Daytrip to Kamakura

Okia and I headed to Kamakura on Saturday for the day. We'd been hoping that the weather, which has been unusually warm for this time of year, would have cooled by then, but no such luck (as you can see from the photos). The highlight of the trip was definitely the really cool bamboo forest (home of the zen Hokokuji Temple, where I also got my first taste of Matcha Tea (not a fan of any tea, green tea included, but was still a worthwhile experience. . . it's thicker and more bitter than regular green tea!) And of course, the beach!!!

Soba lunch!

Traditional Japanese Shinto wedding
Okia with a Japanese fall flower (she told me the name but I can't remember:()

Hase dera Temple
Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha)
In the bamboo forest

First bowl of matcha!

At the beeeaccch!!!

Kyoto-day 2

The next day (my last day of travels), I checked out of the hotel, and headed off to Kyoto Municipal Art Museum, which was displaying an exhibit of works from the famous Philadelphia Museum of Art. I spent a considerable amount of time there, trying to memorize the paintings and the stories behind them. Frustratingly, many of the explanations were in Japanese (I usually read every word of the descriptions and information about the paintings in an art museum, so found this especially trying).

From there, I headed off to Heian Jingu, with its several striking buildings, all painted the same bring vermillion colour with green-tiled roofs.

I then went to Fureaikan, Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts. Funnily enough, it was one of the few places that didn't charge anything to enter and view the displays, and yet it was one of the best exhibits I saw -- of wood and stone craftwork, dyed cloths, dolls, clothes, fans, umbrellas, paper lanterns, and several other uniquely Japanese crafts, with videos demonstrating how the items were tranformed from simple raw materials to the exquisite finished products.

From there, I decided to take a walk around the area and headed in the general direction of Murin-An a villa located on breathtakingly-beautiful grounds, built by Meiji statesman Aritomo Yamagata (who also designed the gardens). In addition to the villa, the grounds also have two other structures -- a tea-house and a western-style building where the Murin-An conference on Japan's foreign policy, just before the Russo-Japanese war, was held in 1903.

Me in the gardens of Murin-An

Aritomo's villa

The tea-house

The room in the Western-style building where the Murin-An conference was held

Some of Aritomo's personal items

Then I headed off to Yasaka Jinja in Gion. By this time I was getting ready to be done and get off my feet. But I walked around the shrine for a bit and headed into Maruyama Koen (park), popular for its hanami (cherry blossom) viewing in the spring (guess I'll just have to make another trip next year).

I walked around Gion a little more, hoping for a glimpse of geisha again, but I guess I was too early this time. I finally gave up in disappointment and exhaustion, and headed off to Kyoto Station to catch the Shinkansen back to home sweet home and my own bed! (It was a strange feeling, to come back to Tokyo and feel at home here for the first time ever, simply because I felt like such an outsider in the other places by comparison!)

Kyoto--day 1

The next morning, I woke up and headed off to Nijo-jo. I walked around the grounds, looking at the displays in Ninomaru and Honmaru Palaces and the beautiful gardens that made up the compound. I couldn't take photos of the inside of the palaces, but they have some beautiful, incredibly well-preserved, famous paintings on the walls of nature and animals. One of the rooms (I think it was the visitors room) has "nightingale floors" which squeak when they're stepped on, warning of visitors.

From there, I went on to the Kyoto Imperial Palace where the royal family used to live when Kyoto was the capital of Japan. The Imperial Palace that we visited was not the original one -- apparently, the Royal Family used to stay with courtiers occasionally (like when the Palace burned down, which it seemed to do a lot) and finally ended up moving permanently into one of these homes, which then became the Palace (and burned down a few times itself). The sprawling grounds, with several gates leading in, had huge parks, several smaller, less well-known palaces, and a few ruins.




I made a quick stop at Shokoku-ji Temple, which was very quiet and peaceful after the bustle of the Imperial Palace.





I went back to the hotel, took a short nap, and then headed out to Gion, hoping to see Geisha on the way to their appointments. Unfortunately, I think I was too late (naps must sometimes take precedence over other things!) But I did walk around the area, particulary on a street called Hanami-koji, which was lined with quaint little traditional tea-houses, and, in significance of the changing times, a steak house!

An aside. . .an article on morphine scarcity in Sierra Leone

Note: Will return to photos of my trip in the next post

I across this article and watched this slideshow in today's International Herald Tribune, and wanted to share it.

*If anyone read the earlier version of this post, I apologize. I deleted it because it was basically a rant (of sorts) and, while in keeping with my whole malcontent theme these days, there are good reasons behind why I am where I am right now. And when God decides the time and circumstances are right, I will hopefully be able to do the kind of work this reporter has done. But in the meantime, I will stay here and appreciate and enjoy my life as it is.

Weekend trip -- part II

The next day, I set off for Nara. When I reached there, I headed off to Nara Park, the site of the famous Kohfukuji Temple, with its several buildings, several of them designated National Treasures, and a National Treasure Hall, where many artifacts and relics from the temple's past are displayed.

At first, I was awed by the deer grazing in Nara Park, and approached the first few cautiously. I soon realized that the deer had no such compunctions. They were incredibly friendly, approaching people walking through the park with no hesitation. I soon found out why. . . they wanted to be fed. I saw several people mobbed by four or five deer as soon as the animals realized that they were holding food. By the end of the day, I was definitely less enamoured of the deer than I had been at the start.

Five-storied pagoda

Inside the National Treasure Hall

Nan'en-do (South Octagonal Hall)

I also stopped at the Nara National Museum which had a special exhibit on Buddhist paintings from the 11th to 13th centuries. While fascinating, it was also quite overwhelming and intense and the sheer number of art works made it difficult to take in. I found the permanent collection, more varied with sculptures and artifacts, easier to absorb. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed.

From there, I went to Todaiji Temple, home of the famous Daibutsu, or Great Buddha (14.98m tall) in the Daibutsuden, supposedly the largest wooden building in the world .

Scale model of Todaiji

After Todaiji, I made a stop at Kasuga Taisha a compound of structures painted in bright vermillion, hung with a multitude of lanterns.

By this time, I had walked so much in the intense heat that my legs were starting to become numb. I decided that I had seen enough of Nara for this trip and made my way back to the train station to move on to Kyoto, where, after making some tentative plans for the next day, I promptly collapsed into bed exhausted.