Weather: The day started with a perfect blue sky however, at around
midday, a haze descended and therefore a lot of my photos came out
with a white sky. Oh, and it's still very hot.
MP3 track of the day: It's getting hot in here - Nelly
The sun had risen and was beaming through my dorms 'curtainless'
window at around 7am. I tried to fight it but it was no good; instead
I decided to use the early start to my advantage and get ready
quickly, pack my car and then update by blog and online photo album
so that both were as up-to-date as possible. Getting ready and packed
took an hour; whereas updating my 'internet stuff' took two. After
nipping to the local post office to get some cash, I found myself
ready to say goodbye at around 10am. I made my way to my car
accompanied by the owner and a member of staff. Photographs were
taken and promises were made that, if I should ever visit Sendai
again (not likely) I will stay here. Finally I drove out of
the car park and put my hazards on in response to the hostel staff
waving me off.
Once on the road I had some immediate jobs to take care off. Firstly
I was hungry and secondly I wanted to stop for fuel in a big city, as
it should be cheaper than in the small town I was heading to. I got
on the 'route 4' and headed south for a good hour until a McDonald's
appeared. The monotony of traffic lights, Las Vegas style shopping
signs and the endless traffic was already having an effect on me
therefore, when the 'golden M' appeared on the horizon I was very
glad to turn into it's car park.
As the time was 11am I'd missed 'breakfast' and had to settle for an
early lunch. As I sat eating my chicken nuggets I read my guidebook
to find out what was in store for me in Aizu-Wakamatsu. I also re-read
my road map as one of the hostels staff members urged me to change my
route to the '115' (the '115' goes from Fukashima to
Aizu-Wakamatsu). This was because the '115' is an extremely
beautiful way to enter Aizu-Wakamatsu, or so he said. I was all for a
change of route; the one suggested would half my time on the '4' and
I was already sick of it.
Also, while eating, I thought about the hostel. I reckon, even though
Sendai hasn't got any tourist attractions to speak of, it would make
a good 'lads long weekend' and, if the guys in Miyako wanted to take
a car down to Sendai, then this hostel would make a great base. I
also thought about my time in the hostel. From now on I would be
staying in hotels (as I couldn't find any hostels in either
Aizu-Wakamatsu, or Yamagata, on the internet) and, whereas being
able to leave all of my stuff out will be a blessing, I shall miss
the sound of people here, there and everywhere. Also I wondered if I
had made the most of my time in the hostel; this blog does have a tenancy to dictate my day and sometimes, as I was working on this
blog, I could hear conversations and laughter from below as traveler
got to know traveler. I did however always make it a point to switch
my computer off 1 hour / 30 minutes before 'lights out', so that I
did socialise but, was that enough? Anyway it mattered not; that time
had gone, my blog was up-to-date and I had eaten everything on my
McDonald's tray. It was time to put my rubbish in the bin and head
back out onto the '4'. Once I'd rejoined the road I stopped again
briefly for petrol (where a nice lady helped me use the automatic
machine) before hitting the outside lane. I put my foot down and
prayed for the 'Fukashima prefecture' sign to appear sooner rather
than later.
Somehow I'd missed the Fukashima prefecture sign and I only realised
I'd crossed the boarder when I ended up in the middle of the
prefecture's capital city; Fukashima. Now Fukashima is currently
quite famous for all of the wrong reasons. Luckily it's quite a big
prefecture and Aizu-Wakamatsu is as far away from that nuclear power
station as its possible. It was here, in Fukashima City, that I
started to head away from the power plant and take a south-west
bearing across the mountains and towards Aizu-Wakamatsu, along 'route
115'. This was were my route had been altered by the hostel staff and
so I was juggling a map, reading road signs and changing lanes with
the 'up-most' skill to make sure that I didn't miss the right turn onto
the '115'. A part from nearly running into the back of a lorry, I
navigated the city of Fukashima like I was born there and I soon
found myself leaving the city and climbing forever upwards.
Being extremely thirsty, and hot, I stopped at a 'seven eleven' to
pick up a bottle of something cold. At first my eyes did not register
one of the products I saw in the drinks fridge; it took a couple of
moments plus a 'it can't be' and a 'yes it is!' to realise that here,
within the Fukashima prefecture, they stocked Vanilla Coke. Even
though there were at least twenty bottles in the fridge, and only
four customers, I snapped one up like it was the last. I hugged it
all the way to the cashier and paid the price without even thinking.
As soon as I got back in the car I took a small sip to make sure it
was the same product as back at home and yes, it was. I then set off
towards Aizu-Wakamatsu with a huge smile on my face. Less traffic,
smaller cities and Vanilla Coke; surely this has to be the best
prefecture ever.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any better the '115' climbed
forever upwards giving me a great 'birds eye' view of Fukashima city
on my right, and a series of huge mountain peaks in front of me. Also
the road was two-lane all the way up, which meant that even slow lorries
couldn't spoil my trip. The only slight annoyance was the cloud
level. Every time I looked back at Fukashima the view seem to be a
little too white. Still, as soon as I drove through a tunnel, and
exited on the other side of the mountain range, the cloud disappeared
and I was left with a beautiful panoramic view of alpine forested
mountains and green rice fields in the paddies below. Every turn was
a joy and I was so thankful that the staff member had changed my
route.
Soon enough I was at the bottom of the mountain pass however the view
was just as spectacular as at the top. 70% of Japan is uninhabitable
due to the sheer volume of mountains. Here I found myself driving
along a flat piece of road with, roughly, a miles worth of flat land
on either side. After this the mountains shot up acting as a boarder
around the perfect landscape photo. The land either side contained a
handful of buildings however it was mostly covered in agricultural
products with rice being the dominant crop. I lost myself within this
world of perfectness, happy in the knowledge that tomorrow I shall be
venturing this way once more to explore the mountain tops. I got so
lost in my thoughts that, in fact, I didn't realise just how close I
was to my final destination. I changed roads from the '115' to the
'49'. The '49' was no less pretty due to the fact that it hugged the
edge of one of Japan's biggest lakes (Inawashiiro-ko) all the
way to the edge of Aizu-Wakamatsu.
As I approached the city from an elevated route, it allowed me to get
a panoramic view of my home for the next two days. I was shocked to
see just how big it was; I felt a little disappointed as I was hoping
for a small 'close-nit' town, rather than another sprawling city. Once
I actually got into the city I noticed, very quickly, that it was
big; but there wasn't much here.
I soon found my hotel however, being 3pm, I was too early to
check-in. I therefore went straight out to do some sightseeing as
time was short. My guidebook stated that it was worth hiring a
bicycle, or using the local bus, as attractions were spread out.
Having seen the size of the city, and realising that I only had
ninety minutes before everything closed, I decided to take my car and
visit the sites in order of closest first. This brought me to a
famous hill called Iimori-yama.
Luckily there was a free car park close to the hill and so I parked
there. I crossed the road and walked straight up the stone steps not
paying any attention to the 'tat stalls' which lined both sides of the
staircase. For 250Yen I could take a stair lift to the top however,
having just paid for two nights within a hotel, I decided to ascend
on foot, which was free.
After turning right, halfway along the staircase as instructed, I
came to a small shrine area which lead to a rather strange wooden
building. Looking a bit like a badly made 'Helter-Skelter', without
the slide, the building was built in 1796 and is one of the oldest
structures remaining within the city. Once past this I found myself
within a large open space. In front of me was a large Imperial Eagle
given to the Japanese, along with a Roman pillar to mount it on, by
the Italian Fascist Party in 1928 as a continuing sign of friendship
between the two countries (not sure if I would have kept it on
display). To the pillar's right was a set of steps which lead,
downwards, into a small graveyard with an excellent view across the
city. To the pillar's left was the bural site of nineteen boys from
the Meji Restoration period:
“...The warriors of Aizu-Wakamatsu were among the few clans to
put up serious opposition to the imperial armies during the Boshin
War, a series of skirmishers surrounding the Meji Restoration in
1868. The Byakkotai (white tigers) were one of several bands of young
fanatics who joined the fighting; in one of the final battles, a
group of twenty of them, all aged sixteen and seventeen, were cut off
from their comrades. Trying to reach the safety of the castle, they
climbed Iimori-yama, only to think they saw Tsuruga-jo in flames.
Assuming the battle was lost, they did what all good samurai should
do and killed themselves by ritual disembowelment, though one boy
was saved before he bled to death. Although the castle was not
burning and the boys' deaths were completely unnesscary, the
Byakkotai are revered as heroic role models. Twice a year proud
parents watch as schoolboys of the same age re-enact the suicides...”
Quite a history. After having a quick look at the graves, I left the
site and got back into my car wondering if I should have paid
anything to go up.
As always time was not on my side and when I got to my next
attraction, Buke-yashiki, I had an hour left before it closed. This
in itself didn't matter as the information board said that an hour
was all I would need (plus, I reckoned most of the writing would
be in Japanese so I could halve that). It was the 850 Yen entry
fee which caused concern; I re-read my guidebook which stated that
Buke-yashiki was a “...magnificent reconstruction of a
nineteenth-century samurai residence belonging to Saigo Tanomo, a
chief retainer of the Aizu clan. It's 38 rooms range from a sand-box
toilet and cypress bathtub to a “classy reception room” reserved
for the Lord of Aizu. In 1868, Saigo went off to fight in the Boshin
War, leaving his wife and daughters, aged between 2 and 16 years, at
home. As the imperial army closed in, the family decided to commit
suicide rather than be taken prisoner; the 16-year old failed to die
immediately but was killed soon after by an enemy soldier, and the
house was set on fire. The complex also includes a number of original buildings, such as a rice mill and thatched shrine brought
from surrounding villages...”
With such a rich history how could I not enter. I grudgingly handed over
the money and whilst I wouldn't go as far to say that the site was
worth £7, it was an enjoyable thirty minutes and I did get to take
photos of an old samurai house without hordes of people in my way. Oh
and the 'rice drying room' was very interesting. Back in the day, the
rice would have been poured into eight buckets. These eight buckets
had a long piece of wood inside them which rose up before slamming
back down (getting the power for the woods movement from a
waterwheel) to hammer the rice until it was dry.
Once out, the time was 4:45pm and I knew Aizu-Wakamatsu's castle
(Tsuruga-jo) would be closing in fifteen minutes. It was
therefore ridiculous to even think about purchasing an entrance ticket
but, even so, I did drive there to see if I could get a cheeky photo
from the barriers. Unfortunately the castle was hidden from view,
by trees, from every conceivable angle. Add to this that there wasn't
anywhere free to park and I gave up and headed back to my hotel along
Aizu's-Wakamatsu's main street.
Dead was how I would describe it. My guidebook confirmed my
suspicions that, even though Aizu-Wakamatsu is actually quite big,
there is little here of interest and there is little of any use. As I
drove I was peering out of my window to see if any building, which
looked open, resembled a restaurant. As I parked in my hotels car park
I realised that I hadn't seen a single place but, as the time was
5pm, I didn't need to worry about that just yet. I checked into my
room, relaxed for a bit, and then I went out in search of food.
Having spent 850 Yen to enter that samurai house (not to mention
the hotel cost) I went to my local 'seven-eleven' where I
purchased a bento box and even more Vanilla Coke goodness before
bringing it all back to my hotel to consume. I then took a long bath,
checked my emails and went for an early night.
No alarm will be set tonight however, I do need to leave at a decent
time tomorrow. Tomorrow I will head up into the mountains to hike
around some lakes. Hiking around lakes; I cannot wait.
Toodle Pip!
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