"A day of contrasts.
From Shinjuku Station (which Wikipedia lists as the world's busiest transport hub, taking >3.5m passengers per day) to the tiny, relaxing town of Bessho Onsen.
From the Shinkansen to the vintage Ueda Electric Railway (think old-style Glenelg tram but still with paper tickets and stamps).
From Western style accommodation to a Japanese ryokan (futon bedding and yokata robes), with a lovely welcome of cake and thick green tea."
Perhaps the big achievement for the day was successfully navigating the trains to get here ... Shinjuku-Omiya by JR Shonan-Shinjuku line, Omiya-Ueda by Nagano Shinkansen (Asama), Ueda-Bessho Onsen by Ueda Electric Railway. Feel like we kind of get how it all works now, but devoted a lot more of the day to the train travel than was absolutely necessary to allow for stuff-ups (of which there were none). So we got to see Omiya station a bit (actually quite nice). Iain also successfully purchased the tickets to Bessho Onsen on an entirely Japanese machine ... before noticing the button in the top right to switch into English!
Thoroughly impressed with the ryokan so far. Very warm welcome and thorough introduction by a woman with very good English ... They had said they speak English but this was quite a relief, especially given that things work a little differently here. She was, of course, quite taken with Eli, especially when he was dressed in a yukata.
Dinner was amazing, but HUGE! And made that bit more challenging by trying to feed/stop a deliriously tired Eli from destroying things ... And it felt like virtually the whole room was fragile in some way! You never really appreciate how useful high chairs are for keeping kids in 1 spot until you're eating on the floor! Another shining moment for downloaded episodes of In the Night Garden. Also sampled some local red wine, which was nothing special but nice enough - probably better than the stuff from Wauchope!!
Now watching him sleep on his futon and trying to decide whether to go down to the Onsen. :)
A few small reflections from today:
- being in the Japanese Alps doesn't mean you don't use solar PV
- you know that Australia doesn't get much rain by the fact that we don't have umbrella hooks next to sinks & urinals in public toilets. Either that or we're simply not as civilised :)
- Eli is being incredibly good at being willing to try new things. The thick
Green tea we got on arrival at the ryokan being the prime example today. But tiredness aside, he has also been incredibly accepting of his altered routine & surroundings, and typically very interested in whatever new things he encounters.
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