Winter Break Touring

Two weeks ago I successfully completed my winter break traveling.  It was an adventure filled with sights to see, friends to laugh with, mistakes to laugh about, and warm welcomes.  I left off last time after I had just arrived in Tokyo, and will continue from there and write on my travels from Tokyo.  Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world and walking through Tokyo station will affirm this fact for anyone that has their doubts, the amount of people rushing from one platform to the next is unbelievable.  During the morning rush hours, subway station attendants are needed to push people into the train car so that the train doors can close.  In fact when I first arrived in Tokyo, I headed into the main Tokyo station, after arriving at the train platform where I thought I would be boarding, I quickly realized that it was a battle not to be won by someone carrying a gym bag full of travel gear.  So instead, I simply sat down on a bench and watched the thousands of business suits pour out onto the platform before I left to take a different subway line to Shinjuku.

As with many large cities Tokyo is made up of several different areas each known for their own qualities and characteristics.  I spent my first day wandering about the streets of Shinjuku which is full of large department stores, ramen shops, restaurants, shops, and is known for its entertainment district of Kabukicho where there are countless bars, nightclubs, and restaurants.  After walking about I headed to Aoyama-itchome to drop my luggage off and check-in at my hotel.  During the evening I headed back to Shinjuku station to meet several of my friends who I had met at Western Washington Univeristy and we all headed out to eat.  We walked around throughout the evening following the ebb and flow of the night as groups of people moved from one place to another for a bite to eat here, and a drink or two there, as the variety of quaint small restaurants and pubs make for a night to be spent with friends moving from place to place.

It was an enjoyable evening spent with long-time-no-see friends, tasty food including donuts for dessert of course, and the busy nightlife of Tokyo's Shinjuku.

The following day I headed to Shinbuya where there is the Meji Jingu Shrine and the nearby Takeshita Dori, a famous shopping street packed with small shops and crowded with people.  The Meji Jingu Shrine was established in 1920 and is surrounded by a forest of over 170,000 planted trees.  The area of the shrine is approximately 700,000m² and after walking through the wide shrine gate and viewing the impressive natural space created one forgets the large metropolis encompassing it.

After walking around the area, it was back to the station for a train to the area of Ueno.  Ueno has multiple offerings such as the Tokyo National Museum, Ueno Toshogu Shrine, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Ueno Park, and the famous market street of Ameyokocho.  While my visit was during the お正月 Oshogatsu, or New Year's time, most of the museums were closed.  These will have to be stops for next time.  So, I enjoyed a walk through Ueno park and then strove on to the market street, Ameyoko.

Ameyoko is a busy shotengai 商店街.  The street is packed with people, hundreds of shops, food, clothing, shoes, arcades, restaurants and more.  Walking itself is a task in the narrower sections of the street.

Tokyo has much to see and I am looking forward to visiting again.  My next stop was Nagoya.

Nagoya is famous for Nagoya Castle.  While, I was able to go see the outside of the castle and take some pictures, during the New Year holiday the castle is closed so I was not able to enter the castle grounds.  However, walking around the surrounding walls and viewing the castle from outside is impressive itself. Below I have posted some pictures of the moat and castle.

As I spent the New Year's in Nagoya, I was able to experience a typical お正月 holiday eating at home, watching the special New Year's Japanese Television programming and spending time with my friend's family.

While there I also visited Inuyama Castle.  The castle is said to have been originally constructed around 1440, but was completed in 1537 by Oda Yojirou Nobuyasu, a samurai warrior who worked to unify Japan during the Warring States period and it is one of the oldest standing castles in Japan.   The castle served as a type of outpost to warn Nagoya castle of any approaching forces.  The structure itself has a powerful presence, and one can easily understand its strategic placement overseeing the Kiso River Valley.

 

Next on the map was Kyoto.  Kyoto is an absolutely beautiful city.  The city once served as the imperial capital of Japan and hosts numerous historical buildings, national treasures, and UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  While there I spent an entire day walking the city from place to place and fell in love.  Around every corner one can find remarkable diamonds of history.  Temples, shrines, castles, houses, shops, restaurants, shopping streets, kimonos, business suits, cars, samurai, music, art, food, fill the area and create an indescribable atmosphere in which ancient tradition and modern day meet at once and blend in a beautifully calm way.

One such place that I visited was the UNESCO World Heritage Site Nijo Castle, 二条城.  The castle was originally built in 1603 and was the official Kyoto residence for the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu.  The exterior is surrounded by a moat and stone wall and the entire ground covered by the castle complex is an impressive 275,000 square meters.  Needless to say it is quite large.  Upon entering the first gate the visitor is met by another wall surrounding the main palace, within each wall can be found beautiful cherry blossoms and intricately designed gardens.  The Ninomaru garden, neighboring the main palace, was designed by Kobori Enshu a famous Japanese tea master and landscape artist and utilizes a stunning use of space, stones, water, plants, trees, and land.

The interior of the main palace is remarkable.  Laid out in a series of chambers and rooms all of which corresponded to various levels or rankings of visitors, the castle is filled with intricate wood carvings, gold leaf, and wall paintings.  The design of the interior was done so with distinct care and purpose.  The  floor itself was built with a unique quality known as "nightingale floors".  In order to provide a warning to any occupants of an unwelcome guest, the corridor floors were constructed so that the floor nails would rub against a metal clamp to create a noise similar to that of the chirping of a Japanese うぐいす Uguisu, a type of bird.

My next stop in Kyoto was the Ginkakuji Temple.

The Ginkakuji Temple is a World Cultural Heritage Site and was established in 1482 by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eight Muromachi Shogunate.  Yoshimasa followed his grandfather Ashikaga, Yoshimitsu who had built the temple on the grounds, and built the villa Higashiyama den.  Yoshimasa spent his entire life building the villa and surrounding garden with a combination of Higashiyama and Zen culture.  The Japanese garden is said to have been designed by a famous landscape artist Soami, and the garden is well known for its sand-mountain representing Mount Fuji.

The next stop I made was by Heian Jingu.  Heian Jingu is a Shinto Shrine built in 1895 in celebration of the 1,100 anniversary of Heiankyo, the old name for Kyoto.  As was not able to tour the gardens on the shrine's grounds  I am looking forward to returning again.

Walking around the city of Kyoto was wonderful and I took a few photos of houses and streets and the area that I would like to share below.

Kyoto is a singular and memorable city.  After journeying through the narrow streets, walking through ancient halls, and contemplating the Zen styled gardens, it is easily understood why the city is known for capturing the hearts of its visitors and the spirit of Japan.  ぜひ来て下さい。

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from Japan!  Winter has arrived in Akita the empty rice fields, roads, and treetops are now covered in snow.  I woke up this morning to  fresh snow and blue skies.  Christmas in Japan is largely known as a holiday for couples.  While Christmas is celebrated in Japan, the more significant holiday is the upcoming New Year.  During the New Year’s celebrations, which last about three days, families gather and celebrate enjoying the days by relaxing and spending time together.  I will be in Nagoya during お正月 (Oshougatsu) New Year’s and am looking forward to welcoming the new year in Japan!

I spent my Christmas traveling to Aomori by train.  This is the northern most city on Honshu Island. I previously wrote about Aomori and its famous Nebuta festival.  However when I arrived, the area was covered in snow, and I mean covered!  Snow was everywhere, and when I say Aomori gets a lot of snow, I mean that they measure it in meters and use a massive truck with a snow conveyor belt that drops the snow in another truck which then drives to the ocean and drops it there as there is no other place to put it.  Snowplows do not plow that often and many roads remain covered in snow during the Winter, part of the reason being there is often no where to push the snow to in the small space efficient neighborhoods.  That isn’t to say they never plow but it is an expectation that drivers purchase snow tires and it works out fine.  Furthermore, as neighborhoods’ often have little room in front of houses, snow is shoveled into sleds and pulled to a nearby open field or a kind of community snow drop off point so to speak. The phenomenal amount of snow would make for some great snow forts.  The entire area has a wonderful nostalgic and natural feel to it and I was truly taken aback by the winter wonderland.  I had a great time staying at my friend’s house and it was nice to shovel some snow again.  The trip or perhaps more appropriately, the snow there has convinced me to grab my skis and move to Aomori as soon as possible.

The night after Christmas I boarded a night bus headed for Tokyo, the trip takes about 11 hours, but as it travels during the night passengers try and sleep as much as they can.  I arrived yesterday at Tokyo station and experienced the shock of seeing the busiest subway station in the world.  Wow!  I boarded the subway and headed to Shinjuku where I would begin my journey in Tokyo.  I will spend the next few days exploring the area and will update my blog after the trip with stories and photos!

Happy holidays everyone and safe travels!

ジェフ

Below is a picture of where we would take the snow by sled and drop it.

A view of one of the streets in Shinjuku early in the morning.

Kakunodate, Cycling, and Bowling!

As Winter steadily approaches the weather has been a mixture of cold days with snow, to the last warm sunny days of Fall.  Fortunately before the snow falls with intention to stay, I was able to travel to the nearby town of Kakunodate with Watanabe san.  Kakunodate is also the place where I visited a night festival and wrote about in one of my early blogs, but this time I was able to walk around the town during the day and visit some of its many historical sites.

Kakunodate is famous for its samurai houses and cherry trees.  Interestingly, almost all of the samurai houses, dating back to 1620 the year Kakunodate was founded, are still owned by various families. Today there are 6 of the houses open to the public free of charge.  Out of the six there are two of the samurai houses renown for their size and structures.  The Aoyagi House and Ishiguro House.  Both have multiple structures and artifacts on display.  When we visited the Ishiguro House we were able to speak with the family that lives there now and we were shown some of the key features of the architecture, as well as were able to see the adjacent warehouse where rice was stored.  Perhaps the feature I found to be the most unique was the subtle carving of turtles in the wood above the sliding doors into one of the rooms.  The carving was designed so that the lantern light from the ground of the adjacent room would cast a shadow of the turtles on the walls creating a beautiful illumination and bringing the walls to life as the turtles seemed to move in the flickering of the candle light.  It is such subtleness and quiet functionality of the samurai architecture that leave an impression on the viewer.

The samurai class of the era not only built incredibly ornate buildings , but also imported the beautiful cherry trees that line the river, border roads, and shelter houses, from Kyoto during the Edo period (1603-1868) and since then Kakunodate has been a famous location for cherry blossom viewing.  I hope to return in the spring to view the vivid flowering trees.  Below I have posted a picture of a view over Kakunodate from a hike we took to the top of a nearby hill as well as some of the samurai houses of the area.

We also visted a local museum, the Kakunodate Densyokan which featured Kabazaiku, or cherry bark crafts.  Kabazaiku is an art form in which the artists polishes the bark of cherry trees and creates various objects such as chests, Douran (small case), Inrou (pill box), pipe containers, etc.  The craft was first introduced to the area of Kakunodate over 200 years ago.  It was a kind of hobby or side-job for local samurai and the craft has been passed down from generation to generation.  The museum had many incredible pieces on display as well as an area where a local artist was working on some new pieces.  Furthermore the following link has a great example and information about the art and if you'd like to see some pictures, learn about how the bark is acquired (the tree is not cut down, there is a special technique used in order to preserve the tree), as well as some interesting information on the topic! Kabaziku Information.

Above pictures taken from http://kakunodate-kanko.jp/kabazaiku.html.

It was a delightful journey and we are grateful to have had Wantanabe San to guide us through the city.

In order to give an update on the past few weeks, below are some recent happenings.  The first pictures are from a cycling adventure during one of the final days of Fall.  I also recently met the Akita City Rotary Club for a night of bowling and Karaoke where I was able to find out that both my bowling and singing skills have much room for improvement.  Nevertheless, we all had a fun night together.