Visitors and Golden Week

I've been very busy since I started working last month and it seems that we always have something going on every weekend. One weekend in April, Mayur and Cynthia came to Japan and April and I met them in Tokyo. I was even able to perform with Cynthia for one song during her gig at a bar that looked eerily close to Hotel Utah in San Francisco.

Sensoji Temple is in the background

Ghost and Owl

And while we were in Tokyo, we were also able to visit a cat cafe. It was... an interesting experience to say the least. We also visited a cool mall with an awesome ceiling and a random Ferris wheel.

They sold chicken to feed the cats. It was really the only way they would approach you, haha.

Cat Tower Heaven 

 Caesar's Palace what? 

Ferris Wheel at night

I feel like every time we visit Tokyo, we always find something to do that we had never done previously. I guess that's totally possible because Tokyo is the biggest Metropolis in the world. Anyways, three weeks later, it was May! And in Japan, that's a very special time because several holidays are lined up in succession such that we get a 3-day weekend followed by a 4-day weekend. This collection of holidays is called Golden Week. For this Golden Week, April and I traveled to Nikko and Nagano.

Nikko

You may not know the name "Nikko," but it's where the Three Wise Monkeys originated: See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil. There were some amazing sights high up in the mountains, including a waterfall, a huge lake, and some shrines and temples.

April and Noel take in the view 

Kegon Waterfall

A cool bridge we saw on the way to the temples (Shinkyo Bridge). 

An awesome restaurant we ate at filled with several thank you notes from weary travelers. The restaurant is called Hippari Dako and the owner is a very kind old woman. If you ever visit Nikko you MUST eat here.  

Gojūnotō (5 story pagoda) 

Tōzai Sukibe (And April) 

A friend of mine

This was what the view was like at the end of a hike we did on our last day in Nikko. We started at our hostel and followed this route on this map that was given to us by our French roommate. The hike was mostly flat and then skyrocketed towards the end to reach this summit. When I reached the top, there was a large family also admiring the view.

Nagano

The following 4 day weekend was spent in Nagano-ken, Matsumoto-shi. This road trip was particularly long, taking about 6 hours to get there. Let me just say that driving on Japanese highways is an amazing experience. The scenery is dotted with greens, purples, browns, and oranges and I can only imagine how much more amazing it looks in the fall. But once in Nagano, we met up with my college roommate and life long friend, DC.

DC!

We tried basashi (raw horse meat). It was interesting.

On our first day in Matsumoto, we visited the famous Matsumoto castle. It is one of the oldest and most famous castles still standing in Japan. Its construction began in 1504 with several additions made by the castle's various owners over the years.

View of the castle

There were many displays inside the castle including weapons and samurai armor used to protect the castles' inhabitants. These guns were just a few of the weapons shown.

A view of the city from inside the castle.

After seeing the castle, we hit up a few other landmarks in Matsumoto including the museum, Nawate Street, and later, the Asama Onsen. 

Nawate Street looking lively. Nawate Street and another local street are famous for their mom n' pop shops and quaint small-town feel. 

Me in a leaf. 

Nawate even had a cotton candy machine. 

Ayumi and Noel portrayed as eyes.

As you can imagine, pictures are not allowed at onsen and so I took none. But it was quite an experience. It was my first time at an onsen and I was with DC, so I guess it was a little bit easier to adjust haha. As you can imagine everyone is naked, but the thing that surprised me was that there were even little kids in there. Another interesting part of the experience was that it was especially crowded when we went (maybe because it was Golden Week) so it was a little difficult to avoid... things. Other than that, the water was mostly relaxing but eventually got too hot for us to handle. After our onsen-ing, we decided to try eating out at at this yakitori shop. It started out good, but eventually the owner basically started talking crap about us to the other customers saying things like "why are there so many foreigners here" and also saying that he did not want to serve us. We blew that place off and ended up at this really nice restaurant who welcomed us with open arms. I don't know why I did not take any pictures here but it was a warm experience, be-fitting of Japan.

On the second day, we went to another onsen in the mountains. It was about a 1.5 hour traveling experience to get there by local train and special bus, but I think it was totally worth it. This onsen had a co-ed area and the water at this onsen was full of minerals so you couldn't see more than a few inches (or centimeters) in. So this time the whole gang was able to hang out together... naked. Well, you were allowed to wear towels so I think most of the girls in this area were indeed wearing them. But some of the older guys just didn't care and were straight up hanging out. I really liked this onsen because the water was not boiling hot and it really felt like a true onsen because we were outdoors in the cool mountain air with straight up mineral water. 

We met a cool Kiwi at the onsen who actually offered to take us all back into town after our onsen experience. We gladly obliged and made a new friend in the process. On the way home from Nagano, we stopped by the Costco in Gunma for a taste of home (and large amounts of stuff). Almonds were the cheapest I've ever seen there, and actually had peanut butter larger than a teacup (Skippy). April was also able to get her Nutella fix.

America!