So here we are now going towards my final few nights in Japan and as much as most people usually say it when on holiday, I really don’t want to go back home. There is so much to discover out here that I deffo want to come back and not do as much travelling as I did (like 2 days here and 5 there), but spend more time in each place this time (Basically 3-5 days min and ideally 5 days each)
Sunday 20th August – Time to trade my rails for wheels.
Today was the day when I get to drive for the first time in about 3-4 weeks, luckily, they drive on the same side as us, but the speed limits are a fair bit different. In the UK we go at 30 MPH (48 KPH) on most roads in an urban area, sometime 40 MPH (64 KPH) if we are lucky. Then rural roads tend to be 60MPH (96.5 KPH) (sometime 50 MPH 80KPH)) if it is a single lane road or 70MPH (112.7 KPH) if it is a dual carriage way or motorway. Over here everything is in KPH which is quite a bit different and so are the speed limits. Usually in an urban area they tend to be either 30 KPH (18.6 MPH) or 40 KPH (24.9 MPH) if you are out in a rural area it tends to be 50 KPH (31 MPH) or 60 KPH (37.3 MPH) and 60 KPH is the National speed limit over here for roads that aren’t an express way. Expressways, which I would like to point out that I haven’t driven on, are basically the same as out motorways, except they aren’t free as they are all tolled like other places in Europe. Expressways have variable speed limits which will change depending on traffic and other road conditions (like our “smart motorways”) with a usual speed limit of either 80 KPH (50 MPH) or 100 KPH (62 MPH). The only exception to this is one or two expressways that go up to 120 KPH (74.6 MPH).
The car I rented out was a nice little Nissan note E-Power which cost me £100 for 2 days. It is an electric hybrid car which was perfect for me especially with the fact that I was going up into the mountains. It has an electric motor to turn the wheels which is powered by a battery, but the battery is charged by either your wheels under regen braking or from the 1 litre petrol engine in the car. Because there was a fair bit of up and down due to hills and mountains where I was going and the general topography as well. It was good as the engine would hardly get touched half the time.
The place I was staying at is called Towada Prince Hotel which is a 4* hotel literally in the middle of nowhere and on the shores of lake Towada. It was a 2-hour drive from Hachinohe Station which is where I picked the car up from.
Instead of going straight to the hotel I stopped in the small community on the shores of the lake and rented out a swan boat. Now you probably don’t know this, but Lake Towada is in the caldera of an active volcano, and it got its distinctive shape from secondary eruptions in the past and then the lava domes collapsing. The surface of the lake measures 23.6 Sq. Miles.
After getting to the hotel to check in I wanted to go out to some food from a nearby town, unfortunately when I got there it was closed so I have to go even further afoot to get some food. I looked up places to go that was good within 10-20KM. Kazuno city is where I finally ended up, but there was a slight twist with me arriving there, there was a Matsuri on, a festival.
The festival is called Hanawabayashi which is a festival of light and music which takes place just after Obon. It has a history that dates back quite far to 1765. On the 16th (day after Obon) they get all the people who are considered unlucky and have a mass exorcism ceremony in front of the Shinto god of birth (which resides in a nearby shrine). A few days after this on the19th and 20th there is a big, massive float parade from 10 districts in the town offering music to the deity. It was amazing to watch, and the music was awesome.
So on each float there was at the back 3 shamisen players, then 3 flute players in front and then 2 rows of 3 drummers, but the drummers walked as well even as the float was moving and there would be a few other people on the floats as well with fans and small metal timing cups which they used to help keep the tempo. It was amazing to watch.
As part of my Websites revamp, please see below a video of the festival, but it is 10 mins long, please bear that in mind.
When I was on the way back to my hotel and I don’t know how well you can see it, but I was in the middle of nowhere and it was awesome to be able to see hardly any light and to just see the stars.
Monday 21st August – Hirosaki City
Today I decided to get up and go to Hirosaki city, I wanted to also go to Mount Iwaki-San as well, but unfortunately it was clouded over and it wouldn’t be the best idea to go up it, even though I would be via car and chairlift and then walk the rest of the way. So instead, it was time to go to the castle instead and see if it cleared up later. First off, I went to the botanical gardens there and got a combo ticket which only cost 500 yen (About £2.70). On the way though I stopped off on the way at a roadside cafe and got a nice bowl of ramen for only 700 yen. (About £4).
The botanical garden has loads of different flowers and a bunch of different gardens and Japanese gardens. The first few I came across was a forest, rock garden and a floral calendar.
The only annoying this when you are near any kind of trees in Japan, are the
The next bits I came upon was a Japanese garden exhibition and rose garden. with a big pond and some fish in it. They came up to me when I was on the rocks and I had to ask them to stop being Koi with me, ba dum tiss.
After this I headed to the rest house there and then carried onward to then cherry blossom garden (which aren’t in blooming season anymore) and the aquatic plant garden as well. I even saw the lawn mower too for the open lawn area where families can sit down and have a picnic.
Next it was time to go to the castle and have a look around, not that there wasn’t loads there, but one of the things that was fascinating was they actually had to move one of the keeps due to the wall it was on was bulging out and they was worried that it was going to collapse and take the castle with it. They are now working on the wall and repairing it.
Now it was time to finally go back to looking at if I could go up Mt Iwaki-San which unfortunately still had a cloud covering the top so instead I went to get something to eat from somewhere I saw on the way in, and it looked nice as it said Steak and Hamburger.
After this lovely meal which was about 4000-5000 yen (about £20-£25) cheaper than the cheapest meal back at the hotel, I decided to head back and because it was still light, I thought it would be a good idea to head up to one of the highest observation points near the hotel. This was both a good idea and a mistake.
It was a good idea because of the stunning view over the lake, but a bad idea because of the cloud that was constantly on my doorstep, and my rental car doesn’t have fog lights. “Oh dear” or something similar was my thought train when I tried to drive back through it later.
There was also a nice little thing about how the lake was formed which I ran through google translate and then took screenshots of, so they are ready below for you browsing and perusal.
Finally, when I got back to the hotel, it was time for a dip in the open air onsen. This was more like a traditional one that I heard about where it is just a partition between men and women, and it has a fantastic view out of some of the surrounding area. Yes, the area is also cordoned off so no one can accidentally stumble upon you while you are bathing in the onsen.
Tuesday 22nd August – Time to start heading back to Tokyo
For this day I had a bit of a cunning plan as I wanted to go and see and island out back in Hachinohe city, so I got up early, had breakfast, a quick dip in the onsen, which was lovely and refreshing in the morning, got in the car and then started making my way back. It took me a while to get back to Hachinohe, but I finally arrived at Kabushima island which only about 1-1.5 hour before I had to hand in the car in.
Finally, it’s time to get to Kabushima. Kabushima is a small little island by itself out just literally off the coast. It has its own shrine on it and is famous for black tailed gulls as well. It is connected to the mainland by a small dock.
Once I arrived about 3-4 hours later at my new hotel in Tokyo which is my last night here, I went out to a familiar restaurant in Asakusa nearby that does Okonomiyaki. This was my Third time here and it didn’t disappoint. I got a three in one as I couldn’t decide which one to get this time.
Wednesday 23rd August – What was meant to be my final day.
After going and getting some last-minute gifts the night before and going to get my personalised chopsticks from the Tokyo sky tree today, I could not have predicted what would happen.
I got up early and double checked that everything was packed and I had my boarding pass ready and waiting on my phone as well. So, I went out to the Tokyo sky tree again to get my own personalised chopsticks that have my name on them (one in English and other in Katakana which is Japanese phonetics). I also went to the Senso-Ji temple and Asakusa Shrine. Where I met this Australian couple who had come from Melbourne.
After this I picked up my luggage from the hotel and started making my way back towards the station so I could get the train to Narita airport. I had to scan my passport to get my ticket as it was a special cheaper price for foreigners which was the same thing I had to do when I arrived.
I got to Narita and headed to the check in desk, and everything was going great until they asked me if I had my passport. Well let’s just say this was not a fun situation to be in and to say that I did not stress out a bit would be an understatement. After confirming I didn’t have it after unpacking my bag about 3 times, I headed back to the train terminal as I thought I might have left it on the train and thankfully the staff were all really helpful. Good news they managed to find my passport, bad news it was back in Tokyo, and I wouldn’t be able to get it in time for my flight.
To cut a long story short. I was able to get a flight the following day, but I had to do it through different airline as both booking.com and Etihad was being very useless and kept on trying to get me backwards and forwards between them. 2 morals of this mini adventure are 1. always check that you have your passport on you every 5 mins (quoted from my dad) and 2. always take an emergency travel credit card with you as you never know what will arise.
I went via Cathay on the way back home, managed to get a picture of Mount Fuji from the plane and stopped off at Hong Kong Airport on the way back to transit there. Got some rammen while at the airport and did some blog work.
When I eventually got back after a 12.5-hour plane journey I was greeted by my parents, including my mum. Let’s just say as soon as I saw here like in the photo below, I turned around and started walking the other way 😀
After getting home, it was time to reset my countdown calendar to when I wanted to next go to Japan.
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