Jogasaki Coast

Almost three months ago we took a day trip to Jogasaki Coast. The website I've linked to here is pretty useful for the practical information on what's around the place and how to get there, etc, but I thought I'd just add our own personal perspective to the trip as well.

Jogasaki is a stretch of particularly rugged coastline along the east side of the Izu Peninsula. It features a 10km long hiking track through the bushes with the sea crashing on the rocks down below. It's quite beautiful. I don't know much about how hiking tracks are graded in degree of difficulty, but I'd take a stab and say this one was medium. Not too difficult for a 5 months pregnant woman carrying a toddler (part of the way; admittedly Craig did most of the carrying) in the heat and humidity while wearing shoes that weren't very appropriate for the job, but a decent challenge nonetheless. Quite a lot of up-and-down, with rocky steps in many places. We worked out that we walked about 4km of track and both of us were weary at the end of it. If I was to do it again I'd definitely wear runners with socks, as my slip-on casual shoes didn't really cut it. (No doubt hiking boots would be even better, but it's not so difficult that hiking boots are a must.)

We took the train to Izu Kogen station and walked down to the hiking trail. Apparently there is also a bus service from the station, but according to the timetable we found buses run infrequently, at least at that time of day (late morning). It's quite a long walk through the somewhat hilly streets of Izu Kogen from the station, although the area is pleasant and appears to be the stomping ground of rich Japanese people who go there for weekend getaways. Could be wrong about that, but there were lots of shiny cars and nice, large, widely spaced apart houses around, and what else would shiny cars and nice, large, widely spaced apart houses be doing in Japan? There are a number of little shops and cafe/restaurants in the area where you can get something to eat as well. The waitress at the place we stopped for lunch even spoke a smattering of English!

Anyway, we followed our noses down the streets to the coast and joined the track at one of the several entry points along the way. The closer you get to the track the more signs pointing you in the right direction you will find. At one end of the track there is a famous suspension bridge but we worked out that we were too far to make it so we went in the other direction. For the most part we had the track to ourselves, with the occasional smile and softly murmured konnichiwa to people coming the other way. One of the highlights was finding squirrels running around in some trees directly above us (forgive us being Australian and thinking squirrels are a novelty). After we'd had enough walking we decided to take a short cut back to the train station along a straight concrete path lining a canal that evidently took the town's run-off water to the sea.

If you're into nature rather than temples, museums and gadgets it's an excellent way to spend a day checking out Japan. I'd be quite happy to do the trip again around April or May next year when the weather is sunny but not so hot and sticky. With a little preparation it's well worth the trip.

 

 

 

*****     *****     *****
How to get to Jogasaki Coast from Numazu: Take the Tokaido line train to Atami, and from Atami take the Izukyu line train to Izu Kogen. You can then either walk to the coast (20-30 minutes) or take a bus (10 minutes). Apparently.

How feminism and Christianity don't have to be mutually exclusive

The problem with the belief that feminism and Christianity are mutually exclusive is that it is based on assumptions and misconceptions from both sides about what the other represents. To be sure, there are aspects of feminism and Christianity that are incompatible, but there is a crucial thing they have in common, which if they only realised they held in common would result in a much more harmonious relationship. These days I call myself a feminist and have adopted a few practices and beliefs commonly associated with feminism, but they are not at all in conflict with the tenets of Christianity. In fact, Christianity would benefit from adopting the same practices and beliefs.

Having said that, I will always be a Christian before I am a feminist, and where there are conflicts of interest, I come down on the side of Christianity. So I will always be anti-abortion, for example. However, a lot of my reasons for being anti-abortion are bound up in feminist as well as Christian ideals, which I hope to explain over the course of this post.

To that end, here is Feminism 101 for Christians:
We don't hate men. We don't want women to have power over men. We aren't a bunch of bitter old women who lived in denial of our biology until it was too late and now regret the consequences. We desire a world for women and men that is free of violence, exploitation, discrimination and inequality. We fight the patriarchy, not men.

And here is Christianity 101 for feminists:
We don't hate women. We don't want to force our religion onto the rest of the world. We aren't a bunch of rich white middle class men bent on keeping the little wife silent, submissive and in the kitchen and bedroom. We desire a world for men and women that is free of violence, exploitation, discrimination and inequality. We fight Satan, not women.

Of course, feminists are always going to find Christians who are misogynistic, proselytising rich white men who believe that women need to be subdued and subservient to their husbands in all things. Just like Christians are always going to find feminists who hate men, want women to have power over men, and live in denial of their biology. The media, always fond of a good fight, will do everything it can to find extreme examples of any group of people, pitch them as representative of everyone in that group, put them in the same room and then sit back and enjoy the party.

And of course, my Feminism 101 and my Christianity 101 are very, very simplistic. There is so much more to both of them. But here's what I want to focus on: "We desire a world that is free of violence, exploitation, discrimination and inequality. We fight..."

The patriarchy. Satan. Both groups believe the other's enemy does not exist and that is where the misunderstanding lies, because both groups' enemy very definitely exists and in fact is the same entity.

Who is responsible for the rampant sexual exploitation of women and girls? Feminism will say patriarchy, Christianity will say Satan.

Who is responsible for the gross amount of violence women (and men) live with all around the world every day of their lives? Feminism will say patriarchy, Christianity will say Satan.

Sexploitation and violence are two of the major driving forces behind most of the world's misery. Of course, there are other factors. Human greed is responsible for the world's economic disparity and environmental degradation, and both of those are also huge contributors to the world's misery, but they are also tied up in a patriarchal/Satanic system.

The reason feminism and Christianity end up at loggerheads is because they arrive at the solution to the same problem from different angles. Feminism says that human beings can change their attitudes and behaviour to end the patriarchy, and the world will be so much better when that happens. Christianity says the world is a sick, dark place that can only be healed by the coming of Jesus Christ to defeat Satan and restore pure hearts and minds to the people. I believe that the Christian solution is the one that will work, which is why I will always call myself a Christian before I call myself a feminist.

Feminists have a beef with Christianity because of the notion that Christianity is inherently patriarchal and exploitative of women. They'll tell you that God is a man who serves men's interests at the expense of women's, and they'll quote you something like "wives submit to your husbands" as proof.

Christians have a beef with feminism because of the notion that women are exactly the same as men, and can and should be allowed to do all the things that men can. They'll point to women's demands for child care and the freedom to work outside the home, and blame them for the rising rate of broken families and lost childhoods.

They've both got it wrong.

The Bible makes it clear that women and men are equal but different and that they have a God-mandated responsibility to fulfil different roles. It is absolutely true that God identifies Himself as our Father, but this does not mean He is a man or that He favours men. On the contrary -- He gives men greater responsibility, and thus accountability, than women. Yes, it is true the Bible says that wives must submit to their husbands. But you know what else it says? That husbands must love their wives so much that they'll even be willing to die for them. Not so hard to yield to the leadership of someone who is required before God to put your needs ahead of his own anyway, is it?

Feminism does not and never has decreed that women should work outside the home. It merely advocates the freedom of women to pursue their desires as much as any man has. It also says "women who become mothers should be given the support they need to fulfil that role properly". This doesn't have to mean greater access to childcare, although that is one solution that has proliferated (and clearly doesn't work in most cases, because it is actually a patriarchal solution). In fact, many feminists will say what we need is a greater sense of community amongst women, we need to simplify our lives so that we're not so isolated physically or emotionally from each other, we need access to the information and support that will enable us to establish our role as mothers more effectively, and we need fathers to share the responsibility of parenthood equally. Christians, does that sound familiar?

I mentioned earlier that I am anti-abortion, and that my reasons for being so are tied up in feminist as well as Christian ideals. Here's how. Abortion is a patriarchal/Satanic solution to a patriarchal/Satanic problem. The problem is sexual exploitation, mostly perpetrated against women by men (although to be sure many women have sold themselves and each other the patriarchal/Satanic lie that sexual freedom leads to empowerment, ignoring the fact that their own biology means they shoulder a much greater burden of responsibility for their sexual activity than men do). Abortion is a solution that suits men's refusal to take responsibility for their actions MUCH more than it suits women's. It is a misogynistic myth that women choose abortion merely for convenience. They choose abortion because a) their boyfriends threaten to leave them if they don't get one, b) the conception occurred within an abusive relationship, c) they lack whatever support -- emotional, financial, practical -- from the father and the community at large that they need to raise a child, including a child with disabilities. On the surface, all these reasons look like convenience, and it is very, very easy for the patriarchy/Satanic system which is really behind them to blame women. "Well she was selfish enough to have an abortion, wasn't she? Now she has to live with the consequences, she can't come crying to me about it." No. We need to dig much, much deeper than that. Women have to live with the personal consequences but men don't, and therein lies the heart of the problem. So what's my solution, if I am anti-abortion? Keep sex for a committed, life-long, exclusive, loving and respectful relationship. It's called marriage in the Bible but you can call it whatever you want. The challenge for feminism is to embrace it.

And a couple of feminist concepts that Christians could challenge themselves to embrace are a much wider view of what is feminine and beautiful, and a belief that women's bodies are not sex objects that men are entitled to. Might sound like unfounded accusations against Christianity at first, but when you think about it, are Christians above any of the following? Obsession over body weight, size and shape, make-up, fashion, and beauty. The belief that female body hair is unfeminine. Drowning their daughters in pink clothing, toys, furnishings and accessories. Discomfort with public and extended breastfeeding. Belief that a woman walking the street at night is asking to be raped.

God may have made us sexual, but He did not mandate the objectification of women. And all of the above points to the objectification of women, yes, even the ubiquitous pink clothing on little girls. (Why? Because pink is the socially constructed poster colour for femininity and -- crucially -- its association with beauty, which graduates to sexuality by the time the girl starts growing breasts.) Being beautiful and/or a sex object is the most important thing women and girls are encouraged to do or see themselves as, and even Christians are often guilty of perpetuating that in some subtle and unconscious ways.

This was really brought home to me when I saw the way the story of "Clare" was handled by the media and people's reactions to it. It was her fault for going back to a hotel room with two footballers. She asked for it. Matty Johns isn't so bad; after all, he said he was sorry even though the only thing he actually did wrong was to cheat on his wife. She consented to sex with six footballers, well she must have because she didn't say no. Her story has only come out seven years later because she wants the fame and compensation money. I am sorry to say that once upon a time I would have not seen everything that was wrong with this picture. It took feminism, not Christianity, to make me see it for the horrific gang rape and subsequent victim-blaming party it really was. I do think she was naive and foolish to go back to a hotel room with two footballers, assuming that what she thought she was going to get was fabulous consensual sex (and that IS an assumption, how does anyone know she didn't just want their autographs so she could brag to her friends later that she even got to see their room? She was only 19, after all). But I think the way six footballers, five of whom were never named, took gross advantage of her naivety and vulnerability and yet have been turned into the martyrs of this story is disgusting. That's patriarchy/Satan's world in action for you.

So is feminism unbiblical? Is Christianity anti-women? I don't think so in either case, although it takes some digging below the surface of each to see it. I do acknowledge that aspects of each are inherently at odds, and there are aspects of feminism I don't agree with, but the overall vision of each is remarkably similar. The real enemy of both is the world's system, not each other, and as soon as feminists and Christians acknowledge that they have a common adversary, we could see one less bitter conflict in the world.

'Ja hear about the earthquake?

Here's The Age's report of the earthquake that hit Japan early this morning. A rather amusing dramatisation of it all, given that the epicentre was in Suruga Bay, which little ol' Numazu sits on and meant that we were in the thick of the action, so to speak.



The circles in these maps represent earthquake measuring stations. Japan has a very informative way of measuring earthquakes; instead of using the Richter scale as a blanket measurement, they rate the quake according to how it is felt at all the different stations. Logically this means that the closer you are to the epicentre, the more intense the reading, although if you look at the maps you'll see that in practice it doesn't always work that way. In Numazu, we felt it as a 4. In Tokyo, which the article focuses on (because, of course, no-one's heard of any of the places that were really affected by the quake), it was felt as a 3 or 4, but the article reports it as a 6.5 because that was its highest reading in a few places that really aren't anywhere near Tokyo at all. Gotta love media sensationalism.

This link will give you a really interesting run-down of the effects of each rating, if you'd like to know what 4 actually means in real life. It shows you that 6.5 is serious stuff, so I'm not saying it wasn't a big quake. Just that the article tries to make it sound a lot worse.



And for the curious, Numazu is located just to the north and slightly west of Izu Peninsula, which is the arrowhead sticking out at the bottom right of this map.

As for our own experience of it, I happened to be awake at the time because Cassia had only a few minutes earlier woken and asked for something to eat. She was lying in bed between us when the rumbling and shaking started and the ceiling light swung back and forth. I could hear the unwashed dishes rattling around in the kitchen too. Craig woke and sat up very suddenly. I was scared for about three seconds when it wasn't clear whether the quake was going to get stronger or not, and worried that Cassia would get really scared too. But her reaction was no more than to keep munching on the piece of bread and exclaim "What's the light doing?" Later on I opened our kitchen cupboards and noticed a few spice jars teetering on the edge (note to self: after large earthquakes, do not open top cupboard suddenly), and I'm sure the fridge was closer to the wall than it usually is. But other than that, no damage sustained.

So there you go. I've now felt a real Japanese earthquake. It was an interesting reminder of the uncertainty of life, actually. I'll be glad if I don't stay here long enough to experience anything stronger than a 4. (Well OK, maybe I could take a 5 lower.)

Excitement plus!

Today we finally made a visit to a few stores I had been intending to check out one of these days, and they were better than I expected.

One was called Full House. I knew it sold second hand furniture but inspection of its insides today revealed that it's also a big op shop. Woohoo! An op shop in Numazu... my life is complete.

Another one was Hard Off and Off House combined. (There's an "Off" franchise for second-hand goods in Japan, including Book Off and some other kind of Off that I forget now.) It's a more upmarket "recycle superstore". This is the kind of place that has air conditioning, jingly music playing, wide aisles, bright lights and well-organised rows of merchandise. The quality of the items for sale is generally better, and occasionally the prices are not much lower than you'd get brand new. Still an exciting find, and a place I expect to check out again some time before we leave here.

The other very exciting place was a discount supermarket. Think Aldi. Here I can get cans of coconut milk for 88 yen (at Ito Yokado they cost about four times that), 10kg bags of rice for 2400 yen (about 25% cheaper than I've seen anywhere else), and... and... and baking soda. Now all I have to do is figure out how to use our oven and I can make banana muffins again. Woohoo!

***** ***** *****
Location of the discount supermarket and Hard Off/Off House: You know the road that runs parallel to the Gotemba train line between Ooka and Numazu, and how it curves around to run directly east-west through Numazu? (Sports Depo is on that road.) Well, they're all right near the curve in the road. The supermarket is a green building on the road, Hard Off and Off House are set back a little further.

Location of Full House: Oh man. It's too hard to explain. It's right up near the main highway through the northern part of Numazu, but I know that's not enough information to find it. Post me a comment and I'll show it to you on a map.

One year

We're officially half way through this gig. We arrived here one year ago today.

Here's what Craig and Cassia looked like:


And here's what I looked like:


A year later, Numazu hasn't changed in the slightest. But I suppose I must have, because it doesn't seem quite as bewildering or exhausting any more. When I step out the front entrance of our apartment building and look down the street to one of Numazu's larger intersections a couple of blocks away, I'm not disoriented. The Family Mart convenience store on the corner is familiar. The pedestrian overpass has been used many times. I know that if I take a right at that intersection, it will take me to many places I have been before and from which I can find my way back without a problem.

Looking over our north balcony, I see Ishibashi Plaza three blocks away. This is the main shopping centre I frequent at least twice a week. To think the first time I attempted to walk there I got lost and wound up in an industrial area! Inside Ishibashi Plaza is the fruit and veg market I buy my green groceries from (I haven't learnt its name) and Ito Yokado, the main supermarket and cheap department store in the same vein as Kmart or Target where I get my other groceries. In the last month I have finally learnt how to say that I don't have a Point Card and that I don't need another enviro-bag rebate card -- although I still don't know how to refuse plastic bags. Shopping is not so daunting or frustrating a task any more. I've learned where all "my" ingredients are, and have a pretty good idea of what I will and won't be able to find here. And all the rest can go hang. It's probably got pork or seafood in it anyway.

The day we arrived was hot and humid, and the cicadas were out in full force. When I awoke the next morning I immediately panicked that we had a gas leak in our kitchen; upon stepping outside for a moment I realised it was the buzzing of the cicadas. (We also don't have gas in this place -- everything's electric, but I didn't know that at the time.) I don't know if the little critters are louder this year than they were last year but I tell you what, if we really had a gas leak as loud as this in our apartment, we would have spontaneously combusted three weeks ago when one of our downstairs neighbours farted. But that's what disorientation will do to you, I guess. Everything seems louder, brighter, bigger and scarier than it really is.

There are many, many things about Numazu, and Japan in general I suspect, that still puzzle and annoy me. The way fire trucks go down our street at 10:30 p.m. with sirens blazing even though there's no traffic. The random announcements broadcast through the public speakers at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Strangers good-naturedly giving Cassia junk food and useless little plastic toys. The rubbish disposal system. The bathroom sink, shower and kitchen plug holes which are designed to collect as much revolting slimy smelly gunk as possible and be very difficult to clean.

But I can survive. I've done my first year, it can only get better (or at least stay the same) for the second. And now I'll have a baby to help pass the time in 2010 too.

And to be fair, there are a few things I quite enjoy here. 100-yen stores. The fact that virtually everything's free for Cassia. The way people keep to the left on escalators at busy train stations. The extremely well organised and widespread public transport system. Not having/needing a car.

So, here's to another year in Numazu. May it fly.

Karaoke

Yesterday I went out with some friends. There were four mothers and five kids. The original plan was to picnic at a large park in the area, but the rain put a dampener on things. So we went to a Hawaiian restaurant for lunch instead, followed up by a bit of karaoke.

The funniest incident for the whole day was that in the 20 minutes between leaving the restaurant and arriving at the karaoke, all four of our toddlers fell asleep in the car. So we walked into the building each carrying a dead-to-the-world child on our shoulders (the fifth child is four years old and outgrew daytime naps a while ago). I wonder what that looked like to the karaoke staff.

Anyway, we had lots of fun. I had never actually done karaoke before in that setting. We got our own little room with a TV in the corner so it was all very private. I was interested, however, to still observe the cultural difference between Australia and Japan with this one. In Australia, you just don't really sing in front of your friends, unless perhaps you're a bona fide singer anyway. And if you decide to do something a little bit mad like karaoke, you giggle self-consciously and apologise for your really terrible voice and just generally feel shy. You might warm up after a while, but it's not like you can just launch into it.

Not so in Japan. Karaoke isn't about how well you can sing, it's just about something friends do together as a fun way to pass the time. Of my three companions, one could sing reasonably well, one was ordinary and the third was pretty bad. But she wasn't in the slightest bit embarrassed about it!

And now I can tick off another "quintessentially Japanese experience" on my imaginary to-do list (you know, the one I have to tell everyone about next time we go back to Australia and they ask how Japan is). Perhaps I should consider climbing Mount Fuji with Craig in a few weeks' time after all...

Yamakagashi!

It's a well-known fact that approximately 95% of Australia's snake population is poisonous. Most of them deadly. It's also a well-known fact that snakes, in general, are shy creatures that would rather flee than fight. Put these two things together and what you get is the simple conclusion that it's pretty rare to actually come across a snake in the wild, but when you do, and you're Australian, you're very, very cautious. Unless you're Steve Irwin, but that guy was Not Normal. Anyway, throw into this mix the false belief that Japan does not have snakes, and you have a recipe for one extremely amazed and slightly freaked out gaijin.

We went to Kanukiyama (the local mountain) again yesterday for something to do. As we walked along the path, I heard a bit of rustling in the ditch on the side. Wondering what interesting creature I might be able to spot, I paused for a moment. This is what I saw.



A snake. With a frog in its mouth. A snake! Right here on the side of the path where hundreds of people have undoubtedly walked today? In Japan?? A snake??! So I made quite a few loud "ooh-ahh-woah-wow" kind of noises. We stopped for a while to take some photos and video, and thought the people coming along the path behind us would be equally impressed. One man stopped to have a brief look and informed us that it was a yamakagashi (I later looked it up and found out that its common English name is Tiger Keelback and it is actually poisonous), but didn't feel the need to stick around and admire it the way we were. I could hardly believe that anyone would be so casual about such a spectacle -- after all it was in the process of eating a frog -- but there were more people coming up the path and I thought we could interest them instead. One woman took a millisecond glance and said "eww, yamakagashi" and kept walking. Others didn't even stop to look.

I don't think I shall ever understand the culture of this nation. (When we got to the top of the mountain we saw a man up there in a tracksuit, with a towel draped around his neck, vigorously performing squats and toe-touching exercises, who later sat down and smoked two cigarettes in a row. I'm sure it's related somehow.)

Awashima Marine Park

We took another Sunday excursion yesterday, this time to Awashima Marine Park. Awashima is a tiny little island not far from here which had nothing going for it until someone decided to build an aquarium there. So now you pay 1200 yen for the privilege of jumping on a small ferry which paddles for about five minutes to the island, and being able to stay there as long as you like. (And if you miss the last ferry back at 4:45 p.m., there's even a swank hotel on the island that will no doubt be happy to take your business.) I'm not sure if they have a problem in summer with people attempting to swim to it. As the crow flies the distance is less than 100 metres.

Anyway, it's a pretty cool little place. They have an aquarium, a dolphin display area, a seal display area, a penguin area, and in the last few months they even added a frog house which you pay an extra 100 yen to go into (definitely worth it). There's also a salt water swimming pool which is evidently open in the summertime only. The whole island is about 2.5 km in perimeter and has a nice cut path all around it which takes about half an hour to stroll.



My favourite part was the new frog house, because they had heaps of really groovy lookin' frogs in there, including beautifully coloured poison dart frogs. The dolphin display wasn't too bad although nothing spectacular. They had two dolphins performing a few tricks -- fetching balls, jumping over poles, jumping up high enough to touch a ball suspended from the top of a ladder, waving their flippers at the audience, etc. No human pyramids skiing on their backs or anything fancy-pants like that. But still enjoyable. Unfortunately the seal display area was out of action for refurbishment, although we still got to see the seals mucking around up reasonably close. The aquarium itself has a small hands-on display area where you can pick up starfish and sea urchins, and touch revolting slimy things that live in the ocean if you feel so inclined (for the record, sea slugs feel like jelly). We also happened to arrive just in time for the 12:15 feeding of the penguins -- another little 300-yen diversion which gives you the ability to drop a few fish over the gate and watch them being devoured by the first penguin that grabs them from you.



We really enjoyed our day. It's a simple little place, good for young kids, because you only need a couple of hours to see the whole thing. I'd recommend it especially for one of those days when you just want to get out and about but can't think of anything else to do.

***** ***** *****
How to get there: Take the Kisho bus (it doesn't have a number) from stop number 8 on the south side of Numazu Station. The trip takes about half an hour, and the bus stops just outside the mainland entrance to the park.

Nihondaira Dobutsuen (Zoo)

We like to try and get out and about on Sundays; it's our only chance to do something interesting and a bit different during the week. Craig had heard from a work colleague that there was a zoo in Shizuoka, which is the capital city of the prefecture we live in, about an hour's local train ride from Numazu. We're a bit partial to zoos, so last week we decided to check it out.

I think probably the best word to describe Nihondaira Dobutsuen is functional. As far as zoos go, it would be on the small side of average. The displays tend to be very simple and not an awful lot of effort has been made to recreate the animals' natural habitats. It's not quite as bad as being stuck in a small cage with a concrete floor and nothing else, but if you're used to zoos that go all out for their animals, this one will come as a bit of a surprise. As an example, the black leopard had one long plank of wood propped at about a 30 degree angle to pace up and down on, but an otherwise bare concrete enclosure. Most of the animals got a bit luckier and at least had dirt or grass floors. The polar bear had a reasonable amount of water to swim in.

It has an interesting and generous collection of monkeys and apes which sets it apart from any other zoo I've been to. I realised that I must have never actually seen an adult orangutan in real life before because I was blown away by how huge the one they've got is. It also has several of the usual African suspects - a lion (which roared at us a couple of times), elephants, giraffes and rhinos. No zebras, though. One of the most interesting displays which greets you as you enter the zoo is the flamingo area. Did you know there is more than one type of flamingo and that they come from Africa and South and Central America? Neither did I, but this place has three species in various amazing shades of pink. I was amused in an indignant sort of way to see that one of the species is named the Lesser Flamingo. How would you introduce yourself at parties with that moniker, I wonder? Don't mind me, I'm just a Lesser Flamingo...

Anyway, the zoo also hosts a small children's park with dinky little train rides, a merry-go-round, go-karts and the like, all of which cost extra. I'm sure this is how the zoo makes its money, because the entrance fee is a measly 500 yen. We didn't hang around in the kids' area for long, but we did shell out the extra 100 yen each to ride the chairlift to the top of the hill at one end of the zoo. The brochure boasted a reptile house on the hill, so we figured it was probably worth it. Well... maybe it would have been if we didn't have to fork out another 100 yen each to take the chairlift back down the hill. (You can actually walk down too, presumably for free although we didn't bother to find out.) There was a big jumping pillow on the hill too, which had an awful lot more people on it than the reptile house had in it so it wasn't a total loss.

It's not a bad place to visit if you're looking for something to do with your kids for a day. The cheap entrance fee is certainly a drawcard. If you're hoping to immerse yourself in a wonderful zoo experience, however, you'll probably be disappointed.

***** ***** *****
How to get to Nihondaira Dobutsuen from Numazu: Take the train to Shizuoka station, then the north exit to bus stop number 13 (go down the underpass and take the second left exit). You can take bus number 40, 41 or 42; they all go to the zoo -- and you can't miss the stop because the bus actually goes up the zoo's driveway and drops you off right outside the gate. The sneaky alternative which saves you a small amount in bus fare and negotiating the Shizuoka interchange (worth considering, especially if you're in a hurry) is to get off the train at Higami-Shizuoka, which is one station before. The bus also stops there but I'm not sure which stop number it is. Just look for bus number 40, 41 or 42 I guess.

Takazawa Koen (Park)

This once-a-week-on-the-internet thing really isn't workin' for me. Time for a new plan. Maybe I should go on every day but strictly limit myself to no more than half an hour or something.

Anyway, I have been meaning to post about the park across the street from us ever since we got here, and finally I've taken the necessary photos. So here we go:


I call this piece of equipment the Stegosaurus. It is pure Evil. It's made entirely out of concrete and is very slippery, having been worn smooth through years of use. And that's just plain ol' dirt ground underneath to cushion your fall if you haven't already been knocked unconscious on the way down.


The angle of this photograph does complete justice to the steepness of the (entirely concrete, very slippery) slide.


The top of the steps and slide is about two metres high. Did I mention this thing is pure Evil?


And just in case your child doesn't kill him or herself on the Stegosaurus, s/he can have a go on this Concrete Forest instead.


It's not all bad though. This see-saw is as benign as it looks.


And these animals, although also concrete, are low to the ground.


It took quite a while for me to catch on that the dirt in this area is softer and finer than the dirt elsewhere, which officially makes it a sandpit. I think the (concrete, of course) barrier is supposed to represent the crater of Mount Fuji.


The swings are also pretty normal. You can't tell in this photo, they're also about 30 cm off the ground which makes it virtually impossible for adults to swing in them. Even short adults. So yeah, this playground isn't so much fun for the parents.


This is about as much graffiti as I've seen anywhere. These characters are from a popular childrens' series. "Exile" means nothing - as do most random English words you see around here.


The park is teeming with stray cats. These ones were kittens in October. They get fed regularly by a woman who lives nearby.


Pansies. Because they can.


Not too many kids as cute as this one frequent the park, but I seem to be lucky enough to spot her every time I go there.

***** ***** *****
How to get to Takazawa Koen: Take the north exit out of Numazu Station and cross over the road. Turn left and walk about four blocks. You're there. It's on your right. If you haven't spotted it yet, you haven't walked far enough, because you simply can't miss it. It's the only large green thing for miles.

Something I love about Japan

Is the proliferation of 100-yen stores. They are everywhere. Recently E did us the service of discovering another huge one called Seria while she was out with Cassia on a walk. It's got rows and rows and rows of household products, food items, toys, stationery, trinkets and miscellaneous goodies, each of which costs 100 yen. You'll find virtually anything you can imagine that could conceivably be sold at that price.

I have found normal-sized bottles of sweet chilli sauce there!
I have found normal-sized cans of red kidney beans!
I have found packets of pasta there which, while also too small, are still cheaper than anything I've found in the supermarkets!
I have found anti-static spray!
There are bits and pieces galore at Seria and I will find myself going there on a regular basis as Cassia gets older. I can't wait to start making fun stuff with her. Costumes, toys, games, etc. And all for a few hundred yen! Ah, life is good. All I need to do now is find a huge op shop and I'll be set (not that anything would fit me anyway, but that's not the point).

***** ***** *****
Seria is directly opposite the Numazu general post office on the main road through Numazu. (Sorry, I don't know the names of any of the roads around here.) But you can't miss it. The carpark is underneath, and the building has a huge dark green sign painted across the top.

Eight and a half hours

I discovered yesterday that that's about how long I can go without feeding Cassia before my boobs start to protest. Craig and I left her with E for the day while we went off to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Don't you love how I title and preface a post describing how we spent our 10th anniversary with a reference to motherhood? Anyway...

We had a GREAT day! Our aim was to visit an onsen (hot spring) to indulge in the quintessential Japanese experience, and then, if there was time left over, go check out what there was to do in a historic town near the onsen.

So we jumped on a train from Numazu to Atami, which is "the gateway to the Izu Peninsula". Izu is famous for onsen, and there are hundreds of them all over the place. The east coast of Izu is to Japan something like the Gold Coast is to Australia -- a holiday destination with lots of resorts, a good climate, transplanted palm trees to give you the illusion you're in Hawaii, and beautiful views out to the ocean. That's where the similarity ends though, because Izu is nowhere near as built up as the Gold Coast and it's full of steep hills and rocky outcrops which make it far more tasteful and pleasant on the eye. Anyway, there's a train line running all the way down the east coast to a town called Shimoda. It's a private line and a lot of the trains are specially designed with panoramic windows and seats that face outwards so that you can sit and enjoy the view.

The idea was to get off at Kawazu, from where we would catch a bus that would drop us off right outside the onsen. Craig had studied the train and bus timetables very carefully the night before and worked out exactly which train we'd need to catch in order to get on the connecting bus which would maximise our time at the onsen. (One of the catches with using public transport around Izu is that it's infrequent and relatively slow.) He hadn't factored in the possibility that we would be lulled into a trance on the train and find ourselves staring at the sign on the platform saying "Kawazu" and thinking, Hmmm, Kawazu, now why is that name familiar? and only just realising we were meant to be getting off there as the train pulled out of the station again.

After a bit of panic and feeling like the world's stupidest gaijin being hurtled helplessly away from our comfort zone like those poor suckers who find themselves the victims of Japanese practical jokes you see if you put "bizarre Japanese TV" into youtube's search function, we wondered if we'd be able to walk back to Kawazu from the next station in enough time to still make the bus (our hopes of which faded very quickly as the train raced through tunnels for a solid five minutes before getting to the next station). We figured there was nothing else to do but jump on the first train going back in the other direction and just hope we might make the next bus to the onsen. So we hopped sheepishly off the train, knowing that one day we'd think this was funny. After all, it wouldn't be Craig and Nat if we didn't get ourselves into scrapes like this, would it? Much to our relief and amusement the next train came into view within a minute. As the line is only one track wide, this meant that the train we'd just been on had to wait on its side of the platform until the other one had pulled up at the station. We can only wonder what the passengers on the carriage we'd been on were thinking as they saw us jump straight back on the train headed in the direction we'd just come from.

Anyway, the rest of the trip was straightforward, which we were happy about. The expectation for most onsen is that you'll strip right down to the nuddy, but we were far too inhibited for that kind of thing, and chose Amagiso because it was advertised as one where you actually do wear bathers. They also reckoned it had great views, and wasn't too crowded or expensive, so we felt like we were onto a winner. And we weren't disappointed. Amagiso was beautiful!!

You know how the first time you do something new, you feel really self conscious? We felt a bit like that as we were instructed to take off our shoes, step into the change rooms, change into our suimin-gia (that's a hard "g" sound - work it out for yourself), come back out, don some sandaru (sandals) provided by the establishment, and then make the trek down the side of the gorge to the pools. But it was worth it. Nothing like a bit of soaking in a hot spring to help you relax! There were several different pools there of temperatures varying from 38 to 49 degrees. We jumped into the 49 degree one first -- well, eased ourselves in gently -- although I'm not sure if that was the smartest way to do it. Anyway, the contrast between it and the 38 degree one was amazing. I usually think 38 degrees is very warm, but it felt almost cool in comparison. (It was also in a cave, which was the other kind of cool.)


See that black hole towards the bottom right of the photo? That's the entrance to the cave pool.


This is the 49 degree pool. They've built a little enclosure around it, but the side the photo has been taken from is totally open to a view of the waterfall and river.


Some more outdoor pools. Niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

After we'd had our fill of soaking in hot tubs we headed back to Kawazu for lunch. There wasn't much open -- it was already after 2 p.m. and a lot of places close up for the first week of January anyway -- but we found a sushi restuarant nearby which featured extremely fresh and potent locally produced wasabi, so we were able to continue our very Japanese experience. We scored eight pairs of chopsticks as we were leaving, although whether that was a standard parting gift to all customers or just something the guy thought we deserved after Craig's stellar efforts at speaking Japanese and admiring the local wasabi, we're still not sure.

There were still a few hours in the day, so we jumped back on the train and headed to Shimoda, which is famous for being the place that was first used as a trading port by America when Japan opened up to the West in the 1850s. It's got some interesting little things to see and do, and we killed a bit of time there by walking around the headland which has a view with, according to our guidebook, "refreshingly little concrete in sight, although not entirely unspoiled by a large resort hotel". It lived up to its description. More amusing to us was the sight of the utterly delapidated "Shimoda Grand Hotel" with its rusted outer staircase, boarded up front gate and puzzlingly new-looking sign with shrubbery growing over it.





We got home a bit after 7:00 p.m., by which time I was about to explode with milky goodness, to a very cheerful Cassia and E, who had been nice enough to even cook dinner in our absence. Cassia didn't miss us at all! I felt a bit torn about that. Pleased that she's confident enough to go a whole day without me, but miffed that she didn't want to sit in my lap and cuddle the rest of the evening. (And also wondering why it is she's so clingy to me when I am home, since she can obviously go without boobies for much longer than I can go without feeding her!)