Woman In…Outback Australia: Camooweal, Queensland

 

 

I will be taking my 84 year-old mate, legendary stockman Luke McCall back to the Drover’s Camp Festival at Camooweal, Queensland again this year. (Read about Luke McCall in Go Meet)

He likes to do it in style these days. It’s a 7000km road trip for me and takes about 3 weeks, staying in the best motels I can find and making sure he has two smokos, lunch and a fine dinner every night! His days of ‘cigarette swags’ and tea with damper are long over and he figures that he’s entitled to a little bit of comfort in  his old age.

 

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Right across the top of Australia, old drovers are rolling their swags because it is time to head to Camooweal for their annual reunion at the Drover’s Camp Festival held every year on the 4th weekend in August. This event commemorates the droving tradition when Camooweal was the centre for the largest cattle drives the world has ever seen.

Immortalized by Slim Dusty, ‘the little border town of Camooweal’ of 300 hardy souls, slumbers west of Mt Isa on the Queensland side of the Northern Territory border in outback Australia.

It is the place where droving teams once spent the Wet season. They camped on the Common beside the Georgina River waiting for telegrams offering contracts to take delivery of cattle from stations in north-western Queensland, the Northern Territory and the Kimberley area of Western Australia. These mobs of cattle numbering 1000 to 1500 head, would be walked into railheads and fattening depots in Queensland and the south.

They were months on the road and the drovers experienced incredible privations living in ‘cigarette swags’ on a diet of beef, damper and tea and battling both stifling heat and bitter cold as storms swept down the Rankine Plain.

My old mate, Luke McCall, tells of droving trips when he was in the saddle every day for nine months as well as taking a shift on watch each night.

The droving game lasted a hundred years but when change did come in the 1960s, it came with a rush. Within a few short years the sound of motors replaced the music of horse bells. Road trains were introduced to perform the long haul of cattle to markets and meat works. The days of the pack horse drovers passed into history…… but they have not been forgotten.

A complex  has been established at Camooweal comprising an outdoor function area, a droving museum, a portrait gallery of old drovers and a camp ground where every year, more than eighty old drovers congregate to relive the days of stockwhip, saddle and spur.

What I like most of all about the Drover’s Camp Festival is meeting and being with the old drovers. They are a rare breed. Collectively they all have big hats, big bellies and bung knees. They express their individuality with the bash of their hats. They are all different and unique and are a photographer’s delight. You can easily pick out from a distance who is who by the shape of their hat.

This is just a part of the Drover’s Camp Festival. It starts on Friday afternoon in town with a street parade and a hilarious charity race. It finishes with an old-time ball.  Saturday and Sunday are packed full of action at the Drover’s Camp complex.

Activities include competition bronco branding, country music (including a big Country Music Concert under the stars on Saturday night), bush poetry recitals, art and photographic displays, along with historical displays and information and lots of Australiana books and merchandise. The local race meeting is also held over the road on Saturday.

I enjoy watching the bronco branding. This is the way calves were branded on the stations in the old days before yards were built. Mobs mustered on the run were held by ‘ringers’ (stockmen) on horseback and a ‘gun catcher’ on a sturdy bronco horse would lasso each calf and pull it up to an improvised fence panel. Three men would then leg rope it and pull it over and earmark, brand and where required, castrate it. A good team would do a calf a minute in those days. Bronco branding as a procedure has long since gone, but is now a competitive sport in North West Queensland.

The best of the best teams compete at Camooweal.

I have been attending this festival for about 7 years now and have seen it grow in size until last year, when close to 2000 people attended. The camping spots along the Georgina River are filled with campers and caravans.

Everyone is welcome. It’s a chance to meet these legendary figures and get a taste of Australia’s outback heritage.

For more information go to droverscamp.com.au

 

Pat McPherson is a retired nurse from Victoria. She worked as a nurse for years with the Australian Inland Mission at Fitzroy Crossing in the Western Australian Kimberley region in the 1960s and  regularly travels to the outback which she considers her ‘heart country.’

 

 

 

 

 

Kakadu National Park – Jarrangbarnmi (Koolpin Gorge), Northern Territory

Off the beaten track in the Kakadu National Park

I had asked my daughter Genevieve, who lives in Darwin and works in surrounding Aboriginal communities, to take me to one of her favourite spots. She had heard of Jarrangbarnmi from friends and as it was a sacred site she thought it would be an ideal place to go to with her mum and sister Anna. I had always wanted to visit a sacred site as I am interested in Aboriginal culture and ways of relating to the environment. We had already been to the more popular areas of Kakadu on a previous trip.

Kakadu is a timeless land, many millions of years old, and while this suggests it must be highly adaptable, it actually has a very delicate ecosystem with a narrow margin to allow for human interference. We could never re-engineer the finely tuned connection between climate, land and living things if we were ever to lose it. Jarrangbarnmi (Koolpin Gorge) in particular reflects this delicate balance.

My two daughters and I left Darwin on a Friday afternoon in August, picking up our key from a key box at Mary River ranger’s station about three hours later. On our way home when returning the key, we stopped to read the large story boards describing the cultural and archaeological history of the area.

Jacinta hiking

Jacinta hiking

 Jarrangbarnmi (Koolpin Gorge)

Jarrangbarnmi is a resticted access area in the south-eastern section of Kakadu National Park in Northern Territory, 324 kilometres from Darwin. The area can only be accessed in the dry season. Because Jarrangbarnmi is remote and culturally and environmentally significant, visitors must obtain a permit in advance (allow up to seven days for the permit to be processed). A high clearance 4WD is essential. There is no mobile reception (so go only if you are fit and well), no drinking water and strict visitor guidelines are in place. There is a campground with composting toilets and fire-places.  I was confident travelling with my daughter as she travels to remote areas both for leisure and work and is a volunteer ambulance officer in remote areas. I would advise travellers only to do this trip if they have experience travelling through remote Australia or are with someone who has such experience.

Although visiting Jarrangbarnmi requires an effort, visitors will be well rewarded.

Two upper pools

Two upper pools

Getting there

We headed into the bush along a rugged 4WD track. Being in the middle of the dry season the bush was very dry, however we did have two river crossings along the way. Many of the indigenous trees were losing their leaves, leading me to think we were in a type of ‘autumnal season’. Kakadu is a timeless land, many millions of years old, and while this suggests it might be highly adaptable to have survived, Jarrangbarnmi actually has a very delicate ecosystem with a narrow margin for human interference; we could never re-engineer the finely tuned connection between climate, land and living things were we ever to lose it. We arrived with just enough light to set up camp and cook dinner.

The next day we read signs within the campground warning of local aboriginal lands that were out of bounds, of crocodiles in certain pools, and requests that visitors not apply sunscreen before swimming. Wide hats and protective clothing were a must as temperatures were reaching the low thirties. We packed up a picnic lunch, bathers, and enough water for the day, and headed into the gorge.

Swimming at pink pool

Swimming at pink pool

Waterholes

There are a number of pools or waterholes within Jarrangbarnmi that can be accessed over rocks and by following the creek-bed as there are no marked walking tracks. The first pool, Vegetation Pool, is inaccessible due to it being a sacred site—a residence of the Rainbow Serpent—and crocodiles are known to visit. There are another four pools further up the gorge: Pink Pool, Black Pool and then two more smaller pools. Some agility is required to climb rocks to reach all pools, particularly the further two. Visitors are encouraged to go only as far as they feel comfortable.

The area was contained enough and it was easy to stick close to the pools and not get lost. We used the pools as our guide and spent a full day exploring in and around them.  Small birds swooped at the water frequently, sipping quickly on contact before darting back to the safety of trees. Apart from small birds and insects and the sound of cockatoos, we neither saw nor heard other animal life. It was quiet and dark. The stars were beautiful and bright. I never felt threatened or afraid knowing that we were tucked away in a dark, remote place. It helped that we had each other for company.

Vegetation pool

Vegetation pool

Aboriginal sacred land

Knowing that we were on sacred land and that there was a community nearby, we had the respect to not wander into the bush. Most visitors who would be interested in visiting Jarrangbarnmi would have an interest in Aboriginal culture and the environment and would therefore understand respect for people and the land.

And we did have a sense that we were on sacred Aboriginal land. When lying in the still shade, or feeling the coolness of the water on our warm skin, or listening to the soft buzz of the frantic beating of tiny wings, we sensed the sacredness around us, and we wanted to respect it and care for it. And we thanked the earth for its gift.

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Photos by Jacinta Agostinelli

Maria Island Tasmania

Cruising Maria Island

The boat pulled into the clear turquoise waters of a small cove. We were surrounded by rocks aged from 280 million to over 400 million years-old, pressed together in configurations seen nowhere else in the world. And then lunch was served.

WomanGoingPlaces was on a circumnavigation of Tasmania’s Maria Island. Maria Island has developed an international reputation for the 3-5 day walks held in this Tasmanian National Park. But we found that cruising the coastline is another way to visit the island.

We boarded the boat at Triabunna on the mainland and set out for a trip right around Maria Island. And we saw what makes this tiny island just off Tasmania’s east coast such a compelling place to visit.

Maria Island: Historical, Geological and Natural Wonder

Maria Island holds a remarkable position in Australian history. It is a refuge for Australian wildlife. It has great natural beauty, and is a geological wonder.

Before the colonial era, Aboriginal people journeyed regularly to Maria Island and evidence of their presence remains. Its earliest European visitors were whalers and sealers. Then in 1825, it became one of the first penal colonies set up by the British in Australia, even before the more infamous Port Arthur.

Today, it has become a ‘wildlife ark’ for threatened native wildlife.

It is one of the best places to see wombats, wallabies, pademelons and forester kangaroos in their natural habitat.  They roam undisturbed as no cars, shops or hotels are allowed on the island. There are over 114 bird species including introduced Cape Barren Geese. Our guide Kirsty lived up to her nickname “Wombat  Whisperer” when she led us close to several wombats, including a rare encounter with a mother and baby.

Tourists are allowed visits and short stays, but may not reside on Maria Island.

The complex beauty of Maria Island’s geological formations along the coast has left international geologists in awe. These formations are best viewed offshore by boat.

Our journey along the coast gives us spectacular views of the tall limestone Fossil Cliffs containing many ancient fossils, and the sandstone Painted Cliffs where iron oxide has stained the rocks with stunning splashes of colour – red on ochre and grey. We see rocks called Drop stones which 300 million years ago were dropped by glaciers.

Even the youngest rocks here were formed 100 million years before the dinosaurs.

The boat passes a waterfall cascading down rugged cliffs into the sea and remarkably stalactites formed on the outside of a cliff. We enter a deep cave studded with fossils. And even though it is dark, through the magic of the camera lens, cake-like layers of  bright pink, green, brown and golden rock are revealed.

There is an abundance of marine life including seals and dolphin. We were gazing across the water when suddenly a flying fish leapt out of the sea, its iridescent winglike fins spread taut as it flew  a metre above the water for about 15 metres before it dived back into the sea. We were too stunned to reach for our cameras, but fortunately someone on this boat had photographed just such a fish the previous week.

Spectacular white crescents and pristine bays of blue-green waters form the contours of Maria Island. We see immaculate beaches from the boat, and then at Darlington, we dock at one of them. These pure sandy beaches are composed of the same white granite as the world-famous Wineglass Bay on Tasmania’s Freycinet Peninsula.

Darlington

Darlington is the site of the World Heritage listed original convict settlement. We spent some time walking around. The British abandoned this settlement in the mid-1800s. Instead, the colonial rulers established the even more remote penal settlement of Port Arthur. Some of the original convict quarters are still standing at Darlington and are now used as dorms for travellers.

It is worthwhile to wander through Darlington’s remarkably well-preserved buildings. Besides the original convict buildings, are several impressive houses, including the Coffee Palace built by hopeful settlers in the 19th Century. Life was very harsh there and they failed to sustain their settlement. But they left a fascinating record. The testimonies of these entrepreneurs as well as those of such notable convicts as Irish nationalist leader William Smith O’Brien, exiled here for his part in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848, give Maria Island its rich mix of history and natural splendour.

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All photos by Rosalie & Augustine Zycher apart from Flying Fish by Karen Dick.

Music: Albare – No Love Lost from the album The Road Ahead

 

 

 

 

 

Hokkaido – the Northern Island of Japan

 

Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands gives you a sense of space, of wilderness and of untamed nature, thanks largely to its many national parks and large stretches of uninhabited spaces.

In winter, it becomes a wonderland of ice and snow and people flock to its ski resorts or to see the extraordinarily creative snow and ice sculptures of the Sapporo Snow Festival that takes place in Hokkaido’s capital every February.

Autumn arrives earlier in Hokkaido than in the rest of Japan, so you are more likely to see the turning of the leaves here first. But it is also colder than the rest of Japan and can snow in autumn. Don’t be deterred, it’s a wonderful season to visit.

While most visitors arrive in Hokkaido by air, there is a land link to its near southern neighbour Honshu – the Seikan Tunnel which was dug under the Tsugaru Strait. A new Shinkansen or bullet train inaugurated in 2016, passes through this tunnel to link Hokkaido with Tokyo and significantly reduces the travel times.

Unlike the other densely settled parts of Japan, full control of the island by the Japanese central government was only completed after the Meiji Restoration in the mid-19th Century and in 1869 it was given the new name Hokkaido. This control was extended in order to meet a perceived threat of Russian expansion from mainland Vladivostok.

Known for many years by the name Ezo, Hokkaido is home to the indigenous Ainu people and many names on the island have their origins in indigenous languages including that of the capital Sapporo. We visited the Poroto Kotan Ainu village where tourists are given explanations of Ainu culture and can wander through the houses and structures. Less appealing are the few brown bears, significant in Ainu life and ceremonies, that are kept in the village in tiny cages.  A visit to the very informative and well laid out museum that presents the history of the Ainu people is worthwhile.

Of all the wonderful sights and attractions of Hokkaido, its volcanoes and natural hot springs, are the most impressive.

 

 

Noboribetsu

Noboribetsu is famous for its hot springs. A small town in the south of Hokkaido, it is easily reached by train from Sapporo. Set in mountains that are volcanoes, it attracts those who seek the healing and relaxing waters of some of the best onsen in Japan.

When you arrive in Noboribetsu you see a huge statue of a blue demon bearing a black club, like a vision from hell. And indeed when you begin to walk around you seem to enter the underworld. Active ochre-mantled volcanoes spewing plumes of steam surround you. Nearby in craters there are cauldrons of bubbling, sulphurous liquid. Geysers periodically erupt in a shower of boiling water.

The association of this area with hell is understandable but inaccurate. Its stark yellow, pink and green-clad landscape is beautiful. You marvel at the remarkable volatility of the earth beneath your feet. Taking a walk in the light snow of late autumn along the many pathways through the Shikotsu-Tōya National Park, including the one to Jigoku-Dani (Hell Valley) a huge geothermal crater, is exhilarating. There are boardwalks to the geysers and at the Oyunuma Brook, a place where hikers can sit and bathe weary feet in a naturally hot stream.

Afterwards, you can relax in the luxurious onsens of the nearby hotels. Noboribetsu offers a wide variety of natural hot spring waters in which to bathe. The different minerals in the various onsen are said to relieve and cure health problems. The Dai-Ichi Takimotokan Hotel is enormous and may get no prizes for beautiful architecture, but it provides spacious and attractive rooms (especially the Japanese-style rooms), excellent and abundant choices of food, and a multitude of health spas – 35 large and small pools with 7 types of hot springs. There is also a 25 metre swimming pool and waterslide. Our favourite was the women’s open air spa – chill air meets hot bath, a match made in heaven.

Hakodate

The port city of Hakodate, the third largest city in Hokkaido, has attractions that reflect its colourful and turbulent past. It was the first city in Japan whose port was opened to foreign trade as a result of U.S. Commodore Mathew Perry’s expedition in 1854. The Tokugawa Shoguns who ruled Japan, had for two centuries pursued an isolationist policy that prevented foreign countries access to Japan. When Perry sailed into the Japanese harbour with five ships to force the re-opening of Japan, he overturned this policy. Surrender to Perry’s demands dealt a great blow to the authority of an already weakened Shogunate. One consequence was a war in 1869 when Hakodate became the site of the last stand of supporters of the Shogunate against the restoration of the new Meiji imperial authority. The focal point of this stand was the Goryokaku Fort.

Goryokaku Fort and Tower

 

Goryokaku Fort Hakodate

Don’t miss touring this area. Its chief attraction is the five-pointed star shaped Goryokaku Fort modelled on 16th Century European citadel towns and completed in 1864. Its thick stone walls are surrounded by a moat and the 1,600 cherry trees planted in its grounds make it an extraordinary sight in spring. It’s an impressive sight in any season and can be best appreciated from the observatory in the Goryokaku Tower nearby.

The new Goryokaku Tower was built in 2006 as an observatory in order to give visitors excellent perspectives onto the Fort from a height of almost 100 metres. It also has a very well-presented graphic exhibition of the dramatic events that shaped the history of Goryokaku from the arrival of the American fleet until the surrender of rebels to the forces of new Meiji central government in 1869. This narrative has all the excitement and adventure of hopeless causes with its larger-than-life characters and doomed heroes. Indeed a bronze statue commemorates the handsome and dashing young rebel leader who was shot and killed in a final assault by rebel forces.  The Tower also has a cafe and Observatory shop.

Well worth a visit is the reconstructed Hakodate Magistrate’s Office (Hakodate Bugyosho) in the Fort’s grounds.  The original office was the Edo Shogunate’s administrative centre for the Ezo (Hokkaido) region and was dismantled after its collapse. In 2010 after a four year effort, it was reconstructed just as it had been using the exact same materials and traditional Japanese techniques that had been employed in the original structure. Craftsmen skilled in traditional Japanese carpentry, plastering and roof tiling were brought in from all around Japan. You cannot help but admire the superb craftsmanship and attention to every tiny detail of this beautiful building. A fascinating video of the rebuilding process is part of the exhibition.

Foreign Quarter

 

View From Motomachi, Hakodate

Walk up the hillside from the port and you are in the Motomachi neighbourhood. The area provides a wonderful view over the port and bay, and is a snapshot of times past. Impressive Western-style houses set in beautiful gardens, churches – the Russian Orthodox Church and other historical missionary churches, including Anglican and Catholic – as well as public buildings such as the Old British Consulate were built here at the foot of Mount Hakodate by the foreigners from Russia, China, the UK and other Western countries who came to seek their fortune in the newly-opened Japan of the mid-19th Century. At night, the churches and buildings are illuminated. Of particular note is the Old Hakodate Public Hall. It’s worth going for a wander at dusk and then walking to the near-by Mount Hakodate Ropeway station to take the cable car up the mountain to see the spectacular night view of the city and peninsula.

Old Hakodate Public Hall

 

Night View from Top of Mt. Hakodate Ropeway

 

Morning Market

Hakodate is famed for excellent seafood. This bounty can be seen at the morning market (Asaichi) which is very near the JR Hakodate railway station. Some 300 stalls are spread across four city blocs selling the freshest and most abundant variety of seafood and other produce. Restaurants in the market tempt visitors to taste their specialties. The market is held daily from 5am to 2 pm.

Another interesting area where you can wander and dine in the evening is around the red brick warehouses next to the port. They have been re-developed into an attractive area of restaurants and shops.

Sapporo

 

Sapporo Beer Museum

Sapporo, Hokkaido’s capital, is a thriving pleasant city of almost 2 million people set on a grid pattern that is easy to navigate. Below the city centre, there is a network of underground shopping malls, plazas and public transport that make it possible to live and go about business in the city without suffering the extremely cold winter. For this reason it has attracted many retirees from other parts of Japan despite the colder climate.

Sapporo is probably best known around the world as the original home of its eponymous brand of beer. Indeed, you can order a variety of beer available only in Sapporo at the Sapporo Beer Gardens, which is part of the Sapporo Garden Park where you can also visit the Sapporo Beer Museum.  All these refurbished red brick buildings are part of the former brewery.

Sapporo gained worldwide attention for hosting the Winter Olympic Games in 1972, the first in Asia. Winter is still an important season in Sapporo because of the annual Sapporo Snow Festival held in February and its astonishing mammoth ice sculptures.  Skiing is also an attraction because of the availability of ski jumps in the city and its proximity to the Niseko ski resort.

There are plans to extend the bullet train service from Tokyo that presently stops at Hakodate to Sapporo in the next few years. At present, most people arrive in Sapporo by air.

Related posts:

Onsen in Japan

Geisha in Kyoto, Japan

Autumn in Japan

Notes on Japan

Ryokans in Japan

Japan’s Brilliant Bullet Train

 

Japan’s Brilliant Bullet Train

TRANSPORT IN JAPAN

If you decide to travel in Japan using public transport you will be pleasantly surprised. It’s efficient, punctual, comfortable and clean. The train system, that includes Japan’s brilliant bullet train as well as its  regular  trains, is excellent. The subway is fast, frequent and user-friendly. Over short distances, taxis are reasonably priced and very clean. It’s worthwhile to have your destination written in Japanese to show the driver since many do not speak English.

TRAINS

Remarkably, Japanese trains have an annual average late arrival time of only 38 seconds! They reach most places you are likely to tour in Japan and can be supplemented by buses or taxis.

The bullet train or Shinkansen that connects major centres, is a marvel. Travelling at up to 300km per hour, this sleek, white, green or red serpent of a train is whisper quiet and provides a smooth ride when you are inside. Outside, it appears as a rush of wind if you’re lucky enough to catch it passing at full speed.

Reserve seats and use it as much as you can. Like most trains, platforms are marked to show where you are to wait to alight your reserved carriage. You will have 30 seconds to get on or off. Don’t worry, you can actually do it in time.

We travelled on the newest Shinkansen line, inaugurated as recently as March 2016.

This sleek, green bullet train travels from the port city of Hakodate in the northern island of Hokkaido to Tokyo, with stops on the way that include the city of Sendai on the main island of Honshu. More than 50km of the journey is in a tunnel at a depth of 100 metres under the ocean between the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu. Our shiny new green train was connected at the rear to an equally shiny red bullet train, so it was actually 2 trains that together were hurtling above ground and under sea.

It’s worthwhile and saves money to buy a Japan Rail Pass (JR Rail Pass) if you intend to use the trains. This pass allows you to go on most trains and Shinkansen (but not trains privately operated) and other transport such as the JR Miyajima Ferry. For more information about obtaining the pass and a user guide see JR Pass.

 

SUBWAYS

Tokyo and Kyoto, the two cities in which you are most likely to use them, have excellent subway systems. On first descent into the stations, they may seem daunting with their myriad of lines and destinations and their banks of ticket machines, but help is at hand. Signs appear in English as well as in Japanese. There is often an information booth. A subway map in English is available at these booths. There are usually attendants on hand at all stations who will help you get your ticket at the machine and direct you to your train. They won’t necessarily speak English, but if you know your destination, they are remarkably helpful despite the language barrier. Again, if you plan to use the subways more than a very few times, it’s worthwhile getting an IC card for unlimited travel. See www.japan-guide.com for more information.

 

TRANSPORT FROM/TO TOKYO AIRPORTS

Of all the options – trains, taxis, buses and shuttles – the fastest and most economical to and from the airport is the train. Narita Airport (see http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2027.html for all transport options) is 60 kilometres from Tokyo and a taxi to central Tokyo is very, very expensive. You are much better off getting a train to central Tokyo and then if necessary, a taxi to your hotel.

The same is true of Haneda Airport. Although nearer central Tokyo, a taxi ride there from Haneda can cost over AUD$100. For your transport options from and to Haneda see http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2430.html.

A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE ROAD

It would be remiss to talk about transport, especially trains in Japan, without mentioning that every train station or subway offers a choice of take-away food and drink. The larger stations have cafes, eat-in or take-away restaurants, bakeries and shops. Some even have department stores attached. They are in essence shopping arcades. Many of the restaurants are excellent and of good value. Even the most remote station will have a vending machine that offers hot and cold drinks.

Or if you rushed to hop on the Shinkansen without having time to buy a little something for the road, fear not. A hostess will appear in your carriage with a food and drink trolley from which you can make a purchase. You are never very far from food when travelling in Japan.

Related posts:

Onsen in Japan

Geisha in Kyoto, Japan

Autumn in Japan

Notes on Japan

Ryokans in Japan

Hokkaido – the Northern Island of Japan

 

The Pleasures of a Japanese Toilet

 

The pleasures of the Japanese toilet are gaining worldwide attention. The BBC in its news today, made an announcement about toilets in Japan. And recently the New York Times ran a feature story on Japanese toilets. Why toilets would qualify as news might puzzle many – but it would not surprise those who have been to Japan.

Japanese toilets are quite ingenious.

When you arrive in Japan and head for the first toilet you can find in the airport you find that it is impeccably clean, as are all toilets in Japan almost without exception. But you are stopped in your tracks by an electronic panel next to the loo with a dazzling array of symbols. There is so much to read! Do I need a user manual to go to the loo in Japan? Not really, but often you are stuck in the toilet because it’s hard to find the flush button in the dense display of options. Especially since often they are only in Japanese. Welcome to the Toto!

It is claimed that once you experience the Toto commode/washlet, you will never again be satisfied with a regular toilet. First, the seat is heated, a surprising comfort that never wanes. Then you have a varying number of functions depending on the model. The Japanese have combined in one what the French made separate – a toilet that is also a bidet with special features. You can choose a front or rear spray, the temperature of the water and length of cleanse. You can vary the water pressure. Some have an air-purifying system that deodorises during use. Many have air dryers to finish. While others also provide music or a sound button that plays warbling birdsong or gushing waterfalls to discretely cover your sound.

Panel of Japanese toilet

 

These toilets are ubiquitous throughout Japan, especially in hotels, restaurants and airports as well as private homes. They often exist in public conveniences as a Western-style choice alongside the traditional, squat toilets seen elsewhere in Asia.

It seems that the manufacturers of these hi-tech toilets have finally realised the difficulty the dizzying array of options presents to foreign tourists. So they have now jointly agreed to standardise and simplify the symbols on the toilet panels and reduce them to only eight new pictograms.

Press Conference of Manufacturers of Japanese toilets announcing new
toilet symbols- January 18th 2017

New symbols on Japanese toilets

Travellers to Japan, seduced by the temptations of the Toto, have been known to return home determined to find and install this triumph of toilet technology in their own homes. None of them seems to have regretted it.

Related posts:

Our Top Places in Japan

Ryokans in Japan

Japan’s Brilliant Bullet Train

Onsen in Japan

Geisha in Kyoto, Japan

Autumn in Japan

Notes on Japan

The Pleasures of a Japanese Toilet

Hokkaido – the Northern Island of Japan

 

 

Ryokans in Japan

 

Western-style hotels or  Ryokans – traditional Japanese inns?

Ryokans in Japan have been described as national treasures. These traditional inns for travellers are located throughout the country. You can stay in Western-style hotels throughout Japan, but you would be missing out on very memorable and pleasurable experiences by not staying in a ryokan. Many hotels also offer you a choice of Western or Japanese-style rooms. The latter are similar to a room in a ryokan. These rooms tend to be larger than Western-style rooms which are often tiny.

What to expect in a Ryokan

When you enter the rooms in these ryokans, you remove your shoes in a small ante-room and put on the slippers provided. Tatami or densely woven straw mats cover the floors. The sliding doors (shoji screens) and windows are made of wood and paper.

The rooms are usually spacious and light with minimal furnishings. An atmosphere of serenity seems to emanate from them.

There is always a low wooden table with legless seats and cushions or just the  cushions for seating. Often rooms have an alcove attached in which stand comfortable low armchairs. When you first enter the room, there will be no bed or mattresses on the floor. It is only while you are having dinner in the dining room of the ryokan that staff come, move the table aside and set up futons with quilts on the floor. You can always ask for an extra futon if you want more cushioning between you and the floor. Pillows often have something in them that feels like small beans which adjust to the shape of your head, but are not particularly comfortable. All rooms have kettles or thermoses with hot water, a teapot and cups and supplies of Japanese green tea. Every implement is beautifully presented.

Most ryokans have en suite toilets and showers but it’s worthwhile to check before you book.

Kaiseki-style dinners

One of the most comfortable ryokan we stayed in was on Miyajima island, just across the strait from Hiroshima. The best rooms in the Miyarikyu Ryokan have views looking out to the sea and the sunset. You can watch the wild deer of the island wandering undisturbed on the street below. While the rooms in the ryokans are very clean and simple, the food can vary from quite basic to outstanding. The better ryokans provide breakfast buffets with a wide array of both Japanese and Western food. It’s worth trying the Kaiseki-style dinners at least once in the best ryokans. These are banquet-like meals in which a seemingly endless series of courses arrive of local delicacies and the best the chef can offer.

Yukatas

When staying in ryokans or hotels in Japan, you do not need to bring pyjamas. Sleepwear, usually a yukata – a unisex cotton kimono – is provided, as are toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoos and generally razors and hairbrushes too.

It is particularly pleasant to put on a yukata which often has attractive patterns and colours. A traditional jacket is also provided to wear over the yukata. The yukatas serve both as pyjamas and leisure wear. It is perfectly acceptable to wear the yukata to breakfast and dinner in the dining room, where everyone else will also be wearing the same yukata.

There is a very strict rule governing how you put on the yukata. You must always fold the right half against your body and then fold the left side over it so that it is on top and then tie it with an obi – a beautiful wide band. Folding the opposite way with the right on top is frowned upon as it is the way Japanese dress the dead.

Shukubo – Buddhist temple guest lodgings

Even less sophisticated ryokans provide a very good level of comfort. We spent one night in a shukubo, the guest lodging of Shojoshin-in, a Buddhist temple monastery in Koya-san. Koya-San is situated in forested mountains south of Kyoto. It is the world headquarters of the Shingon School of Buddhism whose founder in 816 was Kobo Daishi, one of the most important religious figures in Japan, who is said to be buried in Koya-san. The town has 110 temples and is a magnet for pilgrims. Which is probably why when we arrived at this remote spot after taking several trains and a funicular up the 650 metres to get there, we were stuck in a traffic jam in the town centre. There are many shukubo of varying degrees of comfort available in Koya-San for pilgrims and visitors. Many are listed on the Koyasan Shukubo Association website.

Shukubo lodging of a Buddhist temple monastery in Koya-san Japan – womangoingplaces.com.au

We assumed that the monastery would be quite austere, but were surprised to find the traditional style rooms comfortable, with heating, facilities for tea, wifi and a TV. Dinner was a strictly vegetarian meal with no meat, fish, garlic or onions according with their strictures – but sake was served with dinner on request. Although Western toilets were available, all toilet and bathroom facilities are shared and not en suite.

Most ryokans in Japan have onsen, varying from small and basic, as in the above shukubo, to elaborate and luxurious with a large choice of pools and optional features such as massage and treatments.

We highly recommend staying at least once in a ryokan as part of a memorable Japanese experience.

Related posts:

Our Top Places in Japan

Japan’s Brilliant Bullet Train

Onsen in Japan

Geisha in Kyoto, Japan

Autumn in Japan

Notes on Japan

The Pleasures of a Japanese Toilet

Hokkaido – the Northern Island of Japan

Onsen in Japan

Japan’s ubiquitous volcanoes frequently cause land and sea to shudder. But they are also the source of the healing waters of the Onsen in Japan. These are the public bath houses all over Japan that are often supplied with mineral water drawn from hot springs in volcanic craters.

Onsen have been part of Japanese life for millennia.

One of the great delights of visiting Japan is staying in ryokans – traditional inns – with Onsen. Although most ryokans have public bathing areas, not all are built around hot springs.

The most memorable hot spring Onsen we visited was in Noboribetsu on the northern island of Hokkaido. It is an area called Hell Valley because it brings to mind a picture of the underworld. Rumbling, sulphurous clouds of smoke and vapour spew from numerous volcanic craters and caves. Pools of bubbling mud, geysers and streams of burning hot water cover the landscape. We stayed in the ryokan,  Dai-Ichi Takimotokan, on the site of the original Onsen set up here 150 years ago. The thermal waters here are said to have special healing properties. For this reason it is an area popular with not only Japanese, but also with South Korean and Chinese visitors. There are many ryokan and Onsen in the area.

After a walk in the surrounding National Park through the unearthly landscape, it is a treat to then step into an Onsen and sink into the mineral rich sulphur baths for as long as you can stand the temperature of  38-40 degrees celsius. You can also relax in the steaming outdoor bath, surrounded in autumn by snow-covered trees.

 

Hell Valley Noboribetsu Hokkaido Japan – womangoingplaces.com.au

 

Even in a smaller and simpler ryokan in Hakone, south-west of Tokyo on Honshu, the Onsen was the highlight of our stay at the Yajikitano Yu Ryokan.

If your hotel or ryokan does not have an Onsen, there may be Onsen available at a general public facility, for example, in Matsuyama on Shikoku, the famous Dogo Onsen, thought to be the first Onsen in Japan. Or you can go to a neighbouring hotel wherever you are staying and use the Onsen there for a fee.

Onsen vary from luxurious to basic, but they are well worth the experience.

 

Etiquette in an Onsen

There is a particular procedure that governs correct behaviour in the Onsen.

Some Onsen are mixed, but we were only in those in which men and women are divided into separate areas. You take off all your clothes and place them in a basket or locker, and enter a large room with rows of stools, individual shower hoses, mirrors, soaps and shampoos. You are given a small white towel/washcloth with which you scrub yourself and rinse off until you are thoroughly clean.

 

Noboribetsu-Onsen Dai-ichi Takimotokan, Hokkaido Japan

 

Then you walk naked into the adjoining area where there are pools of different sizes and temperatures. These pools are strictly for relaxation, not for washing. In the beginning you may feel awkward without clothes or a swimsuit, but you quickly get over it. You take with you the small towel which you used to wash yourself. It is considered unhygienic and therefore offensive to allow this washcloth to touch the water of the relaxation pools. So some fold it and balance it on their heads, while others tie it stylishly into a kerchief around their heads.

Many Onsen have saunas and also provide hair dryers, skin lotions and other beauty products. If the Onsen has an outside pool, try it, possibly after you have sampled the inside pools. They are usually set in a secluded area made to appear as natural as possible with rocks and greenery.

Even though rooms in most ryokans have an ensuite toilet and shower, bathing in the Onsen is quite a different and more blissful experience. It is certainly an essential experience of Japan.

 

Related posts:

Our Top Places in Japan

Geisha in Kyoto, Japan

Autumn in Japan

Notes on Japan

Ryokans in Japan

Japan’s Brilliant Bullet Train

Hokkaido – the Northern Island of Japan

The Pleasures of a Japanese Toilet

 

Autumn in Japan

When is the best time to go to Japan?

 

Autumn

WomanGoingPlaces chose to go to Japan in autumn in order to see the beauty of the autumn leaves.  The autumn in Japan  came later than expected this year. But we did see spectacular foliage in November. This continues into early December, although the weather is increasingly cold. The leaves turn earlier in Hokkaido, the colder northern island, than in the southern islands.

Spring

Spring in Japan is a very popular time to visit because of the beauty of the cherry blossoms.  Japanese and tourists flock to the parks and gardens at this time in particular to see the magnificent display of delicate pink, rose and white blooms massed along the avenues. However, the actual blooming is unpredictable and can occur sooner or later than expected depending on weather patterns. It is also very brief. So it is hard to time your trip with any certainly of seeing blossom.

You will have better luck with autumn foliage.

Summer

Summer in Japan can be uncomfortable for touring. June to the end of September is rainy, hot, and humid. In addition, this is the worst part of typhoon season.

Winter

In winter, Japan’s ski resorts come to the fore. They are increasingly popular for those wanting to go in winter. In Hokkaido, there is the added attraction of the snow and ice sculptures of the Sapporo Snow Festival that takes place in Hokkaido’s capital every February.

 

View our video below to see the spectacular, blazing colours of autumn leaves in Japan.

 

Related posts:

Our Top Places in Japan

Japan’s Brilliant Bullet Train

Onsen in Japan

Geisha in Kyoto, Japan

Autumn in Japan

Notes on Japan

The Pleasures of a Japanese Toilet

Hokkaido – the Northern Island of Japan

 

 

 

Notes on Japan

WomanGoingPlaces visited Japan for the first time this year. As did 20 million other visitors. And with the summer Olympic Games scheduled  for Tokyo in 2020, travel to Japan is expected to soar with many more going to see the marvellous sights and rich experiences that Japan can offer.

We went during the northern autumn to the four main islands – Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku – and several smaller islands including Miyajima.

In an ongoing series of posts, we will share with you some of the extraordinary  places we visited and the uniquely Japanese experiences we had.

Japan is a country where people are unfailingly polite, helpful and frequently warm in their welcome of foreigners, especially those who take the trouble to learn even a few words of Japanese. Although English is not widely spoken, language is not the insuperable barrier that you might imagine. Goodwill and making sure you have your destinations and accommodations written in Japanese as well as English, are invaluable when you need directions or use transport.

We hope you enjoy our Notes on Japan beginning with the video below, and that you too will be inspired to visit this fascinating country.

 

 

Related posts:

Our Top Places in Japan

Ryokans in Japan

Onsen in Japan

Autumn in Japan

Geisha in Kyoto, Japan

Hokkaido – the Northern Island of Japan

Japan’s Brilliant Bullet Train

Notes on Japan

The Pleasures of a Japanese Toilet