Today we arranged an off-ship walking tour. Through Viator with a firm called Edge of Niigata, this was one of the few we scheduled that has worked out. Due to the current shortage of guides in Japan, we’ve had several canceled, making it much more of a sure thing to arrange through the ship. I know some people arrange things off the ship to save money, but my objectives are usually for a more personal, flexible experience. In any case, we really appreciate having professional guides when traveling in a country with such a language difference. Our British/Italian guide was married to a Japanese man and had lived here for more than 30 years.
It had developed there were going to be others on this tour (again due to the guide shortage). We found one of the other couples from our ship and shared a cab for the 15-minute ride into town to meet our guide. It was about $13; there is no tipping here and cab doors are opened and closed by the driver (which I keep forgetting). We were early, so had a nice stroll along the river while we waited.
Temps were in the 40s and rain was in the forecast. We learned a bit of history by the waterfront and saw a restored area that revealed the canal system originally an important part of this coastal city. There was also a historic former bank building that is now empty. The doors are left open so anyone can enter. It’s kept clean and in perfect condition by the city and was a stunning contrast to what would happen if a similar building was left unoccupied and open in the US.
We wandered off through residential areas to get to the Minato Inari Shrine. The lovely Shinto shrine featured an entrance flanked with some very unusual lions that could be rotated on their pedestals.
Continuing our journey through residential streets we were struck by how tidy, clean, and incredibly quiet it was on this Saturday morning. Eventually, we reached the Ozawa Family residence, built in the 1860s and occupied until 2002. The seven buildings housed the family’s very successful shipping business, as well as their living quarters. It was lovely and featured a beautiful collection of art work and figurines as well as a display of dolls and toys celebrating a special girls’ day held earlier this month. A similar boys’ day is a national holiday.
Our next stop was the Kotohira Shrine which had good examples of raffia-wrapped figural guards. I think these were lions- at the last shrine they were foxes. Binding raffia pieces together is unique to the area, and is done to ask for successful relationships – whether in business dealings or personal.
Niigata still has a Geisha District, but here they are called Geikos, and we were able to see one of the country’s few remaining districts with clubs and tea rooms where Geikos perform. These highly trained women are not prostitutes and excel in the arts of dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, conversation, and games.
Jumping ahead to say that later, back on board our ship, we were able to watch three perform and with a translator, answer some questions. It was so interesting. The singing was pretty jarring to my ears, but the dancing lovely. There are only 19 Geikos in Niigata and two of the women were still in the eight-year training phase. When asked to describe their typical day, I’m not sure the translator got the question right – this first to answer said she loved to watch Netflix! Not the answer we expected!
Back to our walk:
It was beginning to rain and we still had one more stop, the Saito Family Villa, a more modern home dating from 1918. It was beautifully designed and featured incredible gardens with views from every room.
My takeaway from seeing these homes is that they are freezing. Really cold. Since you take off your shoes, it’s even worse. They have no central heating or insulation. I don’t know how anyone lives like this. Our guide said even visitors from colder areas of Japan complain about how cold the residences are in Niigata. At least summers there are hot.
The rain was pretty steady, so we made our way to the city center and caught our ship’s shuttle bus back to warmth and a bowl of hot soup.
Despite the weather, I loved our brief time here and felt more understanding of the Japanese way of life. BTW, some of the lovely plum trees were blooming!
When the Captain starts his morning port arrival message for Akita by saying “ . . .it’s snowing, the most I’ve ever seen,” you know that can’t be good. And it was really coming down. As we slid into port, it looked like we were docking in Siberia (or at least what I could imagine, bleak, cloudy, and snowing, with industrial wind turbines whirling and a plant emitting plums of smoke).
I had some pretty adventurous plans for today but scaled back due to the weather. We started out later than intended, the snow stopped and some blue sky was peaking through the clouds. After taking the shuttle into town we walked to the train station. Akita is a pretty big city, (300,000) full of modern buildings, hotels, malls etc. Yes, this is where the Akita dogs originally come from. You see images of the dogs and stuffed dog toys everywhere. There is even a GIANT Akita dog in the middle of the train station. After reviewing the schedules at the station, I felt it was too risky to try and get to and from Kakuodate with enough time to see the samurai district, so we fell back to plan B.
First, we spent a chunk of time purchasing our tickets between Kobe and Kyoto for next week. The Japanese host on board our cruise ship advised we take care of this at the much smaller and relatively quiet Akita station. Not only is Kobe larger, but it should be peak cherry blossom time with a lot of train traffic. I’m glad we got the tickets, because it wasn’t exactly easy, and took longer than we thought to make sure we got it right.
We took a bus intending to ride around but decided to get off and explore Senshu Park. There were very few others in the park so we had a very peaceful experience wandering the grounds that previously housed Kubota Castle. Today, gates, a turret, and a guardhouse have been reconstructed. Snow was beginning to melt and fall off the castle gate and you could see the bumps on the branches of the cherry trees that will soon blossom. We knew we would not be seeing any blooms in this part of the country, but visitors in mid-April will have quite a show.
Walking back to our bus stop, we found ourselves in the middle of the conclusion of the Akita University graduation celebration. All the young men were in trim, dark suits with ties and the young women were mostly wearing traditional kimono outfits. There were lots of smiles, flowers, and photos. They were an impressive-looking group.
BTW, despite the fact Japanese students study English for about 10 years, we find very few who speak proficiently. That being said, everyone is polite and helpful, and since we are all fairly proficient with various translation apps – we manage to communicate!
Today was freezing. Literally.
As we cruised into Aomori, Japan the snow-covered Hakkoda Mountains were lovely. Mount Iwaki, a still active volcano that last erupted in 1863, looms dominantly over the horizon.
Our northernmost stop on this itinerary, the area is famous for apples, supplying most of the country from their three million trees.
We headed about an hour away to Hirosaki, which is considered the cultural center of this area. As we rode, we saw lots of rice paddies and apple orchards, as well as wooded areas and valleys still covered with pure white snow, despite the fact they had much less snow this year than normal. During winter months, it’s a big area for backcountry skiing.
Besides apples, the area is where floats are made for the summer festival of Nebuta. At night during the first week of August, these huge, intricately painted, fan-shaped floats (some 40’ tall) are lit from within and carried by teams of men holding long bamboo poles. At the Tsugaru Neputa Village, we saw beautiful examples of the floats, as well as workshops showing off souvenir figurines and small, colorful wooden toys.
The compound also featured shops, some loaded with apple treats, a very small garden (getting trimmed up for spring on this day), a snack bar, and costume center. For about 500-yen kids or “adventurous” adults can try on feudal warrior robes or a “princess” kimono. Bathrooms were very clean and nice (they never seem to have any way to dry hands here, so be prepared).
Seeing the wooden Hirosaki Castle was the day’s highlight for me. It’s currently in the final two years of a ten-year restoration. Major scaffolding runs along one entire moat wall at this juncture in the project. Winding paths intended to confuse attackers lead you to the castle, which is designed on one side to resemble a storeroom. It’s hard to see how this would really be a successful ploy. The original castle built in 1611 was destroyed by fire after being hit by lightning. The armaments stored inside created quite a conflagration. It was rebuilt in 1626 during the Edo period. Like most castles we find today in Japan, this one is a reconstruction, built in 1810. The grounds include 5,000 cherry trees which will be glorious in a few weeks.
Gates were elevated to allow for snowfall and roofs were constructed of copper. The stone used on other Japanese castle roofs would have cracked under the harsh winter conditions. It seemed fitting that while we walked the grounds there were snow flurries. Did I mention it was freezing?
Considered one of the seven most famous castles in Japan, construction was allowed because it was feared Russians or other foreigners would invade through this entry point into the country. Hirosaki Castle, however, was never attacked.
I chose our hotel, The Palace Hotel Tokyo, for its proximity to the Imperial Palace and garden views. It made it so easy and relaxing to stroll across the street to the East gate (Ote-mon) and enter the Palace grounds. Free to the public, the extensive grounds cover 280 acres and feature wide open spaces, bamboo stands, forest areas, cherry trees, and portions of the original fortress. Reconstruction of the original buildings has been true to their original form (if not function).
Dating from 1590, this was the site of the Edo Castle, home of the Tokugawa shoguns. Originally, the castle had 36 gates, of 99 total, in the outer wall, 21 watch towers, and 28 armories. In 1868, the Imperial family moved from Kyoto and took over the site.
BTW – if you are not watching Shogun (on FX and streaming on Hulu) you should and will not be disappointed. I read the James Clavell book decades ago and remember the previous two broadcast versions of the book. But this conceptualization is something special. Produced by a well-known Japanese actor/director they have corrected many of the cultural inaccuracies in the book to more exactly capture the past. It’s beautifully filmed and acted. The first four episodes dropped before we left, and I can’t wait to see the remaining six.
The Palace is a working compound and does house the emperor of Japan and his family. Although the original buildings are long gone, the walls, some gates, three watchtowers, and at least one guardhouse still stand within the impressive outer moat. The gardens are open most days, but public access to the Palace is restricted to just two days a year.
Both Japanese and Western landscape styles are evident and I think I was most surprised by the wide-open spaces and relaxed feeling. Other visitors, locals, and tour groups dispersed far and wide, and although upon entry you could hear many different languages being spoken, soon the only sounds you heard were your own.
We arrived mid-morning and by the time we left around noon, crowds were in line to pass through the screeners (security officers do look into any bags, backpacks, or purses carried in).
It was here we saw our first cherry blossom buds of this trip. Hopefully, there will be many more to come.
