18 posts tagged “adventures”

So, Justin and I decided to go to Hiroshima randomly for three days from the 2nd to 4th of January. Not really the smartest idea since everything was jacked up for the new year but we have money and time so we thought, why the hell not. So we went. It was a great trip. :D I won't go into too much detail even though I have pamphlets and info about everything. This post is image-heavy, you are warned. For more pictures, check Photobucket. Justin took twice as many pictures as I did so take a look at his too.

We took the Shinkansen from Tokyo station on Friday morning with no problems. I was a little concerned because there was a lot of snow and trouble with the trains a few days before and thousands of people were waylaid on their trips to and from home. Luckily, that all passed and we didn't have any issues. We got as close to Mt Fuji as I've ever been (since I don't remember it when we went to Osaka) and passed through a snow storm in Kansai.

We arrived at 1:05pm on schedule and found the information desk and raided the maps and pamphlets. Our hotel was right across the street from the station but a bit of a pain to get to because there aren't any overground crossings at the station. But once we managed to cross the busy road it was no problem. We checked in and dumped our stuff and then consulted our maps. We decided to walk and see the city, to the A-bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park.

Tram stop near our hotel, Inari-Machi, because there is an Inari Shrine tucked beside a building.

Inou Shrine (稲生神社)

Hiroshima is pretty small, as far as I could tell. The city centre is serviced by street cars and buses. The street cars were pretty awesome: smooth ride and cheap! Anywhere in the city area was only 150yen. A trip to Miyajima ferry terminal was only 270yen. When we went to Miyajima the next day, we bought a day pass that covered the ferry ride and unlimited street car rides for 1 day for only 840yen!

Hiroshima is built up on a river delta so there are lost of bridges everywhere. The Inari Bridge was a street car bridge exclusively before the bombing but it was only of the only bridges left standing afterwards, even though it was severely warped and damaged.

Most of the wooded pedestrian bridges were completely destroyed.

This is Hiroshima Municipal Baseball Stadiaum, the home of the Hiroshima Carps. Apparently they are a pretty crap team, but the city loves them. The city is building a new stadium east of Hiroshima Station that will be opened sometime this year. It will supposedly "feature an airy atmosphere, good ventilation, and a feeling of unity with the city, the new stadium's wall on the north end--to the direction of JR Hiroshima Station--is to be kept very low. Passengers on JR bullet trains or other trains can see inside the stadium from the windows and feel the lively atmosphere of the stadium," says the Hiroshima Sightseeing Guide Map.

It took us about 30 minutes to walk from our hotel to the Genbaku (Atomic Bome) Dome. I knew about this place before and it was on my list of (two) things to see in Hiroshima but I didn't really know what I would expect to feel. It's hallowed ground in Hiroshima. There are signs and plaques everywhere telling the story of this building. It was the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall and a landmark of the city with it's green dome.

People offering prayers to the memorial in front of the Dome.

The Hall was at the corner of Aioi Dori before Aioi Bridge. The bridge was perhaps the target of the bombing and completely destroyed. Because the hypocentre (the place in the air where the bomb detonated) was almost directly above the Hall, it somehow remained standing, unlike most other buildings.

Justin reads the plaque beside the bridge. It's hard to see but there is an etching of the scene just after the bombing.

After the bombing, buildings left standing were taken down and the rubble cleared to make emergency housing for the citizens of Hiroshima. There was a lot of debate about the A-bomb Dome: to keep it would be a reminder to the world of the results of atomic bombing but it would also be a painful reminder to those who lived through it. In the end it was kept and the city works hard to maintain the building to look exactly like it did just after the bombing.

Justin reads the (rather disappointing) plaque beneath the hypocentre. If one of the security guards at one of the parkades hadn't pointed us in the right direction, we would have missed it entirely.

The Dome stands across the Ota River from the Peace Memorial Park.

The Children's Peace Monument. I read the story of Sasaki Sadako when I was a child even though I didn't know about Hiroshima or the atom bomb. But I remember the story of a little girl who got sick and folded paper cranes. But I never thought I would get to come here and see this. This monument was build in her honor after the outcries from her classmates. Around the monument are little huts erected containing folded cranes donated from across the country and the world.

The park is really quite large, with many statues and monuments dedicated to the people who died in the bombing. In the centre is the Flame of Peace, the Pond of Peace, and the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims. There is a small monument in Ueno Park that has a flame lit from this Flame of Peace too.

Flame of Peace with Dome in the background.

The Cenotaph. People come and pray here as well and every August 6th, on the anniversary of the bombing, there is a large ceremony attended by thousands of people. People who have been identified as victims in the last year are added to the Cenotaph.

We went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum as well which I highly recommend to everyone. It's cheap (which is a bonus) at 50 yen entrance fee and they have audio guides in over a dozen languages for rent. I thought it was rather impartial given the subject matter but so powerful. I cried more than a few times reading the displays. There were letters that the mayor of Hiroshima writes to countries' leaders every time nuclear testing is carried out -- something the mayor has been doing ever since the late 1940's. There were models and displays of personal belongings left by the victims, photos, among other things. We went in around 3:30 and they closed at 5 so we had to rush near the end. I wish that we had been able to spend more time there. Justin took pictures of the inside becuase his camera doesn't suck.

On our second day, we went to Miyajima. Formerly known as Itsukuushima, Miyajima is home to one of the three great views of Japan and Itsukushima Shrine. It's also a World Heritage site.

It is also home to many wild deer.

Monument talking about Itsukushima as a World Heritage site, and the O-torii in the back.

Since we went on the first weekend of the new year, it was freaking busy. There were food stalls set up everywhere and tons and tons of people. The weather was a bit of a bummer, but at least it wasn't rainy.

The main reason for coming to Miyajima: the iconic Great Torii. The vermillion gate, nor the big shrine, isn't actually anchored to the seabed so it effectively floats in the water. Or looks like it does anyway.

The line up for the shrine was crazy so we skipped it and went to see some of the other things on the island first. Justin was all excited for the aquarium but it's been closed for renovations until 2012. :(

Daiganji Temple, dedicated to Benzaiten.

Ringing the bell at Daishoin Temple, one of the most presitigious Shingon (Buddhism) temples in western Japan. In the 12th century, Emperor Toba founded his prayer hall in the temple. The temple had close links to the imperial family until the 19th century.

Most Buddhist temples have a sign board telling you about your fortune for the coming year, based on your birthdate. There are varying degrees of luck: excellent luck (大吉, dai kichi), medium/half luck (半吉, han kichi?), little luck (末吉, matsu kichi?) and terrible luck (大凶, dai kyou). I'm born in 1985 (Showa 60) so according to the monks (or whoever came up with this) at Daishoin, I'm going to have a year of terrible luck. :( But then, so is Andrew. Haha.

Daishoin was really cool. Hundreds of Buddhas everywhere for everything under the sun. There were tons of people too. I even saw a lady with a bag full of 1 yen and 5 yen coins, giving one to each Buddha. I guess if you need good luck...

The specialty food of Hiroshima is called Momiji Manju. Momiji is the name of the Japanese maple tree and manju is a small cake with (usually) red bean filling. The momiji manju made on Miyajima is supposed to be the very best.

After wandering around some more and eating lunch, we went to the shrine.

About 200 metres in front of the main shrine and standing in the sea is the vermillion coloured O-Torii (Grand Gate) which is the most noted symbol of Miyajima.

First built in the latter half of the 6th century, Itsukushima Shrine was remodeled into the present beautiful structure by Taira no Kiyomori in 1168. Standing in the sea, it is widely known for its grand and unique construction, the sublime and gorgeous appearance displays the artistic beauty of the Shinden style of architecture.

Itsukushima Shrine was officially designated in December 1996 as a World Heritage site. There is a Noh stage at the shrine where Kiyomori enjoyed Noh plays back in the day. They still perform plays there on occasion.

The O-Torii at sunset.

We left Miyajima and got back to our hotel around 7pm and after a short rest, went out for some local fare, okonomiyaki. I don't know if the way the place we went is the way everyone makes okonomiyaki but it was interesting to say the least. Hiroshima and Kansai have different styles. The basic difference is that in Hiroshima they put noodles in but the place we went was really different. They made it all for you instead of you making it yourself: first they made a thin pancake of batter on the grill and put the filling on top (cabbage or onion base and your ingredients like cheese, shrimp, or squid) and seasonings. Then the flipped it over and let the raw things cook. Meanwhile, they fried some noodles and cracked an egg and fried that, layering everything. Lastly, they put the sauce and the toppings on it and cut it up for you and served it on a hot plate. It was quite yummy, but I prefer Kansai style.

On our last day, we stayed close to the station. We dropped our stuff off in a locker and bought our tickets home, first thing and then we went to Shukkeien gardens and Hiroshima Castle. On our way to the gardens, we passed Sadako's old junior high school that had a monument you could see from the street.

The gardens were gorgeous. I took so many pictures but I will only post a few. It is a wonderful place to go for a picnic.

After the gardens, it was a short walk to the castle. There is a large shrine there as well, with a huge line up of people visiting for hatsumode.

Hiroshima castle was gone before the bombing, many of the buildings replaced with temporary military headquarters. Now it's a reconstruction with a quaint museum inside, with the history of Hiroshima, like most castles in Japan.

We got back to the station at about 3:45pm and got our stuff to leave. We couldn't get reserved seats so we had to take non-reserved and I am never doing it again. We got to the platform and there are only 3 cars for non-reserved seating and there were people lining up everywhere. We jumped in one line not really knowing what it was for since the trains were coming on the opposite side of the platform but some lady explained nicely to me (after me asking a staff person and them not really answering me) that they were lining up for the train coming in an hour, and hopefully they could get seat, but if not they would at least get on. All of the trains we saw coming were already full of people but this one wasn't for some reason. Anyway, we made it on but had to stand. And we were stupid and got on the smoking car so that was kind of unpleasant. Justin scored a seat after stopping in Nagoya but I had to stand until Shin-Yokohama. 3.5 hours of stand is not cool!

All in all, a really great trip. :)

Andrew wanted to go enjoy 紅葉 (kouyou, "red leaves") before all the leaves fall off the trees so we treked out to Tsukuba today.  I've only taken the Tsukuba Express once and was appalled at the price.  It cost 700 yen one way but the rapid only takes 25 minutes from Nagareyama Ootakanomori and stops only once.  From the station we had to take a 40-minute shuttle bus (another 750 yen) to Tsukuba Jinja on Mount Tsukuba and there we visited the shrine and walked up the mountain.  OH MY GOD.  I just did my exercise for 2008.  It was a 2.3km course up to the 871m (2,858ft) summit of 男体山 (Nantai-san, "Man Body Mountain").  It took us about 2 hours with all my breaks.  I have much respect for Japanese old folks that climb mountains in their free time.  Whenever we passed people, we greeted them (or they greeted us) "Konnichiwa~".  It was really cool.

It started raining when we got to the top and we couldn't see shit because of the fog/clouds and it was fucking cold.  We took the cable car down (570yen) back to the shrine and then at some udon at a nice shop that had a pregnant kitty. :D  And then came home, cold and wet.  I brought my camera but it sucks so I didn't take that many pictures.  I'm going to snake Justin's when he gets his uploaded to Flicker.

Andrew passes out on the bus so we take embarassing pictures. :D

View from the foot of the shrine.

Blast off!

Cute little boy by the pond! :D  You totally know he's weighing his chances of getting wet without getting in trouble.

Pond at the shrine.

Ibaraki Prefecture Chrysanthemum Competition.  Apparently winter is chrysanthemum season?

Andrew says, "Todai smells like ass." (FYI the symbol of Tokyo University is two gingko leaves and gingko leaves actually do smell like shit.)

How to pray at Shinto shrines:  Bow twice, clap twice, pray, bow once.

Before setting off.

Yesterday, I decided to go to Mito for no reason by myself.  It's far... on my train line so I don't have to change.  I have a few Seishun 18 stamps left so I decided to use one.  It was fun. :D  It was the first "trip" I took by myself and it was really nice.  I could go where I wanted and stop when I wanted and not have anyone nagging me when I got lost.  There wasn't really much to see... it's a city just like anywhere else in Japan but the ride out was nice.  Mito is the capital of Ibaraki prefecture so it's mostly an administrative city.  I think Ibaraki is known for it's agriculture because there were lots of farms and crops along the train tracks.  It looked like it was threatening to rain but it was faster than me so it was finished by the time I got to Mito.

I did a little bit of research to find out what there was to do in Mito before I left and so I went out and found a map and looked at the area.  On of Japan's three best gardens are in Mito but I didn't know how far away they were so I had to check it out.  There was a map that showed some walking courses you could take so I went and found the Mito Castle Ruins one and followed that.  It took me an hour or so to finish it because I stopped to read everything!

Mito used to be a Tokugawa stronghold of the Mito clan way back in the day so there were statues and memorials for all these Tokugawa people all over the city.  This is grave of one of the Tokugawa's but I couldn't read which one.  It's just sitting there on the side of the road next to a parking lot.  I walked up the hill afterwards to find the ruins of Mito Castle but there aren't any ruins left.  It's all been constructed over with schools so there were just signs about what used to be there.

When I was stopped to read a sign about the Ohtemon Gate of Mito Castle that used to stand over this bridge, some old grandpa came up and talked to me!  He asked where I lived (assuming I didn't live in Japan, I guess) and he told me that the gate used to be right where we stood and now it's at the other end of the road in the teacher's college and he goes there to see it sometimes.  And then just walked off... hahaha.  I love old people sometimes.

This gingko tree (or maidenhair in English) is at one end of the historical walking route and there are references to this tree in some documents from three hundred years ago.  It's one of the historical points of Mito city.

This is Mito Art Tower.  It's part of a complex that contains a theatre, art gallery and exhibition space that was built in 1990.  It's the most modern looking thing around and they built it to make Mito a "modern city".  There was a patch of nice green grass out front with families playing on it with their kids.

I walked a LOT that day... I stopped in a bookstore to buy a map book because it was hard to follow on the pictures I took of the big map at the station which proved to be really helpful!  I'm going to get a lot of use out of it since it has some maps of Chiba as well.  I walked down one of the main roads with lots of shops, old and new.  A lot of the older ones were closed though, it was getting late and also Sunday.  I walked 2km to the gardens but then it was already 5pm by that time... I wandered around the famous gardens for a bit but wasn't that impressed.  It should be much better then the plum forest is in bloom.  Then I took the bus back to the station and took the train for 2.5 hours back to Kashiwa.

The rest of my pictures are on Photobucket.

So, this is more than slightly overdue but better than when I went to Kamakura, I think.

We took a crapload of pictures between us; the rest are here and these are Justin's pictures.  There is more writing about each picture on Photobucket so I would suggest reading that first and then this entry.

It's the middle of summer vacation and I've gotten to do some traveling so I'm happy. :D  Justin and I went to the Kansai area of Japan for 5 days.  Kansai is the Western region of Japan while Kantou is the East, where Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa are.  We went spend a day in Kobe, and two in each Kyoto and Osaka.

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I've learned that you need to get your planning done fast and get your arrangements sorted at this time of year because it's chaos!  I'm a paranoid traveller and I want to know when/where I'm going well in advance and give myself lots of time to account for and avoid getting lost but I ended up leaving things until about two weeks before our planned departure.  Originally, I had thought to take the night train both ways using the Seishun 18 Ticket again but couldn't get reserved seats on the nights I wanted to go because it's peak travel season.  I forgot that not only is it summer for all kids in Japan, but also for most of the rest of the world.  In the end, I decided we should just shell out and take the Shinkansen to Osaka.  It would only take 3 hours in the morning (as opposed to 8 hours overnight) and we could go earlier and therefore get more days in Kansai.   Then I could also say that I rode the Shinkansen and check that off my list.  And for 15,000 yen one way, I'll only be doing it once!

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We arrived at Shin-Osaka station at 11am, August 2nd and my friend Yuka met us there.  She was an exchange student in 2005-2006 at UBC and was my next-door neighbour in the dormitory.  She's going to grad school in Osaka and lives with her parents, and was kind enough to let us crash with them (and feed us and tour us around!).  We left our bags in a locker at Osaka station and then took the train to Kobe.  We wandered around the Chinatown there and had lunch before exploring the port area.  We went to Kobe to see fireworks that night that were supposed to be some of the best in the area.  Kobe is a nice city -- a lot of the buildings and roads are new after the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake.  We didn't get to see any memorials because it was so hot and we didn't have enough time but we took a 45 minute ferry cruise around the marina and got to see the city view from the ocean.  It was pretty incredible!  The fireworks were kind of blah... I've seen a lot better.  They were choreographed to music but they stopped every 5 or 10 minutes and the announcer gave some kind of commentary.  It was nothing like the Symphony of Fire in Vancouver.

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The second day, Yuka and her boyfriend took us around Kyoto.  We met up and walked through Gion and stopped at Kennin-ji, a temple that happens to be the oldest (or one of) Zen temple in Japan.  It was so peaceful and calm... I learned about Zen in school and the transmission of Buddhism from China to Japan and all that but it was so interesting to be in a place like that that could claim to be the one of the found Zen schools in Japan.  There were lots of people sitting and resting and taking in the atmosphere of the place.  It's one of the temples that you can sit in on a meditation session but we weren't there at the right time.  I think that's thing I would like to do before I leave Japan.  

After that we walked towards the Kiyomizu area of Kyoto and climbed the hill to Kiyomizu-dera.  The street was narrow and lined with machiya, old townhouses that were shops on the groundfloor with residences above.  There were all kinds of shops selling Kyoto souveniers: paper fans (senso), sweets (yatsuhashi), pottery (tea cups and tea ceremony tools), textiles, and your typical cheap "I heart Kyoto" gear with a picture of a samurai.  There were cafes and coffee shops selling matcha ice cream which was such a treat in the heat of the day.  You could go into the yatsuhashi shops and taste all the different flavours!  Yatsuhashi is called a "cracker" in English, but it's not really.  One type is baked -- it's a strip of pastry made with rice flour, sugar and cinnamon and baked on an iron grill under wood blocks, and then shaped with bamboo.  Another kind is fresh -- the pastry is filled with red bean paste traditionally, but you can get all kinds of flavours: chocolate, matcha, mango, strawberry, sesame, green apple.  The only thing is the fresh ones are only good for about a week.

We stopped at the only restaurant around when we reached the top of the hill before going to the temple: a little soba shop.  We really got a feel for the depth of the townhouses because we walked down a stone hallway for about 12 feet before we even got to the front door of the restaurant!  Apparently in the olden days, owners would be taxed on the width of their property only, so they insides were as deep as they could go.  This little restaurant was an open air restuarant on the back of the hill.  We were hoping for some air con but the trees were really shady and there was a little stream running through.  The ladies of the shop were super nice, altough I wish they had just left the tea pot with us because we kept asking for more every 10 minutes!  And the soba was delicious.

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After refeuling, we went to Kiyomizu-dera.  One of the oldest (although I think they all say that) temples in Kyoto.  I can't remember which sect of Buddhism it was, but their claim to fame is a waterfall that is supposed to bring you luck and love.  There was a big pretty red gate but the temple itself it's very flashy.  The best thing is the view of the city from the balcony.  There was also a staff or sword... Justin said it was like "sword in the stone" and there was a bunch of peopel trying to pull it out.  But it's more likely that it was the Buddha's staff because his footprints were on a rock nearby.  It was also a top spot for suicide because the balcony juts out off the side of the mountain.  There was also a few shrines on the grounds -- as typical of Japanese Buddhism -- to the god of love and marriage that was thronging with couples.

We were going to go to Yasaka Shrine  afterwards, but I had seen the Heian Shrine on a map somewhere and I knew that name from school so we went there instead.  We had to take a bus to get there... and it was a big disappointment.  There was a huge gate and a huge courtyard -- they sponsor the Jidai Matsuri (Festival of the Ages) every year but you can't go into or even see much of the actual shrine itself.  I thought it was older (it was

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only built in the late 1890's) and more related to the Heian period (794-1185CE) but it wasn't.  I wish we had gone tothe Yasaka shrine instead, it's not the biggest but its of the major shrines and sponsors the Gion Matsuri every year.  But I didn't know... I really want to see the Gion Matsuri, one of the three biggest festivals in Japan, so it just means I need to go back.  After that, we made it back to Gion and then headed home.  We were walking along the main street and -- I had only hoped we would be able to see one while we were there -- we saw a geiko!  I feel all tingly and excited just remembering it.  She was walking in front of us, talking with someone and I only recognized her as one from the red fabric in her hair.  I should have run up and asked her for a photo, I'm sure they get that all the time, but I didn't feelcomfortable about that.  I saw her and I remember and that's all that matters. We left Kyoto and said goodbye to Hiroki and then met Yuka's parents for yakiniku dinner. 

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The next day, Yuka had to go to school so Yuka's mom drove Justin and I to Kyoto.  She had to pick up her mom and drive her back to her house in Kyoto and then do an errand for her dad so she dropped us off at Kinkaku-ji and met up with us after.  Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavillion, is one of the icons of Kyoto.  There's another, the Silver Pavillion, that we didn't see but it's only wood and not even finished with silver leaf.  It was a bit cloudy and overcast but the building still reflected prettily off the Mirror Pond.  We didn't take very long walking through the grounds because we didn't have anyone explaining anything to us and we were trying to stay ahead of the Chinese tour group that was there at the same time.  Justin went there before in the winter and said it was much nicer this time.   After Kinkaku-ji, the three of us went to lunch and waited for Yuka to be done at school.  She went to Ritsumeikan, in Kyoto, but her grad school is in Osaka.  When she was done, we met her in Arashiyama, on the western side of Kyoto.  Yuka's mom said she always brings guests to Arashiyama because it's not such a popular -- and therefore crowded -- area.  It's definitely more rural but very lovely and reminded me a lot of Vancouver.  She planned for us to go on a sight-seeing train that travels through the mountains and we got to take in the amazing views of the river and mountains.

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When we got to the end of the line, we were out in the middle of the country.  We had bought return tickets so we just got off to look around while waiting for the train to leave again.  The train was nice and cool with the windows open through the mountains but the station was like a sauna... and that's when the fun began.  We all got off but Yuka and Justin went their own way.  Yuka's mom was asking one of the staff where we should sit when I saw Justin in the station faint!  I was looking right at him as he collapsed and hit is face on the glass window and fall.  Yuka was with him but she couldn't catch him at all.  It was really scary because I didn't know what to do or what was wrong but the people in the station were so helpful.  One lady was making him drink while this guy told us to get him on the bench lying down and someone else brought ice.  Some kid even bought a sports drink for him.  The train left without us but it didn't matter.  He was alright -- just heat exhaustion, not heat stroke thankfully.  We rested in the air-conditioned waiting room at the station there for about 30 minutes before getting a cab to the JR station and heading back to Arashiyama.

That night we went to a ... bird show, for lack of a better description.  Yuka's mom brings a lot of people to this event because it's really unique.  It's actually called an "Ukai show", a cormorant fishing show.  I don't have any pictures because my camera sucks at night shots but Justin took some.  It was really special because this year was the 1000th anniversary of this fishing practice, so they recreated one of the imperial boats that were used at the time, and the fishermen wore traditional garb.  They only fish at night so they have fires in iron cages hanging off the boats over the water and the cormorants on leashes in the water.  One guy keeps a hold on the birds while another one or two punts the boat and watches if they catch anything.  When one of the birds catch a fish, they yank the thing up on deck and then take the fish out of its mouth and then toss it back in the water.  It sounds (and looks) a bit cruel but the birds just jump back in and flop around like nothing happened.  It was really interesting and I wish I had been able to get some pictures.

The next day, Yuka, Justin and I went to Osaka and did some touring.  We went to Shinsaibashi, the shopping area and Dotonbori, the food area.  Justin had a few things on his list that he wanted to see -- namely the Glico running man, and the big pufferfish lantern sign.  Shinsaibashi was interesting but it's just a long arcade with all the same shops and things we can get in Kantou.  Dotonbori was freaking cool though.  Most images of Osaka come from there because there are just so many fantastic and outrageous signs!  I got to see the restaurant with "Taro", a clown mascot for this eight story restaurant, that was in the news recently because they closed down and it was a bit to-do about who was going to buy this landmark clown.  We ate okonomiyaki and modanyaki overlooking Ebisu bridge - the biggest pick-up spot in Osaka. 

Making Okonomiyaki 1

Making Okonomiyaki 2

We had planned to go on the largest ferris wheel in the world, which was out near the aquarium that night but there was a freak thunderstorm that was just pouring down sheets of rain so we passed. We went to a nice Hawaiian restaurant next to Osaka station with a 34th story view instead. 

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The last day, Justin and I went around Osaka alone because Yuka had a test for an internship.  We went to the Umeda Sky Building and Osaka Castle before meeting up with Yuka for dinner.  The Sky Building was really cool.  You pay 700 yen to get up there but you get a 360 degree view of the city, as well as a rooftop view.  You can go out on top of the building and check out the city.  It was another blistering day but the wind on the roof was... not cooling in the least.  It just got the air moving but wasn't really that pleasant.  We found the castle station with no problems but the walk from the station to the actual castle was a bitch.  I thought I was going to get heat exhaustion and made Justin stop lots on the walk there.  The outside of it was a lot nicer than Nagoya Castle but it's a museum inside.  It's been bombed and rebuilt so many times.  The museum retells the history of the castle but is so repetative with the live of the shogun who headed the army... I can't even remember which freaking Tokugawa it was now.  It doesn't help that there were about 13 of them in total.

There was another freaking storm that night so we left Osaka an hour earlier than planned because I was paranoid about the trains being delayed again and we had to catch our night train from Ogaki at 11pm.  We made it through Kansai to Ogaki (which doesn't even have a McDonald's!) and arrived in Tokyo at 5am the next day.

 

I'm pissed that my camera died halfway through the day so I don't have many pictures after lunch.  For all of my pictures, they're at Photobucket.  As always, I'm going to reguritate random wiki info to suppliment my lack of knowledge or being able to read any of the Japanese signage.

Justin and I went to Kamakura yesterday and it was a blast.  We did a shitton of walking and I even got a bit of a burn on my shoulders despite there being no sun.  I told Justin as much at one point during the day because he was wanting to get his Philipino tan back.  We were supposed to meet in Tokyo station at 9am so we could get there around 10 and start the day early but we ended up meeting around 10am because Justin couldn't wake up.  We caught the Yokosuka-Sobu line from Tokyo station and an hour later we were in Kamakura.  From the train you could see this giant white Kanno statue amongst the trees - the Ofuna Kannon.  Maybe we'll do that when we go to Enoshima as well. 

We fought our way out of the station and started to make our way through the city.  My original plan was to do a few of the hiking trails in my book, which hit the Buddha first and then a few of the major temples and shrines before ending up at Kita-Kamakura station but that didn't happen.  I side tracked us and took us to a few smaller shrines that I saw signs for and ended up doing the route of the course in reverse. 

Our first major stop was 寿福寺 Jufuku-ji.  This Rinzai sect temple is the oldest Zen temple in Kamakura, ranked third among Kamakura's Five Mountain temples.  Here, they worship Shakymuni, the Buddha.  This temple was founded by Hojo Masako (1157-1225) to enshrine her dead husband, the founder of the Kamakura shogunate, Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199).  She installed Eisai as the founding priest, who was ordained in China and brought Zen buddhism to Japan.  He is also credited with bringing green tea to Japan, which was orginally used to keep monks awake during long sessions of meditation.  Look, I learned something in Asian Studies; I bet you didn't know that.

The main hall is closed to visitors, which is a shame.  It was so peaceful and calm there... we could see monks walking around inside and a family coming out of the reception area.  Apparently (as Wikipedia tells me) there are 3 statues of Shakyamuni, an eleven-headed goddess Kannon and two Deva Kings inside.  Behind the hall is a graveyard as well, where all the head priests of the temple are buried.  There are a few graves dedicated to some Minamotos, some foreigners and a few literary celebrities.

Next we made our way to 銭洗弁天 Zeniarai Benten, "Money-washing Benten".  It was near by but you had to up this steep hill to get to the entrance.  This is when we started to see some crowds, and a lot of foreigners.  It was quite nice and cool up on the top of the hill though because there was a lot of shade from trees and nice cool caves.

This is the second most popular spot in Kamakura, even though it's a good twenty minute hike from the station.  Inside there were dozens of torii and the smell of incense.  There were a bunch of buddha statues as well, which was interesting.  Before the Meiji restoration, most shrines and temples had elements of both Buddhism and Shinto but due to this shrine's remote location (you can only reach it by this tunnel and it's surrounded by rock on all sides) they managed to keep their Buddhist icons.  The two Deva Kings that are at Jufuku-ji were originally at the Hachiman temple before the restoration.  The main deity of this shrine is

According to the sign at the entrance of the tunnel, the shrine was founded in 1185 when Minamoto Yoritomo on the day of the snake in the month of the snake dreamed of the God Ugafukujin. The god told him that "In a valley to the northwest, there is a miraculous spring that gushes out of the rocks. Go there and worship the gods of Shinto, and peace will come to your people." He found the spring and built a shrine for Ugafukijin. Later, the Shinto god was fused with Buddhist goddess Benzaiten, who is the incarnation of water. Ugafukujin is a god of harvest so people would come and wash their seeds in the spring in hopes of better harvests so the two gods came to be considered one and the same.  

The water of the spring inside Zeniarai Benzaiten's cave is supposed to have the power to multiply the money it comes in contact with.  This unique tradition of coming to wash your coins began in 1257 when Hojo Tokiyori came here and washed his coins with the spring's water, expressing the hope that they may be doubled.  People heard the story, and the tradition was born.  We found a huge pile of baskets inside the cave of the spring so we washed some money.  I could always use more.  LOL.   There was signage in Japanese all over with random English on it that said, "Dries naturally".  I wish I had taken a picture of it.  I think they meant that you should let the money air dry instead of wiping it dry with a hankerchief to keep the luck of the spring water. 

After dipping our money and exploring Zeniarai Benen we wandered around and found a sign pointing to another shrine, the next we were going to visit.  It was a path at the back of the shrine, leading down some stairs instead of going back through and walking down the hill.  We went that way instead, saving some time.  It was also deserted so we didn't have to fight with the crowds.  It went through the neighbourhood surrounding the temples so we could see all the nice expensive houses.

Our next stop was 佐助稲荷神社 Sasuke Inari Jinja, a shinto shrine at the top of a long set of stairs under a series of red torii and flanked by red flags.  It was cool and dark at the top because of all the trees and serene and quite.  The story goes that when Minamoto Yoritomo was in exile in Izu, he fell ill and an old man appeared to him in a dream.  The man held some herbs in his hand and showed them to Yoritomo, saying, “Make these into medicine, take it, and you will be cured.  When you recover, immediately take up arms against the Taira. Victory will be yours.”  Yoritomo asked the man his name and he replied, “I am the god of the hidden hamlet in Kamakura,” then vanished.  Yoritomo succeeded in establishing his government and believed the success was due to the advice of the old man. He later ordered his men to search for the abode of the god, and in Kamakura, west of the hidden hamlet they found a shrine. Yoritomo immediately replaced the old shrine with a newly-built one and named it Sasuke Inari.  The sa (佐) in Sasuke was part of the name Yoritomo held in his youth, 佐殿
(but pronounced Sukedono).  The suke in Sasuke means “to help.”   The name “Sasuke” was used as the name of this shrine because “Sukedono was helped by a god.” 

All over the shrine were these tiny fox figures that people left as an offering to the gods.  Apparently there are five deities enshrined here, according to the sign I read.  The main object of worship in an Inari shrine is a Shinto deity called Uka no Mitama, who is believed to be the patron deity of agriculture, grain in particular.  Inari shrines are closely associated with the fox, which is believed to be the messenger of the Inari deity. A pair of fox statues are always sitting in front of all Inari shrines just like a pair of dogs at other Shinto shrines.  Why it's a fox?  I don't know.  I thought they were cats at first, but after doing some research, learned they were foxes. 

After finishing at Sasuke Inari, we headed back down and made for the main attraction, the big Buddha.  When we got to the main road, there were hoards of people, heading to and from the Buddha.  There were souvenir shops all over the place and it was just... gawdy.  I doubt if Kotoku-in has any religious significance left amongst all the tourists.

In any case, I was impressed.  Nikki says the one in Hong Kong is bigger, and the statue of Kuan-yin in Taiwan is probably bigger than this, but I was awed.  The bronze statue of Amida Buddha stands at 13.35 metres tall, weighing 93 tons.  It was said to be contructed in 1252 but there is no proof that this is the orginally statue.  I made a prayer to Buddha with the rest of the people and got some postcards.  For 200 yen, we were there for a max of 10 minutes.  You can buy all sort of amulets and charms and for 20 yen you can go inside the Buddha but Justin said it's not that impressive so we didn't bother.  We didn't really feel like sticking around because we were getting hungry. 

Every place we looked into was either full or too expensive for our tastes (but not wholly unexpected in Kamakura) but we eventually made it to the Enoden train and took it back to Kamakura station and found a kaiten sushi restaurant and ate.  I had wanted to have something more local but we were getting desperate.  After eating we headed in the other direction of the station to see more stuff! 

We made our way through the crowded shopping street to 鶴岡八幡宮 Tsuruguoka Hachiman-gu, the most important shrine in the city.  When we go there, there was a wedding party taking photographs in front of the arched bridge.  Everyone was taking pictures so I thought, why not?  How often are we going to get to see a wedding party in full kimono?  The arched bridge was supposedly for the shogun's use only; there are two other flat bridges for use by the common folk.

After walking up the long 1.8km boulevard and climbing a big set of stairs, we got to the shrine.  This shrine, which used to be also a Buddhist temple and far bigger than today, was originally built in 1063 in Zaimokuza where the tiny Moto Hachiman shrine now stands, and was dedicated to the Emperor Ōjin, his mother Empress Jingu and his wife Hime-gami.  Minamoto Yoritomo moved it to its present location in 1191 and invited Hachiman, the god worshiped popularly among warriors, to reside there and guard his government. 

There was a pavillion after the first set of stairs, then another set leading up to the main temple structure.  We could see priests roaming around in robes and hundreds of people.  There were two moms (or grandmas) with new-born babies getting blessed.  Justin took a picture, I'll post it later.  At the top you could see a view of the city and the first torii at the edge of the grounds.  I got a fortune from the temple, 吉 (kichi, good luck!) and took in the view.  When we got down to the pavillion got to witness a shinto wedding ceremony!  After taking a few vidoes, my battery died.  :(

Shinto Wedding 1

Shinto Wedding 2

After that, we left and hit a few more shrines: 鎌倉宮 Kamakura-gu,  宝戒寺 Hokai-ji, and 源頼朝の墓 Minamoto Yoritomo no Bo, the grave of Minamoto Yoritomo. 

Kamakura-gu is a shinto shrine and I thought would be pretty major because it is named after the city, but it was pretty minor.  The Shrine is considerably new, erected to the spirit of Prince Morinaga (1308-1335), child of Emperor Godaigo (1288-1339).  It was back in 1333, the year the Kamakura Shogunate terminated and the ruling power was temporarily handed over to Emperor Godaigo. The Imperial Court finally restored the sovereignty as a ruler of Japan. However, his regime did not long last. Takauji Ashikaga (1305-1358), the founder of the Ashikaga Shogunate, first sided with the Emperor and helped him to win the battle against the Hojos in Kamakura. However, he changed sides suddenly and tried to establish his own government betraying the Emperor.  Across the street, up the hill on the east of the Shrine is the graveyard for the Prince. This grave is now under the care of the Imperial Household Agency, and the tomb faces south as is the case of Imperial tombs.  Prince Morinaga cannot be entombed inside the Shrine precinct under the Japanese Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of religion and prohibits the government from giving any aids to a specific institution, be it Shinto, Buddhism or Christianity, and therefore, the Imperial Household Agency, a government body, placed his grave separately from the Shrine. 

This shrine performs Noh plays in October and there are also some clay bowls you can break to ward off evil, and lion head charms to buy.  We took a rest at the rest house adjacent with some ice cream and continued onto Houkai-ji.  This is a Tendai Buddhist temple constructed in 1335 by the order of Emporer Godaigo.  The site was where the Komachi residence of the Hojos, for nine generations, had been located until the family, regents to the Kamakura shogunate, fell in 1333.  The emperor ordered the construction of the temple for the repose of the deceased Hojos.  In 1538, the temple burned down and a priest of another temple requested shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu at the beginning of the Edo period to officially support Houkai-ji as it was an important temple of the Tendai school.  According to the print out I got (and just copied all that infromation from), it continues to play an important role of being a place for learning Buddhist teachings. 

This was the first temple we could actually go into, so I went in and took a look around.  There were some charms for sale, of course, and alters of buddhas and offerings.  There was a guest book as well, so I wrote a short message.  The monk gave me a weird look as he stowed away the vacuum cleaner sitting in the middle of the room. 

Our last stop, only because we passed by and it wasn't listed as a temple or shrine on the sign post, as the grave of Minamoto Yoritomo.  Only after having written this out, do I realize what an influential person he was.  I doubt that he is actually buried there, but it was cool to see anyway. 

And that was my day.  It was so cool to see all these places that had so much influence and have remained in history for so long... I studied Japanese buddhism in school and seeing these places that were founded by people I read about first hand, was just amazing.  :)  I definitely want to make another trip (maybe when it isn't a weekend) and see some of the places I missed and maybe even go to a meditation session at one of the temples.  

Arashi~

Here's a taste of what I'll be getting to see in May.  I don't know what my seats are until I get the tickets which won't be here until 2-3 weeks before the show.  Fingers crossed for decent seats but I'd take anything gladly.

GArh I've been trying to upload a video for like 2 hours but my connection sucks balls so I had to grab one off YouTube.  YouTube has been deleting videos like crazy lately so hopefully this one sticks for a while.

I got back from Nagoya Tuesday morning but have only just organize my pictures and crap from my trip.  I'm either extremely lazy (proven fact) or there were way to many pictures (debatable).  I don't know why I bother titling and describing pictures because then I feel even less like writing a blog entry about it.  It's the same thing as when I went to Nagano.  Oh well. 

The trip was great.  Day one we went to this little castle town in Kanagawa.  Odawara took a lot less time that I'd thought, since the only thing to see there is the castle.  It was nice but strange because there were monkeys and an elephant there.  We dressed up as samurai and took ridiculous pictures. 

Of course, all these moms started asking us to take pictures with their kids.  What the hell?  Despite being what you might think, I'm not here to entertain you.  It started raining just as we finished there and we didn't really want to trek around in the wet so we left for Nagoya earlier than planned.  Which is fine because it was a 4.5 hour journey.

Andrew whined about that, of course but we had seats all the way there.  My largest complaint was the heat.  HOLY FUCK.  Are they trying to roast people alive?  I was feeling quite ill by our second-last train, which was made worse by the hordes of people who got on after the baseball game.  We had to fight our way off the train with baggage and some girl was telling people to get the fuck off so others could disembark.  Good for you!  Made our lives easier.  Got to Yvonne's and we didn't sleep until 3:30am or something cuz we were up talking, middle school sleepover style.  She had to wake up at 4:30am to take the first train out to Inuyama to stake out the hanami spot.  Poor girl.

Day two we went to Inuyama ("Dog Mountain") for the JET CIR hanami that Yvonne had been organizing and it was fun.  There were only a handful of us so that was nice.  Only a few names to remember.  We were in this little spot off the beaten path with a beautiful view of the city and the castle behind.  There weren't so many flowers out and it was a bit chilly, but that just meant we needed to drink more.  Afterwards, we went into Nagoya to meet up with some of the JET ALTs that had done their own hanami but they were so trashed that we left after 5 minutes.  Yvonne, Andrew and I with Yvonne's two friends Matt and Dan just went to an izakaya afterwards for some dinner before heading home.

Day three was Sunday and we didn't do much.  Went into Nagoya and just shopped.  Wanted to stay inside because it was cold and rainy.    Took tons of purikura.  Bought a new hard drive.  Hadn't planned on it but we went into Bic Camera to check them out and decide what to get at a later date and saw that it was the last day for the hard drive sale so I splurged.  Now I have a fancy new 320mb drive to fill with random crap (read: Arashi).  Had the famed miso-katsu for dinner.  It was good but very rich. 

   

Day four Yvonne had to go to work so Andrew and I did our own touristy thing.  I googled Nagoya and checked out what there was to do.  There were a couple of things I wanted to do, but didn't want to drag Andrew to too many historical things because he doesn't care about that stuff.  We ended up going to the Osu Kannon Temple and checked out the shopping street there (very much like Asakusa) and did some omiyage shopping. 

I got a daruma at this souvenir shop and a post card.  Andrew was on a hunt for clothes and we must have gone into every shop that had those "lesbian shirts" (the plaid ones that are so popular here).  I was getting fed up by the end because every store had the same shit.  Afterwards we went to Nagoya-jo.  Yvonne said it was crappy and boring, but I still wanted to go because that's the thing to do in Nagoya.  There isn't much else the place is famous for.  It was cool and there were loads of pretty photo ops.  The inside had a cool museum that told the history of the castle and had some edo period artifacts.  The view from the top was amazing. 

Bought some more omiyage before we left and met up with Yvonne at Nagoya Station.  She made reservations at a popular Nagoya restaurant/izakaya, Yama-chan.  Actually, there's an outlet in Ikebukuro in Tokyo.  Dan and Matt came and we had a  nice dinner (and more purikura) before getting on the night train to come home.  The Moonlight Nagara runs from Nagoya to Tokyo and I heard was quite popular during the Seishun 18 Kippu season but it wasn't busy at all.  Had a terrible sleep, if at all and pulled into to Shinagawa station shortly before 5am.  By the time I got home, it was 6:45.  I would have gotten home sooner if I hadn't forgotten my back pack on the train.  The guy in front of me was putting his on as I was going up the stairs and reminded me.  I nearly bulldozed some guy as I jumped down the stairs with a "Sumasen!!!" and got back on the train before it left.  I went to Abiko and came back but didn't have to wait for the train to come in the other direction.  What a way to end the trip. 

These are only a few of the pictures I took.  I took about 160 pictures over 3 days.  Impressive, but I don't think anything will live up to the 130-something that were taken at Andy's housewarming party.  The rest are in my photobucket.

Monday was fun.  It was totally stupid and pointless for me to go to school because they just did the closing ceremony and then the students had club activities and that was it.  I am really starting to hate this monotonous ceremonial culture... it's such a time waster.  They did a little presentation to one of the teachers who is leaving to go teach in at a high school in Tokyo next year and talked about how all the kids have to be good sempais (seniors) to the new first year kids coming up from elementary school.  And then the closing ceremony started.  What?  I thought it had started?  Apparently not.  Sang the school song (again) and did some more bowing, the principal gave a speech and a student rep from the student council gave a speech, and then it was over.  Jun said I could go when I'd finished my "work", which was just me cleaning out my desk in case I don't get posted there next year.  He asked me if I knew where I'd be going but I don't yet.  I would assume, since IES got the contract with Kashiwa again and they asked me if I wanted to stay at Toyo-Chuu if they did, I will be posted to the same school.  They hope I will come back.  :D

Here are some pictures of school, because mom asked.  I figured out why the quality is so pooey but you get the idea.

After work, I cleaned house a little bit and then took the Tobu Noda line all the way to Omiya and met Justin for an adventure.  The Tobu Noda line goes from Funabashi (south Chiba prefecture) all the way to Omiya in Saitama prefecture (North-west) with a stop-over in Kashiwa.  Even though it's the same line, you have to change trains in Kashiwa to continue.  It's kind of dumb. 

We didn't really have a plan, so we consulted one of the handy area maps and decided to go to Omiya Park and check out on of the shrines.  I was a bit disappointed because, even though the train goes through inaka (countryside) it's still pretty populated.  And Omiya is the same as Kashiwa or any other urban area.  Nothing special...  Although it did remind me a bit of Brampton, since it looked a bit more industrial.  Strange. 

Welcome to Omiya

Rock

About Hikawa Shrine

A Rare Sight

Moeru Gomi

Moenai Gomi

Hikawa Jinja Torii

Streetside

Bamboo grove

Real Japan?

Year of the Rat

Hikawa Jinja grounds

Hikawa Jinja

Hikawa Jinja

Sakura

OMG Shoes

Omiya Park

ASIA 200

Sushi Set

Maguro Set

Justin took more scenery shots and pictures of me here.

Today's lesson: Yappari gaikoku jin wa yuba ga daikirai. 
"After all, the foreigner hates yuba."

(I just wrote my entry and stupid Firefox lost it before I could post.  I was almost done, you bastard!!)

Nikko was awesome!  I had a great time, and it was a short and relatively cheap trip.  Now its back to reality and trying to figure out how I'm going to live on 100$ until payday when I have to pay my rent on the 30th. 

For a little background information, I scammed Wikipedia: "Nikkō (日光市, Nikkō-shi, literally sunlight) is a city located in the mountains of Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Located about 140 km to the north of Tokyo, it is a popular destination for Japanese and international tourists, housing the mausoleum of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (Nikkō Tōshō-gū) and that of his grandson Iemitsu (Iemitsu-byō Taiyū-in), as well as the Futarasan Shrine, which dates to the year 767. There are also many famous hot springs (onsen) in the area. The mountains west of the city are part of Nikkō National Park and contain some of the country's most spectacular waterfalls and scenic trails.  As of May 1, 2006, the city has an estimated population of 93,568."

I'm not uploading all the pictures to Vox being its fickle and will take forever.  So, please go to my Photobucket and see and read about my adventure in Nikko!  I'll write a little blurb of my trip later: I'm hungry and cold right now.  And still pissed that Firefox axed my entry I had nearly finished.  So, write up to come later.