We ARE Going... Aren't We?

The timing was right… the last weekend in October. Steep mountain slopes at high elevation combined with frigid night temperatures promised a wealth of color to the autumn traveler. October weekends were normally sunny and pleasant. This prospective excursion provided an opportunity to enjoy famous Japanese hospitality at a ryokan. Oh yes, the timing was right for us…

… and the fifty bazillion other tourists and vacationers who overrun the quaint town of Nikko during the fall season, for the specific purpose of seeing the leaves turn along Iroha-zaka Road and Lake Chuzenji.

Phooey.

We soon found that the other tourists had a couple distinct advantages over us:

1. Most of them were Japanese.
2. Uh, most of them were Japanese.

This immediately gave them the upper hand, since most of the information about lodging (and anything remotely helpful regarding how to plan for such a trip) on the web was in Japanese. Plus, trying to reserve a room was not exactly English-friendly.

We decided that most of the tourists at famous sites in Japan are actually *from* Japan. Out-of-country tourists seem to go through a travel agency, bypassing communication difficulties altogether. Those of us in the “Long-term tourist” category tend rely on friends and co-workers to help us along the way.

Which is exactly what we did. We are blessed to have a friend here in Japan who also happens to be a member of our church back home. He’s given us incredible support and served as an excellent translator as we navigated through the bureaucratic nightmares of “signing up for a keitai (cell phone)” and “buying a vehicle” (deciphering the technicalities of services and legal hoo-haw is bad enough in your own language, while trying to do the same in a different one reaches the heights of “near impossible”).

After he called around, our friend informed us of some… let’s call them snags… in our game plan. First, none of the ryokans had any openings- they’re normally booked 6 months in advance. Second, although there was a western-style room we could reserve, the price was 13,000 Y per person. Per Person. Ouch. There was no way our modest budget could handle a $260 hit from lodging alone. Lastly, we could expect massive, frustrating crowds of people, which meant the traffic up Iroha-zaka Road equated to hours of sitting in our car enviously watching turtles speed along, leaving us in their dust.

Deflated, we decided we would simply have to put our travel plans on hold…

…which gave Ash’s fellow teachers a chance to shine :) After hearing his tale of woe, they sprung into action: *internet search* *a couple telephone calls* *price checks* *alternative routes to avoid traffic* .

As it turned out, we gaijin travelers (determined to escape the drudgery of another weekend at home) had some advantages of our own…

1. We didn’t mind an initially longer drive around to the backside of the mountains.
2. We didn’t care about breaking the status quo- i.e., being more than willing to ignore the “proper” morning schedule (such as being tied down to a set breakfast time).
3. We most certainly didn’t care about spending the night in Nikko “proper”. (I guess some like to say that they've actually stayed in the town of Nikko.)

Final Plans:
Saturday- Drive along the main roads (avoiding the hideously expensive yet time-saving highways) following a non-English map & the accompanying road signs around the backside of the mountains before ascending them & staying at an off-season lodge within our price range.

Sunday- Get up before daybreak and crest the top of Iroha-zaka Road by 6:00am. Drive down leisurely (along with many exploratory and photographic stops), bypassing the traffic going *up* the mountain. Finally, get the heck outta dodge before the sea of cars decide they want to go *down* the mountain. Navigate the return drive, hopefully in enough time for my husband to get a good night’s sleep before going to work in the morning.

Now THAT’S a recipe for success if I ever heard one!