Toganji Temple, Nagoya

Last Tuesday (May 4, 2010), two friends and I went to Toganji Temple in Nagoya to visit the Big Buddha statue. One of my friends recently downloaded a geocaching application on her iPhone and discovered that there is a cache at Toganji Temple. Tanya found the cache. We discovered another cache nearby so went in search of it. Charlotte found it. They wanted to go in search of one more cache so that I could have my turn of being the first to find the cache. I declined because in both cases, I’d suggested the possible locations but didn’t want to encounter bugs or other unsavory characters in my quest. I guess I need to get over my issues with bugs and dirty hands.

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Meiji Mura, Inuyama

Two friends and I went to Meiji Mura on May 2, 2010 since we had an extra three days off for Golden Week. We prepared a picnic lunch of vegetables, bread, hummus, banana chocolate chip muffins, bean salad and egg salad. We spent about 4 hours at Meiji Mura before heading back home.

Meiji Mura is a Japanese open air museum about 30 minutes (driving) from Nagoya with architectural artifacts from the Meiji period (1868 – 1912). It was opened in 1965.

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Tokoname Pottery Path

Kathy and I explored the Tokoname Pottery Path on a windy, cold sunny day during our spring break. We went in the afternoon and the two sites that we could have visited were closed but we enjoyed the circuitous walk, with frequent photography stops.

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Japan Infographic

A Japanese person has created this infographic from a foreigner’s perspective.

Japan – The Strange Country (Japanese ver.) from Kenichi on Vimeo.

He’s taken down his official English version but there’s an English version here:

Since I speak little Japanese, I can’t compare the two versions. I’m interested in how well the video translates from Japanese to English and on your impression of the video.

Pictures from Sapporo and Otaru, Winter Festivals 2010

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Beautiful Hokkaido

I met the mother of one of my grade one students at Centrair Airport. Her son pointed me out and told her that I am his teacher; she was initially confused because she hadn’t met me before. Once in Hokkaido, we took the train downtown together. As we parted, she gave me her number and invited me to call her if I needed help or wanted to grab a meal together.

I messaged her yesterday to suggest lunch today. We met for a late lunch and went to an Indian restaurant near her parents’ home. The proprietress is so interesting. She is a Japanese woman married to a Tibetian man who has refugee status in India; they met in India when she was vacationing there. We bonded over our Ayurvedic experiences in India and over our adoration of the twin polar bears at the Maruyama Zoo. My friend translated some of our conversation but it’s amazing how much of a language you can understand from the tone of voice and body language. We spent a lovely hour and a half together before she pointed out a nearby bus stop to Otaru, my next destination.

Simply beautiful. I’m overwhelmed by the beauty of the Otaru winter festival. I took a 50 minute bus ride from Sapporo to Otaru and walked around the beautifully lit up city. Ice candles are laid out all over the city, particularly along the more traditional streets. There was no pomp and circumstance tonight, just crowds of people enjoying the unique candle holders made of ice and snow.

I stopped along the way and bought a large clam cooked mostly by blow torch.

Another week goes by

I seldom get sick. This week has been atypical; I took off my second sick day in over 6 years. It was a horrible day to be sick .. sunny and 10 degrees Celsius. Around 2:00 pm, I declared myself well enough to succumb to the lure of the sun. My headache had ceased and I could actually detect smells.

It was a beautiful day for a walk, birds chirping and the sun warming my face as I walked. Blissful enough that I didn’t mind the fact that my headache came back. After all, I could just go home and get back into bed. It’s just a cold and it’ll clear up soon enough I’m sure. Back to work on Monday.

Pictures from Oct 2009 in Nagoya

Nagoya Festival, October 3, 2009

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Osu Kannon October 10, 2009

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Atsuta Shrine, October 11, 2009

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Downtown Nagoya

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Random Pics in Nagoya

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Day Trips from Nagoya

Saturdays seem to have become the unofficial day for exploring nearby regions. I finally got my credit card and ETC card last week so we can go traveling and get better rates on the toll roads. My car doesn’t have an ETC reader but my friends’ do so we use their car. So far we’ve been to Inuyama and Tahara. This weekend was my birthday weekend so I got to choose what we did.

My birthday was on Saturday but the celebration started on Friday evening. A friend cooked a fabulous dinner. On Saturday morning, we had breakfast together while we planned our trip to Toba and Ise in the Mie Prefecture. Our first stop was Ise. We went to Sushi Train for lunch. I think I’m going to miss those two little tortoise characters when I leave Japan. As we headed to Sadahama Port for the boat to Dolphin Island, we came across a home made ice cream shop. I had chestnut ice cream while my friends had Pearl and blueberry. Mikimoto Pearls originated from the Toba region so I assume that pearl ice cream is a local specialty. We didn’t visit the Pearl Island but took a boat cruise to Dolphin Island.

The boat was clearly designed for an amusement park with bright colors and a myriad of life size adornments. Dolphin Island is quite small. The dolphin show was disappointing but the beach was beautiful. We walked along the beach with our feet in the water before climbing to the observatory for a panaromic view of the area.

From Toba, we headed to Ise to visit the Jingu Geku shrine. We were too late to go to the Naiku. The entrance and viewable areas of the shrine are relatively simple. It’s a Shinto shrine that has not been influenced by Chinese or Buddhist traditions. The walk through the grounds is very peaceful with majestic trees and small ponds.

The Jingu Naiku is 6 km from Jingu Geku so we did not go to the inner shrine. It was already dusk. Instead, we went to see the wedded rocks. There is a boulevard along the water. It was relaxing to stop for a moment and enjoy the sound of the waves and the trickling of water from the nearby temple. We didn’t get to see Mt. Fuji in the background but perhaps another day.

We found a nice little restaurant on the way home. It served “dry curry” which is apparently quite healthy. Unfortunately, all the descriptions were in Japanese so I don’t know what dry curry is (although I think I ate it) but it is apparently healthy. The restaurant is called Caravan and has lots of character with old records hung all over the walls. There were posters of the Beatles and John Lennon with the Statue of Liberty. The man and woman who I assume ran the place or maybe own it were very gracious. We wanted hot tea (which they said that they did not have) but the lady later brought us hot tea with a note written in English saying “Japanese hot tea is free”. We got home quite late but my travel companions came over and had birthday cake with me. Thanks ladies for a great birthday weekend.

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