Today was the perfect day to travel: it rained. Most of the day. And then it stopped by the evening when we ventured out to eat dinner! How kind of it! But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This morning we got up early early so we could have yet another delicious buffet breakfast at our hotel, the Sun Royal Hotel. The day before, the front desk were awesome in ordering us a cab. There's no bus that goes to the ferry port and heck if we were going to walk 30 minutes with our backpack luggage in the rain (I looked ahead at the weather report and went UH-UH, no thank you)! We weren't really sure how to go about calling and ordering a cab but luckily they have a information desk that did just that for us! They were worried they might not find one at short notice on a weekend morning, but they came through for us.
And so, that was how we were able to get to the Kagoshima port quickly and stay dry. It wasn't one of those fancy cabs you see in Tokyo or anything, but we were happy. And it didn't cost an arm or a leg either!
Once again timing was on our side. We were about an hour early before our jetfoil boat "Toppy" was scheduled to leave. We checked in and took a seat. There were maybe 6 other people there. But about 30 minutes later the rest of the passengers came rolling in. Surprisingly, there were a good amount of foreigners! Yakushima seems to be a popular hiking destination for foreigners and a subtropical getaway for Japanese.
Toppy is a large hydrofoil that goes fast across the water and got us to the island within 2.5 hours. And that was including a stop at another island just before Yakushima! It's almost equivalent to riding in an airplane with a bit of bumpy turbulence most of the way. You're even seated the same way, too. There's no getting up and walking around the boat, or restaurants or games like on the slower ferry to Yakushima (which takes about 4 hours). Toppy is made to get you there fast, so strap in and watch the NNN and Japanese variety shows on the big screens up front!
Unfortunately, it was still raining when we arrived in port and there's not really many options for us to get to our hotel. No bus really goes that direction, there were NO taxis to be seen, or it's a 15 minute walk. Walking it is I guess! The rain slowed to a gentle pitter patter, but we still got a little wet, but luckily the walk wasn't anything too difficult. We were quite dewy though when we got to our hotel, the Yakushima Sanso Hotel. Check-in is at 3 and it was only 1:30 but thank the lord they let us into our room! We must have looked pitiful, LOL!
Our room is a traditional Japanese one and is right next door to one of the hot spring rooms! They have two which are separated for men and women, and they switch each day. Today, the men get the bath next door. I once again asked the front desk if tattoos were okay. She kinda hemmed and hawed and I told her not to worry, I understood and would not use it. She said she thought it would be okay if no one else was in the bath. LOL. I guess I can live with that! I know the baths are popular after dinner hours and it's only open until 10 pm. I wonder when the baths are the most empty? 9 pm?
Anyway, I took off my damp clothes and took a good ol' regular shower in our hotel room and was blown away. Like, almost literally! I don't think I have ever encountered such STRONG water pressure before! The next step up is a freakin' fire hose! It was fantastic though!
Jeff and I relaxed at the little table, opened up the screened windows and enjoyed the cool breeze while watching nature with our room's amazing view. We ate some of our snacks, fiddled with our phones, and just enjoyed the rest of the afternoon not having anywhere we needed to be. Oh! Around 4:10 there was a small tremor! I know we've had earthquakes in Ohio but never anything I ever noticed. I noticed this one though! It made the whole building sway underneath you, like someone slammed a door real hard (like REAL hard, at least that was the first thought that came to my mind really). So that was a fun new experience for me! There's also a sound system somewhere REALLY close (we think atop a school) that does the 4 tone chime at 3:00 when school is over and 5:00 when the work day is over and the little announcement comes on.
Around 6 we headed out to find something to eat that wasn't Mos Burger (the only chain restaurant on this half of the island. There's also no conbinis), and Jeff had found a place called Sungun Burger that had a venison burger from local deer. Unfortunately they weren't open for some reason (website said 6 and it was after 6...). There aren't a ton of options within walking distance of the hotel. We were looking around and a lady poked her head out of one restaurant we were looking at and said "Japanese barbeque!" and we're like, "Sure!" since it seemed like a cute, friendly place. And it was! The owner was very funny. She enjoyed our few words of Japanese and we enjoyed her few words of English. When I ordered a Calpis to drink she laughed and said, "Baby drink! You baby!" And later she brought out bibs to protect our clothes from the grilled meat oils and was like "See? Baby!" She was cracking me up! There was only one other couple in there when we came in, but soon many others followed. The person who was sat next to us (we were at a counter) was also a foreigner and we got to chat. Jo is from New Zealand and has been in Japan for over 2 months! She is taking a 3 month vacation to travel around Japan, starting at Tokyo and just going south, as a solo traveler! It was a lot of fun talking to her while eating REALLY REALLY delicious pork and beef we grilled on little grills in front of us!
It's still early in the evening but we're back in our room, writing this, listening to the people walk by on the river path below our hotel room as well as the nature sounds of the Anbo River and peepers and the occasional call of some weird bird out in the forest. I'm really looking forward to our tour of Shiratani Unsuikyo tomorrow! After about 8 am any chance of rain is gone and it's looking to be sunny but also in the 60s!! PERFECT!
And now, the moment you've been waiting for, heeeeeere's Jeff!
The more time I spend in rural Japan, the more it reminds me of rural Ohio - both good and bad. It's very quiet, which is a thing that I miss so much living in Cincinnati. The restaurant schedules seem to operate on Farmer Time ("I only wrote 6pm on that sign because they told me I needed a time. Your fault for believing a sign."). The hotel itself is... rustic. Imagine a big concrete building poured in the 1930s, then remember that each room is about as sturdy as a Scout Cabin complete with the old wood paneling. Structural integrity aside, the staff is nice and the views are great, so it's kind of a wash overall. We'll see what the next couple of days bring.
I miss the convenience of combinis on every other corner, but such is life in the sticks. With all that out of the way, I'm going to go try this fabled high-pressure washer that Angie continues to talk about.
P.S. This is Angie again. I was reminded to mention a current hair fashion trend we don't understand: blocky, square, separated, wet-looking bangs? We noticed it when watching the teevees and seeing current celebrities and idols have their bangs like this.
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