Inspired by Japan
In late July we enjoyed a two week vacation in Japan. We have the fortune to have, as a close friend, an individual who grew up in Japan (and routinely returns to visit). She invited us to allow her to show us her homeland. How could we refuse?
If you travel to Japan and cannot speak the language, I recommend strongly to have a full-time escort. Not only is English a rarity, the customs and procedures routine to Japanese residents present a learning curve. Navigating their brilliant public transportation system is not easy even for residents and certain customs (like being prepared to quickly enter/exit trains that have no late tolerance, how to get someone to take your order at a restaurant, knowing that tipping is an insult, etc.). And beyond that, having a native of Japan makes it possible to efficiently get to the most striking parts of the nation in a limited amount of time.
We did plan to go to Okinawa because my sons are both heavily into Shotokan karate and wanted to train in a traditional dojo at the home of their discipline but, alas, an outbreak of COVID occurred so we had to cancel those plans at the last minute.
What we did see, however, was hardly a disappointment. Here are some of the pictures from our trip:
This is the "floating" torii gate at the Itsukushima Shrine on the island of Itsukushima in Hiroshima. The gate is not actually floating but looks that way because it is in the water when the tide is up. This is a spectacularly large torii gate.
This is a monstrous bronze Buddha in Nara Park revealed in 752 ce. It stands 18 meters tall (almost 60 feet).
In Kyoto we visited Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine which has as a startling feature approximately 10,000 torii gates closely packed to form walkways. Here is a glimpse of this amazing work of art from the inside (walking inside the torii gates).
The Tenryi-ji Temple in Kyoto is the site of a bamboo tree forest. Just everywhere you look there is nothing but bamboo trees. The picture, of course, does not do this justice.
One of the most memorable sites was the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji) in Kyoto. The building itself is impressive (a Zen temple covered in Gold leaf), but the landscape was the most beautiful presentation I have ever seen.
The first sight of this place is breathtaking. The amount of effort required to maintain this beauty is hard to imagine. Reportedly, Bush 43 stayed over at the Golden Pavilion (it's good to be the PotUS).
Another similar site is the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji). Amazing too (maybe not as much as the Golden Pavilion) but breathtaking nonetheless. One of many views of its landscaping.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was riding the Bullet train ( Shinkansen) . This is very cool technology that is smooth as silk (hovering on magnets), nice accommodations (like first class on a jet sans the meals) and a great view of the scenario as we zip by at a top speed of almost 200 mph.
What is also impressive to me is the cleanliness of Japan's mass transit facilities. No graffiti, no trash, just clean, super-efficient operations. This is, however, very much part of the culture in Japan. If someone were to leave trash, it would be normal for the average citizen discovering it to pick up the trash and carry it until they can find a place to properly dispose it.
Of course I am leaving out a ton, but it is impossible to do a two week trip justice.
Finally, my wife and I were so inspired by our trip that we decided we would build a Japanese garden in our backyard at home. So on the flight back, I designed a garden and then got to work on it as soon as we returned. We already had a small waterfall in our backyard built with a natural stone structure. So we cleared off all the greenery and replaced it with dark gray stones. But before laying the stones we created several Japanese features:
- Bamboo spout that continually pours water (giving the illusion that it is the source of the waterfall)
- Japanese bridge walking over the stream
- Bamboo border around the stream and small pond
- Japanese plank boardwalk
- Buddha statue
- Japanese maple tree
- Abstract mountain using three large rectangular-ish stones mounted on their narrow sides (a common theme in Japanese gardens)
- Japanese lanterns to serve as walkway path lights
It was a major effort, but we could not be happier with the results:
What we like most is that we think we have a physical representation of our delightful impressions from Japan.
( By the way, we opted to NOT do a Japanese Zen garden with sand because the maintenance is intense and we do not have a temple of monks to serve as caretakers. )
RED BOX RULES: AN IMPORTANT REMINDER
From time-to-time, I should remind all members of NT, etc., that when posting photos, artwork, etc., it's important, when posting, that you own, and/or legally represent the licensing, copyright, etc., of what you post, and TO PROTECT YOUR WORK, TO INCLUDE YOUR COPYRIGHT SYMBOL/INFORMATION; and/or, WHEN POSTING COPYRIGHTED PROPERTY BELONGING TO PARTIES OTHER THAN YOURSELF, TO …
• BE SURE YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO POST, TRANSMIT, etc, SUCH PROPERTY, and,
• IF/WHEN SUCH PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED, TO PROPERLY AND CLEARLY ATTRIBUTE THE COPYRIGHTS TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNER(S).
VERY IMPORTANT … IN THE FUTURE, I WILL REMEMBER TO POST THIS CAVEAT REGULARLY.
Thanks, A. MAC
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Our trip to Japan impressed and inspired us.
nice work.
Own Japanese designed sport cars and trucks and have studied Japanese/Chinese/Filipino martial arts for many years.
Have Kanji ink on my forearm.
Grew up playing in American blues bands.
Loved a few Australian girls (the accent just melts me).
I like being global.
What an outstanding photo essay. I have Japan on my bucket list. These just made me want to go more.
Arigato gozaimasu.
We used this phrase quite often while in Japan. We also heard it continuously because the Japanese people are extremely polite.
I suppose it would be redundant for me to say that I agree with your bucket list entry.
Some are much more polite than others.
Of course, they are people. But as a whole, the culture is noticeably far more polite than in the USA.
Gaijin are always suspect until proven otherwise.
I certainly enjoyed my visit to Japan and its people. They also exhibit a quiet, understated form of racism, especially towards Blacks, Koreans, Chinese and biracial people.
wally wants a koi pond.
Except koi would be too big even for Wally.
Maybe, but they'd keep him entertained. Or scared.
I have a koi pond. Had to dig it much deeper and closer to the house heat after the first few cold winters here.
Luckily, I just lost bait goldfish the first few years.
Healthy Koi ponds involve a serious learning process.
trendy carp...
50's - 60's japanese horror movie goldfish
kitty kill joy...
Been there. Go to Kyoto. You will never forget it...
I agree, we spent several days in Kyoto.
Did you take the bullet train from Tokyo past Mount Fuji?
We did indeed. From Tokyo to Hiroshima, we passed Mt Fuji (in the distance). The picture of Mt Fuji from inside the car was not spectacular.
Almost 40 years ago I climbed Mt Fuji. After 2 years living in Korea, I was slowly making my way back to the States.
If I remember right my early July trip was before summer vacation season in Japan and the hike wasn’t so crowded. When I was young, I could have gone up and down in one day. starting midway up. I didn’t, I started mid-day and hiked to a hut a hut not too far from the top. That allowed for an easy climb before sunrise to the top as well as a crater walk and an easy descent during daylight.
It was a very memorable event hiking with folks from around the world.
Unfortunately we never got very close to Mt. Fuji while there. One can only see so much in two weeks.
Japan is a land of incredible beauty and gracious people...
Could not agree more, JBB.
I agree but you have to admit that Japan remains a very homogeneous nation with racial discrimination against foreigners, especially non-white Europeans or Americans.
At my state of decrepitude I no longer travel.
Thanks for the images.
The Golden Pavilion and its surroundings are magnificent. As there is a Silver Pavilion too, is there not a bronze one to fill out the Olympic dream? Seriously, seeing Japan through your photos and another member's photos here does show off Japan to have exquisite places to see. Much of the same is in China, of course, and over the years I have posted a lot of what I've experienced here, much aligned with Buddhism since my wife and her family are Buddhists. As well, I, too, have experienced the smooth, comfortable ride on trains that travel around 330 kph. Your creation of a Japanese garden is a fantastic idea which will remind you daily and always of the beauty that you experienced.
We did not go to the Bronze Pavilion (Dokaku-ji), but it is cool that it exists.
From your pics (and others) I know that there are many wonderful places to visit in China. And you are correct that China is kicking butt when it comes to the high speed trains.
We are very pleased that we chose to create the garden. Now our challenge is to keep weeds out of it.
Arvo..thank you for sharing these fantastic photos..
Have been to Japan many moons ago and enjoyed every minute of it..
I highly recommend visiting Japan for at least a week. It is a wonderful cultural experience and has many beautiful and historically interesting sites. In this article I intentionally focused on the exterior and did not dwell so much with the history. But there is one historical site we visited that was quite impressive (but we were not allowed to take pictures). From the web, here is what we saw at Sanjusangen-do temple:
There are 1,000 of these Buddha statues (surrounding a single main Buddha statue) and we are told that each one is slightly different. The gold is actually Gold leaf.
So imagine walking along a corridor and to your right you see 1,000 of these appx. 5 foot tall statues closely packed as the picture shows.
Just amazing. But, as I said, we could not take pictures inside the temple.
Our hotel in Kyoto was next to this temple.
Amazing artistry.
What a coincidence. Is it possible to express in words how cool it is to see this in person?
Back then they had tons of artists who were as serious as one can be about their art.
I was stationed in Yokosuka back in the mid/late 80s, then again in the early 90s. I think it is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
Not to mention I met my wife there, my son met his wife there.
No doubt in my mind that if I could afford it, we would still be living there.
It was just amazing. Japan is an incredible, beautiful place. There is no question about it.
The grounds at the pavilions look lovely - so serene. And your own Japanese garden looks like a wonderful place to walk or sit and think.
The US could take a page from Japan's book regarding high-speed rail transportation.
I agree. I still cannot get over how beautiful and peaceful it was on those grounds. The pictures show just a glimpse, but there are walkways through the trees with all sorts of artistic works blended expertly with nature.
And yeah, we were constantly talking about how Japan can accomplish amazing mass transit systems (which run so timely that a minute delay would trigger a national apology).
Morning Tig...yes we were sitting on a bullet train and unbeknown to us you have a matter of seconds to get off when you pull into a station..
A gentleman came up spoke very good English and told us to stand at the doorway which we did..he was right you only have seconds otherwise we would have missed our stop..
We were some what of a curiosity to the passengers as then they didn't see many foreigners using public transport back in 1981.. the train was immaculate and dead on time.
There is very limited seating in the sky bar lounges on the bullet trains and the trips so fast that I recommend making a beeline there immediately upon boarding for a good table. Not only is the view better, you will receive excellent service...
Wonderful photo essay, T,G.
And the garden that you built is quite beautiful but to make it completely Japanese you must have koi in the pond.
One of my favorite cities was in the north of Japan, Otaru beautiful and historical.
Arigato gozaimasu.
We have koi in our larger pond. The problem with koi in the smaller pond are the predators. Raccoons especially since they will go in the water to get their prey, but we are also in heron territory and there is no stopping those master fishermen. On top of that, the snakes eat the young.
I have experimented with stocking the little pond (one time I had about two hundred guppy and feeder fish in there) and they did not last but a few weeks (predators).
In short, I hear ya, and I agree, we would love to host koi in our little pond.
I would have guessed you're at a marginal latitude for koi. relentless predators could also make that expensive. I recommend catching, transporting, and dying some large carp.
That is too bad since they would be perfect for the smaller pond.
Here is Florida we don't have that problem since are Koi grow year around and are quite aggressive.
LOL
Yeah I know. We saw a number of small ponds in Japan with plenty of koi and suffered some heavy koi envy.
I had a client that had a koi pond in the large entry foyer in their home. I guess they were used to the smell...
Cool idea, but that would take a lot of maintenance. My koi (in my large pond) feed off of the natural vegetation that grows (whether I want it to or not) in the pond. Zero maintenance.
Have you thought of putting chook (chicken) wire on top of the pond?? not sure what you call it over there Kavika might be able to translate..
People do that here I know it is not esthetically appealing but you still get the enjoyment with out the casualties...
Kookaburras are the worst here for cleaning up any type of fish..lost 4 goldfish to the blighters plus numerous steaks, sausages and anything else they can grab off the barbie..
But they have the best laughing bird call and clean up snakes so they were forgiven..
Not my photo...
Yes, years ago, and we immediately dismissed it due to the looks. The netting would indeed work to protect the adults, but the snakes would still get the younger koi.
You need a Kookaburra..😁
I will never forget hearing the call of a Kookaburra one afternoon when we were in a wooded area in the Noosa Hinterland.
Yes a very unique sound and can listen to them all day...
And damn good snake catchers..they fly up to the power lines and then drop the snake...do it continuously so the snake is pulverised and easier to eat..😁
I've used fishing line stretched about 8' over pools, across enclosed balconies, or anywhere we didn't want unwanted bird landings. basically invisible to humans, but birds are too intimidated to attempt any landings.
Yeah, I can see trying monofilament for birds. Any thoughts on discouraging our worst problem: raccoons?
Here are a couple of ideas that have worked for me over the years.
Raccoons hate the smell of ammonia. Soak some rags and scatter them around the pond generally that keeps them away.
One of the best is Nite Guard solar lights that are made to keep critters away and work well with raccoons.
Here in Florida if you have a pond you have gators so Raccoons are not a problem.
Gators eat the raccoons? Maybe I should get a moving gator head and mount it in the middle of the pond. I am sure somebody makes them.
I do not think lights will work for our raccoons. I have shined crazy bright (blinding) lights on them and they just look at them.
Ammonia sounds interesting but I know what my wife will say about it.
exploding bottle rockets and a 3' section of steel electrical conduit to launch them. a basic racoon RPG. ... or you could urinate the entire length of the property boundary line. that may take quite a few bottles of water and ingesting some dark green vegetables over a period of time. try not to leave any gaps in your invisible fence...
Gators will eat anything that moves and most everything that doesn't move.
( I was kidding. )
Not a wife-friendly solution.
I put fine plastic mesh over my Koi pond in the fall to keep the leaves out. Don't have to deal with snakes much as I shoot, trap and poison them. Also shoot, trap and poison the rats and mice they live on. My property, my rules.
Morning....noooo don't eat the raccoons!!
we're back to marking your territory...
Very beautiful photos. I almost felt like I was there.
Thanks for sharing with us
Cool, glad you could get that from the photos. I will say that whatever you feel from the photos would be substantially greater if you were walking those sites. Just incredible, IMO.
Wonderful photos. My wife and I were in Japan for 2 weeks just a few years ago and we loved it. Japan is one of our favorite places we have ever been. We spent most of our time in Kyoto, which is an incredible place. We did visit Nara one day. We also spent several days in Tokyo and took an amazing day trip to Kamakura. We would love to go back.
This is an image I created of The Golden Pavilion. ( © G. Gam )
This is a photo of the famous Ryoan-ji Zen Garden in Kyoto. ( © G. Gam )
This is an impression of the Great Buddha of Kamakura. ( © G. Gam )
OUTSTANDING!
I agree. TiG's photos are really outstanding.
I suspect it is easy when the scenes are so naturally beautiful.
High praise from you AMac. Arigato gozaimasu!