Rail Pass Through Japan  Japan trip of Sharon and Bob  May 2004

 

Dear Family and Friends,

 

This was our third trip to Japan.  Sharon got Rail Passes, and arraigned for us to visit famous potters up in the mountains and to relax in the tiny village of Takayama.  With the rail pass, we were free to run into Kyoto many times and to see so much of the gorgeous countryside.  It was particularly good to see Kevin and our friends from Terai who are beginning to feel like extended family.  We saw many kilns of several potter’s and two cultural centers and were so honored by two famous potters who invited us to their homes.  The food, as always, is the best there is, with us eating like pigs but losing weight from the miles and miles we walked! 

Friday, May 13 & Saturday, May 14:    Arrived at Narita Airport and hopped on the train to Tokyo.  We reached that amazing city at rush hour.  It was a river of people, and once we found the signs to the Shinkansen (bullet train), we were like two leaves floating downstream right to our platform!  The ride to Maibara, where Kevin met us, was smooth and relaxing.  We rode together from there to the train station at Obi Nagaoka next to his village of Santouchou.  Kevin’s apartment has three rooms of 8 tatami mat size and a nice kitchen.  The view is over rice paddies with hundreds of singing frogs that lull you to sleep each night.  Total travel time was 24 hours door to door.   We enjoyed a meal cooked on a little Japanese portable stove (Konron)… then we slept like in a coma.

   

Saturday,  May 15:      Woke at 5 AM, and caught the train to Kyoto by 9.  We met up with Eli (a long-time friend of Kevin’s from college) and climbed up Monkey mountain.  This is a very steep climb straight up, overlooking Kyoto and home to a tribe of hundreds of large, very social monkey.  In the photograph below, we walked from that river you see down there all the way to the top.  We trained back to Omi-nagaoka tired and happy.  Since last year we rode our bikes from Terai to Kamatzu and back (15 miles each way) on our first day, and this year we walked up a mountain, Kevin thinks next year we should swim to Korea on our first day to round out the triathlon!   We enjoyed dinner at a little Izakaya near Kevin’s home in Santouchou where we met Kiyoshi Ohashi, Kevin’s landlord.  He offered to show us some of the sights of Santouchou the next day.

 

Overview of Kyoto From Monkey Mountain

 

Sunday,  May 16:      Kiyoshi took us to his lovely home and we met his wife, Shegami.  We enjoyed tea and cakes, and he demonstrated the ancient art of calligraphy.  He then took us to see the Lake Bewa Castle and to see a Buddhist shrine on an island in the lake.  It was a warm, rainy day of ancient sights and delightful company.  Returning to Kevin’s home, we all drove to Nagahama to visit the 100 yen (about 90 cents) store.  Amazing what they sell there for 100 yen, including a wonderful carry-all bag and calculator which we used many times!  We enjoyed dinner at a Kenazawa (“round & round”) Sushi restaurant where the little plates of every imaginable sort of sushi moves on a conveyer belt around the counters - and you just pick up that which you want.  The plates stack up and are color coded for price.  The three of us cleared 27 plates.


Monday,  May 17:   We (Sharon and Bob) trained to TeraiText Box: Miho, Sharon, Bob and Shokawa at Terai Izakaya
 
.  Our dear friends Shokawa and Miho met us at the train station… it was so good to see them again.  They drove us to Terai which felt like going home.   They drove to a Soba/Oden noodle shop up in the mountains.  This shop was an old farm house with an owner who’s main profession is a pottery glaze maker.  The room was an ancient horse stable into which he had built a wooden floor.  In the floor was a large open pit filled with sand with a constantly burning wood fire, which we sat around.  His noodles were wonderful - then he returned with four sweet-water trout he had just caught in the stream behind the house.  They were rolled in salt and roasted over the open coals until crispy and absolutely delicious. 

 

Next to the little farm house was a 1500 year old tree next to a Buddhist shrine.  This tree was just sprouting when Rome fell!  The tree’s branches were held up with many large poles.  We then visited the pottery store which we had been to last year and found many unique pottery tools and were given some important details regarding the firing of Japanese over-glazes. We also enjoyed tea and conversation with the proprietor and his family.  Visiting Takow at his donut shop was a treat.  His smile is wonderful and was good to see him again. That evening, we took Miho and Shokawa to the Izakaya restaurant in Terai we have eaten at each year.  They have endless delicious choices and their family is fun to watch as they all pitch in to run the family business.

Tuesday,  May 18:      Dear Shoda came to get us.  It was so good to see her.  She was Kevin’s landlord for three years and watched over him so dearly.  She took us to Plant three (the BEST Japanese discount store you can imagine), Paper store (brushes, paper, ink sticks, etc.).  We then visited with the Butsudan maker (Toshi and Yoko).  These are magnificent Buddhist shrines intended for the home made of fine carved wood which is liquored and then gold-leafed.  The layers of liquor and gold are often repeated with chips of shell, pearl and powdered gold added for beautiful effects.  It takes six months to make one. 

 

For lunch, we enjoyed okonomi-yaki with Shoda at the shop she and Miho introduced us to last year.    Miho joined us to visit Kevin’s pottery Kowabata sen-sa.  Last year Sharon threw some pots and he bisque fired them.  Now they were ready for glazing, so Bob painted on them Chinese style and Sharon glazed them.  Now they will be fired and we will see them in 2005.   We also glazed Kevin’s fine Sake set from last year.  Miho suggested we watch the sun set over the Sea of Japan which we enjoyed very much.  So beautiful… we watched  until it totally disappeared on its way over Europe and then to America


Text Box: Lunch at Sachiko’s Home with (from left to right)
Shoda, Miho, Sachiko and Kiako
 
Wednesday, May 19:      We had a wonderful lunch and visit at Sachiko’s home with Sachiko, Shoda, Miho and met their friend, Kiako.  We enjoyed many fine dishes and Sachi baked a delicious chocolate cake.  Sachi gave us the firing profile for Kutani paintings after we showed her pictures of our failed attempts.   She gave us a wonderful gift of a painting and we gave her a platter from our studio.  Then Miho took us to visit the Kutani community pottery school to see their renboshiki noborigama (many-chambered), side stoked wood kiln.  This is the type of wood kiln favored by European and North Carolina production potters as it holds very many pots and produces warm, predictable effects.  We visited their studios too then the many shops in Kutani village.  So many pottery ideas…  We returned to Miho and Shokawa’s for a party and stayed there after some fine beer, wine and sake.  It was a wonderful evening and so good to see Yasko, her husband and Akeko again. 

 

Thursday, May 20:      Miho presented us with her cute cloud teapot and beautiful placemats made from antique kimono cloth.  We made time for one more shopping trip for aprons and a great new paper store with ink sticks, brushes and backing paper for paintings.  Sushi for lunch and a tender good-by with dear Shoda.  Miho took us to the train station where we enjoyed a snack and many hugs.  Kevin is truly loved in Terai - and so are we.   The feeling is mutual and our friends there are for life.  We trained back without getting lost although that time of day required a transfer in a town we were unfamiliar with.  We are intrepid Hobbits!  Dinner was mixed vegetables and thin sliced Kobe beef cooked in a large pot filled with water in the middle of the table (called Naba Yaki style) with Kevin and Carrie (Kevin’s neighbor) over his little table-top stove.  Delicious and fun!  We talked and laughed well into the night.

 

Friday, May 21:      The next morning we (again) rose early and trained to Kyoto for the antique and flea market!  Fantastic clothing, furniture, ink sticks, artworks and foods galore.  We looked much more than bought, as it was almost overwhelming.  Sharon found some wonderful clothes.  There must have been thousands of antique ink sticks and hundreds of paintings that were centuries old… if one knew what they were looking for, some real treasures were there.  Then we went to downtown Kyoto to a glasses store where Sharon got three pair of very stylish glasses for less than one pair would have cost in the US.   We slowly wandered the pedestrian streets in Kyoto, popping into dozens of fascinating shops.  Must have walked nearly ten miles that day.  We found the Izakaya next to the river from last year and enjoyed a wonderful traditional meal there. 

 

Saturday, May 22:      Kevin joined us as we trained up to Shigaraki and was met at the train station by the famous potter Kanzaki Sense (http://www.the-anagama.com/En/index.html).    Shigaraki is the heart of Japanese pottery - where it all began, actually.  The oldest pottery in the world has been found here - outdating the next oldest in Mesopotamia by 1500 years!  The clay here is very special and usable with only grinding and without further additions of chemicals.  Kanzaki took us to his home/studio/shrine.   He fires for ten days in one of several Anagama wood kilns on his property, using his own clay from his own  land.   We talked for hours and were given a tour of his land, home and kilns.  We gave him one of our wood fired vases with carvings in it and some pottery tools we made, and he gave is a signed book of his work.  To the right, our pot is the vase with a dragonfly (with our pottery tools next to it) while the other two are among his hundreds in his home.  We were so honored.  We stayed at the traditional Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn).

 

Sunday, May 23: We wandered town after a wonderful traditional breakfast of a dozen tiny portions.  We met another famous potter at his shop and struck up a conversation with hi

m.  He served us tea and then he took us to his home and showed us his several kilns and museum which included pots over 4000 years old!  Next, we visited the cultural ceramics center where we met interesting and generous potters who gave us a private tour of the facility including classrooms, their many gas kilns and control room.  We also saw their wood kilns - both Anagama and Noborigama.  By this time we came to understand that a key aspect of Anagama wood kilns (the type we fire at the Hambidge center in North Georgia) is to  keep the fire on the pots rather than rushing past and up the chimney.  To that end, there is a partial blocking wall near the back of the kiln, an air bleed hole (usually in the shape of a raccoon’s head) after that to kill the draft, and a long, nearly horizontal run of the chimney before it rises upward into an open grillwork masonry chimney design.  Some kilns needed a gas burner in the chimney just to maintain any draft at all.   Surrounding and among the pots for ten days, depositing ash flux to the surface and growing the gorgeous glazes in situ on the surface (as at right).  This trip was very informative.  We trained home and enjoyed “Round & round” sushi in Nagahama once more.  We must have polished off 30 plates this time since we were very hungry.  

 

Monday,  24:      Monday morning saw Kevin back to work and we trained to Takayama on Hida View-train.  It took several transfers to get to this tiny, picturesque village that time has nearly forgotten.  Sharon heard about it from a friend on the travel board who was coming up the day we were leaving.  Thanks, Steve, for the wonderful suggestion.  As we got off our train in Takayama,  Bob recognized a woman (the only other non-Japanese we saw).  He walked up to her and started talking with her - and soon realized she is the mother of one of Erin’s dearest Middle-School friends in Madison!   Fred and Cheryl were there for a conference and taking some time to wander the countryside.  We rekindled the old friendship and they joined us at the traditional Kuwataniya Minshuku.  We enjoyed visiting with them very much.  We spent the day wandering the old village, in and out of dozens of amazing little shops featuring fine wood carvings, paper and clothing.  Tiny Yak Tory stands kept hunger at bay as we once again walked off more calories than we consumed.   

 


Tuesday, May 25:      After breakfast and goodbyes with Sheryl and Fred, we rode our bikes all around Takayama, visiting museums and more little shops.  A morning street market was full of aromas and noisy venders selling their wares (mostly foods).  After a day of exploring the town, we searched for dinner walking the narrowest streets and inhaling the savory aromas.  We found a tiny, noisy, smoky and wonderful Izakaya named Kanai Tatuyoshi, 0577 36-0045 right in the heart of the old village.   There was one worker who spoke some English, but only a little, so mostly we pointed to things going past and asked for one ourselves.  Once we almost ordered a spectacularly expensive fish - after that we asked “Yen?” first!  Dinner at one of these restaurant-bars takes hours, and is an experience in itself like performance art as the expert cooks prepare every imaginable food right in front of you.  We like to sit at the bar for this reason, since at a table, you miss half the show!  

 

Wednesday, May 26 :      The next morning, we rode the bus to “Hida Village” where we saw traditional chimneyless thatched roofs, wool dying, lumber sawing, beautiful countryside as we hiked around in that beautiful folk village.  We had no idea that the reason that the chimney took so long for humanity to invent was because until tile roofs appeared, the smoke simply passes through the thatching and helps preserves it.  In the picture at the right, the house was called the “Michikamas’ House” which is close enough to the “Michiganions House”! 

 

Returning to Takayama, we enjoyed lunch at an Okonomi-yaki where we surprised the owner by cooking our own.  He had never seen a Westerner who knew how.  We explained that we learned how in Terai, and make them at home in the US.  Walking back to our  Minshuku, we saw a country hearse that was literally a rolling Butsudan shrine!  We spent that afternoon just reading and resting, and taking short walks.  All our activity finally had caught up with us!  By dinner, we felt like exploring again, so sought another restaurant with our noses.  We found the spectacular Sukana (www.gix.or.jp/~sakana 0577-36-1288) which had just opened.  They had spent six months in New Zealand, so spoke some English.  Being a new restaurant with no clientele yet, they tried out recipes on us.  We learned an important principal:  don’t ask what it is until AFTER you have tasted it.  Who would guess that roasted pickled eel livers would be so delicious or sake marinated octopus Sashimi could be delightful.  We enjoyed a feast of their favorite recipes.  We highly recommend this Izakaya to any traveler finding themselves in Takayama.  After dinner, we walked the dark, deserted streets along the babbling river and listened to the night noises of singing, laughter and talking coming from the many small restaurants and tea houses. 

 

Thursday, May 27:      Rising early (as usual), we wandered the lovely streets of Takayama once more, visiting shops and watching the clear water roll by.  Rivers (and even “drainage ditches”) in Japan are amazingly clear with abundant seaweed, fish and birdlife.  There is no litter - not so much as a cigarette butt - in the streets nor countryside.  The Japanese take such pride in their living space.  Mid day, we trained back through Gifu, Maibara then to Obi-Nagahama where Kevin picked us up and took us to his village of Santouchou.  We found that due to the time of day, we had to transfer at Gifu, and we managed just fine without any Japanese!  We are good Hobbits! 

That evening, we all drove to Nagahama and enjoyed a great meal at a tiny Izakaya where the three cooks were like watching a dinner theatre as they prepared a multitude of fabulous foods for the diners.  The picture at left was without flash, showing the movement as they performed..  The evening was lovely, so the three of us went for a long, peaceful walk down tiny deserted streets of Nagahama.  A crimeless society sure is a relaxing place to be! 

 

Friday, May 28:      The next day, Bob drove back to the famous glass-blowing town of Nagahama where we visited the Glass Center.  En route to town, Bob took a wonderful side-trip (he got lost!) through endless rice paddies and almost impassably narrow village streets.  Following the sun and reckoning, we eventually found our way to the train station where we parked and explored on foot.  We were only a block from our destination!  Although we were lost, we were just on another adventure.

 

We wandered the long pedestrian streets of Nagahama and visited many fine art and glass shops.  We drove back to Kevin’s (not getting lost this time).  That afternoon, we all trained to Kyoto one more time.  Kevin told us we have not really experienced Japan unless we do Karaoke and have our picture taken in a little photo-booth.  So after visiting an antique instrument shop in the heart of Kyoto, we sang until we were hoarse!  Kevin showed us a fantastic Japanese-Italian restaurant a few blocks off the main drag of Kyoto (at right).  The meal was indescribably delicious.   We got home very late, totally exhausted and completely happy.  We called Erin to wish her a “Happy Birthday”!  She was surprised to hear us all the way from Japan. 

 

Saturday, May 29:      We mailed off two huge boxes so we would have no checked luggage on the return trip.  Drove back to Nagahama with Kevin to show him some of the sights we saw the day before.  Since we were in a famous glass-blowing town, we did buy two small vodka glasses that look like they are gracefully swimming on the table top.  We trained to the Hakone Castle (oldest surviving castle in Japan) where we climbed hundreds of steps to the very top.  Wandering through that picturesque town,  we saw Japanese Cranes migrating with a flock of Blue Herons!  It is very rare to actually see these cranes. 

 

We trained back and enjoyed “Round n Round” Sushi once again.  We only stacked up 21 plates this time.

 

Sunday, May 30:      Woke early and visited the serene park in Kevin’s village of Santouchou.  A large pond there is full of huge Koi and ducks and swans.  Flowers and bridges add to the Japanese serenity.   Kevin then showed us a thousand year old shrine with 500 year old cedars lining the nearly endless stairway.   We said a sad good-bye to Kevin and climbed onto the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo.  De-boarded at the Tokyo Station where we stayed one night in the attached hotel.  This is directly across from the Emperor’s palace and park.  The station and adjacent Department Store have a basement food court like nothing any American has ever seen.  It is great honor for a vendor to be invited to be there, so only the very best pastries, pasta, dumplings, sushi, yak Tory, Sushi, Tempura and endless other unpronounceable delicacies are sold.  We ate free samples of so many offerings, we were almost to full to actually buy anything.  But we managed, and took the feast back up to our room where we enjoyed a Japanese picnic overlooking the bustling streets below.  Among the best foods in Japan are the bakeries, so we also packed breakfast and train snacks for the next day. 

 

Monday, May 31 (Sunday, May 30th in Atlanta):  After a relaxing morning, we trained to the Narita Airport and ran their well-organized security gauntlet.  As we have said, the Japanese takes pride in their occupations.  So when a plane leaves an airport, the workers line up to wave good-bye… such a perfect send-off from a magical land.

 

 

 

We flew home into the East while “time” was running to the west.  We arrived in Atlanta an hour before we left Japan, but sat on the plane for 12 hours.  Arriving on a major holiday (Memorial day) is a very good idea.  The airport was deserted and arrival smooth. 

 

We remained on Japanese time (Jet lagged) for about a week, with so much work getting done in the middle of the night! 

 

Kevin is becoming ever more a part of the culture of Japan.  He is now writing essays and Tanka poems into his web site (http://homepage.mac.com/kevchan_wow/Menu2.html).  They are amazing to read…

 

We hope you all enjoyed this travel-log of our Japanese experience.  It has been a growth adventure for us and is always such an inspiring time.  Pass this along to anyone you feel would be interested. 

 

Safe Travels to all,

Love,

Bob and Sharon