Thursday 9 th

This morning we went to the Tzujiki Fish markets. This required an early start but we were not committed enough to make the auction of the Tuna at 5:00 am.  We were there early enough to see the wholesalers. What a scary environment with little trolleys zipping every which way. The most confronting sight was a fishmonger scaling and then slicing a live fish that flipped and flopped while he cut it. Ann saw a tuna heart still beating while it was being sliced! Wandering around the outer market was so interesting too. There was a huge range of sea products that I had never seen. After the guys had been shoved aside a few times we decided to leave. We settled on a breakfast at a street stall on the main edge of the market and had sashimi with seaweed and rice which was amazing. The cleanliness of the staff was outstanding. We kept getting these whiffs of bleach!

Leaving the market I went home to meet up with Hiko my friend from walking the Camino Fraance in 2012.  

 Some of the produce

Baby eels alive

 Ann eating fresh crab

I was so hot I had to have a shower before meeting them. Hiko had prepared lots of questions and checked off all the things I had seen so far. He was very pleased by all the things I had seen. We used the Google translater and his electronic translator to converse. His wife was a lovely person who had some English. They bought a gift of a Shinkansen train for Ziggy and some Yokohama biscuits for me. We had tempura in a little place around the corner then off to coffee. I invited them back so I could give them the chocolates I had bought. They are such kind hearted people. I was embarrassed that when I brought them up to the apartment that the others did not hear my knocks so I went down again to the letterbox and tried to put my hand in. Hiko and his wife both tried too without success. Back we went upstairs and I knocked harder this time and finally the door opened. We all came in and I gave them the chocolates. They stayed for a cup of tea. I was exhausted from the effort of concentration. 

Outside the Tempura restaurant

After a couple of plum wines I felt restored. We finished the evening off with a fabulous dish of noodles from one of the restaurants under the office building opposite our apartment.

Wednesday 8th June

Today was a shopping day. We hit the local shops in search of a Yucata and any other enticing things. I found a  great jacket with lots of pockets for travelling!  We lunched at another 'natural' food place where Irene and Bill parted ways with us and Ann and I took the train to Ginza to explore that area. We found some great gifts for Ann to take home and I was frustrated again with the search for Ziggy's shirt. 

We returned home and this time ate local food so we were all happy! Especially the keeper of the kitty.

 A sculpture in the shop at Tokyu Central Plaza.

Tuesday 7 th June

Anne and I decide to complete the bus tour and use it to return to the market section  at Akihabara to explore a less glitzy part of Tokyo. We catch the train to the central Maranouchi business area to pick up the bus and also try to find a place to print the voucher for the Robot Restaurant we are to attend tonight. We are somewhat disoriented when we get out of Tokyo station and need to walk around the block before we identify the exact pick up place. That was so interesting because you could see how so many office buildings have shopping and food courts in their basements and lower floors. We tried to find a printing place at a variety store but found the printer was out of action! At the same time I received a message from the restaurant saying that my phone would be acceptable so the search had been a waste of time in one way but very illuminating in others. It was a good feeling for both Anne and I to be roaming free. Unfortunately the weather has changed and when we boarded the bus we were issued with white poncho type raincoats. Mine came down to my ankles and really we looked hysterical. Caspar the ghost with pregnancy. Our bags were covered as well.

 We enjoyed the ride and learned and saw a few things we missed from the day before. Arriving at our destination we wandered the stalls and shops and saw that this is where a lot of locals shop. I finally bought a Buddhist prayer bangle. We tried our first vending machine cafe and after getting help to get the sequence correct we ordered a dish of scallops, Chinese Vegas and noodles. It was delicious and we were impressed by the efficiency and cleanliness of the two young women who were working there. They were brilliant. They didn't stop! It would be hard work standing all day over the woks. We had to hustle then to get back to the apartment in time to freshen up before the restaurant.

We arrived in our white raincoats which caused the others to collapse laughing. I was sure I knew were we were going but once I checked the phone I realised we were going In the opposite direction. We turned around and then checked with a passerby who insisted on taking us all the way there! She was a Taiwanese student who has stayed on as a translator. The restaurant was up where we had eaten the first night. The show was a hoot. A cross between kitch and electronics, high energy music and youthful enthusiasm. The actors were having so much fun it became infectious. 

Tokyo Skytree and bus tour

Today we decided to visit the Tokyo SkyTree and do a hop on Bus tour to get a sense of the city. The sky tree is the tallest communication tower in the world and an amazing construction. It is quite beautiful and moves from a triangle to a circle in shape. As a huge attraction the crowds were enormous  but also so well organised that we didn't wait long to get up to the viewing platform.  Unfortunately the day was heavy with cloud so viewing into the distance was limited yet it still gave us a great view of Tokyo and greater Tokyo. Actually we were amazed. There are several canals and the river as well as the harbour. Seeing on ground level helps to give sense to the extensive train system.

 After  lunch in a restaurant featuring fresh farmers produce we decided to take the hop on bus to get a ground level sense of the place at ground level. It proved to be good value as we covered from one end of the city to the other and saw some amazing architecture along the way.  

 Everyone is a really tired and bit tense after being in such close quarters and on the go for so long. When we got off the bus we were hungry and needed a pick me up. The others are still not ready for Japanese food yet so we spied a Tapas restaurant and ventured down to it. It was quite atmospheric but the English was a problem as usual. We managed to get some tasty dishes and there was the usual indecision about are we eating dinner or snacking.  I am over the dithering. Kim was initially just having snacks but then it was decided that it was too late to snack.  Those of us who keep irregular hours versus those who keep regular set times, those who snack and those who don't, it all just got to me but we ate there and then didn't get the meal we anticipated. I had ordered a platter of pork and chips but only the pork came. I insisted we get the chips.  When the bill arrived there was consternation about the cost and I found myself reminding people that if you eat other than local it is going to cost you a fortune. 

We decided to go to Shibuya to see the famous crossing - the scramble. It was fascinating observing how the crossing pavements swelled until the are about overflowing then the lights go green and all four corners plus the diagonal cross at once. We participated by crossing over all corners. Then we went home! 

Tokyo Imperial gardens and the Museum of Modern Art

PKijiro Ota Rice planting 1883-1951

 My favourite painting

Just had a massage and the girl worked me over well and truly. My legs feel so light now but oh, the pain when she worked on my calves and my shoulders. Lots of hot towels too so feel very relaxed.
Visited the Imperial Gardens and the National Museum of Modern Art. Saw some beautiful art especially magnificent screens and a few coloured woodblocks. I kept thinking about the artist in a book I read before coming to Japan because some of the art was post war and he had been a famous Japanese artist over the pre and post war period and had broken from painting tradional methods. We were impressed by the influence of European styles/tecniques with Japanese interpretation..

  Painting on silk

Tomorrow we will go to the Sky Tree Tower and a tour around .

We are now back at the flat relaxing. Almost time for Plum wine.

Tokyo

Arrived in Tokyo after a smooth trip on bus from Naichisan to Katsuura, train from Katsuura to Nagoya then on to Tokyo via Shinkansen. I was quite reasonable with 620 yen for bus, and 16,340 yen for the trains with reserved seats.(about $230) it took us from 9:00 am to about 3:30pm  door to door. Fortunately when we arrived in Tokyo we were helped by a man who noticed our confusion and just walked us exactly to where we needed to go and showed us how to get the Pasmo train pass. He was  so kind. Then when we got to our platform another younger man took us under his wing and not only showed us the way but got off the train and took us right to our apartment. I embarrassed him by giving him a box of the Australian chocolates but we were so appreciative. I thought that was wxtraordinary to get off the train to help us. We were actually a bit early for our check in ( we needed to  avoid the concierge because AirB&B is illegal here though apparently according to the hosts Yumi and Koichi will be legislated for shortly). We decided to go into a cafe named Jonathan's to have coffee and some western afternoon tea. A treat!. Koichi arrived at 5:30 with iced espresso coffees and proved to be a most npgenial young man. He has his own electronics business. I am sure they are doing extremely well as young entrepreneurs.

The flat is very well situated and though tiny well designed. There are two bedrooms with western beds and one ( study ) with two futons. Anne and I took the futons because we have had the least trouble sleeping this way. The futons proved a little thin so we found an extra one and I have a do a under mine. 

 

We got settled and started to look for a supermarket but at night with no real map and general directions we gave up and had dinner at a Turkish restaurant. It was a group decision because everyone except me was over rice.  Kim, David and Irene were really struggling and David who eats no seafood was hanging out for meat. The meal proved very tasty and even I really enjoyed the change. It just emphasised how wide the Australian palette is with flavours from every country a part of our ordinary eating. I admit to missing salad and fruit of which we had very little for the last two weeks.

The restaurant also had a very Japanese Belly dancer who encouraged us up to make idiots of ourselves, Kim, David and I first then Irene. It was a hoot but considering we were still recovering from our arduous walk I think we did quite well.

We proceeded home and stopped at the closest family mart, mini supermarkets that are dotted everywhere. Had a glass of wine then collapsed into bed. In my case to not sleep at all. The noise seemed to be extraordnary with sirens blaring, motorbikes, trucks. I just couldn't get to sleep. ann was exhausted and sound asleep. My backpack with the earplugs was propping open the door so I took the Donna and moved into the lounge where the couch is and attempted to sleep there. I finally fell soundly to sleep at about 4:30 when it seemed to quieter down!

The 4th June was spent doing our washing, catching up on diaries sharing photos etc. the first day we haven't really been on the move  and with reasonable wifi which is in the apartment.  We ventured out to a supermarket which was more like David Jones's food hall. The presentation of everything was magnificent and the range of goods so broad. Fruit was perfect and very expensive. It cost us about 200 dollars for dinner, breakfasts, and probably lunch today and Plum wine which we finished off in one night! 

 The gang all doing the Age newspaper crossword.

The rest of the walk

Day four of the walk

After a good nights sleep we took the bus to Hungu Taishe the centre of the pilgrim routes to get our last stamp, visit the temples and for me to collect my Dual Pilgrim acknowledgement.

 

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The stairs to Hungu Taishe

After touring the temple and buying souvenirs and a prayer board to hang on the blessing wall,

I realised I had left my Camino Frances passport back at the Ryokan. I was so cross  with myself because it was partly the motivation for undertaking the walk.  I decided to get a taxi back and returned with the passport. I went into the heritage building and presented both stamped passports. The official checked them out recorded the dates and photographed them. Once he was satisfied he presented me with a dual pin and certificate. I was really moved, a most unexpected emotion.  

 209 th Regustered Dual Pilgrim in the world

Then he told me I was eligible to go to the temple and drum on the ceremonial drum. I went across by myself leaving the others at the heritage centre. I want to the monks office and he then took me to the temple  drum, showed me what to do and let me do it. The drum was sonorous  with deep tones. He kindly took my picture and then it was over and as I walked away I burst into tears. I felt so emotional. I went down to were I left my prayer blessing board and said another prayer. This emotion took me by surprise. It would have been Peter's birthday. I thought I was doing the dual pilgrim just because I could, but the walk has been so peaceful  and hard that it has tapped into some inner feelings I hadn't realised I had I suppose. It has been a spiritual journey in many ways with so much obvious devotion in evidence  from the many shrines and Ojis we passed. A lot of the Japanese Buddhism is entwined with Shinto, the worship of the earth and superstition which makes it rather charming at times.

The rest of the day was spent back at Yuomine in the hot springs, sharing a plum wine with actual plums and rice crackers followed by another delicious dinner. The host and his wife do the cooking.  None of us slept well but we have a fairly gentle day so we are not concerned.

DAy 5

We set off quite early from Yuomine to catch the bus to Ukegawa the next  starting point. Our 'lunchy boxes' came just before we left and were wrapped like little presents. I showed the bus driver the map to be sure we were catching the correct one. We didn't want to miss the bus by being on the wrong side like we did the day before! 

All went smoothly and we started our climb (of course) up the steps past small homes and into the forest again. Lots of beautiful iridescent green ferns carpeted the ground and the steep banks.

Dappled sunlight filtered through the trees and what I call the soprano bird trilled frequently. Today's walk was comparatively easy with many straight stretches interspersed with climbs over the now familiar rocks or stairs. There were remains of tea houses in several places.  During the 12th Century this was a busy path and there were many tea houses and inns along the way to support the pilgrims. We could have used the same hospitality to break the arduous walking. The highlight was a lookout which appears suddenly and oversees the 3600 peaks of the Kamano.

It was spectacular and we could see into the valley to our destination.We came into Kaguchi our overnight spot about 3:30.  The place is a converted school and had lovely large rooms for a change.

 Note how the stools slide under the tables for easy floor cleaning.

Unfortunately the Wifi  was very unreliable and so we gave up and had a beer and read instead. Ann was in mourning for the plum wine.

 Ann has really struggled with a whole lot of things this trip. She arrived with a cold, got stung by a black waspy thing during the night which left her with a very painful sting and pus on her cheek in Koyasan. She knocked off the swelling which seemed to take a hard core( the sting) from the injury. David loaned her some Stingos which eased the pain. Then her knee has swollen with all the steps going up and down and she has needed to strap it for the walks. That makes getting under the low tables a challenge! Then in the morning of the last walking  day both Ann and David woke with puffy eyes. Ann's has developed into some sort of allergy. We can't work out what it is- too much fish,seaweed, rice,pollen, shampoo? We can't work it out. 

Day 6

We departed Kaguchi really early( for us) at 7:30 am. The discussion over breakfast is that everyone except me is over rice. Irene is struggling with the food, feeling that she is having too much and is over fish too. She and Kim are forcing themselves to eat it. Our lunches are also mostly cold rice balls. Irene was saying how she had envied the man on the train with his Bento box and now she doesn't want to see one for a long time , if ever!

Today is the ' body breaker day'. The host at our accommodation said it would be an exciting walk, up, up, up,. In fact it is five kilometres of climbing rough stairs  to start, then rough mossy rocks litter the upward sloping path, then more steps.

 

  The pillow of the gods where they used to talk and take tea.

Just when you think you have reached a flat spot the path curves and ... More stairs! It was relentless.  Once you reach the top it is a vertical rocky, step down for almost as long as the up. Our knees and thighs were feeling the strain. Fortunate for us the weather was low 20s and dry. It would be treacherous in the rain.  The remains of many tea houses and inns again along the path reinforced what an important pilgrimage route it was in the past. A famous poet Fujiwara Teika wrote in his diary in 1201 that the route was difficult and rough and impossible to describe precisely how tough it is. The seemingly endless steep inclines of stairs and rocks we endured led us to concur. The average slope is 1:6 with some as steep as 1:3 in gradient. We claimed to 883metres at its highest point and dropped dramatically to the valley at 60 metres.

  

 A tantalising glimpse of the Pacific Ocean from the mountain.

Finally we appeared out of the forest after more descent down rocks and stairs to see the red pagoda and the waterfall at Naichisan.

Relief! And an ice cream shop! Our last hour fantasy had been for just that. Irene was not going to walk down more steps to see the waterfall. BIll was very reluctant and not happy that we had to walk back up the same stairs to go to the temple and shrine. Our last stamp was important to us.

 Anne leaving the Beautiful Temple Naichi Taishe one of the three sacred temples on the Kumano Kodo. 

Ann, Kim and I were shown into the Temple for our free official stamp. A monk gave us a brochure about the shrine and recognised our accent because he said Phillip island penguins! Everything was closing by now and we headed off to find the Ryokan. I guided everyone through a back alley down stairs to the entrance. Imagine our faces when the hostess told us the rooms were upstairs and the bathroom was down stairs! By now we are really exhausted and it was a huge effort to get ourselves up the stairs let alone our cases.

We staggered around getting ready for the bath. Ann and I lay down with our legs elevated to try and ease the tiredness first. The bath was good and we were the only ones again. Later I talked Ann into coming down for a drink from the vending machine with the lure of plum wine in a can. We both tried but had our money rejected twice before we realised it was empty. I had a beer anyway! Then it was dinner soon after. We were all in bed and asleep by about 7:30 pm.