Today we're going on a day trip from the Tokyo
station. Its red brick building disappears among the modern high rise
constructions.
Pretty train station
At the Tokyo station, we board a plane Shinkansen
The train goes so fast it's virtually impossible to take a good photo out of its window.
Can you spot something special?
Fuji is hidden by the clouds.
The moment you can see Fuji is brief. There
aren't that many areas from where you can reliably see it. It is big,
but it is surrounded by mountains.
33 minutes on the super express, and we're in
Odawara. There isn't a special reason why we're here. It's just a
destination for a day trip from Tokyo, that's all.
The characters of Blue Period, desperate to
escape from their terrible lives, board a train from Tokyo going to the
sea, and end up here. Quite a few train lines from central stations
around Tokyo terminate at Odawara. The joke is that there's nothing
there, except for a stupid statue and a cold, cold sea wind.
Maybe that's the case for a February night, but there's lots of stuff to do in Odawara during a spring day!
The main attraction at Odawara is Odawara
castle. It was occupied by the lords ruling over the modern Tokyo area
around 16th century, then was conquered and left to deteriorate, and
then got destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake. It was rebuilt as a
museum in 1950s. The interior was lost, unfortunately.
This is the 7th biggest castle in Japan, and the most easily accessible from Tokyo castle with a keep.
The castle-museum holds the objects found during the excavations, earliest from the 16th century (this is the roof tiles)
The modern roof is pretty, too.
The lord's name was Odawara, too. It seems the town was named after the castle, and the castle was named after the owner?
There's a panoramic view from the top of the castle.
There are several moat rows and walls, and therefore multiple gates and bridges.
But more importantly, it has giant carps
Many, many carp
Some carps are very pretty.
Miyuki beach is five minutes away. It is
supposedly popular among surfers, but there barely was anyone. Only a
few locals on a picnic...
And a few fishermen.
Our last stop in Odawara is this shopping mall.
It is full of local fish products, and the stench is overwhelming, but
we're here for something different, something special
There's an observatory platform on the 14th floor... And not just any old viewing spot, oh no
It is actually a hot spring for feet. For free.
The water is kept at pleasant 42°C. There's a
long row of seats, and there are maybe 20 or 30 people resting their
feet at any given time.
From there, we decided to take a train to a small village from where one could see Fuji well, if the weather is good.
Who decided that "red" means the seat is free and "green" the seat is reserved?
Who decided that "red" means the seat is free and "green" the seat is reserved?
But we accidentally boarded a train that didn't stop at this small village, and brought us to a large-ish town of Oofuna?!
Oh no?!
Going back to the station we planned originally
would take too much time, so we decided to try and find a Fuji viewing
spot in Oofuna. In hindsight, that was not a great decision. We did see a
lot of non-tourist Japan, though. Like this river!
This area is known for its temples and caves. There's a whole trail around all of them. Some temples are 1000 years old, too.
But we had no idea. We didn't even know that Rascal Doesn't Dream location spots are close enough to visit them.
There are some tunnels! They're pretty scary, because pedestrians share them with the cars
The hills are intense
Scratch that, it's not a hill, it's a mountain. Rokkokukenzan ("can see six countries") mountain, in fact!
The Rokkokukenzan is a forest park. The city turns into wilderness in a blink. We didn't expect that, and got a bit scared.
I wish we knew that there's no reason to worry! First, we were still basically 20 minutes by feet from train lines going directly to Tokyo (I mean, we walked from one, should have figured). Second, there were lots and lots famous Buddhist temples around (this area is a cradle of a big branch of Buddhism). Third, there are lots of history nerds around, as this area used to be a de-facto capital of Japan between 12th and 14th century.
So, no need to be alarmed, even when there's a forest around you.
I wish we knew that there's no reason to worry! First, we were still basically 20 minutes by feet from train lines going directly to Tokyo (I mean, we walked from one, should have figured). Second, there were lots and lots famous Buddhist temples around (this area is a cradle of a big branch of Buddhism). Third, there are lots of history nerds around, as this area used to be a de-facto capital of Japan between 12th and 14th century.
So, no need to be alarmed, even when there's a forest around you.
The really steep trail is maybe 15 minutes long, and then there's...
An observation platform.
Some sort of a grave?
Can you see Fuji? We can't. The trees grew tall
and the leaves are really lush, so the view from this spot is nothing
like other people have shared online
(that's how it was supposed to look like, I suppose it still might be like that in the winter)
Disappointed and exhausted from the hike that
unexpectedly took over one hour, we started to plan our next move.
Walking 20 minutes to the station seemed like too much, and the sudden
mountain forest experience was stressful, so we decided to call a taxi.
Alas, no mobile reception...
Alas, no mobile reception...
And then we met the Totoro! Thanks to Totoro's
magic, we suddenly got the mobile reception, and called a taxi. It's
Showa day, but the taxi came in 4 minutes, and brought us to the comfort
of a burger shop next to the train station.
We even had a lovely chat with the taxi driver~
We even had a lovely chat with the taxi driver~
We decided to continue the day after a little
break. We arrived to Yokohama's Minatomirai, the sea port of the future,
and were puzzled that no one went to the super famous Rinko park?!
Turns out, the station navigation was a lie.
The "Rinko park" exit leads you far from the park, and there are many
more exits that are far closer to the park. On the plus side, there was a
virtually empty promenade
The Rinko park is illuminated and empty. Maybe that's because of the Showa day (national holiday)?
There's a panoramic view at the bay
That's the place where lots of anime dates happen. For example, this one is from Given
Among many other attractions, Yokohama has a
giant ferris wheel. It is "the world's tallest Ferris wheel with a
clock", which is probably a fancy way of saying that this isn't the
world's tallest Ferris wheel, even if it's remarkably big.
The Ferris wheel is a remarkable feat of engineering.
The entrance to the amusement park is
misleadingly empty. Don't be fooled, the queue to the Ferris wheel is
still over 30 minutes long!
The amusement park has some seriously fun attractions, but we are here only for the night views of Yokohama.
The Ferris wheel is as tall as some of the high
rise buildings around (112 meters; it used to the be the world's
tallest when opened).
