My room is on the third floor — window at the side.
Category Archives: Travel
The Castle and the Inner Moat
Matsumoto Castle
The cool, clear mountain air is more enjoyable when it’s not raining. I borrowed an umbrella and walked to Matsumoto Castle. While most of the samurai castles in Japan are reconstructions, Matsumoto is the original, built in 1593. It’s real, and it’s spectacular.
And it was just as crowded as Kumamoto was, despite the rain. Fortunately, I got there early enough that I didn’t have to wait to get in. But there were already a lot people inside.
You have to take off your shoes to enter the castle. They give you plastic bags for your shoes and for your umbrella. So people were carrying shoes, umbrellas, cameras, purses, small children, and whatever else while they filed through the six stories of the castles. The stairs throughout the castle are extremely steep, so people had to carry all their stuff up these steep stairs while other people were filing down the same set of stairs. On fairly slick wood. In their socks. There were some grips on the steps, but not much. At least we didn’t have to wear slippers.
I sort of attached myself to a group of four people who had an English-speaking guide. They didn’t seem to mind, and I don’t think the guide even noticed.
The line grew considerably while I was in there.
The castle also had an impressive gun collection. I had not realized that the samurai used guns, but they used matchlocks starting in the 16th century and were using rifles and revolvers by the time of the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Of course, they disarmed everyone else.
When I left there was some kind of matchlock demonstration going on, but I never figured out exactly what they were doing.
Next to that was a drumming demonstration, which I could hear later on from my room.
I spent much of the rest of the afternoon wandering around Matsumoto in the rain looking for a samurai house that I never found. I figured I’d be okay if I could keep track of where the river was, but the river branches all over the place. Eventually I found my way back to the ryokan and dried off.
Now I’m having fish & chips at an Irish pub. And how does Japan do Irish pubs? Extremely well. The fish & chips is comparable to New Zealand’s, the service is excellent, and they’re playing the Pogues.
But now it’s time to go back and see if I can figure out a Japanese bath.
Kyoto Culinary Roundup
The surprise winner of the different types of sushi I tried in Kyoto was the special eel. There was no equivalent Japanese name given. I tried asking for unagi and got another type of eel that was decidedly less special. I don’t know what made the special eel special, but it was definitely a cut above other eels.
Other items of note: pounded bonito (I guess it wouldn’t come willingly), oral squid (which remained silent), tuna yukhoe (tuna and raw egg), octopus (rubbery), rapana venosa (rubbery), and shrimp tempura.
The worst was the horse’s mane, which was on the same plate as the regular horsemeat. It was so rubbery that I couldn’t chew it at all and had to swallow it whole. So I say to you: choose your horsemeat carefully.
I Did Not Do This
Spent some nights in Matsumoto / Sleeping on the matted ground
I’m in Matsumoto now, staying at a ryokan and enjoying the cool, clear mountain air. Yesterday afternoon I checked in, had some tea and a little cake thing at one of those low tables in my room, and went out to dinner at a yakitori place (i.e., meat onna stick, but not at all Dibbler-like). I had an ukokkei rice bowl with local aizujidori chicken, chicken skewers with plum sauce, and shikoasa. There was also something in a small bowl that I couldn’t figure out. Mighta been tofu.
The ryokan is an 80-year-old, three-story house with creaky wooden floors and traditional guest rooms with futons and tatami mats. But it’s not too traditional, because the baths are private and you have your choice of Japanese or Western toilets.
The pillow is odd—it’s filled with rice husks—but not bad, and the futon is quite comfortable. The tatami mats have a nice feel when you walk on them barefoot. I had some trouble with the slippers because they were too big and kept falling off. After reading Dave Barry in Japan, I expected the opposite problem. Now I’ve learned to push my feet through far enough to grip the ends with my toes. American ingenuity!
Culinary note: Shikoasa is described as Okinawan citrus wine, but it tastes more like hard liquor. I had two of them, but still managed to find my way back to the ryokan.
Bicycles
So far I’ve only noticed this in Kyoto, but a lot of people ride bikes, and all of them ride on the sidewalk. Riding in the street would probably be suicide. Some of the wider sidewalks have bike lanes, but both cyclists and pedestrians completely ignore them and go wherever they want. It doesn’t seem to cause any problems.
Even if some of the riders look a little shaky.
All of the bikes look like girls’ bikes circa 1960. They have fenders and baskets and little bells. a lot of them even have center kickstands like in this photo.
Incidentally, most of those bikes are unlocked. People rarely lock them, even in downtown Kyoto, and when they do, they never lock them to anything.
Arashiyama Bamboo
Along the Hozu-gawa
Down Hozu River
Raging torrents and breathtaking ravines at times dousing you with water, at others passing in calmness.
So my brochure says. Arashiyama is a very touristy town just outside of Kyoto and from there I took a tourist train up the Hozu river gorge to Kameoka.
I think Kameoka means “turtle orchestra,” although my Japanese is not strong.
On the bus ride (almost as long as the train ride) from the train station to the dock, I talked to Mike and his son Shane from San Clemente. Mike had lived in Japan as a child and this was his first time back. Apparently it’s changed some since 1967.
We finally got to the boarding site and took off down the river.
The rapids were fearsome!
Okay, they really weren’t. Pirates of the Caribbean is probably scarier. Still, a person could do worse than floating down a lushly forested river gorge, even if a person is having a little trouble keeping the camera dry.
This guy was offering photos for ¥1575.
Near the end, another boat pulled up alongside us and offered food, including beer, sake, and grilled squid.
I opted for walking into town and getting chicken skewers and anpan instead.
There’s a famous bamboo forest there too. It’s a short walk, but impressive. I skipped the associated temple.
