Thursday, August 3, 2017 – Hakone to Kyoto, Japan
Chrissy and I were married on August 3, 1991. There was no better place to spend our 26th anniversary than in Japan, starting in the beautiful setting of Hakone and ending in the bustling city of Kyoto. We started the day with Aaron taking pictures of us on the balcony of our room at the Ryokan and the staff took one final picture for us in front of the entrance. Then it was off to Odawara Station to catch the Shinkansen.
The Shinkansen, or bullet train, was an amazing experience. It travels at speeds between 150 and 200 miles per hour. It was incredible to be on the train, but even more impressive when we were on the platform. Odawara is a local station and the express trains from Tokyo to Kyoto don’t stop there – they just roll right through at full speed. When they come through the station they are moving so fast the eye can’t focus on the cars properly – it just looks like a blur. And you barely hear the train coming and then it is gone. After a couple came by I decided I would try to video the next one, but I was messing with my phone and completely missed it – much to the entertainment of Chrissy and Aaron. Dad and technology, what can I say? (But I did figure out how to blog!)
When we arrived in Kyoto we walked from the station to our Airbnb apartment. The walk seemed long, but when we did it again later without bags we realized it wasn’t that bad. We dropped our bags at the apartment then headed out for lunch. We found a diner-type place where you order and pay at a vending machine, then sit down and someone brings your food. Vending machines are everywhere in Japan. Drink machines like you find in the United States, but machines selling a huge variety of other items as well, including our lunch on this day.
Once fed, we took a subway train to Arashiyama to visit the Bamboo Forest. The area around the forest has many shops and tourist attractions, including a music box museum. We decided to go in, thinking it was going to showcase Japanese music boxes. It didn’t. The museum held a collection of antique music boxes, most of which were from Europe. Our guide conducted our tour in English and demonstrated several of the boxes for us. It was interesting and enjoyable, but a bit strange to be three Americans studying European antiques in Japan.
Upon exiting the museum we got back to a more Japanese experience. We strolled through the Bamboo Forest – a stand of Bamboo so tall and thick that the path through it is like a tunnel. The path through the forest led us to Kameyama Park and then to the Katsura River and back to the town. We wandered around for a bit taking in the sights and sounds and coming across a lady who really wanted to take a picture with Chrissy, so we obliged. We were hoping to visit the Arashiyama Monkey Park, but it already closed, or “ended”, for the day by the time we arrived. We ended up at a beer garden to kill time until 7:00. Little did we know then that within a year we would move to Milwaukee and beer gardens would be a regular part of life in our summers.
Why were we waiting for 7:00? Because at 7:00 there was a demonstration of cormorant fishing on the river. You can take a boat tour to view the show from the water, but we had a great vantage point from the shore.
Cormorant fishing today is mostly done as a tourist demonstration but was more common in earlier times. I remember it from “The Story About Ping”, a classic children’s book my mom read to me as a child. In the Ping story the cormorants willingly dive for fish, bringing them to their master on the boat. In real life it’s not quite that simple. The cormorants are attached to the boat with a leash tied to a restrictive collar around their necks. As dusk approaches, the crew builds a fire in a basket that hangs out over the river. The light from the fire attracts fish. The cormorants dive for the fish and when they catch one they can’t swallow it because of the collar. The crew reels the cormorant in with the leash, forces the fish out of its throat, and releases it to go fish again. It is a fascinating and ingenious method of fishing, but not so great if you’re the cormorant. I suspect, however, that the birds are well cared for. They are essential to the show!
After the show we took the train back to Kyoto Station and ate at a Yakatori place on the way back to the apartment. The meat was grilled on charcoal right there in the restaurant and it was filled with the delicious aroma of burning charcoal and grilled meat. This was a local establishment, not touristy at all. We had to remove our shoes and sit on the floor, and we watched a baseball game on the TV as we enjoyed our dinner. A fantastic anniversary dinner to complete a great day.
Where Are We Going Now? 