Peggy and Lora’s Excellent Vacation
We had meetings to figure out all the aspects our our trip, including the grueling (for those of us challenged in years) airplane flight. leared everything with Matt and Rina.
Wed. morning, Jerr ubered us to SFO, and we managed to get our boarding passes and get through customs without standing in the wrong line more than once. The seats were quite a bit roomier and more comfy in United’s Premium Plus. It’s a bit more than Economy plus, and of course not like Business, but nice for the price, with take-away slippers and a little bag of amenities, including an eyeshade, earplugs, toothbrush, etc. We were fed fairly well for an airplane, and after the meal Peggy tucked up and went to sleep for several hours. I was awake most of the time, but my noise-cancelling earphones and playlist were very relaxing anyway.
We landed Thursday shortly after 2 pm and made it through customs without much waiting. There was a line at the train counter, but we managed to get tickets on the next N’EX train and hustled on. It was lighter outside than it usually is when I’m on that train. We saw a lot of greenery and many little farmette-style fields adjacent to high-rise apartments on the journey from Narita.
Matt met us at Shinjuku station and guided us to the Keio line, with which we became familiar. Soon we were walking the quiet streets of Setagaya to their house, where Rina and Toki awaited. Such fun to see them again, especially the cute boy.
The travelers were down in their room (with attached bath) early that evening, where comfy futons awaited them.
Friday Rina had to prepare for her Saturday afternoon client presentation. .Matt was our guide after Toki went to day care. We went back to Shinjuku where we had a delicious sushi lunch before visiting Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, bigger than Central Park, with a Japanese garden, a rose garden, an English garden, and a cool conservatory.
On our way back we stopped at the Isetan food court and got takeout. Rina had to do an errand after dinner, and Matt went out to meet a Sony contact, and Peggy went down to our little pied-a-terre and thus to bed, leaving Grammy in full command of the boy. Or rather his image on the baby monitor, which showed him sleeping most beautifully and not waking up to play with me, but I heroically refrained from making that happen. Rina was back before I had to spring into action, so I was able to seek my own futon pretty early.
Saturday while Rina finished up her presentation for that afternoon, we walked to Roka Koshen –en Gardens, a park in nearby Hachimanyama which was cool and shady despite the heat of the day.
The famous Japanese writer Tokutomi Roka lived there in the early part of the 20th century when it was in the country, and his house has been preserved as an example of Japanese architecture of the time. Interesting to see the original country house, and the additions which were in Western craftsman style. We enjoyed looking at the study where he wrote his bestsellers. I love any house with wavy glass in the window, but this would have been a drafty place to live, hence the braziers lined up in the hall. Toki seemed to enjoy the day as much as we did.
That evening we all went out to dinner. We had trouble finding a place with room for us on a Saturday night. The one Matt dug up had a bit of a dive-like vibe when we went in. but the owner was very nice, and most everything we had was very tasty. We were the only customers for a while, and it looked as if the owner mostly did business later on at the bar, but we really enjoyed what he cooked for us, except for the final dish of spring rolls, which were totally deconstructed and impossible to eat. However, we were full at that point, and I think the owner was a bit embarrassed by them, as it didn’t seem he charged us. Peggy thought he was very cute and made eyes at him several times. Toki did too.
Sunday Matt made delicious gluten-free pancakes for breakfast, and we assembled ourselves to go to the Edo outdoor architecture park, which preserves buildings from Tokyo’s Edo period, many of them amazing houses. We took 2 trains to Kichijoji, where we went to the adjacent Atre department store (depato in Tokyo) food court, which many department stores have on their basement floor. We each got a bento box of our choice for lunch, and then got on another train to the Musashi area where the museum was located in a huge park where we found a shady table for eating our lunch.
The houses were fascinating, some of them traditional architecture altered later in Western styles like craftsman or Victorian. Also fascinating was a collection of commercial buildings set up like a village street with grocer, umbrella shop (complete with traditionally made umbrellas for sale), sake dealer, bank, bathhouse, etc.
On our way back to the train station, we intercepted a Shinto procession complete with various drums and lots of men dodging around.
Monday we had a lovely breakfast, as always including fresh fruit and yogurt, and Toki went off to day care. Rina plunged into her follow-up work, including another meeting with the potential client, while Matt guided us to the train for Ginza, where we wanted to get a feel for the richness of Tokyo.
It’s rich, believe me. There were designers everywhere like Target stores in Missouri. Matt found a great place for lunch. Like many restaurants here, it has a French name, but a more continental menu, especially if the continent of Asia is included. We looked at the check, paid in exact change with our yen, and started past the man in charge. Suddenly he yelped and told Matt in Japanese, “Come back!” We had read the bill as 3000 yen, but it was really 3600. Sheepishly we dug out more yen. We spent a lot of time in the 8-story paper store (well, I spent a lot of time, and Matt and Peggy tagged along). When we returned to Setagaya, we packed for Hakone, where it is supposed to be cooler, and Kyoto, where it’s supposed to be hotter.
Tuesday we set out alone, on our own, ready to catch trains and navigate train stations in a single bound (if only!). We made it to Shinjuku and found the Odakyu train ticket sales, where we each bought a ticket on the special train (although it was not clear in what way the train was special.
We went in search of something for lunch, and somewhere to sit and eat it. We found food—in fact, Peggy discovered a new favorite sandwich, cream cheese and blueberry jam-like stuff on white bread. But we found nowhere to sit, and were finally driven to go through the turnstiles (using our special train tickets) and perch on benches by the tracks to eat. This was probably a very bad thing to do in Japan where eating in public is discouraged. We got to Hakone without incident, got a taxi up the hill to Yamanosyou, our ryokan in Hakone-machi, and settled into our room.
Peggy signed up right away for the onsen, which would be only for our party for that hour. We used the inside pool, not realizing that the outdoor pool of Peggy’s dreams was right outside in the onsen’s private garden.
Afterward we walked up to the restaurant, were greeted and shown to our booth, and sat down, stunned. Already on the table was an array of food—a hot pot setup, with sliced marbled beef and vegetables to cook in it; dishes of pickles and condiments; a dish of the Japanese version of risotto, creamy rice with beans and seasonings;, a covered cup of miso soup, and more.
Before we could grasp the scope, our sweet waitress appeared with a beautiful platter of sashimi, sporting flowers and carved vegetables and candles shaded with thin cylinders of daikon.
To go with, Peggy asked for sake. The waitress appeared confused. “Beer?” “No, sake!” The cook appeared. He said decisively, “Beer!” Peggy was not poor-spirited enough to back down. “No, sake!” Finally the waitress stepped over to the cooler, pulled out a little bottle of sake and showed it to us. We nodded happily. Matt told us later that the universal Japanese word for liquor is sake. Obviously, they thought we just wanted any old alcohol, since we didn’t ask for Junmai or anything like that. We ate until we were stuffed, waddled back to our room, and Peggy headed out soon after for one more bath. Our futons were comfortable and we slept well.
Wednesday we had an amazing breakfast, with cooked fish, rice porridge, tamago, pickles, and more.
Peggy had already signed up for her onsen times, and was planning to spend the day lounging in her yukata or drifting around in water. I took a walk around the area, visiting the Lalique museum first. I wondered why a remote area like Hakone would have a museum dedicated to a French glass artist, but of course Lalique was working when Japonaise was the hot trend, and much of his work had Japanese themes. I loved the vases and perfume bottles, and wished I had room (and money!) for a beautiful glass fountain. I stopped at a 7-11 to get some cash and picked up snacks for lunch, including a cream cheese and blueberry sandwich for Peggy, and the totally Western treat of potato chips.
That night was another wonderful dinner, with another huge sashimi platter garnished with a chrysanthemum made from daikon. So delicious.
Thursday we said farewell to Yamanosyou, which remains one of the highlights of our trip. We took a taxi to Odawara to catch the high-speed Shinkansen to Kyoto. A minor disappointment was no room on the next two trains. At the Kyoto station, we got a taxi to take us to our hotel, the Kyoto Granbell Gion. On check-in, as we paid for our tickets to the maiko show the next night, we found out that the tea ceremony we had meant to attend that afternoon was now full, a consequence of having to take the later train. After freshening up, starting some laundry (a coin washer/dryer in the basement), checking out the women’s public bath around the corner from the washer/dryer and rejecting it as not being worthy after Yamanosyou, we went out to walk the streets of Gion, the old part of Kyoto. The narrow streets were thronged with people, and we checked out several intriguing shops, including one that sold items made from handwoven cloth, including reasonably priced clip-on hair bows. The wider streets were really packed, with lots of people dressed in kimono, generally tourists renting the outfit. After checking a few items off our lists of souvenirs, we walked back toward the hotel, stopping for dinner (first people there, as usual) and getting a drink at the hotel bar when we returned. Peggy got a refreshing Campari and soda, but I asked for sangria, which came out of a carton and was poured over a heap of crystalized fruit bits. Sweet and chewy, not what I was looking for. We were killing time until a TV show Matt and Rina had filmed a few months ago which was to air to air that night on a Tokyo channel. The desk clerk didn’t think they got those Tokyo channels in Kyoto. But by dint of technical know-how, Peggy found the channel, and we got to watch Rina and Matt and a darling younger Toki show their amazing house.
Friday we were up early to hit the breakfast buffet (very strange but it had cereal) before heading out to Ginkaku-ji temple to walk around the gardens and admire the pavilion reflected in its pond.
Afterward we shopped at the stalls that line the road up, then found the start of the Philosopher’s Path, which meandered under shady trees along a canal past occasional shops and galleries down to Zen Eikan-do temple at its end.
We hadn’t had any lunch, and most of the lunch places were closed since it was after 2, so we headed back to the hotel for a toes-up. Peggy got a recommendation for an Italian place (we were eschewing Japanese food for a day or two) that was open early, and we had a great early dinner there before the Maiko show.
In Kyoto, geishas are called geiko, and trainees are called maiko. In their fourth of five years of training, maiko are allowed to give performances, although they are not yet allowed to play the musical instruments for an audience. The lovely young lady who performed for us danced very expressively, answered questions through an interpreter, and played a simple but fun game with several volunteers from the audience.
Saturday morning we went to the Heian shrine, a massive compound where risers were being set up for a Noh performance.
We walked through a nearby park, which was having a children’s fair, to the Traditional Craft Museum, where we could have stayed for days if not for museumitis setting in. The exhibits covered everything from weaving and cord making to metal work and roof tiles. Artisans were right there working among the exhibits, using their skills to demonstrate the craft. It was fascinating.
We got our luggage from the Granbell, picked up a taxi, and went to the other side of town to Togetsutei ryokan, where we looked forward to another sublime experience. After checking in to our room—very excited to see actual chairs—we walked across the Katsura river, admiring the boats on the water and how cool they looked in the hot sun.
Peggy strode determinedly to one of the boat rental places and in no time we were being poled out in the river by our guide. He took us upstream past the monkey park and green hills and got us back in 30 minutes. It was just wonderful!!
After returning to Togetsutei, where our bargain room (only $500 a night!) was in the annex building, we were offered matcha and little candies. Peggy checked out the hot bath, but it wasn’t mineral water for some reason, and not outside either, so it too was deemed unworthy. We changed into our yukata, feeling very cosmo.
We breached the sake stored in our mini-refrigerator, and the ladies began to bring in our dinner, which was served at the low table (floor seating) in our room. The food was . . . okay. Certainly not the dazzling feasts we’d had in Hakone. The salmon was overcooked, the eggplant not cooked enough, and the shark’s fin soup was unpleasantly gelatinous.
We were surprised, but the staff were so nice, it made up somewhat for the lackluster “kaiseki” meal.
Sunday morning after breakfast we had decided to take a taxi to Okuchi-Sanso, the house and gardens of a 30s star of samurai movies, then walk from there through the bamboo forest to Nonomiya shrine and back down the main drag over the bridge to Togetsutei. Our taxi got close, but the last bit of road before Okuchi Sanso was wall to wall students, looking to be about high school age, wearing black pants or skirts and white shirts, and forming an impenetrable mass. The taxi balked at trying to go further, so we trudged up the hill, making slow progress against the packed students coming down. After a while, we could turn off to Okuchi Sanso, and very glad we were. It looked like maybe every school in the Greater Tokyo region was having an outing in Kyoto (hence the crowded trains).
Okuchi Sanso was a rural property when the samurai movie star bought it in the 30s and built a traditional Japanese-style house on it, as well as developing the gardens and extensive paths. There’s also a older building salvaged for the site, and many stunning vistas.
On our way back to the ryokan, we went to the eX cafe and had cream-filled cake made with bamboo charcoal, surprisingly delicious.
Then we took a taxi to the Kyoto train station to catch the Shinkansen back to Odowara where we would get the Odakyu train to Shinjuku. However, in Odawara, the IC cards that worked in Tokyo wouldn’t let us through the turnstile to buy tickets back to Shinjuku. The kind lassie who’d been answering our questions told us we should have been using the IC cards to get onto and off the Odakyu train from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto instead of the tickets they’d given us (which worked just fine to get through the turnstile). Since we hadn’t, we should go back to Hakone to tag off. This didn’t bode well for getting home before Toki went to bed. After a bit of pleading from the clueless old ladies, the nice lassie and the ticket man did something that made our IC cards work again. Then the nice young lady actually took us down to the ticket machine, calmly bought us the right tickets for the train leaving in 1 minute, and saw us to the train with I’m sure a great feeling of relief. I certainly had one.
Aside from some minor wandering around in Shinjuku looking for the Keio line, we were golden the rest of the way. Matt was setting up a grill when we trundled from the train station. And Toki was up on hands and knees, rocking and moving, although mostly backwards!!! We had a grilled steak dinner and the travelers were soon tucked up.
Monday we had to take stock and figure out what else we wanted to do. We decided to to go back to Kichijoji and look at some things we’d spotted on our way through Atre. After Toki went off to day care, we left Rina to her work and took the two trains to Kichijoji. Conveniently, the trains generally stop right in the basement of a depato, and Atre was the store here. We walked through, decided to get lunch first, and kept going to a fish place Matt knew about. Peggy had her last sashimi, I had a whole fried fish which was delicious, and I forget what Matt had. Most of these places Matt finds are holes in the wall, some with maximum four or five tables, but they have all had great food. We went back to Atre to make purchases and strolled through the streets for a while, where Peggy spotted some great clothes at a second-hand store—at least the clothes were nicer by far than the price might indicate.
We got home to watch Toki go from needing to do downward facing dog in order to sit, to figuring it out, in a couple of hours. Then he realized that rolling could really get him places. And oh the places he’ll go! Matt whipped up some delicious chicken fajitas for dinner.
Tuesday we decided to visit the Imperial Palace gardens near the center of urban Tokyo—in fact, right next to the business and financial area. We had a very nice lunch in a huge office building and walked a couple of blocks to the garden. We had decided to try for the free but limited tickets to tour the private part of the gardens and waited in line to be one of the 300 people allowed, which turned out to be totally doable. Eventually our passports were checked the requisite two or three times and we were herded into a building to watch a brief video about what not to do and separated into language groups. The English group was by far the largest.
We met our guide outside in the blazing sun, and we were then herded—no leaving the group—up wide asphalt roads with little shade for the next hour or two. Our guide was interesting, but the information seemed conflicted. At one point it sounded like she said the Emperor and Empress lived in an area behind the official greeting pavilion, a long, spare three-story building where Trump had recently been greeted.
But later the guide seemed to imply that the imperial couple lived in a different part of the private compound. And somewhere the retired Emperor and wife live in a small cottage with a fishing pond because he loves to fish. The trees and greenery were beautifully trimmed, but there was little to see of a floral nature.
It was very interesting, and though I would also have liked to walk through the public part of the gardens, we were all, despite wearing hats, rather tuckered out by the heat, even Matt. We got ourselves back tothe train and home in time for a rest and a bit of pre-packing. We went out to dinner that night to another place Matt had found in Hachimanyama, a pizza place called Massimotavio, which sounded promising. The pizza was fabulous, and a dish of gnocchi we shared were also wonderful. Toki was enraptured by the ceiling fan.
Wednesday it was hard to see Toki go off to day care and know it’ll be a while before I see him again.
We packed, much harder for me because I overpacked, something I always swear not to do and then always do. I managed to wedge everything in. Matt very kindly offered to get us through Shinjuku to the JR ticket machine for the N’EX. We said goodbye to Rina, also hard.
We took our final ride on the Keio line, and bade Matt farewell before going through the turnstile. We had given ourselves plenty of time, so we got some lunch and ate on the platform waiting for our train. Our flight back seemed much smoother to me, and with my headphones blocking out the airplane noise I had a most refreshing 2 or 3 hour nap.
We had signed up for Mobile Passport to avoid a mess at customs, but our plane appeared to be the only one landing just then so the lines were short. However, the Mobile Passport did whisk us right through with just a bit of bar-code reading, and we picked up our bags and tasted the air again, even if it was a bit full of exhaust at SFO. Jerr came and got us, and we trundled off down the highway, glad to be home, but already missing Japan.