Japan Trip 2019, Day 14: Lucky Us

Despite various less than stellar weather forecasts during our holiday to date, the actual weather has been mostly like Camelot – rain at night, dry and warm during the day. Today was no exception, being pretty spectacular for our arrival in the lovely town of Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture. We’re so glad we brought some cool weather gear with us! Haha! Seriously, though, there’s time yet.

Len, somewhat out of the blue this morning, commented that he loved the introspection, the mindfulness, of the Japanese. Knowing Len, it makes sense that this appeals to him.

Japan News

Since Carolyn enjoyed the Japan News snippets a couple of days ago, I thought I’d share more as we won’t, I expect, see that paper tomorrow.

• “South Korea’s standing effectively downgraded in Japan’s annual defense report”: Korea was apparently dropped from second to fourth in Japan’s list of allies. (This was actually in the first paper I selected from the other day.)
• Loquat growers vow to fight on after damage from typhoon: which sounds like the disaster stories we hear from every country that faces storms, floods, fires, and so on, don’t you think?
• “Trump border wall imperils Okinawa relocation plans”: that is, his wall building is likely to defer other planned military spending.

Shinkansen

We arrived at Kanazawa Station this morning at the West Gate, and as we drove in I was suprised to see a huge angular piece of sculpture I hadn’t seen before. I researched it, and discovered it is called Yuuyou by someone called Shougou Hasuda. It resembles, apparently, the katakana for Kanazawa. It’s about four storeys high, and is very dramatic, but, surprisingly, it seems to garner little attention.

Today saw our first shinkansen ride of the trip. It was lovely – smooth and comfortable, even though it was moving along at 250kph. The trip only lasted about an hour, before we had to change to a Limited Express train. Our enjoyment of the shinkansen, though, was dampened somewhat by the fact that Madoka and little Shino had come to the station to see us off but we missed each other. We felt really sad, as I so wanted to give her a farewell hug. As Len said “things like that leave a little hole in your heart”. Madoka has told us to keep fit until she can come to Australia! We’ll do our best!

Matsumoto

You know you are in the popular tourist spots of Japan (like Kanazawa and Matsumoto) when you see more Westerners in a day than you’d seen in a whole week in other areas. And you know you’ve beaten the tourists in these tourist spots when you manage to stumble into a restaurant that doesn’t have an English menu, as we did for lunch today.

It was a funny little place at the back of the castle precinct, and its specialty was soba. After yesterday’s training by Madoka, we were ready. (We have had soba before, but Madoka gave us a few additional hints that added to our knowledge, albeit today’s was served very differently, that is, it was served as a bowl with all the ingredients combined.) Also we had a choice of accompaniment. I chose mountain vegetables, while Len chose tempura prawn. I love “mountain vegetables” in Japan. I have no idea what most of the vegetables are but, while I do need to avoid a couple of vegetables, I really haven’t met a vegetable I don’t like, particularly Japanese mountain vegetables!

We decided to try slurping our soba Japanese-style, because when in Rome and all that. Len initially didn’t want to, but gave it a shot, and got a thumbs up from the owner/server. I was hopeless; I just couldn’t get the suction going at all! (I also can’t whistle. Maybe they are related!)

I should add here that Madoka had told us that Matsumoto was famous for soba, and that its autumn specialties are chestnut (eat your heart out Hannah) and Muscat grapes. We’ll be looking out for these.

Matsumoto Castle

Matsumoto Castle is a jewel in Japan’s castle crown, being the oldest and one of the most complete and beautiful of Japan’s original castles. We have visited a couple of other original castles – Himeji and Matsue – but there aren’t many of them. Matsumoto is a “hirajiro”, that is, a castle built on plains rather than on a hill or mountain. It is also unique for having both a secondary donjon and a turret adjoined to its main keep. Because of its black lacquer, It is often nicknamed the “Crow castle” but it apparently doesn’t support this nomenclature. We actually saw a woman worker redoing some lacquer, as not surprisingly it is an ongoing job.

The main castle keep and its smaller, second donjon were built from 1592 to 1614. It Is just beautiful in its proportions. And its worn, warm wooden interiors provide such a different experience from the rebuilt castles we’ve visited, like Wakayama castle, that use a lot of concrete. These castles replicate the layouts of their originals, but they do miss out on the ambience created by the original materials. Interesting features of Matsumoto Castle include steep wooden stairs, openings in the walls to drop stones onto invaders and for archers, and an observation deck at the top, sixth floor of the main keep.

All very nice, but to fully enjoy this castle demands fortitude. It is not for the faint-hearted. (You’ve heard that before, haven’t you?) We visited this castle in May 2011. It was quiet then, partly we think because it was two months after the big tsunami and tourists weren’t coming. This year, though, with the Rugby World Cup on, it was packed, and was nowhere near as enjoyable climbing the castle’s really, really, steep stairs, that range between 55 and 61° incline. In addition the steepest steps also have 40cm risers. And you do all this (six floors) in your socks, while carrying your shoes (along with your bag). It is not the done thing to have bare feet when you take off your shoes in Japan, but wearing socks on well worn wood, and steep stairs, required care. Thank goodness, though, that we were allowed to do it. No nanny state here.

The loveliest time, after these crowds, was walking around the castle’s exterior and looking at it. The day and the light were perfect, and the castle is, simply, aesthetically, beautiful. It was hard to leave the grounds when we did.

Checking in

After staying at a basic, but comfortable and perfectly located business hotel in Kanazawa (and Wakayama City), we booked something different for Matsumoto, an old hotel called Hotel Kagetsu. It was established in 1896, and its interior features Matsumoto’s unique folk craft furniture, which they describe as Mingei. We booked one of their Japanese-style rooms.

Checking in was a gracious affair, starting with being asked to sit in two chairs in the lobby, given the traditional warm washer, as well as a Japanese green tea, and a little apricot wafer biscuit. Formalities completed we were then shown our room. We settled in, then checked out the hotel’s cafe, for a cuppa, – and shock, horror, had to contend with an older (than us, even) Japanese woman talking loudly on a mobile phone. It’s just not the done thing, and it’s amazing how acclimatised we have become to the quiet.

Dinner

We wanted an izakaya, and the hotel staff recommended one very nearby, called Siduka or Shiduka. Promotion for it describes it as “Izakaya, oden, regional cuisine.”

Some of you may not know what “oden” is. We certainly didn’t until Madoka introduced it to us on our second visit to Japan in 2007. It is basically food boiled/stewed in a big pot of, mostly, a soy flavoured dashi broth. Almost anything and everything, including things like boiled eggs, can be treated this way. It’s very homey food, but is also common in convenience stores like 7-11. We haven’t seen it in an izakaya before, but this was a particularly big, comprehensive izakaya.

We sat at the counter overlooking the kitchen, and enjoyed our meal of yakitori, yaki onigiri (grilled rice ball), tuna sashimi (for me), beef skewer (for Len), and assorted tempura (primarily Len). I even had a little 180ml bottle of white wine, called, hmm “blanc” (!), from a Japanese winery. It was pretty soft, but was fine izakaya fare.

At the end, we were given a “present” (which they tend to call “sarbis” or “service”) of a dish of Japanese pickles. It was a very enjoyable meal, albeit there were quite a few westerners there, and we felt that the English menu we were given wasn’t the full menu. We will try to be more adventurous tomorrow.

Manhole covers

Some of you may have been wondering about my fascination with manhole covers. I started noticing them late in our first trip to Japan in 2006 or early in our second 2007 trip, and so began photographing them. I have a nice little collection now. What I didn’t know, back then, is that photographing them had become or was becoming quite the thing. It has a name – “drainspotting”! The covers can be all sorts – for sewers, domestic water, fire extinguishers, and so on – and can be large or small, square or round. I love spotting them, as you have no doubt gathered, but I don’t photograph them all. I’m not completely obsessed – just a little bit.

And some Stills…

And some Movies…

Click here to view today’s video clips

Today’s Challenges …

• Negotiating the steepest of steep steps – and surviving to tell the tale