Well, it's that time of the year again...Cherry blossom time! This was the first time I saw the blossoms in Kyoto. The whole area around my apartment and my work exploded into a pale pink canopy above the street. There are whole neighbourhoods where it seems the only tree ever planted is the beloved Cherry. This year, they were whiter than I remember.
I've seen them about 5 times now, but they are still just as magical as the first time I saw them. Wow! Taking sakura pictures is addictive!
This is Kiyamachi street. It runs along a little canal and is one of the most beautiful places to see the blossoms. I think it has such a stunning effect because the trees here are right in the middle of the city.
I like the street sign here that says: "Hey son, let's run into the middle of the road to check out the sakura!"
People tend to have picnics under the trees during spring. This is Maruyama Park and there were so many people that it was hard to find a place to sit down. The whole area was filled with drunken businessmen, tourists, and college kids skipping school. Wouldn't you?
There were a tonne of stalls selling food. This takoyaki-ya san hung his lantern in the branches. It was a good way to get free advertising.
Many women wore kimonos. This was also common in Kanazawa. But the designs in Kyoto take the cake! After eating some delicious Japanese junk food in the park, I left to go to Nijo Palace to see nighttime blossoms. Nijo Palace is one of Kyoto's many world heritage sites. The illumination was incredible. You can't capture the magic on film...or digitally, even...But I tried! Here are my two best attempts.
The people are so small beneath the ancient trees. It's hard to imagine Japan's first Shogun also walked in the same garden so many years ago.
Everyone had their cameras out. It was irresistible.
Last weekend I climbed Tateyama, the second highest mountain in Japan. We had to take a cable car up to the top. From there we took a bus to the base station. Then we go from there on foot.
This is the mountain. The tip is covered with a massive cloud, but you can make out the gift shop at the top. Yes! you heard me! A GIFT SHOP!!! For centuries there was a shrine at the top. The monks built a house, then when tourists came, the house became a shop for charms, now it's a gift shop.
The whole mountain was still covered in snow. About 2 meters actually. If you slip down the side, there's no coming back. You'd slide straight into the valley a 1000 meters below. Man, I swear I'd piss myself in fear for the first 3 seconds, then I'd shout "Guys, take a picture! Take a picture!"
This is near the top. The area near the summit was just rocks. Not Fuji style rocks, either. Real rocks.
The summit was incredibly misty and cloudy. The shrine is actually the highest point on the mountain. Totally covered in white, it was a little like being in a waiting room in a virtual reality game.
Yuka taking a picture of Erin and Will.
The climbing was good and the sunset beautiful—although I sadly didn't get a picture of it...However, to me the most interesting part was the area around the base station. The Buddhists claim that Tateyama is holy because it contains 9 views of heaven from the summit at 164 views of hell around the mountain. This sign points towards the area known as 'Hell's Valley'.
Here you can see it literally looks like God wiped his ass on this portion of earth. (And smells like it too).
The signs warn you not to walk on water like Jesus in this area. Also under no circumstance should you fight the gas clouds!
The path you follow is through a sulfur pit. I never knew that sulfur leaves green stains on the ground. But I guess it makes sense.
While everyone else was taking pictures of the green water, or the grey rocks, I couldn't stop snapping pics of the pipes and barrels lying around. I suppose my idea of Hell is like a dirty, fart-smelly place always under construction. I have like 50 pictures of a barrel in this landscape, but I won't bore you all with them.
There were also some natural scenery like this geyser spouting off evil clouds of gas just asking to be punched in the face.
More of hell. Those clouds are actually indescribably BIG...
I am speechless...Makes you realize how little we understand about animal brains. The other day I heard about a lost parrot here in Japan reciting his address and name of his owner until he was returned. How weird is that?
Also there was the story about the dolphin who lead the pack of whales out of the sandbar maze. They kept getting beached and and some people were pushing them off the sand, then they would beach themselves again. This happened for a few hours until I lone dolphin swam in, squeek-squeeked at them until they followed him through the maze to the exit and the open sea. Link to BBC news
And not to mention my old dog, Dante, who I could say hands down was one of the smartest animals I've ever encountered...Outranking some humans, I know.
I just got back from Yakushima, a small island 5 hours south of the tip of Kyushu, the southermost of the main islands. The whole island is covered by an ancient rainforest and has been a World Heritage Site based on exceptional natural beauty as well as showing the importance of on-going natural development. The island has some of the world's oldest trees. Japan's oldest stands at 7200 years old, and there are a number of other 2000 plus trees on the island. Anything over 2000, but under 3500 is called ko-sugi, or baby sugi!
The closest city is Kagoshima, the gateway to Yakushima and Tanega-shima (Japan's space port). Kagoshima is also an interesting city. It's home to one of Japan's only active volcanos, Sakurajima. Apparently, this is the most volatile volcano in Japan, with activity as recent as 2005. We took a ferry out to the volcano, walked around the base until we came to a spot where we had a clear view of the top, sat down and drank some beer. Getting near the active cone is forbidden, but we found ourselves next to a shrine to the volcano. After 2 or 3 cans of beer, I noticed that my foot was covered in tiny, little black dots. I guess the wind shifted and when we looked up, it was raining ashes on us. A fine black mist, really. But you could smell fresh lava on the air. The volcano is really pretty to look at—pretty and menacing. The last real eruption joined it to the mainland by a tine isthmus, altered the tides and spewed out an enormous amount of lava. (A rarity for Japan, because every other Japanese volcano has explosive eruptions, rather that lava flows.)
When I got to the island, the old man at the inn greeted me with "Welcome, you who are called." When I asked what he meant, he explained that the island calls people. You don't choose to go there, but you are summoned by the island. This makes sense when you learn that the oldest tree, called Jomon sugi is about 5 hours walk from the nearest road. (That's a 10 hour day!)
The path takes you through thick forests, some of the most beautiful scenes with monkeys and white-tailed deer wondering around freely, fearless of humans. There are spiderwebs of old roots everywhere.
More roots.
This is actually an enormous root crawling over a bolder. You have to pass under the root on the way to the big tree.
After the 5 hours walk up the mountain, you first get to Wilson's stump. The stump itself could easily fit a large living room inside it (I promise I will post a movie of this later). Then you climb farther to Jomon sugi, the 7000 year-old hulk. It is indescribably big...And there is no way a photo does it justice. I wanted to lay a pencil beside it to show scale, but you actually can't get close to it due to too many tourists eroding the soil around it. At one point there was a family of deer that stood next to it, but I couldn't get my camera out in time. The whole place reminds you of Princess Mononoke.
A montage from the movie, in case you haven't seen it. If you haven't, go rent it now!!!
The island also has some natural hot springs. One in particular that I liked is a sea-side spring. It is only accessible a few hours before and after high tide, and during that time you are basically bathing outside, naked with any strangers who might want to share the warm water with you. Like this guy, for example. The water smalls of sulpher and is salty, but it is incredibly relaxing to hear the waves and soak.
The last great thing about the island is the beach. It has beautiful clear water. The local fish is called tobiuwo, or directly translated "flying fish". They are very different from the fish Gavin had hanging on his wall as a child, but they have wings, do pop out of the water in schools and do kind of fly. While I was swimming, a school of them virtually jumped over me in a blue-silver rainbow of fish.
I got a nasty sunburn and returning to Kagoshima, the only moisturizer I could find was some made from volcanic ash. "It's good for your skin!" the salesman said. So I bought it and when I covered my sunburn that night, laying on the bed, I looked and smelt like a burnt piece of bacon. Like yaki-nikku, a little too well done.
'Hanami' is the custom of going cherry blossom viewing. This is an important part of all Japanese people's lives. The cherry blossoms are so fragile and they arrive spontaneously and disappear within a week or two. During this time schools, businesses and friends have cherry blossom viewing parties. It is against the backdrop of the pale pink sakura that people meet their new schoolmates, co-workers, as well as say goodbye to old friends. Although they fall off the trees in a matter of days, the beauty of the blossoms never fade. I mean, I have seen the same scene for 3 years now and I have never gotten sick of it. I still take the same pictures every year! And you may never be able to show the true beauty in a photograph, but still somehow you can't stop taking pictures. This year I took some new pictures, as well as some of the same ones as before. And I too have said goodbye to many students under the pink trees. (Bye bye Chizuko! I'll miss you!)
Along one of the many canals in Kanazawa. I think this one used to be part of the castle moat.
This is the first tree to open in Kanazawa every year. It is part of a private garden in of an old samurai house.
An old favourite.
Sunset at the castle
Night time in the park looks like you are walking through the milky way, especially if the blossoms are reflected in the black water.
Relaxing along the Sai river. Some pigeons were also enjoying the cherry blossoms.
This an icicle on Oyama Shrine. The thing it is frozen around is a traditional drain to remove water from the roof...damn...er, what`s that thing called in English again?
Walking through Kenroku'en...
...There was still greenery underneath everything.
Well, I've become ridiculously busy recently. My week starts with a long, but peaceful train ride into the middle of nowhere. Actually, the train runs next to the mountains along the coast. It then crosses the vast rice paddies in a valley. It's one of the older trains in Japan—something you don't see very often anymore. The final destination is a town called Tsurugi, which has a massive high-tech university just outside it. It's the kind of place that generates the newest ideas and technology. My class is in the building where ethical debate on artificial intelligence and intellectual property rights occurs.
Anyways, I wanted to relay this story to you all. it has recently started snowing in Kanazawa. Beautiful, thick snowflakes falling slowly. Winter here is really great, not only because the city really shows of its 'shibui' flavour. (Shibui means tasteful, sober, or austere). On snowy days, Kanazawa's samurai district probably looks much like it did 200 years ago. The snow resting on the traditional, black tile roofs, look so exotic. The other (much tastier reason) why winter is good is that the fish get fatty to protect from the cold. Winter is the time of feasting, nabe, crab, and great sashimi.
Recently, I walked through the market, always congested with shoppers trying to get the best deals on seasonal fish and peach-coloured crab. The main intersection is particularly packed with old men yelling out 'irrashai!' and pedalling their goods. When I walked through there that day, for some reason, everyone moved away. I stubbornly kept walking and found myself staring the biggest, ugliest fish in the contorted eye. It was about 1.5 meters in diameter, and looked more like a 'real fish' got steam-rolled than that it was actually born so ugly. I remember seeing the fish in the Osaka Aquarium, where they have to put a net around the glass so that it doesn't hurt itself by continually running into the glass. (So, I guess it's stupid as well as ugly. Great combo, God! Where you drunk the day you made that thing?!) Anyways, despite being ugly and stupid, the fish has a nice name (in English): Sunfish...The japanese name, 'Mambo', is more appropriate.
The people i talked to have never eaten it. It's very rare, and in some places a delicacy. But would you really want to eat such a hideously ugly thing?
This is Kiyamachi street. It runs along a little canal and is one of the most beautiful places to see the blossoms. I think it has such a stunning effect because the trees here are right in the middle of the city.
I like the street sign here that says: "Hey son, let's run into
There were a tonne of stalls selling food. This takoyaki-ya san hung his lantern in the branches. It was a good way to get free advertising.
Many women wore kimonos. This was also common in Kanazawa. But the designs in Kyoto take the cake!
The people are so small beneath the ancient trees. It's hard to imagine Japan's first Shogun also walked in the same garden so many years ago.
Everyone had their cameras out. It was irresistible. 
