Robot Claw

I did a lot of walking today. Tobu World Square didn’t open until 9 so I had hours to kill after my 5 am bath. I completed another loop of the town (both sides of the gorge) and paid more attention to relics that weren’t giant empty hotels. Be mindful that I didn’t exactly have to hunt to take these snaps: almost all these structures are on the main road both in and out of town.

According to the sign on the door, the above was a karaoke bar named ‘Cherry’. It can’t have closed too long ago since it’s still in Apple Maps and the price list doesn’t seem to far off what you’d expect today.

The above was also karaoke, although the refuse visible through the door suggests otherwise. I walked up and had a peep inside the windows and it looked like household waste: what people may store in their garage. I don’t know why the door was open or if anyone actually lives here. I doubt it; it was very overgrown.

The above was a dry cleaners. The Venetian blinds are falling apart, the stickers peeling off the windows and – ironically – the curtains dirty and showing signs of mold. I think this one has been gone a while.

I couldn’t tell what this once was, but it’s obviously in disrepair. And yet the pots have what appears to be new flowers growing in them, as if someone tends them. It had a car park big enough for half a dozen cars that now has weeds growing in it. This also doesn’t show up on Apple Maps.

Speaking of which, there’s an abandoned hotel visible from my room window, up on a rise on the other side of the gorge. Last night I noticed a single light on in one high room. Is someone trying to live there?

This was in the driveway of a home that didn’t look abandoned although very well may be since the letter box had no number or name. The car has a license plate but the roof was damaged like something heavy fell on it at some point. The car looked like it was full of something (boxes?) but the windows were too dirty to see clearly.

The above was directly across the street from a still functioning hotel that looked fancier than mine and was receiving busloads of passengers as I walked past. Immediately next door to the overgrown car an elderly gentleman was cutting and trimming bamboo stalks with expertise. I believe he was making decorations for the hotel. I wonder what he or other locals thinks of the abandoned building and car?

A sticker in the window of an abandoned candy shop (based on a rotting sign outside) near the ropeway. I found a website with a history of the Sprite logo and this particular version was replaced in 1974. It’s hard to believe the sticker could be that old. Could it?

There are at least six bridges spanning the gorge in town and I’ve now crossed five of them (the last is a long walk north). The central one seems to have been a focal point for tourism in the towns heyday and as you can see it is now decorated with a large oni (demon) illustration. I was tired even before I started climbing these steps and as I did it felt like I died, was resurrected and almost died again.

The wall adjacent to the staircase is adorned with sculptures of what I presume are Edo-era people. But the strange wizard playing the flute is a puzzle and seems very out of place amidst the townsfolk and samurai and courtesans. Yet another sight that gave this place an eerie quality today.

This was hung up in the office of the ropeway. It’s an advert for a local taxi company, only it’s about four years out of date. And why are some numbers missing? My guess is they were printed in a different colour (red) that has long faded. Why a functioning business still displays this calendar is a question that will never be answered.

A series of red tori gates led to another shrine in advanced disrepair. This was on the main road into town (not far from Tobu World Square) and I surmise someone built this as a tourist attraction. At first glance it was striking, but then I noticed the peeling paint and worm-eaten wood and the discarded pile of now extremely overgrown replacement gates that suggested this endeavor was abandoned many years ago.

Most of the photos above were taken north of my hotel, but after World Square I ventured south and found a very different side of town. The burger I ate (mentioned in my previous post) was at a cute diner-type restaurant in what appears to be a brand new building. There’s a block of recently built houses nearby, a hotel undergoing large-scale renovation and a lovely suspension bridge with (more) wonderful views of the river:

The bridge led into a cedar forest and a split in the path. One direction led to a short walk to a waterfall:

And the other direction led through a cave,

past a sign warning about bears, up a steep incline, past a little shrine and then ended at a flight of steps that led up to… I didn’t know!

I was very tired – it was after dinner and I already had 30k steps under my belt – but I steeled myself and climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more. The stairs were so steep at times I even had to use my hands and as I did visions of fruit platters and monkeys filled my brain. Eventually I made it, and at the top I found a little lookout with views much better than the top of the ropeway:

I could see my hotel, the station, the post office, and various other places I’d been yesterday or today. I paused for a while and noticed on the tips of branches within reach people had tied notes or left ¥5 coins. I wonder why?

Going down the uneven and steep steps was only slightly easier than climbing them had been and by the time I reached the bottom I had decided if a bear turned up he could have me. None did, and I made it back to the bridge in one piece:

All this is only a couple of minutes from my hotel, and I will be going back to the bridge tomorrow night since there’s going to be hanabi – fireworks! – set off right next to the bridge!

I bet the bears will be thrilled 🙂

Since I neglected to add one yesterday, here is the view from my room. And yes, it really looks this good. I can clearly see and hear the river!

This morning I went for a soak in the hot spring when it opened at 5 am. There were a few others there and I noticed they soaked much less than I did – only a few minutes at most. As I got out after about 15 minutes and almost fainted as I climbed the rough steps to the dressing room I reflected I should stay in a bit less next time.

After breakfast (a pork cutlet sandwich from a convenience store) and some more exploring (see the next entry) I walked to todays destination: Tobu World Square.

This is an outdoor theme park based around miniature (1:25 scale) reproductions of famous structures from all around the world. For the Aussies of a certain age, it’s a sort of Japanese ‘Cockington Green’. The descriptor ‘theme park’ is a bit of a stretch, since there’s nothing really to do except stroll around and admire the models.

This is the sort of place that has ‘limited’ appeal, and I immediately concede it’s not for everyone. But I was dazzled by the artistry of the reproductions and found the park charming.

The human figures are about 7 cm in height and some of the larger buildings, such as the forbidden city in China, easily contain hundreds of them. Very often little stories were ‘hidden’ amongst these figurines, likely missed by visitors who didn’t spend time to scrutinize a model.

The buildings vary from about 30 cm to several meters in height, and greatly resemble the originals. There’s almost no information on how they were made, but the detail level is astonishing and it’s remarkable to think some of these have been exposed to the elements for decades:

I was most interested in the ones I’d visited in real life. Neuschwanstein was a highlight and looked a lot like I recall, though I don’t remember the rooster riding a cat riding a dog riding a horse in the courtyard (this is a reference to the Bremen Town Musicians fairy tale):

There were a few gardeners doing their job while I was there and one of them was using microscissors – the blades were only a few millimeters – to remove individual leaves! I saw another guy cleaning a model using what looked like a baby’s toothbrush.

There were dozens of attractions in five themed sections, and each had descriptions in Japanese and English. I feel starting with modern Japan and the USA was a weak point, since the park certainly improved as you continued along.

My favourite individual model was Abu Simbel. The model is maybe 1.5 feet high and was exquisitely detailed. In fact the entire Egypt section was my favourite, even if it was the smallest in the park:

Tobu World Square more popular than I expected, with guests spanning the age range from a few children (who seemed bored) to the elderly. The place was clean and well-equipped, but as with Kinugawa it feels as if the best days of this attraction are behind it. Based on the dates on each diorama, there’s been very few significant additions in the last decade and certain aspects of the park are showing signs of decay? In addition, the fact that all the restaurants were closed seems telling…

The souvenir shop however was open, and it was remarkably well-stocked as Japanese souvenir stores often are. As soon as I saw they had a medal maker I knew they’d be getting ¥500 from me:

With a 32 character maximum, there was only one obvious choice for the phrase I’d add to my medal:

Surely that’s now amongst the best Tobu World Square souvenirs on Earth? Overall my visit was a little over two hours, and I enjoyed it a lot. It was probably overpriced (at ¥2800) but this is a ‘no budget’ holiday so such concerns never entered my mind 😉

Afterwards I took the local train back to Kinegawa Onsen station at which point I was treated to a steam train pulling out of the station!

I don’t know anything about this, but it looked like a tourist train although was empty as it departed.

I next followed the monkey signs…

…to the Kinugawa Ropeway. A round trip ticket of ¥1200 promised views and monkeys and only a fool would pass that up so I threw my money into the ticket machine.

The views were almost impressive. That’s looking down to the departure station, although the photo doesn’t do a great job of showing how steep the climb was.

That’s a view of Kinugawa from the top of the ropeway, with the monkey ‘park’ in the foreground. It’s a nice vista, but the best scenes here (for me) are right outside my hotel room: the river in the gorge and the corpses of dead hotels!

By the way, look at the above photo and be impressed that since arriving yesterday afternoon I have walked not once, not twice, but three times the distance from the town (center of photo) to the ropeway base! No wonder I’m almost passing out in the onsen 🙂

As for the monkeys…

They were wretched creatures imprisoned in a dirt enclosure. They paced and fidgeted and seemed as interested in me as I was in them. Signs warned they can be savage and merciless beasts, and the double layer of chain fence was obviously as much for my protection as theirs. Look at his face though: does he truly want to kill me, or is he asking me to kill him?

After all this I was ruined, and a double patty ‘100% wagyu beef’ burger (no sauce) from ‘Comet Burger’ may have been delivered on a golden platter by Archangel Michael himself it was so good:

It gave me just enough energy for a second soak in the hot spring, which once again almost led to death due to dehydration. Tomorrow I’ll soak less. I promise!

I’m now in the onsen (hot spring) resort town of Kinugawa-Onsen, and I’ll spend the next three nights here. It’s about 2 hours north of Tokyo and my trip here was on the ‘limited express’ train Spacia-X.

This is a new train, only entering service less than a year ago. It’s very fancy and clearly every aspect has been designed to the millimeter and it shows.

Every seat is reserved, and I was in a normal seat in car 4. It was extremely comfortable and the windows were large with great views. The train has four private compartments, but they were sold out when I booked. I was so dazzled by the charm of the girl at the station who booked my ticket that I foolishly neglected to ask about first class seats, which I should have booked. Given how comfy the normal seats were I can only imagine first class!

The journey was smooth and quiet and I almost fell asleep! For the first half of the trip the views were familiar scenes of Japanese communities and rice fields.

As we entered the mountains the views became more forested, with homes thinner spaced but the rice fields no less common. Occasionally the train sped through dense forests and I glimpsed what seemed like abandoned houses and evidence of rice fields reclaimed by nature.

The train slowed down as we approached our destination, as if it struggled to climb the last stretch. I was fascinated by some of the ancient rusting buildings I saw, including some with obsolete advertising still visible. I felt in a sense I was going back in time. My readings suggested Kinagawa may be a place past its prime, but the mostly packed train suggested otherwise. I was reassured since most of the passengers were Japanese: this wouldn’t just be a tourist trap!

At precisely the scheduled time we arrived and I hurried to the hotel so I could check in and then explore the area.

What I would find was so unexpected and surreal it definitely needs a post of its own…

I woke with the crows and shuffled off to Maccas for breakfast. There’s a story there but it’ll wait, since the important news of today is where I went next: Gotokuji temple.

The temple was about an hour from my hotel on three different trains. I had read the temple has in recent years seen a surge of popularity, but compared to many other sites around Tokyo it’s still relatively unknown to tourists. Which is a shame since it’s a special place if you like cats of the ‘lucky’ type!

The above is the famous Manekineko or ‘beckoning cat’ which is often called (by westerners) the ‘lucky cat’. The statues are said to bring luck (right paw aloft) or customers (left paw, common at store entrances) and are very, very common sights here in Japan. As you no doubt know they’ve even spread throughout Asia, and many incorrectly think they’re of Chinese origin due to how popular they are in China now as well.

There’s a few stories of how they originated, and one of them claims Gotokuji temple was the location of the first Manekineko. Apparently a friendly cat saved an important person from a storm hundreds of years ago and in appreciation the temple built a statue, which looked a bit like this:

The cat is present on some of the carvings on the temple buildings as well, but what makes the shrine truly internet-famous these days is the extraordinary display of cat figurines surrounding a buildings which has a Manekineko enshrined:

There are surely thousands of them, in seven sizes:

They’re all so white and clean, surprising since they’re outdoors and in most places unprotected from the elements. Some have messages written on them and have obviously been left by tourists despite signs saying to take them home to bring luck to your house! Looking closely the names written on many cats seem like typical cat names, so I’m guessing people like to ‘enshrine’ their beloved pets as part of the horde.

I wanted to buy a few figurines for some of you, however due to a surge in popularity the temple shop had a strict limit of one cat per person and only the three smallest sizes were available. They also had a limit of one ‘ema‘ plaque per person. I bought one cat and one plaque.

These plaques have an image on one side, and you write a message or request (to Shinto gods) on the other. They are hung at the temple for a while, then ritually burned to signify the wish being heard by the gods. While Manekineko isn’t strictly divine, I dedicated my request to him:

All seven cats I know are now being watched by the lucky cat himself 🙂

I had arrived early and was able to get good photographs without other people in them, but as I was leaving I saw many others heading toward the shrine from the station. I’m sure they sold out of figurines and ema again today!

The day was young and I had to go through Shinjuku to return so I got off the train and explored my favourite shops and game centers and also had my first – but not last – sushi lunch:

Is it really sushi if I only eat shrimp tempura nigiri?

I felt like a walk (I know, I know…) and decided once I’d seen what I was interested in at Shinjuku to walk to Shibuya! My phone said 58 minutes but I did it in 34 which I’m sure is residual fruit energy from the flight two days ago.

Shibuya was bonkers busy and it was very hot by now so while I didn’t stay too long, you can be assured it was long enough to make a couple of ‘essential’ purchases at Mandarake. Alas, still no Wizardry artbooks.

There was more today – much more actually – and once again I was out and about for probably too long (from 6:30 am to about 5 pm) and felt like I fit about three days activities into one. On the train I overheard an Australian girl about half my age say to her partner “It’s too much. Holidays are supposed to be relaxing.”

She’s correct of course, which is why tomorrow will bring a change of location and a welcome diversion into the ‘restful’ part of this vacation. A new place, new sites and new experiences! I’m looking forward to it 🙂