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.