Humid Summers in Japan: To Okayama and Iya Valley

Tuesday AM (this is July 17). We should be waking up in Matsuyama in Shikoku, but we're still in Kyoto. We eliminated two nights in Matsuyama, the largest city in Shikoku, because I wasn't certain we could get there with any sort of ease. Instead, we spent an extra day in Kyoto, and instead of a quick several hour stopover in Okayama, we spent the night there. It made those two days less hectic, but we lost out on seeing Dogo Onsen in Matsuyama, one of the most famous Onsen in Japan.

Em's at school, so the three of us will be abandoning her while we head out for a few days on the road (actually, track). First, some pictures from our room. Seems like the main common theme of all our Japan trips is the train. Train travel is so, so nice in Japan. We even see Kyoto Station from our hotel room. Not necessarily the nicest view, but we still can see the Shinkansen coming and going. We can even see Kyoto Tower. This view isn't quite as nice as the view we have at the Four Seasons in Tokyo.

We walk to Kyoto Station, and pick up some ekiben. Mmm. We ate breakfast already at the Royal Grande, so only a light meal.

We arrive in Okayama, just a couple of hours away on the Shinkansen. Okayama is famous for a few things. Momo (Peach), Momotaro (the famous little boy who was "born" from a peach pit), and Korakuen. Korakuen is one of the three "famous" gardens of Japan. I remember them as the "K" gardens. We were to Kenrakuen back in 2011 when we visited Kanazawa. None of us has been to Kairakuen, just North of Tokyo. And this day, we see Korakuen. It is spacious with lots of open space, and very hot, humid air!

The week before we arrived in Japan, there were torrential rains (which required the last minute changes in our itinerary), which actually caused about 50 deaths in Okayama. So, I really have no reason to complain about our travel woes.

Below is a Lotus field, ruined by the flood. Korakuen was spared major damage, but these Lotus fields were completely immersed in floods, making seeing the Lotus blossoms impossible. You can see the dead leaves, where it should have been very green with pretty flowers... Again, click the picture for a bigger view.

It's an immense garden, but quite beautiful. The size was magnified, because of the heat. It was tiring to walk in the sun from area to area. We walked mainly in the shady periphery.

Below is a Crane pen. They made really loud (and scary) screeches! Beautiful creatures.

Below you can see (if you enlarge) Okayama castle in the distant background.

We found a small turtle coexisting with Koi.

Kakigori! With Dango. Refreshing. Especially since it was served in an air conditioned cafe in the garden.

A tea plant field.

A small pet turtle enclosure.

Here is a Lotus Field that was not flooded.

A corn field.

Okayama castle, along the walking route from our hotel to Korakuen.

The view from our modest hotel (the Excel) toward the castle. It was an old room, but the location was good, right off the street car stop (three stops from Okayama Station).

We got a nice breakfast for about $10 per head. Typical buffet style Nihonshoku. A bargain, and it wasn't gourmet, but it was really filling.

A quick streetcar ride back to Okayama station, and we board our train for the Iya Valley. We get to ride Anpanman Densha!

They have a little stamp pad so you can get a little souvenir of your trip.

We crossed the Seto Ohashi, the longest double decker bridge in the world. It crosses from Honshu to Shikoku. You can drive it or just let Anpanman take you. We arrive in Oboke station about 1030 AM. It is a very small station. About one train an hour in either direction.

A friend I met.

I hired a taxi tour guide since I didn't want to drive the curvy, narrow roads. Good thing, too, since a couple of the roads were closed for construction... Our taxi cab driver, Higashi-san of Iyakei Taxi, had to talk to the Caltrans workers who did traffic control there.

Here is a ninja climbing a wall. Click to see!

This is the beautiful Iya Valley and Mountains.

These are some friends of Connie and Sam.

This area is said to have been isolated from the rest of Japan for hundreds of years. The residents were defeated in wars centuries ago, and they retreated to this rugged area to escape death. They built vine bridges (Kazurabashi) to easily cross the rivers. Only a few remain. I wanted to see them, and walk across, so we had the Taxi driver take us there.

Who thinks Connie crossed over?

They also had these little boxes that you can get in, and "pull" yourself across on these ropes. This wasn't operational at the time of our visit.

And no, the bridges aren't segregated. There are just two bridges in close proximity, and they're said to be the husband and wife...

Soba is famous in this area. I had our Taxi driver take us to lunch here. Homemade by the lady proprietor. But the portion size was pretty small! But that's ok, because we had a nice dinner that night. But it was expensive, at ¥ 800 per dish!

Here is another bridge.

Here is a river switchback. They call this "hi" because it looks like the Hiragana character "hi."

Peeing boy statue, said to be constructed to "honor" tourists who walk onto the ledge and pee to show their bravery (and stupidity).

We got a really nice room at the Iya Onsen Hotel, a really isolated onsen ryokan in the area. This place is famous for its outdoor onsen which is streamside. You have to take a cable car (it's free) down to the stream from the cliffside hotel, in order to get to that onsen. Our room was a very luxurious one, with a massage chair, and a dizzying view of the valley below.

Complimentary beer and canned highballs.

Typical ryokan table.

This ryokan room had two beds, and there were already two bums occupying them. In the room above, they set out a futon for me to sleep. Bum #2 below got dibs on the real bed.

The changing / makeup room adjacent to the outdoor bath.

Our own outdoor private onsen bath next to the changing room.

Even a foot bath!

The view from our room down to the stream. You can see the cable car near the bottom.

The onsen water here is really different. It has a slippery texture -- it's called tsurutsuru in Japanese. It isn't unpleasant. It's kind of like an extreme feeling when you wash with soap in really soft water. Very sulfurous too.

Here you see our dinner. Not served in our room, which was fine, since we got to sit in real chairs.

Sitting on the floor gets old pretty quickly. Appetizers. A vegetarian cold soup.

This was an interesting plate with chicken sashimi. Connie and Sam didn't eat any of their chicken! I ate the majority.

Clear fish soup.

Ayu and Hoshigaki (in a unique lollipop presentation -- I saved mine for Em, but it didn't keep well...)

Palate cleanser sorbet.

Wagyu. Three portions like this, and I ate it all!

I get to cook my own! The beef wasn't as marbled as other Wagyu beef I have had, but it was very tender; you hardly had to chew it. And it was perfect without any seasoning except the Himalayan salt we were given.