Going to Japan!!!

Our family of 10 is going to Japan together in the Spring of 2007 to celebrate our parents 50th wedding anniversary. With input from all of us Mom and Dad have been planning the trip for many months. There are so many things to see in Japan that it is hard to narrow down the itinerary. We decide that we want to visit Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nara, Hakone and Tokyo. Since Mom and Dad have been to Japan many times they are a big help in deciding what we would enjoy seeing and doing. They submit the plan with the JAL travel agent but have a hard time getting things confirmed. They end up booking the trip through CSAA instead. The biggest difference is that we won't be flying on Japan Airlines. CSAA seems to be doing great as we get our itineraries in the mail the week before the trip. We will be visiting shrines, temples, castles and museums, staying in both western and Japanese style hotels. We will also be touring a Japanese movie studio, Japanese style water park, making wind chimes and visiting with relatives. Sounds like a fun, exciting and very busy couple of weeks!

First Destination - Nice Airport but Wrong Country

The plan was to fly from Waco to Dallas, change planes and fly to San Francisco on American Airlines. We would meet the rest of the family in San Francisco and change planes using United Airlines into KIX airport in Osaka Japan. We asked American Airlines to check our luggage all the way to Japan so we wouldn't have to pick it up and recheck in SFO. When we arrived at the gate in San Francisco Dad and Jeff were there to meet us. Dad was on the phone with the travel agent because our flight to Japan had been cancelled by United Airlines!! Not delayed or posponed but cancelled! Luckily Mom and Dad had arrived at the airport 3 hours before the flight and were able to get everyone a flight to Korea instead. We found out the reason the flight was cancelled was that the pilots had already flown all their allowed hours for the month.

A few hours in Korea

After a long flight to Korea we found our way to the United Airlines customer service office to make arrangements for a place to spend the night. A van shuttled us to the Herb Hub hotel near the airport. When we got to our room we stumbled in the dark until I figured out that I had to put the keychain in a slot on the wall to turn on the lights. I guess it's a good way to make sure guests turn off the lights when they leave the room. We had a vending machine in our room where you could buy canned drinks or food. One of the more tantilizing dishes was squid with butter. As tempting as that sounded we didn't have any Korean money to purchase anything from the machine.

Since we had not slept on the plane we were going on over 24 hours with no sleep. We found the remote control for the air conditioner and enjoyed a good nights rest! Early the next morning we were shuttled back to the airport for our flight to Japan. We had a good breakfast at the airport that included the scary looking but delicious lychee fruit.

Finally in Japan

 
A really nice flight on Asiana Airlines gets us to the Kansai airport in Osaka Japan. The interesting thing about this location is that the land didn't exist until 1994 when the airport was built. The airport is on a man-made island. The Japanese call it "reclaimed land". We watched a show on TV once about how they literally moved mountains to fill in the ocean and build the airport on the island.

First Impressions

Although I've been to Japan before, this was my first trip as an adult. I noticed a lot more on this trip than I remembered from previous visits. I think that writing things down and taking pictures also helps to make a traveler more observant. I made sure that Miles had his own camera and journal too.



First I have to say how nicely my parents and CSAA planned out this trip. In each city we visited there was a tour guide and a bus waiting for us. Sometimes we would take a train to get somewhere and a guide would pick us up at the hotel and buy our train tickets and make sure we got on the right train. At the other end of the train ride a guide would be there to take us to the bus. Having this luxury made the trip so easy and enjoyable. Each tour guide we had was knowledgeable in their city and spoke english. They gave us information about each place and we could ask all the questions we wanted. They also kept us on schedule so we could do all the things we wanted in the short time we had. Having the bus for our group meant we could spread out and leave our belonging in the bus while we toured the various sites.

My first impression of Japan is how clean and orderly everything is. From the Hotels to the subways you just never see anything dirty or any trash. You also don't see trashcans very often. I think this is because most trash in this country is recycled. My impression is that people in this country have a lot of respect for their land, their people, their heritage and even their tourists. We were treated very well everywhere we went.

I could tell that a lot of thought goes in to making things visually appealing. I guess that a good visual sense translates to calmness and happiness in the Japanese people. From the design of a building, a garden, a children playscape, or the presentation of a meal, there were so many beautiful things to look at.

Another thing I noticed is the contrast between the old and the new. We saw people watching live TV on their cell phones on the bullet train on our way to a thousand year old shrine. It is interesting how advanced their technology is but they also embrace the ancient history of the country. We saw that most people dress in suits during the week but when we went to a shrine in the middle of Tokyo on a weekend we saw many young adults wearing traditional kimonos.

Kyoto - Ancient Imperial Capital

Ancient is a relative term here as human life in Japan dates back to 10,000 BC. Kyoto was the capital from 794 AD to 1868. This city is the cultural center of the country, so if you visit Japan you must see Kyoto.





We toured Nijo Castle which was the residence of the Shogun in 1543. The wood carvings and art were very intricate. Nijo castle is known for it's so-called Nightingale floors. The floors were designed to make bird-like squeaking sounds when walked upon as a warning of possible intruders. It is one of the many UNESCO World Heritage Sites we visited.






We also visited the beautiful Kinkaku-ji, the golden pavilion. The three story structure is covered in 24kt gold leaf. The carefully manicured gardens and pond are especially beautiful at this time of year since we caught the cherry blossom blooming time in Kyoto. Another of Kyoto's World Heritage Sights.

Kiyomizu-dera Temple

The Kiyomizu Temple was one of the few places we actually saw crowds of people. This 1,000 year old Temple is high on a mountain top. Many people make the pilgrimage to this place to pray and to drink from the sacred waters. There were Taiko drum players performing when we were there. There is a beautiful view of Kyoto from the top of the Temple and the narrow winding streets leading to the Temple are lined with shops and restaurants.

Click HERE to view more pictures of Kiyomizu.

Kyoto Studio Park

The Kyoto Studio Park(also known as The Toei Uzumasa Eigamura and Toei Movie Land) is a film set and theme park in one. It features a collection of replicas of traditional Japanese buildings which are used as setting for historical movies and television dramas. It was fun for the kids to dress up as japanese samurai and geisha and have their pictures taken. We saw some stunt shows and movie sets and saw where the old generations of Power Rangers stuff goes.

Where are all the Geisha?

Geisha are professional hostesses who entertain guests through various performing arts such as music, singing, and dancing. Kyoto is considered by many to be where the geisha tradition is the strongest today. There remains some confusion, outside Japan, about the nature of the geisha profession. Geisha girls and women are not ordinary hostesses and are not prostitutes. Training to become a Geisha takes about 5 years in Kyoto.



When we were in Kyoto it was the time of year when the Geisha perform the annual dance, Miyako Odori. We attended the stage performance at the Gion Kobu Kaburenjo theater. The dancing, costumes and make-up were beautiful. The music and singing must be an acquired taste because it didn't sound like the correct pitch to our western ears.






Before the performance we attended a tea ceremony where we were served the traditional thick green tea and japanese cake.

So Much Food!!!

Anyone who knows us, knows we love to eat. David likes the main meals, I like the snacks and Miles likes the drinks and desserts. We are all pretty adventurous eaters too so we made every meal count.



Most restaurants in the larger cities had menus printed with either pictures or some english but one of the coolest things I remember from past trips was the realistic plastic food in the windows of the restaurants. This makes it so much easier to decide what you want and if all else fails, you can bring the waiter to the window and point.





These dishes are from a couple of the traditional Japanese meals we were served. The presentation of the food was so creative. We had a box made of leaves to open up and the use of local flowers and branches to decorate the plate. How did they get that boiled egg in a checkerboard pattern?


Beautiful pastries at a bakery in the Kyoto train station.


Japanese kid's meal.


Box lunches like this are sold on the train platform. There were so many choices, it was hard to decide which one to buy.


There were vending machines everywhere! One of the kids favorite things was trying all the different drinks. Peach, melon and grapefruit drinks were the best. Some of the machines sold whiskey, beer and many flavors of iced coffee right along with the softdrinks.

Click HERE to see more of the food we enjoyed!

Todai-ji - The World's Largest Wooden Structure

See how tiny the people are in this picture?





The Todai-ji Temple was the most breath-taking sight. Built in 752, the sheer massiveness and beauty of the the building was worth the visit, then we entered the building and saw the Great Buddha Statue and were really amazed. Unfortunately we couldn't get good pictures inside the building because it was dark and our little flash couldn't reach 52 feet up to the head of the Buddha. Here is a link to pictures of the annual cleaning of the Buddha.

Another interesting aspect of this temple is that it is in Nara, a town known for it's tame deer. You can buy deer cookies and the deer will come to you and bow their heads for the food. You must feed them quickly because they can get quite agressive when they see you have more cookies.




We also visited the Kasuga Grand Shrine that boasts 3,000 or so stone and bronze lanterns.

Sayonara Kyoto!

We've been staying at the beautiful New Miyako Hotel in Kyoto. It's a wonderful hotel situated right across the street from Kyoto train station.

We traveled by Bullet Train - Shinkansen to Hiroshima station at speeds up to 250 mph! It was a very smooth and quiet train but the speed made my ears pop. We sent our luggage ahead to out next destination since we were only spending one night in Hiroshima. It was really nice to just take a small bag rather than lugging those heavy suitcases on and off the train.

Our next lodging was the Hotel Hiroshima Granvia. Our guide met us there to take us to the beautiful Miyajima Island. Miyajima is symbolized by the famous floating Torii, first built in the 12th century, it denotes that the whole island is sacred. No one is allowed to give birth or die on the island and felling trees is forbidden. Lucky for us, we didn't do any of that.





Click HERE for more pictures taken on Miyajima island.

Peace Memorial Park

As World War II dragged on in the summer of 1945, the US deployed a new untested weapon to force Japan to surrender. On August 6 a B29 bomber dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It exploded at 8:15am and tens of thousands of people were killed instantly by the blast. The death toll rose to around 200,000 over the following years as the after effects of the radiation took hold. Peace Memorial Park was built in the 1950s in an area close to the epicenter of the blast. The park consists of many monuments, a museum, flame of peace and a peace bell. The wreckage of the Industrial Promotion Hall, now known as the Atomic Bomb Dome, is the only remnant from the destruction.


This monument, the Children's Peace Monument was erected by the classmates of Sadako Sasaki, a girl who was exposed to the bomb at age 2 and died of leukemia ten years later. It was built to mourn all the children who died. Sadako tried to fold 1,000 origami paper cranes so she could be granted her wish to live. Today people from all over the world fold paper cranes and send them to Sadako's monument.


This monument the Cenotaph is for the victims of the bomb. It contains the names of all who died.



We visited the Peace Memorial Museum which graphically explains the effects of the bomb through photos, videos, models and artifacts.