Japan | Yonder Sonder

Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavilion

Posted on August 29, 2016August 29, 2016 by yondersonder

The silver pavilion is silver in name only. The temple was modeled after Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, and is a reflection of the top two stories. This was dreamt up by the grandson of the designer of Kinkakuji, Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Although the plan was to cover the pavilion in silver foil, this never came to fruition before the death of the owner and the temple has remained in this condition since. Ginkakuji’s structure is actually older than the pavilion it was modeled after, since Kinkakuji was burned down and rebuilt around the 1950’s.

However, I knew little of the temple’s history before arriving there, and had actually walked through the entire grounds and was about to exit before I realized that the silver pavilion was, in fact, the rather plain structure at the beginning of the walk. I was expecting a sight as impressive as Kinkakuji. That isn’t to say the temple isn’t worth visiting, just temper your expectations appropriately. The grounds are lush and pleasant to walk through, and the crowds are far less dense than at Kinkakuji.

Toji Temple

Posted on August 17, 2016August 17, 2016 by yondersonder

The crowning feature of Toji Temple is its five story pagoda. We had almost skipped this temple due to time constraints but I’m glad we didn’t. Aside from the impressive pagoda itself and the beautiful treasure houses, I found a great sense of peace at Toji.

Full album here

The pagoda is an impressive piece of architecture rebuilt in the Edo period and the temple itself was established around 800 A.D.; the only surviving Buddhist temple in Kyoto from that time. Perhaps more impressive than the pagoda are the treasure houses though. Three buildings house incredible sculptures of buddhas standing over ten feet high, and dozens of other sculptures of spirits and deities made from wood, stone or bronze (gold?). The lighting in the buildings really captures the sculptures perfectly though, simulating candlelight quite well. They must be another sight entirely when the walls were opened. Unfortunately, like many of the most beautiful sights in Kyoto, no photographs are allowed. I do encourage a visit to Toji to see the pagoda and the beautiful sculptures within the temple though. You can walk to Toji from Kyoto station in ~20 minutes, and it is absolutely worth your time.

It is a very peaceful place.

A few steps away from the pagoda two women were giving away plum tea with flecks of gold in it. As we sat sipping on tea looking at the pagoda I realized that my life has been pretty damned amazing so far, and I did not need to rush into anything. I had been struggling with the feeling of life passing by faster and faster while I felt like I was standing still. We can get so caught up with running sometimes, we forget where we were going in the first place. Toji reminded me that it’s a good thing to sit down and reflect on occasion, or you might miss what you’ve passed by. My personal growth, both at my last job in the U.S. and in the few months that I have been in Japan has been astounding. Every six months we learn so many things and grow in so many ways, but we can get so bogged down in the stresses and daily minutiae that this can be lost on us. If you haven’t recently, I encourage you to find a good bench somewhere, pour yourself a good cup of whatever, and reflect on how much you have experienced and grown in the past few months of your life. It will be worth the time.

Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion

Posted on August 10, 2016August 10, 2016 by yondersonder

Possibly the most famous shrine in Kyoto, the Golden Pavilion is an opulent and beautiful sight. The top two floors of the building are coated in a thick layer of gold that makes it shine even on an overcast day. The official name for the temple is Rokuon-ji, or the Deer Garden Temple, although I saw no signs of deer there, but it is generally referred to as the Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji). The gold symbolizes purity and is meant to ward off negative thoughts of death. The temple was burned down in the ’50s by a young monk, so the current temple is technically a recreation of the original. The modern gold leaf is 5x thicker than the original coat as well. Actually, when the temple was first built as a residence in the 14th century, only the ceiling of the top floor was covered in gold. Each floor of the pavilion was designed in a unique architectural style. The bottom floor, the ‘chamber of dharma waters’ is open to the surrounding water and gardens with half walls, allowing one to enjoy nature unspoiled, while the second floor ‘the tower of sound waves’ was designed in the same style as samurai houses. The third floor was designed according to zen principles and is called the ‘cupola of the ultimate.’

Full gallery here.

Unfortunately, since we had traveled to Kyoto in the middle of the rainy season, there was a steady soaking rain the entire time we explored the temple. This didn’t stop the crowds though, the entire grounds were quite crowded all through the trails around the temple and gardens. I know I’ve said this before, but this is a site you must visit if you go to Kyoto even for a day. There were some pictures of the temple in the snow at the giftshop and it is really stunning then. The gold exterior is magnificent surrounded by white snow. Braving the mobs of people and the rain allowed for some stunning views of the temple across the water. Photos don’t really do it justice. The walk through the gardens after you pass the temple was really relaxing as well. As was the green tea served towards the end of the tour (for a nominal fee). Sitting and drinking tea out of the rain with a soothing natural view in front of you is a fine way to melt your stresses away. Especially with some fine company.

Nijojo Castle

Posted on August 2, 2016August 2, 2016 by yondersonder

This exhibit is a replica…. the most common sign seen in Nijojo Castle. Almost every interior painting, screen, and mural was only a replica of the original inside the Shogunate era castle. That isn’t to say the castle was boring, it just would have been nice to be able to see some of the original artwork that decorated the walls and ceilings. Unfortunately no photos or sketches were allowed inside the castle, so all the photos (gallery below) are of the beautiful grounds.

Gallery

Each step you took in the castle was accompanied by creaks and groans owing to the Nightingale floors… a very old school security system to prevent assassins from sneaking up in the dark. The exterior walls are all movable so that one could regulate air flow by shifting them open. The carvings inside were particularly beautiful, with some separating rooms that were viewed as different images depending on which side of the wall you viewed the carving from. A carving that looked like a peacock from one room would be a series of flowers from the other side of the wall for instance.

There were a few students on school trips who wanted to interview me while we walked around the temple grounds. Their questions ranged from ‘where are you from?’ to asking me to write a brief statement about peace and cooperation between nations. I like that the teachers assigned students the daunting task of interviewing foreigners while they travel to a new place, it’s an important skill. Not to mention one of the reasons why English education is so important in Japan, aside from testing for it of course. I was interviewed by several groups, whether due to my charming good looks or my extremely evident foreignness. In any case, tourists Japanese or foreign are not difficult to find in Kyoto.

Tofukuji Temple

Posted on July 25, 2016July 25, 2016 by yondersonder

A word of warning to those traveling to Kyoto.. the city may look condensed and walkable when you look at a map, but the real story isn’t quite so convenient.

After walking for an hour from our hostel, we came across our first sub-shrine for Tofukuji, of which there are at least seven, all of which are of a respectable size. The temple is massive in scale.. so big I wasn’t able to capture a photo that represented its size well. I’ve found that photography doesn’t capture a lot of Japan very well. Due to scale issues or the ever present humidity I’ve found it to be an uphill battle. Not to mention there are many things I simply don’t take photos of (or I’m not allowed to) which really fill in the details.

In any case, the temple had a secluded feeling due to it being surrounded by all of its sub-temples, and old growth bamboo. There were displays of carefully tended nature throughout the grounds, with grass or sand or stone very carefully encouraged one place or another. It was subtle and peaceful. Unfortunately most of the buildings themselves are closed to the public, but the temple is a must see in Kyoto.

The Thousand Year Capital Kyoto

Posted on July 23, 2016July 23, 2016 by yondersonder

Kyoto is a fine tourist city. Though quite massive in scale it evokes feelings of Aspen in the general vibe of its streets. The city is quite a bit more than a great place for Japanese and foreign visitors to enjoy what was the capital of Japan for a thousand years. Kyoto has a large tech industry in place (Nintendo’s headquarters are here for example) and has several well establishes sake companies that are definitely worth checking out. That being said, tourism is a vital part of the economy here. Hordes of tourists, travelers and schoolchildren come to Kyoto to see the beautiful array of temples, castles and culture that permeate the city.

After arriving by shinkansen, Heather and I stayed at a fine, clean hostel not far south of the main train station. I would really recommend traveling by shinkansen to anyone who visits Japan. Though strangely more expensive than flying (marginally), you have more leg room and comfort and after factoring in skipping security, etc. the high speed trains are just as fast (and more convenient) than flying. The greatest part of traveling by high speed rail has to be the views and the sense of actual distance traveled though. You really get a sense of the scale of the miles traveled when you’re racing along the ground at 200 miles per hour in a way you just don’t get when you’re flying.

Two nights and two days in Kyoto is not nearly enough to see the city. There are simply too many places to visit and the city is too large to see everything. Not to mention the traffic is rather painful. We purchased bus passes for the city which take you to the majority of major tourist spots, but the buses were rather infrequent and took ages to get from one location to another. I would recommend buying a public transit pass (2000 en for two days) or renting a vehicle (car, motorcycle, bike) if you’re planning a visit. The bus pass alone is a great way to save money if time is not an issue though, as you really can see almost anything with it, and it is very cheap at 500 en.

This was the first trip in Japan Heather and I took, and to be honest, it was much needed. It seemed a very rough juxtaposition of worlds when she first arrived; it really didn’t feel like Heather and my life in Japan could coalesce. Going somewhere new definitely made that make more sense. It was a great trip though; I’ll go into detail about each temple and location we visited in Kyoto in later posts, so this doesn’t become a bloated mess. Kyoto is a beautiful place though, and the type of place where you can truly relax as you explore architecture and design of a time long past, even if you are sprinting from temple to castle to shrine.

Ushioda Festival

Posted on June 23, 2016July 24, 2016 by yondersonder

Full gallery here:

Usioda Festival

Just a few short miles from my house lies a small shrine by the name of Usioda, and they know how to throw a festival! There were dozens of food vendors selling everything from takoyaki to sour plum candy with everything in between. I had the delightful company of two wonderful Japanese tour guides who made sure that I did not go hungry. Ayane in particular was undefeatable in rock-paper-scissors, winning more than one free entrée.

Aside from the magnificent display of food, there were the traditional festival games of paper lottery, cork air guns, and ring tosses, as well as my personal favorite, scoop the turtle (see gallery). The only game where you get to keep the turtles you catch.

The dashi (float) procession was really something to see though. There were quite a few different dashi floating through the festival with some lively men and women hoisting them up and down. The main event is the cover photo for this page, where the omikoshi is hoisted up and down and spun around in front of the shrine. These dashi weigh a lot, so this is no minor feat. This is immediately proceeded by those carrying the float to charge down through a crowd onto the main roads carrying the float. It was an amazing experience.

A walk in the park… and Tokyo

Posted on June 13, 2016July 24, 2016 by yondersonder

Tokyo and Koenji June

Last Saturday I woke up at the crack of noon and headed to Tokyo to see the sights for a bit. I stopped at Harajuku first and spent a few hours wandering through Meiji shrine and Shinjuku Goen. The scale of these parks is incredible when you consider the city that surrounds them. Walking around Meiji I felt transported back to the old forests of Virginia when I was a kid. I’m not sure if it is intentional or not, but Japan has spaces of near silence even in the busiest of places. It could just be that I have learned to tune out the hustle and bustle at times, but whether in my hometown of Tsurumi or the wild city of Tokyo, a place where you can take a moment and breathe is never far off.

Before meeting up with a friend I stumbled into a lively Vietnamese festival near Yoyogi. Naturally I couldn’t resist a bit of Bahn Mi. There were several dance groups and musicians performing at the festival as well. Though I didn’t stay long I managed to get some decent footage of a band featuring a t’rung, which is a sort of xylophone.

Leaving the festival I met up with a friend in Koenji, which from what I could tell is a used clothing mecca. There were tons of off the wall shops and cafes dotting the area and it was a great place to just walk around and relax. Clothing I might add, is quite expensive in Japan. A used shirt often runs over $20 for a tee for example. Don’t get me started on buying/finding shoes in a U.S. size 12.

We moved onto Shibuya afterwards and met up with the rest of the crew to go to a Japanese nightclub. Unfortunately, the club had shut down and the other clubs in the area closed at midnight for unfathomable reasons. The night wasn’t a loss though, as exploring the Japanese red-light district is a pretty great adventure unto itself. There is certainly something for everyone there who is willing to pay for it. Seedy backalleys and cheap curry later we all headed home. Expect more about Tokyo soon!

Mt. Oyama

Posted on May 23, 2016July 24, 2016 by yondersonder

A few trains and buses away from Yokohama lies the town of Isehara, with some good restaurants and izekaya, and a famous mountain. Mt. Oyama literally translated is yama oyama… or mount big mountain. It certainly lives up to its name when you first see it looking from the train. While it isn’t exactly the biggest mountain in Japan at 1,250 meters (a bit over 4,000 ft), the climb is definitely a vigorous one. We took the “men’s route” up the mountain which primarily consists of ladder like staircases and many shrines. There is a cable car available as well if you want to skip about a third of the journey and much of the steeper terrain.

The views are amazing throughout the hike and we could even see Mt. Fuji in several places despite the thick fog! Oh, a note on that, bring a light jacket with you, you’ll want it for the top. The full hike roundtrip runs around 4-5 hours or so at a decent pace, including a lunch break of Japanese baked goods. There are some picnic tables at the top and along the nature view trail where you can stop for lunch. We opted to join some fine folks on a log after the Fujimidai viewpoint.