November 2016, part seven - Shizuoka

Shizuoka was our last stop before reaching Tokyo. The city is famous for its green tea, strawberries and beautiful views of the sacred Mount Fuji. And for this view, we went first to the observation tower Nihondaira (308 meters). In Shizuoka we finally met someone who speaks Slovak - Simona Dvorská (Sewitches), whose blog inspired me to write my own. She studied in Japan and decided to live there.

Fuji-san, highest peak of Japan (3776 meters)

Tour participants and Sewi, our guide to Shizuoka

Omelette rice with miso soup 

When we were done observing Mount Fuji, we had lunch at one of the local restaurants, I bet on the omelette rice and I was not disappointed again, although it did not taste as good as the first time. From Nihondaira, there is a cable car to Kuno Hill, which houses the shrine of Kunozan Toshogu dedicated to a shogun named Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, who ruled Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1867. His remains were first placed in the mausoleum in this shrine and were later transferred to Nikko.

Did I mention there were lots of stairs everywhere?

Detail of roof with gold plated ornaments

The way to the shrine

Detail of the decorative relief of the sanctuary

Barrels of saké

Bell-shaped mausoleum - the original place of shogun's rest

Strawberries in November

As we descended from Kuno Hill, we saw Japanese greenhouses along the coast where even strawberries are grown at this time (the average temperature in Shizuoka in November is 15 degrees Celsius). You could also buy strawberry ice cream from freshly picked strawberries. Interestingly, strawberries grow in special stone walls reminiscent of stairs, ensuring that each strawberry receives maximum sunlight and the warmth of the stone helps the strawberries to grow.

Shizuoka - coast and strawberry farms in greenhouses

I-chi-go

Back in the city, we watched in the evening a cheesy decorated center with Christmas lights and a colorful fountain. Then we sat in a real Japanese bar and ordered using an electronic menu - in the form of a tablet. It is a bit like ordering online, you have an overview of the money, ordered food and drinks, with pictures of everything you order. Another of the Japanese conveniences, which I would appreciate at local restaurants. The brave of us went to the karaoke bar, but they won't persuade me :)

The next day we checked out Sunpujo Park in the city center and visited the Shizuoka Sengen Shrine complex. The complex consists of three shrines: Kambe, Sengen and Ohtoshimioja. These shrines are richly decorated with nice details of wooden carvings, similar to the Shrine of Kunozan Toshogu. As usual, there were school trips in colorful caps on the head according to the class.

We said goodbye to Sewi and only one last goal of our trip remained - Tokyo.

In the video - Japanese koi carps are hungry. Part 8 - Tokyo (1/2).