Forgot to mention that at the National Museum of Nature and Science we discovered that the monster in the woods of Tohoku was probably a キジバト, or Oriental Turtle Dove. I swear it's call is scarier than the name suggests!
Setting off from Tokyo at 3:30am we made really good time, but as we drove through the mountains to our next camp site we both ended up freezing and tired, especially since we rather stupidly didn't get more than about 30 minutes sleep before setting off. After a few wrong turns and some glimpses of Mount Fuji from the road we got to the mountain pass in Yamanashi prefecture.
The chilly mountain air was a welcome relief from the sweltering heat of Tokyo, and we spent two days there just sleeping and relaxing. Twigs snapping and foliage rustling at night had us worried about bears, but I figure it was probably rabbits or deer.
Preparing to leave we realised that our map was missing. I'm carrying 5 books, covering Tohoku, Chubu, Kansai, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa, all packed with information for motorcyclists and campers, waterproofed, ring bound and not cheap. Hozumi recalled that something might have dropped from the bike on the way up the mountain after our evening hot spring bath, so without much hope we figured it was worth retracing our route to look for it. A few kilometres down the mountain we found it! It had been run over more than a few times but we found it intact, compressed and just after a large bump in the road. Big relief. From now on I'll be securing the saddle bags properly before every drive!
Next stop was Matsumoto. I had hoped to be able to visit the old couple that Dad and I met on Hakodate mountain in June - Shinohara-san made quite a memorable figure, speaking English very precisely and deliberately, and quoting an entire tract of Wordsworth when recounting his travels in England as a young man. When I called him though, I found out that he had recently broken his leg falling from a tree and wasn't really in any condition to meet us. He was so apologetic! "such a shame that I miss this special chance".
It seems that 'famous water' springs are popular destinations in Japan. The '100 best water sources' are picked out on all my maps, and on our way to Nagano we saw people queuing up in the sun with huge jerry cans at one such location. We tried the local noodles, prepared with said water, and they were tasty, but despite the water having a pleasant aftertaste it's hard to imagine why people expend such time and energy to get the stuff.
Matsumoto castle, pretty in black.
Takeda shrine had a collection of treasures related to Takeda Shingen, one of the prominent figures who tried to unite Japan, who apparently fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled Japan from 1600 to 1868. We saw Tokugawa's grave site in Nikko a few weeks previously.
Nice camp site, named after 'Snake rock' 蛇石, which looked man-made at first glance.
Long hard ride to 琵琶湖, Japan's largest freshwater lake. Highlights were the wild boar standing in the middle of the road at night, the monkey that scampered by our lakeside tent, the stork-like bird posing all day and the typhoon that we waited out at a combined swimming pool/hot spring complex. Oh, and the trucker from Osaka that we met outside a ramen shop.
We figured the drive past Kyoto to the next camp site would be short and easy, but we didn't reckon on the lack of signage making it damn near impossible to find the right mountain road. We eventually got there at 5:10pm after pissing away a good 3 hours circling the outskirts of Kyoto only to find reception closed and an unhelpful woman telling us reservations should be made a week in advance. Since the other two campsites we were aware of nearby also required reservations we decided to just press on to Osaka and look for a cheap love hotel or internet cafe to spend the night in. My former student and friend, Tatsuya, had offered to let us stay at an apartment he was trying to sell for a few days, so Osaka seemed like a good option. Love hotels are great.
So right now I'm recovering from a hangover induced by a night out drinking with Tatsuya. We're staying at his spare apartment and have been out for food, beer and visits to Osaka tower, castle and aquarium. The food is good, as expected from 'the nation's kitchen' (天下の台所). I tried the local Okonomiyaki, which I was surprised to find was really tasty (the okonomiyaki I've had in Hakodate was really bland, with only the too sweet sauce for flavour). We also had the 'fried stuff on sticks' (串カツ), which is also very good and not nearly as fatty as it sounds since the food is flash-fried. The castle is imposing from the outside, especially the huge rocks making up some of the walls. Inside it's all elevators, concrete and fairly dull exhibits. The aquarium is impressive, with two fully grown whale sharks circling the main tank and wildlife from all around the Pacific. 346 tons of acrylic glass went into it's construction - about 1.5 times the world's annual production. That's a lot of poly(methyl methacrylate).
Tomorrow we're going to check out Universal Studios Japan, which I know nothing about.
Setting off from Tokyo at 3:30am we made really good time, but as we drove through the mountains to our next camp site we both ended up freezing and tired, especially since we rather stupidly didn't get more than about 30 minutes sleep before setting off. After a few wrong turns and some glimpses of Mount Fuji from the road we got to the mountain pass in Yamanashi prefecture.
The chilly mountain air was a welcome relief from the sweltering heat of Tokyo, and we spent two days there just sleeping and relaxing. Twigs snapping and foliage rustling at night had us worried about bears, but I figure it was probably rabbits or deer.
Preparing to leave we realised that our map was missing. I'm carrying 5 books, covering Tohoku, Chubu, Kansai, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa, all packed with information for motorcyclists and campers, waterproofed, ring bound and not cheap. Hozumi recalled that something might have dropped from the bike on the way up the mountain after our evening hot spring bath, so without much hope we figured it was worth retracing our route to look for it. A few kilometres down the mountain we found it! It had been run over more than a few times but we found it intact, compressed and just after a large bump in the road. Big relief. From now on I'll be securing the saddle bags properly before every drive!
Next stop was Matsumoto. I had hoped to be able to visit the old couple that Dad and I met on Hakodate mountain in June - Shinohara-san made quite a memorable figure, speaking English very precisely and deliberately, and quoting an entire tract of Wordsworth when recounting his travels in England as a young man. When I called him though, I found out that he had recently broken his leg falling from a tree and wasn't really in any condition to meet us. He was so apologetic! "such a shame that I miss this special chance".
It seems that 'famous water' springs are popular destinations in Japan. The '100 best water sources' are picked out on all my maps, and on our way to Nagano we saw people queuing up in the sun with huge jerry cans at one such location. We tried the local noodles, prepared with said water, and they were tasty, but despite the water having a pleasant aftertaste it's hard to imagine why people expend such time and energy to get the stuff.
Matsumoto castle, pretty in black.
Takeda shrine had a collection of treasures related to Takeda Shingen, one of the prominent figures who tried to unite Japan, who apparently fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled Japan from 1600 to 1868. We saw Tokugawa's grave site in Nikko a few weeks previously.
Nice camp site, named after 'Snake rock' 蛇石, which looked man-made at first glance.
Long hard ride to 琵琶湖, Japan's largest freshwater lake. Highlights were the wild boar standing in the middle of the road at night, the monkey that scampered by our lakeside tent, the stork-like bird posing all day and the typhoon that we waited out at a combined swimming pool/hot spring complex. Oh, and the trucker from Osaka that we met outside a ramen shop.
We figured the drive past Kyoto to the next camp site would be short and easy, but we didn't reckon on the lack of signage making it damn near impossible to find the right mountain road. We eventually got there at 5:10pm after pissing away a good 3 hours circling the outskirts of Kyoto only to find reception closed and an unhelpful woman telling us reservations should be made a week in advance. Since the other two campsites we were aware of nearby also required reservations we decided to just press on to Osaka and look for a cheap love hotel or internet cafe to spend the night in. My former student and friend, Tatsuya, had offered to let us stay at an apartment he was trying to sell for a few days, so Osaka seemed like a good option. Love hotels are great.
So right now I'm recovering from a hangover induced by a night out drinking with Tatsuya. We're staying at his spare apartment and have been out for food, beer and visits to Osaka tower, castle and aquarium. The food is good, as expected from 'the nation's kitchen' (天下の台所). I tried the local Okonomiyaki, which I was surprised to find was really tasty (the okonomiyaki I've had in Hakodate was really bland, with only the too sweet sauce for flavour). We also had the 'fried stuff on sticks' (串カツ), which is also very good and not nearly as fatty as it sounds since the food is flash-fried. The castle is imposing from the outside, especially the huge rocks making up some of the walls. Inside it's all elevators, concrete and fairly dull exhibits. The aquarium is impressive, with two fully grown whale sharks circling the main tank and wildlife from all around the Pacific. 346 tons of acrylic glass went into it's construction - about 1.5 times the world's annual production. That's a lot of poly(methyl methacrylate).
Tomorrow we're going to check out Universal Studios Japan, which I know nothing about.
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