Narita, Japan

We are now sitting at the airport in Tokyo on a very rainy afternoon. Our last few days in Japan have been very pleasant indeed. The journey from Takayama to the Mt. Fuji area was complicated but went without a hitch. It took a bus, a local train and then another bus to get to the town of Kawaguchi-ko, south of Mt. Fuji itself. Our choice of hotel could have been better as an error was made on our booking and when we got there we were charged an extra 50% on the already outrageous room charge. The views were amazing so I guess it was all worth it. We had a very nice dinner and an interesting Japanese breakfast the following day. We wandered all over the town on the following day and walked for miles and took a cable car ride up a nearby mountain. Had we known, we would have tried to find a place to stay on the south side of Lake Kawaguchi-ko in order to see the iconic mountain reflected in the lake in the early morning when it is still and clear.  We will have to do this on our next visit.
Our hotel had an hot spring onsen which is a Japanese type of spa. An interesting but very Japanese experience. Getting naked and bathing with a bunch of  unknown Japanese dudes is not my idea of  a lot of fun but they seem to enjoy it.
On the next day we went to our next destination, Narita which was again a public transport challenge. First a bus to Shinjuku station on the west side of Tokyo. This was a very busy place and quite chaotic as it was the holiday Golden Week. We managed to find our way to Narita on two different trains without getting lost. We were met at Narita by the ryokan owner and settled in. Narita is a delightful town with a traditional old city with a marvelous temple and surrounding park. The weather as perfect and we spent the day seeing the sights with many Japanese tourists making the day trip to the temple with their families. Narita had many bars and eateries and we had a good time there.
Sadly our ten days here are over and we are on our way back to sunny California. We have very much enjoyed Japan and we hope that we can return and see more of this beautiful and interesting country.


 photos from Narita

three storied pagoda at the Naritasan Shinshoji Temple

procession of Japanese Buddhist monks

the chief monk in all his holiday finery

Gaduko Hall at the temple

Japanese family out for the day

Superb park around the temple,narita

Koi feeding frenzy

Old town, Narita. Hordes of people on the Golden week holiday

Preparing and skinning eels, a favorite dish served over rice with a special sauce

Turtles sunning themselves at the Shinshoji Temple,Narita