K-K-Kamakura in a Flash

For some strange reason the winter weather here in the Tokyo area hit 18 degrees this past weekend. I'm not kidding at all. It was sunny and extremely warm, however a little windy. Almost good enough to go to a beach.. mmmmmm.. how I've so wanted to hit a beach for this past few weeks or so.

Since it was such nice weather outside I decided it was best to venture off to do outdoor tourism at Kamakura. Known as a very cultural and historical area I was expecting it to be just a small scale Kyoto. In a way it was, but at the same time I think there were parts of it I actually enjoyed more. Here at Kōtokuin is the Great Buddah Daibutsu. It's 13 meters high and the second largest Buddah in all of Japan. The statue was originally located in a building structure but giant tidal waves destroyed the building leaving only the statue itself. The inside of it is actually hollow and visitors can enter and look around. However I was slightly late and didn't get the chance to do so. Still, somewhat overwhelming to look at from the outside though. I'm glad I made it just as the sun was setting.


Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine is a popular destination for New Year's. It's positioned in such a way that sunrise is viewable on a clear morning. Shrines and temples are traditional for New Year's celebrations here in Japan, and seeing the first sunrise is often regarded highly as optimistic fortunes for the year to follow. I'm most likely planning on visiting a temple this New Year's Eve but likely will just be staying within the Tokyo area.


Upon entering the shrine grounds there lies an unsually high concentration of pigeons. A handful of people actually engage them with food and seeds which can be obtained at a nearby stand. For the most part I'm quite afraid of pigeons and don't like being within close proximity of wild birds in general. I think I'm irked because of all the damn seagulls back in Toronto. This little girl was quite brave. I don't think I could bring myself to be a target for birds. At least not pigeons anyways, which one of my friends merely references them as "rats with wings."


Part of Kenchōji, I'd like to get into this one a bit more since it was extremely intricate and composed of several different viewing areas. I don't know enough history or information about it yet so I'll have to continue this later!

KO! Kyoto & Osaka!

While Sylvia was visiting we planned a 3 day trip to Kyoto and Osaka area since it is very touristy. Yuki was able to research and find a pretty affordable hotel right in the heart of the Gion area of downtown Kyoto.


Heian Jingu, apparently a famous place for wedding ceremonies in Kyoto was overrun by a concert/performance in the late afternoon. To me it seemed a little strange to hold that type of event at a temple, but whatever. Can you count the chairs? I'll give you a hint-- there are over 400.


Giant torii gate leading up towards Heian Jingu.


On our first night we ate at a fancy restaurant along the Kamo river. My meal came out to be a little over ¥6000 (~$60), but it was totally worth it. The night after we were able to spot a few geishas in the streets as well. They were escorting an elderly man who was likely their owner out of one of the Gion restaurants.

As for Osaka, I really wish I had been able to take pictures. Went up to Sky Garden and then spent time in the Namba and Shimsaibashi areas. Namba had incredible street food, mainly takoyaki (octopus balls) and some deliciously cheap okonomiyaki. Perhaps one day I'll make a trip back with a fully charged battery >_<.

Manmanji Temple

Today I decided to venture onto the other side of the tracks at Mabashi station since it occurred to me that I haven't really checked it out since arriving here back in May. A few of my students have told me that there is a temple and a few shops, so I decided why not and gave it a go.


On the weekends I've usually spent most of my time running into Tokyo to check out what's happening in the city. To my surprise there was actually a pretty glorious temple located within a few minutes walk from Mabashi. A little strange because it's kind of covered up by the surrounding houses. If it wasn't so high I probably wouldn't have been able to spot it in the mix.


At the main entrance gate there is a large red lantern hanging inside. This remined me a lot of Asakusa, since the gates leading to Senso-ji has a very large red lantern upon entering the marketplace.


This strucutre was a bit out of place, to the side of Manmanji within a cemetary area. It looked much newer and was most likely constructed some time after the main buildings were made. Nonetheless, still served as an integral part of the scenic landscape.

T/K: Tokyo to Kyoto (and back!)

Rokuon-ji, aka Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion) alongside Kyōko-chi (Mirror pond). The top two floors are entirely covered in Gold.

It all started with a train. Upon leaving work on Saturday night it was a race to get to Tokyo Station to catch the last available Shinkansen (express bullet train) heading into the Kyoto area. Kyle was situated in the west end of Tokyo that night, so we made arrangements to rendez-vous on the Nozomi 161 which would leave Tokyo at exactly 9:20 pm. Unreserved seats cost about 1500 yen less, but it is what it sounds like; there is no guarantee for a seat once you board the train. It wasn't too big of a problem for me since Tokyo was the initial station of departure but Kyle had to get on at Shin-Yokohoma, which was another two stops away. We took a chance and got unreserved seats for the journey and I managed to save him a seat by ignorantly placing my suitcase beside me. Just as he boarded I threw my suitcase up on the overhead and we were ready to roll out.

The distance from Tokyo to Kyoto is appoximately 513km, roughly the same distance from Toronto to Montreal. The train ride took exactly 2 hours and 11 minutes (as advertised) from leaving Tokyo to arriving at Kyoto Station. For those who are curious the Shinkansen pushes speeds of up to 300km/h when not travelling in city areas. I believe the trip would have been even faster had the train not stopped at four other stations before arriving to Kyoto.

While on the train Kyle and I tore it up with our DS's and assuredly annoyed the commuters around us who were trying to fall asleep. Contra wasn't the same without music so we had to have a little volume. The same goes for Tetris and Mario Kart.



So what's the big deal about Kyoto? It serves as a huge preserved historic city since the landscape and architecture wasn't directly destroyed by the bombings and air assaults from the United States during WW II. There are temples and castles all over Japan, however most of them have been re-built due to the damage inflicted upon the air raids. Kyoto for the most part remained unharmed, but the downtown core of the city has definitely taken favour to the modernization of buildings and facilities.



We met up with Lydia and Althea at Hanazono station. They were kind enough to reserve a large room to accommodate all of us at Shunkō-in, the Zen Buddhist temple that is also a hostel for travelling tourists. This temple also served as a sanctuary for Japanese followers of Christianity from 1603 - 1867, when the religion was banned in Japan. The monks would hide crosses in grave stones and other symbols resembling Christ in wall paintings or statues. I actually found this bit of information of the temple to be very intriguing. Shunkō-in also offers a Zazen-kai (Zen meditation session) but Kyle and I had to pass on it since we were short on time. The girls however, thoroughly enjoyed it.


A mini scaled version of the Garden containing the fifteen rocks.

Ryōan-ji is well known for its simple yet remarkable Rock Garden which was laid out at the end of the 15th century. The precision behind the layout of the fifteen rocks in the garden have inspired Zen-like philosophical meditation for centuries.

Why is the garden so special? From what I gathered the rocks were intended to be systematically laid out so that from all adjacent ground viewing angles, only fourteen of the fifteen rocks could be visible. In other words no matter where you view the garden from one rock would always be hidden. It is said that upon achieving a state of true enlightenment through years of Zen meditation all fifteen rocks can be visible.



Another interpretation reveals that since man can never truly obtain perfection one can never be able to see all fifteen rocks simultaneously. This coincides with man's pursuit of happiness (Happyness); no matter how hard he tries an eternal state of bliss cannot be met. One will always be pursuing and working towards happiness but can never be completely satisfied. Pondering upon this made me want to re-watch Sony's production of "The Pursuit of Happyness" with everyone's favourite Will Smith. For those of you who have yet to see it, the film is definitely worth your while. Perhaps I'll torrent it later.

Unfortunately the flaw of the garden is that there actually lies a spot from the edge where all fifteen rocks are visible. Kyle and I stood in it and the tour guide himself said that you can manage to view all fifteen if you look carefully. Kyle is working on a panoramic stitch of the entire garden, hopefully it will be completed soon and I'll be able to post a link to it.



Kinkaku-ji was the next memorable stop and I finally comprehend as to what all the hype was about. Since I started teaching all of my students whose English level is high enough continually ask me where I want to travel while in Japan (Kyoto being one of the many places). Among these students, every single one of them has told me that I absolutely have to visit this temple if I travel to Kyoto.

The upper two floors are entirely covered in pure gold and serve for the ultimate visual eye candy for tourists from all over the world. Most of the temples I've visited have been filled with a larger amount of Japanese locals than tourists. Kinkaku-ji on the other hand was clustered with "gaijin" from everywhere. With that being said there was a group of Mandarin speaking tourists who were being completely rude and loud, somewhat dampening the glory of the temple itself.



While the viewing areas of temples and shrines close at dusk it was time to find another point of interest. Shijō Kawaramachi is a popular part of central Kyoto where the scenery at night is entirely lit up from the lights and signs of department stores during day and night hours. Perhaps the most surprising thing I abosrbed was just how modernized the downtown core of the city is. I was honestly expecting a cultural preserved landscape throughout the entire area but I was clearly wrong. A lot of the downtown street atmosphere here made me feel that I hadn't even left Tokyo.



There were many restaurants and bars overlooking the river that looked mighty impressive at night. It's a little hard to notice but they people sitting outdoors on the patio are all seated on wood floorboards or tatami mats. What a kickass ambience to drink and enjoy a meal with friends.



Our intended plan for the next day was to get an early start at 6:30 am to head out to some other nearby temple and shrine areas. This wasn't even close to happening since the four of us sat outside a train station getting slightly intoxicated the night before. We had a really long day and it was decided that drinks were long overdue. With this being said, I don't think we ventured out until 9 in the morning.



When we finally gathered our composure we took the train a few stops west over to Arashiyama. Nonomiya Shrine is well-known for its large bamboo forest area and in my opinion it didn't fail to impress. It was like looking into something straight out of a traditional Chinese/Japanese martial arts movie. I totally expected ninjas to be jumping through the trees with flying sound effects.



Unfortunately this was the last temple area I visited before my time was up in Kyoto. I decided to take the 8 hour bus ride back home since it costs half the amount as a Shinkansen train. I'll probably head back to Kyoto one weekend, or over a holiday I have before leaving Japan. Winter season so far has the vote since the scenery becomes even more scenic with a touch of snow.

Leaving Kyoto Station

My bus departure from Kyoto Station was at 12:20 pm on Monday afternoon. Since I knew it was going to be a lengthy excursion back home I loaded up on snacks and drinks before boarding. There were a few guys ahead of me who fully had like five grocery bags full of junk food, including various alcoholic beverages. Somedays I forget that in this country it's perfectly fine to consume alcohol virtually anywhere.



The actual bus was a double-decker with the majority of the seating area on the upper level. Problem for some is that the roof is only about 6 feet high and there could have been more leg room to stretch out. I wasn't brave enough to check out the washroom either, something I don't regret at all.



Other accommodations included a JR branded pair of slippers and a surprisingly comfortable blanket. Each seat also had the ability to recline into an almost 180 degree sleeping position. A foot rests are also installed on the bus and the overhead area provides a tiny but surprisingly powerful air conditioning vent. You can also draw the curtains from the window seats to block out the sunlight in the event you want to doze off. While it sounds somewhat luxurious it was a little difficult for me to fall asleep. The ride was kinda wobbly and it was hard to find a comfortable position for a sufficient amount of time. Still, not bad at all considering the price of the ticket.



I arrived back at Tokyo Station at about 8:06 pm. From there it's about another 40 minutes getting back to my local train station. I felt rather accomplished journeying outside with friends and getting safely back in one piece. Not losing my luggage was an added bonus! Overall, definitely a great weekend and perhaps the nicest area I've been to in Japan to this date.