The Jukebox Clan Does Japan

[jukebox333]

Photos really don't do this walk justice. In the first kilometre especially, I was pausing at almost every turn to take photos





There was a trickle of older residents coming down from the falls as I climbed - most greeting the lone tourist with a smile and a nod. The silence was magical - just water, birds, and my footsteps. Such a contrast to Dotombori the night before...

Every few hundred metres there would be a small waterfall in the stream



And occasionally a still pool, that reflected the tree canopy



The insect museum marked the end of the gentle slope



The trail then had moderately steep sections, punctuated by flat areas of reprieve



In one area, there was a grove of tall trees - cedars?






All the time, the sound of water was a constant.

There were five (!) sets of public toilets along the way to the falls. And from about the 1.5km mark, strategically placed vending machines and snack stalls (closed at this hour) if you needed a boost



I was really ambling. I just needed to savour the peace and quiet. But by now there were a couple of pairs of western tourists power walking up behind me. I could hear them coming, carrying on loud conversations. So I lingered, taking longer with my photos, till they passed, and their voices couldn't be heard, leaving me to the tranquility





I was close now. The sound of falling water was much louder.



And then the falls appeared....





I had been sending Wendy photos on messenger as I walked, and it felt quite emotional being able to share the trip in real time. I sent a video too, which was the next best thing to being there.

There's an area of benches right next to the falls, where you can sit and enjoy them. It was such a wonderful contrast to the last three weeks - just nature, and solitude.

As I got up to leave, I noticed another sign... looking a lot like a wanted poster...



Monkey danger, apparently! More Planet of the Apes than Curious George, if you provoke them.

With all the hard work done, it was an easy walk, downhill all the way, back to the station, where one of Hankyu's shiny trains was ready to take me to my next destination, where I would meet up with the kids.



The temps had warmed up by now, and it was noticeable how the cool of the mountain disappeared as I walked down into suburbia. Many more people were making the walk up now - but not hundreds. I was so glad I got an early start.




I really can't put into words how wonderful this walk is. If you are visiting Osaka, nothing is open first thing in the morning anyway. If you leave Umeda at 7am, you can be back by 11am. Photos don't really capture the scale of the beauty, and the amazing contrast to the city, yet so close. Go. Walk this! That cool crisp air, first thing in the morning - you won't forget it, I promise.

 

[jukebox333]

So, from sublime... to ridiculous.

Just a few stops away by train, I met up with the kids at Ikeda station for our pilgrimage to...



Yep. A museum dedicated to instant noodles.



There's a display about the history and evoloution of the noodles





Including a section about getting instant noodles into space.

But the big attraction is you can make your own instant noodle cup!



You buy an empty cup, and decorate it...



The take it to the machine, fill it with a noodle load




Then choose the flavours you want to add, then it gets sealed up for you to take home



Some people took the whole thing waaaay to seriously, and came complete with full costume:





The company mascot is a chicken. Before he's made into chicken noodles, I presume






It's very popular, and was high in amusement, if not nutritional value

 

[jukebox333]

With the carbs sorted, we'd developed a thirst. Which Osaka has just the cure for...



Some might say Asahi beer is a religion. Well they have they stained glass windows here to prove it



We booked the factory tour. They pre-warn you it is all in Japanese, but there is an app you can load on your phone to give you English approximations of what's being said. I didn't bother, and the kids seemed to have some dramas, so it wasn't as successful as it might be.

There are lots of display panels - but all in Japanese. You can get the idea of what is going on, however. If you're a casual afficiando, you'll be fine.



I'd seen comments that the bottling plant doesn't run on weekends, so try not to go then. The line was working yesterday









The sheer numbers of bottles and cans produced is amazing. It's all high tech, and you sit down and watch movies at three different parts of the tour in different theatres - including one VR session.

This is the canning machine - they were bottling yesterday, so no caning...



The tour takes 90 mins, costs ¥1,000.

But wait. All that beer. Don't you get to taste some?

 

[jukebox333]

Why yes, you do!



At the tour end, you are taken to the bar, where the ticket includes two glasses of your choice of brew.



We got on the super cold, super dry, served at 2.2C



Even Levon, who isn't a beer drinker, approved



The second cup included art printing on the head





Oliver was messaging his mates in Australia. One queried if we were being served beer milkshakes...

Two beers down, our tour was over - and we were given a goodie bag with an Asahi glass, and as a special treat, a can of the just released this week Asahi Bitter-ist



This tour was great value - even better on a nice warm day! It loses a bit in lack of translation, but again, if you have the slightest interest in beer, manufacturing technology, or just tech, it's worth your time.

Kanpai!

 

[jukebox333]

So, when I got back to my room, for the first time on the trip, I just felt too tired to do an evening session. I let the kids head out to Dotonbori again, and I had an early night. The last time I did this sort of a holiday, I was married, had a partner to help with the logisitics, and was in my early 40's. Now, I'm 57, and enthusiasm can only take you so far.

I got a good night's sleep, and did a bit of souvenir shopping around Umeda before meeting the troops and jumping on the train to our only scheduled activity for the day, a tour of the Daimon sake brewery, on the Eastern outskirts of Osaka - almost western Kyoto, actually...



I've got mixed feelings about this one. The tour of the brewery was brilliant. We were guided by one of the decendents of the family who started the brewery, and shown all the different aspects of how they make sake







The sensei had a great sense of humour, and was very patient; you could see he really wanted us to understand the craftsmanship involved.





At the end of the tour, we were ushered upstairs to the restaurant, where there were a selection of sakes for us to taste.



Confession: as much as I love whisky, this was my first time tasting sake, and whilst I could taste the differences, the flavours on the palatte and the aromas, did not evoke the same response for me. YMMV, of course.

The meal that accompanied the sakes was nice enough, but to be honest, for the ¥8,000/head, and knowing these were not overly expensive sakes, it wasn't great value. I'd have liked someone to talk as though the sakes with the meal, or provide a more substantial meal with tasting notes and recommendations.

It did deliver exactly what was promised, but after Suntory and Asahi, it just didn't make a memorable occasion.

Perhaps if you were an afficiando, you might get more out of it than I did?

 

[Quickstatus]

Did he tell you about the number of times the rice is polished?

Each prefecture has their own Sake and they often taste different.

Some Sake are better cold, others warm, then there are clear and cloudy sakes.

Traditionally poured in excess - the Sake cup sits in a saucer and the host fills the cup so it overflows into the saucer as a mark of generosity.

I'd have liked someone to talk as though the sakes with the meal, or provide a more substantial meal with tasting notes and recommendations.

Agree. My in law relative a Sake Sommelier trained in Japan used to have a restaurant which he would pair Sake with food - now closed down due to Cov. That brewery should talk to my Cuz-in law

 

[rbjhan]

That's a lot of 工場見学 factory tour you did!

I'm planning one or two for the next trip....

 

[markis10]

Traditionally poured in excess - the Sake cup sits in a saucer and the host fills the cup so it overflows into the saucer as a mark of generosity.

Is it OK to drink what’s in the saucer “asking for a friend “

 

[Quickstatus]

Is it OK to drink what’s in the saucer

Sometimes the saucer is a small wooden box "Masu". There is no requirement to, but no one will choke on their ramen if you do.

 

[jukebox333]

Sometimes the saucer is a small wooden box "Masu". There is no requirement to, but no one will choke on their ramen if you do

Indeed. We were give a sample bottle of sake and a masu as a gift when we were leaving Daimon

 

[jukebox333]

So with Daimon done, we were on our last night in Japan.

There was some last minute shopping to be done, and we wanted to revisit Tsutenkaku by night.

The subway down there was pretty hectic...



But as we suspected, the place was buzzing as it got dark







The place with the boat out front had a boat inside, and you could catch your own fish which they then cooked up for you...





We stopped by Shinsekai markets, but they had closed for the day.

It gave off weird the-circus-has-left-town vibes:



Oliver spotted the most bizzare sign about waiting. It was too good an opportunity not to miss...



If you haven't visited Japan, one strange obsession are gachapon machines. For ¥500 you get a sphere from the machine with a toy in it - one of a series, the idea being you try and collect the set. The subjects are as wide and as weird as you can imagine. Probably darker, and funnier, too.



You can collect minature salarymen that sit on your cup noodles, for instance...



No, I can't explain it, and I'm not about to ask.

In DenDenTown I found a store selling SACDs that I had been waivering on since Tokyo, and capitulated. I don't buy myself too many things, and the Japanese editions of CD's and Blurays usually come with cool graphics and obis (sashes) that make them an attractive collectable.

We found ourselves at the edge of Dotombori, and in front of a pretty impressive ramen restuarant. That was dinner resolved - a huge bowl of ramen, with a pork cutlet, plus a slice of roast pork about A5 sized!



A quick stop at the supermarket for a ¥2,500 bottle of Grand Marnier to take home, and it was stumps for the final night.

 

[jukebox333]

This morning was a 4:30am alarm, for a 5:30am check out.

I'd disposed of 1 pair of sneakers after Nagano, but gained a bottle of Grand Marnier, two whiskey glasses, a sake masu, a beer glass, a 375ml bottle whisky, two tee shirts, and some bags of minature Kit Kats. It was a tight pack. The custom cup noodles and the sample of sake didn't make the cut, and I left them behind.

The subway was lightly loaded, and I'd bought our tickets for the Rapi:T on the way home the night before, so it was a straightforward trip out to Kansai. It's not a very scenic run out thru the Osaka sprawl, so nothing of note to photograph, sorry.

At the Cathay desk, we were asked if Wendy was travelling, and explained to the check in clerk she had been repatriated, and would not be using the two remaining legs. Thankfully this did not create any dramas, although they moved Levon next to me, rather than keeping her seat open, which was nice but not, if you know what I mean.

Security screening was diabolical. The screening itself was very fast, but the entire human input for departing flights was funnelled into two lines. These took 30-40 mins to get to the actual scanners.

Of course as time wore on, people were getting pannicked as thier flight times grew closer... and then started pushing in to the line. No fun at 7am.

As a result, by the time we got thru, our flight had started boarding. No Sakura lounge for us today.

The flight was short and simple, and we arrived in Hong Hong mid afternoon.

We're in Hong Kong for six nights. It was, and still is one of, if not my most favourite city in the world. Even the 3hrs I have been wandering around grabbing a SIM and sorting out some drinks, it just feels like it always has.

I am going to end my trip report here - partly because it's a lot of effort updating this each day, and partly because the things we do in Hong Kong are not particularly noteworthy - we typcially just wander where our noses lead us, will revisit old haunts, find new ones.

I'm going to give myself a week to decompress, and will write up an epilogue of sorts on the Japan leg once I get back home. There's a few observations, hints, and tips I'd like to put into a single post, that others may find useful.

To those who have followed along, and liked and commented, thank you - and thanks from Wendy for your kind words. She is settled in at home, and slowly getting her strength back. I miss her terribly, and know it will be an emotional reunion next Friday night.

Enjoy your travels, everyone.

Scott

 

[drron]

And thanks to you for a very good TR under extremely trying circumstances. You are leaving some great hints for those here that will be going to Japan for the first time. So sad that you could not share it with Wendy. But hopefully better times ahead from next friday.
Maybe you will need to do part of this trip again by youselves.

 

[rbjhan]

Thank you for this TR! Updating on the go is something I am simply not capable of
Impressive effort!

PS I love HK too.

 

[OZDUCK]

More thanks for your efforts. I am another one who cannot do Trip Reports until I am back home.

 

[VPS]

Great TR and you have more energy than I have. Hope Wendy recovers well. One of the nightmares of travelling

 

[Seat0B]

Thanks for your TR and I am another person in awe of your ability to write it as you travel.

 

[ncm]

Many thanks once again for a remarkable trip report Scott. It was great to follow your journey whilst preparing for and then arriving in Japan. Your curry bun suggestion on Miyajima was spot on and I now head from Kanazawa (thanks @drron for that one) to Nagano tomorrow and on to Tokyo next week with a few more tips to follow up.

Enjoy HKG, truly one of the world's great cities.

 

[Flyfrequently]

An amazing effort to do this TR on the go and much appreciated @jukebox333
Especially enjoyed the re created moments/photos with your boys!
Wishing you and Wendy special times ahead, thanks for taking us on your journey Scott.
Looking forward to your next TR "Scott and Wendy do......"!

 

[Pushka]

Thankyou Jukebox. I’ve been using your tips as we go. Will seek out those curry buns next Friday.

Best wishes to your family and future wedding plans.