Hi Everyone,
Sorry about all the updates and odd posts coming through to you. I am working on having my Japan blog printed into a hard cover book. The app that does this has preset formats, so I cannot change anything in the book app, all changes have to go through the blog – adding or rearranging photos, text, layout etc. Sorry about all the emails, please ignore tham all! Fiona xx
(now this post too will appear in the book, so I will delete it in 2 hours…)
Japan is the most amazing country to visit.
The Japanese people are so polite – they queue for everything, no one pushes in or takes over, everything in it’s own time. At the Myajima Shrine, there is a perfect vista for a photo on the end of the pier – everyone politely queues to the side and allows each group to step up and take their photos with no one in their way! Once as I was standing at the station checking the platform sign to check I was at the right platform, carriage and gate – I turned around to find 6 people queuing behind me as they politely presumed I was waiting at the gate albeit about 20 cm off the footprint queueing guides on the pavement.
They are also so very kind and helpful – we were chatting to a gentleman in a shop about the impending typhoon for a few minutes then he left. About 10 minutes later he reappeared to advise us that we should take an earlier ferry to ensure we don’t get miss our connecting trains.
Japan feels very safe. Children travel on the trains by themselves, we often saw young children aged 5 or 6 walking home from school by themselves.
The scenery is amazing – mountains, rivers, shrines, gardens, temples, neon lights, traditional homes, skyscrapers it’s all there. The trains are amazing – unbelievably on time, fast and efficient. The food is amazing! Well I guess you get the idea, I have overused the word amazing…
Finally to my God Daughter Georgia – you’re amazing, the perfect travel companion! Your knowledge of Japanese history and culture was such a treat, how will I ever travel again without a personal travel agent and historian to educate me and answer all my questions? Not to mention your delightful company.
Thank you for making our Japanese Adventure such a wonderful experience.
Much love AO xxx
Having a litttle spare time I stopped on my way back to my hotel to see the Tokyo Tower up close. It sure is tall, and makes for an interesting sight sitting as the backdrop to the head temple of the Jodo sect of Japanese Buddhism in the Kanto region.
The actual temple is not that old, however the main entrance gate ‘the Sangedatsumon’ – hard to photograph as it is right on a busy 4 lane road – dates from 1622 and has survived many fires, earthquakes and wars.
As the front face of Zojoji, this gate strikes passersby as majestic and magnificent. This wooden gate, measuring 21 meters in height, 28.7 meters in width and 17.6 meters in depth, was built in 1622, and today remains the only architectural reminder of the early days of the Edo Period when the original Zojoji was constructed on a prodigious scale. The gate has been designated by the State as important cultural property. Its name – Sangedatsumon – means a gate (mon) for getting delivered (gedatsu) from three (san) earthly states of mind – greed, anger and stupidity. https://www.zojoji.or.jp/en/
Many or perhaps most non tourist parts of Japan have very little English, which I loved.
What do you think this is about???
Main tourist locations, and big train stations usually have English which is most appreciated when you’re trying to make sure that you get on the right train. In fact at Shinagawa station there was even an English announcement to say “passengers travelling to the airport do not get on the next train it is a local train. Please wait for the following train” I guess they had a lot of foreigners missing the airport!
Being a tad over interested in food labels I was thrilled when Georgia showed me how to use the Google Translate App. You literally open the app, tap camera, focus on the Japanese characters,and it gives you an English version – sometimes not perfect, but very impressive!! It was indispensable for working out the room air conditioning buttons, the toilet operation buttons, food contents – was that chicken or pork?, and many other things. Since coming home I have realised it also has a voice option which I will be sure to use next time.
It is not perfect, but certainly gives you enough information to understand. Here are a few examples…
The first photo in this post was advertising some children’s work which was on display at a fruit and veg market, here is the translation.
Gee schools can be the same the world over. I enjoyed looking at the children’s work about making their own lunch or perhaps a meal, and documenting the process.
And while I am on about technology… Japan has amazing WiFi. Prior to the trip I booked a ‘Pocket WiFi’ which was delivered to my hotel ready for my arrival. At the end of the trip I used the reply paid envelope to post it into any mail box – the airport even has a massive sign as you head into customs reminding foreigners to return WiFi devices into the airport mail box. There are many companies offering this service, I used http://www.econnectjapan.com
The device is about half the size of a mobile phone and gives you WiFi everywhere. It needs to be charged each evening, and even came with an extra power unit. Every hotel had WiFi and it was fast and easy to use. Travelling Japan, WiFi is essential for researching daily expeditions, particularly train routes and times! We would not have got anywhere without the NAVITIME App that has everything you could ever need to know about every train in Japan.
For my last half day in Tokyo I headed over to Fukagawa to see Kiyosumi Teien, it turned out to be one of my favourite gardens of all that we had seen. Like many it was set around a lake, however this one had lots of really large rocks making stepping stones across the water at various points on the edge of the lake, and the lake was teeming with fish (not unusual) but also turtles! It really was just beautiful, and a very peaceful location for lunch on my last day in Japan (my final 7/11 Bang Bang Chicken Salad!). 
Oh my goodness, I was quite perturbed to see this turtle – was it very sick? Just as I was feeling sorry for the poor thing I overheard a couple of ladies exclaiming “oh that must be that agressive soft shelled turtle the guide said to look out for, watch it does not bite!” A quick Google sesrch and they were on target – ‘Beware of the Suppon, the Japanese soft shelled turtle that won’t hesitate to bite your fingers. They are actually strict carnivores!’ recommends gaijingojapan.com
The grounds of Kiyosumi Teien (清澄庭園) were originally the residence of an Edo era merchant, and eventually changed ownership to a feudal lord who turned them into a garden. During the Meiji Period, the founder of Mitsubishi bought the garden to entertain his guests. It was donated to the city ofTokyo and opened to the public in 1932.
A highlight of the Kiyosumi Teien landscape garden are the many stones set around the grounds. Landscape stones are highly sought after and valuable, and some of the ones in the garden are famous stones that were acquired from all across Japan.
When strolling the garden’s grounds be sure to venture across the stepping stone paths that are set in the water. This is called “isowatari”, and from the stones you can see fish and turtles under the surface of the pond as well as reflections of the garden in the water.
Halfway around the garden is the teahouse styled Ryotei, a traditional Japanese restaurant (reservations required), that appears to hover over the water from across the pond. Near the garden entrance is the Taisho Kinenkan, a memorial hall of Emperor Taisho. japan-guide.com
A friendlier looking turtle enjoying the sun.
After Kiyosumi Teien, I headed off to the Fukagawa Edo Museum a two minute walk away. Japantravel.navitime.com suggested a stop along the way at ‘Edomiyageya Takahashi’
‘With a name that translates as ‘Takahashi’s souvenir shop of Edo’, visiting this great little shop is like taking a step way back in time. Not only the store is old school: the affable shopkeeper himself constantly wears a mock ‘chonmage’ Edo-era hairstyle, and has done for over 20 years now! Edomiyageya’s shelves are jam-packed with traditional snacks, toys and novelties that continue to delight in the 21st century’ japantravel.navitime.com
It was indeed very quaint and jam packed with sweets and novelties, and three delightful Japanese children begging their Dad for some treats!
Not far up the street was the Fukagawa Edo Museum. Wow that was a suprise! What looked like an ordinary office building from the outside, housed a replica Edo village, and even more impressive were the volunteer guides. With much excitement (well in a quietly respectful Japanese excited manner) they quickly found their only English speaking guide who gave me a wonderful tour of each ‘house’ in the display.
It felt like a movie set with a life size reconstruction of a neighbourhood with shops, private houses of various levels of society, warehouses, a windmill, canal and boat! It is designed to be interactive, so you could take your shoes off and enter the buildings and handle the ‘props’. At one point I thought the lights were going out, then I realised it was all part of the experience as the town turned to evening – the ‘sky’ turned dark, the moon appeared, lanterns lit up and the background music changed, a little later it was ‘morning’ with a sunrise and birds chirping! Wonderful.
Hida Folk Village is an open air museum exhibiting over 30 traditional houses from the Hida region, the mountainous district of Gifu Prefecture around Takayama. The houses were built during the Edo Period (1603 – 1867) and were relocated from their original locations to create the museum in 1971.
In a village-like atmosphere, the museum features buildings such as the former village head’s house, logging huts, storehouses and a number of gassho-zukuri farmhouses. These massive farmhouses are named after their steep thatched roofs which resemble a pair of hands joined in prayer (“gassho”). They were moved here from nearby Shirakawago, where gassho-zukuri houses are the reason for the region’s World Heritage status. japanguide.com
I was staying at the Takayama Green Hotel – a massive hotel complex with five restaurants and different standard sections. At check-in they advised me to only use a particular set of lifts… when I checked out the other ‘forbidden’ lifts they were labelled ‘Premium Lifts’ how funny! It was a good 15 minutes walk from the old town, but handy for some other sites like the Hida Folk Village – 2k away. (Georgia that was 2km totally uphill!!)
The village was amazing, so well looked after and very visitor friendly. A great place for kids as they had puzzles and lots of hands on things kids could play and experiment with. You were encouraged to enter all the houses and some even had people (I presume volunteers) at work in the prescribed location – a lady weaving on an enormous loom in the weavers house, a guy making sandals out of straw in another house, another guy writing things next to the fire. Very authentic. Best of all it has well written signs in English! (not often seen in Japan – which I think is kind of nice)
At the far end of Takayama I happened across a street leading to a shrine which turned out to be a lovely experience.
The origins of Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine date from the time of the Emperor Nintoku (413 – 439), when he reguested Prince Takefurukuma-no-mikoto to subjugate the monster Ryoumen Sukuna, an incredible beast with 2 heads, 4 arms and 4 legs. Before undertaking his task, the warrior enshrined his father, the Emperor Ojin as the deitty of this sanctuary, and prayed for the success of his missiuon.
In 1683, through the benefaction of Lord Kanamori, the shirine was enlarged and offcially established for the protection of the town. More than 1,500,000 people vist the shirine annually. http://www.hidahachimangu.jp/
The shrine itself is enclosed in a forest of cedar trees, a very beautiful setting, and unlike many temples there was hardly anyone else there, so very peaceful as well.
As I looked in the main door there was a family of four sitting on the floor, I was surprised how still the two children were sitting – they looked about 4 and 3 years of age! Then I noticed a guy videoing the ‘service’ so it must have been a special family event. There was a person leading the proceedings waving a long stick with feathers over the children, and chanting. Then ringing bells in their direction – no wonder they were sitting still, there was much to watch and listen to. Later the family came out into the courtyard and happily posed for photos, the children looking particularly sweet in their Japanese ‘sunday best’!
To the side of the shrine there was some steps leading up into the forest so I headed up them, until I saw a sign warning about bears, so I hot footed back down again after a quick look.
Konnichiwa 