My god it's full of temples...

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
10,9,8,7,5,4,3,2,1

The sound of me messing up an attempt at esoteric meditation. How did it come to this?

The cable car

It all started when Zach left half of his huge luggage at my house. He admits that carrying both suitcases to my place from Nagano was one of the stupidest things he ever did, and wasnt about to tackle it while trying to find a new apartment in Osaka. So he asked me if after a few weeks I could bring the second Bag of Doom down to his pad in Kansai. Like a fool I said yes, but to make the trip a bit more worth while Zach suggested we then decamp to Koya-san in Wakayama Prefecture.

Our Temple

In a high mountain valley, reachable by a very vertigiganous cable car ride, lies the Buddist retreat of Koya-san (Mt Koya). Founded in 819 by one very famous monk named Kukai, Koya-san in the center of Esoteric Shingon Sect Buddism. Of course what is really important is that out of 110 (or so) temples that lie scattered about the area, around 50 of them allow visitors to stay overnight.



When you spend a year in Japan you do get the chance to see a LOT of temples. Big temples, small temples, new temples, old temples. Enough that they really start to blend together in your memory. However to go from just a tourists glance to actually staying overnight, now that is a rare cultural opportunity. A chance to experience something really new and fascinating, and eat delicious temple food!



Our temple was over 200 years old, and the art was amazing. Our room had gold leaf covered shoji screens, I wonder if it was Kanazawa gold leaf?, a beautiful view of the garden, and an area larger than both of our apartments combined. Despite the 12 months of residence, I rarely get the chance to sleep on tatami, which is a shame as it really is quite comfortable. Its too bad you can't say that about the rice (beans?) filled torture implements that pass for pillows around here. My ear always feels like Ive been fight Mike Tyson when I wake up!



With some time to kill before evening meditation and supper, Zach and I set out for a quick tour of town. We encountered this amazing Demon lamp right down the street from our accomodations.



A litte further into town we saw this incredible statue. It is one of the most creepily realistic statues I have ever seen.



One of the buildings had a pitch black basement that I assume is a Buddist hell. In it were a few displays, including this awsome neon looking one. I have absolutly no idea what significance it has! Looks cool though. ;-)



Of course even in a Buddist mecca like Koya-san, there is a Shinto Shrine tucked away, just so nobody forgets that there are TWO major religions around here. This was a beautiful, if rather dilapidated, Inari shrine, which if anybody has been keeping track is still my favorite Shinto deity. Any god that uses foxes as his representitives is OK in my book.

After we got back we settled down in the main chamber along with 5 Spanish travelers and tried our hands at esoteric meditation. The head priest told us to count forward one to ten and then do it backwards. I talked to Zach later and he said we should have done that once, and then emptied our minds. Heh. I thought we had to do it over, and over, and over again. So for around thirty minutes I sat there in a very painful lotus position counting 1-10 10-1. Wow was that an interesting experience, but not one I think I will ever do again. Meditation doesn't seem to be for me.

After our experiment in pain thresholds and sleeping legs, it was time for a fully vegan dinner. No fish, animals, or dairy was harmed in the making of our meal. Despite this fact it was delicious. We had tempura, famous Koya-san tofu, rice, tea, pickles, and a few dishes that I have no idea what they contained. While the lack of steak was troublesome, the meal was amazing. Everything there was delicous, there was not a single bad dish.

After we finished, the mother of the head priest came out to give us a history lesson. She was 84 years old and still very vital. Luckily for us she had earned an English Literature degree at Tokyo University in 1939 or so, and she spoke excellent English. She was great fun, describing both her own life in Koya-san and the history of the area, all the way back to old Kukai. She told us how Kukai didn't actually die, he just decided to start meditating in a cave nearby, and has been at it for over a thousand years! And then it was time for bed, as our wakeup call was 5:45 the next morning.

Next: I got up HOW EARLY?!?!

Another Osaka Weekend

I went back to Osaka for a quick weekend getaway. Poor Nick, stuck away in tiny Daishoji ("We have A bar!") wanted to get out of Hokuriku and see a real city, and I am always up for a trip to the best Mexican food in Japan.



Of course the first stop for us was the Osaka Aquarium. I was eager to run my Nikon through its paces in this most difficult photographic environment. I have to admit, I think it preformed quite admirably. Nice was wonderfully patient as he waited for me to catch up after shooting my many, many pictures.



While waiting an HOUR to get into El Pacho's we met Vickie, a JET from Shikoku. The tales of her deep boondocks town had the both of us admitting that Hokoriku isn't all that rural in reality. We all stuffed ourselves on Enchiladas and refried beans and quesadillas and... well suffice it to say that we left fat and happy. The half pitcher of margaritas worked wonders as well. Now do let it be said however, that while this is probably some of the best Mexican, IN JAPAN, it is a far cry from the real deal. For one thing, it's not spicy at all, and for another, its a little too sweet. Alas, it will just have to do.



Feeling a bit overstuffed, Nick and I meandered through the bright lights of Namba, stopping in one bar to watch some World Cup for a bit, but we retreated when a really, really drunk Kiwi decided I was his best friend. I'm not quite sure what he was talking about, but he was weird in a way that went beyond the alchohal. We ended up at Club Pure, THE Osaka late night hangout. It was Saturday night and you could hardly move it was so crowded. Heck, when we left there was a line out the door down the hall up the stairs and into the streets. At 1:00 AM. Sheesh, it was fun, but it wasn't *that* fun.












The next morning we grabbed a quick breakfast then went north to the Umeda Sky tower. It's not the tallest building around, but it is certainly one of the most striking. The glassy twin spires topped by a "sky garden" is now one of the landmarks of Osaka.



Matt came up here when he was in Osaka, and while he enjoyed it, I recall him mentioning that the exposed elevator ride made him a bit wobbly in the knees. I can certainly understand his predicament. Its an amazing view of the city though, well at least it would be if it wasn't so smoggy.



We parted ways in the station, with Nick going to Kyoto for a day or two and myself heading back up to Kanazawa. I met up with Fiona and Dan and we went bowling for a couple hours. Wow we were bad. I actually won the first game (111) and lost the second (76?). Yeah, it was ugly. Yet it was also sooo much fun! We then met up with Paul and a great deal of others for the Japan vs Croatia game, and that was a lot of fun to watch. The bar was standing room only, and woe to anybody who had to use the restroom!



Next: Here Comes the Sun...

Kyushu Part 5 Aso-San

So upon leaving Kumamoto Liz decided she didn't have any particular desire to see a Volcano or to explore the baths of Beppu, so she headed back to Kanazawa. This left me alone to pursue my geological interests.



As I have mentioned before, I'm a big fan of geology. Rocks, faults, mountains, crystals, I find all of it fascinating! I suppose it comes from growing up with the Rocky Mountains in my backyard. While the Rockies have plenty of old volcanic formations to peruse, nothing has been active for tens of thousands of years at the east, and more usually a few million years. So for me a chance to see an active volcano that erupts quite regularly was a chance not to be missed!



The Mt. Aso Caldera is right in the middle of Kyushu, roughly half way between Kumamoto and Beppu. It is the worlds largest still active calderas, with a circumference of about 120 kilometers encompasing several towns and onsen resorts. For the record, a caldera is the remnent of a large volcano that has collapsed, usually from a massive eruption. The Aso Caldera was formed about 90,000 years ago, and since then 5 new volcanos have risen in the center.



One of these "new" cones, Mt Naka, is the only one in the group that is still active, and in addition to constantly expelling sulpheric fumes and steam it provides the area with a major tourist attraction! To get there from Kumamoto I had to take two local trains, switching half way. As the track heads up the caldera ridge to the town of Aso, it has to go up a set of switchbacks where the train actually reverses direction a couple of times to climb the steep hillside.



Once a traveler has arrived at the sublimely beautiful caldera floor, it is just a matter of another hour on a bus to the Aso-san Ropeway, which carries the hordes of visitors to the rim of the crater. While it was very popular with the local tourists, I didn't see very many westerners that day, it seems despite the amazing views the area is a bit off the beaten track.



All and all Mt Aso was awsome. The constantly billowing steam reminded me that it was ready to blow its top again at any time. (In 1979 a surprise eruption actually killed a few tourists.) The twisted volcanic rocks that littered the area were a fascinating vision of Hell, or Mordor at least! Living things need not apply, there was not much greenery at the top, nor did I see any animals.

Well, with that marked off of my life's to-do list, I headed back down the mountain to catch the express to Beppu, the Hot Springs Las Vegas.

Kyushu Part 3- Nagasaki at Night

To the west of Nagasaki, opposite Glover Garden, is Inasa-san, a 333 meter mountain looming above the city center. The summit promised amazing views of Nagasaki and the surrounding area, and I was not dissapointed.



I arrived at the cable car station shortly before sunset, and found just one other person waiting to board. Marc, a Nova teacher from Yokohama on a short weekend vacation. We struck up a conversation, and soon became good solid travel buddies. It turned out that he was nearing the end of his time in Japan, and was wrapping up a few travel loose ends. So on his 'weekend' of Tuesday Wednesday he flew down to Nagasaki, which was actually both cheaper and shorter than taking the Shinkansen!



From the summit, the views were glorious. I mean this was certainly one of the top sunsets I have ever seen, and coming from Colorado I have seen some nice ones. These photographs, while I am proud of them, simply do not do the view justice at all. It was amazing. And we had it all to ourselves... for a while.



As it got darker and the night view of the city came out, people started to accumulate in small groups. Well small until a huge school group showed up. Like any school group, they were loud just by being a group of 80 or so high school students. Yet these were really really loud. Shouting at their friends strung across the summit. Yelling, giggling and generally making asses of themselves. *sigh* and I thought American tourists were annoying.



Well we had our pictures, so Marc and I fled the growing school crowd for the safety of the cable car home. We exchanged numbers and then headed back to our respective hotel rooms to drop off cameras and such. Then we met up with another guy that Marc had met earlier, a Dutch man whose name I have forgotten. Renee maybe? Anyway, he was awsome, and on a 6 week vacation in Japan. We hit up an izakaya, where I tried Basashi. Think, horse sashimi. Yup, nice slices of RAW HORSE! Actually, it tasted great. I mean it, not only was it not disgusting, but I liked it. Who would have thought? Well after a couple of beers and some pool it was time to hit the sack in preperation for a 10:00 check out and our trip to Kumamoto.

A Very Wasabi Easter

So after a raucous party that included such wonders as a whoopie cushion and a super wasabized piece of sushi, the next day, Easter Sunday, dawned bright and warm. The original plan had been to go to Joestsu, and see more Sakura, but it had been pretty cold, and so the blossoms wheren't quite ready for viewing yet.




So instead we went to nearby Matsumoto and hopped a rickety little local train that took us, being Zach, Sanami and Myself, deep into the wilds of Nagano prefecture. Our eventual destination was the town of Hotaka, known for the purity of its spring water. They say that pure water is the first step to growing that most wonderful of plants, the Wasabi plant. I have been known to say that I don't eat sushi for the raw fish. I eat sushi for the subtle flavor of wasabi. Well that and the glory that is pickled sushi ginger. Especially now that I have been deprived of spicy food, I find solace in the white heat of lots of wasabi.




Arriving at Hotaka we rented some mountain bikes and set off, dodging cars and the occasional wedding. Yup, Zach got a vision of his future, maybe. There was a full shinto wedding party at a local shrine, and the groom was a rather nervous looking white guy.



It really was a great day to be out, warm enough that it actually felt like spring. Unlike Kanazawa, home of the Worst Weather in the World (TM) (except for Antarctica, they have worse weather).

So after dodging a few tour busses we made it to the edge of town and the wasabi farm. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was very pleased with what we found. The rows upon rows of cultivated irrigated wasabi were very pleasing to the eye, and the piped in classical music added a bit of a festive air to the whole thing.




While the day was nice, one look at the trees was enough to know that winter is not very long gone. Luckily, we had plenty to keep us warm. Almost anything you could think to add wasabi to was on offer. Wasabi katsu don, wasabi crackers, wasabi beer (didn't try!) wasabi juice, wasabi ice cream (did try!) and more. Actually everything I tried tasted wonderful, and no the ice cream wasn't spicy. The fresh ground wasabi that went with lunch was though!




As we rode back we caught a glimpse of a field that had a metric ton of medium sized hawks soaring and swooping around it. I had never seen so many birds of prey in the same place at the same time. I desperately wished I had brought my Nikon with me, and my 300 mm lens. Alas I didn't so the photographic record will remain incomplete.


Wasabi Juice is good!

Back in Matsumoto we hit up MOS Burger for lunch. In a fit of wasbi frenzy I ordered the Avacado Wasabi Burger, a special offering that is hard to find. It was delicious, and a perfectly spicy cap to a spicy day. But unknown to us, our day was not yet over...



We decided to check out Matsumoto Castle, one of the few remaining original feudal castles in Japan. After getting lost, we found our way to the fortification and discovered that they had a special event that night. While we watched the sun go down we were treated to live music and the gradual lighting of the structure, and adjacent sakura.



It was beautiful to watch, but without a tripod it was very, very difficult to photograph. Out of the few dozen pictures I took, these are some of the few that don't look like a blurry mess. Well live and learn. Always carry a tripod!

Kenrokuen at night

In celebration of spring Kenrokuen was lit up at night. Despite the fact that I had been through the garden twice in the past week or so, I just had to go see what things looked like in the evening. The fact that garden admission was free all week was certainly a bonus. So Friday evening I had some time free between classes and I grabbed my camera and tripod and headed on up.
I was certainly impressed, the beautiful flowers and atmospheric lighting combined really well. Of course not everywhere was very brilliantly lit. It was a pretty dark night too, so I got lost more than once!
Also, I was far from the only one with a camera and tripod. Indeed it sometimes seemed that those without digital cameras were in the minority. There were some pretty impressive photographic setups walking around the garden. I felt distinctly outclassed. Of course there were plenty of people making due with their camera phones.
I recently ordered a pair of photography books from Amazon, and they arrived on Thursday, a week early. This made me gloriously happy, and I am also pleased to report that the books are great. Especially the one on digital photography, I have modified many of my DSLR shooting habits already. Despite this advice, and the fact that I filled a 1GB memory card at Kenrokuen, many of the photos I took were not up to snuff. I guess thats the good thing about taking 100 photos in one evening. You'll be able to find 5 that are fit to be seen in public! I don't feel too badly about that, as we all know that night and low light photography is HARD. Well practice makes perfect, and lord knows I have been practicing lots.
After work we all headed out for some Hell Super Spicy Habanero Okonomiyaki. It was great! It had been so long since the subtle flavors of the Habanero pepper caressed my palate. Hmm that sound wrong. Ah yes.. It had been so long since the violently spicy flavors of the Habanero pepper assaulted my palate. Yes thats more like it! Still, joking aside, it was great, pretty spicy but not too bad. Of course the rest of the table was in pain, but I liked it quite a bit.

Bacon, Mistranslation, Blisters and an Epic Worm

So, after 'getting down' in the Club Asia New Annex, we awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed for our next Tokyo adventure.

We headed out for a quick breakfast at a family restaurant, Royal Host, where I promptly encountered half of a miracle.

Let me explain, pancakes (hottokaki) are pretty rare in Japan. They can be found as overpriced desserts, but rarely as a proper breakfast. (One may recall me mentioning that not even Denny's here has pancakes on the menu.) So when I walked in and found a pancakes, bacon, eggs, and coffee meal, I figured I'd died and gone to Montana. A miracle!

unfortunately my enthusiasm was quickly dampened by the fact that these delicious looking little tan doohickies were some of the dryest most tasteless pancakes it has every been my misfortune to consume. I was at a loss. One the one hand I was overjoyed to be eating pancakes and bacon for the first time in six months. On the other hand I have eaten sawdust that required less maple syrup to be palatable.

At least the Bacon was edible. The coffee wasn't bad either.

So we get ready to pay for the bill and Zach pulls one of his infamous translation 'errors.'

Zach, having been here almost two years, and having minored in Japanese in Uni has the distinction of often being the best Japanese speaker around. Zach also has the bad habit of mis-translating an odd word or two, for his own amusement.

So he tells Matt to ask for the bill, and gives him the phrase to use. Unfortunately (it would appear) for his scheme I start giggling a bit and it comes to light that he told Matt to say "Kancho onegai shimasu" Which of course would result in Matt politely asking the waitress to stick her fingers in his bum, as middle school children so love to do. But I giggled, and made Matt suspicious. So Zach explains the proper terminology of "Kanjo onegai shimasu". Matt looks up, motions to the waitress and says... "Kancho onegai shimasu!" Which of course prompts Zach and myself to a fit of laughter and provokes a bemused/ horrified look on the waitress's face. The correct words are quickly said by Zach, and our poor waitress flees to retrieve the bill. One must feel sorry for poor Matt, but he did have the proper word explained to him.. its not entirely Zach's fault that he forgot the right one and remembered the wrong one!


Meiji-Jingu, a shrine in the heart of Tokyo near Harajuku station.


Ok, with breakfast done we headed to our first destination, Harajuku. This is the area that crazy girls dress in crazy fashions, then sit around while gawkers and tourists snap photos. Unfortunatly for us, there were very few of these Harajuku girls to be seen, probably because of the impending St. Patricks Day Parade. Yup a St. Paddys Day Parade in Tokyo! What is the world coming to? There were hordes of people thronging the streets, and many green shirts, green socks, green wigs.. well lets just say there was lots of green. There were also a fair number of Gaijin, probably the most I've seen at one place since I left San Francisco International Airport in September.


Bike tricks in the park adjacent to Meiji-Jingu.

We milled around for a bit, checked out a huge toy store, and walked down the street scanning for the Parade start point. We also nipped into Subway! for a quick bite of lunch. As we walked back up the boulevard we encountered the Parade. Well at least it was the people who had recently been parading, but who were now finished,and were themselves in the crowd on the sidewalk. Yup we somehow missed the entire procession. Did it happen while we were in the Toy Store? Subway? Or just on an entirely different street? Ah life's unanswered mysteries...


The Irish are coming!

With that taken care of we headed to Zach's number one priority, the Tokyo Museum of Parasites, a place once voted Time Magazines Weirdest Museum in Asia. Considering that just Japan is home of such places as a Ramen Museum, an Advertsing Museum, an Eyeglasses museum and a Drum Museum, qualifying for the weirdest museum in ALL OF ASIA is a distinction worth taking note of. Also, it's free.

Well we follow Zach's map and start walking. We knew it was a bit of step, but it was a warm if blustry day. We walk, and walk, and walk, and walk some more. We pass rivers, temples, highways, and more. No sign of the Parasite Museum. My feet hurt, and I start heckling Zach a bit. Like any true man, he is loath to ask for directions. I'll admit to disliking that admission of weakness myself, but we had been walking a long way, and I figured we had blown right past the museum. Eventually even Zach could see that we had come too far, so we stopped in Post Office to ask directions.


The river we crossed on our epic quest for the Parasite Museum

"Oh the museum is half an hour walk back that way, by the temple." Oh, the temple we had passed a half an hour ago? Argh! We walked back, making it in 22 minutes (Go Go Colorado bred legs and lungs.) I see a sign, and totally misread it. The sign said we should go back the way we came a bit, I thought it said go right. Oops. We walk two blocks, no museum. Asking at a Lawsons (oh the blow to masculine pride!) we tramp back the way we came, past the temple again, to the small unassuming grey building we had been searching for. The unassuming grey building we had blown by not once but TWICE!

Once inside all our cares were forgotten as we perused specimens like a dogs heart destroyed by heart worms and a turtles eyelid eaten away by God-knows-what. Supplementing the formaldehyde preserved specimens were photographs and diagrams of Parasites and their effects on their hosts. Like say a man with a penis larger than his leg. That certainly got *my* attention, I mean dang people talk about "male enlargement" but that's taking it a few million steps too far! Yeach. The centerpiece attraction was an 8.8 meter long tapeworm taken from a man who had eaten the wrong piece of trout sushi. Next to the intestinal Smaug was an 8.8 meter long rope that one could use to get a more hands on look at just how long this critter was. All I can really say is wow, and I thought the Alien was the worst thing that could live in your guts.

With that finally accomplished we pointed our tired feet towards Shinjuku and another well hidden capsule hotel.