Hangin’ with the Oguras

This is the second of a series of posts retro-blogging my recent trip to Japan.

Sunday, January 7th

Nat, Adam, and I went to Kawagoe (a.k.a. “Little Edo”), the town where they had lived before they were married. Among the many wondrous things we saw there:

• a “famous” dog
• a pair of hundred-year-old trees
• the old town bell tower
• a knife shop
• rickshaw rides
• a bean shop
• old outdoor public toilets
• a moat underneath said toilets
• fish in said moat
• a restaurant which allegedly catches and serves said fish

We stopped at the bean shop, Mameya, to try some free samples. It was surprisingly busy—they must sell a lot of beans. I bought some that were mayonnaise-flavored (they tasted more like mustard to me) for omiyage for my dad. In one particularly narrow street with a lot of old, traditional shops, we stopped in a traditional cafe for tea and dango.

In the evening it got pretty windy out, and on our way back the trains were being delayed as a result. Sure enough, our own train ran into problems, as it stopped and the conductor announced that a toilet had blown onto the tracks. Yes, apparently someone’s outhouse (or exterior lean-to facility of some sort) had actually blown over and down onto the rails. And of course the driver himself had to be the one to go out and manually move it so that we could continue.

This might be a “had to be there moment,” but when the conductor announced that there was a toilet on the tracks over the intercom, we naturally exploded into laughter. However, everyone else on board—and particularly the middle-aged couple sitting across from—was taking it totally seriously. But when they saw the long line of cars being forced to turn around at a blocked crossing, then they started laughing. What?

After a series of tree branches and such kept delaying us further (at one point the conductor announced that he was going to stop announcing each time he had to stop the train!), we decided to get off a couple stations early and have someone pick us up. Nat’s sister Fuyumi was kind enough to come pick us up from a grocery store near the station, where we using opportunity to look for seasonal beers and pick up a couple for the road. We stopped at a different grocery on the way back to get ingredients for supper, and I used the chance to buy a bunch of food souvenirs for myself.

When we finally got home, Nat’s dad and Adam took me to an onsen—something I’d done once before but didn’t have any clue what I was doing at the time. This time I had some guidance, and was able to quickly master the Art of Keeping One’s Washcloth Balanced on One’s Head and Not Letting It Fall in the Water. This place was also a lot nicer than the one I went to in 2004. It had indoor and outdoor baths, a dry and a wet sauna, plus a nice variety of specialty baths: scented, lukewarm, cold, electric massage, waterfall massage, and my personal favorite: the one-man bowl. It’s a shame, since this is one of the more interesting places I visited, but obviously I don’t have any pictures.

The rest of the evening we drank and ate delicious okonomiyaki and yakisoba, and good times were had by all.

Monday, January 8th

Got up and had a nice traditional breakfast with Nat’s dad. Her grandma gave me a scarf that she knitted herself, as thanks for the omiyage I brought her! It was really nice, although it makes me feel like a giant because it’s only like two feet long. Definitely a step up from the cheap mug I brought for grandma. Handmade mini-scarf trumps Wal-Mart mug any day of the week.

Later Nat prepared a tea ceremony for me, Adam, and Fuyumi. I didn’t remember much of the tea ceremony etiquette from Senshu’s bunka crash course, but it was fun anyhow. I think Nat was a bit forgetful as well.

In the afternoon we debated what to do for a while, until Nat’s dad suggested visiting a local shrine and a temple of which he was a member (I wonder what that entails?). Being a national holiday, it was pretty busy. Between Nat, Adam, and Nat’s dad, they explained a lot about the shrine (and shrines in general) that I didn’t know. I am not exaggerating when I say that visiting a shrine/temple with an informed Japanese person is a far more rewarding than visiting one alone or with other foreigners! From the shrine we walked to the Shouden temple, which is apparently famous in the region. It was big and high on a hill with a great view of Hidaka, so I’m glad Nat brought her camera along. Nat explained that the temple was dedicated to a king (“Kokuri” I believe) who had come there from Korea, along with a bunch of immigrants, and then founded a town or something. There’s probably a long and semi-interesting history behind it but the gist was good enough for me. Anyhow, his tomb and the graves of the Korean people who came with him are there.

I would like to mention as an aside that Roxy is not very adept at walking with people. She kept stopping and starting, which made walking behind her dangerous, as well as randomly swerving to the side, which made walking next to her even more dangerous (although quite entertaining to those of us walking behind). Nat and/or Adam: you need to teach that dog to walk in a straight line at a constant speed!

After the temple, I packed up and headed to the station to go to Narita and meet Mark. This was my first time navigating trains alone since more than two years’ prior, and there were a couple transfers were the timing was important, so I was extremely nervous. But I made it alright, and Mark’s flight was like an hour late anyhow.

Eventually he did arrive and miraculously passed through customs. One Citibank ATM later we were ready for action. In a complete surprise to myself, getting our JR passes and shinkansen reservations was easy. There was no one in line and the person working there spoke English! I highly recommend using the Narita JR office to anyone needing to do that sort of stuff.

We got to our hostel pretty late, but it was easy enough to find. They seemed disappointed that we were only staying one night (and leaving at like 6 am, to boot), but I explained in an excellent Japanese conversation that we would be returning to Tokyo after our trip to Fukuoka and such.

I’m withholding my review of the hostel until the end when I’ll lump them all together.