Breaking news: Fujisan has moved

Why is Chris home at 10am on a work day?

13 years had gone by in a flash.  And last year, we decided to start traveling-life was too short for regrets, and we’d had plenty of ups and downs to make it feel “earned”.  Chris gave Nicole an unimaginable budget for a shared anniversary trip- $3000-and she had somehow made that stretch to 10 days in Italy, and it changed our entire perspectives on everything, pivoting us and turning us into two completely different people from the ones that had gotten on the plane.

So it was decided, come hell or highwater, we would travel every year and celebrate our anniversaries in every corner of this earth.

We booked France for our second adventure.  And as I sat that Monday morning-ever the over planner, making a list of things I would need for the trip 6 months later, Chris walked through the door.

“Karen. I have some bad news.”

My chest tightened. The last time I heard that it was a Dr. telling me that the lump in my breast was likely cancerous and would need immediate removal-and the 6 years that followed that were dark and scary and still not something I talk about often.

“The mill is shutting down. I just lost my job.”

I took a second to register, his voice becoming distant in my head like he was underwater. He had just left a town hall style meeting where they broke the news to management, and now he had the unimaginable job of telling his crew. He didn’t know if there would be severance, or how much longer he would be getting a paycheck, but would by the end of the day. 

I sat alone. Payment due on France in 2 days. And called my sister. Hyperventilating.

And we went anyway.  

Boarding the plane with my husband still unemployed- remaining so until exactly 1 day after his severance package ran out a year later.

Every second of that France trip was sweeter then the last-the nagging dread always with us, the fear of what was to come the 5^th seat at the table at all times, a snarky shaky laugh with each glass of wine in Provence -daring the universe to throw more at us.  Knowing that as long as he held my hand we’d walk out of the fire together. Come what may. We realized something that I hope all eventually get to- that our life was ours to curate. And we didn’t plan to live a life with our heads down. We’d chin up, we’d not just get through it.  That’s no life. We’d decide together what would happen in the next chapter and the ones after that, and we’d write it ourselves.

And the determination of taking the trip each May after became religious in its dedication. 

 

JAPAN DAY SIX AND SEVEN

Today we leave the bustle of Tokyo for the mountainside. We are set to see Fuji 😊

As we come down to the lobby to meet up with Pikachu our guide and the rest of the group we hear clinger already talking, and as we round the corner she pounces. “KAREN…you are going to do the baths at the next hotel right?”.   There are natural spring baths at our spot in Fuji, and they require total nakedness.  Men and women are separated but still…naked. And she is DETERMINED that she is going to get us there.

“nope”.

“Well you should. I’ll be there.”

Is this supposed to be a selling feature?

I’m then told all the ways I could cover up tattoos, and about all the bath houses she’s been to and about how we aren’t friendly enough and she can’t figure us out, and how this one time in band camp…. Like, it just doesn’t stop.

By the time we get to the bus across the street I’m giving the international muppet signal for Help (which is basically the flipping the other muppets the bird for leaving me alone in the wild) and I’m ready for one of my airplane happy pills.

On The way to the bus our guide tells us that because of the weather, we are likely not going to get to do the cable car portion of the Mt. Fuji experience, its quite foggy today and raining, and seeing fuji on a foggy day is almost impossible.  That’s disappointing. But we’re in vacation mode, so we roll with the punches as they come.  But she says that’s shes arranged another special outing for us instead of the cable cars- we are going to a….well, heres where it gets sketchy….a moth festival? Or a moss festival. I’m not sure which she says.  One I’m happy to do, the other you couldn’t make me do under threat of death. So as much as I’m willing to roll with the punches, I draw the line at flying creatures made out of dust. NEWP. Won’t be happening. So strangely I’m praying for moss….not something I had thought would come up on vacation…..

We get on a bus first, and we, as I mentioned, had to pack a knapsack with all the things we’d need for a night and two days while our larger luggage is forwarded on to Kyoto. So we have back packs with all of our things we can’ t live without, and road rockets of course, wine for the drive.

What I do love, is seeing a place in the rain. And this doesn’t disappoint- as we leave Tokyo behind, it quickly fades and the lush green of the mountainside as we drive towards invisible Mt Fuji in Kawaguchiko is breathtaking – and Asia at its best in my opinion.  Maybe it just reminds me of Newfoundland.  Its something I’ve always enjoyed.  I love watching the fog move through the mountains, changing the green to turquoise as it fades in and out, halfway up the slopes, cutting the peaks off before they appear again.  The bus is absurdly quiet in perfect Japanese style-no talking at all. I’m sure clinger is about ready to explode. Its very romantic and moody- gasoline for the fire building inside me to paint.  Just as I’m getting lost in it, Chris snorts like a roped pig.  He has fallen asleep like the tiny little travel baby he is- literally losing consciousness the minute he’s put in anything moving, and I wasn’t doing my “is Chris’s mouth wide open” checks as is clearly stated in the marriage contract.   Oops.  I see Gary and Nicoles shoulders move up and down as they giggle in the seats in front of us.

We arrive at the bus station in Kawaguchiko about 2 hours after boarding in Tokyo.  We are now ushered to a holding area with lockers to put our knapsacks for the day as we head to either see grass or terrifying bugs.  Once placed in the large lockers (by the way these are all over Japan- lockers to put luggage in at about 1000 yen to rent for the day -that’s about $10 CAD) we are told to go get our lunch at the 7-11.  What? We are to buy our lunch at a convenience store? I guess slurpies and potato chips? This day is going to crap fast, no mountain- instead replaced with, at worse -flying demons and now we have to eat corner store food?  But when we go into the 7-11 on the other side of the street I remember that these are a whole thing in Japan.  There is everything from salads to sushi, fried chicken to gourmet sandwiches- wine and beer and baked goods. Its incredible, and we make quick work of picking out approximately one of everything on offer including more road rockets and head back to the bus.  We are to eat these at the festival that may or may not be a horror movie.

I feel bad for our guide. She is trying her very best to keep this going…knowing that one of the highlights of Japan is Mt Fuji, and hearing loudly the discontent of some of the groups snarky comments.  Some have also taken to laughing at her accent which is really bothering me.  Why travel if you don’t respect each others differences. And listen, sometimes the thing you have planned for the day just doesn’t work out- and she can’t make the clouds go away. The fog doesn’t listen. I can feel the mountain all around us.  We can tell its in these clouds, and see her looking up and sighing every now and then, watching to see if somehow the clouds have miraculously cleared. I can only imagine how beautiful this is when the mount is on display In her full glory. We were lucky enough to see her from the plane, and I have a feeling that will have to do.  Tomorrow is calling for clouds also.  I can feel Maho’s stress, I can tell she would give anything for this to be working out the way it was planned and laid out in the itinerary.

But again, a big part of the May trips is uninterrupted time together- without the drama of everyday life and the stresses.  No matter if we see Fugi or not, we WILL be together tonight.  and we WILL giggle. And we WILL have a better night then sitting in front of our tv’s at home waiting for another work day to start tomorrow.  So we are sure to keep smiling- reassuring her that we are happy enough to just be here in her country.

So Back on the bus we are off to the festival….and I am very relieved when I see the signs for the MOSS festival.  I was starting to shove cotton in all my holes in preparation for flying demons.  We look around the area we’ve been dropped at and it is full of flowers, covering the fields in front of what I imagine would be the glory of Fuji.

Its raining pretty good now, and we are given umbrellas and told to go find a spot to eat our lunch- and we find a place pretty quickly- hovering together, sharing a few beers and eating sushi and kimchi from plastic packaging.

That’s a thing here….plastic. everything  – every single thing, is wrapped in plastic.  I mean heaven forbid you make a sound on a bus…”noise pollution will NOT be tolerated. But we WILL individually wrap our bananas in plastic and you can not stop us”. So strange.

We also get hot coffee out of a vending machine here. As in, its in a plastic (shocker) container, and you put your money in, and then the number of the item you want, and a hot coffee falls down to the bottom of the machine. HOT. COFFEE. With a sealed top like a pop bottle.

We leave the thankfully moth-less festival and head to our hotel for the night back on the bus.  We are staying at a Ryokan- which is very exciting. It’s a traditional Japanese inn- and we are expected to live as traditionally as possible for the night here.  So when we arrive we are all four fitted for kimonos before we are even shown to our rooms!!!  This is very exciting and we are encouraged to wear them to dinner and anytime we are out of our rooms for the night.

We are shown to our room and they are adorable! HUGE- especially since we have stayed in basically a Cat Carrier for the past 5 nights in Tokyo.  They have mats on the floor that we are instructed to not walk on with shoes under any circumstances- and there is a very short table with chairs that sit with the seat itself directly on the floor, just a back jetting up.  Huge windows overlook the lake in front of us and the invisible Mt Fuji, and there are beds on the floor, just a thin mat (with extra in the closet if you prefer it a little cushier) and a comforter on top. This is going to be fun 😊 there are petition rice papered walls that close to separate the bedroom from the sitting area in front of the windows.  Its all so Japanese! Efficient even in their décor- with the sliding petition walls tucking away when not in use.

Nicole and I make quick work of getting ourselves and our husbands naked and into these Kimonos.  And I’m in LOVE. These are basically like wearing a robe- very comfortable! And they instantly look very fashionable for some reason.  I put chop sticks in my hair to keep it up, and make Chris put on the fancy Kimono dinner jacket, and we head to the muppet Saki house next door (Nicole and Gary’s room where under no circumstances will there be any saki served. Gross).  When we arrive I see that Nicole has done exactly the same as I have, and we are the most adorable foursome of Muppets I’ve ever seen in my life.  We have a few glasses of wine, and head out for dinner at the hotel in our Kimonos.  I mean!!! ADORABLE!!!!

We arrive and find that many of the other guests have listened to instructions and worn their Kimono’s also. We are seated at a table for four (Gary’s condition) and promptly served all the Japanese food we can handle. Its not the ramen and Wagu of Tokyo, but sushi and soups- pork and rice, tempura shrimp and Japanese fried chicken, udon noodle soup that is served in a bowl contraption with a lit candle under it to boil it and keep it warm.  Its absolutely amazing- and we giggle and drink the malt vinegar flavored red wine that is included with the meal- quickly changing to Beer after the first sip.

Then its off to the room for the rest of the night.  We watch the lights appear around the lake as the sun goes down.  I consider drawing a pic of Fuji and sticking it to the window but-  We’ll just have to use our imaginations.  Interestingly although the kimonos are working great for us girls while we sit on these floor chairs, the boys, and particularly Chris, are having some issues.  Everytime I look over Chris, his kimono is opening further and further exposing his chest.  He looks like a Japanese 90’s pimp.  I decide that once we start seeing belly button it may be time to leave, and since none of us can still stay up past nine, we are off to bed pretty early anyway, after some half in the bag giggles about Chris and his bus snort.

We sleep really well on the traditional Japanese cat beds.  This is the first time Chris and I have been within reaching distance in bed since we arrived- they love their twin beds here.  And even though they are separate mats, we can actually touch each other from one bed to the other…don’t get any ideas, this just makes it easier for me to punch him when he snores.

We are down for breakfast in our kimono’s early the next morning. It’s a Buffett, a Traditional Japanese breakfast which is like in all areas of Asia, all dinner food, except a little area saved for the westerners with scrambled eggs and bacon.  And there is a pancake machine which we are all excited to try.   It is motion activated. And the instructions are clearly on the front of the machine.  Wave your hand here, and it will plop some pancake mix on the grill, then move on down the heated elements and pop out the other side all ready to eat.  Adorable.  Japan really is living in 2065.

Chris gets his, and then I get mine (you get two for each hand wave in front of the motion sensor), and then Gray comes over to see what the fuss is all about.  I show him, and say- see, I’ll get you some- waving my hand in front of it.  Then Gary also waves his hand in front of it. Even though I already did it for him.  Maybe my bad…so I say…ok. Now were getting 2 extra. That’s okay, I could do 3 and you can do 3.  Then he waves in front of it again.

And again.

AND AGAIN.

You know when you watch an old person at a computer click the same link 4 times because they think it should be instant? And then throw their hands in the air when it doesn’t immediately pop up- declaring the computer broken and all lost? And they can’t understand why these things work for other people, but won’t work for them…clicking and swearing that they don’t understand technology?????

Yeah. I have an old person website pancake problem.  I feel like Japanese I Love Lucy on that chocolate episode.  I’m going to be shoving pancakes in my pie hole for the next 2 hours just to keep up with wavey mcWhiteguy over here. He’s literally waving to the machine like its on fire at this point.  I have to hold his hands behind his back and bring him directly to his wife, smoke pouring out of the pancake machine as it tries to keep up.

Matcha our guide is doing that thing again where she has her hand over her heart…”what  a dear sweet man….” Picturing us springing him from his group home just to bring him to Japan with us.

This crap writes itself honestly.

We go back to our room eventually (we actually vibrate back to our rooms- we’re so full of sugar from the pancake syrup) And we get Gary out of his Kimono. Clearly the belt is too tight.

We take some more pictures, Fuji still hiding from us under a thick layer of cloud and fog.  Then we are off and back to the bus.  This time we will be taking the bus to the train station a ½ hour away, where we will take a bullet train to Kyoto.

We did a Mag Lev train in Beijing that went about 550-600 KM per hour and it was INTENSE. These bullet trains go about 320 KM per hour- so maybe a little less jarring. We found the Mag Lev made us kind of sick….so hopefully this won’t, because we buy lunch (bento boxes filled with all kinds of Japanese delights) at the train station to eat on board.

And it is actually quite nice! I have a second of motion sickness, but that quickly goes away.  At least at this speed you can still focus on the surroundings. And the train is making some noise as you’d expect from a rail vehicle, unlike that mag lev which was ERIE in how quiet it was, feeling more like a bob sled as it went around turns, having to lean with the track.

All through the trip Gary keeps turning around and talking to us behind him. But there is no talking on the train. So he is just mouthing words to us, expecting us to understand what he is saying. Except we can’t see his freaking mouth. The seat is too high.  So every 20 mins or so, he turns around, and all we can see are his eyes, and then he rolls his eyes and quickly turns back around, irritated that we can’t make out what he is saying.  Then I see him between the seats (which he COULD have been using to talk to us….but….you know…pancake type issues), talking to Nicole.  He says something, and then sticks out his tongue and waves it all around like he just finished an eating challenge on survivor.  Just as our guide Minka walks by. And sees him do this and gives him that smile that you give to kids when they are trying to walk for the first time but can’t quite get their feet under them. “dear sweet man….”.  I see Nicole lock eyes with the guide and then slump when she walks by, breaking into uncontrollable laughter, wiping her makeup off.  She tells us later that he thought he had a hair in his mouth and was getting her to check.

Like, who even needs an otter?

Arriving at Kyoto station we see that our hotel is directly across from it, which is very nice! We can see the trains coming and going from our room window.  And I’m sure the train shenanigans explain why, when we arrive at our hotel Nicole and Gary are given a beautiful large room, to realize later that it’s a handicapped room.  HUGE with a full size bathtub and lots of space for Nicole to take on and off his straight jacket.

Chris and I have a smaller room more suited for the mentally and physically stable, but its still very nice…again, feels large by Tokyo standards, but a little small compared to our hotel rooms in Canada.  But we don’t plan to spend much time in here other then sleeping 😊 We will have the nightly Muppet Care Home bar at Nicole and Gary’s.

After check in, we leave our large knapsacks at the hotel and we are off for the first afternoon in Kyoto.  We take the subway to our first temple in the area.  The Sanjusangen-do temple.  It houses an impressive 1001 craved statues of the god of mercy, who looks much like Vishnu of Indian Buddhist culture.  This temple is beautiful, and the gardens that surround it are breathtaking- filled with flowers and water features.

Then we are off to the Gion district.  This is where the Geisha’s are…(shhhhh-…I’m told that word is now offensive…they are now known as geikos-which I thought were the little guys that sold insurance, but what do I know…. ) these are the famous white faced young ladies, technically they are female Japanese performing artists and entertainers trained in traditional Japanese performing arts styles, like dance, music and singing, as well as being “proficient conversationalists and hosts”.  There was time they were sexual…I mean, as I do my google search here in Japan, it is VERY clearly listed that they are not and never have been prostitutes….but when I did the search in Canada, it does say that they were definitely sexual in the early period of their existence.

The first geishas appeared in the 13th century and were originally men known as taikomochi. These men were entertainers who performed a variety of roles, including telling stories, cracking jokes, and providing music and dance. But by the mid 1700’s it was women only, and they were entertainers of men.  In the past they were 6 or 7 when they were sold to geisha houses, now it’s considered a privilege and girls go live in geisha houses at 15 or 16 to be trained to be entertainers. And now it is NOT anything sexual, but it is still a very pressurized environment- with them having to be perfect princesses- hair and makeup always done.  They are paid the equivalent of $10,000 CAD a month-and can leave when they are ready to be married, with some choosing to stay their entire lives.

We have to lower our voices as we walk through the area where they live.  The area is considered a national treasure, and our guide is uncomfortable with us taking pictures in the area. It is beautiful – lots of red lanterns and rice paper doors on fancy restaurants. We are here tomorrow night for a show at the Gion Theater to see these living dolls dance. I have to admit, with my fear of dolls, I find them a little creepy, but I’m all about a cultural experience- so I’ll get past it.

Now its rush hour. And we have to get back to our hotel via train and I can tell Kytosis our guide is a little anxious about our reaction to this.  Which is making me a little anxious.  Anyone who knows me knows I don’t do subways well…and now we’re are about to do a subway with the most people I’ve ever seen.  That one I described in Tokyo? That has NOTHING on this one. We are all packed in so tight I can feel strangers breath on my face- this is more action then I got in College. I make a rule that everyone has to have their hands up in the air like they are going in to perform surgery. I can’t chance the possibility of any accidental muppet feel ups.  Its so tight we can’t even reach up an grab a handle- well, some try, and I’m quick to point out THAT’S NOT A HANDLE.  We are very worried about how to get off this thing, since the doors to get off are opposite the ones we got on and have had our faces pressed up against for the past 30 mins. But thankfully, it’s the last stop, so everyone is off, untangling limbs and getting consent forms signed. Can’t take any chances.

We take a few minutes to get tickets for the airport bus for Saturday evening while we still have our guide with us to help and then its back to the hotel for drinks.  We’re all to tired for going out today- I check my phone quickly and see that we’ve walked 22 kms in total.  So, we do the unthinkable.

We get MacDonald’s.

Judge if you want.

But nothing is quite like having flipper feet and eating a big mac from another country that always tastes the same and feels familiar and comforting.  Nothing. I’m ashamed. But after what went down in that subway, I’m not sure I can be within 2 feet of any people anyway. So this does just fine.

Off to bed. Tomorrow is another travel adventure 😊