Day 1 - Travel to the Home Village
After a long, crowded, uneventful flight from San Francisco, the real journey begins. Since our flight didn't land until after 8 PM, we had decided to stay near the airport - Nikko Narita Hotel, which was a good choice made even better by the current exchange rate :-). After a reasonable nights sleep, one of us slept better than the other, it was time to get fueled for the days long train ride to Tokamachi.
NOTE: This is probably turning out pretty long because it's the first, I took too many pictures (as usual), am fussy about how it's presented, and have the time today to do it. There is a link at the bottom of the blog to the full gallery of pictures I took yesterday, far more than could fit here.
Breakfast! The Nikko has a great buffet - Japanese Breakfast+ It included some of the best morning eats from outside Japan, though they still can't make crispy bacon, with an amazing array of Japanese standards. This included a really good, house-made tofu (I can hear some of the groaning) complete with toppings for it. This, for us, was a highlight that showed how seriously they took what they served, something embedded in Japanese way of doing things.
Breakfast was a multipart affair - the first here - followed by jook (rice porridge) topped with a variety of Japanese goodies - mentaiko (spicy cod eggs), minced chicken, okra salad, and-on-and-on).
All this was enjoyed in a dining room of a nice garden with soggy SAKURA trees from the rain – which prevented what should be happening, HANAMI (blossom viewing) parties under the trees.
Time to check out and hit our first train of the day, the Narita Express from Narita to Tokyo Station:
There are few, if any, countries so dedicated and good at rail travel than Japan. After living here 10 years and never needing a car, it is one of the things I miss the most. One joy is just watching the land fly by as we go. While technically a Tokyo airport, Narita is actual a fair bit into the farming countryside of Chiba prefecture. The path the Narita Express, JR's airport service, takes starts in rice farming communities and gets taller and taller as we get closer to Tokyo through the commuter towns and smaller cities around it. A good start to see the variety of Japan.
First we roll through rice farming villages where the first plantings have been put in the ground.
Of course my day can often be made by finding some new wall art, and I was pleasantly surprised as we passed a small city with an anime school wrapped in colors and a character.
Finally, crossing the Sumida River into central Tokyo before pulling into Tokyo Station.
Now was the dash to catch the Joetsu Shinkansen to Urasa, where Nobue’s brother will pick us up and take us to the home village. Mostly, it a vertical challenge since the Narita Express arrives at a platform on level B5 of Tokyo Station while the Shinkansen platforms are on the 2nd level. Age of the station and the addition of the Narita line later on resulted in no direct elevators from the lowest level to the upper platform making even the 25 minutes we had between trains a rush.
Which is unfortunate since Tokyo Station has become one of the more interesting malls with a variety of foods and shops which we rushed past as we scrambled between trains. We'll need more time on our return trip.
Made It! About 5 minutes to spare. The crowd to board the train is surprisingly big considering it's late morning on a Tuesday in early April. There was a crowd to go skiing, but that didn't account for them all.
The Joetsu Shinkansen cuts across Honshu, the main island, from Tokyo to Niigata. Once it reaches the Western edge of the KANTO plain, the broad valley around Tokyo, the train goes through a lot of tunnels so there isn't much fodder for photographers for about half the trip.
On the other side of the tunnels is a lot of snow, so ski slopes and resorts, particularly around Echigo Yuzawa, the stop before ours. About a third of the passengers in our car got off at Yuzawa. The snow looks good so the resorts are full.
Finally arrived at Urasa, which also has a lot of snow, but not many resorts. This is a real countryside station - or at least as countryside shinkansen stations get. This image sort of summarizes how I see these stations, a bit old fashion with throwback technology and lots of snow outside.
Sakae-san, Nobue’s brother, picks us op at Urasa for the half-hour drive to Karekimata, the home village in the mountains. Fortunately, the snow on the roads was minimal with recent weather brought more snow melting rain than more snow. Lots of snow still piled up next to the road and in the fields, but not in the streets where cars go. This makes the trip a lot smoother.
Climbing the mountain we see fewer homes or other buildings in the mountainous road to the village. Snow is all around.
Arriving in the village, we make a quick stop at the Yamada family house. For the first time, we will not be staying at the family house, which was always a bit too crowded, bit too inconvenient to have us underfoot, and, for the less flexible among us, less comfortable.
In recent years Sakae-san helped lead a local organization called Karekimata Eco Museum. They have built and expanded a center where they now host visitors - somewhere between a BnB and a hostel. It is designed to host larger groups with a complete commercial kitchen and very large tatami rooms. We'll be staying there until the next group visits over the weekend, by which time we'll be on the way to Fukuoka...
More on the center and wanderings in the village later. This is long enough for the first day 😏 Check out the full photo collection below or through the link. More soon, I hope...
This gallery can be opened in its own page From Here