Tokyo Heart

A busy week in Old Edo (the old name for Tokyo)

We started the week off with a train ride over to Ningyocho to meet friends Rick & Mico Rettig for a wander about this interesting shitamachi (old town) area of Tokyo. Ningyocho is known as the home of several amazake (a traditional sweet, low-alcoholic drink made from fermented rice) makers and as a textile wholesale district. I had found the area to be a live & bustling area when I was there for lunch a few days before, but we discovered that on Sundays many of the shops close for the day. Too bad since it is a busy tourist area and I expect more business would come through their doors if they were open on Sunday.  The pizza restaurant I had tried during my earlier trip there was open though so we were able to enjoy a pretty tasty lunch of excellent panini, slow roasted herbed pork, and pizza (no, I didn't eat ALL of that - but our party of 4 enjoyed a few different dishes). A glass or so of house red helped the food go down nicely & their home made gelato was a nice weekend dessert treat.  If you are in Ningyocho give Pizza Da Babbo a try (Pizza Da Babbo).

Leaving Ningyocho we walked a few blocks over to the Sumida River (or as they often say here in Japan, the Sumidagawa River, which literally translates to the Sumida River River - what? The Sumida branches off the Arakawa River (river?) and flows to Tokyo Bay. Water taxis ply the river and provide a nice tour of the scenery along the river.

In the summer evenings a cruise and dinner on a Yakatabune (literal translation, roof shaped boat) can be a lot of fun. Partying on these flat bottomed boats is an ancient tradition. Tales of these boats first appeared in the 8th century as a popular way for the aristocrat society of Edo to escape the summer heat. These days anyone can enjoy the cruises, the cold drinks, the food, and even karaoke (and no, it is NOT "carry oki" - it is kah-rah okay). 

About 7,000 steps later (Rick has a pedometer on his iPhone) we hopped on the subway for a ride back home and a few more steps - I think we got out 10,000 steps in that day!

The rest of the week was work, work, work, but there was a fun evening of great food and wine at I Sentieri with one of the "foodie" groups I belong to, "The DarkSide" - more about that one some other day. Read more about our evening at I Sentieri at my good friend Terry's blog: Eating Out In Tokyo.

Well, not all work. Saturday turned out to be dry & warm enough to play golf after a day of rain & snow on Friday. Now, if I could get that score back to the 80s like it was in the summer - kinda hard to do with 4 layers on, but warmer days are on the way.

Till next time - ki wo tsukette (take care) and be well!

Hiking up Tsukubazan (Mt. Tsukuba)

Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009: A nice sunny day & hiking boots in hand (to be on the feet later) and we're off to Mt. Tsukuba, about 100 km from Tokyo, to do the Tsukubazan hike.

One of the 100 famous mountains in Japan, Mt. Tsukuba rises 877 meters above sea level (about 2900 feet). See a great explanation of Tsukubazan at: Wikipedia - Mt. Tsukuba.

My "Hiking in Japan" guidebook said this is an 'easy hike' - hah! Easy for one who has scaled a few mountains maybe, but two days later & the old legs are s.o.r.e.! 

Leaving the car in one of the pay for the day (500 yen) parking lots a short walk from the shrine we donned our boots & set off for the climb up the mountain after a stop by the shrine.

877 meters doesn't sound like a lot, but when I saw the sign on the funicular track that was close to the hiking trail and read that it is a 36 degree slope - I knew it was gonna be a hard climb!  Two hours , and many roots and rocks conquered later, we were at the top for a well earned lunch in the rotating restaurant that sits atop the funicular station. Great views out over the plains and Tsukuba City.

Then came the easy part - HAH, again! Big, I mean big boulder size, rocks to clamber over meant using some leg muscles that haven't been used for a while. Ouch, oh, ouch! Two more hours & we were at the bottom - where we wished we had remembered to bring a change of clothes because a hot onsen would certainly have been a great treat after all that excercise. Note to self - remember: backpacks, energy snacks, change of clothes...

Coming down the mountain there are some fantastic rock formations.  Photos below.

Definitely worth the trip and the climb - up and down - don't be lazy & ride the funicular or ropeway, now!

Miura & Johgashima

Feb. 8, 2009: Off on another of our weekend jaunts and we headed southwest to the Miura Peninsula and across the bridge to Jogashima (Johgashima).

The original plan was to drive to Miura & hike the 'A' or 'B" course, but the gentleman in the information center close to the Miura Kaigan station told us that the "A" course has a few areas that require some detours - not so great for hiking - and the "B" course would be better done when we were wearing our sturdy hiking boots. Since we didn't have our boots along we decided to opt for the drive over the toll bridge that connects Jogashima with the peninsula.

Jogashima is basically a little fishing village, most famous for the tuna that is caught by the island fishermen. We didn't buy a tuna, but we did try the soft and tasty maguro (tuna) manju (steamed dumplings). Pretty tasty & filling enough for a light lunch (if you aren't too hungry, that is).

An hour's worth of walking took us past a few shops - mostly deserted as there weren't so many people in the village - guess everyone was up at the park on the east end of the island seeing the crocus blossoms (we gave up on that when we saw the long line of cars waiting to get in - the flowers are all over the island anyhow!). The shopkeepers did their best to entice us in with offers of "omakase shimasu" (we'll give you a discount), but other than those manju there really wasn't anything we wanted to buy!

At the west end of the island there is a lighthouse and a restaurant where the parking lot was full of bosozoku bikes. Bosozoku (actually, bohsohzoku) translates roughly into "violent running gang." These are the guys you sometimes see in Japan with motorbikes that have been modified with very high backed seats and several other interesting accessories. Not sure if these guys were really bosozoku though as the average age of the riders looked to be in the 40s or so. Maybe former bosozoku who just love to ride & show off their bikes?

After the restaurant there is a very interesting lava formation that serves as a jetty for a few sturdy fishermen. It's obvious that the lava flowed in waves and hit the water where it cooled into the current formation. Makes one wonder - is Jogashima really the top of an ancient volcano?

Walking back from the village we came across this 80 year fellow culling the wakame (a type of seaweed). He offered us some, but unfortunately we had nothing to carry it in so we had to turn down his generous offer. He did tell us how they gather the wakame with the long (30 - 40 feet long) bamboo poles with nets and knives affixed to the end. See, you DO learn something by talking to people!

 

We asked him his "secret" of a long & healthy life & his reply was, "Eat simple food & small meals!" He also reminded me that I'll be 80 before I know it - thanks for the reminder, old timer!

 

Wakame - drying in the sun.