Oh my god, an update! Trip report from when my mom came out for my birthday.
Okay, trying to get my ass in gear before I accidentally abandon LJ forever and then have absolutely no written record of my life. With my memory that would be a tragedy. Har har. Really, though, it would.
So, I'm going to start with a "brief" recounting of the time my mom came and spent with me. Starting off by saying that I waited in the arrivals zone of Narita airport for two hours after her flight landed before those passengers started coming through. What's up, Narita? Sort your shit out.
Instead of taking my tired mother straight home I pulled her off the train at a small station in Tokyo, heaved her suitcase into a locker, and then took her to a cemetery. In my defence, we timed her trip for the height of cherry blossom season and this cemetery had amazing cherry blossom trees. She also liked walking between the graves and looking at how different they are. The cemetery was Yanaka Cemetery, and the wikipedia image is a good example of what I brought her to see. It was really beautiful. Then we got back on the train and headed in to Tokyo Station to catch the shinkansen home. Tokyo Station is a nightmare, just fyi. Do not recommend.
We then hung around Hamamatsu for a day or two. Jess (my neighbour) has her boyfriend visiting at the same time, so one lunch time she took us out to Mori where she does ceramics and showed us the studio she works at. We then went to an old soba restaurant and treated ourselves. I told my mom we'd be eating cold pasta and she almost gagged on the spot, but changed her mind once those delicious noodles and sauce hit the tastebuds. We'd also ordered some mixed tempura - we got a friend river-shrimp ball that was really scratchy down the gullet, and a variety of wild vegetables and flowers. That was really interesting and good. I wish I knew how to forage safely. Haha.
The next day we traveled down to Kyoto. We took the scenic route. If anyone is planning on coming to Japan: don't take the scenic route. Fork out for a shinkansen. There is no way you would regret that decision. It took us 5 hours to get to Kyoto when the shink would have taken an hour and a half. It was quite scenic though. She had a lot of time to spend looking out the window at the passing paddy fields.
Our three days in Kyoto we walked until we were crippled. We walked everywhere. We had a few key destinations in mind because my mom wanted to see a Japanese Garden in Japan and I really wanted to see Kinkaku-ji, the golden pavilion. So we did.
Breakfast at some cafe in Kyoto.
Heading up to Kiyomizu-dera, north-east central Kyoto.
Kiyomizu-dera.
Fushimi-inari Taisha, south-east central Kyoto.
Tori at Fushi-inari. These were so cool looking. You really had to have a bit of luck and good timing to get a shot without people in it, though.
Kinkaku-ji, north-west central Kyoto.
While we were up by Kinkaku-ji we also visited the Ryoan-ji gardens, but no photographs of mine came out well at all. It's really difficult to try and get a picture of rocks in a courtyard surrounded by white sand. So, as a birthday gift to me, my mom bought me a block print from an artist's shop that we walked past when we were heading to the gardens from the pavilion.
I want to say the artist's name is Masao Ido, but I'd have to check when I got home.
This is the gardens of Ginkaku-ji, the silver pavilion.
On a little hill on the ground, looking down over Kyoto and at the gardens and Ginkaku-ji on the left.
My birthday was on one of these days we were in Kyoto, but I don't remember exactly which one and it's not terribly important anyway. I'm sure I had an amazing time. The hostel we were staying at, the owner found out it was my birthday and when we got back one evening he went out and bought a couple of small cake desserts from the convenience store and gave them to me. It was really sweet. :) [This place: Renjishi]
We also went to the To-ji pagoda, which is the tallest wooden building in Japan apparently. To-ji was awesome. We saw it on the morning we left Kyoto to travel to Osaka.
It was a bit of an overcast but bright day.
My mom and me.
To-jiii. So pretty. Cherry blossoms still in full flower at this point.
Watching the blossoms bloom is serious business, guys.
In Osaka I took her to look at Osaka castle, but we didn't go in because by all accounts it's not great. Everything is modern because Japan can't build a castle that won't burn down eventually, and apparently restorations weren't very authentic. I can't vouch for that myself, but neither of us particularly cared to pay an entrance fee for a poor reconstruction.
Walking up to the castle we passed this guy. He had a kite on his arm that he was letting people look at, and two ferrets in the basket at his feet. Poor things were getting really hot, though. Of course mum and I stick out a bit, so when they noticed we were ogling the ferrets someone whipped one out and put it in my hands. Many photographs were taken. Of me, not by me. People, ferrets are fucking adorable. A little rougher-furred than I'd expected but oh my god so cute. Want. (Also, I'm pretty sure that's the same type of predatory bird I pass frequently when I drive to school. They like to soar and hover right beside the road. It's so cool. I'd take a photo, but I'd probably crash - twisty mountain roads!)
Restaurant display in the Dotonburi (I think) area of Osaka. Near the Glico Man sign.
Osaka aquarium, one of the largest aquariums in the world. My person heaven! Or it would be, if you could halve the crowds and eliminate the children.
They had a squid tank! It was AMAZING.
They seal exhibit also had a viewing bubble in the ceiling. This seal would just sit there and watch people. Really cute. I think that must be its hobby, because I've seen a few photographs from fellow JETs of the selfsame seal enjoying a spot of people-watching.
While in Osaka we took a day trip out to Kobe, further west along the coast. It was a pretty drizzly day. No photographs from me, though, sorry! We took a cable-car up to the top of the mountain and walked down through the herb and flower garden at the top. They need to work on their signage because on the walk back down mum and I thought we'd serious got lost. Also, unless you enjoy walking steeply downhill for an hour, I recommend taking the cable-car back down too. Ouch.
Kobe was, I think, one of the first cities to open up to the West when Japan decided to acknowledge that the rest of the world was worth doing business with. So there is a historic district called Kitano-cho full of old Western-styled houses that served as homes and embassies to the new foreign influx. It was a rather attractive area to prowl through. There was a Sherlock Holmes replica room in one of the houses somewhere, though. Why, Japan?
Kobe is also the home of the famous Kobe Beef. Pay attention to the price! That's €110 or $142. As my mom said, how can an animal that's so much fat and so little muscle move itself? Fatty meat is really popular in Japan. Needless to say, with our lean meat diet the Kobe beef we tried didn't sit easily. (We did not buy our meat from this place.)
On our last day in Osaka we also took a day trip out to Nara to see the deer park and Todai-ji, which houses the world's largest statue of the Buddha Vairocana.
The hall housing the Buddha.
Over the main double-door entrance.
Deer. Admission: we saw all the deer but I didn't actually think to take any photographs until we were leaving, so I took a swift snap on the go. Haha.
And lastly, a lady sleeping on the train.
After that we headed back to Hamamatsu. One of my Japanese Teachers of English (JTE) took us out for lunch and to go see the small Hamamatsu museum. The following day my mom helped me go to the hardware/garden store and pick up compost and flowers/herbs, and we planted up a few of the abandoned flowerpots lying around the apartment. It really brightened up what otherwise looks remarkably like a prison block. (A teacher just saw me uploading this photo and said, "postcard!" Haha.)
And that's pretty much that, my friends. The next day we headed for Tokyo and I took her to some of the bigger shrines. She also got to experience a traditional-ish ryokan, complete with rock-hard pillow stuffed with cut drinking-straws. Then I had to leave her on her own for the final night and come back home so that I could go to work the next day. :( I might have said a really quick quick goodbye before running off to cry a bit on the platform. Haha.
It was an excellent trip though. She absolutely loved it and wants to try and get my dad to come out with her again next summer sometime. Meanwhile I'm launching a concerted effort to get everyone together at Christmas in South Africa for a family reunion. Wish me luck. ;)
So, I'm going to start with a "brief" recounting of the time my mom came and spent with me. Starting off by saying that I waited in the arrivals zone of Narita airport for two hours after her flight landed before those passengers started coming through. What's up, Narita? Sort your shit out.
Instead of taking my tired mother straight home I pulled her off the train at a small station in Tokyo, heaved her suitcase into a locker, and then took her to a cemetery. In my defence, we timed her trip for the height of cherry blossom season and this cemetery had amazing cherry blossom trees. She also liked walking between the graves and looking at how different they are. The cemetery was Yanaka Cemetery, and the wikipedia image is a good example of what I brought her to see. It was really beautiful. Then we got back on the train and headed in to Tokyo Station to catch the shinkansen home. Tokyo Station is a nightmare, just fyi. Do not recommend.
We then hung around Hamamatsu for a day or two. Jess (my neighbour) has her boyfriend visiting at the same time, so one lunch time she took us out to Mori where she does ceramics and showed us the studio she works at. We then went to an old soba restaurant and treated ourselves. I told my mom we'd be eating cold pasta and she almost gagged on the spot, but changed her mind once those delicious noodles and sauce hit the tastebuds. We'd also ordered some mixed tempura - we got a friend river-shrimp ball that was really scratchy down the gullet, and a variety of wild vegetables and flowers. That was really interesting and good. I wish I knew how to forage safely. Haha.
The next day we traveled down to Kyoto. We took the scenic route. If anyone is planning on coming to Japan: don't take the scenic route. Fork out for a shinkansen. There is no way you would regret that decision. It took us 5 hours to get to Kyoto when the shink would have taken an hour and a half. It was quite scenic though. She had a lot of time to spend looking out the window at the passing paddy fields.
Our three days in Kyoto we walked until we were crippled. We walked everywhere. We had a few key destinations in mind because my mom wanted to see a Japanese Garden in Japan and I really wanted to see Kinkaku-ji, the golden pavilion. So we did.
Breakfast at some cafe in Kyoto.
Heading up to Kiyomizu-dera, north-east central Kyoto.
Kiyomizu-dera.
Fushimi-inari Taisha, south-east central Kyoto.
Tori at Fushi-inari. These were so cool looking. You really had to have a bit of luck and good timing to get a shot without people in it, though.
Kinkaku-ji, north-west central Kyoto.
While we were up by Kinkaku-ji we also visited the Ryoan-ji gardens, but no photographs of mine came out well at all. It's really difficult to try and get a picture of rocks in a courtyard surrounded by white sand. So, as a birthday gift to me, my mom bought me a block print from an artist's shop that we walked past when we were heading to the gardens from the pavilion.
I want to say the artist's name is Masao Ido, but I'd have to check when I got home.
This is the gardens of Ginkaku-ji, the silver pavilion.
On a little hill on the ground, looking down over Kyoto and at the gardens and Ginkaku-ji on the left.
My birthday was on one of these days we were in Kyoto, but I don't remember exactly which one and it's not terribly important anyway. I'm sure I had an amazing time. The hostel we were staying at, the owner found out it was my birthday and when we got back one evening he went out and bought a couple of small cake desserts from the convenience store and gave them to me. It was really sweet. :) [This place: Renjishi]
We also went to the To-ji pagoda, which is the tallest wooden building in Japan apparently. To-ji was awesome. We saw it on the morning we left Kyoto to travel to Osaka.
It was a bit of an overcast but bright day.
My mom and me.
To-jiii. So pretty. Cherry blossoms still in full flower at this point.
Watching the blossoms bloom is serious business, guys.
In Osaka I took her to look at Osaka castle, but we didn't go in because by all accounts it's not great. Everything is modern because Japan can't build a castle that won't burn down eventually, and apparently restorations weren't very authentic. I can't vouch for that myself, but neither of us particularly cared to pay an entrance fee for a poor reconstruction.
Walking up to the castle we passed this guy. He had a kite on his arm that he was letting people look at, and two ferrets in the basket at his feet. Poor things were getting really hot, though. Of course mum and I stick out a bit, so when they noticed we were ogling the ferrets someone whipped one out and put it in my hands. Many photographs were taken. Of me, not by me. People, ferrets are fucking adorable. A little rougher-furred than I'd expected but oh my god so cute. Want. (Also, I'm pretty sure that's the same type of predatory bird I pass frequently when I drive to school. They like to soar and hover right beside the road. It's so cool. I'd take a photo, but I'd probably crash - twisty mountain roads!)
Restaurant display in the Dotonburi (I think) area of Osaka. Near the Glico Man sign.
Osaka aquarium, one of the largest aquariums in the world. My person heaven! Or it would be, if you could halve the crowds and eliminate the children.
They had a squid tank! It was AMAZING.
They seal exhibit also had a viewing bubble in the ceiling. This seal would just sit there and watch people. Really cute. I think that must be its hobby, because I've seen a few photographs from fellow JETs of the selfsame seal enjoying a spot of people-watching.
While in Osaka we took a day trip out to Kobe, further west along the coast. It was a pretty drizzly day. No photographs from me, though, sorry! We took a cable-car up to the top of the mountain and walked down through the herb and flower garden at the top. They need to work on their signage because on the walk back down mum and I thought we'd serious got lost. Also, unless you enjoy walking steeply downhill for an hour, I recommend taking the cable-car back down too. Ouch.
Kobe was, I think, one of the first cities to open up to the West when Japan decided to acknowledge that the rest of the world was worth doing business with. So there is a historic district called Kitano-cho full of old Western-styled houses that served as homes and embassies to the new foreign influx. It was a rather attractive area to prowl through. There was a Sherlock Holmes replica room in one of the houses somewhere, though. Why, Japan?
Kobe is also the home of the famous Kobe Beef. Pay attention to the price! That's €110 or $142. As my mom said, how can an animal that's so much fat and so little muscle move itself? Fatty meat is really popular in Japan. Needless to say, with our lean meat diet the Kobe beef we tried didn't sit easily. (We did not buy our meat from this place.)
On our last day in Osaka we also took a day trip out to Nara to see the deer park and Todai-ji, which houses the world's largest statue of the Buddha Vairocana.
The hall housing the Buddha.
Over the main double-door entrance.
Deer. Admission: we saw all the deer but I didn't actually think to take any photographs until we were leaving, so I took a swift snap on the go. Haha.
And lastly, a lady sleeping on the train.
After that we headed back to Hamamatsu. One of my Japanese Teachers of English (JTE) took us out for lunch and to go see the small Hamamatsu museum. The following day my mom helped me go to the hardware/garden store and pick up compost and flowers/herbs, and we planted up a few of the abandoned flowerpots lying around the apartment. It really brightened up what otherwise looks remarkably like a prison block. (A teacher just saw me uploading this photo and said, "postcard!" Haha.)
And that's pretty much that, my friends. The next day we headed for Tokyo and I took her to some of the bigger shrines. She also got to experience a traditional-ish ryokan, complete with rock-hard pillow stuffed with cut drinking-straws. Then I had to leave her on her own for the final night and come back home so that I could go to work the next day. :( I might have said a really quick quick goodbye before running off to cry a bit on the platform. Haha.
It was an excellent trip though. She absolutely loved it and wants to try and get my dad to come out with her again next summer sometime. Meanwhile I'm launching a concerted effort to get everyone together at Christmas in South Africa for a family reunion. Wish me luck. ;)