Autumn in Japan

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 exp...

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 lante rn s Asakusa - light drizzle on an arcade Kyoto - cafe along the Takase Ri ver Nara - entrance to small shopping com plex Kanazawa - Tatemachi Shopping Arcade Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

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 mo...

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 ;-) Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

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 Ya...

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 environmen...

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 ...