No plan in Japan
The first helplessness came after an hour.
The color pink is popular in Tokyo - at stores as well ...
If only everything could switch to slow motionif all those lights, people, and cars slowed down, one after another and not all at the same time, brightly lit elevators rushing up and down the buildings, Japanese hit-parade stars dancing on huge monitors over flower fields, characters, maybe they are news tickers, wander over glass facades, everything is reflected in each other. And endless caterpillars with thousands of expressionless faces and thin legs come from all sides.
Since we left the safe English signage of the airport, we feel like two nutshells in the storm-swept sea. We did not want it any other way, our plan is not to have one: The photographer Nora and I want to travel Japan without a group, without a translator, without a travel budget in the amount of two monthly salaries and without a fixed route. We want to get to know the world, in which characters of Haruki Murakami often feel lonely and Bill Murray constantly shakes his head in "Lost in Translation". Only the hotel for our first night in the Tokyo district of Shibuya, "because the front left", says the guy, I have just held our map under the nose.
... as with manga girls
By daylight we are getting used to Tokyo's dimensionsAround 8.5 million people live in the 23 districts, nearly 35 million in the metropolitan area around the city, up to eight million of them jostling in the morning and evening subways, and about two million through Shinjuku, the largest in the country , Here hose-like pedestrian bridges meander over multi-lane streets and a tangle of tracks, behind which towers an office mountain like a futuristic sculpture park. We are wandering about between gray-blue mirrored towers, allowing ourselves to be transported from elevators to great views in seconds. We walk through stores where there are no shelves and no sellers, only vending machines, through the department store "Shibuya 109", which looks like a huge Barbie dollhouse for the sheer amount of pink and glitter. We admire the plastic sushi platters and pasta dishes in showcases in front of each restaurant. I feel like a kid walking through an adventure park for the first time.
The ambition to find our own ways, we gave up quickly. We develop a system of road-sketches and questions. Once you have them stopped, the Tokyo people are very nice, and I think they would like to help us out - but are happy to know their own way. In Tokyo, the houses are not numbered, but numbered by age. Street names are often hard to find and difficult to figure out: When I ask the shop assistant if that's the Roppongi intersection out there, he says, "Wait," and run out. Three minutes later, he comes back and says, "Yes, that's her."
The first friends we made while singing.
Except us only Japanese sit in the bar "Gengetsu" in the district Roppongi. The bartender Nora has just brought a birthday cake, and everyone sang a serenade. Now they look at us curiously: two women, a guy and a chihuahua. One of the women, white angora sweater, brown hat, thick make up, speaks English. Her name is Mayumi, she is 38 and an editor at the women's magazine "Anan". Shinya, the man, and Sonoko-Ima, the other woman, do not understand us, they smile. Kechop, the Chihuahua, yawns, but it does not sleep. We just ask "Karaoke?", The three already have their jackets on and show us the way.
At the entrance of a large block we get assigned a room and drive to the eighth floor. The entire building consists of rooms of different sizes, which are equipped for one purpose only: sing. Neon-colored fantasy landscapes on the wall are the only light. On a table lie collections of songs, big and fat, like big-city directories, and musical peals. Shinya turns on a monitor, orders drinks on a wall phone, then puts one of the books in his hands and grabs the microphone.
From the hustle and bustle in Tokyo Sonoko-Ima turns off the karaoke
Even if he can not speak English, he can sing English even better - Red Hot Chili Peppers up and down. Mayumi gives a passable Debbie Harry, Sonoko-Ima a greniform Whitney Houston. What did I expect in a country where singing is popular sport? There should even be people who rent such a box on their own to practice. I'm one of the people who are even at the simplest birthday serenade constant half a tone next to it.They look at me expectantly, I sweat, then I try it with "Venus". They clap - more polite than excited -, my inhibition drops, my volume rises, Kechop hiding in his pocket. Shinya will order a lot more drinks, but that's not the reason why I can not wait to be back in the next round and Kechop will spare neither Madonna nor Robbie Williams. There is more to this relaxed, relaxed way of socializing, because all - the later the evening - sink more and more into singing. There is hardly any talk, we learn about the three as well as nothing. But we spend a time like good friends. When we leave our box around three o'clock in the morning, in the many other rooms still loud.
The first peace we hoped as we drove north.
Sometimes shrill, sometimes quiet: The roads around Nikko are well signposted - which ChroniquesDuVasteMonde employee Tinka Dippel does not help either.
Nikko, by train about two hours from Tokyo, a small town in the mountains, the gateway to a national park: Here we want to enjoy the peace after three days in Tokyo. Nine o'clock in the evening, no one on the narrow, wooden-lined streets. Behind our pension a brook ripples. Nikko sleeps early, so do we.
And so the next morning at seven we sit in the bus on the way to a trip to Chuzenji Lake. It goes higher and higher, on tight serpentines through beautiful yellow and red colored forests. Where many cars park at this time and tens of Japanese are waiting for a gondola to start, something special has to be seen. After an hour's wait and a minute's drive we are smarter: it goes to a viewing platform, and was in sight all the time, less than a ten minute walk away. We stand with a gondola load Japanese on the parapet, they throw the view awe-inspiring "Hooooos" and long Fotosalven contrary: The speckled mountains from the autumn frame the long lake, in front of the Kegon waterfall falls almost 100 meters in depth. We want to enjoy the view in peace and follow the trail to the lake. "It takes at least three hours," the man from the gondola calls after us. In a comfortable hour we are there.
The Eikando Temple in Kyoto
And many others too. And there are more and more. We did not know what that meant by the fall foliage coloration: a traffic jam in the street, a snake at the bus stop. And when we finally get back to Nikko, it's unrecognizable. Here too traffic jams: nothing is moving on the streets anymore, thousands of people are wallowing through the Toshogu Shrine, one of the sanctuaries of the country. Where were they all last night? And where do we not have to share Japan's beauty with so many? "Matsushima", says the host in our pension. "One of the most beautiful corners by the sea, and at this time there is nobody there."
The first real peace we found in a pine grove.
What is really quiet is experiencing who visits the mussel farms in Matsushima
From Nikko a piece with the regional train, the express train Shinkansen further north - every train is on time to the minute. Then with a kind S-Bahn, from which we see the sea glittering in the dark. It is night again when we arrive, this time at a huge hostel near Matsushima. I would like to know more about the area and ask the receptionist for an internet connection. He paints two arrows on a piece of paper, to the south and to the north, and writes once "20 min" and once "60 min" next to it. Then he looks at me and says, "By train!" The giant monitors, wall phones and high-tech toilets - all high-tech Japan is here far away.
When we explore the area the next morning with bicycles, we realize how far. Only a few surfers are on the wide, empty sandy beach. We have the road on the nearby peninsula for us. We cycle past densely wooded mountains, fishing ports, field workers, temple gates and Buddha figures adorned with silver paper, flowers and Hello Kitty bibs. Where caravans go to the beach in the summer, it is now almost unreal dead in the autumn. But on a technical achievement of the Japanese can be relied on even in deserted corners: drinks machines. Wherever we travel, they provide us with well-chilled refreshments and hot canned coffee and tea.
In Matsushima, the wishes on paper in front of the temples are numerous
On the road to Matsushima, we wonder about the white piles in the fields - until we realize what they are made of: seashells. Out of the sea, the wooden pegs of the oyster farms stand out everywhere, around 30 women stand in an elongated building on the roadside, break up the bowls in monotonous movements, pull out the glaring things and give us some to try. With the excuse that it is only nine o'clock in the morning, we reject thankfully, but definitely. In Matsushima, instead, we eat the freshest sushi and, for dessert, ice cream made from rice and a bit friable, but delicious.
The few tourists stay at the temples, tour boats and the teahouse directly on the sea. We are sitting on the lookout hill, peering over the rooftops of the town on the water and many densely covered islets and nudge with a machine green tea on the host, who has sent us here. He was right: Japan is the most beautiful, where not exactly the season.
The first family connection was in Kyoto.
The Golden Pavilion in Kyoto
Every morning at 7:45, Yasuyuki Hirai, host of our guesthouse in Kyoto, knocks on our door and shouts, "Shower is ready!" Then he cooks milk coffee, smears sandwiches and snaps fruit. As in every accommodation we have to pull our sneakers off and plastic slippers at the entrance. When we run into the bathroom again with the toilet slippers or with the house slippers in the toilet, Yasuyuki desperately claps his hands over his head. If we leave a full bottle of water in the room in the morning, he has packed it in a cooler in the evening.
From our room we already see the nested stairs and alleys, the roofs of the wooden houses and temples - around 2000 it is in Japan's former capital. The 1001 golden Buddhas in the Sanjusangen-do, the Golden Pavilion, the Zen garden in the Ryoanji - in between we sit on rental bikes and drive through the compared to Tokyo almost quiet streets of Kyoto. We stroll through the huge park around the old imperial palace, through the gardens of the temples, the narrow wooden house lanes in the Gion district, along the Philosophers' Path. We watch monks pray, look into the old soul of Japan.
Dinner together with Keiki and Junichi Kitao
And they are getting more and more curious about how the Japanese live in their own home. On the mediation of the International Community House, a kind of center of international understanding, we visit the couple Keiko and Junichi Kitao, full of anticipation to finally see one of these stylish, minimalist apartments from our Japan conception. The children are out of the house, for Japanese standards, the two have a lot of space - they have also filled to the last corner. The living room is a single gallery of travel memories from around the world. While the two tell us how few days they have traveled to Israel, Hawaii and Germany, dried shrimps, pork, spring onions, flour, eggs, ginger, squid and pureed potatoes are combined in a table pan into a kind of omelette, called Okonomiyaki. They want to know practically nothing about us, and they themselves ask a lot, they have said the same, they do not want it either. So either they or we tell something, otherwise it is eaten and kept silent. I wonder all the time, whether they expect something from us, whether I'm eating too fast or too slow, whether we behave, without realizing it, somehow rude. After three hours we are back in the train, loaded with cakes, tangerines, artfully printed mousepads and the certainty that the Japanese communication is a mystery not only because of the characters.
The first discount we got because a man was afraid for his car.
We have just rented this car. And as we so jerky, with the automatic not quite familiar, leave his station, the man is still waving running next to us and calls, if everything is alright. Although we are not used to left-hand traffic, we do not understand the signs on the navigation device and those on the road signs, but otherwise everything is fine.
At Biwa Lake there is a temple gate in the water
From Mount Hiei near Kyoto we look into the foggy endlessness of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in the country. On the shore, we watch the anglers, stop at unknown temples, drive north through small cities with metal avalanches, turn towards the sea, move us, ask us through, buy at "Seven Eleven" sushi, tea and pudding, picnicking on the beach in Obama, are once again the only two living points and ask us if there is also something in Japan between crowded and extinct.
On the way back to Kyoto we take the road through densely wooded mountains and arrive just in time at the car rental. The man bows several times, runs a few laps around the car, looks for scratches, gratefully accepts the key. We would not have been able to fill up, we say. He laughs and answers, he gives us the gas. And I think he thinks: the main thing is, the car is back.
The total relaxation we found in Hakone.
No matter where you are in Japan, there are always vending machines nearby
One of Japan's most popular motifs is Lake Ashi in Hakone and in the background a huge cone, the Fuji, at 3776 meters the highest mountain in the country. We do not see any of them when we arrive, the Fuji is covered by clouds, the lake far away from our guesthouse. All the better, so we just have to lie down in one of the many onsen baths. For the Japanese, these baths are part of their culture, it is said that the hot water from the interior of the rocks have healing and fortifying effect.Where there are no natural springs, the water is warmed in some other way, but here, in the southwest of Tokyo, there are a lot of springs. And many Tokyo residents like to spend the one and a half hour journey on their days off to relax in the hot water.
In the Tenzan Notemburo we let ourselves float in the water vapor through stone grottos and pass the experiences of the past days again. Slowly we feel a bit familiar with Japan, but there are some things that we'll probably never understand, there's a rest Lost-in-Translation-Amazement: Why it's so crowded sometimes, and a few miles away, that it's so empty for example. How the Japanese manage that so little plastic and cans lie around with the big machines and small garbage density. Or what they find at home slippers, in which have already put many feet. Why even businessmen in suits and ties hang Hello Kitty animals on their clamshell phones. How to spend a sunny Sunday from morning to night in Tokyo's shopping palaces. Why many Japanese are afraid to be asked something they may not be able to answer. And why they apologize and thank you for everything.
The first day without questions was our last.
The thick fish is around five o'clock in the morning. I'm so tired that I can barely stand up and stay away from the hustle and bustle so as not to get run over. We are back in Tokyo and start the final day of our trip with the tuna auction on the Tsukiji fish market, the largest in the world.
Anyone who has bought enough of the one to two meter long bodies, invites them to his car and races to his booth, regardless of standing in the way viewers. We walk through the huge halls, look into the countless tubs full of intertwined, partly completely unknown marine animals: mussels, cucumbers, lobsters, cuttlefish, crabs - wobbly, prickly, scaly bodies.
Each resting place: In the glittering mica district Shibuya in Tokyo, the entrance to the department store "109" is relatively quiet.
We then use our last few hours to walk over as many pedestrian bridges and shopping miles as possible, to once again absorb all the wonderful Tokyo madness in us. We eat once more noodle soup in the fast food restaurant, buy mountains colorful absurdities such as stickers, mobile phone pendants, origami paper, soda cans with manga imprint and stamp, wistful at the thought that Japan will soon be the other end of the world again. And then we say goodbye to two more familiar faces: Mayumi, our karaoke companion, and Kechop, the Chihuahua. We meet them in the bar "Bizarres" and drink Shochu, the Japanese vodka. Kechop wears a red Adidas hoodie today and is brisker than last time around. Mayumi asks and does not say much. We neither. Maybe we are too tired, maybe just a bit japanese.
Travel Info Japan
GETTING THERE Japan Airlines flies daily from Frankfurt to Tokyo, back and forth around 1150 Euro (Tel 0180/222 87 00, www.jal.com).
BEST TRAVEL TIME March to May (cherry blossom) and October / November (foliage coloring).
MONEY In many hotels and restaurants you can pay with Visa or Mastercard. Withdraw money, e.g. with debit card in post offices.
Getting Around By train. Japan Rail Pass from 175 euros for a week. Valid on all trains of Japan Railways, must be purchased in Germany. By car. Japanese driver license translation required (20 Euro, via Japan Auto Federation).
GROUP TOURS IN JAPAN Nippon for backpackers. Age 20-35. Watch sumo training in Tokyo, cycle in Kyoto and Japan and travel by train. 13 travel days including flight (to Fukuoka, back from Osaka), U in mid-range hotels, train rides, from 1999 Euro (Marco Polo Travel, Tel. 008 00/96 86 45 46, Fax 089/15 00 19 18, www.younglinetravel de). In the land of the rising sun. The bustling neighborhoods of Tokyo, the temples of Kyoto, Hiroshima, Hakone. 13 travel days including flight (to Tokyo, back from Osaka), B & B in hotels and a ryokan, train and bus travel, from 3349 euros (caravan trips, Tel. 071 41/284 80, fax 28 48 26, www .karawane.de).
INFO
TOKYO
For a first overview: the Yamanote line of Japan Railways travels aboveground once in a circle through the main quarter, lasting just over an hour. This lane, in conjunction with the finer ramified metro lines, is the best way to move through the city (trains do not run between midnight and five in the morning).
STAY Hotel Fukudaya. Quiet, clean, 15 minutes walk to Shibuya Station. Double room from 56 Euro, no breakfast (4-5-9, Aobadai, Meguro-ku, Tokyo153-0042, Tel. 03/34 67 58 33, Fax 34 67 60 83, www.fukudaya.com). Sakura Fleur Aoyama. Nice hotel with massage parlor and cafe. DZ / F from 103 Euro (2-14-15 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0002, Tel. 03/54 67 37 77, Fax 54 67 37 97, www.sakurahotels.com). Hotel Asia Center of Japan. Clean, functional, staff speaks English. Between stations Aoyama, Akasaka and Roppongi. DZ / F from 76 Euro (8-10-32, Akasaka, Minatoku, Tokyo 107-0052, Tel. 03/34 02 61 11, Fax 34 02 07 38, www.asiacenter.or.jp). Ryokan Sansuiso. Simple budget accommodation, five minutes from the Gotanda train station, two stops from the trendy but not crowded district of Ebisu. Double room from 53 Euro, no breakfast (2-9-5, Higashi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0022, Tel. 03/34 41 74 75, Fax 34 49 19 44, www.sansuiso.net) Cheap accommodation in Tokyo and all over Japan: via Welcome Inn Group or Japanese Inn Group.
TO EAT AND DRINK Wasshoi. Nice, small, young bar in Daikanyama. Simple, very good kitchen, e.g. Pork with ginger for around four euros. Daily. 18-5 clock. From the Nakameguro metro, head north on the Yamate-dori, and after the second crossroad, look for a sign that points to the first floor (tel. 03/37 11 48 33). Ryn-rey. You will sit in front of many plates, enjoy everything - including drinks from around 30 euros per person. Daily. 17-24 clock. From the Omotesando Metro, follow the Aoyma-Dori to the Spiral Building, turn left, after a small intersection, look for the sign on the right and take the elevator to the fourth floor (tel. 03/57 66 27 33). Nakame Takkyu Lounge. A huge room with sofa corners and a ping-pong table. Admission around 3 euros, rackets 2 euros. Lying hidden: from the Nakameguro metro parallel to the tracks over the Meguro River, right at Seven Eleven, before a bar on the left, turn left into a building entrance and ring the 2nd floor (Tel. 03/57 22 30 80) , Gengetsu. In the party district Roppongi, this beautiful bar is a true oasis. Also small dishes. From the Roppongi intersection, head north to Gaien-Higashi-dori, then the second left, the bar is on the right (tel. 03/34 03 10 13). Fast food outlets. Fast, good, cheap: noodle soups, dim sums, tempura, sushi, burgers - for about three euros you can strengthen, for about five euros you get well fed (eg Mos Burger, R Burger, Tenya Tempura). Extra tip: before and after the Tsukiji fish market. The tuna auction is at five o'clock in the morning. Who wants to go through: Not far from the market, in the upmarket district of Ginza, the bar "Bizarres" has until four o'clock. After the auction, you can have sushi. Around nine o'clock, the Hama Rikyu Garden opens, and there is green tea in a teahouse with sweets for 4.30 euros. Then drive from Shinbashi four stops to Akihabara and nap, in one of the few capsule hotels, where women are allowed to sleep (Bizarres, Mon-Fri 20-4 clock, from the Higashi-Ginza Metro at Kabuki -Za Theater over, the second Small street on the left, the bar is on the third corner on the left, Tel: 03/35 45 57 27; Capsule Inn Akihabara, 6-9 Akihabara, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Tel. 03/32 51 08 41, Fax 32 51 08 44, www.capsuleinn.com).
SHOPPING There are so many shopping malls in Tokyo that you can not escape the glitzy palaces anyway. Big and nested: Roppongi Hills. Ten floors of glittering stones and clothes in S and XS: Department Store 109 in Shibuya. Sunday show: on the streets Omote-sando and Takeshita-dori. Many stylish boutiques and thrift stores: in Ebisu and Daikanyama. Simple-beautiful things like clothes, office supplies, bathroom utensils: Muji (eg at the station Yurakucho, Muji shelves also at Family Mart).
KYOTO
Everywhere in the city, especially around the station, there are shops that lend wheels. Central, open daily from 10am to 6pm, bike per day around 6,60 Euro: Muji Rent-a-cycle, Place Department Store, Karasuma-dori).
STAY Many hotels and ryokans in Kyoto close the doors at 23 or 24 o'clock, ask when booking! Watazen ryokan. Modern ryokan around the corner of Kiyamachi-dori Fun Mile. DZ / F from 105 Euro (on Yanaginobaba Street, south of Rokkaku, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8113, Tel. 075/223 01 11, Fax 223 01 12). Pension Kotomu. Nicely located near the lively Gion district. Yasuyuki Hirai rents two huge rooms with private entrances and private toilets. Very friendly service. DZ / F 62 Euro (Chawanzaka, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto 605-0846, Tel. 075/531 18 48, Fax 551 18 25). Matsuba Ya Ryokan. Central, small, family. DZ / F from 70 Euro (Kamijuzuyamachi-dori, Shimokyoku, Kyoto 600-8150, Tel. 075/351 37 27, Fax 351 35 05, www.matsubayainn.com). Hotel Nishiyama. 32 Japanese rooms with bath and large shared bathroom with glass front. DZ / F from 124 Euro (Nijo-Sagaru, Gokomachi, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-0933, Tel. 075/222 11 66, Fax 231 35 58, www.ryokan-kyoto.com).
Extra tip: International Community House. Provides visits to Japanese families (Home Visit Program) about two days in advance. Tue-Sun 9-21 (2-1 Torii-cho, Awataguchi, Sakyo-ku, Tel. 075/752 35 11, www.kcif.or.jp).
TO EAT AND DRINK Oishinbo. One combines delicious little things, z. B. Pumpkin gratin for € 4.50 (two blocks south of Shijo-dori, east of Hanamikoji, Tel. 075/541 61 00, www.kyoto-oishinbo.com). Negiya Heikichi. Open kitchen, lots of action. Specialty "Hot Pot", z. With chicken or beef and plenty of leek (on the Pontocho, between Shijo-dori and Sanjodori, Tel. 075/256 88 08). Bon Bon Café. View of the Kamo River, sandwiches 2-3 euros, salads 3-5 euros (on the Imadegawa-dori, west of the river, tel. 075/213 86 86). Pomme. Very nice little cafe on Philosophenweg, coming from the Ginkakuji temple on the right hand side, about in the middle. Homemade cakes. Do-Mo and every other Tuesday 11-18 clock.
NIKKO
Anyone coming here in late summer or autumn is not alone - except: You get up very early and take the first bus at 7 o'clock to Chuzenji Lake. Get off a little earlier, where the gondola takes off for the lookout point for the Kegon waterfall. And then just do not stand in the queue, you can walk to the viewpoint, from there comfortably in an hour walk to the lake. And then you have enough time to continue to the less beleaguered Yunoko Lake, to hike longer or to sail across the lake by boat.
STAY Turtle Inn Nikko. Nice guesthouse on the edge of Nikko, within walking distance to the Toshogu shrine. DZ / F from 67 Euro (2-16, Takumi-cho, Nikko, Tochigi pref. 321 14 33, Tel. 02 88/53 31 68, Fax 53 38 83, www.turtle-nikko.com). Hippari Dako. Good and cheap food or surf the Internet. Main courses 3-6 Euro. Daily. 11-20 (on the main street, just before the bridge on the left, tel. 02 88/53 29 33).
TO EAT AND DRINK Sakuraya Coffee Bell. Café / Restaurant around the corner from the Turtle Inn, which - except in Nikko - is open until 11pm (walk from the Turtle Inn towards the city, then the second left, the cafe is on the left, tel 02 88/53 28 43).
HAKONE
Onsen bath in Hakone
Hiking trails, lakes, hot springs, great views of the famous Mount Fuji and all just an hour and a half drive from Tokyo? Hakone is rightly popular and usually full. But there is room and enough space to enjoy one to three relaxing days here.
STAY Fuji Hakone Guest House. The staff speaks English - and gladly puts you on the list for the hot Onsen baths (Bus No. 4 from Odawara or Yumoto to Senkyoro-mae (912 Sengokuhara Hakone, Kanagawa 250-0631, Tel. 04 60/84 65 77, Fax 465 78, www.fujihakone.com). Tenzan Notemburo. An oasis! Especially beautiful onsen bath. Men and women separated, massage room, restaurant. 8 Euro, daily 9-23 o'clock (with the shuttle bus of Yumoto, Tel. 04 60/641 26).
TO EAT AND DRINK Irorichaya. Cozy restaurant, five minutes walk from Fuji Hakone Guest House (up to the bus station, right down the street, the restaurant is on the left, entrance not directly on the street). Each dish comes on a tray full of pots with various trifles. Main courses at 15 Euro.
MATSUSHIMA
Sushi in Matsushima
STAY Pila Matsushima Okumatsushima Youth Hostel. Youth hostel in a pine forest. Bikes. DZ / F (Japanese Room) 74 Euro (by train to Nobiru, over the bridge and straight ahead until a sign points to the right, after a few hundred meters the hostel is on the right, tel. 02 25/88 22 20, www.jyh .or.jp).
TO EAT AND DRINK Matsushima Sushikou. Delicious Nigiri, six pieces around seven euros. Mon-Sun 11-21 clock (opposite the jetty in the small street, right behind the wine shop).
