the Nikko-special

So, today I made it for my Nikko trip. In fact, I was a little upset by the idea of having to give up my little outing to this place, because the japanese team had arranged another meeting tomorrow afternoon. So I was straight decided to go there at any rate. I left the ryokan in Hakone at 7.45, without much regret if not for the fantastic hotspring. In the end, they even (politely) refused to carry my luggage downstairs, with some excuse... bah, awful service, average food, moderate location, and the room was exposed in such a way that I had sun coming straight through the main window at morning, so today I opened up my eyes at 4.30 am !! Fortunately, this early leave gave me the opportunity to skip the japanese breakfast. I like it, in general, but having all those salty things early in the morning, never a cup of coffee, never a sweet, I mean, a little chocolate chip, nothing! After a few days I am so hungry for chocolate that I could kill a shop teller and hold up all his cookies.

However, travelling in Japan is very easy, once you understand the way to jump from one train to another. Dead times are almost nothing, and you can match nicely your trip with your needs. In fact, I was in Nikko before noon, which is a little amazing.
Well, wherever you read around here, "Nikko is Nippon", they just say the truth. This cluster of temples, shrines, buidings etc., is really a showcase of "classical Japan", better arranged even than many places in Kyoto and Nara. Buildings are more recent (even if the oldest ones date from before the 1000 or so, they were rebuilt and their functions changed several times), but nonetheless original, dating for the largest part around 1600, the age of the Tokugawa shogunate. In fact, from its original destination of a sacred mountain, with a number of buddhist settlings along the ages, the Nikko complex had been transformed into a family-run sacred area, hosting the tombs and mausoleum of several prominent members of the Tokugawa, among which the famous Ieyasu,and his son. The setting is indeed impressive, with a large use of gold leaf even in the exterior frames of many buildings (which call for a continuous restoration; unfortunately, one of the most beautiful spots, the famous cedar alley lined with tens of perfectly aligned stone lanterns and its vermilion wooden wall, was under restoration and invisible). Cedar trees here are of memorable height, just like those I saw yesterday (in fact, they were planted about at the same time). Overall, the taste is somewhat more "baroque", compared to the feeling of sheer antiquity that you feel in Nara, and with many decorations in chinese style, a sort of 'revival' styling during the early Edo era.

Anyway, as I wrote before, I was already in desperate need of some sugar, and the walk under the intense heat was such that I had at some point a sort of hypoglycemic crisis. I literally jumped at a kiosk, bought a box of 10 chocolate cookies (50 kcal/cookie) and ate it all in about 3'. Then I raped a vending machine, and drank two Suntory Lemon Water CC37 (the VitaminC of 37 lemons in each bottle, and another 67kcal each). Only then I was satisfied!!

Besides, I keep learning a lot of nice things about customs and pop culture in Japan. For example, the employees of the transportation system, they look very similar to soldiers with their perfect military-looking uniforms. But they have all the typical kindness of the japanese society. For example, the ticket controller on the Shinkansen, at every new car he enters, he takes off his hat, bows deeply to 90° position, and repeats something that means "Goodmorning ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to control your tickets today". And then goes on. This makes a pair with the bus drivers, who drive with their hands covered in immaculate white gloves, and say "Goodmorning, welcome onboard" at every single new customer who jumps in their bus. The taxi drivers, by contrast, have all the same poker-face, a sort of grim look sculpted by years of cigarette smoking that probably comes together with the cab license.

As I wrote already before, the whole japanese society seems based on the idea of the respect for the others, to an extent that is unmatched in the western world. For example, the cards that signal some prohibition, be it in a public bathroom or on the train or in a park etc. You see the usual signs of "forbidden", reminding of the street signal with a red cross bar, and of course a carefully bulleted or numbered list of what to do and what not to do. But the funny thing is that, every time, the prohibition is accompanied by two drawings, one showing a man or a woman or some little kid doing the 'wrong thing', and right next the same character doing the 'right thing' (like for example taking off your shoes before entering the public lavatory). And, even more funny, each one of the two drawings includes one or more other people, showing a grim, furious face in the first case, and a happy, relaxed face in the other case. This marks without any doubt that the prohibition is not there just to make you upset, but to make everybody to behave, to remind you that you are part of a society and do not live by and thanks to yourself. In fact, it is legendary how the japanese feel ashamed and outcast whenever they do something 'wrong', whatever this could be (as for me, I must admit I feel a little proud everytime I can break a bit the rules, even voluntarily, and surely would have a hard time accepting the strict japanese society rules).

OK. Later in the afternoon (in fact, it was almost 7.30pm) I arrived at the Tamanaka ryokan in Ueno, Tokyo. It was such a maze of little streets that the cab driver got lost (another one with the famous poker face; now that I'm thinking about it, could it be always but the same one driver? I mean, couldn't they have cloned a typical one and have it repeated over and over in every city?). In fact, he nicely demanded to be paid only 1,000yen instead of the 2,400 etc marked by his meter. When I unpacked my stuff, I had another surprise: in the shoes I hadn't used since Kyoto, I found a paper note (you know, you leave your shoes at the entrance, and someone ranges them in a rack with a name tag). The american couple who was drunk all the time must have mistaken my shoes for someone else's (no wonder, they must have been drunk again when leaving) since the note, written on an envelope from the Park Hotel Tokyo, said: "Glad we met you, have a safe journey home! Karin and Chris". Mmmmm..... maybe they had some sexual exchange with another couple in the ryokan? strange days.....

However, after a quick shower (was nearly exhausted) I went out and walked in the heat of the night through the maze of tiny streets around Nezu, to find a place where to eat. I entered the one that looked nicer from the outside, and there was another welcomed surprise. The place, called Kushiage Hantei and built on the site of a beautiful old wooden building dating at least the end of the century, is a kushiage (eh!), one of those fried-skewers restaurants which my Lonely planet says to be "not particularly distinctive in appearance, the best places are found only by asking a japanese friend". So, mine was VERY good, the chef was a flamboyant improviser, and the skewers he sent along were totally amazing combinations (you don't even need to order, you just say how many more you want after a fixed starting set, and they send you whatever they have ready, in pairs or triplets, until you say stop). Great food experience, maybe a little expensive in the end, but the food came with a variety of appetizers and side dishes included, great roasted barley tea, and a beer, the whole for about 4,800yen (say, 30 euros). And I sat at a common oval table, with a number of other customers. I exchanged a few words with two girlfriends nearby who were outing together; no words but just a 'hello' with the odd couple in front of me, a middle-aged 'sararyman' in suit and tie, and a young girl all dressed up in a classy-sexy way and nicely decorated, quite evidently she was not his daughter!

After dinner, I went to check into a supermarket, just to get an idea of the kind of food and stuff you find typically in supermarkets (I had done this already in Tokyo Shibuya a couple of times, ending up in buying all kinds of strange stuff). In fact, you see on the shelves anything but strange food 8 times out of 10, only the meat cuts and some forms of noodles can be recognizable to our western eyes. The rest is incomprehensible bags or boxes, filled with awesome things that are supposed to be edible.... fun!! Well, I just bought a little cake to finish up the perfect food of the evening, since I didn't care to order the funny green-pink ice-cream-looking balls they were serving in the kushiage.

And tomorrow, wake up early for my last (self-assigned) photographic assignment!