Holiday in Japan (Day 5)

We did not want to get up this morning, but eventually did at 7.30. We bathed in the communal bath downstairs: two showers and green water that was so hot I could only get up to me waist and only for a minute. James did not get further than the bottom of his left foot. Needless to say, we were not about to stick our hands in and pull out the plug.

We left our hotel and headed towards the information centre. Before reaching it, we found Godai-dō (五大堂 – Five person hall), which is a little temple across two bridges with every other plank missing. One theory is that it built like that to prevented kimono-clad women from crossing over. It was quite scenic and the temple itself had sculptures of the 12 Chinese zodiac symbols around its edge. We were hoping to see five statues of Buddha, which are brought out only every 33 years, including 2006, but it turns out that they are only on display for three days in August.

We made our way onwards and found Zuigan-ji (瑞巌寺), the main temple. It had some caves dug from the rock face outside it, with little statues dotted around. Inside the giant temple were lots of dazzlingly decorated rooms. There were rooms for different types of people, with themede decorations, e.g. the doctors’ room had flowers drawn on the walls, whereas in the samurais’ room there were eagles hunting cranes. There was a room where samurai of different clans were held in state after committing ritual suicide (切腹 - seppuku). In the room, there are now little death statues to each. Also included was a museum of various objects, which was interesting to wander round.

We left and found the information centre where we were given a map and various brochures. We crossed over onto Ojima (雄島) to admire the view. We made our way back, stumbling across Kanrantei (観覧亭), an old teahouse where we had a sweet and a cup of matcha (抹茶) on the tatami whilst various Japanese people stared at us. There was another museum associated with the place, with various trinkets of the Date clan inside. There was even a few English descriptions around that made it nice.

We wandered over to Fukūra-jima (福浦島) and paid the bridge toll that allowed us to cross the 252 metre bridge over the bay. The island is a natural botanical garden, with some good views of the bay. All around were oyster-pickers. We walked around the island for a while, despite the cold and the strong wind that seemed to worsen as we crossed back.

We caught the next train back to Sendai, the city of trees. The station had a funky escalator that went flat in the middle, which, unfortunately, was probably the most interesting thing about the city. We booked our next Shinkansen for the evening and set out to find some lunch. Through the wide main streets and thin back alleys, we found the place in the guidebook, but it had closed five minutes earlier (at 1.30pm!). Instead, we found another place in the same area. A friendly old couple served me with a tonkatsu and James with a tempura set that we both enjoyed. They could not, however, direct us to the castle, so we returned to the station’s information centre. We were directed to the city’s loop bus, called the “Loople,” but we decided its timetable required us to push back out departure by one hour. So, back we went to the reservation desk to rebook our train before heading to the castle.

Nothing remains of Aoba castle (青葉城 - aoba-jō), save a wall, which you could see from the bus, and a reconstructed guardhouse, which we never found. There is a shrine to some war dead and we liked looking at the little prayer cards hanging there, however the place has mostly been turned into a tourist attraction, with restaurants and awful music everywhere. There is a statue of Date Masamune (伊達正宗 – 1567-1636) – the masamune is a sword, and appears in many Final Fantasy games – and another giant eagle atop a tower, which were both cool. We walked back down the hill to the previous bus stop, simply to waste time, and returned to the station. After the now standard bakery stop, we left for Utsunomiya. Once there, we ran to make our connection within the necessary two minutes and succeeded with much time to spare.

We arrived safely in Nikkō and booked tomorrow’s trains. We then made the 20 minute trek to our lodging, stopping by the police station where there was a map on which different places light up and buzz when you select them! We left our bags at the hostel and returned to town. We planned tomorrow’s sightseeing tour back at the light-up board, before going for an Indian dinner in “Asian Garden.” I had a keema curry and nan, and James had a chicken dish, some nan and some saffron rice as a set meal. We were the only people in the place, and the waiter, who spoke to us in English, stood around awkwardly. There was a Japanese music programme on a wide screen television showing a countdown interspersed with old songs that the pop stars of the show’s panel had performed. It was interesting to watch though not always pleasant on the ears.

After finishing, we made the uphill, dark wander back before door locking at 10pm. We watched a little Lord of the Rings of TV before bed.