Around The World & Monkeys

June 7th, 2024

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!

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“This Is The Onsen Town That They Forgot To Close Down”

June 6th, 2024

In the 1980s the Japanese economy was the strongest in the world. Most families had lots of money and corporations had more than they could even spend. This triggered a real estate investment boom, which lasted until the ‘bubble burst’ in the 1990s.

Due to local sources of hot spring water, onsen resorts have been built in Kinugawa for over 100 years. In the 1970s and 1980s the town experienced explosive growth and the edge of the scenic river that runs through the town became encrusted with massive hotels built to fuel a boom in tourism and corporate travel. By the late 1990s with the downturn in the economy many of the hotels were in trouble, and by the mid 2000s when local banks went bankrupt about half of the hotels – including the largest ones – were abandoned. This dealt Kinugawa a blow from which it is still trying to recover.

I had no idea of the above until I did some research for this post. I assumed Kinugawa would be quaint and perhaps catered more to the elderly. I didn’t expect ruins and the strange sense of unease over the town.

My hotel room is very old, probably older than me. It lacks most of the basics of a typical Japanese room, but it’s very large, has good AC and a TV with more channels than my Asakusa room had! I booked it for the – admittedly incredible – river view, and even as I write this I’m at one of those chairs looking out the window. This is part of an annex to a much larger hotel, and the rooms in the full hotel are giant Japanese-style suites that cost much more than the approximately $65 I’m paying a night.

When I arrived I quickly checked in and headed out to visit a certain bridge I’d identified about half an hour up the gorge. Very quickly I started noticing how dead everything was. Many buildings were empty or even in advanced disrepair, and a coat of rust seemed to coat everything. A roadside shrine was unkempt and also apparently abandoned, which I’d never seen before. Some old shops had signs in their windows that looked like they’d been there for decades.

The above statue is in a city park with grass almost knee-high that almost certainly hasn’t been mowed this year. You can see how green and lush everything is, but what the photos don’t show is how humid and hot it was. I sweated a lot even though it wasn’t a particularly strenuous walk.

Eventually I reached my destination: a great suspended bridge spanning the gorge that contains the Kinugawa (it means ‘angry demon’) river. You can see how rusted the bridge is in the photo, and many of the wooden boards had seen better days as well. It bounced as I crossed, but the views were extraordinary!

That’s looking north. That giant hotel? Abandoned for over two decades now.

And that’s looking south. All the hotels on the east side of the river (left of the photo)? All abandoned as well. Far below the river surged powerfully. Even amidst the disrepair the views were breathtaking.

The road goes right past the entrances to these eerie structures, and the above is a photo of the main entrance to one of them. The ruined signs list the name of the hotel and a restaurant. How long since any customers checked in here?

Most of these buildings are very poorly secured, and I could have easily walked right in. Some brave souls do, and Kinugawa is apparently considered one of the best places on earth to explore ruined structures. The internet is full of creepy photos of the interiors of these places. Some weren’t even stripped of contents when abandoned, and have furniture and equipment like computers or even video games!

One ruined hotel had kappa paintings on the fascade, which made it even creepier. I read online that this particular hotel has a flooded lower level due to the hot spring it is built over. The local government is concerned about some of these buildings falling into the river, but they don’t have the money to demolish them.

It’s not just the hotels. Obviously with the main businesses gone the support economy was also gutted and the road is full of failed businesses and empty homes. Rust and weeds are everywhere. It’s likely being on a completely different planet compared to Tokyo! I read Kinugawa has been nominated as one of the ugliest places in Japan, but to be honest I’m finding it so surreal it has an appeal of its own.

It’s worth mentioning I barely saw a single other human in my walk, and very little traffic. There are weird statues all over town as well. The above was erected in 1975. Every now and then I saw a home that appeared newly built, which stood out amidst the decay.

I came to a foot bath, which is a mini hot spring you can sit at to bath your feet. The water was almost painfully hot and reddened my feet quickly. There was an elderly couple sitting behind me. Were they tourists like myself? Most of the locals I had seen were much older than me.

I had looped around and was nearly back to the hotel, which itself is very close to the station. For all the ruin there’s still life here, and indeed the remaining hotels are working hard to preserve the resort aspect. Most of them are large and have big tour busses parked outside, and as I checked into mine a group of two dozen or so elderly Japanese were checking in. Mine also has ‘fancy’ restaurants that serve only traditional Japanese food, which meant I had to stop at a remarkably well-stocked 7-11 for a dinner more to my taste:

It was finally time for the hot spring, which of course is the principle reason I’m here in the first place! I didn’t really know what to do and the staff speak virtually no English so I was happy to find a guide on a tablet at checkin:

It’s very incomplete, and I had to look up the basics of how to put on a yukata and the protocol of using the spring. Nudity is of course required, but I didn’t wear my glasses so the modesty of the other men (there were about a half dozen others) was preserved!

My hotel has six springs, and they cycle them periodically between the genders, so each have three available at a time. Of course you can’t bring a camera in, so the above photo of the outdoor spring I spent most of my time in is taken from their website. The water is hotter than I’d run my bath but not too hot, and the experience was exquisite. The springs are large and could easily accommodate dozens of people. The outdoor one has a few nooks and crannies for privacy although strangely none of the other men came outside so I had it to myself.

I put my head back and listened to the river and some birds and was in heaven. I had a good soak until I started feeling faint 🙂

For many guests I imagine a stay here means soaking in the onsen and eating fine food without leaving the hotel, and I say that’s perfectly fine. I’ve got a few other things I’d like to see in the area (tomorrows post should be a good one…), but I’ll absolutely be taking advantage of these hot springs more than once a day!

Lastly, of course I have to include the above photos that show the long arm of the otaku anime industry even extends to this forgotten town. On the left is ‘Kinugawa Onsen’ train girl that greets you at the station, and on the right is this very hotel’s ‘Onsen Girl’. They even sell souvenirs of her! Even here you can’t avoid anime girls 🙂

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The Day I Became A Spacian

June 6th, 2024

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…

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The Luckiest Of Cats

June 5th, 2024

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 🙂

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“The Clear Moon Is Covered By Thick Clouds”

June 4th, 2024

I was up before the crows – indeed I barely slept – and I was itching to begin. Unfortunately nothing was open, so I repacked (since I’ll be shipping luggage soon), did my laundry and walked around the local area for a while. I’m at Asakusa, just a hop and a skip from the famous Senso-Ji Temple. In my early morning wanderings I thought to buy a fortune like I had many times before. Here’s what I got:

If the text is too difficult to read it says “The clear moon is covered by thick clouds. The sky got dark and doesn’t get fine. A red flower decayed to a half, the bad fortune is found among the happiness. Though you want and try to make a thing perfect, it hurt your mind with trouble some matters. They warn you that never think of excessive desire, impossible like to sail so far by boat.”

This is a bad fortune, and it goes on to say that the worst will come true. Requests will not be granted, lost items will remain lost, don’t built a house, don’t go on vacation, don’t marry etcetera. I did the traditional thing of tying the bad fortune to the supplied metal rack so my bad luck was transferred away. Poor metal rack!

Senso-Ji has changed for the better since we first visited it 22 years ago and it rightly deserves its place as one of Tokyo’s foremost tourist destinations. Today I saw more tourists here than I ever have, including from parts of the world (such as the Middle East) that I have traditionally not seen tourists from in Japan. Asakusa is ground central in Japan’s overtourism problem, and it was easy to see why today. I dodged them all as best I could and hopped on a train to Ikebukuro, a part of Tokyo that few tourists add to their schedules until they’ve been here a few times.

After an early and quick lunch, I spent the day (and I mean this literally – I was there almost 7 hours) exploring all my favourite shops and Game Centers in Ikebukuro. This has become a tradition-of-sorts with me – coming here the first day of every Japan trip – and while I had initially chosen it since rain had been forecast the weather brightened and became hot and sunny. It looks like I chased the rain away.

Ikebukuro is a bit of an almost Akihabara, and I think it would one day like to seize the crown of otaku paradise. But I doubt that will happen since Akihabara is always improving as well. Not to worry Ikebukuro: being the second best place for otaku shopping is still a grand achievement considering the heights of Akihabara!

Of course I played some crane games and bought gachas and ‘had a go’ at a few retro games at Mikado – and I’ve written of such things before and will eventually get to them this trip. Considering how little sleep I’d had I’m surprised I didn’t collapse at some point. I’ll chalk it up to excitement 🙂

But my reserves only last so long. Tomorrow is a new day and I’ve got a new and (hopefully) special place to visit. I hope it’s worth the trip! Find out tomorrow…

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