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| Shinjuku Hyatt Regency |
My second night in Tokyo was just as relaxing as the
first. Even though my king-size suite was smaller than most outside of Japan, the
polish and detail was absolutely grand. I’ve actually bought Hyatt linens
before, but these were something else. I was like a kitten rolling around a bed
made of clouds. Anyway… My third day quickly rolls on, leading me to a local Shinjuku temple, where I get my first
glimpse of monks (I was too shy to take a picture at this point) doing whatever
it is that monks do on a Tuesday morning. I felt like I was intruding, but I’m
sure they would have graciously invited me in to view their pious rituals.
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| Temple in Shinjuku |
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| Sokendai introductions |
The following week was a whirlwind of activity
including, introductions, Japanese language lessons, scientific talks, and poster
presentations. I won’t bore my readers with in-depth details, but 115
scientists from across the globe were gathered at the Graduate Centre at
Sokendai. A beautiful campus, located on a peninsula south of Tokyo, Sokendai gave
us all the opportunity to bond and network with like-minded individuals with a
keen interest in research, and an even greater interest in adventure. We all
made some lasting relationships during that week and I would go on to travel to
several parts of Japan with many of those research fellows.
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| View from Sokendai with Mt. Fuji-san in the background |
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| Tea ceremony during orientations |
During our week at Sokendai we all stayed a weekend
with a host family and I was fortunate to have stayed with a lovely couple who
showed me around Yokohama and Kamakura. Yokohama was a cool little city south of Tokyo, where I got to try
my first izakaya, essentially a Japanese
bar restaurant that serves food tapas
style. Serving all sorts of foods, grilled chicken skin, gizzard, octopus balls
(takoyaki), German sausages (they all seem to serve German sausage…), salads,
beef skewers (kushiyaki), various
fish… there’s something for everyone. Then of course, there’s the drinks.
Starting off with a few Japanese beers (Kirin,
Sapporo, Asahi…), which are generally
light and refreshing, we then moved on to shōchū,
which is a distilled (in this case) rice liquor at roughly 25% ABV. It can be
drank multiple ways, I had mine on the rocks, while my host had his chūhai, or mixed with a fruit juice and
soda. Both were delicious. My host mother was on the chūhai all night, until I gave them an omiyage, or gift, for hosting me, which included a bottle of Jura
Superstition whisky. Let’s just say waking up early for a day of touring Kamakura wasn’t easy.
The city of Kamakura
is located about 50 km south west of Tokyo (closer to Sokendai) in the Kanagawa
prefecture. Famous for establishing the shogunate,
or rule by military dictator, Kamakura
is known as the city of the samurai,
who were warrior-nobles sworn to protect their lord. The kamakura period, 1185-1333, was the emergence of the shogunate –
who controlled the samurai – using military
might to control the populace. The kamakura
period ended when confidence in the shogun
failed and the emperor re-established
imperial rule (for a short while).
Visiting the Tsurugaoka Hachimangū Shinto shrine, I got another chance to
practice my cleansing technique. This time, I nailed it, no inner purification for me.
We were lucky enough to have arrived
right when a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony was being held in the
maiden pavilion.
Surrounding this
building is the typical sake and beer
offerings the temples make to their Gods.
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| Representing Brock University |
Kamakura
is also famous for its giant bronze daibutsu,
or great Buddha, which was built during the kamakura
period. Originally, a wooden Buddha was erected, however, seemingly like
all things in Japan, it was destroyed in a storm. This bronze Buddha, built 10
years later in 1252, has stood the test of time, even withstanding a tsunami in
1498. The Buddha statue is hollow, allowing tourists to enter the venerable
effigy with the following words of insight inscribed at the entrance: ‘Stranger, whosoever thou art and
whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou
treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages. This is the Temple of
Bhudda and the gate of the eternal, and should therefore be entered with
reverence’. Inside the Buddha was, well, nothing but a large, extremely
hot, metal shell. Still very cool.
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| Inside Diabutsu |
We finished our
weekend with a trip to the ramen museum,
a kind of retro-styled indoor market for noodle-chefs to ship their wares. My
goodness was it delicious. We each had two small
ramen dishes from different parts of the country, but it was so darn filling I
was full after the first, but they wanted to keep going! Two was my limit much
to the chagrin of my host father. Another time he says.
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| Tonkatsu ramen |
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| Sapporo miso ramen |
We take the train
back to Yokohama, where I notice that
some of the cars are labelled ‘women only’ during certain times of the day. I
was shocked at how progressive that was for Japan, a seemingly male-dominated
country which holds on to archaic values of yesteryear. Needless to say I was
pleased to see this progressive attitude.
Thanks for reading
today’s story and hang tight, as next will be about my move into Kobe, where I will be based for the next
3 months. Cheers!
Emerging from the JR express train from Osaka, wide eyed and excited to see the
sites, we are immediately greeted by one of Nara’s
main attractions. Wild, though tame, deer, which roam freely through the
temple complexes and downtown area of Nara.
Cute and demure, these deer have learned that bowing, as is customary throughout Japan, will reap rewards from
tourists. Local sellers of ‘deer cookies’ offer bundles of biscuits (presumably
designed with the deer’s nutrition in mind) for a small sum, which tourists can
then hand out to the friendly deer.
Finishing off our trip through Nara
we head up Mount Wakakusa. As we
headed up the mountain, several signs warned of the poisonous snakes, and even more worrying – the dengue fever carrying mosquitos. Oh well… after already having
several insect bites, we forage on. That said, it was a serene, gentle climb up
to a small peak which offered stunning views of Nara and the surrounding lowlands.
