Follow the Leder Estys

Three days after Aliya and Asher’s school year ended at the Canadian International School in Hong Kong, we hopped on a plane on June 15th to Haneda Airport for a 2 week holiday in Japan.

Fortunately, Raquel had found an amazing deal that gave us 2 side-by-side two room suites at the Conrad hotel in Tokyo.

In addition to the TV in the bathtub, Asher’s favorite part of the Conrad hotel was the heated toilet seat!

We had a delicious Teppanyaki dinner and then called it a night.

Our first full day in Tokyo, we started with a sky high view from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.  Then we walked around Tokyo Hands (an amazing stationery store) and Takashimaya Department store, where we saw (and sampled) amazing treats.

All the spectacular food made us hungry for a delicious Yakitori lunch (Ben’s favorite meal in Japan)

Then it was time for some Japanese culture:  the Meiji Shrine

And then the Tokyo alternative fashion street, Takeshita Dori in Harajuku, for some sweet treats and unique fashion spotting:

But the highlight of Tokyo was celebrating Aliya’s birthday!

For Aliya’s birthday, we all went to the Anime Museum, enjoyed a yummy sushi train lunch, and then had a surprise cake and champagne celebration back at the Conrad hotel.

The next day, we started our day at the famous Tsukiji fish markets for a sushi breakfast and a walk around the markets.

Then we tested our kids ability to adapt to other cultures by attending a segment of the all-Japanese opera at the Kabukiza Theatre.  The best part of the performance was the loud heckling by the audience.  The worst part was that there was absolutely no action:  2 characters kneeled the entire time, while the other performers stood over them and talked . . . in japanese!

Asher preferred the ever present video arcades that are off limits to kids under 18 after 6pm:

After 4 nights in bustling Tokyo, we hopped on the train heading south to Kamakura, the land of purple, sweet potato ice cream (matcha and blue cola flavors, too!)

After walking down the main street of Kamakura, buying a couple of Japanese clear umbrellas, and tasting all the delights, we took a quick train ride to Hase, to see the hydrangeas at the Hasedera temple.

The next day we woke up early to hike along a slip-sliding muddy trail from Kita Kamakura to the Big Buddha in Hase.  Asher’s favorite part of the hike was tossing the little ceramic plates at the rock to get “rid of the negative factors” in his life.  I liked going through the tunnel to the Zeniarai Benzaiten, the ‘money washing’ shrine.

We were filthy and sweaty and ready for a multi-hour journey from Hase to Ofuna to Odawara (on the JR Tobaido train) to Hakone Yamuto to Gora (up a steep elevation, on a switchback train past beautiful hydrangeas) to our Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Sounzan (on a a cable car).

Upon our arrival at the Gora Hanaogi Ryokan, we were greeted by 2 pronating women who removed our filthy shoes and offered us sugar coated beans and green tea.  After being shown to our room, we changed into our kimonos (actually they were “yukatas”, which are simple kimonos) and went to the onsen (the traditional Japanese baths).  Check out the cool “sleestak” socks!

After a luxurious soak in the warm outdoor baths, we changed back into our yukatas and went to our amazing multi-course feast.  I loved the little individual grills where we each cooked our own “melt-in-your mouth” delicious kobe beef!

Check out the amazing traditional fish breakfast we had the next morning!

After a feast of fish (and some unfortunate bones that got stuck in Asher’s throat), we hopped on the bus (since the Hakone Ropeway was closed due to seismic activity in the area) to catch the pirate ship across Lake Ashinoko to the Hakone Checkpoint on the old Tokaido road.

Asher’s favorite part was the absolutely delicious honeydew melon ice cream (of course we had to try their sweet potato ice cream and purple sweet potato ice cream, too!)

After taking a bus, the tramway, the bullet train, and a super slow train, we finally arrived in Magome, where we stayed in an old ryokan Tajimaya before we set off on our day hike of the Nakasendo trail (the old trading route from Kyoto to Tokyo).

The hike was beautiful and an amazing way for us to spend hours hiking as a family with almost no other people around us, which was quite a rare experience in Japan.

We hiked the 8 km trail along a cobbled road along streams, through woods, and past waterfalls and mountains from the traditional town of Magome with its old wooden homes to the rustic town of Tsumago.  The kids favorite part of the hike was ringing the bells along the trail to scare off the bears!

After walking around Tsumago, we took a car to our favorite Ryokan in Japan, Takiminoie, where we were the only guests staying in the house converted into a ryokan, with an onsen overlooking a roaring waterfall.

There were so many memorable parts of Ryokan Takiminoie: catching our fish fresh from the pond, soaking in the steaming hot onsen overlooking the rushing waterfall, the amazing multi-coarse fresh flavorful dinner, the luxurious futons, the assortment of yukatas to wear, the kind and attentive staff!

After another traditional fish breakfast, we set off for 4 days of Temples, toilet candy searches, Samurais, market feasts, bamboo forests, more temples, and delicious food in Kyoto!

One of Ben’s favorite parts of our Japanese adventure was all of the amazing signs (click on one of the signs below to enlarge)

But nothing beat the amazing array of food, amazing displays, and interesting ways to get the food – from vending machines to sushi plates that could be quickly tallied with a touch of a wand.

 

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