We are back home in Minnesota, but I wanted to get you caught up on the travel that we did in Japan. Since the information on the last blog, we traveled to Karuizawa Japan, which is the resort and vacation area for the Tokyo area. We stepped off the bullet train and immediately noticed the much cooler weather and the slower, more relaxing pace of the lifestyle in this area.
I wanted to start this blog by mentioning the family that helped us out the entire trip to Tokyo, but mostly in the Karuizawa area since they live there. Momoko and Billy were unbelievable hosts in the Karuizawa area and put their lives on hold to show us around and to give us rides everywhere. Momoko serves as the city chairperson for Karuizawa and has many connections in the area, which helped tremendously. Billy works at the local Prince Resorts performing western style weddings for people from all over Japan. The two of them met in the USA and relocated to Japan. They have four boys of which one of them graduated from Benilde St. Margaret’s, two are currently at Totino-Grace, and the youngest is in school in Karuizawa but is also looking to come to Minnesota to finish high school. Again, this family was amazing to us and we can’t thank them enough. Finally, they are looking for a host family in Minnesota for their boys if anyone is interested, this would be a great opportunity to make a lifelong connection in Japan.
With that said, I want to walk you through our four days and four nights in Karuizawa.
Day 1 Arrival:
We arrived in Karuizawa on Monday afternoon. We made it up to the area on a 1.5 hour bullet train ride from Tokyo. We were greeted by Momoko and transported to our hotel. The hotel was a traditional Japanese Ryokan. This meant sleeping on mats on the floor and using rice pillows. This was not the most comfortable, but it was an experience to say the least. We also received traditional Japanese breakfasts and dinners through the hotel. The meals were very good, but the boys mainly ate the rice, as the rest of the meal was not always what they liked. To be honest most of the guys were ready for pizza and hamburgers when we left. Some of the guys took a cab to a local Onsen, which is a natural hot spring fed bath house. This was quite the experience as no bathing suits were allowed and we were in a bath house with 50 other naked Japanese men. This was one of those cultural experiences. There were separate bath houses for men and women. I will tell you that you left the Onsen feeling very clean and very relaxed.
Day 2 Curling and Waterfalls
On the second day we woke up and headed to the Olympic curling center in Karuizawa. There we had a very fun time getting lessons on Curling. The competitive side of the guys kicked in and we had a lot of fun.
From the curling center we walked to a local lunch spot and ate as a group. The meal was served at tables where the guys sat on the ground. This was not easy for us old guys. The scenery was beautiful and the food was great.
Finally, we headed back to the hotel and some of us went to the local mountains to see the waterfalls. This was absolutely beautiful and the hikes were a lot of fun.
Day 3 Train Day
This was the only day on our trip where it rained. Most of us utilized this day to hit the Japanese Rail System and to use our JR Rail Passes.
My group hit the highest train in Japan that went through the mountains. It was about a 2-hour ride with beautiful views. We then made a huge loop and took the train to Mount Fuji area. Unfortunately, we could not see the mountain, but there was a pretty lake that we spent some time biking around. Yes…we rented some bikes that were way too small. Finally, we went back through Tokyo on our way back to Karuizawa. This trip took a total of about 12 hours.
Another group went into Nagano where they looked at the Olympic village and had what I was told was a great burger at a restaurant.
One of the other coaches made his way up to Nagata and took the ferry to Sado Island. He really enjoyed the trip, but he didn’t have enough time to really explore the island. The highlight of his trip was being kicked out of a Buddhist Temple that he was not supposed to be in.
Day 4 Golfing and Mountain Climbing
On the final full day in Karuizawa 12 guys went golfing and another large group decided to climb a mountain right next to the volcanic Mount Asama. They ended up climbing up to 8,000 feet in elevation. The views and photos that they got were amazing. The sunburn that they got was amazing as well.
Finally, the golf was a lot of fun. The highlight was figuring out the carts that sat four people and drove by themselves. We had a remote that we used and the carts would drive up the cart path by themselves. It was also interesting to experience how the day went differently compared to here in the states. At the turn, they gave us another tee time and we had about 40 minutes to order lunch and eat/relax. We then went out and played the second nine holes. Most of the Japanese then hit an Onsen and relaxed before hitting the bar. We cut it a little short and headed back to the hotel to relax.
Day 5 Travel Day
This is already a long blog so my next blog will start from here to tell you about our long travel day back home that started at 8 am in Karuizawa and ended in St. Cloud at 2am the following day.
