It has been a while since I last put a post up about an epic moment in my life, so I thought I would treat you all to 2 stories (the second shall follow shortly).
As some of you may have guessed from my earlier posts, I have spent some time in Japan early last year. One of the days I was there, I spent a day int eh city of Shizuoka - it is a little way south of Tokyo, and is Famous for Strawberries, the home of Gundam and is originally the town of Tokugawa Ieyasu (Japan's most famous Shogun). I started the day by visiting the former's castle, of which only the western gateway and foundations remain, but the gateway itself is a thing to see, not to mention it is stuffed with Samurai and ancient tools for living, including a replication of Tokugawa's armour. The rest has been turned into a park, featuring a lovely Japanese garden and hot spring. Once I had exhausted my camera there, I went on to have a look at some nearby temples which were apparently a hot topic in the city - if you ever go to Japan, I highly recommend spending some time in any temples you can find, the more obscure the better.
Then I tried to have a look at the famous building where Gundam model kits are made, but unfortunately that was a no go, so instead I went to have a look at a street filled with amazing works of art - I have no idea what the street is called, but I remember some really far out sculptures, including a giant bowel that would be filled with water by a bunch of fountains, and every so often would tip its contents over into a random direction - where else by Japan right.
My last stop on the day was a place called Nihondaira - this is a famous temple about a half hour drive outside the city, at the top of a mountain. So I hopped into a cab and had a really nice chat with the driver in Japanese, whilst enjoying the view of Strawberry 'orchards' on one side, and the coast on the other. Now as I said before, Nihondaira is at the top of a mountain, a factor I was unaware of before hand, but fortunately a Japanese mountain is a bit smaller than your average european one and, to get to the temple, there is an ancient stairway to lead the way. So after my pilgrimage that far, I got to try the authentic Japanese pray practice and they have a very interesting museum filed with old samurai relics. What I realised next was that there is a cable car one can take to get to the real top of the mountain. Which I did, and from there you can see the most fantastic view of Mt Fuji and the coast line, which is still my phone's screen.
So after buying a bunch of Japanese treats as souvenirs, I decided to catch the last bus back to town to get a train back to Tokyo - guess where my problem arose. That's right, I had missed the last bus back and there were no waiting taxis in the area. I was stuck, at the top of the mountain, on the Japanese coast 2 hours or more away from the city. I had to get the cable car back down, then walk down the rest of the mountain I had climbed 2 hours before and start walking up the coast alongside a main road, vainly attempting to hitch hike back into town.
Fortunately my Dad's company has a branch in Tokyo, and he was able to get his secretary there to try and arrange a taxi to try and get me back in time for a train. However, by this point I was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a bunch of Strawberry 'orchards' that all look the same. If it hadn't been for the camera on my phone, I might still be there today. Luckily I was able to take a photo of the 'orchard' I had stopped at and send it to the secretary and she could arrange a cab to find me there. The big punch line was that, in the end, I was 20 minutes early for the Shinkansen (bullet Train) anyway by the time I got back.
So my advice to anyone interested in following in these footsteps here is my advice - plan ahead and get a local cab companies number before you get stuck on the coast. Although it is a very nice view on the walk back.
