Tokyo Heart

Baby Swallow Hearts

With an early morning start timed to beat the weekend traffic jams the Tokyo Hearts (self & Madam Wife) rolled up the on-ramp of the Chuo Expressway after a brief stop at Meidaimae Station to pick up long-time friends, Wil & Renee Horie.

Well, at least that was the plan. Part of it worked. We did get an early start, we did pick up the Hories, and we did get on the Chuo, but beating the jam? Never happen! Even at 07:30 on a Saturday morning many others apparently had the same idea as the information signs read 25 km (15 miles) jam ahead and over 2 hours to Sagamiko (usually less than 30 minutes). So down off the Chuo we went as soon as possible and after picking up route 20, which we followed all the way to Sagamiko (Lake Sagami) we were able to get back on the Chuo again - about 2 hours later. So much for getting around the traffic, but at least route 20 is a more scenic road taking us through a few towns and past an old favorite, Mt. Takao (covered in this blog in a past post about the hike there).

Our destination this fine sunny weekend was to the Kiso Valley in Nagano Prefecture. The plan was to arrive around noon and walk between the historically preserved towns of Magome and Tsugamo. But, with the traffic, and a left fork instead of a right fork where the Chuo splits, we wound up heading down route 153, then onto route 256 and passing by those towns. Then back up on route 19 towards Shiojiri as we made our way to the onsen (hot springs spa) where we would spend the night, Koma-no-yu Ryokan & Onsen.

After a refreshing beer we headed out for a walk up the road and through a campground that has 20 or more small cabins (very basic, sleeping only) if you're the camping sort.

Back from our walk and time to hit the ofuro (bath). The water in this onsen is very pure and used to contain so much iron that towels in the bath would turn red. The water is filtered now and is just the right temperature for a nice soak. I preferred the outdoor bath (rotenburo) - and the air was just cool enough to make the hot water feel great!

 

Rotenburo at Koma-no-yu

Baths done, all squeaky clean, we headed for the dining room to enjoy Koma-no-yu's very good food and sake. 

Good friends Renee & Wil enjoy that first cup of sake

 
And of course, Joe & Ta had to have their 1st cup too!

Like most all ryokan (inn) in Japan dinner & breakfast were included in the price. Dinner at Koma-no-yu consisted of several courses so naturally, we had to had to have several "courses" of sake, too! We tried 4 brands of the locally made sake and wound up stopping at the sake brewery the next day to buy a couple of bottles to bring home. They are resting well in my wine fridge, but I suspect they won't be there much longer - if you want a taste better hurry!

 
Dinner starts with the amuse bouche - Japanese style

 

moving on to the appetizers.....   

 
    and the entree.....

 to the tempura....   

And I forgot to take a photo of the dessert!

Well sated we headed back to our rooms and then off to the baths once more (part of the onsen experience is going to the baths several times) and then the sandman took over and off to slumberland I went.

Waking the next morning with only a little bit of "sake-head" we had a typical Japanese breakfast (sorry, no photos), but the surprise was that they had a pot of coffee on the sideboard which was very, very good - must be the water! Or maybe it really tastes better when you're trying to get rid of a sake-head!

 
Renee, Ta, & Joe ready to head out after breakfast

 
Ta, Renee & Wil by the onsen's entrance   

Back out onto route 19 & heading north we drove about 20 km. to the town of Narai. During the Edo Period Narai was the half way point between Kyoto and Edo (the old name for Tokyo) for travelers along the Nakasendo (Central Mountain Road) Route. It was the most wealthy post town of the Kiso Valley. We were there early - about 09:30 - before the crowds so our stroll through the long street was very pleasant and uncrowded.

 

Narai's main street

 

  This Narai shop's owner has a sense of humor!

 

 
Narai Jinja

Leaving Narai we headed south on route 19 again till we came to route 256 where we turned and made our way to the town of Tsugamo, another of the stops along the Nakasendo for the weary Edo era travelers (remember, these people were walking and it took them many weeks to make this journey).

Surrounded by the lush green mountains this region of the Kiso Valley, and these towns, give one a very peaceful and relaxed feeling.

  The ancient decrees of the Shogun.

Everyone coming into the village was checked before they were allowed to enter and all had to read these laws - and obey them!

Tsugamo is known today as one of the best preserved post towns in Japan. The town and its residents go to great lengths to recreate the ambiance of the Edo period. Cars are prohibited on the main street during the day, and phone lines and power cables are kept concealed, allowing visitors to imagine they have slipped back to an earlier time.

As we walked down the street of Tsugamo the swallows were busy with their babies in numerous nests built up under the eaves of the shophouses. We watched one momma swallow as she flew back and forth with some morsel for her hungry babies (4 in the nest). It was interesting to watch her remember where she had left off each trip. If she started with baby 1 on the right and ran out of food by baby 3, on the next trip she would start with baby 4 and work her way back across again.

Look carefully and you'll be able to count 4 little heads. Baby 3 has its mouth wide open yelling for more food. Baby 2 is fast asleep and if you look really, really carefully you'll see he (she?) has a little tuft of hair on top of his/her head - sort of like Woodstock the bird in the Peanuts cartoon.

This trip we didn't do the walk between Tsugamo & Magome. We were told it would anything from 2 to 4 hours - depends on who you ask - but since one of the people who told is is a local, and she said 4 hours, that's what we'll plan on when we go back to do the walk.

Driving on to Magome we walked down, down, down the long hill of the town (guess what that means - yep, coming back to the car means we walked up, up, up!).

Shop along the street of Magome (models are Renee & Ta)

Magome has been beautifully restored with a broad stone walkway lined with carefully tended foliage. Magome's embellished preservation contrasts sharply with the rugged authenticity of Tsugamo.

All walked out it was time to head back to modern day Edo (Tokyo). Back on the Chuo we made good time till we got to Sagamiko where once again the roads showing on the GPS navigation system in the car were bright red - meaning jutai (jam). Rather than sit in the traffic we pulled into one of the highway system's very well appointed rest stops where we had dinner and gave the traffic a bit of time to clear out. Sure enough, that did the trick, and we moved along at a decent pace all the way back into town.

We'll plan a trip back to the Kiso Valley in the autumn when we expect that the foliage will be bright and beautiful making the yet-to-be-done walk between the two village even more pleasant.
 

 

 
  

Tanzawa Tumble - Stapled Heart

With our 07:30 planned departure "somehow" delayed (who reset that alarm!) to 09:15 we managed to head west on the Tomei Expressway out of Tokyo with nary a traffic jam in sight. That's pretty normal for a Sunday drive; the outbound jams are usually on Saturday morning and inbound traffic builds up on Sunday evening here around the Big Mikan.

Destination: hiking up Mount Hinokiboramaru - which is part of the Mt. Tanzawa range of mountains - in Kanagawa Prefecture. Only about 90 kilometers from Tokyo - it's amazing how close Tokyo is to some really nice mountains. This particular mountain is about 1,610 meters high (5,300 ft.).

 
Mt. Hinokiboramaru with Mt. Fuji in the background. 

To get there by car take the Tomei Expressway to the Oi-Matsuda interchange and stay to the right after the toll gate and another immediate right at the fork. This puts you on highway 246. Follow 246 past Matsuda and turn onto highway 76 to go to Lake Tanzawa.

Keep driving past the lake - the road will become quite narrow in spots so watch for oncoming traffic. You'll eventually come to the Tanzawa Shizen Kyoushitsu (Tanawa Nature Center). If you're there on a nice weather weekend you'll know it by all the cars parked along the road, most with parking tickets (fines) on their rear windows. There was a Kanagawa police car at the nature center and the policeman inside the center must have made his monthly quota for tickets on Sunday! In other words do NOT park on the road. If the nature center's parking lot is full they have a small lot on the right side for 1,000 yen for all day, but drive past that & see if you can find a spot in the campground parking on the right just past the nature center. 525 yen for all day.

Okay - all parked & ready to hike? Boots tied tight? (No tennies for THIS hike!) Head up the road about 400 meters till you see the sign on the right pointing to the trail for Hinokiboramaru. It'll say 4.8 km. Be sure to understand that the 4.8 km is pretty much uphill all the way. We only found one place where we went down for a bit with a little level ground after that, but the rest was constant climbing. Lots of rocks, lots of tree roots to climb over, and many areas that are a bit washed out. There are some wood pole bridges over some gorges that look a bit shaky with the logs rotting out unnder the cross bars, but they must be okay as there were a lot of people - dozens - hiking over them that day. Normally when we hike we get some respite with some downhill and flat spots to let the old body recover, but this hike calls for some conditioning before you go. Be prepared!

Supposedly it takes 3 hours to get to the top. I wouldn't know. 3 hours later we were still about 1.5 km from the top and due to our late start we met many people coming down - that slowed us down a bit too as we had to wait on them sometimes. At our 3 hour point those coming down told us we were at least another 90 minutes from the top, maybe 2 hours, and there was a section where we were going to have to use a rope to pull ourselves up the slope. I've done that before - not so difficult - but I figured 3 hours up to that point was enough so we headed back down to a small rest area to eat a late lunch & rest a bit before starting back down.

The trip down was a lot more eventful. With a lot of people still coming down the trail was busy & as we came to one section with a washed out drop off where I decided to jump down to speed my descent and not hold up people behind me. MISTAKE!! The forward momentum of the jump meant I couldn't stop & the big tree I thought would make a good stopper must have moved, or the moss on it make it too slick to grab, so there I went off the side of the trail, head over heels, rolling & tumbling down the mountain side. I figured that the next time my wife saw me would be in a heap of crushed bones at the bottom of the mountain. But somehow I managed to get stopped by some small saplings, on my back like a turtle, with my head facing down the mountain. Every tried to get up from a ski fall when your head is downslope? Well, it's much like that - almost impossible. I managed to hook my leg around a small tree & lever myself around to where I could sit up & then get up. Meanwhile, I felt something a bit warm on my face & lo & behold - scalp wound! Those head wounds sure know how to bleed! Turns out it was about a 3 inch gash that took 6 staples to close when I got to the hospital later that evening.

Fortunately, the hiker behind me was ski patrol trained and he had an emergency kit with him. He cleaned out the wound, put some antiseptic on it, and another hiker gave us a triangular bandage to hold the gauze pads in place. Think rapper style "do-rag" and you'll get an idea of how I looked. That and my hat supplied enough pressure to staunch the bleeding. I owe thanks to Mr. Shimoda, the "medic hiker" for his assistance, but he only gave us his last name - no contact info - and the other gentleman who gave up the tri-bandage left without leaving his name too. Code of the hikers - help each other when needed.

I was actually lucky in that nothing was broken & I could walk the rest of the way down the mountain. We were in a spot where no helicopter could have gotten to me & it would have been a long wait for a stretcher to get me out. I guess they could have hauled my back up the hill to the rest area, where a helicopter may have been able to lower a rescue basket, but I'm sure glad I didn't have to find out!

It took us another 90 minutes to get down the mountain & fortunately whatever cut my head open didn't do any other damage (other than a scraped knee & shin) - no concussion, no dizziness, etc. From there it was another 2 1/2 hours to the hospital for my appointment with the staple gun at the Atsugi Navy Base emergency clinic (thanks to the military medics there - they did a very neat stapling job).

Now, back in Tokyo, and surprisingly pain free after all that - other than the very sore leg muscles from all the hiking (note to self - MORE GYM TIME!).

Good lessons learned though:

1. Always carry a well stocked emergency kit - those two bandaids in my backpack weren't much use for this.

2. Don't try to rush down the mountain - if you think you're holding people up - move aside & let them pass.

3. Take more water - that hike was very dehydrating.

4. Know the hike - don't exceed your readiness (our first hike of the season - tougher one than we should have done for the first one)

5. Wear your hat. It was shady & warm so I had my hat off. It may have protected my head a bit; at least not as deep / long of a cut. Or maybe I need a helmet!?

6. Get some alpine poles. About 75% of the people we saw coming down (and many of them older than us) had them & they would have been really useful, especially when we had to walk over the rocks to cross the river two times.

The river & the rocks

Of course this won't stop me from hiking, but you can bet your hiking boots I'll be more cautious & I'll be working on getting the legs in better shape for the climb (and the descent, which is actually harder on the leg muscles).

Making it permanent - what documents do you need?

I recently applied for Permanent Residence in Japan - again after having had it back in the 1980s, but I lost it when I was out of Japan for several years.

When I got a request from immigration for more documents it reminded me that I haven't posted the info here on Tokyo Hearts to tell you what you need in case you decide to apply for your own "eijuken."

Generally speaking, to get PR approval one has to live in Japan for at least 10 years. However, exceptions seem to be made sometimes, especially if you have a Japanese spouse. Plan on the process taking from 3 (that would be very short) to 12 months. Somewhere in between may be the most common case, but immigration will tell you "up to a year" for approval.

At a minimum figure on needing the following documents (in addition to the application):

1. If married to a Japanese you'll need his/her Koseki Tohon (family register)

2. Juminhyo - also if you're married to a Japanese - his/her document

3. Gaikokujin torokugenpyo kisaijiko shomeisho (certificat of registered matters): this is for you - get it at your ward office

4. Letter of guarantee from your spouse

5. Marriage certificate (if married to a Japanese)

6. Reason letter (why you are applying)

7. Zaishoku shomeisho (employment letter / certificate from your employer)

8. Kakuteishinkokusho (tax return forms for the last 3 years): get these from your local ward tax office or ward office

9. Juminzei nozei shomeisho (inhabitant's tax certificate for the last 3 years): also from your ward office

10. Jyukyo hokokusho (residence report): form from immigration

11. Shinzoku gaiyosho (summary of family members): form from immigration

12. Copies of your alien registration card & passport (first pages with name, expiration, etc.)

Hope the above info helps if you're planning to apply for PR - and good luck!