Japan — The Beginning
Shop under a bridge , Tokyo
Now that we’re back in Vancouver, the blog posting about our trip begins. I’d like to start off with a summary of our time in Japan followed by several detailed posts about specific attractions and characteristics of the country. After Japan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand will follow suit.
Japan — May 31-June 18 (10 days Tokyo, 9 days Osaka)
Our time in Japan was guided by Mr. Kishimoto who took us to the most well known attractions as well as some lesser known vistas. Having spent a significant portion of his life in both cities, he knew his way around quite well and we were grateful to have his guidance.
Tokyo
We arrived in Narita airport and took the Skyliner Express into town to Ueno Station. Stepping out of the station onto a busy Friday evening rush-hour home was an exhilarating feeling. Businessmen were walking in every direction without collisions; the traffic, although busy, was organized. This is my one of my favourite memories for it’s exact representation of what I expected Japan to be like. Carrying our backpacks and pulling along Yukis parents’ suitcases, we made our way into another metro entrance and popped out at Tokyo station. We walked through the Imperial Palace to our hotel in Shinbashi which I would have liked to have seen more of.
Meiji Shrine — The Sake, Tokyo
These barrels of sake and the French wine on the opposing side of the wide pathway to the shrine demonstrate my interest in Japanese art and design. Their beauty is in their simple forms and colours that are natural and earthy. A lot of Japanese art uses natural materials, colours, and textures, as opposed to bright, flashy, or rich.
We went to Shibuya for the Meiji Shrine which was our first introduction to Japanese temples as well as Takeshita-dori, a pedestrian street for young fashion. Both places were everything I expected in Japanese culture, from the tradition and politeness to the unique young people’s fashion. We had beef on rice (which would become a staple meal) and then saw a fair at the NHK Studio, the national radio and TV station, and Yoyogi park beside it. The Tokyo Government Building Lookout on the 45th floor of building 1 was free and offered a great view of the surrounding city. I’d been to this building street racing on a PS2 game so it was cool to see the actual thing.
In Ginza, we walked through the Tokyo International Forum, one of many architecturally distinguishing buildings I’d seen pictures of before. There was a Sunday flea market beside it, and then nearby inside the metro station First Avenue Tokyo Station, a 3-level 120-shop underground mall. We walked the famous Nihombashi Bridge which is mile zero of the Japanese highway system and then visited the base of the Tokyo Skytree. We planned on coming back another day early in the morning to avoid the crowds because Yuki’s dad didn’t want to wait and go up now but that didn’t end up happening.
Yuki at Disneyland, Tokyo
A fantastic two days of rides, amusements, and being kids again. We missed a lot of rides because of the long lines but were able to get some fast passes for others. Plus, even though it’s the busiest Disneyland in the world, school days and week days have significantly fewer people it seems.
We spent a day each in Disneyland and Disneysea which was a dream come true for Yukes and a fun time all around. I rode my first 360-loop roller coaster and Yuki did her first simulator ride. I particularly liked how orderly and patient the Japanese were waiting in line.
We crossed Tokyo bay on the Rainbow bridge to visit the National Technology Museum on Odiku Island which seems to be one of many man-made islands. Afterwards, we took a metro line easily to Akihabara Electric Town where lots of electronics are sold. Even at night, this place is alive with company signs hanging out into the streets.
Asakusa is a district famous for the Senso-Ji temple and Kaminarimon gate with its big red lantern. It is probably the most visited tourist attraction in all of Tokyo and was horribly crowded. We also got fortune sticks out of a canister and mine was the only bad luck one. I left it there to be forgotten as it said something about not traveling and missfortune. Surprisingly, one of my favourite buildings is across the street, the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center. Then we went to Ueno park back in Shibuya whereupon trying to find the Kaneiji temple, we ended up in a cemetery instead, getting chased out by a guard. There was also the Ameyoko shopping district which was more general shopping. We enjoyed the huge snack store and 100-yen store. You can read about this day in this previous post.
Taking a train out of downtown is quite easy too. We got a chance to see the family’s old apartment before they moved to Thailand, including the coin laundry and public bathhouse beside it, as well as the preschool Yukes attended. Later, Yukes, her mom, and I went for a nightime walk in Shiodome area that passed the Tsukiji Market. This was one of the attractions I really wanted to see but we never got a chance.
Our last day in Tokyo was spent climbing Tokyo Tower. Yukes and I got certificate numbers 278075 and 278076 for climbing up the 600 steps. It’s only 150m up and not that bad of a climb. All the steps are numbered and there are several encouraging mile markers along the way. We also saw the district’s town hall, Reiyukai Shakaden and Zojo-ji, another famous temple where a monk was taking traditional wedding photos. We walked past the parliament building and supreme court as well as the national theatre.
Osaka
Osaka Castle — Osaka
Possibly the most well known image of Japan and a significant heritage site as well. Many of the historic sites in Japan are free like this one or cost very little. They serve as public parks.
The Shinkansen to Osaka was a pleasantly smooth trip with interesting scenery out the windows and comfortable seats. It’s better than flying because you can just walk on like any other metro station and there’s no security checks. Even though you need to buy the ticket in advance, there’s several trains an hour. Four locals helped us find our hotel and then we had time in the afternoon to visit the Osaka Castle which had just passed its 400th year anniversary. It had a lot of tourists but as usual, we were able to find our own quite little spot that looked better. We had dinner at a restaurant that claimed, “№1 curry in Japan, if best among Osaka.” which was quite good and true to its name.
We met one of Yuki’s uncles and visited the tombstone of another. He took us to Nijo-ji Castle which was built as the Koyto residence for the Tokugawa Shoguns. I found the gardens most interesting but the wall paintings in the Ninomaru Palace were also impressive. The nearby Kyoto Imperial Palace held strong architectural forms but little else to see. We passed the large Torii gate, a big orange structure in front of Heian Jingu shrine which is ranked the ‘top’ shrine by the Association of Shinto Shrines. These attractions we didn’t spend as long at and the last, I’d be interested in returning to so as to visit the paid garden.
Nandaimon Gate, Nara
Todaiji is the historic site of ancient Nara and a UNESCO World Heritage site. This is the Great South Gate and the main entrance.
Another impressive temple was the Todaiji and the great Buddha in Nara, another UNESCO World Heritage site. We saw the Nandaimon gate, Daibutsuden great Buddha hall, Asoka pillar, Nigatsu-do hall, Hokke-do hall, Tamukeyama shrine, and Kasuga Taisha shrine. There are lots of deer around to feed, and the Great Buddha hall had a ‘good luck’ hole in a pillar to pass through that’s supposed to be the same size as the Buddha’s nostril. This park is extensively large and the small section that we saw was very impressive. The best part was the stone lantern area along the side of the pathways where few others venture.
On a day trip to Kobe we saw the Port Tower and the Mosaic Marketplace. Then we took a cruise in the bay and saw the Akashi Kaikyo bridge which has the longest central span of any suspension bridge in the world (1,991m).
Japanese Gardens — Expo 70 Park, Osaka
Potentially a classic image of Japanese gardens. These gardens are framed to be seen from specific locations as if they were paintings or photographs.
Yuki and I ate blue fin tuna toro by accident at a sushi conveyor belt restaurant and it was the best sushi ever but that’s probably because of what it is rather than how it tasted. We also visited the gardens in Expo ’70 Park on the hottest day of the year but found shade under many trees. The ponds, waterfalls, and bamboo forests in the Japanese gardens made for excellent pictures. We also saw a Peace rose garden sponsored by the Canadian and Japanese rotary clubs. Again, I felt like I wasn’t getting the chance to stay as long as I like but unfortunately this garden closes at 5pm.
The View from Mt. Hiei, Osaka
I found the views of the mountains and scenery around the temples more interesting than the buildings. Maybe that’s because the temples are so closely surrounded by trees (making them more challenging to photograph) and they’re not overly unique after seeing so many other temples. These mountains remind me of home, where as we look into the distance, the blue colour of the mountains gets lighter.
Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei is a well known monastery from the Heian period. This is in Demachiyanagi, Kyoto. It took a cable car and ropeway to get up the mountain and then a walk through the forest. On the way home, Mr. Kishimoto took us on a detour to Kyoto JR station. We didn’t understand why at all — until we arrived and found an impressively massive building with great views all around, including one of the Kyoto Tower.
We also took a day trip out to Fukuchiyama and met Yuki’s cousin.
We walked down a pedestrian street which was like a covered mall and called Shinsaibashi-suji. It ended at a famous square in Osaka, the Dotonbori centre that has a famous picture of a running Glico man and a giant crab above a restaurant. Then we saw the Osaka city hall and the Mizu no Miyako park.
Upon wandering Osaka, we found a ‘Mother Garden’ store which has the seal that my cartoon is based off of. We got Airplane Seal and found that the Osaka JR Station is large and impressive like the Kyoto one. We spent our last afternoon lazying around in a small park. Yukes and I sung on the swings and her dad had a nap on a bench.
Leaving Japan was sad and we didn’t feel like we saw everything. The large cities are filled with small temples and parks that I find quite beautiful and I’ve heard a lot about other parts of Japan. As well, I’d like to visit the Eastern Tama Area in Tokyo, Kumano Kodo, Hokkaido and Hiroshima to name a few. Both Yukes and I promised that we would come back again soon.
