Reverse Cultural Shock

Last day in Japan starts early, packing all our belongings, leaving them in the apartment ready to go and heading toward Kiyomizu Dera. Being part of the “must see” either for tourists or for locals means one thing: hordes of people. It’s 8:45 and the place is packed. Policemen survey some steps and are vehemently forbidding people to take their picture. I wonder: is it because the sun is at such height in the sky that we don’t see the steps and could have an accident? We’ll find out later that somewhere in the temple there was a service and the picture would upset it.

Later in the afternoon when we were aloud to take the picture.

Nara's Deer

October 28, 2015

We decide to visit Nara, again, because Ioan did not feed the deer four years ago. Good enough reason? Oh, yeah.

Four more, a Forest and Friends

October 27, 2015

Google challenges us: we have managed to transport ourselves by subway and buses, but can we take a bus without a number and no recognizable signs? Proud to say: Yes, we can, and even have seats.

Twelve and Counting

October 26, 2015

Today is going to be a long and full day. If yesterday we saw three temples, today we’re going to double that number.

Old Temples

Sunday October 25, 2015

Breakfast, Ioan takes his test and then we leave for Biyodo-in, a World Heritage Site. We change the train and we sit in the new one, waiting for the scheduled time to leave. A young man, while entering the wagon, juggles his many possessions and his iPad cover slips in the space between the train and station. Immediately he deposits his phone and iPad on a chair, but takes his backpack and runs to get an attendant. The other people are calm, there is nothing wrong with leaving your things behind. We, foreigners, are more concerned about his things and start calling him. He bows and makes signs that he will return, not to worry… No one is interested in stealing a phone and an iPad just sitting there…This is the second time in Japan when I think this is a safe country. The first time was when I saw a pigeon sleeping on the rail of the bridge in the middle of the traffic. The attendant comes armed with a mighty claw, but he is not able to grasp the cover. Our young man collects his possessions and waits for our train to leave, so he can have his cover back.

Red Gates and Grey Turtles

What is so special about Kyoto?

The old capital is imbued with history and lore...

It still has many pre-war buildings as it was not heavilly bombed during the second world war...

People are encouraged and rewarded to wear the traditional kimono (the buses and the temples offer a reduced rate)...

It has a harmonious mix of old and new ...

It has gardens and temples….lots and lots of gardens and temples...

The White Heron of Himeji

The morning is different for each of us: Mihai goes to the Prefectural Art Museum of Hiroshima to see “The Dream of Venus” by Dali, Ioan does Calculus, and I am doing domestic things. At 11 we board the train to Himeji and arrive in no time. It takes more time to find an empty locker, all the ones from the train station are taken, but eventually we find plenty in the bus station. 

Hydrant hidden in the sidewalk.

Miyajima

One of the Three Views of Japan.

That’s where we’re going today.

It’s called Itsukujima or Miyajima. The Strict Island or the Island of the Shrines. The Strict, because no death or birth is allowed on the island, to keep it pure. Even today, women close to term and people who will dye imminently go to the mainland. I could not find provisions in case of an accident. For this strictness it reminds me of Delos, Greece. The Shrines, for the so many shrines found here, hidden by the forest.

While Ioan is doing school, Mihai masterminds the transportation there: first train, then a ferry (free for the JR permit). He also buys a picnic. He takes care of us. 

The Spirit of Hiroshima

It is silence now…my thoughts are not fighting, but wait…

We wanted to visit Hiroshima, because we couldn’t in 2011.  And here we are, walking over the bridge and looking at the dome. It seems small, considering its significance. The ruins of the Product Exhibition Hall on a manicured lawn, surrounded by black iron fence and people taking pictures — somber modern art.

Yakushima

What will this bright and beautiful day bring us? And the ones that come after this one?

A volcano.

And another one.

And there…another.

Tateyama Kurope Alpine Route

I don’t know if it’s because Mihai is eager to start the day, or Ioan and I are really tired … Mihai makes our breakfast, makes the beds, gets all of us out the door. While we wait for the taxi to take us to Ogizawa, a baboon walks nonchalantly on the street. Soon enough we find ourselves in a car with lace on seats. Novelty worn, we swivel our heads to take in the view.

Fuji and Matsumoto

How do we cross the language barrier?

We take the train to Mishima, a city two hours and forty five minutes away from Tokyo and close to the Japanese icon: Mount Fuji. We had a reservation for a car (much cheaper and available, contrasting with anything in Tokyo). We enter the office, and the lady, understanding from our looks and presence what we are looking for, made signs to follow her. The renting part is on the other side of the train station, so she drives us, for five minutes in the 6 seats minivan. We will have to return the car to her office.

Tokyo

Today we start our morning early, but we stay in. I take advantage of Ioan’s school and wash more laundry, and do small things.

When we finally emerge from our apartment, we take the subway to Ueno Park. Next to a bus station there is a big map of the park. Though we have an ipad and internet and we could orient ourselves from that, we choose to look at that map. And while we are looking at it, I notice two men, quietly washing its frame, small movements, no drips. If we wouldn’t have stopped to look at the map, I wouldn’t have known that they were there, working. But as we are here, I feel like I am not letting them work. It amazes me, because in my mind I compare it with a similar one in Romania or in USA (not that I have seen or heard of washing the frame of a street map). In Romania, IF someone would do this job, it would be  visible from a distance, an obvious fuss, “Look at me, I’m working”. In USA no one would bother, that’s why we have rain, but, still, if they would have to do it, they would use a power washer. 

First stop: National Museum of Western Art. We know that the building is on the waiting list of World Heritage Sites. It was build by Le Corbusier in 1951 to house the Matsukata collections.

Nikko

Wake up!

Cameras, spare batteries, some food, water, tickets…let’s go! Today we are going to visit Nikko and we want to beat the crowds. That’s why we leave so early and in such a hurry.

We admire the television tower against the dawn, that’s the only view that we are going to have of it. We enter the metro system and we have to find our way to the train station. Ioan is not feeling very well, sleeping on the floor will do that to someone who is not used to it. Then we wait in line to board the train. Ooops, not ours, better get out of the way. Two more minutes and our shinkansen stops exactly to the sign. We have less then an hour to eat. In Utsunomiya we change the trains and 40 minutes later we arrive in Nikko.

Hiraizumi

Another early morning for us, we wake up before the 5 am alarm. Still on jet-lag. We could waste time in the room, our train is later in the day, or we could go to the market and enjoy the show. Quietly we gather our belongings and tip-toe out of the hotel.

No, Ioan does not have a flower in his hair! It is a chrysanthemum from a vase that sits on the table hidden almost completly by him, but you can see it in the mirror. We are surrounded by those shapeless blue or red one size fits all slippery slippers (you can fall to your death if you're trying to climb those stairs wearing them) and if there is a large group, there are more in the bin. You can see how many people are in the hotel by counting the pairs of shoes in the cubby.

The sun is up, but the streets are deserted, with the exception of the dog-owners. Because everyone else is at the market buying or eating sea food. We look out-of-place, with our backpacks, still we’re oggling at the variety and the abundance, not in just one place, but repeated along the street.

Good bye Car, Hello Train

Time to pack and go! The best method to be sure I’m not forgetting anything is to clean. And being an ambassador of Romania and USA, I leave everything almost as I found them. The result is I have all my possessions and Mihai gets a good review on airbnb.

Through the Ainu Land (part 2)

While at home we were discussing what to visit in Hokkaido. Mihai wanted Shiretoko, I wasn’t too keen, because I understood it was just wilderness, something that you have to really like to stay for a few days at least to experience it. There were several things to do beside hiking Mount Rausu and that included visiting the Five Lakes. We could have squeezed in yesterday a hike to those lakes, but we were tired and considered we would have the time today. Late in the night Mihai checked the weather report and found that today is the only beautiful day. We have to choose: do we walk around on a planked pathway in and around five flat lakes or do we climb Kurodake (peak Kuro)? And the answer is….

In the right lower corner you can see a red and white striped pole and a little bit above a down-pointing arrow. The first one marks the height of the snow and the other one the driving lane. During the night time its leds turn on to mark its presence.

Through the Ainu Land (part 1)

I don’t remember exactly when I’ve heard for the first time about Ainu people, but I liked them instantly. Something about being oppressed. On the verge of disappearing.

It is a beautiful sunny, though cold morning. Too early for the tourists to be up and around. Early even for the Japanese people. We visit again the town, take some pictures at the lake, then in the village. Everything is closed, but there is a gay feeling.

Entrance of the village

First Days

It is so beautiful that it is breathtaking.

I’ll start with the beginning. Work. Restlessness. Ideas of trekking the Annapurna Circuit. And then the yen falls. Should we go to Japan? Yes. No. Why not? That’s a tricky question…What would we see? Something that we didn’t. We buy tickets.

Mihai works. Too many hours. I’m supposed to read the books, find places, rent rooms. To do what he did for the around the world trip. I start full of enthusiasm, and then I deflate: every page is a must see, extraordinary, interesting place. I find myself procrastinating. It is easier to brush up my Japanese, but even there I loose myself in grammar trying to understand the different expressions from Essential Expressions for Surviving in Japan.

I tell him I’m not doing my job. Goody, more work for him! Suddenly 4 weeks are not enough to see Japan. We need 6 months, or even move there so we can see everything. How do you decide how long you are going to stay in one place? Maybe you want to see more, or decide that you’ve already had enough. Better live every day. The only planned elements are the flights in and out, a JR-pass that is valid for two weeks after the first use, our first night in New Chitose and a car, rented for a week.

Bags done. Food done (we fly from Toronto and we need sustenance). We pray for a safe trip and a guardian angel. Mihai films us as we leave. We drive for 7 minutes and as I remember all our actions, I ask: “Where is the food?” We return, pick up the food, Japan 2015- take two.

Back on the Road

Interview with Ileana Ruxandra Dascalu

Here you are, after two and a half years after you finished your round the world trip, traveling again and writing in your blog. Why?

Because we like it and because there are many people in our lives that like to “travel” with us. I thought of starting a new blog just for our trips, but decided to continue to write in this one. We are still traveling around the world, though in small steps.

Why Japan?