Japan Trip - Part 8

It was time to return to Finland.

Thinking back over our trip, it was certainly an interesting experience. It is difficult to sum up Japan in a few words but here are a few thoughts.

• Thomas was of the opinion that there were rather a lot of Japanese.
• Henry was impressed by the technology.
• H-M liked the cleanliness and the ancient and unique culture, although she fears that it is slowly fading.
• And I was surprised by how green Japan was.

While Japan might not seem like an obvious tourist destination, we would certainly recommend it. Tourist information can be found from the Japanese National Tourism Organization.

 

The Tokyo Metro, which is easy to navigate when you know how.

We would like to thank Yuko for her hospitality and kindness in spending so much time with us. Without her, things would not have gone as smoothly.



Being in Japan during the rainy season meant there was one sight that we didn't see, Mount Fuji. 

But on the flight home, what did we see?

Mount Fuji

Japan Trip - Part 7

Our Japan trip was drawing towards its end, but there was still one promise that we had to fulfill, a visit to Miraikan, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.

 In the same way that Thomas had been looking forward to the visit to the ninja museum, Henry had been looking forward to this trip. And sure enough, he wasn't disappointed.

Highlights of the visit included figures that reacted to the human voice, the geo-cosmos globe, the robot baby seal, an exhibition about underwater exploration, and a show by Asimo.

Asimo the Honda robot.

The geo-cosmos globe, which is used to illustrate global weather patterns.

The globe's size is clearer on this photo.

From Miraikan, we continued the technological theme by going to Akihabara, the electronics centre of Tokyo.  There, we met another Mount Holyoke College alumna, Yumiko for a meal and did a little shopping.

 A street in Akihabara.

 Henry, Yumiko, Yuko, H-M and Thomas.

 And then to the final part of our stay in Japan. It started with a visit to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. This is a museum dedicated to the animated films made by Studio Ghibli. I didn't really know much about the films but the character of The Catbus was fun.

 

In the Ghibli Museum.

 By this time, Thomas was starting to feel at home in Japan, as the picture below shows.

 Thomas in Tokyo.

Henry, of course, had long since become a Japan fan. For a gadget-freak like Henry, a country where the toilets need multi-button control panels like in the photo below is just the place to be.

Control panel of the famous Japanese "Washlet".

After some final shopping, we had our evening meal in a Thai restaurant, where the food was excellent.

 Yuko and H-M.

Yuko, H-M, Henry, Thomas, and Peter

Japan Trip - Part 6

The next day we decided not to trek into central Kyoto but up the mountain behind the hotel. Well, not really trek, as there was a funicular railway, followed by a cable car to the top of Mount Hiei.

The cable car brings travellers to the Mount Hiei Garden Museum, a garden inspired by French impressionist paintings. This is a nice idea. Dotted around the gardens are reproductions of French impressionist art.

 Happy passengers on the Yase cable railway.

Henry and his umbrella.

Part of the Mount Hiei garden.

View towards Lake Biwa and Shiga.

Resting.

 The lily pond.

After lunch in the garden café, the ladies went off to get their daily temple dose, while the boys went back down to the hotel - to do the laundry! This proved more difficult than anticipated. Our problems came from the combination of complex Japanese technoology, our complete lack of Japanese langauge skills, and the hotel staff's limited English.

 Yuko entering the temple on Mount Hiei.

The boys were more interested in earthly pleasures.

  The next day, our stay in Kyoto was over and it was time to return to the Tokyo area - to watch the football, Urawa Red Diamonds vs. Vegalta Sendai.

 The shinkansen arrives. 

(The front, as Henry pointed out, looks like the head of a pike.)

 

The Urawa Reds crowd greeting their heroes.

Japan Trip - Part 5

After a night's rest, the next day was a trip Thomas had long been looking forward to - a visit to the ninja museum in Koka.

The museum is a little way from the railway station, but they provide a bus service. Yuko called the museum and someone came to pick us up. The museum has a ninja house with hidden trapdoors, false ceilings and sliding panels, and the highlight for children, a ninja training trail. We now have two ninjas living under the Elk's Street roof.

Thomas looking over a ninja's shoulder.

 

The group in front of the Giant Buddha Hand from a famous ninja film.

Ninja Thomas showing some of his moves.

Ninja Thomas crossing the pond.

 Two fierce ninjas guarding the walls.

Ninja Thomas scaling the rooftops.

On the next day, it was back to visiting temples in the rain, which for certain people was not considered such fun. Of course, it is not possible to visit Kyoto without seeing the Kinkaku-ji Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

The famous Golden Pavillion.

As this photo shows, the place was rather crowded.

Temple pond.

After Kinkaku-ji,  we headed off to the next temple, Ryoan-ji, the Temple of the Dragon at Peace. This temple is famous for its rock garden.

The temple pond at Ryoan-ji.

A corner of the famous rock garden.

 Thomas in the rain.

The dragon may have been at peace at the temple, but the little boys weren't. Comtemplating rocks wasn't really their thing, but they felt much better after having a meal at a nearby café run by Ritsumeikan Univeristy students. 
  

 A tram on the Keifuku Kitano line.

Little boys can take only so many temples in one day, so once we had returned to central Kyoto, the boys went to the Kyoto Railway Museum. For some reason, the ladies were not that interested in steam trains.

 Thomas in command.

Engine 8630 in steam.

 JNR steam locomotive C612

When we got back to the hotel, the cleaners had tidied up the room. The Japanese are precise in their work - even the soft toys had been placed neatly in order!

Pillows, Musti the dog and Pikachu all in a row.

Japan Trip - Part 4

In Finland, H-M had found out about the  Kyoto Cycling Tour Project, so our first day of Kyoto sight-seeing was to be an all-day guided cycle tour. Yuko had the day off because, surprisingly, she cannot cycle.

The plan was excellent, and the KCTP people well-prepared and well-organised, the only slight problem was  the forecasted typhoon. We are from Finland, the cold north, so we are not going to let a little rain stop us! 

It was agreed that we would do only the half-day tour, in case the public transport was stopped as the storm strenthened, and off we went. 

Our guide insisted that it was important to do some stretching as a warm-up, which in view of our cycling lifestyle at home we found quite amusing but whatever the lady says...

 One of the first temples.

The entrance to the ancient Imperial Palace, which has some kind of laser sensor system to prevent people getting too close to the wall or gate.

Cyclist Thomas.

Cyclist Henry.

Thomas and Henry had given up on wearing wet weather gear as the water just went straight through it. The rain was simply bucketing it down all the time. Luckily, it was quite warm.

Cyclist H-M.

 Our guide, who was wasn't letting anything get her down.

 A beautiful Japanese garden in the rain.

Not all the members of our group were as stoic as our guide, over time tempers were starting to fray, partly because we hadn't really had anything to eat. The combination of hunger and being soaking wet is not a good one. Once we got back to the more modern part of the city centre, we decided to call it a day and look for something to eat and buy some dry t-shirts.

A cycling tour with KCTP is an excellent idea; the terrain is flat, the guides know the backstreets and how to avoid busy areas, and it makes a change to walking and sitting in buses or trains. H-M says that she will certainly do it again the next time she visits Kyoto, but hopefully in more pleasant weather. 

Oh, and we learnt something; typhoons are to be taken seriously. The weather got much worse in the evening but by then we were safely in our hotel.

Japan Trip - Part 3

The day after our visit to Kawagoe, we left the Tokyo area and set off in the direction of Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. This was to be our first time on a bullet train, so the boys, young and old, were very  much looking forward to the trip.

 Since we were travelling with the Japanese Rail Pass, we could only use the Hikari train, which is not the fastest, most modern Shinkansen but pretty good anyway. Hikaris are certainly much better than the pendolinos of Finnish Railways (VR), which to put it bluntly are rubbish. 

 Thomas waiting for the train.

We first went to Osaka, where we were to meet some of Yuko's relatives.  Osaka gave me a nice feeling, even though we were only there for half a day. 

We spent some time visiting the Osaka Aquarium before heading off for dinner. Yuko's family took us to a restaurant with something for everyone. Thomas, in particular, who is rather conservative in his food tastes, had a great time, and so did Henry, as the photo below shows. Unfortunately, there aren't many photos of Yuko's family - someone ran down the battery of the camera taking hundreds of photos of fish.

 

Osaka Aquarium

Henry in his element!

 

H-M and the latest addition to Yuko's family.

Yuko's mother, still in good health, and a granddaughter-in-law.

Osaka was the scene of some excitement since we 'lost' the boys.  They were given permission to go to the Pokémon shop but as a result of a misunderstanding, no adult knew exactly where it was. The difficulty was that we had been enjoying ourselves so much that no-one had followed the time and now we were in a rush to get to the station, with no little boys in sight.  The shop was surprisingly far away but all's well that ends well. The boys get plus points for initiative shown in finding the place, it was not easy to find, but minus points for being vague when asking for permission to head off on their own.

With everyone rounded up, we headed off to Kyoto, where we were to spend the next few days. Courtesy of Mitch belonging to some kind of timeshare system, we stayed in a place much grander than normal, on the outskirts of town near the Kyoto International Conference Center, famous for the Kyoto Protocol. Our station was at the end of the line, Kokusaikaikan.

  Thomas, who was rather impressed with the facilities and beginning to quite like being in Japan.

Emolga - the cause of some agitation!