Let's Go Fishing!

Another weekend and another road trip to through Japan's countryside. 

This time our destination was the Toyogawa River for fishing.

Unfortunately, the river is a bit too high right now, and the current is too strong to get in and fish. 

The Toyogawa River is beautiful and said to be the 4th cleanest river in Japan.

When the water levels are normal: you buy fish from the fishing company, they release the fish in a small shallow screened off area, and then you must catch them with your hands so you can eat them.  Can you say "total scam"?  The Japanese like to work way too hard for their food...

They found us an alternate place to release the fish.  It is a giant cement hole sunken in the ground.  It honestly reminded me of some kind of sewer drain... Eeewww!

Mamie, Ema, & Kerri and ready to "catch" some fish.

Kerri is on the prowl, but this was so hard!  The brown cement made it really hard to see anything in the water.

Ema catches the first fish!!

I finally caught one, but only because one of the guys trapped it in a corner for me.

After about 30 minutes, we had caught 3 fish and then someone accidentally knocked over our bucket, thereby making it zero again. 

I was getting totally frustrated because the guys were standing outside the water shouting commands in Japanese and pointing to areas of fish. 

Based on the picture, you can tell I want to punch someone.  The guys either needed to keep their mouths shut or get in the water and help.

Instead they choose to walk back to the fish shop and buy us nets instead.  This was only a slightly easier way to catch fish.  They were still sneaky little suckers.

After 90 minutes, we finally rounded up our 21 fish, and headed back to have them prepared for lunch.

Back at the fish shop.  You can eat outside by kneeling at the low tables with a breeze or inside the stifling hot rooms.

We ordered 4 kinds of fish:

(1) Grilled with miso sauce

(2) Grilled

(3) Raw

(4) Breaded and fried

Our group is ready to enjoy the feast while gazing out over the river!

Here's my finished fish.  One of each.  Nothing to write home about.  I hate having to work so hard for my food.  Avoiding bones, heads, & tails, and peeling off skin is not exactly what I call good times!

Thank goodness I was rewarded with ice cream at the end of the meal. 

Have you ever seen ice cream in a bag?  I think it's way more than just "coolish"--more like super cool!

Kerri and Kishi demonstrate how to properly squeeze it out!

By this time you can see that I have given up on sitting on my knees like a proper lady.  I hate eating outside, especially when it's on a dirty plank of rotting wood with bugs crawling around.  Something had to go, and I decided going without the leg cramps would make me much happier.

Yummy... kind of like a push-pop!

Next stop is Mt. Horaiji, which is 2,243 ft high.

You can see the tiny house-like temple in the distance.

They wanted to climb up this mountain, and in 100 degree weather, I flat-out refused. 

(Why climb any where when there is a perfectly good road leading to the top?)

There were still a few stairs to get to the shrine.

How old do you think this thing is?

Over 1,300 years old, built in 703 to be exact.

Horaiji Shrine

At the Horaiji Temple, the group bought me a gift:

It's a teeny, tiny fan with flowers on it representing June birthdays! 

Since I refused to climb up the mountain, instead we had to climb down.

That's right, 1,425 stone steps in the woods on a 100 degree day.

It was beautiful, but the steps were also uneven and treacherous since they were 1,300 years old!

They told me it would be nice and cool in the woods. 

What a crock!  It was shady, but there was no breeze and the mosquitoes were out with a vengeance. 

We stopped 3 times to put on bug spray, but somehow I still ended up with 8 bug bites. 

(We counted and treated them with medicine while we were naked at the onsen (hot springs) later that afternoon!) 

No one else had any bug bites.  My new friends said "you must have delicious blood".  Hmm... somehow that doesn't make me feel any better!

Ema and Kerri are ready to be at the bottom. 

At the bottom of the mountain is a National Natural Treasure, Kasa Sugi, a giant umbrella cedar tree. 

It is over 800 years old and 200 feet tall. 

Final stop, as I mentioned earlier, was a relaxing hot springs bath at the onsen. 

I needed to rest and wash off all of the sweat from walking down the mountain. 

My legs were killing me for the next few days, especially going down the subway stairs!

After little experiences like this it really reaffirms my decision not to climb Mt. Fuji this summer!