The Best Time in Japan

(Pics to come)

There are so many things we love about Japan.  The people are so polite and welcoming that you feel that you are in five star hotel, everywhere that you go. We love Japanese gardens and architecture.  The food is terrific, finding things in the supermarket is like a treasure hunt every time and the opportunities to laugh at yourself and your communicative attempts are everywhere. The customs and culture are ancient and incredible.

Even Japan’s idiosyncracies are funny and interesting (perhaps not so much if you lived here long term?) – lots of people wearing white face masks out in public so they dont spread their coughs and colds, the metro boys with their tonne of hair product and handbags, the life preserver jackets and “quaint” fashions everywhere you go. The chindogu (trinkets /useless stuff) that whole shops are devoted to. And the train conductors, drivers and attendants who conduct their jobs with military precision and gusto.

We made our way to Kyoto and got into our machiya, little townhouse apartment.  It was a bit away from the centre of Kyoto but walking distance to a few of the places we wanted to visit.  It felt good to be living amongst the locals and we rarely saw any other gaijin (foreigners) around.  We soon got used to the lay of the land and walking single file along the footpath so that we didn’t obstruct the cyclists.

Speaking of the subway and the rail system. Wow.  It seemed quite intricate at first, we were certainly glad of the station names being written in English versions as well as Japanese!  We eventually worked out the electronic ticketing machines and got a laugh every time Sasha went through the barriers with her ticket and it set off a little “cheep cheep” noise to signify a minor.  The learning curve of navigation and checking all the points (which is the next stop, where is the end point, what platform and which direction, what number stop are we going to, and is this approaching train an express or not?) was going fine…in fact we thought we had it off pat, got a bit cocky and…well, quickly jumped on a train which was “red” in the window which meant that it was express.  So we had a laugh at ourselves when the train whizzed by our usual stop.  No problem, we jumped off, crossed the platform and jumped on the opposite one, which we assumed was going the other way (they always did)  Wrong!!!! It too sped off in the same direction, further from our intended destination.  Oh well, you learn by your mistakes as they say.    Now we are old pros at it, pity we aren’t there anymore…  (Hint: a subway map for your pocket, is a very useful item!)

Kyoto was a great spot for us to explore and also to do some work from a comfortable base. One thing that has surprised us in Japan is that they are not at all big on wireless internet, it is all via LAN cable. This was fine as we had invested in an adaptor and extra lead in Tokyo. It just meant the usual refrain of “mind the cords” took on extra significance as cables and power cords ran from the dining room to the lounge.  The other things that surprised us were how speedy the internet was. On our trip, it has just got faster and faster.

It was time to build Sasha’s website, www.horseobsession.com.  Sash wrote the content, Lois sorted and found around 500 horse pics  (just from this trip!) and Ed helped Sasha build the site around a wordpress template.  Great project which is now evolving and formed a good “on the road” school project.  Having a base also allowed us to start getting a few things sorted back home (somewhere to live, work contracts and the like). Skype is so brilliant for making calls and keeping in touch by chat and video.

But it was not all work in the fair city of Kyoto.  We saw the Imperial Palace and were treated to an English speaking tour for an hour. You don’t get to go into the Palace but we saw the buildings and could see into them. It wasn’t hard to imagine how it would have looked hundreds of years ago with people walking around there in traditional dress.  Over the years the palace (being wood construction) has burned down and been rebuilt many times over. The gardens were so beautiful.  You do need to book beforehand, in fact “apply”, to visit the Imperial Palace and they may ask for passport identification.

Shijo Castle was another highlight, which was a 20 min walk from our place. Just brilliant. It had a moat around it and again the gardens were so lovely, we spent an hour walking the perimeter before taking off our shoes to walk inside one of the buildings. It had nightingale flooring – large boards which were designed to squeak like a nightingale when you walked on them, to warn of impending unannounced visitors. Needless to say Ed and Lois failed as ninja but Sasha did a pretty good job as a ninja apprentice with her dainty tiptoing across the boards!  Inside they had models of people in traditional dress and it was great to see the Shogun with his first lady in waiting, second lady in waiting….. all seated on the tatami mats with beautiful painted walls and shojii screens.  Unfortunately no photos or even sketching allowed inside. And as the signs said on walls outside at various points, “No Scribbling” which we thought quite funny.   Compared to many European cities eg. in Spain and Italy, graffiti is almost non-existent in Japan.

We visited the Botanical Gardens in Kyoto, by subway then a long walk. We love walking as we see interesting things along the way, Sasha loves to do a bit of dog-spotting and we get plenty of exercise.  We also visited temples and the wonderful zen garden at Koto-In, Daitoku-ji Temple and Ryoan-ji.

Some gorgeous photos and good information can be found on a great blog http://paulstravelpics.blogspot.com/2008/08/kyoto-practical-trip-planning-mini.html (Thanks for the tips Paul!).  Zen and Japanese gardens in Kyoto and lovely photos can be found here http://learn.bowdoin.edu/japanesegardens/index.html
and here http://www.phototravels.net/kyoto/zen-gardens-index.html

In Osaka we stayed in the Bay area which was great. There was a similar Japanese eatery to the one in Kyoto where you press a ticket in a machine then your meal is delivered to your table.  This one though, didn’t have pictures so we were put through our paces trying to match up the japanese script to the pictures on the posters displayed and Lois was trying to recall katakana.  We also had an aussie meal with friends at the Outback Steakhouse restaurant in the city and the “Sushi train” near their apartment.

On the last day in Osaka, we had a choice to do shopping, visit Universal Studios or head to the bay area. We chose the latter as we were going to be going to KL next (shopping) and felt like getting amongst nature.  What a great choice. We took the “New Tram” to World Trade Centre and went to the Maritime Museum.  It was brilliant and only 1200 yen for two adults (kids are free). The museum has a whole ship inside, the “Naniwamaru”  and you walk under the sea to get there (we saw a starfish and some sea slugs).

After lunch, we walked to the Osaka Nankou Bird Sanctuary.  As we approached, we could hear drumming.  Just outside the sanctuary, a guy was having a drumming lesson in the open air so we said konnichiwa and Ed hopped on and had a bash. Here’s the video (YouTube).  Then at the bird sanctuary lookout, about 10 minutes after we arrived, a harrier (bird of prey) started hovering around and the photographers all went crazy with their telephoto lens cameras.  This was great, we wondered how long they had been waiting there to capture that and we thought back to our lovely day in Dunkeld Scotland, when we saw an osprey chick take its maiden flight.

Japan was terrific.  We shall be back someday!