Kanazawa - Visit to World Heritage Villages

Today we visited several Unesco World Heritage designated villages about an hour by bus from Kanazawa.  It was in the mountains above Kanazawa, and was very cold - low 30s.  There was snow on the ground, so I wore 3 layers of clothing.  The villages feature houses with thatched roofs, which last a long time but are costly to replace when they wear out.

Here's another village we visited in the same area:

We stopped at a former school, now serving as a community center, to see how to make the traditional Japanese food called mochi.  Mochi is made using a special rice that is cooked, then pounded with a wooden mallet.  Here is Joe doing his best not to hit the hands of the woman who was rearranging the rice after each stroke of the mallet:

Our next adventure in the area was to a company that makes traditional Washi paper.  We each made 3 postcards out of Washi paper.Washi paper is very durable, and I think waterproof.

Here is my lunch for the day, served at a local restaurant.  All vegetarian dishes, and tasty:

Here's our tour group at the lunch restaurant in the mountains:

1st Day in Kanazawa Garden & Historic District

We woke up early and went for a walk through the Omichi market which was a short walk from our hotel.  It was early so shop keepers, mainly fish sellers, were busy setting up.

Here are some fish:

An assortment of sweet potatoes.  I thought there were only 3 different types, but clearly there are way more than that:

After breakfast, we visited Kenrokuen garden in Kanazawa, one of the most famous gardens in Japan.  That reputation is well deserved based on our short visit.  Here we are across from the garden:

While we were in the garden, weran into my sister Ellen and her husband Lawrence.  We knew they were in Japan at the same time as us but never thought that our paths would cross. Here are the three of us siblings:

I like the moss covering the root ball of this tree:

Cherry trees lining a stream:

Cherry trees framed by pines:

Ann, Ellen and Lawrence heading into a shrine:

Cherry blossoms lining the road:

We next visited an area of old wooden buildings, here being watched over by Joe:

The 3 siblings at dinner in a sushi restaurant that night:

Photo of our meal:

Hakone sculpture garden

We visited the Hakone sculpture garden. I'm not a museum person, but I did enjoy this.

Stainless steel piece:

Another stainless steel piece, with a selfie:

Interesting piece made of colored glass:

Ann and Joe soaking their feet:

Tokyo unusual buildings

The high end shopping streets have some nicely designed buildings.  Here are some of them:

Day 5 3d day in Tokyo

Today our first segment was at the shops around the Tsukijii Fish Market.  Unfortunately tourists are no longer allowed into the fish market, but there are numerous stalls around the market selling food, produce, fish, etc.  One of the stalls was selling a confection comprised of a sweet dough in the shape of a fish, filled with sweet bean paste and grilled.   Delicious!  In my younger days I would have eaten several of them, but now I have to be satisfied with only one.
Here is the sign describing it:

Here is the woman working the cast to grill fresh ones:

We had lunch at a sushi restaurant near the fish market.  Here's a photo of the chef with our order and Ann & Joe's order of an assortment of really fresh sushi:

Hakone - Food & Hot Soaks

We left Tokyo for Hakone, a town in a mountainous area near Mt Fujii.  It is in a national park that features a lake and many hot springs.  Our hotel has hot spring baths and delicious meals.  

We arrived in the late afternoon, and decided to go for a pre dinner soak in one of the soak rooms for couples.  Before getting into the hot pool, you have to wash thoroughly at a station with soap, shampoo and a hand shower.   Then we got into the hot water.  It was like being in a very hot hot tub, so we could only take about 5 minutes of soaking..  We then rinsed off and went to our room to recuperate for dinner.

Hotel guests are provided with Yukatas (light cotton kimono) which they are encouraged to wear in the hotel, so our tour group all wore them to our dinner in the hotel.  Here we are at our 1st nights dinner:

Here is our tour group, getting ready for our multi course meal.  Ann & Joe are on the right.

The next day we took a cruise on the nearby lake, and were treated to a rare view from a museum of Mt Fujii in the distance:

Lunch the next day was a very nice buffet at a lake side hotel. These 2 photos show about 1/4 of the food choices:

These next photos are my main dishes followed by my dessert:

Day 4 2d day in Tokyo

Today, instead of going on an optional tour to Kamakura (we've been there, done that), our friend Susan Greening, who lives in the outskirts of Tokyo, met the 4 of us (me, Marge, my sister Ann & her husband Joe) in the am to give us our own private tour.  We started out by heading to the Seibu department store and raiding their prepared food department.  We picked out some of their edible art for our picnic lunch.  We would have bought way more than we could possibly eat because it all looked so tempting, if not for the prices.  For instance, 4 Vietnamese style rolls, with prawns, with smoked salmon/sour cream, with vegetables were 2850 yen, or $26.  We got several varieties of cooked fish, a salad that included Kabocha squash & sour cream, a noodle salad.  Susan got some beer in glass bottles.   Then we headed to an area famous for a river walk lined with cherry trees.  Large cherry trees line both sides of the stream - cherry branches heavy with blossoms droop down over the stream, and in many places, there are so many white blossoms in the water that it looks like a light dusting of snow.  We walked several miles before finding a spot for our picnic under the cherry trees.  Susan had brought several blue tarps, which are the traditional ground covering for a picnic.  

Here are some of the edible art at Seibu:

Cherry trees full of blossoms drooping over the stream:

Marge, Susan & Ann toasting my cup:

Our spread of goodies:

After lunch we toured the Edo-Tokyo museum featuring the history of Tokyo during the Edo period.  Lots of reconstructed houses & scenes of that period.

For dinner, on Susan's recommendation, we took a short subway ride to eat at a sushi boat restaurant that is very popular with locals and is very reasonably priced.  The sushi chefs are encircled by sushi plates & diners.

This was our first sushi meal of this trip, and it hit the spot.  Our favorite dish was one that we saw the chef prepare for another diner.  It started with salmon sushi, then he put some dressing on it, torched it, put another dressing on it then torched it again.  The result was salmon that was partly cooked on the top but buttery raw on the bottom.

The chef is torching the salmon dish for Ann & Joe.

Two happy & full diners:

We had 11 dishes of wonderful sushi, were full & happy, then were pleasantly surprised that the bill was only 2000 yen, or about $18.

Day 3 1st full day in Tokyo

One of the reasons we came on this trip was to see the cherry blossoms.  Our timing worked out perfectly because the blossoms in Tokyo are in full bloom, and only lasts for about a week.

We started the day with a walk through a small neighborhood with shops.  We passed this flower shop whose owner was relaxing among his flowers.

We passed a young lady with a wagon full of her little charges

We started our 1st day with a visit to the cemetery where the last Shogun is buried. Fortunately there were a profusion of cherry trees in bloom.

Saw a container hotel with rooms the size of large caskets.  4200 yen per night. about $38.  Our hotel, which I think is a businessman hotel, is about $150 per  night.

We had lunch in a restaurant popular with locals.  The entre was fried chicken which I liked, but Joe didn't

Cherry blossoms in bloom in many places, being witnessed by throngs of people in Ueno Park.  Walking through Ueno Park's avenue of cherry trees felt like trying to swim upstream through a river of people.  

Dinner was at an Izukaya restaurant about a 15 minute walk from our hotel.  I think an Izukaya