Day 14 – Tori Gates, Ekiben, and Happy Little Mistakes

April 28, Kyoto, Kawaguchiko

Travel day! We woke up kinda early to go hike the Inari gates. That place gets super crowded in the afternoon/late morning so we decided going early would be best. Still. There were a lot of people even at 7:30 in the morning. So we navigated through them and began our hike. The gates were absolutely beautiful. And there were so many of them. I believe one translation is roughly 1000 Gates, and I’m sure if I looked it up somebody, somewhere at some point in time counted them. Was crazy to keep going up and going through. Even with people randomly stopping in the middle of the path to get a picture, they couldn’t throw off the vibe of the place. Serene, peaceful, tranquil. The higher we got, the fewer tourists were there. It was a bit of a hike, but not for these Colorado lungs. There were some Italians behind us, huffing and puffing and wheezing. Elijah and I made it up about halfway, before we were tired of getting eaten by bugs. Nate wanted to keep going up so we split up, he continued up.

Elijah and I headed back down, stopping at our Kyoto house and picking up Juli for breakfast. We we’re planning to go to a cafe, but found a 7-Eleven instead, and the call of the konbini was too great for us to ignore. I finally got an onigiri (been wanting one the whole time) and Nate soon returned with victories of the top. We lazed around and watched a few more shows on TV before finishing packing up and heading out. Walking past Inari nodding was crazy. It was only about 9:30 and already the amount of tourists at the place doubled since we went. We navigated our way through the tightly, packed tiny Street, and headed to our station for the final time.

Thankfully, Kyoto station was a lot easier to navigate...

Mostly because Shinkansen was right next to our exit. While we waited for a train, I insisted it was time to get ikiben! (Literally station bento) Think of a cute little lunch box specifically for you to eat on the train. Apparently, they used to have people going up and down the aisles selling the bonto boxes on the train, but that stopped during covid. So now you can just get it off the train which is what we did. We were curious, because the box that Elijah found had a note that said full string and wait 5 minutes. So… It automatically heats up? Intriguing. So we each bought one of those, got some drinks, and loaded up onto our checons end. The seats flip around. Joe, we foot the seats and the boys busted open their ekiben. I was finishing up my blog, so I watched as Elijah pull this string and touch the box. His face twisted into light but as he found the box was hot. After 5 minutes he opened it up and was met with delicious looking food. He said it was very good, and it was hot.

Switching the seats around was a good idea in theory, but in practice no fun. So we flipped them around again so you have more legroom and Julie and I opened ours. It was crazy. I don’t know what the chemical reaction was to make it turn into a microwave and go from refrigerator cold to hot food in only 5 minutes but I’m sure it’s something that we couldn’t have in the US. And the meal was delicious. I do believe gyudon is now my favorite food here. Finally! Ekiben and shinkansen.

After a few hours we reached our next station.

This one was in Mishima and it was time to switch to a bus. Google warned me that this is a very popular bus, so I made reservations beforehand. And, Google was right. There was a whole crowd of people outside waiting for the bus. A helpful gentleman was ushering people this way and that and telling someone to wait and others to go back into the station. He said our time though, so I hurried to meet him and show him our reservation. He then ushered us quickly towards the bus. There’s some kind of celebration going on because this was a Thomas the Tank Engine bus theme. The outside, the seats, the curtains…very cute!

The bus ride was about an hour and a half so I nap for a lot of it, but when the bus suddenly jolted I opened my eyes to lay witness to Mount Fuji. Wow. What a gorgeous mountain. Pikes Peak has about a thousand ft on it, but Fuji is the perfect mountain-shaped mountain. It’s what children draw when you ask them to draw a mountain. It’s not in a range, just a singular mountain that used to be a volcano. It was a lot taller than I was imagining. Still covered in snow and looming through the fog. It was so picturesque. I’m glad I got the seats on the side that I did. And because there’s not really any foothills around, it seems to just shoot up from the earth.

Soon, we arrived at Kawguchiko, a lakeside town underneath the shadow of Mount Fuji. The small station was a buzz with foreign tourists. We made our way to the information counter where I was instructed to ask someone to call for our hotel. She did so and ushered us outside. The air was very cold.. not what I had planned. I forgot mountain temperatures were much cooler than that at sea level. Soon a bus with our hotel name arrived. What did I reserve? The dapper young man in a sharp suit walk to greet us and ushered us into the small shuttle bus. He held a sign formally as other passenger researched for him. Once we are all on board, we took off. We are about an hour early for check-in but that didn’t stop the staff from greeting us. It I handed over our passports and we were given blank coins to exchange for coffee or cocoa in the lounge upstairs. While we waited for check-in. We did so, and warmed up our bones as we watched the passages by from out the big giant Windows. However, I get auntie sitting still for too long. I said I would go out to explore, and the others agreed. So we walked down the small Street and looked at the various shops finding souvenirs and other fun trinkets that we had no intention to buy. A few drops of rain fell so we hustled back to the hotel. By this time they were ready for us. was like stepping into

Japanese Downton Abbey.

A line of men and women wearing suits or decorative kimono lined to greed us at the check-in counter and bowed as we approached. The lady at the front desk verified my name, then an eager young girl in a beautiful kimono stepped to us to lead us to our room. Pressed the button for us and everything. While we went up she explained what was on what floor, what the hours were and what we could expect…. We still had no idea what to expect. She opened our room and after we took off our shoes, she went to one of the walls on the far side. “Look,” she said as she pressed the button. The wall folded up into the ceiling making us all audibly gasp as a huge window overlooking the lake came into view. She was thrilled at our excitement and showed us the other features of our room. A huge soaking tub was in the bathroom. Like two-person hot tub. Huge. She gave us the instruction sheet in English before showing us the other room. And the center of the main room was a low table with comfortable chairs. “This is where you will have dinner,” she said. After a polite battle and arigato gozaimasu, she left. We stood at the window taking in the sights and sat excitedly.

Believe it or not, this place was an accident. I had totally meant to book a different hotel, and didn’t even realize my mistake until the second deposit was due. By then, it was too much of a hassle to cancel so I just kept the one we had.

So glad I did.

As we got comfortable and settled, a doorbell ring in the room. Come in? A chipper young man came in and introduced himself. Ryu would be our dinner server for the night. He explained what his role was and what to expect, before asking for us a dinner time. He made us welcome green tea before heading back out. So we sat, drank tea, watched TV, played an interesting puzzle game that seriously we could not figure out. We spent a good hour working on it, and then I warmed up the tub for a bath. Were staying at an onsen, but I wanted to try the soaking tub first. It was amazing. The window overlooked the lake and had the cool built-in blinds that were between the glass. However, if you were feeling bold, you could just throw open the whole window to take in the view. It was raining and so the sound, the view and the bird trips were simply marvelous. I could not even begin to describe how relaxing it was. After drying off and draining the tub, Ryu arrived. It was time for dinner.

By the time I came out, he already halfway set up the table. We could not help but gasp. It was a whole kaiseki dinner again but a much larger spread. He sat at the table and explained each part to us, how you’re supposed to eat it, and what order, and what went with what. He would be back to deliver another dish, and then back again to deliver dessert. It was so much. It was all delicious and all crazy and we were all very brave trying foods that we literally had no idea what they were, a vegetable, a pickle, type of mushroom …. Foods that we just don’t get in the US.

It was a whole thing. We tried what we could and if we didn’t like something, we passed it to. Someone who did and moved on. Still dinner was about an hour-long process. Afterwards, he came back to clear the table and to serve dessert. It was a super cute Fuji layer cake with a sugar, strawberry, a chocolate mochi and some cherry jello. We were so full but managed to finish the small dessert between all of us.

Afterwards, it was time for baths. Juli had filled the tub during dinner, so she went to take a private bath. I went upstairs to the ladies level for onsen, while the boys went to a different level for the men. There was only one other lady in the ladies onsen. This one was much smaller than the first hotel but I liked it way better. I went outside and above the bamboo privacy screen was open air. It was too dark to see Mount Fuji, so I’m sure I’ll have to go again in the morning so I can fully see it… Assuming it’s not cloudy or gray. The water was hot and the minerals felt so good on my skin. Even with me being always cold, and the night air being about 60°, I could only stay in there for about 20 minutes before I was too hot. So, I went back upstairs and donned the provided pajamas they gave us. The room attendant had already come in and changed the rooms to the sleeping arrangement.

The others were still gone, so I turned off the lights so I could kill the reflection and fully take in the night leak and the city lights of Kawguchiko while sipping hot green tea. A perfect ending to a long day.