This week, we’re missing Hakone terribly. Japan is experiencing record COVID cases, and we’re not going to be able to travel this year physically, so we thought we’d do so by revisiting our last vacation.

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We’re in Hakone, Japan, this week! We were planning to take the week off and run something we recorded recently, but this one is fresh off the software program.

Transcript

K: So I know we start off with, “Usually, I’ve been thinking about” but if I talked about what I usually- not usually, lately

C: Lately

K: (laughs) 

C: You’re discombobulated. Why are you so discombobulated?

K: Because we’re in beautiful Hakone and oh my gosh, I have been replenished by the mountain wind. Oh my gosh, it has been so hot and so miserable in Nagoya for the month of August, and I think you and I both did an amazing job of not puking that misery out onto the airwaves every week. It was hard.

C: Yes.

K: It was hard to be pleasant. I did not feel like myself at all in the month of August.

C: Yeah, it was… very hot.

K: So, for me, the month of August is a tricky thing- we’re mostly going to be talking about Hakone because, hello, we’re in Hakone, but I do want to talk a little bit about the month of August for me. So, the month of August for me is a tricky month business-wise because about mid-January I am notified of who’s going to be out of town in August and who’s going to be in town for August. And so, that means anywhere between five to twenty clients can go out of town and be gone for five weeks. And that has a huge change in income for me. So, mid- and then, in mid-July, I’m hit with a hereditary coproporphyria attack and a lupus attack, and they both attack me at the same time and just kind of ping-pong back and forth between flares.  Or I’m- so for me, I’m just in a constant state of flare for six weeks, and this month- this year, it was a full eight weeks that I was in flare. And it’s just miserable. 

And lucky for me, I was very fortunate, and thank you to all of my clients, love all of you- I have a whole group of new clients, and so now I have the stress of okay, how am I going to balance everybody coming back in town with the new clients that I picked up in August because I had space because they were out of town? And so I always kind of judge it with like if you’re going out of town, and you don’t book an appointment for the week that you’re coming back in town, you lose your time spot, and I tell everybody that. If you have a specific timeslot that you’re in love with, you need to give me that anchor appointment because then I can let people know “hey this can’t be your regular spot, what would be- what would you want to be your regular spot?” and all of that. And for the ones that didn’t, I already have clients coming back in town who are like “where’d my spot go?” I’m like “well… you know”

C: You accept appointments years in advance, literally years in advance, so

K: Yes, like my Tuesdays and Wednesdays are booked through 2020. And so when I say through 2020 I mean, through the end of 2020. So, when I tell people this, I don’t know what they’re thinking when I say that. Like, I don’t know if they believe me or not.

C: I don’t know.

K: So, lately, what I’ve been thinking about is how (laughs) hard my life is. 

C: So today shook you up.

K: Yes. Because we got on a train and so, weird quirky thing about me, you plan the most amazing vacations for us, and I always want to cancel them.

C: Always, yes. The day before, couple days before.

K: Yeah, so like, even this morning I was talking smack.

C: Mhmm.

K: About canceling. 

C: Yeah, even though at this point, the hotel was nonrefundable…

K: Yeah, and we already had our train tickets and everything. So, we live in Nagoya. For those who aren’t familiar with Japanese geography, and Chad’s the better one when it comes to geography, so, hit us. Where are we? Where’s Hakone?

C: Hakone is in Kanagawa Prefecture, just south of Mount Fuji. 

K: Okay, and where’s Nagoya?

C: So, Nagoya is in Aichi Prefecture, so if you think of the main island, Honshu, of Japan as a banana…

K: Mhmm.

C: Nagoya is right in the middle of the banana.

K: Yup.

C: The area we’re in is called Chubu, which literally means central region. Or Chugoku, which literally means central country – center of the country.

K: Yeah.

C: So, every way that it’s described, the region we live in is called the center of the country. Geographically. And then Hakone is east of Nagoya, and kind of southwest of Tokyo, so

K: So, is it northeast or just dead east?

C: It’s a little bit northeast.

K: Yeah, because I think of it as northeast.

C: Yeah, we’re not quite on the coast anymore, so if we went to Shizuoka, that’s more on the coast.

K: And so, it was a two hour train ride by bullet train, which is the shinkansen.

C: Right, so, because we stopped at a lot of places, so the fastest way to get from Nagoya to Hakone is only 70 minutes, but that only goes a couple of times a day.

K: Yes, and the reason that we didn’t book the fastest way is because we have to then get on a 40 minute bus ride to get to our hotel.

C: And that only leaves once a day, so we would have been standing in the heat at Odawara for an hour and a half.

K: Oh. My. Goodness. You are just like- so, this week, Chad’s been having this thing of like, it’s such a low bar for me, being a good husband, no. Hair blown back, socks shot off. Mind blown. Overwhelmed. Gushing love. We’re riding on the bus, and he just, he says “hey babe” taps me on the shoulders, I turn and look at him, and there is literally a sea of crystal trees glinting in the sun. It was like the most beautiful thing I have seen in forever.

C: Yeah, so that is actually the Venetian glass museum here in Hakone. So we’re going to go visit that while we’re here.

K: But you didn’t tell me about it, and you know, like, that’s my jam.

C: Oh yes, glass, pottery, that kind of art.

K: Yeah.

C: Artisanal things, not in the craft beer sense, but in the sense of artisans make these things. 

K: Yeah, so you kept it a secret so you could surprise me with it.

C: Yes.

K: You know how hard that is to do? To know that you’ve got something on someone’s tastebud who’s having, like, a horrible week and then earlier this week, I called you up and I said “make my day better.”

(laughter)

K: “By the time I get home, make my day better.” And I came home to the most beautifully decorated card, it had like these beautiful stickers on it, you had written things about me that you love, and then there was a beautiful poem that you had written me about why you loved me, and that was really beautiful, and you had done the dishes. Like, come on, that’s not a low bar. 

C: And don’t forget, I had bought you microfibers.

K: Yes, oh my gosh, yes you had bought me microfibers. Okay, y’all don’t know- so, I had come out- I came out a few weeks ago as someone who has never put soap on their glasses, and that person was like- I forget who it was that tweeted – “if you don’t put soap on your glasses, you’re a barbarian” and I’m like “that’s me, I’m a barbarian” and my microfibers reflect that I’m a barbarian because they’re filthy, and so they can’t even clean my glasses anymore. So I came home to microfibers because I thought my vision was getting worse because my glasses were so dirty.

C: Yeah, these are reading glasses.

K: Yeah, my reading glasses. And so (laughs) when I cleaned them with the new microfibers, I was like “oh, I don’t need a new prescription, I need to put soap on my glasses.” I’m so nasty. But I came out on twitter a long time ago as just, like, a complete piglet. I’m just complete, like, pigpen messy girl, don’t care.

C: Well, but I had a pair of glasses, old glasses not the ones I currently have, that were tinted, and when I put soap on them, it like delaminated the film. The blue film came off of it. 

K: Yeah.

C: Because I always wear blue glasses, that’s kind of my thing. Uh, so, I was very worried putting soap on glasses, like, because that could ruin them.

K: But back to talking about Hakone.

C: Yes.

K: So, you are so good at planning trips, that you even surprised yourself. Hit the folks with the surprise because right after the Venetian glass museum, what did we see?

C: The Little Prince museum. Which, when I saw it, I remembered that it was here, but I had totally forgotten about it.

K: So this is like, there are very few benefits to your epilepsy and your bad memory (laughs) but this is one of the bonuses of it. Because, when you plan a trip, you’re so beautiful and so loving that, for me, the thing is water and mountains.

C: Yes.

K: And I love being in the clouds, like literally right now, I’m looking beyond my husband’s beautiful face, out our window, and it’s clouds. We are literally in the clouds. Green, lush, hillside. Tons of trees. Take your breath away, like stood outside on the balcony, mountain breeze just blowing and it was blowing hard enough you could hear it. It was audible. And it was just… aahh.

C: Well, the bus ride here, there were some hills – foothills- covered in grass, and the wind was such that the foothills weren’t all just, you know, the grass wasn’t all just one direction. It was swirling around.

K: Yup.

C: So I think of it as like, in that movie, the M Night Shyamalan movie – The Arrival. [Note: This is actually The Happening.] Where there’s like things moving through the grass.

K: You thought of The Arrival, and I thought of Nausicaa.

C: Okay, yeah, Nausicaa is better because it’s what it actually looks like.

K: Yeah.

C: But just how wild it is and, like, it’s going all different directions, it looks like there’s animals running through it because of how it’s moving. It was like that. I couldn’t get a good film of it, but… this is probably the most beautiful place I’ve been in a lot of years.

K: Yes. We filmed it with our eyes and kept it in our hearts.

C: Yes we did.

K: So, trip on this: this week, if you guys are following us on the Gram- so, we got here today. And today is Monday, we’re going to be here for… how many days?

C: Six days. Well, seven days, six nights.

K: Yeah. So, every day, there’s going to be new pictures on our Instagram. I know we are such bad Instagrammers, but, like, hey. Hit up our back catalogue and you’ll know why. (laughs)

C: Yeah. So, Kisstopher is committed to these pictures, so.

K: Yes, I’ve committed because I want to share this with you guys. I really do because I just absolutely love everyone that we interact with, all the comments that you guys send us, all the tweets and messages you send us, I really feel like this is an intimate podcast. And I feel connected to all of you guys. So, thank you so much for listening every week. And I want to share this with you. I’m super excited, and it’s super beautiful, and if you ever come to Japan, absolutely put Hakone on your list. So, today on Instagram, Monday, if you check out our Monday feed, there’ll be a picture of our room. And I’m not sure if I’m going to do the hills or not. I have to see how I feel and, like, see- I don’t know. I don’t know how much I’m going to curate or how much I’m going to do, but I can commit to at least one picture a day of the trip, and you guys will absolutely get a Venetian glass picture. And you guys will absolutely get a Little Prince picture. But for me, the most significant thing about the Little Prince is it’s your favorite book.

C: It is my favorite book, yes.

K: You’ve read it in how many languages now?

C: I have read it in… English, Japanese, French, and German.

K: That’s dedication.

C: Yes.

K: That’s like, serious love of a book.

C: Yeah. Well, and it’s simple language, too, so I feel like it’s a really good gauge of how good I am at reading languages, and I never tire of the story, and I know the story well, so… I feel like it’s really… I like reading it in multiple languages.

K: And I feel like such a bad wife because I’ve never read it. But I have read, with the exception of the Trauma Book, I have read every book you’ve written. 

C: Yeah.

K: And so if you want to know about the Trauma Book, hit up our archives, but… it’s the Trauma Book for a reason, it was trauma- I read what, a third of it? And I was traumatized. I was shook.

C: You read a tenth of it.

K: Okay, yeah, it was traumatic. And dealing with heavy content, but back to beautiful Hakone. So, on the train ride here, I was really, just… enthralled and enraptured and head over heals in love with you because one of the aspects of our marriage that I really value is how mature our marriage is. Because, on the train ride here, I had a bunch of reading that I needed to do for my PhD, and it was completely cool with you that I was doing the reading for my PhD and taking notes and doing everything I needed to do to clear this evening for us to spend time together. And I was so happy on my side of the street that I was able to enjoy the fact that you were texting with friends.

C: Yeah.

K: So, shout out, guys, you know who you are. But we’re not going to say any names because we don’t have permission, but they’re your guys. I think of them as your guys. So, hey guys. (laughs)

C: Yeah, yeah.

K: They’ll know who they are when they listen to this.

C: Yes, they will.

K: And I hope that it’s cool that I mentioned- that I’m giving you guys a shout out. 

C: Oh, that’s fine. I’m sure it’s fine.

K: Yeah. I’ve had some- well, I’ve interacted with one or the other, but they- I’ve had positive interactions with both, and I think they’re both lovely people, so I hope they don’t mind the semi-discreet- and I hope for everybody else, it’s not too cagey, but I have this thing because I’m a therapist, you let everybody tell their own story.

C: Well, and I’ve been making friends on the internet for… almost thirty years now.

K: Yeah.

C: Or twenty seven years now. So, for me, it’s a normal thing to make friends on the internet. 

K: Yes.

C: I was on the internet before there was a web, so…

K: Yeah. And how I know they’re your peeps and like down with you is you sent them, from the train, a picture of a street. Instead of all this beautiful, lush greenery. (laughs) You’re like “I’m going to take a picture of something that’s interesting to me” and then you show me the picture, and I was like “the street? You’re sending them that?”

C: Yeah.

K: And then you were like “yeah” and then I went straight back to my reading. And so I was super happy that I was able to get through five articles on the train ride here.

C: Mmm. Yeah.

K: And that completely cleared my day, and we have such a mature- what I feel is a mature way of looking at vacation. You’re not mandating that I don’t do any work, and I’m not mandating that you don’t do any work. And so we’re going to get up every day, eat breakfast, go out, enjoy Hakone, and then in the evening, do the things that we need to do because having these ten days off from work, I’m able to really- I have seventy articles I need to get through, and so now I’m like “woohoo” 65 articles and two books to go. (laughs)

C: Well, and… today’s Monday, so if you’re listening right when it drops, you’re either listening on Wednesday or Thursday depending on your time zone.

K: Yup. And depending on whether or not you’re hitting up and getting that Patreon exclusive listen.

C: No, not for this one. This one…

K: It’s too late?

C: It’s too late. Because we ordinarily record episodes two weeks in advance. That gives us

K: Oh yeah, because they get to listen a week in advance. So, trip out, okay. We’re going to have to send you guys a special message because we changed the order. So, everyone at that level, we’re going to send you a special message explaining when the pre-episode you listened to and figure out what to do about that.

C: Yeah. So, that, you know, we’ll work that out. But, we’re just so excited to be here. It’s so unexpected. 

K: Yes. It… it really is so much more beautiful and so much more relaxing than my wildest fantasy. And before, my most favorite place on earth doesn’t exist anymore. 

C: Yeah.

K: And so, my favorite place on earth was the Kea Lani Hotel in Hawaii on the Big Island.

C: No.

K: No, not on the Big Island?

C: On Maui.

K: Oh, oh Maui.

C: Yeah, the Kea Lani Hotel on Maui. It still exists, but it’s been bought by Fairmont, and it changed when it was bought by Fairmont.

K: It doesn’t exist anymore.

C: Just like the first hotel that we ever went away together to was the Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa. In Sonoma, California. Which was then bought by Fairmont Hotels. So, every time we go somewhere nice…

K: And, then the second place we went away was then bought by Fairmont Hotels. 

C: Yeah.

K: Like, we have a history of finding really great, small exclusive, really intimate hotels that then the Fairmont comes and swoops in on and takes away all the intimacy from. Although we have stayed at a lot of Fairmont hotels, so I’m not hating on the Fairmont.

C: Yeah. And so this is a Prince hotel, and Prince is a big chain, so I’m hopeful that Fairmont will not buy this place.

K: (laughs) It’s more likely that we’re going to start the trend of Prince- the Prince group buying hotels in Japan.

C: Yeah.

K: When we went to Takayama, was that a Prince hotel?

C: That was not a Prince hotel. I think we stayed at the Marriott in Takayama.

K: Was it a Marriott?

C: I think so, yeah. So, it’s interesting the pricing for a hotel in Japan. And I know it’s this way everywhere, but this is considered a 4 star hotel. Our room looks out over a golf course, but the nightly rate is the same as-

K: But the golf course is set in between our room and the hills that are covered in mist.

C: Yes. But the nightly-

K: You’ll see it in the photos. Check out the Gram.

C: To be crass, the nightly rate is the same as the nightly rate for a business hotel in Tokyo.

K: Why is that “to be crass” a business hotel with small rooms where, like, you literally can sit on the bed and put your feet and arms out and

C: Touch both walls.

K: Yes, and that smells of cigarette smoke. Reeks of cigarette smoke.

C: So, here’s why it’s to be crass. Because one of the second triumvirate in the Roman Empire, the guy named Crassus was part of it, and he was known for being extremely wealthy, and that’s why he was part of the rulers. And so, that’s where the word crass comes from is because it refers to Crassus because he was always talking about how wealthy he was. So, when you talk about money, it’s crass.

K: Ah, okay. But we’re not being flossy. This isn’t- we’re not staying in a suite, there’s not two rooms.

C: No, we’re not.

K: We have a nice room, we have a nice reasonable room.

C: That’s what I’m saying it’s-

K: Again, check out the Gram. I’m so proud of myself that I’m Gramming today. I’m, like, super- you guys are probably sick of me mentioning it already, but I’m super proud of myself. We Instagrammed everything while we were in Spain. 

C: Okay, thank you for saying Instagram because I was like “any DEA agents who are listening to us, they’re going to be like ‘what is Kisstopher doing? Is she sending secret messages?’” We’re talking about Instagram.

K: (laughs) Yes, and we’re The Musicks on Instagram, right?

C: Yeah. No, we’re The Musicks in Japan.

K: We’re The Musicks in Japan?

C: Yeah. We’re only The Musicks… that’s the only place we’re not The Musicks because The Musicks were already taken.

K: Oh, that’s right. Yup. That’s right. So, we’re The Musicks In Japan. And we’re going to be tweeting it out too, I think I’ll be tweeting all of the pictures I put out on Instagram. Because we love our tweeps. We love everyone who takes the time to listen to our stuff and read our stuff, so…

C: Yeah, so we’re doing a speed turnaround on this episode because

K: Yes.

C: Usually we take a week to turn it around for audio editing and transcription.

K: Yes.

C: And

K: Luckily, our gorgeous beautiful son, I called him up and was like “can I ask you for the biggest favor in life?” And he literally responded this way “(heavy sigh) What?” because he knew it was going to be something horrible because he’s supposed to be on vacation while I’m on vacation. And he’s already having to work three of the days that we’re gone. Just on his own stuff. And so he’s going to be gorgeous and beautiful and get the transcripts out for this.

C: To get this vacation time, like… people who follow us on twitter already know this, but on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week, you worked 14 hour days every one of those days to fit in-

K: One of the days, I worked 16 hours. 

C: Okay, yeah, but you worked just monster days, 8 am to 11 pm…

K: Yup.

C: To fit in everybody so that we could have this time on vacation. So, I’m really appreciative of your efforts there to shift everybody around and fit everybody in because as a therapist, it’s really hard for you to get vacation time.

K: It really is. And, when I go back, as soon as I’m back, I’m doing 14 hour days again. 

C: Yeah.

K: So, I’m really really thankful to you that you know me so well and you pay attention to me because I didn’t do any of the planning for this trip, and so I feel like you set the bar really high for what love is and for what affection and attention are.

C: See, and this is the conversation we’ve been having that you mentioned earlier because I don’t feel like the bar is that high. I feel like it’s a pretty low bar.

K: Babe, you booked this for me three and a half months ago.

C: Yeah.

K: That’s a pretty high bar. You did the research, you found a city, you found a hotel, you found excursions and trips. Like you planned every detail of this trip down to the- well, I said let’s get the train tickets in advance, but down to booking the bus and all of that.

C: Oh yeah, because they were serious, they would’ve turned us away from the bus without a reservation.

K: Yes, they were, we would’ve had no way to get here. And then you also made reservations for dinner tonight, so I didn’t have to do anything but get up, get dressed, and leave this morning. So…

C: See, and I feel like maybe that’s a high bar for a new relationship, but after twenty something years, you should know your person. Like, know what they like.

K: But to still like them and love them enough to do that.

C: Mmm yeah.

K: I don’t know, maybe I’m jaded. I think that I have bias. Well, okay, because in the expat society in Japan- we’ve talked about this before.

C: Yeah.

K: We’re known as being in the “cupcake phase” air quotes because our marriage is so sweet still. And all of my clients are just so unhappy in their relationships.

C: I think that’s a selection problem.

K: Yeah, that is. Because if you’re in therapy, you’re usually unhappy. But even people that have been together for twenty years, it takes work to stay in like with somebody.

C: Yeah, it does.

K: And I think that you do the work to stay in like with me. Like, you know all about my dissertation not because you’re editing it but because if I say “hey babe, can you read these couple pages?” you’ll read them and we talk about them.

C: Yeah.

K: Every Sunday, we spend talking to each other and getting caught up. It’s our commitment day, if we don’t have anything, because sometimes we don’t have anything to get caught up on, we talk with our son and get caught up on him. But to carve out a day every week where you sit down and listen to me…. That’s a lot. 

C: Well, you do it every day for everybody, so. I think you deserve a… a day in return.

K: Thank you. That’s very sweet. And so… I know that we welcome- I just want to do a quick sidenote about Rasta. We welcomed him into the family business, but I wasn’t very clear about what he’d be doing. And what Rasta’s doing is now Rasta is transcribing because Chad’s AS has gotten so difficult that he can’t transcribe. And so Rasta has taken over transcribing. And so we’re very fortunate in that way. We hope to one day have enough money to pay for a transcriptionist, but until then we’ll be doing it. And he also is going to be taking over posting the podcast to the website and some of the behind the scenes technical stuff that we were hoping at this point to be able to pay someone to do, and we’re just not quite there. So, our loving son, who works two jobs, is also going to take this on for us. But his loving mother is going to give him time during his- because he’s my office manager for the practice, I’m going to try and give him time during office hours to do some of this stuff. So, but that’s how he’s a part of it. Oh, and he’s on the website with the blog.

C: Yes.

K: So, he’s not actually going to be on the mic for this.

C: No.

K: So, tell the people about what your experience of getting here was like. Because I’ve just been going on and on, so excited about everything.

C: My experience of getting here was really nice. So, I travel and ride the shinkansen, the bullet train, a lot more than you do because I used to come up to Tokyo as often as once a month.

K: Yeah.

C: And so we ride greensha, and greensha is first class train. And it’s an extra 40 dollars a ticket or something. It’s not like air travel, where it’s, you know, triple the price.

K: Yes. Because I needed the outlet for my computer.

C: Right, so the green car has outlets for computers, it’s got slightly wider seats. That kind of thing. So it helps me with my navigation coming down the aisles with my cane and everything. My cane and a suitcase is a little tricky. 

K: Yes.

C: So, but, we rode the Kodama rather than the Nozomi. So these are different kinds of service. The Nozomi is really, really fast, but has few stops. And if you come to Japan and you get a Japan rail pass, you’re not actually allowed on the Nozomi as far as I know. That’s still the restriction.

K: But we’re a decade out of circulation on a Japan rail pass. No, gosh, we’re like… fifteen years out of circulation on what goes with a Japan rail pass. Just full disclaimer, google it.

C: But when we booked the trip

K: But you can only buy rail passes outside of Japan, babe.

C: Yeah, but when we booked the train tickets, it said “not all of these routes are eligible for the Japan rail pass please check” so that’s why I’m thinking they’re still…

K: Okay.

C: But we rode the slower train which we normally don’t do, and it was nearly empty. Which was really nice because ordinarily, I’m riding the train at 6:30 in the morning, it’s already packed, and coming back at 8 at night, it’s completely packed. Sometimes even for the green cars, there’s a thirty minute wait. 

K: Yes.

C: So we bought our tickets in advance, completely relaxed morning. We went to our local station, the trains were running late, so we just caught one that was named an earlier train but got us to Nagoya station earlier than we planned. Had enough time to buy a couple of snacks. Hopped on our train, the train was two hours where you were doing your work, I was texting with friends and reading a book for my friend on twitter.

K: Mhmm.

C: I met him in person, but… he’s about to launch his book.

K: Shout out, you know who you are. (laughs)

C: Well, this one I’ll say because- I’m halfway through the book, and it’s called

K: So, is it okay? 

C: Yeah.

K: Okay, go ahead.

C: So, I’m halfway through the book, it’s called Eternal Shadow by Trevor Williams, so if you check it out

K: Check it out.

C: I’ll be posting a review sometime in the next week or so.

K: Because it’s released now to the public.

C: Not yet. 

K: Okay.

C: These are advance readers.

K: Okay.

C: He’s releasing it soon, so…. Probably by the time anybody hears this, my review will be up.

K: Yeah, and he is- we are so happy for him. It’s been a two year journey?

C: Yeah. So, we’re very happy for him. I met him in San Francisco, super nice guy. And so I just had a very relaxed time on the train. We got off the train, and I had been given instructions when I made the reservation for the bus about how to get to the bus. So, we were in Odawara city- maybe we’ll take a picture of this when we come back, we didn’t coming here. There’s a statue of a samurai on a horse.

K: (laughs)

C: Because they said go out the west exit. 

K: With a shirt on is the funny thing.

C: Yeah.

K: It’s wearing a jersey.

C: Yeah, a soccer jersey.

K: Yeah, a soccer jersey. So that was hilarious to me. Seeing this really old, ancient antique statue with a soccer jersey on it.

C: Yeah. For a team called the Wallabies. The guys- there was an Australian couple sitting behind us on the bus and they were saying “why is that samurai wearing a shirt for the Wallabies?”

K: (laughs) I didn’t know what team, so I’m glad that you heard that.

C: Yeah. So, totally fun ride. Great station. The buses were easy to find. They had our name on the list, thankfully. 

K: Yup.

C: So- and then we took an almost hour-long bus ride up here. Which was nice. It reminded me of when we would go to the… was it Felton? Folton? Felton. And there’s a railway that goes through the redwood forest.

K: Yup.

C: So, we took that. 

K: Which I have been incredibly homesick for the past three or four weeks, I’d want to say.

C: Yeah. These were not redwood, these were… not redwood trees.

K: But just being surrounded by green, I miss that.

C: Yeah. 

K: Because Nagoya is not green.

C: No, it’s not.

K: It’s a city. It’s an industrial city.

C: Nagoya is an industrial city, yeah. Busiest port in Japan. The most economically productive region in Japan is Aichi by population, so it’s very much industrial. Love Nagoya, but

K: Yeah, it’s our town.

C: But it’s not a very green city. 

K: Yeah. Love our boring town. (laughs)

C: And then when we got off of the bus, the noise of the wind was just…

K: Beautiful.

C: Incredible, like…

K: Like a windsong.

C: Yeah, it was like… listening to Nausicaa In the Valley of the Wind.

K: It really was. If you haven’t checked out that movie and you want to get, like… check it out and you’ll be like catching our experience.

C: Yeah. We haven’t seen any magical yet in the sense of like actually magical

K: No, I did when you tapped me on the shoulder and you showed me the Venetian forest.

C: Oh yeah.

K: Of trees.

C: The glass tree?

K: Yes. That was freaking magical. They were glinting, like… jewels. They look bejeweled. I was like “what am I seeing?”

C: They are literally bejeweled.

K: Yeah.

(laughter)

K: They’re made of jewels. They’re made of, uh, crystal.

C: And, so, it’s just been a lovely day. 

K: It has been, and then when we were on the train, I didn’t realize that they had- they used to have a cart person that would come up and down the carts to sell water. So, before we got on the train, I only got one bottle of water. And I drink about a bottle of water an hour. I don’t know why I’m such a thirsty person, I just am.

C: When you travel. So, at home, you drink from the tap because our tap water is good.

K: Yeah. But at work, I go through about a bottle of water every… ninety minutes or so.

C: Mhm.

K: I drink a bottle of water. And there it’s because I’m talking so much and I want to stay hydrated. 

C: Right.

K: When we were on the train and I had finished my water, and I was eating salty nuts. And I was just like “okay”

C: That’s not a euphemism.

K: (laughs) Because I always get the same thing. I get pretz, which is- they’re basically pretzel sticks, the pizza flavor. And mixed nuts. They have like walnut, macadamia.

C: You get the salad flavor.

K: Is that supposed to be salad? It’s more like tomato flavor to me.

C: No, the tomato are different. They have a tomato flavor.

K: I don’t like the tomato consommé flavor. 

C: Right. It’s salad flavor. So, for those of our listeners who are familiar with pocky, which is big in the US, the US imports it now. Pretz are pocky that are covered in things that are not sweet.

K: Yeah.

C: So they’re made by the same company, it’s the same basic thing, but it’s covered in, like… salty bits, or tomato or the salad, which is… I think salt and parsley and a couple of other spices.

K: Maybe that’s why I associate it with pizza.

C: Yeah, I think so.

K: Because it has to me what I think of as Italian seasonings.

C: Yeah, it definitely has Italian seasoning on it.

K: Yeah. So, I had finished my nuts and my water, and I was like “oh man, I’m just going to have to be thirsty for the next like hour” because at that point we had an hour left.

C: That’s exactly what you said to me “I guess I’m just going to have to be thirsty for the next hour”

K: Yeah. And so like a baller gangster, you hopped up at the next stop, got off the train, got me a bottle of water, and came back. And I was like “whaaaat?” What had happened was, what? Because I couldn’t imagine- emotionally, I couldn’t have done that.

C: Yeah.

K: And so I just felt so beloved and cared for. Like

C: You felt so beloved you were like “oh, you’ve got yourself a drink too? Let me have the first drink of that.”

K: (laughs) I was definitely in the precious zone. And then we were outside, standing on the balcony we were like “this is so magical.” And then I said “but babe did you make our dinner reservations yet?” So I am clearly in the precious Kisstopher zone.

C: (laughs)

K: Like I am so precious you call me precious.

C: You deserve it.

K: Thank you so much. So, that saying is from a favorite book of ours called Precious Ruby that we used to read to Rasta all the time when he was little. It was one of our favorite books. Ruby would do all of this and would get all kinds of injuries because she couldn’t. And everybody called her precious and she didn’t want to be precious.

C: It was called Reckless Ruby.

K: It was called Reckless- okay, Reckless Ruby. Because, yeah, Rasta was very much Reckless Ruby.

C: Mhmm.

K: (laughs) He thought he could balance on anything. Never had stitches, never broke a bone. Much to everyone’s shock.

C: Well, we were selective about what we would let him balance on. “Oh, you want to walk around that one foot tall stone ledge? Yes. Okay. You want to walk along the top of a building? No.”

K: Yeah. I’m very happy that he’s not an adrenaline seeker.

C: Yes.

K: He doesn’t enjoy adrenaline. So, what made you pick Hakone?

C: I picked Hakone because I knew that we wanted to get away somewhere far from civilization.

K: Yes.

C: Which we are. 

K: Absolutely.

C: Like, there are people around, and there are shops around and things, but it’s not the dense urban environment that we’re used to.

K: They’re not around in a way that we experience them. 

C: Right.

K: The hotel feels so secluded. 

C: Yeah. I wanted to have a water feature to our trip, so I know for landscape architecture “water feature” means a pond, but we like to take boat rides.

K: Love them.

C: So I wanted somewhere we could take a boat ride. Or see the ocean. Either one would’ve been okay. Hakone is not on the ocean, so it’s a boat ride.

K: Yeah, but which lake is it near?

C: I think it’s Hakone Lake. I think that’s what it called.

K: I thought it started with an A. I’m not sure. It’s not Biwa though. Everyone keeps saying “oh you’re going to Biwa Lake” and I was like 

C: Biwa is in western… western Japan. Between Kyoto and Osaka.

K: I apologize to everybody that I said yes to because I didn’t know which lake we were near. 

C: Ohhh.

K: It’s just easier because when you’re wrapping up the session and you’re standing at the door and everyone’s putting on their shoes because everyone takes off their shoes to come in the office because we’re in Japan. And so when they’re putting on their shoes and they’re like Biwa Lake and I can’t think of where, I’m like “yeah, sounds good.”

C: Yeah. 

K: Because they don’t really care. 

C: No.

K: I don’t believe that they really care.

C: Yeah.

K: And plus I’ll be able to correct it when I go back. I’ll be like “oh, my bad.”

C: Yeah, so.

K: Because at the beginning I was telling everyone we were going to Hikone, then I said Hokone. And it’s Hakone. And I think I talked about this on a different cast.

C: Yeah, I think so. And so we’re going to take a boat ride, where we’re going to be able to see the south side of Munt Fuji. And… just enjoy the day. And 

K: I’m interested to see if there’s snow. Because I don’t think so this time of year. 

C: Yeah, I’m not sure. It used to be that the peak of Mount Fuji had snow all year round.

K: But global warming. It’s real.

C: Right. That’s why I said not sure.

K: It’s a thing y’all. Deniers come correct. Global warming is real. Ask the polar bears.

(laughter)

C: You can’t because they’re dead.

K: I’m so bad, I shouldn’t laugh at that. I’m just getting happy, and you guys already know I laugh at the dark stuff. 

C: Yes.

K: (laughs) So, we had made a pledge to ourselves that in 2019 we were going to do less international travel and do more local travel to get to know our country of choice.

C: Yeah. So, 2019 is actually looking like 0 international travel and 1 local trip. 

K: Yeah. 

C: Just because of how busy you’ve been.

K: Yeah. Because we might be able to squeeze something in December, but I think I’d rather do a staycation if I’m honest.

C: Yeah.

K: And for me, one long magical trip when I have that- because here is, we’re in September now, and October, November, and December- to go on another trip in December. I don’t know, that feels kind of premature.

C: Yeah.

K: And I don’- there was that illuminations thing which they were harassing us with on the train. 

C: Oh yeah, the tourist event. Yeah.

K: Yeah. 

C: It’s a one-day thing.

K: Yeah. I think instead, I’m going to have Rasta do it. So, whenever there’s something cool or interesting to do in Japan that I don’t feel like doing or that I want to know if it’s worth doing, I pay for Rasta to go and do it. And he loves it because then he gets his part of dating- he gets a free date basically to take whoever he’s dating. He gets to take whoever he’s dating to whatever thing- so, he gets, they get some pretty nice dates out of me that way.

C: Yeah they do.

K: Because I’m like “this is how much it would cost, go do it and tell me is it worth that money.” 

C: Yeah.

K: And I give him the funds for that. 

C: Yeah.

K: But did you think that Hakone was going to be this beautiful?

C: I think that I thought it would be this beautiful, but the type of beauty is surprising.

K: What do you mean by type of beauty? It’s majestic. To me.

C: It is majestic, yes.

K: Like, even the- because I really felt like the bus ride was majestic.

C: Yeah, the grass was the biggest surprise to me. Just like the amazing grass, and the sound of the wind. You know, growing up in Alaska… Fairbanks is in a valley, so there wasn’t a lot of wind, but when there was it was really, really cold.

K: (laughs) This breeze is kind of cool, and the humidity- haven’t mentioned. The humidity is so low.

C: No, the humidity is really high. The humidity is so high it’s condensing into fog.

K: Really? Is that what’s causing the fog? 

C: Yeah, that’s what’s causing the fog.

K: I thought it was magic. 

(laughter)

K: I thought it was the magic of your heart. So, I’m not experiencing the humidity the same way I do in Nagoya.

C: Correct. Because it’s not heat plus humidity.

K: Okay. So I’m not as sensitive to humidity as I thought?

C: No, you’re not.

K: Okay. Because I just feel like it’s the hu- and the- oh, the brightness. It’s overcast.

C: Yes.

K: And so we were really excited when were looking up the weather that it’s supposed to be overcast the whole week.

C: Yes. 

K: I was super excited. Like my eyes are the size of saucers right now with the excitement of that. And I even did circles around them with my hands to make them bigger. 

C: Yeah because it means that you can go out with less damage from lupus and porphyria.

K: Yeah, without getting triggered into an attack state. 

C: Yeah.

K: So, we think our itinerary so far is we’re doing the crystal museum and probably Little Prince tomorrow. And then the day after that, we’ll probably do the gondola ride?

C: Yeah, probably. Yeah.

K: I’m terrified of heights, but I’ve been working to overcome that because there is a ropeway from this really, really beautiful park in Gifu up to Gifu Castle, and I want to be able to ride that. 

C: Yeah.

K: And so I’m just going to go on this gondola ride with you. We did a helicopter ride when we went to Hawaii. 

C: Yeah.

K: And so I love helicopters. But you were sick because of the sulfur smell.

C: I was. So, Gifu is a city that’s close to Nagoya, so that’s a different trip, but

K: Yeah, that’s a day trip.

C: Yeah, it’s about thirty minutes to Gifu.

K: And so I want to do the gondola ride as a thank you and also to face my fear of heights because I believe it’s safe, and I hope nobody’s an ass and rocks it. I hope doing it in Japan, everybody’s calm, and they sit down, and they’re mature because I haven’t seen any teenagers or young people. This seems like a really mature part of Japan. Not to be ageist. I know maturity is a state of mind, not an age.

C: Well, I think it’s not a very active part. There are no arcades or anything around, so…. I think it’s a more traditional, it’s got hot springs, which is an older activity mostly.

K: Yeah.

C: So I think there’s probably a few teenagers here, but it’s not a Palm Beach or, you know… that kind of vacation getaway. Where you go to the beach and get wild. Because there’s no beaches. It’s not the ocean, so.

K: So, thinking about it, we’ll probably do crystal one day, Little Prince one day, gondola one day, boat one day. 

C: Yeah, probably. 

K: and then there was something else that we were thinking of doing, but I can’t remember what. We might just have one day that’s a lie-in for us. Where we just luxuriate.

C: We might.

K: and just lean into being together. But I am starving. Like a- I don’t know what it is about the podcast.

C: (laughs)

K: As soon as we get on the mic, I’m just so hungry. And I’m just like “I’m so hungry, I just want food, when are you going to feed me? Poor little orphit Kisstopher can’t get no food.”

C: Well, and we have dinner reservations, so.

K: Yeah. So, thank you so much for tuning in and for everybody that’s on the pre-listen, we’re going to figure out something special for you guys. Don’t know what it is, but we’ll do something. And thank you so much for listening, and please check out our Instagram and be sure to listen next week. I have no idea what we’ll be talking about. But. (laughs)

C: Yup, something.

K: It’s going to be great. It’s going to be awesome, so thanks you guys for listening, and we hope you tune in next week. Bye.

C: Bye-bye.