18 July 2009

Early cloud cover made our walk to Tamachi station, with baggage and Emily in the back carrier, just about bearable. We got on the fastest shinkansen service, the Nozomi, for the 2 hour 40 minute trip to Kobe, where we were spending the long weekend that includes the national 'ocean day' holiday. Emily was quite good for an hour or so. After that Nick had to take her for a walk, which ended up being a mammoth 40 minute trek from car 14 to car 1 and back again. A drawn out early lunch kept her occupied until just before we arrived.

The very swish Shin-Kobe station is tucked into the wooded hills that hem the city into a 2 mile strip down to the sea. We could see a ropeway (what we would call a cable car at home) ascending from directly behind the station, which we hoped to try during our visit. From the start I liked the feel of Kobe and imagined it to be a really pleasant place to live. It has a very cosmopolitan atmosphere, thanks to its old trading links with the west, and also has, I believe, a fair-sized gaijin community. We took a short taxi ride to our British-themed hotel, Hotel Tor Road. Outside hangs a large Union Jack and the lobby is populated by Harrod's teddy bears in beefeater and police costumes. It didn't quite capture the English air faithfully, but after so many Japanese ryokans it was a welcome change. The staff seemed to have studied the snooty style of hotel staff back home closely though.

We couldn't go to our room yet, so we left our things and forayed out to get a coffee in the half hour that remained before Nick's friends, the Murases, came to collect us. Not far away was a Starbucks: the cleanest, quietest and comfiest I've been in; pity we couldn't have hung out there for longer. Emily was on good form, 'dancing' to the muzak and trying on our hats, looking very coquettish as she peeped from under their brims.

At the hotel we made our introductions (I had only met Mr Murase before); thankfully both he and his wife Miho speak good English. Their children were Rena (12) and Ryou (7), who were both quiet at first. Mr Murase had hired a people carrier for the day in order to take us out, but the baby seat was way too small. I felt vindicated, as I had mentioned to Nick days before that he had better tell them her size and weight. We dumped the seat in the boot and Emily had to sit on our laps all day. Though it is illegal in Japan it is still common practice to hold kids on laps, though obviously we felt very uncomfortable with it.

Traffic was heavy getting out of the city in the direction of Awaji island. We took a different route to avoid the expressway congestion, and enjoyed stunning views over Kobe and its modern architecture as we made our way to Akashi Kaikyo, the longest suspension bridge in the world. Emily finally dropped off and we continued south down the spine of the island. I hadn't realised that Awaji was so long, and Emily woke long before we reached the other end, where the Murases had planned to show us the Naruto whirlpools. As she was getting quite upset we diverted to the beach at Goshiki instead.

At 3pm, the attractive coarse-grained sand was still almost too hot to walk on, so I had to carry Emily; luckily the water was only about 50 feet away. We hired a parasol for some much-needed shade, and put our costumes on (thankfully I had packed them just in case).

At first Emily was scared of the waves, small though they were. But when Nick and I both went in with her she relented, and loved being dipped in and out and swirled around.

The sea temperature was quite decent, but the quality poor, as it was green with some sort of algae; slimey fronds of floating seaweed draped themselves around my legs. But it was pleasant enough, and refreshing in the heat. Emily kept asking to go back in the sea, but I was worried that she would burn despite her sunsafe suit and cream. Indeed, she did pick up quite a bit of colour in that one hour we were there.

We packed up and drove back north a while. Getting off the expressway we took a winding country road that kept climbing for 10 minutes, past hillsides thick with acid-green bamboo and lush rice paddies. The journey was handsomely rewarded by our arrival at Awaji Hana Sajiki 'flower park'. Covering the top of a broad hillside overlooking the coast, wide swathes of grass were banded by massive plantings of pretty flowers.

The nearby wooded hills and the sea acted as 'borrowed scenery' to enhance the flowers' vibrant strips of colour. Emily was in seventh heaven: at the entrance was a table of pots for sale, each containing some soil and a stag beetle. She has never seen a real one before though she is always excited by pictures of them and has her toy one at home. She ran around laughing and chasing Ryou, who was playing with a small ball on the grass. He was very good and included her in his play. There were some steps set in a raised flower display, and for the first time ever, Emily managed to walk down steps unaided.

We strolled while she and Ryou ran around. She got in among some rows of purple salvia, trying to catch the many small butterflies flitting around them. In the distance I noticed a gigantic white statue at the sea's edge, which I correctly guessed to be Kannon, Goddess of Mercy.

By now conditions were very comfortable, with a strong breeze and sinking sun, but we couldn't stay as we needed to be back at the hotel no later than eight and had yet to eat. Mr Murase had somewhere in mind, just 10 minutes drive away. It turned out to be a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. The saucer-sized plates made the circuit of the booth tables and we picked up the ones we liked the look of as they came past. A team of chefs inside the belt kept up a supply of fresh new dainties to replenish the selection. Emily sat at the end of our table and happily tried eel, beef and tuna sushi. At the end of the meal the bill is calculated by an examination of the empty plates: each type of colourful plate has a different price. Mr Murase insisted on paying, which was embarrassing but not unexpected.

It was getting dark as we headed back over the bridge to Kobe. Emily kept up a steady commentary of things she could see, getting especially excited about tunnels and 'lolly' (lorries). All day she had referred to Ryou as 'boy', which they found funny; now she tried to say his name, but with the pet name suffix 'kun' which is used for boys, it came out like nyanko, which means kitten! Behind us as we entered the city, last vestiges of the setting sun set the sky alight with deep pink. As I am always indoors with Emily at this time I hadn't seen a sunset in months, so it was a treat. Nearing Tor Road, I was amused to spot a restaurant called 'Penetrate'.

At the hotel we found that we virtually had a suite: it was extremely spacious for Japan, and very western in style; the bed was a massive 7 foot wide. It made a change to walk on carpet too. Emily went bonkers when we went in; even though she must have been very weary by now she wanted to explore the room thoroughly. I had to spoil her fun and get her into the bath before it got ridiculously late. I had realised to my horror that I had forgotten her milk bottle, so we tried with limited success to get her to drink from a carton with a straw. It took half an hour before she would go off to sleep in the cot tent, after which we sat and read, with glasses of plum liqueur, unable to leave because we were on the 8th floor and the monitor would not work if we went downstairs.