Day 14 - Part III – Back to Tokyo – Back in the World

Part III – Back to Tokyo – Back in the World

            Egypt’s burning…  That is what we saw everywhere as we returned to the larger world.  There had been rumblings going on when we left for Asia.  The filtered view we had gotten through censored TV while in China had made the picture muddy.  Our first few days in Japan we hadn’t hooked into the world much, and then out in Kamakura and Enoshima we had completely disconnected.  (Keiko-san had sent an email to Alec telling him we were all set and OK.  I had no other easy way to get in touch with him.)  

            Coming from the relatively rustic Kamkura & Enoshima adventure and being completely un-digital, then splashing back into the information hot-tub that is Tokyo and seeing Cairo in even greater turmoil was a shock.

            But as that black cloud was rising in the background, Tavin and I got a chance to enjoy the good order that is so important to the daily life of Japan.  As we were leaving the train station on our return to Tokyo, Tavin and I were going out gates side by side.  I went through, and Tavin was trapped inside, he didn’t have enough money on his SUICA card to leave.  I wasn’t sure how to get to the closest recharge station without leaving Tavin stranded there…. of what to do.

            As I was standing there baffled, one of the snappily uniformed subway guards came over and looked at the red numbers and message on the display screen and my clear bafflement.  I reached in my wallet and handed over Tavin’s SUICA card and a 1000Y bill.  It was the most obvious thing to do.  In less time than it took figure out if I should be upset or worried over the whole thing, Tavin’s card was recharged and we were sent on our way with a polite bow from the subway guard...  Arigato!

            After our travels to the peaceful corner of Kamakura and Enoshima, we arrived back at the hotel, and had a washing day – laundry in the bath tub.  The glamour never ends.

            Fortunately, a gourmet dinner was a short walk away at a depachika.  A quick stop at the convenience store for beverages that only cost an arm (and not the leg too), and we were able to relax, nibble and share our adventures with Alec.

Day 14 - Part II – Back to the Mainland & Enoshima Aquarium!

A very amusing part of wondering around outside of the regular stream of expats and foreigners was people continually asking if Tavin’s dad was Japanese.  I can see why…

though there is a certain amount of people seeing what they wanted to see, making up a story to explain why in the world these two odd balls were wandering around this part of Japan.  But it was comforting and fun that the explanation they seemed to want was that somehow we belonged.

And with no segue at all... We said farewell to the beautiful island of Enoshima.

Our Ryokan is tucked in along that coast line. 

There's the whole island!

We stopped by the train station we would later use to head back to Tokyo.  Happily there are still coin-lockers in Japan, so we were able to stash our big bag for the trip to the Enoshima Aquarium.

Sadly, it was too cloudy that day to see
Mt. Fuji.  But we had gotten the
view that mattered the night before. 

Cute little aquarium map.

I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking, but this was an amazing aquarium packed into a pocket-sized package.

Tickets and shows for the day

A huge walk around tank full of schooling fish

 

Tavin trying on a tank for size

Amazing rays in the tank

They had more jellyfish than I had ever seen on display.  You'd think they'd all run together, but the way they were displayed made each one striking and memorable.

Sea Nettle

Spotted Jellyfish

Blue Jellyfish

And the combination of lit tanks and dark halls made for some striking displays of the tastier sea life.

Long Spined Purple Sea Urchin

Giant Japanese Spider Crabs

And they had a dolphin show.  Say what you want about them, they are engaging… and Tavin thinks seriously about keeping the world safe for dolphins in the wild.

Day 14 - Part I – Breakfast of the Fanciest Kind

Somehow sleeping off all that dinner and hot spring spelunking must have been hard work.  We were hungry for breakfast.  They had offered to make us toast, so we could have a familiar Western breakfast.

No Way!  We didn’t travel this far, track down Chinese yogurt, look at dried sea horse on a stick, slurp noodles, and enjoy a dish of crunchy fish sprouts to suddenly face white toast for breakfast.

We got the good breakfast.

A whole, hot smoked fish flat fish (Tavin demolished his to the tittering of the waitresses.)

A dish of shredded nori.

Rice (of course), and soy sauce for seasoning.

A salad of hijiki seaweed, strips of crunchy lotus root, smoked fish chunks and a creamy sesame dressing.  This was delicious.

A shredded pickled vegetable mix.

A different pickle on a mix of larger vegetable chunks.

Slimy something.  I have no idea what it was, and didn’t really like the flavor, but other diners were slurping it with ghusto.

A bowl of steamy clam broth, again (yummy as always).

And chowan-mushi (egg custard with ginko nuts and other goodies hidden inside).

And tea.  

We were well fueled for our return to the mainland.

P.S.  The only way we didn't explode; all this food from that morning and the night before mostly came in portions that fit into saké cups.

Day 13 - Part III – This Dinner Deserves it’s Own Entry

Sorry – We were so hungry, Tavin couldn’t hold the camera still in the low light.

Let me attempt to list what we were served for dinner:

One the 1/2 moon plate:

a square of grilled black cod (I suspect marinated in sake lees)

an omelet square with veggies, chilled tiny dried shrimp with citrus juice (yuzu)

candied kumquat

A footed bowl contained a watermelon radish over 3 kinds sashimi - including shrimp.

The Covered tea-cup/soup bowl contained HUGE bivalves of some sort with mixed rice.

We each got 4 pieces of fragile, shattering tempura - shrimp, pepper, kabocha squash or pumpkin & potato – paired with a particular sauce.

In the celadon-green teacup  - a creamy salad with potatoes, greens, mushrooms and topped with a dried goji berry.

A soup tureen we shared contained a light clam broth with seaweed.

The white bowl with the blue mark – held a steamed whelk , with a convenient toothpick for easy snail removal.  (I told Tavin he could skip that, as long as he took a bight of everything else.)

A gold rimmed deep plate  held a sort of Japanese ceviche – citrus marinated fish -  served in a bowl made out of the bottom quarter of an orange.

There were various small bowls of pickles - radish, cucumber, Japanese cabbage & eggplant

In a saké-cup sized bowl – what I can only call fish sprouts – crunchy, salted tiny little fish, most likely very immature based on the eye/body size ratio.

Soup was made before our eyes – as a little charcoal cube was lit inside out own little burners.  The bowl placed over it had bacon, 3 or 4 kinds of fish pieces, green veg, sliced negi, and enoki mushrooms.  These were all stewed together for broth to make a fresh, but rich broth.

And there was rice.

And there was tea. 

I indulged in a little hot saké.  I realize… not the good stuff, but it seemed so right with everything else.

And then, after all that, as we were sitting there stunned, a spoonful of mango sorbet & a nibble of grilled peach was delivered to us.

And at last we were presented with a digestive green tea. 

So… there was dinner.  We slept beautifully; full, elated, and relaxed by our adventure out of Tokyo.

Day 13 - Part II – Onsen

We have no photographs of the onsen.  

The Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) was built where it was, and has existed in one form or another for 850 years because of the hot spring in a cave under the Ryokan. 

And that hot spring is the onsen.  

There were two ways to sit in the hot water.  

One half was styled as a roman bath, and had clearly been there for many years, made obvious by the handmade nature of the tiles, the design aesthetic of the room, and the impressive mineral accretions on parts of the structure.  A definite time capsule or a more romantic age.

 The other half was the cave.   There had clearly been carving out – to make a bigger area, to make a more regular shaped pool, and some seats had been created and tiled.  But all we had to do was paddle back a bit, and there was uncarved rock, and niches where lamps/lanterns had been placed in the days before electrical lighting had made it down into the cave.

The air was lovely and steamy, the water milky and soft.  It was a wonderful place to soak, warm up, and float peacefully, and truly appreciate the absolutely unique experience it was.

 

And while we were recovering from the hot spring adventure, they brought in dinner.

And that requires a whole entry of its own.

Day 13 - Part I – Hosted in Kamakura

Venturing outside Tokyo, south and a little east, to take in a slower, mellower, more traditional slice of Japan, we were met with the open arms of Keiko-san, the grandmother of two of Tavin’s school and karate friends.  She lives in Kamakura, and had gotten us a room at a rather traditional and ancient Ryokan – an inn with tatami mat floors, hot springs for bathing, and food like nowhere else on earth.

            Tavin made his first real splash when we stopped for lunch, and he pointed at the kamaboko-udon (noodle soup with fish cake) and asked for it specifically for lunch.  No hunting for McDonalds, he wanted the local fare.  Good kiddo.  

We got a tour of the seaside towns, some of the local sights and temples – seeing the largest cast bronze Buddha in Japan

and his sandals

.

 The Amida-Bhudda Daibatsu is rather amazing – and much loved.  His history and statistics say what the pictures cannot.

He’s hollow, so we even got to go inside, and see things from the Bhudda’s point of view.  He used to have a temple, but that was washed away in a storm, so he sits there, calmly, in all weathers.

            Even though it was still winter, it was lovely and sunny. 

We got so warm we had to take our coats off, and got to watch people getting dive-bombed by the kites.  (Nope the signs were not just there for decoration.)

            After strolling through the beautiful temples of Kamakura, soaking up the sun, the calm, and the comfort of being shown about by a lovely and attentive host, we hopped on a bus (Yay SUICA cards!) and rode up and down hills, through convoluted, impressively precarious neighborhoods, around a curve of land where we could see Enoshima, and its island. 

            We made it onto the island.  A bustling shopping street opened off the end of the causeway that links the island to the mainland. 

The shopping street climbed the rocky hill that is the center of the island.  Along that shopping street was one of those discreet walkways that looks like there is something good back there, but unless you know your are supposed to go there, there is no reason to walk up it.

I still can't believe this was our destination!

            This was the Ryokan we were staying at.  Getting to walk up one of these exclusive roadways was just about the *least* exciting thing about it.  We took our giant European selves inside.  Keiko-san got us checked in, and we were finally able to attempt to thank her for our warm welcome, wonderful tour, and the amazing arrangements she had made for us.  Soon, those arrangements were to prove even more unbelievable!

            We were shown around the hotel – where the dining room was (for breakfast – dinner would be in our room), where the onsen was, and what the hours were.  Then we got to see our room, and it was everything all my grade school adventure books had lead me to expect.  Sliding doors, almost too short for me,

(Tavin had his own version - he could reach the lintel)

 tatami mat floors, folded beds from the closet and special slippers for the toilet.

            We tried on our kimono – these were just the relaxing, bathrobe types.  Tavin fit into a small women’s robe, 

and I needed a men’s kimono.  

Ah well, we had fun fitting our giant European selves into this world sized for a different average size. 

 There was also a glassed in viewing deck.  And that is where I found the part

 I couldn’t have managed if I’d spent months on the task…   

As we were relaxing in our robes – we got to see a sunset over Mt. Fuji. 

           Well, after that, we needed to go relax in an underground hot spring.