Japan Trip 2019, Day 10: Driving, driving, driving

Driving-wise, today’s trip was, you would think, a walk in the park, it being just 159 km from Taiji back to Wakayama City. Google said would take 2hrs 33m. This is, in fact, quite slow given over half of it was freeway, which might give you a sense of the roads here – and why, in fact, we didn’t manage during our time here, to fit in the other main spiritual site in Wakayama, Koyasan. It is in the mountains of northern Wakayama, and we were based in the south. The distances look simple, but, as we discovered, driving them can be quite slow going. It was lovely having the car, as we’ve only driven ourselves once in Japan before, and that briefly, but we are both now looking forward to the rail leg of our journey.

Of course, we didn’t plan to drive straight through to Wakayama, but to stop along the way…

Tanabe City

Tanabe City is the second largest in the prefecture, and our main reason for stopping here was to use the ATM at a 7-11! That’s exciting isn’t it. However, getting money out in Japan is a bit tricky, but is necessary as a lot of businesses here, particularly in smaller areas, are still cash only.

The first heartstopper of the day was being taken down yet another narrow, narrow street, en route to the 7-11. Fortunately, we quickly found a small car park that seemed a public one and that had an obvious mechanism for paying at the end. So, we parked, found the 7-11, and did our business.

Next was coffee. Tanabe City is only 86km from Taiji, but for various reasons it took us 2 hours to get there, 20 mins more than the ETA, so we were ready for a cuppa. I’d spied a cafe that was open, on the road (if you can call it that) between our car and the 7-11, so we decided to try it.

Cafe Bel Canto was its name, and what a little treasure it was. The owner had enough English for some conversation. We discovered that he roasts his own coffee – by hand, in the front corner of the shop. No big roasting vats for him. His coffee – siphon-style, again, not espresso – was really very nice. He told us that he opened the shop in 1978, the year we were married we told him. Turns out that he was only months older than Len! He also told us that business has been poor this year because of all the new shops opening in the city. What a real shame, because he seemed the real deal – to us of the same vintage, anyhow!

Yuasa Historic Preservation District

Anyhow, it was back on the road again, heading for the town of Yuasa which is famous as the birthplace of Japanese soy sauce (Shoyu), and for having an old Edo era (1603-1868) period town section intact. There are 118 “Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings (Historic Streetscapes)” in Japan, with Yuasa being the only one in Wakayama.

However, as Len said, 10 seconds shaped our afternoon. We arrived in town, heading for the station which was 10 mins walk from this old district and where we thought we might find parking. We spied a carpark that looked right, but another car nipped in ahead of us, entering it in the wrong direction and, as it turns out, nabbed the last spot. Grr. Then our troubles started.

We tried all sorts of methods to find suitable carparks, but every time we spotted one in Google maps, and tried to navigate there, we got into trouble. Google would say “turn left” and we’d respond “you’ve got to be kidding, that’s a footpath!” Len went down a few but all we got were some very hairy moments where we were centimetres from walls and/or other cars, and no car park. (We should have video-ed some of this but we were too busy driving, navigating – and arguing, as in, “Yes, Len, Google says to go there!) Suddenly, we found what looked to be a carpark, and pulled in, but there was no blue “P” sign. Len tried his Google translate app, but with no success. Then he saw a Japanese man and asked him. With the help of Google translate, this man suggested to Len that we could park in the small empty parking lot across the road, because it was for an ophthalmologist business that was closed today. We did that, but Len was very uncertain.

We walked the 6 minutes from there to the old town, and found a delightful, very traditional cafe called Kitamachi Chaya Ippuku, located in a remodelled 150-year-old private house. It served traditional hearty Japanese food – donburis (rice dishes), udon noodle dishes, and curry dishes. It was also the first place I’ve seen this trip to serve traditional Japanese desserts, like zenzai and dango, both of which I love, but by the time we’d had our filling main courses we were done! Such a shame. I commented to the server (owner?) as we were leaving, that I’d liked the music quietly playing in the background. “You like the blues?” he asked. “Yes,” I nodded.

Anyhow, we wandered a bit more around the old town, passing a soy sauce establishment, and a museum, but Len was too concerned about the car to relax, and, really, fair enough, as that driving through those “footpaths” was very challenging, so we returned to the car. I’m happy that I saw this little area, even if we didn’t get its full benefit. At least we now know where Japanese soy sauce started (via a Chinese monk who settled in Yuasa in the 13th century)!

Back in Wakayama City

From Yuasa it was around 45 minutes drive to Wakayama City, which we made in about the recommended time. We fuelled up the car, then Len dropped me off with all our bags at the hotel while he returned the car, which was only a 10-minute walk away.

After setting in, we decided that what we’d really like (I won’t say “need”) was a good stiff drink! However, it was only 4.30pm (8 hours since we’d left Taiji), and it seems that bars don’t open until 5pm, or later. So, in desperation, we tried the vending machine in the hotel foyer. We bought a 4% alcohol Lemon Chu-hi (Shochu Hiball) for me (Y150, or around AUD2.20!), and a 6% Asahi beer of some sort for Len (Y200). It was better than nothing! And amazingly, scarily, cheap.

When dinner-time came, we knew where we were going – the Yakitori restaurant almost next door to last Saturday night’s restaurant. We walked to it – love being able to walk to restaurants from our accommodation places – opened the door, and found a welcoming place buzzing with diners though not yet full. But, no English menu. We weren’t too bothered as we eat most grilled foods the Japanese dish up. However, before we had time to come up with a strategy, the server appeared with a small piece of paper with a QR code on it. Len got out his phone, pointed it at the QR code, and up popped a menu in English. We discussed the choices, and then Len ticked the appropriate boxes on his phone. Within seconds there was a thumbs up from the (open) kitchen behind me. They had our order! We could add to the order as needed! How easy, and what an excellent use of technology.

This was, comparatively speaking, a noisy restaurant, but the difference between it and noisy restaurants back home is that there was no music playing to compete with the conversation, and the furniture, floors and walls were wood. In other words, there was no scraping of metal chairs and tables on tiles and concrete, for example!

And some Stills…

And some Movies…

Unfortunately, there are no movies today. We were too focused on preserving life and vehicle.

Today’s Challenges …

I’m not sure we need to list today’s challenges, as they’re pretty obvious, but, just to reiterate:

• Finding parking places in larger towns and cities.
• Driving through very, very narrow roads, following Google, not always believing that it actually is a road that we are being directed down.
• Ordering food in a restaurant by using a QR code.
• Finding a good, stiff drink!