Japan April 2014

This holiday was a joint Sue and Peter trip to Japan. The following pictures, selected by Peter, try to give an idea of our (Peter's) trip. Not the standard - get them anywhere- pictures of the famous sites of the Tokyo / Kyoto area we visited, but rather a personal view that characterises our trip, rather than the standard guide book trip

   But having said that, it's impossible to go to this part of Japan and

   not take notice of Mount Fuji - so here it is.

 

  As you can see - on the left - in April there is still a lot of snow

  on top, so we were not able to go the whole way up. So here is

  a ground level view with Sue in the foreground.

  In the background here is the famous "Bullet Train" that took us

  from Tokyo to Kyoto. It did stop at several stations - and started again

  to a schedule, typically 90 seconds after arriving. If you were still

  on board, well you went with the train.

  The young women in the foreground is one of a whole squad, all

   identically uniformed, who wait for the train, bow to the exiting

   passengers and then bustle aboard before passengers are allowed on.

  They then clean all the seats and floors. This station is a terminus, so

  the train exits in the opposite direction it enters. Of course passengers

  prefer to face in the direction of travel, so the cleaning crew also rotates

 all the seats through 180 deg as they go through each coach. As they exit, they bow once more, which is our signal to  embark.

 

   Japan is real though, not some fantasy land entirely

   consisting of hi tech and gracious living. Trains are

  great vehicles to see the other side of life. Here is one

  such scene taken from the bullet train -

 - one of many such views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   We all got a chance to try making Suchi, Sues came out better than

   mine - so here is the picture.

   

 

 

 

Mostly we stayed in relatively 'western' style hotels. The notable differences from your average North American hotel were:

However for contrast the picture shows the one more

Japanese style hotel we stayed at. The beds are directly

on the tatami mat floor.

 

 

  And Peter came to!

 

  Below is Jumco (yellow jacket) our principle and superb tour guide

  with a Saki maker on her right. How it is made was explained to us,

  and then we all had a taste, using little  wooden boxes to drink from.

  You can see these in the picture - particularly on the left.

  One time we did actually both appear in the same picture. If you

  look closely you can see the houses in the valley have very

  steeply pitched roofs. This is because this part of Japan gets a lot 

  of very wet snow, and the steep pitch is necessary to shed the snow.

  The roofs are all wood, no nails of screws, and made flexible to

  aid the shedding.

 

 

 

Of course we visited lots of temples and shrines, many of which seemed to be in regular - as distinct from tourist - use. Here is Sue having visited one of the typical ones.

We don't have a picture, but one that surprised was in a fairly regular western 'ish style Mall. We only realised it was there when two student looking individuals went up to a closed window and knocked on it. It was opened by a monk who stamped the book they presented, exchanged a few words and closed the window again. Apparently it's quite the 'done thing' to see how many temples / shrines one can visit in a vacation and come away with a record of  your visits.

 

 

 

  Geishas still exist and work in today's Japan. We imagine these two were on their way

  to work.

 

  Oh, all right, here is another famous landmark - the "Gold Temple". Unfortunately we were

  not allowed in as it was being worked on. But it was quite impressive even just from

   outside!

  Did you see "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"? Remember the bamboos? Well here are the

  ones we saw. Apparently at the peak of the growing season these bamboos can grow by a foot

  a day!

 

  Examples of  caring thought in their transit system. the yellow areas are heavily textured

  in a way that the blind can detect with a stick. And the writing on the steps tells you, in

  English and Japanese how many calories you use climbing that step.

  For Peter, this picture conveys the essence of today's Japan.

  The past and the present, the spiritual and the techno - commercial

  conjoin to make up Japanese life.

 

 

  However just to confuse you before ending this page, one penultimate picture.

   

  The main scene is looking across

  Tokyo harbour. The insert is from

  'elsewhere'. No the Japanese did

  not steal it, apparently the French

  gave several away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Lastly, the whole party at the end of another fascinating but grueling day!