Counting Down to the New Year, Japanese Style

Today we had to leave early to make it to our train at 6:30am but since we’re all still adjusting time zones there wasn’t much trouble to be up and going. My SIL and I took a stop at the 7-11 across the street from the train station to get goodies for breakfast on the way. I really need to learn to take more pictures of foods, I’ll get better, I promise ;). I tried these melon pan sticks, that I couldn’t place it but it was a sweet bread stick with mini chocolate chips that had almost a spongy like texture. I was pretty addicted. I got Mr. Wander a cream bun and some chocolate croissants and we each had canned latte. Mr. Wander’s was coffee and mine was an English tea that was really tasty!

After an easy 2 hour ride on the train we made it to Nikko. Our pass included use of the local bus while in the area so we took the bus to the end of town and to the Shinkyo bridge. What a beautiful spot!

Up several steps and through winding streets we arrived at the Rinno-ji temple. They were setting up evergreen boughs and bamboo trees in front of the temple, which my limited understanding is part of a New Year’s decoration.

We decided to enter the gardens behind the treasure house which was

very lovely and peaceful. There were a few fountains running and a mini waterfall at one end.

After a quick loop through the treasure house (not much was in English and photography was forbidden – no translate app), we headed out of the Black Gate and up the hill towards the big temple, Nikko-Toshogu. At the top of the hill our appetites were encouraged by a tent selling steamed pork buns, so we had to get one and it was amazing! *Adding to my list of recipes to master*

As we ate our buns, we suddenly realized just how many people were there, like a few tour buses had appeared and the line for getting into the temple stretched down the hill. I decided to try and look up tickets and bought them online then I showed my QR code at a side window with no line and got paper tickets within about 5 minutes. Love a good creative time saving hack ;).

There were very steep steps leading to the temple, and inside was a courtyard that had several buildings, including the carving of 3 monkeys, “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. Then there were more steep steps through a gate to several shrines. We headed towards the inner shrine and carving of the sleeping cat first:

It was a small carving and easy to miss. Then we started up a few flights of stairs through these gates and then we get to this sight with a sign telling us there at 207 steps!

These steps are not little either, they are steeper than your normal steps. After several huffs and puffs later we made it to the top. We walked in a loop around the shrine, with a few carvings of flamingos, and then started heading back down the stairs.

At the bottom we were right by the entrance to the main shrine, so we took off our shoes and went in. The steps we were climbing up were made of gold, and had rivets and everything. Inside the ceiling was covered in dragon carvings and one of the walls of the antechamber had a gorgeous phoenix carving. Unfortunately we could not take pictures inside but hopefully you can be content with a dragon painting from the ceiling of one of the gates into the temple.

We made our way back down out of the temple and headed towards the Kanmangafuchi Abyss. Along the way we walked through a residential area and enjoyed noting the differences in houses from what we are used to. I found it really interesting the way the town managed water flowing from the mountains, which I could imagine creates flash floods during the rainy season. They had deep culverts and water ways along the road that was constantly running water. It would be very relaxing to listen to while falling asleep.

The Abyss was lovely, I’m always a sucker for water features. Along the path there were many Buddhas carved out of stone, all with crocheted red caps and a red garment. Many of the Buddhas were broken, missing heads, or missing completely due to a flood several years prior after exceptionally heavy rains. If the head or entire body was washed away, a rock was put in its place and the hat and garment were still placed.

We walked all the way back to the train station because we figured it would be faster than bus in all the traffic. We scrounged around the town a bit for lunch items and boarded our train back to Asakusa. Mr. Wander found a few mystery items from a bakery where they did not speak or have any English signage. We tried guessing what the fillings were in the various buns he purchased before and while tasting, and since the items were in plastic packaging I used Google translate to check how close we were. One of the buns was a sort of bean-raisin-Brandy filling, there was also a Yuzu frosted bun and one with a normal red bean paste filling, all of which were quite tasty. I forgot to get a picture of the brandy one, but remembered before we finished eating the other two.

Upon returning to the city we were all pretty tuckered out, I just about fell asleep on the train. Several were ready to call it an early night and just got a few things from 7-11, but Mr. Wander, his Brother and I decided to walk down the street from the hotel in the direction we hadn’t been yet and found many restaurants, most of which didn’t even show up in a search. We picked a spot that had many options for Ramen so we all got a bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen, and split some cheese spring rolls and Gyoza. The spring rolls were delicious, and tasted like Mozzarella sticks but with a thin crispy fried wonton shell. I might actually prefer these to breaded mozzarella sticks that I’m more used to having.

Not a 3 hour Tour

The next morning we decided to make it an easier day so we only had to make it 2 blocks from the hotel by 10am, and board a boat that cruised down the Sumida river, and had a rooftop deck for viewing.

After about an hour, the boat dropped us off at Odaiba Ocean park, which is where a small replica of the statute of liberty is located. The statue was built after “A year of France in Japan” in the 90s to honor the relationship between the two countries and the goal of liberty for all.

We mostly just walked around and found ourselves lunch at a nearby mall’s Chinese restaurant. Across the way there was the first american cuisine type restaurant we had seen based on Hawaiian style burgers. Not counting the McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC or Denny’s we saw around the city. On the way back to our return boat we wet up the Fuji Television building to the Hatchitama spherical observatory to get a great view of this part of the city.

Here’s a picture of all of us before boarding the boat trip back.

After the return trip a few of us went to get some souveniers from the market by the temple (mostly chopsticks) and then we had a dinner reservation at a restaurant just steps from the hotel. We were able to try Shochu for the first time and so got one each of Barley, Potato, and sugar based. I prefered the Barley, it tasted pretty close to a whiskey but much smoother.

After dinner us kids went out to a bar just two blocks from the hotel. It was tiny, enough room for about 8 people at bar stools. It had a cover charge but they gave you snacks which was an adventure in itself. First time I’ve ever had a beef tongue flavored anything, and it was on this Cheeto the size of a hotdog.

While the decor was quite eclectic (but I totally loved it), but the thing that made this experience really great was the bartender. She was so fun and was talking and drinking along with us. A friend of hers came in and we talked with him too, he showed us a book of images of his granddaughter who was 3 years old. It was a photo shoot of a Shichi-Go-San Festival that celebrates young boys and girls at the ages of 7, 5 and 3 (Shichi, Go, San) and prayers are offered for the healthy and happy future lives of the kids.

Mr. Wander’s SIL had to go back to relieve the babysitter (Grammy) so the 3 of us went to check out the temple and its New Year’s Eve festivities, but we didn’t realize there would be a full street vendor fair! We tried a few things, such as meat on a stick, Breaded cheese on a stick, mini rice cakes on a stick smothered in sauce, and some waffle tasting cakes shaped like pandas that were quite tasty; although my favorite was the cheese. Here are a bunch of pictures from the temple.

We decided to find a bar nearby to get one last drink. As we walked back we saw just how far back they had been setting up barricades with police stationed at every gate point just waiting for the signal to close it off. We headed back for the hotel around 10:30 so we didn’t get trapped. We hoped to hear the bells at midnight but forgot to open our window, they chime the bell 107 times leading up to midnight with the 108th chime at the stroke of midnight.

Off to Thailand!

We made it to Bangkok, Thailand and were met at the airport by our Thailand guides, Mr. Wander’s Aunt and Uncle that live in Bangkok. They took us out to dinner where I got to try my first lotus flower wrap! More on that next time. Happy New Year!