Japanese Alps Day Two

We were surprised to wake up on Sunday morning to snow. Given that it has been in the 70s in Nagoya the altitude made quite a difference in the weather.
From the Guest House we drove to one of the waterfalls in the park, it wasn't possible to get a good photo of the 40 meter waterfall because the wind was blowing the water at us, but the scene walking to the falls was still pretty amazing.From the park we continued on to Lake Suwa, the area appeared to be a hot spot for tourists complete with swan boats, but I think we were a bit early in the season.
Next to the lake (as in approx 10 meters) is the worlds second tallest Geyser. I wasn't that impressed, but maybe the Geyser was just having an off day.

After the Geyser we moved on to the Suwa Taisha Shrine which had a few Sumo references including this statue.In visiting the shrine we were hoping to find an Easter Island Moai that was supposedly brought to Suwa in the 1600s by the Easter Islanders. We couldn't find the Moai, but we did see a rainbow over the city.

Japanese Alps Day One

Last weekend M and I planned a trip to the Alpine Inn MIZUSHIRO Guest House located within the Chubusangaku National Park in the Japanese Alps in Nagano prefecture. My initial plan was to stop in Takayama where we could see the folk village and Takayama morning markets. The plan changed after we were misguided by the car Navigation system which showed a picture of the exit on the right when in fact it was to the left. After an 11 km tunnel the next exit was 22 km away and given that it was raining terribly we decided to find a nearby indoor activity. Our solution? Myoryuji (Ninja-dera) in Kanazawa city. Kanazawa turned out not to be as English friendly as the Fodors guidebook claimed, our lunch at Kincharyo was delicious. but a bit uncomfortable given that the menu was entirely in Japanese and mostly without photos. After lunch we moved on to the Ninja Temple where we were, in the parking lot, informed again in Japanese, that we needed to make a reservation. So I called from the parking lot and attempted to make a reservation, once more in Japanese, and was given a reservation for a tour starting just over one hour later. Since it was still raining we decided to walk over to the temple and wait there hoping that they would take pity on us standing the rain and let us participate in an earlier tour. Score! we were granted an earlier tour. The common name for Myoryuji is the Ninja Temple because it could provide escape routes or hiding places for shoguns not because it was Ninja related. The temple contains seven levels and 29 staircases despite appearing from he outside to be only two stories tall. Inside there are several (we were shown 12) trick contraptions for hiding or escaping including a offering box that doubles as a hiding place, a well with a tunnel to the castle, and a double door that when shut opened another door to make it appear that the fleeing person had gone in another direction. Photos were not allowed in the temple, but their website has some photos of the contraptions.

How to Eat Ice Cream In Moderation

Happy Golden Week! due to Japanese Holidays I have seven days straight off work.

I picked out what I expected to be a single serving box of ice cream only to find that it contained 6 tiny individually wrapped servings at approximately 30 calories each.

Osu Kannon Flea Market

On the 28th of each month the Osu Kannon Temple is the site of a flea market. My Mom and L enjoyed it and recommended that I visit. While the selection of items available is vast and the prices low I didn't find anything I needed to buy.The people watching from the top of the temple stairs was my favorite part of going to the market.From the temple we walked to the Osu Kannon Arcade, where I enjoyed some more people watching, but didn't see anything I needed to buy.

Kyoto Day Two

I had to pause between writing about day one and day two of my Kyoto weekend in order to travel to the Japanese Alps this past weekend, I'll blog about that trip later this week.

We started a very cloudy gray day two of the Kyoto trip at Kiyomizu-Dera which happens to open at 6:00am. Hoping to avoid the immense crowds that it tends to attract later in the day we arrived at 7:00 and had the place to ourselves.



Next, we stopped at the Imperial Household Agency hoping to get a tour at the Katsura gardens, but were informed that all tours were booked until Wednesday. Instead we wondered the grounds of the Kyoto Imperial Palace.
The third stop was Sanjusangen-do a hall which contains 1000 identical statues that cannot be photographed (check the photo on the Wikipedia link above). This was my first visit to Sanjusangen-do and it quickly became one of my top 10 favorite attractions in Japan.
Just before lunch we made a stop at Tofuku-ji, another of the a la cart temple complexes, planning to see the moss checkerboard garden, but unable to find it we ended up at the gravel checkerboard garden instead. The most amusing park of Tofuku-ji is that free parking is located within the temple complex this meant that I had to drive through one of the old temple gates.After lunch we finished the day at Fushimi Inari. This time I tried to pay more attention to the variety of fox statues along the tori gate route.

Animal Crossing 2

Dogs in Bike Baskets

Kyoto Day 2 photos are coming but in the meantime I am taking a pre Golden Week trip to Nagano prefecture. In the meantime...

I've seen this situation a few times, but it has taken a while to get a photo, the man on the mike it toting a dog in his front bike basket.

Kyoto Day One

We started our day in Kyoto at Kinkaku-ji which was the same as I remembered it, but more crowded. It is nice, but not my favorite mostly due to the crowds.Our next stop was the Daitoku-ji temple complex. The complex is made up of 22 sub-temples some of which can be toured a la carte fashion. I had planned to see the Ryogen temple for its Rock Gardens, but the monks were apparently busy because it was temporarily closed during the time we were there. Instead we saw Daisen-inThird stop was Ginkaku-ji which is currently under construction, but was still worth seeing on account of the grounds.From Ginkaku-ji it made sense to have lunch along the Philosopher's Path.The final temple stop of the evening was Nanzen-ji, like Daitoku-ji a temple complex made up of several separate points of interest. We had planed to see Hojo but became a bit confused by the different options and ended up at Nanzen-in garden instead.

Ricky's Euro Pub Toyota City

Wednesday evening I was too busy eating a delicious meal prepared by L followed by back to back episodes of The Wire to start writing about last weekend's Kyoto trip. Before departing for Kyoto on Sunday, I had a productive Saturday. I had my hair cut by the fabulous Aki-san at Studio A, visited Mister Donut at Fujigaoka, picked up some good items with the help of L at Uniqlo, and went to Ricky's Euro Pub in Toyota city with M, M&L, and T. The sole reason for going to Ricky's is to see the show put on by the bartenders, it isn't really a place for much else other than a 1000yen ($10USD) pint of Guinness.

Google Analytics

When M arrived he showed me how to use Google Analytics to observe the visits to my blog. I've gotten into the habit of checking the results fairly often and enjoy looking at the search terms that lead people to my blog as well as the countries that visitors come from. Since Analytics installation I have seen visitors from 35 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South America, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam)
I shouldn't have been surprised to see that the map of visitors to my blog closely resembles this map of Internet users per country based on 2007 data.

Stove Top & Fish Broiler Cooking 19

Rainbow Stir fry made from carrots, cabbage, red cabbage, red pepper and rice noodles.

Heiwa Park Sakura

On March 3rd in the morning before work I talked Mike into getting up early for a walk to Heiwa Park to check on the cherry blossom progress. I was disappointed to find that the majority of the buds were not yet fully open, but the view was still beautiful and the walk refreshing.

On March 6th, we returned and found the illusive perfect cherry blooms.On March 12th, I wanted to see the petals falling like snow so we returned once again. As soon as leaves start coming out the blossoms get lost.

How to Decide What to See in Kyoto

This weekend is my third trip to Kyoto. For the first trip with A, M, Mom, and R I encouraged A&M, as natives, to choose the itinerary. On the second trip with R we decided on places recommended by Foodors that I hadn't seen yet. This round, recognizing that I will probably only return to Kyoto twice before I leave Japan, I contemplated my decision a bit longer.

*Here is a link to the spreadsheet*

The references to Michael and Naomi come from the Michael and Pam website. The scoring is +1 for each recommendation and -1 if I have already been there. Based on this list the places we are planning to see this weekend are:
①Kinkaku-ji - Gold Temple
②Ryugen-in - Rock Garden
③Ginkaku-ji - Silver Temple
⑤Nanzen-ji - Tiger Paintings
Philosopher's Path
⑦Kiyomizu Dara - Temple with Wooden Deck
⑨Sanjusangendo - 1001 Statues
⑩Katsura Imperial Villa - Japanese Garden
⑪Tofuku-ji (houji) - Moss Checkerboard Garden
⑫Fushimi Inari - Tori Gates
④Toyoko Gojo Karasuma - Hotel
⑥Youjiya - Facial blotting papers requested by A
⑧Imperial Housing Agency - Application location for Katsura
I am skipping four of the places that scored well in my list:
Daigo-ji Temple - Because Michael gave it low priority status.
Enryaku-ji Temple - Because it is significantly far from the other locations, but I would like to see it with my Mom.
Nijo-jo Castle - Because I wasn't that impressed the first time. It is on standby if we don't get accepted to Katsura.
Ryouan-ji Temple - Because I have already been and Ryugen-in is recommended as a better Rock Garden.
Saihou-ji - Because prior application is required and the cost is approximately 30USD.

I didn't plan food or shopping (except for A's blotting papers), I've had luck with those things being a buffer and fitting between destinations.

Kakuozan Spring Fair

Midway through a 9 day string of flawless weather M and I visited the Kakuozan Spring Fair last Sunday afternoon.

Despite being just 4 stops from Issha it was my first time stopping at Kakuonzan. The fair closed the main street going from the station up to Nittaiji Temple and it was comprised of an art fair, performances and a few food booths. As noted by the NIC the crowd was internationally diverse, uniquely more so than any of the events I have attended in Nagoya. On our way through the art booths we were passed by an elephant and later spotted it entertaining children while trying to buy a drink from a vending machine.

Recently I have been thinking about having to buy a car when I return home (in about 90days) which has put me off wanting to spend money so, while the items available were appealing I didn’t buy anything. From the festival we continued on to Nittaiji Temple a complex in which remnants of Buddha, a gift from the king of Thailand, are housed.

Even after having visited multiple sites of the temple I am unsure which structure actually contains Buddha.

Symmetrical Trees

These peach trees at a farm near my office have been trained to be symmetrical and the each the same shape. Isn't farming difficult enough without having to force your trees to all look the same?In the Winterand, in bloom.

Tejikara Fire Festival

While in Gifu last Saturday I decided that it made sense to visit the Tejikara Fire Festival, logistically it sounded correct, but in reality our route was a triangle.This festival was loud!! Neither M nor I had any desire to get as close as would have been required to get any photos. I found the photo below here. We ended up spending most of our time walking away from the fireworks through the food stalls making a dinner out of it.

Tajimi Pottery Festival

Last Saturday after visiting Eohio-ji Temple we moved on to the Tajimi Pottery Festival. It was strikingly similar to the Seto pottery festival that I attended last Fall. I wasn't in the market for any pottery but the prices were so good that ended up buying some small flower shaped dishes and miniature cake stand.

Eihō-ji Temple

On Saturday afternoon M and I took the subway, train and then walked to Eiho-ji Temple in Tajimi city. I was interested in seeing the temple and the bamboo forests on the surrounding grounds. I couldn't find directions in advance so was forced to put the longitude and latitude coordinates from the Wikipedia page into google maps and printout a map which we used as a guide, fortunately it only ended up being a 25min walk, but with a significant chunk uphill.I imagine that the temple grounds are amazing, but for us the views were not that great. Almost the entire area was under construction. The saddest looking part was the mud puddles which had been reflecting pools, but are currently drained for bridge work.

Sakuramochi

Sakuramochi (sakura->cherry blossom / mochi -> glutinous rice flour) is currently all the rage at the sweet shops, grocery stores, and omiyage stands. It consists of pink tinted mochi wrapped in a pickled cherry tree leaf. It is such a big deal they even served it in the cafeteria bento last week. I thought it was OK, but like so many things here popular because it is popular and not because it is exceptional.

Yoshino

I've only got one season to see cherry blossoms so I absolutely had to visit the top location in Japan for flower viewing, Mt Yoshino. Lucky for me it's within a few hours, by car, of Nagoya. The trees were nice, but the view and atmosphere would have been great even without them.

Inuyama Festival

On Sunday L invited M&I to join her and M at the Inuyama Festival which is a float festival that takes place during evening/dusk. Floats similar to those used at the Confetti festival or the Okkawa float festival are illuminated by candle lit paper lanterns which hang in strands from the top of each float.

We did witness one instance of the float catching on fire during the evening, but it was quickly extinguished.

Seki Japanese Sword Making Demonstration

When M arrived he had one non-negotiable place he wanted to go during his stay, Seki a city famous for its history of sword and knife making. Conveniently Seki is located only 60km from my apartment so last weekend we drove to the Swordsmith Museum to see a demonstration of Japanese sward making. I have never been interested in knives or swords, but I still found the demonstration worthwhile.

The Seki Swordsmith Museum and the Cutlery Hall ended up being interesting places I purchased a cooking knife, that I am still mostly afraid to use, and got a vegetable peeler as a surprise free gift.

An unexpected highlight of the trip was the view of the cherry trees along a nearby river.