Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

Well thats it time is up on my Japan trip. In eighteen hours I will be back in Melbourne. 

This morning I went out to Rikugien gardens which is a Strolling garden, with 88 views that were of special beauty or interest. There was a wonderful old teahouse called Tsutsji-no-chaya nestled amongst the maples. It is an extremely well planed and maintained garden and it was lovely to spend a few hours, walking, sketching, looking and reading in it. 

Some parting thoughts....

For some reason I keep forgetting to mention the birds I come across in my travels so I will mention some of them now: 

In the Nikko National park I saw seventeen eagles all at once. Five of then in the foreground and another twelve in the background. They were just gliding in the air looking for food.

In Naoshima and Hugi there were eagles or hawks ( I cant tell the difference very well). Every now and then you wold be walking and the reelitive silence would be broken by a eagles screech.  You cold often see them near the coast. It is  very beautiful how they seam to be suspended in the air and I always find it amazing that such a big and heavy bird can look so very elegant up in the air. 

Japan is not a third so wacky as the commercials or the anima or the stories would lead you to believe. Most people are delightfully ordinary although there are set neashis where behaviour or dress is particularly interesting, like cosplay and the love of AKB48. 

I really enjoy seeing lots of people on bikes and not just young people but people of all ages. As cars are so expensive bike riding is a  legitimate form of transport in Japan the face that you can buy almost anything you need in your local area is also a bonus as you don't have to travel far.  you will see mums with dropping of children at day care on bikes, business men in suits on bikes, elderly men and women on bikes even people in the delivery service on bikes with small trailers behind them.  I also like that people are just wearing there normal clothes and it is a very lated back form of transport. 

Well thats it from me. I now need to think about getting a train out to the airport. See you all when I get back to Melbourne.

Acushla

Second last day and my last night in Japan.

Gosh oh mighty, time dose fly when you are having fun. Five weeks are up and it is time to squeeze everything back into my suitcase plus one or to suviners  and get ready to fly back to Melbourne tomorrow afternoon. I got up and made my way to the Tsukiji Market out in Ginza, it is open to the public as of 9am so that we don't get in the way during the busy time between  5 and 8 am. It was a truly spectacular sight, I don't belive I have ever seen so many dead fish before, or any meat for that matter, all in one place and the vast majority of it had already been sold and was packed up and shipped out to the different restaurants and fish shops of Tokyo. Row upon row of stalls with boxes,  tanks or freezers of fish, crustations and squid. I saw a couple of hole tunas - I never realised how big they were. The sellers had saws to cut up the tuna as knives would be to difficult. Quite surprisingly it didn't smell that bad, of cause of fish but not nearly as awful as I imagined it could be with the shear quantity of fish that they had in one area. 

Once I left the market went in search of the Nagakin capsule tower by Kisho Kurokawa. After quite a walk, a few dead ends and being very worried that my umbrella would turn inside out because of the wind I found the tower. With my great powers of navigation/luck/ persistence I went in search of a  jazz cafe that had been recommended to me. I did find the cafe but as it was only 11:30 they were closed, it will just have to wait until the next time I am in Tokyo. The rain and wind only getting worse it was time to find a cafe for an early lunch and a spot of reading. 

After lunch it was off to the 21-21 design sight to see an exhibition on Ikko Tanaka- a Japanese designer. I was a wonderful exhibition and a great building as well. After the exhibition the sun was shining so I spent the next while reading in the park. Then walked back to Azabujuban as the sen set. I have spent the last thirty minutes packing my bag so I don't have to tomorrow. All that is left to do this evening is to go out to my good bye dinner with Keir. I cant believe I will be back in Melbourne on wednesday. See you all soon!

P.s. to be hones my I didn't have to squeeze anything into my suitcase as I don't have that much stuff and the bag is sufficiently big. I used the word squeezed for dramatic effect only. 

A lazy sunday in Tokyo.

This blog post was writen yesterday, Sunday the 11th of November:

Today I went to the Tokyo Design Festa -vol 36. It was held in the Tokyo Big Sight out in Odaiba, the human made island in Tokyo bay. The history of Odaiba starts in 1853 when six fortres islands were built in Tokyo bay in direct response to Commodore Perry's gunboat diplomacy and the threat to Tokyo from attack by ship. In the 1980's the islands were joined together by creating more human made islands between them. It hosts a bunch of bold architecture from the 90's  including the Fuji TV Center - which looks like it has been made out to  meccano, the Telecom Centre. Also the museum of marintine science which is very literal design and is built as a large six story cruse liner and the Tokyo Big Sight - Tokyo's largest exhibition and convention centre. The Design Festa hosts 10,000 Stalls, it was like 200 Rose street markets side by side. On top of the stalls there was live music and dance performances as well as  a catwalk. Some artist had even got a wall to paint or draw on over the two day event and continued to add to the pieces over the weekend. A fair share of the people how attended the fiesta were dressed up to some extent. At the lower end you had people wearing near normal cloths but  hosting bunny ears or a fake zombie bite on their neck. At the other end of the specrum you had women dressed up in doles clothing ranging from pink a frilly to goth with black lace. Men dresses as samurai or wearing suits with top or bola hats, even a man dressed up as a panda bear with SMD suit on. My favourite was the stem punk costumes expeshaly the ones that incorporated kimonos with steam punk, very cool indeed. 

I was going to spend the afternoon exploring other parts of Odaiba but the rain and cold made it an unpleasant experience. Instead I slowly made my way back to Azabujuban with a detour to a cozy cafe to read a book and write the last of my post cards. The post cards are very unlikely to get to Australia before I do but they have been sent non the less. Keir and I spent the evening chatting while he did work and I went to the laundry mat to do washing a sat down to write this post. 

If you go out in the woods today...

Wednesday, thursday and friday saturday 

On wednesday I went to A.... To pick  up my train/bus pass to Nikko. From there I visited the temple and got to look at some of the extreamly recognisabel buildings in the area. These included the Tokyo tower and the Asahi beer hall. I then went to Ueno park and spent the rest of the day in the park, and the National Tokyo museum. In the Museum was an exhibition for  Izumo Oyashiro temple, that was built Round ..... years ago. It was 48 meters tall and the set of stairs leading up to the temple is 109 meters long. I am still not sure if the design they presented was accurate or one of a number of design solutions to the arcilogical evidence they have found. All i can say is that the model they presented was truly impressive. The rest of the museum hosted a range of Japanese artefacts, art and even swards and clothing. One of the interesting collections they had was a very large collection of ..... which are the toggles that were used to keep a medicine pouch connected to a belt sash, but with the introduction of Western style trousers the .... became  ireelavent, but a  very sort after collectors item. 

That evening Keri and I drank wine and watch lots in Translation. 

I was a a Tokyo Metro train at 7am on Thursday morning heading to A so that I could catch my train to Nikko. Once on the train to Nikko I -like the majority of my cohort- made myself comftable and snoozed for the two hour train journey. Once in  Nikko  I dropped of my spare cloths at my hostel then jumped on a bus to the temple district. The temple district is were I spent the rest of my daylight hours. There were some truly lovely temples, even one that looked like a consatena temple, with its folded walls. These temples had the most decoration that I had seen so fare, every beam was caved with beautiful birds or dragons or in the  case of one temple monkeys! One of the temples I visited later in the day was expeshaly for something to do with love. There were lots of cupels writing out wishes on wooden planks, or tying pieces of paper to love hart shaped posts. Towards the end of the day I noticed a path that wound up the hill, so being the inquisitive person that I am I followed it. It went up and up to a shrine at the top of the hill then back down into the valley. It was a very pleasent walk,  unfortunately I had to turn around instead of following the path further as the light would be gone by five and The temple complex would close. Once back in the hostel I meet two  women one from Taiwan the other form Singapore. We went out to find dinner, which was a bit of an adventure in it own right as apparently there are not many restaurants open in Nikko on a thursday night, and we walked for quite away to find a place. In the end found a resturant that seved local food and we got to sit in our own traditional dining  room with  tamian mats. One  of the specialtys is the skin of beam curd which I got to try prepared in thee or four different ways. The other specialty was soba, in which we got two try three different flavours. The third was mushroom tempura. All the food was delishous and the experennce of dining in our own room was lovely, I think It was the first time I had eaten at the same table with someone in three weeks. Back in the hostel I met a Rushin traveler and we sat around sipping saki, eating Japanese  sweets and talked into the night. 

Friday sore me up bright and early again to catch a bus up to the Nikko hight plains for a day of hiking and wonderful scenery. I started off at the shores of lake Yunoko then walked through the senjogahara Plateau folowing the Yukawa river. At the start it was just me walking through the plains but as the morning wore one I came across more hikers ( most of them walking in the opposite directing). It was nice to think that I had the plain to myself but comforting to know that others would come by if anything should happen. You could hear people coming before you would see then, as the tinkering of bare bells would signal some ones approach. Thats right people out hiking in Japan need to have bells attached to there bags so that they are making lots of notice so the bears      go else were. Even I had purchased a bare bell as the Nikko National park is home a few bares and in early October a hiker was attacked, a tale of someone being silly rather then safe apparently. So with my knapsack on my back I jingled through the plateau. It was such beautiful surroundings, the grass plains in the foreground with the mountains behind. Even though it was only 14 degrees,  when the sun was out it was lovely and warm. At one point a got to watch a big flock of swift-like birds as they moved from one location to another in a big black flock. 

11:30 sore me at Ryuza falls  for my second waterfall for the day. It was then only a little walk to the shores of lake Chuzenji were I stopped for a picnic lunch. After lunch I walked along the lake side to Chuzenji. It was very pleasant and I stopped a few times to just sit and watch the waves brake  on the shore. By 1:30  I was at Kegon falls for my third and final waterfall for the day. At 2:30 I had to start lining up to get the 3pm bus back to Nikko. Even though the trip is only meant to take one hours if it is very busy it can take more like two and a half hours, also the bus only takes the first thirty  people and there was about fifty of us so lining up early is a good idea. Winding down the mountain in the bus was truly amazing. The turns were near to 360 degree turns as the road dubbed back on it self constantly all the way down the mountain.

 Back in Nikko ai had time to grab a snack before getting on the 4:50 train back to Tokyo. i was in Tokyo by 7:30 and in Azubuguban by 8:45 very ready for a showr and bed. unfortunelty this was not to be - or more corectly not untill much later - as Keir had not hid the key outside I was unable to get into his flat. After calling Keir he was able to leave work and get home by 10:30. I needed to find a way to ocupy myself for an hour and a half. I had managed to run out of money and only had ¥456 on me, banks are colsed after five and I was not shore were the closest seven eleven was. ¥456 in not enough yen to get you much from a cafe in Japan so hiding in a cafe was not an option. In the end I went to the convenience store bout some yoghurt then went to a vending machine to get a hot chocolate. I then wrapped up in my coat in the outdoor stair well to Keir's apartment and listened to music and played games ( cogs and set ) on my ipad until Keri came home. 

Today after a very big sleep in -awake at 10am and in bed until 11am- Keir and I went out for brunch to my favourite vegetarian restaurant in Azabujuban. At 1:30pm Keir and I parted ways, he to work and me to a garden. I spend three hours in the Koishikawa gardens, listening to music, looking at the view and painting. It was a very pleasant way to spend a day. Once the garden closed I took to metro to Shibuya in such of a jazz cafe. Unfortunately I have been unable to find the cafe but I did find a craft shop selling lots a funky material. An hour or so later I exited the shop, with some great fabric which you will see turned into some summer dresses  and skirts ( with the help of Stephi). Shibuya at night is truly a spectacular sight, neon signs light up the side of buildings. The amount of people out of the streets even now at 9:30pm is amazing ( I write this is a second story cafe looking down on all the pedestrians). 

The intersection near the train station is terrifying I don't think I have ever see so many people moving all at once outside of a sports or movie event. There must have been hundreds of people crossing the road when the lights went green. Think of Flinders street station intersection times ten or twenty, it was full on. I got to watch all the people crossing the road from the second story of the train station, it s fascinating to watch the flow of people and how they have to more around cars that have been cought in the intersection. Well I think Ill call it a night for this blog, it is 9:45 and I still need to get back to Azabujuban. I send lots of love,  Acushla. 

 

Monday I slept in as the prospect of getting up to an alarm was horid. No matter that it was the last day of my JR pass and I should utilise  getting me up before I was ready was not going to happen. I had half planed to got to Nikko for a day trip but that would require being up at 6am and the wether look bad. Instead I slept in took a seris of trains out to Kamakura about one hour from Tokyo. I visited Daibutsu - the great Buddha statue and sat down in the gardens to try and get his portrait. I was going to go along the hiking trail but it looked like rain and the sky was getting dark early because of the clouds. Instead I went for a walk along the beach. It was quite a strange expernece as the sand was gray and black and insted of sea gulls there were crows. That and the ominous rain clouds let to a rather spooky beach walk. 

I spent the evening posting photos and blogposts before Keri and I sat down with a bottle of wine to watch lost in translation. Now that I have spent time in Tokyo I was surprised at how the characters managed to drive passed the rainbow bridge and Tokyo tower in the same taxi ride, it must have cost them a fortune! But the pass and centerment of the film was great, the  seance of isolation that both characters feel and how it is heightened  by the cultural and language barriers is wonderful. I realy enjoyed the film. 

Today (Tuseday) I had a rather chilled out da  as the weather has been very rainy. I spent the morning in the Tokyo film museum going through the history of Japanese film, and waatching lots of small segments og Japanese film. Then spent the afternoon in Shinjuku which was great. After the rain in the morning the afternoon brought a think mist and all the towers of Shinjuku desolved into the mist. The neon sighs on the buildings seamed to loom up out at you as walked down the street. It was a very pleasent afternoon. This evening I headed back to Keri's in order to catch up with friends and family from home and make dinner. Once it got late in Australia I went out to a cafe in Azubujuban which is were I have spent the last hour or so writing up the last couple of days and eating cake and drinking hot caramel milk with rum ( a taste sensation one which I may not repeat). Now it is time for a book and bed. To prepare for tomorrows adventure. 

I hope life is treating you all well and as I head back to Melbourne in one week I will see the vast majority of you soon. I hope you all have a lovely day.

Acushla .

Scenic sunday..

7am on Sunday morning sore me on a train out to Gunma prefecture the closest assess to the Japanies alpine region from Tokyo. The train from tokyo to Jomo kogen took under two hours and then a bus to the TanigawadKe ropeway. My trip to Gunma was a very last minuet affaire; as on the last days of my Japan Rail pass I wanted to go to an out door onsen and see some nice scenery, apparently Ganma had both so it sounded perfect. I didnt have a chance to do much research into what it would be like, So as we wound up the mountain on the bus I got to see just how beautiful the surroundings were and it took my by suprise. The trees were laden with autumn colour and there was even snow on the top of the mountains. 

In my head the cable car would take me to the top of a mountain range where I could walk autumn grass and trees so i got a shock when i realised that we would be going above the snow line. Apparently the snow had fallen earlier then usual this year making the day trip a very popular one. That was certainly true around the observation platform many Tokyo day trippers ranging from hikers with nails in there bots for grip to couples  and families with women in high heals. I decided to head away from the crowds and started walking up a hiking trail once I had got around the bend it was as if I could have been the only one on the mountain. As I wound my way up every ten minutes I would pass some one coming down track but as soon as they had rounded the corner it was only me, the snow, and an amazing view. I had a wonderful time walking along for about an hour. At one point  there s a trail going up to a look out but after 15 minutes it became obvious that although I could climb up getting back down the slippery slope was going to be an issue without pols or nailed boots. I reluctantly turned around to follow the less steep path and I am very glad I did as I managed to fall over on the way down into a drift of snow which was luckily quite a soft landing.

I had a wonderful time walking through the snow the view was stunning at all times. I had to get the cable car back to the bus stop inorder to get my bus back to Minakami station. At the bus stop I bumped into a friendly Japanese cupple I had met on the bus up. They were extrealmy friendly and it was lovely to chat with them. They were in there seventies and not for the first time I wish to be as fit, healthy and active as a Japanese grandmother when I get older. 

Once in Minakami I had to change busses to get up to Takargawa Onsen. Te bus ride up was stunning, passing a big dam and driving through many autumn trees. On the bus up I met a group of fellow day trippers, two of them were teaching English in Japan and the third was studying English that were also going to the onsen. It was lovely to meet other English speakers that allowed me to join them as it was nice to have people to chat with and it meant that I didn't have to sit there awkwardly by myself. Once walking down to the baths by hte river there s nothing left to do then get your kit of wrap a tiny modesty towel around your privets and descend into the wonderfully hot water. The modesty towel was because this onsen is one of the few were the baths are mixed gender. Once you got over the initial shock that there were a hole lot of  naked people around,  you started to not notice it any more and just accept the fact. No one really cares about nudity in Japan as the Japanes separate nudity from  sex, everyone know that people are not going to look like super models and no one is really paying close attention anyway. 

The surounds were just wonderful! I dont know if any description I can creat will do it justice. All the trees were perfectly in bloom proudly displaying their autumn coats. There was a river that separates the different baths  and there were five or six different baths, varying in temperature and size. It means that we where able to partake in awase-yu -onsen hopping (or mix and match) walking quickly between pools -as it was very cold outside) and sinking into hot water again with relief. We were in the Onsen for two hours before it closed. As the sun went down and the lanterns went on the pools stated to steam as the air temperature around then decreased. The hole complex become amazingly beautiful in the mist, the lanterns glowing, the trees getting the last rays of sunlight and Ryokan guests shuffling away in their yukata or bath robes.  

In a chance of good luck the we got a lift back to Minakami saving us 1,100 yen and twenty minuts. I was then time to yet on a local train and head back to Tokyo. Over two hours later I was back in Tokyo extremely sleepy and worn out. Like a zombie I managed the tokyo metro system to get back to our apartment, within minuets of walking through the door I was fast asleep.  It was the most wonderful day. I could not have asked or wished for better. 

Hanging out in Hagi

"I am in the front car of a Shinkansen from shin Yamaguchi to Shin Kobe. While i was waiting to get on the train at Yamaguchi a Nazomi train went passed, They are the relay relay fast trains. It zipped through at an astonishing speed in the middle track away from either platform.

The nozomi from kobe to tokyo only stops at two less plassses then my Hikari is, six instead of eight, I'm an not sure if this is why it is faster because it goes through stations or if it travels at a faster speed between the stations. Maybe both? 

(Note after looking into this I was correct it is both that the train stopes less and has a faster track speed 300km/h verses 270km/h for the train I was on.) 

My day in Hugi was fascinating, after getting a map for the information center near the train station i managed to get myself  lost not once but twice. The first time i relisedi was not were i wanted to be was when i  relised i was walking in the direction of Yamagouchi and i should of be en walking to the cost a full 90 degrees in the wrong direction and i had been doing so for 30 minutes. Unlike all other places in Japan for some reason my maps function on my ipad did not work -it may have something to do with not having been in the area with internet connection for the maps to download just a guess. The second time i got lost -which was only 20 minutes after the time before- i managed to be walking in completely the wrong direction. Luckily this diversion lead me to a grocery store which was extreamly fortunate because i had yet to eat breakfast and it was to be all i could find to eat untill 7pm. After a strange breakfast of a cold milky coffee , fruit jelly (which i thought was yogurt) and a packet of rice crackers i set of in the right direction. My first stop was the Hagi Uragami Museum which had a very fine collection of ceramics including a vast range of Hagi-yaki and wood block prints. The range of textures, forms and colours of the pottery were stunning. Some could have been made from dragon skin, such was the  patten of the glaze cracking. Others were liking looking down from an aroplain on a large delta region, with all the venes created on the surface of the bowl. Others again were pock marked, the blemishes making them interesting and unique. I then walked through the old samurai residential district, I viseted the house of Kikuya - a very wealthy and privileged merchants house as well as the ruins of Hagi castle.  once the sun had set I found a cafe that had been recommended to me. I sat in the warmth and wrote post cards while drinking a proper coffee. 

Yesterdays adventure is still to come, but it dose involve snow! 

Riding the Shimanami kaido

The post below was wiriten on my way back to Tokyo on saturday. So the Momday in question was last week. 

 On monday I took a train out to imabari to spend the afternoon bike riding across the Shimanami kaido - a series of sevel bridges conecting Shikoku to Honshu via a series of six islands. In a lack of planing I managed to be in the wrong train station and had to ride 10km to the start of the first bridge. The assent to the bridge was a sight to behold - about one kilometre of ramp way that twisted up so that you are finally level with the bridge about 150 meters in the air. The first bridge was 6km long, it was very very fun. Gliding along a bridge up in the air over the inland sea with pitchuesc islands dotted around. Once I got to the first island I folowed the coast around the island passing ship building sights and fishing towns. I had lunch at a rose farm before heading off to the next bridge and the next island. On the second island - i spend a long time just sitting  at a look out as the wether was so lovely and the view so spectaculars. Being a little unsure where the port was that i needed to get my ferry from i decided to head there early incase i got lost. With some help form some locals i managed to get to the port, but when i was there i could not figure out how to get a ticket or where the ferry would dock. unfortunately the men i met either fishermen or a taxi driver ( the taxi driver offed that he could drive me the nearly 35 km back!). Someone finally pointed me to a deserted building gesturing that I could get a ticket from there. At this time in was 45 minutes early for the ferry but still had no idea how to get a ticket, so I decided to just sit and listen to music. Twenty minuets later a lady in a car turns up and walks into the empty building that I have been staking out. It turns out that because there are so few ferries each day she goes home between ferries. Very relived that my bike and i had a lift back to Imabari I sat down to watch the sun set. A ferry, bike and train ride later I was back in Matsuyama,and ready to visit the Onsen!   

Tuesday

I spent Tuesday morning exploring  Matsuyama castle. Lets just say that If I was a Japanese war lord I would not attack that castle. It is extrealmy well defended. Every wall has slots for guns and bows and there were about seven different gates. I have yet to find out if anyone every tried to attack it when it was an active castle and what the out come was. I spent the afternoon traveling from Matsuyama to Hiroshima by train and vegged  out in the hostel that night. I really like the Japan Rail net work expeshaly the Shinkansen. Not only do  they just look cool but they get you from a to b not only quickly but in comfort. The seats are comfy and the legroom extrealmy generous, a love to sit T the window and look out at the cities, towns, and countryside zoom past. 

I spent my first day in Hiroshima visiting the peace park, around three hundred school children had also decided to visit the park. Most had either red, yellow or white hats on so they could be easily recognised as students. The park was very pleasant on a cool autumn day. I then walked over to visit the peace museum. I never knew but the mayor of Hiroshima writes a letter protesting nuclear weapons every time a country dose nuclear tests and sends it to the president/priminister and ambassador of that country. I spent the evening "sampling"  saki at the hostel.  

Thursday was a very cold wind kind of a day, but against the elements I  headed out to Miajima. The 'floaring' pavilions and the gate are truly stunning. High tied was at 11:50am so the hole time I was there I got to see the buildings look as if they were floating on the water. I walked up to the Daisho-in temple up the path of 500 Rakan statues each with its own facial expression. In amongst theses statues of Shaka Nyorai's desiples are statues that look baby like, theses statues are particulaly unnerving ( you can deseide when I upload the photos). Thanks to Steven Mofat statues are eserly seen as sinister and untrustworthy. usually this is not the case with Bhudist statues but these baby ones I can just imagen them moving when im not watching. I also learnt why Jizo Bosatsu wear bibs- something that I had been curious about since Koya-san. It is to keep them warm and protect them, apparently parents that have lost children take particular care of Jizo images as though they were their lost children. The temple complex was very beautiful expeshaly with the autume leaves turning colours. In the afternoon I headed off for Hagi, it is a little out of the way but nothing the JR train system was not up to with some patience on my behalf. I went from Shinkansen to a local line at Asa then a one carriage train from Matsuyama to Hagi. The last section hugged the coast line but as it was after sun set I didn't get to enjoy it until my  journey back to Tokyo this morning. 

P.s. photos from Kyoto, Osaka and Koyan-san are up.

Naoshima an art island.

I spent friday, saturday and most of sunday on or around Naoshima. Naoshima is a small island in the sea of Harima-nada ( between Honshu and Shikoku. Saturday I rented a bike and two other women I had meet in my hostel and I road over to the other side of the island to look at the Benesse outdoor art project. Where a series of statues are placed around the coastline. We then parted ways me to look at some more of the art galerys that span the coast line. I went to three that day, all area designed by Tando Ando and it is fair to say that I was a little over his work by the end of the day. Not that it is not beautiful and impressive but boy there was a lot of concert! I wonder how Ando feels about using a material with such a high embodied energy? I wont say too much about the art galleries as one of the best things for mewas that I had no expectations and was plesently supprised with each museum just as much by the artwork as by the architecture, Chi Chu art museum expeshaly. I got to see work by Walter De Maria and James Turrell that were absolutely amazing they made me fell like I had stepped into a painting, some seriles painting or into a scienfiction novel. After riding through a beautiful stretch of countryside to get back to my hostel I went to the last art space for the day. A bath house called I heart yu ( a play on the word for for water yu). It was a working bath house with crazy decorations outside and inside and also my first experience of Japanes communal bathing. On Saturday morning I got on a boat and went across to Teshima. I rented a bike with battery assistance and with John - an sightseer that I me on the fery and was heading in the some direction as me- we road to the Teshima art galery. It is less of a gallery then a pice of artwork in its ow n right! I don't want to give much away again as I knowthere are three or so people with plans to vist japan and i dont want to spoil it. All I will say is that it was a very wonderful space. I stayed for 40 minutes and came back later in the day to sit for another hour or so. John snd i also road over to the ........ Artwork which includes people recording their hart beats. Over .... Thousand people have done so over the last .. Years. John and I then parted ways as he had to get the 2pm boat and I could stay until 4:00. By chance there was a autumn harvest festival in some of the rice fields. Thy had set up many different little stores where people were selling local produce or food that they had made. One lady gave me A plate of ..... To try and would not except money so I bought her mandarins in return these she would except. The produce on these island is ment to be extreamly good as the climate is so favourable to farming, all I can say is that the mandarins were lovely! There was a marching and that went all the way through the fields - I think one of the men ws saying it is for good luck, the funny thin was that some of that band were dressed up like shrimp, with little tiles and red helmets with inteni sticking out the top. After re visiting the museum as I said i had to ride back to the port. I should mention the battery assisted bike, it was a wonderful thing expeshaly as the island was quite steep. You still needed to peddle but it was four times easier then if it had been a normal bike. Coming down the other side of the steep sections was buckets of fun! Woshh! That night I made friends with a Japanes couple that had come down from Osaka for the weekend. We played card games, a sumo wrestling game where you had to knock the other persons figurine over and got to eat chips with chopsticks. Sunday morning I went to the Art House Project on Naoshima, a seris of houses and a shrine that have been restored and transformed into works of art. The most interesting was Minamidera by James Turrell and Tando Ando and Go'o Shrine. You will see that the quality of my photos take a turn from the worst after saturday. The battery on my good camera ran out and I have lost my double adapter so have not been able to recharge it. I hope to buy a new one in Hiroshima. Sunderday afterrnoon sore me on a ferry to Takamatsu and then a train to Matsuyama. I should mention here that my early comment about the seats on the Kyoto metro that change the direction they face. When it looks like all trains in japan do this. Te ones on the JR trains swivel around to face the other direction when you push a foot leaver. Apparently on Japanese trains you will always face the direction of the train. When a train pulls into the last statin you can see staff get on and walk down the train flipping all the seats to face the correct way. I arived in Matsuyama about 7pm and after droping my bag off at my hostel wondered down the famous Dogo Onsen to take a bath.The building itself is very grand spaning three stories in a carstel style. After a soak in the waters you can done your yukata and relax with tea and senbei - sweet rice crakers in the communal second floor tatami room.

Back agin! To fill you in on the last week...

Wed and Thursday.

I will keep the posts in cronological order although they have been writen at different times over the last week. 

koyaSan 

Wednesday morning soar me off on a 9:01 train to Koya-san.  The start of the train journey was uneventful music was listened too, scenery and suburbs were looked at as they dashed passed the window. The last hour of the journey was fascinating. The train slowed down as it started to ascend the mountain. the suburbs turned into town and the towns into pine forest as we climbed higher and higher. Through the gaps in the trees we could see views of the valley and of the mountain rangers around us. Our final stop by train was Gokurakubashi were the air was fresh and the temperature had dropped 5-8 degrees form Osaka. It was then time to get on a cable car to  ascend the last kilometer to the top of the table lands the last form of public transport was a bus for that last six kilometres. I was staying in temple lodges overnight so had to such for my temple. A very pleasent monk took me to my tamin.... mat ans paper walled room. This is the first traditional style room I have stayed in. It was very pleasant . Once tea was served  I got to sit in my room and look out into the garden. 

For the rest of the day I walked  to Okuno-in cemetery and spent time in the forest/graveyard leading up to Kukai mausoleum. An inviting path side lead me to out into a field and a new graveyard. I was very creepy as there were not many people who were berried yet so it was very bare. Waiting for people to die to fill it up. It was more creepy then the old full graveyard.

I think I sould take you through the 101 of Koya-san so ti makes a little more sense. Koya-san was f founded in 816 when founder of the Shingon school of Esoteric Buddhism, Kukai AKA Kobo Daishi, establised a riligous comunity on the table lands. Followers of Shingon believe that Kobo Daishi is not dead but in eternal meditation, waiting  for the next Buddah - Miroku. Then he will be able to interpret the Miroku's message for humanity. Thus it  has become very popular for followers of Shingon to leave some of their remains near the mausoleum so as to be  ready for the next Bhuddah.

 Before the musilium is the lantern house where hundreds of lanters have been donated twoare belived to have been burning for over 900 years. In the lanten hall there was a big gathering of monks be cause they were praying for all throughs that were effected by the earthquake last year......? It was such an amazing sound! Eighty or so monks all chanting the crackle of the fires as more fuel is placed onto them by careful monks. When the prays had finished all the monks  go t up an filed out of the hall, there were attendants helping then put on their shoes when it got to the last monk though there were no shoes left! the monk had to waite for an attendent to bri ng another pair, but  they were children sized and the monk had to walk back with his feet hanging off the end of his shoes. Luckily for him another monk ( with smaller feet) swapped with him. The sound off all the monks with their ceremonial shoes walking down the path was like rain on a wooden roof. I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time to see so many  of the heads of the temples all coming together- apparently it doesn't happen very often. It was then back to my lodgings walking  through the graveyard as the sun set. After changing into my robs I was brought dinner and got to taste Shojin- ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuissine) for the first time. The food has no meat, fish, onion or garlic. It was a fantastic exprenece!  There were about seven or eight different small dishes the ones I recognise were miso soup, tempura, different seaweed and pickled vegetables. There were also two different tofu dishes one where the tofu was made out of sesame seed and the other of soybeans. I got to read a collection of Buddhist stories and while they are beautiful passages about  how to live well and be the best person you can be; I was a little un-nerved as to how many times men would kill there wives and sons because a daemon had tolled then to ( it was ok in the end because they were brought back to life ) but it was still a little upsetting.  Then it was time to lay out the futon, put my head on a rice filled pilo and my feet on a japanes hot water bottle- which was shaped like a half an egg so I felt that I had my feet on a hot  turtle.  

Thursday morning I was awake bright and early to make it to morning pray at 6am. Then breakfast in my room once again consisting of Shojin- ryori. For the rest of the morning I got to wonder  through the pagoda and temple district of KoyaSan- Garan. I also got to see a monk on a mobile. Without quite meaning to I managed to walk the three kilometre women's pilgrim path- I thought I may be going over the mountain to a bus stop but the 1.5km on the sign was just to the top of the mt! A lovely suprise hiking lead me up an mt and down the other side to a bus stop. I had to get do my Aragon impression as I had to run the last 600 through the forest so as not to miss the next bus that would take me back to my temple. It was then time to head off the table land and head back to Osaka. 

I will now add in something the I wrote at the end of thursday:

"With three minutes to spare I managed to got on my train to Okayama it was a very close call. As I said previously the internet at my hostel in Osaka was very bad and it didn't support the web sight that helped me plain my travel. So I left for Koyansan without a timed plan to get to Naoshima I know I had to get a train towards Hiroshima and get at O.... But the timeing was up in the air. So when I got to Shin-Imara I had to get the help for a JR booking agent and he reserved me a seat on the 3:22 Shin Sakura. With just over  45 minutes to get to Shin-Osaka the race was on! I believe I out of the two directions on the Osaka loop line I must have chosen the slower of the two because I didn't get to Osaka station until 3 I then hade to wait  for the 3:10 train to Kyoto so I could go the one stop to Shin-Osaka. Only 7 minutes until the train left Saw me doing a mad luggage dragging dash to platform 20 ( with the main theam song to Indiana Jonesplaing in my head- ready to leap through the closing doors of the train!  After stowing away my luggage and finding my seat within seconds the train was off. I was a very fortunate traveler today.

It took me a total of 7 hours and twenty minutes, to get to Naoshima. I was very fortunate for my ipod and sketchpad that kept me occupied."

photos

The internet in my hostel in Osaka is very bad and I am unable to load photos there are six up but that it is. Sorry about that. It is quite frustrating but there it is. I am off to Kyoa-san tomorrow which should be fun, and then down to Naoshima. I am not sure when I will have internet again maybe not until Matsuyama on sunday or monday. Have a wonderful week/ weekend.

A.B.

It takes 40 minuets to circumnavigate Osaka on the osaka loop line.

Since the last time I posted I have had four very full days. On the friday I rented a bike at road to lots of different sights around Kyoto. The weather was the best it has been yet, warm yet not humid and sticky! First I went to a Ryoan ji where there is a lovely rock garden consisting of fifteen rocks placed among racked gravel, from every vantage point along the viewing platform you can only see - or more correctly distinguish  that there are fourteen rocks the fifteenth is often hidden or looks like it could be  part of another rock. A rather nifty property of the  design of the garden. There is also a was basin used in the tea ceremony, it another clever  little trick the kunji around the outside doesn't make sense unless you add in the [] then it read  "what one has is all one needs". I spent lots of time just stilling and walking through the gardens in the temple area is it was so nice to be in the shade and be in such lovely  gardens. 

The next stop was Kinksku ji whe the golden pagoda sits. It really is a amazing sight, wit the sunlight reflecting of the gold leaf. I got there at the same time a over one-hundred school children thats was an experience like no other. One-hundred kids posing for photos with their friends, making jokes with one another. I saw one poor kid getting told of by his teacher, i'm not sure what for but gosh I wouldn't want to be that boy, it looked like the teacher was really giving it to him.  I have had a couple of students and teachers come up to me and precise their english on me which is always fun.

From the golden pavilion it was  off to the silver pavilion but not until after a big detour which involved riding through the northern suburbs of Kyoto. Riding along the river and coming across another Tando Ando work near the Kyoto Botanic gardens. It is a garden for fine art and there have a few reproductions of works by Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Seurat, Renoir and Van Gogh. Along with these reproductions of European paintings made on ceramic tiles, there are some representations of Japanese art from the Edo period (1603 to 1867). It was a rather strange setting for art work but I liked it. The building expeshaly the way it criss-crosses in on itself and has a layers that flow into each other. I the road along a channel where all the locals were having a lazy afternoon in the sun  by the water.

 Ginkaku ji and the  gardens of the silver temple are lovely. The design of the stone garden is very elegant and I want to know how they manage to keep the con for falling down! After watching the sun sent for a view point above the temple it was time to return my bike. I took a detour via the path of philosophy which is a path  next to a small channel that runs north south between the silver temple and a great thing to do in the twilight. After returning my bike it was time to go to my favourite udon store for dinner. At this store you have to stand up to eat and they prepare the noodles right in front of you. It is good fun standing there slurping noodles and listening to the Kyoto-ites chat to one another after work. 

Saturday I decided to go to Furi-Inara for a walk and to look at the hundreds of Torii. It was quite spectacular to see all the gates lined up one after another. The quality of the light was perfect and illuminated the red/orange gates in a magnificent  manner almost and if the gate themselves were emitting the light. There is something very attractive about a shape being repeated over and over again. The gates curved up the mountain like a orange set of dominos. When I got to the popular look out spot about 30-45 minutes  walk up the path there was a great view of kyoto. There were also lots of other walkers catching their breath and having a drink. My to favourite people that a saw  was one the lady that walked up the path with high heal should on ( when there were hikers there with day packs and hiking boots ) and second was the older man that gout out his lunch of takeaway susis and a can of Asaki beer and drank it while looking at the view and eating lunch.  

Alter a little more of a walk I headed back down the mountain as I still had to get the train to Osaka that day. Before I left Kyoto I went for went for one more wander around and came across another Tando Ando building called the times building. It is wonderfully situated right next to a channel and the outdoor deck sits only a foot from the water. It was then time to grab by bag a get the train to Osaka. After dong boring things like checking in and washing cloths I went out to explore Osaka. The district that I am staying in very lively and has a big nightlife. The main street  is full of neon signs and looks like something out of  bald runner. They were lots and lots of people out at night eating, playing video games just walking. It was a bit of a sensory overload.

On sunday I took the train out to Ashyia To visit Yamamura a house designed by Frank Loyed Wright. I then went  to visit the church of light which I believe is one of Ando's greatest works. The use of light to make the cross is the chapel is wonderful as well as the way he doesn't always join up walls but leaves gaps which you can look through. He also leaves a gap between the roof and the walls so the roof seams to float. They had great financial difficulty when building the chapel and at one point it looked like they were not going to have a roof, but the construction company donated the roof in the end. 

After spending the day successfully navigating the train network it was about time that I had a train misadventure. Everything was going well untill I found myself back at Osaka train station! After changing trains once and 45 minutes later and changing t rains once I found myself at the same station as were I was 45 minutes earlier. i had managed to circumnavigate osaka via their railway system. I was quite disheartened as i was very tired and all i wanted to do way take a shower and grab some dinner. But back onto the train I went and with some guidance form some lovely commuters i found myself at my hostel.  

Monday I took a train back to Kyoto to meet up with my Japanese friend Taishi. We  went to the big historic parried that they hold once a year on Kyoto's birthday. The procession is about two kilometres long and and goes for 2:30 hours. We only watched for about 40 minuets, but it  was  interesting. Over 2000 volunteers dress up in historic costumes from different eras of Kyoto's time of being the capital of japan. Thy funny thing is that some of these people dressing up at layers and big businessmen of Kyoto ( they are the ones that get to be lords and dignitary while the uni and school children get to be the foot soldiers and servants).  After lunch Taishi and I walked to Yofuku ji, now I would say that Taishi suggested we walk  but Taishi would Say that I suggested walk. I think it may have been a communication errors on both our behalfs as English is Taishi's second language and maybe I was not very clear when I asked if it was close enough  to walk. At any rate we ended up walking the eight kilometres  on a very hot day ( which with the lack of water is the reason for my very big dehydration headache last night). It took us an hour and a half to walk but eventually with one hour  before the temple closed we made it. The rock gardens are pleasant but not as refined as that of  Ryoan ji, these gardens have been designed by modern gardeners. We also went to a much smaller garden with a very lovely tea room. 

Then it was of to have a cool apple  juice at Kyoto station and climb to the very top of the building to watch the city lights. The Kyoto train station is quite new and built in a postmodern style, I usually don't like post modern architecture generally but at least it made to station interesting. One side of the station slopes upwards all the way to the roof, there is even a amphitheater like space halfway up where a stage is set up for public concerts. Onto of the building is a tiny garden and a good view  of the lights of Kyoto and you can see Kyoto tower lit up like a space rocket. We then went out a had dinner together in an underground restaurant where Taishi ordered a few dishes that I might like  with the clear instructions that I would only eat seafood and would NOT eat it raw - I don't think I  can stretch my acceptance of eating meat while traveling that far! Then it was back chaotic Osaka where I travel the by now when know rout of osaka station to  shin-Imara, Shin-Imara to Namba JR station, Namba JR statin to my hostel. I was very tired by the time I got home so I am sorry because I was meant to spend time up loading photos and publishing my blog but I will now have to do that when I get back from Kobe tonight. My apologies.

today

I got up very late today as my poor body had had a battering the day before  with its lack of water and too long in the sun.  I then spent the morning trying my patience with the internet connection in my hostel. It is not very good so it took me two hours to do a few things that should have only taken 45 minutes! After yesterdays wonderful weather the balance needed to be made and today it has rained all morning. The rain is quite miserable in a I have decided that I may as well watch the rain fall form a cafe in Kobe then form my hostel in Osaka so with umbrella in hand I braved the train system and went to Kobe for the afternoon. I walked around the  port and ended up at the Kobe maritime museum which had some interesting models and also had the .... Good time  ..... An exhibition funded  by the company showing its inventions. I got to see and industrial robot in action, as it placed 12 coins in different patterns a third of the time i would take a human and with better precision  I also got to go inside the drivers cockpit of one of the first shinkansen trains. There was a simulation game where you got to drive  train, the aim was to get it there on time, in the correct position -so the doors line up with the lines on the platform- and for the ride to be comfortable for the passenger. Even with the help of a Japanese man translating the instructions I didn't do very well, first arriving  late and the second time overshooting the station by two meters. I then walked back around the port and watched the big leisure ship set off for its sunset cruse. I then had dinner while watching the sunset and all the lights start to turn on around the port. Then it was time to get back to Osaka. 

I miss your beautiful faces and your hugs. 

With love, 

acushla.