Splendors of Japan

Day Four – 14 May 2014

Tokyo-Takayama

Weather: partly cloudy and 22 to 28

I was up at five and just couldn’t get back to sleep, so I decided to make a b-line for the 6 am breakfast only to find the place open and a line despite empty tables. Not sure why. I had a feed on French toast, hard boiled eggs and buns with the good English tea they serve.

I put my luggage out for 7, did a little surfing and was down to the bus for 8. Kimiko told us that the construction delay on the blue route was about 1 hour so she said we would go back to Fuji along the red route and turn west from there. It’s longer but not more than an hour. We also started at 8 instead of 8:30 to make up for the possible delay.

As we left Tokyo, people were asking Kimiko about her living accommodations. She said that she has no children so her and her husband are happy with their condo which is 64 sq metres of living space. That’s not even 700 square feet. She said they don’t have a lot of room for extras but they store some stuff at their parents’ home…like their car. Kimiko doesn’t think they need it. Her husband can’t part with it. And it costs $320 a month to park it in their condo.

Oh, and the condo? It cost almost $500,000.

You should see what you can get in Newfoundland for $500,000.

Kimiko said Japan has a problem with a declining birth rate. Right now, the rate of children is 1.3 per couple but that it’s 0.9 in the cities. They have 126 million now but expect by 2050 to have only 90 million. Right now, 25% are over 60. By 2050, it’ll be 40%. The government is trying to combat this by introducing incentives to couples to have children. And immigration isn’t filling the need as they find it hard to attract immigrants.

As we approached Mt. Fuji again, Kimiko pointed out a forest and said it was the Sea of Trees. They grow on a lava field that has a magnetic effect so that a compass doesn’t work in there. GPS does. It’s so easy to get lost, it’s a site for suicides and the police routinely sweep the forest looking for bodies.

The moment we lost sight of Fuji we pulled into a rest stop and Kimiko showed me the vending machine that has a screen to show your coffee being brewed. It also dispenses tea and cocoa. Don’t think I’ve mentioned the vending machines yet. They are everywhere. Space between buildings? No problem. Fill it with a vending machine. Room on a sidewalk? Vending machines. And they all work. The only problem is figuring out what the options are. Coke is easy. The rest is a little harder.

As we headed towards Matsumoto, Kimiko taught us some origami. We made Mt. Fuji and a flower. She said she’d show us the crane but we’d be in Beijing by the time we finished. The cranes are a symbol of hope and longevity. In Hiroshima we’ll see the cranes created by a little girl with leukemia who made 3000 cranes hoping for a cure.

Ironically enough, my brother was the first successful bone marrow recipient in the world when he had the operation in 1980. He was declared cured of his leukemia and is still alive. (The first US success wasn’t for another 3 years. It was considered an experimental treatment at first and not covered by insurance).

We passed by a city next to Lake Suwa and Kimiko said the industry there used to be silk but that it collapsed in the 30s and the area went looking for another industry and looked to Switzerland. They started research on quartz clocks and eventually developed the first quartz watch in the world. The city is on the edge of the Japan Northern Alps which were given the name by an Englishman. Fifteen peaks in Japan are above 3000 m and the Northern Alps has half of them. They call the mountains the Roof of Japan.

Kimiko told us that the Matsomoto Castle requires that we remove our footwear and she gave us a lesson on how to properly remove our footwear. She held up her drawings for us and said that there is always an uneven floor and that we don’t step up onto it with our shoes but don’t take them off and stand on the dirty lower floor (otherwise, our feet get dirty, which kinda defeats the purpose of removing the shoes in the first place).

We drove through the city of Matsomoto and arrived at the wasabi farm for lunch. They gave us a short tour to show us the farm – the largest in the region at 15 hectares. The wasabi takes two years to mature and the fields are covered in black material to shield it from the sun and keep the temperature moderated. The individual fields are dug down and are lower than the land around them. No fertilizer is used. Only natural spring mineral water which flows freely in little rivers through the fields.

The farm is approaching its 100 year anniversary. Before it became a wasabi farm, it was a pear farm but a flood wiped them out. As the guide finished his explanation he noted that there was a yellow flower in the area and that we shouldn’t touch it as it is dangerous.

First we went down to lunch in a crowded area where it was a bit hard to get into the chairs but my non-fish plate was at the head of the table. Lunch was Japanese tea, spring water, cold noodles, rice with wasabi (which wasn’t spicy at all) and a plate divided into nine sections, each holding a different food like broccoli, corn ball, a local root, salad etc. After I finished, I went for a walk around the farm. It was a gorgeous day with high cloud and like 28 degrees out. It felt like thunderstorm weather.

There are some shops at the entrance and you can buy wasabi ice cream. I sampled it and it wasn’t spicy at all.

And I found the third cat in Japan.

We left by 1:30 and headed to the Masumoto castle.

The castle was built in 1593 at a time of constant warfare in Japan so it was built to repel attack including musket fire. The moat is wide enough to be beyond the range of musket fire and the walls are thick. As well, the stairs inside are designed to make it difficult to climb for invaders.

And tourists.

The wars came to an end in 1603 when the Shogun united the country and eventually the castles were destroyed. Only 12 remain in the country and four are considered national treasures. Matsumoto castle is one of them. The building has six stories but from the outside it looks like it has five. The third story is hidden and is considered a place of refuge. The first floor is the storehouse, the second the gathering area, the fourth is a more elegant area for the lord and the fifth is the watch tower. The castle is built of hemlock, cedar and cypress and no nails are used so the castle can be taken apart and reassembled. It was disassembled in 1950 and 60% of the original wood was used when it was put back together. It has to be maintained otherwise it would be gone in under 50 years.

We arrived and made the short walk to the entrance, following the moat around. There are carp in the moat and they are swimming on the surface and look like they’re begging for food. At the entrance to the castle, we had to remove our shoes and carry them with us in a bag they provided.

So, now we know how hard it would be to invade the castle with one hand occupied.

The stairs are very steep. Going up isn’t so bad. Coming down is something not to be done in a hurry. And luckily, the locals don’t push their way by and are happy to let you go. If this was in China, we’d all be at the bottom of the stairs in pieces! LOL

If you’re able to climb the stairs, go for it. You can also go up to any level and change your mind and go back down through the exit route easily enough. At the bottom is a guy in a samurai outfit that you can get a picture of or with. He happily poses for you.

We had until 3:15 to explore the area and headed back to the bus where we headed for a little out of the way museum that has artifacts but no explanations. Actually kind of nice to just look at the items. There was a painted plate that I thought was beautiful.

And of course, some that look like cats.

We were done just before 4 and Kimiko is delighted that we’ve been able to keep close to the usual timetable despite the detour. The time to Takayama is 2 ½ hours and it’s only 90 km away, so you know what that means. Winding mountain roads! The clouds had thickened slightly but it was still hot and bright. So bright in the clouds that they tend to wash out the peaks in my photos.

As we drove, Kimiko told us that the hotel has an onsen, a public bath, and she gave us some rules to follow should we wish to go.

First, the baths are separated into male and female.

Damn. Guess I won’t need a camera.

Second, bathing suits are not allowed.

Damn. Guess I won’t be going.

You can take a bath towel from your room and there is a basket there for the clothes and a locker for the room key. Once inside, you shed the towel and wash from a basin before getting in. Don’t jump in! The bath is essentially a hot tub so it’s not for washing but for rejuvenation. She recommends no more than 15-20 minutes and not to drink before you get in.

I’ll settle for a shower in my room.

We enter the mountain pass to Takayama and you can’t really see any of the northern Alps from inside the deep ravine. There’s a green river at the base and the road hugs the steep hills. There are three dams en route and we drive over the third one.

Photos don’t do the scenery justice. The hills are just so steep and the light weird. We pass through a number of tunnels including an 11 km long one that is the second longest in Japan. It took 18 years to construct and opened in 1995. With the tunnel, the mountain pass could now be open year round which was important for the isolated city of Takayama.

Takayama used to be called Hida. In the 1600s, it had a lord that was forced to move to Edo by the Shogun because they wanted to control the one resource that Hida had in spades – timber. The city then became a business hub for the Shogun government. The city is today the biggest in Japan in terms of shear square mileage, but most of the land is mountains. The population is only 92,000 compared to Tokyo’s 12 million.

Kimiko told us about the floats that we would see tomorrow. That they were part of a competition during the festivals but that they didn’t leave the community’s garage if it was raining. One day a year, the door to the community’s garage would be open to show the float and then closed for the year.

We arrived in Takayama at 6:30 and Kimiko gave everyone a map of the town with all the restaurants listed. I’ve already eaten way too much and settle for a tea in my room. The accommodation is basic with a safe, bath, hairdryer, shampoo and stuff. Wifi is free and only the BBC is on the TV. I even have a pair of pajamas on my bed for me.