This is probably my last post about Japan. My job ends on July 27th since I’m taking PTO for the last few days. My sister, Sophia, is coming then to travel with me for four weeks before we return to the US. I won’t have my laptop then, so no blog posts - plus with that much travel, I don’t think I’d have the time to type it up! It’s an end to an era. I’ve been invited back by so many people. I will definitely return! Japan has carved out another horcrux from my soul.

At lunchtime on Saturday, I had plans to hang out with Y, one of her friends, and K. We met at Yaoko supermarket and bought the ingredients to make takoyaki! It turned out very delicious. Her area was hopping with Pokemon too, so when we left, K and I, went up to Nukisaki shrine, before heading home. In the evening, I had P and S’s farewell party at Raku Raku in Takasaki. We had a whole room to ourselves to be rambunctious in. Ate a ton more delicious food. Such a social day for me, haha.

Then Sunday, today, I had my own farewell/birthday party. It was potluck style. After cleaning up the apartment and a pokemon walk, my first guests arrived 10 minutes early. Nothing like reminding you you're in Japan hah. No standard thirty minutes lateness. Everyone brought delicious food with and it was really fun! A mix of teachers, ALTs, and Japanese friends from GIC and my Japanese class. I have many leftover snacks now though! People even surprised me with presents! I’m so lucky to have met such great people here.

Today was my birthday! Can’t believe I’m already 26 and in a completely different phase of life than my parents were. On Wednesday, we had my goodbye enkai in Takasaki. I actually took the train so I could drink! The most I’ve had to drink too, since it’s all you can drink. Many fuzzy navels, ha. The food was delicious Italian food and about 16 teachers came. O-sensei translated my goodbye speech into Japanese and even the principal had prepared something in English. It was a lot of fun. They even surprised me with dessert for myself - mango ice cream and tiramisu! They sang happy birthday to me! So sweet. I joined seven others on an after party when we went to another locale to celebrate two of the new student teachers for taking their licensing exam. Apparently I work with many younger teachers: 23, 24, 24, me, 26, and 27!

Thursday was the closing ceremony and the start of summer vacation. They did the big cleaning to leave the school sparkling. I gave my goodbye speech with a wobbly voice, but didn’t cry. A, the student council president, gave me a perfect speech in English. She’s an amazing girl. I really wanted to hug her, but knew I wouldn’t be able to keep back the waterworks. They also gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I handed out my choco pretzels and walked around giving the extra to students as well as taking photos with them. Around 3 pm, I had arranged to play tennis with H-sensei! A-sensei came with as well since she used to play soft tennis in middle school. I finally discovered the changing rooms at school, with a tatami mat section ha. You could take naps here! H-sensei bought us sports drinks and we headed to the courts, another spot I’d never been. It’s right next to where the tea ceremony club and koto club practice as well.

H-sensei brought hard tennis balls and rackets so we could play! The students were all surprised when we showed up ha. It was great to play tennis again although I started off really horrible. I tried hitting the soft tennis balls a bit, but it was so weird! You have to swing really hard, but the weight of the ball hitting your racket is light. A-sensei turned out to be quite good at hard tennis too. I ended up playing till 5 pm and then chatting with the girls a bit. My arm was really shaky at that point, I have no muscles left! But at least I wasn’t completely awful.

Today, On my birthday, Pokemon Go was released!! I promptly got the game and walked around town after school. The silk mill area has tons of Pokemon. K met up with me later and we went out to eat for dinner. The Iranian place was closed once again, apparently you need reservations for them to be open at night, so we went an Italian instead. Since I had to work, it was an uneventful bday, but I got the wonderful present of Pokemon Go and the news that Emily Prentiss was returning to Criminal Minds, haha.

Saturday evening I had a combined farewell party with GAJET and GIC at the Maebashi beer garden. I ended up driving as usual because of the train fares and lack of cocktail selection. I also had to stop at a store to get some pretzels in order to make chocolate dipped pretzels as my goodbye presents to my co-workers. It was good to see loads of people again and I stayed the full 5 hours, chatting and eating loads of edamame. It was my last time seeing a lot of people so it was bittersweet. I almost went for karaoke afterward, but I still had an hour drive home and I was exhausted. Not meant for all night partying ha. Although this was a three day weekend, I had no plans and it was glorious.

Yesterday was my goodbye party with the English Club. I brought back funfetti cake mix from America and I still had the brownie mix from when I first came to Japan so we baked them together. The bright blue icing really freaked them out! Apparently it tastes quite different from Japanese frosting, but not that bad. We also watched She’s the Man in the AV room while the cakes were baking. The club provided the drinks and we got to eat them while watching the movie. It was really fun. Though I didn’t realize how scandalous She’s the Man is! So much kissing and naked male chests. Plus the gender reveals are even crazy by American standards. How do you explain the concept of kissing booths and southern debutantes? I think they enjoyed it though? I was happy that streaming the movie on netflix with my phone and tethered laptop worked. At the end, M presented me with a box filled with letters from them and a picture of us all together. Too sweet! I ended up crying during my thanks and made some of the girls cry too. I’m gonna miss this bunch.

Then today was my last day at Shimonita. I thought I could make it without crying, but the one on one talking and surprises did me in. I said my goodbyes to the teachers during the staff meeting, but then at lunchtime, some of the girls surprised me with thank you notes from the second years and one of the third year classes. Such beautiful art and decoration so I teared up a bit. Then in the afternoon I gave my goodbye speech with M-sensei translating. The tallest boy and only person taller than me, T, gave me a goodbye speech. He was nervous but he did a great job! He then gave me flowers as well! Later I received some omiyage and a goodbye present (daruma!) from the principal. I even had a farewell talk with him, mostly in Japanese, and he even teared up thanking me for everything I had done. I’m glad the students enjoyed having me around.

So I had been planning to have a group trip up to Oze for a while and I managed to get one together for today! I was hoping to see the daylilies, but we had to make arrangements so far in advance, it was only a guess if we’d be able to see them. Due to the warm winter, all the blooming times were off. We took three sets of cars up to Oze, one from Maebashi, one from east Gunma, and one from my area. A-sensei (a new young teacher at my school) drove us from her house. We had arranged to meet at Oze at 9 am at the Oshimizu entrance. Two of the guys from the winter Asama hike were coming too, plus two other people I hadn’t met before, for a total of 10 folks. The last car came at thirty minutes late because they had some troubles. We actually had to park in overflow parking as the main lot was already full. It was just a short walk up the street.

Having Japanese people with was really handy! K found out that there is a shuttle bus up the first part of the road to the first hut! The long, boring gravel road that took Papa and I over 1.5 hours with our heavy packs. We could have skipped it and paid 700 yen for the bus fee, by buying tickets inside the shop, and it would have been a 10 minute ride! The next bus left at 10 am, so we killed some time before boarding. It was much nicer hiking from the actual trail part and without a heavy pack! We were much faster! We took some photos by the lake and decided to have lunch at the next spot, where Papa and I ate breakfast last time. There were some many people this time! According to the visitor center, we came on the peak day for the blooming lilies!

We had lunch overlooking the marsh, spotted with yellow, and the lake. Everything was so green and lush after the rainy season. Completely different than one month earlier. The trail was completely muddy and wet in several spots. The lake was filled with reeds that undulated like the waves in an ocean. Mesmerizing. After lunch, we checked out the lilies before continuing our full circle around the lake. The latter part I hadn’t done before so that was interesting. The trail was much more worn down and followed the lake’s edge closely. One spot was perfect for sitting on a stone beach! I promptly waded into the water and several others joined me. It felt so good! Papa and I could have totally gone swimming here, although it started out shallow.

I felt great during the hike and only at the end started to feel some aches and pains. Progress! It was much flatter than what I’ve been hiking recently, ha. The last bus back left at 4:30 pm which we missed, so we just walked the downhill stretch back to the cars. A total of about 17 km, a rise of 600 m, and 7 hours hiking. It was fun to go with everyone especially because it was their first times!

S invited me to his school’s festival. I’ve always wanted to attend one after seeing it in all the anime! Once again, real life equals anime. After a long skype session with the family, I drove to his high school in Takasaki. It took a long time to get parking because of all the people. The lot was super muddy and wet. I got really lucky and had a spot near the entrance so I could save my shoes! S met me and showed me around the food stands where I got a big hot dog for lunch. I met some of his students as well. As expected, the top question was whether I was his boyfriend. All high schoolers think about. The different classrooms were decorated elaborately. We did some of the different games. Two rooms put together made this toy story world. One of his students spoke beautiful English to me and translated. Apparently, he was the Gunma Prefectural speech contest winner. We also got our portraits drawn by the art club.

I woke up shortly after 5 am since I had to pee so badly! I didn’t go last night because I was just too tired to put my shoes on and walk over ha. The sky was rather overcast, but it wasn’t supposed to rain till the evening. One of the other groups was already dismantling their tent. I crawled back into bed to rest some more because I was in no rush today. At 5:30, I hear the pitter patter of rain start, ugh. I decided to wait it out and read awhile. I was hoping for a break in the rain to be able to take down my tent, but it got harder and harder. The wind was still howling. At 7:30 ish, I gave up and dove out of my shelter. I had the raincover for my pack and tried to kinda protect it under a tree. After I unstaked my tent, the wind kept blowing it away, ahhh. It’s so much harder with only one person. I somehow managed to get the poles out and the tent rolled up in a wet mass. I stuffed it in my pack, getting everything damp in the process.

The other campers were smart and put their backpacks under the water supply shelter. It was drier there. I set off on the way back and within 15 minutes I was completely soaked. It was raining hard sideways with the wind blowing. Shortly thereafter, my shoes were wet through as well, but at least my feet stayed warm in my wool socks, and my raincoat held out longer. It was almost impossible to take any photos without getting water all over my camera and lens. I ended up crossing the river and taking the alternate, slightly longer route back. This side was so much better! Apparently, Myojin pond actually is paid entry, but it has a temple attached to it. The housing was really old. I took shelter from the rain for a bit before continuing on. The path split off from the road into the forest, along the river and marshes. Beautiful in the foggy rain. The lush greenery and rushing rivers were so pretty!

It took me about two hours to get back to Kappabashi. The closer I got, the more ill-prepared tourists I saw with umbrellas and casual footwear. There were quite a few despite all the rain. I popped by a tourist shop before heading on to the bus terminal and purchasing my return ticket for the 11 am bus. I managed to change out of some of wet clothing. They had gotten rather cold now that I wasn’t hiking. I changed my leggings once I was back at the car. Phew, it felt nice to be dry again! Shortly thereafter, on my drive home, the rain stopped and the temperature kept climbing.

 After school yesterday, I went home to load up my car with my backpack, futon, and camping supplies before heading to Takasaki to pick up the sleeping bag I was renting. We had planned to meet at 5:30 pm at the station’s east entrance so I waited in the drop off zone. I thought it’d be a quick exchange, but some miscommunication made it take an hour. She ended up in a different parking garage than I knew, but we managed to track each other down and I got into the same garage where she was. Only took a while to get into the right level too because the car in front of me just sat there without entering. Finally I picked out the sleeping bag I wanted, and was on my way to Kamikochi in Nagano!

With partial expressway, it took me 2500 yen and about 3 hours to get there. I had my dinner in the car at a conbini in the middle of nowhere. Far enough out that the cashier was really surprised to see a westerner. By the time I arrived at the main bus terminal parking lot at 9 pm, I really had to pee. So I headed up to the toilets only to find them closed! With everything closed and dark, I wasn’t going to waste 600 yen to leave and re-enter so I found some sparse bushes instead. It was pretty brights out with the lights, but there was no one else around...I think, ha. I set up my futon in the car and read a little before trying to sleep. It was hot in my car, and cool outside so I had my windows down and hoped for no mosquitoes. Some more cars pulled up as others were also spending the night in their cars.

I woke up in the morning with my alarm at 5 am. Luckily I had shut my windows before going to sleep as it had rained in the night. It was cloudy and grey out. There were some others breakfasting and preparing their packs. I got my ticket for the first bus leaving at 5:40 am. No cars are allowed to drive into the park. This was my fourth Japanese National Park! The drive took about 30 minutes before we arrived. I hit up the toilets to brush my teeth before heading out. I had a lot of ground to cover today! The Kappabashi bridge was a short walk from the bus terminal. There was a troop of monkeys passing through! Monkeys everywhere, rustling in the bushes and climbing trees. Loads of baby ones too! Most people crossed the bridge, but I stayed on the same path to take the shorter distance, 6.5 km, to Tokusawa camp site.

It was pretty dark still in the valley and it was a boring, gravel road walk through the forest. Later, the trail approached the river a bit more. The water was so clear and blue! The tips of the mountains were lost in the clouds. Kamikochi has twenty of the tallest Japanese mountains, thus aptly named the Japanese Northern Alps. It has the third highest mountain in Japan at 3,190 m (10,500 ft), but sadly that’s a three day backpacking hike and out of my league. I passed another troop of monkeys all over the trail and in the river, playing, with even more babies! I even saw a mother nursing her child. The babies were very shy and would hide their faces in the adult monkey’s fur when they saw me looking at them. It was a little scary as they were all over the bath, but we kept to ourselves and there was no trouble.

I passed the first hut, where I ran into more hikers as the trail from the other side merged here, before arriving at the grassy field camp site. I found the check in office easily, and the lady working there spoke English! Got my tent and everything set up by 9 am. With just my day pack, I found the trailhead to Mt. Chogadake although it was a fading sign in Japanese. The trail didn’t ease into the steepness, but it was punishing from the start. The ascent is supposed to take 4.5 hours which is what it took me. I definitely took a lot of breaks. I passed one other group with backpacking packs and saw a couple other groups. Definitely possible to see bears on this deserted trail! It just kept going up and up for 3 km in the woods. Sadly, I couldn’t see anything but trees. I had two peeks at mountains with snow and Mt. Yaedake which has all the steam and smoke from its volcanic activity. Around the 3 km mark, the landscaped changed a bit and there were some meadows and ponds. The sun had progressively gotten stronger during my hike, but the wind kept me feeling refreshed.

I ate lunch on a log, and boy, was I hungry! I hit the peak of a smaller mountain along the way and finally the trail leveled out a bit. Too much uphill! Thank goodness for the mile marker signs that gave me hope. I finally hit the last part and was rewarded with a patch of melting snow!! I got to walk through snow in July! And the view, oh my god. Breathtaking. The snow dusted peaks were all clearly in sight with the clouds having lifted. Just stunning. It made the whole hike worth it. I started the final ascent. It was rocky ground covered with some low pine bushes. The wind hit and it hit badly as I moved out into the open. I’ve never felt anything so strong. I managed to get a quick photo at the peak with my camera strap wrapped around the peak marker, but the wind was pushing it the whole time.

I quickly descended behind a rock face by the mountain hut to get out of the direct wind. There were three tents pitched, huddling, by the rock wall for shelter. The wind was so intense. Nothing but howling. The mountain hut offered toilets (and ramen, I found out later!). I left the sheltering walls of the hut and re-emerged into the open. The wind slammed against me and I couldn’t move. Once it lessened, I backed up and added my fleece and raincoat layer for some protection. Also packed away everything in my bag and put my stomach backpack strap on to make sure my backpack didn’t fly away either! Just wow, wow, wow. The wind was about 60-70 kph (~40 mph). Several times I had to drop to the ground and clutch a rock as to not fly off the mountain. My heart was pounding, adrenaline flooding. It was scary. I could barely breathe with the wind snatching away the air and pressing my nostrils shut. I had 30 minutes of ground to cover with my legs already tired. I pressed on, basically walking at a 45 degree angle.

I ended up meeting another solo female traveler. We started a conversation at one point. Her English was so good! She had lived in England for a year. We kept each other company as we struggled along the ridgeline. Finally, we reached the trailhead for the descent to Yokoo campsite. Shortly after descending, the wind was cut off and we took off our layers. I could breathe again! That was definitely one of the most intense things I’ve done. We descended together. It was supposed to take two hours, but we definitely did it quicker with two breaks. Such shaky legs! This trail was steeper later and flatter in the beginning. There was an area where they had cleared the trees so you could see the Alps. So pretty! The clouds set in quickly again and the peaks were covered.

Finally we made it to Yokoo! I exchanged contact info with my new friend! She was also going to Oze next weekend. I ate some food and relaxed on one of the benches. I still had an hour flat walking in front of me to get back to my campsite. Yokoo was closer to the river and brand new! The campsite also looked nice although rockier. There was even a beer vending machine! All the luxuries you could want while camping. After thirty minutes, I headed back to Tokusawa. The path was again pretty boring, through the woods with an occasional peek at the river. Felt longer than an hour too with my tiredness, but I made it! I dumped my gear and decided not to go to the onsen - too far to walk those 5 minutes, ha - but got ice cream instead! Yum! A great treat after a long hike. I didn’t realize the elevation change would actually be 1,100 m due to the lack of English info online. It took me about 10 hours to do the whole thing, 19 kilometers (~12 miles) covered, which fit the estimate exactly. The wind was stronger at the camp than earlier and it had gotten chillier. After dinner, I prepared for bed and read for a little. The wind was really loud and kept bending the tent in half. I’m surprised that my stakes and poles even held out!

 
On Friday night, us English teachers had a work party in Takasaki with the old and current teachers. I stopped by Animate before it, but they didn’t have what I was looking for. The restaurant, Dragon Cafe, was right across the street. What cool decor too. We had our own little private cubby. I took advantage of the all you can drink part to finally have cranberry juice again. It’s been ages! The food was also very yummy, but I did not eat the raw egg with rice dish. I went home straight after because I had to get up early this morning to get on a 2.5 hour train ride to Yokohama! I was meeting B and her boyfriend there. I know B from Prague as we were in the same TEFL class. She spent the last two years teaching in Vietnam and has moved for a brief moment to Japan.

I got to Yokohama station shortly after 10:30 am and went to try and meet them. We had a bit of a mix up and ended finding each other by the subway gates about 30 minutes later. It was awesome to see her again! We headed off to Minatomirai, the harbor, port area. Ocean! The wonderful smell of salt. Ah, how I love that smell. We walked along the waterfront over to the famous red brick warehouses and checked out the shops inside. After a slightly pricey lunch there at a burger and sandwich shack, we stopped by a pie shop (pie!!) before proceeding to the Yokohama ship terminal deck. What a view! It was so windy too! The ocean breeze helped keep us cool.

We headed next for the Chinatown, one of the largest in the world, passing by the stadium where there was currently a game going on. We stopped for some booze at a conbini and drank it on our way. Oh, how nice it is to have no open container laws. Chinatown was cool and filled with dumplings and other SE Asian shops. We popped in and out of stores. Our feet were quite weary so we headed to the nearby waterfront park and took a break to eat our pie. The gardens in the park were stunning and filled with roses. There was a fountain too that was a gift from San Diego. We ended up strolling back along the water to the subway station. I had a great time hanging out with them and seeing a new city! We said our goodbyes, and I went back to Yokohama station to try and see the outside. I bought a postcard with the old station facade, but didn’t realize they had updated it a long time ago. No more pretty building. After a quick Starbucks stop, I got back on the trains to head back to Gunma.

I had made plans to go to my first handball game today! Tomioka Higashi is very strong in sports, especially handball and we make it to nationals each year. This was the regional championship game to qualify for the national tournament in August in Yamaguchi Prefecture. I first met up with Ichigo-sensei at her house at 10:30 am, before we went to Yoshii high school together. It was really crowded and hard to get a parking spot. The boys team was playing when we arrived. I met some of my students’ parents while we waited for their supporters to clear the gym.

I was really surprised. Everyone changed into their indoor shoes at the door. I forgot mine so I borrowed a pair from Ichigo-sensei. The pile of shoes around the entrance was huge and we had to wade through to make it in the the gym. The spectators had two rows of chairs to sit in along the side of the gym, or they could stand around the court or on the second floor balcony. Each cheering team choose the color they would wear to represent the school. Ours was dark blue and pink. Once the game started, the temperature rose quickly. Poor players. And it was so loud! I don’t know how they can talk to each other or hear the coach with all the drumming, cheering, and smashing plastic bottles, with beads inside, against each other. A whole different kind of environment from the usual Japanese silence.

Another ALT, L, also was there watching the game. It was really exciting. The rules I learned back in 10th grade started coming back to me. Tomihi was so good! I was really surprised. One of the girls kept running so incredibly fast. I’m really happy I got a chance to see them play. I wish I could go see the national competition, but it’s too far away. I was kindly treated to cold tea by one of the moms and got to chat with the students after the game. Utterly impressed. Ichigo-sensei and I returned to her house and she cooked lunch for me and some neighbors that came over for a visit. I finally got to meet her husband too. We had a fun time chatting while the kids played, and for dessert we made blueberry scones in her oven. They turned out super yummy although it was my first time making them.

Another early morning departure to go hiking. I decided to re-attempt summiting Mt. Asama without snow. I left shortly before 7 am and enjoyed the empty early roads. I had such gorgeous weather this time, I could see Asama next me, getting bigger and bigger. Sadly, it’s not as pretty without snow on top. I took the same route as last time. The winding, gravel road was pretty bad without snow too because there were so many more potholes to dodge. Quite a bumpy ride. There were many other hikers this time. I didn’t encountered a lot of people on the first leg, but once I passed the evacuation shelter/hut, I came across the same people twice during my loop. They were all impressed that I was hiking alone and by how fast I was - ha, long legs I guess? I thought I was going slowly with lots of breaks!

The first stretch through the woods wasn’t fun. I almost turned around by the immense number of biting flies. I didn’t bring any bug spray with me and what started with two horseflies ended up at twenty at one point. I kept killing them so I don’t know if that attracted more. I’ve never seen such a swarm. The constant buzzing was very annoying and it made it hard to take a break since the flies would immediately descend and attack. The sun was strong and hot, but I made it to the shelter by 10:30 am, in 2 hours as planned, in less than half the time it took me with snow. The flies left me shortly before, once I passed through the valley with the sulfur river. The landscape looks completely different without snow! The biggest change was the pine tree forest ahead. I thought the trees were really short before, but half of them was covered in snow! The snow was actually much deeper than I had guessed before. The trail markers that were at our shins, were now around my head. That means almost 6 ft deep snow!

The going was super easy and quick at this point, and I reached our past turnaround point and then the junction where the trail split to go up to Asama. Sadly, I didn’t check the volcanic activity ahead of time… The alert had just been raised a week ago to level 2 and the trail up Asama was closed. So once again, Mt. Asama foiled me. Apparently, it had a small eruption earlier in the week of smoke and yesterday, a small amount of ash was deposited and caught on camera. Volcanic tremors continue to happen as well. Asama’s daily sulfur dioxide releases have been growing sharply, hitting 1,700 tons on Thursday from 500 tons on Monday. I ended up going left at the junction, following the signs for the J-Loop trail that goes along the ridgeline overlooking Asama. At this altitude, it was already much cooler and pleasant. The wind really picked up as I emerged from the treeline. Oh, it was stunning. Asama rising up on the right, windswept landscape ahead of me, and the other mountains on the left with so much green.

I ended up snacking before the steep ascent up to the ridgeline. I couldn’t believe that the trail was in front of me. It just looked like rocks! It was really fun though. I enjoy more bouldering-like hikes and the view didn’t hurt either. I had lunch at the first mountain peak, Sennindake, 2319 m. I continued crossing the ridge and hit the other two peaks, Jakotsudake, 2366 m, and Kurofuyama, 2404 m. The latter part of the trail passed in and out of the forest and hordes of gnats. I made it to the last overlook point, before descending on the other side of the ridgeline at about 2 pm. This was a rough descent as I was pretty tired and the trail was rather slippery with gravel. There were many flowers along the switchbacks down the mountain.

I made a break at the shelter to rest my aching toes, before finishing the rest of the descent. I passed by the waterfall on my way down which was bursting due to all the rain. There was even a beautiful rainbow! I got back to my car at 4:30 pm, after 8 hours of hiking including all my breaks. Not bad for 13 km with an elevation gain from 1400 m to 2400 m! I got a little headachy from the elevation change, but nothing too bad! I did have to push myself although not as much as at Oze, ha. So lucky that I had great weather too!

 

The family had to head off to the airport at 2 pm so we didn’t have a lot of time left. Lars and I left the parents to pack and left for Ikebukuro at 9:30 am. Lars really wanted to visit the main, biggest Pokemon Center. I was surprised to see they were selling more Japan exclusive anniversary goods. I ended up getting earrings! We returned to the airbnb to check out by noon, and departed with all the luggage over to Ueno. We grabbed some food at a cafe and ate in Ueno park while listening to a fantastic street cellist. I brought them to the Keisei station and we said our goodbyes. I’m really happy I got to show them around a bit!

Yesterday, my friend, A, contacted me because she was going back to Tochigi to visit her family. That’s so much closer in Osaka, but I already had the Tokyo plans. We managed to figure out we could meet halfway in Omiya, Saitama for dinner today. I had the rest of the day to spend in Tokyo, but I didn’t want to travel around too much or spend a lot of money. I was exhausted from doing so many things ha. I decided to relax at Starbucks and read first, before to the huge toy store, Yamashiroya. There were so many floors! But the basement offered character goods which is what I was after. Need to stock up on cute writing supplies. I also got a present for A. Afterward, I went and hung out in Ueno park. I staked out a grassy spot and read some more. The weather was gorgeous. It took about a half hour to get from Ueno to Omiya where I hung out at the Starbucks at the station there to kill more time.


A managed to catch an earlier train and we met outside the west entrance to go get shabu shabu! My first time eating this kind of hot pot. We had to wait a little before getting a seat, but it gave us time to discuss the menu - which kinds of sauces, meat, vegetables. We got so many little dishes and the food was amazing! My favorite add in was the really sweet potatoes in the tomato sauce. Yum! Although it was pricey, it was so worth it. We parted after a great time chatting at dinner and I managed to get back home at 11:30 pm. Getting up tomorrow will be hard!

We had plans to met our friend, K, at Tokyo station at 9:30 am. She was going to spend the day with us and show my family around Tokyo. My family was excited to see her again because when she studied in the US, she spent a weekend at my house. Lars didn’t have time to eat breakfast because he was so slow in getting up, so while waiting for K, we decided to stop at a bakery. K joined us and stopped at a yummy bakery on the way to the Imperial Palace where I ate a cranberry muffin. After the quick snack, Papa wandered around taking photos of a fountain and we moved on to the outer moat and walls of the palace. We walked over to the East Imperial Gardens entrance. It was hot out so we tried to stick to shade. The hydrangeas were blooming wonderfully.

We exited the gardens and took the subway over to Tsukiji fish market to get some lunch. The tiny alleys were jampacked with people. I think my family found it pretty interesting to see all the different kinds of fresh seafood and the prices. We ate at a sushi bowl place, sushi donburi, as they had enough space to seat us five. It was my first time eating prawns, the large shrimp, raw and I wasn’t a big fan. Too slimy. Sea urchin was good though! Lars freaked out while deshelling them because of the brain juice haha. Right outside the restaurant, something was going on. They had two of the transportable shrines, one filled with three guys playing the flute and drums. It was great that my family got to experience something so Japanese.

We walked along the main road over to the Hama-rikyu gardens. It’s located along the water and has salt water ponds! It smelled like the ocean and you could see the effects of the tide. It was a large and beautiful garden. The tea house located in the middle of one of the ponds was stunning, and a popular building to sketch. There were like twenty different people painting and sketching it! We caught a water bus, aka boat, from the gardens to head upstream to Asakusa. The ride took about 45 minutes and we passed under so many different color bridges. It was the closest I’ve been to the Sky Tree as well. After disembarking, we went to Starbucks for an afternoon wake up call, before stopping by the atm, and entering Asakusa temple area.

Sadly, the entrance gate was under construction and covered up. The old style shopping street that lead to the temple was filled with food stalls and souvenirs. Very tempting to buy many things. We passed through the main gate into the temple grounds. It was quite impressive and beautiful. We got there after 5 pm so I couldn’t get the seal stamp in my book, but wandering around the grounds was very satisfying. We saw lots of koi, some really funny ones sticking up through a waterfall, trying to eat algae off the rocks.

We decided to get dinner by Shinjuku station. My one request was something very Japanese and K fulfilled it with yakitori! We ended up a tiny winding alley near Shinjuku station. I later found this is called Piss Alley… I did see a rat run across a sign overhead. It was chock full of tiny restaurants, all selling yakitori. The smell of barbecued meat and smoke was everywhere. K asked in a couple places if they had room. Most of the downstairs areas were tiny, stool seating, but some had larger seating upstairs. We managed to get a spot in one. They even had an English menu! The food was amazing and delicious. The best yakitori I’ve had yet. My fav was the grilled leek with bacon wrapped. Yum! After dinner, we went to the government building and up to the free observatory. The line was intense! But we managed to see sprawling Tokyo at night. We said goodbye to K at the station and took our weary selves back to the airbnb.

I drove my car to school and back today as we had a very narrow window of time to catch our train to Tokyo. Lars and Mama were waiting outside when I pulled up outside my apartment. I dropped them off near Takasaki station while I went to park the car in the cheaper lots further away. We had like 4 minutes to spare, phew. Lars needed a ticket as well, because he had misplaced his IC card in his luggage and couldn’t find it. We managed to get all settle on the train for the next two hours to Shinjuku station. I got really hungry though since you aren’t supposed to eat on the local trains and I had no food with me.

We transferred at Shinjuku station to the subway to head to our airbnb. We decided to wait at the final station’s entrance as Papa was not far behind us. He had taken the shinkansen up from Osaka. We got to the airbnb at 8 pm and ran into all sorts of trouble getting into the building. The worst experience I’ve had yet. Mostly it was due to the language barrier in her instructions in how to get the key and my assumption that there would be two keys. We finally got in the apartment over an hour later. The family proceeded to complain about how small it was, but I thought it was rather big for an inner city, Tokyo, apartment, ha. We all decided it was too late to get proper dinner, so we went to the conbini instead. It was my first full conbini dinner meal. I made it almost 11 months! We ended up going to bed around midnight, eep!

I managed to rearranged my two classes I have on Wednesdays and take the day off to hang out with Mama and Lars. I debated a lot on where to take them, but decided on Mt. Myogi since it was nearby, and I had never been to the shrine. Luckily, although the day was cloudy and wet, it hadn’t started raining yet. We set off pretty late at 10 am. It’s impossible to get Lars up early, that sleepyhead. I parked the car by the shrine, at the visitor stop and we walked over to it. I didn’t realize the whole shrine is placed on a steep hill! So many stairs! The shrine was stunning. Huge cedar trees, filled with a rainy mist. Every corner had cool parts tucked away. We spent over an hour exploring the grounds, before returning to the car. I picked up some hiking maps at the visitor center and we drove over to the art gallery and lookout park to have lunch.

We were invited in by some staff to check out the art gallery inside the building so we postponed lunch. All the art was of Mt. Myogi. Some really stunning paintings. It was definitely interesting to see, especially the little kids’ art on the third floor. We had lunch after on a bench by the empty dirt fields where cosmos grew in the fall. Afterward, I moved the car to the closest parking lot to the trailhead we wanted to take. A brief bit along the road, and we were off climbing a steep paved path that met up with the top of Mt. Myogi shrine. We split off into the woods. The trail gradually ascended with quite a few stairs. Everything was damp and green.

We climbed out to one outlook area, passed a waterfall, saw a forest crab, and a snake! Along the way, Lars shrieked several times when something got stuck to his leg. He said it was an inchworm, but later I noticed some stuck on my shoes and leggings. My legs were covered completely. They were little forest leeches with quite a bit of sucking power! They liked to hide inside your shoes too. Luckily I only got about three on me. They move really quickly! We turned around at the second outlook point. There was a chain to get to the top, but it was way slippery and not well attached. We just ended up rock climbing the small distance. The view was really pretty! I climbed over to a small outcropping. It was tricky to get there as there was really nowhere to place your feet. Lars even made it up there although he is afraid of heights. Getting back down was harder for him and required some butt sliding. He had worn the wrong shoes too.

The way back went much more quickly and we managed to complete about 4 km in almost 3 hours. We made it back in time to be able to go to the onsen. Mama managed to feel comfortable enough to try it out, and Lars was actually excited at this point. The soak was great. We left shortly after 5 pm and headed off to get dinner at the same sushi place I took Lars earlier. It was really empty this time, being a weekday, and we had to order everything verbally. Mama and I shared an expensive eel plate that got flambeed with a torch! It was delish.

Lars and I arranged to meet the parents at Shibukawa station at about 11 am. Lars and I stopped by Mister Donut for breakfast. So we came up from the south, and they took a bus and train down from Takaragawa. We headed off to Ikaho and I remembered where to park! A showed me a great spot last time. I wanted to try and met up with her, but she was going to Ikaho later in the day around when we left. We started at the bottom of the 365 stone steps. I pointed out the water running underneath the stairs, and we stopped by the footbath for Lars and Papa to try. We got some free tea there from ladies advertising the Tomioka Silk Mill. I actually managed to tell them that I lived there.

We had lunch at a cafe with a sweet interior design. I had cold salad udon and it was delicious! Something I could easily make myself. We finished climbing the stairs and visited the shrine. Then we headed over to Kajika bridge which looked quite different now in the spring! The family tried the gold onsen water and the silver regular stream water before Papa and Lars went to take their first proper onsen bath without towels. Mama and I hung out next to the water source bubbling up from the ground. Lars told us afterward that he ran into a guy with full body tattoos! All the other Japanese guys moved from one pool to the other. He didn’t know that they guy was a yakuza. How crazy!

On the way back down the stairs, we stopped by a shop that sells soft serve ice cream. I spent some time trying to deciphering mixed in katana, but had my orders all set when I went to the window. She then handed me an English menu, haha. After getting ice cream, we also stopped by my favorite store filled with cat themed things. I ended up getting a bag like the one I got my sister for Christmas. Either as a lunch bag or for makeup. It’s so cute! We got back to the car and set off for Takasaki station to drop my dad off so he could make the trip back to Osaka. Mama needed to get a Starbucks too so we waited for her while she had to pass through a gigantic line filled with high schoolers.

Lars desperately wanted to visit an anime/manga store so I took them over to Mandai Shoten. Both were promptly impressed. I managed to buy some nice things and Lars was happy with his pokemon card purchases. We drove back to Tomioka and stopped by the grocery store by my house. Mama bought a lot of alcohol ha. We just ate bread and salad at home.

Last night, my family (my dad, mom, and little brother) arrived in Takasaki at 9 pm. So crazy to finally have them here! After a quick stop at 7-11 to get some food, I drove them back to my place. We were up pretty late chatting and unpacking. We managed to fit two people in each of my rooms. Saturday morning, we left home at about 9 am to drive up to Tanigawadake, a mountain on the border of Gunma and Niigata, in Minakami. We parked at the ski area parking garage to head up the ropeway on the side of the mountain. It saves you a three hour steep hike up the side of the mountain. Although it was pretty warm at the base, the top was pretty windy and chilly! I wished I had brought my sweatshirt with. The views were stunning at the 1300 m, and we decided to take the second, shorter lift to the very top of 1500 m.

Wow, just wow! Mountains and greenness everywhere. The peak of the mountain is at about 2000 m and the surrounding mountains still had some snow on them. We scrambled over a rocky area to have lunch while admiring the beautiful view, although our seats were rather uncomfortable. We ended walking to the shrine on the opposite side of the lift too. On the descent, I noticed that the rest of the road we wanted to drive to Ichinokurasawa Gorge was closed. Back at the center I asked and found you had to take a bus to the gorge. Sadly, we had just missed the bus, and it’d be too late to catch the next. We decided to head over to Takaragawa Onsen where Papa and Mama would be spending the night at the ryokan as an anniversary present.

On the drive over, Papa wanted to stop by the dam. The roads were crazy curvy and small, but it was a fun ride! The lake was so empty. Everything is really dry before the rainy season. Arriving at the onsen was confusing, because there was a guy at the gate who wouldn’t let us park down by the entrance as I had done last time. We tried explaining to him that some of us were staying overnight and that Lars and I were just going to the onsen, but it was too hard to get our point across. We had to park at the furthest lot, just outside the entrance while Papa and Mama pulled their suitcases down to the main ryokan entrance. It was actually hard to find! Completely tucked away, down the road, over a bridge, past all the parking, and around the corner.

After dropping them off at the reception, Lars and I slowly made our way to the onsen entrance for the non-overnighters. The guy there actually spoke really great English and was surprised to hear that it was my second time there. Although he overcharged us each by 100 yen according to the signs around and what he typed into the register...not sure if there was a recent price increase or what. It seemed fishy, but this is Japan… Lars and I rented a towel as well. We walked past all the old timer decor and the black bears in the small cages, before stopping and hanging out by some tables. Papa and Mama still hadn’t shown up about 30 minutes later.

I wanted to find a toilet next, but the signage was really lacking. I ended up asking a staff member who for some reason had trouble understanding me (although I’ve asked this many times before with no issues…). There was one in the ladies bath which she then went to show me the way to. Then I explained to Lars how to get changed and what to do with his clothes. Lars finished quicker than me, and had started heading into the water when I came out. I had to explain to him again that we need to pre-wash first around the corner. The water that had felt so cold in the winter was hot now! We rinsed off and got in the first bath which was really hot. Lars was freaking out a bit about all the men who were not covering themselves properly, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. We tried out all three baths and hung out in the last one the longest because it was much cooler.

Lars started getting red quite quickly so I had to remind him to sit outside and cool off. I went to see if I could track down the parents as it had been over an hour waiting for them. Finding people with blurry eyesight was a little tricky, but I finally spotted them coming down the path and waved Lars over from the opposite side of the river. Once again, I explained bathing etiquette and we joined the parents for a short round two. They didn’t stay in the water as long, and we both ended up getting changed around the same time. This time, I learned that the guy’s changing room was much bigger than the woman’s. Makes sense with the higher number of men there. Also as a guest of the ryokan, the baths are open 24/7! You could go for a dip in the middle of the night.

After saying our goodbyes, Lars and I made the trip back to Tomioka where we stopped at a kaiten sushi place for dinner. It’s the closest one to my house that I haven’t tried yet, but the fish was amazing! A step up in price and quality. It was crazy full on this weekend night. You had to order from the servers directly, but Lars is a pro. He immediately just picked up the menu, said sumimasen, and pointed to what he wanted. He’s already adapted well to being in a country where he can’t speak the language.

As it gets light out so early, I woke up at 4:30 am with the rising sun. Plus, it was freezing cold! The sleeping bag I had borrowed from GAJET was barely thick enough with my wool leggings. Papa had bare legs in his though! He popped out of bed quickly, got dressed before heading to the restrooms. He came back at a run though asking for my camera to take shots of the lake all misty! This was enough to convince me to get dressed as well. Pulling on all the layers helped get me moving too. After a restroom stop, where I could put my contacts back in and stop being blind, I also went to the lake shore. The mist, rising sun, water and marsh was amazing. Absolutely breathtaking. Completely reaffirmed Oze as my favorite spot in Japan. There was thick frost everywhere! That means it was a little below freezing overnight aka -1 C or so. Way off from our 9 C prediction for the night. I tried to find Papa to get my camera back, but no luck so I only have cell phone photos.

By the time I got back to the tent, Papa had already dismantled it and rolled up our sleeping bags. He was so quick! We grabbed our packs and went to eat breakfast - granola and yogurt - on some benches by the water. It was still so cold out my fingers got numb! We hit the trail shortly before seven with our packs a bit lighter with less water and food. The trail was isolated and calm. It got warm pretty quickly with the physical exercise and sun. We made it around the lake and switched from flat trails to hilly ones that headed to the great marsh. The famous white skunk cabbages were blooming in full force around the lake. We encountered more and more people, even huge tour groups. Around ten, we hit the second campground area that was surrounded by many restaurants and shops. I definitely preferred our campsite. We ate a snack here before starting the marsh boardwalks.

The scenery was quite different than from that in the fall. Much less water! The marsh was really dry with the skunk cabbages growing in sparse patches by the last bits of water. They were all past their prime bloom and wilting. We encountered more and more people as we headed towards the end. We took a break for some early lunch before pressing on to the last campground and hut site. Papa and I were exhausted and our legs no longer wanted to cooperate. We had time for a 20 minute rest before doing the last leg of our trip: upwards to Hatomachi Pass. This was really rough especially the second half as a yellow trail was pretty steep. Having a heavy pack makes all the difference. And there were so many people and tour groups that it was much less fun at this point. We did ascend pretty quickly, in under an hour.

I got us bus tickets back to Tokura, but this time the buses were all parked in a different lot! We got a bus that left 15 minutes later at 12:40 pm. After a curvy, hot ride, we got dropped off at the main bus station in Tokura. A guy helped us at the counter ask when the next bus to Oshimizu left. We had to wait 30 minutes this time because we had just missed the bus. It probably would have been cheaper and faster to use a taxi because first part cost us 780 yen and second part 540 yen. Papa wasn’t that happy we had to wait because we were on a deadline and would just barely make it in time back to Takasaki station for his 4 pm train to be able to pick up Mama and my brother, Lars, at Tokyo station! Despite barely being able to walk, we still stopped on the way back to get a quick photo with lupines, my namesake! What an exhausting, but fun weekend!

Last night, I picked up my papa at Takasaki station! He’s working in Osaka for three weeks so he came up to spend the weekend with me! I spent Friday afternoon getting cheese and a membership at Costco, as well as grabbing burgers with S. S actually got to meet my dad as well when I dropped him off at the train station ha. This morning we left at 7:30 am to head up to Oze National Park for a bit of hiking and camping. The last leg of the drive was quite beautiful with all the flowers blooming: irises and lupines. Because the temperature is colder there, there were more types of flowers than I normally see.

We parked at the Oshimizu entrance for 500 yen a day. I had to pay a lady who emerged from the omiyage shop and tell her we were leaving tomorrow. It seemed this was a popular spot for overnighters to park. I used the Hatomachitoge Pass entrance last time so I knew nothing about this route. My dad and I both had our overnight packs with sleeping bags, food, and a tent on our backs as we started the upward sloping gravel road. I knew our first stretch to the campsite would take about 3 hours and be 7 km long. What I was surprised to find out was that about half of it was along this stupid gravel road! We were surrounded by tons of butterflies and chirping cicadas, but still! Finally we past the first hut/rest stop area and the trail actually became a wooded trail tucked along a river. So much nicer.

Sadly the trail turned into some steep switchbacks. I had to take lots of short breaks to catch my breath. The trail was lined with beautiful pink flowering trees and at one point we could drink fresh mountain water. Cold and delish! We finally made it to the top of the pass and realized we had just covered a 600 m difference in elevation from our start point! With our packs! My papa last went backpacking 30 years ago and I’ve only done it once in college, but we did it! From 1180 m to 1762 m. We stopped here for our lunch break before pressing on.

We finally made it down to the lake! It was gorgeous! There was a bit of a small pebbled beach and sandy beach. After snapping some photos, we walked the last 20 minute stretch to our campsite area. I stopped at the visitor center to get another Oze map in English plus some other pamphlets. They also told us where to go to check in. It was a little tricky with their lack of English and the lack of signage. We wandered a bit in a circle before I saw the sign Hute in katakana on one of the buildings. Managed to fill out the paper form there okay with the receptionist minimal English and told him we were only two people instead of four. It cost us 800 yen per person for our site and we got a number to hang on our tent.

There were 26 wooden platform sites in our campground. About 10 were filled. We took #2 as it was closer to the bathrooms and a bit more wooded. The toilets were pretty nice. Apparently they helicopter remove all the waste from the park to keep the water fresh. We set up the tent easily although I had left the directions at home - a standard model. After transferring water and snacks to small packs, we headed out to do some more hiking. We decided to do a smaller loop since we were both tired. After briefly passing through the marshy area, the trail branched off into isolated woods. There was no one besides us and the trail was much less maintained. Very peaceful. At the top of the pass, we emerged into a stunning marshy area with pools. The wooden boardwalk disappeared halfway through into old wobbly planks. Clearly they were doing some renovating. Nothing like practicing our balancing acts!

Once we started our steep red marked descent, we ran into a couple other people. We definitely picked the better route upwards. We emerged at the other side of the trail that runs through the campground and grabbed our pasta salad dinner. Almost all the campsites were filled at this point. We decided to have dinner while relaxing on the beach. As it was quite a bit later, many of the park’s visitors had already left. Dropping our things on the beach, we went to soak our sore, tired feet in the cold water. It was not too chilly in the shallows. But we had to watch out for glass! Broken pieces were laying on the beach from litter. We both ended up relaxing on the beach after dinner watching the sun slowly go down and the temperature drop. Papa decided to run back to the campground to get dressed more warmly since he was only in shorts and a t-shirt. I at least had my fleece jacket.

The sunset was pretty nice, but it was really restful and calm. A thicker cloud cover along the horizon made it tricky to see the sun completely set. We headed back to our tent to get ready for bed although it was barely 7 pm. We were both so exhausted! Plus it was cold out! It seems in one of the cabins, you could stop by to watch a performance with piano and hang out with the other overnight guests. I was surprised to see there were two other groups of Westerners camping too. Papa somehow managed to fit diagonally in the tent and fell asleep quickly while I read for another hour. People kept walking by so it was noisy at first, but it calmed down later. I did wake up a lot because I was uncomfortable. No side sleeping on a platform with only a sleeping bag cushion!