Here all the details

Akihabara can be easely reached with the JR Yamanote Line and the best time to visit it is in the later at night. At 11:00 pm the place is completely dead. Actually each block has its “opening time” and it’s normal to move from an ampty one to a crowded one in little time. Our hotel was in OchaNoMizu and so we were able to reach Akihabara on foot.
On foot you can move along this street and Akihabara is visible right away, its giant billboards are obvious even from far away.

Once in Akihabara we saw a great number of people cramming on the streets and in the shops. Here you can see bright signs for CDs, DVDs, Computers, games shops, and Karaoke.

We went inside some of these shops and noticed that their set-ups were always alike: shops spread out on more than one floor are reachable by stairs or elevators. Each floor has it’s own payment point. We saw posters of Shin Kotetsu Jeeg along the Akihabara main street

Another nighttime picture of Akihabara. The colourfull lights of the signs is quite enough to light the street up.

The people gather close to the pedestrian walkways in a continuous flow that seems to never stop. Along the street there was also some cosplay dressed girls giving away flyers of shops and clubs or sponsored items like fans or tissues. In the photo you see pedestrians waiting to move across the street, a very HUGE number of people waiting near the traffic-light. The traffic-lights were also hooked up with a nifty device that makes a sound so that blind people know when to cross the street.

Sadly it was forbidden to take pictures inside the shops. Following, you can see two almost-human-sized robots buyable at insane prices. Some of them were marked with prices around 1.000.000 Yen, ($9,300 USD) The Robot in the photo is the Great Mazinga just outside of a shop.

And this one is the super classic Gundam rx-78-2

Walking around is of course a nice way to make you VERY hungry, so we  moved toward the hotel to eat something.
And what’s better than a cup of steaming ramen?! We entered the shop and the very kind waitress showed us our table and took the orders (the water is always free) and in little time we are ready to eat. *ç* Our first Ramen!! Delicious *ç*

For now it’s all, I hope this was apetizing!
ciao !!
.::Yuki_Sakuma::.

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After our Okonomiyaki dinner we slept and when we were roused at 8 o’clock the following morning we were greeted by a pleasant surprise of breakfast. As always, most of it was a surprise, but we ate as much as possible since we had a long march ahead of us.
This is our last breakfast in Kyoto, there was a sole (fish), rice and a strange broody kind of tofu (I think… ). Despite its questionable nature, I really liked it and ate it without question (it’s the little cup in the middle of the picture).

Here it is a close up look at the mysterious food. There was some soft leaves and a little hill of wasabi on top of the tofu.

After breakfast we cleaned up the mess in our room, made sure we hadn’t forgotten anything, and went to the lobby for Check Out.
Another surprise: Our bags was there!!!!!!!!!!! And they were covered in stickers and sheets of a delivery agency: the KuroNekoYamato (their logo is so cute^^!). Japanese use a lot of visual comunication: once we even saw a sign picturing a chopped off finger to indicate a dangerous sharp edge… °_°,
Here’s logo, isn’t it sweetest? A momma-cat that’s “delivering” a kitten. We saw a lot of their advertisements on the streets and they also had a bunch of commercials on TV, too.

While thanking the Fox god, we gladly took our bags and rejoicedin the fact that we finally had our luggage back!!! After check-out we said our good-byes and hopped over to the train station. It was time to take the Shinkansen!!
While being the faamous high-speed japanese train, Shinkansen is also very comfortable. At the station everything was so clean and orderly, the only airhead was me since I almost lost the tickets.  When I realized it my folly, I ran back to find them and a very kind man (a ticket-checker, I guess) had already found them and thankfully gave them back… The train station was huge! On the ground there were even markings of the exact place where the train door was going to be.
The Shinkansen station in Kyoto, the girl in the center of the picture seems to say: “you’re going to miss the train!”

The trip lasted less than two of hours. In each car there was an LCD screen showing the news, the weather forecasts and the following stops. Even though it was all in Japanese I managed to understand some of it ^^. Once in Tokyo we had to find the hotel, so we followed the instructions we found on the internet: we moved toward OchaNoMizu station. The way was quite easy to find; but even so, a man stopped by us to offer directions while we were studing the map. The hotel was quite close, too, so in little time we checking-i.n
The Ryokan was on the top of one of the many little hills of the Tokyo zone.
In the following picture you can see the height of the location of the hotel; the bathing woman drawn on the left is the insigna of the  HOTEL EDOYA (the name of the Ryokan is also written in kanji on the side of the building).

In our room we found a couch, not really Japanese, but the rest was in the Japanese style. The toilet was a little worse than the one in Kyoto, this one wasn’t the space-toilet and I was rather sad about that. The futon was olso a bit strange and the pillow was somewhat grainy. Even so, we were in Tokyo, so I didn’t complain!!!
Here are our 3 futons. Mine was the red one^^

Looking from the window you can see the signboard and the street, We were finally in Tokyo, but it was time to take some rest since this time we had the bags. ^^
Here it’s a picture taken from the window; the electric cables are very close to the buildings. °_°

Finally we were able to take a refreshing shower and wear something clean. But sadly, for today that’s all! I’m waiting for you at the next chapter!

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We nicknamed it the “hunt & fishing shop”. There we bought some shirts and slacks. To find pants and socks we went to a 24/24 minimarket that are very common in Japan. They’re called “Family Markets” and they sell a bit of everything, from instant ramen to batteries, which is very pratical. There are three main chains: the Family Mart, the ampm and the  7eleven; the prices were really cheap. Against the general stereotypes, the food and the transportation are very good and cheap in Japan. It’s the lodging fee that’s incredibly expensive. Around 6 times the income of a medium family.

Here it is one of the 3 typical 24/24 shops, You can also find postcards and stamps, here.  You can buy some delicious hot Nikuman.

After the shopping we returned to the hotel and the receptionist informed us that our bags were found and that they would be there right in time for check-out (I also had to talk on the phone in Japanese to an employee of the lost and found office °_°) on the 24th August. The godly fox granted our wishes and our climb was worth the pain!! After some rest we went to eat. This time we chose a little family restaurant in the middle of the shopping street. We ate really good stuff. I finally ate a giant cup of white rice and roasted eel. Delicious!

Here you can see my dinner, on the left is the rice with eel, in the middle sweet & sour meatball, than the miso soup, the tofu an half boiled egg, fruit-salad and salad.

Afterwards, we returned to the hotel (our futon was already set) to choose our next destination. The Kiyomizu temple and again the Fushimi Inari to give thanks for the “luggage miracle” seemed like good ideas. We also wanted to take some other pictures. We fell asleep really early.

The morning after we began with another super huge breckfast: new strange food for us, too, this time!

The second day breakfast, everything was very good, but I couldn’t eat some thin fried fishes. Maybe becouse they still had their eyes, they where watching me °_° . The white rice, miso soup and tea were great, though.

Since the first day we came to Japan we kept seeing news about a very big man. Every day, all channels, always the same pictures. Later, we eventually found out that he was a sumo wrestler! In the beginning we didn’t notice it a lot, but after three days of the same news and discussions about him we began to be obsessed with him, too!! He was always there. He won the Japanese championship and that he was born in Mongolia, apparently. He was coming back there to get care for mental disorders °_°

Here it is the tv news, there was always the same scenes, him riceiving the cup, him walking at the airport, him plaing soccer and riding a (poor) horse, those disturbing pictures were with us all along the trip…

After the great wrestler scoop, we headed to the Kiyomizu Dera, a wonderfull temple in Kyoto. It’s high balcony is well-renowned. It’s said that since the balcony is a bit independent you have the sensation of falling. Though, we didn’t really notice it. Maybe because there was a lot of people. The ticket to get in was pretty cheap, though.

We tried to reach on feet the temple using cards and street signals, too… and…  well, we got lost!!

The main door of another temple we found while looking for the Kiyomizu:

This one was certanly a wonderful temple too, but the Kyomizu was waiting for us. We were losing our hopes when we found our salvation in a parking lot! A TAXI!! Japanese taxis are peculiar since they are all laced on the inside and the passenger door is automated, it is a bit upsetting to see. So we took a ride to the Kiyomizu Dera and found that we were still far from it; the driver was very kind and explained us where we were and the names of the places we were moving through. The ride was not expensive, either. There is a fixed bill of about 650 Yen up to 2 km, after that there is an extra per km. The last section of street was walkable only.

We were on an uprising street filled with souvenir shops heading to the temple and at the end of it we were in front of the red and white temple door.

After the gate we founnd another stairway an the fountain. While rising we notice the bell that’s used to announce the new yaer by hitting it 108 times.

The staiway to the main temple:

This is the bell that’s used to announce the new year:

The temple was wide, mainly built in wood, with the big and renowned balcony. We bought the tickets and entered…
in the next photo you can see the right side of the temple entrance.

The middle side of the temple entrance

We looked at a big altar in the middle and found that it was filled of little statues (shinto and buddhist), the kiyomizu dera is indeed a multi-religious temple. Coming closer we noticed a statue of Daikoku, one of the 7 luck deities.

In the temple you can also find buddha statues with the relatives bodhisattva. Mostly those sculptures are placed in the most inner an darker place so the pictures are not perfect. Even so the beauty and the holyness of the buddha amida was obvious.

A classic rappresentaion of Buddha trinity among his bodhisattva. Each Buddha has bodhisattva; thay can be thought as some sort of saints

The sight from the balcony of the temple. During the winter it shoud be clearer ^^

We took some pictures at the balcony and we moved to the torii we saw before hoping to find Inari. This is the Torii at Kiyomizu dera, the stairway leads to many little shinto altars.

We found here many souvenir and omamori sellers, but due to our loyalty to the Fushimi Inari Taisha we didn’t buy anithing, the prices were also a little higher. We found the Fox!! It was there waiting for us, so we passed by to say hallo ^^ At the Inari altar at Kiyomizu dera (even if it was just a “branch” of the main temple) we prayed and made a little offering. Even so, we were going to return to the Fushimi Inari to thank the Fox for the “luggage miracle”.

There were many other little temples. There was also a statue of Daikoku. If you touch it and ask for a wish, then the god will sooner or later make it true. We didn’t do any praying to him to show our faith in the Fox ^^

Here it’s the little altar of Daikoku, the one on the left is the statue that grants the wishes

Here you can see it in detail, obviously it’s touched a lot since it’s all smooth and shiny:

There was also a big stone with a shimenawa around it, It was the only and true love stone…

All you have to do is to touch the stone and then reach it’s twin to the other side of the yard, without looking; If you make it you’ll find your beloved one. If someone helps you, You’ll have to be helped from this person also in finding your love. While walking around we saw a lone pagoda. The Pagoda wasn’t that big, but was very fit for the place, it was almost it’s natural place ^^

Along the road we could see the Kiyomizu from afar and in a more complete way, it’s really spectacular. It was build in 798 dc and it’s the most ancient in Kyoto, due to some problem with fire though it was re-built many times. The last one was in 1633, the Edo era. This temple is also recognised as a Humanity Treasure by the UNESCO.
Following some picture from afar, great huh?

Here you can see better another pagoda:

Another side of the balcony:

Along the street and among the trees there were a red torii with a statue of Inari.
It seems that Inari is really loved in Japan!

There are always two foxes facing each other, the only difference is what they have in their mouths. This is a close up picture of the belowed Fox!!

After a long walk around the temple we arrived in front of a little spring, it was crowded°°.
It was apparently the “eternal youth fountain” that grants long and healty life!!! It was too crowed and hot to wait around, though… U-U

Once out of the temple we ran back to the Fushimi Inari to buy some more omamori. The priestess learned to know us and was almost placing the red carpet for us
Once in hotel we refreshed ourselves and got ready for our last (but not the least!!!) dinner in Kyoto. This time we had Okonomiyaki. We found an underground restaurant that served them. There was a hub incorporated into the table where you could keep your okonomiyaky hot while choosing the dressings. Okonomiyaki are really “dense”!! Okonomiyaki are good, but heavy… on the table there was also the paddles to turn around your okonomiyaki.

Afterwards, we had a little walk and than we went to sleep. The day after,  our bags finally come back!!!
Well then… our experience in Kyoto finishes here!! Next time: Tokyo!!!  Bye!!
.::Yuki_Sakuma::.

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Here all the details

Fuishimi Inari Taisha Temple can be easily reached from the Jr. Station of Fushimi Inari.  At the train station the walls were decorated with many little foxes painted close to the station name, and the color scheme of bright orange reflected the temple itself.

Once at the station we started to walk to the temple following some foxy indication. We were very lucky since it was midweek and there was almost no one around. We had the chance to see the temple in all of its magnificence. Our only trouble was the terrible temperature of the Japanese summer. The humidity was suffocating. The very special aspect of this temple was the incredibly high number of torii donated from the believers in it: they build up long galleries all orange and black and walking through them is a unique experience. Eventually we reached the temple “doors”. Our experience was just at the begining and we didn’t know the incredible power we were going to meet there.

At the very moment we stepped in we saw the ablution spring, where it is recomended one should wash his or her hands (first the right one then the left one) and then mouth to wash away the unwise words spoken.

Below is Yuki while purifing himself.

Below is the first building of the temple. We could see many statues of the holy fox, some of them had a votive red collar.

From the yard we wnt to buy some omamori and a souvenir or two. After that we finally went to the torii galleries. It was quite a sight, a neverending series of torii extending all the way to the side of the mountain. Once inside we noticed that there was a stairway inside. The temple was built on the side of the mountain and there was about 40 sections of stairways. All of them were covered in torii and along the way many little temples and Inari statue could be found.

Below are the torii. I love them, they are all orange beside the black top and the base. This is one of the first one, placed at the beginning of a ward. At a crtain point the Ward splits in two different way, both of them take visitors to the top of the hill.

Another sight of the tunnel, the torii were so close each other that the sun couldn’t reache the ground, giving the place a very special and strange atmosphere.

At the end of the torii ward we reached a yard. In this place there was an altar covered of fox-shaped tablets, coming closer we found that they were votive tablets each inscribed with a prayer to Inari. The tablets were shaped like a fox face and white painted. You just had to make an offer, write you wish on one of them, hug it with the other and pray. The fun thing was that each tablet was customized by the believers, creating an incredible amount of unique foxes. We also bought a tablet for our wishes ^^

These are the fox tablets, all wonderful ^^

After we made the offer, we pulled the rope of the bell. We also asked the fox to get back our lost bags, the fox is trustworty In the next episode you’ll learn the fox’s power began to reveal itself, but more on that later! After the fox tablets we walked through another torii ward up to a bifurcation. On a road-sign I read “bamboo forest” (in kanji). We couldn’t miss such a chance, so we followed the indication through a little street and while walking I took this picture.

After some walking we reached the forest. I have never seen so much bamboo!!! It was like being in the “House of Flying Daggers” movie. Really wonderful…

Too bad we didn’t se any pandas. That would have been fun! , After a little we came back to the torii gallery.

Every now and then there was a little yard with little shops and benchs to take some rest and get drinks. We also sat a while since the climb was very hard due to the hot weather and all the stuff we had. Even so, we reached the top and the view was wonderful. We could see the far away Kyoto. By the way, we walked quite a lot to have gotten so far from Kyoto °_°

This is the landscape at top of the hill of the Fushimi Inari Taisha. Stunning!

After a break we came back using a different route so we could see some other little temples along the way. The way back was quite easier even though if we would have stumbled it would have been horrible since we would probably have ended up rolling all the way down to the door of the main temple building. On the way back we saw a lot of little temples and altars with very beautiful and different statues.

Here are some pictures of them.

A grottesque wood statue

Stony frogs at the base of a torii

A bronze statue, maybe it’s Kannon in the mudra of the teaching

Yuki admires the buddha statue in Abhaya and Varada Mudra

A Bodhisatva statue, maybe Gakko or Nikko

A bunch of dolls ^^

A series of ropes where you’re supposed to tie the Omikuji to the wind.

After another long walk we reached the base of the hill and stopped at a shop to refresh ourselves. It was really hot so what’s better than a good strawberry Kakikori to cool down a bit? It’s nothing other than a Japanese crushed-ice drink. A machine grinds a cube of ice until it’s as thin as the snow and than it’s served with a fruit syrup. Delicious!!

Strawberry Kakikori eaten in a little shop close to the Fushimi Inari Taisha. The close up one is with strawberry syrup only, the other two are with milk too. Enjoy!!!

The crushed-ice drinks helped us a lot since climbing the hill was hard. But it was also needed to achieve a thing that I’ll tell you the next time. See you!!

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First off, we had to take off our shoes and leave them with those of the other customers. A very kind waitress walked us to our seats and gave us some menus. Luckly, they were illustrated so we did have some idea of what we were going to be eating. The house specialty was the grilled meat. We had a choice among many kinds and cuts of meet, each of which was to be personally cooked on the grill at the table.

Here’s the inside of the first Japanese restaurant we dined at.  It was very cute and pleasant, though the table was a bit short. At least there were benches to sit down on.

Here’s the meat while cooking on the grill!!! It was really delicious, especially because it was soaked in this mysterious sauce!!! The picture doesn’t show the burning coals under the grill, but trust me it was HOT and the meat didn’t take much time to be ready.

After the great hearty meal of meat we were thirsty despite the free water we got at the restaurant. We stopped at a drink vending machine. In Japan they’re everywhere and they’re filled with whatewer kind of drink you might want. Most of them are good and all of them were very cheap at around 120 yen (less than 1 euro) each. I was shocked when I saw that one price was modified from 130 to 120 yen!! Its incredible, they lower their prices while we do the opposite!! ^^

This is Yuki while buying a bottle of Grape Fanta from a vending (veeeeery good). All of them worked perfectly and not one of them bore signs of vandalism.  In Italy that’s impossible.

In the higher section you can see many kinds of coffee and cola.

On the way back to our Hotel we found a Manekineko just outside of a restaurant. Close to it the was a menu with the prices. Obviously I couldn’t keep myself from taking a picture of it.
Manekineko greets the customers of the restourant^^

Even if it was quite early we were feeling exhausted from the llong trip so we went to sleep. We asked to have breakfast at 8 am. The next day, after our beds were taken away and crammed in the wardrobe, the table was back to his usual place and the breakfast was served. I never thought that the Japanese could eat so much in the first hours of the morning!! We had rice, salty vegetables, fish, omelettes, miso soup, etc.

Wooo, our first Japanese breakfast!!! The pink cubes were used to boil the tofu, inside the soy, cheese was floating with vegetables and mushrooms.

Everything was delicious and in the end we were so filled that we didn’t need to eat anything else until dinner!!  Afterwards, we found a covered street that was obviously some kind of market. Both on the right and the left there were plently of fresh food shops: meat, fish vegetables and other mysterious things that we couldn’t identify. At the end of this street we saw a big stone torii that was there to announce the presence of a shinto temple nearby. The torii is a portal that has the function of purifying the people who enter the temple.

The Torii was huge and a Shimenawa, the big rope with the paper garland, was on it. As you can see, the torii touches the walls of the nearby structures; from far away you can see the lanterns and the altar of the temple.

Here there are the lanterns and the now-closer altar. In this little temple we found two rather disquieting figures… but we’ll touch on them later.

The belivers, purified from the torii, offer some money through a big grate just before the altar. Afterwards, they ring the big bell with the rope bound to it. In the end they clap their hands twice and pray. On the left there was an aquarium with two “whales” inside…

Carps or whales?!? They were really HUGE carp and swimming in the little aquarium on the left of the altar. I can’t even fathom how delicious they could be *ç* . Though… It’s probably better not to think about it or I would be blasphemous.

Maybe the resized picture can’t show their size at best, but I grant you that they were big. Really big. The second disturbing thing was an Omikuji dispenser. The omikuji are some kind of divine prediction, the one I took was of the “seven luck deities”. I’m still translating the divination, though once obtained I had to link it to a rope that was along a tiny street on the side of the temple. Close to that spot there was another altar, very little and finely red painted. It also had this ceremonial rope to give the offers and call the god, etc etc.
It was fine, but we had much greater projects….

Well that’s all! See you in the nex Article!

Bye-bye!

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Our trip began as we left Venice on the 20th of August, 2007. Once we arrived at the airport we had to wait in line to check in.  An incredible amount of people were barricaded in front of the check-in point of the Alitalia and it was very hard to move forward. After 2 hours of agonizing boredom we were finally about to check-in when two men ahead of us began a dispute about who was first. One of them was of another country so racism, CEE and human rights took a part of the altercation. Our trip really started well, huh… °_°

Once we’d checked in we are finally set free of our heavy bags, and were sure to get them back in Japan.
We went from Venice to Milan in a MCDONNEL DOUGLAS MD-82, from there we reached the Kansai airport of Osaka with a BOEING 777-200.
Our first flyght was awfully late…. Once in Milan we ran for the next airplain, which was also late…. In an elevator we met a couple that was also going to Osaka: they assured us that our luggage was lost due to the late flight and the Alitalia service. We kept hoping and took the airplane.
The Boeing leaving from Milan reached an altitude of 11.000 meters and a speed of 1000Km/h; the outside temperature was of -55°C!
The 12 flight hours was quite good except for some turbulence. Each seat was equipped with a little screen and a remote control to watch movies, listen to music and play games. We also had a Japanese lunch that wasn’t bad, obviously the food we had in Japan was quite better.

Wooooo!!! Here is the picture of the Boeing’s wing I secretly took once it reached it’s top altitude

After 12 hours we could finally see the Japanese coasts!! Finally!!!

The landing was good and we were finally in Japan!!  I couldn’t believe it!!! We just had to take our luggage and go to the hotel to get some rest. We moved to the baggage carousel… and… and…. AAAAHHHHHHH!! Our bags weren’t theeeeere!!! Vanished !!! Just great! Being in Japan witho nothing to dress with…. very bad. We find the lost luggage office and with Japanese and english we managed to make them understand what was going on; we filled some forms and they told us they would let us know about our bags when they found anything.

After a brief trip we reached Kyoto. It’s such a wonderful city. The streets are all perpendicular each other so it was quite easy to move around. Once we got to the hotel we found that they aready knew of our luggage problem and a lady dressed with a kimono walked with us to our room. There she had a little chit-chat about the Japanese customs and the Ryokan rules: we talked a bit in english and a bit in Japanese. The very kind lady also treated us with a little sweet, so gooods!!! Thought they tasted a bit of cinnamon…. (Ryu knows why I specify… ghe ghe ghe) The room was quite large and we used it to sleep and have breakfast, right: we had room service !!!

After a break we went out to take a look around and eat something. When we come back the room was already set for the night: the futon was very comfortable and the bathroom was also good. There was even a hypertech toilet! Mostly, I apreciated the warmened seat. AAahhh what a unique feeling to sit down and not feel the chilly bite of the plastic… wtew^^”

The room from another side, with a good sight of the tatami, absolutely forbidden to enter with your shoes!!

And here it is changed for the night with the soft futon laid on the tatami

well, with this picture I close the first article about our trip to Japan, see you at the next time!!

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These arts are created by farmers that live in a small villane named Inakadate, with 10,000 inhabitants, located in Minamitsugaru district in Aomori province, since 1993.

And the creation of this drawings is completely HANDMADE!!! Hard to believe, heh?
Every year, nearly 900 farmer, offer themselves to breed rice and create these arts.

And what about colours?

It’s easy! They use 4 different types of rice to create the different color tones and subjects.

Once sowed, this mantain its original colour from sprout.
Here you can see an example.

It’s a pity to ruin a so-nice drawing costed a lot of work, isn’t it?

But this doesn’t demoralize the farmers! Every year they create drawings even more beautiful and complicated! They mostly got inspiration from famous arts like the Ukiyo-e. Or our Monna Lisa!

The last year they realized “The big wave” (Hokusai) and the Fuji mountain. Here you can find the images of the procedure they followed.

The sowing moment! You can clearly see how many people are working on these fantastic drawings! Obviously, soaked in water.

Here you can see the first sprouts. You can even see the drawing as a shadow!

Here the drawing is a lot more clear!

Now it’s very defined, it’s very closet o the goal! See the details of the wave and of the boat!!

And, after 9 breeding months, the drawing (the rice is sowed in january and harvested in september)

Here you can see the Fuji mountain detail.

And here you have the drawing after the harvest…

These drawings have been shown also on tv news (obviously Japanese tv news). Have a look of this video about the last drawing created, the wave and the mountain.

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What to say… Japanese are always smart!

Images by: Funfever

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