Just a few hours flight, an initial sputtering, popgun start to my Japanese speaking revival at the Japan Rail office, then we were whisked away on the steel gliding luxury of the shinkansen bullet train to Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto. Whisper quiet, cushion soft yet hyperspeed all combined to see us deposited efficiently in a vaguely familiar station 22 years after I’d last left its platforms. A surreal and wonderful journey was about to begin.
It seemed crazy to us, as we sat on this train, that we hadn’t taken advantage of Japan’s proximity in our 10 plus years here in Taiwan. I think we’d just become very complacent: it was “just there” and we could visit “any time”….problem was, we hadn’t! We were to make up for lost time and discover and re-discover respectively just what a beautiful and magical place Japan truly is.
We had booked a small traditional house for our week’s stay and it proved to be a gem, tucked away like a little jewelry box in the back of a drawer, nestling amongst the wooden houses in the back lanes of the traditional Geisha and Maiko district of Gion. We could hear the clip of Geta clad feet on the street outside and occasionally caught a glimpse of Kimono bound and white makeup masked beauties as they whisked and fluttered their way to their next assignment down tiny lamp-lit lanes. The house was tatami matted in each room, had a tiny functional kitchen, bathroom and laundry as well as a beautiful bedroom and sitting room. Low table, zabuton cushions on the tatami and traditional floor futon for bedding and we were really in traditional Japan. It was eerily similar to the farmhouse I lived in over 25 years ago, just a miniature version of same.
We were in the heart of the city and our initial forays to temples, shrines and points of interest were on foot to spots in our general area. Kodaiji and Kyomizudera were great entrees to the majesty of feudal Japan, dripping with history and wonder. The aesthetic poise of these areas is so simple and beautiful: there is real class and artistic merit in all the spare, but of so carefully crafted architecture, of buildings and gardens alike. We were to be struck by this aesthetic again and again and again in our travels and constantly (perhaps unkindly!) compared it to the almost opposite sense of beauty which we see here in Taiwan!
The next days were an impressive overload of more of the same, peppered between train and bus rides, subway trips across town and lots of walking up grand staircases and through thousands of tori gates as the vermillion structures formed a tube of kilometers of gilt edged light as we hiked up an entire mountain! The thousands of gates at Fushimi Inari were the highlight of Kyoto for Cassy and they were quite awe inspiring. To grab just a taste of their majesty, check this video we took of the very first few gates. The impressive Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) and Ginkakuji (Silver pavilion) were also highlights, Ginkakuji being the most impressive, its raked sand gardens the equal of any in the world. Ryoanji rock garden was another highlight; the contemplative mood it can elicit is palpable and quite intoxicating. For an idea of Ryonji, check ourlittle video of same.
We travelled on the shinkansen again mid week, this time to visit the beautiful island of Miyajima and the infamous city of Hiroshima. The red gate in the ocean at Miyajima is the gateway to the island and as it gets ever closer on the ferry across, the sunlight dances across, making it seem quite ethereal. Wild deer greeted us as we disembarked from the ferry and had a little walk with Cass along the boardwalk. We wandered through the jettied temple in front of the gate as it seemed to float on the water. Numerous photo opportunities followed, (as they did through the entire trip!), and then we climbed up and up through a spectacular park of bush trails and Japanese maples. Our destination was the first of two cable cars that strained their way to the top of the precipitous peaks of Miyajima then traversed the high ridges to provide even more spectacular scenery. My aversion to great heights was again tested to the limits here and the creaks, groans and shudders of the cars didn’t help! We took a video on the way up and yet another from the uppermost peaks. It gives some sense of the overall view, yet just doesn’t quite translate the enormity of the height. After hiking back down to the shore from the base station we had a delicious lunch of the local specialty, kaki don.
The second part of our mid-week journey was far more sobering: we went to Hiroshima city, jumped on yet another form of transport (this time, a tram!) and made our way to the Peace Park and the memorials, A-Dome building and the accompanying museum. It is a devastating journey. We walked from the restored A-dome building with its skeletal roof umbrella ( an everyday real life reminder of the ferocity of the bomb), through the impeccably maintained gardens, parklands and eternal flames and memorials all the way to the stark and imposing museum. The horrors inside are almost too much to bear, but a pilgrimage that should be made if you’re in the area. The personal effects of the victims, graphic photos and reconstructions and actual items that were nearly vaporized send a message to all who visit, and it tends to be that universal sentiment: that war visits its awful wrath on the most innocent of victims, while the powerful people from both sides just float above the carnage. Suitably chastened, we did find some solace back at Hiroshima station in the form of that most basic food staple, station katsu curry for me and curry rice for Cassy….delicious. The shinkansen scythed through the night back home to Kyoto and we readied ourselves for another couple of days of sights and sounds.
In the following days, more travels in Kyoto were the norm, as we visited castles and temples in different parts of the city. Nijojo was a huge complex of beautifully restored palaces and castles complete with gigantic stone walls and a deep full moat! The creaking floors are not a design or building flaw either: ninja assassins could never catch the sleeping Shogun or Daimyos unaware in this cleverly constructed trap. After a full day touring, we walked through modern Kyoto down covered malls of endless beautifully presented shop fronts: it was very decadent but so very stylish and so very Japanese. It was great to get a sense of the locals hurrying along, heading home from work, to do some shopping, or meeting friends for food and drink.
Nara was our last side trip, so after nearly missing the local train (my poor setting of an alarm!), we were deposited neatly at Nara station after a 45 minute ride from the ancient capital. Nara is in fact an even more ancient capital of Japan than Kyoto and houses the biggest bronze Buddha in the world within the world’s largest (and one of the oldest) wooden structures. Daibutsuden was truly jaw dropping and we spent time wandering around its vast cavernous insides. Before getting there, however, we encountered Nara’s curious and quirky animal mascot, the Nara wild deer. These creatures roam at will and Cassy decided to feed them some of the special deer biscuits that were for sale from a vendor in the park. The result can be seen here, and although I thought it was completely hilarious, Cass actually got bitten on the bum and leg a few times! We ended up wandering through Nara’s parklands for hours, visiting lots more temples, shrines and other places of interest. It was cold today (below zero) so we were glad of our recently purchased “puffy” down jackets.
The slide show of our trip can be found here (or above for a while), and all of the videos can be found at our Youtube channel. This was only the first week of our Christmas holiday and we subsequently had a very bizarre Christmas day lunch then an altogether different but no less enjoyable second great round Taiwan driving/surfing trip! Cassy has become a Japan convert after this trip and this will not be our last visit. I was ecstatic that I didn’t need to use any English at all for a week (except to Cassy!) and that my Japanese skills, although a bit rusty, still did the trick: it felt very comfortable being back there. I apologize to my conscientious readers about the length of this missive, the gap between posts and most of all the fact that this aint over yet! Taiwan trip next week!