Thoughts on Our Visit to Japan

I was looking through my pictures again and it seems like a lot of time has passed since we first arrived in Japan. I really enjoyed my visit and seeing the quiet gardens and the other green spaces that you find everywhere in the middle of the city. Some of these areas are associated with temples or other religious structures but many of the parks were just as quiet and restful. I don't think that I could ever get used to the crowds but was surprised by the extent of the farmlands that separate the cities.

It took a bit for us to get used to the signs, the money and even the weird vending machines where you could get just about anything. After a while, we were able to get around using public transportation and didn't get too lost wandering around the narrow streets. Everywhere we went was tidy and clean. By clean, I don't mean "like new" or immaculate but no litter. Now I miss the small shops and food stalls.

These steps seem to be an example of what I miss already. The original stones are on the left and are supplemented with more modern and durable steps in the middle along with the handrail. This isn't any kind of restored historical building or anything like that but just an older, operational temple. We went there originally since there was a geocache near the bottom of the stairs. (BTW, we found a number of geocaches in Japan)

This creek was about a few hundred meters from the townhouse we stayed at in Kyoto. Again, a very nice green area in the middle of the city. There was another geocache here overlooking the bench near the bridge that I was standing on while taking this picture. The little handrail-less footbridge near the middle of the frame would never be allowed to exist in the US. Many people used this bridge including large groups of kids on their way to school. I'm not sure if there is a summer break but kids were still attending school while we were there. In fact, heading to school at 6:30am and not heading home until around 6 in the evening. There were still groups of kids heading home at 10pm. Long hours and six days per week.

Not all of the food in Japan was bland. Here is a very hot and spicy noodle dish that I had for lunch at the Nishiki Market. I don't think I had anything that I didn't like and I must admit that I missed the small noodle shops that we found all over Japan. All very reasonably priced which is not what I had expected. I had heard that food would be incredibly expensive in Japan. The only expensive meal we had was the Japanese dinner with family on our last evening in Kyoto. Most, like this lunch dish of noodles and Chinese fried rice, was about 500¥ or about $5 and change.

I thought about looking for a waterproof point and shoot camera and while the selection was huge, the price was usually much more than the same camera would sell for in the US. Then again, there were quite a few that weren't even available.

There were some real disappointments but maybe I'll cover those in a seperate post.

Here is what we came back to in Fairbanks, smoke and limited visibility. There are fires both east and west of Fairbanks and the smell of smoke is everywhere. But things are green and the temperatures are back in the "normal" range.

Posted with Blogsy

Long Travel Day

Today is a travel day. We went on two subways in Kyoto, the Shinkansen form Kyoto to Tokyo, the Narita Express (NEX) from Tokyo to Narita Airport and now we are waiting at the gate for our flight to Singapore. We won't arrive until about 2:30am and will need to wait until my sister and her family arrive about half an hour later on a different airline. This is just a ramdom photo from the train and, as you can see, it really didn't clear up much so no Mt. Fuji photo.

 This is the train station in Tokyo where we are waiting for the train to Narita Airport. Lots of overhead lines as that is how all of the trains seem to be powered. It makes for a cluttered view of the sky but there is not "third rail" either. I'm told that makes them a little safer.

The NEX was a pretty nice train. All of the seats are assigned and they have these nice sliding glass doors separating the seating compartment from the luggage storage section. It wasn't as quiet or as fast as the Shinkansen but still a very nice ride. A bit more pleasant than the bus ride we took upon arrival. There were food carts going up and down the aisles on the NEX like the Shinkansen but we bought bento box lunches in the Kyoto train station. I'll modify the post later to include a photo of yet another tasty meal.

Good bye to Japan for now. I think that we'll be back...

Last Day in Kyoto - Family Dinner

Today was a quiet day with our family splitting up into multiple groups. Bridget and I went with my nephew to look for a couple of geocaches (found our first two in Japan!) and then took the subway to Nishiki Market. After having a very spicy Chinese noodle dish, we wandered through the fresh fish and vegetable market into a very mall-like area with quite a few high end stores. We eventually wandered back to the townhouse to get ready for the evening meeting with family.

Two cousins and my aunt live in Kyoto and another cousin came with his wife from Osaka. We met at a very Japanese restaurant near the shopping district and had a multi-course traditional meal while sitting at low tables set on tatami mats. The staff were women in traditional kimonos. I didn't remember to start taking food shots until after the first couple of courses. But here are most of the courses.

Vegetable Sushi - Unusual even in Japan

Soup

Wild Duck and Mushrooms

Toasted Rice Soup

Tempura Fresh Water Eel

Dessert Plate with Red Bean Jelly,
Green Tea Ice Cream
and Fresh Fruit

After a long, relaxing dinner, it was a bit challenging for me to stand up again. There was an exchange of gifts all around and a group photo. We brought a selection of Alaska gifts as there seems to be a real attraction to Alaska for everyone. One of the staff graciously agreed to take photos with at least five cameras. Here is the Machida family in Japan along with Bridget and I, my sister and her family and my mom. Plus the brother of one of my cousin's wife.

It was wonderful to meet them again though it was a bit challenging to converse due to my limited Japanese and their limited English. The younger generation had an easier time with it.

Rainy Day Activities in Kyoto

Today's activities were a little more laid back than the last couple of days. It was still sprinkling so we looked for indoor activities. My sister, Bridget and I went to the Kyoto Handy Craft Center to try our hand at making something resembling art. We tried the woodblock painting and in spite of good instruction, I must say that our attempts make the commercial block prints look phenomenal.

We then walked towards the downtown area and passed over the Kyoto version of a river. It looks a lot like the concrete channels I grew up with in southern California. We attempted to use the bus/subway/train system but was thwarted by the confusing transportation system. All of the systems are private and you need different passes for each one. We had a Japan Rail pass and had purchased subway/bus passes yesterday. There was an underground train that headed toward where we were headed but our passes didn't work.

I've seen a lot of these little three wheeled scooters around everywhere and they seem to be used mostly for food delivery vehicles. An insulated box fits on the rear rack and they aren't much wider than a normal scooter. In Kyoto, there seems to be quite a few more scooters and motorcycles than in Tokyo but bicycles outnumber any other form of wheeled transport.

In the downtown core, they even charge for bicycle parking. Scooter and motorcycle parking is on the street but bicycles get to go right next to the buildings.

That particular parking area happened to be in front of the capitol building. Kind of a dreary looking building compared to many of the other buildings in this town. But the grounds were very well kept and spotlessly clean. In fact, I have yet to see any litter along the street and even fewer trash cans. The American habit of eating and drinking while walking along isn't evident. If you stop at Starbucks, then you would stay there until you are finished.

These bikes are very common for carrying multiple kids or a lot of groceries. The really wide sidewalk in this area of town is for both pedestrians and bicycles with clearly marked lanes for each. Even the sidewalks are divided. The bicyclists are almost fearless as they navigate their way through traffic (always on the correct side of the street, going with the flow of traffic).

Here is where we were headed this afternoon after lunch. The Manga Museum where you could find everything related to manga. Something else that I didn't really know much about. I used to watch the cartoons while growing up but never knew it had a name. The whole manga/anime/cosplay thing is extremely popular and it isn't unusual to see girls dressed up as characters walking down the street. I guess that's one way to not conform and stand out in a crowd.

Kyoto Temples

Tropical storm Leepi is slowly moving next to Japan and Kyoto is kind of at the edge so we had fairly steady rain all day. But that didn't really put a damper on our walking the town. There is supposedly 1000 steps from the bottom of the hill to the temple and I, for one, was happy that it wasn't hot and humid. Cool and rainy was just fine. In spite of the weather, there were lots of people visiting the temple including crowds of school kids.

We paid the 300¥ to walk through the Kiyomizu-dera (which means clear water) temple and there were some spectacular views of the city below and of the lush vegetation. I was amazed at the construction of the temples as it was all beams and wedges. There isn't a single metal fastener used in the entire structure. There were several buildings still under restoration within the complex. To the right is a large bell outside one of the temples.

Below is another small structure sitting across the valley and the color really helped it stand out from the surrounding trees. The trail we were on eventually worked its way around to its base. There was quite a bit of restoration work going on there as well.

This is the main temple building near the top of the hill. As you can see, there is quite a crowd out there. Here, I am on the trail working my way towards the other temple building.

Along the trail, there were some beautiful flowers and I'm sure that they appreciated the rainfall.

It is some sort of tradition that women make the trek dressed up in traditional garb. There were quite a few on the trail this day. Here they were filling up the cups and taking a sip (then putting the cup under the "traditional" ultraviolet sanitizing light). This is water from a waterfall that flows through the temple further up the hill.

This bamboo fence looks a bit deadly to me and I liked the way it was all just tied together. Again, no metal fasteners.

As we worked our down the hill, the rain was making the walkways pretty slippery. Here, there were troughs on each side of the stairs with lots of water pouring down. I don't know the total rainfall today but it was pretty steady all day long. I ended the day still feeling dry but it may have just been a good selection of clothes. All this stuff that I used on my riding trip last summer in hot weather. All quick drying and comfortable.

For lunch, some nice soba with mackerel and veggies. It'll take quite a while for me to get tires of this food. There has been a huge selection everywhere we've been. At the bottom of the stairs, there was a small shop serving green tea treats. I We had a couple of green tea, and the bowl had green tea ice cream, green tea jello, and some small rice cakes. Not overly sweet like a many western desserts.

I ended up taking a lot of photos but after a while, all of the temples start to look alike.

Shinkansen to Kyōto

Today we left Tōkyō for Kyōto which is about 500km away. For this trip we took the train from where we were staying with my cousin to the Tōkyō station and then boarded the Shinkansen better known as the "bullet train". Obviously, not as fast as a bullet but with top speeds of around 300 km/hr. The trip took around 2½ hours and it was a very smooth and quiet ride. This was one of the things that I was looking forward to on this trip.

The trains are always on time and I was told that the deviation from the schedule is rarely more than 15sec. The doors were opened at 11:25am and by 11:33am, we were pulling out of the station. They wheel carts up and down the aisle selling food and drinks. But there was a huge selection of box lunches in the Tōkyō train station for less than half the price of what was being sold on the train. Below is my bento box lunch with some rice, pickled vegetables, two kinds of grilled fish and a small dumpling. A delicious bargain.

It was raining very lightly as we left Tōkyō and by the time we arrived in Kyōto  it was raining almost continuously. No views or pictures of Mt. Fuji due to the low lying clouds. Hopefully Fuji will make an appearance on our trip back to Tōkyō and the Narita airport on Sunday. According to the proprietor of the townhouse where we are staying here in Kyōto, there is a typhoon headed this way and it will probably be raining until at least Friday afternoon.

As we left the Tōkyō region, more and more rice fields started to appear along the train route. Many times there wasn't much of a view from the train as there were sound barriers to keep the train noise from the homes near the track. You could really tell that you were moving pretty fast when you were going through the towns or when passing another train going in the opposite direction.

More evidence of politeness was the train employees always bowing when entering or leaving the train car. Even when buying groceries at the store, the cashier would hand you your change with two hands, bowing and saying thank you for visiting their store.

This was a very relaxing trip through the country side and I'd really recommend that you put it on your itinerary. There are probably many faster trains but non with the phenomenal combination of politeness, quiet and comfort.

The townhouse where we are staying in Kyōto has traditional futon beds on tatami mats. And the front door is located in the middle of a covered shopping street. This evening, one of my cousins stopped by with his wife and daughter. It has been a really long time since I had last seen them. They came loaded with groceries for our stay.

Wandering Around Tokyo - Day 2

On today's walk to the train station, we passed this Japanese oddity. I have not seen anything like this driving around on the street. In fact, today I saw a Fiat 500 going down the road and it looked huge compared to many of the cars. Even the motorcycles and scooters seem large compared to some of the cars and tiny vans.

We took the train and subway to the Asakusa district of Tokyo and went in to see Sensoji temple. This was one of the oldest temples in common use. There were a lot of people in this area as there was a huge shopping area called Nakamise shopping street between this entrance gate and the temple about ¼ mile back. Lots of tourist stuff for sale at hundreds of small booths and shops.

This is the second gate right before the entrance to the temple. From this point on, the only shops were those run as part of the temple. There was a large smoldering fire burning incense which is visible in the next photo. It was interesting watching all the people coming to visit.

This photo was taken from the temple steps looking back towards the same gate. You can see the smoke from the incense fire as well as the fortunes for sale in the side buildings. Behind me was the large collection box for anyone who wanted to enter the temple itself. Lots of people and hot and humid. Not a great combination but very interesting. On the subway, there were more people talking but on the subway trip back, the train was standing room only again.

One of the many shopping areas in the Ginza region that we visited next. Lots of smaller shops mixed in with the large, name-brand stores such as Tiffany's and Apple. We had lunch here and I neglected to take a picture of my daikon salad and sushi.

One last picture as we headed back to the train station at the end of the afternoon. It wasn't as crowded here as there were in other areas of the city. I fully expected this area to have a lot of traffic and people but there was neither. Tomorrow, we take the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto.