whatta view

let me start with a preface. we left thursday night at stayed at kanko lando en route to tateyama. from the expressway i noted this place, with all its neon lights, looked like pachinko paradise. then, to my surprise we pulled in and parked. turns out i wasn’t far off. i’m not sure if i can convey the extremely bizarre and utterly strange nature of this place via this description. i could not quit giggling and smiling the entire time. you walk into an oriental kitsch foyer with red carpet and silky curtains where you remove your shoes and put them in a lil’ locker. you take that locker key to the front desk where you trade it for another key. then you walk down a counter where you choose a totebag from about 7 different piles. each one has a picture in front of it showing the type of outfit that is contained therein. there are pink shorts outfits, blue pants outfits, flowery dresses, sarong wraps… that’s where you part with your belongings- they give you a number and take your pack. as you turn the corner it opens up into a crazy playland. there are pachinko and slot machines, massage therapists, karaoke boxes, vibrating chairs and beds [for a hundred yen a turn], video games, huge tvs, restaurants, dozens of vending machines, vanities with hair dryers line one wall. there’s a sunken area with people wallowing around on blankets on the floor wearing their fuzzy pink outfits. people are just camped out everywhere. off to the other side some old folks are doing tai chi. we head to the second floor where there is more madness. you walk into the ladies area and there are nearly 100 rollout beds with backrests on the floor facing a huge tv. off to one side is an open changing area, to the other side a room of bunk beds. we claim beds and head to the public bath. this is the part where i get naked with my teachers [only the ladies, pheew]. it seemed much stranger before it happened. it’s a huge facility with a pool for laps, a sulfur yellow pool with skin enhancing nutrients, a sauna, a bench where you sit and water falls from 15 feet up and beats on your sore muscles, an ice cold pool. these are all decorated really cheesy with lion sculptures spitting water outta their mouths and such. as the only non-japanese i got quite a few stares. i’d just smile and wave and try not to run and hide. it was incredibly relaxing and i emerged in my hot pink short set ready to sleep, which was great because we woke at 4 am the next day for hiking. [this whole experience was worth much more than the 1900 yen we paid for sure.]
i had the most amazing experience friday [8/27/04] climbing mt. oyama in the tateyama mountains in toyama prefecture. it’s one of the three sacred mountains in japan [with fuji and hakusan] and it reaches 9852 feet at it’s peak. the weather was perfect. the scenery is absolutely unreal; i’ve never seen land like that before. every time you turned your head there was a breathtaking view as gorgeous as the last.
at the summit, we knelt at a shinto shrine while a monk chanted and beat drums. he served us sake and prayed for our health and safe descent down the mountain. part of the legend goes...they built a shrine there as a challenge to worshipers and monks who brave the steep climb as evidence of their dedication. or that's what i think i gathered anyway.
kobayashi san let me steal these pics.

this is the whole group of us. kobayashi sensei is in the bottom right corner [the young, hot one.] he's the photographer in most of these shots.


this is Uchiyama sensei and i. she's been really helpful and kind. she let me borrow a rainsuit and sweater for the trip. she's also the english teacher that gets the middle of the night phone calls asking things like where is a public bath in my area.


the view from the tip top of the range.


ishiyama sensei, in the foreground, is the youngest english teacher. we get along really well. her english is much better than my japanese but she is still learning quite a bit which makes conversation between us labored at times. she is incredibly nice. she even took me shopping for hiking boots. also in the pic is takano sensei, the music teacher.




everyone lunching at the top of the mountain under a small shelter where they sell shinto charms. we cooked ramen and coffee and had all sorts of other little snacks we'd bought at the conbini earlier.