LEAVING YOKOHAMA AND RETURNING TO OSAKA
20.12.2024
Showered, breakfasted and ready to hit the rails! We will soon be boarding a densha (suburban train) and then a shinkansen, which will take us to Atami, a town on the eastern coast. Atami is also an onsen town due to its thermal waters. We will be looking forward to dipping our feet into another foot spa. Can’t wait!
We were checked out by 9:30am, and sent our suitcase straight to Shunan, Mami’s home town. Although it costs $25 to send a suitcase to your next destination, it is a lot easier to travel without the suitcase when you are hopping on and off trains.
At Shin-Yokohama station, we bought some ‘Omiyage’, which means souvenirs, which includes food for which the town is renowned for. We chose dumplings as Yokohama is famous for Shumai, a type of traditional Chinese dumpling. Loaded up with gifts, we got on another Shinkansen, bound for Atami. With convenient access via shinkansen, just 35 minutes from Tokyo, Atami makes for an ideal destination for both day trips and overnight stays.
At the entrance of Atami Station, we discovered a foot spa – pure bliss. We spent half an hour relaxing and soaking our feet before heading downhill toward the beach. The walk was really good as we passed a lot of old shops in a roofed-in street that must have been over 100 years old. I really like the way they have mixed the new and old in this town.
The rest of the walk was filled with beautifully preserved shops and houses, giving us the feeling of stepping back in time. While the beach itself wasn’t particularly remarkable, the sight of steep hills with Onsen Ryokan (a hotel with baths that have hot springs feeding their onsen baths), added a unique vibe to the town.
After 9 days of walking around, our legs get tired quickly so we took a short break at a family restaurant. We were served with a cat shaped Robot. We enjoyed our mini sized meals. Perfect!
A walk around the promenade gave us an opportunity to look at the boats and also some rather big fish. They were swimming near the man made rock base for the promenade and I’m sure anyone keen on fishing would have got a bite.
Our return trip to Atami Station was all uphill and proved to be a bit of a challenge, but we both managed just fine. Mami went off to find more omiyage for Nana, while I took the chance to return to the foot spa. An elderly man sat next to me and was quite talkative. When I told him I was Australian, he told me he had visited Australia and had travelled along the Birdsville Track on a motorbike. He was a very nice guy and between his faltering English and my matching Japanese, we had a good conversation.
We decided to take a ‘Kodama’ Shinkansen, which stops at all stations. It will take 30 minutes longer than the ‘Hikari’ Shinkansen which has a lot less stops. Since we had time on our side, we chose to enjoy the ride. It was great as there were hardly any passengers on the train due to the slower journey time. I’ve never seen a shinkansen carriage so empty.
The Kodama shinkansen also passes Mt. Fuji on this route, so Mami strategically had us seated on the right side of the carriage so we could take snaps of Fuji san. Luckily the weather was good and there were no low clouds, which can block out the top half of this iconic mountain. I think we got some really good shots from a train travelling over 300kph, but we’ll let you guys be the judge of that.
Now we are back in Osaka with Nana, ready to slow down. We came to the Aeon Mall where Nana works and she will drive us back to her place when her shift finishes at 8.00pm
The last 9 days have been very busy. We covered about 3500 km in distance, visited Tokyo, Yokohama, Sapporo, Sendai, Hakodate, Osaka, Kyoto and smaller towns such as Otaru, Atami and Echigo Yuzawa .
When we have time to reflect on our amazing trip, we will write a summary of the journey, highlights for Mami and me. We truly have shared a wonderful adventure full of fun and wonderful experiences.
