July brought us another one of those inexplicable Japanese public holidays (one planted into each month, either Friday or Monday). Marine Day was this months, whatever that may entail. Reference to th
e supply base for sushi? No clue... Anyway, anyone working here and suffering from few vacation days tries to use those public holiday for short trips. So some of my working friends had decided to do a trip to Shikinejima, one of the Izu islands about 200km South of Tokyo. Obviously a rather quiet and very small island with nice free rotemburo/onsen (hot springs) and a free camping site.
So Friday evening we met up at Takeshiba Pier in Tokyo`s harbour area. We were of course not alone heading for the Izu islands, there were masses of people lining up at the pier. At the ticket counter everybody got a free plastic mat which I later realized was the mattress to sleep on the ferry. The boat soon looked like a refugee camp with all those people laying out their stuff on the floor and trying to sleep or party, two naturally enemy activities. Lucky were those who managed to sleep in the chaos. Otherwise you'd party with Tokyo gaijins or make friends with the surfer boys heading to the neighbouring Nijima.
The free campsite on Shikinejima turned out to be very scenic, located above a beach. Some of the tentsites were down near the beach, the others spread over the hill on different levels. We wisely chose the ones up the hill. Like this you had the choice whether to sleep or party, those near the firesites would be inevitably booked for noise all night long. I shared a tent with Sarah, a Japanese woman who lived in the US for 10 years. Our friend Peter had lent us the
tent which was a bit old, but spacious and easy to put up.
Peter visits the island every year at least once, so he was very familar with its sites and the local businesses. We rented some rusty mountainbikes from an old man in town and started to tour the island. It is hilly, but small and with a bike you have quickly seen the major sites. So we mostly stayed in the free rotemburo, soaking up and relaxing. I like the Onsen culture, however, I am not the type to stay in the very hot water for long or do ten different springs in one day. But I had fun taking pictures of my friends and doing people and dog watching.
I got to know a plant/vergetable that had been completely unknown to me before, despite having spent many months in Japan already. Peter was midly obsessed with it to say the least. It is a leave that is growing everywhere on the Izu islands and is called Ashitaba. "Ashita" means "tomorrow" and "ba" is for "leave" meaning a leave that grows back tomorrow when you cut it. It is used for a variety of dishes. We went to the islands "Italian" (well, as Italian as it gets out there) restaurant and tried Ashitaba salad, bread and tempura. The latter two were excellent, very tasty. You can also just eat it fresh from the roadside, but it is definitely better cooked up a bit.
The island was also site for some social tensions between "gaijins" (foreigners) which
was namely our group and a group called Alpine club Japan or something like that. Peter and Jim both used to be members of that outdoor club which is one of the biggest in Japan with its own magazine and so on. It seems the clubs president is a bit egocentric however. Jim organized a small hike with a couple of other members and outside friends and did not do it through the official club channel. They got "caught" on the hike and Jim was expelled from the club for organizing an event with other members "behind the presidents back". The guy later wanted to back out and asked Jim to join again under the condition that he would sign an amendment to the club members declaration that said that no member was allowed to organize any event with more than 2 other club members without inviting the club as a whole. Jim pretty much showed his middle finger and some other members left as well. Bad luck that both Jim and the club decided to go to the same island that weekend... Of course a lot of members still know and like him and agree on the president being silly. So there was lots of gossip. The president "caught" us with some club members sitting in front of the supermarket and talking about - well - him. He got a little catty...
We finished the weekend with a hike to the highest point of the island, a very windy affair but with a lovely view. The local tourist board had organised some sort of sea snail race on the nearby beach. They threw tons of those into the water and people with snorkeling goggles jumped after and tried to collect as many as possible. Seemed quite
pointless, but fun to watch. After the snails were barbecued (but tasted quite bad). We had a proper barbecue in the evening at the campsite which was cosy. The guys again went to the lovely onsen down a cliff. It looks impressive at night. There is a steep, lantern lit zigzag path leading down the cliffs and you end up in this free onsen right down at the ocean with all the lights around. The guys took wine with them and stayed in the spring for hours, probably soaked up with minerals for life...
e supply base for sushi? No clue... Anyway, anyone working here and suffering from few vacation days tries to use those public holiday for short trips. So some of my working friends had decided to do a trip to Shikinejima, one of the Izu islands about 200km South of Tokyo. Obviously a rather quiet and very small island with nice free rotemburo/onsen (hot springs) and a free camping site.So Friday evening we met up at Takeshiba Pier in Tokyo`s harbour area. We were of course not alone heading for the Izu islands, there were masses of people lining up at the pier. At the ticket counter everybody got a free plastic mat which I later realized was the mattress to sleep on the ferry. The boat soon looked like a refugee camp with all those people laying out their stuff on the floor and trying to sleep or party, two naturally enemy activities. Lucky were those who managed to sleep in the chaos. Otherwise you'd party with Tokyo gaijins or make friends with the surfer boys heading to the neighbouring Nijima.
The free campsite on Shikinejima turned out to be very scenic, located above a beach. Some of the tentsites were down near the beach, the others spread over the hill on different levels. We wisely chose the ones up the hill. Like this you had the choice whether to sleep or party, those near the firesites would be inevitably booked for noise all night long. I shared a tent with Sarah, a Japanese woman who lived in the US for 10 years. Our friend Peter had lent us the
tent which was a bit old, but spacious and easy to put up.Peter visits the island every year at least once, so he was very familar with its sites and the local businesses. We rented some rusty mountainbikes from an old man in town and started to tour the island. It is hilly, but small and with a bike you have quickly seen the major sites. So we mostly stayed in the free rotemburo, soaking up and relaxing. I like the Onsen culture, however, I am not the type to stay in the very hot water for long or do ten different springs in one day. But I had fun taking pictures of my friends and doing people and dog watching.
I got to know a plant/vergetable that had been completely unknown to me before, despite having spent many months in Japan already. Peter was midly obsessed with it to say the least. It is a leave that is growing everywhere on the Izu islands and is called Ashitaba. "Ashita" means "tomorrow" and "ba" is for "leave" meaning a leave that grows back tomorrow when you cut it. It is used for a variety of dishes. We went to the islands "Italian" (well, as Italian as it gets out there) restaurant and tried Ashitaba salad, bread and tempura. The latter two were excellent, very tasty. You can also just eat it fresh from the roadside, but it is definitely better cooked up a bit.
The island was also site for some social tensions between "gaijins" (foreigners) which
was namely our group and a group called Alpine club Japan or something like that. Peter and Jim both used to be members of that outdoor club which is one of the biggest in Japan with its own magazine and so on. It seems the clubs president is a bit egocentric however. Jim organized a small hike with a couple of other members and outside friends and did not do it through the official club channel. They got "caught" on the hike and Jim was expelled from the club for organizing an event with other members "behind the presidents back". The guy later wanted to back out and asked Jim to join again under the condition that he would sign an amendment to the club members declaration that said that no member was allowed to organize any event with more than 2 other club members without inviting the club as a whole. Jim pretty much showed his middle finger and some other members left as well. Bad luck that both Jim and the club decided to go to the same island that weekend... Of course a lot of members still know and like him and agree on the president being silly. So there was lots of gossip. The president "caught" us with some club members sitting in front of the supermarket and talking about - well - him. He got a little catty...We finished the weekend with a hike to the highest point of the island, a very windy affair but with a lovely view. The local tourist board had organised some sort of sea snail race on the nearby beach. They threw tons of those into the water and people with snorkeling goggles jumped after and tried to collect as many as possible. Seemed quite
pointless, but fun to watch. After the snails were barbecued (but tasted quite bad). We had a proper barbecue in the evening at the campsite which was cosy. The guys again went to the lovely onsen down a cliff. It looks impressive at night. There is a steep, lantern lit zigzag path leading down the cliffs and you end up in this free onsen right down at the ocean with all the lights around. The guys took wine with them and stayed in the spring for hours, probably soaked up with minerals for life...
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