12 Days in Japan — Jake and Jesslyn's World Tour

The 12 nights we spent in Japan flew by and with teary eyes we said bye to friends. It was wonderful to experience new places and catch up on life with such special people. We are very happy that we added Japan to our itinerary. Thanks Navy for sending Justin there during a time when we could visit him! Our time in Japan was divided into three segments:

Staying with Justin south of Tokyo, on the U.S. Naval base in Yokosuka for six nights, taking day trips around the region
Two days/nights exploring the old capital of Kyoto with Mo and her sister Laura
Three days/nights on our own in Tokyo, although we were fortunate enough to be joined by Justin, Mo and Laura for our final day!

After our short flight from Hong Kong, Justin met us at the airport to show us the way back to Yokosuka. I think the train ride may have taken longer than the flight but that didn't matter because it allowed us to begin catching up as we haven't seen one another in several years. Our first stop in Yokosuka was for a late dinner of ramen. I'd been worried about eating in Japan as I don't care for sushi or really anything fish flavored, and didn't know what else would be cheap and easy to eat. The ramen was OK, but it had some seaweed in it which I'm not a fan of. The bowl warmed us up though which was important because the nighttime temperature while we were in Japan was in the 30s. I think that it felt even colder after being so warm in Southeast Asia for three months. Fortunately, the rest of the meals I had while we were in Yokosuka were awesome. One night we went out for steaks, which absolutely melted in my mouth and ranks in my top five steaks ever. Justin did a great job showing us the culinary scene of Yokosuka. He was an incredible host in every way - from getting us train passes ahead of time, planning and navigating our daily sightseeing itineraries, and even insisting that we have his bed while he slept on a mattress on the floor. Not only did he spend all day hanging out with us but he also fit in one to two workouts a day (he's training for the 2016 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships!) and went to work for a few hours each night. No doubt he is an iron man.

It was interesting to stay on a U.S. Naval base and then walk into a small Japanese coastal town. The juxtaposition of feeling like you were in the United States one minute and then in a foreign country the next was a unique experience I may never have again. I went for a run on base passing by dozens of American men in uniform, Dunkin Donuts, Subway, Popeyes, a U.S. Post Office, then showered and went to 100 Yen shops, a Japanese fish market and ancient buddhist temples.

I got a little templed out in SE Asia and was a bit concerned that I might not fully enjoy and appreciate the sites in Japan. Fortunately, I found that the Japanese temples/shrines were a very different style and I especially enjoyed the well kept, pretty landscapes. The (usually one and only) attraction at the temple sites in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam were the actual temple structures. In Japan, the temples/shrines/pagodas are interesting too look at (and different styles than others I've seen before), and I really appreciated the ornate detail in the gardens with the manicured trees and bushes. The plum trees were starting to blossom so I was able to envision how the grounds would shortly be coming alive. I'd like to revisit these same places when things are in full bloom. Below are some photos of my favorite sites.

Justin and I in front of the big Buddha in Chiba

Having a Mt. Fuji sighting is unpredictable due to the weather. We were fortunate to see it on at least three occasions, only one of which we were actually trying.

In each area we visited with Justin, he showed us walking paths between sites. On the day we visited the Mt. Fuji / Hakone area, we ended our hike at a small, trail side, ancient teahouse. He had discovered this hidden gem on a previous trek. As we approached, had he not been with us, Jake and I probably would have walked right past it. I don't recall seeing any signage or doors that looked like they were meant to be open. We slid open the doors to one large room filled with tiny tables and stools made out of tree stumps. Each table contained complimentary hot herbal tea. There was a large open pit and I was surprised to see that no fire was burning as it was snowy, cold and damp outside. A few years ago, Justin had two other friends visit him in Japan from Seattle. He had suggested finding this teahouse to them and when they did, they had been greeted by a Japanese woman who had recently moved back to Japan from Tacoma Washington. A petite Japanese woman greeted us in excellent English and Justin quickly recalled the story of the woman his friends met. He asked her if she used to live in Washington and the look of surprise on her face when he asked was priceless. She couldn't believe that he knew this! As he started to explain that his friend Rich had visited the teahouse a few years ago and met her, she showed us through gestures that she was quickly recalling this. She began imitating holding and using a hose. Rich is a firefighter so this gave us all a good laugh. She vividly remembered meeting them and speaking to them and even said, "....and your name is....J....J....."....as she had never met Justin - it was quite impressive that she remembered meeting Rich and vaguely recalled the name of the friend he was visiting in Japan. I don't remember what the sweet snacks we had were called but they were jelly like and went nicely with the warm, fermented (non alcoholic), milky rice drink we had. She moved back to Japan to help her brother with the teahouse. It has been in her family for 13 generations. There is a famous piece of Japanese history involving 47 Samurai, one of which she said had tea at the teahouse.

Seeing the sun glisten on the Golden Pavilion and walking through the Bamboo Forest were highlights of visiting Kyoto, a former capital of Japan undamaged by war. Also in Kyoto, I rediscovered candy from my early childhood that I had completely forgotten about. I asked my Mom about it, she said, "oh you mean Christmas candy?"....that helped me understand why my memory of enjoying the candy was limited to a certain time of year....but neither one of us could recall where we would have gotten it. In the Tokyo Food Show, a food market beneath Shinjuku station, the candy company had a corner shop where you could watch them make the candy. Our timing could not have been better as we randomly discovered this shop as they were about to begin making the Hello Kitty version of the candy. We watched from start to finish, about an half an hour, as two candy makers assembled the candy. It was incredible to see how much work and precision goes into making these bite size pieces.

Each segment is carefully assembled: whiskers, ears, bows, eyes, nose etc. When they are finished assembling, the cylindrical candy roll is larger in diameter than a grapefruit. Then they roll it down to smaller than a dime, and slice it up. It made my day to see this demonstration. That is until we went to the top of the Tokyo Government Metropolitan Building (TGMB). One of the top tourists attractions in Tokyo are the two viewing towers, Tokyo Tower and TOKYO SKYTREE. But these cost money and we are more budget conscious as ever as we aim to extend our trip as long as possible. The TGMB has a free observation deck on the 45th floor. We didn't want to miss out on viewing Tokyo from up high, and thought it would be good to do this at sunset so that we could see the city lights coming to life. What we did not expect to see was the sun setting over Mt. Fuji. It was one of the most spectacular sights I've seen in my life. The colors of the sky changing from blue to pink to purple over the city skyline was spectacular. A photo could never capture how beautiful it was or how I felt seeing this as we stepped off of the elevators into the observatory.

In Tokyo we also enjoyed a tour of the Edo-Tokyo Museum. It focuses on the history of the Edo Period in Japan which took place from 1603-1868. This was a peaceful time throughout Japanese history. A Shogun was the top political and economic leader and this is the time when Samurai warriors existed. It was interesting to learn about the culture in those times but it would have been good to learn about it within the context of the other Japanese periods as well. Apparently there are other museums that explain the history of those eras, but we didn't make it to any of those.

We made a quick stop in Akihabara, an area of Tokyo known for large electronics stores, Shinbuya, which is apparently one of the busiest intersections in the world, and Harajuku, known for people dressing up like characters. The way the timing worked out, we may have not visited Harajuku at the right time of day to appreciate how creative people can get...but we saw a few people dressed up so that was better than nothing. Justin, Mo and Laura joined us for a free walking tour of the grounds of the Imperial Palace. We enjoyed our time in Tokyo and found it to be a super clean city that was very easy to navigate. It had great public transportation, and free, clean toilets all over the place!

Other observations that amused me about Japan:

Everywhere you look there is frozen yogurt for sale and shops selling candy and baked goods. Usually the fro yo was only vanilla and/or green tea flavored but sometimes I also saw chocolate and sweet potato. I really wanted to try the purple colored sweet potato fro yo, but I didn't get a chance to.
I didn't go into any dressing rooms to try on clothing, but Mo and Laura told me that in Japan, when you do, they give women a bag to put over her head as she puts on and takes off whatever she is trying on. This is to prevent makeup getting onto the clothing. Apparently Japanese women wear many layers of makeup. I kept an eye out for these women but I saw just as many with no makeup on as with it on.
People appear to take their jobs very seriously. I saw many people, whether it was in restaurants, stores, or the airport running to to assist others. Simple things are treated with urgency.
People speak English far less than in any other country we visited. In fact, even when it is obvious that you do not speak Japanese, they still speak to you, as if you understand, in Japanese.
Toilet seats are heated. I even saw a few toilets where when you open the door the seat goes up automatically and after you flush the seat closes. I'm talking about Western toilets of course. There were plenty of Japanese toilets around too and I'm happy to be leaving those behind.

It felt like a much more formal culture than the U.S. or anywhere else we've visited. People were dressed quite dapperly and I don't know if I saw anyone wearing sneakers. Women had on high heels and men dress shoes. I saw a few people wearing gloves and a scarf but I saw absolutely no one wearing a hat or ear muffs even though it was super cold and their ears must have been freezing.
People line up in a very orderly fashion for the subway. I wish NYC and Boston would adopt this!
There are beverage vending machines everywhere. Seriously, everywhere you look: on train platforms, every few feet on the street, and even in rural areas. They offer a variety of both hot and cold beverages, mostly tea, coffee, and flavored water, very little soda. I don't know how Tommy Lee Jones got into the coffee business in Japan, but he is apparently "BOSS".

One of the hundreds of beverage vending machines

Jimmy Fallon has an Asian doppelgänger. This poster was all over the place in Tokyo. It is for a recruiting company.

We are having a great time so far galavanting around Tasmania in our campervan! The Holiday Parks are very nice here. They have limited or no wifi and I expect that they will be in New Zealand as well. What this means is that most likely our blog posts / website updates are going to appear significantly slower than they have been. So - don't be alarmed when you don't receive them as often. We are still having a great time, and will fill you in on our adventures when we can!

~ Jesslyn

Laura, Justin, Mo, Jake and me in the gardens of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.