Yokoso! Welcome to Japan

Japan brought many surprises for them, despite our warnings… the driving… ”You call this a street?”… ”Isn’t this one-way?”… ”Wait a minute while I pry my fingers off the handle.” The food…”Hmmm – you said this is edible?”…”They eat this?”…”You want me to eat what!!??”…”Ahh, interesting”. The visits to the shrines, temples and castles…”Wasn’t anything built on flat ground?”…”You said a few stairs!”…”What! MORE stairs?”…”No wonder they’re all so tiny!” And not to be forgotten…the toilets…” You do what!!??”…”Why do they have toilet shoes?…Oh…”

Little did Steve realize that he was actually on a weight-lifting jaunt. Every train station, as well as the aforementioned shrines and temples and such, require that you walk up stairs. Wrestling with a 46 pound bag requires a lot arm and back muscle. The bus…on and off. The station…up to the station, up to the overpass, down the other side – though sometimes it’s an underpass so you traipse down first, then back up. Even when you can wheel it, there are still the endless ramps to navigate as well as the sprint down the platform to make the train. Finally, you’ve found your car AND your seat but all is not done yet. Now, the same bag needs to be raised over your head to put it on the rack. Reverse the sequence upon arrival at your destination. This series of exercises will be repeated daily.

Daikaku-Ji

The Arashiyama district can be found on the outskirts of Kyoto. It’s a more rural area with many places to explore – if we had had more time, bicycles would have been the way to explore – as well as a great way to add to the health benefits of the journey. Alas, that was not to be so we settled on a quick visit to a couple of the temples.
Daikaku-ji was our first stop. Originally it was a palace home, built by one of the many emperors, however, it has now been transformed into a Buddhist temple that has been identified as a place of scenic beauty. The buildings are elaborate with extensive carvings and well-preserved paintings. Each building and walkway is constructed in such a way that they work together to allow natural views of nature that have been sculpted around the entire temple. The Japanese are very good at crafting nature to create a landscape that both looks natural and molds itself around the desired buildings. It is truly quite an art.

Tenryu-Ji

The next stop was the Tenryu-ji, a temple famous for its landscape gardens. Fire has always plagued Japan and like many of the wooden buildings here, the temple itself has burned down numerous times over the years. The garden, however, has survived and is actually considered to be one of the oldest of its kind. It is quite extensive with beautiful ponds, waterfalls and circular pathways, guiding the strollers through the features of the landscape. While sakura and fall are famous for their striking colors, gardens are designed to present a backdrop for seasonal foliage so there is always something new to enjoy.

Himeji Castle

Back to the exercise regime as we continued our trip to our next stop…Himeji Castle. Castles in Japan are almost always built up on a hill, in fact, it’s usually the highest hill available in the area and this one is no exception. Then, to make sure you can see your enemies coming from far away, the castle is developed with many levels, high towers on every corner, with, of course, the necessary stairs to connect all of these wonderful chambers and towers together. Now, since this is the only castle to have never been destroyed or even involved in a battle, it is well preserved so, of course, you have to go through the entire place. The route is well designed, taking you through each and every nook and cranny (including the toilet area) via an extensive set of stairs. In castles, steps were never designed with a regular tread – that would have been much too easy for the invading forces to have run up them. All stairs are totally irregular – some small steps, some rather large ones (great for those legs). Just to add to the experience, head level beams can be found at strategic locations, so placed to knock out the unwary raider, or tourist, as the case may be.

The Sea Fox

Moving on we found ourselves once again on the train, this time heading for the island of Shiraishi -jima and the next part of our exercise program…a sailing trip through the Seto Inland Sea. Paul and Amy, our intrepid leaders, have made their home here on the island, operating the famous Moo Bar (no, Amy doesn’t eat any beef), composing a hilarious guide to living in Japan and offering wonderful trips on the sea. A fabulous ocean side barbecue (translated, on the rocks overlooking the marina) started us off – sadly the Moo Bar wasn’t open yet. Here in Japan, one must wait for the local Shinto priests to bless the beach and ocean before tourists flock here – and he isn’t due until early in July.

Sailing with the Wind...

If we had paid attention to the predictions from the weather service, we probably would have stayed home. Rain, cloudy skies and no wind were what we were looking forward to as we boarded the Sea Fox for our sojourn across the Seto Sea. Fortunately, they were wrong and we were treated to a wonderful day of sailing. While Paul and Amy were at home on the ship, we were not. As we sped along, sails unfurled, the boat heeling at crazy angles, we all had thoughts about unexpected, unplanned swims in the sea. While our skippers moved with ease across the boat, we practically crawled, grabbing onto everything possible to stabilize us as we drunkenly careened around the boat. The day was gorgeous and the scenery spectacular so despite the bounces and jarring we had a wonderful time.
There were a few periods of time where we worried about our safety, particularly when other members of the crew took over the wheel...

Onsens

I see I had failed to mention the Japanese passion for onsens under Japanese surprises. Onsens are public bath houses, spring fed, where one disrobes and bathes in front of others of the same sex and then lounges about, sans towels, in pools of varying temperatures – ranging from VERY hot to VERY cold. There are also saunas available to sweat out the toxins. Alternating from boiling to freezing temperatures is common, stimulating the blood circulation. Needless to say, this method of cleaning came as a BIG surprise to our North American kin. “You want us to do what?” Fortunately, the ship had some, rather cold, shower facilities available.
Now, to solve the shower problem, Amy spent a good part of the next day searching out private bathing facilities. Alas, the lack of priest blessings on the ocean facilities meant that all showers, picnic areas, beaches and the like had not yet been opened. I suppose the water connection between unblessed oceans and showers must have been the reason…can’t have anyone drowning in a shower. And certainly it’s a fire hazard to have a portable barbecue burning in a sandy area – or so we were informed by a rather surly caretaker.

Never put your eggs...

The picture here was purposely composed to illustrate the saying "never put all your eggs in one basket". Just in case you weren't aware of the reason behind it, it's because they might all break and make a big mess. Just to make sure you will remember this in the future...and avoid having to deal with this issue,we set up a very graphic picture to help you keep it in mind.

Parting Anchors

After an invigorating day at sea, tacking between islands, wind in our hair, sun on our backs, great food, laughing and story swapping, we finally pulled into a dock on the island of Omishima – the location of the infamous onsen. The pleasurable day, onsen soaking for some of us and dinner put us to sleep pretty early. The second night found us at Nakashima – inside the breakwater. The location was perfect, quiet, calm, peaceful and we all slept well. It just felt like, well, we belonged there. In the morning we discovered that well…we HAD to stay for a bit. Turns out our anchor had become quite attached to another anchor far under the water. Problem was, they didn’t want to part and go their separate ways. Fortunately, a wonderful couple had just the right piece of equipment on their boat to help us out.

Sailing on to Miyajima

The following day found us creating our “own” wind (no, not THAT kind). Paul tried on a number of occasions to catch whatever wind (the real thing) was out there but it certainly wasn’t much and didn’t last long. Still the enchantment of the trip held us in thrall. We enjoyed lounging about, snacking on all those things you shouldn’t eat, watching islands and bridges and other ships go by and generally being quite lazy. Sadly, the following day found us at the end of our trip in Miyajima. Now I do love the island but it was with sorrow that we left the Sea Fox and our friends – it was definitely a trip to remember.

Scenes of Miyajima

Itsukushima Shrine and its famous red Tori that sits perched in the ocean is probably the most popular site for visitors on the island. We visited it three times on this trip – once from the sailboat as we came into the island so that we could take pictures from the sea, once for a tour throughout the shrine itself and once at sunset when the lights illuminate the Tori and shrine. It truly is worthy of its popularity. We also took in the Daisho-in temple – a sprawling set of buildings hugging the hill with terraced steps, beautiful spots to rest and spectacular woodwork – another great place to visit without requiring much sweat. (I must admit I’m giving these places short-shift since I waxed eloquently about them on an earlier blog- it’s somewhere.)
While Jeff desperately tried to convince Steve and Cindee that a trip up Mount Misen was well within their abilities and worth the expenditure of time and sweat, alas, they did not bite. Steve and Jeff went up the Ropeway (7 minutes if walk, 5 minutes if run a little) and enjoyed the spectacular scenery from the false top at the monkey park. Meanwhile, Cindee and I enjoyed free reign strolling from store to store, looking for great omiyage we just HAD to have for friends (not for ourselves, just souvenirs for friends).

Hiroshima

Hiroshima beckoned to us so we decided to ride the “high speed” boat right to the A-bomb dome. It was much faster (and more expensive) that the usual route we have taken in the past, although not as peaceful as the sailboat (though I must admit the bridges were WAY to low to have even thought of taking a sailboat through). Cindee, Steve and Jeff spent the day roaming through Peace Park and the museum while I roamed through the streets of town (one can only handle so much sadness and I’ve reached my limit). I took in Hiroshima Castle – or rather what has been rebuilt of it, while I waited for the stores to open – believe it or not it was 11:00 before they opened their doors in the underground shopping area. They certainly didn’t learn THAT from us.
Sad to say, this particular adventure has come to an end...Cindee and Steve are already home by now...amazing how quickly things end when you're having fun.