Autumn in Japan

Bent by the Sun: Change Observer: Design Observer

2010-05-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Bent by the Sun: Change Observer: Design Observer

This article, by Azby Brown, was forwarded to me by my cousin. It reinforces some of the reasons I have such an attraction to Japan, especially pre-industrial Japan. Long-term thinking, an understanding of the symbiosis between human life and the rest of nature. The thought and care of design. A great article.

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Win a Trip to Japan

2010-02-09T12:50:00.002-08:00

An advert has been popping up constantly over the last few weeks announcing a contest to win a trip for two to Japan. I entered. Here is the link.

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Kanazawa Hotel - Murataya Ryokan

2009-02-24T20:35:00.006-08:00

I spent two nights in this ryokan. My room was named Kiku, one floor up and served by a very narrow and steep set of stairs - my private stairway - to the left of the common room. This feature made it more private than I expect the other rooms would be. The windows gave unto on an inner courtyard with a small Japanese Garden within. It seems many of the rooms gave onto the courtyard. The tatami mats, low table, futon, television were all well kept and clean. Like the other Japanese-style rooms I have had it was a decent size and the futon was comfortable with comforters and blankets. I did not have breakfasts at this ryokan so I can’t comment on them. They are 500¥ for a European breakfast and 800¥ for a Japanese breakfast. There is a computer with high-speed access to the internet. You can’t use your own as there is no wi-fi nor any possibility for LAN connections. (The Seattle’s Best Coffee outlet behind the hotel, on the main street has a Freespot). The one downside was that the smell of cigarette smoke from the common room drifted up to my room. The first night it didn’t last too long but the second night there was some Japanese league baseball game and three guys were having beers, snacks and cigarettes. Most places I have been to (inns and restaurants) have pretty powerful fans that blow that disgusting smell outdoors - not here. That aside, it is a nice place to stay. Great location off the main shopping street and easy walking to the main sights. The room rate was 4700¥. Value for money = 2.5 for non-smokers - 3 for those with that nasty habit.

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Takayama Hotel - Minshuku Kuwatani-ya

2009-02-19T20:39:00.007-08:00

This minshuku (basically a family operated bed and breakfast) has been around since the 1920s. In many aspects it may not have changed much since then which makes it an interesting place to sleep. The thin red carpet looks like it has been walked on since the 20s! You must remove your shoes in the foyer and then are either barefoot or in your socks throughout the establishment. The exception is in the toilets where there are some slippers for you to wear upon entering them. My room was number 202, facing the street and did not have private toilet/shower. It had tatami mats, a comfortable futon with blanket and duvet, a refrigerator, table and big flat screen television. Both the first and second floors have open aluminum trough-like sinks with three faucets for washing face, shaving, tooth brushing etc. The baths are on the second for women and on the first for men. The bath itself is nothing special but nevertheless I enjoyed it. Overall I would recommend this minshuku. It is clean, you are left alone by the staff (I was only spoken to on check-in and out) and it is in a convenient location seven minutes walk from the train station. There is a computer for internet but it is painfully slow and running an old version of Windows. Pain. The rate was 4350¥ per night including taxes. Value for money = Three stars.

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Nikko Hotel - Annex Turtle Hotori-An

2009-02-13T09:10:00.004-08:00

I slept two nights in this inn. I had a Japanese room on the top (third) floor (301) which cost me 6950¥ per night including taxes. It was spacious and had a private shower/toilet. The futon was very comfortable and the blankets and duvets kept me nice and warm on what were two chilly nights. The room had a heater which I turned off at night and the room temperature dropped to 14 degrees Celsius....great for sleeping when you are covered up like I was. The inn has wireless internet access and, though the innkeeper stated that it was only available in the common room, I was able to access it from my room as well (though Skype did not work!). There is a Japanese bath on the first floor as well as laundry services which I used (200¥ to wash, 100¥ to dry). The breakfasts were terrific and cost 1050¥. Fruits (banana, kiwi, grapes, melon), three pieces of bread, a hard-boiled egg and coffee/juice. A great start to the day. It is a bit off the beaten track and about a thirty minute fast walk from the JR train station and about 15 minutes from the main attractions. Having said that, it is on a quiet dead-end street that longs the river. Just to the west of the inn is a walk along the river which is beautiful. I bought food at grocery stores and ate in the common room downstairs both nights. Beer, sushi, noodles while writing and reading. A great way to end a day of walking in beautiful Nikko.

This was a great place and I highly recommend it. Value for money = Five stars

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Tokyo Hotel - Ryokan Shigetsu Asakusa

2009-02-08T09:00:00.003-08:00

While in Tokyo I spent five nights at the Ryokan Shigetsu Asakusa, in Asakusa. It is a six storey ryokan in a fantastic location just off of Nakamise-dori and Senso-ji, the two main attractions in Asakusa. I stayed in a western-style room as all the Japanese-style rooms were booked - 7700¥ a night, taxes in. Western-style of Japanese breakfasts are available in the mornings if you wish. I did have a Japanese breakfast my first morning which cost me 1300¥ - a little steep for my liking. Other mornings I ate in local restaurants and had toast-sets there. My room on the fourth floor was number 407. It was small but had all the required amenities including my own private shower/toilet and internet access with a LAN cable borrowed from the front desk. I did however use the Japanese bath on the sixth floor almost every evening. The bath provides you with a lot more space to shower. Hot steaming water. Very nice. My room had two windows which allowed for good air circulation and was very quiet. I did not hear my neighbours at all. In the spirit of honesty I must say that on the first two nights I did see a few bugs - a roach and two or three smaller bugs that really looked like “bedbugs”. Normally this would freak me out but the kind man at the desk was extremely apologetic, came up and sprayed and for the rest of my stay there were none. I have to say that the staff at the ryokan were amazing especially the older gentleman that worked the desk my first three nights. He helped me out with restaurant suggestions and we carried out a few brief conversations in broken English. Overall I would have recommended the hotel for its location and staff. The rooms are a bit small and dark and the bugs were a turn off but it is quiet and seemingly well run. The bath on the sixth floor is a nice addition. Value for money = Two stars. (Four had it not been for the critters). Unfortunately I can’t recommend it.

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An Ideeah Spawned By My Autumn in Japan

2009-02-07T15:01:00.002-08:00

Here is a link to an article entitled Our Lack of Social Responsibility in my other blog, Ideeahs

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Fishy Behaviour

2009-01-11T11:14:00.003-08:00

I just read this BBC News article which mentions that the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo had, in December, restricted access to its fish auctions due to disruptive behaviour by tourists. The article suggests that these people would lick, ride and otherwise touch the fish causing hygiene issues. The tourists would also use flash photography even when it is clear from guidebooks and signage that this is not permitted. The access restrictions have been eased somewhat now with tourists being permitted from 5 am to 6:15 am as of January 19.

The respect that the Japanese show for each other, for property and for rules most impressed me during my stay in Japan last autumn. I hope that these behaviours do not get negatively impacted by what some believe is a necessary increase in immigration over the next few years. I hope that the foreigners (whether immigrating or visiting) check their disrespectful behaviour at their ports of departure and learn something from the Japanese regarding behaviour in a shared world.

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Harajuku and Shibuya

2008-11-18T08:00:00.001-08:00

These two neighbourhoods within Tokyo were my favourite and ones that I made a point of returning to on my last day in Japan. To get there I took the Yamanote Line to the Harajuku station.

Harajuku again delivers on the contrasts I have seen throughout Japan - modern vs. centuries old traditions. My first visit in the neighbourhood was the Meiji-jingu-koen. This is a park just to the west of the train station. There were many birdsongs in the air, it was peaceful and the shrine itself was pristine. I really felt like I belonged in this park....I was quite moved actually. It is a feeling that I had multiple times in Japan and I don't know how to explain it. Almost like a part of me somehow comes from these lands.

From there I headed down Takeshita-dori. This is THE street to walk down if you want to see Japanese teenagers dressed in maid, punk-rock, electric, funk dress. Anything goes. The shops and the pedestrian only street are jam packed with young people expressing themselves. I continued down Takeshita-dori and it became calmer and the boutiques more upscale. On to Omotesando and you could easily be in a European capital. A wide boulevard with all the haute couture shops (Dior, Versace...it goes on). The one difference being that it is not only a small one storey boutique. We are talking three or four storeys here. Cafes, terraces. From there I walked about twenty minutes to Shibuya.

Shibuya is the shopping mecca. There are apparently not enough stores on the streets so the ten storey buildings all around are filled with small boutiques as well. Each one is advertised with a neon sign outside. Lots of action, lots of people, great energy. As with other places in Japan it was surprisingly quiet, people were well behaved and I never saw any arguments.

The day ended with my walk back to Harajuku station along the street that forms the southern end of the park I began my day at. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and I loved what I saw. Musical bands, every 10 metres or so, set up with their amps, their instruments and playing, singing, cranking out tunes. Punk, metal, jazz, classical, rock, country, electronica. Crowds gathered around each band and as you walked along the sidewalk one genre faded into another. It was, again, great expression by the, mostly, youth of Tokyo.

I have to say that was has struck me about Tokyo is that, while there are not many non-Japanese walking around (not as much as in European and North American cities) you can definitely sense the influence of the world here - in their dress, their, music, their style, their food. They seem to take what is best of the world and morph it into something new, something uniquely Japanese. It is a wonderful part of Tokyo.

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Evenings in Japan

2008-11-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

One of the memories that will stick with me about my trip is how beautiful city and village streets look in the evenings. The narrowness of the streets, the latticed wooden doors and windows, the yellow lighting - not harsh at all, the sound of voices emanating from those doors and windows, shadows of people further down the street. Well kept boutique and restaurant storefronts and entrances which are unique and so very inviting. Here are a few pictures that capture these scenes for me.

Kyoto - Pontocho-dori

Asakusa - An izakaya with its akachochin lanterns

Asakusa - light drizzle on an arcade

Kyoto - cafe along the Takase River

Nara - entrance to small shopping complex

Kanazawa - Tatemachi Shopping Arcade

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Two Nights in a Monastery - Koyasan

2008-11-14T08:36:00.007-08:00

Two of the more memorable nights in Japan were at Regenjo-in. This is a Shingon Buddhist Monastery in a place called Koyasan, southwest of Nara. The town of Koyasan was founded in 816 by a monk named Kobo Daishi who had gone to China in 804 or spent two years learning Buddhist teachings. So let's just say that this town has a lot of history to it. It is small, 4000 citizens, and can be compared to what the Vatican is for Christianity - the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism.

It really is an amazing place to stay in and to get to. To get there you can drive or take the train. I took the train from Hashimoto to the terminal station of Gokurakubashi. From there you transfer to a cable car that brings you up the mountain to Koyasan. Finally a bus trip into the centre of town on an extremely windy road (cars and pedestrians prohibited). The temple I stayed at is near the entrance to the town at the second bus stop.

Regenjo-in is a beautiful establishment. I was greeted by two monks who checked me in (cash payments only, prepaid on check-in) and asked to come back at 3pm when the rooms would be ready. I came back and was walked to room 17. It had an ante-room with two cushioned lawn chairs over looking one of the Japanese rock gardens. The main room was an 8 tatami room (big) and beautifully appointed with a low table with incorporated heater and wrap around blanket to keep you feet warm, floor chairs with backrest and a futon with duvet and blanket.

As a guest of the temple you are invited to join in on two ceremonies every day. One at 6am, the other at 5:30pm. The first ceremony of the day, at 6am, is called the Otsutone. Just in case you are not awake yet a bell is rung that reverberates through the temple's buildings and will wake you - not too loudly. Through the exterior, covered hallways you walk to the ceremonial hall.

It is a dark room, with red carpet and many ornate, golden lanterns, candle holders, and other smaller objects dangling from various parts. The light is very dim and it is a cool 10 degrees Celsius. The gas powered heaters are on and by the time the ceremony is over the room temperature is only 12 Celsius. The Abbott sits front and centre, not facing the guests but rather facing the statues and starts the ceremony by ringing a bell. Now the chanting begins. I wish I could have understood what he and the other monks were chanting. Partly way through we are invited to add incense to burn on the red embers burning. We each do, one after another, in a slow, methodical way. The chanting continues and at 6:40 or so it is over. Back to our rooms to await the call for breakfast.

The evening ceremony, the Ajikan, is a meditation session that lasts about 35 to 40 minutes from 5:30pm. Again it is led by the Abbott and he explained to us that it would, for those of us not used to it, probably be very uncomfortable. However, if we continue to do this on a daily basis, he says that 40 minutes a day is enough to calm you and to give clarity to your day. To realize the insignificance of one life and yet the importance of the whole. "The purpose of meditation is purposeless", he said. If you have a purpose it will distract you. Interesting thoughts. I must say that after about 15 minutes my inner thighs were hurting me and my feet were as well. It would take me sometime to get comfortable sitting in a Lotus position for 40 minutes without movement.

The food we were served, breakfast and dinner, was absolutely delicious. It is cooked in the strict vegetarian ways of the monks, a style called shojin-ryori. I was a little concerned as tofu is not my favourite ingredient around. Boy was I ever pleasantly surprised. The food was not only beautiful but scrumptious. Vegetables prepared in a dark, sweet sauce. Thick miso soup, very hot and rich. Rice. More vegetables, wrapped in a string of some other kind of plant, all edible. Balls of some white substance with tastes of almonds, or mushrooms or.... not sure. It was all so good and very filling.

This will be one of my many lasting memories of Japan.

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Attention to Detail - An Example

2008-11-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

Check this out. Part of the bathroom heater is heated....

So that when you get out of the shower you can still see yourself! Though luckily not all of you ;-)

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Interesting Bullets on Tokyo

2008-11-07T09:00:00.001-08:00

1. I have seen more cats than dogs on the streets of the city.

2. Tokyo is clean - very little garbage on the streets (only visible in the early morning), few cigarette butts and no freaking gum wads stuck to sidewalks. No graffiti either. Anywhere.

3. I have seen some homelessness, especially around Ueno, but no panhandling.

4. What they say about making slurping sounds when eating noodles is true! Slurp...LOUDLY.

5. Those Pachinko Slot businesses are loud and brightly lit, holy cow. A flood of noise comes out when the automatic sliding doors to one of those shops opens up and the street floods with white fluorescent light

6. Dental Floss is real expensive for those small 50 yard boxes - 598 Yen

7. People don't lock their bikes when they go into a shop

9. People jay-walk - I found that surprising given my stereotypical view of the law abiding Japanese

10. Seven year old kids walk or bike to school alone.

11. Passengers are asked to not talk on their mobiles on the Yamanote Line, and to put them on vibrate. Guess what? I have not heard one phone ring nor a conversation. It is a very quiet place that railroad. Even when you are packed like a sardine.

12. Sidewalks have yellow strips embedded in them to allow the blind to feel their way around. You can feel these trips through your shoes. Sort of a Braille for your feet. How cool is that? They are just about everywhere not just the major arteries. Beer cans have Braille on their tops as well!

13. I haven't seen any anger. No raised voices. People look thoughtful, in their world, polite, calm.

14. The doors to the cabs open and close without the passenger needing to touch them. The driver has some sort of mechanism, while remaining seated, to open and close them for you.

15. Some restaurants have a button on the table used to call the waitress over. She will not bug you unless you call her over. No small talk like we are used in other countries. Even if there is not one of these gadgets on your table they'll only bug you to take your order or if you call them over - "sumimasen!"

16. Some street corners have a sign painted on them asking you not to smoke and walk.

17. I felt safer in Tokyo, a city of 38 million in its metro area, than in Vancouver a city with 2 million or so. Says something about the two places.

18. I did not hear any sirens in Tokyo (police, ambulance or fire). Contrast to Kyoto where I heard them regularly.

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Northwest of Kyoto's Centre

2008-11-07T03:01:00.009-08:00

After four nights in Kyoto it was time to head a little further out. I grabbed the local JR train that heads northwest, the Sagano Line. My first of two stops was at the Hanazono Station. From there I walked to the Kinkaku-ji temple one of three World Heritage Sites that you can visit in this area.

Kinkaku dates from the 14th Century and gets its name from the main building on the site - the Golden Pavilion. The original is no longer standing and what you see is a 1955 version. It was burned down numerous times (twice during the Onin War of the late 15th Century and more recently, in 1950, by a deranged monk!). The building is almost completely covered in gold-leaf. It makes for quite the site on the edge of a pond.

I then walked on to another World Heritage Site - the Ryoan-ji Temple. It's claim to fame is its dry landscape rock garden. It is believed to have been built in the late 15th Century and is one of the world's most famous. Seeing it in a peaceful environment must be a very calming and satisfying experience. Unfortunately I was surrounded by high school students and, since I am unable to shut them out, I did not find any enlightenment ;-)

I made my way back to Hanazono Station, got on the JR Line and got off at Saga Arashiyama. my second stop of the day. Since I was "templed out" I did not visit the Tenryu-ji Temple, yet another World Heritage Site. Rather I walked along the Katsura and Hozu Rivers and into the mountains around Kameyama Park. You can sometimes see wild monkeys in this park but I, unfortunately, did not see any. The trails lead out of the park and into the hills and, yet again, I must say that I wish I had a hiking book for these areas. Oh well. The valley in which the Hozu River flows is quite steep and narrow and is also densely forested. The leaves were starting to turn. The rivers runs a jade like green and navigating it were numerous tourist boats propelled by men pushing on bamboo rods. It left me with a sense of southeast Asia.

After my walk into the hills and forests I went to the Bamboo Path. This is a path cut out of a bamboo grove. And what a bamboo grove it is. These plants are a good six or seven storeys high I would say. A great deal of this part of Kyoto (called Arashimaya) is forested with bamboo. Again a feeling of southeast Asia arose in me, rather than Japan.

All in all a great day and easy train ride out of Kyoto. I woke up at 7am, had breakfast, walked to the train station in Kyoto and, with my walk, was at the Kinkaku-ji at 8:45am, fifteen minutes prior to opening. I'd guess there were a thousand people there waiting for the gates to open at 9:00am, mostly school field trips.

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Fushimi

2008-11-06T17:00:00.001-08:00

This country never ceases to amaze me. It is a wonderful place to visit....it truly is. One morning during my stay in Kyoto I took the JR Nara Line for two stations (five minutes) from Kyoto and got off at Inari. This is the site of one of Shinto shrine that you may very likely have seen pictures of. It is an Inari shrine meaning that it is built in honour of the god of rice and sake. Inari shrines are unique from other Shinto shrines for two reasons. One is that their entrances are guarded by foxes (which the Japanese believe can possess a human). Secondly their entrances are marked by numerous torii (the gates that grace entrances of Shinto shrines). This particular shrine is called the Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine and has, according to a man I met in one of the shops in the complex, more than 30,000 torii gates. The complex is, as is often the case, in a naturally beautiful area. This one is built in hills and has over four kilometre of trails in it. Almost every metre of trail has a torii gate above it. Have a look at the pictures. It makes for a very interesting hike. Worth the visit. As always...go early or late. Not only does this save you from crowds but it also provides great lighting and shadows for picture taking!

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Kyoto - Zen to the Max

2008-11-05T23:32:00.016-08:00

I had a fantastic morning today. Fantastic. As usual I woke up early and was out the door by about 7am. I had decided to visit the northern part of the Higashiyama of Kyoto. Higashiyama is the area in the eastern foothills of Kyoto. It took me almost two hours to walk there but it was a beautiful morning and I feel there is no better way to get to know a place then to walk it. I walked along the banks of the Kamo River and through residential areas on northeastern Kyoto.

My destination was the Ginkaku-ji Temple. This is one of Kyoto's many World Heritage Sites, and with good reason. It dates from the late 15th Century and has the most beautiful garden I have yet to see...anywhere. It is a zen garden and I walked through it twice because I could not get enough of it. It has carpets of a wide variety of different mosses. The sand/gravel gardens are immaculate and perfect. The Japanese maple trees had also started turning their fiery reds. Unfortunately the temple building is being restored at this time but it made no difference....the garden made up for it.

From there I walked along Tetsugaku-no-michi (The Path of Philosophy). This is a stone path that follows a canal and I walked southbound from Ginkaku-ji. I took a break from all my walking on one of the many stone benches the line its way. I was happy that most tourists stick to their buses as this is a road less travelled.

Along my walk I stopped for a brief visit in another Zen temple. This one is called Honen-in on honour of the founder of the Jodo Sect of Buddhism. I noticed there how the smoke from burning incense not only gives off a nice smell but it also creates a thin veil that the suns rays pierce through. Gives the place a bit of more mystical feel.

I continued on "The Path" to its end at the Nanzen-ji Temple. It is the headquarters of the Rinzai School of Zen. Another phenomenal location of extreme beauty. As I have done at a few times I followed a few less travelled paths and ended up in a forest that had loads of hiking trails in it. Without a map though I didn't venture more than 15 minutes into it. Gosh I wish I could get my hands on some hiking maps. The stories behind these trails must be interesting.

Back into Kyoto for lunch at an Italian bistro on the Takase River and back to my hotel via an art exhibition in the Takase River and the backstreets of central Kyoto. An amazing day.

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Kanazawa - Garden, Castle, Samurai, Geisha

2008-11-03T04:45:00.002-08:00

Yes Kamakura has all of these in a pretty compact area. This city has a population of 455,000 and is near the Sea of Japan. For a city of half a million it has the feel of a larger place. It has a vibrant and large shopping district, glamorous boutiques, large department stores, a beautiful museum of contemporary art and it even has its version of Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing called, here, the Katamachi Scramble....though I wonder if the locals call it that - the guide books do.

I spent one and a half days here and again did a fair bit of walking. My first afternoon and evening was in an area called the Nagamachi District. It was once inhabited by samurai and some of these homes have been well preserved with mud walls and tiled roofs. The streets are narrow and, in the evenings, nicely lit and quiet. On one of the streets, in a corner, is a great pottery store called Kaburaki that was established in 1822....worth the visit. Just to the east of this area I walked along a street that has what looked like great restaurants and boutiques which, on the eastern side of the road, you need to cross small bridges to get to and from.

The next day I headed to a garden called the Kenroku-en, one of the top gardens in Japan and also the main attraction in this town. It opened at 8am so I was at the gate at 7:45am to pay my 300¥ as I wanted to avoid the crowds that I knew were going to come later. The usual stunning man-made choreography of nature. I spent about two hours strolling the gardens and, as predicted, the tour buses did arrive. It was time to go to the Kanazawa-go (castle) which was surprisingly quiet and right across the street. The castle sits on expansive grounds. Not many of the original buildings are left and the government is slowly rebuilding with the detail and materials of the days gone by. What is standing is white. I had not seen much white in Japanese traditional architecture up to this point with the one exception of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. It makes for quite the contrast against the trees and gardens...it stands out.

I then walked over to a set of covered arcades called the Omicho Market. Again, not very busy and many of the stalls were closed. Was it because it was a Sunday? Were the fishmongers already sold out? Those that were open almost all sold fresh seafood. It smelt fresh, like the ocean salt, not fishy. I saw crabs that went for 70,000 yen (or $84). Huge purple, spiny ones. There were a few restaurants with single tables serving the catch on rice, grilled or raw. I imagine this place can be bustling at times.

Next on my walk was the old Geisha district called Higashi-chayai Gai. It dates from the early 1700s and is well preserved. Similar to the houses I saw in Takayama the buidings tend to be two storeys high and have latticed doors and windows to allow for privacy. I found this great store there called Hakuza that specializes in kinpaku. This in essence involves flattening a nugget of gold to an extreme thinness (.0001 millimetres) and then using it on pottery, glassware, food. This place is small and cramped so the crowds get in the way of imagining a peaceful quiet neighbourhood. pre-tourism, with Geishas scurrying with quick, small steps, along the narrow alleys. And of course their customers looking for entertainment (music, dance, company).

After a break in my ryokan to rest my feet and bathe I headed to one of the temple districts that dot the outskirts of town - there are two or three. The one district I visited was Teramachi and is not worth the time. Having seen Nikko and Kamakura I have been spoiled I guess. Takayama’s is also many, many times more breathtaking then this one. Having said that, on my way I did discover that there is a riverside park that can give you a break from the nearby shopping area and where people walk their dogs and children play ball with their parents and grandparents.

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Takayama - Old town Japan

2008-11-03T03:00:00.001-08:00

Travelling to Takayama from Nikko was a trek but it went smooth as silk. The Nikko Line brought me to Utsunomiya. From there I grabbed the shinkansen to Tokyo and grabbed another to Nagoya. Then I jumped on the line that heads north to Toyama which serves Takayama. This last segment is spectacular as the tracks follow a river north, crossing over it many times. This river has cut a gorge into the rock and is fast flowing enough to be used for hydroelectricity as is evident by the many generation stations I saw. There are also numerous tunnels and, when not buried in one, great views of the mountains. At one point I saw a red torii gate whiz by, feet from the track, marking the entrance of a small shrine.

Takayama is a village of 95,000. It straddles Miya-gawa (Miya River) where it meets Enako-gawa. The entire village is walkable and no sites are more than thirty minutes or so from anywhere else.

Two of Takayama’s main sites are districts that contain houses that are reminiscent of the “old Japan” - the (mouthful!!) Shimoninomachi-ojiinmachi and the Sanmachi Preservation Areas. I am not sure how old the oldest are but they apparently represent the old days of Japan when Takayama-jo (Takayama Castle - built in the late sixteenth century by the Kanamori clan) was still standing on top of the hill in Shiroyama-koen (Shiroyama Park) to the South. The houses are beautiful, constructed of dark brown, almost black, wood and with fine latticework of ocher and ash acting as screens preventing passersby from peeking in. Most of them are two storeys in height. It makes for a very clean, geometric look to a street. As in Nikko, the streets are lined with open culverts though there is no sound of rushing water...at least there wasn’t on the days I was there. The Miya-gawa seems to run very shallow (likely dammed somewhere upriver).

I completed two walks during my stay in Takayama. The first was the 4 kilometre Higashiyama Walking Course to the East. The walk is well marked through the Teramachi District and down to Shiroyama-koen. I began at the northern end of the hills and finished in the park. This area has many temples and this trail goes from one to the next. Apparently these temples were built in the eastern hills of the village to copy the way Kyoto was built, with its main temples in its eastern hills. Along the way I saw persimmon trees, their orange fruits hanging heavily from the branches. The park protects the area where Takayama-jo stood. The guide books mention ruins of the castle but I did not see any during my walk. At the top of the mountain a plaque depicts the layout of the castle as it stood. This park if filled with trails so maybe somewhere in this forested area there are some ruins.

The second walk I did was the Kitayama Walking Course. I started in the (ready?) Shimoninomachi-ojiinmachi Preservation Area and visited the main shrine of the city, the Sakurayama Hachimangu. Again an amazing balance of nature and architecture. The Japanese maples were starting to turn red. The small leaves turn an amazingly bright, fiery red. The trail continues into some hills and gives you wide views of the city’s roofs and the mountains in the distance.

Takayama is a city of narrow streets. At night they are beautifully lit and very peaceful. This village is very quiet in the evenings. As in other places in Japan it feels completely comfortable to be the only person walking down a dark alleyway. You see the faint silhouette of a person up ahead and you just don’t worry. The though doesn’t even cross your mind. I really, really like this about Japan (along with everything else).

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Taking the Train - Stereotypes of Japan

2008-10-31T23:04:00.005-07:00

To date I have taken nine intercity trains in Japan (excluding the many commuter trains in Tokyo). Here are a few things that have struck me, although they don’t surprise me given all I had heard and read over the years. I guess they just prove the facts and further show how engrained respect for people and property is in this beautiful country.

1) The Shinkansen that I rode on from Tokyo to Nagoya pulled in from some other part of Japan at my platform about 15 minutes before the scheduled 12:33 departure - although right on time for its arrival from wherever it was arriving from. It emptied itself of its passengers and the ladies clad in pink took over. They boarded, closed the doors of the cars and got to work. We were lined up outside and watched the show through the windows. Here is what they accomplished in 15 minutes in a train that was 12 cars long.

-turned all the chairs around to face in the other direction (our train was going to head back the way it came)
-removed the white linen headrest covers and replaced them with new ones
-wiped down all the arm rests
-scrubbed down all seats and seatbacks
-made sure all the doohickeys that hold up the seatback tables were vertical
-vacuumed the car
-checked and rechecked their work
-when they were done, the doors opened and they thanked us for waiting and greeted us

2) These trains really are on schedule. I don’t mean that they arrive within five minutes of the scheduled time (which I would find on time). They arrive at a station and leave that station at precisely the minute they are scheduled to. No hanging around waiting for late comers. They run on exact time. I have not yet had one train that has been even one minute late arriving or departing.

3) Upon entering a car the crew (all of them - conductors, stewards, stewardesses, others) announce their arrival in words and by bowing. A man will remove his cap. When they reach the other end of the car they turn to fact the passengers (even if we are all facing the other way) and bow again. The conductor says please and thanks to every passenger when requesting tickets. The respect for the customer is felt and appreciated.

4) You can buy just about anything from the catalogue found in the seatback - ties, bras, shelves, heaters, pots and pans, food, chairs that look like a hamburger, foot massagers...it goes on. I found this one most interesting: Canada Green Lawn Grass Mixture, Canada No. 1 Mixture, two pounds (908 grams) for the small sum of 8190 Yen. At the approximate Yen to Canadian dollar exchange rate this amounts to $104. For two pounds of grass seeds!!! I never thought the lawns back home were particularly nice.....

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Temples, Forests and Streams - Nikko

2008-10-29T02:31:00.012-07:00

I spent a day and a half in Nikko October 28 and 29th. It is a village of 95,000 people north of Tokyo. To get here I took the bullet train from Ueon Station in Tokyo to Utsunomiya Station. There I switched to a local train line called the Nikko Line. In all it took about an hour and forty minutes of travel time.

Nikko is situated in a valley with a river called the Daiya-gawa running through it. It really is a rushing stream. In fact, every where in Nikko you here rushing water. Whether it is the Daiya itself or the numerous other streams that are all rushing rapidly down to meet the Daiya. Most streets have narrow stone culverts on either side and you can see the rushing water (or hear it when they are covered). It is a nice sound that drowns out other man-made ones.

Forests. The valley that Nikko is built in has some fantastic forests. The trees are immense. They look like cedars to me based on the stringy bark. One thing for sure is that they are in fact big. Many of them would take four adults with outstretched arms to surround the bases of their trunks. Some even more. There is thick, bright green moss on the these trees and on whatever has been around over the centuries. The trees are tall and the sunlight doesn't make it all the way through to the forest floor. It really is a magical place.

On top of being magical it is historical. Nikko's temples and shrines were, in 1999, given World Heritage status because "The Nikko shrines and temples are a reflection of architectural and artistic genius; this aspect is reinforced by the harmonious integration of the buildings in a forest and a natural site laid out by man." You got that right United Nations. The temples and shrines that make up the actual heritage sites are fantastic sites to see and are reflective of the architecture during the Tokugawa era of Japanese history (1603 to 1868). The trademark hollyhock mon (crest or coat of arms) is found on bells, lanterns, roof tiles, door handles.

Be ready for walking up a lot of steps. A ticket to see all of this is 1300 yen and is good for two days though once you have entered one of the temples and shrines you can't re-enter it. Be ready also for a lot of people. Get there early (opens at 8am) to avoid the daytrippers from Tokyo and the numerous school field trip groups!!

Now, the best part of Nikko for me was the Takinoo Trail. I stumbled upon it by accident on my first day. I saw this path between the Futara-san Shrine and the Taiyuin-byo. I wanted to escape the crowds so I started walking up the stone path and after about 5 or 10 minutes I was in this amazing forest. It was silent. I mean silent. Not only no humans, but no rushing water sound, no birds or crickets. It was just amazing. I could hear my breathing and my footsteps - nothing more. The trees towered above me. Walking up the hill I stumbled upon a small shrine guarded by a monkey statue. I continued down the hill and came to a fork. Since I was getting deeper into the forest I turned around as the sun was setting. I returned the next day and that is when I discovered it is called the Takinoo Trail. Just amazing. While it is not completely isolated (it runs parallel to a road a bit further out) it provides a nice break from the Heritage Sites. It took me about two hours at a slow pace to see it. I highly recommend this.

Another walk worth doing is the shorter Gan-Manga-Fuchi walk on the south side of the river. Again...a walk through the woods with Buddha statues that are dressed in knit red toques, red aprons and moss.

I'd love to come back to Nikko one day and hike in the Nikko National Park to experience more of this.

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Five Hours in Kamakura

2008-10-27T05:05:00.009-07:00

Kamakura is a small town of 170,000 people that was capital of Japan from 1185 to 1333. It is a town of temples in beautiful, hilly, forested landscapes. The trees are tall evergreens like we have in British Columbia. The difference between B.C. and this place is that there are 750 year-old temples scattered within the forested lands.

To get to Kamakura I took the JR Yamanote Line from Ueno Station to Shinagawa Station. From there I switched to the JR Yokosuka Line and got off at Kita-Kamakura Station. The train ride took about an hour.

You can see the path I followed on the map below. In all I walked about 9 kilometres or so.

My first stop was Engaku-ji. I found a couple of paths that nobody seemed to follow. One on the left side led up the side of the hill and offered great views of the temple. The other, on the right, led up to a cemetery. They are not marked on the maps and so they are not visited by the hordes. Nice!

After visiting the Engaku-ji I paid a visit to Tokei-ji. This particular temple has an amazing cemetery. The temple itself is not much. The cemetery goes up the small valley the temple is built on. The day I was there a ceremony was being for a group of people who I assume were celebrating someone's life. There were monks chanting and you could here their chant throughout the small valley. The smell of the incense was calming.

Next was the Daibutsu Hiking Course. The trail head is on the road to the right of the Jochi-ji temple (which I did not visit). The trail-head is obvious but the trail itself is not that well marked in certain areas. The signposts that are on the trail are in Japanese (of course!) and so were not much help to me. I kinda, sorta got spun my wheels a bit in the Genjiyama-koen park area and I think I missed the trail. So I ended up on the road all the way to Zeniarai-benten. The good news is that the roads in Kamakura include signage for walkers.

Zeniarai-benten is a Shinto Inari Shrine. These are dedicated to the god of rice and are protected by foxes (well statues of foxes). They are also identifiable by the many Torii gates that mark their entrances, unlike regular Shinto shrines that have one Torii at their entrances. This particular one has the added cool feature that you need to walk through this tunnel dug into the mountain side rock to get to the clearing behind where it is situated.

I stuck to the road this time and made my way to Sauke-inari-jinja. Another inari shrine. This one is marked with a bunch of red torii over steps leading up to the shrine. There are a bunch of smaller shrines in the area with small white foxes guarding the deities. The trail-head for Daibutsu is again not that well marked. I went up this badly maintained steep mud trail (it did have metal handrails and chains here and there to help) but I again think I missed the trail as I ended up on a road again!

To Daibutsu. This is the second largest Buddha statue in Japan (the biggest is in Nara). It is beautiful and so big that you can enter it from its left side (for an extra 20 yen). Inside I put my hand on the bronze and it was quite warm, conducting the heat of the sun outside. I had an ice cream cone as I was starving by this point (300 yen).

Back to Kamakura.....see the map for where I ate.

On my way home I hopped on the wrong train. At first all was fine but it obviously diverged from the line I came on at some point. The good news is that it crossed my familiar Yamanote Line at Osaki....phew!

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Rush Hour on the Yamanote Line

2008-10-27T03:23:00.004-07:00

8:46am, Monday, 27 October 2008. Riding the Yamanote Line between Ueno and Tokyo Stations.

OK. Today, at this time, Tokyo felt like a city with a population of 38 million in its metro area. Yes. No questions.

The first hint was when I headed to the Yamanote Line's platform at Ueno. I couldn't go up the escalator as it was cordoned off on one side. This was to force people to line up on the other. I looked left and saw the lineup - all the way down the hall and another set of stairs!

The train was definitely a sardine can on wheels. I was squeezed to, and touching, all the people around me. All I had was the volume my body takes up standing in the middle of the car. In Canada I would have been accused of groping multiple times. If I scratched I rubbed my hand against the person next to me. I wanted to take a picture but couldn't get to my backpack.

When people got on or off they elbowed - no, that is too rough - they confidently pushed the people around them with their entire bodies. Full weight. No calls of "hey watch it!" or "ouch!" from the recipients of the check. Silence. It just happened - an expected behaviour.

The shorter people, who couldn't reach the handles dangling from the ceiling, were at the mercy of this wave, this mass, of people. It the train veered or stopped abruptly they had to just hope the people around them were staying up. There were no children, few elderly, no travellers with suitcases.

You have to ignore the contact. Ignore your need for space. Just go for the ride. Look out whatever window space you might see. Breathe. Meditate. Close your eyes and pretend you are in a garden somewhere. Feel the breeze created by the ceiling fans. While packed it is very quiet. No mobile phones ringing. Nobody talking. Bizarrely peaceful.

Just sardines waiting to be taken out of their can.

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Travelling Between Edo and Tokyo

2008-10-26T06:26:00.012-07:00

Tokyo is a city of contrasts.

From 1603 until 1868 it was called Edo and served as the Tokugawa shogunate centre of power (de-facto capital) of Japan. In 1869 it officially became capital when Emperor Meiji moved there form Kyoto. Tokyo surfaced. It has since survived two major disasters, one natural (an earthquake in 1923) and one unnatural (the World War II bombings in 1945). Today, it is a modern metropolis where, at times, you still feel like you are walking around in Edo.

Tokyo is said to be very homogeneous - very Japanese. That could not be further from the truth. It is city with influences from the entire world. Where design, art, music, food and architecture is taken from all over the world, adopted with open arms and then created into something new.

A great example of this is the music I heard on the south side of Yoyogi-koen. If you walk along the street that borders this park (which by the way is the same green space where a beautiful Shinto shrine stands in honor of Emperor Meiji) you will see Japanese youth, dressed up, with all their musical gear and amps and speakers, belting out tunes. The all girl threesome dressed in neon pink, yellow and blue tights belting out punk tunes. The trio dressed in jeans, longish hair, singing ballads accompanied with acoustic guitar. Another, playing heavy metal. Others mixing rock with classical instruments. Expressing themselves in Japanese but in a style that is not.

Japan is a place that may have had a history of isolation but it is one that is pushing this world forward in terms of creativity by taking what the world has to offer, mixing it and breeding something new. This is what makes Tokyo and what makes it so different from Edo.

One minute you are in Edo the next you are in Tokyo. One city block you are in Edo the next you are in Tokyo. Skyscrapers are backdrops to shrines and temples. Teens and twenty-somethings dressed in neon pinks and yellows with pumps and ribbons in their hairs visiting a shrine. Children, women and men dressed in traditional outfits walking on busy neon-lit streets. Then again this might be what makes Tokyo so special.

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The Ueno Area - History in Art and Those Passed Away

2008-10-25T04:25:00.013-07:00

I spent the afternoon of my second day, the 24th of October in the Ueno area...about 1.5 to 2 km to the west of Asakusa and my ryokan - a nice walk.

I had lunch at an Udon place just south of the Ueno Station, under the tracks. To order my meal I had to go to a vending machine that had the pictures of meals and their respective prices. I inserted my 390 yen, pushed the button, brought my ticket to the kitchen and about five minutes later I was slurping (noisily as one is supposed to do) my noodles.

I then headed through Ueno Park to Tokyo National Museum. It was just pouring rain...in fact it poured all day. Torrential rain...all day. I had never experienced that before, not for that length of time. I got soaked and parts of the park were saturated. The museum would be a good place to spend a few hours.

I did three of the multiple buildings of the museum. The one that impressed me most was the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures, mostly because I really liked the modern architecture of the building itself. Having said that I saw amazing pottery, sculptures, swords, tools, drawings, prints, etc. You notice how Japan has had simplicity and an appreciation for nature for 2000 years. You see it in all the art produced at different stages in their history.

From there I headed down a street to the east of the museum complex to reach the Tokugawa Shogun Cemetery. On the way, on the east side of that street, there were a few nice temples of which I took pictures of their small gardens. The cemetery itself is a fairly large place packed with tombs. They are beautiful having minuscule gardens, benches to sit on, lanterns. Beautiful wooden planks are also inserted at their backs.

Well that was Ueno for half-a-day. I walked back to the ryokan to vegetate in Asakusa. Here are some pictures.

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Asakusa - My Dream Realized

2008-10-24T01:49:00.007-07:00

I have spent the majority of my 24 hours in Tokyo in Asakusa. This is a part of Tokyo that, while damaged by bombing in World War II has retained, and has been rebuilt in the style of, the old Edo days. It is unlike any other city I have been to and it is likely the nicest city I have seen in my life. Japanese traditional architecture, their gardens, temples and shrines have always had this strong attraction on me.....and now I have seen them and they have not disappointed. Have a look at some of the pictures below. The rainy night and day just added to the feel of the place. The night was quiet. The streets were dimly lit, the light reflected off the wet stones. You also have to imagine that that many of the streets are the width of alleyways back home in Canada. I felt safe, I felt at home, comfortable. Like I belonged. I did not have the uneasy feeling of being in a new city after a long flight. Check it out.

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My First Sighting

2008-10-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 23 October 2008, 4:11pm Japan time - Seat 18A, Air Canada 3, approaching Narita.

My entire 10.5 hour trip was over cloud cover. Quite something considering that we flew up the North American coast, towards Alaska, along Alaska, and down to Japan via the Russian coast. Clouds, clouds. But at 4:11pm we broke through endless layers of clouds and I finally saw those islands I have been dreaming of seeing for all these years.

Narrow fields, roads...no different than any other place I have been to....from the air. From the air.

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Fourteen Days to Go

2008-10-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

At this time in two weeks I will be somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, flying westbound, two hours and forty minutes out of Narita Airport near Tokyo, Japan. Local Tokyo time will be 13:10 in the afternoon Thursday.

The day is nearing!! When I think about my upcoming adventure I feel jet-lagged. It doesn't seem real. Am I really going? How will it go? Nervous. Curious. Excited. Anxious. Happy. Proud. Uneasy.

Population Density

2008-10-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

I have always liked maps and geography. As a kid I used to flip through atlases looking at all the various countries, cities, mountain ranges. Imagining myself flying to and from foreign places. For this reason I am a huge fan of Google Earth and Google Maps. Amazing technology.

As my departure date gets a little closer (20 days away!) more and more people are starting to know that I will be going to Japan. A work colleague of mine who lived in Tokyo for two years told me that what might strike me the most of Tokyo is the number of people. What did he mean?

Japan is divided into prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is generally agreed upon to mean an amalgamation of four different prefectures - Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama and Tokyo. The total urbanized land area covered by these four prefectures is about 8014 square kilometres. This is a square that has sides that are approximately 90km long. In this square live about 34 million people. The population density per square kilometre is therefore about 4242.

I wanted to understand what this really meant....so I turned to Google Earth. The picture pasted below shows a square that is about 8014 square kilometres in size. I have placed it over southwestern British Columbia, Canada - an area known as the Lower Mainland - and the area of Canada that I live in.

Now for some observations.

1) Imagine an area as large as that white square being completely urbanized. Roads, buildings, railways, etc. Built up, a city. Wow.

2) Now consider these number comparisons:

Population of Greater Tokyo Area = 34 million

Population of Greater Vancouver = 2.1 million

Area of Greater Tokyo = 8014 square kilometres

Area of Greater Vancouver = 2877 square kilometres

Population density of Greater Tokyo = 4242 people per square kilometre

Population density of Vancouver = 729 people per square kilometre

3) A city with an area the size of Vancouver's would need a population of 12.2 million people to be similar in density to Tokyo.

I remember being amazed by the number of people in London, England. Arriving in London from the north during rush hour and being carried by the crowds down the corridors of the train and tube stations. That city "only" has a population density of 1130 people per square kilometre! Hah! Peanuts. I agree with my colleague.....Tokyo will be an experience unlike any other on this planet.

Where to Sleep?

2008-09-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

My initial plan for the trip was to only book my first few nights accommodation in Tokyo as well as my last there. The rest I would book based on what I would hear from others and based on which city or town I would be in - the way I had travelled through Europe back in 1988. But this was not to be.

In researching when to visit Japan all the information pointed to two seasons - spring and autumn. Summer is generally very hot, humid and rainy. Winters are cool. Since spring meant I would have to wait until March 2009 I decided on autumn for my adventure. So I booked my flights.

I discovered that not only do many foreigners visit Japan during the autumn, but that many Japanese travel domestically during these months. This time of year is a particularly beautiful one in Japan as the leaves of the trees are turning to oranges, yellows and reds. Clearly, many want to see this.

The other condition I set for myself regarding accommodation was that I was not going to stay in western-style hotels. Rather I would sleep in ryokan, minshuku or temples. Afterall the point of my trip is not to sleep in a Best Western and to have bacon and eggs for breakfast! I should clarify that ryokan are Japanese inns, minshuku are described as bed and breakfasts (though they would be better described as bed and breakfasts and dinners!) and temples are, well, temples.

So I started contacting ryokan and minshuku to check availability during the weeks of my stay. I just wanted to judge whether my plan to "wing it" would be ok. The responses of the first few I contacted were all negative. They were booked and advised that this was a very popular time to visit places like Kyoto, Nara, Nikko.

Ryokan Shimuzu in Kyoto - NO VACANCY

Rickshaw Inn in Takayama - NO VACANCY

Hatoya in Kyoto - NO VACANCY

Kikokuso in Kyoto - NO VACANCY

Minshuku Sosuke in Takayama - CLOSED?!?

Hotel Fujita in Nara - NO VACANCY

Panic!! Was this the wrong time of the year to go? Was I late (August?) for making my plans? Would I have to use a travel agency?

The result of all this is that I have indeed booked all my nights and therefore have a pretty fixed schedule. I just did not want to risk showing up in a town and having to spend hours looking for a place to lay my head down.

I had to compromise however. In Tokyo, while I am staying in a ryokan, I am sleeping in a western-style room. In Kyoto I am in a hotel, western-style, the Aranvert. My last night of the trip, in Tokyo, is a bit of splurge and I am sleeping at the Prince Park Tower in a western-style room. Half of my twenty-one nights are in western-style rooms. So be it. Hey, at least they are all Japanese hotel chains and I don't plan on having bacon and eggs!!

A couple of very useful websites that I used for my research (in addition to my Lonely Planet book) are:

Japanese Guest Houses

Japanese Inn Group

HIS Experience (a Japanese travel agency)

Japan Ryokan Association

I also looked at the Frommer's website and Fodor's.

It took me five days to book all my nights and I did 100% by internet and email. No phone calls. They all got back to me quickly and were very polite in their emails. Efficient, polite, simple. Ahhh.....nice!

My Travels on Google Maps

2008-09-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

I did a bit of experimenting using Google Maps and have decided that, in addition to my words and pictures, I will update this map during my travels. So far all I have are the cities and towns I plan on seeing, the ryokan, minshuku and hotels I plan on sleeping in and the various train stations I am going through during my trip. My plan would be to add some of the sights I have seen as well as the restaurants I have eaten at. Let's see how it goes....I don't want to spend all my time in Japan doing this, so most of it will not be anywhere near "real time".

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Japan Rail Pass. Worth it?

2008-09-10T20:45:00.001-07:00

Other than the airplane ticket the most expensive purchase for my trip will be my Japan Rail (JR) Pass. I have been advised by some great Japanese friends of ours that the pass is worth it and of good value. However, before spending ¥57700 on a three week pass I needed to put my mind at ease. So once I had planned out my itinerary I wanted to determine how much each leg of my trip would cost. To do that I found a great website (Hyperdia). It allows you to enter any two towns in Japan to determine the schedule and fares of the trains between those two points. Just amazing.

So...based on my itinerary and the dates I was planning on travelling I determined that I was going to save money with the JR Pass. The dates are important here as Japan Rail fares are slightly higher during certain months of the year. After inputting the town pairing of all the legs I am planning I figured that individual tickets would cost me ¥64800. The savings will not amount to much but they amount to savings nevertheless. In addition the JR Pass gives me the convenience of not having to buy a ticket at every town I will be in. Finally, the JR Pass also gives me passage on the JR Yamanote Line in Tokyo. This line does a loop around Tokyo and will allow me to get close enough to all the spots I plan on visiting in Tokyo. The cost of buying tickets on this line everyday was not included in my calculations. Note that the Yamanote Line is not the Tokyo subway and note that the JR Pass does not give you passage on the subway. No big deal! I love walking and therefore I don't mind walking thirty minutes to get somewhere. The Yamanote Line will get me that close. Perfect!

So the answer to the question is that yes, the JR Pass is worth it for my specific itinerary. I want to reiterate this point...my specific itinerary. Unless you are planning a couple of long legs the pass may not pay for itself. So I really recommend using Hyperdia before buying the JR Pass.

My Itinerary

2008-09-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

I am not the kind of person that enjoys organized tours. In all of my previous travels I have always planned my own itineraries and given myself enough flexibility to modify it based on who I meet along the way or what I see or hear about. I like that mode of travel. No umbilical cord to a tour operator. I want my trips to be personal, of my own creation.

In researching Japan I have been using the following three sources as my main inputs to what I am going to see.

1) Lonely Planet Japan book.

2) Japan Travel Guide on About.com

3) Japan National Tourist Organization's website

What I have quickly determined is that my three weeks are not going to allow me to see as much of the country as I wish to, at least not at the pace I like to travel. Reading my new bible (the Lonely Planet book) from cover to cover has introduced so many interesting destinations within Japan. Tropical islands, beaches. Amazing hikes. Fishing villages. Places that I now want to see. What was I going to do?

I am not the kind of person that would ever do Tokyo or Kyoto in two days. I want to spend more days in the larger cities to get a sense of life there. To have more lasting memories of the smells, the day-to-day, the stores, the transit systems, the streets. Heck you could spend three weeks in these cities and you'd still be clueless to life in those cities. But I at least want to get a sense...and two days doesn't cut it. So I have had to cut out a heck of a lot of these destinations I have read about. Out is Hiroshima. Out is Nagasaki. Out is Ise. Out is the entire island of Kyushu....and many, many more.

So in the end, to satisfy my desires for this first trip to Japan (now we're talking...more trips to come at some point!) I have decided on the following. It will give me enough time in Tokyo and Kyoto, will give me a taste of the Japanese Alps, will immerse me in Japanese culture and will give me what I hope will be two serene days in a temple.

October 23 to 28 in Tokyo.

October 28 to 30 in Nikko.

October 30 to November 1 in Takayama.

November 1 to 3 in Kanazawa.

November 3 to 8 in Kyoto.

November 8 to 10 in Nara.

November 10 to 12 in Koyasan.

November 12 to 13 in Tokyo.

This is still a whirlwind...no doubt. But I am at least spending two nights in each town and five in Kyoto and Tokyo. Good for a first taste of those islands I have always wanted to visit (well....really only one in the end, Honshu and only a small part of it at that).

I AM PUMPED!

Going to Japan...finally!

2008-09-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

After dreaming of going to Japan for twenty years or so I am finally going! My plan for this particular blog is to describe my three week trip in enough detail that it will be useful for other individuals deciding to travel to Japan by themselves.

Prior to my departure I plan on giving details on how I organized my trip with links to various web sites I found useful, etc. While on the trip I'll regularly post updates, maps, pictures, etc.

The adventure begins October 22, 2008!!