7/10/10
Hakone:
After a long week of work there is something about just finding the time to relax that makes everything feel better. Well unforutantely I do not have the time to relax when I am off in Japan having the best time ever. To end the week and start a great weekend I traveled with two of my coworkers to Hakone to find some Japanese hot springs to go relax for the day. We took a train 2 hours away from yokosuka to get to the small rural town of Hakon which is known to be littered with hot springs. The place we had marked on a map was more of a amusement type hot spring where they had an assortment of hot springs thatg included a red wine spring, coffee spring, green tea spring, and a salt spring with salt from the dead sea. Well we got there with high ambitions after taking a mountain train 45 minutes up into the middle of no where. It ws amazing ho the train was able to zig zag up the mountain taking you higher and higher into the mountain side of Japan and they you arrive at a train station that reveals a city among the hills. Well we got to the springs we had marked on our map and much to our surpirse the plac was packed, but not with japanese adults or tourists...but Kids! After a long week of working of kids the last thing we were trying to do was find a hot spring jam packed with kids. So without any doubt in our mind we immediately left and decided to get on a bus and see where it dropped us off. Well after riding for maybe 20 minutes we got off completely lost in the hills of Hakone. To take the edge off we decided to mosey on into a liquer store and get some drinks thinking it would help our journey. Well needless to say it kind of got us even more in a rut because we asked for directions from the old japanese couple in the store who didnt speak a word of english. But being the friendly people that Japanese are they walked us around for 30 minutes to all the local stores trying to find someone who spoke english to help us find some hot springs. Well we didnt find anyone, so he helped us get on another bus and we wandered around for a bit longer and actually ended up walking along this street along a cliff edge where we found a small japanese hot spring house on the side of the cliff. Luckily for us there was a man working who spoke fragmented english and we were able to use their hot springs.
So without further delay we got to go in some hot springs and relax for an hour or so. I met some people there who asked how we I found the plac because they said they spring house was usually a local place that they have never seen tourists at before. Turns out I in a part of this mountain region that doesnt get too many americans or english speaking people at all. I held some pride at the fact I had found a spring that usually locals only. Well when I was done with the springs I bid my farewells and went to meet up with my fellow travelers when the lady at the front desk led me across the street to another spring hosue that was huge and could have been a 4 star hotel. Apparently the lady travelers were with wanted to go to a bigger spring and the lady had led them across the street. Well I met up with them and we had lunch at the place with a view that I could hardly put into words. We sat at traditional japanese style tbles with mats on the ground next to a window that covered the entire distance of the wall that revealed the green mountainside of Japan. It was one of the best views I have ever had while eating.
After we were done eating we vntured back out onto the street and found our way back to the train station and were off to Yokosuka to call an end to the day. We had a great adventure and a long day of traveling and roaming around with no sense of direction. With a successful day at the hot springs some sleep was very much needed.
7/11/10
Yokohama/china town:
Having spent saturday in Hakone we decided suday would be a somewhat low key travel day so we went to Yokohama city and went to landmark tower, the tallest building in japan, and then we went to china town. There isnt really much to write about from the excursion other than that my director Bre went with us and ended up buying a giant panda hat and she wore it the rest of the day. Needless to say we had every japanese head in the city and train and the ride home smurking, laughing and glaring at us. It was still hilarious though because most people wouldnt even bother trying to withhold their laughter and would bust out laughing just at the immediate sight of her. It made for a fun day of laughs as we walked around chinatown and eventually hopped on the train back to Yokosuka.
7/16/10
Zushi on friday night-
Friday night was spent in Zushi, it was my first time going to zushi and its main appeal is that it is a beach town. And during this time of year shacks are put up all over the beach for night life and beach goers during the day. So a bunch of us got on the train and went to zushi, but much to our surprise we arrived in zushi to find ourselves admist a street festival. People were dancing and running through the streets wearings kimonos and other traditional japanese clothin. WE made our way through the streets and absorbed the town and culture and slowly made our way to the beach. Once on the beach we abrubtly ran into multiple camp peoplle that we knew and just hung out on the beach next to the ocean where myself and a few othrs slowly waded into the warm ocean water. After the beach night we took the train home and passed out.
7/17/10
yokohama baystars game #2. tokyo giants lose 7-5:
With nothing to do on this saturday I attended another baseball game in yokohama where the Baystars played the Tokyo Giants. It was a very crowded game because he was a big mtachup during the season. Having gone to game previously in the eason against the Osaka Tigers I had already witnessed one Baystar win, I was not planning on ending th winning streak. Once we arrived to the game we walked among a sea of orange and black as the tokyo giants fans got off the train and walkd to the stadium. Their jerseys and shirts were just like the giants back home but with a little more japanese flare (not that I know what the really means so just go with the flow). The game was very close the entire time and heading into the 8th the score was tied at 5-5 and knowing my baystars I could only hope they would pull through. Well sure enough they hit a 2 run rbi to bring the score up to 7-5. So against one of the best teams in the league I was once again able to witness a Yokohama baystar win, and I would say this game was even better just because the game was so close the entire time and they pulled through at the end when they needed to so they could get the “W” in their column for another win in their book and in mine. After the game I head back to yokosuka and ended up eating at restaurant called Pepper lunch which would quickly become my favorite place in yokuska to eat. I ended up eating their about 4 times in the first week that I had it. They bring the food out on a seering hot iron plate where the meat still cooks on the plate as they serve it to you and its up to you to flip the meat and mix in the veggies and cook it. It is a very delicious meal and a good way to get some steak into your diet, which is hard to come by in japan, for not to expensive.
7/18/10
white water rafting and canyoning in Minakami
This was probably one of the best days of my entire trip in japan so far, as well as one of the most anticipated. We made our way by bus with 40 other camp adventure people at 4 in the morning to the location of minakami where we would start the day off by white water rafting and then finish it with the ever exhilerating canyoning experience. The reason we had to leave so early was a combination of the distance to travel as well as the fact that it was national beach day in japan which is a huge holiday where everyone goes to the beach, so needless to say there was going to be a lot of traffic. We arrived t 9:30ish and would not start rafting till 11:00, so with time to spare the guides took us to nearby water hole with a rope swing that we all took the time to take a dip and relax before our long day awaited us. With the time killed and anticipation at it highest we got our gear together and got ready for rafting. With 5 other people in my raft including our guide Taku, we got into the minakami river and start our rafting. Never having truly gone rafting I didnt know what to expect. The river is the equivalent of about a class 3 river. Marco trujillo. The river was nothing to dangerous and makes its way through the rural outskirts of japan and then through a city itself as rows of towering buildings are built along the cliff side of the river. We got to go through some rapids, jump in the water itself, and then we played a game at the end where we all stood up on the side of the rafter and the guide Taku just ended up pushing us in.
After the rafting we went back to the Canyons people headquarters where they served us lunch and have us new gear for the canyonging part of the trip. Once geared we all looked like a bunch of superheroes in wetsuits. It made for sokme fun poses before we left for the river we would essentially float down. We took a short bus ride to the river entrance, they gave us a tutorial on what to do and then the fun began. We made our way down a river for about two horus which consisted of us floating backwards head first, forwards on our back and on our stomach, and jumping of some cliffs , and being dropped down a 20 meter waterfall. I even managed to do a back flip off one of the cliff edges into a water pool. Canyoning was definitely one of the best experiences of my life. Just letting your body float through the ridges in the rocks that the water has been construting for thousands of years and putting your life and trust in your own ahnds as you floated down through rapids and waterfalls into deep pools of waters. Canyoning definitly has to be one of the msot fun things you can do and I would highly suggest it to everyone.
