Holiday in Japan (Day 4)

It was a strange night’s sleep. I was restless and the bed was not particularly comfortable as I had no duvet and my bags were sharing my bed by my feet. I was up at 6.15, ready to get off at our stop, though it became apparent that the train was over an hour late. We have been crawling along most of the way, presumably to produce less bumps and to aid sleep. We finally arrived in Akita two hours overdue.

We attempted to book out next set of tickets, but a strange station worker greeted us, practically forcing his assistance upon us. This would have been fine if we had not known what we were doing, but though he had good intentions, he just delayed us. He spoke an odd dialect of Pidgin English, often inverting numbers and calling us “customer.” He booked one ticket for us and then pulled us away from the counter to explain (badly) what the ticket had written on it. We told him we would like to book a train after that (which we would have done ourselves at the same time if we had the opportunity) and he proceeded to join the back of the queue and repeated the whole process.

We eventually escaped and located a post office and a bakery. I had a chocolate muffin along with a chocolate-filled pastry. We both got a free slice of white bread with our order. We caught a train to Kakunodate, with the snow beginning to fall heavily on the way, where we went in search of some samurai houses (all that there was to see). Our search took us via a library, where the people helpfully pointed us in the right direction and drew us a map.

We entered Aoyagi-ke (青柳家) house, with its collection of armour, toys, paintings, and even an old gramophone section. There was a nice, snowy garden and some ladies were hand-making pressed-flower necklaces. We both bought a set of six chopstick holders in the shape of dogs/wolves that fit together in a circle.

We returned to the station (buying apples on the way) and caught our next train to Morioka. From there we took a Shinkansen to Ichinoseki, where we discovered that our connection was 40 minutes later than we expected, further pushing back our schedule. We ventured outside to the bus stops in the hope of there being a quick bus arriving soon. We asked one driver, who then drove us the 50 metres across the bus park to the correct bus stop!

We decided the bus was not worth it and instead went into town where we had a hot chocolate each at “Acorn Cafe – Handful of Acorn.” It came with a dollop of cream on the side and was tasty.

We returned to the station and caught our train to Hiraizumi, a pleasant, little town containing two famous temples. First, we went to the information centre, where we retrieved a map. Then we walked to Chūson-ji (中尊寺), stopping off at a ruined building, and taking a small detour up a hill to some place that we decided we did not want to pay to get in on the way.

Chūson-ji was about 1km up a hill. We had but 30 minutes in which to see the whole place before the closing time at 4.30pm. We found one large temple, before paying to get into Konjiki-dō (金色堂 – Golden Coloured Hall), the main attraction. Included was a short museum tour, all in Japanese, but there were some large gold-leafed Buddhas. We also liked some gold paintings on purple cloth. The main piece, and the first Japanese National Treasure, was in another building, housed in a glass case: a tiny temple completely covered in gold leaf, with a depiction of Amida Buddha surrounded by many other characters. It was interesting, but not particularly beautiful; it just seemed a little over-the-top.

At closing time, we left and headed for Mōtsū-ji (毛越寺) and its paradise garden: 浄土庭園 (Jōdo-teien). On the way, we passed down an avenue of yet to bloom cherry blossoms. We arrived five minutes after closing time, however, so, disappointingly, we could not get in. I think we are learning that one should see Japan in the morning. We had a peek over the fence, but what we could see was not that pretty.

We returned to the station, via a nature reserve containing a little pond with an island, though there was no visible nature. We caught an earlier train then planned back to Ichinoseki, which the conductor held for us as we crossed to the platform.

Back in Ichinoseki, we found a ramen shop for dinner: a set of chūka (中華 - China) ramen and a half-portion of chaahan. It was very tasty. Afterwards, we wondered about a little more, before catching a Shinkansen to Sendai and then onto Matsushima. We found our hotel easily and a little lady told us the rules: be back by 10 o’clock if we were going out, and do not take the plug out of the bath (Japanese style). We did not go out, and instead planned tomorrow and played some more cards.