ryokan.

I have finished for the semester! I leave tomorrow for Okinawa, but wanted to quickly post about Bec and my trip to Takayama. Takayama is in Gifu Prefecture, but way up in the mountains. We chose to take the scenic route via train.

Rebecca wanted to stay in a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn), so we checked in and changed into our yukatas. I didn’t realise how much the walls made everything glow, so didn’t change my settings accordingly, sorry everything looks a bit… yellow.

Breakfast and dinner was included in our stay, all of which was set up in our room for us. We were extremely excited when dish after dish began being placed on our table. What was a real surprise was the accompanying video camera. The owner of the ryokan came in and began speaking to me in rapid Japanese. From what I could gather, she was asking permission to do some filming for promotional material. Having agreed, I sat very self-consciously attempting to make appropriate small talk in Japanese. I did not do very well.

Nonetheless, eventually they seemed to get what they wanted and left us to enjoy our feast. It was absolutely magnificent, but I will write more of that another time.

After dinner, Bec and I sauntered off to the ryokan’s onsen. Returning to our room, like magic our dishes had disappeared to be replaced by futons. Unable to resist, we sunk into them and slept soundly. 

kyōto : part two.

I loved Kyoto. I think it is very true when people say it shows a different facet of the spirit of Japanese culture. That being said, the one thing that really marred our time there was the weather. As I have mentioned a number of times not, the heat and humidity can become quite overwhelming, in addition to which, each day we were there we had storms in the afternoon. Nonetheless, we did the best we could do get out and about! On Saturday we ventured out to Fushimi Inari, an amazing shrine within which are hundreds of shrines lining paths.

Following this, we made a valiant, yet unfortunately futile attempt to make it back to our hotel before the storm hit. Our failure was not helped by our taking a wrong turn and ending up straggling through the backstreets of Kyoto. In the evening we explored a little of Kyoto by night, catching glimpses of preparations for Gion Matsuri. We played make-believe as rockstars at karaoke and headed back.

The next day, the weather looked perhaps even more threatening, but Rebecca was determined to make it to the Arashiyama bamboo groves. It rained on us a number of times, but our spirits could not be quenched. 

Directions to the groves were seemingly non-existent, so it took us a good hour or so to simply find it. Upon our discovery, Bec was excited enough to strike a celebratory pose. The bamboo groves were worth the extensive search, they were beautiful.

Seeking relief from the heat, we headed to a cafe. I'm sure these cafes have a special name (I forget), but pretty much everything they serve is related to matcha (green tea). I played it safe with tea, and this matcha sweet that kind of tastes like green tea turkish delight, but Bec decided to go for the parfait, which upon examination ended up being everything on the menu arranged into a large cup. Don't be fooled by her excited expression, early into eating she remembered that she does not, in fact, like green tea flavoured foods. 

In the afternoon, we headed back to the district in which our hotel was, only to find the streets had been closed for cars and overtaken by people, some dressed traditionally, some not so traditionally. 

Our last stop for Kyoto was dropping into a department store to ogle at the $100 rockmelons. This is one phenomenon of Japan I still do not understand.

kyōto : part one.

A couple of weekends ago was very exciting for me. At long last Rebecca was here! Not wanting to waste a minute, we met and caught the train together straight to Kyōto.

Upon arrival, we checked into our hotel and had some laughs. Bec had even brought me some of my favourite things from home (thanks go to Mummy and Daddy for these too).

We wandered out for dinner. Rebecca practiced her soba eating skills and, to my relief, decided Japanese food was to her liking.

After dinner, we were both exhausted so headed straight back to the hotel for a long sleep, ready for a big weekend ahead... 

hikone.

A week ago I was lucky enough to catch up with my darling friend Amy who has been travelling in Japan. It was tricky for us to find a time that was good for both of us, so we had to settle for a weekday. Since she was in Kyoto and I was in Gifu, we ended up picking a random place name somewhere in between, and ended up in Hikone. It was one of the hottest days thus far, and we were absolutely sweltering, but nonetheless decided to look around the mysterious town we had landed in. We mistakenly thought the main attraction was the shrine, so had a wander around there.

Although it was beautiful, Hikone’s main attraction is in fact its castle. Nonetheless, by this stage the allure of air-conditioning was too strong, so we made our way to lunch. The streets of Hikone were beautiful, with trees lining streets with traditional-style Japanese houses and shops.

After lunch, we believed ourselves to be feeling refreshed, but facing the humidity of the outdoors, fast ducked into another café for respite. Amy talked me into trying kakigori for the first time (Japanese shaved ice). It was a perfect treat for the climate.

We were also excited to find that from our comfortable surroundings we could glimpse Hikone castle, and agreed that was quite close enough and there was no need for us to climb the hill to see it any closer.

I really was surprised by how nice Hikone was, I wonder if you could jump off at any station in Japan and have such an experience, or if Amy and I were just lucky. Eventually, we leisurely made our way back to the station to say sad goodbyes.

Another bittersweet catch-up with a friend from home. Its always a little the same. I almost forget just how amazing my friends are, and then when I see them I am reminded, yet our time together is so short, and then I have to once again deal with being separated from them. Nonetheless, I was so grateful for a delightful afternoon with a beautiful friend.  

ipad.

I really meant to do a post earlier this week to make up for my awful one on Monday, but it just didn't happen. In any case, I write this on Rebecca's iPad from Kyoto, where I have at last been reunited with my sister. Yesterday we travelled here, had dinner, and just generally spent a lot of time talking, but today we are preparing to hit Kyoto. Being here and considering the overwhelming number of options of things to do, I think Kyoto will be joining the ever-growing list of places I need to come back to. On top of having a lot of plans, there is also a threatening look of rain about, and a weather forecast that is less than encouraging. No matter what, this weekend is going to be amazing, regardless of what Bec and I do, this is the first time we have seen one another in over three months, so every day is a happy day! Unfortunately her iPad won't allow me to upload a photo, but rest assured I am taking many and next week there will be a inundation of pretty pictures for the blog. 

atsui.

No photos today, as no photo is capable of truly expressing the horror through which I am currently suffering. Summer has hit Gifu. And the heat. Oh, the heat. Yesterday, when coming home from church at five in the afternoon, it was still 34˚C, and stayed above 30 well into the night. Today, we hit 37˚C, and it looks to be only worse from here on in.

If the heat alone were not bad enough, there is also the humidity. A number of days have started with a storm, or shower, that then passes away leaving the water to morph into an oppressive and inescapable steam. I have morphed into a strange rodent-like creature, scuttling between air-conditioned areas, being convinced to leave for survival purposes only. I have been trying to stay hydrated, but it seems no matter how much I drink, I still end up feeling like a wilted flower. 

Every day, I long for the beach, yet every day I once again am faced by the cruel sight of the surrounding mountains, caging me in to my overheated prison. I know it is winter in Australia, but I still feel many of you will be able to sympathise with my anguish. When I get back to Sydney, I will go to the beach every day for a month straight and recite to it the lovesick poems I currently write in my fevered haze. 

Until then, the heat is dictating my life, leaving me no opportunity for attractive photos or fun adventures. Nonetheless, I hope to write soon of more happy subjects! Until then, for those of you in Australia, feel a little less sad about the drabness of winter, summer isn't so great for me either!

tōkyō : part two.

As usual, when I say “I will blog tomorrow” it invariably turns into the day after. Sorry. In any case, back to Tokyo!

The next day we rose bright and early to meet another school friend, Jess. She has been living just out of Tokyo, and has turned into somewhat of a guru. When we mentioned we were coming to Tokyo, she was kind enough to offer to take us around for the day! We met for brunch in Shibuya, and went to an amazing sushi place. Its Jess’ favourite, in part due to the head chef who is quite a performer. Since Jess has turned into a bit of a regular, we got the best seats in the house to watch our sushi being assembled in front of us. I really should have taken pictures, but… I was eating. Next time!

From the adjacent building there was a good view of Shibuya crossing, sat and people-watched for a while. There weren’t nearly as many people as there had been the previous night, but I felt compelled to take a photo anyway.

Despite good intentions to be obedient tourists, the day fast turned into a food crawl, broken up with wanderings, and occasional stops for shopping.

Jess took us to a great cake shop where I opted for some kind of banana, chocolate, hazelnut cream tart thing. Something about the slightly nautical colouring and the brightness of the space really made me feel as though I was just at a café at home chatting with the girls.

The afternoon was mostly spent shopping, during which I showed great restraint. We stopped for my first real coffee since being in Japan, which was blissful. Having sat chatting over coffee for a couple of hours we decided it was late enough for dinner.

Jess had a report to write, we said big thank yous and sad goodbyes. Thank you again, Jess!

Natalie, Georgie and I lazily made our way back, enjoying Tokyo at night.

Naturally, as it was my last night in Tokyo, we stayed up into the early hours chatting and giggling.  

The next day we headed over to Roppongi for Sunday brunch (although by the time we got there it was really lunch). The cuisine was my choice, and as Tokyo has more foreign food than Gifu, Italian it was!

In the afternoon, it was time for me to head back to Gifu. It was so hard saying goodbye to Natalie and Gina. I think I was somewhat ignorant to the extent to which I have been missing my friends in Australia. By some miracle I managed to tear myself away to get the train. In order to buy myself a little more time in Tokyo, I decided to splurge on the shinkansen on the way home.

My camera couldn’t keep up with the speed of the train.

At dusk, feeling a little sad and lonesome, I made it back to home, sweet Gifu.

I think perhaps on my first trip to Tokyo, I ticked very few of the ‘must-see, must-do’ boxes. That being said, I regret not a moment spent we spent chatting in cafes instead of playing tourist.  I will get to those things another time I am sure, but what I really loved about Tokyo was the different feel of each area. I cannot wait to go back, Tokyo has a new fan. Although, I do have a sneaking suspicion my enjoyment may have also been in part due to the company. Missing you.