“I’m happy, hope you’re happy too

I’ve loved all I’ve needed, love

Sordid details following”

Another month, another mountain. Actually the same mountain but not quite the same. A couple of months ago we climbed up Mt Kintoki when there was still quite a lot of snow about. Nozomi’s friend had tried to climb it a year or two ago but had to turn back because of very dense fog, and was very jealous when she heard we had been there. A holiday week (Golden Week) was coming up in Japan so she suggested going back to Mt Kintoki along with the friend who had joined her on that attempt.

We had enjoyed our first hike up Mt Kintoki and had intended to go back another time any way, so we were quite happy to go with them. They both live in Tokyo so they came over to our place the previous evening. The Asahi beer company has a brewery quite close to where we live, with a restaurant attached to it, so that’s where we headed for dinner. We didn’t go on a brewery tour but the restaurant is in a lovely location and had good food. We set off bright and early the next morning. Or at least we thought we set off early. 8:00 am is early enough in my book. But when we reached the car park a little before 9:00 there was not a spot to be found! We circled around the town, headed back to the car park and luckily managed to get in just as one car was leaving.

This was the first day of the Golden Week, and the weather was great. Besides it was also the day known as Koi Nobori - considered the young boys’ day. So no wonder the place was so busy. Still, we had our parking spot and off we went up the mountain. We came across lots of groups of climbers, and even some people already returning. We made it to the summit and boy was it packed up there as well. A stark contrast to when we had gone a couple of months earlier.

Nozomi’s friend had picked a different route for the return to make it a circular route. This route brought us to a wonderful view of Mt Fuji all the way to the base of the mountain. A short last stretch on the road brought us back to the carpark.

I’ve been struggling to find good peanut butter here. I found one brand that makes a “peanut paste” which tastes good but I like crunchy peanut butter. It is possible to get good peanuts though. There’s a town a few stations away that is quite well known for it’s peanuts. So I decided to go ahead and make my own. I made a test batch which was just about enough for one piece of toast and it turned out OK, so decided to blitz some more.

I’m pleased to report that it turned out rather well. It’s all gone already so time to make another batch.

Another thing I’ve been missing since we came to Japan is my motorbike. Every time I saw a bike go by I’d get a bit wistful. We’ve also taken a few trips by car along some really nice roads and I kept thinking how much fun it would be to go around those roads on a bike. So after a bit of pondering I decided to go ahead and get a bike. I was toying with the idea of getting a cruiser but could only find a 400cc one in my budget. Now a 400cc bike might just about be enough, but I wasn’t sure if a cruiser would be the right bike for the roads I wanted to go along. So in the end I found myself eyeing up a Honda BROS 650. Weird name but cool bike. It is pretty old - a 1989 model but it’s been checked over and is in good running order.

I brought an international driving permit with me which lets me drive in Japan but it’s validity runs out in October. We’re planning to stay here a bit longer than that so I looked in to getting a Japanese driving licence. Turns out the UK is one of a handful of countries where you can just get a Japanese licence by producing some paperwork, no test required. The only requirement is that you must have spent at least 90 days in the country where you got your licence. No problems there. I went and got an official translation of my licence, got my proof of residence in Japan and my passport. I thought that was all that I needed.

So the day I picked to go and get my licence was the early May bank holiday Monday. The licence centre opens at 8:00 am and I thought getting there for 7:40 would be early enough. The driving licence centre is nearly 1.5-2 hours away so that meant waking up at 5:30 and leaving home at 6:00. This Monday however was the Monday after Golden Week so there was a massive queue when I got there. I would reckon there were about 150-200 people queuing when I got there. And by 8:00 am there were another 50-100 behind me. The foreign licence conversion counter only takes 10 people in the morning. I made my way to the counter and saw quite a few people already sitting as I waited to write my name on the list. I looked over the shoulder of the person in front of me to see that he was number 10. Bugger. Luckily though, because it was the first day after Golden Week they were taking a few more people on that day. Phew! Wrote my name down and sat down to wait.

I eventually get called to the counter, and the man behind the counter is looking over my paperwork. Starts to flip through my passpport and asks me where my proof of living in the UK is. He tells me that the passport is not enough. As the UK is part of the EU (still is, at the time of writing), and we have freedom of movement, I could go anywhere else in the EU without stamps in my passport. So they have no way of telling that I actually lived in the UK. Damn and blast. He suggested that I should bring pay slips or some way to show that I lived in the UK. So it was a weary journey back home empty handed.

Got back home, printed off some bank statements and decided to go again later in the week. I work a slightly shifted day so I could get the whole thing done and be back in time to start work. This time around I was determined to get there earlier than last time to make sure I’m in the first 10. So I shower the previous evening and head out on the earlier train. Of course this time around the queue is much shorter. Only about 5-10 people hanging around, not even bothering to form a queue. The queue forms eventually and grows a bit but nothing like Monday. I’m first on the list for the foreign licence conversion, and no issues with the paperwork this time around. A little bit of waiting around, a quick eye test, get my photo taken, and hey presto here’s your licence.

The whole used bike buying process in Japan is a lot different from the UK so that caught me out a bit. In the UK you can walk in to a dealer (or a private seller) and just ride the bike away if you like it. You have to tax and insure it of course but you can do that almost instantly online. In Japan the dealer does not even start doing any work on the bike until they have a buyer. And they have a backlog of work so it was near enough a month before I could collect the bike. I was hoping to have it much earlier of course but there are still plenty of months to go riding.

The weather’s been pretty good recently so we decided to head out for a day trip to the Hakone region. This is quite a popular tourist area, both foreign and Japanese tourists. We got on our local train and then changed to the train to get to the main Hakone town. That was the first time we had gone to such a touristy spot and it was kind of odd to be in a train carriage where everyone was a tourist. Ourselves included of course. We’d got ourselves Hakone Freepass which basically let us get on almost any transportation mode in the area. We boarded a bus and headed for Lake Ashi to board a ferry across the lake. We had some pretty stunning views of Mt Fuji from the shores of the lake, and then even better views as the boat headed out across the lake.

Hakone shrine has a gate right on the lake which makes for a nice sight with the shrine gate contrasting with the waters of the lake and the trees.

The ferry lets you off at the base of the Hakone ropeway which is a cable car that takes you up the mountain to Owakudani. This is an active volcanic area, and has loads of vents with sulphur spewing out from them. You can get “black eggs” here, which are eggs cooked directly in the hot sulphuric waters. I had some years ago when we visited here with Nozomi’s family. This time around though, we just picked up some eggs to take back for her family.

Having breathed in enough of the fumes we headed back on the ropeway to get to the train for the open air museum. They have a lot of sculptures all around the park, and a Picasso pavillion that Nozomi was quite keen to see. It was interesting to see all the different kinds of things Picasso produced. Ceramics and tapestries. Who knew!

One of the most surprising discoveries in the town where we live was a new craft beer brewery. It’s run by someone Nozomi’s brother knows, and we went once with Nozomi’s siblings. It’s tucked away in a residential area and we never would have come across it if he hadn’t told us. We enjoyed it the first time around, and decided to head back again on Saturday. It’s run more like a Japanese izakaya rather than a pub. They have a lot of good food options, generally as small “tapas-style” plates. It was really busy and looked like we might not get a table. Luckily for us a couple were leaving just as we got there.

They keep rotating the beer menu and the food menu. So no chance of ever getting bored. I guess the only issue might be that the next time you go, they might not have a beer that you liked so you have to try another one. I can live with that kind of problem.