Travels through Japan, 2010

 Welcome to Japan!

In late November/early December, Karen and I spent 18 days traveling through Japan. I have tried to capture some the richness of this beautiful and vibrant country.  Please take a look and enjoy!

Tokyo 

   


Swan boats in Uneo Park, Tokyo

 We arrived in Japan on November 24th to attend a three day conference of the Consortium of Institutes on Family in Asia (CIFA) held at the University of Toyko.  The conference brought together mental health professionals from across Asia. We stayed in a hotel overlooking Uneo Park, walking distance to the University.  One of the first things we noticed about Toyko was how quiet it was compared with Hong Kong.

Yasuda Auditorium at the University of Tokyo



Parking lot of registered bikes

We also were surprised by the number of Tokyoites who rode bicycles.  Bikes were everywhere and many streets had an additional lane for bicycles. 

We were unnerved by the number of bike riders who choose to ride on the sidewalk.  It took us a few near misses before we figured out which way to move to get out of the way. 

The University of Tokyo had a parking area for registered bikes and a separate parking area for visitors. 


Parking lot for visitors' bikes

 

The ginkgo trees were in full fall color at the U. of Tokyo


 

The gala party of the conference also included a tea ceremony.

 

Main gate at Asakusa Temple



On Sunday we took a local train to the Asakusa Temple, the oldest temple in Tokyo.  While the temple is Buddhist, it has a Shinto shrine as well.  Buddhism came to Japan from Korea around 600 CE.  Shintoism was the native religion of Japan.  Today you often find Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines coexisting in one location. 

Huge crowds at the Asakusa Temple.

The crowds of people in Asakusa were incredible.

We could barely walk and quickly found a side alley that lead us to the main temple.


Statue of one of the first social workers in Japan,circa late 1800's.





We found this little statue on the grounds of the Asakusa temple dedicated to one of the first social workers in Japan. 

Hiroshima:

After five days in Toyko we took a bullet train to Hiroshima, a trip that took us about five hours.  Trains in Japan were all on time, when the train was scheduled to arrive at 8:43AM, it arrived exactly on time.  There was no waiting around, if you were not ready to get on board the train when it arrived, you were out of luck.  And when the train would pull into a station you had best be ready to get off.  The bullet trains had food service.  A young woman would come into the car pushing a food cart.  She would bow when entering the car, walk down the aisle quietly announcing what she had on her cart and before she left the car, she would turn and bow to the passengers.  The conductors would also bow when entering and leaving a car. 



The Shinkasen (bullet train), top speed 187mph.



Typical interior of a Japanese train.  Very modern, all seats were reserved with plenty of leg room.  A wonderful way to travel.

We toured the Hiroshima Peace Park, the site were the first atomic bomb was dropped.  There were many memorials and two museums.

Peace Park and the Atomic Dome



Monument for the children who died from the atomic bomb



The streamers on the monument are made from hundreds of small folded paper cranes.




Hiroshima Castle, destroyed by the atomic bomb and rebuilt in the 1950s.

 


Tree on the grounds of the castle which survived the atomic bombing



Mazda Museum

Future car model on display at the Mazda Museum

We also toured the Mazda factory in Hiroshima.  The factory is on the outskirts of the city and is a city in itself.   The factory had its own seaport, fire station, dorm for unmarried workers and a hospital (one way to control health care costs).  I was not surprised that several people on the tour were Miata owners. For some, this was not a tour, but a pilgrimage.

Miyajima

Miyajima is an island off the coast about one hour from Hiroshima.  We stayed overnight in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn.  Our room had tatami mats (straw) on the floor overlooking a koi pond. The inn was in the middle of a park, very beautiful. 

Karen in the sitting area of our room



Koi pond just outside our

After settling in, we took off to hike up Mt Misen, the tallest peak on Miyijima.  It was a 90 minute hike to the top on a trail that ran along side a mountain stream.  We spent time in the shrines on the top of the mountain.  Miyajima was one of our favorite places in Japan. There was a magical and mystical feel to the island.

View near the top of Mt Misen.  More islands off in the distance.

Karen near the peak of Mt Misen on Miyajima Island



This is a shrine near the top of Mt Misen.  The plaque on the shrine reads:  Reika-do Eternal Fire Hall: In the autumn of 806 when he underwent ascetic practices for 100 days on the mountain, the fire lit by Kobo Dashi is said to have been burning for 1200 years.  The fire was used to light the Flame of Peace in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.



Altar in temple near the peak of Mt Misen.




Daishoin Temple Buddha lined path

  We took a different path on the way down, stopping at the Daishoin Temple, a Buddhist temple which dates back to about 800 CE.  The temple grounds a filled with hundreds and hundreds of Buddhas. 





The first of a four dinner courses at our ryokan.







A Japanese grandmother and part of the family who operated the inn.  She made sure we bundled up when we went out and that we finished/ enjoyed everything on our plate.

We were very lucky to be able to witness a Shinto wedding at the Itsukishima Shrine. This Shinto shrine was founded in 593 CE. The shrine also has the most photographed Tori Gate in Japan - the O-Tori Gate (shown below)

Shinto wedding at the Itsukishima Shrine on Miyijima

Shinto wedding




The lucky couple after the Shinto priest had finished the wedding ceremony






Looking out at the O-torii Gate from the Itsukushima Shrine

The present O-Tori Gate is the eighth version (erected in 1875).  It stands on it's own, is 16.6 meters tall and weighs 60 tons.  It is both a graceful and massive structure. 

The O-torii Gate.  At low tide you can walk out to the gate

Kyoto

After leaving Miyijima, we took the bullet train to Kyoto, one of the ancient capitals of Japan.  We stayed at a very friendly ryokan close to the main train station.  Kyoto has had a population of over 1 million since the 1500's.  As was explained to us, Japan has had several cities with populations of over 1 million for the past 500 years.  These cities were dependent on locally produced materials as Japan did not import products till the late 1800's.  The population levels also remained relatively stable, changing in relation to rice harvests.  Infanticide was used as a method of population control. 

Given the density of population, the Japanese developed customs and traditions that allowed people to live in close proximity to one another. Overall, we found the Japanese people to be very helpful, polite and courteous, all traits that helped them to live in close quarters.  They were also very private and not given to talking about personal matters or sharing their personal thoughts or opinions. 

Kyoto has many temples and shrines.  The Pureland temples appeared to be located more towards the center of the city and the Zen temples more on the outskirts in the hills surrounding the city.  The city has been the spiritual center of Japan and was untouched by Allied bombing during World War II.  The Allies believed that if they bombed Kyoto, the resentment among the Japanese would have make governing the country after the war much more difficult.  What we saw there was breathtakingly beautiful.

Kiyomizu-dera Temple (Buddhist), built on the side of a hill overlooking Kyoto.  Also on the grounds is a Shinto Shrine one which was very popular with young girls who come to pray for their dream guy. 

  The Golden Pavilion was first built in 1397, though was burnt down in the 1950s by a monk who was sounds to me to have been mentally ill.  The temple was rebuilt and is covered in gold leaf. I was surprised that the building was relatively small, though it is covered in gold.

Nara

We took a side trip to Nara,  a city close to Kyoto to see the giant Buddha at Toda-ji Temple. 

  

People entering the temple purified themselves with the smoke from incense.



One of the guardians of the Buddha in the temple.




The Buddha in the Toda-ji Temple is 15 meters high (about 45 feet) and is covered in gold.  (You can not tell from the picture though it is just plain huge.  To give you a sense of the size, there is a hole cut into one of the pillars of the building which people crawl through.  That hole is the size of one of this Buddha's nostrils) The Buddha was completed in 752 CE and is housed in the largest wooden structure in the world. 



 Mt Koya (known as Koya-san in Japan)

After four days of touring temples and the city of Kyoto we left for Koya-san.  This mountain community, established in 805 CE, is the home of Buddhist temples from the Shingon sect.  It is considered a holy mountain and is 2 hour journey south of Kyoto.  To get there, one must take a train to a cable car to a bus which takes you to your temple ryokan.  The only places to stay in Koya-san are temples, which provide lodging for overnight guests. 



The front entrance of our temple inn.

 The temple was a showpiece and as we walked around we felt like we were in a living museum - the art work, architecture and the gardens were amazing.



Zen gardens in the temple.




 

All meals in the temple were served in your room. 
This was breakfast served at 7:30 after the morning services.

 
One of the main sites in Koya-san is the grave of the founder of this sect of Buddhism.  The path to his mausoleum if about a mile long and is lined with over 200,000 graves set among Japanese cedars which are hundreds of years old.  We were there at sunset and the walk up to the main temple was lit with stone lanterns.
  

One of the 200,000 grave found along the 2 km path to the main mausoleum





Statues near the main temple.



The Japanese have perfected the art of bathing which is a tradition in Japan.  The bath is called an "onsen" and the temple where we stayed had two onsens, one for men and one for women (mixed public bathing is uncommon).  As is with everything else in Japan, there are rituals and customs associate with bathing.  For the basics - you sit in one of those little stools shown below and wash yourself completely, making sure to get every bit of soap off your body.  Then you soak in one of the tubs filled with mineral water which is around 104 degrees.  You soak as long as you can and then can take a shower, cool off and then hop back in again.  The baths are communal.  The onsen in the temple has tubs inside as well as outside.  There is nothing better after a long day of exploring temples then slipping into the warm mineral waters of an onsen. 



Shower room for the onsen. Showering is done
while seated.



Outdoor onsen at temple

Zen gardens

Hakone

After a wonderful stay at Koyosan, we bid farewell to the mountain temple community and made our way to the resort town of Hakone, about 2 hours outside of Tokyo.  It took us about nine hours of traveling to get there, but you guessed it, the inn we stayed at had an outside onsen for couples, so Karen and I were able to soak away the stress of travel under the stars. 

The next day we hiked in the mountains around Hakone and caught a glimpse of Mount Fuji, a sacred mountain in Japan which is often shrouded in cloud cover. 



Hiking in Hakone

 


The snow capped peak of Mt Fuji.

















Tokyo

We ended our tour of Japan in the Shinjuku section of Toyko.  This part of Toyko is a major commercial and administrative part of the city.  The city hall was located about a 15 minute walk from our hotel and the 45th floor is an observation deck and is open to the public.  At night, the views of Toyko were stunning.

 

Neon lights were everywhere. 





Shinjuku has the busiest train station in Toyko
and is packed with people day and night

Side trip to Nikko -

We took a full day guided tour to Nikko.  Here on the temple grounds, the three famous monkeys were carved into the awning of a stable. 

The "hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" monkeys. 



This stable on the temple grounds has the monkey carvings around the building.



Koi pond in Tokyo



Koi fish

One of the most surprising elements of Japan were their toilets.  I loved the Japanese toilets.  As you will see below, toilets need an instruction manual to operate.  Many have heated seats and they wash after you have finished your business.  I had to press all the buttons and water would be flying, I am sure it was quite a sight.  The first time Karen told me about the drying feature I thought she was joking, but no, some toilets not only wash you they dry you as well.  I could go on about Japanese toilets, but let's just say they were a blast.
 

Instruction panel for a toilet in Japan.  Please note the turbo deodorizing and drying features. 

 We also toured the parks of Tokyo and as luck would have it, we happened upon Shinto weddings in the shrine dedicated to Emperor Mejii and his wife.  Emperor Mejii was the emperor of Japan in the late 1800's who ended Japan's isolation from the world.  And we are sure happy he did.


On the way to a wedding!




Shinto priest leading a wedding processional





Shinto wedding party. What I love about this picture
is the timeless of it.  The traditional wedding dress and the
the kimonos were lovely.



The lucky couple



I hope you enjoyed our tour of Japan as much as we did. Japan mixes the old with the new and does so with style and grace. The people were wonderful and the countryside is stunning.