Ryuokyo - a tokyo day trip

Yesterday the sun was shining brightly, the motor bike was beckoning and we headed north.  There was no fixed plan, just a rough map that a friend had drawn of a scenic mountain road near Nikko in Tochigi prefecture.  It was a pretty road  winding up through forests and rice fields from Fubasami to Kiyotaki. There wasn't much in the way of places to stop along the way, and we ended up following signs through Nikko to Kinugawa Onsen, a place I have been curious about since Japan Rail and Tobu began joint services there serveral years ago.
Kinugawa Onsen town itself was thoroughy unremarkable, though it would have been beautiful once.  Oversized  ferro-concrete apartment blocks that have been built to accommodate large groups of sightseers who want an onsen (hot spring) experience close to public transport dominated the landscape, laying waste to the nature that originally made the destination appealing.   The Japanese bubble has long passed and several o buildings seemed to have been abandoned, leaving the town with a rather tired and forlorn atmosphere.  The tourist centre there did have good information though.  We picked up a pamphlet for Ryuokyo, a place neither of us had heard of, but the pictures looked good :)   And so we headed on.

Ryuokyo looked like the pick of the pamphlets: a ravine, waterfalls, sheer cliffs, nature trails, forest, an endangered frog preservation area.     It is a couple of stops north of Kinugawa Onsen on the Yagan Minami Aizu Railway line (change at Shin Fujiwara), though we continued by bike.   For a Sunday  in summer, there were few sightseers, though I imagine in autumn the spectacular colours would bring armies of leaf watchers.  The sightseers who were there almost all walked down the steps to the see the first waterfall, and then promptly returned to the point of origin, without traversing  the nature trails.   All the more peaceful for us!    

 After some consideration we opted to follow a loop path that took about 45 minutes rather than walk the full length of the nature trail (est. 3 hours).  The longer walk had appeal, but the trains back only run every hour, and waiting for 50 min for a train had no appeal...

The terrain was similar to Shosenkyo, which we visited in April, though unlike Shosenkyo where the walking trail is by the edge of the gorge, the nature trails were up to 10 metres back from the edge, making the forest rather than the ravine the attraction.   But it was definitely worth seeing, and made for a very pleasant day trip from Tokyo.

Ryuokyo station  on the  Yagan Aizu Kinugawa Line

The fare table at Ryuokyu station - only in Japanese but it shows the prices and where the Kinugawa-Aizu line joins up with other lines.

A map of the nature trails

Upstream

The waterfall that most sightseers seem to come to see.

On the nature path

The walking path by the gorge has a lot of steps and walking boards to minimize the impact of human traffic.

The gorge

Flowers

Rather public public toilets

I've opted not to think about the rationale for the design of the public toilets below....

A public toilet from the footpath near Shinanomachi (Tokyo)

Taken from the foot path in Kanda (near Tokyo station)

what a pity, what bad luck, what great luck

On Sat we arrived later than anticipated, in a massive downpour, totally drenched.

(Who ever told me the Japanese Meteorological Agency don't get it wrong was blinded by parochialism).

In order to park on the base original registration documents were required.

(Bryn had asked what was needed and wasn't given that piece of information.)

Most bikies carry photocopies rather than originals - and as the downpour demonstrated, it seems quite reasonable. So the only alternative was to park off base. 

No problem - 1000Y/ 12 hours.  3000 Y max, not so bad.

But.........

Arriving back there on Sun, I read the fine print.

1000/12hrs Mon-Fri.  Weekend charges were something like 200y/20 mins. We put in the ticket.... OUCH!!! more than 12,000 yen!!!!  140$ or so.  OUCH!!

We figured "you get that", lesson learned on not using public transport in Tokyo, and put in a 10,000 Y note.

It spat it out, I put it in, it spat it out, I put it in, it spat it out.
A battle of wills.

Hiro took a look and read the sign - 10000 notes couldn't be used.
(A sign I could have read if I had tried.)

I didn't get that piece of info and tried again.

The card got stuck.

I pressed all the buttons to get it to spit out.

It didn't.  The next car drove up, put in it's card.

He paid his, but our card was gone.

No way to pay.

He asked if we wanted to exit with him.

I gratefully said yes please.

The ticket was gone.  What else could we do?  We drove off.

Hiro must have been watching too many police chase criminals reality TV shows....

About 4km down the road conscience got the better of him.... 

Unwilling to be hauled up as a criminal for something with no criminal intent,  the only option was to return.   I called the help line number of the car park.  I explained what had happened.  I didn't tell them how much it was - but they didn't ask either.

I said we were out of the car park but hadn't paid, that the machine had taken our ticket.

Perhaps he was shocked by the honesty, perhaps it was because it was close to closing time, perhaps because it was a bike (and apparently wasn't actually meant to be in there), perhaps he found my Japanese too excruciating,  but he kindly said.  

'Don't worry, just go home.'

:)

A perfect weekend :) 

A weekend out of Japan in Japan

Tuesday, the first Tues of the month, non burnable rubbish day.   A stockpile to take down stairs. Since non burnables shifted to 1st & 3rd Tuesdays only, it can be hard to keep track.  Curry rice for breakfast & several half written blog entries to either finish or trash.

The weekend just passed was like no other weekend I have had in Japan.
Bryn, a US friend of Lily whom I had met several times previously,  the Yamashitas from Niigata, the Fukases from Nagano and  Gina and her family from  eastern Tokyo, and us  to her place for the weekend.  She lives on the Yokota airbase, one of about 50 wholly US,  military installations in Japan.  The issue of  US bases in Japan is complex, and although there is vocal opposition to the bases in Okinawa, you don't hear it much in Tokyo. Although the original purpose was to keep Japanese militarism and threats of communism in check, the role of the US has evolved in being a counter balance to the heavily militarised Chinese as well as a presence to deter North Korean aggression.

The base is the main US air base in Asia and is huge. Totally self contained  it has its own school, hospital, supermarket, department store, banks, PO, American style restaurants,  you name it, it's there. Furthermore, everyone speaks English and  I can really understand why some military personnel never go off base.

It was so not Japan!  We needed to present out passports and foreign registration and be issued with an on base day pass.  The registration office had a long list of foreign nationals who are not permitted on the base.  It was no surprise to see Somalia, Afghanistan, &Cuba on the list,  but the rationale for excluding nationals of key allies such as  Singapore, Taiwan and France puzzled me.

Bryn was a total trooper, despite everyone arriving at different times, and us arriving significantly later than I had calculated (and thoroughly drenched from thunderstorm that didn't appear in the weather forecast),  she checked everyone in, ferried people here and there, dealt with bureaucratic dramas about parking, organised for people to be in places where they could be occupied while waiting for us stragglers to arrive and all the while  remained totally unflustered and in remarkably good humour.  I would have been tearing my hair out.

Hiro and I went straight back to Bryn's  place to change into dry clothes before going on an expedition to the all American supermarket.... The supermarket goods are flown in directly to the base from the US,  not unlike the Berlin blockade really. The goods are tax exempt and meat and dairy in particular were astonishingly cheap - ricotta was about 1/5 of the price that you can get it in international supermarkets here (it's not stocked in ordinary supermarkets).

 Bryn, who epitomises what remains Dad's most vivid memory of being in America - warmth  and hospitality- had made extraordinary preparations:  a canopy, jumping castle and monster size grill - perfectly suited to the monster size pork ribs!    The Japanese men excelled themselves cooking, and with vegies straight from  Heather and Ken's vegie patch in Nagano, drinks from the local bottlo,  and  the superb company, how could have been anything but a good night!  Being able to just chill with such good company is a real treat.

Bryn's place is big enough to feed and sleep everyone. No need to watch for the last train, think about  two hour time limited restaurants, worry about the weather,  deciding on a central meeting point convenient for all,  thinking about somewhere that is child friendly, anxiety about disturbing neighbours. Going to the park or a restaurant, isn't the same as being able to have people over.

We went out for brunch on base the next morning.  The volume and variety of food was staggering.  Roast pork, roast beef, roast turkey, roast duck, anything that usually goes with a roast - potoatoes, gravy, vegies, even rice,    salads, antipasto, pasta, fruit, cereals, toast, omelettes, bacon, sausages, ham, eggs, wedges, pancakes,  pastries, cakes, icecream and and and and....  I really hope they have a good system for the left overs!

One of the most striking aspects of the base is how incredibly racially mixed it is.  It wouldn't matter what race or mix of races you were there, no-one would look twice.  As Bryn said, people in the military go all over the world so it's quite natural that spouses come from various places.   It's actually not very often I get to meet the husband of friends married to Japanese men.   And it was ironic that  it was Bryn who was able to bring people together.  Something about Japanese culture makes it normal for partners to have his and her friends, much like his and her toothbrushes.  Quite different from western countries.  It's even rarer for Hiro.  Hiro has met Masahiko several times and is always impressed by how sweet and involved he is with the boys, and he made the same  remark about Ken.  It's quite different from his experience of growing up in Japan, and very good for him to see.

It was a terrific weekend.  Thanks so much Bryn  & Ethan (and all).  Hope to see you all again before  long. :)