It's not the heat.... it's Hachigatsu

I arrived August 17th, which was supposed to be pretty much the end of typhoon season. Sure enough, that night, while Alan and I were spending 1.5 hours in the subway coming back from the Arai's, it really stormed. That was pretty much it for rain while we were there, or at least substantial precipitation (there were some sprinkles, and some fog). But August, or Hachigatsu, is VERY HUMID. I have never sweated so much with so little exertion in my life. Folks there walked around with little cloths, about the size of a handerchief, that they used to wipe their faces and necks off. Alan bought us each one -- my very special souvenir. Alan, appropriately, called them "mops." Most days were in the 80's with, I swear, 90% humidity. I provide pictorial proof below. Obviously, I was the one wielding the camera.

Alan in front of the red god of thunder at the Taiyuin-byo shrine in Nikko. Notice his "mop" clutched in his right hand, and other signs of moisture.













This guy isn't sweating because he's the green god of wind. Also at Taiyuin-byo. Just wanted to show another god.



















Okay, so it's not obvious that Alan's sweating in this picture, but believe me, he was. Why else is he standing in the shade, and see the ladies behind him with parsols!!! Alan's under the Noimon gate at Daisho-in Temple on Miyajima. The Dai-hannyakyo Sutra are behind him. These sutras are on individual 'scrolls' hanging from the inside handrail of the stairs.

Touching all these sutras as you laboriously climb the stairs will bring enormous fortune. Alan and I are still waiting... (Baker)
This was the coolest night I was there, our second to last night, but you know these guys were sweating in those outfits. This was in Ikekuburo, Tokyo, on a Saturday night. Look at the kid's hand shaking! Clearly, he's terrified of these guys. Well, maybe not. I believe they're characters from a game or something else equally unknown to someone my age.
Minutes after I had surreptitiously used my mop to wipe down my stomach and back, I saw these two traffic cops. Standing out in the blazing sun, with their long sleeve shirts, pants, and gloves, guiding relatively low volume traffic. I noticed that uniforms are taken much more seriously in Japan than in the US. If you wore a uniform in Japan, it was a sharp one. No concessions for comfort or modernizing of style. There was no mistaking the officials at the train stations, on the trains, police officers, the "bike" patrollers (making sure bikes were parked correctly in Kyoto--I think), etc.
What is Alan doing? Is he washing money in a spring in a cave with the chance of its doubling in value? Yes, he is! This is the shrine to the goddess Zeniarai Benton, which we went to on our way to the Daibutsu in Kamakura (the big buddha outside). Supposedly if you wash your money in this spring, it will double, although not immediately my guide book says. Again, Alan and I are still waiting. Little baskets are supplied so you can safely dunk your yen (bills too). This place was also really smoky, as the incense burned was in big bundles of 10 sticks or so, instead of the usual 1 or 2 sticks. I don't understand the significance of that. This was not even one of the hottest days, maybe only 80 degrees...

Torii, O-Torii

Mentioned in another post, the torii is a simple gate leading to a shrine (vs the more substantial gates). Simple because it's just 2 upright poles with 2 crossbars across the top. But of course, you can still do a lot with a simple design.

You can make it really big, like this 12 meter high O-torii at Meiji-Jingu in Tokyo. This is made of cypress, and is 1500 years old. I don't know why some are O-torii, and some just torii, but I suspect it has to do with size and significance. This should give you an idea of the size of this
one. (Baker)














Paint it a brilliant vermillion, surrounded by lush foliage, as here at Ryoan-ji in Kyoto.
Or leave it to weather, as here in Kasuga Taisha in Nara. Behind it are some of the 3,000 stone and bronze lanterns on the grounds.

















Another option is to stack 'em up, making a tunnel effect, as in the Zeniarai-Benten shrine in Kamakura.












This one is out of stone... I think. This one was at
Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto. (Baker)

















Or, you could put it in the ocean, which is where the most famous O-torii is. This O-torii is for the Itsukushima-jinga on Miyajima island. It is 16 meters tall, and was erected in 1875 (16 previous ones). We timed our arrival so that we could be sure to see the O-torii with plenty of ocean around it. In this first picture you can see the buildings of the shrine off in the distance. You can see the tide marker in the second picture.

Hey, rare proof that Alan and I were in Japan together!
Later on, the tide goes out, and you can walk out to the O-torii, but it definitely doesn't look as impressive!And, arguably the largest torii in Japan is at Heian-jingu in Kyoto, built out of concrete and painted a bright vermillion. This one is 24 meters tall. Hard to miss! (Baker)

(Not) For Rail Buffs Only

Alan and I used public tranportation the entire time, except for a taxi ride to the train station on our last day. We took trains, subways, and busses (oh and one ferry). The public transporation system leave ours in the dust! And Chicago even has a public tranporation system, unlike most areas of the US. The train schedule book - and this was just for the biggest rail system in Japan, there are many others - for Japan Rail was the size of a telephone book. I was sent a smaller version when I bought our 7-day rail passes, which only covers the larger cities and towns (the pass was $250 each, and got us to Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kamakura and ofr course back to Tokyo). I imagine - but don't know - that between trains and busses you could probably get to any town in Japan. Can't say that here!

Our first trip out of Tokyo was on the Tobu railway (not JR) to Nikko. We had a 4 day pass, getting us to Nikko and back, and unlimited bus service while in the Nikko area, for about $38 each.

This is the train we took to Nikko, standing in the Tobu Asakusa station.


These are some pictures taken from the train, now out in the countryside.

In the distance here is a cemetery.






Famous in Japan are of course the bullet trains. The Shinkasen are part of the Japan Rail system. After we came back to Tokyo from Nikko, we boarded our first Shinkasen to go to Kyoto. Here's a couple at Tokyo Station. The one on the left is a Nozomi type; this one
averages 162.6 mph, maximum 177.
Our rail pass didn't allow us on the Nozomi, so we rode the "slower" Hikari trains, which make more stops, and aren't quite as fast either. The one on the right, which is the kind we took, maxes out at 168mph. Meeting one of these can be quite startling, and I startle easily, so I was driving Alan crazy jumping all the type. It was better if I didn't sit next to the window. And, given how much time we spent in tunnels (remember, Japan is very mountainous), I didn't miss much not being by the window. The air pressure change was enormous when we met a train inside a tunnel! Here's picture inside our train car.

Click here for a Shinkasen map of Japan, with travel times from Tokyo.

We reserved seats only so we could be sure of sitting next to each other. Most folks didn't reserve seats (there's no charge, just extra trouble), so the non-reserved cars were more crowded than this one.This is the train we took from Kyoto to Nara and back, a JR train, but clearly a local train.
This is another type of Nozomi train sitting at the station at Hiroshima. This particular one can go as fast as 186 mph. I didn't take any pictures of the subway trains in Tokyo, although I should have of the interiors, oh and of the subway stations. Clean clean clean! No smelling of, well, pee (human or pigeon). No trash! No loud talking. NO BLARING INTO A CELL PHONE!! (Signs said not to. And in Japan, apparently if a sign says not to, you don't. Everyone furiously text-messaged). Clean bathrooms and shops in the stations.

In the subway trains there was a video display that told how long it would take to get to each stop. And of course, all the trains were on time. Our only encounter with a stinky human was on the train between Osaka and Hiroshima (I think). A drunk came on - with a reserved seat (I think he had learned from an earlier lesson). He was loud, rude, and, as I said, stinky. The conductor talked to him several times, quietly, even picking up the guy's change that he had loudly dropped all over the floor. However, the conductor never threw him off, although several people left their reserved seats and went elsewhere. I later decided that the time it would take to get this guy off the train would delay the train, and that would never do! Drunkenness yes, delayed no!

Less exciting transportation, but unusual, were the trams in Hiroshima (here's a "Green" one),
the ferry (owned by JR, so we could use our pass) to Miyajima Island, and the cable car on Miyajima up to Mt. Misen.

A Tale of Two Buddhas

There are lots of statues of Buddha in Japan, of various types. But most we saw are the sitting Buddha (I think we only saw one reclining Buddha). We were fortunate to see the two largest Buddhas in Japan. The largest Buddha is in Nara, which was the capital of Japan before Kyoto (which was the capital before Tokyo). This Buddha is bronze, is 15 meters tall, and was cast in 752. Very appropriately, he sits inside the world's largest wooden building! I hope you can tell from this picture that the building is very big. The building is called Daibutsu-den. Daibutsu means Great Buddha. Den must come from English and mean pad or something. Alan might correct me on this.
This Buddha has had a hard time, what with his head falling off, and his right hand melting a couple of times. There's also a couple of guardian gods (Nio) in the Daibutsu-den -- don't think they've been doing the best of jobs of protecting the Buddha, although they are quite fearsome.

Here's Buddha with hand attached.I can't remember the name of all the figures circling the Buddha, but they're important.
Well I was hoping you'd be able to tell how big Buddha is from this picture, but I'm afraid Buddha's too dark.
Each of the major shrines we saw had a torii out front, a "simple" gate. But following that would be a much larger gate which was pretty much a building. In this picture is the gate to Todai-Ji, which is the shrine that includes the Great Buddha. The gate is called Nandai-mon, and re-built (re-!) in the 13th century. Behind it, about 200 yards, is the Daibutsu-den.
The other Great Buddha we saw was in Kamakura, which is about 1 hour from Tokyo. We went to Kamakura on our last day as tourists in Japan. The Buddha is in the Hase-dera temple, which dates back to 736. This Buddha was built to rival the larger Buddha in Nara, and was completed in 1200 or so. This Buddha also has had a hard life, in particular his house. He's only 11 meters tall, but because he's lost his house, he appears larger, I think. The Daibutsu-den kept being destroyed by fires, typoons, tidal waves, earthquakes, etc.


But first, here's the inside of the Buddha. He's hollow! And you can go inside for 20 yen, about 16 cents. This is looking up inside his head.













Here's his more impressive front side.





I wanted to get a picture of me and Alan in front of this Buddha, but everyone around us was busy taking picture with cameras the size of credit cards. My camera's an old fashioned SLR - but Alan spotted a likely photographer, sporting a bigger camera than mine (and lens!), plus wearing one of those photographer vests with all the pockets. Surely he would know how to wield my camera! He obliged, but wouldn't you know he cut off our feet!!!
Here's the one reclining Buddha we saw, at the Daisho-in Temple on Miyajima. (Baker)

My dream garden

Alan and I saw lots of wonderful Japanese gardens. Alan encouraged me to dig up my current yard, which, given all the native plants I've put in, I have to say, looks very natural compared to Japanese gardens (read, weed-strewn vacant lot). Here are some items I'd like in my own personal Japanese garden.


We saw lots of moss-covered lanterns. These are rows and rows in Taiyoin-byo, Nikko.




There were other lanterns in Nikko, including this big brass one.














More stone lanterns.


And who wouldn't mind some wind chimes in their garden?







Some nice statues scattered about would be nice, like here at Daisho-in, in Miyajima, and at Engaku-ji, in Kamakura.

Of course some of the garden would be wet, like here at Engaku-ji...


Or a dry landscape, like this famous one at Ryoan-ji in Kyoto...













A hill from which you could look down upon your garden would be an asset, like at Ginkaku-ji also in Kyoto...



And naturally you would need someone to work in your garden...









No, not Alan but the guy behind him!