2004 Japan

JAPAN Nov. 15-22, 2004

Our trip to Australia was on Japan Airlines and since we had a stop over in Tokyo we were excited to take advantage of this and plan for one week of sight-seeing in Japan.

After having a camping trip to Australia and seeing nature in the raw this would be the exact opposite. We arrived at the huge Tokyo airport in the evening and were met by Chris' friend, Tatjana, who lives there with her family. It was a long drive back to Tokyo and we did have some difficulty locating the Hotel in the Ginza district. Tatjana even had printed a map and a GPS, but with one-way streets and back lanes it was still difficult. Since she speaks Japanese a couple of taxi drivers were consulted.

We checked into our comfortable room for our one night in Tokyo as we prepared for our tour to start the next morning at 8 am. A bus picked us up at our Hotel and took us to a central tourist bus station where we joined the tour for our 3 day trip to Mt. Fiji, Hakone, Kyoto and Nara. The land arrangements were handled by JTB (Japanese Travel Bureau) and every guide was there to meet and take us on every tour. It all worked like clockwork.

We saw Mt. Fuji in all its glory! Actually we saw it for 2 days and it was awesome. At the 5^th station (this is the end of the road and you must climb from there) the temperature was only 5'c with a wind. The trees reminded me of the northern Arctic. There are shops so it is commercialized. After a Japanese style lunch (delicious) and served in a covered lacquered box, we would experience the lake district and stay in a hotel in the hot springs area of Hakone. Almost all of the tourists at the Hotel were Japanese as foreigners make up only about 3% of the travelers. We were tired in the evening and decided to go to the local 24hour convenience store for some sandwiches and such. We also bought the makings for breakfast in our room as all hotels supply a hot pot to make tea and have a small fridge.

We now will experience our first bullet train to Kyoto – called the Shinkansen. We drove through rice paddies, one city after another, mountains, tunnels, bridges and another view of Mt. Fuji. One tunnel was 8km long which we went through in 3 minutes. The train was very quiet, smooth and very clean.

We had 2 nights in Kyoto with one day viewing the Shrines and historical buildings and the final day for a trip to Nara. Nara is a World Heritage Sight but our view was a little disappointing as we had a heavy downpour. There were dozens of buses there and one small group of uniformed school children approached us and spoke a few words of English. The teacher came and said they were studying English and they had never met a non-Japanese before. We were thrilled to talk to them and, of course, we took their picture.

On our own we did a walking tour of the Gion District where the Geisha girls and the Theatre of Japanese opera is performed daily.

We again boarded the Shinkansen for the return to Tokyo. It is 500 km with 3 stops and in 2hrs and 40 minutes. I could not focus on the birds that I saw passing by our window. We arrived at our original hotel again and left the next morning for Nikko. It was a full day of driving and touring the area. This again is another World Heritage Site. Very colorful Temples, Pagodas and carvings including the original “See no evil, Speak no evil and Hear no evil”. From there we proceeded up a very steep mountain with about 20 switchbacks each way. Tall pines covered the mountains. At the top we again enjoyed the Japanese lunch by a large mountain lake. This is a recreational area. Many of the boats were colorfully made like ducks and swans. The lake flowed out at a high waterfall. We arrived back into Tokyo well after dark where we took a taxi to the Grand Hyatt, where Tatjana met us. Her husband,Xavier, is the Manager of the Hotel and they and there two children live 5 min away by foot. We were invited to stay with them for 2 nights before returning to Canada. We were made very welcome and were invited and enjoyed two beautiful lunches at the hotel. One in the French Restaurant and the other in the Japanese Restaurant, where the servers were dressed in traditional Japanese Kimono.

In our travels to the different Japan locations we passed through many areas of Tokyo – passed the river with shipping and tourist boats, dozens of baseball diamonds by the river banks, one skyscraper after another, beautiful shopping plazas, Emperors Palaces, Government offices and shoppers everywhere. Since we had a general view of the city, Tatjana took us to the world famous Fish Market, the Tokyo Tower and Art Gallery. The vista of 360' of Tokyo was breathtaking.

Our flight home was swift and took only 7 ½ hours instead of 9 hours due to tail winds. At one point we were cruising at about 1250 kmh ground speed.

We arrived in Vancouver and was met by our cheerful Brother-in-law, George. After many family gathering - including Chris' 70^th birthday we left for points south.