Japan 2006, Part 7

Day 7

Day 7 started with another trip to the restaurant downstairs and another $28 down the drain. I decided to be a little adventurous and actually try a Japanese breakfast. My breakfast included rice, omelets, misou soup, fish, all washed down with orange juice. Today was also our last day at the Yokohama Intercontinental, so that meant we had to lug our luggage around after checkout. Kuya Phil decided not to go with us this morning because he wanted to rest up for where we were going next, Mt. Fuji.

After breakfast we headed back to the room and started to pack up. Due to Roy's paranoia, the room hasn't been cleaned in 4 days; it was looking like a college dorm by this time. kuya Phil and I decided to go on ahead to the station while Roy and Hugh handled the checkout. I think by this time I've gotten used to lugging the stuff around while walking long distances, because it didn't seem as painful as the first day. I can remember that it was a nice sunny day with a cool breeze, so I didn't sweat so much walking to the train station. We decided to meet in front of the big tv by the station entrance. As we waited, I took my camera out and shot the Landmark Tower, the tallest structure in Japan, as well as the people walking by. That day had a lot of elderly people walking around, almost made me think there was some sort of tour group there, but what am I saying, I'm in Japan: the land of overcrowding. We waited about 10 minutes before meeting up with the other 2 and we all headed to Mt. Fuji.

Mt. Fuji is about 97 km from Tokyo Tower, so getting there was a big trip in itself. There was no shinkansen line there, so we took local trains all the way, We rode in the city trains for about 45 minutes, making about 12 stops before we had to switch trains. The next train we had to go to was not covered by our rail passes, so we had to pay for it. I paid my $11 dollars and was on my way. The local train there had us going through the country side, where I saw staggered rice fields and the farmers tending to them. It was a pretty rural area where we were headed, so the train was mostly of locals. The town we were going through seemed to have a lot of school in the area because I saw a lot of students in uniform getting on and off our train. One particular group was a bunch of kindergarteners who stormed our car and made lots of noise and commotion. It was really cute because all I could see down the car was a sea of yellow hats bouncing up and down. I took a picture of them doing what they do best, being kids. It was so funny because they didn't care who was around them, and just went on laughing and talking amongst each other. When their stop came by, I saw the flood of yellow depart from the car and migrate to the group of parents waiting for them by the exit. As we neared our destination, we passed by a park which had a huge roller coaster. I think it was the Fujiyuku Highland Park. I think I've seen this park on TV when I watched an episode of Morning Musume's commercial roller coaster segment. When we finally got to the stop, it was noticeably cooler. Roy made a phone call to the ryokkan and had someone pick us up in van.

Ten minutes went by before the guy came to pick us up, and even loaded all our luggage in the van, The drive to the ryokkan took about 5 minutes, turning in and out of local streets before stopping at this huge building. We were amazed when we stepped into the lobby which had boasted some fine Japanese interior decoration. The service there was top class, from the minute we stepped out of the van to the moment we closed our room door, there was someone there carrying our luggage, explaining things, or leading us around. The room definitely didn't fail to deliver. It was even better than what the brochure explained. It had 2 beds and a large tatami mat area complete with 4 chairs and a small table. The hostess showed us in and served us tea. As we were drinking, she asked us what sizes we needed for our yukatas. After she left, we were able to fully appreciate this Japanese style inn. The bathroom was a great feature of the room. It had the shower and bath setup where you would wash yourself with the shower, then finish up by taking a dip in the bath. Roy spent no time in taking first dibs on the bath. I spent my time going through the hotel information and flipping thorough the channels on tv. This hotel has a natural hot springs in the middle of the 2 wings of the hotel. It also was on the lake side so you had a beautiful view of the town.

I decided to explore a little bit and found some interesting things. First of all, the lakeside view that I read about, was breathtaking. The way it was set up looked like someone is going to have/has had a wedding recently. After taking a few dozen pictures and 10 mins of camcorder time, I went back to continue my exploration of the hotel. I went downstairs to find the public bath. There were 2 separate baths, for men and women. You couldn't wear shoes in there, so slippers lined the entrances where you would exchange shoes for slippers. A bit further down the hall, I found a row of massage chairs. A lady was watching over them, making sure her patrons on the seats were getting the right programs into the seats for a full back massage. The row was facing out the window where you could see the sky with the mountains in the background. Passing the hallway of chairs, I found the dining area. It consisted of 3 or 4 rooms that groups of people would go into and they would serve you. I didn't know how it would work, but I would find out later that night. There was also a small game room with a couple ufo machines, as well as slot and pachinko machines. At this time, I managed myself at the base of the west wing of the hotel and saw that there was an observatory on the 7th floor. I quickly took the elevator up and found myself in a room with 4 large windows and a telescope in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, it was cloudy weather all day so I had no way to see Mt. Fuji. The view from up there was also very nice. I stayed up there for awhile before heading back down to the lobby to admire it as I made my way back to the east wing.

Dinner time came around pm where they were waiting for us. They escorted us to a private room where the table was set with the first course. This would be a long night because they served us 7 courses of food. There were some foods I liked, but there were just some I didn't. Truthfully, I'm not a big sushi eater. So when I saw 3 courses full of sushi, I kind of had to force myself to eat. Fortunately, there was wine available, so I drank a lot. By the 4th course, I was already feeling light headed and started talking nonsense. Phil took some pictures of the meals they served us. It was pretty unique because each course was dressed and arrange in a certain way. It was truly a Japanese style dinner. Roy had a great time, enjoying all his food and some of mine as well. If I tried to explain what each of the dishes looked like, I’d be typing for a few more pages, which I don't feel like doing. Let me just say, they were pretty creatively arranged. We all left that dinner pretty full, and pretty drunk. I decided to head back to the room and take a bath and get ready for bed. Roy and Phil decided to go karaoke while the alcohol was still inhibiting their better judgment. I later found out that when Phil started singing, everyone left the room.

After my bath, I got dressed in my yukata and decided to walk around downstairs. Remembering those massage chairs earlier that day, I found myself sitting in one while the nice old lady was setting the chair up for me. She made some small talk with Roy while I just sat there trying not to paralyze myself when the machine went down my spine. Feeling refreshed from the massage I walked around a little more before heading up to my room where on tv I found myself watching some tv drama. One was in a high school setting and there seemed to be some drama between this guy and girl. I was just watching it because the girl was cute. The other drama I found myself watching was about another high school girl that seemed to be affiliated with Yakuza. She was carrying around a tommy gun during the show's introduction song. I decided that was enough tv for me and went to bed in the futon (which was prepared by the staff while I was at dinner). Futons are actually pretty comfortable, maybe I might do that back home to save myself a lot of space. I went to bed pretty satisfied to have experienced what a ryokkan was like. I hope to do this again when I return.