Stairway to Heaven, Part 2

We woke up early Sunday morning. Well, I woke up early, and had to wake the guys up. Since Cara had to leave by noon, we decided to hit the major sightseeing spots before lunch. Shockingly, the ryokan didn't have hot water in the morning, so the frigid water woke me up with a start. We shambled into the dining room around 7, and ate a big breakfast. The fish was really salty, but otherwise it was a good meal.

Cara, raring to go, led the way across the land bridge. We saw all sorts of pine trees along the way. Some massive, others that were growing in multiple directions. There was one that had iron grafted to its trunk, and another that had two trees growing from the same roots (they called it the happy couple tree). As we approached the other side, there was even a tree tied up with rope. I couldn't read the kanji, but I figure it was something like "Rope Bondage Tree". Kinky.

The walk across the bridge took all of half an hour, so our next step would be to climb the mountain. There were signs for a cable car, which led us alongside the ocean. There were dozens of sleeping ducks, which apparently Tala really likes, because he made a big fuss over them. Some ferrymen tried to get us to take a boat back across the bridge, but I played my gaijin card and ignored them, pretending I didn't understand Japanese.

We came to a temple, which we had to pass through to get to the lift. It was a pretty temple, a little on the small side. There were a lot of interesting statues, including some sort of dog-creature, and a turtle made of bronze upon which some sort of deity was riding. People were rubbing the turtle's head, probably some sort of ritual to pray for wisdom. Amusingly, the head was the only unoxydized part of the statue - it had retained the original metallic color while the rest of it had turned Statue of Liberty green.

Beyond the temple were a number of small, winding streets. A lot of shops in the area had strung up little puffer fish for people to buy as souvenirs. On closer inspection, it seemed that they were real fish...with googly eyes glued on. We couldn't figure out WHY they were being sold, but it was kind of amusing, and we ignored the "no photo" signs and took some pictures. Gaijin Smash.

We reached the lift, and purchased our tickets. It seemed we had two options: we could take the trolley, which ran once every 20 minutes, or we could ride the chair lifts. Since it was a nice day, and we didn't feel like waiting in line for the trolley, we chose to ride the chair lifts. It wasn't actually that scary (despite my fear of heights) because there was netting just below the chairs. And looking back at the bridge as we rode higher up the mountain was breathtaking. Japan is a beautiful country.

There is a tradition, once one has climbed the mountain, to stand on these stone benches and look at the land bridge between your legs, making it look as if the bridge was rising to the heavens. We were determined to try this out. But so was the massive horde of tourists (only one foreigner though!), so we had to wait our turn. In the meanwhile, there was a ring set up through which visitors would throw (frisbee style) small clay discs. I bought a set and gave it a shot, but I missed all three times. Some random guy got all three of his through the hoop, earning a round of applause from the crowd. Nick and I taught a little kid how to throw the discs, and she asked us if we lived there. Haha, silly kids.

Finally, we were able to get onto those benches. We hopped up, and bent over (be mature, kids). The ocean became the sky into which Amanohashidate rose. A veritable stairway to heaven. The speedboats riding through the sky was a nice touch. Afterwards, we decided to grab a snack at the food stalls - there was a shop that had cream-filled ningyo-yaki in the shape of Kasabou, the mascot of Amanohashidate. It was tasty, even if it did set my diet back a few weeks.

Since we had some time left before we had to head back, decided to climb higher up the mountain. There was a cute little sign where the path began stating, "Caution, bears often appear along this path!" Great, I was climbing an bear-infested mountain. We walked for about 30 minutes, and actually didn't see a single bear. Finally, we reached the main gate of a temple, where we took a break.

Just a little further was a pavilion, behind which was another path leading upwards. At last, we reached the highest point on the mountain, on which was built an old observation platform. From there, we could look down over Amanohashidate, and at the beauty all around us.

Unfortunately, we had started to get low on time. I was worried Cara would miss her bus back, which would be really, really bad. As chance would have it, the bus headed back to the bottom had just reached the top, and we made it to the stop just in time. As we rode down the mountain, the driver pointed out certain famous spots, including a beautiful snow-capped mountain just barely visible on the horizon.

The bus ride down gave us just enough time to buy omiyage for our friends and host families before riding the chairlift back down. The view going down was even more beautiful then during the ride up. We were getting low on time, and we broke into a sprint for the last stretch of the trip. We got to the inn eight minutes before the bus came, and made it to the bus stop with three minutes to spare.

With Cara on her way home (and soon to be in Tokyo), the three of us opted to have lunch before doing anything else. There were three or four little restaurants competing for business on the main street, all with mostly the same menu. I don’t remember why, but we picked the place at the end of the street. Since I was on vacation, I figured I should splurge a little – I ordered an Unagi bowl. And boy, it was good!

Having finished with lunch, we once again crossed over the bridge, this time following signs to a nearby park. We strolled along the coast, then through the residential part of town. We saw some sort of hawk, and people drying persimmons outside their house. Finally, we came to the park…but it wasn’t the sort of park I was expecting. Rather than a natural park, it was a playground for the local kids to play. We hung out there for a bit; I pushed Tala on the swings, and Nick climbed some sort of jungle gym of a crazy hard-to-define shape. After a while, though, we decided to press onwards.

We were walking down the road, talking and joking when all of a sudden, the most terrifying dogs I have ever seen started barking, and charged right at us. Luckily, the damn things were chained up, and it kept them from tearing our throats out. But holy shit, I was so startled. I didn’t even see them coming, so it gave me the shock of my life.

Having laughed off the “scary dogs encounter”, we bought some drinks from a vending machine and sat down by the sea to relax. As we were chilling, I noticed something red flop by the surface of the water. I mentioned this to Nick, but he thought it was seaweed. Still, there was something smooth and reddish flopping just where the tide met the beach, and so I went over to check it out. And there, struggling uselessly on the beach, was a squid.

This thing was several meters long, and being washed up onto the shore by the waves. It looked like it had been there for a while. The poor thing was so weak it couldn’t even swim back out to sea. So I decided we had to give it a hand. We found a stick, and gently tried to push it back into the water. Of course, animals don’t like being touched, and this squid was no different. As soon as I started moving it, it shot out ink from its ink squirting tube thing. Try as I might to push the squid back, it seemed the waves were just too strong. The squid’s end was near, I feared.

Rather than let it go to waste, me and Nick tried to approach some fisherman who were angling from a nearby pier. We tried to figure out how to ask them if they wanted a fairly large squid, but in the end, they had no interest in talking to us. When we tried to make conversation, they blew us off. Oh well, can’t expect everyone to be willing to talk to foreigners. Even if we do speak a decent amount of Japanese.

Luckily, Tala hadn’t given up, and had succeeded in getting the squid far enough into the ocean for it to start swimming. At first, it started swimming back towards the beach, and then at the rocky pier. But finally, it reoriented itself, and it swam off into the sunset with this other squid that had appeared. Maybe they were BFFs or something. Anyway, good luck squid! Don’t die!

We walked home as it got dark, and arrived at the inn just in time for dinner. We had yet another feast, featuring all kinds of foods, including a strange type of seaweed. Sadly, no crab, but it was still more food than I’ve had for dinner in years. 

After diner, we went back to Chie no Yu, the Onsen of Wisdom. They rotate the men and women’s side every night, so this time we got the outdoor bath. And man, was it nice! While the bath inside was nice and hot, the steam made it hard to breathe. Outside, your body is warm, but the air is crisp and cool. Rotenburo is the best. The three of us had the bath to ourselves again, and we talked about all sorts of man things. Whatever that means. Actually, bathtime is a great chance to get to wind down and learn more about your friends. Going back was definitely a good idea.

We went to this local convenience store to buy some cups – we were going to try to finish Nick’s absurdly large canister of shochu. Interestingly, we wound up have a very unique convenience store experience. It started when we asked where the paper cups were. The elderly man at the checkout counter asked us what we called them in English. One thing led to another, and we soon wound up talking with him. At first, it was about us: why we came to Amanohashidate, how we were studying as exchange students, and such. Then he started telling us about himself: he used to be a businessman, but he quit and came home to Amanohashidate. I only followed half of the conversation, but we were in there for a good 30 minutes. 

By the time we got back to the room, I was wiped. Nick and Tala were talking, but my eyes wouldn’t stay open. The last thing I remember is crawling into my futon, and then I was out.