Japan 2017: 19 September: Nara

We ended our stay in Nara on a high note, with a delicious breakfast. The main course was beef stew, with the beef glazed with a salty-sweet glaze before roasting, beside perfectly cooked potatoes and onions in a thin broth. The main side dish was half a small Japanese eggplant, roasted and covered with a salty sauce. Miso soup and pickles (carrot and possibly bamboo, dusted with sesame seeds), as usual. Really good green tea, and a cup of coffee to end. Yay, coffee.

Final packing proved to be a bit of a challenge due to the aforementioned gifts. Everything should theoretically fit with a tiny amount of room to spare, but like one of those circus clown cars, you want to be careful about poking the seams lest they burst and propel the contents everywhere. Note to self: next time, don't pack so damned many clothes, and leave more room in the pack for acquisitions.

We also brought maple syrup for our hostess, Madame Adachi, so our departure was delayed slightly while we gave her this gift. She recognized it at once, despite the unclear cursive script on the label, and was pleased, as she loves maple syrup.

Today, we're off to Kawaguchiko, where we'll spend 3 days in one of Japan's most lovely rural/wilderness areas. We chose this area (after 9 days in cities) so we could enjoy the lakes and mountains. The area's name is Fujigoko, which means "the five lakes area of Mount Fuji". We don't have firm plans, as mountain weather is unpredictable and may require some last-minute schedule changes. But at least in principle, there are some interesting lava caves to explore (one called "the ice cave", another called the "wind cave"), several interesting hikes (including one that takes from 5 to 7 hours and includes a total elevation change of 4000 feet uphill and 3000 feet downhill, plus several smaller ones), and, of course, the elusive okonomiyaki. Oh yeah: did I mention Mount Fuji?i

As always, Japan Rail was a pure delight: clean, fast, efficient, and with a little planning, you can get anywhere quickly. However, to get to Kawaguchiko, we needed to switch to a tourist bus once we'd arrived in Mishima, the most convenient rail station. Shoshanna had reserved our bus tickets well in advance, so we got seated at the front, directly behind the driver, for a pretty good view.

Today's interesting details: Japan Rail is very conscious of the need for handicap accessibility, so they make great efforts to help out. Announcements in train stations are clear, despite the cavernous spaces, which is a marked departure from most places I've traveled. I have some sense that in England, for example, they're called "tannoys", with emphasis on the part after the "t". Japan Rail has also installed raised yellow floor tiles that create a rough strip the blind or sight-impaired can easily follow between platforms or between the ticket office and the platforms. (There are similar guides in most sidewalks, suggesting this is implemented via a national law of some sort. Braille is common on trains, including in toilet stalls in the Shinkansen, where Shoshanna noted that inside the door, there's a map of the toilet compartment in Braille so users don't need to grope around to find the toilet. In a welcome nod to hygiene, the unisex bathrooms have buttons beside the toilet that automatically raise and lower the seat so you don't have to touch it. This may be a primary reason why the bathrooms are so clean and tidy, unlike most Western washrooms that men are allowed to use.

We'd seen occasional glimpses of Mount Fuji, wreathed in mist, from the Shinkansen, but from the bus, the mountain positively loomed as we drew closer. There are certainly bigger mountains, including several lovely ranges in the land surrounding Fuji, but Fuji stands out as a single object, and thus seems so much bigger by comparison. It's also a stratovolcano, and easily twice the height of the surrounding mountains. There are perspectives where you're still many miles away, and yet the mountain seems to occupy a huge proportion of the horizon. Its near-perfect conical shape also helps, since the other mountains are more mountainy, which is to say, they're all rumpled and asymmetrical. As you draw closer, you can see a few lumps and deviations in Fuji, but that actually enhances the mountain's beauty. We're here before the snows, so no white crown on the mountain yet.

Kawaguchiko is a smallish town, dominated by its bus and rail stations, and apparently rolls up the streets shortly after dark. (The tourist buses stops running around 6 PM, and most restaurants are closed by around 8.) We found two main choices of accommodation: the Station hotel, right across from the station, was very convenient, but seemed a little soul-less and I had some concerns about noise from buses etc. (In hindsight, that probably wouldn't have been a problem.) Instead, we chose K's House, a hostel with private rooms. It's newish, clean, and offered a charming tatami room with a great view of the mountains north of Fuji from our window. The only real downside is that it's a walk of 15 to 20 minutes from the bus station. Not a horrible problem, as it was quite cool (around 20°C) and cloudy, so schlepping all our packs wasn't as sweaty as it could have been. But I foresee a day in coming years when we decide to switch to more ritzy accommodations closer to the train or bus station to eliminate the walk.

After dumping our bags and settling into our room, we headed out for dinnner. Our guidebook (and the helpful staff at the hostel) suggested a teppanyaki place that turned out to be a tiny hole in the wall, with about ten seats in total, of which we seized the two at a bar beside the chef's tiny cubicle. I was tall enough to see him work, but Shoshanna couldn't. Here, we finally found post-Hiroshima okonomi, and it was decent, though not the best I've had, and we paired it with a decent grilled salmon. We shared, as we usually do, so that each of us got to try two different things. We may return tomorrow, or we may try out the tempura place next door. Tempura is fairly ordinary, but deep-fried yum from a restaurant that specializes in this food is hard to resist.

More tomorrow!

Continue to 20 September: Nara to Kawaguchiko