not a real day

today was by and large travelling, and the photos taken reflect that.
one day they will invent an economy plane seat that doesn’t hurt my ass so so bad.

jemma had her pillow stolen by a small child.

"Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him."
James 1:12

show on the road

today we awoke in bustling Shibuya, ready to begin the perfectly planned trip of a lifetime.

we arrived at the car hire at 9:55, and left with our car at 11:00. i will not divulge the events in the middle, but save it to say jemma is always right.

after that, we hopped on the road and made rapid progress along a very boring expressway. an hour passed quickly, before we pulled off into a service station / dog park / food van city to plot.

we enjoyed honey and lemon pancakes, a coffee, grabbed some chicken for the road, and immediately exited the expressway to find our own path towards the ocean. this turned out to be the best decision we could make, as while progress was considerably slower, and at first it seemed like we were stuck in quite an odd semi-industrial area, we found rice fields, quaint towns, and winding ocean paths with overgrown greenery that left us in awe.

after 4 hours of detours to convenience stores, outlooks and random fascinations, we found ourselves at Shimoda Yamatokan, no hate for Dormy… but this place trashes it.

an incredible 4 course dinner of sashimi, hot pot, traditional delights, a whole red snapper and finished with lovely orange pudding, strawberry mousse and a white bean taiyaki.

we followed that up with a cleansing trip to the onsens, and a swift entry to bed.

tomorrow has far less driving ahead, so we may find more detours still :))

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood on the Tōmei Expressway, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference"

Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

Take me up to the Izu City where the people are nice and the birds are pretty

Our next day was relatively easy, given we had actually passed our eventual destination on the way down the coast.

As such, we immediately found sidequests, starting with a small picture we found on the stairs to the 5th floor for a hydrangea festival happening under 10 minutes away!

The views were amazing, and the flowers seemed to arrange themselves into natural bouquets.

We wandered the trails of the mountain, admiring the mountain ranges inland of us, and the beautiful coast beside us. (the only dim on the beauty was an aquarium next to where we walked, impressive in its own right given the size of the town, but the dolphin in a 5x5m sea pen was hard to ignore.)

We then explored the Kawazu Seven Waterfalls, each more impressive than the last (except for the 8th waterfall that Guy insisted existed, but really was a connection to another walking trail). From Odaru, to Deai to Kani to Ebi to Hebi to Shokei to our favourite, the impressive 22m Kama we had a blast taking photos and pushing our legs to the limit!

Exhausted, we headed back to our beautiful riverside Ryokan, and noted we had booked only for breakfast so browsed Google Maps for any suggestions for dinner…. and Raizu stood out!

It was a quaint 15 person bar, with the World Cup on the screen and a bearded dragon in a case to the side. We shared sake with strangers and cheered for Japan who ultimately didn’t win against Brazil. Thank you to Rika-san for being so friendly and chatting with us in our broken Japanese and you in broken English!

"Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people." — William Shakespeare/John Fletcher, Henry VIII (A1, S4)

Let’s catch a breath - Happy Wednesday Waffle!

This morning we woke up at our riverside Ryokan - Tatsuta Ryokan Izu. We got dressed in Yukata and proceeded downstairs to eat by the riverside. As with every restaurant meal before this, it was CHOUSHOKU! Traditional healthy breakfast of miso soup, rice, whole fish, pickled vegetables, salad, grilled meat/veggies, black tea and a cup of yoghurt.

We proceeded to do Jemma’s favourite part of the week - Wednesday Waffle! A short summary for friends reflecting on the week in a video, we enjoyed watching your waffles and have loved seeing how you all are.

With a slow morning, we picked up the pace about lunchtime to go find some strawberries which were said to be the local specialty here alongside river fish. We drove our sweet little car we’ve affectionately named Bluey. We found Bon Bon Berry, a quaint place off the highway.

To be honest we got a touch distracted driving about finding cute local markets and just enjoying the countryside, so we got dinner out at a little Japanese chain restaurant. It felt like the equivalent of a… Waffle House or TGI Fridays. Finally, on the way back to our ryokan we found a rice field art…. that we couldn’t discern what it was meant to be. We think it might have been a horse for the year of the horse.

Overall, pretty chill day. We finally uploaded and got the website working! Hopefully we don’t have more technical issues (foreshadowing)!

“Ahh you guys r so busy” - Izzy Pickering, Crafty Gals Messenger Chat

Oh Misty Mountain(s)

Another incredible breakfast (from Jemma’s perspective) by the river, this time it was raining gently. We bid our cute little room good bye and got on the road as soon as we could as we had a SEVEN HOUR ROAD TRIP AHEAD OF US TO OUR NEXT LOCATION!!! This trip would normally be 5 hrs but the pouring rain did not help traffic on the expressways - people were actually going the speed limit! Ed Sheeran, AJR, Justin Bieber and the LOTR soundtrack guided our way. And a quick stop off at Matsumoto Castle which was spectacular!

We had a lovely time on the road - so wet but the winding mountain paths and tunnels were to die for. We did get lost multiple times, but by the time we got to the Ryokan at 8pm it was time to eat! Not before the older man Makoto gave us a tour of the whole room including highlights such as ‘the sink’ and ‘drawer below the sink’. We shared some sake, and he gave us incense & Japanese sweets before advising us we had a curfew! 11pm and we’d be locked out!!!

EEK! Then we rushed out to a Japanese BBQ restaurant, sat by some business men in suits and did the Sake tasting. They agreed on something because they all shook hands at some point…. we had a fabulous time giggling and eating grilled meat - we got the sake tasting set which left us stumbling back into the ryokan just before lock out.

"We’ve had first stop a convenience store for POKKI CHIKII… how about second stop at a convenience store for POKKI CHIKII” - Pippin if he were also on a Japan roadtrip

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It's On Like Donkey Kong

Beautiful Gero was POURING with rain this morning. We had an equally fabulous breakfast at Suihoen and felt like the cutest couple ever in our matching Yukata. We flew out of there unfortunately (after buying some of those magical colour changing sake cups) to go to TAKARAZUKA REVUE!

We saw ‘Black Lizard’ by the all-female theatre troupe, and it was just astounding even though we understood next to 1% of the language on stage. TLDR; detective noir, jewel thief, it goes as expected and they fall in love.

We then sped to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS (yes that same night), ate burgers and waited anxiously with other conspiratorial park-goers outside the Donkey Kong Mine Cart Madness ride in the rain in case it MIGHT operate again. I promise we did ride at least one ride themed after Jurassic Park!

THEN we drove to Kobe Portopia to catch some well earnt rest before we fly out to Okinawa....!

"Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter / Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter / Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade!" - Fanny Brice in Funny Girl the Musical

Island Time Awaits

we dropped the car off :((((
then to fill the time in the city before our flight we went shopping, if you think chadstone is a nightmare on christmas eve you haven’t seen osaka city on a random sunday. jemma had to take some alone time eating a big mac outside while guy conquered the tech section and found his APPLE WATCH SCREEN PROTECTOR (fyi; it was nowhere near the watches, or apple phones, or the screen protectors all of which were on separate floors).

we got lost on the subway several times on our way through the city and to kobe airport. my god so many americans there! we paid way too much for a taxi on okinawa to the resort then collapsed into bed.

“Goodbye, old friend. And may the Force be with you." - Anakin Skywalker, to the cute blue Mazda hire car he has grown attached to

i could die happy here

first actual day on the island! AND IT WAS HOT AS HELL! 29-33 degrees forecasted for the week ahead - this was the summer we had avoided in the misty mountains of main island Japan.

we went for a walk to grab ANOTHER HIRE CAR! we have gotten far too comfortable with not having to rely on public transport. an identical mazda but grey was earnt after a 40 minute walk in 30 degree heat. idk if ive ever sweat this much in my life.

a timely 5 minute drive back to the resort, we slept and showered before jemma’s special plans kicked in - a restaurant booking! https://www.obn-sara.com/

we had the most fabulous meal, the chef akiyuki nasu and his wife ryoko nasu served us the most stunning meals. guy looked like he was going to cry most of the meal he was in absolute bliss. we made our tanbata (once a year star festival on july 7th based on a japanese myth about 2 lovers) wishes to come back and eat here again together in 10 years time.

we went to bed without brushing our teeth for fear of losing the taste of that delicious meal.

“A chef is someone who understands the ingredients and conveys them to others.”
Chef Akiyuki Nasu

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