In Japan - 3

#117 - I spent the midday in the springs, had a beer afterwards, then hoofed it back, all downhill, the nine miles home to dinner and Sumo.

Welcome to Before I Forget . .

I’m glad you are here. Thank you for your time - and for subscribing! - It's free.

Japan – 3

TRIP #2 -

Again, in the fall, it was to be a quiet 10 days with my wife’s family, hanging around town and taking in the nearby hot springs. I would also be doing a lot of running.

It was a beautiful place to finish up my training for a running event called Across the Years, run at the Nardini Manor, a piece of private property amid irrigated, but now bare cotton fields just west of Phoenix. The race would run December 29th – January 1st on a flat 500-meter course around the property. There was a one-day, two-day, and three-day race. I was in the two-day.

Our train raced by Mt. Fuji to the south of us.

Changing trains, we turned northwest up and across the mountains to Shino’s hometown of Itoigawa on the shore of the Japan Sea.

Now we could relax and recover from our jet lag. Our goal for the next week was to do as little as possible.

That included hot springs. And TV. I couldn’t understand a thing but it was interesting, nonetheless. The comedy shows are funny even without knowing the language. I caught the last week of the November Sumo tournament.

Visits with nearby relatives rounded out our agenda. No long-distance traveling.

Winter had arrived with cold winds off the Sea.

I managed to see most of the city with my twice daily runs. It is a small city with a sea wall along its length, many parks and shrines, and hills as soon as you turn inland.

Snow was on the ground in patches and though cold, it wasn’t cold enough to keep me from running. It was good training for the overnight winter cold expected in Phoenix. There was always cold beer to warm me up when I got home.

THE LONG RUN

The highlight of this trip for me was my last long run for my upcoming event. A mid-morning run to the Sasakura Onsen, a hot springs resort nine miles up into the mountains along the Haya River and valley. We had gone there a few days previous.

It had everything. Hotel, restaurant, indoor and outdoor hot springs flush up against a mountainside with pristine views of blue-skied snow-covered mountains and forest.

Steam rose in a thick fog off the hot spring pools.

It reminded me of the well-known Buckeye Hot Spring a few miles from Bridgeport, California, up in the Sierra where hot water comes out of the rock and falls into the creek below. Rock-lined pools formed by bathers section off the hot water from the cold stream.

Hot and cold water within an arm's reach of each other.

The difference is that at Buckeye, there is no resort and clothing is optional.

I spent the midday in the springs, had a beer afterwards, then hoofed it back, all downhill, the nine miles home to dinner and Sumo.

We took the train back to Tokyo, spent a couple of days with Shino’s friend, Tamiko, enjoyed the city life, then took off for home in California.

TRIP #3 -

In early January, we were in Tokyo for a wedding. Shino’s nephew, Akira, was getting married.

He, and a friend of his, visited us when they were 12 years old, and we went down to Disneyland and Acapulco as told in A Plane, A Jalapeno, And A Parachute.

It was a big wedding with many of their friends, mainly college students, and family.

I had been called upon, or volunteered, I don’t remember which, to say a few words at the ceremony. In Japanese. I know very little Japanese.

With Shino’s help, we put together a “Congratulations and Good Luck” speech, in Japanese, and I managed get through it without messing it up.

I felt “unburdened.” Let the party begin! Where’s the saki?

At the reception, hundreds of multicolored balloons were released into a blue Tokyo sky.

In Tokyo for a couple of days, we visited shrines and tourist traps. The Tokyo Tower has see-thru glass flooring on one of the top floors. It was dizzying and disorienting seeing the ground below and discomforting to walk on. Kids loved it.

On a clear day, Mt. Fuji is visible from Tokyo.

MT. FUJI

We left for Shino’s hometown, by car, with Shino’s older brother, Takeishi, and his wife, Yasu, Akira’s parents.

We would be staying with them at their place in Niigata, also on the Japan Sea, a couple hours' drive north of Shino’s parents' home in Itoigawa.

On the way there, we drove through Japan’s wine country. Years old vines are groomed and strung overhead providing cool summertime shade underneath. The grape clusters hang down within reach below. But not now in winter.

We made it to the Five Lakes Region on the north side of Mt. Fuji.

We visited the well-known and ancient Arakura Fuji Sengen Shrine at the base of the still-active volcano, with its 398-step climb to the 5-storied Chureito Pagoda and the iconic, money-shot view of Mt. Fiji.

There is the requisite Torii Gate.

The Shrine is loaded with classic wood landscape relief carvings and figurines like The Wooden Dragon and Shishi Lion.

There are hiking trails leading up to the over 12,000’ mountain summit and multiple places from which to start, but it is a full day’s hike there and back from the Shrine. If you are fit.

We stayed the night at the base of Mt. Fuji, in a very nice hotel on one of the five lakes, Kawaguchiko. Its rooms and hot spring pool look out on the lake and Mt. Fuji.

In the morning, we went to the popular tourist destination, Oshino Hakkai.

Oshino Hakkai is built around eight deep crystal-clear ponds that are fed by snowmelt that seeps down from Mt. Fuji through the porous lava. The source of one pond is tapped and clean enough to drink.

The village is built around the ponds with numerous souvenir shops and eateries and a traditional thatched roof farmhouse outdoor museum full of farm tools, household items, and samurai swords from times past.

It was a cold, overcast day and I was glad to get back to the warm car for the ride to Shino’s home.

SNOW ALL AROUND

The low hills became the Japan Alps with plowed roads through deep snow. The ski resorts were busy.

It was stormy along the seacoast.

We stayed the night at Masahiko’s house, Shino’s younger brother. It was once their parent’s home. Now, his family lives there.

We awoke to two feet of new snow.

While shoveling the driveway clear, I experienced my first, and so far, only, thunder snow. Snow swirling storm clouds and blue-sky rapidly changed places overhead.

A precursing zinging whisper sizzled the air followed by a lightning bolt strike and flash and an immediate retort of thunder. It was the closest lightning strike I’d ever seen or felt. Didn’t even have time to duck. My ears were ringing, and my eyes took a while to recover from the light bulb flash effect.

The two-hour ride north along the coast to Takeshi’s place was now five as the storm pounded the coast.

Other than the cold, it was a very pleasant few days in Niigata filled with sightseeing, good food, nearby hot springs, and adult beverages (to help with the cold.) Yet again, I caught part of the January Sumo tournament.

Time came when we had to leave. We took the train back through ski country to Tokyo, hoteled the night, and made it to Haneda airport for the flight home.

I would like a return visit. No cold, though. Maybe in spring, to catch the cherry trees blossom.

In Japan - In Japan - 2

Thank you for reading Before I Forget . . !

For my Subscribers new and old - A post from Dec. 22, 2023,

More posts are in my archive. Check them out.

Image by Me

See you next time, my friends. : )