Last weekend in "Mainland Japan"

So, or stay at Tokyo is coming to an end - our last weekend in the capital was upon us. It also meant the end of our Japanese courses at Coto Language academy, something we were feeling a bit wistful about. We'd spent a great few weeks here, met a lot of cool people, and even picked up a bit of Japanese (I should hope so!), although we are still far off from being able to have a proper conversation in Japanese.

One of our class mates, "Are san" (a Mexican lady called something like Alexandra, I suppose?) was kind enough to invite us to a party at her apartment in Akasaka, an invitation we were more than happy to accept. Akasaka is a part of Tokyo we don't really know, and we had a bit of time to kill before the party started, so we decided to walk around a bit before joining the party. Akasaka is not a very touristy part of town - it's more of a fancy residential area, and there are also a fair few governmental buildings there. It was one of the first areas of Tokyo to receive a face-lift after World War II. It used to be one of the raciest places in Tokyo to go out (Akasaka was dethroned by Roppingi in the 80's, and Shinjuku I suppose has since taken over from Roppongi). It's a pretty interesting area to explore, with a lot of fancy buildings, fancy restaurants and even a shrine we quickly had a look at.

The party itself was great fun! Are-san is going out with a Canadian guy, who must be rather well-paid, as their apartment is absolutely HUGE! (Akasaka isn't exactly the cheapest area in town, either). The guests were an interesting mix of expats, Coto Academy Language students, and Japanese people (most of whom spoke Spanish!). The end of the evening was pretty funny, as South Americans and Japanese people were discussing in Spanish. Anyway, we had a great time! Felt a bit like a Coto Academy leaving do in some ways!

The next day, we decided to head off to Yokohama, as we'd enjoyed our first visit, and felt we hadn't explore it all. We started by having a quick walk around the Chinatown area, and the nearby Yamashita park, beautiful, as it was basking in sunshine. There was some kind of Indian festival taking place in the park, which was pretty cool. We stayed around for a while, checking out some traditional dances. I have notice there are quite a few Indians in Japan, many working in the IT sector I suppose, but also a fair few working in restaurants and shops.

We then headed off to nearby Yamate. Yamate, also known as "The Bluff" (since the neighborhood is located on a hill), is where Western people moved in after Yokohama was opened up to foreigners during the 2nd half of the 19th century (the Chinese people migrated to nearby Chinatown). Unfortunately, most of the houses were destroyed (like most of Yokohama) during the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, so few buildings on the Bluff predate this cataclysmic event. But, we were able to visit a few of those. All in all, it's a very pleasant area to have a stroll around... We were even treated to the magnificent sight of mount Fuji, during sunset. Beautiful.

On Sunday, the weather forecast was very positive. One of the things we had wanted to do during this trip, but were unable to in the end, was scale Mount Fuji. The Mount Fuji climbing season was already over, but thankfully there are loads of mountains in Japan, which can be climbed all year around. So on this particular day, we decided to tackle Mount Tsukuba, together with our good friend Matusoka, who was kind enough to drive us to Tsukuba.

Before the climb, we checked out the beautiful shrine located at the bottom of the mountain (mountains are important holy places in Japanese Shinto religion, mountains are typically inhabited by powerful spirits (Kama), due to the fact that the mountains are "closest to heaven". Anyway, the religious bit done, we started the ascent (636 meters of ascent in total, the summit is at an altitude of 870 meters).

It was actually pretty hard going, as the path is pretty steep. Thankfully, we were caught up in a big of a traffic jam on the way up, which gave us plenty of excuses to catch our breath ;) Seriously speaking though, hiking in Japan is not like hiking in Europe or the US. I mean, cities in Japan are crowded, but I didn't realize that even mountains are crowded. Well, this one, at least, was (as is each mountain within striking distance of Tokyo, including Mount Fuji). At least there's no risk of getting lost!

There are actually two mountains at the top, the female and male mountains, both having their own shrines. The view from the female mountain was better, hence it was EVEN more crowded than the male one. We literally had to queue for 10 minutes or so to get to the main viewpoint.

The beginning of the path heading down the mountain was even more crowded than the one heading up, since it was narrower. So it was pretty slow going. I rather enjoyed the end portion of the walk, which was very pleasant, and not crowded at all. All in all, a great hike, even if I was expecting a bit fewer people up there ;) We had some delicious Tonkatsu to award our efforts... (Tsukuba is famous for their pork, and hence their Tonkatsu).

We met up for a great dinner with Matsuoka and his family in Adachi, not far from Kitasenju. Great food, as we've come to expect whenever we go for dinner with Matsuoka-san! Afterwards, we decided to walk back to our flat, taking in some rather nice night-time views of Kitasenju as we crossed Arakawa river.

What a great weekend, all in all!