Kayo-San; part two-Joh

We had been told that there was a park up the road that we might be able to camp at. We had decided to wait till it was dark and set up our tent. We had gathered our bags from the temple and walked up to the fork in the road. I was sitting down with our bags while Peter when to get us something to drink from one of the many vending machines when this man walking down the street came up and asked me where I was from. We started up a conversation. His name was Joh (pronounced like "yo") and he lived in Kayo-San and worked as a gastrointestinal surgeon doing a 2 year stint at the local hospital (I never did figure out why a town with only 4000 people would need a gastrointestinal surgeon). He ended up inviting us to dinner and took us to this tiny little place in a back street. We would never have found it, or gone in there. No one spoke english. He ordered us a famous Japanese dish, I think it was called oma-rice, made of rice covered in cooked egg. It was really yummy and tons of food to eat. He bought our dinner and then offered to drive us to the camp site. We walked to his house (about 15 minute walk) and got in his car and started to drive...and drive...and drive. Warning for any travelers in Japan, we have discovered that tourist maps are not to scale!!! We finally ask Joh to take us back to the town so that we could see if the hostel had any space for us, as we needed to catch the early train because we were headed for Beppu the next day. He invited us to stay with him instead.
He had a spare room. He gave us drinks and we shared a look at a neurosurgery textbook of his (he is studying neurosurgery). Then he showed us his medical school year book, and then we watched some crazy Japanese ping-pong show!! We woke up in the morning, and he gave us breakfast and more drinks. Then we watched a "learn english" show with him that he watches every morning to improve his english (it was all about Japanese sweets). Then he drove us all the way to the train station (and gave us more drinks for the road).
A definite highlight of our trip, thanks Joh!!!

Kayo-San; part one

Kayo-San
We left Tokyo early in the morning to get to Kayo-San. We had to check in at 3pm to the temple, and I wasn't too sure how long it would take us to get there. We took a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Shin-Osaka, and then another train up into the mountains. I found out on the way back that we could have gotten much closer to Kayo-San with our JR rail passes and spent less money, but ah well. The train ride into the mountains was breath taking. You get to the end of the line and then have to take a cable car up the mountain for about 15 minutes and then a very harrowing bus ride to get into Kayo-San. We arrived and discovered we had left the tiny pineapples on the bus. We hadn't even tried any of the yet, let alone taken a picture of them. We were crushed.
We found our temple, which was right next to the beginning of the cemetery. It was such an amazingly calming place to be. Everything you would expect from a Buddhist temple. There was a formality to everything that felt very old Japan. We stayed in a fabulous tatami mat room, with futons and kimonos. Our balcony looked out over the small pond at the back of the temple. We took a little visit and discovered that it was full of frogs and salamanders and a few tiny koi.
Our dinner was stunning. We wore our kimonos to dinner and sat on the floor. It seemed as though there were a million tiny portions of different foods, all vegetarian and all fabulous tasting.
We were tired after a day of travel, but we decided to go out and walk around in the graveyard. It was empty and so amazingly peaceful. It has stood there for over 1000 years and people are still buried there today. We took some amazing night photo's of the stars. When we got back to the temple we decided we needed a bath. I think I can say that is the most amazing bath I have EVER had. I had the bathroom to myself (it was shared). I stepped into a deceptively deep cedar tub that was so big that I could float stretched out in it and when I sat down the water touched my chin. The water was the perfect level of hot. I stayed in the bath for a very long time. We fell asleep to the sound of the frogs outside in the pond....
We woke up early early early in the morning to go down to the main hall and participate in the morning prayers. The particular temple we stayed in is a temple where they pray for the deceased, and there were Japanese families there to offer prayers to their loved ones. We were asked to come up and I said a prayer for mom. She felt very close to me the entire time I was in Kayo-San. The monks chanted for more than an hour. Their voices were amazing, washing over me with long practiced tones.
We then went for breakfast, which was just as impressive, if a bit smaller, than dinner had been. We then went and took a little nap before we checked out. We left our bags with the monks and wandered up into the main area of the town of Kayo-San. Kayo-San is full of temples, and there is not really much else there, except all the things to support visitors and the temples themselves. There are monks EVERYWHERE!!! We knew that is was Kobo Daishi's birthday and so were pretty sure there would be some type of ritual or festivities. We heard there was a procession, so we picked a spot along the main road and waited.
It was amazing. It went on for more than 2 hours. All sorts of dancers, monks, children, music, floats, carried pagodas, etc...There was an amazing range of dancing and dancers, from very tiny kids tethered to a rope to keep them from straying off the road to very ancient of women doing the hand movements from wheelchairs. I took many many pictures and Peter filmed the entire thing. There were a few monks along the way who were throwing small pieces of decorated paper, which people would madly scrabble for all over the street, laughing and smiling the whole time. I assume there were blessings of some kind, for good fortune. I was given two by a kind man who was standing beside us (and kept moving people out of the way for Peter's camera) We also saw the head of Shingon Buddhism speak, even though we could not understand what he said. We felt pretty lucky to see the parade, as it seems such a mix of traditional and modern Japan.
We then decided to wander back towards graveyard. We spent hours in here. The whole place made me feel so calm that I had lots of emotion come up. When you stop and are silent you hear the things that are buried deeply within you. I had wanted to leave some of mom's ashes here, and I wandered up into an area that seemed impossibly old, with tiny gravestones with only the outline of faces. I spent some time here, liking the idea of mom hanging out with a bunch of ancient monks. As I was getting ready to leave I broke my prayer necklace. I have had this necklace for years and years, and I made it myself. I totally broke down and sobbed and sobbed. I managed to find all but one of the 108 beads, and I felt ok with leaving one of my beads with mom (I ended up getting a replacement bead at a shrine in Kyoto).
We walked until we reached Kobo Daishi's resting place. He does not have a tomb because he is believed to be still alive, meditating and waiting for the return of the Buddha. We poured water over the heads of the line of Buddha's (in honour of deceased loved ones). I tried to lift the stone that apparently is the weight of your sins. I couldn't lift it at all, Peter managed it (he's younger, less time to accumulate sins).
We walked back to the temple and picked up our bags and wandered off to find a place to camp.

Photo`s

Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo
the most famous intersection in Japan

Fresh catch at Tsukiji Fish Market

Hanazono-jinja Shrine in Shinjuku, Tokyo

Hebi-no-yu (Snake Bath) hidden wild onsen
In the mountains above Beppu

Oku-no-in Cemetery, Koya-San
A section of the endless path through the cedar forest of the cemetery

A dancer at the parade for Kobo-Daishis birthday celebrations

Shojoshin-in Temple
The small pond outside our window (full of frogs and salamanders)

Where we`ve been...

KayoSan
-stayed in a temple, with amazing meals, prayers in the morning, tatami mat room, and tiny perfect garden
-saw the fabulous parade for Kobo Dashi`s birthday
-spent lots of time in Okuno-in cemetery, crying among the cedar trees
-Met Joh (pronounced yo) late at night, who took us out to dinner, gave a room to sleep in when we couldn`t find the fabled campsite, fed us breakfast, and drove us to the train station in the morning!!!!

Beppu
-went to two hospitals, saw two doctors, many nurses, and was helped out by on of the hostel staff the whole time (who droves us all around, waited with us, and translated everywhere for us)
-went way up into the mountains behind Beppu and spend a few hours in a hidden wild onsen, in a big stream in the forest...fabulous. Followed by sushi dinner with everyone, of course.
-visited the Beppu Sex Museum...very interesting!!

Miyjima
-wandered around in the dark looking for a place to camp, set up the tent in the dark, and had a surprisingly good sleep at a very strange inclined angle
-was followed by a very cute small fox-like thing (that Scott and Justin saw when they were in Japan)
-woke up to a mother deer right outside our tent, who then ate her breakfast of berries while we packed up

Hiroshima
-saw the Atomic Dome, the Peace Memorial, and the museum. Very impactful. Nuclear war BAD!!!
-was asked by many school children, in halting English, what I thought of the memorial and how it made me feel

Kyoto
-went to a crazy busy temple, high on the hill
-wandered around in the old part of town, through little streets crowded with old wooden buildings.
-saw Geishas (again)
-hung out in Gion district, didn`t see Geisha here though, but ate a fabulous meal
-went to an amazing flea market (enormous!!!)
-spent the day with Peter`s friend Akari, who showed us the sights
-and visited the bamboo forest

There is much more, but I will spruce it up later, when I have more time....

Bamboo excursions...

So, I know it has been awhile since I put an update. We have been either crazy busy or no where near a computer (in other words, on a train, LOL).
I have a few days to myself right now, as Peter has gone to climb Mt. Fuji (YAY Pete!!!). I decided to stay in Kyoto. I am kinda bummed about this, as I really wanted to see Fuji and the sunrise at the top would have been awesome. However, I know my feet (and my energy levels) would not be able to handle it.
Today I saw Peter off on the train, had a nice sushi lunch at one of the fabulous circular sushi restaurants, and the decided to go and find the bamboo forest I had heard about. It was only a 20 minutes train ride out of Kyoto, and a little walk through the town. It was very beautiful. I started in a smaller forest, with bamboo that was not very old or tall. I then wandered into the temple that resides in the forest, which had beautiful gardens (apparently one of the oldest in Japan). I also encountered a tiny little shrine tucked away in the bamboo and moss. It has this funny little bridge made of bamboo. It was so tiny and it only went over moss. Yet it seemed important somehow, based on how everything was structured around it. I never found out what it meant??
It was SO hot in the forest that I had to take my glasses off because they were completely fogged up. I sweat so much that hours after I got back to the hostel the clothes I had hung to dry are still damp.
This post would have been longer, but Peter ended up stuck at the base of Mt. Fuji because no one will take him up to Station 5 tonight. I`ve been helping him figure out how to get up there and back tomorrow. It is not yet climbing season (which happens in July and August), and the transport up the mountain is very scant right now. He`ll miss his sunrise at the top, but hopefully he`ll get to climb it tomorrow starting really early.
I am going to post a list of things we have done so far, just so people can get an idea of where we have been.

The feet that won`t cooperate

Beppu Day#2
So here we are, in Beppu, the city of many onsen. We arrived last afternoon after a long train ride from Koyasan.
I have spent the entire morning at various hospitals having my feet looked at. A wonderful chap from the hostel drove us around and translated for us. I`m still unsure as to what is wrong with my feet. We are going to see a specialist tomorrow, to make sure I don`t have deep vein thrombosis. Just to assure everyone, we are pretty sure it is not DVT, because the swelling is in both my legs and the swelling comes and goes. I think that I just have edema, from a variety of reasons (sitting a lot on trains, dehydration, a reaction to the heat and humidity here, drinking caffeine, etc.). I am drinking lots of water (with electrolytes), resting, and walking. My feet don't hurt, unless they are really swollen and then the skin feels funny. Good thing I have medical insurance that will reimburse me when I get home (thanks so much Mandy!!).
To give my feet something to do we are going up to the mountains for a walk around to see some `hidden` natural onsens.
I will write more about Koyasan later (when I can use a computer key board that functions properly and is not such a pain in the ass to use). It was the best experience of the trip so far.

Tokyo; Shibuya

This is a really quick update about today because it is late and we are up super early tomorrow morning.
Today we made out way over to Shibuya and Harajuku. We got to see (and cross) the busiest four way in the world, Shibuya Crossing (I am sure you have all seen video or photos of this famous crossing). It being the weekend the whole area was packed to the gills with people. We wandered around looking for a particular store that sold used manga. It took us forever but we finally found it. We then tried to go to a coffee shop, but there was a huge wait and tons of people smoking. We decided to go and try to find the Cosplay. We didn't find it and instead wandered into a huge park (Peter did eventually find the tail ends of the CosPlay and he was unimpressed). The park was fabulous. It felt like a real slice of Japanese life in Tokyo. There were people scattered all through the trees, doing all manner of things. The most fabulous was the music. People were playing instruments every where you turned. Everything from a girl playing a tradition Japanese instrument like a banjo (haven't figured out what one yet) to guitars, to drums, to saxophone, to flutes, to violins, to bagpipes (yes...I said bagpipes). There was even a five piece jazz band set up in the trees, complete with an accordion. It was amazing just wandering around encountering all the music. There were lots of dogs, and runners, and frizz bee players. There were also poi spinners, rope walkers, dancers, and families having picnics. It was lovely. I spent some time napping on the grass, and Peter and I spent a long time just wandering around and sitting and people watching. We then leisurely went back to the hostel (after just missing the large temple, ah well, there will be plenty more)
I am sad to be leaving Tokyo, as it has been such an amazing city. However, I am ready for some peace and quiet. I defiantly need some down time, and the temple and surrounding shrines and graveyards should do the trick.
Tomorrow we are off early to Kayo-san. I won't have internet access for a few days due to being at a temple and then camping. Next time I write I will be steps away from an onsen (hotspring)...aaaaahhhhhh!!!

A note to my followers; if you read this blog, please take note that I really appreciate comments on posts. It makes me feel like spending the time writing this is worth while (it also lets me get a sense of who is listening)
See you all on the other side of Buddhist immersion...

Walking, walking, and more walking

Tokyo Day #2; Akiahbara
Akihbara is the electronic district of Tokyo and we wanted to see what fun gadgets we could find. It was actually quite overwhelming and we didn't really find any interesting gadgets. Aside from cameras and computers all we saw was lots and lots of video games and manga (with the mandatory floors of manga porn of course). When you go into the stores (which are all 8 stories high) the clerks yell ALL the time at the top of their lungs. I assume they are yelling advertising or something similar. There is also music and ads blaring over top of the clerks voices. Ahhhh, after an hour you feel like you want to crawl in a nice dark quiet hole. We did find a few neat stores. One full of various little (and large) characters from all sorts of movies and video games (I got a little forest spirit from Princess Monanoke); another had lots of Japanese kitch.
We had planned to visit the Imperial Palace East Gardens, but realized they had already closed. We decided to go back to Asakusa (the area where our hostel is) and wander around from something to eat. We ended up wandering around Shenso-ji Temple (and surrounding district). This was such an amazing experience it deserves it's own post (sorry folks, I try to put it up tonight)

Tokyo Day #3; Tsukiji Fish Market and Ginza District
One of the things I really wanted to do while I was in Tokyo was to see the enormous fish market, Tsukiji. This is where all the restaurants get their fresh fish for the day. We had to get up really early to see all the action. Not early enough that we caught the actual auction though, which starts before 6am (though from fellow travelers at the hostel the auction wasn't that exciting). It was amazing!! So busy and crowded, and full of every kind of sea food you can imagine. The place was full of these tiny little vehicles that are driven standing up. The zoom in and out of the aisles to move small orders of fish to and fro around the market. The men who drive them all looked like they were having way to much fun zooming around. And they do not stop for anyone!! We wandered around in the chaos for awhile, taking pictures, before deciding to get out of the way and go find some yummy sushi breakfast. There are tons of little sushi places right next to the market, so we chose one that looked neat and had a fabulous fresh breakfast. I had some tuna that simply melted when I put it in my mouth (fabulous). When ever you go into a restaurant here all the staff yell out hello (or similar equivalent, as there seems to be many different ways to greet someone here). Makes you feel very welcome.
We then wandered around the markets to the side of the fish market, that are full of other kinds of food. We found a box of tiny tiny pineapples (smaller than my thumb)!!! We haven't tried them yet to see if they are any good. We also caught a picture of real stuffed polar bear (go figure).
We then decided to go to the Sony building that was in the nearby district of Ginza. We had heard this was where all the latest and greatest Sony products were on display for testing. It was actually a big disappointment. There were lots of cool cameras and good quality headphones, but nothing like we were expecting. We didn't stay long. We then wandered over towards the Imperial Palace ground, with a thought to again try for the East Gardens. We ended up in the fountain garden instead and just sat around for a few hours talking. My feet have been atrocious the last few days. I don't know whether it is left over from the plane flight and jet lag, or all the slow casual walking, but they are terribly swollen and after a few hours of walking are very painful. I am hoping they get better because they disincline me to walking...
We then went back to Senso-ji Temple area for some small token shopping (as we missed it that first day we were there). As we were leaving to go back to the hostel we wandered down a side alley. There was this restaurant with a big tank of fish in the window. They looked familiar, and when we went to investigate we realized they were fugu (if you don't know what fugu is, click the link). We had heard that fugu was very expensive, but we discovered that we could have fugu shashimi and sake for $15. Live dangerously right? It was quite good. It had an almost sweet and citrus flavor and a texture like squid. It was sliced very very thin and looked like glass.
We then headed back to the hostel, had dinner, and went to bed.

It's the weekend now, so we are off to Harajuku to see all the CosPlay folks on display!! Might hit another big temple too, shall see where the day takes us. Tomorrow we are off to Kayo San and the temple. From there...we still aren't sure!!

Shinjuku

Yesterday we spent the day in Shinjuku, an area of Tokyo to the north west of the city center.
While looking for a bank that had foreign exchange we wandered into this series of back streets that were full of electronic stores and tiny restaurants full of business men in suits. Peter found a fabulous tripod (much better than the silly one from Canada). We finally found a money exchange (only because it was the only bank that didn't have a sign out front saying "no foreign exchange") We wandered for a long while, getting semi lost several times. At one point we ended up in a very western mall where all the ads showed only white people. It was mildly creepy.
The food here is fabulous. We tried the crazy drinks from the vending machines and ended up stopping to get more all day. As we were coming home we found a vending machine that sold ice cream. It was amazing ice cream. Vending machine companies in North America should take a lesson from the Japanese!! We also had lunch at this little sushi place in the back streets of Shinjuku. Luckily we could just point to the picture we wanted and say arigato!! On the way home we were transferring between trains and we found one of those little hole in the wall restaurants that are in larger metro stations. Outside of them is a menu, and you press the button below the item you want, pay the machine, and get your ticket. You take your ticket and hand it to the chef behind the counter inside, he makes your meal on the spot and you go and stand over a small counter and eat it. Well, the place we went to was all in Japanese, with no pictures. We decided to just get the two things on the menu that were 410 yen. Both had soba noodles, one hot and one cold. They were amazingly good and totally filling. You'd be hard pressed to find such a yummy meal at home for around 4.50$. This morning we decided to go to a grocery store we had seen around the corner to get something for breakfast. Everything in the store was 100 yen. We got soba, soup stock, mushrooms, shrimp tempura, bok choy, and tamago (egg) for 600 yen (about 6.50$). That's a fabulous breakfast for $3 each!!!! I also got some really good strawberry milk.
Today we are off to Akihabara for a dose of crazy electronic Japan, and then perhaps off to the Imperial Gardens to chill out for the afternoon...

Tokyo

We have arrived in a semi-tropical country. It is so hot and humid here. I don't think I will ever use the sweater I brought.
We flew out on Monday and arrived Tuesday afternoon (thanks to crossing the international date line). The flight was long, but bearable, I even managed to sleep a little. Getting to the hostel was suprisingly easy (after some confusion with switching trains) . The hostel is in a very quite residential neighborhood of Asukasa, in north eastern Tokyo. After we had settled we took a walk around. Bought some fruit from a little store down the road. Then we found a 7/11. Fabulous!! My first meal in Japan turned out to be corn flakes with banana's, LOL. There are also vending machines EVERYWHERE, full of strange "POW" drinks with a sinsiter coffee theme. We are going to brave the concequences and get one.
We hear Japanese at every turn and it is a juxtapostion in the stacato that flows over you like water. I feel strangley silly that I don't know the language, and I am shy and hesitant to interact. Hopefully as time goes by this will get better.
Today we are off to Shinjuku, to wander around, eat, buy a tripod, and exhange some money. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures tomorrow.