Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Kevin and Joannie on tour
We left Ryokan Eishinkan about 7.30. The owner gave us breakfast and coffee to take away.We were dropped off at Takeshiba Pier and managed to sort out tickets to Oshima. East Coast Mainline couldn't have cost more! To add insult to injury we then had to pay an 2000 yen extra for oversize luggage!
Aboard the hydrofoil, we headed the 120 km across Tokyo bay to the island of Oshima. Why were we going? Well, Mihari-yama, which basically is the island, is the world's third most active volcano after Stromboli and Kilauea (allegedly), though on the plane over we read an article which claimed a volcano in Indonesia was the second most active. How do you define such things?
On the crossing we saw a strange black and white structure and a submarine cruising along.
We arrived at Okata Port on the northside of the island. We searched the internet and found this about the weird structure: http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/2009/02 /kaze-no-to-and-umi-hotaru-tokyo-bay/
Once docked at Okata, there appeared to be no one from our hotel to greet us but then a man came with a banner with the inn's name in kanji on it. Unfortunately neither of us could read it.
Once at the Hotel, the host arranged car hire for us and sent us off on a circumnavigation of the island. The roads were quiet and the speedlimit 40 kph, which seems impossibly slow. The Japanese also drive on the left hand side of the road which made things easier.
Our first stop was the pummice dessert. We were told it was near a concrete eruption shelter and soon located it. We parked the car and began to walk in when a local taxi driver passed with a car full and said it was a long way. So we copied him and went off road to reach a bleak, black landscape, beneath the volcano. This is where the cult monster films, Godzilla, are filmed.
Back on the road, we headed to the south east corner to see Habuminato, a bay made out of a flooded caldera with only an ancient volcanic plug sticking out of the sea.
Further around we came across Chisu Setsu Danmen, a roadside cutting with a geological cross-section that bears witness to at least 100 volcanic eruptions.
Finally we reached the main town of Motomachi and went to Hama-no-yu onsen. This is an outside hot spa on a cliff overlooking the port. On clear days there are fine views of Mt Fuji, but today was cloudy. Still there was something tranquil about sitting in a hot pool, watching rain clouds gather over the volcano.
One thing that struck Joan on her first visit to Japan was the vending machines almost on every corner. You could buy almost anything including cigarettes and beer and an isotonic drink named Pocari Sweat. In Tokyo we saw cigarette vending machines and soft drinks machines, but no beer ones. We wondered if they had been banned. However much to Kevin's delight, Joan identified a beer machine which Kevin had to test.
Back at the inn, we had to negotiate all the rules about what footwear one has to use. Take outdoor shoes off as you enter, put on house slippers for the corridors, and enter the bedroom with bare feet only. You even have to have special toilet slippers for the loos.
Dinner was served at six. The inn had sorted out a veggie meal for us of vegetable tempura, pickled lettice, shredded daikon radish, spinach, seaweed soup, cooked pumpkin and rice. It brought back good memories for Joan.
Next is a formal bath and then bed.
Aboard the hydrofoil, we headed the 120 km across Tokyo bay to the island of Oshima. Why were we going? Well, Mihari-yama, which basically is the island, is the world's third most active volcano after Stromboli and Kilauea (allegedly), though on the plane over we read an article which claimed a volcano in Indonesia was the second most active. How do you define such things?
On the crossing we saw a strange black and white structure and a submarine cruising along.
We arrived at Okata Port on the northside of the island. We searched the internet and found this about the weird structure: http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/2009/02 /kaze-no-to-and-umi-hotaru-tokyo-bay/
Once docked at Okata, there appeared to be no one from our hotel to greet us but then a man came with a banner with the inn's name in kanji on it. Unfortunately neither of us could read it.
Once at the Hotel, the host arranged car hire for us and sent us off on a circumnavigation of the island. The roads were quiet and the speedlimit 40 kph, which seems impossibly slow. The Japanese also drive on the left hand side of the road which made things easier.
Our first stop was the pummice dessert. We were told it was near a concrete eruption shelter and soon located it. We parked the car and began to walk in when a local taxi driver passed with a car full and said it was a long way. So we copied him and went off road to reach a bleak, black landscape, beneath the volcano. This is where the cult monster films, Godzilla, are filmed.
Back on the road, we headed to the south east corner to see Habuminato, a bay made out of a flooded caldera with only an ancient volcanic plug sticking out of the sea.
Further around we came across Chisu Setsu Danmen, a roadside cutting with a geological cross-section that bears witness to at least 100 volcanic eruptions.
Finally we reached the main town of Motomachi and went to Hama-no-yu onsen. This is an outside hot spa on a cliff overlooking the port. On clear days there are fine views of Mt Fuji, but today was cloudy. Still there was something tranquil about sitting in a hot pool, watching rain clouds gather over the volcano.
One thing that struck Joan on her first visit to Japan was the vending machines almost on every corner. You could buy almost anything including cigarettes and beer and an isotonic drink named Pocari Sweat. In Tokyo we saw cigarette vending machines and soft drinks machines, but no beer ones. We wondered if they had been banned. However much to Kevin's delight, Joan identified a beer machine which Kevin had to test.
Back at the inn, we had to negotiate all the rules about what footwear one has to use. Take outdoor shoes off as you enter, put on house slippers for the corridors, and enter the bedroom with bare feet only. You even have to have special toilet slippers for the loos.
Dinner was served at six. The inn had sorted out a veggie meal for us of vegetable tempura, pickled lettice, shredded daikon radish, spinach, seaweed soup, cooked pumpkin and rice. It brought back good memories for Joan.
Next is a formal bath and then bed.
- comments
Nigel Chinese submarine?