Inari and Nara

Ohayo mina-san !

(English version of the post named "Inari et Nara")

Saturday, August 14h
Inari

It was a very long road. We only had 2 stations but it took us 2 hours. Why ? Because, once again, we listened to one of JR (Japan Railway) guys. He told us : platform 8, 9 or 10. We went to platform 8 because this train left sooner but in fact, it didn't stop at Inari. Thus, we went all the way up to Nara!!! Yeah!

When we arrived, we started climbing Mount Inari. It took us 2h30. We climbed at least 5000 steps! At the top, we were in such a sweat ! Apart from that, the site was beautiful with all these red-orange toriis. There were thousands of it. There were also statues of kitsune (fox) everywhere. 



Fox (kitsune)





Toriis reverse side



Toriis head side









I told you there were many steps



Purifying fountain











View of Kyoto from Mount Inari

The way back was a surprising road. We met cats (alive), frogs (statues) and... mosquitoes (REALLY alive!). By the way, I (Gaëlle) was biten at least twenty times T_T ! 

Cat (neko)

Purifying fountain



To take revenge for this offending picture
the Gods sent me their most dangerous weapons :
the mosquitoes!


Sunday, August 15th
Nara and Daimonji

Boud-deer (surname of this statue :
mix of Bouddha and deer)

This time, the road was less long :-) We started with a 5-story pagoda. Then, direction the main centre of interest of Nara : deers. Soline shot (with her camera, of course) these little Bambi but they were not cooperative. They chose grass over Soline. I don't know why. :-p

5-story pagoda

Deer

Solinette with Bambi



Gaelle befriends a deer







Deer are everywhere in Nara



Then, Daibutsu. One more. But this one is inside (while the Daibutsu of Kamakura is outside). This Daibutsu is the biggest bronze statue in the world. Solinette visited this site alone because I've already went there last year.



Daibutsu (detail)





Daibutsu









Later during the afternoon, we went next to a pond and we rowed a small boat. Well, I rowed and Soline enjoyed. We had a nice view on a bridge, a gazebo and trees in blossom. All of this under a beautiful sunset... 

Our boat's aventure : here

Pond

Solinette on the boat

Gaellou at the oars



Bridge under the sunset



Night coming, we went toward Kasuda Shrine, a shrine with 3000 lanterns (2000 stone lanterns and 1000 paper lanterns). They were all lit because of a biannual celebration.

Lanterns' celebration

lanterns' celebration



Lanterns' celebration



Lanterns' celebration

Finally, we observed Daimonji. Wierd event of the celebration of the Deads. Thousands of persons gather to watch a kanji (meaning "big"), located at the top of a moutain, be lit. It lasts 2 min and then everybody leaves. Strange, isn't it ?

Daimonji

We went back to the station and we had a coffee in a kind of Starbuck. And there, I met Mikado-kun (the weakness that will lose me - slogan of the French Pocki, called Mikado). A real bisho! Yummi!

Jane (see you)
Gaellou and Solinette

Nikko, a must and Kyoto, a traditional city

Ohayo mina-san !

(English version of the post named "Nikko, l'incontournable et Kyoto, la traditionnelle")

Monday, August 9th
Nikko

Shin-kyo

After two endless hours of train, we arrived at Nikko, a northern city, in the mountains. Quick lunch (seafood ramen - beurk!). Then, direction the temples of the city. Magnificent!

We started with the Rinno-ji and its San-butsudo (room of the 3 Bouddhas), a room with Kannon with thousand arms, a Bouddha and a Kannon called Bato.

 

Gilts and bas-reliefs



Then, we continued with the highlight of the visit : the Tosho-gu. At the entrance, a huge torii and a five-story padoga welcomed us.Then we got through a gate with impressive engravings and gilts and we arrived in a "temple village" (dixit Solinette). These temples with remarkable bas reliefs were among gigantic trees (but with thin trunks o_O). Among these bas reliefs, there were the famous Three Wise Monkeys who don't hear, speak and see evil.

We finished our visit with the vault of Tokugawa Ieyasu, much sober.

Five-story pagoda

Tosho-gu



Purifying Fountain



Detail
















Three Wise Monkeys



I warmly recommend Nikko. If you visit Japan you HAVE TO go to this marvellous city!



Gaellou and Solinette in the train
on the way back



 Our day trip didn't end there : we had to come back to our hotel. It was something. 3h of train and 30 min of metro. We went crazy in the train and took idiot pictures and videos. A Japanese guy who discreetly tried to pick up his friend (private joke) even shot us a wierd look when we laughed stupidly. Let's not forget the Italians around us : quiet, discreet and very funny. Typical Italians! ^^

The diner... a whole story! Soline went crazy (again - it seems we were dead tired this day ^_^). First, the restaurant was smoky. Second, every waiters answered in Japanese to Solinette ('cause we all know that So-chan is Japanese ^^) while she spoke only in English. Third, our table neighbours laughed loudly stupid laughs (worst than ours during that train ride!!!). By the way, we learnt how to pick up in Japanese : if you're a guy speak seriously about anything you want ; if you're a chick just laugh but the rule to follow is the louder you laugh the more you like the guy in front of you. (Okay, it's similar to what we do in France). 

Tuesday, August 10th

Kyoto (Gion)

Departure for Kyoto. 

First experience in a ryokan for Solinette. Shoes off. Futons really hard. Collective bathroom. 11-beds dormitory ! Yeah ! Solinette loooooves ryokans. Fortunately we only stayed two days.

At least we were able to meet Lynn, a nice 20 years-old American girl who's gonna stay 3 months in Japan! (so lucky!!!)

We visited Gion, a district with many shops. And a strategic place to see Geishas or Maikos.

Gion

Wednesday, August 8th

Heian Shrine

Heian Shrine was ma-gni-fi-cent! And its garden... Waouh! I have to come back during spring.

Heian Shrine



Lantern









Garden of the Heian Shrine



Water lily



 



 



Stone Bridge





 





"Covered" Bridge



Thursday, August 12th

Philosophy Path and Imperial Palace 

We went through the Philosophy Path under a light rain. Solinette didn't earn wisdom while I did! XD.

Philosophy Path

The Imperial Palace was imposing. We even had a Japanese guide with a understandable English.

Garden of the Imperial Palace of Kyoto

Garden of the Imperial Palace

Friday, August 13th

Nanzen-ji

Nanzen-ji Temple: Japaneses have an AQUEDUCT!!! Julius Caesar probably got lost...



Aqueduct



Aqueduct





Japanese short stories

- In the bus, drivers are... wierd. They speak in an odd way. It seems like they're going to die the next second (however they got AC in their bus). When you leave the bus, they thank you. So far, no problem. But, in fact, they say: arigato gosaimaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass (and some of them even add: ) ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. And when there are 2 or 3 persons who get off: sssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssssss... o_O ?! These Japaneses are crazy!

- Again in the bus (sometimes in the metro). The elderly. There are reserved seat for elderly in the buses. So far, no problem. But when it's crowded (I mean really REALLY crowded), they throw themselves on the other persons (it's beetwen a jump and rugby - American football if you prefer!). Now we know the secret of old Japaneses' vivacity: it is not sushis, it's the reserved seat's hunt! These Japaneses are crazy!

Jane (see you)

Gaellou and Solinette

Encounters and Kamakura

Ohayo mina-san !

(English version of the post named "Rencontres et Kamakura")

Days go by and our Japanese trip is full of unforgettable memories. We stopped our story at the fish market. Let's go on.

Thursday, August 5th

Shinjuku

Shinjuku ! Lost in Translation is not just a movie ! We spent 1h30 trying to find JR ticket office. We went from one counter to another, we crossed ALL the station 10 times, at least because we listened to the (useless) guy of the information counter. The worst thing is that just above the counter there was a "questions and answers" sign but the guy didn't speak a word in English !

Whatever. Once this damned ticket office found, another guy told us that our bus (the one we were supposed to take) was full. #sigh# In the end, we took the Shinkansen to go to Kyoto and we stayed one more night in Tokyo.

At the hotel, we met Matthew, an Americain who works in Korea and who went to Japan during his vacation. We befriended him and spent the afternoon together. You can watch his interview HERE.

In the same time, we interviewed Sariko, the nice receptionist of Sakura Hotel Ikebukuro (the best Sakura Hotel !). Interview of Sariko.

Friday, August 6th

Meiji temple and Yoyogi Park

Visit of Meiji temple and its gardens. A surpising and quiet place. Hard to believe we're in the centre of Tokyo. During this visit, we met Angel, a 16 years old Chinese girl, who went and saw her onii-san (brother). Naturally, we interviewed the young lady. Interview of Angel.




Tonnels of French wine - Meiji Temple

 
 

Gardens of Meiji Temple







Meiji Temple



Meiji Temple

Then we visited Yoyogi Park, right next to the temple. Well, to be hosnest, we were so tired that we were almost lying on the bench. Next, we followed the music produced by a concert not far from where we were. This concert was part of a festival for Peace. Indeed, it was the anniversary of Hiroshima's bomb.

At this festival, we met Yoshi, a Japanese guy who studied in London (Can you imagine it ? A Japanese guy who can speak very well English ! and without any weird accent !) and who came back to Japan 2 years ago. Naturally he was interviewed and he sang us a nice song about sakura. Interview of Yoshi.

During the evening, Sakura Hotel organised a party with bartender and DJ's from Ginza. It was an international party and a good way to meet lots of different persons. We discussed with Japanese who can't hold their liquor (2 glasses and hop! they lay on tables... impressive) and with 2 French student (one came from Grenoble, the other from Ethiopia).

Saturday, August 7th

Kamakura

We started with a famous shrine (I don't remember its name). It was magnificent, with a giant water lily "forest" (higher than us).



Giant water lily

And then a drama ocurred. 2 Russian wanted to take a photo of us but we didn't know them ! Strange... Then Solinette was stalked by an Oji-san (old man). Beurk! And the worst thing is that he stay right next to her all day long! 'Cause this old man was a volunteer guide (the guide of the two Russian) and visited the same place.

With this disgusting story, we almost forgot to speak about the nice places we saw at Kamakura: Hase Temple and the Daibutsu (giant Bouddha).



Hase Temple




Hase Temple





Daibutsu (Kamakura)



Daibutsu (Kamakura)



During the evening we saw a wonderful fireworks like only Asian can do. It lasted 2 hours (!!!) and gathered thousands of persons. See the fireworks HERE.

Jane (see you)

Gaellou and Solinette