Month: October 2024

I was excited to see the gardens in Kyoto and they did not disappoint. Even Ray enjoyed them tremendously. We realized that “seen one temple, seen them all” is absolutely not true. Each is unique as are the gardens around them. In a video at Murin-an, we realized how tending just pine trees alone is done with patience and exactness- candling, needling and pruning-removing each new sprout of needles to create a feeling of fullness and softness. Murin-an Garden was one of our favorite gardens, created with ponds and waterfalls to take advantage of the flowing water when Lake Biwa was formed as a dam to provide water from Tokyo to Kyoto and for hydroelectric power. The small garden and its rock paths are exquisite as is the tea house with tatamis that look out onto the garden.

The majority of Japanese are atheists and believe more in superstitions. They go to temples to honor their ancestors on special occasions like weddings, birthdays or deaths. Temples have altars and statues of Budhas. Monks own, live in and care for them. Shrines are small altars set up to honor a deity and there are thousands of them- deity of health, relationships etc and they can be found all over the city. People go to make a wish or pray for someone/something- you pull the cord to ring the bell to wake the deity, bow twice, clap twice and make your wish.

Our next destination is Nanzen-Ji, a Zen Buddhist temple and Hojo Garden. It was established in 1291 , burned in 1895 and rebuilt in 1905. This is our favorite site as the temple is awe inspiring and the many Japanese maples create a very peaceful atmosphere. Red foliage in a few more weeks must be gorgeous.

To the east of the temple is a small garden with a very European looking arched structure made of red bricks. This is the aqueduct which brings water from Lake Biwa.

Following the Philosopher’s Path, we make a brief stop at Eikando Temple.

About a mile away is Ginkakuji “Temple of the Silver Pavilion”. Ashikaga Yoshimasa, a shogun originally built this as a villa, which was converted to a temple after his death. Several natural features can be seen- a pond, mossy mounds, overlook, dry sand garden and rocks. There are so many visitors including school groups that the one way paths are packed, making for a non-contemplative environment!

That completes our day’s temple and garden viewing. We get ready for our 3 hr evening walking tour of Gion, the geisha district, which we signed up for through TripAdvisor. We meet our guide and group at corner of a very busy shopping area. We are a group of 8 consisting of 2 sisters from Brazil, a couple from Calgary and a couple of men from DC and the Philippines. Our guide Kats is local and takes us through 2 geisha streets. Kyoto is one of the remaining cities with geisha tea houses of which there are about 200. Our guide said that being a geisha is no longer as popular as historically when it was considered glamorous and when some poor families turned their girls over to become geishas. They currently enter at age 15 and are an apprentice or “maiko” until age 20. They live in tea houses under the care of a mother geisha, the tea houses are identified by a long small metal plate next to the door and wooden plates which bear each geisha’s name. Geishas are considered entertainers – dance, song and hostesses. We see a geisha in a cab but none walking in the lanterned alleys.

We are led through local streets, to the guide’s home where his mother gives us candy, up alleys to overlooks, to several shrines and Kodaji Temple.

Yasaka Pagoda is a pleasant surprise, a brightly lit structure rising up 45 meters. The top is a lightning hazard! Pagodas and temples were constructed without nails. The notched beams allow for flex in an earthquake.

We learn that after the Sarin gas terrorist attack in Tokyo, the government removed all trash cans from city streets. People carry their trash home. People do not eat on subways, trains or on the street, and Japanese cities are tidy with no litter. One of our group members asked about the homeless. Apparently a few decades ago, the homeless in Kyoto were moved to Osaka where they are housed in a special section. Thus ends our informative tour. We head to a very reasonably priced sushi restaurant recommended by the hotel. Pontocho Kappa Sushi, At 9pm, there is pretty much a table available anywhere.

Today we logged an impressive 11.5 miles of walking . I am finding that my year of elementary Japanese from Foothill decades ago, combined with my knowledge of some Chinese characters is increasing my comprehension of signs and place names. The Japanese are extremely respectful and polite, exchanging bows and thank you’s back and forth several times.

Note to self: bring battery pack charger for iphone. Pants with pockets are essential.

Kyoto is an attractive city with a river that runs through it. Breakfast is on the 17th floor and the view at sunrise is lovely. There is a buffet of Japanese and Western food. Funny thing is, the instructions given to everyone says Japanese breakfast on 6th floor at 7 and Western on floor 17 at 6:30. Actually it is a combined buffet on 17th floor at 7 but I think the Japanese are too polite to tell the front desk their directions are wrong so several people were patiently sitting and waiting for 30 min. everyday.

Since it is such a beautiful day, we are heading west out of town to Arashiya and the Sagano Bamboo Forest. I’m hoping to do some morning photography and bring my tripod. The ride is on the subway then the JR Rail. We are still in awe at the public transportation system, on time, frequent and most of all immaculate and safe. It puts our Bay Area to shame, but then you look at the density of users and we could never match that revenue. Each ride based on distance only costs $1 max.

The bamboo forest is 6 sq miles with a paved path all visitors must follow. It is already getting crowded by the time we arrive at 9, a tidal wave of people. It is beautiful but not tripod friendly!! There are several species of bamboo, most are Moso, and bamboo can grow several feet in just 3 weeks. They do harvest it for various uses, like disposable chopsticks which are found in almost every restaurant.

We follow the crowds to Tenryu-ji Temple, a World Heritage Site. I’m told “no tripods”. We are not about to defy the rules here and I put it away. The temple was built in 1338 and is the finest example of Japanese garden design. Sogen Pool reflects the surrounding colors. We are a bit early for fall colors. Some leaves are starting to turn and I can imagine how splendid it must be in full autumn color.

The grounds are spacious and peaceful. We are delighted to see a ceremony happening and watch as it unfolds. It is their Annual Founders Day Celebration. Women dressed in beautiful kimonos are gathering and join men dressed in suits and robes. We watch quietly as a tea ceremony takes place.

Adjacent to the temple is Okachi Sandi Villa, the former residence of the samurai film actor Ikichi Denjin. The grounds are beautiful and overlooks Kyoto with cherry blossom trees as a foreground to give the illusion of floating in a cloud of cherry blossoms. We can only imagine…

We spent some time just wandering the park before retracing our steps back through the forest and towards the rail station. Exiting the Nijo station, our next stop is Nijo Castle. It is designated as a National Treasure since it is the only surviving example of a fortified palace complex. Built in 1603, it housed the Shogun Tokugawa and 200 years of peace and prosperity until the return of political control to the emperor and the start of the Meiji period and later democratic state. There are 6 connected buildings decorated with magnificent wall paintings and intricately carved transoms. Photography is not allowed inside but what struck me is the simplicity of the interior compared to European castles- only tatamis cover the floors and rooms are void of any furniture. The gardens are simple but elegant. Ray jokes, “in a Marie Kondo” way.

After a brief rest at the hotel, we wander out to Gion, the geisha district. It is an old town area with lanterns and alleys flanked by a busy restaurant filled streets. We ate grilled assorted seafood. More exploring of this area tomorrow night. We logged 9 miles today.

Before departing Osaka, we indulged in breakfast at the hotel which brought us back to our travels in China and their incredible hotel breakfast buffets. This one has 3 huge stations-1. breads, pastries, fruit, salad, cheese and drinks 2. Eggs to order, cereals, sausages, gyoza, rice, takoyaki and soup 3. Japanese breakfast offerings. Everything was beautifully presented.

We had a nice walk to the subway station headed to the Shin Osaka station where we would catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto. We stood in line for a half an hour at a large ticket area marked Shinkansen and JR Rail tickets- seemed pretty self explanatory to us. I was feeling quite efficient that we could purchase tickets and at the same time pick up our online tickets for our future travel routes. The girl informed us we could do neither and we couldn’t understand why but oh well. She pointed out the ticket office across the way that looked just like hers. But then we spotted a “tickets for foreign visitors” office! We got all accomplished in 10 min.!

Then on to the Shinkansen, such a sleek, smooth and fast ride, taking only 15 min to Kyoto.

We passed small plots of farms and tall hills on both sides. The scenery is so much more green and approaching Kyoto, the buildings lower and less dense than Osaka. There is more of a calmer ambience, even in the subway stations which are considerably less crowded. As in Osaka, the subway corridors underground connect to an underground “city” of shops and restaurants. Our hotel, the Okinawa Kyoto is right next to the main corridor. As we traverse these subway corridors, I am reminded that we luckily traveled light. Elevators are few and far between, and one sign pointing up led to 3 continuous flights of stairs, from the bottom looking like a small mountain!

It is a rainy afternoon so we do some sightseeing planning trying to maximize our efficiency in seeing as many sights as we can. It’s actually nice not walking today. We ate in the basement level of the train station.

It rained overnight but cleared by morning. Google maps has failed us- worked great yesterday with step by step directions for walking and the subway. Today it has switched to Japanese! Apparently it does this a few days after you arrive and I’m unable to change it back despite checking all settings. Apple Maps will have to do.

Today’s destination is the Kuromon Fish Market, which the guidebooks said was a place where restaurants buy their seafood. However it actually is a market comprised of a huge area, several blocks long, covered like usual, of small shops and stalls selling very fresh seafood for consumption. You pick what you want and they grill it for you. I later read that the real auction is at the Central Osaka Fish Market but takes place at 4am and most people cannot get there as public transportation doesn’t start that early. Apparently similar markets in Tokyo have also been transformed into consumer seafood stands. We got our fill of the best grilled unagi (eel) I have ever had, my favorite at any Japanese restaurant. It was buttery smooth, melt in your mouth good. We saw fish and other things we had never seen before, though nothing was exotic or made me cringe because they are extinct. That was a relief!

We picked up some sweets-a delicious mochi filled with red bean paste and a perfect strawberry in the middle. That leads me to mention about the fruit here. The apples are monstrous, so big they barely fit in my hand. All the fruit is picture perfect, uniform with not a blemish and looking like wax fruit. My first thought was they must be grown with a ton of chemicals but reading online I learned that Japanese farms are small and the government has very strict standards for quality so farmers spend a lot of effort to grow the very best quality and appearance to exact standards WOW! The strawberry in my mochi was sweet, firm and tasted so good.

It was only noon by the time we had had our fill so after much deliberation, decided to the Museum of Ethnology. The deliberation because it was over an hour away by train and walking, but it is located far north of central Osaka and we thought would be interesting to get out of the tourist area. It really was off the beaten path but we enjoy seeing where normal people live when we travel so on we went. Despite a brief hiccup on our train routing where we had to disembark at a stop that Google maps showed we stay on, we did ok. A helpful European couple and rail station worker helped redirect us. An hour out of the city center and it was still densely populated with older high rise and low apartments, making us feel grateful for the wide open spaces we live in. It reminded me of Hong Kong, and other Asian cities. China in comparison has much newer construction and more public spaces like parks and squares. We saw kids playing sports on schoolyard artificial turf.

The trains are packed with young people, mostly 20-30 year olds. I think getting around for the elderly must be challenging. At our stop in Suita, we were surprised to see a small bamboo forest alongside the main road.

We walked for a half an hour through a lovely area that we later learned was the site for Expi 70. We didn’t have time to fully explore the Japanese Garden, ponds and cultural park but saw a ferris wheel, very odd Tower of the Sun and stone paths. Everything was in good but not “tourist” shape. The entire area is a huge amount of open space with grass, trees and nature!

This museum was a Whoa moment. It is the largest museum of ethnology and research institution in the world with over 345,000 artifacts. The cavernous rooms have life-size objects from all parts of the world, depicting daily life and culture. The displays are not in glass cases but out in the open- instruments, tools, costumes, cooking implements, boats, carriages….It is awe inspiring and made us wonder how they acquired such an extensive collection. We spent way too much time trying to figure out their audio guide and finally gave up and just wandered. It was unlike any museum we have ever seen and a lesson on the cultural history and lifestyles of every country. Ray was particularly astonished at the collection in the history of guitars. This is not a place where you go just once; it needs multiple visits to absorb.

We trekked back to Yamaha Station to find the trains were not running- horrors, can this be possible in Japan where everything runs perfectly and on time? We were directed to the monorail and then subway where we arrived back close to the hotel. We grabbed a quick bowl of ramen from the same unnamed place we had our first dinner, thus ending our stay in Osaka.Total miles walked today, 8.5.

It seems like forever that I have been talking about going to Japan and with many iterations of an itinerary that comprised of Hokkaido then not Hokkaido. So it is hard to believe we are actually here. Our flight was uneventful and with iPads and downloaded movies and shows, 12 hrs actually passes quickly. Thank you United for leaving the middle seat open. I have to say, food on international flights has deteriorated considerably since we last flew abroad. Can you believe Robert’s favorite food as a child was lasagna on American Airlines? On this flight, we never got served breakfast since there was so much turbulence and so we landed hungry. Ray thinks the routing to Asia has changed, going over more ocean instead of north over Alaska and Russian air spaces, and therefore a longer and bumpier flight; he should know!

We arrived in Osaka mid afternoon and took a cab to the W Hotel, owned by but not Marriott branded. The city is way more industrialized than I had anticipated with rail yards , shipyards etc. high rises etc on every available space. The ride took over 30 min and was expensive. In retrospect we could have figured out the route by subway but I figured we would be tired and unfamiliar with the rail system- live and learn. The hotel is in the Manami district, not unlike 5th Ave and convenient to the main rail station. After checking in, we walked in search of food and found a section of covered pedestrian alleys with small restaurants and food stalls, drug stores, knickknacks and misc products, which we later discovered is typical of Osaka-covered for protection from the elements and packed with people on weekends. We settled on bowls of ramen with delicious broth. Then back to the hotel where we collapsed into bed.

The guidebooks say Osaka is a foodies paradise. We basically ate our way through Osaka today.

Our destination today was the Keitakuen Gardens near Tennoji Park. We were so proud to have figured out the subway system, purchased commuter cards and filled them with money for several days of rides, arriving at the park to find it was undergoing construction and closed. We ended up walking through Shin sekai, an old town, with long pedestrian streets lined with shops and restaurants, decorated like the early 1900’s. We saw a young crowd in front of a Takoyaki shop (octopus balls) and it didn’t take much convincing to try. We ate them on the street like locals. They were piping hot and very savory and flavorful.

We kept walking toward Dotombori Street looking for Mizuno which the guidebook had highly recommended the traditional okonomiyaki-savory pancakes filled with meat, seafood, and vegetables, but the line was hours long. We decided to do crab instead at Kani Doraku Dotombori which was flavorful and sweet.

Next stop, the Osaka Castle. We are now pros at navigating the subways- the stops are in English but not much else. Although uncomfortable in the warm muggy air, we diligently wear masks on public transport and crowded stores. Many Japanese, young and old,, wear masks as well.

The historic castle is in the middle of high rises with a wide promenade that encircles the moat. There are 2 entrances that go over the moat and inside are a few gardens and the palace, with adornments cast in bronze and gold gilded. I had thought the palace would be furnished to resemble what it looked like before but it has several floors of displays and a viewing platform on floor 8. It is packed full of people all trying to navigate the narrow corridors.

Osaka has very little free space. The small field at Tennoji Park where families had set blankets and kids played ball was astroturf. Walking so much of the city, we did not see a single playground- maybe in the outlying areas?The main city areas are pretty much void of trees, grass and nature. We retraced our steps back to the Dotombori area and found no line at Mizumo. The place has only 7 seats in front of a long grill where the savory pancakes made with yam batter and filled with seafood are made. Delicious!

By evening, the area was becoming crazy crowded and we have never seen so many people, mostly young, walking and eating. It resembled the Richmond Night Market but this is year round and all day and into the night. We went into a few larger stores.

One sells only capsule machine. Capsule machines are outside many stores and for a few cents you can get a plastic ball with a treat inside. There was a Japanese anime store where the salesgirl had amazing nails. Most surprising was a 3 story Go go Clamp games place with rows and rows of all kinds of things you could win using the clamps like at carnivals.

Ray said that kids growing up here are like in an alternate universe, never seeing grass, trees or nature!. It is certainly a very different life. Though people are generally quiet, speaking in soft voices, the streets are immaculate, people are neatly dressed, and everyone is polite and non confrontational. It is very safe-I think I shocked the desk clerk when asking if stms in convenience stores are safe. The exchange rate is very favorable and so things are cheap in comparison to the US, especially in restaurants where there is no tipping. There are very few non-Japanese workers; all restaurant workers are young Japanese. Tourists are Chinese and Korean with few Europeans this time of year. It appears there may be more visitors from other parts of Japan.