Japan 2019

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The last bit of our afternoon in Nara had us visiting the Kasuga Shrine and its amazing collection of stone lanterns. It was nice and shady under the trees and there were well behaved deer in this area of town. It was very relaxing walking the paths around the shrine and I even found a nice little waterfall and pond away from the stone lanterns.

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I spent the morning before our flight out exploring the streets in Kyoto near our hotel. I found myself drawn to the Higashi-Honganji Temple, a beautiful Buddhist temple that had the coolest Chōzuya (purification fountain) where the water poured from a dragon’s mouth. It was a peaceful end to an amazing trip. I know that one day I’ll return to this amazing country with my whole family.

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We started our day off going to Arashiyama, located on the northwest edge of Kyoto. This place is known for its amazing bamboo forest nestle near hills and the Katsura River. I have never seen bamboo this tall! Alex and I had a relaxing time strolling through the shade of Kameyama Park. A must see if in Kyoto!

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Apparently, animal cafes are a big thing in Japan, and we saw quite a few in Tokyo and Kyoto. We decided to stop by and check one out in Arashiyama. Alex and the others went to the Owl cafe, and I took in a half hour with the Bengal cats. You find out really quick which ones like to be petted and which ones don’t. Alex got some great pictures of owls, which I will post later when I get them from her.

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Another bit about food-

Japanese Colonel Sanders is a bit creepy, and although most of our meals were relatively cheap, KFC in Kyoto was expensive. The chicken was delicious but really greasy, and there was no way that Alex was going to eat the Corn Pie!

I decided to go with the curry lunch, which was great! That Naan was the size of my arm!

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For our afternoon excursion we went to Nara, which was the capital of Japan before Kyoto. This is the site of the largest Buddha statue! The temple where the statue was housed was impressive! One of the only temples that will allow you to take pictures inside.

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Nara is also known for the deer that roam around and like to be fed special deer cookies. Everyone had a blast feeding and petting the deer.

Warning for anyone that comes here to feed deer: If they suspect you might have cookies, you will probably be bitten (I got nipped in the butt). If they see you with cookies, prepare to be swarmed! If you wave your empty hands at them they will know you have no cookies and leave you alone. Many of them will bow to you to get cookies.

I decided to skip the tour bus between lunch and dinner and just walk around Kyoto with little to no plan at all just to take in the sights.

I started off after lunch at Nijo Castle and made my way along a hidden canal walk up to Modoribashi Park. The canal was a peaceful respite from the hustle and bustle of the Kyoto streets. Kyoto has so many narrow side streets that can not only get you lost, but can also get you a good glimpse of the city that isn’t just major shopping hubs and train stations. These cool murals were on a wall along a park/baseball field. I was told no purchasing any Samurai swords, but they were nice to window shop.

I ended up walking to the Kyoto Imperial Palace and taking a tour of the grounds. This place was huge! Every courtyard and pathway was large enough for an Emperor’s entourage I suppose. Many more beautiful gardens and ponds near the palace as well.

After my river walk I cut over to the Nishiki Market. Oh my! I’m not sure if it was because it was Sunday, but this was the biggest crowd I found myself in all trip long. Endless shops and restaurants here. I also took a picture of the interesting downtown gas stations that fill up your car from hanging pumps. Ingenious!

Before dinner, I decided to go hike up into the small mountains above Maruyama Park. Thankfully, I didn’t get attacked by wild boars nor aggressive monkeys. It was beautiful up in the forest, but it was really humid and the paths were overgrown in many places. There were a lot of old shrines up in these hills as well.

The Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji) was serene and lush. We were there first thing in the morning, so we had an opening crowd, but the weather was not quite hot and humid yet, so it was nice. Walking around the Golden Pavilion was enjoyable, with the amazing trees, ponds, and little waterfalls.

Nijo Castle was breathtaking and fun to explore. The moats and walls made me imagine what it must have been like for a warring clan to try and breach the defenses. Inside the grounds of the castle were many gorgeous gardens and odd shaped trees. Simply stunning!

More food adventures!

Coolish- Not quite cold and not quite melted…

Alex and I were in agreement that the Hershey’s Choco Monaka was delicious! I guess you can’t really go wrong with a chocolate ice cream waffle.

The DHA drink we did not get, but it was with the energy drinks and has a crazy monkey on it so…probably pretty effective.

For lunch I had pretty much what I called a sushi burrito. It was fantastic! Alex and I shared some japanese cherries which are in season right now. They were amazing! (didn’t get a picture of them because we ate them so quickly!

Mt. Fuji, also known as the shy mountain, was definitely bashful today, as the weather was nothing but clouds and light rain for most of the day. We still had a great time taking a ferry on Lake Ashi and seeing the colorful boats move along the calm waters. We took the Hakone Komagatake Ropeway (suspended cable car/gondola) up to the top of Mt. Komagatake. It was raining pretty heavily, and with the wind and cold, no one else in our group ventured far past the station. In true fashion, I went off exploring and wasn’t disappointed. Not too far from the top of the ropeway was the Hakonejinja Mototsumiya Shinto Shrine, and the mist was eerily beautiful and calming. I had some time to hike around and take these cool pictures.

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During the next leg of our trip we got to ride the Shinkansen aka the bullet train! The first one that flew through the station surprised everyone in our group and we all had a good laugh at how we reacted. The ride itself was extremely comfortable and fast! Another good spot to see Mt. Fuji, but alas, the shy mountain was elusive this afternoon as well.

Once we left Tokyo, it was on to Kamakura, where we got our first glimpse of more traditional Japanese architecture. We first stopped at the Tsurugaokahachimangu Shinto Shrine where we witnessed a wedding ceremony (not planned). The Kamakura Shrine Gate and the walkway up to the shrine was beautiful as well as the lily pad ponds at the entrance.

Let me start off by saying that the food here is amazing. From the little shops and stands, to the vending machines, it doesn’t disappoint if you are adventurous. Our day in Kamakura was hot, so Alex treated herself to Churros and ice cream, while I had a delicious meat pie and…yes, ice cream (mine was a coconut chocolate ice cream).

I’m going to continue posting pictures of all the food and drink items that made me laugh, because that’s how i roll.

Pocari Sweat- keep seeing this one in the vending machines. I’m sure it tastes great…but I am not drinking anything called “sweat”

Crunky- the cookies that are apparently an equal amount of crunchy and chunky. I’m going to start using this word a heck of a lot to describe things from now on.

One day, I hope to become Coffee Boss! Didn’t get a picture, but one of their advertisements has a random picture of Tommy Lee Jones…not sure why (must be big in Japan like Tom Waits)

Our hotel in Atami was amazing! It was a traditional style Japanese hotel called a Ryokan, where we wore Yukata (Japanese pajamas – not Kimonos). The rooms were just about as beautiful as the view from the balcony. Atami is right on the ocean, and all of us in our group agreed that we wouldn’t mind spending the rest of our trip in this resort town. We got to eat a traditional 7 course Japanese dinner! Needless to say, the dinner entertainment was watching the group of kids react to various foods while they discovered their limits to what they were willing to eat.

Went to Akihabara the electric city today! Center for electronics for Tokyo that has also become a destination for Manga and Anime fans. Some of these electronics store are like Radio Shack on steroids. I’d say about 90% of what they sold I had no idea what it was for, but still spent some time walking around these shops in amazement. The manga/anime shops had endless aisles and floors of figurines. Impressive! The deeper you went into these stores the more “adult” they became. I didn’t take any pictures beyond certain points and certainly couldn’t post them.

Took a trip to Honda in the afternoon. The motorcycles on display were amazing as was their Formula 1 racer. It was interesting to see the evolution of their motorcycles and other Honda machinery. Didn’t know there were Honda airplanes!

The Asimo demonstration was cool! We got to watch the evolution of all the walking robots that Honda developed, and then got to see Asimo in action. It ran, jumped, hopped on one leg and, and could even speak in sign language! Add a little A.I. and the robot uprising is just around the corner!

Had a great breakfast and ate almost everything in this picture besides the frankfurter looking “sausages”. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten fried chicken and noodles for breakfast before! But it was great! Then it was on to the Asakusa Kannon Temple, where we got a great view of the Tokyo Skytree!

Asakusa Kannon Temple was beautiful and we got to purify ourselves with smoke and water. Alex and I spent a good amount of time walking around and seeing so many interesting shrines. What a great way to start our trip!

Our next stop was the Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine, which was in the middle of a gorgeous and shaded forest (which Alex appreciated because it was really humid). Apparently the crows are dangerous here…really trying to not throw in a Game of Thrones reference here…the panoramic picture is a collection of various barrels of sake offered to the shrine yearly!

For lunch we had some great sushi in Harajuku where we also spent a lot of time in a cool toy store that had many pop toys including Star Wars Samurai figures!

Ended our amazing day with a trip to an observation deck on the 45th floor of a Shinjuku skyscraper. It was pretty hazy, but you could still see all of Tokyo (just not Mt. Fuji). We had a Sumo style pot dinner which was yummy (at least I liked it…Alex not so much)

Everything is packed and we are going to try and get some sleep. Need to be at the airport at 4 am, then a morning flight to Vancouver, 5 hour layover and then our 9 hour flight to Tokyo. Can’t wait…to land in Tokyo

 

“Wherever you go,

                                  go with all your heart”  –  Confucius

 

June 3rd, 2019 – 2 Weeks until we leave for Japan!

We had our last preparation meeting last night and Alex and I are extremely excited and nervous. It is starting to sink in that we really are about to go on an amazing adventure to an incredible country! I even packed my bag already (just to see if everything would fit). Not looking forward to the flight there, but I’m sure once we have landed and I’m settled in the hotel…and I’ve had some sake…I’ll hardly feel the jet lag (future entry will hold the answer). We will be plenty busy during our trip with a packed itinerary, but I’ve been obsessively looking up many places in Tokyo, Hakune, and Kyoto that we probably won’t even get to see. I have also been working on my Japanese with the Duolingo app. Not quite fluent yet, but I’ve surprised myself with how much I have learned and how well I can pick out some Japanese characters and their sounds. Can’t wait!!