Their malls are fascinating. The ones we went to are basically connected to the train station so you get off and end up in a mall. They have a floor of food. There are all different things (some we had no idea what it was.) It looked like a perfume floor from the states with the class counters. The presentation was amazing! They just make everything so beautiful. Detail seems to be very important to them.
I found the Japanese people very innovative. Everyone had a cell phone that must do amazing things because people always had them out. I think it gives train reports or has gps. They just seemed more progressive than ours. There train system is very confusing, but very elaborate. There are trains and subways that are owned by different companies. When you go to buy a ticket it can be very confusing which machine to use. Most things were automated so there wasn't someone there to ask. Once we bought the wrong ticket, but again the generous kind Japanese train workers refunded our money and took us to the correct machine to buy the correct ticket. They were just so nice!
The pictures below are out of order. I need to remember to start at the end of my pictures and work back. :) I am going to post a link to flicker soon that has a link to our trip pictures so keep checking back.
Mrs. Kaizuka, me, and mom headed to my train. I left on Saturday and mom left on Sunday. I just took a carry on piece of luggage. It was so nice not to have to check. Moms luggage broke so we found her a new cool one. She is now very Japanese as she has a hard bright blue (very pretty) suitcase. She doesn't have to pull it because it has those wheels that go all directions. She is now fits in at the airport. :)
We went to Kamakura for the day which is on the sea. It was very windy and there were several wind surfers out. It was fun to watch them race the waves. Mom found some really cool sea shells and I found a few pieces of sea glass. We were both very happy about that. The sand was black which surprised me. I hadn't really thought about it beforehand. We were filthy when we left the beach as the sand stuck to our legs, feet, necks, etc. We took the train back to Tokyo Central Station and went shopping. I went to try on a cute skirt and was asked to remove my shoes to go into the dressing room. (That so surprised me. They do that everywhere evidently.) I was so embarrassed because my shoes were much cleaner than my feet.
I think it's the Memoirs of the Geisha that in the opening scene there is a little girl that runs through these orange toriis. We had not planned on going here and didn't even know they were near. (Before I had left on my trip I had asked a woman who had recently been to Japan if she had seen these because I really wanted to see them. She also didn't know where they were so I didn't even think to ask someone when I got there.) Mom and I were in a gift shop at the Golden Temple looking for postcards. We weren't exactly sure what bus to take to the Silver Pavilion which we had planned to go to next. I felt like I should ask the sales person, but didn't. Then my mom said why don't you ask the salesperson. So I asked her where we caught the bus. This man spoke up besides me (American which was a shock because we rarely saw or rather heard Americans.) and said that it was not worth going because it's under renovation and you can't see anything. We were SO grateful as we were able to do many other things we wanted to do. We saw him a little later with his friends and they said we should for sure go to Nara. I had been debating whether to go or not, but everyone was saying to go. They also told us about the Toriis and said they were right off the train so it would be worth going. So...that's how we ended up here. We met a couple that were headed there as well so we went up with them. I was so happy to get to see the toriis!
This is a temple in Nara. I believe it's the longest wooden structure in Japan. It has an enormous Buddha inside. Seriously enormous.
We went to these beautiful gardens in Kyoto called the Heian shrine. That's me on the stone steps. We really debated going to the gardens. My guide book highly recommended it, but we were really tired and hot. It was well worth our effort. We wish we could have stayed longer to enjoy it. We were trying to find a information center (they don't really have them there which we found very odd!) so we went into a dental office to ask if they knew if it was close. They have you take your shoes off and they have slippers for people to wear. So interesting!
We went to a presentation in Gion Corner in Kyoto for foreigners. They demonstrated several different kinds of Japanese traditions like the tea ceremony, music, dance, theater, etc. These are the Geisha who danced for us. I believe they are geisha in training.
This is the Golden Temple. It is really quite stunning. You can't go inside, but it's located in this very Japanese style garden and was just beautiful.
At a shrine in Kyoto there is a tradition that if you walk between these two rocks with your eyes closed that you will soon find your true love. I made it so yea I'm going to find my true love soon. I have a wedding open house and a fiftieth wedding anniversary party to go to Saturday so I hope he shows up really soon. (ha, ha!)
This was probably my favorite shrine. It was set up on the hill and it just had huge beautiful grounds. There was a place you could pay 100 yen (about a dollar) to go into this dark room and see this rock with this symbol. We didn't really understand what we were doing. When we got into the space it was absolutely dark. You could not see anything at all. Mom turned around and went out after a minute because she didn't like it. There was a rope thing to follow so I just hurried along. It was disconcerting to be in this dark place that was totally quiet. I found the rock and headed out. I think I'm supposed to have good luck now. :)
When we came in from the airport we sat across from these guys on the train to Tokyo Station. Spencer is on my left and Christopher is on my right. We talked for the whole train ride and then split off when we got to Tokyo Station. Well we were headed up the hill to the shrine (in the blistering heat) and heard 'well hello.' It took me a minute to register that someone was talking to us (we didn't know anyone there) and that it was in English. (We found we could easily blank out people talking because we couldn't understand them.) I turned and found Spencer and his dad there in Kyoto. They told us about what they had done in Tokyo. They said they left Tokyo to get away from their brother/son because he was running them raged. :) We chatted for awhile and then went our separate ways. We wished we would have gotten their number as it would have been fun to hang out with them.
The Imperial Palace gardens were very pretty in Kyoto. They really like pine trees (not like the US pine trees.) We took a tour of the Imperial Palace outdoors. (They don't let people inside.) It's interesting to see what the Japanese thought was decadent and showed their position compared to the European palaces. Everything was very simple with very little furniture and the paintings were part of the wall. The paintings were typically of animals and pine trees.
This is kind of an aerial view of the Nijo-jo palace. Every time you went into a shrine, temple, or palace they asked you to remove your shoes. Some places gave you a sack to carry them and others had little cubby-holes to put them in. Many of the floors seemed to be the Nightingale floors. They kind of sing or squeak when you walk on them. It was a protection to the people living there to alert them to invaders. It was very interesting.
We were in Tokyo on a day that they were having big fireworks. There were tons and tons of people in Kimonos. There were so many different styles. I thought it was funny to see these girls texting (or whatever they were doing). We didn't get to see these fireworks, but when we were headed back from Kyoto we saw some from the train. I always hoped they would be like the fireworks in the Lord of the Rings. Needless to say I was disappointed. :) (he, he)
This is the Kaizuka family in front of their home. They were so extremely generous! They picked us up from the train in a taxi fed us several beautiful yummy meals and helped us with our travel plans. They were just such sweet kind people! Akane went with us almost everywhere when we were in Tokyo. It was nice to have a translator.
Mom and I did a tour our first day in Tokyo to some of the popular sites. We went to Akasusa Shrine behind us. They had great shopping and we really just wanted to stay and look around, but we had to catch up with our group.
This is an aerial view of some of Tokyo. We were told that it was going to rain (it didn't) so that's why it was cloudy. Really it was just humidity. August is a very hot month to visit. We were just so glad we were able to have the experience. It was so interesting to experience this culture and see a new place.I was so glad my mom and I were able to go as my mom has wanted to go for many many years. The Olympics were on while we were there. It was kind of nice to watch them in Japanese because we totally tuned out what they were saying. They also have a Japanese focus so they showed Judo, womens wresting (I didn't even know they had women's wrestling) and swimming and more Judo (evidently it's their sport.) The Japanese people were so happy when they won. It was so sweet to watch them be interviewed. They are not an effusive people so I think it surprised me that they showed so much emotion. It was just sweet.
Mom and I were intrigued by their restrooms. (I know that seems like a silly thing to write about, but they were so different.) They had a type of pit/squat toilet and western style. Some places had pictures on the door so you knew which one was which. Some of them had a little thing you would wave your hand over so it would flush. Others would play a type of white noise music when you would sit down. They had a sink that had everything. It had a place for you to wash your hands and then near your stomach they had a hand dryer that was part of the sink. It's just so innovative.
I think I know what it feels like to be illiterate. What a weird feeling! I would go look at a train map (below) and everything was in Japanese. Even the numbers. It was a really weird feeling
to look at something and have absolutely no idea what it meant. I didn't even know what direction to look at. It was a very strange feeling.I was so blessed and was able to fly business first class both coming and going to Japan. It made the flight kind of seem like dinner, a movie, and a little nap. I sat next to a man who is a professional photographer and had been doing pictures for two weddings (of billionaire daughters. wow!) He had always wanted to go to the Komodo dragons near Bali (they can eat humans.) He showed me his pictures and told me about his trip. It was very interesting.
I missed my connecting flight to DC. I was very blessed that Mike was home and let me crash at his place that night.
Well, as you can tell I have a lot to say about my trip and I only hit some of the highlights. I hope to go to England next year after I graduate. So many places to go...so little time. :)
1 comment:
Debbie--That was SO FUN to read! I'm so glad you posted pictures and told about everything! I can't wait to see more pics. You're so cute! Love ya, JL
Post a Comment