23 October 2010

I had to wake Emily at 6am to ensure that we were ready for the off at 7.30. Luckily she came to straight away and ate her breakfast quickly for once. We flagged down a taxi and rode to Takeshiba pier for our jetboat ride to Oshima island, 100km and two hours away.

Though the boat's progress felt smooth and leisurely, a look at passing reference points showed that we really were going at about 40mph. We had a good view from our window seats as we passed Haneda airport, and could also see Fuji-san with its feet in cloud. Emily was very tetchy towards the end of the journey and began to cry just as we sighted the island ahead. I put it down to it being too hot in the boat and the sea had a bit of swell out of the shelter of Tokyo Bay too (which had me feeling rather queasy). As soon as we were off the vessel she perked up straight away, though once we had set off in our hire car she soon dropped off to sleep.

We drove a third of the way round the island's 40km circumference on empty roads, then found a great picnic spot at Fudeshima, which is a very attractive little bay hemmed in by wooded cliffs and has a rock stack just offshore.

A gaijin family we had noticed on the boat turned up in their identical hire car and we had a brief exchange before they moved on. I had trouble finding a spot in the bushes for Emily to wee as there were many large spiders hanging in them.

Despite a cool wind, she seemed very keen to get her costume on and go in the sea, but it was very rough and there was no sandy beach to speak of so we were able to talk her out of it.

We stopped off to see a supposedly quaint fishing village, but found that though in a scenic location, the buildings there were all modern rather than old and wooden as we had expected. We moved on clockwise round the coast road, enjoying glimpses of some of the other six islands in the Izu Islands group, which string out south from Oshima, the largest.

There was a section of road passing next to some superb exposed volcanic stratum, but to our frustration there was nowhere provided to park and appreciate it.

A bit further on we were mislead again by a map describing a beach, because there was just a set of steps leading straight down into rock-strewn water. We explored a few rockpools there before moving on, though there were only small dead crabs to be found.

Finally, we parked just north of Motomachi port and strolled along a path along the back of the large stones and detritus forming the shore. The sun was already sliding from the sky when we tracked down the public outdoor hot bath.

We paid the two old crones manning the tiny ticket booth and hurried into the changing rooms to put on our costumes (this being mixed bathing). As expected, Emily found the water too hot, though it was exactly to my liking. Despite the chill in the air she was happy enough pottering around on the side as we soaked, though we took it in turns to sit on the edge with her. Though conditions seemed right for a spectacular sunset it never quite materialised, though the orange-suffused sky and clouds were pretty enough. After a while the gaijin family showed up. We are never quite sure whether to strike up a conversation in these circumstances or if it would be unwelcome, so we decided to leave it up to them and merely said 'hi'. Emily tired of hanging around after half an hour and as the best of the evening light had passed we towelled off and left.

Our hotel was only a few hundred metres away. When we pulled up outside my heart sank as it was clearly below par (not that Japanese hotels are ever very lovely to behold). Nick felt that I was criticising him but I was just very disappointed in JTB, who we had booked through. As always, a short trip in Japan was costing an arm and a leg and I expected something a lot better. Going inside, my impressions were reinforced as the poky reception was dimly-lit and the man on the desk had no customer skills whatsoever. We were sent up to the 6th floor and the lights were not even on in the lobby when we got out of the lift - we had to grope around to find the switch. Our room was reasonable enough and with a small seating area looking across to the harbour as well as the usual tatami matting with table and legless chairs. There was even a second ante-room but it was too cool in there to be of use. The small bathroom had seen much better days and I didn't fancy drinking water from the tap.

We had been told that our meal would be served in a private room downstairs (they make up the futons while you are out of the bedroom). This room was another bedroom - fair enough as this is common practice - but it was very shoddy and grubby. Hardly conducive to eating the large meal set out there. There was nothing too challenging apart from a sazae (turbo shellfish) which I eschewed as I have hazarded a bite once and it was gruesome. I committed my now-usual faux-pas and lightly steamed my sashimi (slices of raw fish) in the hotpot, which made it rather tasty. The hotel seemed to be staffed entirely by three men in their sixties and we shuddered to think what the kitchen might be like. Feeling sated, and with Emily asking to be taken back upstairs to the toilet every five minutes, we soon retired. The futons had indeed been laid out and were actually very comfortable. Despite her earlier nap Emily dropped off soon, and so did Nick and I. I came to with a start at about 9pm and we resolved to ditch plans for a glass of wine in the cold sitting room in favour of brushing our teeth and turning in for the night straight away. Before I lay down I had a quick glance outside, determined to see the full moon and some stars.