December 12th, 2023

Day 9

Today, I will be heading to two different cities, Iga Ueno, and Ise. Iga Ueno, used to just be called Iga, had Ueno added on later because there are so many cities in Japan called Iga. That’s funny. It’s also known for its Ninja culture. I didn’t read enough into the subject matter, but based on what I saw at Iga Ueno, Iga Ueno has its own “Iga ryu”, or Iga style Ninjas. My plan was to hit Iga Ueno first, and then take the train to Ise, where the famous Ise Jingu is at.

The train to Iga Ueno was surprisingly empty. I needed to transfer 3 times in total. On the last train, you can only pay for tickets with cash. Don’t worry if you don’t have much change on you, there is a coin exchange machine on every train car. The train car and the station are also ninja themed, so that’s quite interesting.

On the second ride and the third ride, I constantly see a guy with a blue suitcase. I got off at a station earlier than he did.

I usually leave my luggage by the hotel at my destination; but since my destination is Ise, not Iga Ueno, I had to take my suitcase with me. There are two attractions in Iga Ueno, the first being the Ninja museum, and the second being the Iga Ueno Castle. The castle is was one stop closer compared to where I need to get off if I go to the Ninja museum first, so I got off earlier. Bad idea.

That station did not have coin lockers where I can leave my stuff at. After finding out about that fact, I had to drag my suitcase with me to go all the way to where Google Maps told me the castle is at.

Google Maps didn’t take me to the castle; it took me to a side road of the castle where I could see the tall stone walls where the castle stands on. So basically, the castle itself was destroyed by a natural disaster a few decades ago; the residents at Iga Ueno pooled some money together to get it rebuilt. The castle was rebuilt, but the stone walls were not. So at least I did get to see something old.

You can enter the castle for a fee, but I didn’t enter for two reasons. One, since the castle was recently rebuilt, there is basically 0 archaeological reasons or historical means left for me to take a look. Second, I had my suitcase with me. The ground around the castle were laid in tiny moveable rocks, which made dragging a suitcase with two tiny wheels extremely difficult. To make my life miserable, I had to lift the suitcase up all the way till there is pavement. My arms were so sore.

Iga Ueno Castle Verdict:

★★☆☆☆

When I reached the Ninja museum, though, this trip proved to be worth it. When I bought my ticket, I missed the opportunity to see the show with the ways ninjas fight on a stage as it has started; so I just entered the little house where there is a statue of a ninja at its entrance.

The house is a Ninja house. I am not sure if the house was kept anew or if it was just being built in recent years, but holy crap it was cool. When I arrived, I was near the end of a tour that was conducted in Mandarin. The ninja, doesn’t speak Mandarin, was acting out according to the audio cue. When I arrived, he was explaining how ninjas hide stuff.

When the show was over, he came to me, asked if I am Japanese. I said no, but both Chinese and Japanese are fine with me. He said that this tour was over; but there will be another one soon. When it starts, it will be announced on the PA system. I asked him if I can leave my suitcase here, he said yes, but it will not be the responsibility of the museum if I lose it. That’s just common sense.

He then pointed me to the direction of the museum, which is under the house in a basement. It’s not a museum that you would think it to be; it doesn’t have marble floors or fancy lighting; it’s just an old timey home that was converted into a museum. It had everything you need to know about Ninjas, about how they fight; how they escape, and how they exchange information.

Remember the guy that I mentioned earlier that has a blue suitcase? He was at the show conducted in Mandarin earlier. He asked that if I speak Mandarin, I say I do, completely surprised. He then asked if I am Taiwanese, I said no. He was one of the only two people at the show earlier, and the other person is from Taiwan, so he assumed that I am Taiwanese as well, since I speak Japanese, and he didn’t know anyone from Mainland China that is ballsy enough to travel to Japan alone. Which sounds about right. I asked him where he kept his blue suitcase, he said that he was able to store it at a coin locker at the station where he got off. Turns out, he didn’t give a crap about the castle, so he headed straight to the Ninja museum, and he was confused why I got off the train car so fast.

He is from Beijing, nice fella. We chatted for a while, and after I’ve seen everything at the basement, I said goodbye and returned to the Ninja House. When I did, though, the Ninja asked me if I have viewed everything, I said yes. He then asked if I have been to the “white house”, I said no. He then pointed me to the direction of another museum that was not being connected to the basement.

Here are some picture that I took of all the exhibits that I thought were interesting.

I met the Beijing fella again, and we chatted for a while, again. After viewing everything, the PA system came with the news that the show at the Ninja House was about to start. So me and the Beijing fella parted ways, and I headed back to the Ninja House, which is now filled with people who just finished watching the stage show. They’re mostly from Taiwan, based from their accent.

Before the show begins, the Ninja told us that photos are okay, but videos are forbidden. Which is fair. The charm of the place is with how the Ninja interacts with the Ninja House, and that is some experience that I will more than happy to come to Iga Ueno once more just to see it with my own eyes. This show was conducted in Japanese and by the Ninja himself, so he wasn’t just reacting to the Mandarin audio clips like he was the last time.

The Ninja begins the show by telling us the most important thing to a Ninja. It’s not fighting abilities, it’s not information gathering abilities, it’s the abilities to escape. That both made sense and didn’t make sense. It made sense that it takes years to train a Ninja, and to lose one’s life on something that can be done a second time doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense that since if the first time failed, the second time must be a million times harder. Either way, I buy what the Ninja sold.

He then proceeded to interact with the Ninja House. Most things, if not everything, in the Ninja House is a “prop”, a means to escape if someone invades the Ninja House to either retrieve a stolen intelligence, or just for revenge. The first thing, was a giant swing door. Normally, it just looks like a wooden wall. However, there is a mechanism there that makes the wall move 360 degrees. There are ladders behind the wall that can help the Ninja make a speedy escape. There are also no hinges that stops the door from swiveling too far, so the technique is very important. The Ninja put his back to the “wall”, and within half a second, he was able to disappear behind the wall by quickly maneuvering the wall and made a 180 degree turn. He then reappeared within half a second as well.

He asked for audience participation, and no adult in the room was young enough to want to be embarrassed in front of so many people, so a little kid volunteered to try. Needless to say, he failed miserably. If he was a Ninja, he’d be dead now. Stupid kid. I can hear you say something like: “Wow Brian why are you so mean to a kid!” To that I respond: “I don’t know, maybe I am just a super mean person.”

This is also when I realized that the movie that was shown in the basement museum was shot in the Ninja House. Cool. The fight scenes were a bit fakey fakey, but the other things are fine. Next up, was a hidden recon space for the Ninjas if someone invades. There is a vent near the ceiling where a Ninja can lie on his/her belly to do surveillance. We can’t see anything, and only when the Ninja lit up a light inside, do we see that there is a Ninja doll staring at us the whole time.

The next one, is still ways to escape. It really is fascinating to watch in person, but to read it in words, it might get boring, so I’ll combine the few that includes escaping. There is a hidden door no taller than 0.8 meters that requires the Ninja to open it by slicing something between the hinges. There is also a hidden door near the floor that actually has a basement, so once the Ninja makes the escape to the basement, he/she can then make sneak attacks on opponents through the hidden door where the feet and ankles of the opponent are unguarded. This was shown in the movie that was played in the museum.

We then proceed to how Ninjas fight. Since unlike the stage show, the Ninja House show was a one-man show, there wasn’t going to be any real fighting involved. This part is to show how Ninjas get weapons if they don’t have a weapon on hand or if their original weapon was lost during combat. There is a floor board that has a mechanism underneath it, so once you step on it on the right direction, it will pop up and the Ninja will be able to retrieve a sword hidden underneath it. Again, the Ninja was able to do it within a blink of the eye. It was so cool!

He then grabbed out a few other weapons that could be stashed under there, like a Ninja throwing star (Shuriken, all the Naruto fans should know). This was by far the most fascinating part of the show, so everyone was taking pictures. Every time someone points a camera at him, the Ninja says thank you. That was funny.

Lastly, it was the part where I saw with the Mandarin show. In ancient Chinese saying, it goes: “The most dangerous place is the safest place.” It means something like, if you rob a bank, the safest place to store the money would be behind the police precinct. No one will actually believe that you are dumb enough to store it near the police, so no one would ever check to see if that’s where the money is stashed. That’s why the most dangerous place is the safest place.

To Ninjas, their main goal is to collect information. They also need to keep information safe once they have gathered the intel. To keep it inside the Ninja house would be like just giving the information back to whoever that has eventually found the Ninja House, since once they did, they can just smash up everything that looks like it may be somewhere that can store stuff. That’s why, the safest place to store the information is actually outside of the Ninja House. The mechanism that the Ninja showed us isn’t exactly too far outside of the house; it is the exterior walkway floor board. Once you open the door, you can then remove the hinge that holds the door; then, you can open the floor board which contains the precious intel. When the door was fully closed with the hinge laid on the floor, no one would ever suspect that there ever was something hidden under the door. That’s smart yo.

Well, that concludes the Ninja House show, and I was mighty impressed. I will be coming again soon. It’s just that awesome.

Ninja Museum Verdict:

★★★★★

When I finally got out of the Ninja Museum, it was a little pass 12, which means I needed to find a place to eat before heading out to Ise. I wanted to find a restaurant along the street like I always do, but the city clearly isn’t a very popular tourism city; it literally doesn’t have anything, especially on a Tuesday, the day I was there. There are only a few restaurants within walking distance, and all of them, I mean all of them, except one, was open. When I walked to the third and fourth closed restaurant, I was beginning to give up; but then, I saw this restaurant, the “Ninja Cafeteria”, was open. I was so glad that this was the one that was open! I was also glad that none of the other ones, which none are ninja themed, was closed, so I was able to get something at the Ninja Cafeteria.

The entrance to the restaurant was like the mechanism that I mentioned earlier with the 360 degree swiveling door; you must enter that way. Except, the door has a hinge that stops it when you hit 180 degrees. It’s an awesome entrance, it was just a bit difficult to get in with a suitcase. I got in, sat down, and ordered the “Ninja Set”.

Soon, lunch was served! As you can see, everything here is Ninja themed, and by Ninja themed, it means that everything is black, or as close to black as possible.

The first dish, or the main dish, was the stew beef with Chinese cabbage, onions, and eggs. It was covered by two Shuriken shaped seaweed slices, and I forgot to take a picture once I’ve devoured the seaweed. It was tasty; it’s very sweet, and that is to be expected of Japanese home food.

Dish Verdict: ★★★★☆

The second dish, is the Ninja Tofu. It tastes just like regular tofu, just with the twist that it’s black. Still, how often do you get to have black tofu??

Dish Verdict: ★★★★☆

The third dish, is the Ninja Udon. It is a very Japanese thing that they serve both noodles and rice at the same time. We Chinese eat only one every meal, that means we never eat noodles and rice together. Carb explosion yo. The udon, which tastes like regular udon, also has the added twist that it’s black! I didn’t immediately find out that the udon noodles are black until I started to eat it. It’s so cool.

Dish Verdict: ★★★★☆

Restaurant Verdict:

★★★★☆

Iga Ueno Verdict:

★★★★★

After lunch, I thanked the restaurant for providing the food, and ran to the train station. It will take a while for me to reach Ise, so I must hurry. This is what the station looked like. It was cute.

The platform was Ninja themed also, and had many ninja dolls. This one was doing a heart thing with its thumb and index finger. Cute.

The train took a while to get to Ise, my final destination, well, sort of. My hotel was literally right across the street to the station, so that was rather convenient.

Hotel name: Comfort Hotel Ise

Address: Fukiage 3-26

Price: 490.87 RMB (69 USD) [Breakfast Included]

Verdict: ★★★☆☆

One thing I must say about the hotel, is that it’s the only choice for me. It’s not a real fancy-ass hotel, it’s more like an inn. It does not have the best amenities. HOWEVER, it is the only hotel around town. It was literally the only hotel available by the time I looked on the booking app. So what can I say about this experience? Forced.

Got out of the hotel as soon as possible and headed towards the bus stop that’s next to the train station. I got super confused about which bus I was supposed to take, because Google Maps says one thing, and the signs at the bus stop says another. It’s not like it’s a unitary stop; it’s a whole mirage of stops.

Still, managed to get on the right bus and headed towards the famous Ise Shrine.

I headed towards the Ise Shrine Inner Shrine. There is an Outer Shrine too. They are different, and the distance between them are far. By the time I got there, I only chose the most important one, the Inner Shrine.

The Ise Shrine is one of, if not the most, important shrine in Japan’s Shinto theology. It serves the most important Japanese deity, the Amaterasu Omigami. Yes, the name Amaterasu was used in the anime series Naruto as one of the ninja techniques, and Amaterasu is the Sun Goddess, so that’s why the name was invoked in the anime series.

When I reached the entrance of the Shrine, the day was about to go dark. There are still some people gathered by the entrance, but it’s mostly people exiting the shrine. I followed a fast paced woman who I took the bus with. I did everything she did, so I didn’t look like a fool. Stuff like bowing to every Torii before entering, washing your hands at the designated ponds, etc.

This was one of the shrines that was closed by the time I started to exit. Glad that I grabbed this picture when I was entering.

After a long while of walking on rock roads, I reached the Inner Shrine. The Inner Shrine is completely taken apart and reassembled every once in a while to make sure of its structural integrity. It will always be reassembled using traditional Japanese ways with traditional materials. You also can’t take pictures once you cross the threshold of the entrance. There was a guard inside the entrance, so these pictures are the only ones that I was allowed to take.

After I prayed and left the Inner Shrine, I sat by a set of Japanese alcohol buckets and Facetimed my parents. Once I showed the alcohol buckets to my Dad, he immediately remembered that we have been there before, whenever that was. I had no recollection of ever being there; but he’s the memory master of the household.

Took these pictures on the bridge while I was exiting.

Ise Shrine Inner Shrine Verdict:

★★★★☆

By the time that I exited the Shrine grounds, it was 5:00 PM. There was a whole walking district full of restaurants that I was just now realizing was there; but interestingly, all of them closed by 5:30 PM. I don’t know if it is Shrine rules enforced by the government or if it is just some common-sense rule around shrines, but I was not happy with the fact that I could not find a single restaurant to dine at when I was hungry. They were all closing, so couldn’t exactly just enter and sit there.

I found this Starbucks Coffee funny. It is to look like traditional Japanese architecture, but with the logo, you just can’t take it seriously. Could’ve taken a better picture, but I didn’t want the employee who was closing the coffee shop to think I’m a weirdo.

When I was browsing online, I saw recommendations about the Matsusaka Beef that is offered in Ise. Matsusaka Beef is a different kind of Wagyu that originated from the city of Matsusaka. So like Kobe Beef, Matsusaka has its own brand of beef. There is a restaurant that seemed interesting with a lot of positive reviews; however, it was closed.

So I just wandered down the walking district, hoping to find a restaurant that will stay open, but I just couldn’t find a single one. Finally, remembered that there was a “Matsusaka Beef Rice” restaurant right near the bus stop where I got off of the bus, so I walked all the way back to the bus stop. It was a rather lengthy walk with nearly no street lights. In the end, that restaurant was closed too. Hahaha on my freakin’ life huh.

There was a fast food restaurant right across the street from the bus stop; but then I realized, if I were to dine there, I will probably miss the last bus, which was slated to start by 6:18 PM. That was a very specific time, so I remembered it. So I waited and waited. There was a bus that came, but stopped at a distance. So after waiting in the wind for another 20 minutes, another bus came.

This bus was very different from a normal commuter bus. It was more like a commercial bus, where there are 2 rows of seats on every side of the bus, compared to 0-2 on a normal commuter bus. I saw the bus, confused with its logo and its different appearance, and asked the driver if the bus will get me to the Ise Station, where my hotel is at. He said yes, and I got on.

It’s like on a normal bus, you have to touch your IC card onto the IC card pad first to enter. As I sat down, I started to look at the pricing that is on top of the windshield on every bus, and I saw the price was around 1,000 Yen. I thought I got on a more expensive privately-owned bus. Didn’t really care for the price difference, because while I was waiting in the wind and in the dark, I really thought about calling a taxi, which will cost so much more than just 1,000 Yen.

When I got off the bus, however, it only costed 260 Yen, like a normal bus. I think I misread the price table while I was looking. Interesting.

Anyways, I thought I would be able to find a good restaurant near the station, because while I was waiting for the bus, I saw the restaurant catalog ad on a stand on the side. However, when I really started to look, these restaurants are never close by. Dammit.

There was a chain restaurant close by, can’t exactly remember the name, but it seemed like a good and safe choice as I’ve seen it in multiple locations over my trip in Japan.

The restaurant is on a second floor, and after you got to the entrance, you need to take off your shoes. The front desk waitress was very busy, which should’ve been the first red flag. She shouldn’t be that busy, because she needs to tend the front desk. Sooner or later, she got back, and lead me to a private room, where there’s a hole on the ground to stick your feet in. That seemed interesting, because I’ve only seen it at a fancy Japanese restaurant in China before.

I needed to order on an iPad, and that didn’t work no matter what I clicked. So I called the waiter by the electronic bell on the table, and he activated the iPad for me. I ordered a few that I thought was a good idea at the time, I started to wait for food.

The first dish, is Sashimi Scrap. You read it right, it’s literally called Sashimi Scrap. It is usually the part of the raw fish that doesn’t make the best presentation on a plate, and put them all together, you get a cheap sashimi platter. It’s okay, but I can’t exactly say that the Sashimi is fresh enough to be able to taste the freshness.

Dish Verdict: ★★★☆☆

The second dish, is Horse Meat Sashimi. Yes, Horse Meat. In my limited memory, I’ve never had horse meat before; however, after chatting with my Dad later, he confirmed that I’ve in fact had horse meat as a kid in Japan before, I just don’t remember. Today my Dad is full of surprises huh.

The horse meat itself, though, didn’t taste like anything. Raw wagyu tastes like heaven; but the horse meat, though, was very tough. The texture resembled some regular non-wagyu beef, but it was much tougher. There was no taste to it, and it basically required the soy sauce to provide any flavor. It was not good.

Dish Verdict: ★★☆☆☆

The third dish, is the sushi platter. It took a very long while to come, 30 minutes by my estimate. I waited and waited and waited, it just wouldn’t come. I finally called the waitress by the bell, and she asked me to wait a little bit longer. Then, when she was about to turn back and walk away, the platter finally came.

Holy moly, it was sooooo bad. I’ve had sushi all my life, at fancy restaurants, at non fancy restaurants, at Chinese stores, at Japanese stores; never once have I had sushi that had rice that was still warm. It was so warm, in fact, that the fish would not stay on. That’s when I realized why it took so long for them to bring this to me; the rice wasn’t done cooking.

I’ve seen Shota’s Sushi, a TV drama specifically about making sushis, and hell, I’ve even made Sushi myself. I know how it works, when the rice was cooked, you put it in a very big wooden pot, and then you use the rice spatula to keep slicing it and someone else needs to use a fan to fan away the heat and the moisture. Only when it is in room temperature before you bring it out and make sushi with it. In the chase of speed, they have sacrificed quality, and that, is the worst thing they can do to me, someone who wants good food.

Since the badly cut fish wouldn’t stay on the haphazardly cooled rice, I just ate the fish and the rice separately, leaving half the rice there to be. It sucked. It will earn a 0 star from me.

Dish Verdict: ☆☆☆☆☆

After I finished the “sushi” platter, I saw on the wall that if I do a questionnaire, I will receive an ice cream free of charge. So I did, giving a really bad grade on the questionnaire, called the waitress, showed her the website, and she brought me my ice cream after a while.

Can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but the generic store-bought ice cream is the only good thing this restaurant has.

Dish Verdict: ★★★★☆

When I was done, I went to the front desk to pay the bill; it took the front desk waitress a couple of minutes to finally get to me. I then proceeded to retrieve my shoes, and when I was using the restaurant’s shoe horn to put my shoes on, the plastic and translucent shoe horn snapped, into many pieces. It really shouldn’t do that.

I let the waitress know that the shoe horn snapped, and expected that I was going to pay for the broken shoe horn. However, she asked me if I was hurt, and that was it. I wore my shoes on by hand, and just left. If I was really strong enough to break the a normal plastic shoe horn by the power of my heel, I would easily break my thumb by putting it on by hand. This restaurant sucked, would not recommend to anyone. If I hate you, you are most welcomed here, you will be so loved here.

Restaurant Verdict:

★☆☆☆☆

After the disappointing dinner, I went back to my hotel, and started to look at my plan for the next day. Based on the itinerary guide from Japan-guide.com, my next destination was supposed to be Kumano, another city full of Buddhist temples.

By that point, I was pretty sick of temples and shrines, I have to be completely honest with you. It was just too much! I was planning on staying at a temple for temple lodging anyways, so I have finally made the decision to skip Kumano and instead, go to Koyasan, where the temple lodging is.

However, when I’ve made the decision to skip Kumano and go to Koyasan, I discovered that if I am to take the train, I must make a stop at Osaka, with the duration of the train being almost 3 hours. Didn’t want to do that, so why not stay at Osaka the next day and find some recreation there?

That’s when I booked both the hotel at Osaka for tomorrow, and the temple for the day after tomorrow. I will talk more about booking the temple on the day that I actually visit.

Ise Verdict:

★★★☆☆

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