It was five years ago today...

On February 25th, 2005 I landed in Japan for the very first time. I had already been to Europe several times, and the offer of a free place to stay in a new country was too good to pass up. I had no particular interest in Japan at the time, I just loved to travel. I was, and still am, always looking for new horizons, new things to see and to new places to explore.



Getting off the plane at Narita airport, I doubt I knew just how much my life was about to be impacted. I followed the signs, obtained my three week JR pass, and headed into Tokyo. I remember looking with some trepidation at the map of the Tokyo train system, with the above ground JR lines and the two separate subway systems looking like the most confusing plate of spaghetti ever created. I never made it onto the transit in Tokyo that trip, it was simply too intimidating. I was alone, I was jetlagged, and despite success on the Paris Metro and the London Underground, I just knew I would get horrifically lost.



Luckily for me, I only spent one night and one day in Tokyo, because I was off to meet up with Zach in his Nagano apartment. I spent about a week with him, and I saw a lot. The high black walls of Matsumoto castle amazed me, though not as much as Himeji castle would a few weeks later. Together we went to the little town of Obuse, where famous wood block artist Hokusai spent the last few years of his life. We went to a small museum dedicated to him, as well as a tiny Chinese Art Museum, where the proprietor had to turn on the lights for us, as we were the first visitors that day!



I also visited my Aunt's old student in Hiroshima, spending a weekend in the warmer southern climes. We saw the A-bomb museum, went to a tower of okonomiyaki restaurants, and took the ferry out to Miyajima and the famous floating torii.



Every first time visitor to Japan must go to Kyoto, and so I did as well. I spent about a week there, traipsing from temple to temple. That was also my first trip to Fushimi Inari, and I loved it! I also made it to Zach's favorite place in Japan, the great temple complex at Nikko, where Tokugawa Ieyasu's ashes are interred.



In a far corner of the Nagano area is the Jigokudani hot springs, where the snow monkeys live. I took the train to the last stop, and was then supposed to take a bus, but it seemed that the bus wasn't running, so I walked instead. It was only a few kilometers, and the monkeys were totally worth the trip. While I was walking I ran into a police officer who was going the other way, and was understandably curious just why this foreigner was walking through the woods in the middle of winter. I told him I was going to see Jigokudani, and he expressed some shock that I was WALKING there. Then he said, "You are samurai!" On the trip back I ran into a construction worker on a snowmobile, who despite knowing no English offered me a ride back into town. I gratefully accepted and that marks the first and so far only trip I've done on a snowmobile.



Overall I spent three weeks exploring Japan on a rail pass and my feet, and had the time of my life. Getting off that first flight, I never expected that less than six months later I would be flying back to Japan to live and work nor that five years later I would be doing it all again. 僕は日本に帰ります。

Fushimi Inari- Evening

When I go to Fushimi Inari, I always try and time my visit so that I can make it to the top of the mountain for sunset. The vista over southern Kyoto is always wonderful, and the walk down in the twilight is fun and a little bit creepy.



However, the last two times I've been up to the top I haven't seen much at all. One time it was raining and very dark and cloudy, and once it was so smoggy that the sun 'set' into the haze about 10 minutes before it was due to dip behind the mountains! This trip was the clearest I have ever seen the area, in fact it was so clear that I could see the tall sky scrapers in Umeda, in northern Osaka, which is some thirty miles to the south.



A little closer in you can see To-ji and it's famous pagoda. This 5 story pagoda is the tallest wooden structure in Japan.



This the usual view spot that most people stop at, there are a few benches and a tea shop nearby. However, if you keep to your left and go though a cemetery you'll come out on the actual summit of the mountain, and have an even more expansive view.



I made sure to bring my tripod this time, as often in the past I've forgotten it. Lugging around a tripod is a pain in the neck for sure, but if you want to shoot in low light it is a necessity.



Once the sun had gone down I went back to the summit for a few more night time pictures of the city. Again, this is something I've tried to do before sans tripod, and so I was pretty excited to be able to actually pull off these shots.





Three really isn't a break in the city between Kyoto and Osaka, and in fact there really isn't much break in the city between Hiroshima and Tokyo! On the train it just blends from urban to suburban and back to urban without much in the way of rural. Thats what happens when you squeeze 127 million people into a small, mountainous country.



This was my fifth trip to Fushimi Inari, and it still ranks as my favorite place in Kyoto and Japan.

Fushimi Inari- Day

Every time I am in Kyoto, I try and visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine. It is the head Shinto Shrine dedicated to the harvest god Inari. As Japan has become more industrial and less agrarian, Inari has drifted towards a deity of luck in business. Shrines dedicated to Inari are ubiquitous, and there are thens of thousands of small and mid sized ones dotted about the country.



At Fushimi Inari, over three kilometers of trails snake around the mountain, every step of the way covered in bright red torii gateways. The torii are bought by people and businesses and donated to the shrine for good luck with a business deal or venture.



I love the area because it is so unique, and so beautiful. As well, in a country where it can be hard to get away from the crowds, solitude is not hard to find here. I also enjoy it because I've always liked foxes, and the fox is the messenger of Inari, so the shrine has a great many fox statues.



Of course, in Japanese legend the foxes, or kitsune, are also a trickster characters, capable of changing shape and causing mischief or harm to hapless humans who encounter them. Thankfully, I haven't run into any kitsune yet, but I feel that when walking the lonely pathways of Fushimi Inari after dark it would be prudent to be careful!

Kinkakuji

Kinkakuji, otherwise known as The Golden Pavilion, is probably the most famous of all Japan's landmarks. I had actually only been once before, on my first visit almost 5 years ago.



I'll admit that I was underwhelmed on that visit, as there really isn't much to do once you see the pavilion. You wait your turn, elbow a few people out of the way, take a few photos of the gold leaf covered temple, and then you're done!



However, this time with my expectations firmly in check, I enjoyed myself quite a bit more. Kinkakuji really is shockingly beautiful, and is ostentatious in a very low key Japanese sort of way.



Like most world famous sites, I think people expect Kinkakuji to 'be bigger' and more impressive, but if you can go and accept the temple on it's own terms, you'll get a glimpse of why it is so famous.

A Return

Since my plans for Sweden fell through I have been pondering my next move. One thing I decided was that I needed to keep up my unbroken streak of a trip a year. Another consideration in my decision to take a trip, any trip, is that I have a brand new passport that needs to be broken in.



While I did have a one way ticket to Copenhagen in my possession, in the end I decided to head back to Japan for a while. It is now over two years since I left, and I have a lot of friends and places that I miss.



I want to wander the streets of Shinjuku, drink draft Asahi with my mates, eat metric tons of Okonomiyaki, see Fushimi Inari, and so much more. I've missed the people, places and foods of Japan since I left, and I've decided it's time for another visit.



I do feel a little bad because I always try and visit new things when I go on vacation, so I'm trying to fit in a week or so in China while I'm in the area. This will both let me add a new city or two to my list and let me see another good friend who is now living in Shanghai. Though of course Japan, and Kanazawa, comes first.



I'll be gone from the 5th of November to the 5th of December, so I leave in exactly three weeks. It feels good to be excited again.

Nara and Kyoto, again

I decided for my last weekend, I wanted a good mix of seeing old friends, new sights, and reconnecting with some of my favorite spots in Japan. Since I was in Kansai visiting Zach, I decided to swing back to Nara and Kyoto for a quick return look at the worlds largest wooden building. Another motivation to get out of bed was that I got to see my good friend Liz again. Being that she lives in Okazaki, we don't get the chance to get caught up all that often, and it was good to see her before I left.



Our first stop was Todai-ji, the massive temple complex that houses the famous Nara Daibutsu, or Giant Buddha. The casting of the statue in the 700's used the entire bronze production of Japan for several years. While it almost bankrupted the country, the resulting work of art is amazing to behold. This building, more than any other I've seen in Japan, is probably the closest thing to a Gothic Cathedral, in height and width and general grandeur. Of course, the function, design, and material construction are all totally different, but when considering the time to build and the vast resources required, the comparison is valid.



After dodging the pushy sacred deer, we managed to get up to a glorious overlook, and see the vastness of Nara spread out below. Unfortunately, the day was getting increasingly overcast, so the panorama didn't produce any photos of note.



My next goal was to revisit my "favorite place in Japan." Yes loyal readers, I went back to Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. The hundreds of bright red gates just draws me in every time. Sadly, we arrived just after dark, so we missed the sunset, which looked glorious from the train, and the light just wasn't bright enough for pictures without a tripod. I did get one good one of the cityscape though. As we were leaving, the upper part of the temple complex was wreathed in an ethereal mist that made an already magical place even more so. The lack of a tripod stymied my photography attempts again. One of these days I'll learn...

Two year Japanniversary

It is hard to believe that two years ago today I stepped off of my flight from the United States and into the muggy Aichi heat. It has been a long, strange, wonderful trip. The things I've done, the people I've met, the places I've seen, the food I've eaten, it really has been a fantastic two years.

Now, I've reduced those two years of intense experiences into an 8 minute video, roughly in chronological order. Of course, I wouldn't blame anybody if they can't sit through all 8 minutes of tinny rock music and slightly pixelated pictures. After all, I am the one with an emotional attachment to all these images. Though, I imagine that a few of my blog readers can find themselves buried in the avalanche of Grant's memories. Enjoy.

Photo School Results

I've spent the last month taking an online photography class at The Perfect Picture School of Photography. It was a pretty solid course, and helped me spot some of the weak points in my photography. We shall see if it leads to an improvement or not! Here is the coursework I submitted over the last month, some of which I have posted here before and some of which is new.


Eyrie Pagoda


Eikando Bridge


Marie

The first lesson was to fill the frame with your subject. While I had some good closeups of leaves and the like, I decided to go with a portrait, as it's traditionally a weak point of mine, and some landscapes as those are some of my favorite subjects. Of the three, Marie got a Perfect Picture statement from one of the teachers, which made me pretty pleased.


The Lone Pilgram


Fall at Kanazawa Castle

The next lesson was the Rule of Thirds. Looking back through my work I noticed a great many photographs that completely ignore the Rule of Thirds. Oops. As for the two submissions, the top one got good marks, but the bottom one should be thirds the other way, here the sky here is boring and the castle much more interesting.


Fushimi Inari


Info Desk


Christmas at Labbro

This lesson was framing, using something in the photographt to 'trap' the viewers eye. This was a tricky lesson, I had some ideas of good frames, but this was the week we had two hours of sunshine in about 8 days. I had to get pretty creative and seek frames inside, with one legacy shot from May in Kyoto. Gotta love that Fushimi Inari. All three were well liked, though of course none are perfect.


Past and Future


Nishi Chaya


Geisha Crane

The final assignment was to work a subject. We had to take one area/ subject and rather than settle for one nice picture of it, keep going. We had to try using new lenses and new perspectives to 'see' our subject in as many different ways as possible. A rare moment of sunshine had me out the door and down the block to the local Geisha district, and I rather like how they came out. The Crane detail was praised, as well as the long shot, but the picture with the looming apartment building was too busy, subtracting from the impact of the beautiful geisha houses.

One Brightly Lit Temple

I have now been to Kyoto four times. I have been to Kiyomizu-dera three of those four times. This latest trip was sparked by Zach, who found that, like Kanazawa, Kyoto was lighting up one of their most famous landmarks. Always looking for an excuse to use my tripod I jumped at the chance to see the glorious view at night.



And it was glorious. Just walking around the etherially lit temple was a fantastic experience. The towering vermillion pagoda was brilliant in the flood lights. Above everything an eerie blue spotlight shone like a bright tunnel through the dark.



I needn't have bothered bringing the tripod though. To be sure, I needed it, but the crush of the crowd was too much. I never had the space or time to properly set up a night shot. I was forced to wing it with high ISO and a wide open aperature. I managed, barely. I took a whole lot of really, really blurry photos. Even the ones that came out are far from perfect. Even when I was steady as a rock, there was usually somebody kicking, shoving, pushing or just generally jostling me!



Despite that, it really was great. Fiona remarked that this was really beautiful and her favorite thing of the day. I'd say she spoke for everybody there. It was great.



A bit of background on Kiyomizu-dera. The temple was begun in 798 but the building there now date from 1633. The stage and main temple are built in the traditional style sans-nails. Think about that for a little while, especially in a country as earthquake prone as Japan! It is said that if you jump from the stage, and survive, your wish will be granted. Jumping is now prohibited, but heck its only 13 meteres or so, not really that far. Not that I'd be inclined to try it, thats for sure. Also, Kiyomizu-dera is up for inclusion of a New Seven Wonders list. Somebody got it in their head that since of the original 7 only 1 is left we need 6 replacements. There is a 21 'wonder' shortlist and Kiyomizu is on that list along with such sites as the Great Wall, Stonehenge, The Eiffel Tower and Neuschwanstein Castle.



I'll leave you with a bit of strange group photo. Notice I moved a little bit after the flash went off and got the lights of Kyoto cutting Zachs throat. Also we had lost Travis in the the crowd, so it's not quite the whole group. Oops!

Well there it is, Kyoto Fall '06. A good trip, even if the weather didn't cooperate.