Dingo Beach to Japan March 2012

It is that time of year again .. time to pack up the house .. lock up the shed .. load up our backpacks .. and head off for some more interesting travels.  Pat does quite a bit of research before we head out, so once the itinerary is organised, it's time to go.  I'd better be ready ..

Firstly, we check in with Kelli, Lawrence and Bronagh for a couple of days in Mackay.  It is very important to get those extra cuddles from our latest granddaughter as we won't be back until August.  We have Skype on our laptop, a marvellous travel buddy - no one is ever too far away

Bronagh gave us a good supply of cuddles 

After leaving Dingo Beach and Mackay in mid March we headed south to spend a couple of weeks with Mum at the Gold Coast. 

Mum preparing "Finnegan's" dinner on St Patrick's Day

 Mum turns 83 in early April so there's a further opportunity for a celebration coming up.  She has a beautiful unit in a Retirement Village at the Gold Coast and is very happy living there in the independent living lifestyle.

Finnegan waiting patiently for his St Patrick's Day dinner

While we're at the Coast there are several opportunities to enjoy a Cappuccino with Mum and her friends, so aptly named "The Merry Widows".  Mum, Mary, Donni and Margaret are quite the "Awesome Foursome".

Of course being Irish, it is important to celebrate St Patrick's Day, so Pat decorated the Residents' Retreat at Mum's Retirement Village in readiness for a great evening with the residents.  The meal was traditional Irish Stew and vegetables, scrumptious desserts and followed by Irish Coffee prepared by Sabina. 

Pat, Judith and Paddy enjoying a Guinness on St Patrick's Day

 A young lady who recently arrived from Dublin gave a great display of both soft and hard shoe Irish Dancing, encouraging many to get up and have a go.  A great evening was had by all.

Mum and Donni drove us to the Nerang Train Station in readiness for our departure - we said our goodbyes and headed off for a few months of interesting travels.  Otmar and Antoinette met us in Brisbane and took us home to "The Chalet" for a wonderful curry dinner.  Early in the morning they took us to the airport, as Otmar said the taxis are too unreliable.  It turned out to be a good move, as our Jetstar flight was scheduled from the Domestic terminal and then changed to the International terminal.  Upon arrival at the International it was then rescheduled from the Domestic terminal, so it was great that Otmar had delivered us in plenty of time.

We flew to Cairns and then onto Narita, Japan with Jetstar International.  Our exit row seats were excellent with the extra legroom and hot meals were also served.  We were wondering how our Jetstar flight would be, but happily all went well, with our flight arriving 15 minutes early.  The bus counter was easily accessed at Narita and we booked onto a bus to the Yokohama Bus Terminal - the buses leave every 10 minutes.  When we arrived at the bus terminal Toshio was there to meet us and drove us home to his place. Seiko gave us a great welcome and we sat having a few drinks and chatting until about 2am, when we all decided it was time to get some sleep. 

The following day Toshio, Pat and I headed out for a walking tour of the Port of Yokohama.  We visited the ship, Hikawa Maru where Pat and Toshio met as 21 year olds in 1970 - their friendship continues to this day.  Toshio has been taking English lessons for the past 8 years and his English has improved out of sight – he actually loved being told his English is excellent!

Pat and Toshio at the Hikawa Maru

Hikawa Maru is a Japanese ocean liner that was built for the Nippon Yusen KK line by the Yokohama Dock Company. She was launched on 30 September 1929, and made her maiden voyage from Kobe to  Seattle on 13 May 1930.  In 1941, before Japan's entry to World War II the Hikawa Maru was used by Jewish refugees escaping the Nazis via Japan. After Japan's entry to the war Hikawa Maru became a hospital ship, and as a result, she ultimately survived the Allied campaign against the Japanese merchant fleet. The Hikawa Maru was returned to Japan and carried cargo between Japan and the US.

In 1954 she was taken out of service, but following a refit she returned to carrying passengers across the Pacific. The ship actually made 254 crossings of the Pacific.  Falling passenger numbers due to the growth of air travel led to the eventual termination of the service in 1960.  In 1961 Hikawa Maru became a floating youth hostel and museum permanently berthed at Yokohama.

In December 2006 the Hikawa Maru museum was closed and doubts about her future were raised. Happily, NYK Line began the restoration of the Hikawa Maru in August 2007, and the ship was reopened to the public on 25 April 2008, the vessel's 78th birthday.

We visited the state-of-the-art Yokohama Cruise Ship Terminal and were very impressed with all the timber walkways and stainless steel railings and ropes.  It was so enjoyable to get out into the warm sunshine where we spent many hours walking and checking out the sights.  Seiko finished work at 6pm so we met up and headed off to an Italian Restaurant for dinner.  Afterwards we were whisked upstairs and into a private room, decked out in electronic gadgetry.  More food and drinks arrived, as did the karaoke microphone!  As we’re not particular devotees of karaoke, we hesitatingly joined in and ended up having a lot of fun.  I can say that this was the first time I heard Pat sing in 42 years!

On our way home we passed by some curious looking small buildings which Toshio told us are Yatai – he also let us know that they look as though they should be cheap, but are in fact very expensive.

A yatai is a small, mobile food stall in Japan typically selling ramen or other hot food. The name literally means "shop stand."

The stall is set up in the early evening on pedestrian walkways and removed late at night or in the early morning hours before commuters begin to fill the streets. Menus are usually limited; Japanese cruising  is of course most common, but Western cuisine yatai are not unknown. Beer, sake and shochu are usually available. A salaryman might relax with colleagues over dinner and drinks at a yatai on his way home from work.

Pat and I set out the following morning and took the local rail into Yokohama City so that we could activate our JR Rail Pass for our week of rail travel in Japan.  We also visited the amazing Big Camera store in Yokohama and thankfully I was able to buy a USB charger for my camera – one item which I somehow misplaced before leaving home.

Toshio had dinner prepared when we arrived home – a delicious dinner of Miso soup and prawns, perfectly accompanied by Australian wines.  We bought Toshio some bottles of  Australian Sake from home and he said the quality is better than what he buys in Japan. 

Pat and I did our washing and prepared our backpacks as we were heading out the following morning on our rail trip.  Toshio has some plans for us to visit places with him and Seiko, so we worked out which week would fit in best with their plans.  We specifically came to Japan at this time so that we could see the beautiful Cherry Blossoms.


The rail system here is marvellous.  Japan has 20,000 rail services per day.  So once we had our timetables and stations worked out, we were on our way. 

We boarded the magnificent Shinkansen bullet train which travels up to 300 klm per hour and headed south from Yokohama to Hiroshima where we spent several hours at the Peace Memorial Park, the A Bomb Dome, the Flame of Peace and the Peace Memorial Museum. 

What a jolt back to reality is a visit such as this.  It’s hard to believe so many innocent people lost their lives during a world war by the dropping of the horrific atomic bomb.  Not only did many die, but many were maimed for life and many more suffered slow painful deaths.

Our next journey took us from Hiroshima to Kagoshima in the southernmost part of the island of Kyushu then on to Hakata and Nagasaki.  Nagasaki was the second city to be hit during World War II with an atomic bomb.  A city called Kokura was originally targeted as the city to be bombed, but due to heavy cloud in the area the plane carrying the bomb moved on to the second choice, Nagasaki.

Nagasaki is a beautiful little city built into the mountains with a river winding its way through the city.  Here we took a rail car to visit the Peace Park and Museum.  As with Hiroshima, horrific stories and scenes were recorded on that fateful day.  One of the last pictures I saw before leaving the museum, which will always remain in my mind, was of a 10 year old boy with his dead baby sister tied to his back.  He stood in the ashes for a long time without speaking – after some time, the men understood why he was there - they gently untied the cloth and lifted the baby from her brother’s back and laid her down amongst the burning coals to be cremated.

Surprisingly there are fewer international ATM’s in Japan from which to withdraw money.  We have now found that the ATM’s at the Post Office are the best options.  Also, the largest amount we have been  able to withdraw is approximately $125, so we have to be sure to keep some cash on hand.  

I love travelling in Japan and I love the Japanese people.  I find the people are so respectful, kind and  polite and so willing to give assistance when and if required.  We have only seen one grumpy man - we were sitting in his seat in the Shinkansen!!  Transportation and trains particularly are very efficient and run like clockwork.  The food is delicious and wonderful when accompanied by a glass or two of sake.  When out and about, there is no worry about using public amenities and toilets – without exception they have all been beautifully clean and hygienic.

A typhoon has hit the west coast of Japan to the north of us, so we’ll have to alter our travel plans a bit.    We travelled onto Nagato on the west coast and had intended travelling north, but rail transport has been shut down to the north, so there was no option other than to stay there the night.  The following day we booked our train back and called into a coffee shop while we waited for our train.  The lady in the shop was so friendly – she gave us weather forecasts, local information and maps – just as we were leaving she gave us a little package with her home made biscuits and slices inside, for us to have on the train journey.

Our next attempt took us to Omi-Imazu when the train stopped, advising all on board that the rail ahead was also closed.  We made the decision to head back to Kyoto and onto Nagoya for the night – we would make a third attempt the following day to reach the west coast.

Fortunately for us the following day the local rail lines opened and we headed up over the Japan Alps to Takayama. This is a beautiful little place, but it was a case of getting out our warm weather gear, to tackle the snow!  It was very cold but so very beautiful, a real winter wonderland.  From Takayama we headed out to the west coast on the Sea of Japan and were finally able to travel north to Niigata.

As we travelled north through the area which had been hit by the typhoon, there were many workers out on cleanup duties.  We left Niigata and travelled through Akita and onto Aomori in the north.  Our next train took us up to the northernmost island of Japan, Hokkaido.  We travelled through the undersea tunnel, from the island of Honshu to Hokkaido, for a distance of 53.85 klms.  

The tunnel is the longest in the world and took 17 years to complete construction.  Pat was keen to see this tunnel, as it was under construction the last time he had visited this part of Japan, back in 1970.

We checked into a hotel in Hakadate for one last night on our rail journey in Japan, before heading back to Yokohama.  The weather was freezing at minus zero degrees – it was good to get back indoors to our hotel.  Our hotel was the best deal we had come across since arriving in Japan – normally 23,000 yen it was discounted to 5,000 yen – we couldn’t believe it – they must have felt sorry for this couple of frozen Aussies!

Our return journey from Hakadate to Yokohama took us through the devastated tsunami affected areas north of Sendai.  Pat jumped out of his seat when he saw a snow monkey running across the snow covered fields - old eagle eye doesn't miss much!  Life goes on and the clean up still continues in the coastal areas.  These areas are still closed off to the general public.  We arrived back home at 6pm, to Toshio’s prepared dinner!  We had just spent an amazing week on our JR Rail pass travelling all over Japan – an extra week would have made a difference, but there are other plans organized.

On Saturday morning the four of us headed out to the Tokyo fish markets, where we spent a great day.  We went to the famous Moonja Street to sample some delicious Japanese Moonja cuisine. 

Moonja Cuisine

In the afternoon we lined up for an hour to do a Tokyo Harbour cruise, but the wait was extended by another 1½ hours before we could board our ferry – we wisely decided to give it a miss and instead headed off for a Tempura dinner.

On Sunday we travelled south of Yokohama to visit some specific Cherry Blossom sites.  At one site, pink paper lanterns lead the way up the winding track to a park which was full of weeping-type pink blossoms.  There were hundreds of people there enjoying the sunshine and the blossoms, which incidentally only last on the trees for about one week, before they fall to the ground.  The green leaves begin to shoot and the trees become both pink and green "half and half" just before the last of the blossoms fall.

Seeing we are now in our last week in Japan, we decided to spend a couple of days in the Ginza district of Tokyo and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  We left early in the morning and experienced first hand the railway stations at peak hour - what a hoot that was!

We walked for miles each day checking out the sights, tasting different foods and refreshments along the way.  There must be as many restaurants in Ginza as there are people!  We walked to the Tokyo Fish Markets this morning, only to find out that today is a holiday and the main fish market is closed.

Many food stalls were open, so we were able to enjoy the activities and see the wide range of fish available.

The big department stores have food halls in the lower floors and herein lies a real food extravaganza.  Here are a couple of samples of the meats and prices .. lots of fat and lots of yen!

Ginza by night is amazing .. people everywhere .. people going in every direction.  All the big brand name stores are here .. just be sure to bring some spare cash! 

The following day Pat, Toshio and I headed out of Yokohama and travelled down along the scenic coast of the Izu Peninsula to the Kozan area where we checked into the Sundance Resort, which is an onsen (hot springs) area.  Cherry blossoms were in abundance and we spent many hours walking around the parks and gardens.  Many beautiful sights were streets of Cherry Blossoms which met overhead and formed floral arches all the way down the avenues.  We drove past a home which had the most beautiful and colourful array of peach blossoms, so decided to stop to chat with the owners, who delighted in showing off their beautiful garden.

Spotted a little Aussie on a peach blossom!! 

Toshio and Seiko are strong supporters of the Yokohama Bay Stars, the local baseball team, so a visit to Yokohama would not be complete without a visit to a home game.  Well the heavens opened as we walked to the Stadium, but loaded up with see-through umbrellas we surged onward.  It was a great atmosphere and we had a great view from high up in the grandstands.

Unfortunately Yokohama lost the game, but a great time was had by all.