Tsuramai Park Tea Ceremonies

Ah…spring….blossoms, fresh air, sunlight and….tea ceremonies. It’s a special time in the Japanese yearly cycle of festivals and one that should not be missed.
Once again we found ourselves at Tsuramai Park, though this time the skies were merely cloudy rather than smoggy. Though the rain fell all night long, the day proved to be dry.
Scattered throughout the park were large tents (just in case the rain returned). Inside benches, platforms and other props for preparing tea were set up. Each included a small area that was elegantly decorated; it might be a simple flower arrangement or a bit of landscape, taking in, of course, the natural setting of the park. The irises were in bloom, or at least a good number of them were, so many of the items incorporated irises as the theme for the day.

Kimonos

The women were not to be outdone by the setting. They all wore elegant kimonos and carefully picked their way through the various paths to attend the different tea ceremonies representing numerous schools.

Tea Ceremonies

The ceremony varied a bit. Instead of sitting on the ground with the hostess, we sat upon benches, covered with red cloth, set around the hostess. While the hostess made the ceremonial cup of tea, other members of the school made and passed out tea to all of the people who were watching the process of making the tea. It is a very stylized and rigidly adhered to process, with each “school” having slight variations in hand movements and proscribed equipment. Each movement is done individually; there is no setting down the bowl while you are reaching for the tea pot. It can be relaxing to watch them work.
It takes YEARS before you are allowed to participate in the formal tea ceremony. The first year you are an observer only, in fact, you can come but not to do anything at all. The next year you can help out a bit…answering questions, collecting tickets, watching the line. The following year you MIGHT be able to help with passing out the dessert plate. It’s quite literally years before you even help with passing out the tea that someone made in the back.

Making tea

However, if you’re naïve and trusting, you just might get conned into making tea. They had a special, small area behind the main tent. It included a small table with the red tablecloth, small decoration and the tea pot/tea and such. Marjon (my ‘friend’) said “oh gee, I wonder what they’re doing here”. Well, we went to look and found a woman making tea under the VERY watchful eye of the master. She did quite well (to my untutored eye) and drank her tea. Lo and behold, when she finished, it turned into “gee, Karen. Why don’t you do it?” Needless to say I got to sit and try to make tea, with everyone looking on and all directions in Japanese. It was fortunate that Tomi-san had shown us how to do a simple ceremony so I could understand a bit of what was said but still…..it was difficult but fun. Turns out Marjon had been tempted into the same area last year so as the new person…she thought it should only be my turn!!!

Tsumago again

We took our 2nd hiking trip between Magome and Tsumago over Golden Week. (The historic post towns along the old Nakasendo, that connected Kyoto and old Edo (better known as Tokyo). Most of the buildings in the two towns date from the Edo Period (like early1600 something to mid 1800 something – obviously you don’t want me on your Trivial Pursuit team). Most of this stuff was in the October 2005 post so if you’re interested, check it out.
Spring is definitely an interesting time to go. First…the place is packed with people…the weather was gorgeous and everyone decided that a trip on the old road was a great activity (probably not a sentiment shared by the daimyo’s of the olden days). In contrast to the fall scenes shot earlier, here are some wonderful spring offerings.

Tsumago - 2nd round!

The picture of the path took a while to get...we had to wait until it was clear of people!!!
The path was originally paved with the stones you see there. I'm not so certain that they really helped the footing. The stones are uneven and difficult to walk on, though I suppose that during the rainy season they might have been nicer than the mud.

Meiji Mura

Meiji Mura is an “open air museum” that takes you on a trip into the past. It includes buildings from the Meiji period (1867) through the Showa period (1989). The architecture from these periods is characterized by a strong influence of western ideas and techniques. The fusion of Japanese style with Greek columns, ranch style houses, gothic churches and more led to some very interesting structures.
Probably the most famous building is the entrance and lobby for the Tokyo Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and originally completed in 1923. It was created in a Mayan Style that is really interesting. The bricks are all different shapes and while they are art by themselves, they blend together to create a really interesting structure.

Meiji Mura Post Office

The post office is still working. You can sit in the center, write a note and actually mail it there. It’s really an interesting building, the main section is round and it includes a history of postal services around the world. Now...the Japanese was lost on us but the pictures of different boxes were cool. Actually, all of the different buildings had explanations in Japanese, English and Korean so it was easy to learn about each building.

Meiji Mura again

Here are some more of the interesting buildings at Meiji Mura. The first one is the entrance porch to a girls’ religious college. The 2nd picture is that of a ‘foreigners’ home in Kobe. They even had a completely separate building in the back, connected by a covered walk on the 2nd floor, for servants.

Meiji Mura Train

The train at Meiji Mura is a coal powered steam train. It runs on a single track from the top of the hill down to the midpoint of the museum. At either end, the conductors turn the engine around on a “hand powered” turn table. They put on quite a show for the kids…big and little…with lots of steam, many whistles and lots of waves.

Hanami 2

Another picture of hanami (read the article below for more information). The hillsides are just spectacular!

Hanami: Cherry Blossom Viewing

Hanami, or “cherry blossom viewing’ is taken very seriously here. There are websites available that track the blossoming of the famous sakura blossoms, letting you know when you might expect the ultimate viewing experience. The local trades people, not to miss out on an opportunity for a festival, set up their stalls ahead of time so that they’ll be ready for the matsuri (festival) the minute the blossoms come out in force.
The week before is a tease. You can see the promise…the tiny buds, the slight pink shade to the trees, the mountainside taking on a pink hue. A few bold blossoms poke out but the rest are still slumbering. And then…the moment arrives. ALL of the blossoms seem to unveil simultaneously. We went to work in the morning, noting the pink, the handful of blooms peeking out and the brave trees in full bloom but nothing spectacular. On our way home, the same day mind you,....oh my gosh it was like a switch had been turned on and EVERY tree had bloomed that very afternoon. Gorgeous!!!
Needless to say, the vendors went into high gear, the blue tarps were laid out under the trees, the sake (or beer) was purchased and people began VIEWING with a passion. We went to Tsuramai park on Saturday, a horribly windy day with a strange sun (thanks to pollution from China cascading into the region). It was cold, it was threatening to rain, it was gritty, but the people were everywhere. Some people had placed their blue tarp out with a note giving the group name and what time they’d be arriving AND, lo and behold, people respect that and the tarp will be waiting for you when you arrive after work (only in Japan….).

Asuke Revisited

We took off to Asuke on what promised to be a beautiful, sunny, warm day. Once again the promise of sakura was in the air. The drive was fabulous because the mountains were just barely tinged with a hint of pink. Asuke itself was in ready for action. The entire entrance was filled with vendors, all trying to sell you various handmade crafts, some exquisite and others that were…well…interesting.
Even though we have been there a number of times, we still discovered new things. They have a wonderful restaurant in the back of the traditional village – and it’s all Tofu!!! I was thrilled. It was truly delightful. We tried out a number of different things on the menu and were delighted with all of them.

Visiting Japan

This has been quite a week, taking Mom around to all of our favorite places here in Japan. We began with a trip to Nagoya Castle where the Sakura blossoms are attempting to bloom. The entire country is on edge just waiting for the day to come. Every place is set up, waiting for the blooms and all of the crowds that will follow.
Nagoya Castle was quiet still…a few blossoms to ooh and ah about but the promise is there. This particular weekend they had a number of programs already in place. Numerous groups were playing for the, admittedly, small crowds. We did get to see a ninja presentation that was very entertaining, even though it was all done in Japanese. They were quite good and very funny.

Izu Coastline

The trip home was plagued with rain but the advantage was it kept the tourists home. We had a delightful trip following the coastline and viewing some of the spectacular scenery.

Izu Peninsula

Jeff decided that Gabby, our navie system, needed an outing so we took off for a long weekend on the Izu Peninsula. It’s one of the hot spots to travel to here in Japan and particularly popular with the folks in Tokyo because it is so close. We learned, through a prolonged, attempted, sightseeing excursion one afternoon, that the eastern side of the peninsula is actually one large parking lot. Fortunately, there is an inland route to get to the tip and we used it on the way down. There is even a spiral bridge on the road…we made 2 complete revolutions coming down the bridge…just like in a parking lot but free-standing in the middle of nowhere!!!
Except for our rather dull crawl up the coast (we gave up after 2 hours-took us a while to figure out it was pointless), we spent most of our time in Shimoda.
History alert!!! This city/port is the location where the American Black Ship, (Kurofune in Japanese), entered in the 19th century. Prior to this there was a national isolation policy which had preserved Japanese heritage by making any exchange with foreign countries illegal. Whew! end of lesson.
The port and the surrounding areas are gorgeous. We spent most of the morning hiking between Shimoda lighthouse, Tsumekizaki and Sazaki, a neighboring fishing village with its own, smaller lighthouse. It was our only sunny day and the view and scenery was spectacular.
Later, we took the ropeway up to the top of the hill that overlooks the port where the Black Ship entered. They have a lot of information about that first contact. It’s interesting…we’ve been told that school books here portray Perry with a slightly wild look to him….

Home delivery

We came upon this truck, unloading large machinery, on our way out of our ryokan. The road is quite wide at this point, but he's using the whole thing. We had never seen a truck up in the air like this. The man was very quick as he switched two machines, bowing to us as he raced from one to the other. When he finally brought the truck back down to a more normal setting he bowed once more and then quickly moved the truck.

Those wide streets

Here's a picture of our car coming up a two-way street! (it's actually the road to the ryokan as well as a number of homes) Obviously, you’ve got to wait your turn. THEY race up and down it…we crawled. To top it off, it’s roughly a 110 degree turn into this road.

Unique Signage

There are some things that are just very different here in Japan. One is the stray road sign you might just encounter.....

The sunsets were outstanding. We had a hotel with a view of the setting sun and was it ever a treat to watch it nightly. The colors, the peace, the serenity, the cows…it was definitely a picture perfect opportunity.

Fish Zoo

One thing we did get to do on the boat excursions was to stop by a fish market. Not the run of the mill market we think of…it was kinda like a zoo as well as a market place. They had some fish that were there just to show the tourists…hence the picture of me feeding a manta ray!! It fluttered up to take the food, though I have to admit I dropped the food more than I actually got it in the guys mouth! The kids were much better at it.

Island Hopping in Malaysia

The claim is that Malaysia is the land of 100 islands and the Langkawi area certainly works at providing its portion of the 100. It is surrounded by a large number of small islands, some of them very, very small islands, imagine car size. We spent one day on an island hopping tour, again on one of the small boats, though this time with about 10 other people. This time they took us to some of the small islands to spend some time. The day was gorgeous so we had a wonderful time soaring through the water, smacking into the backwash from other speeding boats and having water splashed up into the boat as the drivers raced to the first island. I actually think their goal was to get to the island as fast as possible because then they got to lie back on the boat for and hour or so while all of us crazy tourists took a walk UP the hill to the small lake hidden in the jungle. Well..it’s actually not hidden very well because there’s a walkway heading up to it, complete with toilet facilities (that you pay for), drink stand (no ice) and, when you get to this hidden lake, they have paddle boats available for only a small fee. So much for back to nature.

After their siesta, we visited a beach for more swimming and lounging around, us on the beach, them in their boats. Here again they had a food hut…perhaps the destinations were chosen by the availability of facilities to fleece the tourist??? It was pleasant to swim, the water warm, the beach clean (for a beach) and I just like being warm and in the sun!!!

Bats in Malaysia

Bats! We got to see bats in their caves!!! We cruised on the little river boat up to “Crocodile Rock”. There they manipulated the boat INTO the mouth of the cave, coming very close to the top of our boat. However, we were well rewarded with a view of bats roosting inside the ‘belly’ of the crocodile. They also took us to a nearby cave where we could walk through and see the limestone caverns along with hundreds of bats. On my side of the lantern, it was cool to see so many bats up in the far reaches of the cave. I’m sure on the other side of the light, the bats were not too pleased to be disturbed in the middle of their night. Some fussed and watched us pass, others just snuggled into their wings and attempted to ignore us.
With over 100 different species of bats in Malaysia, I have no idea which bats we had the opportunity to disturb.

Mangrove Swamps

Mangroves happen to be the weirdest trees I’ve ever seen. They look like they have these long, spindly legs that they stand on, almost like they’re ready to walk out of the swamp on their own.
Now…since the rest of us don’t have boats or the knowledge of the swamps and the swamps have all these crocodiles and snakes and bats and insects living in there (it’s a cool swamp), they have come up with a fool proof way to treat/fleece all of the tourists…excursions into the swamps. Our two guides took us off into the mangrove swamp, first stop watching the eagles feed. Now we were totally impressed. The eagles were circling overhead, performing aerial tricks, swooping in, latching onto small fish…the perfect photo opportunity. I just had to know what fish was in such plentiful supply to have so many eagles all in one place, repeatedly diving in for the kill. Well…it’s a very rare species designed to convince tourists that the eagles always congregate in one spot to eat their favorite food…chicken skins.

Langkawi Island

Langkawi ! An island paradise! Blue sky! Blue sea! Rainforests, waterfalls, mangroves, and, most of all…WARMTH.
Our hotel was like a step back in time - right out of Swiss Family Robinson. Old wooden building, wooden shutters and a view of the forest that was totally relaxing and welcoming. It was such a treat to wake up to the birds and clean smells and delightful scenery every morning.

News Flash from Japan

OK...you've got to check out Nancy's blog about their trip to Japan. It's absolutely fabulous. You can find it at: http://www.nancyoster.blogspot.com/
She has included lots of the Engrish available here in Japan.

Petronus Towers

The fabled Petronus towers, the tallest in the world for a little while at least, are cool, towering, gigantic, colossal and absolutely magnificent. Standing below them and looking up makes you want to fall over backwards! They seem to spiral as they rise, making them appear to be taller and taller, almost reaching into the stratosphere. It’s hard to get a picture of them that really shows how awesome they are.
Inside is a food court to beat all food courts. The variety of foods is unbelievable and any kind of eating beliefs, preferences or restrictions can be met and any finicky eater pleased. We spent a long time just looking at the variety, Indian, Pakistan, Chinese (a couple of kinds), Malay, Pilipino, and who knows what else. Before we could even decide what to choose we had to go around a few times!
We had hoped to go up to the skywalk but, alas, you must have a ticket. You can sign up for one the night before and they hand out tickets at 8:30 in the morning - if you don’t get one of the tickets then, you don’t get to go up. Just a warning…plan ahead….

Kuala Lumpur

T’was the middle of vacation
And all through the house
All the heaters were running
To warm up the …
Freezing people within!

I do believe we left the land of the freezing sun at the perfect time. The cold was seeping into our bones and we all needed to be warmed…While Nancy and Dave returned to the sea and sun in Santa Barbara, we headed to the sea and sun in Malaysia.
Just the name, Kuala Lumpur, conjures up pictures of mystery and the exotic and indeed we found it. Our friend Robert helped us through the first hurdle…the mystery of getting past the myriad of taxi drivers, all attempting to give us a ride…and for MANY different prices. They followed you like porters on a train, each hoping you’d change your mind as they changed the price, each trying to out bargain the other. We’d have fallen for the first ruse if we hadn’t had Robert along to keep us moving.
While Jeff and Robert took off for a day in the electronic stores, Maria and I tackled the subway system for a trip into Kuala Lumpur, through a mosque, street markets and finally the famous Petronus Towers.
Malaysia represents a mixture of many different peoples and beliefs…Indians, Malays, Chinese, Hindis, Muslims, Christians and tourists to cover just a few. It’s remarkable to walk down the street and see the confusing swirl of colors and costumes and listen to the blending of the languages and the smells! The foods were sumptuous!
They allow all people to come and view the gardens around the mosque…and they even provide the head scarves and a long robe so that you’re appropriately attired to enter. It’s interesting…the women need to be covered but the men could wear shorts or whatever and they were fine.

More Snow!

Here are some more pictures of the snow taken from the house.

SNOW!!

Oh my gosh! Did we ever have the snow-globe Christmas! We had assured Nancy and Dave that the weather here was cold, but not really too bad. Thank goodness they came with LOTS of warm clothing. We had a dusting on Saturday before they arrived but it really wasn’t too bad, enough to be pretty, a bit nippy but nice. Well…I guess that Japan thought they needed a bit more of a welcome. We woke up Monday morning to 6 inches of fresh snow. It was absolutely gorgeous but cold!! We decided quite quickly that staying home was a VERY good idea.

Kyoto Silver Pavilion

We had the opportunity to travel once again to Kyoto, this time with Nancy and Dave. We decided to take off to the east side of the city and take in the “Silver Pavilion” as well as a stroll down the “Philosopher’s Walk”
First, the Ginkaku-ji temple is misnamed. It translates to the ‘silver pavilion’ but it has never been silver. The story goes that it was supposed to be silver someday but it never seemed to happen. The shogun who built it really wanted it to be his retirement villa. The lower floor is very small and was supposed to be the “living” quarters. Apparently the 2nd floor actually had a Buddhist image and was eventually changed into a temple. The temple itself is quite small and modest but the garden is spectacular. Once you are past the pavilion, you enter the garden itself.
The garden is actually divided into two parts, though it doesn’t really start out with a garden like we usually imagine. It is a “karaesanisui” garden or a ‘dry’ garden. First you get a view of a cone shaped structure that rises about 2 meters. It is called a “kogetsudai” or ‘moon-viewing platform’. It is supposed to resemble Mount Fuji but it really requires a bit of imagination. After Mt. Fuji, you come to a ‘garden’ that is actually a 2-foot high platform that is sculpted to be a “sea”. Once again, imagination is required. It’s a sand structure with alternating “waves” and flat sections. The labor required to maintain the structure must be spectacular. It really is pleasing to look at and easy to get lost in. Though it’s amazing at any time of the day, it is said the best view of the garden is at night with a full moon shining on the sand, making it truly resemble a calm, peaceful, silver sea. Unfortunately, I had to copy that from the brochure information because alas, we were there during the day and I’ll have to take their word for it.
After this you walk through a more traditional garden, complete with fabulous, manicured trails, perfect trees and groomed moss (yes, I know…it’s the stuff we in the Pacific NW usually wage war against. I’ve come to have a new appreciation of it). The number of varieties and their infinite colors is really pretty spectacular. There are a number of beautiful pools and waterfalls as you wind your way through the grounds. It would be quite easy to sit for a long time to enjoy it.
The Philosopher’s Walk was delightful. There is a small canal complete with trees and gardens and, of course, the tiny shops. We strolled down the path, taking in the old structures, meandering through the stores and checking out the street food. It was way too cold to have many of them open but we took advantage of the ones that were.

Korea!!!

Korea

It’s amazing how many places you end up going to just because you CAN. I have to admit, that’s one of the best things about living in Asia.
Now I must admit, I never really thought about going to Korea before we moved here. It is supposed to be a shopper’s paradise and many tours take shopping crazed people over there. Boy do they ever fill the streets!!! Not only that, we took the Queen of Shopping with us! Janet (our counselor at school) absolutely loves shopping and was truly in her element, weaving through the throngs of people and booths across Seoul. Nothing like learning from the master!
The city has a cool “City Bus Tour” service that allows you to get on and off the bus for the entire day for only $10. It’s really a great deal. Now, knowing that people come to Korea to shop…guess where some of the stops are???? Well, you got it…it’s the major shopping areas!!! We did not (thankfully) hit all of them but the ones we did were definitely colorful, noisy, and interesting. The first one we hit was the Itaewon area – actually…we went to Itaewon every day we were there!!! They have regular shops along with street vendors selling just about anything you could imagine wanting to buy. The streets are packed with people from all over the world. We were impressed that so many people spoke at least some English, and some quite a bit (far more than I could respond in Korean…TaeKwonDo only provided us with a few useful phrases). Unlike Vietnam, these people were very polite and friendly and while some tried to ‘push’ a bit, they were very calm about it and took “no” for an answer.
Janet is an avid Harley-Davidson rider and has a mission to locate every Harley-Davidson store in the world to take a picture of it – with her in it - and buy some shirts from them. Well…the Seoul HD store happens to be near Itaewon so we took a VERY cheap taxi ride out to it (it was actually only a few long blocks away).
Yongsan Station was Jeff’s love…it was the electronics market area. Janet and I walked around the area while Jeff enjoyed a trip up and down the many floors, dreaming of all that was available.
We did manage to squeeze in a couple of cultural stops…we went to Namsangol, a traditional Korean Village. They had preserved some of the old houses with courtyards and small garden areas around. There’s a larger, more developed one that we just didn’t have time to visit…maybe next time. There are many similarities to Japanese structures with the open doorways, shoes removed and gates at the entranceways. We also saw the Gyeongbkgung Palace. A spectacular palace in a beautiful setting, juxtaposed between stately, modern buildings and vast mountain vistas. Truly a great setting, yet sad to see it encroached upon. Alas…seems to be a problem everywhere.
Not to let you think we passed up on the shopping….we did go to two other huge market areas. The Namdaemun is absolutely gigantic (please forgive me if I’ve named the wrong one…I truly can’t keep the names straight). Anyway….this place is really two shopping areas. One is nothing but street markets, packed so tightly it’s next to impossible to weave your way between the vendors, the stalls, the people, the food…it’s like Otovalo compressed into 2 blocks. Unbelievable!! We ate in one of the many booths there…they did call us in and served us pretty traditional Korean food (of which Jeff, bless his heart, saved me from the meat portions of the dish). Janet and I spent quite a bit longer there while Jeff decided to go back to Yongsan Station (gee, I wonder why). The other section is a HUGE department store type area where you can truly shop until you drop. Apparently they re-open at something like midnight and you can shop until 5:00 AM. We went through it at a far more normal hour.
I couldn’t leave Seoul without a look at the Kukkiwan, the Tae Kwon Do headquarters. I truly expected the place to be closed…it was Sunday when we had the chance to go there. Much to my surprise the place was open and FULL of cars and people. It turns out it was the weekend for the Hanmadang 2005 and we wandered into the opening ceremony!!! I could have watched the forms and sparring all day! There was something pretty special to make it there and actually walk around inside!

China...the long awaited part II

It has taken a while but here is the next installment of China.....

Lijiang is an absolutely delightful place to visit. The Naxi people, the indigenous group who live there, have maintained many elements of their traditional culture. The tour guides and workers dress in colorful native costumes and put on many demonstrations of dances and crafts. We even had the chance to join in on their line dancing, complete with native music, instruments and dancers. The steps were simple to learn, fortunately, and the women dancing were very serious about it. It was fun despite the gaijin missteps.
Lijiang town is nestled between snow-clad mountains and turbulent rivers that travel tamely throughout the town. The waterways are still prominent in the ‘old town’ area. The old town area has been designated a World Heritage Site, meaning money will be available to continue to preserve the area for the world….as well as the tourists. Unfortunately, it truly is a tourist trap but at least the old world charm has been preserved and there are a lot of wonderful photo opportunities. It truly is a unique place to visit.
The water has always been a source of life for the people, and regulated long ago. The day was divided into periods of time when one could draw water for drinking and cooking, and when to wash clothing, dishes or people. With everyone on the same schedule, they could guarantee fresh, clean water for all. The women of the town run EVERYTHING and they’re very proud of it. Men pretty much work on artistic endeavors and leave all of the money management and wheeling and dealing to the women. Things are changing a bit….young girls do look for Naxi men, but they seem to look for ones who have attended college outside of the area and have a broader view of life.
The Yulong Mountains outside of Lijiang are spectacular…well….according to the pictures we saw they are. We were there on cloud covered days and never saw the spectacular mountains in person. There were, however, numerous pictures available so that we could see what we were missing. They were fabulous…someday we’ll have to return.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Island has got to be one of the most densly populated places I've ever seen, though Macau Island actually holds the distinction of the most densley populated place on earth.
Hong Kong is totally different by night and day. At all times of the day you will find hectic driving, honking horns and tons of people but at night you must add a complete neon jungle. The night cruise on the water showed a fabulous skyline that is really enchanting.

Expo III

Now we’re really looking formal here with a title like "Expo III"
The Expo is divided into “Global Commons”. They’ve grouped areas of the world together so that you can visit Europe, the south seas, Asia etc all in one area. Global Commons 6 is our favorite. It is most of the smaller, southern asian countries, along with Australia (you figure it out…maybe ‘cause it’s in the same ocean?). Anyway, we are impressed with most of the pavilions. Thailand is gorgeous. You enter into another world with a lot of information about the plants and animals that thrive in the country. They have a small restaurant there with some vegetarian choices…but I haven’t been able to try them yet ‘cause they’ve been sold out every time…pretty popular I guess.
The Phillipines is interesting the theme uses the coconut “Usbong: seeds of life” because it leads the world in exporting coconuts. It has a wonderful dish made with squash and coconut cream…delicious!
We also liked the Pacific Islands pavilion. They worked together to create a display with information from each of them. Guam is, of course, included as well as Fiji, Somoa and others. Makes me want to take off. I LOVE island life.
Malaysia is another one that is just a treat to go through. They wind you through the island life there – flora and fauna. Really a spectacular display. We have some great pictures of some of the dancers from there.

Expo...the sequel

I want you to know…we haven’t taken this Expo thing lightly…we have season passes (thank goodness) and have already gone 9 times. No, we haven’t seen everything yet. Back to the favorites
Egypt is another spectacular pavilion. It is full of artifacts and you can get up close and even touch some of them! We had to ask…they’re all replicas. Oh well…they do look very good. They even have an open sarcophagus with a very dried out mummy in it and to our untutored eyes it looks quite real. And for the food update…they also have vegetarian food. Not much, one item, but hey that’s good in a dedicated carnivorous society. All of the food is native food but ‘tweaked’ to accommodate the tastes of the Japanese. Fish is frequently found in many of the dishes, whether it’s native or not.
At night they have a Koi Pond performance. They use the water and laser lights, similar to Disneyland, to show a number of typically Japanese characters. I’m afraid the story is lost on some of us but the display is quite nice. Pretty simple but entertaining to watch once. They also have “swaying towers” – 3 very tall towers (they’re INTO towers here) that are created so that they can be moved back and forth, in time to the gentle music they play. They also have a “south pointing puppet on a cart” that shows up every half hour. The puppet pulling the cart does some gymnastics as it moves the cart around. The puppets are very flexible here and there’s a long tradition in creating some pretty elaborate puppets in Japan. There are even whole museums dedicated just to puppetry and they do major puppet show productions.
Stay tuned for the next episode….

EXPO!! First installment!

Bampaku or the Aichi World Exposition is a fantastic place to visit. There are pavilions representing over 100 different countries and food to go with them.
We have a few favorite pavilions. Mexico is fantastic – plus I understand what they’re saying – very important! You enter at the sea and climb up through the desert and into the mountains and the caves. It’s really quite a feat, considering how small the area is. The cave actually has the drip, drip, drip of slowly falling water.
Singapore is fantastic. They have a few dancers who performed a few native dances – with a twist…one of the costumed characters would suddenly drop to the floor and do some break dancing routines, jump up and they’d all continue dancing. He was quite popular. They have a room of memories…hollow books are opened up to display an item of some sort with writing about why it was important to the person. A purple heart was there, a cleat from a shoe (they won the game), jacks, report cards, doll set of dishes….lots of touching, little things about life. Really a cool idea and you could spend a long time opening up the boxes.
Another favorite pavilion is India. It really does one of the best jobs of sticking to the theme “nature's wisdom”. You enter to see two well-known symbols of India - the Bodhi Tree and the Dharmachakra (wheel of truth/reincarnation concept). They have a towering tree in the center and most of the information kind of flows around it. Really a calming pavilion to go through. Not only that – they have vegetarian food!!!!

Reunification Palace

The palace was really a fascinating place to visit in Ho Chi Minh City. It had figured large in the history of Vietnam and has pretty well remained the same since 1975. The architecture is very open with large, open hallways all around – great for circulation on those hot days! The outside has sectional columns all around – made to represent bamboo. It was partially destroyed during the Vietnam War (called the American War in Vietnam) but it has been rebuilt and it is still in use for official functions.
We were fortunately to be considered “official”. The conference organizers were able to rent the large ballroom area along with the outside halls and we had our gala celebration there – fabulous place! The entertainment was all native Vietnamese dancing, instrumentals and singing. A great opportunity to see some very interesting and unique instruments.

The palace also has a whole network of tunnels and rooms underneath the building – places where they could hide, escape, as well as direct the war through the telecommunications room. One of the tunnels goes all the way to another palace that is now the Revolutionary Museum.

Shopping in Vietnam

Vietnam is an interesting place to shop in. There are some very cheap prices for some things – and very expensive for others. They organize their shops in a very interesting way – all shops selling the same things are right next to each other. That means all of the jewelry stores are together, all of the tailors, all of the electronic stores and so forth. This also makes the competition fierce – they want YOU in THEIR store FIRST!!! On the streets there’s a constant line of talk, handing out things, trying to entice you in, showing you items. In the open market place it was crazy! They’d grab you as you went by to get you to look at things and they’d push and pull and honestly keep hold of you. It was enough to drive me crazy!
I think that the smooth salesmen of the world have been to Vietnam to pass on their sales tricks – get the customer talking “where you from” was heard from every salesperson and confidential “whispers” that they can give YOU a special price, not available to anyone else. Oh well….guess they have to make their money somehow. Did find some things we liked and hopefully didn’t pay too much over its actual worth. It was fun but I think that next time I want to go into a quieter area.

Criss-crossing traffic in Saigon. Believe me, this is a calm intersection at the moment. 

Vietnam Driving!!!

I recall those long ago days when we all sat in those driver’s ed classes and the teacher let us know that absolute chaos and no end of accidents would occur if we didn’t follow the rules and stop at traffic lights, yield, watch right of way etc. Well….I’m letting you know that the teacher was at least partially wrong. The chaos part is true but the accidents…well...somehow, in Vietnam, through the chaos…they are avoided.
I recall talking about driving in Japan. Let me tell you, Japan is a piece of cake with the icing. It’s fabulous. Vietnam is…well…different. First, there are about 500 motorbikes, 100 bikes and 50 cars in any given mile of road. The motorbikes have one person on them, two people, up to 4 people, the family dog, the kids sandwiched in between the parents or friends, kids reading books and kids still in diapers. They also talk to each other constantly. You can see 2 or 3 or 4 motorbikes pacing and the people carrying on a conversation – in the midst of all the other bikes. They are dressed in jeans, ao dai’s (the traditional dress in Vietnam), slacks, dresses, in elegant dresses and suits. And they are carrying…..EVERYTHING! We saw ladders, boxes, ice, fruit, veggies, a computer monitor, a small refrigerator, a crate of chickens, baskets with who knows what inside, baskets of herbs, trash and beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.
Now…the driving. It is called “driving by the horn”. If you want to do anything, you honk your horn. It seems to be a form of conversation. The motorbikes go wherever they want…cut around the cars, cut in front, cut behind, cut around the other motorbikes, turn left, right, from whatever lane…if you honk your horn it’s ok. Lights are definitely suggestions only and they definitely seem to be ignored the majority of the time. The traffic is interlaced constantly with the people coming in from both directions, crossing, turning or whatever. They also have huge traffic circles, just to make life a little more interesting. Those are really wicked!
And then comes the fun part…pedestrians get to cross the street in the middle of all of this. You just look at the bikes coming down towards you to your left – they at least drive on the right side of the road – when they think of it anyway. You watch until there’s a bit of a break in the crowd, they’re still coming towards you, there’s just not so many of them. You step out and start walking, you don’t stop, you just watch them come and they flow around you, some behind, some ahead but they do it. You continue, now looking to the right and watching for the ‘lull’. Sometimes you stand in the middle of the road with vehicles flowing around you but eventually there’s a space to step into and you do it. Whatever you do, you never speed up or suddenly stop. They are judging your pace and adjusting accordingly and with so many coming at you they’re all adjusting at the same time – you just have to hope they’re watching each other also and not watching the cute girl on the bike they just passed.
I’ve decided Japan has wonderful, clear, elegant, easy to navigate roads.

DisneySea

“Welcome to Tokyo DisneySea – Where adventure and imagination set sail”….so began our adventure this weekend to DisneySea.
As you enter the magical world, you are greeted with a spectacular fountain of the earth. The mammoth globe has sheets of water cascading through the seas surrounding the continents as the globe rotates on its watery base. It’s a real, breath taking entrance to the land of the world oceans. The water theme is continued throughout this Disney set on the coast of Japan.
It doesn’t have as many rides as I remember from DisneyLand but it makes up for it with spectacular settings. The central mountain for DisneySea is Mount Prometheus. They have done a spectacular job making it fit into the “land” it is a backdrop for. When you are in the Mediterranean Harbor, it is an old volcano with ropy lava cascading into the harbor. Shift a little, moving into the American Waterfront, and it becomes a tree covered mountain. Further on, it’s a part of the Lost River Delta and finally an active, spouting volcano as the backdrop for Mysterious Island. The buildings, of course, are very authentic looking, and filled with stores and restaurants for your pleasure (and lightening of the pocketbooks).
Kaz and Kazumi went with us for the day and we had a wonderful time. It was great knowing what was being said to us and being able to know what the signs said. The restaurants where centered around the theme area but definitely with a Japanese twist….Italian pasta dishes all have far more shellfish included and mysterious island had some mysterious dishes to the American palate.
Some of the rides were pretty traditional but there were a few surprises. The Aquatopia cars gave the appearance of being water based bumper cars without the bumping. It looked like you were being drug around the water in a set path, finally ending up back at the beginning. In actuality, you were seemingly randomly moving about the water, forward, backward, spinning, stopping, not following any one car at any given moment. Somehow, when you were brought back to the beginning, you ended up in the same car order as you had started. No idea how that worked.
You’ll have to start planning for a trip over to Japan to enjoy this adventure. It’s well worthwhile!!!!

Check out our pictures

I've added pictures from our Christmas trip. We're also going to be going to Tokyo to Disneyland next week so watch for more pictures!!!!! They can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/zooguide2002/

Driving, Round Two

Driving in Japan is definitely an experience. For a start, they have some of the world’s narrowest roads. Things that we would look at and consider to be a bike path, they actually drive on on a regular basis. Some, but not all, are one way roads. The road we regularly use to go to work is one such road – very busy, frequently in use, and you spend most of the time creeping up the side of the road or pulling into the small driveways and such on the side of the road, or not, in which case it's sorta like a game of legalized chicken in which you hope the other guy pull off to the side before your front bumpers meet. Another road we use on the way to our taiko class is horrible. Take a very narrow road, add lots of turns (fortunately with those wonderful mirrors) but add the ditch on the side of the road (the ones that are very deep and wide enough for a car tire to go into it). It’s a very popular road because it cuts off close to 20 minutes to get to the main highway…need I say more? To get to the dentist I go to, you have to cross a rice paddy on a very narrow road on the dike between fields. It's so narrow I wasn’t even certain it was wide enough for the car!
The attitude towards stop lights is also different. OK…picture this. The light turns yellow….we generally think of stopping because it’s going to be turning red. Uh uh…wrong. It’s turning yellow so you gun it to make sure you get to turn on that light cycle. Now…it has turned red…well….it’s still ok to go for the next 4 seconds because that’s how long everyone has a red light. It was designed to make sure everyone was able to get out of the middle of the intersection but they use it as a great excuse to not have to stop. Now…the cars that are stopped going the other direction are now creeping forward because, after all, the light is going to turn green in 4 seconds so they want to have a jump on the light. Once again, need I say more? Now…add the motorcycles and scooters to this mix. These guys can go anywhere, weave between cars, come up to the front of the line, pass you on any side at any time. They like to come up to the front of the line and the creep out – they’re halfway into the intersection before the light has turned green! Scooters also regularly drive wherever they want to…sidewalks, across fields, weaving among the bikes and walkers….it’s a crazy mix!
Oh yeah…and if you want to just run into a place (cleaners, grocers, flower shop, whatever), just stop the car. It’s fine, really. The guy behind will probably honk the horn but he’ll get over it and you can run in without worrying about finding a parking place. Trucks, busses, cars….everyone just stops when and where they want to. I’m sure it’s not legal, it’s just done. Another dimension to the mystery of driving here.

The Wonders of Japan

I’ve said lots about places we’ve gone, but little about some of the small things that just happen here in daily life. Here’s another look at Japan…

I’m always amazed at the service you receive here. Let’s just go to the gas station. They begin by directing you in. While the tank is filling, they wash your windows (yes, all of them) and they even will dump your ashtray! When you leave, they stop cars to help get you back in traffic! Talk about being directed…all of the major shopping malls and many of the not so major stores have parking lot attendants who help you in and out of the traffic on the street!

We have noticed a difference in the care of city trees, on the streets or in the parks. In the States, chain saws come out and trees are quickly dealt with. Here, we have watched men climb the trees and prune the trees, with hand clippers, so that they will maintain the beautiful, characteristic, cultivated shape. In most parks around the various castles and shrines, the grounds are raked and swept (even the gravel) to eliminate the leaves that have fallen to the ground. Moss is valued for its beauty (boy has my attitude changed on moss) and it is found in numerous gardens. Here the grass is weeded out of the moss.

Now, checkout the post office. Just imagine…you have a package that arrived and the post office left the note at the house on a Friday. You figure Monday you’ll go pick it up. Well…here, Sunday night, around 8:00 the doorbell rang. I walked out to the gate to discover the Japanese Postal worker there WITH our box to be delivered!!!! Yes, I did say it was a Sunday.

In the stores, particularly the gift stores, the sales people take exquisite care of your purchases. All of them are wrapped as if for a gift, no matter what you say (or not as the case may be). Even a regular store takes pain to package your purchases carefully.
While we’re on the subject of shopping…the grocery stores here do not have the huge carts we do. Picture the little hand baskets we have. Now, picture a little cart just the right size for a hand basket to fit on. That’s the carts they use here. When you make your purchases, you put the basket on the counter and they ring you up straight from your basket to another one (no issues of worker injuries here). If you have glass items they will add a protective wrap, free of charge. Even the 100 yen store (dollar store) has cut up newspapers available for wrapping your glassware! When you pay, you carry your basket over to a table and pack it there. By the way…don’t lick your fingers to open those plastic bags – bad form here. They have damp cloths that you touch to open the bags.

Remember all of those larger sized handkerchiefs we have received over the years? We have now discovered how wonderfully useful they are! First, you can use them as a lunch box. You wrap them around the containers you’re bringing, tie it up, slide in your chopsticks and you’re ready to go. You also keep one in a pocket or your purse. When there are no towels in the toilets, you use the one you’re carrying. (Just like in Ecuador, you carry Kleenex with you always – and, wonders of wonders, they pass the little packages out with advertising stuff on the street corners so you never have to run out! Finally, you can even use them as handkerchiefs, however, here you sniff in public and escape to a toilet to blow your nose.

The service continues everywhere. We have an Italian restaurant we like and the man comes out to bow at the door when we leave. At the museums, they will search for us in the museum to bring us an English guide if they didn’t give it to us immediately. Train attendants watch for people racing for the trains and will help with strollers and such to get everyone one in. It’s truly a different world!

Nara

Over the years, the capital of Japan has migrated to various cities. At one time, Nara was the capital of Japan and thus the home of the Emperor. It is also, surprise, surprise, the home of many shrines and temples. The most famous temple of all, the Todaiji temple, is located in the heart of Nara park. It is the largest wooden structure in the world and home of the largest wooden Buddhist statue. The statue is immense and stately, sitting 15 m high, on a carved, wooden lotus flower. The carvings on the flower told the story of the Buddha, the structure of heaven and earth as well as information about Japan. The large Buddha was surrounded by smaller gilded statues, creating a halo effect around the statue. Massive is the only thing to call it.
Groups of deer, considered to be messengers of the gods, run freely around the park area. They are quite tame and will pose for you to take pictures of them, however, just think about buying some of the treats to feed them and everything changes. The placid, sleeping deer suddenly become energized, racing over to you as you frantically attempt to tear off the paper to offer them a deer cookie. They steal from each other, nip you, knock the cookies out of your hand, and eat everything, including the paper. It lasts for approximately 20 seconds and then they instantly seem to know you are out of food for them and they return once again to the mellow, placid creatures you had originally seen.
We had the chance to visit a few more shrines, most notably the large, Karusa Taisha shrine, located on the edge of the primeval forest. Unfortunately, Japan takes celebrating the New Year quite seriously and many things were closed the week leading up to the New Years. We have decided that a 2nd trip to Nara, probably in the spring to enjoy the wisteria blooms it is famous for.

Hiroshima - Miyajima

Hiroshima is a city with a single focus…the elimination of nuclear weapons and world peace. They have dedicated everything they do to achieve that end. The monuments to honor the dead always contain the peace message along with it. The mayor writes a letter to every country who tests an atomic weapon, hoping each one will be the last one that is ever written.
The A-Bomb Dome is a grim reminder of the destructive power of the bomb. Peace Park is the home of the many monuments and tributes to the thousands of people who lost their lives. The museum is a terrible reminder of the horrible destruction. There really aren’t words to describe it.
After a somber day in Hiroshima, we took off to the island of Miya jima, and island held in awe for its fabled beauty as well as its famous Tori gate and Itsukushima Shrine. This incredible shrine is built right out upon the water with the foundation posts submerged in the sea. Unfortunately, this means that the posts decay easily and the shrine is battered by the ocean as well as typhoons, requiring constant and comprehensive maintenance. Even the beach and sandbar that emerges at low tide is kept clean and free from even the accumulation of algae.
The shrine has numerous buildings, connected with long, covered walkways. There are also several “stage” areas around, some covered, some out in the open. When we arrived, the monks were busy rolling out a red carpet and setting up one of the outdoor stage areas with another red carpet. We hung out on the fringes and watched, figuring something was about to happen (and no one was telling us to leave, in fact, they set up seats for people and we all sat).
Eventually, a number of priests came out and sat in a cloth draped shelter. Next, some men in elaborate silk robes appeared. Some wore masks, some carried various weapons, and all were dressed in elaborate, embroidered silk robes. The first dance was performed by a single man who wore an elaborate headpiece and carried a ceremonial sword. He very formally moved up to the stage and mounted it, then performed the stylized dance, moving through defensive postures. It was accompanied by music performed by some of the priests in the shelter, using various flute type instruments and a small taiko drum. More dances followed with groups and masks varying by dances. Afterwards we found out that we had had the honor of seeing Bugaku dancing, a performance that is only held nine times a year, generally for religious ceremonies or court occasions.
Afterwards, we decided to hike to the top of Mount Misen. We were armed with a nice, picture map of the area and it looked like it would be a pleasant hike, going past numerous temples, shrines and pagodas, and ending up at the small hut to be located at the top. It was a grueling, 5 km hike up STAIRS to the top. We did pass one beautiful Daishoin Temple grounds that was a great place to take a break but after that we were on our own. We almost gave up (it was starting to rain) but we persevered and were rewarded with a great view of the island and ocean.
We headed down, through some more temples, heading for the ‘monkey house’ and the ropeway. The monkey house turns out to be an open area with many monkeys cavorting around. One of the workers came out and threw a bucket of food scraps out and you should have seen the bee-line those monkeys made for the food. Watch out!!! They were fun to watch them play with each other. A few had babies who moved away cautiously but quickly scampered back to mom when something threatened them.
We decided to take the ropeway down and when we saw how far down the mountain it went we were very thankful we did. It was both very steep and VERY long.
Stay tuned...Nara coming up!

Kyoto in December

We spent our holiday time traveling around Japan. We decided to ride the JR trains - they have a special 5 day pass deal over certain holiday periods. While hotels and such are fairly expensive here, we discovered that off-season travel is much more reasonable.
Kyoto is quite amazing. It’s a large city with a jumbled mixture of buildings and streets – modern skyscrapers, huge department stores, four lane streets, mixed with temples, shrines, fabled gardens and streets no wider than an alleyway. Fortunately, Kyoto has a great system of buses with routes designed to take the tourist to many of the historic sites.
Kinkakuji was our first stop. It is probably Kyoto's most famous temple and garden. The building is three-stories with the traditional oriental style curving roofs. The walls and eaves of the second and third stories are covered with a very fine gold leaf. We didn't make it on a bright sunny day so the reflection on the water isn't quite as spectacular as some of the pictures you see of it. It is, however, awesome. The lower story has an altar that is open for viewing sometimes but unfortunately, we didn't get to see it. The garden winds around the temple and up the hill. While there is a beauty in the stark landscape of winter, we plan to go back in other seasons to see the garden in full bloom.
Next stop, Ryoanji temple, just down the street. This is known as the “Temple of the Sleeping Dragon” and was once a retirement home for one of the emperors. It is also famous for its rock garden, one that is held in the highest esteem as being the quintessential rock garden. People enter (changing shoes for slippers, of course) and sit on a ledge, contemplating the garden. It is a very serene, peaceful scene.
Next stop…the Kyoto Imperial Palace. At one time Kyoto was the capital of Japan and the emperor took up residence in the Imperial Palace. The palace is still used for some of the enthronement ceremonies for the emperor. It is found in the center of the huge Imperial Gardens. There’s a large earthen wall around the outside with six gates for different people seeking admittance, Daimyo (nobles), the Emperor, the Emperess, lesser nobles, and finally the tradesmen, laborers and servants necessary to maintain the smooth running of the place. The main hall is huge and currently contains the thrones for both the emperor and the empress, used during the enthronement ceremony. Although the current Imperial Palace is in Tokyo, most of the emperors are enthroned here in Kyoto. When it occurs in Tokyo, the chairs are packed and shipped to Tokyo and then returned here. The palace grounds also include buildings that sometimes house the 3 treasures of Japan; the sacred mirror, sword and jade.
The small garden outside one of the emperors living quarters is the most spectacular. The water wends its way through carefully cultivated rocks and plants, absolutely gorgeous! It’s another place I would like to return to in the spring.
Stay tuned…Kurashiki coming up!

Kurashiki

Since we were traveling by train, we decided to spend the night in a town half-way between Kyoto and Hiroshima, our next destination. Quite by accident, Jeff chose the little town of Kurashiki, never knowing what we would find there – and a great find it turned out to be.
We exited the train station to be greeted with a large promenade with a great villa behind an ornate wall with the word Tivoli plastered upon it and a huge ferris wheel turning over it all. Well, not being able to ignore such a large invitation, we decided to check it out. It was an amusement park, patterned after the original Tivoli located in Copenhagen and not unlike a small version of the original Disneyland. The light! The entire place was decorated for Christmas with red, green and white lights covering everything. They had rides, large and small, to appeal to all age groups and shops of every kind, including a street designed to emulate Copenhagen. The buildings throughout were spectacular, interspersed with tiny gardens, waterfalls and elaborate fountains. We had a fabulous time, walking around and enjoying everything.
Kurashiki is also the home of the O’Hara art museum. The building looks like an old Greek Temple, strange in the middle of a Japanese city. It is considered to be one of the leading western art museums in Japan. It includes pieces by El Greco, Claude Monet, Picasso, Gougan, Renoir and many more. They also included a large Asian art section and many artifacts. It was located along a famous canal zone with graceful swans floating through the water with weeping willows bending to the water. I bet it’s fabulous in the spring!
Next…on to Hiroshima.

Buddhist Temple

We had the honor of attending a special ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Shizuoka. I am going to share the layman’s view of what we were able to observe that day. I have to admit I do not understand everything I saw that day, but it was exciting to participate, even on the fringes, of this once in a lifetime celebration.
The care of Buddhist temple is traditionally passed on to a son. Fujika’s grandfather had been in charge of the temple up until his death a year ago. This November, her uncle was officially ‘invested’ in the temple.
As in all special ceremonies, the participants were all dressed in elaborate and ornate clothing. The children, called Ochigo-san for this celebration, were absolutely adorable. They were dressed in purple, ‘blousy’ pants with a multicolored short kimono type of top. They girls wore golden crowns and the boys had golden hats. They were so cute and very serious as they were given blessings from the priests.
The priests from many of the other temples also participated. They were richly garbed in ornately stitched kimonos of greens or purples. The color denotes the rank of the priest, the purple being the higher, “nobler” rank. Her uncle, of course, was in a gorgeously embroidered kimono, purple, with an exquisitely ornate shawl (I don’t know what to call it) wrapped around him (a VERY expensive outfit).
The day started with a procession through the streets with the priests leading and chanting. Her uncle was next, walking under a large, red umbrella, and then the children followed in the parade. Alas, the crowns did not want to stay on their heads so there were many stops to straighten them out, tuck in clothing and getting the sandals back on their feet.
After we returned from the procession, everyone filed into the temple and sat on the small cushions, zabuton, placed on the tatami mats. The ceremony began with a ritual opening of a new gate for the priest and purification. The priests entered carrying incense and or ornate urns and proceeded to ‘pray’ at each corner of the altar. Flowers were spread to purify the temple for her uncle to enter and receive the official orders to be a priest of the temple. They have a special book for the temple which records priests and activities in the temple. (It’s so important to the temple that when there was a fire during World War II, Fujika’s grandmother ran away carrying the notebook with her.)
Check out http://www.geocities.com/zooguide2002/index.htm for pictures.