Russell Coight adventures: 2015

Well. We've had a break for a while and after some "Japlanning", we were very excited to be going on our long awaited trip to Japan. Japan is a wonderful country. The people are polite, everything is efficiently run, everyone sticks to the rules, you eat fish for breakfast and the transportation system is out of this world. We loved it!

We had a steep learning curve. James has difficulty with balance at the best of times. Even more difficult being 7cm taller than the ceiling

Learning curve continued: ALWAYS wear underpants under your Yukata. James got so into "Japanese style onsen nudity", he thought it was okay to get straight back into said Yukata after his evening onsen with no undergarments on. Cross legged sitting does not lend itself to this. Our dinner partners opposite didn't eat much that meal for some reason...

Well done Minh-san. All class

Our first stop was Yokohama, where Min's cousin (once removed) lives. Roslyn and her husband Shuji took us to the amazing Yatsusankan Ryokan in a small town called Furukawa.

They even had traditional electric Japanese massage chairs

The onsen at the Yatsusankan ryokan. They're divided into men's and women's. You sit on the stools at the right, wash yourself down and give yourself a good scrub, then get into the very hot water. Nudity is a must. This one had an outdoor section with hot water fountain too

Lucky we had a cheat sheet

Min's family left us at Matsumoto and we were free to insist locals pose for photos

We'd also lost our amazing Japanese tour guides so certain things became difficult... like eating

And toileting. Note to self: No matter what unexpected noise or water jet emits from a toilet, do not jump off the toilet in fear. You will get wet

Matsumoto castle

Next stop Kamikochi, the base of the Japanese Alps. Amazingly well equipped Japanese hikers come here to explore the area. Everyone had hiking packs... except Min. She made James carry her stupid suitcase because it looked so stupid and was hard to wheel over the stupid rocky terrain

An incredibly beautiful area. The Kappabashi bridge, Kamikochi

It's not a holiday without a perilous walk involved. We (mainly James) decided to walk up Mt Yakadake. An active volcano. "No Min, don't worry about all the Japanese hikers with climbing helmets on... they're a very cautious people"

There was our destination. "Don't worry Min, the hut has some spare helmets to wear and we're going just to the left of the volcano smoke"

Actually... maybe it's the right?

"You know what... I know exactly where we are. Let's just ignore the gale force winds, poisonous volcanic smoke and enjoy the views!"

Either we had a reaction to the volcanic smoke or the altitude somehow affected the fluid distribution in our faces

Eating in the Izakaya's (Local Japanese pub) were fun. Especially once everyone stopped laughing at the only non-Japanese people in the place who ordered who knows what from the menu

We caught the fast train down to a town called Tanabe to start a five day walk called the Kumano Kodo. It is an ancient pilgrim walk that began in the 700's and passes through small shrines in the forest on the way to three big shrines. The Japanese are so organised, not only do they mark the way to go... they also mark the way not to go!

Each night we stayed in a Minshuku, a traditional Japanese B&B. We would take our evening onsen, dress in our Yukata, and go and have our dinner. After doing the walk for a day and being in Japan for a total of 8 days, we were basically Japanese. We blended both culturally and physically so that it was very hard to separate us from the locals.

See above caption

We just enjoyed sitting down and breathing in the zen. Luckily we had our traditional lunches wrapped in banana leaf

On our second night of the walk, we stayed in Yunomine. A little town with a hot spring stream running through the middle of the town. There is the local communal hot water pot where you can cook your eggs and vegetables

"Another 2 minutes I reckon James". See... we had become so enveloped in the culture that it was hard to separate us from the locals (Min on the left)

There was a private hot spring onsen in the middle of Yunomine. Don't look too closely!

Minh-san on her way to the tea ceremony with important Japanese business men

Our accommodation on night 3. An old school converted into a Minshuku. Our anniversary too. James you old romantic you...

That's the key to a good marriage... still making an effort (with things like regular shaving). Sorry Min, there is nothing to be done about the huge bald spot!

The final day and we had to go up 'the body breaker'. We got an early start

Actually quite a pleasant stroll

We didn't know why there was such a build up about the body breaker. The five days of walking were very do-able for experienced walkers like us. Only a touch tired by the end

Our destination. Nachisan (and more stairs)

Next stop Kyoto. What an amazing city. Fushimi-inari shrine. Don't be fooled... we got here at 5.45am before the numerous Japanese school groups arrived (Kyoto is the Japanese school excursion equivalent of Canberra)

We weren't early enough here

Or here

Or here. We made friends with the year 4's nonetheless

Tenryu-Ji temple and garden

It's hard to capture how beautiful some of the gardens and temples are. Sometimes its all about the angle of the lens. Min doing the 'crouching tiger' to get that special edge

Hidden dragon?

It's sometimes very difficult to tell the real geisha from the 'dress up for a day' ones

We then went to the amazing city of Hiroshima. This is the observatory where the atomic bomb in 1945 detonated almost directly above. It is lit at night and looks just as it did the day after the bomb destroyed the entire city and killed over 100000 people. An outstanding exhibition, museum and memorial and now fun and vibrant city

And we found a very cool bar there, Koba. It's a heavy metal bar that plays film clips on the wall, serves great food and the hilarious bar owner just stands and chats to everyone. Thanks Mitsuyuki!

We then went up to Naoshima. A little island in the Japanese inland sea. It is a rejuvenated fishing island thanks to an art project that began there in the early 90's. You rent bikes and go to different art sites during the day