Monday 23^rd June Japan Camper Hostel, Tomisato

We've been back home, in the winter. Lighting the wood heater in Castlemaine most days; just enough time at home for Alison to go to gym once, for me to have coffee speaking Spanish with Graeme and Rosemary, and for me to ride my bike via Fryerstown to coffee at 5 Flags; with only five others now, as it's wintery and some have gone north. Five is a better number.

We've seen Alice, Sidharth, and Rose (nearly walking now) at the weekend; but not Louise and her family; in Daylesford the first weekend, and Port Douglas the second. Oh well.

And now, ten days back home after returning from WA (Alison said, after 24 hours, that though she liked winter, she had had enough of it, now), we are on a long plane flight to Japan – summer in Japan - after an early start at 5.30am. But it was all straightforward. When we got on the plane I was wondering what seats I had reserved; they seemed strange. But it was a row of three seats in the middle, towards the back, just where four seats across changes to three; I'd reserved the aisle seats on each end. And we hit the jackpot, with an empty seat between us! So the flight, while long and boring, is quite comfortable.

And it is long! Ten hours or so. But at least I found a program on the little computer to edit photos for the website (while freeing up space last week, I accidentally deleted the Fireworks program I used to use; then I downloaded “GIMP”, but it's far too complex for my needs.)

We landed at 7pm, local time; 8pm for us. It was already getting dark – a surprise! But this is because there's no daylight saving, and it gets light at 4.30am. Getting through the airport was straightforward, and we were able to keep all our food – an opened packet of coffee, the slices Alison had made, etc., etc. Outside and into a taxi.

It was refreshing to be in a place like this, where the taxi meter is clear and you're just given the correct change at the end. Tipping is not a Japanese custom. It was a surprise to find the streets so dark – much less street lighting than at home. The taxi driver was very good; we went down, eventually, smaller and smaller roads, and in the end onto a gravel track. But Japan Campers was there at the end.

We went into the guesthouse, where there was a French / Singaporean family having dinner. Found our room – very traditional Japanese; and the evening went by in talking. Till 11pm – midnight our time – when we unfolded our futon and went to bed.

Tuesday 24^th June Tennozaki Park

It began to get light about 4am. I'd been very tired, so I'd slept well – though a longer stretch of sleep wouldn't hurt. We tried to sleep in, but... got up before 6am, had a shower, and went out for a walk in the surrounding area, which we'd really not seen anything of in the darkness last night. And it turned out to be a rural area, with market gardens and patches of forest, despite its being 5km from Narita Airport. We walked as far as a minor main road, and turned back; we didn't want to get lost!

Back home, and we looked at Japan Campers. It has lots of vehicles here; the biggest motorhomes are all small by Australian standards. We think that ours is a blue camper parked in front of the office; it looks very new, with a pristine exterior. Had a cup of tea in the pergola outside.

It's cloudy, and quite humid, but it is warm. Shorts and a thin shirt – very different to what I left Melbourne wearing.

The office didn't open till 9am, so we had a lot of spare time to plan what to do next. But eventually people arrived, and in we went. Everyone helpful and relaxed; the blue camper was the one for us. It's relatively new – done only 12,000km. It took a lot of time to show us how everything worked, and to make sure that we and they are able to contact each other , if needed, easily. But eventually we were ready to move into it, and Alison did – as usual – an excellent job of packing. We left our cases there, and just before midday drove away.

We were also shown the room we were meant to be in last night, and would have been had we come in through the front door, not the kitchen. Double bed, all made up, towels... much better than what we had. But no matter.

Not very far. To a large supermarket / shopping centre 12 minutes away, where we parked and went in. Looking for a cafe, really, for some morning tea; but not finding one. So it was outside, to – Starbucks! Not a lot of choice, here.

With some food inside us, we returned to the supermarket. “Google Translate” on my phone got a massive workout; and we eventually left with a supply of food. Walked all the way back to the van, in the carpark, and ate lunch there. Not the most scenic spot, but we needed food.

Then – time to head out. While we have a card to use the motorways, we chose not to; took Route 51, at 50km/hr most of the way, which was more interesting, slower, and cheaper. We got to our chosen destination ~4pm; a park beside a big lake. It's mostly a quiet and open sort of place, and there are few others here. We walked along through the park, found good toilets with cold showers, and a huge onsen with a farmers' market attached. We bought eggs and carrots, but we'd both prefer a smaller and more rural onsen.

We are both feeling stuffed, though. Not enough sleep and too much travel. It's early to bed for us, tonight.

Wednesday 25^th June Nikko

In bed before 8pm, but then it gets light at 4.30am. Our banked-up tiredness has not gone, but it's better. A few things were better today, but really.... not a lot.

Breakfast was better. Standard muesli and tea, very nice. While we were working oout where to go, it began to rain; and its rained on and off (mostly on) ever since. We decided to go to Nikko, away from the coast, north of Tokyo. Unfortunately it meant a lot of city driving, initially getting closer to Tokyo.

Along the way, we found a recycle store and stopped for a look; but it was largely large electrical items. But near where we parked we found a French patisserie! Wonderful! Closed today – not so wonderful. We made ourselves a coffee in the carpark.

About here, we noticed that the iPad (which we rely on for navigation) was not charging. We tried various remedies – none worked – so we ended up ringing Japan Campers; and in the end found that it was plugged into a USB outlet which was not powerful enough. So that's all right now.

On we went. On through more towns, sometimes with rice paddies scattered among them. Everything is quite mixed up here. Then, time to think about lunch; we stopped at a 7- Eleven (a common institution here) to see what we could do. We ended up with a pre-prepared rice and pork dish, which after purchase they heated up in their microwave, and we went and ate in the van. It was a good lunch. We followed up with a coffee (cheap, and not so good) and icecream (cheap and good).

(And here's another funny thing about Japan – it's really tidy. No rubbish to be seen anywhere, despite the lots of wrapping you see in things for sale in shops; and also despite the almost complete absence of rubbish bins. It's hard to find somewhere to throw your rubbish out, and often it's at the convenience store.)

It was time to get more cash out. We'd heard 7- Eleven was the best place for this; initially tried for a cash out at the register, (very difficult with no language in common); then saw the ATM – tried my Up card in it. No luck. After a lot more trying, in various convenience stores, we still had no luck; but at least communicating with the bank back home, via the app, was easy.

We're hoping tomorrow it will work!

(It works to pay in stores, just not to get cash out in the ATM; so not an absolute disaster.)

And eventually, after 3pm, we got to Nikko, a World Heritage site, where it was still raining.

We drove to a park where we can stop for the night, got out our umbrellas, and went for a walk through the masses of very old cedar trees they have here. There was rain, and a lot of water on the ground as well – our feet came back very wet.

Then a relax in the van, before we drive back into town and find somewhere to eat. Eating out is a much better option than trying to cook inside when it's so wet.

Thursday 26^th June Senjogahara

Today went much better. We had our overnighting spot to ourselves, the rain stopped during the night; and in the morning I heated some water and had a shave, and a cold wash, in the nearby toilet block, before putting on clean clothes.

We looked for the “Heritage Area”, of which we'd seen no evidence at all, and found it was further out along our road – there's a second part of Nikko. And it's a different part! Tour buses ++, touristville. We found a free place to park (there's lots of pay parking here) and went for a walk – down the main street, back up again, up to the Shin-kyo footbridge – a historic red footbridge, which you now need a ticket to go on to, and which is blocked at one end anyway. We were quite early and there was no-one on the bridge.

We crossed the river on the normal new vehicular bridge, and walked up the hill into the Heritage Area. Lots of finely restored shrines and temples over a large area, with mossy walkways and very old cedar trees between them. We considered buying a ticket and seeing inside, but we've seen a lot of things like that and we're more interested in the outside.

(I did learn that Shintoism and Buddhism amalgamated themselves in Japan, but a new government in the mid-1800's decreed that they had to separate; so their buildings had to become either Shinto or Buddhist, not a mixture!)

We walked around for quite a while; it was an interesting area. The number of visiting tourists increased as the morning went on; interestingly, over 99% appeared to be Japanese.

We walked back through town looking for a cafe, but didn't find anything reasonable; so went back to the van and made coffee there. It was a nice spot, overlooking the river with a shaded seat just behind the van. Much better than any cafe we'd seen.

It was time to leave, but first I wanted to get the money problem sorted. We headed for the nearest 7-Eleven, which turned out to be very hard to find. (When we did, I realised we'd once driven past it but not seen it!). I went to the ATM, and it gave me cash with no problem at all. Hooray!

While we were there, we bought food for lunch and threw out our rubbish; then it was time to head further out, to Lake Chuzenji. This is at a much higher elevation, and the road there is one-way with many hairpin turns; but really, not difficult driving. We got to the lake, which was more touristy than Nikko; we kept going, stopping for lunch at the Ryuzu Falls lower carpark. After lunch, we went to walk up to the falls; where were they? No path was evident. In the end, it turned out that they were 100 metres further up the road, and – they were a bit whoopy-doo anyway.

On to our planned destination, Yumoto – on the shores of Lake Yunoko. We parked opposite the tourist info office, rain and a thunderstorm started, we made a coffee, then went and asked about an onsen. There are lots of onsens here; the man there recommended one. After a little walk around the town, there we went; paid our money, I went into the boys, Alison into the girls. Strip off, have a wash sitting on a low stool with hand-held shower (washing my hair as well), and then into the hot pools – one inside, one outside.

I was the only foreigner there, and no-one spoke to me; but then again, no-one spoke to anyone else either! I didn't hear a word spoken the whole time I was there.

When my fingers were getting wrinkly, I got out, had a quick rinse, and I left feeling very clean.

Back to the parking area. The rain had passed and the sky was clearer. We asked at tourist info about restaurants here, and were told that there are none. So after a walk around the lake, for an hour, at nearing dusk (seeing many fly fishermen, and lots of big fish in the water) we got back to the van and Alison whipped up a very reasonable dinner.

We'd planned to stay here tonight, but there were “no camping / motorhome” signs there; and there was a very large and very loud school group nearby. So, after dark, we've retraced our steps back some 8km to a large, quiet, legal parking area at Senjogahara. A much better option.

This morning seems like ages ago!

Friday 27^th June Nikko

Last night, we were here at substantial altitude – a little below that of the Victoria snow fields. This meant that the night surprised us by being very cold. While it was nice to be able to snuggle into Alison (for her body heat), I had to get up halfway through the night to break out my down parka, and anything else that may keep us warmer.

But then – it didn't rain today!

We slept in as much as we could, but still found it was 7.30am as we walked out on today's walk, of some 15+ km. Back up to Yumoto, via a circuitous route up beside Yudaki Falls. Here we encountered the first group of schoolchildren - ~ 40 of them, and quite noisy. We passed another five or so groups later; there must have been hundreds of them staying an Yumoto last night.

We stopped at the tourist info and had a coffee there. (It's the only place in town where we knew we could do this, and the staff are very nice.) And then set off, past the Temple Onsen (sounding like there was another group of children inside it) and across to the hot springs source (followed by yet another group).

Beyond the springs, the track went steeply uphill. The schoolchildren did not follow us.

It was a good walk, which took us six hours. Quite a lot of up and down, through varied terrain and vegetation; to Lakes Karikomi and Kirikomi, past Karenuma Swamp, over Sanno Pass, and then – down, down, down; and across back to the van. (And more schoolchildren.) We made a coffee, sat in the sun for a while, discussed where to go next, and drove back down, around lots and lots of hairpin bends, back into Nikko.

Alison found a supermarket, so we went there for supplies – a long process, working out what is what – and then we returned to our parking spot of two nights ago. I was in a bit of a grump.

I had a shave, and we had a wash in the disabled toilet, and things improved. We decided to go back to Parrot Restaurant for dinner, and walked there through “our” park. It's much more enjoyable walking there when it's not raining and sodden underfoot.

Another very good dinner and we walked home after dark, to find no-one else here, again. Tonight, we won't be cold!

Saturday 28^th June Daikura Ski Resort, near Minamiaizu

Another early wake-up. There are various things I don't understand about Japan, one of which is – why don't they have daylight saving? Light at 4.30am, getting dark at 7pm. Weird.

I woke up thinking we are not having enough fun. Japan is not so easy – and I tend to compare this with our campervan in Iceland.

There the script was (basically) a latin script, and sort of comprehensible some of the time; here, it's not. We drive along and see road signs with no idea what they mean.

And in Iceland, English was widely understood; here, it's not – we've come across hardly any Japanese (except for those at Japan Campers} with anything but a few words of English. Alison and I need to talk to each other a lot!

In Iceland, we went and showered at their hot swimming pools; but neither of us understand the popularity of onsens here. Soaking in a hot pool (gender separated)? We'd just prefer a shower!

And Iceland is sparsely populated, while Japan is densely poulated.

So we decided that, when the next wet weather comes in a few days, we'll stay in a hotel for a couple of days.

We went for a walk through the park back into town, in the cool of the morning. (6.30am – silly!). Little was open except for the 7-Eleven. So we walked back and drove out of Nikko, to the north.

We needed petrol. I drove into the first petrol station; I'd driven in on the wrong side, and it was a do-it-yourself petrol bowser which I'd need time to work out. So I went to the next one, where 3 (!) attendants came out and filled the van with petrol (and I found later I paid for the service). I did use them to re-adjust the dashboard clock to the current time, something for which you needed good Japanese.

A little further along we stopped at Ryukyo Canyon, and went for an hour's circuit walk along a deep gorge with multiple waterfalls. A good walk. Alison tried buying an iced coffee from a vending machine afterwards, but failed. We don't know how to do it. Another example of us trying to spend money here, and being thwarted!

On we went, north along road 152. we stopped for lunch at the “Cat Buddha” - there was shop there with the story of the Cat Buddha, in English (!) there is meant to be a statue of it, but we never found it. But it was a pleasant shady place for lunch, by a little river.

Next stop was a Road Station. I thought that Road Stations would be like Australian roadhouses, and they are – except that they don't sell petrol! There's a shop, toilets, icecream van outside, along with a farmer's market; but no petrol. People stopped there, but I don't see why.

We stopped at a 7-Eleven instead, for an icecream, then looked for somewhere for the night. Alison found a closed ski resort 7km off the road we were on, and that's where we are. All on our own, quiet; better than any of the previous “official” ones. We got here ~ 3pm, with warm sunshine, mountains around us, and huge parking areas and large buildings of the resort. And it's been a pleasant afternoon with time to sit in the sun and read.

Sunday 29^th June Funatsu Park and Beach

It was a cold night, and we woke to a blue sky. After we'd (sort of) got up, I saw a van across the other side of the car park, and a man walking around. But he was just walking, and our presence didn't seem to worry him.

We drove back into Minimiaizu, and stopped at a 7-Eleven. Alison used her U-bank card at the ATM, and it gave us money with no problem. And on we went – but not too far, only a little side trip of 10km or so to the tourist village of Ouchi-Juku. Here, the main street is lined with thatched houses; most of them tourist-type shops. We walked up and down, and Alison asked for, and was directed to, a cafe. Here, we each had an iced latte made with great care by the barista. It was a good coffee in very good surroundings.

We bought a couple of little things, went up to the lookout above the town, and then continued. While it had been a cold night, it was already a hot day.

We went not very far, and stopped at Lake Watsato West Park. This was a lovely spot, overlooking the lake and dam. We parked the van in good shade, sat and read at the shaded picnic table for a while, then made a coffee. We were there for well over an hour.

It would be a good overnight spot, but it was too early for that; we drove further, into the big town of Aizuwakamatsu. “Aizu” is the biggest town we've been in; we found ourselves driving past the moat around Tsurugajo Castle, an old restored / rebuilt Samurai castle. We drove into the (paid) parking, and went in.

Today, we have been tourists; we spent nearly two hours here. Though, as usual, seemingly the only Western tourists. It was impressive and interesting. Lots of Japanese history, seeming quite similar in many ways to how English history was. Revolts, wars, etc.

By 3.20pm, we drove on. A temperature sign said 32º. Heading for the Inawashiro Road Station, where our iPad said there were coin showers. It did have showers – for emergency use only. Not for us. The lady there gave us a map of local onsens – but we wanted a shower! The Road Station was big and busy, and, as with the last one, we wondered – why?

We were heading for an overnight parking spot on Lake Inawashiro; but had only “emergency” food for dinner, and there is nowhere to eat out at, close to there. Luckily we passed a 7-Eleven, and bought 2 pre-prepared meals which they heated in their microwave, and we took along with us. (They were delicious).

The parking spot, next to the lake, was fine; reasonably busy, on a sunny hot Sunday afternoon, but almost everyone left at dusk. Having failed to have a shower, we had a swim instead; then washed our hair in a bucket. Dinner, a walk along the beach and around the place; it's cooling down now, but still very hot inside the van despite one window and the tailgate being open.

Monday 30^th June Funatsu Park and Beach

We slept in till about 7.00am this morning – the longest we've managed, yet, in Japan. And didn't leave till ~ 9am. We were going for a walk up Mt. Adatara, which involved a drive of 55km (which took over an hour) to the bottom of what is called in Japan a “ropeway”, but which is a gondola.

We took the gondola up to the top station, from where it was a nearly 1½ hour walk up to the summit – initially through quite dense rhododendron forest, then more open and exposed terrain. A steepish walk, at the end, to excellent views near and at the summit. On the way up we met a western couple (German / French Canadian) and we were able to have a chat in English. We've been here a week now, and these are the first English-speakers we've come across (excepting the staff at Japan Campers).

The way we planned to go down, a circular route to the bottom of the gondola, was not at all obvious. After trying Google Translate on the map we'd got at the bottom, Alison asked another walker. Despite language difficulties he pointed us in what was the correct direction – which went past the volcanic crater of the mountain, full of white ash and smelling a bit sulphurous.

Then we walked down. An easier down walk than the one on Friday; and while we were not absolutely sure we were on the right track, we were reasonably sure; and as it turned out, all was fine. After descending over bare rocky terrain we entered low shrubbery and the big trees.

We got back to the van at 3pm – a four-hour walk – and retraced our steps back to last night's beach, where we've parked in the same spot. When we arrived we had another conversation in English, with an American man who's lived here for 15 years. He soon left.

The parking area is much less busy than yesterday, but we do have a couple of people in a tent not too far away. Despite this, after Alison cooked dinner outside (using up most of our perishables) we went down to the lake for a wash with no pretence of bathers this time.

It is very hot in the van in the evenings lately, but at least it is bug and mosquito-free. It cools down at night.

Tomorrow we'll work out where to head for next.

Tuesday 1^st July Niigata

Another good sleep, on our own in this good spot. We slept in again, but not as long as yesterday; when we got up, I went down to the lake for a quick splash. Then we sat inside and did brain drain – mine was quite frustrating, but in the end it finished.

We had breakfast, and decided to go straight down to the west coast, to Niigata. It had begun to rain a bit, though it was not predicted; it rained on and off all morning, but then stopped. On our rate of travel the first couple of days, I thought it may take us two days to get to Niigata; but we're in the country now, and it was much quicker. A tad over three hours. Back through Aizu, a stop at a 7-Eleven to buy (not very nice) cakes for our morning coffee, which we made in their car park; change drivers, stop at a cafe in Aga for lunch – no English spoken and the menu indecipherable without Google Translate. A good lunch.

While there, only an hour from Niigata now, we looked up hotels; and decided on the APA Niigata hotel. We drove there; through the outskirts, with houses, shops, and factories mixed in with the ever-present rice paddies, and into the biggest town we've been in. Big! Alison guided us to the hotel, but there was nowhere to park, or to pull off the road; we ended up pulling into a paid parking lot, where we hoped it would cost us only 200JPY. (It did). We walked to the hotel, booked ourselves in, found out where we could park (the hotel has an “arrangement”), drove out of the parking lot and into a high-rise car park, which has a clearance of 2.1 meters. The van manages it with a couple of inches to spare, but it's close!

We walked to our room, on the corner on the 6^th floor. Unpacked. Put a load of washing on in the laundromat here. Went out for a walk; we have no idea about where the centre of town is – we walked across to the (huge) station, and around it; walked back, and then a helpful local showed us where the centre is. A different direction.

We've had an iced coffee in the little automated shop on the corner, then had a walk in the direction of the centre – not quite getting there yet thanks to a diversion into the big Aeon shopping centre, and having to return for the washing. Then out to have pizza for dinner, and we moved the van to a better location in the multi-story car park.

The change from the last week, camping out in quiet locations, to being in a hotel in a busy big city like this is enormous.

It is so different to now be in the middle of a large Japanese city; I'm glad we've come to see what it's like, but I think when we leave here, we'll go to less crowded areas.

Wednesday 2^nd June Niigata

How different, to sleep in a hotel bed! But sleep well we did. Got up, did this and that, tidied up emails, and went down to breakfast – which turned out to be in the little cafe next to (?part of) the hotel. A Japanese breakfast – we had a choice of seven items, which Google Translate shed some light on. Not a lot, though. I had No. 3, Alison No. 7. Mine came with rice, soup, some sticky bean things, some other sorts of beans, and a raw egg. I did eat almost all of it, and it filled me up – but, really, I prefer muesli.

We went over and visited the van, and dropped some things off, than went for a walk down to the Observation Deck of Niigata's tallest building. 32 storeys, I think. On the way – 10 o'clock-ish, walking by the river – there was hardly anyone else walking. Japanese are not morning people. It was already quite hot.

The view from the Observation Deck was good – two areas of high-rise (one of which has our hotel), a large expanse of one- and two-storey older houses, the docks (not very active) and a large solar farm. And the market.

We left, and walked around to the market. It was still before 11am, and most of it was still closed; but the vegetable market was open. And – it's Japan! All the vegies in the market were wrapped in plastic. It also sold rice – the first we've seen here, in anything other than 20kg+ bags; it was very expensive, by our standards. We bought vegies, and walked home, stopping on the way at the huge food hall / supermarket in the basement of the Aeon Shopping Centre nearby.

Home. An iced coffee, some fruit, a rest; and at 1.30 we set off for the Imayotsukasa sake brewery, where we'd booked an English-speaking tour at 2pm. It's in a 300+ year old building, and has been brewing sake for ~250 years. It was interesting (especially the old cedar barrels, bound with bamboo, in which some of the sake is brewed, but not matured; although mostly it's done in stainless steel now), and finished up with a tasting of some of their sake.

While it was interesting, it hasn't converted me into a sake drinker.

We returned though a bustling roadside fast food market. It was hot, and lots of the locals walked with little battery powered fans. We walked home to our room for a tiny cold bath and a read, and playtime. Clean and cool – different from being in the van.

Out again. As sometimes happens, we'd sort of missed out on lunch. Out we went, passing a full bicycle parking area where only ~ 2% of the bicycles were locked! This is a nice side of Japan. We revisited the food hall, went upstairs to look in the shops there (different to the ones at home), returned to the food hall, bought some food for dinner, and came home. We heated our dinner in the microwave on the the next floor up, and ate it sitting on the bed watching BBC news on the television. The only non-Japanese channel.

It's been interesting being in a city but two days has been enough. Tomorrow we'll continue our wandering northwards.

Thursday 3^rd July Samukawa Beach

A last shower this morning – who knows when the next one will be? - and we went for our Japanese breakfast (better than yesterday's – we'd had more time to consider our options) and we packed up our room, checked out, and walked over to the carpark. The house battery was at 50%, after 2 days not driving and running the fridge in very hot conditions – not bad.

We walked back into town for some supplies for lunch. Walked past a “Night Owl” bakery, and bought a very good half-baguette. Much better than what passes for bread usually, here. We needed no more food, but weren't in a hurry; we walked back to the river for a while. Niigata seems to turn its back on the river; the buildings along its banks are car parks and other nondescript buildings.

Eventually we reyrned to the van and drove it out – exiting the car park with the help of a very nice attendant. And Alison navigated us very well through the tangle of inner city streets and onto a main road north. We stopped for petrol and an ATM, and drove up to a parking area just north of Niigata. Just north, but it took the best part of an hour to get there. It was a pleasant spot, near the beach; we made a coffee (better than most we've bought here) and read in the shelter for a while; walked up the little tower there (whose purpose I have no idea about); walked onto the beach; and continued.

Lunch was at a “Park and Garden” further on, which was a bit overgrown and not as nice. Not bad, though.

Then we headed for our selected destination, a parking spot at a beach with showers. We stopped at a spot we thought was nearby, but turned out to be it! There was a nice beach, a little temple on a rocky promontory, and de-commissioned showers. It wasn't such a great spot, anyway. We drove on.

8Km further, we found a better spot. Near the road, and the railway line – but we are on such a narrow strip of land between mountains and sea, there's no avoiding that. We stopped ~4pm – a good time. A coffee, a walk on the beach, and finding that the river next door is a good place for a wash – a good flow of fresh water.

It is very good to be out of big city again. But a pity about the closed showers.