Japan, a Land Full of Culture, History and Modern Innovation
- Martin Maynard
- Feb 24, 2019
- 4 min read
We travelled to Tokyo, from Larnaca in Cyprus via Dubai, so after a long journey it took us a good 24 hours to get our bearings, not helped by the fact that I was suffering from a nasty bug, that took me a few days to recover from! We had just 10 days in Japan and this Blog attempts to capture a good part of the country's magnificent history and culture. Much of the Blog is shown by images rather than words but hopefully it will be informative to our followers and, if you haven't visited the country, we hope it will encourage you to do so, we are certain you won't be disappointed.
We spent the first 3 days in and around Tokyo with its bustling streets and what appeared to be Vending Machines on every street corner (literally). What fascinated us was that these machines offered hot and cold drinks in the same unit, let alone the myriad of other different purchasing options!
We stayed very central in the City so had good access to the highly efficient train network, which we used frequently - our highlight was to travel twice on a Bullet Train, now that was an amazing 'speed experience' and, as you might expect in Japan, the timetable was strictly adhered to. The picture is a little blurred as it was moving through the station at such a speed - this was my 4th attempt to picture the train before it had come and gone!
We spent some time exploring a park in the centre of the city, with examples of dwellings and how they used to look in bygone days. We then enjoyed a superb Japanese Tea in a Tea House and we realised it is quite difficult to sit crossed legged on the floor! The Country has many Temples and Shrines and Tokyo was no exception and we visited the Senso-ji Temple, the Meiji Jingu Shrine (shown above) and the Kamakura-shi Temple amongst others, the latter being the home of a very impressive Buddha - see below.
We were very impressed with the Gate at Meiji Shrine, located in Shibuya, Tokyo. This is a Shinto Shrine dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. Offerings are given at the beginning of each year which include many cases of Sake and wine.
When it came to food, we tried quite a few examples of the local delicacies (Vivi was generally braver than me), including a fair amount of raw food, Wasabi and Black Ice Creams and black hard boiled eggs at Mount Fuji! Here are just a few of these examples...
Preparing my Wasabi Ice Cream - it was really delicious!!
A very big highlight for us in Japan was the visit to Mount Fuji on 4th February (my birthday!), which involved the second longest cable car trip in the World, but the views were well worth it despite my fears of heights. We took numerous pictures on our travels up the hills and mountains and it looked for the most part that Mount Fuji would be shrouded in clouds until we were lucky enough to capture a clear sight of the Mountain a bit later in the afternoon in Hakone - well worth the wait!!!
We stayed for a couple of nights in a Mountain Retreat - close to Hakone, where we experimented quite a bit with Japanese food delicacies, before we were back on the Bullet train again heading for Kyoto... We then stayed at the superb city centre Kanra Hotel for 3 nights, which was located next door to the Higashi Honganji Buddist Temple, not a bad looking place to have next door to you!
Kyoto certainly didn't disappoint us, the dramatic architecture and history of this city was breathtaking and the images below highlight this; From the magnificent Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji to the Kitano Tenmangu Shinto Shrine, the entrance gate to Nijo Castle to the orange coloured and magnificent Kiyomizu-dera Buddhist Tempe in Eastern Kyoto. The last two pictures here illustrate the popularity of this site with the busy narrow streets and a finally a glimpse of Hokanji Temple.
We ended the day with a walk along the main shopping street in Kyoto, past two fast walking Geisha Girls and took in a view of the highest point - the Kyoto Tower at night.
Our next day in Kyoto would take us to Fushimi Inari Taisha, the head Shrine of the god Irani. There are about 6,000 vibrant orange gates that wind through the hills. This Shrine is dedicated to the god of rice and it really is a MUST visit if travelling to the Kyoto region of Japan.
We then enjoyed some 'sake tasting' and although it was quite early in the morning, we soon got into the whole tasting experience :) before heading to Nara to see the Kasuga Grand Shrine, famous for the hundreds of stone lanterns and the many Deer that roam freely here.
Our last stop in Kyoto and indeed in Japan, was a visit to the island of Itsukushima and the city of Hiroshima. The Itsukushima Shrine has been a holy place of Shintoism since the earliest times. Indeed the first shrine buildings here probably date back as long ago as the 6th century. It is best known for its 'floating' torii gate.
Our last stop was the city of Hiroshima itself and a visit to the Memorial Park and to see the remains of the Dome Building that was one only a few buildings that remained standing after the Atomic Bomb strike in August 1945. The horrors of this bomb and its effect on its people are told in the the impressive Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The Children's Peace Monument is well worth a visit too.
Our farewell to Kyoto is from the very modern main station in the city and thoughts are now ahead to our next trip, as we head for Vietnam. I hope you have enjoyed the read and the sights of many of the places we visited.
Thank you for following our travels.
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