Tatjana came to Kyoto station to see me off. This is where we part ways, she goes to her family and I head off for a couple of days to Tokyo and the outskirts. It’s not really goodbye as we will see each other in the future. We’ve had a fantastic time and got along pretty well considering we’ve been together all the time until the last few weeks! We seem to settle into a routine that worked for us. Maybe we’ll travel together again!
I took the Shinkanzen to Tokyo. I was going to go past Mount Fuji and I looked out for it, I should have seen it from miles away but it was raining so the volcano is a bit miserable covered in cloud! I have to come back someday!
I had arranged to stay with a Servas member North of Tokyo and made my way there. I was met by Kimi’s 12 year old daughter Shii who led me to where her car was parked.
Kimis home is part of what used to be a Post Office. It’s old and during my stay I got to see part of the house she and her husband have occasionally had music sessions in. I didn’t meet her husband because he came back rather late in the night. Kimi is a poet and I think I would say her lifestyle is a little unorthodox. Her English was excellent.
It’s a bit of a shame she was busy when I visited and so she recommended I visit Kawagoe by bus.
First catch your bus, well that was a bit hit and miss, as the first bus didn’t show and on the Google app it said it had departed? Kimi gave me a lift to a different stop and I managed to catch a bus from there. I should have taken a ticket but the machine was not working, anyway the driver accepted what I gave him with a shrug.
Kawagoe is called ‘Little Edo’ Edo being to old name for Tokyo. It still has the old wooden houses and is quite the tourist trap. I went to couple of museums. The place that I liked the most though was Kawagoe Castle. It was only one storey and not the confection of the previous castles. It was the home of Feudal lords.
For the first time I saw a Zen garden, I wouldn’t say it was as perfect as they are meant to be but, it was lovely. I had the place to myself and I had the urge to mess up gravel patterns, I didn’t do it of course!
Zen gardens are a pared down replica of the natural world. I remember the descriptions from college (Sparsholt) many years ago! They provide contemplative vignettes from the windows of the house. They are usually enclosed and the gravel or sand is raked to represent water. Usually they don’t have many plants and have carefully placed rocks or stones to imitate islands. I should think the act of raking would be mesmerising and possibly a bit frustrating if your lines don’t match up perfectly.
Well from the sublime to the ridiculous! When I got back to Kimi’s, we went out to dinner at a place with robots!! This was Kimi’s daughter’s choice and it was fun as well as delicious! I forgot to get a picture of the robot waiter!!
I have added the above picture to show you the cars here they are nearly all boxy looking and small. I quite liked them, I hope they come to the UK!
After Kimi’s I headed into Tokyo. I left my rucksack at the station, I was a bit worried I wouldn’t find the location again as it’s a maze so I sent myself a dropped pin on a map!
I wanted to see the Imperial Palace and had to queue for tickets but, by the time I got there they were all sold out! Infuriating! I did however wander around the Palace gardens, which still had azaleas in flower. It wasn’t originally a garden which explains the presence of so many guardhouses and lookout posts. The stone ramparts are impressive just from the size of the rocks and the fact they were shaped to fit!
I needed to get a couple of documents printed before I left Japan, I tried the hotel and they would do it. I tried at the 7-Eleven store, these stores are amazing, all over Asia, you can buy food, general stuff and often eat in the store. It sometimes has toilets and they provide printing and photocopying services! However for some reason I could not get the app I downloaded for the printer to work. In the end I looked for an internet cafe and found one in the Gaming part of town. Japan is famous for it’s console and internet games and there is a whole area dedicated to the selling of products and merchandise! Surely someone here must be able to print two pages!
I was right, chatting to man in a gaming den. No I wasn’t shooting it out in ‘Fortnite’, I quite like gaming though (haha, just watch me at Splatoon!) The chap very kindly printed the documents for me. I paid of course but it was not his usual sort of customer I’m sure. He turned out to be from Nepal and that is where I am going next!
Lastly I stayed at the airport the night before my flight, it was huge. I don’t think I have ever been in one so large and it had 12 floors!
Nepal next!
The Travelling Bee 