Days 8 & 9 - Relaxing and Traveling

Day 8 was a restful day where everyone finally had a chance to catch up on sleep and start the day slowly. I used the morning to write a couple of blog posts, and then met up with Winn, Steve, Neil & Devin to get some ramen for lunch. I'd found what looked like a promising spot on TripAdvisor called Kyushu Jangara Ramen Akihabara that served delicious tonkotsu ramen in a variety of flavors. We all took a short train ride to Akihabara and walked in that direction, where we found a line of about a dozen people waiting outside a shop that was barely 15 feet wide. We stood in line for about half an hour, which gave us plenty of time to browse the menu. Steve, Winn and I all ordered the spicy tonkotsu, though I also added an egg to mine. Neil and Devin both had the garlic tonkotsu, and of course most of the group got a bottle of Sapporo beer to go with their meals.

My delicious bowl of spicy tonkotsu ramen.

The ramen came out piping hot and smelling amazing, with aromas of pork, green onion and chili wafting from the bowl. The first spoonful confirmed my hopes that this was a really good ramen spot, instantly becoming one of the best bowls I'd ever had. The bowl included large chunks of marinated pork belly in addition to chashu, and both were delicious and tender, though the chunks of pork belly literally melted in the mouth.

The busy Sunday street of Akihabara on our way to Taito Station

After we finished our bowl of ramen, we explored Akihabara for a couple of hours, visiting a Taito Station, which is a well known arcade and claw machine shop. Devin amazed us all with his skill, winning a figurine with only 3 attempts, while the rest of us headed upstairs to play a few arcade games for fun. Once we finished up with the arcade, we walked back to Akihabara Station, where we visited the JR East office to reserve bullet train seats for our trips over the next 2 days.

My gyukatsu dinner.

The group met up at a small izakaya for drinks before grabbing dinner at a restaurant called Gyukatsu Motomura, which is a breaded cutlet of Wagyu beef that comes out very rare. You then proceed to cook the slices on a hot stone at the table before eating. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their dinner, but didn't want to turn in quite yet, so we decided to try a theme bar called "Feel Wanted" that was western themed. We were able to get an all you can drink for 2000 yen an hour course, so spent an hour trying sake, whiskey and beer before wandering back to the train station and calling it a night.

We began day 9 early in the morning, eating breakfast for the last time at the lovely Hotel Niwa, before beginning our journey to Yamanashi at the foot of Mt Fuji. We started by heading to Shinjuku station to catch our bullet train to Otsuki, where we transferred to a much slower local train that took about an hour to reach our final destination of Kawaguchiko. There we got off the train to find the weather significantly cooler, hovering just above freezing.

The lake view from our hotel, taken the following morning.

We all walked about 10 minutes to our hotel, Konansou which is a traditional Japanese Onsen hotel, with hot springs and traditional tatami mat floors. We dropped off our bags and headed to a local pizza joint for lunch. The pizza was amazing, and was all prepared by a very gregarious Japanese grandmother who clearly knows her stuff. We wrapped up our lunch to find snow falling. We all laughed about it and enjoyed the sight, before continuing our walk and buying a few souvenirs at the local gift shop. Devin and Lauren both picked up a ceramic sake set while the rest of us just browsed. We then walked a little further up the road to buy some local cheesecake that is very well regarded.

After this little sojourn, we were finally able to check into the hotel, so the group walked back in that direction just as the snow began to fall more heavily. The check-in process was a very unique experience. A hotel staff member escorted us to our room, and unlocked the door before explaining that we should remove our shoes and only use socks in the tatami floored area. Our room was massive, with an entry way, a private stone soaking tub with a view of Mount Fuji (totally obscured by snow at this point), and a large sitting room adjoining a separate bedroom. We were seated at our table on the floor, to wait for our room attendant to arrive. Our attendant served us a cup of hot green tea and explained the amenities before graciously departing. Each of our rooms chose to book a private onsen session, which gives you use of a private hotspring for 50 minutes for about 3000 yen ($30 US dollars). We all headed up to the 5th floor a couple of hours later to do so, and enjoyed a fantastic and relaxing experience. The bath room itself has a large sliding window that was cracked to allow chilly air inside. The chilly air on your face combined with the hot water on the body was very relaxing.

The private onsen bath before we jumped in.

Feeling thoroughly pampered nearly an hour later, each group met up and headed to dinner in a private room. This dinner was once again served seated on the floor, with our room attendant serving all six of us. We were served a multi-course meal consisting of pickles and tofu, as well as some fugu for the first course, which was then followed by a course of yellowtail, salmon and snapper sashimi. The main course was rice with shabu shabu and some pork broth with vegetables.

Steve and Winn at our renewal dinner, enjoying the yukata that we were all wearing.

After our meal was nearly finished, Lauren and I exchanged vows in front of our friends. We had no intention of having an officiant or formal ceremony, and this was exactly what we wanted. Lauren's vows were beautiful, and left me pretty teary, but I managed to read my own back to her before once again finding myself overcome by emotion. We shared a beautiful few moments together after our vows. As we looked into each others eyes, time seemed to stop for a moment and the past ten years played back. We have shared so much together since our wedding ceremony, and renewing those commitments here in Japan in front of friends was exactly what we had wished for.

After our dinner, the group moved to our sitting room where we shared some drinks and talked for a couple of hours before finally falling into bed.

Below are a few pictures of Mt Fuji, taken the following morning when the weather miraculously cleared for us for a couple of hours. The view was breathtaking.