Akihibara

After the Sky Tree I make my way to the Akihibara district which is the home of the original Otaku (obsessive fan, often creepy, of manga and anime). This place is famous for discount electronic stores and maid cafes where patrons are waited on by subservient maids in traditional uniforms.

This is also the home base for AKB48, Japan's most popular music group. The band is actually some weird kind of collective with over 90 members. All cute girls in skimpy outfits. Apparently one member may even be a composite computer program. With over 90 members they are always releasing singles and performing so they have been able to retain dominance of the pop charts for the last 2 years.

There is a massive fan base for the group (as much male as female, maybe more male). People can vote for who they want to sing lead or which sub group of the band (yes, there are subgroups) they want to release the next single. Who needs actual politics when your favorite pop group already operates like a small country.

Anyway Akihibara is pretty seedy and I'm not finding anything of interest. Plus there's a 6 story tall poster of Celine Dion on one of the buildings so I need to get out of here as soon as possible.

Dipping Ramen

Another bonus to going to the Sky Tree first thing in the morning is that if you come back down for 10:30 you'll be there just in time for the opening of the food court and that means you can get an immediate seat at Rokurinsha, Tokyo's most popular Tsukemen Ramen joint.

Popularized by Rokurinsha, Tsukemen Ramen noodles are served separate from the thick broth. You dip your noodles into the broth and soak it up at your leisure. Often the wait here could be 2-3 hours.

This is yet another triumph and it blows away the Miso Ramen from the previous evening. The broth has a nice kick but it's the thick chewy noodles that really stand out. I'm happy for having ordered extra noodles and the Ajitama sweet egg but it is way too much food.

If, at the end, you still have a little of the thick broth left you can ask for some extra thinner broth which makes the remainder into a tasty soup. This is also more to eat but you just can't let any of it go.

After lunch I wander through the Solemachi Mall. Not much to write home about but I do see the store called Rodeo Crowns. Their logo is a lasso and a crown. Nice going Japan, way to embrace the inability to pronounce the letter l.

I also pick up some banana chocolate cream cakes from Tokyo Banana Tree. They look too silly not to buy and judging from the lineup they are pretty popular.

Tokyo Sky Tree

I'm up pretty early this morning and I hit the road at 730 in order to be one of the first people to go to the top of the Tokyo Sky Tree today.

Located just a little outside central Tokyo, the Sky Tree is now the tallest freestanding tower in the world. The Burj al Khalifa in Dubai is even taller still but it's a building and doesn't count on the list of towers. To me this is a little semantic trickery in order to claim a "tallest in the world" status. Still it's an impressive structure and I'm looking forward to this. I was warned by people who had visited yesterday that the wait in the later part of the day could be hours and that it was better to show up at 8 AM. They were right.

I was rushed immediately into the elevator waiting area (which is all black in order to heighten the dramatic tension) and the up to the main deck at 350 meters. From here the 360 degree views of Tokyo and Mount Fuji are spectacular. I'm not done yet though. I now have to line up for another ten minutes to buy a 1000Y ticket to go to the 450 metre level (the first deck costs 2000Y).

Once at 450 meters, a winding path takes you around the top of the tower and provides you with the most spectacular views of all. The perspective from here is a unique experience and unlike in Toronto the denseness of Tokyo provides endless amazing things to look at.

Collision of Collectives

The Design Festa Gallery is located in the middle of Harajuku and is a less pretentious oasis of cool in an otherwise too hip to live area.

I've come because Rupert Bottenberg from our group is holding an En Masse collaborative project where some of the Canadian artists from our group and other Tokyo based artists are working on a series of canvases. Everyone is supposed to take a graffiti approach to the work and fill as much as they want of one of the four canvases set up in the small room that Rupert has reserved for three days of work.

When I arrive a number of local artists (some Japanese, other expats) are working and the canvases are a little more than half filled. Three of the Canadian girls traveling with us, Kim, Wai and Julie, who release their own manga as part of the Love Love Hill collective, have already done some work on the canvases and will come back later in order to help complete the canvas.

It's nice to spend some time observing the creative process. As a non creative type it's fun watching the artists bring their imaginations to life.

I will revisit the gallery again tomorrow to see the paintings when they are finished. I'm sort of an unofficial photographer or the group (what with my new camera) so I want to record as much of the process as possible. (Photos to be posted later as they are all on my digital camera.)

After leaving the Design Gallery I walked down Omote-Sando as the dusk turned to night. This was an ideal time to take photos of the really incredible buildings and stores that line the street. Buildings like Prada, Tod's, and Dior all provide unique sights that make this the new street to shop on.

(Pictures to come later)

I got a call from Chris telling me that a bunch of people had gone to the Nakano Broadway store to shop so I headed over to meet them. Nakano Broadway, just West of Shinjuku, is an old mall (seems like it was built in the 60s) which has been divided into small stores each catering to a particular interest in anime or manga. Fan of old classic manga from the 50s? There's a mini store for you. Looking for a rare animation cell from our favorite movie? Another store. And so on. It can be vey confusing but I focus on a store that actually appears to carry some North. American and European comics.

After spending some time in the shops I meet up with the group at a local Indian restaurant. They've already eaten and I can't justify not eating Japanese at any point during this trip. Still I do try some of the Naan as well as some of the leftover curry. It's pretty good.

Instead, I head over to the Takadanobaba area for some Miso Ramen. I vaguely know where the restaurant I'm looking for (Sapporo Junren) is. When I suddenly encounter a line up of salarymen lined up at a small counter restaurant I know I've reached the place.

The miso ramen is more oily than I'm used to and the pork that I've ordered is a little too fatty but the salty miso flavor is very good and the noodles are excellent. As this is a reasonably well known Ramen restaurant the people around me are all experienced Ramen eaters and they are slurping up a storm. The more noise they make while eating is actually a good thing. Unfortunately the guy next to me seems to think that this is a competition. Oh we'll, when in Tokyo. Anyway I do my best to keep up.

On my way back to the JR station I take some photos of two large Tezuka murals done to commemorate the fact that Astro Boy (Japan's greatest hero) was created (in the comics) in Takadanobaba.

Wandering through Tokyo

After my fried fish lunch I found myself only steps away from the Ginza shopping district so I decided to walk around and browse through some of the more interesting stores.

Uniqlo is one of Japan's best known chains. A wildly colorful and affordable assortment of casual clothes. Their 12 story flagship store is well designed with excellent views from the top floor. The 11th floor has an amazing collection of T-shirts by some of Japan's best known anime and manga artists and tie in to recent films as well like the new Evangelion movie (giant robots and the end of the world) that happens to be opening this week.

Unfortunately I can't even get what passes for the largest size in Japan (XL) onto my arms let alone over my head so no dice here. They do however have excellent socks and I picked up more than a few pairs over the course of this trip.

I then wandered through the Ginza version of Abercrombie and Fitch which was bizarre. Everything was darkly lit and almost all surfaces were Onyx black except for the lit floor. Heavy perfume wafted through the air and there was heavy pulsing club music. Apparently all of their stores are like this but I just can't believe that they're all this insane.

After Ginza I headed over to revisit the Meiji Jingu shrine near Harajuku. This is one of the most important shrines in all of Japan. It's a magnificent structure hidden in the middle of a heavily forested park. It can only be accessed by walking about 1 KM down a wide tree covered path through the forest. Along the way passing through a number of towering wooden gates (tori as they are known here). The longer journey makes it feel like a solemn pilgrimage. When you approach the Buddha you traditionally throw a coin, bow your head and clap twice (at least that what most people are doing).

After leaving the shrine and park I make my way down Takeshita Dori the famous pedestrian street through the hip and trendy Harajuku district. This is where all the cool kids come to hang out and set fashion trends. It's a little too young for my taste but it's always fun to walk around.

Search for scarce lunch

So there's this restaurant that's only open for lunch at Noon on Wednesday. They only have one dish available for 1000Y ($12.50 Can) and they only make dishes for the first 10 people. Everyone else is out of luck. Sounds like a successful model for a business. The restaurant, Budohya, was mentioned on a blog I was using to plan my eating strategies and the set meal looked amazing. It was a mini kaiseki plate with nine small appetizers and one main dish. I had to at least make an attempt at finding this place.

Using Google Maps I was able to pinpoint the precise location of the restaurant as well as the route to it from Shinbashi Station.

I took the JR line from Ikebukuro to Shinbashi. The JR Yamanote line is a circle around Tokyo and Shinbashi is almost exactly opposite Ikebukuro on the other side of the circle making my initial directional choice a coin toss.

I may have underestimated the amount of time this was going to take since it appeared that I wouldn't get to the restaurant any sooner than 1130. It was very likely that there would already be a line up and since there were only 10 meals served my odds were getting worse by the second.

Upon arrival at Shinbashi Station I high-tailed it through the correct exit and using the street map made my way as quickly as possible to Budohya. Fortunately my navigation skills were operating at full strength and I instinctively knew which way to go. Minutes later I found myself in front of Budohya and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that there wasn't even a line at all.

Wait, no line at all? That doesn't sound right for something this exclusive. A woman walking by helpfully translates the sign out front that says that the restaurant is closed. D'oh. With total weekly sales of $125.00 CAN per week how could they possibly have failed?(actually, the restaurant is only closed this week. It looks like it will continue to operate in a Brigadoon like manner for the foreseeable future).

Oh well, nothing I could have done about that. Fortunately my quest for scarce lunch has not yet come to an unsuccessful premature end. I do have a backup plan. There is a restaurant called Matsuya that only serves 60 plates of deep fried Aji (horse mackerel) per day. It usually sells out within an hour of opening and there is always a line-up.

When I was running late on the Yamanote Line I began to consider the possibility that I would miss out on Budohya and that I should see where else I might go. I looked at my google map printout for Matsuwa and noted that it was a two minute walk from Kyobashi Station and that that was only two stops away on the Ginza line from my current location.

Wasting no time at Budohya I raced back to find the Shinbashi entrance for the Ginza Line. Unfortunately this turned out to be frustratingly difficult since signage was poor and I lost five valuable minutes flailing about.

Upon reaching Kyobashi Station, I headed right for the correct exit. When I made it to the street I glanced around quickly. I spotted a line of people waiting outside a small restaurant and immediately headed over to join them.

This was the right place but had I made it in time? There were about 20 people between me and the door but the line continued down some stairs and since the restaurant had opened at 1130, they had already served their first batch of fish. The people around me didn't know if we'd made it either.

About 10 minutes later someone from the restaurant came out with a clipboard and began counting off the people in the line. This was it. Would I make it under the 60 fish threshold?

No, I would not.

However, today must have been a good day for catching fish since it turned out that they had 70 fish available and at number 65 I was safely within the limit. Sugoi!!!!

I end up waiting for about 40 minutes in line where I spend time talking to the two women standing behind me who are interested in hearing about my trip so far.

Ajj is a pretty rare and expensive fish. These guys get their fish directly from fishermen in the Matsuwa area bypassing the Tsukiji Fish Market entirely.

The fish was lightly fried and still had a light and fluffy texture. It was excellent. The proper way to eat the fish is to pour soya sauce over the provided shredded daikon and then put the soya soaked daikon on the fish (most people just use Worcestershire Sauce on their Aji.

As with the eel, the Aji bones are also deep fried and served alongside the fish as a sort of salty cracker.

The meal comes with the usual rice, Oshinko and a clear, fish based Osuimono soup. There is also a couple of cubes of Tofu as an appetizer.

The meal is yet another success in Japan and a triumph for strategic planning (and backup plan having). I could have been a great military commander (provided of course, that my military objective was finding delicious meals for the troops).

The Gaijin That Ate Tokyo

Well, more like the Gaijin that ate in Tokyo but the other title has a more devouring sound to it.

I had already spent a day and a half in Tokyo but had yet to visit any of my researched spots. I've got a lot of ground to cover so let's get started.

On my first morning back in Tokyo I was up pretty early at around 7 AM. I found Rupert Bottenberg, an artist and writer from Montreal, downstairs and we decided to head back to the same place Rupert had gone the previous day.

I have no idea what the restaurant's name was. It's just one of hundreds of tiny eateries that dot the streets of Ikebukuro. Many of these restaurants serve Ramen but this one's specialty appears to be Donburi (bowls of rice with assorted toppings).

Like all of these restaurants, a ticket machine can be found at the entrance. You place your entire order by punching the buttons for the dish and toppings you want. Sometimes there are pictures but often it's just in Japanese. You then give the tickets to the hostess and she brings you your meal.

Rupert and I both ordered the Tonkatsu Donburi, a fried pork cutlet cut up on rice and covered with a fried egg. The egg acts as a binding agent and helps make a nice gooey mixture. There's already a good soya flavor so I don't need to add anything.If I want, there are jars with 2 kinds of pickles (unlimited Oshinko, Sugoi!!!!).

From the first bite I'm totally blown away by how delicious this is. Why would you ever want to have anything else for breakfast? (Although I suppose the desire to live another few months is a good enough reason not to have this every day).

After breakfast we go our separate ways. I walk a few minutes to Sunshine City where I head up to the 60th floor observation deck. From here you get a decent view of Tokyo but the sun is already pretty bright at 10 AM so the light is too strong to get a lot of good camera shots. Still it's a good way to get the lay of the land.

Trip back to Tokyo

Having purchased my puzzle boxes I begin my slow retreat from Hakone.

First I walk along the shore of Lake Ashi from Hakone-Machi to Moto-Hakone. The route takes you along a path lined with ancient cedars that used to delineate the Old Tokaido roadway. A few more spectacular views of Mt. Fuji are available when you reach Moto Hakone.

From Moto Hakone I pick up a K Bus which will take the local road (instead of the faster but virtually parallel toll road) back to Hakone Yumoto. I'm doing this because I want to make two more stops.

The first is Amazake Chaya, a centuries old tea house on the old Highway. This was a rest stop for pilgrims between Edo and Kyoto. The house specialty is a fermented rice beverage called Amazake. You can order it with some mochi (rice ball snacks). It's really good. The rice beverage tastes like a sweet porridge (slightly thinner texture than a congee) and is just right for what is turning into a pretty cold day. The mochi are covered with a sugary powder and are very filling. This is perfect since I skipped lunch when I was at the box maker's.

I have exactly 30 minutes to eat and run before the next bus shows up. My second stop is another well known outdoor Onsen, Tenzan. This one is highly recommended by all the guides and I will admit that it has a very atmospheric location and luxurious atmosphere. It's more like a full spa.

Three other people get of the bus with me. Two sisters and a brother from France who are all currently living in different places in the world. When I first heard the brother speaking English in the bus I was sure that he was German but it turns out that this is because he had been living in Suttgart for 5 years.

Tenzan was really nice but unfortunately it's also full of European and North American tourists, So it doesn't feel as authentically Japanese as the Onsen I visited on the previous night.

It's also dark out now and the outdoor baths are somewhat difficult to navigate.

The variety of temperatures is more impressive here though. There is one pool that is just too hot to immerse one's self into. Even some of the Japanese bathers were wincing in pain at the extreme heat. Fortunately there was a luke warm (in comparison) pool where I was able to camp out for a little while.

I stayed only about 1 hr because I knew I needed to catch the 657 bus back to Hakone Yumoto where I caught a local train back to Odawara and then an Express train back to Shinjuku arriving back jn Tokyo at around 915.

I still hadn't had much to eat so I found a Tempura restaurant, Tsunebachi, in the Lonely Planet and, using their map, I headed over to where I thought it might be.

When I reached the corner indicated on the map I looked around hoping to find something that would indicate where I should be looking. As I spotted a familiar looking storefront I had the strangest feeling that I'd done all this before. I can't be 100% certain but I'm pretty sure my brother and I came to this restaurant 8 years ago. We tended to rely on the Lonely Planet back then as well. Maybe he can confirm it for me.

The best part of eating at an actual Tempura restaurant is that the Chef makes each piece of tempura one (or maybe two) at a time. This means that the tempura never has time to get cold and soggy which is usually the case back home.

The Tempura Shrimps are the tenderest I can recall having. I had ordered the middle sized set and it came with a number of other seafood pieces including squid, clam and a piece of fish as well as some perfectly cooked vegetables. You would dip the tempura into the standard tempura sauce and then use some additional salt to add to the taste. There were three kinds of salt. Sea salt, wasabi salt and seaweed salt. All were really good but I was thirsty all night as a result.

I finally made it back to Sakura Hotel just shy of 11 PM. Some of our group were gong to head out for drinks but all we ended up doing was wandering around the sleazier section of Ikebukuro before heading back for a beer at the hotel cafe.

Puzzled in Hakone

Leaving the museum at around noon, I needed to make my way to Hakone-Machi, the same town the boat had let me off in yesterday.

The direct bus line to Hakone-Machi was 7 minutes walk but much of that was up a steep hill. Waiting at the bus stop was a nice relaxing moment and it felt like I was really in the Japanese countryside and not part of a popular tourism pilgrimage.

Upon arriving in Hakone-Machi I made an immediate beeline for Izumiya, a store which I had spotted yesterday and which was already on my list of must dos because of their specialty in Japanese Puzzle boxes.

I have been a fan of Puzzle Boxes ever since my parents bought me one at Disney World. You know the kind of box I mean? It doesn't have any visible means of opening but you can often find a hidden sliding panel which unlocks another piece and eventually, depending on the complexity of the box, you can remove the lid revealing a secret compartment.

In 2000, when I was at the World Puzzle Championship we were taken to a display of Puzzle Boxes but these were very unlike the ones I had been used to. Mostly crafted by Japanese Designers working with traditional Japanese Yosegi design, these were challenging puzzles with very unconventional solutions. Magnets and hidden complex locking mechanisms were a regular part of these new boxes. These boxes are often called trick boxes.

Needless to say I was blown away by the elegance of these pieces. I thought of hunting these down when I was in Japan in 2004 but never did. Instead I settled for buying a simple 4 move box that I found at a flea market.

Now that I was actually in Hakone, the region famous for its Yosegi and puzzle boxes I was going to fulfill a life long goal of buying something unique.

Izumiya was one of the best stores around and their stock did not disappoint.

I spent two hours with the store owner trying a wide assortment of trick boxes. Some I was able to solve. Other left me completely flummoxed.

In the end I honed in on the two trick boxes that impressed me the most. The first is a rectangular box with a carved image of a tree on the top face. It has a very difficult but utterly elegant solution. I didn't figure it out myself and I don't think many of you will either though you are welcome to try.

The second box is a square box with a heart design in the removable lid and a clover design under the lid.

This is a much easier box to open although the solution is even more elegant than the first one

In the end I loved both boxes so much that I got them both (even though the square box was way more expensive than I thought). Perhaps I'll tell you how much I spent if you can solve the harder of the two boxes.

The Hottest Spot for Tourists in Hakone

If you're looking for a place to bring the family in Hakone then the hottest spot is the Hakone Open Air Museum. Perched on the side of a mountain this funky place is the inspiration of noted urine based art collector Pissye Miyake.

This place has everything. Rocks, crystal, human daisies, a star dungeon. Your kids can play in a life size replica of an LSD trip. There's even a koi dinner bath. What's that? That's when you take a bath in a pond and the mutant koi that live there eat you for dinner.

(h/t to Bill Hader and Saturday Night Live for those last two paragraphs)

But seriously, this place really was amazing. Fantastic sculptures in a unique setting. The guidebooks were not wrong. The autumn colors lent a added element of beauty to the location.

What got me the most about this place was its playfulness. I wasn't kidding about a place to bring the kids. If I had been here as a child it would have been my favorite spot in the world.

A number of works of art have been designed for kids to play in (adults can only watch). This includes a 20 foot high gigantic crystalline structure where kids can crawl from cube to cube and a gigantic multi colored cargo net that kids can climb on. Everyone can enjoy the hidden koi pond, a sunken stone maze and a foot bath. You can see why I would like it. There's even a small Picasso museum on site although that is not nearly as interesting as the outdoor sculptures.

I took the same railway as yesterday to get back up to the museum and spent about two hours here. Time definitely well spent.

Morning in Hakone

Surprisingly, I manage to get around 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep despite the unfamiliarity of the hard futon.

When I wake up I decide to take a quick dip in the hotel bath (photo repeated here from previous post).

My breakfast is served in my room at precisely 8 AM as requested. It's much smaller than the dinner but is only half the price 1000Y.

It consists of a number of small side dishes made of mushrooms, seaweed, radish, daikon and two of the biggest, sweetest red beans I've ever tasted.

There is also a miso soup and a cold egg soba.

The main dish is a grilled Aji (horse mackerel) for which I am given some dried seaweed in which to wrap it. I also get an umeboshi which is the traditional super sour fruit that is a staple of Japanese breakfast. It's basically a plum put that has been fermenting forever.

Delicious breakfast done I check out from the Ryokan and catch the bus back down to Hakone Yumoto to begin my second day in the area.

Onsen Visit

You'd think I was done for the day. What with all the running around, surely I had nothing left in the tank. Besides I'm in a 100 year old Japanese Inn, what's there to do?

Well of course there's always an Onsen.

The main draw of the Hakone region are the many hot springs bubbling under the surface of this still volcanically active landscape.

Onsen are traditional bathhouses where members of the community would go at the end of the day to get cleaned up from work and to relax. Everyone in town uses the same Onsen (although they are divided between men and women) and this fosters a sense of community.

Here there are many Onsen to choose from but fortunately, the Ryokan has a free pass for a very nice Onsen just around the corner.

The staff at the Ryokan suggest I wear traditional wooden clogs to walk to the Onsen. I remember these clogs as being particularly uncomfortable to walk in but since the Onsen is so close by I don't refuse.

The Onsen is only two minutes away but it is up a steep hill which is made all the more challenging by the clogs.

When I arrive, I remove my clogs and place them in a locker. I give the key to the locker to the attendant and he gives me another key to a locker in the locker room. It's all very complicated, of course.

In the locker room it's much more straightforward, just take off all of your clothes. That's right, Onsen are separated by sex for the obvious reason that everyone using an Onsen is naked.

Once you've stripped down you are required to follow a series of steps before actually getting into one of the baths. You must thoroughly clean yourself with soap and shampoo. One wall of the first room you enter has a number of stools on the ground in front of a low level series of shower heads.

You sit on the stool and use the shower head to cleanse yourself (or buckets of water, whichever you prefer). This should not be a short shower. You need to be as thorough as possible. Only once you have been fully scrubbed clean can you enter one of the baths.

The first one is in the same room as the showers. It's a large wooden tub that could fit ten to fifteen people although there are only a couple of people in it now. I'm definitely the only gaijin here which makes me stand out a lot more than simply being naked.

The water is very hot and very relaxing. The ritual includes the use of a small towel which you probably used while scrubbing down. The towel is not permitted to touch the water but you are allowed to put it on your forehead where it helps cool you down as your body temperature gradually heats up.

This first rubbish actually pretty hot so I decide to try another one. This takes me outside the shower room into the outdoor part of the Onsen. Here there are four separate pools of varying temperature. There are privacy fences surrounding the bathing area but there is no roof. All that is overhead is the starry night sky. A cool breeze floats though the air (this is November and we are in the mountains) and helps reduce your heat level temporarily. It's a nice contrast to the soaking.

In this main area there are about 10 more bathers. A father with two small children, a handful of men in their fifties and sixties and a group of younger men in their twenties (or thereabouts, it's not like I have any way of gauging people's ages).

For the next 45 minutes I go from bath to bath sometimes pausing to stand out in the cold air for a minute or two. It's an incredibly cleansing experience. Probably similar to using a spa back home (which I have never bothered with although I can certainly sympathize now).

Now fully relaxed and cleansed I return to the Ryokan being careful not to fall as I descend the steep hill in my clumsy clogs.

This has truly been an excellent day full of memorable experiences. This is what I came to Japan for and fortunately things are working out.

(The last photo is of the bath at my Ryokan. It provides a small scale version of a larger Onsen experience)

It was always going to end this way

Ryokan Stay

Another reason to come to Hakone is for the opportunity to spend a night in a traditional Japanese Ryokan.

Ryokans are traditional inns that have been popular for centuries all over Japan. Travelers stay in private Tatami mat rooms and are usually served dinner and breakfast in their rooms. In an Onsen town (a town with numerous hot springs) a ryokan will probably have a small bath that feeds directly off the hot spring.

The first thing you need to understand is that ryokans are often pretty old so you have to be prepared that this will not be a modern environment. Think of it as stepping backward into the past as if you were a traveller making a pilgrimage from Kyoto to Tokyo. In fact O-Miya Ryokan is located on the old Tokaido Road which was the primary route by which people went to Tokyo (or Edo, as it was then known).

When you arrive at the front door you step into a small entrance room where you are required to remove your shoes and place them into a cabinet. Slippers are waiting nearby and you should wear these at all times when you are walking around the Ryokan (but outside your room).

The owner takes me upstairs to my room. Behind the front door is a little antechamber with a step up. This is where I leave my slippers behind wearing any foot covering (except socks) on a Tatami mat floor is a no-no. A sliding paper screen door opens up to reveal the room itself. A futon is on one side of the room. This is much flatter than the futons we are used to in North America. I remember it not being the most comfortable sleeping arrangement. In the middle of the room is a low table where I will be eating my meals. One wall is made up of more paper screens which are actually covering up the outer windows. This adds to the effect of feeling like you're in another century.

Dinner will be served at 6PM. Last week I had emailed them in order to let them know that I would be eating dinner there. I don't get to pick a meal but I'm confident that I will be happy with what the chefs bring me.

When my brother and I visited Japan we had the opportunity to take three meals in this style and they were all unforgettable experiences. I was looking forward to adding a fourth.

Just before six, the server arrived with my dinner. On a tray set before me was an assortment of small dishes. There was incredibly fresh salmon and tuna sashimi. A plate with a piece of ham, cucumber and fish cake, each with their own flavored garnish. These were unique flavors that I couldn't quite place, one seemed like fermented beans and one used a mustard base. In the end all were superb. There was a cold seaweed salad with fresh mackerel and octopus. A small covered cup contained a seafood egg custard. There was a piece of smoked whitefish on another plate. Finally there was a big hot pot containing seafood udon. The server set the hot pot alight and the udon began to cook.

A giant Bowl of rice was off to the side. After around ten minutes, the server returned with a plate of shrimp and vegetable tempura and a dessert Bowen featuring four simple pieces of fruit including a slice of grapefruit, a frozen leechee nut and a black grape.

Getting hungry again just thinking about it.

But wait, there's more. Would you like me to continue.

The clouds aren't the only thing there 25KM away. If you look more closely you'll see that they are obscuring a mountain, or more precisely they are obscuring The Mountain.

Yes, Owakudani is also one of the better vantage points for getting a largely unobstructed view of Japan's legendary Mt. Fuji.

Unfortunately this small group of clouds is deciding to taunt me by remaining ever so stubbornly in front of the mountain. Fortunately it's incredibly windy out here so it's only a matter of time before Fujj is exposed in all its glory.

I and a number of other tourists wait patiently and eventually are rewarded with a full view of the conical shaped top of the mountain. Truly a breathtaking sight and, as annoying as the clouds were, it made the eventual reveal of Fuji even more dramatic.

After taking a few more photos (probably a few too many). I walked around the nature trail up to the volcanic hot spring where they were selling the famous Owkudani black eggs. These eggs are boiled in the sulfur of the hot springs which turn their shells black. Eating an egg is supposed to extend your life by a year. I don't know whether eating 5 would extend your life by 5 years but I can say with some certainty that eating 30 of these eggs will probably go some distance to shortening it.

They sell them at 5 eggs for 500Y (about $6 Can) but I only want one. I attempt to buy one off another tourist. I'll pay 200Y for just one. It's a win win.

Of course the Japanese couple I ask end up giving me the egg for free and refusing all of my attempts to pay for it. (I really did try to pay).

The egg tastes like a typical hard boiled egg. You can't really taste the sulfur. The shell is black but it's also got a deep purplish color with a few shiny areas. It kind of looks like something in space.

My work done here at the top I set about getting to the bottom of things, literally.

First I get back on a different ropeway which I take down to lake Ashi. There I catch a pirate ship with only a minute to spare and cross The lake to Moto Hakone. There I catch an express bus all the way to Hakone Yumoto and finally I catch a local bus to my ryokan O-Miya arriving just shy of 5 PM.

Multi-vehicle transit

Upon re-arrival in Hakone Yumoto Station I immediately switch from the local train to the Hakone Tozan Train which commences its 45 minute ascent of the mountain via a route of switchbacks offering passengers increasingly amazing views of the surrounding countryside. As we gain altitude the colors of the surrounding foliage changes from solid green to the multi-hued riot of colors that is a familiar sight to all Canadians.

The train makes a number of stops as it climbs. One of the stops features the Hakone Open Air Museum. A globally renowned collection of outdoor sculptures from the likes of Rodin, Picasso, etc... . The museum is set outside on multiple acres on the side of the mountain and is considered one of the most dramatic places in the world to see art. I decide to give this a pass even though it does sound intriguing. I don't have enough time today, maybe tomorrow.

The train arrives at Gora and virtually all of the passengers immediately get in line for the Gora to Souzan cable car (basically another train car on a rope cable that gets pulled up a incline for a kilometer or two. Finally once we reach Souzan we switch one more time to a ropeway gondola that hoists us up over the ridge to Owakudani, the valley of the boiling hells.

Owakudani is famous for its sulfuric hot spring and its spectacular view. Unfortunately when I arrive all I can see is a large formation of clouds some 25 KM in the distance. Is that all there is?

A light lunch

I arrived in Hakone Yumoto just shy of 11AM. At this point I was faced with several options. I could a) take a bus 5 minutes to my Ryokan to see if I can drop my bag; b) continue on up the mountain on the switch back railroad; or, c) backtrack two stops on the local train and hunt for a locally famous non touristy restaurant that specializes in eel. Do I really need to tell you which option I chose?

I'd found out about Tomoei while searching for restaurants in the Hakone region. It ended up near the top on the Trip Advisor list and is apparently one of Japan's best Unagi (eel) specialists.

In Japan most restaurants specialize in one type of cuisine and the eel specialist is one of the more revered.

I had left my directions to Tomoei back in Tokyo but helpful railway staff had pointed me to Kazamatsuri Station and given me the correct direction to walk in. One of the women asked me if I had reservations and indicated that there could be a wait. Since it was very close to their 11AM opening time, I was hopeful that I wouldn't need one.

Five minutes later I walked into what I hoped was the right place (I really can't read any of the signs and there is no English anywhere). It was, and they seemed surprised but pleased to see a walk-in tourist.

The tables in front were all full so I was offered space in a Tatami Mat room which I understood was to be shared. Shoes off, I clambered into the room and seated myself in a cross legged position (no space beneath the table for your legs here).

No need to figure out the all Japanese, picture free menu. The hostess helpfully suggested the regular dish of choice, Unyaju Don which is eel on rice served with pickles and a soup. The cost of this lunch would be 40$ Can but I didn't balk, I knew what I was getting into when I sought this place out.

On arrival I was given some green tea (matcha style, I think) in a cedar wood tea pot that looked ancient.

Next came the best appetizer ever, deep fried salted eel bones. Tiny and crunchy. Just what you'd expect. I'm only sorry this probably isn't available in every convenience store. Wait, this is Japan. It probably is.

The rest of the meal arrives at the same time. A plate of Oshinko (pickled vegetables), a staple of all meals, an Osuimono Soup (a clear broth) and a covered lacquer box containing the precious eel lightly grilled and covered in eel sauce.

Now I'm sure many of you have been thinking "Eel? That sounds gross". But seriously, take a look at that picture. How can anything that delicious looking be considered gross. Uniquely textured and lacking any strong fishy taste, eel should be everyone's favorite Japanese food. It isn't even served raw (which should pacify all those anti-sushi people out there).

I waste no time devouring my eel lunch. It's so good I ignore the pepper option (a green colored powder) and just go with the lightly flavored sauce that had already been applied.

The soup turns out to be Eel Liver Osuimono proving Tomoei's commitment to using all available parts of the eel.

The hosts were very gracious as I departed. By noon there was a decent number of people both inside and outside waiting for a seat.

I made my way back to Kazamatsuri Station in bright hot sun. The weather was taking a turn for the better. When I made it back to the train platform the attendant asked me if I had enjoyed my Unagi. In spite of the language barrier between us I think I was able to convey to him just how happy I was.

I had a better day than you did

That's not an idle boast. I'll put money on the fact that today was a very good day for me. That it's a Monday for the rest of you makes it an even surer bet.

Today was one of the key days of the entire trip. I had set up a specific set of activities that depended on many transit connection, good weather and a little bit of luck. If it paid off it would be one of those all time unforgettable days. If things didn't go according to plan I would have inevitably been disappointed.

The day started at 8 AM. I checked out of the Sakura Hotel and made my way to Shinjuku Station to catch the 8:53 Odakyu Romance Car to Hakone.

It was damp and cold with a light drizzle but the rain was supposed to be gone by mid afternoon and it was supposed to clear up as well.

As expected for a Monday morning commute, the train from Ikebukuro was crowded but not unbearable. Fortunately I was traveling light. I just had my day pack (with one change of clothes) and my camera bag.

Arriving at Shinjuku I made my way to the Odakyu line but not before picking up a breakfast bento, some pastries and a can of cold coffee (Wonda, of course).

The Romance Car is Odakyu's name for their express train from Tokyo to the Hakone hot springs resort area which is one of Japan's most popular tourist destinations. I had picked up a Hakone Free Pass yesterday which included a return ticket on the Odakyu line as well as free travel on all of the different vehicles in the Hakone region (and discounts on other attractions). The pass was around 75$ Can.

I would be spending the night in a Ryokan (an old fashioned Japanese inn) in Hakone Yumoto.

Grilled Meat Dinner

I met Rachel at 6PM as planned and we went to a nearby Yakiniku (grilled meats) restaurant. Rachel lives in the Shinjuku area so she already knew some good local restaurants.

The meal reminded me of Korean Grill in Toronto but the quality of the meat was better, there were vegetables as well (onion, baby corn, leeks, mushrooms) and the grill was over charcoal briquettes giving the cooked food a better smokier taste.

Rachel has been teaching English in Japan for six or seven years and it's clear that her love for the crazy culture of Japan is one of those things that makes her want to stay. We talk about J-pop and other cultural influences like the animated films of Satoshi Kon.

After dinner we try a nearby cafe for dessert. I have a caramel latte and a really excellent milk cream cake which turns out to be a cake made by stacking 10 crepes on top of each other with a milk cream spread between each crepe. All those layers provide the cake with an amazing texture and taste. Really good.

I'm still pretty jet lagged (and tired from the general lack of sleep) and I head back to Ikebukuro to call it an early night and get ready for my overnight to Hakone.

Probably no update tomorrow. Try back in two days.