Daniel Young Travels: May 2024

OSAKA AND HAKONE

APRIL 27 TO MAY 3

In major train stations sliding barriers don't open until the train is ready to accept passengers. And the position of train cars are indicated so you know where to stand.

Typical views from train in "countryside." between Kurashiki (actually Odayama, where we caught the express train), and Osaka

View from our hotel room on the 29th floor of the Swissotel, Osaka. The lobby was on the 20th floor.

Takashimaya department store next to our hotel had three floors of restaurants
in addition to a big basement food hall.

Osaka was added to our itinerary after we could not arrange to add Amano Hashidate and instead aimed for the Mt. Fuji area (Hakone) before finishing in Tokyo.

Osaka is bold and brassy.

As usual we went for the maximum market action. This photo captures the crowd.

Crab is king in Osaka

Chestnuts featured.

Crab legs etc.

And live crabs at the aquarium.A satisfactory facility but not the world's largest as it falsely claims.

Pickled vegetables are one of the delights of Japan. I read that the Japanese consume twice as much salt in their diet as other countries. This fact supports a new Japanese product - an electronic spoon that stimulates the tongue in a way that fools it into sensing more salt than is actually in the food.

Horse chestnuts?

Staring cuttlefish?

Excellent department store sushi in the hotel room.

Tourist makes a donation to a monk. (He was standing stock still in that location for a long time but did ring a small bell after the donation was made)

Breakfast area of Swissotel, Osaka.

Bold signage was everywhere.

Billiken is a weird pop culture "deity" prominent in Osaka culture and, oddly enough, derived from early 20th Century American design. See, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billiken
Full slogan is "Things as they ought to be."

A Bunraku performance at Osaka's National Bunraku Theater raised the cultural level of our stay. Three-man teams manipulate large puppets in the Japanese equivalent of Shakespearean tragedies while, on the side, a prodigiously talented narrator provides all the voices to the accompaniment of a shamisen player. In the National Theater, the main puppet manipulator (who controls the head and right arm), is not masked, I consider this a distraction even though they maintain an impressive impassivity.

Shinkansen (super express) trains going through a station at about 150 miles an hour are impressive.

A nice, curvy taxi ride from the Odayama station brings us to the Hotel Hakone and a view we hope will, at some point in our two-day stay, reveal Mt. Fuji on the horizon.

We cross the road to have lunch at a good little restaurant.

Danny improvises a chopstick rest from part of a bottle cap.

The prospects for a view of Mt. Fuji do not look good but do not deter us from taking a bus to a cablecar for another possibility.

Unfortunately the fog persists and even affects the position of the photos in this blog..

The cable car operator cannot control the fog. We decide to hike along Lake Ashi and take a taxi from the cable car station to the trail.

Emma has a poncho to deal with intermittent rain.

Tourist "pirate" boat passes on Lake Ashi.

Tourist encounters low-hanging tree branch while attempting short-cut.

Tourist poses as samurai.

Outskirts of Hakone

Snail on the trail.

A few hours before our departure from Hakone, Fuji began to show itself and, at the very last minute, with the taxi waiting, we got some great shots. Why is Fuji special? I like to think that, for the Japanese and kindred spirits, it is a symbol of the dominance of Nature over humanity - a gigantic reminder of the importance of behaving modestly in the world - in short, the total reverse of most of the prevailing conduct of Homo sapiens.

HOORAY!

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

- William Shakespeal

ADDENDUM

SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO THE JAPANESE TOILET

A major advance in human civilization. Heated seat plus various rinsing and cleansing options.
The controls can be on a wall panel or on a sidebar. For more information see, https://motto-jp.com/media/lifestyle/a-westerner-s-guide-to-japanese-musical-toilets/

END OF PART 2

TOKYO NEXT

PART 1

NIKKO, KYOTO, NARA, HIMEJI, KURASHIKI

APRIL 15 TO APRIL 27

APRIL 15, 2024

ANA FLIGHT NH109

JFK TO HANEDA

Elegant use of simple materials is one of the things we like about Japan, such as the chopsticks whose paper wrapper becomes a rest for the chopsticks, shown here with the start of a Japanese meal on our 13-hour ANA flight to Haneda Airport, Tokyo, May 15, 2024.

A simple, well-designed folded paper wraps the sticks and then serves as a support for them.

After spending the night at a hotel in Terminal 2 of the Haneda airport we took a taxi to the Asakusa station of the Tobu private railway for a 2 1/2 hour trip north to Nikko, a country town intended to give us a three-day time-change adjustment period at the Kanaya Hotel - Japan is 13 hours ahead of New York, a colossal jet lag situation. We had an enormous, comfortable, old-fashioned room with a beautiful view.

Nikko was a good choice. They roll up the sidewalks at about 5 PM but it was good for strolling the Main Street, nature walking on a spectacular cedar-lined avenue, temple viewing, lake hiking, jizo visit (to be explained later) and an unexpected nighttime spring float festival.

Emma and Alan Coldsnow flank the Shinkyo Bridge (神橋, Shinkyō, "sacred bridge") stood very close to our hotel at the entrance to Nikko's shrines and temples.

On the second night were surprised by floats containing drummers, decorated with artificial cherry blossoms and pulled by townspeople in traditional costume.

Nikko introduced us to Yuba, a skinlike form of tofu used to wrap sushi
and as a soup ingredient.

And, of course, the main attraction of Nikko, the Toshugu shrine complex consisting of more than a dozen lavishly decorated buildings set in a beautiful forest. Much walking required to get there.

Toshogu Shrine (東照宮, Tōshōgū) is a magnificent memorial to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868. Ieyasu is enshrined at Toshogu as the deity Tosho Daigongen, "Great Deity of the East Shining Light". Initially a relatively simple mausoleum, Toshogu was enlarged into the spectacular complex seen today by Ieyasu's grandson Iemitsu during the first half of the 17th century.

For some, the most enjoyable structure was the relatively simple stable decorated with great monkey carvings including the iconic "Hear no evil...."

For lovers of gaudiness there was much to enjoy. Countless wood carvings and large amounts of gold leaf were used to decorate the buildings in a way not seen elsewhere in Japan, where simplicity has been traditionally stressed in shrine architecture.

Including one of the gaudiest entry gates in Japan, the Yomeimon Gate.

Cleaning crews have a full-time job.

Lovers of sake could also enjoy barrels donated to the shrine.

Scary guardian figures were on duty.

From Nikko we also took a hair-raising bus ride to stroll along nearby Lake Chusenji, through mountain roads equal to the twistiest of the Alpine region - not once but twice because on another day we didn't get off the bus on time. Well worth it and only a total of about an hour and a half, round trip.

Another highlight, a short train ride and taxi away from Nikko, was a magnificent cedar-lined avenue, supposedly in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest in the world. We got there by a short local train ride and a taxi. A gas station attendant helped us call a taxi to take us back to the railroad station.

Nikko also had a nice Jizo walk. Jizo are engaging small stone statues, often decorated with knitted red hats and bibs, with a mixed protective/memorial association, related to stillborn, miscarried, or aborted fetuses, or children who died very young. They also protect women, travelers, and lost souls in general.

The cleanliness of public areas in Japan was a constant source of amazement to us, particularly when we noted the universal absence of garbage cans on the streets.

A cleaning team polishes railings at the Nikko railroad station.

Traveler, leaving Nikko on way to Kyoto, through Tokyo, waits until cleaner allows boarding.

4/20/24

ON TO KYOTO

(Danny becomes the first person in history

to discover that moving the TO of TOKYO

to the end turns it into KYOTO!)

Tobu train line to Asakusa station. Taxi to Tokyo Station where we caught a Shinkansen (express train) to Kyoto. We had chosen seats on the side of the train from which views of Mount Fuji are possible, although the odds of seeing it were about 30 to 1.

WE GOT LUCKY!

WE ALSO GOT LUCKY FOR OUR FIRST DINNER IN KYOTO.
Funky joint where nearby diners helped us master the QR ordering system,
leading to a great fish and veggie-centric meal. Later we learned it was part of an izakaya chain.

On the first full day we hit the Nishiki food market, crowded with people and endless variety of food. More than 100 stalls in a long, narrow covered alley/street. Our photos do not accurately record the crowds.

Fermented vegetables.

Contented travelers.

The sign on the bamboo shoots summarizes the market rule that food must be eaten at the stall where it is bought. No eating while walking.

Typical traditional street in Kyoto.

From the Nishiki market we walked to the museum/house of Kanjiro Kawaii, (1890 - 1966) a notable ceramic artist. A charming traditional house with a big climbing kiln, wisteria and a beautifully preserved pottery studio.

KYOTO - VISIT TO THE CRAFT MUSEUM

Terrific displays explaining various crafts

Putting a folding fan together

Staff Only!

It wasn't as easy to find high-quality traditional crafts in the stores as it was in the museum.

THREE KYOTO TEMPLES IN ONE MORNING

Kinkajou, Ryoanji and Ninnaji

Golden Pavilion - Beautiful but much too crowded.

Support your local trees!

Ryoanji is famous for its rock garden. I thought the walls were more interesting.
Thankfully it was not too crowded.

Ninnaji was the most enjoyable.

The only monks we saw were marching in a magazine.

Superb Paintings

A perfect place for wedding photos

Also perfect for deep reflection.

And purposeful striding.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR DINNER AT REINE DES PRES IN KYOTO

DAY TRIP TO NARA FROM KYOTO

A half-hour train ride from Kyoto Station brought us to Nara and an approximately 30-minute walk got us to Todaiji, a temple with a very large Buddha - and who can resist a giant Buddha?

Hordes of school groups and panhandling deer

On the way to the Big Buddha.

Big Buddha Building in Background

How! Me Big Buddha!

Me Big Buddha Bodyguard!

Come closer. Stop! Come closer. Stop!

For a fee Temple Calligraphers churn out calligraphy of spiritual value I suppose.

Big Buddha Chases Butterfly (or maybe he's blessing it.)

Big Buddha Tries To Stop Selfie

Big Buddha Says "Enough!"

Tourist Defies Guardian

Nara manhole cover with deer

Kyoto Rest Stop Between Nishiki Market and Kanjiro Kawaii Museum/House

Yamato luggage shipping between hotels saved us some travel stress.

This records success after frustrating smartphone search for Ninja Museum - which we then bypassed.

Japan has adopted the croissant.

Lifecycle Scene in Himeji

Himeji Castle - A good stop on the way from Kyoto to Kurashiki - although we did have some difficulty locating our luggage lockers in the larger-than-expected train station when leaving.

Screen covers woman's millstone - supposedly donated to help Emperor build the walls of Himeji castle.

Castle Interior

Door within door

View From High Floor

Moat and town view from high floor.

First American To Reach Top of Himeji Castle

That's What I Call A Dinner! On our first night in Kurashiki we had a wonderful kaiseki meal at Kurashiki Shirakabe restaurant. [From Wikipedia - Kaiseki is a type of art form that balances the taste, texture, appearance, and colors of food. To this end, only fresh seasonal ingredients are used and are prepared in ways that aim to enhance their flavor. Local ingredients are often included as well. Finished dishes are carefully presented on plates that are chosen to enhance both the appearance and the seasonal theme of the meal. Dishes are beautifully arranged and garnished, often with real leaves and flowers, as well as edible garnishes designed to resemble natural plants and animals.]

Back to the Ordinary - Breakfast Joint in Kurashiki

Egg served at breakfast joint.

Wonderful barnlike restaurant right next to our Royal Park Hotel in Kurashiki.
Maybe named Kita-no-kura. Totally local, fortunately had horigotatsu (recessed pit under low table that lets you sit normally)

Broom Selection in Kurashiki. We were tempted by the one with four segments.

Tourist Consulting Map in Kurashiki.

Street Scene in Kurashiki.

Canal Scene in Kurashiki

Honeymoon Pose in Kurashiki

Costumed Tourist in Kurashiki. The V sign is popular.

Magazine Wedding Scene - I count 5 Vs.

Denim is a big local industry.

Wisteria manhole covers abound.

A device with a romantic function, I guess.

Bus from Kurashiki to Kojima, changing to Shimotsui Loop Bus from Kojima Station to reach observation spot near top of Mount Washuzan, from which we saw beautiful views of the Seto Inland Sea and the Seto Bridges and hiked to the top..