Once we left the Achi Shrine, we headed to the station to meet Erez. He was delayed by a bit of traffic, but we didn’t have to wait too long.
We headed directly to a restaurant called Brasserie Aile. Maria had seen it on Instagram. It was an amazing food experience, there were 7 courses – each more beautiful than the next. I did not take a photo of the first course, but it was fried crab and I didn’t eat it 🙂
Here are the photos of the meal for those who are interested – all of my courses were either vegetarian or with fish. Norie, Maria and Erez had a couple of courses that had meat – all were exceptional.
Celery and potato soup -mouth watering!
Because I did not have the steak course like everyone else, I think they prepared the “rest of the fish” that we ate earlier. There wasn’t a lot of meat on it, but the concoction that it was cooked in was surprisingly scrumptious. Amazing that the chef could make a fish carcass taste that great!
And… Dessert!
And here we are, stomachs and taste buds fully satisfied:
Spending the day with Norie felt great. We were both remarking on the fact that in our daily lives we are not able to make time for strolling through museums, yet today we made the time to stroll through them together. It was nice having someone to share the experience with. She insisted on treating me to everything even when I tried to pay. She said that I had already spent so much money to get here to come and visit. It was incredibly generous. It was also a bit surreal having our kids, who are both adults now, meet each other. Maybe one day Maria will make it to New York and I will go to visit her there :).
I will finish off this post with a pic of a present I bought for myself this afternoon that I forgot to post earlier. As we were strolling through the historic quarter, Maria wandered into a tiny shop that you could barely notice from the outside, but for some reason, the small table in the doorway caught her eye – there wasn’t even a display window. It was a store which sold incredibly delicate pieces that were replicas of different flowers and natural items like leaves with tiny acorns and berries. They were so incredibly realistic, I was completely captivated by them. As many of you know, I do not wear a lot of jewelry, but I felt compelled to buy a leather necklace with this simple, yet beautiful pendant which reminds me of Japan in June when Hydrangea season is in full force.
When I went to pay, the owner showed me this information sheet which explained how he captured the natural beauty so accurately:
Well, that is part three of my beautiful day with Norie. After checking out of my hotel, I was lucky to have found this cafe which allowed me to hang out for hours using their excellent free wifi, documenting my day from yesterday. I will explore a bit more of Kurashiki this afternoon, hope to have an interesting supper and then will meet up with Erez for our weekend adventure to Onomichi and Innoshima. I am in the home stretch now. That will be my final adventure before heading back home.
We met up with Maria, Norie’s 23 year-old daughter, at around 4 o’clock, after a comedy of errors where we went to where she was, only to find out that she came to the Ohara museum where we just were.
After returning to Jeans Street, we did one of the things on my to-do list which was to try a local desert treat – Extruded purple sweet potato “noodles” on ice cream. I wanted to wait for them because I didn’t want to have to eat the whole thing. That is one of the downsides to travelling alone – it is difficult to just “taste” something. Here is a video of the process of extrusion – they purposely do it in front of you for the fun of it 🙂 When we tasted it we found a slice of yellow sweet potato in the bottom under the ice cream – a nice delicious surprise.
Things were closing up, so we missed one of the museums, as we arrived there literally 2 min after the last people were being let in. We then headed to the Achi Zodiac shrine. As with many shrines, there were many steps just to get to the shrine, but we were rewarded with some beautiful views of the city. I guess the location adds to the feeling of being elevated when you reach the shrine where you will be petitioning the gods for whatever wish you would like to be granted. We passed a woman of advanced years, hunched over, walking with her cane on her way back from the shrine. It reminded me of when I was climbing the 8 hour trek up Mount Fuji in 1995 and was occasionally being passed by 80+ year- olds with walking sticks, who probably make the pilgrimage every year. It was great having Norie and Maria with me so they could help interpret the signs at the entrance to each of the individual shrines within the compound.
Shrine Gate
Petitions tied under the heads of the signs of Asian animal signs of the zodiac:
Daruma shrine – Traditionally people buy a Daruma, make a wish and colour in the pupil of one of the eyes. They visit the shrine and pray. Once their request has been fulfilled, they colour in the second eye and bring it as an offering as thanks to the gods at the shrine.
A few more shots:
Here is a beautiful representation of the animal signs in the roof of a small pavilion, plus many sets of 1000 paper cranes hung up as an offering. The photo below is one set of the 1000 paper cranes.
I will break this up into one last post about the seven course dinner once we met up with Erez.
I woke up very excited as I was going to see Norie today and hadn’t seen her since 2001. I woke up early, did a Bat Mitzvah lesson on Zoom and then went downstairs to see what the breakfast buffet was like – this time I booked it ahead of time. I found lots to eat. There was also “western style” breakfast which I avoided. This is what I chose to eat: Delicious!
Right at 10:03, I met Norie at the station – We were so happy to see each other! This incredible feeling of lightness I felt once we reunited and hugged, carried me like a cloud through the day. Our first stop was my hotel room as I had a present for her and she had present for Erez and me. My present was something called a grand marble loaf – a light buttery croissant type loaf that was marbled with green tea and red bean paste baked into the dough – it was quite delicious.
Next stop was the Bikan Historical Quarter. Norie had a rough idea of what she wanted to see. First thing we did was get tickets for the canal boat tour. The tours were sold out until 1:30 where there were just two spots left. We snapped them up. We wandered around a bit and then went into the Kurashiki Museum of Folkcraft. In it there were example of things used in everyday life that people had put great effort into making by hand. Some of the artifacts were quite old. It reminded me of how much we take for granted in life. When we need something, we just pop out to the dollar store or some other place to buy it, but back then, everything you used was made by hand. Some examples were: vintage tansu cabinets, storage chests. hand woven baskets, handmade tools from metal or wood, and some everyday and ceremonial clothing made from various interesting materials. I found it fascinating. The exhibit also included artifacts from other places in the world, perhaps for comparison. Here are some examples:
Here is an antique loom:
A period example of a room with a hearth.
This is a kimono that was woven from wood fibres, some dyed with indigo, and then appliquéd on top with hand dyed cotton and embroidery – an exquisite amount of work went into it. Zoom in for a good look 🙂
Here are two more examples of the hand dyed indigo stencilled fabric – some were designed using batik methods, again – so much work went into them.
When we finished at the museum it was almost time for our lunch reservation. On the walk there, we soaked up more of the atmosphere:
Lunch was a predetermined bento box and was delicious. As always, there were new things to try that I had never seen before, and the presentation was so beautiful, I almost didn’t want to eat it.
We talked so long during lunch, we almost missed our boat. When we got out of the restaurant, Norie was looking around to see what to do next and I reminded her that we had boat tour tickets. What came next was us comically sprinting through the Historic quarter, hoping the boat wouldn’t leave without us, and we didn’t know exactly where we were going. We got to the dock just in the nick of time, the tour guide gently scolding us for being late, commenting on the fact that we were supposed to be there a certain amount of minutes (I didn’t hear him exactly above the pounding of my heart, having sprinted to get there) before the embarkation time. They quickly gave us our woven hats to wear and we set off.
Our guide then told us that he was going to sing a traditional wedding song for us. Here is a small sample 🙂
We passed the Ohara Museum of Art which we visited later on in the afternoon:
This is a 140 year old tree!
This area is understandably a popular place for wedding photo shoots. We saw at least two couples wandering around posing with a photographer:
Our next stop was “Jeans Street”. Because Kurashiki is famous for producing over 70% of the denim in Japan, this was a specific tourist attraction. About a 15 min car ride away is the Kojima area where the factories are, and there are many more denim-related things to see including a museum about the history of Jeans and denim. In this area, there were many “denim themed” snacks you could try:
The denim stores had many creative denim items for sale. We came back here with Maria as she is a denim enthusiast. She just graduated from her fashion degree and for her final exhibition, she designed and made some pretty innovative interesting pieces from denim, including a floor-length denim formal gown that looked pretty spectacular.
Here are some pretty cool things you could buy that were not “jeans”.
Notice spelling of “jeans” in the above brand name 🙂 Cute play on words.
Here was a chill-out corner for people to take a break:
Lastly, here are a few examples of a few cool denim clothing items you could buy:
Our next stop was the Ohara Museum of Art. It was established in 1930 by Ōhara Magosaburo, an influential businessman in Kurashiki. It was the first collection of Western art to be permanently exhibited in Japan. In the beginning, it mostly contained French paintings and sculptures of the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection then expanded to paintings of the Italian Renaissance and of the Dutch and Flemish artists of the 16th and 17th centuries. American and Italian artists were also included. Currently, the museum has expanded to several buildings, including exhibits of Asian pottery and sculpture (many buddha heads discovered in caves in China) as well as a crafts area.
This collection was amassed in consultation with the famous artist Kojima Torajiro (1881–1929) (yes you may have noticed the Jean brand is called Kojima) and the French artist Edmond Aman-Jean. (1860–1935). In the exhibits we learned a lot about the intercultural exchange between the European artists and the Japanese artists of the 1900s. I remember being in Amsterdam at the Van Gogh museum and there was an exhibit of Japanese Block prints to recognize the inspiration and influence this art had on his work. Kojima was a fascinating artist. He studied in Europe and tried to emulate all different European styles, some of which were on exhibit in the museum. He was incredibly talented. I found it so inspiring to read about how artists on both sides of the ocean were striving for intercultural communication and exchange during a time where countries really kept to themselves for the most part, especially in light of the wars that had been going on in the first half of the 20th century. We were not allowed to photograph anything in the museum, so here is a photo of Norie and me outside, as well as a couple of photos I took before I realized that it was not allowed. We were lucky not to be thrown out – those docents are pretty hard core.
Below was a piece that I saw in one of the pavilions at the open air museum but was not allowed to photograph – we had misunderstood one of the docents, and I thought in this area photographs were allowed so I snapped this one before I was scolded. I am assuming it was a bronze cast from the same mold.
I know this post is getting long, so I will create a new post for the rest of the day.
Kurashiki is a city of approximately 500,000 people. From a tourist perspective, they are known for the Bikan Historical Quarter, which has a picturesque canal, surrounded by intact historical buildings filled with quaint shops and eateries. The Japan Guide website describes the area as follows:
“During the Edo Period (1603-1867), Kurashiki was an important point along the distribution route of Japan’s most important commodity, rice. Large quantities of rice from the surrounding area were brought into Kurashiki and intermediately stored there in storehouses before being shipped to Osaka and Edo. Because of the city’s importance in the rice trade, Kurashiki was put under direct control of the shogunate, and the city was even named after its many storehouses (kura).
Canals were built to allow boats and barges to navigate between the city’s storehouses and the nearby port. A central section of the city’s former canal system has been preserved in the Bikan Historical Quarter (倉敷美観地区, Kurashiki Bikan Chiku). “
It is also known for being the manufacturing centre of 70% of all denim produced in Japan. There is an area called the Kojima district that even has a History of Jeans Museum. In the Bikan Historical quarter, there is a Denim street where there are several stores selling Japan’s best selling creative denim designers.
Also around the station, is a huge mall complex and then next to the mall there is a giant outlet mall. The mall itself had several mature trees that the mall was designed around so they would not have to cut them down.
As a rule, I am not a fan of malls, but this one was a cultural experience. In the mall there were many restaurants, an arcade, a food court, a toy capsule store, a cat cafe, and many retail stores. Around the mall there was green space and fake green space where there were many people of all ages just hanging out and socializing .
There was also a public piano open for anyone to play. Here is a student who played for quite a long time – apparently this is anime music.
I can’t forget to mention the unusual vending machines:
Erez is thinking of travelling for close to three weeks after his contract is finished, so we went to the Mont Bell outlet store and bought him a proper backpack. I may take one of his monstrous hockey bags home for him so he can travel lighter. I think his other bag weighs 9 kg even when empty.
After the mall we went out for sushi together – finally!
Believe it or not, that was my quiet, down day. I was fighting off a bit of a headache. Perhaps my frenetic travel pace and lack of sleep was catching up to me. I even took a nap in the afternoon 🙂 Seeing Erez and eating sushi definitely ended the day on a high note. I am looking forward to seeing Norie and her daughter Maria tomorrow!
After speaking to Erez, realizing we are going to meet for dinner quite late, I decided to change my bullet train from 1:14pm to 3:14pm. This would give me more time to explore Hakone before I left – there was no need to rush.
I started the day off at the same terminal as I did yesterday, but this time I got on the gondola ropeway. I was in the car with a Chinese School group. As we were admiring the surroundings, I suddenly realized that I could see Mt Fuji just barely peeking out of the clouds. I alerted everyone, as no one else was really looking in that direction, and then we all oohed and awwed and took photos.
In the next section of the ropeway, we travelled to Owakudani where there are many active volcanic air vents. The overhead loudspeaker informed us that one of the vents was new, and had opened up during a small volcanic eruption in 2015. This, along with all the hot springs is a reminder that Japan is siting on the top of a lot of volcanic activity. You could smell the sulphur in the air, and see the yellow buildup around the vents. I purchased some black smokey eggs from the gift shop to share with Erez when I met up with him later.
We ended the gondola ride at Sounzan station and then transferred to a funicular cable car. The car was an interesting slanted shape and basically went down the mountain at an incredibly steep angle.
While on the cable car, I ended up chatting with a group of 4 older women who were very impressed by my meager Japanese. We chatted a bit and they got off the stop before me – the lady sitting next to me felt compelled to give me two cute candies from her purse – I am assuming one is for Erez when I see him later tonight.
I arrived at Gora station only to realize that my train from Gora to Hakone-Yumoto station was only going to take 40 minutes, and I couldn’t pick up my luggage until 1:30, so that meant I had lots of time. I looked around for things to do near the station and saw that there was a Park nearby. On the way there I stopped at an ice cream place to check another thing off my list: Black charcoal and sesame soft serve ice cream. I think in retrospect that this was not a great representation, but was still tasty. They also get points for extremely cute presentation – that pink heart was an edible spoon 🙂
Gora Park was in the middle of a residential area and was originally only for the upper class. Now it is enjoyed by all. It is a fusion of far eastern and Western influences. There is a fairly large rose garden and also a traditional Japanese teahouse. There is a craft house that not only sells beautiful handmade items, but is also a working studio where they offer workshops you can sign up for. They offer glass blowing and pottery among other things.
When I was in the rose garden I bumped into the 4 ladies from the train. We chatted a bit more and took a couple of photos. They were very sweet. The last area of the park I visited was a series of greenhouses. They housed a mixture of tropical plants and some bourgenvillia.
The next mode of transportation was a special type of train designed to climb up and down the steep mountainside. This involved a complicated set of three switches where the train takes a zigzag track. At each of the switches the conductor and the driver actually switch places in the train. Now I understood why the bus was 15 minutes faster than the train. The bus drivers drive quite quickly and expertly around those hairpin turns, but a train is a whole different engineering challenge. It was cool to see how everything worked, including the network of tunnels we had to go through.
I got off the train in Hakone-Yumoto with an hour to spare before I could hopefully pick up my luggage from the courier pick up area. I set out to explore the area around the station. There is a beautiful bridge right outside the station that spans a river where you can see the mineral content in the water. I noticed that some people were going down to sit by the water – a perfect way to spend some time. I headed down to the water and settled down in a shady place, set an alarm and meditated for awhile while listening to the rush of the rapids as the water rushed down the mountain. It was very peaceful.
Next I headed back to the station and retrieved my luggage. that was $8.72 well spent. Not having to lug my 33lb bag around all day on all of those modes of transportation was a gift.
I headed to Odawara without any problems, and then getting my ticket from the machine with my prepaid QR code for the Shinkansen (bullet train) was a bit trickier but I managed to do it – then I spent 45 minutes hanging around the station. I got on the first Shinkansen without issue, but I missed my connecting train by one minute. I went to ask for help and the train personal assured me I could just take the next one. Phew! I thought I was in trouble. I only had to wait about 20 minutes for the next train.
Photos of some of the Shinkansen I saw while at the stations – this is the type I took:
This one I saw waiting to leave
I eventually arrived at my hotel which is literally part of the station building complex. It is surprisingly nice – the front desk is on the 9th floor and my room is on the 12th floor. I was thrilled to find out the there is laundry on my floor – one machine washes and dries and dispenses soap too. I didn’t realize what time I had put it in so now I have to stay up till 1am 🙁
Meeting Erez was a whole adventure in itself. I checked google maps and saw that is was only a 30 minutes trip to meet him at the restaurant. Unfortunately that train would leave in 2 min and I was still in my room The bad news was that there wasn’t another train for an hour. So, I took a taxi – it cost approx $38. I figured I could take the train back – nope. I ended up having to take a taxi back as well, and at first it seemed like there were no taxis on the app. We asked the cook at the Izakaya and he called a taxi for us for which I was very grateful. What a mother wouldn’t do to see her kid…The funny thing was that I forgot that you could only use cash – lately I was able to use my credit card quite often. and I had used up most of my cash for the taxi. Erez has cash, so he ended up paying for dinner and giving extra money towards my cab fare just in case. I will head to the bank tomorrow and pay him back, but the irony of the role reversal was not lost on me, especially after we had already joked that if I couldn’t sort out the laundry at my hotel, he offered to take my laundry and do it for me because they have free laundry facilities in his work dormitory.
It was SOOOO great to see Erez, we had an assortment of food and caught up a bit. I stuck to my normal veg options plus fish – Erez tried an order of fried stingray fin.
It is a bit surreal seeing him here in Japan – I was so happy to finally connect with him. We will have many more adventure over the next few days I am sure – especially this weekend when he is off work.
Hakone is a region in the mountains mainly famous for two things: Onsen (natural hot springs) and Spectacular views of Mt. Fuji. The forecast was for cloudy and rainy weather, so there will be no Mt. Fuji for me 🙂 I purchased something called a Hakone Free Pass which gave me unlimited access to all of the many modes of transportation available in the Hakone area: train, bus, pirate ship, gondola ropeway, and cable car.
Arrived late at Hakone Station and found the bus. It was a 40 minute bus ride of hairpin turns in the dark. I was focussed on getting to the hotel, so I didn’t eat anything around the station. When I finally arrived at the hotel I was disappointed to find out that the restaurant had already closed, nothing around was open, and there were no laundry facilities. Not the best start. The concierge did however point me in the direction of their gift shop which had an assortment of snacks and instant food. the laundry was going to be a bigger problem. I guess I would have to wait until I arrive in Kurashiki to have clean clothes.
I ate corn cup-a-soup and a chocolate croissant in a bag and an emergency cliff bar I had brought from home. I felt this qualified as an emergency 🙂 Now that I was no longer “hangry”, I could regroup and make a plan. In my hotel there was an assortment of indoor hot springs options, a karaoke room and a ping pong table. There were two public bath areas – segregated by gender – these were regular hot springs, and there were also private bathing room which were sulphur hot springs. I tried both out. Here is what the private Onsen rooms look like:
In each room you are given a yukata (lightweight robe) a cover with a pocket to carry things and a pair of slippers. While in the hotel, almost everyone wears their spa wear, not street clothes.
I went to bed late as I was catching up on the blog and making travel plans, and then still woke up at 5am. When I opened the blinds, there a lush green view at my window – not a bad way to wake up, even if it is 5am. When the front desk was open, I visited the gift shop again and had squash cup-a-soup for breakfast – I regretting not doing ordering the breakfast buffet. I also noticed the small local sweet made with charcoal mochi paste with a chestnut filling sitting on the tea tray. I ate that too 🙂
View from my room:
It was pouring, but miraculously, it started clearing up just as I was heading out for the 15 minute walk to the Togendai port where I could either take the pirate ship cruise or the cable car gondola. I had no idea which I was going to do, because that is how this trip has been – completely living in the moment. At the very last second I saw that the pirate ship was leaving, so I jumped into line at the last minute.
It was a very ornately decorated – each one on the fleet was slightly different – whomever designed these ships, went all out on the theme. The scenery was beautiful. It was fairly clear, but it was not clear enough to see Mt. Fuji. The boat ride took about 25-30 minutes and was quite pleasant.
The first thing I did when I got off the ship was to look for a convenience store to find some food. I was excited to find my favourite mung bean salad snack that I ate everyday at Japanese school. I also stocked up on some onigiri for later as I was planing on doing some hiking.
My next stop was the Hakone Shrine. It was surrounded by old growth forests. Everything was covered in moss – it was truly beautiful. It also has a Torii in the water which I loved.
At home we have a boardgames we like to play called “Tokaido” It is based on the ancient highways that connected the capital cities of the various regions of the main Island of Honshu in Japan before the Eco period. In Hakone, there is a portion of the original cobblestone road and I wanted to hike it. On the way there, I of course observe some interesting things:
The hike itself was magnificent. It felt like something out of a storybook. Huge old growth trees, moss, wispy mist, This was the Shinrin Ryoku (forest bathing) I had been looking for. In the hour or so that I walked, I only came across a handful of people, mostly it was just me and the forest and it was glorious.
I did stop for an onigiri along the way and loved listening to the birdsongs and observing various bugs and butterflies that were totally different from home.
I ended up at an ancient teahouse in Amazake. Their specialty was a sweet, fermented, non-alcoholic rice beverage which you could drink hot or cold. I had planned on ordering some mochi as well, but then I saw these Konjac balls that looked very interesting. The woman warned me about them, and asked if I have had them before and I told her I had eaten Konjac noodles and liked them. The order came with five balls and an interesting sauce. The noodles I ate before were more delicate, eating the whole ball was bit challenging – two balls was more than enough. I couldn’t finish and ended up hiding some of the chewed-up third ball in a wrapper in my bag until I could find a garbage. This is one of the many times it would have been nice not traveling alone.
Throughout the day the sky was clear, but there were wispy clouds floating around, sometimes fairly close to ground level, sometimes I found myself walking through a refreshing misty cloud.
Next stop was the Hakone Open Air Museum. Wow. Just wow. Apparently it was the first open air museum of its kind in the world. One thing that was so remarkable about it was that it wasn’t just a park full of gigantic outdoor works of art, the landscaping of the park was also a work of art in itself. There are immaculate gardens, bridges and waterfalls, ponds and meandering paths that all worked in harmony with the outdoor installations. Every time I thought I was finished I would find another area that I had not explored yet. Within the parkthere were two or three indoor pavilions that housed ceramics, indoor sculptures that could not weather the elements, as well as paintings and drawings. There was an entire pavilion dedicated to Picasso.
At one point through the trees, peeking through I could see an area with others sculptures in waiting in their collection. I suppose that there is a rotation at times, changing up the installations, but I cannot confirm that.
Many other installations were meant to be interactive, encouraging the viewers to physically climb inside, which I of course did enthusiastically at every opportunity. Two great example of this were this tower by Gabriel Loire – it is called “Symphonic Sculpture”.
Inside you realized that the enter tower is made with stained glass – it was breathtaking. the view from the top was pretty amazing too.
Here is a real life labyrinth which was super fun to walk through. When I emerged there was a very friendly Chinese tourist with her little boy who wanted to practice her English. They were really friendly. I had a short, but very pleasant chat with them. She shook my hand when she introduce herself and didn’t let go the whole time we were talking.
One installation was designed for children only. It was a gigantic wooden structure that had colourful nets inside. the nets were constructed with tunnels within them. As you approached, you could hear the delighted shrieks of children climbing inside. Spectacular.
I wanted to make picture of EVERYTHING, but I was trying to conserve battery, so I just pick some of my favourites. If anyone is interested I can show you more at home if you like, Here are just a few.
After the museum I had a few travel mishaps, but as always, often mishaps lead to interesting experiences. I was trying to get back to my hotel and walked quite awhile to get to the bus stop. When I got there I mistakenly thought that it was not for the bus company I had my free pass with, so I looked for another route through google maps. This bus stop was 15 minutes away, no problem! I kept an eye on the little blue dot representing me on the map, and more than once realized I had missed my turn. When I backtracked I realized why- the path the map wanted me to take was this really narrow, steep staircase that wound its way down the mountain. and, of course when I got down to the bottom, it seems I missed the bus.
The entrance to the path that I missed:
No problem, there was a little restaurant by the bus stop, so I had some delicious fried eggplant while I was waiting. I keep my eye on the time and made the next bus. I also chatted with the family at the next table as I overheard them laughing about the staircase. They had put “pizza” into their GPS and also ended up on this treacherous staircase – they planned to take a taxi back to their hotel.
Side note: Pizza in Japan is not quite like pizza elsewhere – they have completely different toppings to choose from, like corn and squid ink among other things. Also, In Hakone I often saw Horse meat sashimi on the menu – I did NOT try it.
I finally made my way back to the hotel and visited the private onsen again. As I hadn’t pre-reserved dinner at the hotel, I ended up eating the last of my snacks – including a weird bun filled with strawberry jam.
This is the garden outside my hotel.
All in all, a great day – I walked over 24,000 steps, took several different types of transportation, had some new cultural experiences. I am looking forward to what unfolds tomorrow.
I came back to the Moris house after I had checked out of the hotel. They were happy to see that I had managed to fit all of their many gifts in my bag. On Saturday, Mori-san had enthusiastically given me several works of paper cuttings he had made. It is one of the hobbies he has started since I had seen him last. He has had several exhibitions in the area. He does amazing precision work. He showed me his studio, full of binders and binders of his work. In these pieces he cut the outlines out of the black paper and then put coloured rice paper behind to colour it in.
Mrs. Mori gave me a couple of pieces of clothing that she had made – she is also very talented. I wish I could have taken them all. I will post a photo modelling the clothes later.
Before lunch, Mr Mori had a plan to take me on a tour of the schools that I had taught at, and then we took the requisite photo in front of each sign. Many of the schools changed, and one school he brought me to, I think was built after I left. He also took me to the To-neh River where they hoist up the largest Carp Streamer in the world. This festival was on May 3 this year during Golden Week. I remember being there for the festival, and playing taiko under the streamer. I also remember going to the river during cosmos season. Now there is an aerospace museum and planetarium by the river. One of the people who works there was in one of the local taiko drumming groups. I mentioned that this building must be new, and he replied: No, it has been here at least 20 years! Well, that is still new to me.
The museum from the front.
We were gone a long time – so long that Mrs. Mori and Mitsuka ate lunch without us. When we got home, Mori-san and I had another delicious meal that Mitsuka had prepared – a cold noodle salad with lots of vegetables. The perfect meal for a warm day.
Meeting up with the Moris again was truly a gift. I mentioned before that music is a universal language, but there is one language that is even more important – Love. From the first time I went to their house in 1995, I was welcomed with incredible warmth. I could barely speak Japanese then, and they couldn’t speak English, but it didn’t matter, we found a way though hand gestures, funny faces, my tiny pocket dictionary, a lot of laughter, and love. They said that I haven’t changed, and I would say that they haven’t changed, but maybe we just all went back to that same spot where we left off, and returned to the people that we were back then. We have all been through so many different experiences, and yet here we were 23 years later (since my last trip in 2001) sitting around the kitchen table, laughing constantly, struggling to communicate (my Japanese is a little bit better now), but the feelings were all the same. I am so lucky to have had them come into my life.
I am also so happy to hear that I was only the first of many other AETs (Assistant English Teachers) they opened their home to, some of them also joining the local taiko drumming group. I saw photos of some of them in the community centre. I felt a bit proud of the legacy that Mori-san and I started all those years ago. The JET in the JET Program stands for Japan Exchange and Teaching program. It is not only about the teaching, it is about the exchange of culture and ideas. I would say that my placement was a success on all accounts. This is my third trip to Japan and now Erez is doing a Coop placement here for university. I was the first foreigner the Moris ever met, and they hosted many other lucky young people since.
I am looking forward to seeing Norie, the Moris’ other daughter on Thursday. We will spend the day together in Kurashiki and then Norie’s daughter will met up with us and have dinner with Erez and I. Norie’s daughter Maria is the same age as Erez. She just graduated with a degree in fashion and is hoping to go to New York sometime soon. She is currently studying for an English Proficiency test.
This trip to Kazo has filled me with immense gratitude. Life is transient, yet some things stay the same. The whole time I was in Kazo, I had a huge smile on my face because I felt lucky to be there.
It is now Sunday morning in Japan – I have managed to repack my bag and now have some time to reflect on my wonderful day yesterday. I have so many emotions while writing this post. In many ways I feel that everything was leading up to today. All of the Japanese studying, and coming to Japan after all these years was to reunite with the Mori Family – but more on that later. I will start with the run down of my day.
In spite of staying up until 12:30am catching up on writing my blog posts, I still woke up at 5am and was not so happy about it. I tried to go back to sleep, but when I realized I was awake for good, I embraced the day. I took a shower, made some travel plans for Erez and I, spoke to Aubrey and the kids for a bit and then headed down for the traditional breakfast in the restaurant that I had ordered the night before.
This is a pretty typical Japanese breakfast. There was rice, miso soup, a mixture of delicious vegetables, tofu with green onions and bonito flakes, some kind of white fish, a raw egg, seasoned dried seaweed strips and natto. Natto is a fermented, very sticky soy bean dish which I was warned off of when I lived in Japan. I am sure I tried it, and don’t remember liking it. This time I was going to try again. After consulting Sensei Google, I learned that it comes with a sauce packet and a mustard packet. I mixed it all up and then gave it a try. I actually really liked it!
After breakfast I noticed a wall in the restaurant had an adorable tribute to cats:
Just before 11, I set off for the Moris’ house – I couldn’t find it, but ended up at the shrine where I knew I was close. I called Mitsuka-san and she sent Mori-san to come and fetch me.
Seeing them all again was amazing. They all looked great – even Mrs. Mori who has not been in the best of health recently. Within a few minutes of my arrival, they had pulled out the albums, a picture of me and Mitsuka-san in a frame, some handmade needlepoint coasters that my mom had made them when she came to visit, and of course in the background, they were playing my Koren’s Song Safari CD that I recorded in 2001 and gifted them when I last came to visit. It was all a bit surreal.
Right before lunch, Mori-san offered me a small cup of Hagen Dazs ice cream. I decided that I needed some real food first, so we had a light lunch and headed to the festival.
Kazo has many different Taiko groups – they all learn the same set of rhythms passed down through the generations, and each town has their own unique traditions. Our town has four instruments in the group – A tsu-keh drum (the main rhythm), a Tama drum (bass), a round metal pan and a bamboo flute. There is a process of learning and when I was there I started with the tsu-keh drum – once I was comfortable, I begged Mori-san to teach me Tama but he insisted that I needed to learn Tsu-keh for 5 years first. Eventually I wore him down and he let me learn it. He even let me dress up in one of the costumes with a mask once, performing the traditional character dance for one of the characters, but only once because he said they wanted to have my foreign face seen on the wagon 🙂
While I was at the festival, Mori-san pointed out the current principal for one of the Junior high schools I used to teach at. I recognized her! Her name is Toma Sensei. She was one of the Teachers I assisted when I lived there. When I get home I will have to scan the photo I have of us from 1996 🙂
More than once that day, Taiko was described to me as “Japanese Soul Music”. I wholeheartedly agree. As I wrote in my thank you letter to the taiko group: The Kazo city Taiko rhythms awaken something in my soul. When I watched the schools perform at the Memorial Doll festival, I was suddenly transported to another time. I could feel the music and rhythm in my bones.
Here are some photos and videos from the Nishi Junior High School group that Mori-San leads:
We even had a special appearance from one of the characters.
Short video of the group
Some of the shrine details:
After the festival, Mitsuka-san took me on a wild goose chase to find my old apartment – this time, in the car. Everything has changed so much, and many of the landmarks are not the same. In this town, many streets are tiny and there are barely any street signs. I remember thinking once while I was living there that it was a miracle I found my way home every time I went out for an adventure. Remember – there was no google maps back then! I had given up because I thought that perhaps the building no longer exists as many of the buildings around were no longer then. Suddenly, I mentioned the ice cream store – Baskin Robins, but I forgot that they don’t call it that here, there call it ” Saw tee-one” (31). Then immediately Mitshuka-san remembered where it used to be and then I was able to find it. I was in apartment 202 I believe… or was it 201? I will check when I get home.
Mitsuka-San made a beautiful dinner for us – Delicious! I really missed having home cooked food.
After dinner, Mori-San and I reviewed the rhythms and then we went to Taiko practice. First the kids practiced for an hour and then the adults practiced for another hour. I was in heaven. I barely took a break, I was so determined to remember the proper sequences.
Mori-san with some of the little kids:
Here is the notation I could follow along with as a cheat sheet. They have upgraded the notation since I learned 28 years ago.
For the second photo I told everyone to make a funny face. the two men in the front were also in the group when I was here before and they remembered me.
Here is a video that Mori-san took of me when I didn’t realize it. ( if you click place it won’t be just a black screen I promise – and it is pretty short)
At the end of the practice I was tired but extremely happy. I felt like I was vibrating with positive energy. I went back to the Moris’ house and had such a warm feeling inside – I had worked up an appetite again, so I finished off the salad from dinner. I was about to leave to go back to the hotel and Mori-San asked if I wanted that small cup of Hagen Dasz ice cream – that was the icing on the cake. I told Mori-san and Mitsuka-san that I didn’t think the day could get any better, and then he offered me ice cream – the perfect end to the perfect day.
I had to check out of my apartment by 10am which worked out perfectly, but I then needed to carry my bag everywhere today. I managed to only pack a carry on, but it was fairly heavy. To get from the school to Ueno park was basically the same whether or I took the train or walked – so I decided to walk the 23ish minutes with my bag. I did think about leaving my bag in a storage locker at the train station, but then I would have to find the station and the lockers, so I just decided to soldier on… So, most of my over 15000 steps today was carrying my heavy back pack. It is good training. For what you may ask? I don’t know, for life I guess…
It was quite hot, and I was sweating – I got to Ueno park, which is quite large, and had no idea where in the park it was, so I just kept walking (and sweating). I thought it was just a small exhibit of Azalea Bonsai because I didn’t see any signage.
I was surprised to see a totem pole in the middle of the park…
Then, I saw it… I guess I couldn’t miss it if I tried…
The funny thing is, the exhibit wasn’t huge – there were a good number of them, but there may have been more vendors than bonsai trees . I think the bonsai were just an excuse to have an outdoor party 🙂 It was great though – the atmosphere was fun, and the bonsai were truly remarkable. Here a few of my favourites:
Here are some of the vendors that were part of the festival. I wanted to buy everything – including the bonsai they had for sale, but I knew they wouldn’t let me bring it across the border 🙁
On the way to the station on the way out of the park, I found lockers…
Of course, just as I was leaving…but then I noticed that just past the lockers was the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art. I saw several Rodin sculptures outside… It gave me pause – was this a message from the universe? It probably was, but I was focussed on getting to Kazo before the Friday rush hour because I didn’t want to be in a super-packed train with my luggage on my back or at my feet. Here are some Rodin sculptures… Maybe I will have time on Monday before I leave to come back…
So, I was reading and then working on the blog on the train and somehow miscalculated how much time I had left and I missed my stop. I ended up quite far from where I was supposed to be. I regrouped, changed platforms, and finally made it to my old Hometown, Kazo. I checked into the hotel and then went out to explore. Man, this place has changed, The population has more than doubled since I was here last. I know that this town is famous for Udon noodles, so I asked for a recommendation from the front desk. The gentleman recommended a place about a 20 minute walk away. No problem – at least I was no longer carrying my luggage. I decided to see if I could find my old apartment, but I remember that it was quite a hefty walk and I usually rode my bike to the station. I started out, looking for landmarks I recognized, but I don’t remember my address anymore (it was 28 years ago after all) so I couldn’t look it up. After walking for awhile, I abandoned that quest and then walked another 20 minutes to the Udon restaurant which was a lot bigger than I expected.
Here are some shots from my reintroduction to Kazo:
New improved station decor – Kazo is the place where most of the Koinobori (Carp streamers) in Japan are made. On May 3 they had their Koinobori festival where they fly a giant Koinobori – the largest in the world. It was made in 1988 and it takes a crane to hoist it up. It is 100m long and weighs 350 kg. The year I lived here, it was only the 8th year of the festival. Apparently now it is also a classic car festival. Back then, I got to play Taiko with the local Taiko group while the Koinobori was being raised which was a huge honour.
Unicycle parking…
Udon Restaurant:
Amazing meal and the tempura was the most delicate tempura I have ever tasted! Definitely worth the walk!
Then I came across a landmark I remember – the local shrine. This is where I played taiko drums for the festivals.
After my walk I went to the department store at the station where I used to do my groceries but it has all changed. I did pick up a couple of things I needed, and as always, I found some pretty hilarious and/or cute things in the store:
This bed is the hardest bed I have ever sat down on, so I hope I am able to sleep tonight. They have a great stylish yukata to wear when you are in the room which counts for something!
I am so excited to see Mama and Papa Mori in the morning as well as their daughter Mitsuka. It has been so long! I am also looking forward to seeing their other daughter Norie later in the week. Oyasuminasai!
