Voyage Junkie

Several years ago we had the opportunity to take some good friends of ours, Bo and Liz, to Japan. I'm going to focus on the new things we did and then link to previous blog posts for reference to the things we repeated from our time living in Japan. The trip started out awesome and then kind of fell into a bad place for me and Matt, unfortunately. I chalk it up to our inability to tell Bo and Liz when we wanted to do something different from what they wanted to do, and Matt's desire to be a good guide in the country as he was the only fluent Japanese speaker. He felt a lot of responsibility and then got really tired and very stressed out, which in turn made me very stressed out. I say this not as a rebuke of our friends, who had no way to know how we were feeling since we didn't communicate, but as a gentle suggestion to anyone who travels with friends. Say how you feel and don't be passive aggressive about it. Own up to your limitations and ask for what you need. Your ...

With our extremely long summer vacation, Matt and I decided to take another trip, this time south to the cities of Osaka and Kobe.  We again went via nori-hodai , passing through Kyoto on the way to and from Osaka.  For purposes of time and space, I'll consolidate our two Kyoto outings in this post, then move on to talk about the main part of our vacation. On the way down, we visited two temples just a short jaunt from the main JR Kyoto Station.  Walking north we quickly ran into the Higashi Hongan-ji , or "Eastern Temple of the Original Vow."  Apparently it is in the top few largest wooden buildings in the world.  In any case, it is quite impressive.  We weren't allowed to take pictures in the site, so I can't wow you with the inner glory of the temple.  I can, however, show an aerial view of the complex taken from an online tourism site and wikipedia: You can see just how awe-inspiring the structures are, even from the outside.  If you go...

Our good friends from CO are leaving Japan (in a few days now), and for their last big weekend hurrah they wanted to go see the Miho Museum.  Located deep in the woods at the top of a mountain, this magnificent structure was designed by the famous I.M. Pei.  Mihoko Koyama, a very wealthy and some say eccentric woman, commissioned the building to house her personal art collection as well as a lot else acquired by the Shumei organization before the museum opened in 1997.  The Shumei organization, for those who are confused as to what this might be, is a religious movement founded in 1970 by Mihoko Koyama.  I.M. Pei had previously designed the bell tower located at the religion's headquarters, which can be seen from the museum.  So you can see it's all in the family. Religion aside, the museum is an incredible piece of artwork on its own.  The two pictures above show clearly the impressive nature of the structure.  On the left is the view of the main...

We headed to the Ginkakuji , or Silver Pavilion Temple, the next day.  It is a Zen temple first built in 1482 by Ashikaga Yoshimasa (the 8th Muromachi Shogunate, if that means anything to anyone except Matt).  He modeled it after his grandfather's Kinkakuji , or Golden Pavilion Temple.  Both are considered World Cultural Heritage Sites and National Treasures.  The last time Matt visited Japan he stopped by the Golden Pavilion and was greatly unimpressed, so we decided to see the Silver Pavilion instead.  I can't speak to the pros or cons of the Golden Pavilion, but I will say that the Silver Pavilion was one of the more breathtaking and awe-inspiring sights I've seen in Japan, so I am happy with our choice. We went with our friends Alan and Steve again, and two more people (Jake and his wife Rieko, friends of Alan who live in Tokyo) met up with us there.  They had hung out with us the other night at the Kannon temple and the Kiyomizu dera , and it was fun...

The day after our visit to Hikone, on 4/2, we headed to Kyoto.  Our destination: the incredibly famous Fushimi Inari shrine, featured in movies like Memoirs of a Geisha.  For kilometers upon kilometers of mountain terrain, vivid vermilion torii gates stand, donated by thousands of people and organizations.  It is a magnificent sight.  The actual shrine at the bottom of the mountain is used for services - in fact, there was a service going on when we arrived, and I thought it must be irritating for those people who would like to worship being ogled at by tourists - and the gates through the mountains are placed on a route through various dedication sites and shrines to Gods and Goddesses.       The small shrine to the right is for the God of White Precious Stone, or White Jade.  People will buy small torii , write messages on them, and climb to a particular shrine, and leave the torii .  Thousands of small gates adorned the multi...