I just spent almost 3 weeks in Japan for one of the longest vacations I have had for a long time. We travelled to Kyoto, did the Kumano Kodo hiking trail and then to Osaka with a group of good friends we have known since Uni days. Then off to Tokyo to meet our 2 boys for a few days before spending a few nights outside Tokyo and finally another 4 nights in Tokyo again.
Our group of close friends have been celebrating our 50th birthday milestones over the last few years, the last one being in Macau. This time, the 2 youngest ladies who crossed their 50th decided to be more adventurous and embark on a self-guided 4 days trekking holiday over the famous Kumano Kodo trail.
We arrived in Kyoto on 26 Nov and spent 2 nights there doing sightseeing, lots of eating and photo taking. We even had kimono dress up to run around the temples to take memorable group photos. We did all the touristy stuff before moving on to the real highlight of the holiday.
The good thing about the hike was that it was the first time for all of us, so we really didn’t know what to expect. The bad thing was that it was really much harder than we thought for city dwellers like us. It did not help that we were constantly reminded of the shrines along the trail that indicated that many have died trying to complete this religious trekking path over the centuries. Being self-guided means that we were totally on our own in the middle of the forest, just the 9 of us.
Given that the sunset was much earlier at 4.30 pm, there were not much sunlight hours to complete the walk every day. On the first day, we made the mistake of having a sit-down lunch before starting our supposedly 2 hours short hike at 2 pm after taking some time in the morning to arrive at checkpoint 1 from Kyoto. The other thing was that since it was our first hike, we tourists stopped multiple times for photos that took up more time.
It was almost pitch black by the time we reached the last 30 minutes of the 1st day of the walk as we had to arrive at the small village where our traditional ryokan was located. It was run by a family that had been managing the accommodation for over 90 years via 3 generations. They had 6 rooms upstairs with a common toilet and dining room plus kitchen on the ground floor.
Maybe it was to manage our expectations, but the first night was at a really traditional ryokan and the accommodations got better over the next 2 nights. This one was very rustic and it was just like our kampung days. Just going to the shared toilet in the middle of the night was challenging as it was almost zero degrees in temperature in the middle of the morning. I still had my banking consultancy job to do and replying to emails at 5 am in the toilet while freezing my butt was a bit of a stretch 😉
The 2nd day was a 4 hours walk which we took almost 6 to complete with sightseeing, photo-taking and a bento lunch break in between. Two persons in our group took the shorter 2 hours trek for medical reasons. We had a relatively modern ryokan that night.
For the final 3rd day hike, we all decided to do the 2 hours leisurely walk instead of the robust 6-8 hours one. The last night was at the biggest and most well-established ryokan before we headed back to city life in Osaka.
Wife and I then left our friends to take the Shinkansen to Tokyo to meet our 2 boys. The younger son had arrived there earlier for a grad trip with 8 friends while the older one just flew in that day. We regrouped for 4 nights there and got to know the city very well before we moved to the outskirts of Tokyo (about 2 to 3 hours outside) for another 4 nights.
We did a Glamping one-nighter which was my hightlight of the trip. It was a very relaxing camping compound where we were allowed to harvest our own vegetables (large daikon and cabbage) which we used for the hotpot within our own wooden cabin that night after a nice onsen dip. We even had a nice campfire where we roasted marshmallows and drank hot soup in the cold autumn night.
Then it was onto 2 nights in Hakone before another overnight stay at a renown onsen called Takaragawa. We decided to skip a night at Nikko city and headed to Tokyo a day earlier as the boys wanted to do a day trip to Disney Seaworld. Thereafter, the last 3 nights in Tokyo was spent doing last-minute shopping and more eating.
It was a great vacation with close friends and then the whole family. The last one in the UK was 2 years ago before older son went into the army for National Service. It will be the other one’s turn next month, so the chance of a whole family long vacation for the next 2 years is low. Also, the older son is going to the UK for his university in Sep 2020.
While Japan still looks exotic even for us Asians, I feel that it is less vibrant now as the population ages. Others like China and Korea are more “happening” now. Japan has been in a slowing economy since 1990, being propped up by more and more government spending. I pity the younger generation there who seemed a bit lost as to where the future lies. Coupled with the recent natural disasters, it is quite disheartening.
There are still so many places there for return visits but other parts of Asia are also calling. I think I have enjoyed enough of Japan, for now, to last me quite a few years before returning back here again.
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