Coming Home 11/3/10

We are at the Osaka airport waiting for our flight and they have a free internet service here so I thought I would finish up our Japan story. We went to the local bakery after breakfast to pick up muffins for our train ride and then the group went for a walk with Junko to visit a nearby garden - Shukkeien. Because today was National Culture Day, the garden was free! There were many people in fancy dress (including ladies in kimonos) who came to the tea house to celebrate the day. The garden was lovely - we saw lots of koi fish and turtles in the large pond, many curved and colorful bridges and green trees. We also saw a small garden with green tea bushes growing. They had a wonderful display of chrysanthemums outside of the tea house - quite beautiful! We came back to the hotel to pick up our carry-on bags and walked over to the railway station where we boarded the bullet train to Osaka. We then got on a local train which goes directly to the airport which is located on an island off the coast. We traveled under the two and a half mile car bridge over the water: Inland Sea on one side and Pacific Ocean on the other. We picked up our large baggage at a storage booth and stowed our small bags in the space we had left for that purpose. After checking in, we headed to passport control where we said our final "boo-foo's" to Junko who stood at the window until we had all cleared the x-ray machines. What a doll - she took care of so much for us, we didn't have to think at all about arrangements. She is so good at what she does. We will certainly give her a glowing report when we fill out the survey for OAT. We just looked up the political news on The Day, but the Judge of Probate position hasn't been decided yet as there was no information. We will have to get home to find out if Dean won or not.

Island Hopping 11/2/10

at 9:00 to a nearby garden and then will walk to the train station at 11 to wait for the bullet train to Osaka. There we will ride the airport We didn't walk this morning as we had to leave early for our trip to the islands. John didn't come on the tour as he was having a little tummy trouble and thought it best if he had a slow day. Today was a real transportation mish-mash. We left the hotel at 7:40 by taxicab to be dropped at the bus station. The regular highway bus drove us through the mountains and onto a series of four bridges (one of which is the world's longest cable bridge) onto the islands in the Inland Sea. After getting off the bus on Omishima Island, we were picked up by a jumbo taxi (van) and driven to the Oyamazumi Shrine. This is the shrine of warriors and the sea. We saw two of the oldest camphor trees in Japan. One was 2600 years old and the other 3000 years old. The taxi driver then drove us over a bridge onto Ikuchi Island. Here we visited the IkuoHirayama Museum of Art. He was a native son who went to Hiroshima to study art and survived the bombing of Hiroshima. He spent his life seeking the origin of Japanese culture produce by Buddhism and traveled the Silk Road to sketch the scenery and the people. He traveled and painted along more than 200,000 miles. His art was contemporary, but captured the spirit of the older Japanese paintings. He passed away last year. Our next stop was to the Kosanji Temple. We ate a picnic lunch in the temple courtyard. Junko had brought rice and salmon "sandwiches" wrapped in nori, rolls filled with bean paste, almond cheese crackers (yum), chocolate filled cookies and fresh tangerines (they grow on the islands along with lemons and limes). Kelly brought a package of rice crackers and Lana contributed a box of assorted maple leaf pancakes (from our trip yesterday): chocolate filled, bean paste, green tea, and custard. We truly had a feast! We saw some people from the temple burning tea whisks. Junko said that because the tea service is rather sacred, you don't toss the used items, but bring them to the temple on the appropriate day and they are incinerated by the priests. The temple was founded by Kozo Kosanji. This man lost his father at an early age and his mother single-handedly raised he and his younger brother in the 1890's when being a single mother was rather rare. To thank his mother for her devotion, he built her a lovely villa - just magnificent: lovely painted woodwork and ceilings (see photo), beautiful gardens, lovely wooden floors. Some of the rooms were covered in tatami mats and some of the mats had wonderful Chinese oriental rugs on top of them. Kozo became a Buddhist priest and built the temple to pray for his deceased mother. The temple is patterned after notable temples in Japan. I must say it was the most colorful temple we visited (see photo of temple door). There was a lovely koi (see photo) pond with pink and purple water lilies in it. We walked up the hill above the temple to a garden made of white marble. The views were spectacular from here and the sculpture was quite lovely. On the way back down, Dave, Kelly and I walked through a cave system which runs under the main temple. There were hundreds of Buddhas and a series of paintings on the wall depicting Hell and redemption. We left the temple area and walked down a small shopping street. The town was rather sad as they don't get a lot of visitors except for those who come to the museum and the temple. Many of the stores were shuttered. There were a few food stores with produce and dried octopus (a specialty of the area). We did find a confectioner's store where they sold lemon cookies so, of course, we bought a box. We will bring them on the plane in case we get hungry. We met up at the ferry dock and took a 25 minute ride back to the mainland where we caught a train back to Hiroshima. Dave and I stopped in the food market in the train station to pick up some of the almond cheese crackers for our trip. We got back to the hotel and had about 40 minutes until dinner. We ate in the hotel dining room and had a lovely dinner - without chopsticks! Junko said we have to get used to using forks and knives again because we could be going home tomorrow. Two of the highlights of the dinner were cream of pumpkin soup and concord grape sorbet! Tomorrow is our last day in Japan. We will take a walk with Junko at 9 to a nearby garden and then walk to the train station at 11. We will take the bullet train to Osaka and then the airport limousine to the airport which is on an island. So it will be Sayonara to Japan. We have had a wonderful time and have learned much about the culture and the people. We will miss our new friends, but it surely will feel good to see our old frends and family and sleep in our own bed!

Miyajima 11/1/10

The trio went for a walk this morning, but didn't find anything of interest except the river. We will have to try a different route tomorrow. Today we had a new taste at breakfast - a mug wort roll - green both in color and taste. I'm glad I tried it, but I don't think it will make the top ten list. I chatted with Junko after breakfast about the drinking age as we have seen so many vending machines that dispense beer. She said that the standard age for drinking, smoking and voting in Japan is 20. We also talked about tattoos because I haven't seen any (at least blatant ones) since we arrived here. She said that it is considered a gang symbol so no one does it. We got on a local train today and traveled to a small city on the Inland Sea where we caught a ferry boat to the island of Miyajima. There are only 2000 people living on the island (12 square miles) and they all live near the ferry dock on three short streets. There were deer on the island, but they weren't as persistent as the last ones as the tourists don't feed them. This island is famous for a 50 foot tall Torii gate (see photo) which stands in the water at high tide. We got there at low tide and you could walk out and touch the bottom of the gate, but when we left the island, the tide was rising and the bottom of the gate was in the water. There was a kindergarten class having their picture taken in front of the gate. They were very cute. The Torii gate is in front of the Daisho-In Temple. This was an enormous complex of buildings including a five story pagoda. At one building, we saw a priest giving a blessing of purification to three business men who had come to thank the gods for their success. We were able to spin the prayer wheels as we descended one staircase. We say many statues (some of them quite impish - see photo) and a reclining golden Buddha. We also saw a statue of a Tengu, a winged creature with a long nose, who supposedly possesses supernatural powers. We also saw a statue of a tanuke which is a comic badger figure. Because the island is considered sacred, no one is allowed to die or give birth on the island as both are considered unclean. We figured we would have a very safe day. We saw a highly arched bridge (see photo) that was only open when the emperor's envoy came to visit the temple. He would wear his formal wear and wooden clogs so they would build a staircase on the bridge so he wouldn't slide to the bottom. We then went on a nature walk up the mountain. It was a beautiful day today except for a few brief passing light showers. The walk was lovely and we stopped in a small oyster restaurant for lunch. This island is famous for two food items - one is oysters. In fact, we saw a number of oyster rafts in the sea as we were coming over on the ferry. Lana, John, Dave and I opted out as we are not fond of oysters - so we had other choices. After lunch, we went to have dessert. This is the other famous food item. They are small maple leaf shaped pancakes filled with a variety of things. We chose chocolate and they were served WARM - yum! We could see the whole operation through a glass window. The machine making the waffles was very interesting. In our wanderings, we came across the world's largest rice scoop! I suppose everyone has to have a tourist draw. After poking around on the shopping streets, we headed back to Hiroshima. On the train, there were some primary school children from a private school who were taking the train by themselves because school had let out. I don't think they could have been older than 8. They were very cute, but didn't want their picture taken - very shy. We checked out the shops above the Hiroshima train station and will go out to eat about 6 tonight. Just got back from dinner - we checked out restaurants in the train station and the department store, but Dave had a hankering for beef or at least something where he didn't have to guess what he was eating so we split up and Dave and I went to McDonald's (not my favorite, but it was okay). We will have to find out tomorrow where the others had dinner. We walked down to Seven-Eleven (yes, they have them here, too) on the way back to the hotel to pick up some snacks for the plane ride home. We have a long day tomorrow as we will travel by bus to visit some other islands.

Halloween Sunday - Kyoto to Hiroshima

We skipped our walk this morning (although the weather was delightful in Kyoto) and slept in until 6. We had to make sure our bags were all set. The large bags are being shipped to the airport and we will be living out of our small bags until Wednesday when we leave. We brought our bags down to the lobby after breakfast and set off by taxi to the train station. Several of the other folks from the tour, who are leaving for home today, came down to wave us off. We took the bullet train. What a wonderful invention. The seats are very comfortable with lots of foot space. Several of us made origami cranes to pass the time on the train. Junko put them together in a chain so that we can hang them at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima. We arrived a little after noon and dropped our bags at the lobby of the hotel as our rooms were not ready yet. Junko then treated us to lunch to experience Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki (vegetable and fish pancakes). Several of us requested ours plain having experienced the dousing of mayonnaise on the other one we had. It was very good! We sat at the counter with the grill directly in front of us so we could watch the whole operation. First the pancake was cooked and then a hefty portion of cabbage with strips of bacon on top. The pancake was sprinkled with water and then flipped to cook the bacon. Meanwhile on another part of the grill a healthy portion of noodles was cooking. An egg was cooked with the yolk broken. Small shrimp and squid was also cooked and placed on the pancake. When the egg was done, the noodles were placed on top and then the whole thing was flipped on top of the pancake. Grilled oysters were served on the side. The ladies who were doing the cooking were cute. They kept giggling over John and Dave's beards. They thought Dave looked like Colonel Sanders of KFC fame. They gave us each a Japanese lollipop which was on a long stick and what looked like a gumdrop on top, but it was hardened sugar in the shape of a gumdrop. This was our Halloween treat. After lunch, we took the trolley to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It was was a sobering experience. There were models and photo panels presenting the history of Hiroshima before and after the bombing on August 6, 1945. Some of the photos and artifacts (pieces of clothing) were quite graphic. It was really hard to walk through and I found my eyes avoiding some of the exhibits. One of the most poignant stories was of a young girl, Sadako, who was two when the bomb was dropped. She lived a normal life until she was in sixth grade and they discovered that she had radiation related leukemia - they gave her a year to live. She spent eight months in the Red Cross hospital and decided to make 1000 cranes. It is believed that if you make 1000 cranes, your wish will come true. She made well over 1000 cranes, some of them very tiny - less than the length of your small fingernail (see photo - the box is about 1 inch square), but sadly her wish for a cure did not come true. When she died the children at her school started a fund raising campaign to build a memorial. Many children and adults heard her story and a Children's Monument was erected in the Peace Memorial Park honoring all of the children who were killed. There are millions of cranes that have been made by both children and adults and they are hung all around the monument in glass houses (see photo). We chose Kelly to hang our chain of cranes (see photo) as she is by far the youngest of the group. We then walked over to a mound where the remains of 70,000 unidentified victims are buried. After ringing the peace bell, we walked to the Atomic Dome building - one of the only buildings left standing after the bomb. It has been shored up, but the skeleton remains as a reminder of the horror of that day. We returned to the hotel to check in and after a short while, the five amigos went across the street to the eleventh floor of the department store to have dinner. We chose Italian. It was good, but not as good as the one in Kyoto. After dinner, Dave and John went to explore the food store in the basement while "the girls" rode the escalator down floor by floor to see what there was to see. This is a very fancy department store - I don't think I'll be buying anything here! Tomorrow we will travel by train and ferry to an island nearby.

Gardens

It was drizzly again this morning, but Dave, John and I walked down to the Imperial Palace grounds again. After breakfast, we left to visit Arashiyama, which is a western suburb of Kyoto. Our goal was to walk in the Tenryuji Temple gardens, but we had an added bonus as today was a celebration day for the temple and there were many people attending the ceremony in formal wear. Some of the kimono clad ladies had special raincoats over their kimonos (see photo) - it was very colorful. The gardens were wet, but lovely, but the best in my opinion was the walk through the bamboo forest (see photo). There was a high wind and you could hear the rustling of the leaves as the slender trees swayed in the breeze. It was magical! We came out of the forest and visited another garden. This one was planned by a former movie actor in Japan. He was in both silent and "talky" films and was most famous for his character, "The One-Eyed Samurai". We stopped at the tea house for a small refreshment before walking the garden paths. His villa was high on the mountain overlooking the city and was laid out so that as you turned a corner you had a new vista in front of you and could no longer see where you had just been. There were many rock paths (some of the rocks were lovely shades of red and green) and we were able to stroll around the gardens and at one point came to his villa. The grounds are now open to the public for a small fee. We took the local train and subway back to the hotel. Unbelievably, we saw Aoi, the girl from City Hall that we met yesterday, on the same subway car that we were on! What are the chances of that happening?! She was on her way to an English language class. I jammed my little toe when stepping over the rim of the tall tub to get into the shower this morning and I was definitely feeling it on the walk. Back at the hotel, I took off my shoe and sock and found that my little toe was all purple so am guessing that I broke it. I figure there is nothing to be done about it so will dose up with Advil and go on. It doesn't hurt too badly unless I flex the foot so I will just have to be careful. Dave decided to nap this afternoon, but I went with a small group to visit Okazaki Park where there is a garden at the Heian Shrine. Fortunately the rain had quit and although it was not super sunny, at least it wasn't soggy! We were so lucky as again we saw children coming for the blessings and we also saw a bride and groom. The bride wore a traditional black with embroidered flowers kimono - she was very attractive. Junko would say that the couple were "hot-hot". That is there expression for passion. I think it is very cute. The garden was lovely - one of the best features was a long wooden bridge over the pond (see photo). I had been feeling badly that our trip occurred during the peak season of Fall back home, but I was able to catch a little color in the garden here to remind me of home (see photo of fall in Japan). We then walked over to the Museum of Traditional Craft and saw lots of lovely craft work from lacquer ware to brocade material to bamboo weaving. It was a lovely museum and I really enjoyed it. There were a few craft people who were working and demonstrating in the museum. One of them was painting on the lacquer ware and then sprinkling gold dust on what he had painted. He had a very steady hand. As in most museums, we ended our tour in the gift shop. We saw some lovely hand painted tee shirts and embroidered blouses, but the large size looked quite a bit smaller than our large. I asked a clerk if they had anything larger and she showed us a blouse with "F" on the label. I jokingly told Lana that stood for Full Figure or maybe Fat. The sales clerk, with great seriousness said that it stood for Fine! I just love how gracious the people are here. Across the hall from the museum, they were having an exhibition of high school student work. I was quite impressed - especially with the photography exhibit. It was hard to believe that students had taken such lovely pictures - they looked professional. They were all in black and white which sometimes creates an artistic effect. We are going out to our farewell dinner tonight to say goodbye (boo-foo) to the eight people who are not continuing on to Hiroshima. I will get back to the blog after dinner to let you know how it was. Well, I keep thinking that eventually we will get a normal dinner, but each is more elaborate and beautiful than the next. We ate downtown in a lovely restaurant where there are hot plates built into the table for us to cook on. One drink was included with the dinner and the majority of the party chose sake - I think our group is enjoying it. The appetizer was served in a small rectangular lacquer box with three beautiful small dishes. On one of the dishes was persimmon and mushroom salad with sesame paste dressing, another had tofu and soy sauce and the third had a small piece of white fish, cooked chrysanthemum leaf and turnip. We then got a bowl of rice and a small dish of pickles followed by a tempura basket (without mayo, thank God!) with two shrimp, potato, pepper, mushroom and a piece of fish. The waitress came to the table and set a large heavy metal pan on the burner and filled it with warm beef broth. She then put in a variety of vegetables: onions, mushrooms, tofu dumplings, Chinese cabbage, sticky rice cakes, and a thin piece of rolled soy milk product (I didn't catch the name of it). These boiled merrily away and we pulled them out with our chopsticks when they were done. I was full about two courses ago, but the beef was next to come. It was very thin slices of beef that you swish through the boiling broth to cook (this happens very quickly). It is called shabu-shabu and that is the sound it (supposedly) makes as you swish it back and forth. Accompanying this was a small dish of things you could add to either the soy/citrus or the sesame sauce. They were lime, dikon radish with chili powder and ginger. The shabu-shabu was very good, but I couldn't finish what I was given. Finally, came the tea and a small three-legged triangular dish of vanilla ice cream topped with a tiny heart shaped mint leaf. Wow! Junko gave us each a gift as this was the last time the whole group would be together. There was a package of origami paper, a lovely card, a small kimono doll and a cloth that can be framed. That was really a very nice gesture on her part. She said that when we got home, to look up when there was a full moon. If we can see the rabbit on the moon, we will think of our trip to Japan. Apparently, they have a rabbit on the moon over here, while we see the man in the moon - we will have to look for the rabbit when we get home. Speaking of rabbits, they are all over in the gift stores in all shapes and sizes and on everything imaginable as next year is the year of the rabbit. We got back to the hotel and did our last minute goodbyes and hugs. We will be leaving at 9:30 tomorrow morning to take the bullet train to Hiroshima.

From Farm to Table 10/29/10

Another busy day! Dave was feeling much better this morning, but opted out of the 6 AM walk as he didn't want to press his luck. John and I walked down to the palace gardens and grounds. It was a lovely place to walk. We saw people out jogging, walking and exercising their dogs (which for the most part are small breeds). After breakfast, we went to visit the Kiyomizu Temple which is on the east side of Kyoto in the "Blue Dragon" mountains. There were several buildings going up the side of the mountain and some lovely viewpoints from which to see the city below. There were again many children on school field trips. On the way back to the bus down the narrow town street, Dave was stopped by a television crew who interviewed him about his travels in Japan and if everything here was to his liking. We all kidded him about his new show, "Dave at Nine". Our next stop was to the west side of Kyoto near the "White Tiger" mountains. Before stopping at the farm which was our destination, we stopped at the huge and beautiful community center in the town of Kameoka. They were having a show of chrysanthemums and bonsai trees. Everything was just delightful - lovely colors and fantastic designs of the bonsai. We then continued on to Yuasa san's farm, which was 12 acres. This is an organic farm that mainly grows edamame (young soybeans), rice, barley and a spinach-type vegetable. We were charged with picking the edamame. We each had to pick one plant and then pick off the pods (see photo). We chatted with the farm owners and a neighbor couple (the husband raises bees and the wife raises beef cattle). We learned quite a bit about farming in this area. We also met a lovely young lady named Aoi from City Hall who was instrumental in arranging our farm visit. Saying good-bye to the farm and the owners, we continued on to the Heki Residence which is a lovely old 10 room house. The woman of the house said that is belonged to her husband's family whose ancestors went back to the age of the Shogun. There is a path in front of the house next to a bamboo forest that used to be a main street leading directly to Kyoto. We took off our shoes and washed our hands and then got a lesson on making vegetable sushi. We spread rice that had been mixed with rice vinegar and sugar on the sheet of nori (seafood). On top of that we placed squash, mushroom, spinach, carrot and
a roll of egg omelet. We then used a bamboo mat to help us roll up the sushi bar before cutting it into pieces (see photos). This was our lunch along with a salad with wasabi dressing, clear broth soup, a small plate of cooked vegetables: carrot, mushroom, green beans and a tofu dumpling with a lily bulb and a ginkgo seed cooked inside. There was also soy sauce for dipping and fresh ginger for garnish. The best part was the steamed edamame that we had just picked in the field. They were served hot with a bit of salt sprinkled on top (see photo). Wow! I think only one person was able to finish her plate - there was way too much food! We also were served dessert of vanilla ice cream with green tea powder on top. Dave being lactose intolerant was give a dish of grapefruit gelatin which he said was delightful. Junko talked about many things on the bus: patriotism, social security, the war, etc. She also said that we would be saying good-bye to half of the group tomorrow night as they are not going on the post-trip to Hiroshima. Someone said, "Boo-hoo" and she couldn't think of why we would use that expression to denote sadness. She said it sounded to her like the noise a pig makes and then she repeated back to us, "Boo-foo, boo-foo". Well, we all cracked up! So tomorrow night will be the Boo-Foo party! When we got back to the hotel, "the girls" went to do a little shopping. When we were shopped out (that doesn't take a long time on my part), we came back to pick up the guys for dinner. We walked down the main street thinking we might find a steak house. We did find one, but the price for a steak dinner started at 18,000 yen, which is about $225 in US dollars! We instead settled for a Japanese restaurant where again we sat at a low table with our feet in a pit underneath. We all ordered shrimp tempura and were horrified when it came covered in mayonnaise (the waitress said it was tarter sauce, but it was really mostly mayo)! We wiped it off with our chopsticks the best we could. It really was very good, but would have been so much better plain. We have been paying attention to the weather as we have heard that there is a possibility of a typhoon. Tonight's BBC channel said that we would probably be okay as it looks like it will strike further north that where we are. Tomorrow is another garden tour so I am hoping for good weather. Today was lovely - a bit windy, but quite warm.

Nara and Fushimi

Again, we are experiencing a wet day - but just off and on rain. The good news is that it is warmer today than yesterday. After breakfast, we traveled by bus to Nara, which was the capital of Japan in the 8th century. It was also the eastern end of the Silk Road. We first went to another World Heritage Site, the Todaiji Temple. Inside the Temple hall is a 50 foot tall cast bronze statue of Buddha. It sits in the world's biggest wooden structure in existence. Before walking through the gates of the temple grounds, we were greeted by the local deer. Vendors sell packages of deer food crackers and the deer are especially hungry for their treats in the morning. Naturally, Dave drew the biggest crowd (see photo)! This must be a very popular site for school field trips as there were hundreds of children going to visit the Buddha and laughing at the antics of the deer. Inside the temple, there was an unfinished pillar with a small tunnel at the base. The children all lined up to squeeze themselves through the tunnel as it is supposed to bring good luck. One boy said hello to me so I said, "How are you?". He clutched at his stomach and replied, "I'm hungry!" I told Junko what a charge I got out of his reply and she told a story about the prime minister of Japan a number of years ago. He was practicing his English so that he could greet President Clinton who was coming for a state visit. Upon meeting the president, the prime minister said, "Hello" and instead of saying, "How are you?", he said "Who are you?". Non-plussed, President Clinton replied, "I'm Hilary's husband.". Assuming that President Clinton had said he was fine, the prime minister replied, "Me, too!" Our next stop was to the Kasuga Shrine (Shinto) located in a beautiful forest in which thousands (2000 standing and 1000 hanging) of stone lanterns are lined up on the way up the hill to the shrine (see photo of hanging lanterns). We were extremely fortunate to witness some children coming for a special blessing. Young babies are brought to the shrine to show the spirits that a new child has been born and then girls are presented at ages 3 and 7 and boys at age 5 for a special children's' blessing. We saw two little girls, a boy (one of the girl's brother) and a baby coming to the shrine today (see photo of the brother and sister). We went into the city center of Nara for lunch at a delightful Japanese restaurant. We had steam baskets of pork and sprouts in one and fish, pumpkin, potato, sweet potato and dikon radish in the other. There were also pickles, rice, soup and green tea. For dipping there was a soy and citrus sauce, but the most interesting and wonderful tasting was a sesame sauce. We were given a bowl with sesame seed and a wooden pestle to grind them. We then poured the sesame sauce over the freshly ground seeds making a delicious sauce for the pork and vegetables! On our drive back to Kyoto, we stopped at the Fushimi Inari Shrine to see 20,000 red torii gates placed one after another along a trail going up the mountain. We only walked a small part of the trail, but it was absolutely beautiful (see photo)! This is the shrine that you see the main character going through in the movie, "Memoirs of a Geisha". The shrine just celebrated 1300 years of existence! When we got back to Kyoto, the bus driver dropped some of us off at the Kyoto Handicrafts Center. Here we were able to pick up a few items to bring home. Dave didn't feel all that well so he went back to the hotel. When we were all done shopping, the store sent us back to the hotel in a cab on their dime as their shuttle bus was full. What a great service! Dave still wasn't feeling great so I went out to pick up some crackers and juice. John, Lana and Kelly went for dinner at an Italian restaurant across the street and then went to the vending machine in the hotel for an ice cream dessert. The Japanese a very big on vending machines. They are all over - inside and outside of buildings. You can get water, juice, snacks, beer, green tea, coffee, ice cream - all from vending machines which are kept immaculate by the companies that fill them. I had never seen a vending machine being polished until I came to Japan! Dave is still sleeping so I hope with all of the extra rest, he will feel better tomorrow.

Zen Meditation and Tea Ceremony

We went for a walk this morning down by the river. We saw a group of junior high school age boys dressed in their bright green P.E. uniforms running, with their teacher in a suit jogging behind them. They smiled and waved as we stopped to take their picture and yelled, "Good Morning!" We saw a number of ducks and herons in the river. We did walk through a few scattered sprinkles, but it soon cleared up. It did turn out to be a lovely day, but cold for a change. It was in the 40's this morning, but warmed up quickly especially if we were standing in the sun. Our first stop after breakfast was to the Daitokuji Monastery where we enjoyed a tea ceremony (the Japanese prefer to call these formal tea gatherings). We knelt on the floor (some of the less flexible sat on stools) and watched as a monk performed the ritual of making the tea. We then were served a bowl of tea with two rice cookies and took our cues from Junko for how to perform each of the steps involved. After tea, we moved to a different room for a lesson in meditation. This was performed while in the cross-legged position. I think I failed, as all I could think about was my hips stretching and my feet falling asleep. I wasn't certain I could get up afterwards, but I managed. The gardens outside of the meditation building were lovely. Shaped bushes and small trees surrounded by white pebbles which had been raked into patterns resembling currents of water (see bottom photo). It was a very nice experience. We got back on the bus and went to visit the Golden Pavilion. The pavilion is covered in gold leaf and is set on the side of a large pond and magnificent gardens (see middle photo). We enjoyed walking around and taking multiple photos of the various features in the garden - really quite beautiful. We ran into a group of junior high school students on a field trip and took their picture. We asked them what their favorite subject was in school and they replied, "P.E." - kids are the same everywhere! On our way out of the park, we were stopped by a small group of younger children (sixth grade) accompanied by their teacher. One of them asked me if I had a dime and I explained that I didn't have any American coins with me. Kelly told me later that he asked if I had the TIME to talk. I got a good laugh out of that faux-pas! At any rate, we did chat with them for a bit. They had a composition book with prepared questions, such as Where do you live? Do you like Japan? What is your favorite city? Some of them were quite shy and consulted the book carefully before asking the question and others were a bit bolder. One boy had a small world map in his pocket and I pointed out Connecticut and Kelly showed them Florida. They were all very proud to be practicing their English. We then went to Kyoto University for lunch. The cafe was French and we had a lovely lunch of swordfish. Dessert was a small piece of spice cake with champagne sorbet. After lunch, we went to visit Nijo Castle - another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The castle was built is 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the first Shogun. When the fifteenth and last Shogun returned sovereignty to the Emperor in 1867, the ceremony took place in this same castle. Each of the walls in the many rooms was painted on gold leaf. There are over 300o paintings in the whole castle. I can't imagine how many tatami mats there are! The rooms were lovely and the paintings were of tigers, leopards, pine trees, cranes, chrysanthemums, etc. The floors of the hallways sing as you walk. This was done intentionally so that the Shogun's protectors would know if anyone was sneaking up on him. They call this the Nightingale walk as it does sound like birds as you walk along. Usually you want the floor not to squeak, but it does make sense in this setting. The gardens around the palace were again quite lovely. Our next stop was to the Temple of 1000 Buddhas. The building is 319 feet long and technically there is only one Buddha statue and 1000 Kannon (the almost-Buddha figures with 20 arms on each side and one in the front and eleven heads - one large one and 10 additional small ones on top pointing in all different directions. No photos were allowed in either the Palace or the Temple. Again there was a small but lovely garden outside of the temple (see top photo). Our last stop of the day was to the train station we came in on yesterday. It is a totally amazing modern building. It is very hard to describe, but it is tall and open with many reflecting surfaces. We took a series of escalators up to the sky walk and then came down the other side. Bad news - they have a decorated Christmas tree up already and it is not yet Halloween! We had wonderful views of the city from the sky walk including the Kyoto Tower which looked great against the darkening sky. When we came down the other side, we could see a lighted pavilion that is frequently the site of brides and grooms for picture taking after the ceremony. There is a large bell nearby that they ring. We unloaded our cameras etc. in the room when we got back to the hotel and walked a couple of blocks to a mall where we had wonderful pizzas in an Italian restaurant. Dinner was on our own tonight so it was just the five of us, but two other couples from our tour group came in as we were finishing and we gave them hints on which pizzas were the best. We did a quick tour of the mall to see if we could find a sweatshirt for Kelly as she nearly froze today, but no luck! Maybe she will find something tomorrow. She opted not to go on the optional tour and will spend the day exploring the city on her own. John and Lana and Dave and I will go on the tour. I did a load of wash when we got back from dinner and am waiting for it to dry so I can hop into bed.

Kanazawa to Kyoto

We woke up this morning to pouring rain! We decided to walk anyway, but weren't real anxious to get soaked so walked halfway around the hotel/department store building and then took the pedestrian tunnel under the street which came up next to the big fish and produce market which is all under cover. We walked up and down the aisles watching the merchants set up their wares for the day. Our walk was a bit shorter than usual, but we did get some different exercise by walking up and down the stairs to the pedestrian tunnel. After breakfast we had to pack up our large bags which are being sent by truck to Kyoto and will arrive tomorrow afternoon. We packed for one night and one day in our small bags and then met in the lobby for our home host visit. We took our jug of maple syrup and our small album of family pictures. John and Lana had a package of a lovely burled cherry handmade pen, a decorative broach, a magnet of lighthouses, and picture cards of Niantic and Hole in the Wall beach. Kelly wrapped a box of key lime cookies in a map of Florida beach towel which was a real ice breaker as she could show them where Tampa (her city), Cape Kennedy, and Disney World are. Our hosts had taken their grandchildren to Tokyo Disney last year. The folks we went to visit have a lovely home in the city. The husband is 67 (we don't know how old the wife is) and they have two married sons and four grandchildren. He owns a local liquor/convenience store and two of the grandchildren come to their home after school each day. They were very gracious and he showed us around their rather large home. He is very much into collecting Japanese art and had many examples around the house. He also showed us his collection of ancient art scrolls. He was very proud and deservedly so of his collection. He and his wife allowed us to try on kimonos (see photo). Lana is wearing his late mother's silk one and I am in his wife's cotton one. His wife has 40 kimonos and they are kept in shallow drawers and wrapped in paper. They had recently renovated their kitchen and there were storage spaces everywhere including in a trapdoor space built into the kitchen floor! We sat on cushions in their living room at a low table where our legs and feet dropped into a space under the table (this space can be heated in the winter which would make it quite cozy. We were served green tea and soft rice cakes and then coffee and crispy rice cakes. He spoke English quite well - only occasionally groping for a word. She seemed not to speak as well as he. He showed us picture albums of his family and then some of their trip to Okinawa for their 30th anniversary. He was quite funny as when he was showing off the pictures, he would say, "and here is my wife: eating, drinking, shopping!" He said this several times - it was quite funny. He then showed a picture of himself with his head cut out of the photo and said, "my wife took this one". They were a lovely couple and we enjoyed our visit. As a gift to us, he wrote in calligraphy using characters, "Ichi-go Ichi-e", which means this is a once in a lifetime encounter - "treasure every meeting for it will never recur." He then put his name and address, today's date, and our names. The date was interesting as he used 22 for the year, which is the 22nd year for the current emperor. We then walked around the corner to his shop and treated everyone to a glass of top-notch sake (this one uses 45% of the rice - polished - and 55% is removed) and everyone agreed that it was very smooth. His wife then presented us with ceramic cups and we were waved off in our taxis to return to the hotel. We had a short time for lunch so we went to the basement of the department store where we picked up a banana and a pastry from the bakery. We ate in our room and then took our small bags down to the lobby to begin our next adventure. We took the train from Kanazawa to Kyoto. It was still pouring in Kanazawa, but gradually began clearing as we got nearer to Kyoto. About a half an hour from our destination, we passed the largest lake in Japan and just before reaching Kyoto, we saw a double rainbow in the sky. One of them was absolutely brilliant and at one point we could see both ends! I'm sure this is a sign of good luck for our stay in Kyoto. We got to the hotel and then after freshening up, met up again in the lobby for our evening adventure. We took the subway to the other side of the river and visited the pleasure district. We saw one geiko from the back as she was hurrying to a party, but then saw a maiko (an apprentice to becoming a geiko - see photo). Remember the book/movie, "Memoirs of a Geisha"? We then walked to our tempura restaurant. We had miso soup, salad with dried fish flakes, pickles, egg custard soup, rice, pickles, and fresh tempura: shrimp, mushrooms, fish, pumpkin, and broccoli. Dessert was green tea ice cream. We were all stuffed! Forget trying to lose any weight on this trip! As promised, I have included a picture from the food department in the department store. This is a box of chocolate candies - aren't they beautiful? The weather here is quite a bit cooler so I'm glad I packed my sweatshirt and fleece in the small bag. Tomorrow we will go on a city tour to see some of the highlights of Kyoto.

A day in the mountains

Dave and I went for a lovely walk this morning along the river. It was a bit misty, but not really raining. After breakfast, we hopped on the bus for a full day of adventure in the mountains, which was an hour's ride from Kanazawa. Our first stop was to the village of Gokayama. In the olden days, this area was virtually inaccessible in the winter. It is nestled between the mountains and they generally get 6 to 12 feet of heavy snow from November to April. Now there are tunnels in the mountains so that people can more easily reach them. One of the tunnels was 8 miles long! This village is a UNESCO site. The village has many gassho-style houses which have steep and thickly thatched roofs (see photo). The living quarters are on the main floor and the tall 3 story attic was used for storage and as a workplace in the winter when they were confined. Some of the crafts that they did in the attic were storing and caring for silk cocoons and paper making. One part of the village was known for making gunpowder in the age of the Shogun. We visited one of the oldest gassho houses and the owner of the house explained the art of gunpowder production and then performed a traditional Kokiriko dance in native costume (see photo). The instrument he was using to accompany his dancing was very interesting - it made a unique sound. We also visited a paper making workshop and saw how the paper is made. The process is very labor intensive, but the finished product is lovely. We visited a local restaurant for a vegetarian lunch. The soba (homemade buckwheat noodle soup) is made of locally grown buckwheat. It was delicious! We added young bamboo shoots and fiddle head ferns to our list of new things in Japan. The cafe staff sang and danced for us - we really had a wonderful time. The owners and waitresses of the restaurant waved and smiled as we left This has happened at several places and even at the hotels. The staff comes out to wave us off and they continue to wave, bow and smile until the bus is out of sight. After lunch we traveled to a different mountain village - Shirakawa-go. At the Folklore Park, we had the opportunity to make mochitsuki or sticky rice cake. The process starts with sticky rice that has been steamed. You then pound the rice with a huge mallet and alternately pound and add water until all of the gluten has been drawn out of the rice and it makes a huge ball of rice paste. It looks like and has the consistency of white taffy or warm mozzarella cheese. This is formed into balls and rolled in sweetened soy powder. We each had a ball with a side of sweetened red beans. It was really yummy! We walked around a bit and then headed back to Kanazawa. It was too bad that again we had a bit of a wet day, but it was really just off and on. Junko keeps hanging a little "sunny boy" (this looks like a small ghost with a smiling face) in the bus as we travel to try and change the weather, but so far it hasn't worked. The good news is that the mist made for some interesting shots. Junko invited us all to go with her to a Japanese restaurant that is owned by a friend of hers. Kelly went, but Lana, John, Dave and I opted to go to the steak house in the basement of the department store. I'm glad we did. The steak was a very tender filet and the chef sliced it thin and sent it back to the table on a flat lave rock so the we could cook it to order. The meal came with soup, pickled vegetables (not like our pickles - they only pickle overnight so everything is very crisp), sprouts, sliced onion, and of course, a bowl of rice. Lana and John have been looking for a new table for their kitchen and the table in the restaurant was just perfect so we did some measuring and I came back later and took a picture so they can have one make back home. We wandered over to the dessert section of the department store and found a small cafe where we shared a piece of pumpkin cake and dark chocolate cake with cherries - delicious! The frosting on the chocolate cake was black so I went back to the room to brush my teeth! Dave downloaded the camera so I could blog when I got back and then Lana and I went back down to the basement to take a picture of the table and some of the desserts. I will try to include a photo of the desserts soon. Tomorrow we will go to visit our host families in the morning and then travel by train to Kyoto. I bought a scarf today to wrap our gift of maple syrup as that is how the Japanese present their gifts. It is very elegant.

A tour of Kanazawa

Today was another busy day. John, Dave and I took a lovely walk at 6. We explored some of the side streets around the hotel. We had a funny thing happen - we saw an older Japanese couple who looked like they were lost so we stopped and showed them our map and where we were on it. They spent some time pointing to the map and then down the street until I realized that they thought WE were lost and were trying to help us. We ended up smiling and nodding and headed off to finish our walk in the opposite direction of where they were pointing which must have greatly confused them. Breakfast this morning was a buffet. I tried the rice porridge, but found it rather tasteless so decided to sprinkle some sugar on top to make it more palatable. I reached for one of the tubes of what I thought was sugar but nothing came out when I tore off the end and poured. I started laughing when I realized I was trying to pour a toothpick on my cereal! After breakfast, we boarded the bus to take a tour of some of the main attractions of the city. Kanazawa is on the Sea of Japan side of the country, but we haven't yet seen the sea. Apparently, it can get quite cold up in the nearby mountains as the wind comes from the north (Siberia) in the winter. We visited the castle of the Samurai first. This was one of the largest castles in feudal Japan, but most of it was destroyed by fire in the late 1800's. Much has been rebuilt however to show how it used to be. Across the street is the Kenroku-en Garden (see photo). Even though there weren't many flowers this time of year (actually most Japanese gardens only have irises and cherry blossoms), the leaves of the cherry trees were turning yellow and orange and the manicured trees and water areas were stunning. We visited a local craft museum on the property and were introduced to the beautiful lacquer ware (see photo) that Kanazawa is famous for. We then drove to the Samurai house district where we took a walk around the old streets. The buildings are now owned by private residents, but they must maintain the walls and outer parts of their homes (like living in an historic district) and not modernize the outside. The walls are made of stone on the bottom and stucco above and in the winters when they get heavy snow, the walls are covered with bamboo mats to protect them from the elements. There are also sprinklers built into the road to melt the snow in the winter. We visited an old Samurai residence which is now a museum and owned by a family member. The inside rooms were covered with tatami mats and there was a lovely private garden in the back. She also had some family treasures on display such as pottery, swords and ornate stirrups used by her husband's ancestors. It was all very interesting. We got back on the bus to cross the river and then walked to a local restaurant, a converted bank, for lunch. Thankfully it was a light lunch: chicken and salad and wonderful, warm foccachia (spelling?) bread. Dessert was tea pudding (it actually tasted better than it sounds). From the restaurant, we walked to the "pleasure" district. Most of the houses are converted to shops or restaurants, but there are still some that are used for their original purpose. Junko explained that our idea of a geisha is not quite true. Most of the girls are artists of some sort, playing a musical instrument or dancing, but their main role is conversation and gentile entertainment. They prefer to call themselves geiko instead of geisha as it has a more refined meaning. We did a little shopping on the street and walked back to the bus to go to our last stop of the day. This was a local micro-brewery for sake. Sake is made in the winter, but we watched a video on how it is made - quite involved. We were then given samples of two different types of sake, a sample of sake sponge cake, and sake chocolate topped with large grains of salt. I became several people's best friend when I gave my portions away! Everyone said it was delicious. When we were dropped off at the hotel at 3, it was raining. We opted to drop off our stuff and go for a (wet) walk to visit some local craft shops. We saw some lovely porcelain and lacquer ware, but did not buy anything as most things would not be easily packed for the way home. We rested for a bit and then met up again at 6 for dinner, which is on our own tonight. John, Lana, Dave and I opted for a small Italian restaurant across the street where we shared three small pizzas. It was pouring by dinner time, but we were able to stay dry by crossing the street via an underground passage. Kelly walked with us part way and then peeled off to go into the Market to try one of the conveyor belt sushi restaurants. Apparently, you sit at a large bar and a conveyor belt goes around in front of you. When you see something you want, you choose the plate and eat it. When you are done, they add up the plates that you have had to see how much you owe. We will have to find out tomorrow how it went. The four of us went back through the passage and walked into the basement of the department store which is the food floor to pick out our desserts. I had a lovely slice of chocolate cake. Some of the food looked amazing - the displays were awesome! I will try to go over tomorrow with my camera to take a few shots. Tomorrow we are going up into the nearby mountains to a small village where the houses have thatched roofs. I do hope the weather clears up! By the way, speaking of the weather, I am so glad that I brought mostly short sleeved shirts with me as it is quite warm here and most places are not air conditioned. I will probably wear my sweatshirt tomorrow because it is supposed to be cooler in the mountains, but it really has been quite warm the whole trip.

Kanazawa

We slept so much better last night! You wouldn't think that an extra 2 inches would make any difference, but it did. Today was a travel day. After breakfast, we boarded a bus to take us down to Odawara where we picked up the bullet train. What an operation! The train comes into the station and you all have about a minute and a half to get on the train before it pulls out! Fortunately, there are assigned seats and Junko had us line up in reverse order so that we could all get on in a timely manner. We all got out of the aisle and into our seats before the train pulled away from the station and then we could get up and stow our luggage in the overhead shelf. We did get to see a couple of trains go through our station before our train arrived. I'm glad we got to see how fast they sped by while we were standing still because once you are on the train, you don't really get the feeling that you are traveling at 180 miles per hour! When they go through the stations, they have to slow down a bit so the average speed is about 160 mph. It was a very smooth and comfortable ride. There is tons of leg room and almost no motion so it is easy to get up and walk around. The absolute best thing that happened is that we went by Mount Fuji in the distance and I was finally successful in snapping a picture! We got to our next stop, Nagoya, in 70 minutes - a total distance from Odawara of 176.3 miles. We really need something like this in the States! At the station in Nagoya, we were given twenty minutes or so to pick up a lunch to go. Dave and I opted to stop at the bakery and we each got a blueberry nut muffin (we have been eating so much lately, we figured that it wouldn't hurt us to go light for a meal or two when we can). We then walked over to another set of tracks to board the express train (80 mph as opposed to the bullet train). We ate our lunches after the train started. Kelly opted to buy a bento lunch box from the cart that was wheeled down the aisle. She said it was very good. We enjoyed the scenery as we passed many rice fields (although most of them had been harvested already) and many fields of green tea bushes. The funny part of the ride came at about the 1 hour mark. When the train pulled into the station, we all got into the aisle and swung the seats around so we would be facing front when the train started up again as we were going to be heading in a different direction than the main track - quite an interesting way of doing things. We then traveled 2 more hours before reaching Kanazawa. Junko passed around some Japanese fairy tale books (English translations of course) on the train as well as some photos of her family. She has a brother and a sister (both married) and two nephews. She is 41 and not married. She has said that at her age, the possibilities of marriage are slim as most people meet and marry shortly after going to university. She is quite a lovely young woman and would be a quite a catch from our view. At any rate, when we arrived in Kanazawa (population 450,000), we took a taxi to our hotel which is centrally located in the city and is attached to a large department store (Lana is in seventh heaven!). The hotel is a western style one so we have a real bed! Here we have a separate toilet room and a combined sink and bath with shower, but they are across a little hall from each other! The funny thing here is that when you walk into the room, the toilet cover raises automatically! It also has a heated seat. Junko says that some of them play music when you sit down ( I wonder what the song is - I could think of a few "not so appropriate" ones). Our large bags had been delivered to our rooms so now we can have a few more options for dressing tomorrow. After freshening up, Junko took us for a tour of the hotel and through the first floor of the department store. We then crossed the street to the Market. Every type of fish or produce was available for sale. Junko treated us to some dried seaweed and tangerines. We came back to the hotel and had a brief rest before dinner. Dinner tonight was American/Japanese style: no chopsticks (just in case we had forgotten how to use silverware), salad, a plate with 4 small sections with fish and scallops, bacon and spinach quiche, beef and mushrooms, and potato garnished with carrots shaped like maple leaves and pea pods. Desert was a sampling of cake, chocolate mousse, and fresh fruit. We will go for a walk in the morning to check out the surrounding area. Tomorrow after breakfast, we will be going for a city tour.

We both were a bit stiff this morning from sleeping on the futon (it is only about 2 inches thick). After dressing, we went for a walk. Our street is quite short with one end being a dead end and the other ending at the cable car tracks, so we had a choice of up or down intersecting roads. We chose up! We walked along the side of a lovely park and garden that is directly across the street from the hotel. There were several condominium buildings and some lovely single homes. The landscaping here is beautiful – every tree is finely pruned to accent its beauty. The best part of the walk is that eventually we got to come down the hill! Breakfast was basically English style: eggs, bacon, fried potatoes and salad, but there was also fresh fruit, soft rolls and oatmeal with raisins. If they keep feeding us like this, we will have to pay an overage fee to get on the plane! After breakfast we took a bus ride down the hill to another town and visited the workshop where they make the beautiful Hakone woodcraft. This same family has been making these items for over 200 years. One of the men explained and demonstrated how he puts the wood together to make the intricate designs (see photo). He gave everyone a sample of the veneer to take home. We did a bit of damage in the shop and would have bought more except that it was quite pricey and also we have to be able to pack everything in our suitcases to get it home. We then drove down to the lake (Lake Ashi) and took a half hour boat ride on a catamaran. Unfortunately, it was still cloudy today, but the good news is it didn’t rain. After the boat ride, we went to lunch at a fancy hotel. The lunch was a buffet, which was wonderful because it meant that I could just eat a tiny bit. One of the desert choices was a raspberry framboise – delicious! John gave me a taste of his green tea ice cream – quite different and a very unusual green color – a cross between lime and pistachio hues. I had left my camera on the bus, as I didn’t want it to be in the way at the table – never again! The clouds lifted for a short time and we could see the top of Mount Fuji. Also, there was a Japanese wedding taking place outside on the lawn. Kelly said she would send me copies of her pictures, but I will take it with me at all times now. Our next stop was to the top of a mountain where there were steam vents and sulpher springs. One of the traditions is to cook eggs in the hot springs (about 190 degrees) until they become hard-boiled and because of the sulpher, the shells turn black. The saying goes, if you eat one egg, you will live for seven more years, if you eat two eggs, you will live for twenty more years, and if you eat three eggs, you will live until you die! We didn’t eat any eggs (see big breakfast and buffet lunch), but I did get a photo of some young ladies eating theirs (see photo). I mimicked taking a picture and they giggled and nodded yes. After we got down from that area, we walked over to the gondola building where we took a gondola ride down to Gora. The Japanese called the gondola a ropeway. The bus driver took some of the group back to the hotel while eight of us opted to continue on to the Hakone Open Air Sculpture Museum. The sculptures were wonderful – some classical and some quite modern (see photo). There was also a small Picasso museum, which was quite lovely. We spent about and hour and a half at the museum before being picked up by the hotel van. At six o’clock Junko held an origami session in the lobby for those who were interested. She taught us how to make Samurai helmets and cranes. Even though some of the cranes looked like ducks or pterodactyls, a good time was had by all. Dinner was again quite a feast for both the eyes and the stomach, some of the different items were sushi rice cooked with vegetables served in a turban shell, a boiled egg stewed in thin soy soup and wrapped in a white cloth paper decorated with a tiny Japanese maple leaf (this was interesting as the soy turned the white of the egg light brown and the yolk was red-orange), smoked duck and sardine, corn soup served in a small teapot, grilled sautéed pork with fruit and potato salad, vegetable rice pilaf, egg soup, fondue of thin beef and vegetables which we cooked ourselves at the table, and flan with a piece of pineapple for dessert. Now keep in mind that this is just a list of the new items at the table - fortunately, the portions are very small! We were tired after dinner so decided to skip the communal bath and came up to the room to read for a while before sleeping. We also decided to cheat a bit on the futon. We noticed that there were several futons in the cupboard where they are put away during the day (probably to accommodate families who come to stay here), so we put an extra two under ours that had been made up while we were at dinner. Hopefully, that will help to soften the floor.

Good-bye Tokyo, Hello Hakone Region

I just uploaded this day's blog from Word (with Kelly's help - thank you) and for some reason, it all came in underlined, so sorry if this is hard to read. We said good-bye to Tokyo today. After breakfast, we boarded the bus and visiting the largest Shinto shrine in Tokyo. Unfortunately it was raining all day today – sometimes harder than others. The shrine is located in a plot of woods in the middle of the city. There were many priests (those who have gone to theological school) here today. Usually there is only one priest or one priest is shared among a few small shrines. The priests do marry and do not give sermons. Their job is to be an intermediary to the people who are offering wishes to the deities of nature and to officiate at various rites of passage and festival days. We then drove out to Mt. Fuji. Before ascending the mountain, we stopped for lunch at a French restaurant – very good, but the best part was that we had chocolate for the first time on this trip! The dessert was a small dark, unsweetened chocolate brownie – yum! The bus was able to make it to the fifth station (out of ten), which is just over 7000 feet, and at the tree line. The rest of the way must be climbed on foot and takes about 4 to 8 hours depending on your pace. The climbing is only during the months of July and August except by special permit at other times. Most people climb at night so as to reach the top of the crater at sunrise. They say that the line of people climbing looks like a row of fireflies from above as everyone wears a headlamp. We walked a short distance up until the gate just so we could say we had been on Mt. Fuji. Because of the rain, we couldn’t see the very top, but the fog lifted slightly to show some of the mountain which looks black up close (basalt) and not the blue you get from a distance. We were given a lucky charm bell and then mailed many of our postcards from there, as they will be hand stamped from Mt. Fuji. When we visited the shrine, I bought an embroidered good luck Mt. Fuji charm. Coming down the mountain, we stopped at the Mt. Fuji visitor center where we watched a short film on the creation of the volcano mountain. We boarded the bus again to go to our next stop, which is the Hakone region. This region is famous for their woodcraft of parquetry and parquetry. Can’t wait to do some shopping tomorrow! Our hotel is in the town of Gora, which is way up in the mountains. It is a Japanese style hotel. When you are wandering around the hotel and in your room, you wear a yukata and slippers – well, you don’t wear the slippers in the room, only in the other parts of the hotel. The yukata is a very casual kimono type robe, which is belted at the waist with a sash (see photo). Our room is huge! There is a wood floor entry where you change out of your street shoes. You then step up onto the next level, which is a large room with a tatami (grass) matted floor. There is a large low tea table in the middle of the room with two chair mats under it. The bathroom is also large – a small toilet room (with a heated seat!), a sink room, and a very large shower room. The whole room is the shower with a drain in the floor and a large high bathtub to the side. There is also an outer sitting room, which is down a step from the main room. There is a small table and two regular chairs, a writing desk and a small refrigerator with windows all along the side. This room is separated from the main room with sliding paper doors. The whole thing is very cool. The Japanese use the tatami mat as a measuring tool. Each mat is 3feet by 6 feet and arranged every which way to cover the floor. So to give you an idea of how big the rooms were even though all of the floors were not covered by mats: the entry is 3 tatimi mats, the main room is 10 mats, the sitting room is 4 mats, the toilet room is 1 mat, the wash room is 1 mat, and the shower room is 3 mats. Just after we settled into our room a young lady dressed in a kimono came and poured us each a cup of green tea. She also presented us each with a pair of parquetry chopsticks as a gift from the hotel management – wow! I had a laugh when Dave went into the bathroom. When you enter the toilet room, you are supposed to put on a different pair of slippers (toilet slippers) just for use in that room. Well, he could only fit them over his toes and he looked like he was trying to fit into his mother’s shoes! After relaxing, we donned our yukata and slippers and went down to the dining room for dinner. Junko was very funny when she was explaining how to put the yukata on. You must put the right side over first and then cover with the left before tying with the belt. If you do it the other way, everyone will think you are a ghost as that is how the Japanese lay out the dead. The dinner was again a sort of Japanese tapas, but the table settings were fantastic. It was truly a work of art. Junko had written out the seating cards with our names in English as well as in Japanese characters. She also made us each a small piece of origami – cranes for the ladies and Samurai helmets for the men. We had some familiar things at dinner, but there were some new items as well: a small pot of seafood gratin (shrimp, squid and clam) wrapped in a gift bag, sushi served on a bamboo leaf (see photo), minestrone soup, locally made tofu with mushrooms and crabmeat in a pot which was heated over a small brazier, tempura, soba (buckwheat noodles, and fresh fruit. After stuffing ourselves, Junko showed us how to put on a kimono. This is a very intensive and involved process. We all thought she did a wonderful job, but she said that if a lady is going to attend a formal occasion, she would go to the salon to have someone help her get dressed. When we got back to the room, we discovered that the young girls had moved the tea table to the side and set up our futon beds covered with thick comforters on top of the tatami mats. Kelly and I went down to the communal bath (separated by sex, of course) – no bathing suits allowed! The water is quite hot – over 100 degrees and it was quite lovely to sit and soak. Three other women from the tour joined us. When we were thoroughly heated, we went up to our rooms for the night.

Last day in Tokyo

We met the new additions to our tour this morning after breakfast. Those of us who have been here for a few days were on the pre-trip. The others came in last night. We hopped on a bus and stopped at the Imperial Palace for a photo op. We didn't actually see the emperor's house, but the outside gates and buildings. There was a double bridge over the moat to the old castle grounds in the middle of Tokyo. This castle was the property of the last shogun. The setting was lovely, but the weather was rather drizzly so we didn't take too many pictures. From there we went to oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo which had a lovely Shinto shrine along side. These are not exactly religions here, but rather just a way of life. The Shinto idea is about nature and how one fits into and uses the natural environment to live your daily life and the Buddhism is mostly for the afterlife and to respect those who have gone on before. There was a large pot of incensed smoke in front of the temple and people were wafting the smoke towards certain parts of their bodies. This is supposed to help with certain ailments and to bring good things to whatever you get the smoke on. I saw a mother wafting the smoke onto her 5 year old daughter and then rubbling her chest. I asked Junko if the mom was trying to prevent or heal her daughter's cold. She laughed and said that the mother was wishing that her daughter would grow up to have big boobs! I got quite a chuckle out of that one. Outside of the temple was a long pedestrian shopping street lined with hundreds of tiny shops. They were selling everything from food, clothing, souvenirs, postcards, good luck charms, etc. It was very crowded, but a lot of fun to poke into some of the shops. Back on the bus, we drove to the famous Ginza shopping district. Wow! Hundreds of posh brand-name stores as well as huge department stores. We went into the Mitsukoshi department store which had 17 floors. The food floor was amazing! Every prepared food that you could imagine was there and below that floor was a huge grocery store. Everything was very high end though - I decided that I would have a banana for lunch as it was on the late side and we had a banquet later on. Now granted it was a very nice looking banana and did hit the spot, but it cost $2.25! From Ginza the bus took us over to one of the man-made islands where there are many new apartment and condominium high-rises. We also stopped at a large grocery store (a regular one with normal prices - still expensive, but much less so than in the Ginza district). Junko gave us each 300 yen (about $4.50) and a half hour to buy some snacks that we could share on the upcoming bus rides. The only rule was that is should be something unknown to us. Dave picked out two strange looking cracker type things. Later Junko told us that one was a sweet rice cake and the other was a shrimp flavored rice cracker). I managed to pick up a puffed rice cake and some type of strawberry flavored treat that is on a stick. It will be interesting to see how they taste!
When we got back to the hotel, we had to pack a small bag to take with us on our next part of the trip to Mount Fuji and Hakone. The larger bags will be shipped to our next big city. The reason for the small bag is that our trip from Hakone to Kanazawa will be by bullet train and it would not be practical to try to maneuver the large bags on the train. Our dinner tonight was in a local Japanese restaurant near the hotel. We were served small portions of several things (kind of like tapas in Spain). We had a small bowl of dried shredded radishes, tomato salad, rice (of course), tiny cucumber pickles, small skewers of chicken, a chicken dish that was cooked at the table on a hot lava rock from Mt. Fuji, broiled green peppers, broiled green beans, cabbage, tea, and a caramel custard for dessert. Everything was eaten with chop sticks except for the custard which was eaten on a shiny wooden spoon. We (except for me) also had sake with the dinner. Quite the experience. We got a chance to chat with some of the new folks. We will have to get to sleep soon as our big cases have to be in the lobby by 7 AM. There will not be any internet service in the Hakone region, but I will try to catch up when we get to Kanazama so sayonara for now.