freda's world adventures

Japan November 7, 2019

Posted by freda in Vancouver.
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We were honoured to be invited by our very good friends, Warren and Maureen Spitz, to join a small group of family and friends in Japan, for the 3-day wedding celebration of their son and his fiance.  Mathew and Jen love Japan, and wanted to share that love with those close to them, culminating in their wedding ceremony and reception. To that end, a traditional Ryokan was booked in Shuzenji, for the group of 34, for the 3 nights of October 1st to 3rd.

Because it’s rather a long way to go for just 3 days, most of the group extended their stays before and/or after the wedding celebration days.  We flew to Tokyo, along with the whole Spitz family, arriving on Thursday, September 26th. A group shuttle took us to our different hotels.  Don and I settled in, had dinner in our hotel restaurant, and slept for over 12 hours!! We were ready to explore the city of Tokyo!

Our hotel, the Mitsui Garden Hotel Ginza, was about a 20-minute walk to that of Warren and Maureen so, after breakfast, we started out to walk to their hotel along the main shopping street, Chuo Dori, of Ginza’s high-end shops. There were beautiful store fronts and a l-o-n-g line at the Apple store!!  (As always, if there’s a photo you want to see in closer detail, just click on it for full screen viewing.)

We had no touring plan for our first day in the city; it was a decide-on-the-fly kind of day. So, together with Warren and Maureen, and Monsignor Owen, long-time family friend, who would be performing the wedding ceremony, we decided the first stop would be the Imperial Palace, a short walk from the Four Seasons, where they were staying.  Turns out the gardens were closed for the day, and you need a reservation to tour the palace, so we wandered the outside grounds, and then grabbed taxis to the Tokyo Tower.

Across the street from the Tower was a temple Monsignor Owen suggested we check out, called Zõjõ-ji Temple, the chief temple of the Jõdo-Buddhist sect. Zõjõ-ji is notable for its relationship with the Tokugawa clan, rulers of Japan during the Edo period, with six of the shõguns being buried in the temple grounds. Most of the original buildings were destroyed by fire during WWII, and rebuilt.  As we happened along, we discovered a ceremony inside, a Japanese/Buddhist form of baptism.

15 second video as the ceremony gets underway…

Outside the temple, in a garden of the cemetery, was what is called Sentai Kosodate Jizõ (Unborn Children Garden): rows of stone statues representing unborn children, including miscarried, aborted, and stillborn. Parents can choose a statue in the garden and decorate it with small clothing and toys. Jizõ is the guardian of unborn children. It was colourful and moving.

We got a taxi back to the Four Seasons hotel, asked the concierge to recommend a place for lunch, and she had someone escort us to the nearby, and rather confusing, underground mall, where there were several eating options. She helped us choose a great little spot, where we lunched liked locals.

After lunch Don and I left the others to their various activities (massages and naps 😉 ) and headed back towards our hotel, stopping in at the Ginza Six shopping mall, with a roof top garden, along the way.

We headed back to our hotel, cleaned up, and went to the hotel bar for a cocktail before heading out to a near-by concierge-recommended restaurant for sushi.  And then, lights out!

Our second full day, Saturday, we joined a small group of our ‘wedding gang’ (Maureen’s sister, Rose, and her husband Pat; the bride-to-be’s mother, Liyan, and her husband Chris; Monsignor Owen) for an 8 hour tour. It was hot, humid, tiring, and fascinating!  We met our tour guide, Hiroko, at Rose and Pat’s hotel, and then took the subway to the neighbourhood called Shibuya. It is in this area that much of the movie, “Lost in Translation,” was filmed. (If you haven’t seen this excellent movie, why-ever not?!?) It’s basically a vibrant shopping and night-life area for the young, and very very colourful! We crossed the *famous* Shibuya intersection: traffic from five directions, that all comes to a stop so all the crosswalks can be traversed at the same time. It’s home to the most-customers-served Starbucks in the world, and full of narrow streets jam-packed with people and lined with shops. Wild and fun!

a 15-second video..

The area was fun, but it was time to move on. We took the subway to the iconic Tsukiji fish market, to wander through the stalls…

The market was lots of fun, as markets always are. From here we walked to the Hama Rikyu Gardens, a sanctuary of calm in a hectic city.  It was originally built as a feudal lord’s residence and duck hunting grounds. It has a lovely little tea house in the middle of a pond, where we headed for a ‘pick-me-up.’

From here we walked to the Shimbashi train station and took the subway to the Asakusa neighbourhood, where we would be seeing a temple. But first, we were all hot and tired, and it was past time for lunch. We asked our tour guide for a restaurant we could sit down in, have a cold beer, and rest awhile, so she took us to a traditional hot pot style restaurant where we had the most delicious meal.. that we had to cook ourselves…after some initial instruction….

here’s a one-minute video of the server putting the ingredients into the pot to get it started cooking, and to show us what we had to continue doing for ourselves…

and a further 10-second video to show the food bubbling away…

After lunch we went to the Senso-ji Temple: Tokyo’s oldest and most celebrated temple. Its history dates back to AD 628, when, according to popular lore, two brothers fishing in the nearby river netted the catch of their lives: a tiny golden statue of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and happiness, who is empowered with the ability to release humans from all suffering. Sensoji Temple was erected in her honour, and although the statue is housed here, it’s never shown to the public. Still, worshipers flock here seeking favours of Kannon; and when Sensoji Temple burned down during a 1945 bombing raid, it was rebuilt with donations from the Japanese people. Entrance to the temple is via the colourful Kaminarimon Gate, onto a lively pedestrian lane leading to the shrine and lined with more than 80 stalls selling souvenirs and traditional goods. Packed with people!!

a short video from the steps of the temple…

We next visited Nezu shrine, a Shinto shrine established in 1705, one of the oldest places of worship in the city. (Temples are Buddhist, Shrines are Shinto.) The entrances are marked by big red torii in the myõjin style, a traditional Japanese gate commonly found at the entrance of, or within, a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred.

From the shrine we walked to the Yanaka district’s main shopping street, which retains a traditional atmosphere.

The very thorough tour was over. We took the train back to our hotels, rested, cleaned up, and went off to join about 18 of us to celebrate Warren’s birthday at Tofuro Ginza, a Japanese-style pub, where we had a delicious shared multi-dish dinner with sake and beer.  After dinner several of the group went out to sing at a karaoke bar, but I was too pooped, so Don and Monsignor Owen walked me back to our hotel before joining the group for a short while.  They made a great discovery on the roof top of the Ginza Six mall Don and I had been to…which I’ll save for when Don and I went back the following night.  🙂

The next day Don and I set out for the Mori Art Museum in the Roppongi neighbourhood. One of Tokyo’s top museums, not only for the excellent regularly changing exhibits, but also because it’s on the 53rd floor and “provides an unparalleled panoramic view of the city.”  We had no idea what specific exhibit we would see, so we were surprised by the synchronicity of discovering the artist whose work we had already seen interestingly displayed in the centre of the Ginza Six mall (pictures earlier). A retrospect of Japanese born, Berlin-based artist Shiota Chiharu’s work included large-scale installations, sculptures, performance videos, photographs, drawings and materials related to her stage design projects. The subtitle of the exhibition, “The Soul Trembles,” refers to the emotional stirrings of the heart that cannot be put into words, in addition to being a manifestation of the artist’s thoughts that she hopes to convey to others.” Strings and knots were throughout….

And what threads they were!!

here’s a short video to show the suitcases as they were in motion…

..and then, my favourite exhibit – windows. I do love windows (as you know, if you’ve read previous blogs). 🙂  But, this had extra resonance, especially as we had just been in Berlin in May. I quote from the placard: “Even now, thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city continues to transform itself, showing a different side of itself every day. When I gaze at the windows that have been discarded at Berlin’s construction sites, I start to recall how east and west were separated from each other for 28 years, and think about the lives of these people with the same nationality, speaking the same language, how they regarded life in Berlin, and what was on their minds.” It was called “Inside, Outside”

We had very good salads for lunch in the museum café, (we are always searching for salads when traveling, and in Japan they were few and far between), and then headed to the Meiji Jingu Shrine, “Tokyo’s most venerable Shinto shrine, opened in 1920 in honour of Emperor and Empress Meiji, who were instrumental in opening Japan to the outside world about 150 years ago. Japan’s two largest torii (the traditional entrance gate of a shrine), built of cypress more than 1,700 years old, give dramatic entrance to the grounds, once the estate of a daimyo (one of the great lords who were vassals of the shogun). The shaded pathway is lined with trees and dense wood and is an incredible sanctuary in the middle of the city.” (Frommer’s Guide)

At a shrine, worshipers write prayers or wishes on a plaque and leave them hanging in a designated spot where the spirits are believed to receive them. Later they are burned so the wishes are released from the writer and sent to the spirits. (paraphrased from wiki)

After a lovely stroll through the beautiful shrine grounds, we stopped in at the Oriental Bazaar souvenir shop, the city’s best known and largest souvenir shop according to the Frommer’s Guide book, where we bought a few gifts, and ran into Rose and Pat, doing the same thing.  (Isn’t it a small world 😀 ) Then, we headed back to our hotel, getting off the train at the Shimbashi station to take a close look at the Ghibli Clock our tour guide had pointed out to us the day before. The clock is at the Nittele Tower, headquarters of Nippon Television, and is inspired by (though not from) the movie, Howl’s Moving Castle, the Japanese animated fantasy movie animated by Studio Ghibli. It’s huge, over 20 tons of copper and steel, 3 stories high, 60 feet wide. Apparently there are over 30 mechanical vignettes that play out at different appointed hours, but we missed those.

That evening, while the family was having a dinner together, Don and I headed out first for great Thai food at Ban-Thai and then to a jazz club in the Shinjuku neighbourhood, (where the Park Hyatt Hotel, featured in Lost in Translation, can also be found). The Shinjuku Pitt Inn is recommended as one of the best jazz clubs in town, nothing fancy but dedicated to the music. We enjoyed a whisky while listening to a 3-piece drums-bass-guitar group, promoting their 2nd CD, who were very good.  (no photos inside)

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at the Ginza Six mall, to take in the light symphony on the roof top I’ve mentioned above. It was very cool!

watch this video (just over a minute) to see how this light symphony works, with people (including Don) tapping the large cubes to shoot light up the posts…

I’m so glad we got to see this very cool installation.  We stopped in at the hotel bar for a night cap.  “Make mine a Suntory,” I said.  (Yes, that’s a quote from Lost in Translation. 🙂 )

For our last full day in Tokyo we planned to meet up with Rose and Pat in the Odaiba district, a large entertainment area on a man made island in Tokyo Bay. The area has a bit of a futuristic look to it, and was worth going to just for the train trip to get there, above ground, over the water.  Among many large scale entertainment spaces (which included an exhibit Rose and Pat had tickets for, which we tried to go to as well, but couldn’t get in), it also houses what was, in 1999 when it was installed, the world’s tallest Ferris wheel.  Because we couldn’t get tickets for the exhibit, Don and I decided to take a ride on the Ferris wheel, for great views over the city.

We connected with Rose and Pat as they went off to their exhibit, and we went wandering a bit more in this area. We found a beach..

We took the train back to the fish market for a last wander and a little shopping, and then to our hotel to rest and organize our suitcases for our departure the next day.  We met up with Warren and Maureen for a quiet dinner that evening, but first, on the way to their hotel, stopped off at a little open-area bar and restaurant spot called “The Farm Tokyo” we had seen during our walks, (and which Rose and Pat recommended), to enjoy a glass of wine and the atmosphere.

And then out to a teeny tiny little Italian pizza place, with fantastic salads and pizzas…

To night cap the evening, an (expensive) last drink in Tokyo, at the Park Hyatt Hotel, where the movie “Lost in Translation” began.

While we saw a LOT of Tokyo, taking the subway to several of its many neighbourhoods, touring key sites, enjoying a variety of restaurants, marveling at how clean the city is with nary a garbage bin to be found except beside the vending machines, we probably only scratched the surface of this large and fascinating city. But, it was time to move on…

The next morning, Tuesday October 1st, we all took the 2-hour train to Shuzenji, for our 3-day stay in Asaba Ryokan, to celebrate Mathew and Jen’s wedding. (Play the little video in the link I included for our accommodation, as it gives a nice idea of the venue and the village.) The whole 17-room facility was booked for the 34-people of the wedding group.  We settled into our assigned rooms, changed into our supplied yukata (like a kimono, but more casual), and gathered for a group cocktail hour in the ‘salon,’ before each having a traditional private dinner in our respective rooms, as is the practice at a ryokan. The whole place was beautiful and serene.

After a wonderful ‘happy hour’ in the salon, meeting wedding friends and family in a lovely setting, we were all off to our rooms for our private dinners.  This was a 10-course extravaganza, each step of which I photographed because it was just so amazing. (But not all shown here.) Each dish was small, but they added up to a LOT of food! Each dish was displayed to perfection in the most lovely dishes, and each was served and taken away by a woman in kimono, who explained each dish she served.  A beautiful visual and delicious tasting feast.

The next morning, after breakfast in our own rooms (no restaurant at a ryokan – all breakfasts and dinners are served in individual rooms), we all boarded a bus to go tea leaf picking.

We got to the site for tea leaf picking and learned we all had to dress in traditional clothing for this activity. Several women gave instruction and helped us to dress in several layer that made up the costume.

After we de-robed, we were treated to a traditional Japanese BBQ lunch on the site. And lots of cold beer, thank goodness, as we were all very hot!

The bus took us back to the ryokan, and we had some free time to wander the village or enjoy a soak in the hot springs pools, private or public. The public pool had posted times separate for men and women, as you enjoy this in the nude.  The hot springs pools are HOT – too hot for me, but Don enjoyed a soak after we wandered the picturesque village.  We checked out the village’s temple, shrine and other highlights, and the small shops, as well.  Several of the ‘young people’ in the wedding group also visited the kimono shop to rent kimonos for the wedding the next day. We decided to stick with ‘western’ clothes.

“According to folklore, the eminent Buddhist priest Kukai magically transformed the rushing waters of the local river from cold to hot, while traveling here 1,200 years ago. One of the oldest remaining structures in eastern Japan today, Shuzenji Tmeple, was constructed by Jukai’s disciple, Gorin, in 807.” (information from the Ryokan brochure)

After wandering the village, I relaxed in our lovely room and Don visited the public bath.

Then, it was time to get dressed in our yukata’s for the group dinner – another multi-course meal, of course (!), thankfully at a western-style table and chairs (it’s hard on back and knees sitting at those low tables).  And geisha entertainment!!  First they performed a few dances and then they played drinking games with several of the guests. 🙂

This is a 30-second video of the dance…

After dinner we wandered back to the bamboo grove as we’d been told it’s beautifully lit up at night…

In the centre of the grove is a platform made of bamboo which you can sit on while looking at the trees, and at night there’s an image projected onto it of a young couple.

The next day was wedding day! The ceremony began at 2:30, so we had free time until then. We went back into town to do a little shopping and have lunch. Though, after a huge breakfast…

… and knowing our reception dinner was early, we just grabbed an ice cream for lunch.  Don and I took a turn up a hill we hadn’t seen the day before and found a small grave site and temple..”In a feud with the Hojo clan, Yoriie was banished to Shuzenji on the pretext he was ill. During a bath he was assassinated on July 18, 1204. According to a history book, vassals of Yoriie plotted a rebellion six days later, but failed and were also killed. These graves are said to be those of the 13 vassals of Yoriie.” (from the sign board at the site)

“Yoriie became the second shogun of the Kamakura Shongunate in 1199 at the age of 18. He made strenuous efforts to expand the foundations of the Shogunate, but it was a time of convulsing turmoil and ugly tactics. He lost the political strife and was exiled to Shuzenji after a reign of only six years. His grandfather murdered him while bathing in 1204 at age 23….” (sign board) Yikes! Family, eh?!?

“Hojo Masako erected this temple to pray for the soul of her son Yoriie….The main 203-cm high statute of a sitting Buddha is done in marquetry (i.e. inlaid work of variously colored woods) and is unusual in that it portrays the usually empty-handed Buddha holding a lotus flower in his right hand.” (sign board)

We headed back down the hill and into town.. where we ran into Gregory, (brother of the groom), returning from the kimono shop, dressed for the ceremony..

Wedding time! Dressed in our finery, we made our way to the Noh Stage, at the Ryokan, where the ceremony took place.

We were asked not to take pictures at the ceremony, so this is the only photo I have until the reception. Mathew awaits his bride in a traditional setting. Jen will soon get into the small boat in the background and a man will pole the boat over to the platform, where she will join Mathew. It was truly beautiful!

The reception was at a winery, about a 1/2 hour bus ride away.  The setting was spectacular, like a winery in the Tuscan hills – but it was the Japanese hills. 🙂

The amazing 3-day wedding celebration had come to an end. The group dispersed in different directions, some going home, and some carrying on with their travels. We carried on to Kyoto, along with Warren and Maureen. It was a three-hour train journey, including the shinkansen (fast train), and we passed Mount Fuji on the way…

We arrived in Kyoto, and took different taxis to our different hotels, Warren and Maureen to the Four Seasons, and we to the Mitsui Garden Hotel Kyoto…

We settled into our room for the next four nights, and then took a taxi to the Four Seasons estate to enjoy a light dinner together on the dining patio.

Don had done a lot of research and mapping of the city: the must-sees were as spread out as they had been in Tokyo. I had found a tour guide for a half day tour, but that wasn’t until Sunday, our second full day in the city.  We started our “Don” tour with the Unesco World Heritage Site of Nijo-ji Castle, a former Imperial Villa. “The Tokugawa shogun’s Kyoto home stands in stark contrast to most of Japan’s other remaining castles, which were constructed purely for defense. Built by the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu, in 1603, Nijo Castle is considered the quintessence of Momoyama architecture, built almost entirely of Japanese cypress and boasting delicate transom woodcarvings and paintings on sliding doors.” (Frommer’s) Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside. (And when I searched online for this castle, interestingly there are no inside photos on any of the sites I checked, either. :O You’ll just have to go yourselves.)

“Built in the year prior to the Imperial Visit of 1626, it gets its name, Kara-mon Gate, from the cusped gables (kara hafu). This style of gate is considered the most prestigious… The entire space above the main pillars has been filled with carvings, many of which symbolize good fortune and long life, such as the cranes and turtles, and the combinations of pine, and bamboo with plum blossoms, and of peonies with butterflies. There are also many sculptures of sacred beasts, such as dragons, tigers, and a total of 10 Chinese lions. This abundance of sacred beasts guarding the castle sanctum is eminently suited to a gate for receiving very important guests.” (sign on site)

The inside of the main building, which we walked through, (no shoes, you have to leave them at the entrance), has 33 rooms, some 800 tatami mats, and an understated elegance, especially compared with castles being built in Europe at the same time. All the sliding doors on the outside walls of this main palace can be removed in summer, permitting breezes to move through the building. Typical for Japan at the time, rooms were unfurnished, with futon stored in closets during the day. One of the castle’s most intriguing features is its so-called nightingale floors. To protect the shogun from real or imagined enemies, the castle was protected by a moat, stone walls, and these special floorboards in the castle corridors, which creaked when trod upon. (Frommer’s). It really did sound like nightingales (or crickets) when we walked along the corridors.  And the rooms were as described: beautiful murals on the wall, mats on the floor and little else, though there were some mannequins of people of the era, set in the rooms to show us the purposes of the rooms.

The grounds of the castle are lovely, with the typical austere and serene gardens and ponds.

Next we headed to Kyoto Imperial Palace, where we could wander the huge grounds and see many of the buildings and one small garden, but tickets for the official garden were sold out.

We took a taxi to our next location, The Golden Pavilion..

Before we toured the Golden Pavilion area, we needed sustenance…

Kinkaku (The Golden Pavilion) is a shariden, a Buddhist hall containing relics of Buddha. The pavilion is part of a temple that is formally named Rokuon-ji Temple, and named as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1994. Gold foil on lacquer cover the upper two levels, and a shining bronze phoenix stands on top of the shingled roof.  (brochure from the pavilion) We came at the right time of day, as the pavilion gleamed in the late afternoon sun.

The grounds also featured stone statues and pond with islets.

Our last stop was Ryoanji Temple, with the most famous Zen rock garden in all Japan – laid out at the end of the 15th century, 15 rocks are set in waves of raked white pebbles, surrounded on three sides by a clay wall and on the fourth side by a wooden veranda, where you can sit and contemplate what the artist was trying to communicate. The interpretation of the rocks is up to the individual. Mountains above the clouds? Islands in the ocean? (Frommer’s guide)

Here’s a 10-second video panning the Zen rock garden – it is definitely something to contemplate!

It was time to head back to our hotels… Warren was feeling poorly, the beginnings of a bad cold several wedding guests had had.  We planned to meet up after a nap, for dinner and a jazz show, but Warren and Maureen ended up opting out.

Don and I, however, headed to a nearby-to-our-hotel udon noodle bar, for a great dinner…

…and then took the subway to Candy Jazz Club for an evening of some lovely jazz, and a couple of whisky’s… It is the smallest club we have ever been into..about 20 seats -we were practically on the stage! The show featured three females – a pianist, a saxophone player, and a singer. We learned about this club from the tour guide I had booked for our second day. She is also a jazz singer, so I asked her for a recommendation. She chose based on the performers, specifically the singer. We thought the singer had a nice enough, sweet voice, but it was the piano player we really enjoyed.

a 45-second video of the female trio’s take on “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” by Carole King..

The next morning we met our tour guide, Tomoko, (found through Tours By Locals, a company started by two Vancouver fellows, which we have used in other places), at Kiyomizu Temple to start our 4-hour tour. Founded in 778 and rebuilt in 1633, this temple is known for the views, as it was built high on a hill.  The taxi dropped us at the bottom of a walking-only street lined with shops leading to the temple. We people watched and browsed a few shops as we made our way up the hill…

From the temple we walked down two charming, pedestrian-only, sloping streets called Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka, lined with restored traditional shops and restaurants – very picturesque…

Our next stop was Yasaka Shrine, once called Gion Shrine, a Shinto Shrine in the Gion district of Kyoto.

Our last stop of the tour was Gion, an area originally built to accomodate travelers and visitors to the shrine, it eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan. The geisha in Kyoto do not refer to themselves as geisha; instead, they use the local term, geiko. While the term geisha means “artist” or “person of the arts,” the more direct term geiko means essentially “a woman of art.” (wiki) As we wandered down the main street, and a few side streets, we learned a little about geikos, and maikos (geikos-in-training).

It was time to say thank you and good bye to Tomoko, and grab a late lunch. She directed us to a perfect spot, OMEN Noodles (there’s even one in New York City), and we had a delicious meal. Refreshed and restored, we then we grabbed a taxi to take us just outside the city to Fushimi-Inari Shrine. Founded in 711, it’s dedicated to the goddess of rice (rice was collected as taxes during the shogun era) and has therefore long been popular with merchants, who come here to pray for prosperity. The 4 km (2 1/2 mile) pathway behind the shrine is lined with more than 10,000 red torii, presented by worshipers through the ages and by Japanese businesses. There are also stone foxes, which are considered messengers of the gods, usually with a key to the rice granary hanging from their mouths. It was a lot of climbing, and we didn’t make it along the whole pathway, but we saw a great deal and it was a photographic delight.

It had been a long day, full of site-seeing. We went back to our hotels for a rest, and a change, and then Don and I headed to The Four Seasons to meet Warren and Maureen for an amazing sushi dinner at one of the top sushi restaurants. We sat at the sushi bar, with one chef for every four people (there were 12 people in all), and enjoyed several courses of sushi and sashimi of the most extraordinary quality.  After dinner we enjoyed a whisky in the bar, where we had an ice-carving demonstration, a machine used for these very beautiful blocks of ice…

The next day, Monday, was our last full day in Kyoto.  We started the day breakfasting at our ‘local’ Starbucks. Warren and Maureen joined us there and we all walked to the very fun Nishiki Food Market.

Nishiki Food Market has a 400-plus-year history. The covered shopping arcade in the heart of downtown Kyoto has approximately 135 open-fronted shops and stalls, selling fish, seasonal produce, flowers, pickled vegetables, teas, fruit, kitchenware, crafts, souvenirs, and street food. This is where locals, as well as restaurants, buy their food. (Frommer’s) We walked both sides of the long arcade. Markets are always great fun – so many ‘different’ kinds of food than we are used to!

From the market we headed by taxi a little ways out of the city, to the Sagano Bamboo Forest, lovely though crowded.  But, a few photos of tree top make you feel like we must be alone out there..

Behind the bamboo grove, we came to Okachi Sanso, the private villa and garden of the famous silent-film era actor, Okochi Denjiro (1898-1962). He constructed his unique garden villa on the south side of Mount Ogura over a 30 year period.

“The villa’s entire history originated at the Jibutsu-do Shrine. Denjiro was already a box office star at the age of 34, when this shrine was built in 1931. His dream of building this shrine began at age 27 when he experienced the calamitous earthquake of Tokyo in 1923. He visited this shrine often and eventually built the villa, tea room, and gardens.” (paraphrased from sign board)

We stopped for a quick matcha tea and sweet in the tea room, and then back down through the bamboo grove…

…and on to Sanjusangen-do Temple, famous for 1001 statues of the Buddhist deity, and designated a National Treasure. No photos allowed inside, but I found this blog, whose writer has used a photo published by the temple. It was SO worth seeing, quite extraordinary – rows of statues, reminding us a little of the Xian Warriors, but golden – they are carved from cypress and covered in gold leaf.

From here we headed back to our hotels, for R&R, and for Don and I, a bit of packing up. We were meeting for dinner at what turned out to be an amazing high end French-Japanese fusion restaurant called Misoguigawa in the Pontocho area, just a few blocks from Gion.  Don and I decided to wander Gion in the evening, before our dinner.

At Misoguigawa restaurant, we had a private room for our kaiseki-style (multi-course) meal, each course more exquisite than the last.  Here are just a few of the courses…

When we said good night, we said good bye. Don and I were flying out the next day; Warren and Maureen were staying on in Japan for a few more days.

The next morning, before we had to leave for the train station (taking a train to Osaka to fly directly home to Vancouver), we had enough time to visit the Kyoto International Manga Museum. I had read a few Manga (Japanese comics or graphic novels) before we went to Japan, which I was slightly surprised to discover, even translated into English, are read from back to front, right to left. I learned a lot more about them in the museum, which is the largest manga museum in the world, with over 300,000 items in the collection. It is a research facility for the study of manga’s history and cultural influence and strives to preserve manga in all its forms, including early and contemporary Japanese works, foreign manga, animation, and other related images. It’s housed in a former primary school that was built in 1869.

I was fascinated to learn that manga uses common signs or symbols to express a sound or emotion… I guess I will need a symbol guide for my next venture into manga.

It was time to go home, after an incredible 12 days in Japan. We really had an excellent time, barely scratching the surface and yet feeling we’d seen a great deal.

 

 

 

 

A quick Vancouver – Detroit update August 2, 2010

Posted by freda in Vancouver.
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Hello everyone, and Happy Summer!

I arrived in Vancouver on July 4th – and that’s a story unto itself.  I was supposed to leave Shanghai on July 3rd.   Mr. Shi drove me to the airport and we both cried and hugged goodbye.  I checked in and then went to the lounge.  Close to boarding time I went to the gate only to hear an announcement saying our flight was delayed by 3 hours.  Shanghai had been experiencing a big thunder-lightning-downpour storm and the incoming flight had been re-routed to Seoul.   A pain in the butt, but mother nature rules.  A woman came over and sat down beside me and said, “tell me your life story; we have time.”  We had just begun sharing stories when another announcement said our flight was cancelled and was rescheduled for the next morning at 10 a.m.  So, we all had to file back through customs to have our leaving-the-country stamp cancelled; then those of us who lived in Shanghai had to line up and give our contact information in case anything changed overnight (I was quite disconcerted when my contact info was written down on a piece of paper, rather than in a computer!), and then we had to retrieve our luggage.  Those who didn’t live in Shanghai would be put up in a hotel; a few of us went home.  I had called Mr. Shi and said, “I have a problem, my flight is cancelled, can you come back and take my home?” to which he replied, “No problem madame.”  He was quite happy to see me again (!) and we made jokes about how quickly six weeks go by, and how much I love Shanghai I can’t leave, etc.  Back to the apartment.  Luckily for me, Sharon and Fred were home and didn’t have plans for the night.  We ordered in and watched a movie.  The next morning I did it all over again – complete with tears and hugs from Mr. Shi!  This time, however, we took off, delayed by only one hour.

The weather in Vancouver has been absolutely spectacular since I arrived.  Clear blue sunny skies and temperatures between 20 and 30 – I love it!  I thought I’d show you a little of my Vancouver walking route since I have done that for Shanghai…  It’s a much quieter walk here in Vancouver.  We live on West 4th Ave, which is rather busy, being a bus route, and lined with apartment complexes and shops, so I walk one block over on 3rd, which is a tree-lined street of houses and amazing gardens….

After several blocks, I finally get to the beach….

And after walking along the beach for awhile, I make my way home…

And this is the view from our balcony at sunset…

Don was here with us for the first week of July and we saw the whole family over various lunches and dinners.  Then Don went back to Detroit and I spent the 2nd week visiting friends.  The boys and I went to the Vancouver Folk Festival on Friday the 16th…

Friday’s event started at 5:00, featured six acts, including Calexico (the band I wanted to hear), and finished at 11:oo, with a lantern parade through the crowds as we listened to the last act….

Saturday morning I left for my “look-see” week in Detroit.   We spent all day Sunday looking at houses and apartments.  Sunday evening we sat with a bottle of wine and narrowed the list down to our top three choices.  On Monday evening we went back to look at the top three and made our decision.  On Tuesday we learned our rental agreement had been accepted.  We will be living in a cute little home in downtown Birmingham.  It’s about a 1/2 hour drive for Don to get to work, maybe less, and we can walk to the library, restaurants and little shops, which is a bonus.  We’re really happy with the place.  Though it’s a bit smaller than we’ve had in the past, there are still two guest bedrooms (so reservations are being taken at the latest edition of the Johnson Resort), and a finished basement for storing what doesn’t otherwise fit.  My only worry is if my wonderful shoe cabinet will fit at the front entrance – I’m inclined to think it won’t.  Ah well, there’s always the next home.  (Which we all know, there will be.  🙂 )

I spent the rest of the week visiting friends.  My good friend Barb picked me up on Tuesday and I went to her place in Windsor for two nights.  It was great to catch up, hang out by her pool all day Wednesday, reading, sunning, swimming – I hadn’t done that since Florida.  Don and I had dinner with a few different friends, including Gene and Angela, whom we’ve known since Don first started with GM in engineering, back in 1980.  They have just recently moved back to Detroit after four years in Australia, so it was really great to catch up with them.  And I played mahjong with some of my Shanghai friends who summer in Detroit, which was lots of fun.  All in all it was a really good week.  I even did a little shopping at the amazing Somerset Mall – but, yikes, there’s no bargaining and I’m not used to those prices!

I got back to Vancouver last Sunday and spent the week with the boys and visiting friends,  and now here I am with my suitcase packed again.  In just an hour I will be heading out the door to fly to Venice, Italy, where I will be for a week with my mother and sister to celebrate my sister’s 50th birthday.   We’re all pretty excited about the trip.  Stay tuned for stories and pictures from Venice.  Until then,

stay cool.

Last days in Vancouver January 13, 2010

Posted by freda in Vancouver.
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Hey everyone – Happy New Year!

It’s my last week in Vancouver.  On Friday (Jan 15th) Don and I fly to Shanghai (arriving Saturday, Jan 16th).  I’m of two minds about this, because I’ve loved my time in Vancouver (which I think of as ‘home’) with our boys, but I’m getting  very excited to get to my “new home” and settle in.

As you know, during our time in Shanghai we are renting a large 3-bedroom apartment in the downtown Pudong side of the city.  We’re on the 17th floor with a great view of the Huangpu River.  Don moved into the apartment in late November, using temporary furniture for the very few days he was actually in town.  But, the day before he flew to Vancouver to spend the Christmas break here, all our furniture was delivered to the apartment.  He had a very busy, full day supervising six moving men, as well as our driver and the ayi (maid) of our downstairs neighbours/friends/GM collegues, Fred and Sharon, helping for the day.  Everything was moved in, placed and set up and a great many things unpacked, including all the kitchen, though I anticipate re-arranging that whole room.  (The ayi put all the dishes in the cupboards below the counter – great if you’re a small Chinese woman; not so great if you’re a tall woman with bad back and knee!)  Obviously there’s still a lot of work to do besides re-arranging – all of our books are still in boxes (well, the 500 of them we were allowed to take), as are most of my clothes – but our first few days will be so much easier because the bed is ready to sleep in and there are towels and supplies in the bathroom.

I’m looking forward to catching up with our friends who have already settled into their Shanghai lives, and beginning my own discoveries.  However, my initial “discoveries” won’t be many before Don and I leave Shanghai on February 3rd to head to South Africa for about ten days.  There’s a dealer convention that Don must attend and to which spouses have been invited.  We’re taking advantage of holiday time in China (New Year’s) and extending our visit to go to Victoria Falls and maybe a game reserve.  It does seem a shame to miss our first Chinese New Year’s, but the S. Africa opportunity was too good to pass up.

Once we’re back in Shanghai I’ll have a few weeks before our first visitor.  (Well, we didn’t get a 3-bedroom apartment for nothing – start saving your airmiles!)  Don’s mom arrives near the end of February for a two-week visit.  My mother will be our second visitor, arriving on April 10th for a little over two weeks.  And then our boys are coming April 21st until May 5th.  The rotation of family will be great incentive for geting to know the city.

So, after two and a half months of ‘playing mom,’ visiting family and friends (including a six day trip to the frozen hinterland of Calgary to stay with my sister and family), lots of walking to Jericho Beach and along Vancouver city streets, seeing movies, and enjoying Christmas in the city, I’m packing up and preparing for our next adventure.  It won’t be too hard saying goodbye to the boys knowing I’ll see them again in three months.  And we’ll be back in Vancouver sometime in the summer, so my next Vancouver fix is within sight, as well.

As for my next blog – well, that all depends on the “great China wall” and how soon we get the computer program that will allow me through (over?) and onto my site.  My plan (hope) is to write once a month – a sort of diary for me and a way for you to keep in touch, should you be interested.    I’m very much hoping you’ll all take a moment occasionally to drop me a line, either by email or through the blog comment option – news from home will be very much needed and appreciated.

Take care everyone,

Cheers!

Hello world! November 23, 2009

Posted by freda in Vancouver.
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Stay tuned!  I’ll be chatting about our transfer to Shanghai and my “look-see” trip very soon.