Suzaka-shi

As you may now i am not a morning person and so getting up this early was quite tough. My original plan was to get up not to early and take he train to Tokyo. But Marinasan suggested to us that some of her friends were going bamboo picking and that if we liked, we could tag along. This was an opportunity i did not want to miss for the world and so i changed my plans to go bamboo picking and eating first. We met up with Marinasan's friends in front of the hostel and headed off into the mountains. A short stop at a konbini store provided me with necessary items and some items i just forgot to take with me from the hostel. I seem to forget or lose a lot of things this vacation. Anyway armed with gloves and a makeshift hat we got back in the car and a short while later we were at the top of the mountain, ready to pick bamboo. A short explanation from Senseisan on which bambooshoots to pick and we were off. It was obviously not Senseisan's first time up here since he came fully prepared with insect repelling clothing and stuf like bearbell and a flare gun to ward of any bears. We walked around the mountain and suddenly all the Japanese people stepped into the bushes. Not knowing exactly what to do, me and the other guest decided to just follow them and step into the bamboo bushes where the best bamboo shoots were to be found. It was there that i found out that just a tshirt and some shorts are not the best gear for walking around in bamboo forest. It was hard to find the first shoots but after a while you know what to look for and i actually picked quite a lot of bamboo. After bringing the bamboo back to the car we went for a second session but apart from a very steep climb and almost getting a treebranch in my eye it was fairly uneventful and we got back to the car since there was not much more bamboo to pick. At the parking spot the cooking gear was installed and we had a fantastic picknick with soup made with the bamboo shoots we had just picked. After all this hard work it was time for an onsen (obviously) to soothe al the aching muscles. We got back in the car and i guess Senseisan must really like "Call me maybe" because he played a soundmix version of it about 6 times in a row. Back in Suzaka we counted the bamboo shoots and apparantly we had picked for over 200 euro worth of bamboo shoots. Not bad for a days work. It was almost time for me to go but not after helping to peel the remaining shoots and getting some slices of bamboo pizza, which is truly delicious. I said goodbye to everyon and gave Marinasan a big hug and I had to hurry to get to the train. Takasan was so friendly to bring me to the station in his bright yellow Twingo. We said goodby and with a sad feeling i got on the train to Tokyo, my next stop.
I directly went to the hostel and after checking in found myself talking to some guys from Germany and Switzerland and even a Dutch guy. Only the second one i've met so far. We decided to go to Shinjuku to go out and find some nice bars but we were obviously to late since most of the bars were closed. We took a taxi ride to Shibuya to try our luck there but that was not much better. I'm guessing tuesday night might not be the best night. We too another taxi back to the hostel and that was it for today.Read more