On Thursday morning, we left for the Nikko area, about an hour or two north of Tokyo (so about three hours from Yokohama). Of the JOY students, Mike, Lucy, Kim, John, Sri, Linus, Andreas, Han, Kimberly, Becky, Regina, Kirsty, and Aileen went as well. The bus was standard charter bus, sans the restroom in the back, so pit-stops were an unfortunate necessity. We piled into the back of the second bus, surprised when the front half of the bus was already filled up (by mostly Chinese ryuugakusei). Each of the buses had a "stewardess" and both of them, for both of the buses, for nearly the entirety of the trip, never stopped talking. They mostly blathered about in Japanese about the scenery, about wherever we were passing, and in between their infrequent breaths, managed to get zoned out by everyone. We all received snack bags and a bottle of packaged green tea (which the label called "oishii" but sadly was far from it). They were supposed to last two days... well. Some parts of the bag lasted 'til the second day.
After a pit-stop (where I bought a ham-mayo bread and a melon-pan), we eventually got to lunch, which was very traditional Japanese. It was so traditional, in fact, that many of us just kind of sat there wondering either A. how to eat it or B. why we would eat it. After trying a little bit of everything and not liking anything except the coffee jelly with cream, we were escorted off to the back of the facility where we had had lunch. We were getting the opportunity to make yakimono, or rather fired-things. We were given a slab of clay, and given basically free reign. I went with a slightly more complex plate (it's for you, Mom!). Unfortunately, they're supposed to come back to the ISC in about a month. I guess it's fair because they have 80+ to fire and glaze and then ship back to Yokohama.
We left the pottery lesson with a bit more energy now that we were actually doing things and took a nice little drive toward Tosho-gu, the mausoleum/shrine where Toshogawa Ieyasu is enshrined/tombed. It's part of the Nikko Shrines and Temples bit of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Although we arrived later in the evening (and more or less fairly close to closing), the light was pretty dang amazing for pictures and what-not.
Breathless and tired of stairs (the Japanese love their stairs, I tell you), we got back on the bus on our way to the hotel for the night. It's not exactly in Nikko (it's in Kinugawa, which really isn't that much further). As we pull up into the driveway of the hotel, we freak out (in excitement) at the size and the quality of the hotel. It's classy, and from what we heard, the dinner that we were about to eat, was a very nice meal with nomi-hodai (all you can drink). John, Sri, Mike, Linus, Han, and I had a room with a guy named Yansen Peng but he bailed on us in favor of hanging out with more of the Chinese guys (which is fair). We ended up with the annoying Indian guy named Chandra (everyone dislikes him; he's rude and incredibly people-stupid). We dressed up in yukatas, which was a really nice touch for the stay in the hotel. Linus and I went down to the onsen and relaxed until we were joined by Mike and Han. It was a nice dip and decompress before dinner.
Dinner itself was amazing. We were seated in rows with small tables for each person, and when I examined what we were having, I lit up. It was a proper kaiseki ryori for the evening, and it was delicious (mostly). There was pickled cabbage with onions (which I didn't eat on principle), glass noodles in a light dressing (which was refreshing). There was tempura shrimp, onion, and mushroom with its dipping sauce. We also had a cold soup of daikon radish in an onion-y broth (which I also didn't eat on principle). After that, there was soba noodles with onions and a light salty broth. We had some table-sized burners for some steak, carrots, and mushrooms. There was also a burner for a soup of fish, chicken, bok choi, and enoki mushrooms. In between those, and more toward the end of the course list was a personal pot for steaming rice (which at the end of everything I was too full to eat). There was also a small seasonal sampler, as well as sashimi of salmon, tuna, and tofu. Midway through the meal, we also got a chawan-mushi, a savory egg custard and at the end, we got a nice clear broth with some tofu.
Afterward, the ryuugakusei just partied and enjoyed ourselves, especially considering how nice the hotel was... and that's the first day. More on the second tomorrow :)
