Back Home Again

The things We’ll always remember about Japan: alarms played at the entrance of every subway, the tinny music played at every pedestrian crossing, the music played by the rubbish trucks as they make their way along the street, music played from lampposts, the fashion sense (or lack of it!), surgical face masks, geisha, bowing, the traditional dress worn by men and women, the chanting of the monks in the temples, dogs in skirts and T-shirts, the hustle and bustle of Tokyo compared to the serenity of Kyoto.

Tokyo

Took the subway to the heart of the city to spend a day exploring. All a bit much after spending the last few days in laid-back Kyoto and something of a culture shock. Decided beforehand that we wanted to hunt out Muji to see how it compared to the London stores we were used to. Spent hours walking in circles trying to find it but happening upon lots of other nice stores and taking lots of pit stops along the way. Eventually found it and shopped till we dropped! Everything was a third of the price of London, and at one point we had to take ourselves to a quiet corner to wonder whether we’d be able to fit it all in our suitcases.

Walked around the computer district to see if we could find any bargains but the loud music and constant hustle and bustle was too much for the senses and we had to move on. Ended the day in a huge department store on what we didn’t realise was Sanbai-gaeshi (White Day), also known as triple return, where men who received a gift on Valentines Day from their partners return the complement and give gifts worth three times that they received. Had a good chuckle in the fancy dress department with Paul trying on the sequinned fish outfit – to the delight of the locals.

Kyoto to Tokyo

Started our final day in Kyoto with a trip to Kinkaku-ji (the gold pavilion). The pictures we’d seen didn’t do the real thing justice - a two storey temple covered in gold leaf, sat on a lake so that the effect was doubled with its own reflection. Seeing it as it began to snow added something extra special.. Snaked around the grounds along the pathways and steps that kept bringing you back to face the pavilion at different angles so that every time you saw something you hadn’t noticed before.

Walked to the city centre to do a bit of shopping before leaving for Tokyo. Made time to browse around Nishiki Food Market, with its weird and wonderful sights and smells. Picked up a Kyoto speciality –cinnamon wafer biscuits - for friends and family back home and found a lovely little book shop that Paul couldn’t help going back to twice!

Took the bullet train to Tokyo and headed for a hotel that we weren’t quite sure about and didn’t know what to expect. Were amazed to find on arrival that we’d been upgraded to the honeymoon suite complete with kitchen, seating area with TV sofa and chairs, dining room, bedroom, and bathroom, all with panoramic views across the city. Ordered room service and sat at the dining table smiling from ear to ear.

Nara

Took the train to Nara – the historical capital of Japan, to hunt out the world’s largest bronze sculpture of Buddha. Once there we made our way from the train station on foot through Nara-Koen park, having bought special biscuits from the street sellers along the way to feed the tame deer that roam there. Had an amazing time feeding the young deer and watching other people unfortunate enough to be carrying food being chased around and playfully head butted by the older ones. A real experience to be able to be so close to them.

Once at the Todai-ji temple, the first stop was Nandai-mon, an enormous entrance gate housing the two giant wooden sculptures of the Nio guardians. Then onto the Daibutsu-den Hall, the largest wooden building in the world and where we would find the 16 metre high Diabutsu (Great Buddha). Couldn’t believe our eyes when we walked into the temple to see it towering over us and sat looking up at it for ages as we tried to get our heads around the sheer scale.

Sat in the park eating yaki-soba noodles for lunch that we’d bought from a street vendor. Our entertainment was watching in amazement as one of the locals shared his lunch – literally - with a couple of deer that were begging for food. Wish I’d had the camera ready to capture him eating one end of a sausage as the deer ate the other!

Walked to the old town browsing the craft shops as we went, and couldn’t help giggling at the two Chihuahuas dressed in tiny demin skirts and T-shirts, that, it must be said, had better fashion sense than their owner.

On our way to Isuien Garden we came upon Neiraku Art Museum and had a wander around before moving on. Walking around the garden we noticed a sign for a personal tea ceremony so we followed the instruction to bang the piece of wood dangling from the tree with the wooden mallet to start proceedings. We were ushered into a wooden house and sat cross legged on the tatami matting before being served freshly made green tea and sugar sweets wrapped in tissue paper. Our hostess told us that the sweets were to be eaten as the tea was drunk to take away the bitterness, and she wasn’t wrong! Made from ground fresh tea leaves, it was nothing like I’d either seen or tasted before, but sat on the floor, looking out at the gardens across a pond full of carp through paper screens, there was no mistaking that we were in Japan.

On a tip from the tourist information clerk at the train station we made our way up a long steep hill and through parkland to Nigatsu-dō Hall to watch Shuni-e – a religious fire ceremony performed during the first part of March that by pure chance we were able to catch the last performance of. Chose a good spot on a grassy hillside as close to the temple as we could get and waited for two hours for a ceremony that we knew nothing about but had been told was spectacular and something we shouldn’t miss. The swelling crowd hinted that we were about to see something special and we weren’t disappointed.

As the last light faded, chanting began and the crowd began to get excited. Climbing the open staircase next to us was a monk carrying a long pole with a burning pine torch on the end. Once at the balcony of the temple the torch was swung out over the crowd as the monk ran the length of the balcony banging and twirling the torch to make sparks shower the audience (any onlooker showered in embers is thought to be blessed with good luck for the coming year). Over the next hour 12 monks made their way to the balcony.

Tired after a full day we walked back to the train station and fell asleep on board, only to wake up as the train pulled into Kyoto.

Kyoto

Took a cab from the hotel to Sanjusangen-dō to see the 1001 life sized figures of the Amida Buddha – each with 1000 arms holding symbolic treasures. Wish we could have captured what we’d seen but no photos allowed.

Walked on to Kiyomizu-dera – a complex of temples all painted in bright orange and decorated with sculpted animals and flowers. The centrepiece was the main temple, with its 13 metre high veranda jutting out over the edge of a hillside where we stood on the balcony overlooking the grounds, and listening to the Buddhist monks chant during their morning worship. Found a lovely spot to sit and watch the world go by and sat for ages trying to take the whole thing in, watching in awe as men and women in traditional dress worshipped at the shrines dotted around the grounds. Took some lovely pictures of a stunning heron perching on the edge of a pond that was clearly enjoying having its photo taken!

Walked along Gojo-zake, a street lined with pottery shops that give its local name of “teapot lane”, before reaching Sanmen-zake a narrow cobbled street lined with tiny shops and traditional wooden houses. Passed geisha being pulled along in rickshaws and having fun taking pictures of each other on their mobile phones. Stopped for lunch in a lovely restaurant off the main street and had another helping of tempura.

Walked onto Chion-in with the largest temple gate in Japan, a massive structure that still didn’t prepare you for the massive scale of the temple beyond. Spent time wandering around the grounds and listening to the monks chanting in the main temple – all very serene and incredibly peaceful. The sort of place to sit and contemplate.

Against our will we decided to move on to visit Hojo Gardens in the grounds of the Tofuku-ji temple, a traditional Buddhist zen garden that we had the pleasure of having all to ourselves.

Took a cab to the other side of town to have a look around the craft centre, but not really impressed by the tourist tat that was on offer.

Dinner was tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet). As the main meal was prepared we were served our own individual pestle and mortar, in which we learnt from watching the locals that we had to pound sesame seeds with a thick dressing to make our own sauce to eat with the pork. This was served with copious amounts of Chinese cabbage, rice and miso soup that was constantly replaced as soon as the last mouthful had been eaten. Absolutely delicious.

Kyoto

Woke up to a lovely day and sat drinking coffee in our room overlooking the mountains as we planned the day ahead.

Struggled, but managed, to buy subway tickets to Imagadawa Street to start our first day immersing ourselves in the many temples and shrines in the Southeast quarter of the city.

A long walk to Ginkaku-ji, passing through the Imperial Palace Gardens on our way, was well worth it, with its immaculately manicured grounds and wooden buildings, all entered through an alley of clipped camellias high over our heads. Caught a bit of sun as we sat facing the temple watching the carp in the main pond and trying to take the whole thing in.

Strolled along the Tetsugaku-no-Michi (Path of Philosophy) beside a canal lined with cherry trees passing many more shrines and temples with their torii entrances tucked away into the hillside. Stopped along the way to eat the lunch we had bought on our walk in – traditional bento boxes that seem to be the staple lunchtime diet of the locals. Discovered, and couldn’t help exploring, a shrine with myriad altars, each symbolising and worshipping different animals.

Walked to Eikan-dō – a complex of sub temples on a hillside overlooked by a huge pagoda. Left our shoes at the entrance and followed the covered walkways in the slippers provided, climbing the steep steps up the mountainside to the Taho-to Pagoda where we sat on the edge looking out across the city.

Continued our walk to the end of the Philosophers Path to Nanzen-ji – a complex of sub temples set in immaculate parkland spanning off in every direction from the huge proportions of the wooden San-mon at the centre, towering way above our heads. Visited Nanzen-in before walking up the hill past a mausoleum to try to find what the guidebook described as the “often overlooked temple in a wooden glen by a waterfall”. We soon found out why it was often overlooked…after climbing a steep hill up countless steps and with the daylight beginning to go, we realised how far away it must still be and decided to turn back. Although felt slightly embarrassed and out of shape as old woman practically sprinted past up to get there.

Walked back to the San-mon to get our bearings and then on to Konchi-in – a small complex with immaculate gardens, where we sat in front of the zen garden with its raked sand and chose our destination for dinner.

Dinner was a simple bowl of ramen – hot, thick and steaming soup, that was very difficult to eat with chopsticks and no napkins! In the face of adversity we copied the locals and lost our inhibitions by perfecting slurping – apparently the louder the better.

London to Kyoto

Started the holiday in style getting club seats on the upper deck and having breakfast in the airport lounge before take off. Just what we needed for our mammoth journey – an 11½ hour flight, followed by an hour’s train ride from Narita airport to Tokyo, to pick up the 3 hour bullet train that would take us to Kyoto.

Stood on the platform waiting to board the train to Tokyo we couldn’t quite believe our eyes when the train pulled in and the seats turned around inside the carriages to face the opposite direction! The journey to Kyoto was a good introduction to the country: bamboo groves, washing hanging out like advertising hoardings from every apartment as far as the eye could see, futons hung over the balconies with giant plastic clothes pegs, rows of carefully manicured tea on the hillsides, small well kept allotments, paddy fields, our first pagoda and Mount Fuji shrouded in cloud – all seen through clear blue skies.

Our hotel in Kyoto couldn’t have been better placed, above the main station in the centre of the city, so high up that you could see the mountains on the horizon.

Once free from our luggage we took, what we thought would be, a gentle stroll to Gion – the old quarter of the city – but that actually ended up as a 3 mile round trip. It was nice to feel the streets under our feet and to get an impression of the locals with their calls of “masei masei” and “arigato gozaimas” – all accompanied by the ubiquitous bowing. By the end of the walk we’d got used to the surgical face masks that the locals traditionally wear to prevent passing on germs when they have a cold (although it must be said, not a pretty picture when they sneeze inside them!).

Spent a lovely couple of hours exploring Gion, seeing the traditional wooden houses and walking along the canal. We also got caught up in the excitement of glimpsing our first geisha with the famous tripping step and intricate appearance before being in the right place at the right time to see a young geisha emerge from a wooden house being bundled up the street by her mistress constantly fussing around her. The frenzied photographers didn’t seem to faze her as she calmly went on her way through the crowd.

Had dinner in a small restaurant opposite the geisha house. Served by a charming hostess with an embarrassingly good grasp of English, who introduced each of the dishes and how they should be eaten as she served them – but leaving us to eat in peace. We opted for a traditional tempura meal, served with rice, miso soup, and pickles, followed by kumquat ice cream and boiling hot green tea.

Wandered back to the hotel through the bustling shopping streets of Shijo-dori that only seemed to wake up at night, and happened upon Sanjo covered shopping centre with its alleys of shops, interspersed with traditional shrines that were surprisingly serene given the hustle and bustle of their setting.