This was the first TMG overnight trip I had organised - first of many, I hope. I ended up with four takers: Jill and Jo, plus an American, Kit, and a Chinese, Cindy, so with four countries represented it was a good mixture of backgrounds. For Jo, Kit and Cindy it was the first time away from their child.
We convened at a cafe in Akihabara station and chatted a while before making our way to the privately-owned Tsukuba Express line. It is a smart, modern service making the trip to the newly-developed city of Tsukuba, in Ibaraki prefecture to the north east of Tokyo. The train was fast, and the 45 minute journey soon over. We needed to catch a bus to get us the last 20km or so to our hotel, and by luck there was one just due to leave. The non-stop service brought us to a cluster of hotels and souvenir shops on the lower flanks of Mount Tsukuba.
We were pleasantly surprised to be shown to a massive room of twenty tatami mats, and the big windows gave onto a great view of the Kanto plain rolling away towards the capital, with the nearby area given over to waterlogged rice paddies. You are supposed to be able to see Mount Fuji, but it would have to be an incredibly clear day to see that far. With a couple of hours to kill, we walked up the street, through the shrine (perhaps we should have dallied there, as I found out later it is one of the oldest in the country) and on to the cable car station. This was actually a funicular railway, which climbed very steeply through lush vegetation and jewel-like azaleas.
At the terminal we found that we were on a saddle between the twin peaks of Mount Tsukuba. One of them is deemed to be male and one female, being 871 metres and 877 metres respectively.
We set off on the ten minute walk up to the higher summit, on a rough path through the trees. It was quite cool up there and I could even see my breath, though I was dressed for summer. At the end of the path we found a small shrine on a rocky outcrop. There were splendid views over the mountain's foothills and out as far as a big lake in the distance. Such a shame it wasn't clearer, but at least it wasn't hot and sticky, and though cloudy it didn't rain until the night.
We returned to the hotel and wasted no time in donning our yukatas and heading for the first of three baths on offer. This one had both an indoor and an outdoor bath. As with the last trip away in Atami, I stayed in a lot longer than when I usually go in alone, as it is nice to sit back and chat while you let the heat soak into your bones. We were all very pink for some time afterwards.
Back in our room we had some very classy cans of plum-flavoured alcopop before going to dinner. Our meal was served in a private room and our futons were set out for us while we ate. The food was passable - I've had a lot better, but the rate was very reasonable so I didn't expect the highest standard. We tried a bit of most of the dishes, though I had to leave the crayfish mornay and some tiny purple squid-like things. In our room we had great fun playing Scattergories for an hour or so, then went up to the top floor to sample the small outdoor bath that had views of the twinkling lights of Tsukuba City. The water was so hot we couldn't bear to stay immersed for more than a minute or two.
We passed another hilarious hour playing 'who am I?' then talked until midnight. So much for getting in some much-needed beauty sleep. I struggled with my hard rice pillow for a while before discarding it. I don't know why they persist in using them in hotels.
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