Japan (Shizuoka) April/May 2008 D-7

Travel Highlight – Shizuoka (Kosaka Pearl, Shidazmi Sake Brewery, Kawane Onsen, Mariko Village & Pachinko)

I woke up early and went for a morning walk near Mochan’s house. I noticed the surrounding place was well maintained and spotless clean! All the household's rubbish were properly wrapped up and placed at a designated area waiting for collection by the local council trucks. The local residents were very courteous and greeted me with a smile when I bumped into them.

As one of our Wish Club members was to join us for this bus trip, our first stop was the JR Shizuoka Station. After 15 minutes wait, we met up with the member and Mochan drove us to visit the Kosaka Pearl Jewellery shop. This shop was not opened yesterday hence our visit today. Two of our CS members from France, Van and Claire showed an interest in pearl jewelry. We took our time to browse through the showrooms and we were impressed with the quality of pearl jewelry on sale in this shop. These jewelry must betakai (expensive) in price! On display at the store were two well-crafted 3-4ft tall pagodas made entirely of pearls. Also on display were two attractive Japanese dolls with their head gowns & costume laced with pearls.

Kino (Yesterday), we had a winery visit in Suntory. This morning, Mochan took us to visit the Shidazumi Sake brewery, located about 20 km from the Western Shizuoka city. This was another education visit for us as we were eager to know more about how sake is made in Japan. Sake was first made in Japan some 2,000 years ago. At present, Japan has 2,000 breweries in operation. To produce high quality sake. factors such as air, weather, mizu (water), water rice, koji (a kind of enzyme), yeast and the production master, are important considerations in influencing the taste of sake. The owner of Shidazumi Sake told us that his brewery site is near the Seto River, which produced excellent quality mizu(water) for sake production. At the brewery site, we had the opportunity to taste the underground soft mizu (water) released from a hose and we were really convinced of what he had said.

As the best season to produce sake is in winter, we were not able to see any action in the brewery but the owner was kind enough to explain to us how sake was made, the fermentation process, storage & bottling etc. We had a quick tour of the brewery plant and before leaving; we had somesake tasting at the sake cellar. Each of our CS members bought a gift bottle (180ml) of Shidazumi Junmaishu sake for Y300 (RM9.60) as a gesture of goodwill to the owner. This sake has an alcoholic strength of 16%.

Our next visit was the Kawane Onsen Resort (hot spring). This Resort is opened to the public. Japan has 1,800 hot spring areas and onsen resorts had sprung out over some 2,000 years due to Japanese’s love for good, hot steaming bath. Many believe onsen baths helped cure your body ailments and improved blood circulation! Two large lanterns written with four Chinese words called Kawane Hot-springs greeted us at the front entrance. The internal building of this resort has very nice décor and I was fascinated at the sight of two large hanging lanterns, well painted with Japanese traditional fine art. Each of us paid Y500 (RM16) as admission fee for using the hot spring facilities inside.

After buying the ticket, we stored our shoes inside the locker’s room and then entered the wet bathing area (male and female uses separate facilities) to store our personal belongings like clothing, pants, and wallets in another locker. Before soaking into the onsenpools, we had to do a washout on our bodies first. You are not allowed to wear any bath towel onto your body except placing it above your head when soaking inside the onsenpools. All the users had to bathe naked so for some people, they might feel uneasy and odd!!! Due to the steaming temperature, you could begin your hot spring bath by immersing your legs first and after a short while, then your whole body. It is important not to drink any sake (alcohol) beverage prior to taking the onsen bath as this may cause high blood pressure on your head. You may place your bath towel on your head as this may cool the temperature down. Ideally, you should not spend more than an hour on theonsen pool. After closed to 30 minutes of steaming bath, I felt very much refreshed and hungry! So it was time for me to leave the onsen pool and took a shower before heading to the Kawane restaurant.

I joined the rest of the group at the Kawane restaurant and paid Y630 (RM20) via a vending machine for a set meal comprising of a miso soup, picked vegetable, rice with fried pork & egg. We were allowed to have a free flow of Japanese green tea – so this meal was a real value for okane(money)!

When we left Kawane Onsen at around 14.00, it was drizzling outside. Mochan took us to visit Mariko Village, one of the well-preserved Tokaido Villages, which had retained the old charm going back to the ancient period. We were told the old houses in the Mariko Village were used as hostels or rented out to outsiders during the Samurai period. We took a stroll of the village and admired the surrounding beauty. One of the old houses had some old pieces of porcelain wares, arts and figurines for sale to tourists and visitors. As it was drizzling, our kasa (umbrellas) were put to good use.

Our last visit of the day was the Pachinko Slot, located in Plaza Apia. It appeared that the local Japanese enjoyed playing the Pachinko slot and the place was packed with people trying their lady luck on the slot machines. At the plaza, our group had some fun at a mini photo studio. Eight of us placed our mischievous faces in front of a time controlled instant camera and each of us took away a passport size group picture for keeping.

We were backed in Mochan’s house around 8.00pm. I did some last minute shopping at the 100 Yen shop and paid Y1,365 (RM44) for some food (yeast bread), sweets (green tea flavor) & Japanese soup bowls (4 pieces).

We had Japanese porridge in Mochan’s house for dinner.

Take a 10-30 minutes walk everyday. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant. I enjoyed the morning walk around the area where Mochan, my Japanese host lives. The air was fresh and the people smiled.