warm toilet seats in Japan, they warm not just my bum but the very cockles of my heart!

I loved the fluffy duvets, the free internet connection in the room (LAN cable provided), the laundry room - very effective dryer! Some hotels, like the Chisun Hotel in Hiroshima, had lemons for dryers - more on that later, but the Dormy Inn dryer - fantastic. I believe either the washing machine or the dryer was free so it was not expensive to do laundry there. The Dormy Inn also had rooftop public baths for both men and women, but we did not use these. As with any business hotel (in fact, all hotels and ryokans in Japan except for hostels), they offered the full range of toiletries, down to slippers and night clothes! Even the kids had PJs. KH loved their lilac and grey PJs so much he swiped them.

We ended the night with a sushi feast in our room, bought from the supermarket in the JR station annex. Past 8.30pm and everything was at least 30 to 50% marked down! I asked for the maguro and salmon fish slabs to be sliced and for 100yen, they would slice, sit the fish nicely on ribbons of daikon, adorn it with a perilla leaf and flower, add shoyu and wasabi on the side. The chef took such great care you'd think he was creating art instead of a cheap sashimi platter that costs only 400yen! Well worth it. We bought an assortment of sushi, sashimi, ikura (salmon roe), negi toro (finely minced tuna belly with spring onions) and others. What a great feast we had that night, chopsticks reaching for fresh yummy fish over the small round table!

I looked out over the Kanazawa skyline and lightning flashed in the distance. Rain spattered against the window but inside, we were safe, warm, dry and full. My children were chattering away watching Japanese cartoons, Japanese dramas and Japanese game shows, comfortable in that element. TV was TV - never mind the language. So far they look like they have been enjoying the trip. I guess if I were to be honest, it does not matter to them - if its Thursday its Kanazawa (or Kyoto) - they lose track of time and place but they have each other and KH and I and I suppose, that's what matters to them, even if they don't know it.