Japan 2017 - Back Again... Cherry Blossom Time!

We have not made many return journeys to countries, unless they are geographically large, so it must have been something special to draw us back to Japan within 6 months. 

Every year in Japan there is a special and world famous period… their cherry blossom season... so we went back!

After a wonderful experience last time in Japan, it wasn’t hard to do it again, this time travelling with two very good friends Peter and Julie, also keen to enjoy Japan’s ‘Spring Festival’ and experienced both the scenery and excitement the locations have when their blossoms are blooming.

 

For those who may have read our last post on Japan, hopefully there was ample description about the friendly and polite people, the food and their amazing railway systems, then of course those all ‘singing’ toilets, so will not inflict this on you again.l

Our itinerary focussed on trying to be in the right place at the right time in Japan to witness the burst of new cherry bluossoms, so during 3 weeks, we first travelled south from Tokyo to Hiroshima where it was warmer before venturing to the cooler north of Japan, where we hoped the blossoms would be blooming later.

The map below shows where this trip took us, again using Japan’s wonderful and extensive railway network.

So this post focuses briefly on some of the scenic and historical destinations we visited and any interesting situations experienced.

Tokyo

Two stopovers in Tokyo meant we absorb more of what this city offers and returned to a few places visited last time, like Ueno Park, which was now festooned with masses of cherry blossoms lining the avenues, now straining with big crowds.

It was here we first saw large gatherings of locals enjoying picnics under individual cherry trees, a cultural norm in Japan and an acceptable opportunity to drink lots of alcohol.

The locals enjoy picnics under the blossoms

 

What everyone is outside enjoying

Plenty of street stalls selling very tasty food

We enjoyed taking our friends through the late afternoon mayhem of Shinjuku Station, then recovering with food from little old Tokyo stalls in nearby Memory Alley.

Rob, Julie & Peter ready to 'tackle' the world's busiest station... Shinjuku

Although very crowded, the famous Tokyo Fish Market was a little disappointing. Mind you we had been unwilling to be in a queue at 5:00am in the hope of being some of only 200 people able to buy tickets to watch the fish auctions.

Tourists & locals waiting to be served at the Tokyo Fish Markets

The east gardens of the Imperial Palace where Japan’s current Emperor resides were large, beautiful and colourful…

… a true juxtaposition with the colourful dress style of young people enjoying ‘Cos Play’ in Takeshita Street in Harajuku.

 

                                                                        Coz Play - dressed up and having fun!

One day after much walking and resting near a fountain, in typical Japanese style, an older and immaculately dressed small man sitting next to me struck up a conversation by asking where we were from.  His English was quite good as I chatted with him. 

He told me one of his hobbies was to make music with leaves and with that he started playing a few tunes, other tourists nearby joining in with applause as he finished each one.  He was still working and politely asked my age and then informed me he was born in 1943.

We also had a go at having a picnic like the locals under cherry blossoms in the very beautiful national gardens of Shinjuku Gyoen.  We bought our bento boxes of food and with chopsticks ready, found a tree under which to sit.

Picnicking like the locals

It was good fun with plenty of sunshine and when the wind came, there were ‘rain showers’ of cherry blossoms gently falling onto us.  We also learnt why the locals sit on small rugs or tarps… crushed cherry blossoms stick to clothing extremely well!

Kyoto

We had learnt during our last trip to Japan, trying to get a good view of Mount Fuji, that iconic perfect volcano shaped mountain, is never guaranteed. So imagine our excitement when with clear skies whilst speeding to Kyoto and gazing out of a shinkansen bullet train window, the majestic and still snow topped Mount Fuji stood staring back at us… stunning!

At long last... Mount Fuji!

Kyoto is definitely one of our favourites destinations in Japan because it’s so rich in things to see and do.  The historical significance of Kyoto is massive and during this visit we all experienced many new things.

Our friends Peter & Julie like doing adventurous things and had suggested a small tour around part of Kyoto on pushbikes, so we found ourselves riding on small but very functional bikes in the capable hands of our guide Joshua, originally from San Francisco, but now living in Japan with his naturalised Australian, formerly Vietnamese wife.

http://noru.cc/ecommerce/cycling-adventures/

Pushbike route in Kyoto

Our cycling tour was intimate and very relaxing as we visited many new places including the Zuitto-in with its rock gardens, multiple small shrines or temples, each with their distinct differences, whether it be the bamboo gardens or with wedding ceremonies underway. 

Visiting one of the temples during our pushbike tour

 

A small sample of scenery during pedal power tour in Kyoto

It was a great tour and we again visited the splendid Kinkakuji or Golden Temple dating back to 1397, having been rebuilt multiple times after being burnt down.

Enjoyed it just as much seeing the Golden Temple a 2nd time

This time in Kyoto we completed a return stroll along the ‘Philosophers Walk’ following the small creek winding between corridors of blooming cherry blossoms, small shops along the way to tempt us with their specialities.

 

                          Young sales 'lady' trying to tempt us as we strolled along the Philosopher Walk above...

The bamboo forest lived up to the images we had seen of it in many tourism publications…

 

                                          The bamboo forest, also a favourite for wedding photos

…and a surprise nearby destination was Arashiyama, a quaint delightful town with its Kimono Forest on display around the train station.

The town of Arashiyama at night

The Kimono Forest in Arashiyama

Having seen the Golden Temple, this time we ventured to Ginkakuji or Silver Temple, built in 1482 BUT it was never painted or adorned with silver.

Ginkakuji or Silver Temple although never silver

For the first time we visited the longest timber building in Japan, the Buddhist Sanjūsangen-dō Temple in which stands 1,000… 12^th and 13^th Century cypress carved statues, all different and 1 large carved Buddha.

Stock photos via Google showing the statues carved out of cypress...
a national treasure of Japan stored in  Sanjūsangen-dō Temple, Kyoto

Despite heavy rain falling, we returned to the town of Inari and this time walked through the entirety of Senbon Tori or thousands of tori gates to the top of the hill and the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine.

Walking in the rain through thousands of vermillion coloured tori gates of Senbon Tori

There were many other places we visited during each of our 5 days in Kyoto and again… this city again did not let us down.

 

Both the food and scenery throughout Kyoto were fabulous

Osaka

It was only a day trip from Kyoto to Osaka to see Osaka Castle, standing proud as Japanese castles do on a hill, cherry blossoms lacing the river and moat protecting it, and then for something different, we soared upwards within the very modern Umeda Sky Building.

 

Locals enjoying their picnics admiring the castle across the moat

Sky Building

Hiroshima

With cherry blossom season comes higher accommodation prices, so we had opted to stay in the town of Onoura, a 30 min train trip south of Hiroshima, having booked into the Hotel Miyajima Princess.

Sounds innocent enough doesn’t it, but this was an ageing adult only hotel, used frequently by young couples paying an hourly rate to do… well leave the rest to you.  We were staying here for 3 nights so did wonder what some of the young couples thought as us oldies wandered by.  The rooms were large by Japanese standards and had a few optional extras if we were so inclined.

Our stay in what we came to call the ‘luuuuuve hotel’ was certainly different!

After checking into the ‘luuuuuve hotel’and with rain rain still falling, we took the local train to the end of the line at Iwakuni, found a local bus, always a fun experience, to eventually see and walk the Kintaikyo Bridge, a timber serpent like structure built in 1673, cherry blossoms either side of the river, fantastic paths and parks on the opposite bank waiting to be admired.

Kintaikyo Bridge in Iwakuni 

View whilst crossing the Kintaikyo Bridge

We had come to Hiroshima like so many other tourists, to see 'the dome'.

This is where the worlds first A Bomb was detonated and the iconic wrecked dome building at ground zero showing where it all happened.

It has stood sentry at this historical site, twisted rusting metal a stark reminder of a terrible but war stopping event.

Not far away... cherry blossom annually beckoning a brighter future.

It was in both the Peace Memorial Park and Memorial Hall & Museum where we learnt more about the impact this weapon had on the city and its people, an estimated 140,000 resulting deaths. 

 

                          Hiroshima is also famous for its Okonomiyaki or savoury crepe... very tasty!
Yes it helped end a war, but when you see photos of the physical sandpaper affect on people 8-9 kms from ground zero, shadows of bodies vapourised on stone walls and glass shards impregnating bricks and stone… well we simply hope it never happens again.

Blasted remains of a kids bike

Only 2 train stops from Onoura is the JR ferry terminals for a brief trip across to Miyajima Island, famous for it’s massive ‘floating’ vermillion tori gate set into the sea, denoting that the whole island is sacred.  It was yet again a very popular destination with the Itsukushima Shrine and 5 storey pagoda.  We really enjoyed a full day on the island, at long last now we were bathed mostly in sun.

The 'floating' tori gate of Miyajima Island above and Itsukushima Shrine & pagoda below

 

... and the street food was great on the island

Aomori

We set a new fastest bullet train record of 322 kph on the way to Aomori, located at the top of Honshu, the main island of Japan where we were hoping for more cherry blossoms, but alas probably about 1 week too early.

Max speed reached... 322 kph

Aomori Harbour

Didn’t expect to discover and learn about a quite sophisticated community uncovered in an archaeological site near a town called Hirosaka living ~5,500 to 4,000 years ago known as the Jamon period.

 

Style of structures the Jamon communities lived in nearly 5,500 years ago

Walked through some of the surrounding gardens of the Hirosaki Castle built around 1611, with huge preparations underway for their cherry blossom festival starting in 6 days.

Bridge leading to Hirosaki Castle

Each year Aomori has a large Nebuta Festival involving over 20 massive and exceptionally colourful floats being paraded throughout the city.  We were able to see some of the floats stored in a display hall… amazing!

These are real and very large floats used during the Nebuta Festival

Hakodate

Hakodate is a city on the northern island of Hokkaido, so we did a day trip to it from Aomori on yet another shinkansen, this one travelling through the Seikan tunnel, the world's longest tunnel with an undersea segment, 100 metres below the bottom of the Tsugara Strait.  The tunnel is 53.85 kms long and 23.3 kms of it is under the sea.

Hokadate was Japan’s first trading city with the west and as a result and is home to a variety of western churches and architectural styles quite familiar to us.  During our time in the city we visited a fort, took the ‘ropeway’ to the top of Mt Hakodate, walked part of the old town and tried local seafood before returning to Aomori.

 

                                               The city of Hakodate and early Russian Orthodox church

Nikko

Nikko sits in the mountains about 200 kms north east of Tokyo and is undoubtedly popular due to its almost western and definitely tourist orientated demeanour.  It is also the location of what is regarded as Japan’s most lavish shrine, Toshogu, also the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Nikko is home to the most lavish shrines we have ever seen
- click on the link at end of post to seem more photos

Part of its decorations included intricate carvings of the 3 monkeys…

…and nearby in the same complex is another stunning shrine called Taiyuinbyo. 

The sacred Shinkyo Bridge leads to the shrines and temples.

The sacred Shinkyo Bridge, Nikko

Nikko is also the entrance to the national park of the same name where we enjoyed great views of the Kegon Waterfall after taking a lift down through the mountain and walking the tunnel to the viewing platform.

Majestic Kegon Waterfall, Nikko National Park

Sawara

This was a small town and not in our original plans, we simply heard about it and went exploring.  What a surprisingly delightful place, lovely to walk through and once known as ‘little Edo’ due in part to the favourable attention it received from the Emperor.  It is located a short 30 min train ride from Narita and being spring, the locals were well into planting rice, their water filled fields all very close to their homes.

Preparing their rice 'paddocks'

Walking through the old town area with numerous traditional timber homes, acting as backdrops to the canal weaving its way through this section of Sawara, small boats taking mainly Japanese tourists on short tours.

Old town canal area of Sawara

Whilst exploring the outskirts of the town, we found small very private cemeteries and shrines, well away from the crowds that were both poignant and serene.

A small serene shrine

Narita

Our last stop in Japan was in the town of Narita, an easy trip to the airport for our departure back home.  Our expectations of Narita were low and how wrong we were!  It was a vibrant place and busy, especially on the weekend, our last days in Japan.

We found ourselves walking down a street alive with people, shops and food products of all sorts on offer to the passing parade, smoke wafting into the air from small street side barbeques.

Freshly prepared fish straight to the table...

Then we wandered into and through Naritayama Park, with very large sprawling and beautifully crafted, gardens, 3 lakes filled with large colourful carp and multiple large Buddhist temples, one of which was erected in in 940 BC.

Some of the views within Naritayama Park, Narita

They were stunning and are visited by 12 million people each year, not bad for a country of 125 million and a truly wonderful way to finish what is most likely to be our final trip to Japan… well we think so anyway.

The final sign we saw in Japan and typical of their sense of humour

As usual there are links below to more photographs of our time in Japan during 2017, we hope you will enjoy them:

1.  CLICK HERE for more photos of Japan's Cherry Blossom Time

2.  CLICK HERE for more photos of Japan's 'little things'