A kaiseki of Japanese adventures – Part 2

I arrived at my capsule hotel in Matsumoto late at night. The place was full of business men in their pajamas hanging around the common areas and enjoying the free orange juice.

After the usual onsen run and a nice dinner, I went to sleep early in my claustrophobic but very tidy capsule, ready for an early rise the next day.

I had left the white Himeji castle behind, but the black Matsumoto castle was waiting for me. The caw of hundreds of crows around the castle blending with the fully black walls made it clear from the beginning why it is referred to as the “crow castle”. There was a Michael Yamashita’s photo that I’d seen years before that inspired me to go visit Matsumoto. Because of that I also decided to blatantly copy his photo. Call it a hommage if you want.

Again, the visit to the castle consisted in a very cold, bare feet walk up and down the wooden castle stairs. However this time there were some items exhibited along the visit path, such as samurai helmets and armors.

One interesting fact about Matsumoto is that it is the hometown of the artist Yayoi Kusama and that was made abundantly clear by the colourful buses, manholes and vending machines around the city.

The day at Matsumoto ended right after lunchtime as I had to head towards Nagano in order to catch my train to Yudanaka, a small mountain village famous for its onsens. When I arrived at Yudanaka, as usual I walked from the train station and looked for my ryokan on one of the main roads. After a while, I stumbled upon a really nice looking ryokan that I decided to take a photo of. As soon as I put my camera down, I realised that was actually my accommodation. There I met my Aussie roommates, we all booked an 11pm slot in one of the centuries old onsen and headed there, everyone properly wearing their yukata.

Soaking in the hot water surrounded by the snow covered bonsai garden while chatting with the Aussie mates was really fun. That was before I got heavily dehydrated and had to go drink about a liter of water.

The next day it was finally time for the snow monkey in Jigokudani Monkey Park. Unfortunately, there was no snow falling and not much snow around the hot springs where the monkeys liked to soak in, but it was still an experience worth the hassle to get there.

The night before I had soaked in onsens. But at the monkey park, it was time for other primates to enjoy their well deserved hot tub.

The solo part of the trip came to an end as I reached Tokyo where I met with other friends from Singapore and some new friends from Tokyo itself.

All roads lead to Shinjuku.

Well I mean not really, but that’s where I arrived with the bus from Nagano. Having lived in Shanghai for 2 years, I was quite sure that I wouldn’t see bigger stations and malls than the ones in China. If only that was the case.

Instead, there was Shinjuku, a maze of malls, train stations, metro and bus stations. And the outside is just as crazy and bustling. Despite that, I managed to find my friends and start the exploration together.

I pretty much hadn’t planned anything for Tokyo, but thankfully my friends planned everything for me. The city is so interesting that even just walking around Shinjuku didn’t bore me to the least.

Some street photography in front of Yodobashi

The night of the first day was basically a leisurely walk starting from the thrift shops of Harajuku after a nice yuzu ramen all the way to the famous Shibuya crossing. In between, the very fancy Omotesando set up for Christmas.

What do you think about when I say breakfast?

Seafood?

That’s obviously right.

And that’s why the next morning we went to the Tsukiji fresh market for breakfast, because nothing wakes you up more than a massive briny oyster. It was the breakfast of champions.

A bit of a stroll after indulging in way too much Uni

With the bellies filled and the urge for raw seafood satisfied, it was time to briefly cross Ginza, the place where personal finance gets a hit. Extremely expensive shops were scattered everywhere around the main road in Ginza, but a sausage dog was what really caught my attention.

Next, we went to Odaiba to check out the Mori Art Digital Museum. The ticket was quite expensive and I had already seen an exhibition created by the same artists at the Singapore ArtScience Museum, but this one offered an amazing tea experience too. The tea was served in glass bowls in complete darkness. Then, a small flower projected on the bowl would start blossoming within the tea itself and it would follow the bowl as you’d move it around. After a while, the flower would die and another one would blossom in its place. It was definitely my favourite part of the exhibition (and the most photogenic).

Christmas day was a relaxing one and it wasn’t spent in Tokyo, but in the nearby Yokohama, where a Christmas market was taking place. We headed there very early in the morning as Shinjuku was waking up.

Back to Tokyo to celebrate Xmas with friends

The time in Tokyo was getting to an end and there were still so many things to see. I decided to spend one more day in Tokyo than planned instead of going to see Mount Fuji. That was because I found a better way to do it. First, go up on one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo (Metropolitan Government Building). Second, keep your fingers crossed as you hope for clear skies. Third, enjoy the view of Mt Fuji at the horizon.

Mount Fuji overlooking Tokyo — Click to buy this massive vertical panorama as a print

After looking at Tokyo from above for some time, we went exploring the imperial palace first and Ueno Park, a culture filled park set right in the center of Tokyo, later. There were temples, history museums, art museums, contemporary art museums and a zoo. Put it simply, there wasn’t time to see it all. Too bad, but it was also a good excuse to go back there sometime in the future.

Autumn colours at the Tokyo Imperial Palace

Once at Ueno firstly we explored Toshogu Shrine, a very pleasant looking black and gold shrine and then we wandered a bit around the park and the Metropolitan art museum.

A guy saw me taking a photo and immediately made the peace sign. What a lad

Lunch time came quickly, but we had an ace up our sleeves, a century old soba place in Asakusa near Senso-ji. And that’s where we headed next to get a nice combo of soba and crunchy tempura. Being as flexible as a broom, it wasn’t easy for me to sit around the low tables present at the restaurant. We took off our shoes and started eating.

There were still plenty of things to do that day, one of which was to visit the nearby Senso-ji, a very colourful buddhist temple. Hint: for a nice photo, head up the tourist information centre and you’ll get a top down view of the whole temple. Although incredibly touristic, the place still had a spiritual vibe to it.

It was more than enough of old culture. It was time for some contemporary culture. It was time for cosplays and videogames in the legendary Akihabara. A couple of photos should give you an idea of the place.

We spent the last half day in Tokyo before heading north to Hokkaido at the Meiji Shrine. By that point I was a bit over temples and shrines, but I did enjoy the park and the huge torii gates.

I loved the muted colours surrounding the shrine

Despite being in a rush, I still wanted to explore a neighbourhood that I heard about, Shimokitazawa. It was full of second hand shops and hipster stores and it made for a nice little last walk around the quirky streets of Tokyo. Also, that’s the best neighbourhood name ever.