Well, I was hoping to be a little further along with these posts than I am. I got interrupted as Mom and I ended up going down to Seattle to visit my cousin for a very sad event. I think I posted earlier that my cousin’s wife was diagnosed with a brain tumour and wasn’t expected to live.

Mom and I went down to visit and she was alive but barely and we stayed to support my cousin and his family during her passing. She passed peacefully at home.

I am home now and will pick up where I left off. For those who are saying they are enjoying these posts, thank you as they are a great reminder to me so although they are a bit of work to put together and of course not quilting related, I am actually enjoying the trip down memory lane.

Let’s head to Hakone!

The next part of our journey found us heading into the Japenese countryside. We took a motor coach up into the mountains. On our journey, we got to stop at a Japanese Rest Stop. Defiantly not like the Rest stops at home. These are huge parking lots with restaurants and shops and very large washrooms! These things were massive with three rows of stalls, an electronic legend on the wall that told whether the stall had a western or squat toilet and whether it was vacant or occupied. There were also washroom attendants that were both cleaners and directing traffic inside the women’s washroom (I have no idea about the men’s) to help with the long lineups. Good ole Japanese efficiency.

(Remember to click the red arrow to see all of the pics)

Ashigawa Village

The OAT tours have what is called a Day in the Life and our trip took us to a very small village up in the mountains. This is a very old farming community and the majority of people living in the town are now getting older as young people don’t want to stay in these small villages.

We first stopped at a small farmers market where we met a local tour guide. It turns out she spent two years in Victoria as an exchange student where she learned English. From there we walked up to a small community hall where we met two ladies both in their 80’s. These women, Reiko san and Aiko san, have lived in the village all of their lives and grew up together. They were lovely women; they didn’t speak English but you could tell they were full of life and had a great sense of humour.

We helped (if you could call it that) make our “Houtou” local lunch which consisted of homemade noodles which we all got to help make and were then put into a hearty soup full of vegetables grown in the area. We were shown how to make rice cakes and we all had to make our own for lunch.

After lunch, the local guide gave us a walking tour of the small town. An older woman in the village was outside hanging her laundry and invited us into her home which was a traditional Japanese home built many years ago. The only upgrades were indoor plumbing and a bathroom inside. She explained (through a translator) about the history of the house and it’s very traditional furnishings and tatami mat floors.

(Remember to click the red arrow to see all of the pics)

Mt Fuji

On our way to the village, we had passed Mt Fuji, however, the top was covered in clouds so we were unable to get a clear view of the famous landmark. Of course, we had taken pictures anyway. Yoshi said that the possibility of seeing her was 2 to 3 times in 10 so having her play shy wasn’t unusual. Well, we were at the village the sun had come out so we were all hoping to get another chance at seeing Fuji and sure enough there she was in all her splendour. We were so lucky! We all asked to stop again so we could get new photos this time with the whole mountain and in the sunshine.

(Remember to click the red arrow to see all of the pics)

Re Cove Hakone

From there we headed to our hotel in the hot spring town of Hakone. Being up in the mountains the temperature was much colder and at one point it even tried to snow. The hotel was also a Japanese onsen which Hakone is famous for. In a Japanese onsen the hotel provides you a yukata which you can wear around the hotel to the hot spring baths and down to breakfast and dinner. Yoshi gave a demonstration to the group of the proper way to wear the Yukata and a lesson on the proper Japanese bathing etiquette. Women and Men are separate, you enter the baths and strip down to your birthday suit. From there you enter a bathing/shower area where you wash yourself completely and then you enter the soothing hot bath.

Since the weather had turned cold it felt so good to slide into the hot water and enjoy a nice long soak. Nude bathing, wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, however the ones of us who decided to give it a go, really enjoyed it.

Dinner was at the hotel that night with all of us showing up in our yukata. Yoshi was exited that we were his first tour where everyone showed up wearing the tradional garb.

After dinner some of us had a lot of fun doing a more modern Japanese tradition of karaoke.