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Published: January 28th 2014
I don't remember when we last went on holidays with the whole family. Must have been at least 20 years ago. Probably more. Either long enough to have forgotten what it was like or perhaps long enough for everyone to have reflected on their previous experiences and addressed issues that previously generated angst.
This time the kids sorted out the problem of having no-one interesting to talk to by bringing along a wife or husband respectively. The need for my hand to be in my pocket for the whole time was addressed by having children and their partners with actual earning capacity. Our son and daughter-in-law ensured that we were all kept entertained, concerned, happy and quiet (while there was sleeping about to occur) by the 13-month-old child prodigy who is our only granddaughter.
For this trip there was a plan. The destination, in general terms, was always clear. Our daughter and son-in-law are living in Japan for a time. The family – to be more precise, our currently 7 member bit of a number of larger families – had decided that we would get together in Japan over Christmas and New Year. The details of the plan were
Cairns Airport
Two JetStar flights leaving at the same time. Time they sorted this out.negotiated via email the way our family normally negotiates, that is, we all say we will go along with whatever is suggested by others, all of the time trying to shift things to fit in with our particular agenda – if we have one.
With the exception of the little one, we had all been to Japan before. Most had travelled a bit in the country and a few had an acquaintance with the language. Most of the major tourist places had been covered before so this trip was to be about catching up with relatives spread around Japan, visiting a few places that we hadn't seen for a while and just hanging out together in different places.
The decision was made to drive. We were aware of the cost of toll roads in Japan and also knew that roads other than toll roads can tend to be just a little skinny. A vehicle would, however, make it easier to manage the needs of the most important member of the group. Train timetables couldn't be expected to always be convenient.
The meeting point was Osaka. We flew into Kansai Airport which is about an hour away from
Osaka central by local train. We were too late to score one of the good deals at the airport hotel but found a good hotel just over the bridge with an onsen (hot spring bath). This wasn't quite a ryokan or minshuku but also wasn't as bare as most business hotels. It had a courtesy bus to the airport and back which also went to 'Link Town'.
Our best Japanese speaker had booked a 7 seater vehicle through Nissan Rental at the airport. They looked at our luggage and us and started to shake their heads. We looked at the 7 seater vehicle and did the same. There was nothing wrong with the sedan offered but we were going to have to strap our 6' 4” son-in-law to the roof rack and hang the baby seat off the back bumper to have any chance of fitting in.
The rental agency manager swung into action. He worked the phones until he found another, larger vehicle with another agency available for the period we needed, did an appropriate deal and had it delivered to us within 30 minutes. There was an increased cost but this wasn't dramatic and we had
Daikon in the Morning
Houses and buildings all around but this farmer is still going a vehicle that was well suited to our needs. I should note that the presence of a cute blonde baby who spent her time smiling at the staff and running about appeared to assist the process.
The only downside of the vehicle was that the satnav ('navi' in Japanese) was in Japanese. There was no English machine available. We decided to try it for a while to see how we went. We could pick up one with English if necessary. As it turned out it was fine. Programming a satnav is pretty much the same in any language. The problems arise when you need to put in an address. Luckily, our daughter speaks and reads Japanese very well and she could handle this task. It was more of a struggle when she wasn't available. If only we had realised earlier that we could have simply put in the telephone number of the intended location! We didn't work this out until the last couple of days.
Our first stop was at a minshuku in Shimotsui, a small-ish town between Kojima and Kurashiki. Our accommodation was in the Minshuku Chigusa. A minshuku is a traditional Japanese inn, normally family-run and
normally less flash and less costly than a ryokan. This minshuku was a very good example. Small, family run with about 8 tatami mat rooms. The familly was friendly, attentive and helpful, rooms were comfortable and clean and the bath was hot.
Kurashiki has an interesting old town that provides a glimpse of Japan as it was in a relaxed atmosphere. Japan has a history that the country is proud of and a culture that contains closely held traditions. At times this care for the past extends to buildings and certainly there are many buildings that are maintained well in their 'original' state. In a place prone to earthquakes of magnitude, and where people build using softwood, tiles and paper, buildings do need a bit of a tidy up or even reconstruction from time to time and, while you're at it, why not clean up the design as well? Fortunately, it is the stories that are often the best bit – unless, of course, you are an architect, or a builder, or more interested in buildings.
In Kurashiki we had lunch in the type of establishment that used to be a lot more common in Japan but which,
sadly, seems to be being replaced by family restaurants. The 'hole in the wall' places are tucked into corners typically with a counter at which 6 to 8 people might sit at a time. The menu is limited to a couple of dishes and the cook is the only worker. I guess if you cook the same 2 or 3 things day after day you either get very good at it or very bored. We were lucky enough to walk into a good one. The value for the language-challenged is that there is no menu to decipher. You just smile, point, eat, smile and pay. Our fish with sides of salad, rice and soup was well above par.
The other establishment they had in Kurashiki was a Uniqlo. Not much unique about that except that it provided the first chance those of us from the sub-tropics had to find warm clothes at a reasonable price. Shopping was done and we were all set for the forecast snow.
The highlight of our visit to the area was the place we ate at our first night out. It was the normal situation. Not much of idea of where to go
Uniqlo
Equals warm clothing but the best chance of a place that might be OK was going to be down in the town centre. We were advised not to walk. Dark skinny road, fast drivers and no lights for a couple of kms. Taking the car meant the need to park. Found a shopping centre car park. Decided to leave the vehicle and have a look around. Wandered down a street off the main road and spotted a restaurant called Isshin. Looked OK, a bit dark but we stuck our head in and were immediately welcomed.
It was a local restaurant and a good one. Tables on tatami mats, a group of half a dozen businessmen eating at the counter/bar and the food was excellent with each dish better than the last. We stood out a bit and, initially, there were the normal sidelong looks and some reserve. Things warmed up as the food and beer flowed and our little blonde icebreaker did her 'I will smile at you if you smile at me thing'. My daughter was able to converse freely in Japanese, my wife and daughter-in-law understood a lot of what was going on and the men of the family could
Kurashiki
Nice place to walk around pick up the gist. The little one created some excitement by slipping on the tatami, sliding down the wall and cracking her chin on the table but the situation was saved by a dish of strawberries provided by one of the staff who had noted her interest in the fruit.
We left before the night turned into a serious bout of drinking, taking with us a roll of extra special sushi that one of the men, who was apparently the mayor, had ordered made and presented to Lucy. We enjoyed it the next morning. Lucy was quite content with more strawberries.
And just a word of warning to those, like us, who would normally see a shopping centre car park as pretty much public space. Here the car park is likely to be locked after shopping hours. When we made it back to our car park, the shop had shut and our vehicle, along with one other, was looking quite lonely. A quick sprint, profuse apology to the gate man and we were let out. As we drove away we watched the last guy racing to do the same thing.
On to Shikoku now. First time for
Kurashiki
Getting to know Auntie us since a man in a passing truck with a very loud loudspeaker left the advertising script and announced “This is a pen, this is a pen”. I suspect that we were the only gaijin on the street in Kochi that day almost 40 years ago. Certainly, the people around all nodded and smiled.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Welcome back to traveling...
we've missed you, but after three years on the road you deserved a break. Traveling around Japan with family members, with the bonus of speaking the language, sounds like the perfect Christmas. So what's this about 40 years ago...time to fill in some history for us.