Leanne, Jim, and Yuka were set to arrive on Sunday at 11:45am. They only had 24 hours to visit me, so I decided to show them the best of my area. I had planned that we would drive up to the North Coast to see the rocky shoreline of the Sea of Japan. We would drive around twists and turns and rocky cliffs, and maybe find a place to eat crab for lunch. We would then cut down near the edge of the next prefecture to go to Yumura onsen - renowned for its hot waters (94 degrees celsius), and then drive back to a friend`s place to eat sukiyaki made with all fresh ingredients from my area (including world famous Kobe beef!). I was so excited! My first visitors were arriving - and they were the people who first inspired me to come to Japan!
I awoke on Sunday to a glorious morning. It was sunny and warm and perfect for the drive. Friends who had done that loop before estimated that the total journey would take about 5 hours - including a two-hour onsen. There would be plenty of time for Jim, Leanne and Yuka to get to know my friends here.
The radio was blaring as I pulled into Wadayama Station - it is right on the train line from Kyoto (their departure point), and very convenient - even though it was 40 minutes from my house. The weather was so nice that I thought I would stop at Sara`s house for a pee break and to introduce them. The roads were clear, so I knew we woud make good time and could afford the 30 minute detour. Everything was going perfectly. It was great to see them again, if a bit weird. For many years it was them who were Japanese residents, and me the Canadian one. Now here I was showing them around a chunk of Japan!
Off we went on our journey. We were laughing and joking and reminiscing and forgetting the world around us. Then the sky grew dark and the heavens opened up to unleash huge flakes of snow all around us. The winds howled, and the visibility grew very poor, until it was a struggle to see the car in front of me. Our spirits were not crushed - this was obviously just a cloudburst. We drove on for another hour or so, and realised that we were smack dab in the middle of a blizzard. We were too far to go back at this point, so I bucked up my "Canadian driver" courage and stepped on the gas. The roads were not in bad shape, however, as they appear to have adopted a unique method of snow removal. They have installed water jets down the centre line of the road and at the sides, and as we drive along, the roads get sprayed continuously by water. It was similar to being in a car wash actually! It was beautiful though - magical! The moun tains were quickly being draped in a white cloak, and the bamboo groves were bowing under the weight of the new fallen snow. We stopped for lunch in a coffee house - it was too miserable to find a crab restaurant. After, we walked along a cliffside path to watch the waves crash along the shores. It was a chunk of heaven, albeit a cold chunk.
Finally we made it to Yumura onsen. The driving was treacherous along the narrow, winding mountain roads, so we were running a bit late. It was 4 o`clock, and with a two - hour onsen, we would still have plenty of time to drive the 30 kilometres back to Wadayama for our 7:30 dinner. Yumura onsen is an outdoor hotspring park. There were waterfalls to swim under, sake barrels to soak in, and even a hotspring in a cave to explore. Huge snowflake were falling all around us and it was so beautiful that we thought we must be in a movie. It was indeed sad when we dragged our wrinkled bodies away from the pools of steaming water.
In the women`s change room a poor lady kept fainting and vomitting, and even though this put us behind on time, we had to stay to help her out. We left at 6:45. I called my friends to explain our delay, and they agreed to delay our dinner until 8. It was still snowing heavily, but the roads were mostly fine. The water jets turn the snow that falls into slush, so while we would have to go slower than usual, there was no reason to go less than 40 kilometres an hour. Except for the fact that the other drivers decided it was too dangerous to drive faster than 5 kilometres an hour. Being a long weekend, there was a lot of traffic, and I think that people in this area are terrified of snow. We were stopped for periods of an hour at times. I turned off the car, Jim ran to get ice cream, they all taught me a Japanese song about frogs. I called my patient friends and we sang it to them. All around us, cars were stopping to put chains on their tires, and&n bsp; halfway up one hill, a truck decided it was too much and decided to back down. I am driving a ten year old car with three-year old snow tires. Actually, there were only three snow tires on my car - one was just a normal one. I couldn`t understand it. I was having no trouble, and yet we were surrounded by 4-wheel drive trucks stopping to put chains on! There were men jumping out and peeing everywhere! It soon became evident that we would not be home in time for dinner, so we called to tell my awaiting friends to start without us. My back was sore, and my kidneys hurt - I drank a big bottle of green tea after the onsen. I was not about to jump out and squat on the side of the road - there was no place to hide!
After 6 gruelling hours (yep, we finally pulled into Wadayama at 12:45am) we finally were able to sit down to eat. It was delicious, but I was s tired from driving in a blizzard for 12 hours that I couldn`t enjoy it. My friends were absolute darlings though, and most of them waited up for us to arrive. I will be forever indebted to all of them for their patience that night!!!!!
We departed Sara`s house shortly after 2am, and picked our way back to Ikuno through the never-ending blizzard. My apartment was so cold, and I think everyone had thoughts of a warm bed in their minds. Every heater I owned was groaning under the strain of trying to heat my apartment; even still, we went to bed cradling hand-warmers.
We woke up to a fairy tale. The mountain behind my house was glowing white from the new-fallen snow, and the river cut a black path through snow-covered boulders. We were planning on going to the top of Takeda mountain to see the 500 year old castle ruins. Unfortunately, it would have been far too dangerous to attempt. So, we did what everyone in our area does on a bad-weather day and went to Jusco - the nearest department store. There, we played a fierce game of air hockey and got little photo stickers done of ourselves.
It was sad to see them leave. It was so much like old times, that I became very comfortable having them here. Despite our transportation woes, we managed to have a good time. In retrospect, I think it would be impossible to have a bad time with any of them. They are just that kind of people. I will miss them horribly, but a part of me wonders if they have been charmed by this area. Then I know: they will be back
:)
sabine