The end of our Japan trip by “Carrot”

Donating money by buying a shingle for the Hojo Temple roof...includes a wish for world peace!!

So going back a couple of weeks Google maps once again had us camping at the end of a closed road next to a closed campground. The road wasn't meant to be closed but looked like a goat track, and a big closed barrier. It was in the mountains next to a river and no one else there so no complaints from us. 

Next day a search on the net then led us to the opening of the  Zao-Echo Line, a high road that is closed each winter. This is a big event. In the town there was a parade, marching girls, school band, excited  parents and  dark suited, bowing officials. After the parade we drove up to the gate for the 11.00 hrs opening. Two news helicopters overhead, motorbikes, classic sports cars and even a lone lycra cyclist waited for the snow wall lined road to open high in the Japanese alps. We were about number 10 in a convoy of hundreds. Walls of snow 3 metres high, sunny and then a walk on a volcanic mountain with a frozen blue lake. Magical.

Official party all in suits and bowing. The mayor perhaps?

The street parade.

The start line on snow road. Mazda club right at the front.

Driving the Zao-Echo Line

From Zao-Echo we walked to a mountain top and looked into  Ocama, a frozen crater lake.

 We drove down the mountain to a different climate. 28C and humid, almost hard to believe the same day. So back up the hills again to stay at a roadside stop (these stops really are very good and camper cars are welcome) at a ski resort in summer mode. It even had an onsen for our 40 minutes of luxury.

A creek just above the ski resort.

Where are your thongs when you need them.

Another mountain stream.

Wood for sale, always neatly stacked.

A rest point on yet another hill climb. 

We then made our way to Kyoto. Carrot was parked for 6 days in a commercial carpark and we had the use of a complete house for our Kyoto stop. An island friend, Reiko, has parents in aged care and so the house is unoccupied. What a treat to have full kitchen, bathroom, bedroom choice and full headroom after 5 weeks. Thanks Reiko.

Kyoto is a lovely accessible city of 1.5 million and walking with the occasional public transport works well. With maybe 1600 temples, old narrow streets, suprisingly a canal (early 20th Century), beautiful public spaces and lots of preserved timber houses a delightful time was had. To escape the tourist crowds we started early, went to lesser known spots and walked the nearby green areas. We think if we were to spend time in a city Kyoto was a good choice.

Nishiki Market, Kyoto

Interesting fish stall, octopus on sticks!

Central Kyoto

Old Kyoto street

Hojo Temple Kyoto. Note the ceiling painting of dragon.

Keage Aquaduct. Part of the Lake Bewa Canal

Young Japanese Women who hire and dress in traditional Kimonos as part of their holiday in Japan's cultural capital.

A zen garden at HoJo temple

The last night in "Carrot" was by a lake with a view of Mt Fuji. We arrived after sunset after driving in thick fog and rain but as we came into a clear area it was visible. We woke the next morning to clearer skies and the impressive view of Fujisan. Soon however clouds covered it over again. Very beautiful.

Fujisan after sunset 

Fujisan in B and W

Mt Fuji early the next morning.

One last morning Mt Fuji photo.

From Mt Fuji we drove the 6 hours via Tokyo to return the van. Four of those hours in thick traffic, spaghetti junctions, no apparent green gaps but surprisingly easy to manage. A city of 37 million and we are not sorry we missed the "tourist must see" Tokyo.

Returning the van was easy. We were able to stay in the Japan Campers complimentary guesthouse before being delivered by them to Narita airport the next morning. As a bonus Narita Airport was the easiest airport ever, quick and of course polite service all round. A great farewell from Japan.

Should you get a camping car in Japan?

For us it was ideal. We didn't want to spend a lot of time in cities. The mountains (70%of Japan) are just lovely. You would want 3 weeks minimum but plenty of camper hires are 4 to 6 weeks and more.

Flexibility was the great thing. Kyoto was organised in advance. The campsite while Jane did Mokuhanga was found on the Monday morning of the course but every other stop was a stab of a finger on our virtual Google maps on the day. Only one "campsite" seemed marginal as it got dark, finished our laundromat washing and then could only find the carpark of a 24 hour 7/11 store. But even that was fine with 4 other overnight sleepers. 

 Not expensive at all. We ate out a lot. The occasional meal wasn't our best choice but some were brilliant. Parking fees at tourist spots were never more than 500yen. Petrol at 170yen was similar to Australia. Museums and visiting sites were free to about 700yen entry. We didn't skimp and over the whole time spent about $100 per day for two of us. The camper (Budget Big) from Japan Campers was another $100. $200 a day for two is hard to beat. Allow $300 per day and then you won't be disappointed.

One surprising thing is that cash is still important. We paid our rental in cash ( yen purchased in Australia) and often restaurants were cash only, entry fees in cash often, and 1000yen ($10aud) notes were very useful. Visa card mostly worked but cash was easy.

Also the polite people, easy driving and not far from Australia.

When you ask? Winter would be too difficult and summer too hot. Spring and Autumn make sense. We can highly recommend Japan Campers.

Feel free to contact us when we are home for all the goss.

Some of the idiosyncrasies of Japan.

Car number plates. We have been surprised to see all number plates have no more than 4 numbers. Looking further the prefecture is specified in letters, the vehicle class/size/engine size in little numbers followed by the registration number. It seems surprising with 120 million people there are enough numbers for the all the cars.

Pretty lucky driver with plate number 7.

.

A “2 number” plate and two very standard small cars, and a real lack of parking space!

Concrete is now the number one building material replacing timber. The big temples and shrines have amazing amounts of big timber. Older houses are timber and rice paper shutters. On walking trails a lot of timber used (possibly not treated because we noticed a fair bit of rot), but now being replaced by recycled plastic and more often concrete textured to resemble concrete.

Massive timbers on Sannon Gate in Kyoto.

I had to touch these to decide if the driveway sleepers were wood or concrete.

A bridge in a National Park. All concrete but looks great.

One of the foods we have found hard to find is decent grain bread. But almost every supermarket will have what to us are half loaves of sliced white bread and quite good if you are happy with white bread that is. But the interesting bit is the choice of thick or thin? It will be marked 4, 6, 7, 8 or 10. Yesterday the supermarket only had “4” so the result is doorstop sandwiches. But generally only 120yen per half loaf. 

We couldn’t find rolled oats early on but rolled barley was available. We have come to really enjoy barley/oats combined porridge and will try to find rolled barley when back home.

Decent size slices to take hiking!

In one spot you will have a major highway then you turn the corner into a tiny street. When we arrived in Kyoto Google took us down a marginal street with millimetres each side of the mirrors. Backing up was luckily just avoided. Any piece of land even in the city will have rice or vegetables planted. And small tractors everywhere.

The small street and rice paddy just 80 metres from our Kyoto home.

The road works are stunning at times. We missed the best photos because we couldn’t stop but to see excavators sitting high up a very steep slope looking very unsafe. Excavators everywhere but rarely a backhoe. And in the rice paddies the tractors often have tracks at the back drive for working in slurry as they drown the weeds and cultivate for rice planting.

Excavators, concrete stabilisation, and the road still open but with no reduction in speed limit.

At the roadworks always 2 to 4 "flag monitors" politely waving for us to slow or stop. Waving us on when clear almost always with a slight nod (bow). There were no 25kmh zones, just common sense and very short delays. Wish we were going home to the same!

And then a playful set of barricades.

Then we come to a reservoir with massive stabilisation works on the hillside above the dam.

Concrete latticework holding a hill in place.

Or just a walking path on the steepest slope with a timber boardwalk clinging to the hillside.

A boardwalk literally hanging by its fingernails on a mountain slope.

Because the towns and cities predate electricity and telephone the poles and wires just have to fit the streetscape which can be obviously difficult on narrow streets and with earthquakes being frequent not much underground wiring.

In Kyoto, poles and wires. It looks like a nightmare for a linesman.

While talking about earthquakes couldn’t help but notice a railway bridge with loose chains connecting the vertical pylons to the dropped in steel sections. Only in a major movement would they ever come into play. The fridge and tall cupboards in the Kyoto house have safety straps to stop things toppling over.

Earthquake restraints? Probably.

Straps to control the fridge during an earthquake.

A lot of the prefectures have artistic drain covers. A bit of a competition between themselves. As we moved around Jane collected quite a few photos of them. 

Only a sewer access cover but why not make it attractive.

A fire hydrant cover.

We were walking up a steep narrow road with signs about slipping. Then we found tucked in behind the safety railing 3 brooms. These natural brooms are used everywhere and to see road workers using them is a bit unusual.

Jane trying to use a broom. Her witchy ancestry showing through she assures me (confirmed Terry Pratchett fan).

A couple of little critters we have come across.

Jane terrorising a toad for the photo.

Sitting on a recycled plastic rail.

And one of our favorite signs because a rail on a pedestrian bridge over a scenic river is a bit low.

The meaning is pretty clear, be safe, take your rubbish home.

A two day stopover on the way home.

What a great seven weeks away. It will be good to get home but overall Japan by camper has been an amazing experience.