tokyo tori: Bye Bye Cipek!

Justyna's Brother Cipek recently came to visit with his lovely girlfriend. We had a blast eating and drinking and karaoke-ing our way across the Tokyo area. We also went to THE BEST Japanese hot spring resort ever! I can't do it justice so I will just post what Justyna remembered from the trip (See pics at the bottom):

Greetings from a very sunny Tokyo! Weather has been a bit bizarre recently with 23 Celsius one weekend to 4 Celsius by Friday though today (Sunday) it is chilly but very sunny, so just been out for a 8km run down the river.

Anyhow, we were blessed this week with a visit from my lovely brother, Adam (aka Cipek) and his beautiful girlfriend Karolina. Although it was a short visit, we managed to fit in an awful lot including a guided tour of what Tokyo has to offer, an early morning visit to Tsukiji fish market (again!) though this time we did see the tuna auction, an expensive cocktail at the top of Park Hayat 'Lost in Translation' Bar and a trip to Gora and Hakone. Adam and Karolina were also very brave trying things like raw chicken at one of our favourite izekayas, a tofu feast on valentines day and lots of fried chicken with all you can drink beer and sake at karaoke.

However by far the best experience was Gora and here is why;
Adam's arrival happened to coincide with our 4 day weekend which meant that after a full 5 days for them spent being tourists in Tokyo, and us having to be perfect hosts in the evening, we could all go and enjoy 'rural' Japan for a couple of days. We left Thursday morning on the Romancecar (the Japanese love snazzy little names for trains) and made our way to Hakone, about 1 and a half hours from Tokyo. From Hakone it took another 50 minutes by little switchback train up the mountain to Gora. It was an absolutely stunning day with blue skies (to a point) and en route one could actually see Mt Fuji covered in snow - a rare sight indeed at this time of the year.

We took the cable car up the mountain further to do the 'black eggs' experience- basically, because the mountain is very much alive with sulphur and other hot volcanic type activity, at the top there are amazing smells of farts and the Japanese decided best way to disguise the smell would be to cook eggs in the sulphur for tourists (which turn black) and then sell them. Well, ok, its not quite how it happens as I know there is a lot of spiritual things guiding this miracle, but still, it was lots of fun. The best example of 'engrish' can be found on the mountain though - imagine this, as you walk up to the hut that sells the eggs, and you pass by lots of sprouting hot springs, gases coming out of the mountain and a distinct smell of fart in the air, you reach a sign that shows the following;

" A lot of injurious volcanic gas may be found in this area, don't stop and stay here long and especially the person with the following condition are forbidden to enter: a person who is asthmatic and has a dedicate bronchus, a person of a weak constitution,a person who doesn't feel well exept for the above...conjuctivitis may occur in both your eyes, breathing this gas can be FATAL" (these are not my spelling mistakes, and note, conjuctivitis can occur in not just one, but both your eyes!)

Well, as you can imagine after such a warning, having bought and eaten our smelly eggs we promptly went back down the mountain to relax at the Gora Tensui ryokan which I had booked. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by mama-san who took our shoes and socks and made us sit at the bar for a welcome drink on the house. But this was not any bar, oh no, this was a bar that had its very own little foot onsen, called an ashi-buro. As soon as we had finished our very realxing pedicure drinks, Karolina and I got to choose our own kimono's which we would wear for the next two days and we made our way to our room. The five of us (Brendan joined us on this trip) then relaxed in the various onsen baths (there were 5 to choose from at the hotel; indoor, outdoor, sulphuric, rock baths and private rotenburo's overlooking the mountains) and got to know one another a bit better. It was fun getting to know my brothers girlfriend at the female onsen (Karolina in her very European manner did not blink an eye at getting naked together), and I know the boys also let it all hang out (so to speak) very quickly. The evening Kaiseki meal (about 10 little courses of the best ingredients) was absolutely spectacular prepared by master chef Sigekatu-waki, finished off by another dip in the ashi-buro bar eating strawberries, drinking cognac and smoking cigars (the boys).

Onsen are great and they really do relax you, although maybe sometimes too much - Adam and Triston went for another onsen late at night and by the time they got back expecting all of us to 'play games', Brendan, Karolina and I were fast asleep! Party animals we were not. I did however wake up early and snuck off with Triston to watch the sunrise (or what what left of it) from one of the onsen on the roof overlooking the mountains - just splendid! Anyhow, we all did some more much needed r&r for the rest of the stay and then made our way back to Tokyo for last minute shopping for Adam and Karolina, and finished off their visit with a very merry night at karaoke.

It was sad to see them go on Saturday morning, still slightly wobbly from the night before, but much was learnt from this visit:

1. Karolina learnt not to pour soy sauce over her soba noodles but to dip them into the dish with the sauce (following a disastrous spill of sauce at a restaurant all over the table, as the noodles are placed on a bamboo sieved-plate, over which Karolina poured her sauce very freely)
2. Adam learnt the beauty of karaoke although some karaoke etiquette still needs a further master class ( Adam: "I can't sing in this key, Triston - can you flatten it for me?" [five seconds later] Adam: "my voice does not sound good in this key, Triston can you make it sharper?" [ten minutes later] Adam:"Triston - what happened to 'Space Oddity 'which I put on? Why is it not coming on? Can you sort it out?" [Triston whispering to me ]"Your brother is quite demanding, isn't he?"[Justyna for once feel better that she is not the only demanding one])
3. Adam learnt how to order in Japanese:example 1 [Adam at a bar]: "One Naked Lady please!" [bartender] "Eh?" [Triston translates] "Nay-keh-doh ray-dee" [bartender] "Aaaah, hai!" [bartender hurries off to get drink]. Example 2 [Adam at McDonalds {yes, he had to go}] "Big Mac and cheeseburger please" [server] "Eh?" [Adam has now learnt japanese] "sumimasen, bee-guh-macc-uh and chees-uh-buhr-gher-uh kudasai!" [server] "Aaaah, hai!" [scurries off to prepare the feast]
4. Adam and Karolina learnt that toilets in Japan are much more exciting than anywhere else
5. Karolina learnt how to use chopsticks!
6. Triston learnt that all Jasiewicz family members can be moody
7. Triston learnt that all Jasiewicz family members can change their minds very quickly and don't require a reason to do so
8. Triston learnt that Adam can be tripped very easily and fall flat on his face in the middle of the street
9. Justyna still has no sense of humour
10. Whats more, she doesn't care!
Yukata Have Fun