Japan Trip

• Sunday, March 26
• Hi of 48, rain
• JR to Yanaka (Station is 10 minute walk from hotel and has both the underground subway and the JR (Japan Rail) above ground train)
• Walk through cemetery; once part of Buddhist temple, now owned by city
• Plots are for ash remains of everyone in family and family maintains it
• If there are no more heirs and nobody takes care of it, it returns to city property
• Can choose to use “condos”; put ashes in crypt and city will maintain it
• Buddhist monk assigns a posthumous name to deceased and writes it on notched stick at back of plot (notches symbolize levels of pagoda)
• Buddhist temple
• In Japan, Buddhism is always tinged with Shintoism and sometimes Confucianism
• Temple of Buddha, and shrine to Ojizo-san, god of travelers and unborn children
• Historical sake storefront
• More Shinto symbolism; “rake” shrine with plum flowers, carp, other signs of good fortune….Rope with paper lightning strikes hanging from it
• Bus to capsule hotel
• Coed not allowed; women on one floor, men on another, Group lounge area, laundry facilities.  We each tried out the bed.  One meter by one meter by 2 meters.  Shelf, bed, pillow, TV, radio, curtain for door.
• Walk to lunch through park (first sighting of cherry blossoms on weeping cherry tree
• Lunch
• Subway to Ueno Park
• Homeless are allowed to use the park at night but must pack up all of their belongings and store them outside the park on carts by 9am.  Nobody touches them during the day.
• National Museum for art and cultural history
• Subway to Buddhist Temple
• More Shinto Torii and guardian gods of death and birth guarding entrance
• Horse pictures for petitions to the gods (in place of traditional live horse offerings)  (each temple had an animal specific to their temple.  As we traveled, these “animal pictures” were fox or deer.)
• You can purchase your fortune; if not a good fortune, you can tie it on a rack there to reject it
• Walk to government building for observation tower; did not see much because of the weather
• JR back to Mita and hotel; then to dinner with the others

Monday, March 28, 2017

High of 49, rain in am, sunny in pm  word of the day: sumimasen (excuse me)

JR to Kamakura

• Streets were crowded with commuters, black suits and white shirts; a sea of umbrellas
• Rog’s ticket was “eaten” by the machine but an officer opened the turnstile and found it for him
• Rode in first class car for 50 minute ride
• The town is site of Mr. “M” (Minamoto Yoriyoshi) capital.  Mr M was a shogun who conquered Northern Japan for the emperor then chose Kamakura for his capital since it is protected on 3 sides by mountains, one side by water
• Took the shuttle on old oxcart trail to Nasekannon, a shrine to Kannon, goddess of mercy
• At entrance, a shrine to Ojizosan had numerous offerings of small replicas of Jizo that parents of miscarriages have written their names on and placed on shelves
• Kannon cave
• Did calligraphy rock at shrine; “progressive sutra”, one character at a time (of course, there is a donation for this)
• Walk to Giant Buddha
• 2 fisherman in town “found” the Buddha in the water and brought it to land
• Dragon lady on the island in the bay saw Buddha when a tsunami washed the building around it away.  She fell in love with  him so when town rebuilt around him, she sent another tsunami to destroy the building.  Now Buddha sits out with no walls around him
• Made of bronze, originally had gold leaf but little of that remains
• Buddha is 43.8 ft high, and weighs 93 tons.  Made in wood originally in 1243 (it took 10 years of labor), but after it was damaged in a storm, they decided to cast it in bronze around 1252.  Earthquakes have damaged the base and recent repairs have strengthened it.  Able to go inside.
• Bus to lunch at Hakura for tempura
• Bus to Shinto temple,Tsurugaoka Hachiman
• Built by Mr M to honor Hachiman, god of samurai and patron of the Minamoto family
• Promenade to shrine starts at waterfront and goes all the way up to the shrine; built by Mr M for his pregnant wife
• Same “offerings” of greeting card, horse pictures (arrow shape), but also arrows that are representative of “breaking through”; used to help you pass a test or challenge.  
• Mr M had a stepbrother who was well liked and becoming too powerful so Mr M planned to kill him.  He escaped so Mr M captured his girlfriend from Kyoto instead.  She was a good dancer so he made her perform dances on the pavilion in front of the shrine, then got angry when she sang to her lover while she danced.  Mr M’s wife convinced him that should be expected and not to punish her.  She was pregnant and Mr M killed her child when it was born male.  It is questionable if the brother was ever killed; legends like to purport that he lived.
• At the left side of the stairs at the entrance stood a 1000 year old ginko tree that was removed after storm damage in 2010.  It is believed that the nephew of the shogun hid behind this tree when he assassinated his uncle in 1219.  He was beheaded shortly after.  
• Discussed Japanese superstitious beliefs with Akane-san; blood type (determines your personality and may affect your chances of getting a job) and year born (if you are born in an unlucky year, you can add a year to your age or use the Hesen calendar (# of years the current emperor has ruled)  note: current emperor wants to resign but Japanese hope that he will wait until 2020 when it will make the calendar luckier for them)
• Met a group of girls who had rented kimonos for the afternoon, a common practice of young girls.  Kimonos are polyester, not silk but the company will help dress you and even do your hair and then you walk around until it is time to return it
• Kamakura era in Japanese history: 1192-1333
• Discussed education with Akane-san.  Many parents work hard to get their children into private school, a guarantee that they will get into university.  Parents even attend a class to learn how to pass the interview to get the child accepted into preschool.  If you go to public school, you can still get into university but you have to work very hard and be very smart
• Akane-san bought us “pigeon cookies” before heading to the return train; These cookies are only made in Kamakura
• Walked to government building to see view but line was way too long so went to office bldg across the way and got a 180 degree view.
• Went down “bar alley”
• Walked down neon light area...reminded me of Times Square
• Went to red light district (adult entertainment area); had dinner at Kamakura.  The place specializes in noodles and pot stickers.  You pay and place your order in a vending machine out front then go inside and sit at a counter where they serve you.  No tipping in Japan
• Kanpai...cheers in Japanese (“bottoms up”)

Tuesday, March 28

High of 57, sunny   word of the day: Ohayou gozaimasu (good morning)

• Subway ride to the Jogai, an open air market of stalls like Denio’s. Then to Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, the Tsukiji Fish Market where they auction off fish.  Chaos of electric scooter trucks, bicycles, motorcycles and people.  Madhouse.
• Walk to Sushi Sen where Akane-san treated us to Japanese sushi.  Sampled squash, cucumber, salmon, tuna, eel and scallop sushi.
• Visit to Meiji-jingu, Shinto shrine
• Largest torii in Japan, made of a 1500 year old cypress from Formosa
• Saw wedding couple there for their Shinto wedding, as well as a couple who brought their car to be purified/blessed by Shinto priest who dusted it, then walked around it with a cup of sake
• Gorgeous grounds emphasizing the woodland feature with 1500 trees donated from Shinto temples around Japan to be planted there
• Shrine honors deities of Emperor Mejii and Empress Shoken who died in early 1900’s
• Instead of 90 degree turn on the road, they used 88 degrees since the written form of 8 is an auspicious symbol that opens, indicating promise and possibilities
• The shrine was opened in 1920, destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in 1958
• Walked down Omotesando Street (top name designers and stores with contemporary architecture) to lunch at Cafe Figaro’s
• Shinjuku terminal is very busy; 4.5 million people use it daily.
• Returned to hotel for a rest.  Downloaded pictures and did blog
• Walked with Rog to park nearby then stopped at 7-11 for sandwiches for dinner.

Wednesday, March 29

High of 67, cloudy  word of the day: douzo (please) Onegeishimasu.

• First day with full group.  Orientation at 9am
• History lesson.  To (East) Kyo(Capital) population 13 million live in Tokyo, during the day, is occupied by 34 million.  Total population of Japan 130 million.  70% of Tokyo is mountainous and the area of land is slightly under CA but it is long and narrow so is at Hawaii latitude at the south and New York at top, Tokyo at same lat as LA.
• 1958 Tokyo Tower was built, 9ft taller than Eiffel Tower.  Built as TV tower for emperor’s wedding.  Has been replaced for TV transmission with Tokyo SkyTree which is shaped like a rocket ship
• First history of Japan was recorded by Chinese because Japan had no written language.  Chinese wrote of a Japanese queen in 280AD.  In 1200, Shogun power started feudal  era. 1600 Edo/Takagawa period with peace.  In 1868, the shogun gave up his power to the emperor and the emperor moved to Tokyo.
• The Japanese black pine represents the samurai spirit: since it stays evergreen, is strong and consistent
• Emperor’s palace was originally Edo Castle
• Emperor has 2 sons, both married, and one grandson
• Walked through East Gardens at emperor’s palace; very peaceful and beautiful
• Bus to Ginza District for lunch and shopping.
• Lunch was “fondue”; bowl of hot broth at each place setting.  You dipped raw thin slices of meat and vegetables into it to cook them and sauces to put on rice when you ate them.  After all meat is cooked, waitress makes a soup using your broth.
• After lunch, went to dept store to look for hishaku; found one on display but none for sale.  Made trip down to store basement to look at gourmet food items with fabulous presentations but quite pricey
• Bus to Yasukuni shrine, a Shinto memorial to honor soldiers who died in war, completed in 1869.  Museum shows the history of wars Japan has fought and has rooms of mementos from soldiers and their families. At end of museum tour, a Shinto priest answered our questions.  Then we walked through a small tea garden and past the Shinto shrine.
• Bus back to hotel for a short rest before taking taxis to dinner.  Dinner was full of interesting dishes...very Japanese

Thursday, March 30

High 59 sunny  

Word of the day; Ohio (good morning until about 10am) O hayou gozaimasu

Konichiwa (good day after 10)

Konbanwa (good evening after dark)

Oyasuminasai  (good night)

• Bus ride to Hakone
• General discussion:  
• Dress code for men is dark suit, white shirt.  For women, must wear stockings with skirts, nice blouse, may wear pants or suit.  In schools, 97% have uniforms
• Salary; avg in Japan is $41K.  Each person must pay $150/mo towards SS, 8% of salary for health ins, and income tax (approx 16%)
• Housing; 600sq ft condo in Tokyo suburb is about $600/mo.  When you rent, you need about 6 months rent.  1 mo to agent, 2 months to owner as gratuity, 2 month security deposit (usually get part of it back) and pay one month in advance. They call condos mansions.  A house in Tokyo would be in the millions
• Language: Japanese have 2 phonetic alphabets.  One for Japanese words and one for non Japanese words.  In addition, they have kanji.  All students must learn 2K kanji (how to read, pronounce and write them)  All students take calligraphy from elem through high school.  Japanese can be written horizontally (reads from left to right, start at front of book) or vertically (reads from right to left, starts at back of book).  Urinals have an exercise chart sometimes.  77% Japanese homes have a shower toilet,  but all kindergarteners must know how to use a squat toilet before they attend
• schools still use a squat toilet.
• Saw Mt Fuji from freeway, then stopped at lake to get pictures
• 3 interpretations of the meaning of fuji: 1-samurai rich wisdom, 2-mountain never die or 3-mother of our respected ancestors.
• Until recently, women were not allowed to climb to top of Mt Fuji (they were considered unclean)
• 12,400 feet high
• Last eruption was in 1707
• Mt  Fuji is an object of worship in Shinto
• Ashigawa
• Went through new Wakahiko Tunnel to do “A Day in the Life” in Ashigawa
• Population 300, avg age is 65.  They have 3 elementary kids in the school and 4 kindergarteners
• Kinchan was our hostess and we went to the Community Center to make hoto (noodles), then the 2 women made a soup with the noodles and served it with salad of fresh vegetables from their gardens.  After eating, we asked a lot of questions then Kinchan walked us through the town.  We stopped at a house and got a tour of a typical Ashigawa home, met 2 residents on our walk (one was a spry 94 year old who was on her way back from her daily trip to Hakone Hot Springs and the other was an 87 yr old taking a day off from working in the fields.
• The bus was waiting at the end of the walk and both Kinchan and the storekeeper from the Farmer’s Market waved at us until the bus was out of sight.  The storekeeper left a present for us with the bus driver; origami shirts that hold toothpicks.
• Trip to Hakone
• Saw Mt Fuji again with no clouds at all.
• Got to Hotel Kagetsuen in Hakone at 5:30.  Room 426.
• We all put on the Yukata robes in the room and went to dinner. Dinner was the “little bit of everything” kaiseki style.  Rog even ate the octopus.
• Akane-san took a group picture of all of us in our yukatas.
• Rog and I headed down for a mineral hot springs experience. We took a chance and found one private bath available, so both got to do a hot spring together.  Back to the room all relaxed and ready for a good night’s rest.

Friday, March 31

High 53  SNOW!!!!

• After buffet breakfast, went to roof to see Mt Fuji for one last time.
• On bus discussion…
• Hakone population is 19K.  Was known as a 1 of 53 checkpoints on the Tokaido (East-West Highway from Edo to Kyoto) ever since Edo Period.  Takagawa required each feudal lord to report to him annually which meant that the lord had to travel to Edo with up to 2K samurai and his family and attendants, feeding and housing them.  This was expensive and cost the lord money that he might otherwise use to wage war on Takagawa.  One other security measure for Takagawa: when the lord left to go back home, his wife and family had to stay in Edo, as sort of hostages.  Hakone checkpoint is known for checking for guns coming in, and women going out.
• Travelers on Tokaido often collected souvenirs.  One of the most popular was wood block prints (ukiyo-e), usually of scenery or ladies.  In 1890, Japan participated in the World Expo in Paris and wrapped the porcelain they were sending for exhibition in ukiyo-e.  Westerners fell in love with the paper more than the porcelain.  4 people are involved in the making of a ukiyo-e; Painters, carvers, printers, and patrons.  The wood used was juniper or cherry and patrons often used the prints to promote their products. (A kimono maker may pay to have prints of orange kimonos and then everyone wants his orange kimonos.)
• 7-11 in Japan is no longer affiliated with the 7-11 in the US, but is owned by a major Japanese supermarket chain.  Lawson took its name from a dairy in Iowa.
• Manga Culture is very popular in Japan.  Not only for children, but enjoyed by adults, it is like a comic book but much more varied, teaching history and culture as well as just fictional stories.  Artwork is high quality and often people stand in long lines to get a new release.
• Stop at Hakone Open-Air Museum
• Private museum owned by communications conglomerate opening in the late 1960’s.  Houses about 100 sculptures in 70K sq meters of land, and has a building featuring Picasso’s works.  They even have a foot bath for tired feet.  Not to mention a great gift shop for shoppers.
• Made a stop to walk a section of the Tokaido Road lined with cedars. (Feudal lords planted cedars along the road to provide protection from the wind and sun.) Luckily, the rain didn’t start until we got into lunch.
• Lunch at Hakone Hotel that was outstanding.  Huge buffet and variety of dishes and desserts.  First time for chocolate so far!
• Narukawa Art Museum;  The curator gave a short speech to explain the unique pigments used in Japanese art.  They had about 400 paintings as well as a kaleidoscope display and a unique ivory carving, 2 jade pieces and a paper cutting piece.
• Cruise on Lake Ashi.  The rain turned to sleet at the beginning of this ride and then snow by the time we finished.  No view of Mt Fuji today! Lake Ashi is a crater lake formed 4K years ago.  It is 6 mi wide, avg of 45 meters deep.  Got off at Kojiri.
• Visit to Fuji Visitor Center for a video of Hakone geological history and overview of plants and animals.  
• Back to hotel to warm up!  On the way, Akane-san handed out sake Kit Kat bars,  postcards of Lake Ashi from the art museum, and pins from the visitor center.
• After a couple of hours rest, we put on our yukata and met Akane in the lobby for furo shiki (fabric wrapping) before the buffet dinner at 6:30.  We enjoyed the snowfall out of our window.

Saturday, April 1

48 high, rain in Hakone cloudy in Kanazawa

Word of the day: gokurosama (Thank you for your hard work)

Woke to about 4” of snow and still snowing

• Bus to Hamamatsuya, woodworking workshop. Hakone Yosegi Zaiku.   The 8th generation of the family that does thin laminate (100 sheets out of each block of 1” wood layers), secret boxes (4-72 tricks, originally used as secure pillows) and wood inlays. They can no longer use Hakone wood (it is protected), so use wood from other places in Japan and imported wood. The glue used to be rice based, now it is white glue(Elmer’s). The family started this in the Edo period.  After an interesting demonstration, we shopped for our special memento and picked up gifts for the family.
• Bus discussion:
• Holidays: They celebrate April Fools Day, Christmas (Santa Claus brings presents to the kids, adults like to go out to dinner.  Big thing to get special KFC decorated bucket and coffee mug on Christmas and many reserve to make sure they get one.), New Year’s Day (whole family gets together and children receive money from each adult; from $5 for a kindergartener to $50 for a high schooler), Weddings (guests must bring an envelope of $300 cash ($500 for a relative) using crisp, new bills.  The amount is an odd number, one that cannot be divided evenly: is more auspicious.  It is rude to decline the invite), Funerals (must bring an envelope of cash, usually $50 in old bills so it doesn’t look like you expected the person to die), Easter (not real popular, but kids like egg hunts), Halloween (getting more popular in the last 20 years), Valentines Day (female gives sweet gift to male), White Day (on March 14, the guys give a present to the girl who gave them sweets on V Day; he is expected to spend about twice as much)
• Cars; yellow license plates are used on the small, less powerful cars and they pay about $80/yr in license fees.  White license plates are for more powerful cars and they pay $350/yr.  Men don’t like to be seen driving yellow plates.
• Bus to Tokaido Shinkansen (bullet train) in Odawara.  Started in 1964, avg speed 160mph.  The newest trains have been tested at 375mph but passengers complain that they can’t view the scenery. There are hetzachan (RR enthusiasts) who are “railroad maniacs”.  On our way to the station, we passed Odawara Castle, originally built in 1417 by the Ojo clan.  Was reconstructed in 1960.  In the station, we purchased a bento (eki-ben) lunch; a box lunch to eat on the way to Nagoya.  The ride was about 1 hr.
• In Nagoya, we transferred to the Limited Express Train for a 3 hour ride to Kanazawa.  About an hour into the trip, the train changes direction and we all turned our seats around to face the other direction.
• Kanazawa population is 460K.
• Taxi to Grand Hotel, room 916.  After 30 minutes, met everyone in the lobby for a walk to an Italian restaurant for dinner.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

High of 50, sunny

Kanazawa

• Feudal lord Maeda was given 1 million goku of land from Takagawa, a close friend of his.  One goku is enough land to support one person so Maeda was lord over 1 million people. The area is called “Kaga” and Maeda is credited with bringing in artisans and craftsmen to help make beautiful gifts for Takagawa.  Shinto gods are ancestors of the emperor and the emperor has the Imperial Council write the myths and stories of the gods.
• Kenrokuen Gardens, opened to the public in 1875, all of its features are handmade (dirt brought in to make hills, etc). It is referred to as the Garden of Six Elements:  spaciousness, tranquility, artifice, antiquity, water sources, and magnificent view from the garden.  Kotojitiro Lantern is a symbol of Kanazawa and sits on 2 legs mimicking a Japanese harp.  Octagon rocks crossing a pond represent a turtle’s back and signify longevity. (a crane lives 1K years, a turtle lives 10K years)  Statue of god of war.  Zigzag bridge cannot be crossed by evil spirits, it confuses them.  Plum is Maeda crest and they were all in bloom.  The tension between powers (Takagawa and Maeda) was eased when Takagawa sent his 2 yr old granddaughter Tama to marry the 11 yr old son of Maeda.  But Tama and her 2000 servants missed Edo so terribly that Maeda built a street at the entrance to the park to mimic Edo.
• 70% of Kanazawa residents were samurai, so they were well schooled and were craftsmen as well.  400 years ago, they started working in gold. In addition to gold leaf, they made kutani porcelain (distinctive from this area for the colors of yellow, green, purple, red and indigo), fabric dyeing style of uzen, ugenzi painting (detailed painting on panels that outlined between colors with thin line of glue to keep colors from bleeding into each other, then was washed out when the painting was done)
• Bus to Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum.  99% of all gold leaf in Japan comes from here.  They do not export any of it, and obtain gold from outside the country now.  (kawa means gold).  Kanazawa was successful with gold leaf because of the humidity and the skill of the people.  Most important thing needed for making gold leaf is the paper it is stacked with.  Here they use ganpi paper which they pound until it no longer sticks to other sheets. One piece of gold the size of a 10 yen coin is pounded to the size of 4 tatami mats.  It is 1/10,000 mm and can be seen through when held up to the light.  Other countries use bamboo paper or sheep skins to sandwich the gold leaf sheets.  
• Kanazawa celebrates Aug 9 Gold Leaf Day, floating lanterns on the river and a festival in the summer with samurai parade.
• Lunch was salmon or chicken.
• Bus to Higashi-Chaya district to see geisha houses and old wooden bldgs.  There are 14 geisha in Kanazawa now, from ages 18 to 85.  In Kanazawa, they are called geiko not geisha.  The parties they “host” last exactly 90 minutes, using incense as a timer.  Each stick of incense burns for 45 minutes so they do 2 for each party (they have figured that 90 minutes is the right amount of time for sake: not too drunk, not too sober).  The customers must be referred by a current reliable client and are billed 2 times a year. Your bill is determined by the number of incenses burned.  A party usually starts with sake, then has 2 dances and games.  A drum game is popular and you can tell how often a person goes to the geiko house by how well they play the drums.  The ochaya we visited was 190 years old and has a blue room used for samurai and a red room used for merchants.
• Bus to Oshimo Market; another “Denio’s” but much cleaner.  Surprising to see crabs for $100 ea.  The season for crabs ended in March and they have been keeping these guys alive in tubs so they are more expensive.  The market started in 1600’s and is closed on Wednesdays because the word for Wednesday means water and business is washed out so they stay closed.
• Visit to cafe Los Angeles.  Opened by a evacuee from Fukishima to help other evacuees.  120K people were evacuated from a 20 mile radius of the nuclear plant,  Mr Morishima (“Mickey”) was living in Iwaki with his wife and 2 children, next door to his mother and uncle.  He had just built a new house.  He made a living carving ebisu god for fishermen.  On March 11, 2011 there was a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.  On March 12, there was an explosion at the nuclear plant.  Japan had 43 nuclear plants and closed them all after the explosion.  Now, 6 years later, they have reopened 3 plants and have allowed people to move back into the area outside a 6 mile radius.  But the people know that radiation levels are still way too high, especially for children, so many will not go back.  Mr. Morishima went through very depressing times but finally sold his home in Iwaki and had enough money to open the cafe.  He was following the recommendation of his twin brother who lives in LA so he named the restaurant after him.  He has found that other evacuees come to the cafe to share experiences and have found it helpful to be able to talk about it...sort of therapeutic.  We had tea and banana muffins while he lectured, then asked questions.
• Back to hotel, we dropped off our pack and hiked to Porte Mall to look for our hishaku.  It took about 18 minutes to get over near the terminal but we found the tea store and she was expecting us.  We got the hishaku and had a nice conversation with the owner.  The owner then took us outside to show off his home, his renovated tea restaurant and the apartment bldg he designed and owns.  He is an architect and quite proud of his work.  He made sure that we were headed in the right direction to get back to the hotel.
• We waited at the shopping center for Akane-san and the gang who were going to have Japanese pancakes for dinner.  We took over the tiny restaurant and ordered one dish of pork fried noodles and one shrimp pancake that were cooked on a big griddle that formed the counter top.  DELICIOUS!!  I found the recipe online and will e making this when we get back home.
• Walked home after browsing the basement of the shopping center.  Looked at our pictures from the day, then wrote the blog.

Monday, April 3, 2017

High 50  sunny am, rain pm

Word of the day; douita shima shite (you’re welcome)

• Had breakfast with John and Sandy from western Australia, then downloaded pictures from Gloria
• Bus to Shirakawa-go and Gokayama mountain villages.
• Bus discussion:
• Feudal lords would travel to Edo with their entourage of 2K at a cost of $2million in today’s value.  Sometimes they would even pay locals to dress up and travel with them when they traversed another lord’s land just to impress him.  They would always wear their cleanest, best dress as well. Before they left, they would send their itinerary to Tokagawa so that he would know when to expect them.  They could not be late.  So the expense of the trip was always balanced between going fast so that they would not to have to pay so much for lodging and not going too slow as to be late.  Maeda would also send 4 people with ice from the winter snows in June.  They would run and make it to Edo in 4 days.  Just as they were nearing Edo, they would melt some of it and add dirt so that Tokagawa would not have expectations of what  “could be”.
• Taxes were paid in rice.  (except in Shirakawa-go; they could not produce rice so they paid in cash.  They sold their vegetables and silkworms in the city.  Instead of rice, they ate millet.)
• Kanazawa was a rice producer, sake maker and famous baseball player Matsui
• Sumo is the national sport, originally a Shinto ceremony to predict the rice harvest.  After 1600, it became a spectator sport.  There are 45 sumo stables in Japan, 6 tournaments a year each 15 days long.
• 3.5% of Japan’s population is a farmer and 60% of them are over age 65
• Houses in the country are much larger than city homes and are multigenerational.
• Agriculture in Shirikawa-go is barley and fruit.  
• It used to take 4 ½ hrs to get to Shirikawa from Kanazawa but now with new highway (and LOTS of tunnels) built 10 years ago, it now takes just an hour.  The longest tunnel is 5.5 miles.  The largest tunnel in Japan is 9 miles long in Northern Japan and is for trains.  On this series of over 8 major tunnels, you pop out for a while to river and snow scenes.
• Population of Shirikawa-go area is 6K and there are 141 thatch roof houses.  The first floor of the houses was residential and the 2nd and 3rd floors were for silkworms.
• Yui means connection.  In this area, the Yui group helped people redo their roof every 20-30 years.  A master would be needed to cut the edges, but the local yui did the thatching.  Nowadays, the government pays 90% of the cost to replace the roof and they usually do ½ one year and the other half the next year.  Slopes are 60% to handle the snow. It takes 3 days to dethatch a roof and one day to thatch it again.  Thatch roofs architectural style is known as gassho-zukuri (roof constructed like hands in prayer).
• This area was part of Maeda’s land and because it was so remote, he had the people make gunpowder for him secretly.  If Takagawa knew he was making gunpowder, he might be in big trouble.
• We commented on how clean everything is in Japan.  Akane-san said that all school kids clean their own schools.  From age 6-15 (elementary thru high school), they rotate every week with teams to clean the room, the hallway, the playground and the bathrooms.  Everyday after lunch, the teams spend 20 minutes cleaning and wiping down the floors.  At the end of every school year, they also have to wax the floors and clean the screens.
• Power in Japan: 7% is hydroelectric, 4% geothermal, 33% (before 2011) nuclear, the rest liquified gas and coal or oil.  There is not enough flat area for windmills but the government is encouraging use of solar.
• Bus took us to the top of the hill to overlook Shirikawa, then we walked down the hill and through the village.  Bought a hat for Max here.  
• Then went by bus to Gokayama in the Narto area; population 40.
• In the Edo period, there were 70 communities in this area, now there are 60.
• In the winter, they would make gunpowder (best quality in Japan) or washi (paper).
• The communities were on one side of the river and on the other side of the river, Maeda would send samurai prisoners/criminals (regular criminals went to their city jails).  If a father was found guilty of a crime, he would have to live here, as would his son.  They would have a house or a room to live in.  The last of these sons died here when he was 65.  No bridge was allowed to be built, but they did string a rope with a basket from one side to the other.
• This area can get up to 9 feet of snow.  Further up the mountain can get 12-15 ft of snow.
• Lunch at a small restaurant to eat buckwheat noodles (soba) as well as about 10 other dishes. They also taught us how to play the wooden musical instruments called susara and had a traditional dance that we were invited to join.
• We visited the inside of a typical gassho house. Typically, they had 2 small entry rooms, then 2 rooms for residence with another 2 rooms flanking them.  The kitchen was outside.  The floor was bare ground (tatami was not used by farmers).  No metal or nails were used in construction (couldn’t afford them), there were no hallways and no windows.  In winter, they would put thatch on the outside walls for snow protection and insulation so that it was very dark and cold in the home.  The first floor is quite solid and the ⅔ floors sit on top of the first so that there is flexibility for snow and earthquake.  Investigators dated this house at being built in 1670.  The inside of the building looks like it was completely painted black, but that color is from the smoke of many fires.
• The clothes of the people here were  made out of cotton or hemp, not silk (only samurai and high class had silk kimonos).  There are straps sewn into the ends of the sleeves that they can pull, drawing the sleeve up snugger to their wrists so that they can work.  Instead of a skirt, the bottom of the kimono is pants drawn tightly around their ankles.  The headdress is a broad brimmed straw hat pulled down on the sides and tied under the chin.
• Bus to Japanese paper store/manufacturer: Washi (wa=Japan, shi=paper).  Saw video that demonstrated how they harvested stalks of mulberry kozo, steamed them for 3 hrs, strip the bark, dry the bark, remove the outer layer of bark, snow-bleach for 2 weeks, boil 2-3 hrs, wash, remove dirt particles by hand, beat, whip, mix, add tororai, scoop, press and dry, separate, dry.  We then went into the workshop and each of us made 3 postcards from pre-made slurry.
• Bus then took us to an elementary school that now serves as a community center for the village.  Here we learned the art of mochitsuki; making rice cakes (mochi).  They put cooked sticky rice into a wooden vat, then pounded it with a mallet, adding water between each hit to keep it from getting too sticky,  When it gets smooth and dough-like, they make balls and roll it in flavorings.  Ours were soy sauce and sugared soy powder.  These rice cakes are a tradition for New Year’s celebrations and are sometimes dried, boiled or fried.  Akane-san remembers her family using 2 balls stacked like a snowman with an orange slice on top.  It is also popular to add mochi to soup and each area has its own flavor.
• The bus took us back to the hotel at about 5pm.  We walked to the corner Lawson for dinner, coming home with beers, crackers, and cheese.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

High of 68, sunny

• After breakfast, walked to Oyama Jinja Shrine down the street.  Fabulous garden!
• Downloaded Margaret’s pictures from pre-trip
• Taxi with Gloria and Steven to the home of Masanari and Noriko Nakagawa for in home visit.  Tour of house and their art collection (paintings, porcelain, Marilyn Monroe, Marlena Dietrich, our plate (!), records from the 60’s, a prop from a Canadian biplane, 2 x 4 tatami bedroom, Shinto rope over front door, Buddhist temple in house, (and Christian at Christmas), Noriko’s 50 kimonos (an Mosi’s 1), signed baseballs, bathroom with toilet area in separate room from tub and sink, family pictures ( 2 sons, 4 grandchildren). Noriko served us tea and a duck bean cake filled sweet, then coffee and sweet crackers and a dol snack.  We sat on the floor putting our feet into a hole under the short table  with a heater under blankets. We gave them a gift of See’s chocolates and they gave us a teacup.  Mosi owns a liquor store that we visited at the end of the visit and sampled some really good sake.   Mosi did calligraphy for us (he was 1st place calligrapher in high school 3 years),  on left: One time, one meeting, then columns from left to right:
• 29 year (Nesen calendar), 4th month, 4th day
• Kanazawa, 54 Ibaragi (his address)
• Nakagawa Masanari (his name, last and first)
• Our names: Roger and Sue
• At the end of our visit, Mosi had the cab driver take pictures of all of us and then waved and waved as we drove away (still waving!)
• Taxi back to the hotel
• Taxi to lunch with our overnight bags.  Left large suitcase to be shipped to Kyoto.  Lunch was in the terminal at the Grape Tree: buffet salad and spaghetti
• Walk to train for trip to Kyoto.
• Taxi to Sunroute Hotel.  Walk around with Akane-san, then taxi to dinner at Takuri. Bento style dinner.  Then taxi back home.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

High of 68, sunny

• Discussion on bus
• Kyoto has 1600 temples, 800 Shinto shrines.
• In 794, it became the capital of Japan and kept it there until 1868.  They used to move the capital every time there was a natural disaster but Emperor Kama decided that was too expensive and kept it in Kyoto
• Kyo = Big/ mega  To= Capital.  Eventually kyo came to mean capital as well so when it moved to Tokyo, to = East tokyo = east capital  (Later asked Akane about the word “to”; it has 2 meanings “east” and “capital”...synonyms)
• Kyoto gets 55 million visitors a year.
• City is set up on a grid pattern with 1st Ave just south of the Imperial Palace
• In 1868 with Meiji Restoration, the emperor moved to Tokyo but Kyoto still believes that he will come back someday; Akane-san thinks they are a little arrogant as a rule
• Bus to Golden Temple.  Built in 1354 by shogun Ashikaga as his retirement villa, then after he lost power,  became a temple.  In 1950, a young monk burned it to the ground, was arrested, then committed suicide.  His mother visited him in his jail cell, then jumped off the train on the way home committing suicide herself.  So nobody knows why he did it, but perhaps he thought is was too beautiful and was jealous or felt that too many people suffered in the war and lost their homes to have such a beautiful shrine. It was rebuilt 5 years later and then had further improvements during the 1980’s, including the gold leaf to the exterior (7 times thicker than the 1/10,000 mm).  Currently Renzei Buddhist Temple and gets 7 million visitors/year,  When you get a ticket at the entrance, it is also a good luck piece. The inscription reads: Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion. Providing protection, opening a way, unlocking, providing safety in the family.  It must be hung on a north wall, facing the south  
• Odom Festival is held the 3rd week in August.  Lantern Festival; families light a lantern at the temple, then put it in their temple at home for 1 week, then have family reunions where the spirits of their ancestors join them.  After the week, a huge fire burns on the mountain behind the temple to help the spirits find their way back to the spirit world.
• Bus to Hirano Shrine to see weeping cherry and flowering cherry trees.  Also saw Thunberg’s Meadow Sweet, a very pretty low flowering shrub.  They were preparing a Haname; party under the cherry tree.  Red and white means a festival.  Japan has 350 different varieties of cherry, all descendants of 10 basic varieties.
• Akane-san had trouble today differentiating loyal and royal.  She told us she had trouble with election vs erection and knew she has to learn to make the distinction but /r/ and /l/ sound the same to her.
• Bus to Nijo Castle, built by Tokugawa in 1602 for his mansion when he came to visit the emperor.    
• After the mid 1500’s, there were 3 important people:
• ODA (“crazy/stupid”) who instigated the plan to unite Japan under one rule
• TOYOTOMI (“bald rat”) who worked for Oda and fought rivals to unite Japan
• TOKUGAWA (“old raccoon”) who was supposed to help Toyotomi’s heir but instead, took over and ruled all of Japan
• There is a saying in Japan that if these 3 men were talking to a nightingale, they would each say “Nightingale, if you don’t sing for me…
• Oda: I’ll kill you
• Toyotomi: I’ll make you do it
• Tokugawa:  I will wait for you to sing  
• Also, there were 3 social classes; you were whatever your father was
• Top: samurai
• Next: Farmers
• Last: craftsmen / merchants
• More bus discussion
• It costs about $8K/yr for college at public institution, $13K/yr at private college
• Property tax in Kyoto used to be based on the size of your front gate, so many townhouses in Kyoto are deep and narrow; call them “bed of eel”
• Lunch at La Tour, French restaurant on Tokyo University campus
• Bus trip to Sanjusangen-do with its 1001 statues of Kannon, goddess of mercy.  Kannon was ready for enlightenment, but she decided to stay on earth and help the humans.
• So, at the top layer is Buddha, the enlightened one, the next level is Kannon, next is Fudo (usually depicted with a furious face, he is a deity who scolds people who make mistakes), and then finally the guardian gods
• This shrine was founded in 1164, had a fire with only 150 of the cedar statues saved, then rebuilt (so the new statues are still over 700 years old)
• 33 is a special number for Kannon; she can transform herself into 33 different shapes to help humans..  
• More bus discussion
• Geisha are called geiko here.  They must be trained as a maiko first.  They usually start at age 16 and spend the first year serving the older geikos.  Then they train which means they also have to learn the Kyoto dialect of Japanese.  By age 19 or 20, they can become a geiko.  A maiko wears long sleeves, a long belt, real hair and higher shoes.  They live at the tea house and the owner pays for everything. At age 20, they can decided to stay at the tea house but they can also be independent.  If you marry, you can no longer be geiko in Kyoto.  Currently, there are about 200 in Kyoto.
• Bus trip to Nishijin Textile Center for a kimono fashion show.  Another shopping opportunity as well!
• The tradition of weaving in Kyoto started in the 1300’s.  When there was a feudal lord battle in Kyoto in 1457, the weavers fled to Osaka where they picked up new techniques from Koreans.  They returned to Kyoto and the emperor and his family used these Kyoto weavers exclusively.  When the emperor moved to Tokyo, the weavers were sent to Austria to learn European techniques which they incorporated into their style.  
• Bus back to hotel, then a group of us went to the train station to see the 171 steps leading up to the 11th floor of the terminal with 15,000 LED lights that display a variety of movable scenes.  Currently, they are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the building. Then we went up to the top to get a view of Kyoto.  We stopped for dinner at another noodle shop with the outdoor vending machine.  Akane-san explained that every noodle shop is different; different thicknesses of noodles, different broth recipes. Then took a taxi back to the hotel.

Thursday, April , 2017

High 68, cloudy with rain pm

• Bus discussion:
• Before 1960, there were no tall bldgs in Kyoto.  It was an unwritten agreement by the people that nothing should be built higher than the pagoda.  Then a few bldgs went higher, including the train station.  Then Kyoto passed a law that no more tall bldgs would be allowed.  
• Nintendo started in Kyoto with a flower card game.
• Bus to Fushimiinari
• Inari is a category of shrine; all use fox as god of harvest.  Legend tells that a few farmers spied a fox in their fields, and a remarkably good harvest followed so they decided that the fox must be a messenger from the gods.  There are 30K inari shrines in Japan.  Fushiminiinari is the main headquarters.
• Built in 711 and rebuilt every 20 or 30 years to refresh power of the god and to teach the new generation how to do it.  Miyadaiku are Shinto carpenters
• Shimenawa; rice straw rope that separates the outer world from the spiritual world and keeps out evil spirits.  Sumo champs use it as well. Attached to it are  washi paper lightning strikes for good luck (lightning means rain for good harvest). Washi paper is extremely strong.  In the old days, all records of property ownership and taxes were recorded on washi paper.  If there was a fire, these papers would be tossed into a well.  After the fire, they would pull the papers out and you could still read them.
• wishes=prayers. Superstitions-beliefs
• An inari shrine shows one fox holding a key to the box of wisdom or a wish-fulfilling jewel, a sickle or sheaf or sack of rice.  He is the god of farmers, but since there are so few farmers now, he is also considered the god of business.  
• It was believed that the gods would ride a white horse.  This shrine has a statue of a white horse in an enclosure with glass pane windows.  People have broken a corner of the glass out and they toss their business cards into the room near the horse so that they get a promotion or do well in a business deal.
• Buying a torii is and advertising/marketing thing as well as a donation to the gods.  There is a sign with prices for the different sizes.  As the torii rots, it can be replaced or renewed.  On the left pillar is your name and on the right pillar is the date.
• There are 2 stone pagodas.  If you lift the top and it is lighter than you thought it would be, your wish will be granted.
• To take the full hike to all of the torii on Mt. Inari takes 2 ½ hrs.
• It is popular for Japanese to visit the shrine during the 3 day New Year celebration.  The shrine has 2.5 million visitors at this time.
• More bus discussion:
• In some areas, people buy garbage bags and that is how they pay for the service.  All of their garbage goes in the bag and it is left out for collection.  One day of the week they collect recyclable paper, another day bottles and plastic and another day garbage.  People cover the pile of bags with a net to keep animals out.
• Kyoto is surrounded by mountains on three sides; the north, west and east.  In the Imperial Palace. The emperor’s seat faced the south (“open to the sea”).
• Buraku are untouchables of Japan.  This lowest social class did the work nobody wanted to do (grave burial for example).  In 1868, this was stopped, but the stigma remained.  Up until the 1970’s, anyone could look up your records at city hall.  You must register with city hall within 2 weeks of moving into the area or pay a fine.  Untouchables all lived in a low rent area so it was fairly easy to find out if someone’s ancestors were untouchables.  People were not allowed to marry, promotions were denied.  This is a more common practice of the older generations.
• More discrimination is done with Koreans.  After 1910, Japan claimed N and S Korea, then brought many Koreans to Japan to do the hard labor.  Until the 1990’s, they had to report annually to city hall for fingerprinting.  After 1990, it was less obvious but there is still some discrimination.  They still have to retain an alien card.  If they marry a Japanese, then they can become a citizen.
• Netto-uyoku (Netouyo) is an extremist group that is anti-Korean and interacts on the internet often with hate speech.
• Interestingly, Korean music (K-Pop) is extremely popular.
• There is a stereotype that Korean are gamblers, as Pachinko parlors are very popular and most are owned by Koreans.  Technically, pachinko is not gambling as they use prizes / pawn shop as rewards for high scores.  But you can take your ticket next door and get cash for it.
• There are 1200 certified tour guides in Japan. The government recently made the test easier to encourage more people to become guides. It is illegal for a guide to get paid in Japan if they are not licensed.  
• Kindergarten children wear pink hats, elementary students wear yellow.  Their umbrellas are yellow as well: makes it easy for bus driver (and other drivers!) to see them.
• Bus trip to Nara.
• Nara population is 360K.  From 710-793, it was capital of Japan before it moved to Kyoto.  It is the east end of the silk road and is older than Kyoto  It is now a quiet suburb.
• Houses in Nara hang a stuffed figure at their front doors.  Once every 60 days, a bug crawls out of your body during the night and reports to the gods, telling them all of your misdeeds.  You can stay up all night and party so that the bug does not sneak out, or you can hang one of these figures so that the gods will give them the punishment.  Families hang one for each member of the family.
• Nara temples were all built before 790 so they never used tatami mats.
• Lunch at a small cafe for tempura, then walked through shops of local crafts.  
• Bus to sake factory; Hagi Blewely.  (I love the way Anake-san says brewery:)  )  We were shown through the factory and given a quick idea of their method for making sake.  Then we were able to taste 2-3 kinds of sake.
• Bus to Eastern Great Temple: the largest wooden building in the world.  Built by emperor Shomu in the 700’s, it was burned in battle and rebuilt in 1600.  The Buddha was roughed out in bamboo and hemp, then covered with mica, then clay to make a mold, then copper was poured.  It was outside until the late 1600’s when a young monk at age 30 saw Buddha sitting in the rain and made it his mission to raise enough money to rebuild the enclosure.  He eventually raised enough money but had to rebuild it a bit smaller.  The original building used 1000 year old cedar trees so could be larger.  There were no more trees old enough to support the same size structure so it had to be built smaller.
• The park in this area is full of deer; the temple’s designated messengers from the gods.  The population of deer consistently remains at 1K with no interference from the temple.
• Buddha has 32 attributes (in addition to 655 curls)
• Level feet
• Thousand-spoked wheel sign on feet
• Long, slender fingers
• Pliant hands and feet
• Toes and fingers finely webbed
• Full-sized heels
• Arched insteps
• Thighs like a royal stag
• Hands reaching below the knees
• Well-retracted male organ
• Height and stretch of arms equal
• Every hair-root dark colored
• Body hair graceful and curly
• Golden-hued body
• Ten-foot aura around him
• Soft, smooth skin
• Soles, palms, shoulders, and crown of head well-rounded
• Area below armpits well-filled
• Lion-shaped body
• Body erect and upright
• Full, round shoulders
• Forty teeth
• Teeth white, even, and close
• Four canine teeth pure white
• Jaw like a lion
• Saliva that improves the taste of all food
• Tongue long and broad
• Voice deep and resonant
• Eyes deep blue
• Eyelashes like a royal bull
• White ūrṇā curl that emits light between eyebrows
• Fleshy protuberance on the crown of the head

• The 2 guardians at the gate to the temple represent the beginning and the end (O and M ; the first and last letters of the Sanskrit alphabet), one with an open mouth and one with closed.
• Outside the temple sits a student under Buddha, Binzuru, also known as the drunk monk (so he can’t be inside the temple).  People touch the part of
  Benzuru that ails the person.  Thought to heal.
• There is a gold pagoda that was donated to the temple after it went to the 1970 World Fair with a miniature of the temple.
• Multiples of 3 are good luck in Buddhism
• The entry to the temple was built in 1980 with stone from India, China, Korea and Japan, showing the progression of Buddhism
• Bus trip to Kasuga Shinto Shrine of the 1000 stone lanterns
• Also rebuilt every 20-30 years starting on the 700’s
• Shrine of the Fujiwara family.  Fujiwara got his power from an arranged marriage between his son and the daughter of the emperor.
• People pay to have their name and wishes on a paper that is pasted to a stone lantern.  On the lantern, the date is carved on the back and the name of the shrine is carved on the front.
• Twice a year (Feb 3 and in the autumn) candles inside the pagodas are lit.
• At this shrine, the object of worship is the mountain so the torii gate opens to the mountain.  A monk brings an offering to the torii daily (sake, rice, dried kelp and seasonal vegetables).  Normally, it would be left but here there are too many deer so he doesn’t leave it.
• Bus trip back to Kyoto.  Akane-san showed us a DVD about a maiko/geiko party.  Girls make about $65/hr but only work for 4-6 hours an evening.  They train from early morning until mid afternoon every day, then start preparing at 4pm.  Parties are from 6-12pm, then they go back to their tea house.  Each tea house has old relics that are at least 200 years old.  These relics are kept by the girls.  They sleep with them at night (and must protect them if there is a fire or earthquake) and place them in the front of the obi when wearing their kimono.  They also have rules to obey:
• Cannot talk and walk at the same time
• Cannot use a cell phone on the street
• Cannot go to a convenience store
• Itadakimasu: said at the beginning of a meal.  Started here at Kasuga by a 12th century monk.  “I am taking your life” (he felt that all things had a life)

Friday, April 7, 2017

High of 68, rain in am

• Bus to Senkoji Temple; independent temple, no parishioners to support it.  750 years old, built by Suminokura Ryoi, a successful Kyoto merchant in Arishiyama overlooking the Hozugama River. 400 years ago, Arishiyama spent 1.5 billion to expand the river. The temple was relocated to Akashiyana (meaning “storm”) Mtn.  In 1950, a typhoon hit and damaged the temple.  There was no money for repairs.  One old monk resided in the temple and took care of it.  A young monk named Obayashi heard about the temple and moved there to help him.  After the old monk died, the young monk continued on.  He is now married and has 2 children and lives in the town, commuting daily to the temple with his dog, a Japanese shiba named “Violet”.  In 2013, a CEO of a computer company made a donation to enable the temple to install toilets.  This added feature made it possible for OAT to use it as a Grand Circle Foundation site, and OAT began supporting the dojo in 2014.  We took a bus to the river and then got on a pole boat and traveled to the temple landing (with Obayashi and his dog, the dog sat in a little cardoard box falling asleep while on the boat).  We climbed 200 rock steps to the temple and the view was spectacular.  Wisps of fog wound through the valleys and cherry blossoms in full bloom dotted the mountainside.  At the temple, the monk told us about the temple and then led us in a reading of a sutra.  Then we had a short meditation, followed by a longer open eye meditation.  I experienced the stick of Kannon “supporting” me with a couple of whacks on each side of my back shoulder blades.  He then gave us a sweet bean cake and taught us how to whisk green tea.  We had a “casual” tea ceremony, then asked a number of questions.  Then we hiked back down the mountain to the bus.
• The mountain is also the site of the monkey park, and home to many deer.  The ducks on the river migrate from Siberia every year.  The Monk also mentioned that it was thought a dragon lived on the mountain.  Roger asked the monk if he had ever seen the dragon.  He smiled and answered that although he had never seen the dragon, he felt his presence.
• The pole boats have been around for 1K years; the “driver” uses a 12 foot bamboo pole
• In the temple is a small replica of a temple with an abacus roof.  It was made 400 years ago by a merchant whose family supplied abacuses across Japan.  The temple became known as the Abacus Temple and people would bring their broken abacus here for cremation and disposal.  All things have life; if you don’t take care of their death, they will come back to haunt you. Other temples are known for doing the same for needles, dolls, brushes and whisks.  The monk performs a ceremony to say farewell and thank you.  Then the item is burned or placed in a monument.
• The sutra is 2K years old, brought to China 1400 years ago, and now pronounced in Japanese.  It is a mixture of Indian Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese, just as Buddhism is.  We read the sutra to a portrait of Kannon, asking for wisdom.
• Hands together, fingers upward is a symbol of wisdom (hanya).  In Buddhism, there are 2 kinds of wisdom
• Wisdom to separate things (left and right, male and female, etc)
• Hanya: wisdom to see that all things are the same (left and right, male and female, etc)

You and the tree are the same.  We all exist the same.  Hands together means everything is the same.  This helps you appreciate things around you. In everyday life, we usually follow the first kind of wisdom.  In meditation we will focus on the second kind of wisdom.  

• As you meditate, focus on a long exhalation and the inhalation will follow accordingly. Between inhalation and exhalation, pause and focus on an area you want to relieve.  As your ability to meditate grows, you will be able to meditate while walking, and then to all of your daily activities.  Accept distractions and then let them go.
• The tea ceremony is to show that we all drink the same tea, at the same moment, with the same mind.  Drink it as if it is the first tea of your life.  Drink it as if it is the last tea of your life.  Apply that thinking to everything in your life.  Appreciate.  The first tea ceremony was 800 years ago in China.  It came to Japan 450 years ago, during the period of feudal lord fights.  The tea ceremony was important to share a peaceful moment.  The door to the tea room is small for 2 reasons: to show humility and to prevent swords.  A tea room is usually very simple; a flower, incense, a calligraphy.  The calligraphy in our tea room said “ A real person does not have a special class; we are all same”.
• The cloak on the monk comes from Indian tradition.  The Chinese added the robes under the cloak (colder in China) and the Japanese added the white under-robe (Shinto influence)
• Buddhism has 3 philosophies
• Things change
• Buddhism changes
• If you understand 1 and 2, you will reach enlightenment
• In Buddhism, as far as he thinks he is right, he finds out he is never right.
• His farewell blessing to us: May the dragon of this mountain travel to us in the US when we meditate and protect us
• A samurai asked a monk “Where is Hell?”  The monk said he didn’t know.  The samurai persisted but the monk continued to say he didn’t know.  Finally the samurai raised his sword and said, “I know you have the answer but won’t tell me.  I will kill you.”  The monk then replied. “Here is Hell.”
• The HIndu added reincarnation to Buddhism and the Japanese Buddhists now accept it.  The philosophy is that Buddha will return in 15 million years.
• Nirvana.  Nir: empty  Vana: flame of fire   Empty your mind, be open to compassion.  Burn other people to yourself.
• Buddha: a person who is awake.  Notice that everyone is the same and everything changes.
• Bus Discussion
• More garbage collection.  If you have an item bigger than 1 meter, you have to call and get a price for collection.  Then you go to any convenience store and buy a sticker for that price.  They tell you what day you can put it out for collecting.
• What do Japanese think of Hiroshima?  The Japanese felt that they needed to save Asian countries from Western influence.  They aimed to make one great Eastern Asian city (Dai Tōa Kyōeiken).  They felt that Hiroshima was not necessary and that it should never happen again.  They felt that the US had spent a lot of money on developing the bomb so they had to test it. And they had to do both Hiroshima and Nagasaki since they had 2 different bombs. (uranium in Hiroshima and plutonium in Nagasaki).  In that sense, they felt like they were used as an experiment.  Towards the end of WWII, Japan was already devastated.They were drafting women and men over the age of 45 so they knew that they could never win.  But 100% of Japanese are glad that they did not win the war.  Most Japanese like Americans (42% yes, 40% maybe, 9% maybe no and 6% no).  Okinawa has 1.2 million people and 18% of the island is US military with 38K servicemen.  Up until 1972, it was considered US and people there needed passports to get into Japan.  Now it is considered part of Japan.  More than half of Okinawans do not want the military base there and they do not like Americans as much (15% yes, 40% maybe yes, 30% maybe no and 10% no).  More than Americans, Okinawans hate mainland Japanese.  They feel like they were sold out and were sacrificed for the country.  Japan was stalling for better terms of surrender and left Okinawa to fight the invaders.  They were told to fight to the death or commit suicide.
• Japanese and Korea: Same feeling as US.  N Korea is crazy and scary.  Japan has been supporting N Korea until recently.  N Korea kidnapped at least 13 Japanese to use as spies, with the possibility of having up to 400. One of the kidnapped was a 13 year old girl.  They have returned 5 and claimed that the rest were dead but can offer no proof.  So Japan was sending support so that they would not kill the kidnapped victims.
• Bus trip to Kameoka, samurai house to make tamari (sushi hand balls).  These are decorative rice balls used in celebrations.  
• You must use short grain rice, cooked, then mixed with rice wine vinegar, salt and sugar.  You cut and fold the vinegar dressing in while fanning it to quickly bring it to room temperature. (Never mash it.) The quick cooling makes the rice shiny and tasty.  You always use a wooden bowl for this, as it absorbs the excess moisture. Then use about ¼ c per ball and decorate with salmon, shrimp and vegetables.  Place the main decoration in the middle of a piece of saran wrap, beautiful side down.  Then place a ball on top, bring up all 4 corners of the Saran Wrap and twist to make a tight ball.  Garnish and serve.  Roger got kudoes for knowing how to count to four as the corners of the Saran Wrap were folded together
• After we made tamari, they brought out dish after dish to add to our lunch.  After lunch, we toured the home.  The hostess’s husband is a descendant of a samurai and the home is the family home. The original part of the home is 200 years old.  In the past 100 years, they have added to it. They had the samurai armor and swords, as well as much artwork from the period.  The entry to the home is still used by moviemakers for documentaries.
• On the bus trip home, Akane-san taught us how to do origami.  We made Mt. Fuji and a crane.
• Once back in the hotel, Rog and I did some money exchange and then hiked around the neighborhood, checking out the cherry trees and alleyways.  We stopped at a 7-11 and bought some chicken thighs and pork buns for dinner and brought them back to the hotel.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

High 71  rain

• Taxi to trolley, trolley to Arashiyama
• Walk through bamboo grove to Okochi-Sanso, former home and private garden of Japanese actor Okochi Denrijou.  He built it over a period of 30 years, mostly in the 1930’s and 1940’s and opened to the public after his death in 1962. While building his villa, he became interested in Buddhism and incorporated meditation rooms in the garden.  The various parts of the garden were designed to show off the seasons.  There is a tea house on the property where we were served a sweet treat and a bowl of green tea.
• Walk back through the bamboo grove to Tenryuji Temple, primary temple of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism.  Originally built in 1339, it has been destroyed by fire and rebuilt many times.  The gardens are several centuries old.
• One pond has frogs statues.  Frog in Japanese is kaeru, which also means returning.  People keep a picture of a frog in their wallet so that money will return to them as they spend it.
• The red pine over the lake is designed to look like a dragon jumping in the ocean.
• Tenryu:  ten=paradise  ryu=dragon
• The large rock at the entrance is a sign of wealth, that they had enough money to pay to move such a large stone to the temple.
• The squat round red man is daruma (or dharma) and is modeled after Bodhidharma, founder of the Zen sect of Buddhism.  When you purchase the hollow form, the eyes are blank.  One makes a wish and paints one eye in.  When the wish or goal is achieved, the other eye is painted in.  A popular legend is that Bodhidharma got angry that he fell asleep during a 9 years meditation, so he cut off his eyelids so that he would not fall asleep again.  Another legend is that he mediated in one position for so long, his arms and legs atrophied and fell off.
• Back to the trolley, we had a 20 minute break for shopping and green tea ice cream.
• After the trolley, we took a taxi to the Arcade; a covered shopping area that goes for blocks.  I found my earrings and looked in the fabric store, but we failed to find the 100 yen store.  Stopped at Family Mart on the way home for some snacks and then rested until the Farewell Dinner.
• Walked to the geisha district near the canal for dinner at Mimasuya.  It was raining pretty hard and we got fairly wet, so we handed our coats over to the restaurant staff, took off our shoes and headed upstairs where the floor felt heated to our cold feet.  We overlooked the canal and cherry trees and had a delightful last dinner together.  Two drinks were included with the meal which made for a happy group.  After the dinner, it was back downstairs to put on the still-wet jackets and find our shoes, which everyone did successfully except for one of us who ended up with two left mismatched shoes.  (Who could that have been?)  A good laugh was had by all and we headed back to Sunroute for our last night in Japan.

Sunday, April 8, 2017

High 68 probable rain

• Checkout by 11am, depart for airport at 12:30 to fly to SFO

Cities Visited:

Narita (transp only)

Tokyo

Kamakura

Hakone

Ashigawa

Nagoya (transp only)

Kanazawa

Shirakawa-go

Gokayama

Kyoto

Nara

Kameoka

Arashiyama

Osaka (transp only)

Special memories:

• Fabulous toilets everywhere with warm seats, music, bidets and showers
• “Iowa”...our groups’ mistaken good morning
• Cleanliness…..no trash on trains, subways or streets
• Waving, waving, waving
• Friendly people everywhere we went...and lots of them
• GREAT tour guide who was so helpful, patient and understanding
• Gorgeous Landscape
• Feeling safe, even at night in the adult entertainment district
• 16 fellow travelers who got along so well and were always on time
• Learning about a new culture with language, religion and menu experiences
• Moist towelettes at every meal and often no napkins (or very small ones)
• CHERRY BLOSSOMS!!!!