Thursday, Oct 8

The words of the day were Melor and travelling. The rain that started shortly after we finished our hike yesterday continued on throughout the night. The remnants of tropical storm Melor were “just” rain with a little bit of wind, but a couple of people in the group heard a break in the storm in the middle of the night which they thought was the eye passing directly over us. All of us were glad to be in Kamikochi instead of up in the mountains when it struck.

After breakfast, we walked off to the bus station through the (still steady) rain. As we were getting on the bus, we learned that most of the trains in this area of the country were currently out of service due to a storm-related power failure. This did not bode well for a hassle-free day of travel. Our first bus of the day went back down the valley past a now much higher, faster moving river. Gone was the crystal clear, slow moving water we saw on the way up. It was replaced with a river that looked like it would be fun for white water rafting.

At the train station, we found out that, sure enough, the train back to Matsumoto was out of service. They put us on a bus instead and we arrived in Matsumoto just a few minutes later than we were originally scheduled. Unfortunately, we were not so lucky with the train leaving Matsumoto. It too was out of service, they did not know when it would be back and they were not automatically providing a bus alternative. David and Eric gave us a couple of hours to explore Matsumoto while they figured out what to do.

Mike L, Greg and I headed out into town. Our first stop was the ATM at the Seven-Eleven. I didn’t realize this, but Seven-Eleven is well known for having ATMs all over the world that work with U.S. banks. Odd. Next up, Greg wanted a hot dog. At McDonald’s. I haven’t been to McDonald’s in I don’t know how many years, but in we went. It was about 10:15 so they were still serving breakfast. Greg and Mike both got the mega-hot dog super-sausage that was “200% tasty.” I settled for a plain old Sausage McMuffin. It tasted pretty much exactly like what I remember from back home. It was just after 10:30 when we left McDonald’s and, just like back home, they had switched over to the lunch menu. I guess some things are universal. Sadly enough, McDonald’s is one of them.

My next order of business was to buy some replacement toiletries since I had mistakenly left a few items in the hut near Hotake-Dake. A tooth brush was easy enough to find at a large super market, but I had the hardest time finding deodorant. The supermarket didn’t have any. Nor did a fairly large drug store called “American Drug.” Finally, I found a single type of roll-on at the Circle K. Odd that I had to look so hard.

Next up: a return visit to the 100 yen store. Mike had not stopped there on our first trip through Matsumoto and wanted to check it out. I was actually able to avoid buying any more cheap crap.

By now, it was time to meet back up with the group at the train station. David and Eric had discovered that, even though it had stopped raining, the train was not yet back in service and might not be until 8pm. They had found a bus that would take us to Nagoya where we could transfer to the Shinkansen as planned. After a (somewhat tedious, IMO) discussion, we decided to get on the next bus for the 3-hour ride to Nagoya. The skies had cleared up and we had a pleasant trip to the industrial city of Nagoya.

Our stay in Nagoya wasn’t very long since Shinkansen service had been restored and we got on the next train to Osaka (Shin-Osaka station). In Osaka, we transferred to a local train to Tenoji where we caught another train to our final destination of Oji. We got in a little after 6, only about 3 hours later than our original plan. Not too bad considering the storm.

Oji is about a 15-minute train ride from Nara and this is where we will be spending the next three nights. The place we are staying is a ryokan called Yougendo and it’s about a 5-minute walk from the train station. At 5,000 yen/person per night, it’s the least expensive ryokan of the trip (and it includes breakfast), but it’s still quite nice. Everyone on the staff speaks English, they have two internet-connected computers (plus wi-fi) and even have a Nintendo Wii if you want something to pass the time.

One other exciting bit of news: my camera was there waiting for me when we checked in! The train company in Nikko had indeed mailed it here as expected. The postage was 1,050 yen – about $11. Well worth the price to have my camera back. It truly is amazing that I could leave my camera on a bus, someone would find it, turn it in and the “authorities” would be willing to mail it back to me. I have read about this kind of thing in various guide books. I’m happy to report they really do happen.

Dinner tonight was at another “Japanese tapas” type place near the train station in Oji. Good food and we even splurged by having some “molten lava cake” for dessert. Yummy. A few of us capped the night off with a couple of beers back at Yougendo’s bar. It’s a nice little local neighborhood type place connected to the ryokan we are staying at. A fine ending to what was not nearly as stressful of a day of travel as it could have been.

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