(Day 18) Peak Peekers

Today we will explore this little corner of the world – Fujieda, Japan! We started to yesterday, but we haven’t turned it upside-down yet…much to do, much to do. We work up fairly early and decided that a Japanese Denny’s experience was in order.

The nice thing about visiting Tanya (besides all the many other things) is that she has a vehicle at her disposal that we can cruise around in! In the many Japanese TV shows I watch, they always tool around in these little van-cars that we don’t have in Canada. This is my chance to be like on TV – gyaboo!


Cool, ne? And I ride on the left.

So I know that Japan has many Denny’s – I’ve seen them everywhere – but I really had no desire to check one out until Tanya said they aren’t the same. Let’s examine the differences.



Well, nothing immediately jumps out at me except let me tell you the non-smoking section is rather small compared to the smoking section. The inside was also extremely well-kept (no ripped seats, old French fries under the table, ripped carpet with an chubby older lady vacuuming it with one of those silent, cordless sweeper-types.) The menu was nothing even remotely like the Denny’s I knew…and since when do North Americans usually eat a rice dish for brekkie?


It was delicious. I would LIKE to eat this for breakfast everyday.

After finishing our tasty rice dishes, we headed to Regenjike park to examine all the loveliness held therein…and bake in the heat.




Lotus leaves


A mysterious path? Where does this lead…?


To a lookout – hooray! That was a sweaty job.

My dear friend Kathryn used to practice karate in Fujieda in the ‘90s and had some recommendations for places to visit – the peak at Rengejike park was high on the list. This was it and it was lovely! (Or so we thought.)


Tanya checking out the view.

We found this slide from where we stood that led all the way down to the bottom near where we took the mysterious path up. Let’s go ride!




Whoop…this is high.




How does this work? Oooh, it looks kind of painful. I’ll send Tanya down first as the guinea pig.


There she goes…her arms are either waving excitedly or flailing in the air for danger.



And down I went. So the rollers just roll you right along and it feels like you are using a jackhammer and all jiggly. Part fun, part discomfort. I have mixed feelings. Let’s move along.





While walking, we kind of followed this side path and it continued leading up, up, up and more up. Getting sweaty, I started complaining a bit. Since I didn’t know Tanya that well yet, I thought I shouldn’t complain too much, so I sucked it up.







After climbing for about half an hour, we reached the true peak. What a vista! Since we were both sweaty now (hooray that I’m not alone!) we relaxed there for a while, taking it all in.




Tanya


Moi

FINALLY! An excellent panorama – which is best because a regular picture just doesn’t do it justice. Click for an enlarged version.



After basking in the sun and view for a good long while (and me being disappointed in not seeing Mt. Fuji-san again), we headed back down and ran into a friendly Japanese fellow…who I proceeded to have an extensive conversation with, mostly in Japanese. UWAAA! That was probably the linguistical highlight of my trip. We talked about why we were in Japan, what each of us do/did for work, where I was from, his visit to Canada, etc. I know that strangers talking to foreigners can been seen as a pain, but I was happy I could actually talk to him in Japanese – plus he said we were beautiful. That doesn’t hurt! Sigh. I maintain that I am at least 25 percent Japanese – somehow.

Chatting on the way back to the car, Tanya was just walking along until I gasped and yanked her back, then realizing she just almost stepped on our newest little friend…


He was about 3 feet out when I spotted him. In the time it took me to yank out my camera and take the picture, he had recoiled this gimpy length.

Needless to say, Tanya was slightly horrified that such an exchange almost took place. I can’t blame her. Eeek!

Our adventure took us next to the Horai Bridge in Shimada - the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. The bridge is exceedingly old and awesome.





The bridge is just under 1km and there is a 100 yen toll to cross, which you give to the old lady in the shack beside the bridge. It’s so great. Off we strolled.


Here I am on the far side of the bridge, freshly crossed. This is my “conquering pose”.

We went to the shrines stuffed away in the bush on the far side and rang the bells before heading back.



We stopped a few stores before English class, where I found this gem:


Ouch. That poor lady actually had to pose for this. What the hell is a “calorie breath”?

I wanted to go to a drugstore since I was on the hunt for some make-up remover so Tanya brought me to the giant pink Winderland, with two friendly lion-type creatures as their mascots.



Time for another funny Japan sign!


This was on a drink machine. My heart ARE thirsting for a good feeling place…I just never knew how to put into words. Now I don’t have to.

I love drugstores and Japanese ones are no exception. In fact, they may even be better. For example, they use male pop idols to sell shampoo in their ads:


Behold Akanishi Jin and Tanaka Koki from the insanely popular KAT-TUN.

And what, prey tell, is this lion-like creature trying to tell us?


Hand on her rear, I do believe she is showing a potential buyer where these goods are to be used. Creative and yet embarrassing.

After Winderland, we head to Seria (100 yen shop) before going to Tanya’s dojo for her English class.




The dojo – we’ll be coming back here tomorrow for karate class.


Deadly!


The students…I didn’t want to creep them out by taking a picture, so I snuck this one – that’s why so blurry.
Tanya is a very patient teacher to these students, so I have much respect for her for that. They can be very shy, but try hard to understand. They thought my kanji drawing was perfect to which I laughed…oseiji (flattery!)

After class, we went to try a new kaitenzushi (conveyor belt) sushi place, but had two dishes before walking about horridly disappointed. After an incredibly brief discussion, we were back at Kappa Sushi (same as yesterday!) and jamming our faces with the delicious favorites of inari sushi and a new favorite of hamburger sushi. YUM!!



What a fun day! I love how this part of Japan is completely different from the rest – yet again. This country doesn’t cease to amaze.

Tomorrow is a lunch date with a revered gentleman and supreme karate sensei. OSU!