Hiroshima/Miyajima

The final destination on our journey with Ryan's parents was Hiroshima. Below is the famous building with the domed top that was one of the only structures standing after the atomic bomb dropped. 

The A-bomb dome is an important landmark in Hiroshima and can be seen here through the middle of the arched monument in the Peace Memorial Park.

This monument is for a Japanese girl, Sadako Sasaki, who was two years old when the bomb dropped. She survived the blast but years later developed leukemia, likely due to radiation. In the hospital she folded hundreds of origami cranes in hopes of getting better, in reference to a Japanese proverb that promises a wish to anyone who folds a thousand cranes.

She died before reaching her goal of one thousand, but every year Japanese school children from around the country bring cranes to place at her monument. The cranes have become a symbol of peace.

There are tons and tons of paper cranes all over Memorial Park.

And also many school children. Here is a group who were interviewing Ryan's parents for a school project. That is the Memorial museum there in the background.

Since Himeji castle, which we really wanted to see, is under construction, I was glad to get the opportunity to visit the Hiroshima castle. Although it has been completely rebuilt in recent years and made of concrete, it is rather majestic and hints at its former glory.

It has a moat and outer buildings.

The castle itself is now a museum. You can go all the way to the top for a great view of Hiroshima.

One of the foods that Hiroshima is known for is its Okanomiyaki. Unlike the Tokyo version, theirs is layered. On the bottom is batter like a crepe, then seasonings, cabbage, onions and bean sprouts, pork, then a layer of noodles, a fried egg, some sauce and finally sesame seeds and seaweed powder. Phew! It is so complicated that they don't let you make it yourself. They start making it over behind the counter and bring it out to your table side grill to finish cooking.

Ryan and his parents returned to Tokyo and I stayed on with my boss for a 3-day conference. One of our colleagues took us to his favorite okanomiyaki restaurant.

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Only a brief ferry ride away from Hiroshima is the island Miyajima.

Which is home to this famous submerged torii, which appears in every guide book for Japan.

The Miyajima temple is called the floating temple, but it is actually just built on stilts in shallow water, the level of which goes up and down with the tide.

It is a good setting for a wedding.

Miyajima has a lovely 5-story pagoda...

and a population of deer.

For reasons unbeknownst to us, Miyajima is also all about rice spoons. The bigger the better. It is apparently the home of the world's largest rice spoon, below. Why?  I really don't know.

One of the Hiroshima/Miyajima specialties is oyster. Here is the oyster extravaganza set meal that Ryan had for lunch one of the days: oysters fried, steamed and baked in a leaf with rice. 

And then it was back home via the high speed shinkansen, or bullet train.

Kyoto III: the food

Final post about Kyoto. Lots of yummy food, including all things green tea. At one point we ducked in to a cute little tea house for an afternoon snack. The tea house had a nice Japanese garden and koi pond and a menu filled with a million different varieties of tea flavored treats: hot green tea, iced green tea and even a phenomenal green tea ice cream sundae below.

Not too far from our hotel was the Nishiki Market, a narrow, indoor shopping street lined with hundreds of small food shops, some of which have apparently been operated by the same families for generations.

On the left here is a bucket of preserved eggplant I think. I can't say I totally understand what this is all about, but it is a common sight to have various vegetables in this paste stuff. It must help to keep the vegetables moist and fresh in the winter months. On the right is something I am far more familiar with: breads, meats and veggies, all deep fried and crispy. Yummy!

And here was a curious sight at the market: a small quail egg atop a baby octopus body on a stick and dyed in maybe beet juice.  Pretty cute, but I can't attest to the flavor.

On the last night in Kyoto we all went to a fancy restaurant called Minokichi near the hotel and ordered a Kaiseki tasting menu. We opted for the fall-themed menu. 

The highlight was definitely the duck breast, which was cooked at the table in these leaves (maybe banana leaves?) with mushrooms and an amazing miso, walnut, butter sauce. Oh my god, I get happy just thinking about that dish.

All told, we had about 10 courses, each served in beautiful dishes by our kimono-clad waitress.

We even had a small tatami room all to ourselves.  As is usually the case when Ryan and I dine, we were the last people to leave. If you ever find yourself in Kyoto, please check out Minokichi restaurant. It rocks.

And we couldn't let the folks go home without experiencing at least one multi-bowl traditional breakfast. Smoked salmon, egg, simmered tofu, rice, pickled bits, miso soup and even some natto.

Kyoto II: Arashiyama/Takao

On the third day of our Kyoto trip, we ventured a little farther outside of town to Arashiyama.

Here we toured a large living area, perhaps a former shrine, with lots of tatami and wood, but very few other tourists.

After the dwelling, we toured the gardens, which included this pool with frogs.

Finally the garden spills into the main attraction: the famous Arashiyama bamboo forest.

Once out of the forest we found a quiet trail down to the river where one could take an old-fashioned skiff across (or walk a little farther and take the bridge, as we did).

On the other side of the river is the monkey park. After a steep hike up the hill, we made our way to to the park that is home to maybe 50 or so wild monkeys. These ropes are merely there to keep the people from going too far. The monkeys can go wherever they want.

However, since inside this building people buy peanuts and bananas to feed the monkeys, they don't tend to stray very far. Peek a boo!

And finally we ventured even further outside of Kyoto to Takao. A visiting researcher raved about this place, but he failed to mention the long steep approach.

But it was well worth the hike. Unlike every other temple in Kyoto, this one was absolutely empty. We were the only four people in the area, so we just wandered around at our leisure. It was a completely different experience from the rest of the trip.

And the view of the valley from up there was incredible.

'Twas a rainy but peaceful day.

Kyoto I: Temples/Gion

Is anyone still out there following this blog? December got really crazy this year, preparing for two talks for the annual geo conference and then a week+ in L.A. visiting the fam. I'm back in Tokyo again and thought I better catch up on all my blog posts. 

Way back in October, Ry's parents came to visit and we took them to Nara and then Kyoto and finally Hiroshima. Here is the first of three segments on Kyoto. 

 Kyoto is the former capital of Japan and has retained a lot of the old world charm. Our first stop was Sajusangen-do, which is a temple hall that houses 1001 statues of Budda made in the 12th and 13th centuries (sorry no cameras allowed inside with the buddhas).

Next we followed our guide book's suggested walking tour, which had us traversing uphill through "teapot lane" to the Kiyomizu temple. On advice from friends, we first went to the small side building on the left, paid our 100yen, put our shoes in a plastic bag and descended the staircase into the darkest darkness you've ever seen. As you walk, you hang on to a string of large wooden beads. You might as well just close your eyes because you can't see a thing in front of you. Eventually you stumble upon a large stone that you turn a few times and spend a minute reflecting before following the beads out into the light. A really interesting experience.

 Here are Ryan's parents at the Kiyomizu-dera with all of Kyoto behind them in the distance.

At Kiyomizu there are many of these little stone jizo that are adorned with little outfits. 

Most have carved faces and bodies, though some have been worn down with time like the one in the back.  But for some reason this guy with the little red beret in the front just had me laughing and laughing.

We headed down the Sannen-zaka street away from Kiyomizu. Lots of good shopping here and a few of the leaves are just beginning to turn.

This strange contraption that looks like it came straight out of a SciFi film is actually a chestnut roaster.

Strolling through Gion at the end of our walking tour, we spied a couple of real geisha walking quickly to an engagement. This was the best picture I could get. They move fast!

 

The next day we headed out to Nijo Castle. The era of this castle must have been a peaceful period because this so called castle doesn't have a moat or high walls or anything. The walls inside are all made of paper.

The sole defensive architectural feature is that the floors are built somehow on squeaky springs so that when walked upon they tweet like a bird. This was designed to prevent any unannounced visitors. Can you imagine how annoying it would be to live there?  Okay, maybe the expansive garden and surrounding grounds would make up for it.

 Then we were off to visit the golden pavilion of Kinkaku-ji...

 and the famous stone garden of Ryoan-ji.

On the way back into town, we caught this old-timey train.