Greetings from Kanazawa!!!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for not updating the blog for a while, we left Tokyo and went by train to a place called Hakone close to Mount Fiji and there was no Internet access at the hotel. The hotel is really nice, with views of the countryside and mountains.

But first things first. Our last day in Tokyo was great despite the heat. I woke up very early to go and visit the famous Tsukiji fish market, while Giulia decided to spend some more time lazing in bed and then upload the previous blog before we met at 10.30 at the Starbucks in Meguro station.

Lucikly I got my way since she insisted that we meet at Tokyo station which would have been an impossible meeting spot given that it is huge, incredibly busy with countless metro and rail lines.

I headed to the market in my worst pair of shoes since it is meant to be messy and arrived before 8am since this is meant to be the best time to visit. Needless to say the market is huge and the variety of fish and shellfish is out of this world. It is indeed a foodies paradise. I have never seen so many different varieties of octopus in my life.

But the market itself is an experience. Its chaotic at its best. Japanese just wiz through in these Piaggio like vehicles (see flickr for photos) and they have absolutely no respect for people walking around. You really need to watch your step otherwise there is a great chance that they can hit you. In the hour I was there, however, there were no accidents though I nearly caught one in a photo I took as this driver avoided a passerby.

Seeing all this fresh fish of all types and varieties, I stopped for a lavish sushi breakfast in this typical Japanese place close to the market. I was surprised to see Japanese eating their breakfast just as if it was lunchtime. Noodles, soup, meat, fish, you could choose anything for an early breakfast.

After meeting we headed to the Imperial palace – well the outside of it since it only opens for two days each year.

But there is a place where you can get a good glimpse of it over the palace walls. Only the East Garden of the palace is open to visitors.

Before this we came out of the Tokyo station with its western style architecture and saw scores of Japanese painting this as their main subject. Then there was a beautiful garden with real modern architecture and splendid fountains. I had to help a group of Japanese who were trying to take a photo and could not manage since the camera remote was not working (must have been the only electronic gadget not working in miles).

Walking around in the heat was terrible even though the scenery was nice. We went to the East garden and tried to find the spots with most shade. After an hour in these gardens we headed for the Tokyo International Forum – a great piece of architecture with a structure like a ship inside. After a late lunch we headed towards the financial district to see the Tokyo stock exchange but before this we had to enter two other department stores with more designer shops in each one than can be found in Boulevard Waterloo in Brussels.

From here to Ginza where we went to Mikimoto for tea and fantastic cakes. Although famous for its pearls their flagship store in Ginza includes this café.

In the evening we returned to the sushi place we had been before too for another great meal. By the end of it, both of us could barely move.

Kinnotake
On board a bus to the hotel, we met a Dutch couple who were on a business trip in Japan and were now holidaying before heading for Shangai. They told us that Kyoto is great, so we are looking forward to that in two days time. They also told us of how surprised they were to forget a camera in a temple and found it in exactly the same spot an hour and a half later.

I booked the Kinnotake ryokan because of a mistake I had made while planning the itinerary. Thankfully I realised way back in Brussels so I had time to cancel the reservation which would have taken us far south of Tokyo. So where do we stay? I had looked up hotels but my first option was fully booked. I read that at times if you are lucky you need to book six months in advance to find a room.

Therefore I had to go for the second option but it was not disappointing. It took us around 2 hours to get to the place in the hills of Hakone from Tokyo. There were no English signs with the name of the ryokan (Japanese typical hotel) so I walked into another hotel to get directions. It turned out we needed to go up a 100 metre hill which obviously left me out of breath. But at least I managed to go up much faster and this enabled me to take some great shots of Giulia working her way up with a heavy suitcase J

We were greeted outside the ryokan by a Japanese host and taken to the reception area where we were asked to remove our shoes. At least I did not do a Wolfowitz – i.e. I had no holes in my socks. We never saw our shoes again till our check-out.

After a warm welcome they took us to our room with great countryside views and a hot spring bath in our terrace. The room was simply great with a dining area with very low chairs (Japanese style) and a ‘kimono’ which I opted to wear for the evening.

Then came dinner – a two-hour feast served in our private dining room by a Japanese girl who could not speak a word of English. She was patiently explaining what we were supposed to be eating in Japanese while we told her thank-you every time not knowing in many cases what we were about to eat.

No surprises, I ended up taking photos of each course (so if you are interested, log on to www.flickr.com/photos/brincs/ When dessert came I couldn’t resist so I dug into the bowl only to remember that I had not taken a photo. So I yelled at Giulia not to touch her’s until she took the photo.

We then went for a drink by the bar – clearly the nicest bar we have ever been too.

In the morning, Japanese breakfast yet again served in our private dining room. I ate whatever was presented but Giulia was not too impressed with having to eat fish, soup, tofu and vegetables among other things in the morning. Obviously she was crying out for some good old English cereal.

So that is all for now, writing this blog on a train to Kanazawa which involved a five-hour journey. Here again everything works like clockwork. The trains are punctual to the second – we had to change trains and only had nine minutes in between but the train arrived dead on time so we boarded the other train with five minutes to spare.