Anyway, my friend Sanrio finally arrived around 3pm, which was when we had decided I'd probably get through customs and immigration and such. I wasn't sure we'd recognize each other, since we hadn't seen each other in 15 years! She was my best friend in elementary school, and I left for Canada pretty much right after we graduated from the 6th grade (yes, there was an actual ceremony), whereas she and her family migrated to Japan about 5 years later. We had kept in touch occasionally via snail mail, sent the occasional birthday and Christmas cards, and a couple of years ago she finally joined the rest of the world on the internet and got herself an email and Friendster account, and more recently, Yahoo messenger. So this visit/reunion was a long time coming, but wasn't possible until recently when we've had more regular communication. Anyway, somehow I did recognize her, and after the happy reunion, we were off to take the bus to Kashiwa City, where she currently lives and where we would catch the train to Umesato, in Noda, where her parents live and where I would be staying during my time there.
The first night was pretty quiet. Her stepgrandfather picked us up from the train station and dropped us off at Sanrio's parents' house in Umesato. We had a sushi dinner at what appears to be a Japanese equivalent of a restaurant franchise, which is to say relatively western/modern decor, bright lights...kind of like dining at a Pizza Hut or a Denny's back home. Even so, their sushi was still way better than what you could get home at a more traditional style Japanese restaurant.
Sanrio slept over that night, and the next morning (after a lazy breakfast and some picture taking out on the balcony, where there was a nice view of Mt Fuji), we were off to Tokyo via the Tsukuba Express train, which took us to Asakusa in about 15-20 minutes. Because of where the train station was, we didn't exactly enter the shrine through the famous Kaminarimon gate (with the big red lantern), but we did walk part of the Nakamise-dori, which was lined with shops selling touristy souvenirs and traditional Japanese foods and other items. After seeing the shrine (where we 'blessed' ourselves with the incense smoke, washed our hands with the water, and threw a coin in and made a wish/prayer, and where I also pulled out an omikuji (fortune), which turned out to be good, yay!), we walked back out to Kaminarimon to take pictures and had an excellent lunch at a traditional style tempura restaurant (where the waitresses were older ladies in kimonos, and where we opted to sit on the floor at a low table, rather than western style. After Asakusa, we headed over to Akihabara to get my sister's request at the huge Yodabashi Camera electronics store (which consisted of about 8 floors of electronic goods), walked around a bit and peeked at a "maid cafe". Then it was off to Ginza to, you guessed it, walk around some more and gawk at the city lights and huge department stores and famous brand name stores (no, I didn't buy anything). By this time it had started raining, so we walked back to the station (after a stop at the Krispy Kreme store near the station, where apparently people line up out the door just to get in) and took the train back to Umesato, where I got to meet the rest of Sanrio's family - her stepfather and half brother.
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| Japan Day 1 |
The night before, it was decided that we would go on a day trip to Nikko, which was supposedly only an hour away, so Wednesday morning, Sanrio, her stepfather, half brother, stepgrandmother, and me piled into their SUV and drove what turned out to be over 2hours on the expressway to Nikko. Nikko turned out to be a small-ish town with an extensive shrine complex up a mountain, so of course we took a lot of pictures! Later in the afternoon, once we've finished looking at everything, we drove some more to Chuzenji-ko, where there was a nice lake and very high waterfalls. We had a very late lunch at a small diner type restaurant across the lake, where I had cold soba noodles with tempura (yum yum) and also where we had an encounter with a snow monkey that somehow got into the restaurant and made off with some food before being chased away! I thought that was cool, but I guess Sanrio didn't really like monkeys so she was more frightened and annoyed. After viewing the falls (Kegon-no-taki; we barely made it in before they closed), we drove some more on a crazy winding road to an onsen up the mountain, where I had my very first Japanese onsen (hot springs) experience. It was pretty deserted and we were the only ones using the hot springs at the time, so going in naked was a little less of a problem for me than it might have been if the place was crowded.
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| Japan Day 2 |
Sanrio was working on Thursday, and I initially suggested going to Ueno Park myself, since it was an easy train ride from Kashiwa and full of museums I could enjoy by myself. However, they seemed worried about leaving me by myself, so Sanrio's stepgrandpa volunteered to take me. This proved to be an experience, since he spoke little English, and I spoke next to no Japanese at all. But somehow we got through it, and ended up checking out the Ameyoko shopping area in Ueno (after a quick ramen lunch at the train station - more yum yum!). I was hoping to walk around the park a bit, but since it was raining and I didn't want to be a pain, I didn't mention it. After a bit, we got back on the train and went to Marunouchi and walked around a bit around the Imperial Palace gardens. Again, it was rainy so the pictures weren't very good. There wasn't much to see there aside from the bridge and a view of the palace, so we were off again, this time to Roppongi and the National Art Center. They had 2 free tickets to the Picasso exhibit so we went in, but I guess he wasn't that into Picasso, so I hurried through it a bit. After the art gallery, we walked to Tokyo Midtown in Roppongi...I think he was looking for a place to eat, but we got distracted by the illumination (basically a Holiday light show) and took pictures of it. We decided to head home after that and eat at Kashiwa station instead, so that's what we did, and he treated me to a pasta dinner (yes, I know, western food, but it was excellent nonetheless).
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| Japan Day 3 |
Friday, we had decided to make the trip out to Hakone to get a closer view of Mt Fuji, and Sanrio got us the Hakone Free Pass and booked us seats on the Romance Car, which leaves from Shinjuku Station. So her mom dropped me off at the Umesato train station at 7am, where I took the train alone to Kashiwa to meet up with Sanrio, and off we went. We managed to catch an earlier train to Shinjuku, which was good because the rain caused train delays. Got to the station on time, but for some reason we thought the train on the platform when we got there wasn't the one for us, so we hung around for a while and bought snacks before finally realizing, at the last minute, that it WAS our train and that it was about to leave! So we ended up running to catch it, and laughing at our own stupidity! But we managed to get on and find our seats, and enjoyed the 1.5 hr ride to Hakone. From Hakone-Yumoto station, we decided to catch the toy train going up the mountain (train switchbacks! that was cool!) and got off first at Chokoku-no-mori, where there was a cool open-air museum - the sculptures were out on the garden! Luckily the rain had stopped by this time, although it was still a bit cloudy. We spent a little too much time here, because by the time we finished it was almost 2pm (and sunset was around 4:30)! So we got back on the train and got off at Gora, where we switched to a funicular to get to Sounzan, where we rode a ropeway (gondola/cable car) to Owakudani, at the top! Owakudani is famous for its eggs boiled in the hot springs! So we got off here to climb some more and eat eggs while enjoying our view of Mt Fuji and the hot springs. The 5 eggs, split between the 2 of us, turned out to be our lunch, because by the time we got back on the ropeway and down to Togendai, it was 4pm and the last "Pirate ship" that would take us across Lake Ashi to Hakone-machi (again, with good views of Mt Fuji) was about to leave! So we found ourselves running again and somehow managing to catch the ship. Once at Hakone-machi, we found that the last bus that would take us back to our starting point at Hakone-Yumoto was timed perfectly with the arrival of the last ship, so we didn't get to spend much time in Hakone-machi. Once back at Hakone-Yumoto, we decided to take an earlier train back, and spent about 30minutes checking out the shops in Hakone and buying my sister's OTHER request (a wooden puzzle box from Hakone) and some more eggs to bring back home. At Shinjuku, we went out for a bit in search of a Citibank (I was running low on cash so I needed a cash advance on my credit card -- this turned out to be a better idea than currency exchange at the airport, since when I got my bill it was approximately 75JPY to the CND), and since it was a Friday night and all the izakayas (Japanese pubs) would be packed, we decided to hold on until we reach Kashiwa before having supper. It was 8:30pm by the time we reached Kashiwa (keep in mind we've only had snacks on the train, some eggs, and another light snack at Owakudani), so we ordered lots of food (best avocado/shrimp salad ever! plus a Japanese interpretation of bibimbap, some sashimi, Japanese crackers dipped in chili sauce, and bacon-wrapped cheese, all to go with some yummy Japanese beer! There was also potato wedges with cream cheese and sweet chili sauce, but they weren't very good compared to the rest so we sort of ignored them). The people sitting next to us appeared to be on a goukon (think group blind date), so Sanrio and I had a fun time observing them and making wild guesses as to who wanted to be with whom! We also had fun just chatting about our lives, and that was the closest we got to "partying" during my stay there! Later, when she dropped me off at the station, her husband called as he finally finished work, but unfortunately Sanrio's mom was already going to pick me up at the station at the other end, so I didn't get a chance to meet him at all. :(
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| Japan Day 4 |
Sanrio was working again Saturday, so her mom got off work early and took me to Kashiwa to see Sanrio at work and do some shopping! She took me to Daiso, which was their equivalent of a dollar store, and I did most of my shopping there! They had so many cool and cheap things, it was awesome! Later on that night, we all went out for sushi and karaoke, and yes I did sing a couple of songs, but I suck and definitely nowhere near as good as Sanrio and the rest of her family!
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| Japan Day 5 |
Sunday was reserved for Harajuku and Shibuya, so again I met up with Sanrio in Kashiwa around mid-morning. Our first stop was Meiji-jingu, which is a park and shrine right in the middle of Tokyo. It was pretty peaceful inside, and since it was a Sunday, we got to see a couple of wedding parties and some little boys and girls in their kimonos! Outside was a different story; Sundays are busy days in Harajuku, and Takeshita-dori, the famous street, was packed! Good people watching, though, and good cheap clothes I wanted to buy (but didn't, because a)I wouldn't be able to wear them back home, and b)I didn't want to use up all my cash). I managed to find a nice purse for Richeille, who specifically asked for one from Harajuku, and then Sanrio and I split a crepe (which was excellent, btw). Then it was off to Shibuya (we decided to skip Omote-sando because of the intimidating crowd, and also since I wasn't in a shopping mood anyway). We walked there and checked out shops along the way, as well as the famous street crossing outside Shibuya station. Sanrio's sister, Angel, met us there and, after searching for a foreign exchange bureau (which turned out to be closed on Sundays) and the Citibank to get some cash out, we went to an okonomiyaki (kind of like a pancake/omelette with veggies and meat/seafood inside) restaurant, which turned out to be this old English style pub but which served okonomiyaki! Sanrio's other sister, Gay-gay, met us there along with her friend, and after eating, we checked out the shop where Angel worked. We hung out there for a while, passed by Love Hotel Hill along the way, then decided to make it an early night and head back home.
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| Japan Day 6 |
Monday afternoon was my flight out of Tokyo, so in the morning, Sanrio's step-grandparents showed up wanting to take me back to their place so that grandma can show me what a Japanese tea ceremony is like. She teaches tea ceremony and ikebana, so at their house there's a tea ceremony room. So that's why there's lot of pics of me drinking tea and eating the traditional sweets that comes with it. It was a bit surreal for me, but a great way to finish off my trip! Sanrio finally showed up around 1pm, so off we went for the 1.5 hour drive to Narita. Got there just in time to check in...we were hoping to grab some lunch with her grandparents (who drove us there) after I checked in, but the long line ups at the baggage counter made that pretty difficult, so after checking in, we said our goodbyes, and off I went to find my gate.
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| Japan Day 7 |
The flight back to Vancouver was pretty interesting; I ended up chatting with my seatmates and got very little sleep on the plane. All in all, it was a great trip...I only spent about 3 days in Tokyo, but that was fine since my main reason for going was to see Sanrio! It was great to finally see her again, and I'm glad that after all this time, we can still talk and laugh as much as we did 15 years ago. My one regret is probably not getting to eat as much Japanese food as I wanted (ramen and cold soba with tempura is still my favourite, but Sanrio's mom's shogayaki (basically gingered pork) was so good that I'm going to try to make it at home!), but I guess that's something to look forward to for the next trip, which apparently has to include a trip to Kyoto!
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