yotryu's travels

Miyajima - Hiroshima (25/2/2020 - part 2)

Dinner was yet another incredible experience! It was in my room, 6 courses with 9 dishes, each course being brought in with just enough time between them for me to admire and eat! The staff member bringing the dishes in was so friendly and explained each as she put it out, then would leave me to eat before bringing in the next course. It really was something else!

Miyajima - Hiroshima (25/2/2020 - part 1)

Today was a day I didn't know how I was going to handle - the plan was to visit the Hiroshima peace park / museum since I didn't the last time I visited the area (12 or so years ago).

After breakfast I checked out of my accommodation and left my luggage with my next accommodation - I wanted to spend one night at Iwaso so I could experience staying in a properly fancy ryokan. Initial signs were very positive! The staff were very friendly and spoke pretty good English as well.

Once that was sorted, I headed in to Hiroshima for the day. First stop was the A-Bomb Dome and surrounding peace park area. It was pretty interesting to see the structure look exactly as I remember it from all those years ago, and I'm pretty sure some of the photos I nabbed will be almost identical as a result. Reading about it, there have been a number of preservation works done on the structure to try to keep it looking like it did after the blast.

The rest of the peace park area was also how I remember it - I suspect the gravity of the location has meant the memories will always be there for me.

The final stop in the area was the museum. As expected, this place was very sombre and confronting. The photos and artworks in particular tell a heartwrenching story, especially combined with the context behind them. Still, being able to follow the timeline of events before and after the bomb was fascinating. I think this was the biggest take away for me - seeing how escalating international conflict during WWII resulted in the decision that using atomic bombs on 2 cities was the "best" option. It was hard not to see how that line of thinking has likely existed in some form ever since, and probably before as well. Ultimately though, the overwhelming message the museum presents is one of peace and harmony, and seeing how the city of Hiroshima thrives these days, it's definitely a better take away than the alternative.

I wanted to follow the museum visit up with a more positive experience - one that made me smile and enjoy the pleasures of life 🙂.

This meant finding Okonomimura, or "okonomiyaki village." Three floors of small okonomiyaki bars, all with their own slight variations on the Hiroshima style of the well-known dish. I've never had it before, and now that I have, I'm disappointed I haven't eaten more of it - for such a simple dish, it was incredibly tasty and fun to watch it being prepared! I suspect I might try Osaka style before I leave there...

Last for the day was Shukkeien, a "shrunken" style garden. This was a nice relaxing place to visit, and showed off some really interestingly design landscape and trees. Finding out about the reason for certain elements existing in the garden was neat, and showed how this sort of garden has so many considerations given to it - most things have a place and reason for being where they are. For example, many of the elements of this garden were intended to represent local important natural landmarks, or historically valued concepts in Japanese culture. Also, there was a plum blossom grove woth many trees partially in bloom! For sure this garden was worth the cheap entrance fee, and it ended up being a rather unique experience to add to my trip!

From there it was back to Miyajima island for a relaxed afternoon looking out over the water from a coffee shop, then enjoying the accommodation and dinner for the night!

Following on from the initial experience at the accommodation for the night, check in was a totally new level - they called a staff member to show me to my room, who then proceeded to explain using the facilities in the ryokan, and brought in tea shortly after, then explained how to wear a yukata and how to use the room equipment.

Imabari -> Miyajima (24/2/2020)

After the long day yesterday, I decided to take the easier route to Miyajima - instead of visiting Matsuyama and catching a ferry / boat to Hiroshima, I opted to train back to Okayama then Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Travel time was similar, but involved a lot less effort, and I was happy to have a quieter and cheaper day at the expense of seeing some new areas.

The first train ride took me along the north coast of Shikoku, then over the sea again (at a different, very long bridge). This made for some neat sights to see, so it wasn't all about being lazy in the end!

Once in Hiroshima, I made my way straight to Miyajima island so I could check in and walk around the island before everything shut. Unfortunately the "floating" shrine gate ("torii") and the ropeway to the top of Mt Misen were both undergoing maintenance, so that reduced the sights to see and things to do a bit. Walking about and experiencing the island was still great though - the number of snack food stores is incredible for the size of the place (lots of locals and foreign tourists visit each day), and seeing the variety of things on offer was fun!

After the day visitors had left and the majority of shops shut, I went to find a restaurant for dinner. I thought I might be able to try okonomiyaki tonight, but the main place in town selling it had an hour wait (which I knew thanks to a kind patron who translated the owner's information as I walked in). So I went to another nice restaurant I had passed earlier and got a nice Japanese roast beef meal instead - this was quite tasty, and a novel take on the roast beef I am used to!

Onomichi -> Imabari - Shimanami Kaido Cycle 76km (23/2/2020)

As expected, today was a very big day, but thankfully I made it, and without having to rush to make it in time before sunset!

I got up to have breakfast in the hotel pretty much as early as I could. This was a nice salad, bread, and croissant buffet, with the choice of eggs and ham or eggs and sausage to go with it.

During check out I organised to have my main luggage delivered to my hotel in Imabari, which was an easy service to organise thanks to the frequency of this request meaning hotels have systems in place to do this.

Next I picked up the rental bike a few minutes away - this was also easy enough due to the number of people doing this (this cycle route is becoming popular among locals and tourists). Finally I caught the ferry to the start point of the ride and got going!

About 1km in while I was figuring out the gear situation on the bike, the chain fell off... There were 2 sets of gears, so I decided I would sit in the middle for the set with only 3 gears (I think this one was a bit sloppy and didn't want the hassle of dealing with it more than once), but thankfully the other set (with 6-8 gears I think) was more robust. After getting grease all over my hands while getting the chain back on, I was on my way haha.

The rest of the ride was less eventful (thankfully), with the main standouts being the scenery - the Seto inland sea really is quite a remarkable and interesting place to see. So many islands scattered about, with the main ones along the route being visited via the 6 bridges connecting them. The hill climbs to these bridges were a little challenging, but still not too bad - I only walked 2 times through the entire ride, and one of those was a regular hill, not up to a bridge. The nice thing about those climbs though, was that you would always get some incredible views of the sea, islands, and bridge! There were plenty of rest areas along the route, so stopping to rest briefly and admire the sights was easy.

Lunch was half way at the "cyclist's sanctuary" - a pit stop kind of area with a couple of take out places, one restaurant, vending machines for drinks, toilets, and some great views (it was on the water).

The second half was a bit more challenging, probably because of the building exhaustion of my legs, but there were enough milestones along the way to keep me focused and pushing forward. Then the final bridge... This thing was incredible! Over 4km long, it gave plenty of opportunity to look out over the sea and islands below. Once I cleared it, the rest was pretty much downhill, and I excitedly made my way to the rental bike drop off point.

From there it was a short walk to my hotel for the night, which had already received my luggage when I checked in! Things were very smooth, and I was able to relax for the rest of the day - long showers and watching some TV from my phone!

Kyoto -> Onomichi - Kurashiki (22/2/2020)

After spending a few nights in Kyoto, I was heading off towards Onomichi where I would be attempting the decent bike ride along the Shimanami Kaido tomorrow!

Along the way, I wanted to stop in Kurashiki to see the historic district, complete with canal and weeping trees!

A short walk from the station, this area had a nice variety of old style buildings, as well as some European style buildings mixed in. It made for a unique feel to the area, but the main attraction was the canal area, lined with weeping trees and small shops in traditional style buildings. While the canal area was a bit smaller than I had expected, and only a couple of the trees had started to show leaves, it was still a nice place to see. I can imagine how nice it would be to grab a meal or drink in one of the small shops, and enjoy the atmosphere during spring with the trees full of colour!

After another train ride I was in Onomichi. On the walk to the hotel I passed a restaurant that looked good for dinner, and the bike rental place, so I would be ready for getting into things quickly tomorrow morning!

Kyoto - Kitano Tenmangu, Kinkaku-ji, Kiyomizu dera (21/2/2020 - part 2)

For the afternoon, I jumped on some buses using the Kyoto bus day pass.

First was to Kitano Tenmangu shrine. I wanted to check this place out because I had read it has lots of plum blossom trees, and since they have been starting to bloom while I've been in the country, I thought it might be a good place to see them!

As it turns out, there is a whole garden filled with many varieties of plum blossoms, but I was about a week early - next weekend was advertised for a festival (I think). It looked like the trees were maybe half in bloom, which was still an impressive sight! I opted not to bother with the garden though (1000 yen entrance fee was too steep), and instead admirred the blossoms in the free grounds, and from a distance in the garden. Still, it gave a good idea of how extraordinary the flowers must look when they are all out in bloom.

Next, it was only a few more bus stops to Kinkaku-ji (the gold pavilion), which I don't think I had been to before. This place was busy, but nicely laid out that things were still orderly. The main building was very impressive and unique, and I particularly liked how the gardens and pond adjoining the building seemed to make it all the more interesting to see. The rest of the gardens / the walk through the area was nice and straight forward.

Lastly I wanted to get back to Kiyomizu dera, mostly because it was free, and reconstruction work had finished on it. The shopping street leading to the entrance was pretty busy, but that gave the place a fun energy - plenty of people browsing shops and trying local snacks and treats. The temple complex itself was more impressive than I remember, possibly because the sun was out this time, and so were some blossoms! Bright orange / red buildings, and a few plum blossoms out made for quite a striking place to visit, but also the grounds were immaculate and a bit less rough compared to others I had visited so far. It's not surprising why so many people visit this temple, and it's also a place I didn't mind seeing a lot of people - it felt appropriately lively 🙂.

Kyoto - Arashiyama Monkey Park and Bamboo Grove (21/2/2020 - part 1)

Today I wanted to do something a bit different, so I decided to go to Arashiyama to see the monkey park, and also revisit the bamboo grove (this time in better light).

The monkey park turned out to be more enjoyable than I was hoping - it's a natural area that is reached by a mild 10-15 minute hike up a mountain on the edge of Kyoto. There is only one main building once you reach the top where the monkeys live, and that is used for visitors to feed monkeys if they want - the monkeys are free to roam around the mountainside, and people just visit them in their natural habitat. It was a really nice change to the usual enclosure-based "zoo" type experience, which meant you got to see families of monkeys playing and scampering about, and others cleaning each other, and others being inquisative of the people. I really did enjoy spending time watching them! Also the view was pretty fantastic!

Since I was nearby, I wanted to go to the bamboo grove next, to see if it was as impressive as I remembered it. This was about 10 mins or so from the entrance to the monkey park, and when I arrived, I was a bit disappointed because of the crowds. The grove itself was still just as nice to see (it was even a little more impressive with more daylight), but with all the people visiting and stopping to take photos all over the path, it didn't have the same impact as last time. Also, there were now signs scattered about saying not to sit and lean and park bikes along the path, which also kinda ruined the feel. I don't recall that from last time, so I suspect the popularity of the place has boomed and these measures have been put in place to try and keep it managable.

Even though the bamboo grove wasn't as enjoyable of an experience as I had hoped, it was still decent, and the monkey park more than made up for it!

Kyoto - Imperial Palace, Fushimi Inari Taisha (20/2/2020 - part 2)

After making my way back to the train station and heading back into Kyoto, I decided to look around the Imperial Palace grounds, and try to find some lunch in the area.

The Imperial Palace grounds were nicely kept, and impressively large in every way. Beyond that though, they aren't overly remarkable, at least during winter.

Lunch ended up being at a really nice tonkatsu restaurant. Similar to dinner last night, but this time the pork cutlet was in a sweet soy broth with egg and shallots, making for a fairly different meal, but delicious all the same!

With lunch done, I made my way to Fushimi Inari Taisha, famous for its many rows of thousands of shrine gates leading around the complex. This place was enormous - the initial area is reasonably large, but the further you travel into the mountains behind the entrance, the more impressive it becomes. So many torii. Just everywhere! There are so many that there are occassionally huge clusters of them setup as their own shrines along the paths! Hiking up many more steps, eventually I reached the main viewing area which gives some pretty impressive views looking out over Kyoto.

Unsurprisingly, this was the place I saw the highest percentage of tourists so far - the place was busy enough, though not too bad, and it was kind of nice to hear some English for a bit haha. Until I heard some whingey girls being overly dramatic about the hike. Then I was happy to leave the area and not be surrounded by as many English speakers again haha.

Having done many kilometers of walking for the day, with a significant percent of those hiking up and down mountains, I was happy to call it there, and headed back down to the train station and back to the hotel to rest!

Kyoto - Kurama, Kibune (20/2/2020 - part 1)

First up today was a trip to the outskirts of Kyoto to the small town of Kurama. The town sits at the base of a temple complex that stretches up the mountain from the valley, and back down the other side to the town of Kibune.

The stream of buildings and smaller structures along the path were pretty impressive, mostly for the number of them, and their location up the zigzagging mountain trail.

Thankfully the hike was a little easier compared to others I have done so far! It was still a lengthy hike, taking an hour and a half from valley to valley, but there were some good views along the way. I even got a good view of a helicopter carrying away cut down trees from the side of a mountain across the valley!

Arriving in Kibune, straight away there was a neat mid-sized shrine that looked nice and tidy, and had a number of gates lining the short path to it. With the surrounding mountainside forest, it made for a very nice end to the hike.

Next I walked through the village to reach an underwhelming shrine at the top. What wasn't underwhelming though, was the town itself - some really beautiful old buildings with some of the best facade / entrances I've seen so far. Even better was the river running behind one side's buildings - this river was flowing well and was setup in a way that there were frequently drops and rocks making it look great, but even more impressive is the thought that during summer the restaurants along the river put floors and rooves over it and serve customers lunch and dinner in the cool! Having seen the area, I can imagine how fantastic of an experience that would be!

Takayama -> Kyoto - Hida folk village (19/2/2020)

This morning started with a nice cafe breakfast in a small place just across the street from the train station. A very thick piece of toast with butter and strawberry jam, and coffee. This was nice to have - I haven't eaten toast since I arrived haha.

After checking out of the hotel, I walked to the Hida folk village - an "open air museum" showcasing traditional buildings, tools, and general way of life for people in the region from many centuries ago.

This place was very interesting! Really unique things on display inside many of the buildings, and the buildings themselves with various roofing materials and styles. Was a relaxed way to learn a bit more about how things worked in the region a long time ago, before modern conveniences.

Once I finished at the folk village, I had enough time to revisit the historic district to see how it looked without snow. I enjoyed the walk through the street again, but I think the snow made for a more novel experience.

The whole afternoon was travelling to Kyoto, and this took longer than anticipated due to train delays in the first leg which made me have to catch a later Shinkansen for the second leg. Still, not a big problem, just meant a little more time travelling than expected!

Tokyo -> Takayama - Historic District (18/2/2020)

Another day of fairly long travel! The main 2 trains to Takayama totalled about 4.5 hours, plus there was a little time transferring and getting to the Shinkansen in Tokyo.

Thankfully once I arrived I was able to check in to my hotel early and drop my luggage before heading to the historic district and Shiroyama park, which is where the Takayama castle ruins are. Also, it was snowing a little in town for the whole afternoon!

Walking to the historic district I spotted a lot of restaurants advertising beef - I think the Hida region is maybe known for their quality beef? The historic district itself was very neat and interesting - a narrow street lined with old style buildings and drains down below, meaning each shop had a little bridge leading inside. Lots of food and souvenier shops, but they all looked really nice with the traditional facades and styling.

Next was Shiroyama park, which is a sort of walking trail park with a few monuments scattered around, and a couple of areas where foundation / ruins of the old castle can be found. I enjoyed walking through here with the snow everywhere and very few other people around. At one point I reached a monument (which kind of act like guideposts around the trails), stopped to take a photo, and realised it was completely silent. I've only had that experience once before that I can remember (on the side of a mountain when snowboarding in NZ), so I enjoyed that for a moment before continuing. The top of the park / hill gave some decent views of the area through the trees as well.

Back to the hotel, I decided to try and have a hot bath in a private onsen that is on the top floor of the hotel. Luckily I was able to after a 5 or so minute wait, and it was worth it! Not as extravagent as the bath house, but with an excellent view looking over the city and mountains, and the privacy to relax and just soak it in.

Tokyo - Kamakura (17/2/2020 - part 2)

Hasedera was the next stop, and as soon as I reached the entrance I knew I had to go in - the gardens were the highlight here. They were neatly presented with ponds and water flowing, continued up the mountainside to give excellent views over the town and ocean, and had plum blossoms of various colours in a pretty good state of bloom! I hadn't expected to see any blossoms on the trip (I didn't realise plum blossoms were a thing and when they bloom), so this was amazing to see! Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed Hasedera!

The great Buddha at Kotoku-in was the next destination not too far away. After the impressive display at Hasedera, the grounds at Kotoku-in were a little underwhelming, but the giant Buddha was incredible to see. It's hard to comprehend how such a large structure was made so long ago and continues to stand. Going inside gave a good look at the processes used to make it, which just adds to the impressiveness!

To finish the day I followed a major hiking path from nearby the giant Buddha back towards the station. This was a decent hike that took me past a few small monuments along the way, but the real highlight was at the end of the hike, just before I reached the roads back to the station. I visited Zeniarai Benten and really enjoyed the atmosphere of relaxation. The entrance was a cave carved out of part of the rock surrounding the shrine complex. Once inside, everything was neat and a bit more compact than normal, which added a "cosy" sort of feel to the place. Plenty of people were visiting as well, many happily sitting on seats in the middle of the complex, chatting or eating some snacks. The place looked great, was in a very unique location, and had an excellent atmosphere! A great way to round out the day in Kamakura.

From there it was an easy walk through a park area to the station, and back to the house.

Tokyo - Kamakura (17/2/2020 - part 1)

Today was a spare day in Tokyo, so I decided to make the trip to Kamakura, a smallish place on the coast about an hour south of Tokyo.

The main attraction is the giant Buddha at Kotoku-in, but there are also plenty of temples and shrines to see as well.

A few things surprised me about Kamakura and made me very pleased I spent the day there!

First was the sweets / shopping lane just off the main station - I only tried a matcha ice cream (which was actually quite tasty), but the area was filled with neat little shops and plenty of people that it just had a fun vibe to it.

At the end of the lane was Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, a fairly large temple / grounds. This was impressive enough with some large structures throughout, though it didn't have much to set it apart from others I've seen.

Next I walked to the main beach, and to my surprise, it actually had a lot of sand! It was quite windy, so the water itself was choppy and uninviting, but that didn't stop a handful of keen kite surfers from enjoying the day! And that was another surprising thing about the town - it has quite a multicultural and surf-town feel which gave it a unique charm I haven't experienced in Japan. The town felt welcoming and laid-back while still having plenty of traditionally Japanese things as well.

Yamagata -> Tokyo - Yakiniku (16/2/2020)

Bit of a quiet day today - half the day was travelling back to Tokyo from Yamagata.

Once I got back to the house, I chatted with Tristan and Naoko for a bit before Tristan suggested we go out to see if a small shrine garden near them had plum blossoms out yet. There were some, but it wasn't quite time for them yet - hopefully before I leave I'll get to see a bunch out!

Played some games while we had the chance before dinner, then headed out for yakiniku (BBQ, over coals in this case). This was great! We had all you can eat, which is time limited to 90 minutes from when you first request food. Food requests were done with a tablet device, then after a short wait, staff would bring the plates of food out for us to cook!

The whole dinner was an experience, and I enjoyed it for sure. Plenty of good food, a bit of chatting, and lots of cooking!

Yamagata - Yamadera, Kajo park (15/2/2020)

With all the long travels and busy days happening, today would be a bit of a change.

It was time to do some washing, and the hotel had a coin op laundry room, so that was just after breakfast.

Once that was sorted (clothes all over the room to do their final dry), I made my way to Yamadera.

The main attraction here is Hojuzan Risshaku temple - a buddhist temple built high up some mountains, away from the town below.

Immediately after stepping off the train I knew I was going to like the place - you could see buildings of the temple grounds scattered on the side of the mountain in the distance, and the mountain side itself was also more textured and interesting than normal.

After a short walk to the base of the hike, I paid the small admission fee and got to it (many more stone steps! Though these weren't covered in snow thankfully). The entire hike to the main grounds had stone statues and carved rocks lining the path. The sheer number of "things" scattered about made the hike really unique and interesting, and that was on top of the beautiful natural setting all around - large cedar trees and moss covered rocks everywhere.

The gate to the main temple complex marks about 2/3 of the steps throughout the whole area, which branches out a little after the gate. It's not huge, but definitely larger than I expected for the location!

The buildings were mostly fairly typical, but the location and the views made the whole experience much more interesting. I couldn't help but think what it must have been like when large numbers of monks lived there - again my reference for these thoughts comes from anime I've seen haha.

I'm very glad I made the trip to the area - it really was quite awe inspiring!

The rest of my afternoon was just walking about Yamagata, with the only real noteworthy place I visited being Kajo park - a large park in the center of the city that was the site of a castle in the past (now only a handful of structures remain, including the moat and raised wall). This made for a nice easy walk to finish off the day, and got me thinking how impressive it would look in spring or autumn (heaps of blossom trees and I think maples).

Haguro -> Yamagata - Ginzan Onsen (14/2/2020)

After all the train rides, it was time for a change - catching a highway bus from Tsuruoka to Yamagata! This was actually the fastest way by many hours (trains would run so infrequently that there would be long transfer waits), so time for something abit different!

As it turned out, riding the bus was quite enjoyable. The roads were all smooth and comfortable, even through all the mountains, and the views were quite remarkable! A decent amount of snow, plenty of bare trees, and a few frozen rivers / lakes. It really was a nice surprise of a journey to my next stop.

Actually riding the bus was easy enough, though I did forget to collect a ticket on entering the bus (should have not been first...), which resulted in a friendly person alerting me and helping sort it out haha!

Once I arrived in Yamagata city, I left my luggage at the hotel (check in was somewhat later) and grabbed some lunch.

I had decided today would be the day to get to Ginzan onsen - I had the time, and knew it would be a little trickier of a trip than others, so wanted to get on with it haha. This involved a train ride and a bus ride, though the bus was a little more challenging to sort out as the stops and signs outside had no English this time. Using some online help (and paying attention to the crowds), I figured out the right bus and made it there.

Ginzan onsen is a hot spring town built around an old silver mine (the name is literally translated to "silver mountain hot spring"), but is now a tourist spot for sightseeing during the day, and hot spring / inn stays during the night.

The small town is unique and impressive enough during day time, but it really comes to life at night (I stayed until the last bus back to the station at 6:20pm) - as the sunsets, all the ryokan and restaurants light up, and guests staying in the town start to emerge to enjoy the atmosphere. It reminded me so much of "Spirited Away" that I assume this sort of place had to be some kind of inspiration for the movie.

Getting back to the station was interesting as well! There were 2 busses on the way, so I assumed that would be the case on the way back, but I was conscious that they could be busy, so I got to the bus stop to line up a little early. This was a good choice! The queue was already long, and in the end, I was on the second bus, and some people were left to find their own way back (probably by taxi)! This all meant the bus was a bit late, which meant I missed the train I was hoping to catch, putting me onto a later local train back to Yamagata! This was all fine, just unplanned and slightly longer than I had hoped.

Tokyo -> Haguro - Mt Haguro hike (13/2/2020)

This was the first day of 3 consecutive away from Tokyo.

Travelling between 8am and 2pm pretty much, consisting of 2 long train rides (74 and 108 mins), then a local bus ride to reach my accommodation, which wasn't far from the base of the hike up Mt Haguro.

When I arrived I was greeted by the 2 very friendly hosts of the ryokan (he could speak some English, she couldn't). It turns out I was the only guest staying with them tonight! They were very informative and explained the layout of the building and where the main areas were, then once they knew I was planning to hike up Mt Haguro, gave some advice and information on the condition of the trail! They even let me borrow an umbrella just in case I needed it for the hike!

The hike itself was impressive, both in scenery and challenge! There are over 2400 steps (according to the information pamphlet I was given about the mountain) - I can't confirm this, as the area was fairly significantly under snow, and counting steps would have been way too much effort on top of just getting up them! As it turned out, I only just made it to the top - the steepness and difficulty of staying stable moving up snow covered stone steps almost made me turn back, but I managed to push onwards and made it.

The whole area is covered in huge cedar trees, and even with the snow cover it all looked really stunning! During the warmer months when there would be more greenery and easier hiking, it would be very impressive I'm sure.

At the top there were some decent views of the surrounds, though a bit blocked by trees. And there is a large shrine as well, that I imagine sees many visitors in the warmer months.

Thankfully the return trip was much easier despite the snow - getting foot holds was a lot easier when being able to lean a little back, and lead with my heels into the snowy steps.

Once I arrived back at the accommodation, the male host met me and was keen to hear if I made it, and how the snow was. He mentioned this has been a much warmer winter than normal, with less than half the snow they would normally see.

Dinner was at 6:30 and provided by the hosts. As I was the only one staying for the night, I could pick my time and had the dining area to myself. The meal was amazing! So much food, all very tasty, and immaculately presented! I tried to eat as much as I could, so as to not let any go to waste. I couldn't quite get there, but put in a pretty good effort. When finished, I headed for my room, and thankfully caught their attention with my footsteps, resulting in a bit of a chat again. This gave me the chance to express my gratitude for the meal in English amd Japanese (one of the few words I know - "oishi" meaning "delicious!"). They both seemed quite happy, and after chatting a little again about my hike, I was able to prepare for a quiet night in my room, after a shower and bath (Japanese style).