Archives

All posts for the month April, 2017

A little stream and cherry trees in Kenroku-en garden

A little stream and cherry trees in Kenroku-en garden

Kanazawa is an up-and-coming destination out on Japan’s west coast. In fact, while we were here it was listed on a travel web site that I periodically browse as a finalist for their “up-and-coming destination of the year” award. A city of nearly half a million people, a bullet train line from Tokyo was recently completed, making it a quick get-away even though it’s nearly 200 miles of the capital. Highlights include the grounds of a massive 16th century castle that burned down in the late 19th century, a great modern art museum, one of the most beautiful gardens in all of Japan, abundant cherry trees, and a huge, clean fish market.

Here we are on the grounds of the Kanazawa Castle. The castle itself burned down long ago but the grounds - and cherry trees - are beautiful.

Here we are on the grounds of the Kanazawa Castle. The castle itself burned down long ago but the grounds – and cherry trees – are beautiful.

Getting there, as usual, was half the joy. You know the bullet train – the Shinkansen – is going to be on time, you know it’s going to be clean, and you know it’s going to be quiet and comfortable. It’s little short of heaven for traveling. Since the original line opened in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka, it has expanded to now include over 1,700 miles of track with trains speeding along at between 150 and 200 miles per hour. And of course it’s still expanding; an extension to Sapporo up on the northern island of Hokkaido is currently underway with an estimated opening date of March 2031.

It’s worth noting that while we love these trains, they aren’t cheap. The roughly 90-minute ride from Nagano to Kanazawa ran us about $81 each. Definitely worth it, but not cheap.

And what did we find in Kanazawa? Cherry blossoms, lots and lots of cherry blossoms. It couldn’t be more obvious that we managed to hit peak season here. Just everywhere you look there are more cherry trees in full bloom with a wide variety of shades from almost white to brilliant pink. It just makes you happy walking around under all that beauty.

Mark and cherry blossoms just outside the castle park

Mark and cherry blossoms just outside the castle park

Cherry blossoms!

Cherry blossoms!

The city’s big claim to fame is the Kenroku-en garden, known as one of the three great gardens of Japan. (The other two, if you want to know, are located in Okayama and Mito, two other cities I’ve never heard of.) Construction of the garden dates all the way back to the early 17th century, with various rulers of the region expanding and improving it all the way through the 19th century. It even includes what is widely accepted as the oldest fountain in all of Japan. We spent a lovely late morning wandering around enjoying the park, though admittedly some other tourists had figured out that it was the place to be, too.

The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art was a highlight for us, though with an asterisk (*we paid to see a special exhibit but couldn’t figure out how to see the permanent collection, if indeed there is a permanent collection). The exhibit we saw was a collection of work by Manabu Ikeda, a Japanese artist who draws fantastical and incredibly detailed works with pen. His most recent epic piece – Rebirth, a tribute to the recovery after devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake – took three-and-a-half years to complete while in residence at a museum in beautiful Madison, WI, and was on display. Again, as with so many exhibits we go to, I’d never heard of him, but his work was damned interesting.

Manabu Ikeda's Rebirth. Over three years in the making, it's drawn in painstaking detail in pen.

Manabu Ikeda’s Rebirth. Over three years in the making, it’s drawn in painstaking detail in pen.

The fish market in Kanazawa – the Omi-cho market – is a big deal, too. It’s appropriately described as a “bustling warren of fishmongers, buyers, and restaurants.” What was most amazing to us is just how clean it was, like so much of Japan. For all practical purposes from the smell, at least, you’d never have known it was a fish market. Pleasant enough so that we went to one of the random restaurants there and had a great lunch. Lots of sashimi, not surprisingly.

Inside the  huge Omi-cho market

Inside the huge Omi-cho market

Speaking of restaurants, Mark had an interesting observation while we were in Kanazawa. When he does his research on TripAdvisor and we find what we think will be a great little restaurant that we’ll love, we almost always love it. But there are almost always a bunch of other Westerners there, too. When we just wing it – go out and find something that looks like it’ll work for us – we sometimes strike out, or at least find that it’s a double instead of a home run. But in those cases there are usually no other Westerners or at least very few.

And that was Kanazawa. We learned, for the fortieth time or so, that we should really focus on the location of our hotel. We stayed at a place that was just wrong, maybe 10 minutes northwest of the train station, when we really should have been 15 or 20 minutes southeast of the train station. It just made it more of an ordeal getting to anything we wanted to get to.

The entrance to Kanazawa's new high-speed train station. That gate was phenomenal, especially the massive pieces of wood it uses, and the building behind it was pretty good, too.

The entrance to Kanazawa’s new high-speed train station. That gate was phenomenal, especially the massive pieces of wood it uses, and the building behind it was pretty good, too.

Oh, and one thing to love about Japan. Sometimes it seems as though you’re traveling in a world of morticians; it’s apparent that Japan hasn’t gotten the memo that circulated in the states a few years ago that says you don’t have to wear a suit and tie to work every day. Here? There are more black suits and white shirts than you’ll see in a month in most places stateside these days. But, the upside of all those old Japanese men in charge? There are more public restrooms – clean as can be – than anyplace in the world. Sometimes in a park you’re within eyesight of two and even three different rest rooms. My theory is that these older guys, like me, have enough prostate and bladder issues that they want to be sure they’re never far from a toilet. Thanks guys!

OK, let's get the cherry blossom pictures out of the way

OK, let’s get the cherry blossom pictures out of the way

The colors range from the faintest pink - really just white with a hint of color - to blossoms like this that are nearly red

The colors range from the faintest pink – really just white with a hint of color – to blossoms like this that are nearly red

Blossoms everywhere

Blossoms everywhere

Last one

Last one

Next up, food. As usual it's intriguing, often hard to figure out, usually great, and always beautiful.

Next up, food. As usual it’s intriguing, often hard to figure out, usually great, and always beautiful.

Just your typical lunch

Just your typical lunch

Avocado sashimi on the most beautiful plate we've seen so far

Avocado sashimi on the most beautiful plate we’ve seen so far

Duck

Duck

The restaurant inside Omi-cho market

The restaurant inside Omi-cho market

Some of the fish from the Omi-cho

Some of the fish from the Omi-cho

More clams than you've ever imagined

More clams than you’ve ever imagined

One of the "starred" sites from Lonely Planet was the Suzuki Zen Museum. I like Zen thought and even used to read a lot of Zen-ish stuff so I went there. Underwhelming. Stunningly minimalist, to the extent that there was almost nothing actually there. The buildings were pretty, though.

One of the “starred” sites from Lonely Planet was the Suzuki Zen Museum. I like Zen thought and even used to read a lot of Zen-ish stuff so I went there. Underwhelming. Stunningly minimalist, to the extent that there was almost nothing actually there. The buildings were pretty, though.

Zen flower arrangement from the Suzuki Museum

Zen flower arrangement from the Suzuki Museum

The modern art museum included Leandro Erlich's "The Swimming Pool". From inside you go downstairs and walk in, seeing a layer of water above you. This is an actual woman, pretending to climb the ladder while her boyfriend (and Mark) was taking a picture.

The modern art museum included Leandro Erlich’s “The Swimming Pool”. From inside you go downstairs and walk in, seeing a layer of water above you. This is an actual woman, pretending to climb the ladder while her boyfriend (and Mark) was taking a picture.

And from above you look down, through the same layer of water, at people down where you were a few minutes ago

And from above you look down, through the same layer of water, at people down where you were a few minutes ago

On the grounds of the museum was a multi-colored ... thing ... that lends itself to pictures like this

On the grounds of the museum was a multi-colored … thing … that lends itself to pictures like this

And finally, filed under "You've never seen it all". Outside the train station is this fountain. We're all familiar with signs that change based on what lights are lit at the moment, but this changes its message based on what water jets are flowing. Sometimes it's the time, other times it's a welcome in English, other times Japanese symbols. Never see that before!

And finally, filed under “You’ve never seen it all”. Outside the train station is this fountain. We’re all familiar with signs that change based on what lights are lit at the moment, but this changes its message based on what water jets are flowing. Sometimes it’s the time, other times it’s a welcome in English, other times Japanese symbols. Never see that before!

Mark wanted to see Snow Monkeys and as you can see he succeeded. OK, that's just a poster behind him, but we did get to see the real ones.

Mark wanted to see Snow Monkeys and as you can see he succeeded. OK, that’s just a poster behind him, but we did get to see the real ones.

Some time ago Mark saw pictures of snow monkeys in Japan and he needed to see them in person. Well, the easiest place to do so is a bit outside of Nagano, home of the 1998 Winter Olympics, so off we went. We stayed in the little town of Obuse, a 30-minute ride on a commuter rail kind of thing outside of Nagano, which was a mistake. It’s supposed to be this cute little tourist town but we found it just really dull. In fact, given the dearth of restaurants in Obuse we ended up taking the train into Nagano every night for dinner. Obuse was pretty, our hotel was beautiful, and it was a good place for early morning runs, but otherwise it was not much to write home about.

A quick word about where we are. This area of central Honshu is known as the Japanese Alps, about two-and-a-half hours west of Tokyo by bullet train. Now, I’ve been to the Alps, and while these are nice mountains, often beautiful mountains, I’m not convinced they’re exactly Alpine. Getting here was fun, though; we just love the Japanese bullet trains. Wonderfully comfortable, easy, and punctual. You could probably quite literally set your watch by their arrival and departure times (if people still have to set watches in this era of Apple Watches…). Just sit back, relax, read, get up and walk around, and suddenly you’re on the other side of Japan.

Real snow monkeys playing in a not-so-real hot spring

Real snow monkeys playing in a not-so-real hot spring

Now, back to the monkeys. In their natural habitat you’ll only find monkeys in the tropics or subtropics, except in Japan. The Japanese macaque is the only non-human primate in the world that lives in a cold climate, and as the name suggests they’re only found in Japan. A 1992 documentary, Baraka, made the snow monkeys in this part of Japan famous by showing them bathing in hot springs surrounded by snow. Cute pictures and thus a tourist industry was born.

I loved the hike up to the monkey park. A warm spring day through tall trees with snow all around makes for just about perfect hiking.

I loved the hike up to the monkey park. A warm spring day through tall trees with snow all around makes for just about perfect hiking.

Cute monkeys

Cute monkeys

Mark outside the massive temple of Zenko-ji

Mark outside the massive temple of Zenko-ji

From Obuse the train out of Nagano continues to the town of Yudanaka, where you catch a bus that leaves you off perhaps a mile or two from the hot springs. At this point you’re high enough in elevation that in early April there’s still lots of snow, but it’s a warm spring day so the walk was beautiful. Eventually you get there … and there they are, a bunch of monkeys hanging out in the snow, jumping in and out of the hot springs, picking nits from each other, taking pictures of the tourists and all that. They were cute and it’s crazy watching them play in the snow and all that.

At the same time, it’s definitely kind of fake. These are monkeys that are seriously accustomed to hundreds and hundreds of tourists. Lonely Planet says the monkeys are “lured from their natural habitat … with food.” And the hot spring isn’t natural; it’s built there for the monkeys. So yeah, definitely not the most authentic naturalist experience you’ll ever have but still cute. My favorite part was the walk through the forest up to the park, but either way it was a pleasant little day trip.

Otherwise we spent our time in Obuse … going into Nagano. The highlight of the city is the Zenkō-ji Buddhist temple, founded in the 7th century and home of Japan’s oldest Buddhist treasures. One statue, said to have arrived in Japan from Korea in 552, is kept in storage here. As a “hidden Buddha,” it is not shown to anyone, including the chief priests or even the emperor himself. According again to Lonely Planet, not even the last 37 emperors have seen the statue. One wonders what’s really in there.

One piece of good news from Obuse/Nagano was that there were very few cherry blossoms. Why is that good news? I read just after leaving Tokyo that officials there had determined that our last day was the cherry blossom peak; from that point it would be all down hill. We were afraid that maybe we weren’t going to see many more as we continue traveling around Japan for a couple more weeks. Not to worry, though, here on the western part of Honshu they haven’t even started yet.

As usual, food was a big part of our experience in Nagano & Obuse. It is nothing short of amazing how beautiful and fabulous food here in Japan can be.

As usual, food was a big part of our experience in Nagano & Obuse. It is nothing short of amazing how beautiful and fabulous food here in Japan can be.

Now for the grim news from home. I was just ready to start writing this a couple days ago, had all the pictures loaded and everything, when we learned that my little ten-year-old great-nephew – my brother’s grandson – has had a relapse of his cancer. He was diagnosed back in October 2015 with a rare and usually fatal case of neuroblastoma, a nerve cancer that typically attacks children. After nearly two years of brutal treatment he was found to be cancer free last July, just days after we buried my Dad. As one of my friends who’s a bit more religious than I am (that’s a low bar) put it, “It’s as though your Dad went to heaven and said ‘OK, you got me. Let the kid go.'” It was truly a gift that we had something to celebrate that week.

Well, the good news didn’t last. Earlier this week they went in for his quarterly checkup only to find that at least two tumors have returned. And this time there is no treatment and no hope of survival. It’s a body blow; things like this aren’t supposed to happen to little kids. And yes, it makes it a little tough to write about how great these travels are knowing what my brother and his family are going through.

So there you have it, snow monkeys and family tragedies. I guess that’s life in a nutshell sometimes.

A sashimi platter

A sashimi platter

Mark posted this picture on Facebook, just in the comments section of the pictures from Tokyo I put up, and it generated quite a conversation. This, you see, is horse sashimi, or raw horse meat. As you might guess, there was quite a discussion about eating ... raw horse? Yes, we ate it and yes, it was delicious.

Mark posted this picture on Facebook, just in the comments section of the pictures from Tokyo I put up, and it generated quite a conversation. This, you see, is horse sashimi, or raw horse meat. As you might guess, there was quite a discussion about eating … raw horse? Yes, we ate it and yes, it was delicious.

More great food. That glass in the upper right is sake and at this place - we've seen it before, but not for a while - they fill the glass and then keep pouring until the box is full and even the saucer below it. Makes for a very healthy cup of sake.

More great food. That glass in the upper right is sake and at this place – we’ve seen it before, but not for a while – they fill the glass and then keep pouring until the box is full and even the saucer below it. Makes for a very healthy cup of sake.

We love these little restaurants where most people are just sitting around the bar watching the chefs throw together these amazing dishes

We love these little restaurants where most people are just sitting around the bar watching the chefs throw together these amazing dishes

The food pictures can just go on and on

The food pictures can just go on and on

This is the last one

This is the last one

Another picture from Zenko-ji

Another picture from Zenko-ji

And one more

And one more

These reverse swastikas were Buddhist images for centuries before the Nazis adopted them. Still, it's always a little jarring seeing them around....

These reverse swastikas were Buddhist images for centuries before the Nazis adopted them. Still, it’s always a little jarring seeing them around….

And from the snow monkey mountain, just proving that there was plenty of snow up there

And from the snow monkey mountain, just proving that there was plenty of snow up there

Oops, almost forgot these guys

Oops, almost forgot these guys

And finally, a little humor. You gotta wonder how they treat their customers at this little coffee shop in Nagano.

And finally, a little humor. You gotta wonder how they treat their customers at this little coffee shop in Nagano.

A tiny little park not far from our hotel looking very Japanese with cherry blossoms, a lantern, and Mark

A tiny little park not far from our hotel looking very Japanese with cherry blossoms, a lantern, and Mark

It’s hard to believe that it took us nearly four years on this adventure to get to Japan, one of our favorite countries. Over the years we’ve been to Japan four times but always in November (i.e., after the election and over Thanksgiving when we had plenty of time to get away). This time we’ve scheduled our four weeks here to coincide with cherry blossom season and, after three days in Tokyo, that’s looking like a pretty good move.

First off, I can’t imagine what we were thinking when we decided to stay in Tokyo for only three nights. This is a great city and it would take a week or even two to do it even remote justice. It was probably just that we’ve been to Tokyo a few times and really wanted to get out and see new places. And the fact that at cherry blossom time the city is crazy expensive and really quite full. Still, it felt as though we were being dragged out to leave so quickly.

The view of Tokyo from our 51st floor room

The view of Tokyo from our 51st floor room

The “crazy expensive” part is amusing. A few months ago Mark started researching hotel availability in Tokyo during cherry blossom season and his eyes just kind of popped out: we wanted to spend at least a few days in Tokyo but prices were just out the roof. Until we looked at using points, when – voilà! – we could get a room at the Ritz Carlton for the cost of the city tax, just $3.54 a night. Mind you, this was an entry-level room that was priced at $1,300 a night on their website. It made those points seem pretty valuable.

So we spent three nights in luxury. We arrived at the hotel a bit after noon in a cold rain. After getting our room we went out to lunch and stopped at the first place we saw, Shells Café. What a delight, just cute and comfy and warm and dry as could be. It was as though we’d landed in the anti-China. The fixed-price lunch consisted of a little salad, a little salmon with pesto, a little bowl of clam chowder, some mashed potatoes with a little bacon, a little ratatouille, and some cold mint tea.

Now, you might have noticed the adjective “little” in those dishes; it seems unlikely we’re going to put on any weight here in Japan. The dishes we’ve had so far have all been beautiful and elegant, and they obviously take great care in how they’re presented. But they’re all small. Rather than walking away feeling stuffed, we’re more likely to walk away feeling hungry. But that’s not a bad thing; we’re both trying to lose a bit of weight.

A little food, a little wine

A little food, a little wine

Let me give you one example of small. In one dish at a different restaurant they included a bit of vegetables, probably pickled (they pickle everything here). Included in this vegetable dish that was intended to serve two was Brussels sprouts. Not to overstate the dish, though, there wasn’t a few Brussels sprouts, or even just one for each of us: there were two Brussel sprouts leaves. Now that’s attitude!

So while you’re not going to pig out here, there is a lot to love in Tokyo, including the fact that not a single waiter has attacked us (yet). We couldn’t get over just how neat and orderly everything is here. The streets may well be the cleanest I’ve ever seen in a big city and I was intrigued to observe at one point that you not only didn’t see trash on the street, you didn’t even see trash cans. My nose was running because of the cold, wet weather so I was often looking for somewhere to throw my Kleenex. Never saw a trash can once, and yet the streets and sidewalks are all but spotless. And I loved seeing signs that indicating that smoking on the sidewalks was prohibited and that flicking of cigarette butts was really prohibited.

I'll never again be in awe of D.C.'s cherry blossoms

I’ll never again be in awe of D.C.’s cherry blossoms

What else did we love during our way-too-brief stay in Tokyo?

• The traffic is surprisingly subdued. I don’t know if Tokyo has some inner-city car tax or what, but you never got the sense of anything close to gridlock or crazy traffic jams. The cars that are there just seem quiet and – I love this – if a building has a parking garage that you have to drive over the sidewalk to get into or out of, there’s always at least one and sometimes two guards to stop traffic so pedestrians can get through.

Nights in Tokyo are colorful

Nights in Tokyo are colorful

Our first sake in years

Our first sake in years

More cherry blossoms, this time with a lion!

More cherry blossoms, this time with a lion!

• Speaking of pedestrians, in a 180-degree change from China, cars yield to pedestrians here. Always. I watched in Shanghai as a mother was crossing a street in the cross walk with a green light have to hold her maybe five-year-old daughter back as a car careened around the corner making a right turn on red. No way that car was stopping for some lousy kid with a green light, and that is clearly the default in China. Japan is so much more civilized.

• I love the fact that when you’re riding escalators around the subway system or in office buildings or whatever, people always – always – stand on the left and let people who want to walk up pass on the right. It appeared simply universal, with no one ever having to remind someone to stand left.

• Tokyo is a city of runners, as was evident in our long walks around various neighborhoods. There are lots of places in the world where you rarely see people out running but here we saw it all over and at all times of day.

• The food. We stayed in the Rappongi neighborhood and it seemed as though there could be hundreds of tiny little places with amazing food and ambience. The first two nights we let TripAdvisor be our guide and we had great meals within a few minutes of the hotel. The last night we just went out on our own and stumbled into yet another great place.

• The cherry blossoms. The first two days in the rain and gloom they were beautiful, but the third day as the sun came out they were glorious. We’re spending a month in Japan and the season has just begun, so I think we’re going to see a lot of cherry blossoms this spring.

We had one big cultural excursion, going to an exhibit at the National Art Center, Tokyo. The museum is unusual in that it has no permanent collection or curators; instead it hosts exhibitions curated and sponsored by others. The exhibit we saw – Yayoi Kusama: My Eternal Soul – was simply stunning. Kusama is an 88-year-old artist, still remarkably active, who was on the forefront of modern art nearly 60 years ago. The exhibit started with a room full of her current work, and when I say full, it was full, including 132 current paintings along with a bunch of sculpture-things. Then it went back and looked at her older works, including a sketch she did in 1939. Right, 78 years ago, and she’s still active! The exhibit included some of her work from the 1960s when she was living in New York City and hanging out with the likes of Andy Warhol.

The exhibit at the National Art Center, Tokyo included this room of 132 recent paintings by Yayoi Kusama plus these big flower installations

The exhibit at the National Art Center, Tokyo included this room of 132 recent paintings by Yayoi Kusama plus these big flower installations

I love the opportunity to go to a place like Tokyo and learn about fascinating people like her.

So yeah, we fell in love with Tokyo. For now, though, we’re off to the mountains northwest of Tokyo, almost on the other side of the island. We’ve got about two weeks on our own before we start a bike trip and we’re going to be poking around in various parts of Honshu (the main island) during that time. Meanwhile, a few more pictures from Tokyo.

On our first full day in Tokyo we walked to Ginza, Tokyo's upscale shopping hub and discovered that on weekends they close the street to traffic. We don't shop at a place like that, but we like walking through it.

On our first full day in Tokyo we walked to Ginza, Tokyo’s upscale shopping hub and discovered that on weekends they close the street to traffic. We don’t shop at a place like that, but we like walking through it.

On one of our walks we stumbled into a beautiful cemetery. That building in the background is our hotel!

On one of our walks we stumbled into a beautiful cemetery. That building in the background is our hotel!

Here I am in the cemetery, though fortunately just passing through

Here I am in the cemetery, though fortunately just passing through

Love the food here. We're worried about our ability to avoid carbs here - they serve a lot of rice in Japan - but plates like this make it seem possible

Love the food here. We’re worried about our ability to avoid carbs here – they serve a lot of rice in Japan – but plates like this make it seem possible

Typical of the places we found to eat at in Roppongi - tiny, crowded, and with a great atmosphere

Typical of the places we found to eat at in Roppongi – tiny, crowded, and with a great atmosphere

A photo of Yayoi Kusama from Wikipedia, a remarkable artist if probably a little quirky

A photo of Yoyai Husama from Wikipedia, a remarkable artist if probably a little quirky

Four of the 132 paintings in one room of the exhibit

Four of the 132 paintings in one room of the exhibit

More of those 132 recent paintings. I suggested to Mark that there was more color in that one room than perhaps any room in the world.

More of those 132 recent paintings. I suggested to Mark that there was more color in that one room than perhaps any room in the world.

One last cherry tree picture

One last cherry tree picture

And finally, Tokyo is renowned for making every square inch matter as they squeeze 14 million people in. We loved this parking space and can only imagine the anxiety that must be produced when the owners realize they have to take the car out ... and eventually put it back in!

And finally, Tokyo is renowned for making every square inch matter as they squeeze 14 million people in. We loved this parking space and can only imagine the anxiety that must be produced when the owners realize they have to take the car out … and eventually put it back in!