The Kamakura Adventure

My wife graciously allowed me to buy a two week JR pass due to the fact that we ended up having to stay in Japan longer than anticipated.  I tend to get a little antsy and depressed if I stay in one area too long, which had happened during our trip two years ago.  So in order to keep my wanderlust in check and possibly to get me out of her hair for a bit, she allowed me to do some traveling on my own.

I have traveled pretty extensively throughout Japan.  I haven't been everywhere, but I've been to my fair share of places.  I've tapped out most of central and Western Japan.  Since we were going to be staying in Nagoya, I needed to make sure that my destinations were all in easy striking distance from my home base.  Therefore, I couldn't realistically travel to Kyushu or Shikoku.  Tohoku was also out.  I poured through Wikitravel and my old copy of Lonely Planet Japan and Google Maps to determine my journeys.

The most obvious choice, to me,  for my first jaunt was Kamakura.  I had never been and it looked to be a reasonable distance from Nagoya.

Making my way to Nagoya Station and booking my seat on the shinkansen was easy.  I bought some food for the trip and otherwise prepared for my trip.  The trip to Shin-Yokohama station was uneventful.  However, when I got to Shin-Yokohama I realized something.  I had no idea how to go to Kamakura.  I looked at the map with all the train lines on it and had a basic idea as how to go.  I found my way to Yokohama pretty easily.  The funny thing is that Yokohama Station seemed bigger and busier than Shin-Yokohama.  Shin-Yokohama had only the shinkansen and one other train line going into it whereas Yokohama had several.  I guess it was my mistake to associate anything with "shin" in its title to automatically mean it's better.

I found my way to a little tourist information center in Yokohama station.  I really liked this TI because they actually knew how to do their job.  Several times in several countries I have been led astray by idiotic TI staff members who had no idea about their city and would dole out useless or wrong information and cause confusion.  Not the Yokohama TI staff.  I asked about Kamakura and not only did they know exactly how to get there, they also had these nifty little cards with directions on how to get there!  I have never seen this before, but I loved it!  So many times I have had to go back to a TI to get new directions because I had forgotten something.  I made my way to the appropriate train platform and began the final leg to Kamakura.

I arrived in Kamakura and for some reason I was under the impression that my goal, the Giant Buddha, would be right near the station.  I was wrong.  I found the handy city map (just outside of the station's main entrance, to the right) and found that the temple was just under 2km away.  Rather than waste money on a bus, I decided to walk it.  The walk wasn't bad.  It was a bit hot, but other than that, it was good.  After about 15 minutes or so, I found my destination.

One of the weirdest or quirkiest things I found about the temple area was that there was a little shop selling replica weapons.  They had all sorts of things from samurai weapons to M1 Garands.  15 or 20 years ago, I would've bought something.  As it is, I looked through it and went to the temple.

The temple was good.  There's not much to it.  You turn a corner and BAM!  There's the Giant Buddah.  It's a great statue and it was neat looking at.  I loved taking pictures.  It was so serene once you found a way to keep the other tourists out of your shot.  Looking back at some of my pictures it almost seems like I was the only person there.  But pictures can sometimes be deceiving.  The place was packed.

I wandered a bit and decided that I should probably make my way back to the train station since I had  a fairly long journey back home.  On my way out I saw a large map of the area.  I could see the path that I had taken to the temple, but couldn't help notice that there seemed to be a hiking path located near by.  Never one to shirk an adventure, I went with the hike.

I got to the street and turned the opposite way from where I came and set out.  I could see some distance away a road tunnel and right next to it, a very small path leading up the steep hill.  The path was rough and a little steep.  It was also obviously not heavily traversed.  It was overgrown and generally unkempt.  Immediately after cresting the hill, I saw a dilapidated, old house.  I tensed up.  This structure was unexpected and when I'm hiking I don't like seeing strange and unexpected buildings.  It gave me the creeps as visions of J-horror flooded my brain.  I pressed on and suddenly saw people approaching me.  The path was not wholly unused.  I was safe from the phantoms of my imagination.

The trail was nice.  In parts it overlooked the town and you could just see a bit of the ocean.  I chatted with the occasional fellow hiker, who was often just as surprised to see me as I was them.  The trail seemed to run along the spine of a mountain (or tall hill).  It was wooded and gave some nice views of the land below.  After about 20 minutes, I suddenly emerged into a small residential area.

One of my whole reasons for choosing the hike was to see some more of what Kamakura had to offer.  The main objective was to check out Sasuke Inari Shrine.  It's a fox spirit shrine and an unofficial hobby of mine is to visit those particular shrines.  Shortly after beginning my trek down the hill and towards the shrine I met a middle aged gentleman who stopped me and engaged in the typical conversation of where I was from, what I was doing and so forth.  As I was edging away, he smiles and says "Please visit Zeniari Benzaiten Ugafuku Jinja" and proceeds to tell me how to go the aforementioned shrine.  Since it was recommended by a local, I decided to check it out.  And boy am I glad I did.

First off, I nearly passed the shrine entirely since the entrance was hidden from the direction I was coming.  There was a torii and I thought nothing of it, but suddenly realized that Zenirai should be around there.  I turned around and saw a cave behind the torii.  Of all the shrines and temples I've visited in Japan this one is the most unique.  It's in a hollow completely surrounded by rock.  There is also a spring inside of another cave that according to legend, if you wash money in the waters it will multiply and return to you.  Not wanting to be greedy, I only washed 1000 yen.

After a long while I decided to head out and begin the trek to the station.  Along the way I finally found Sasuke Inari Shrine.  It's a bit hard to find, being tucked way back in a neighborhood.  In my opinion it wasn't worth the trouble.  It was small and nice and totally deserving to be off the beaten path.

If you have not been to Kamakura, I highly recommend it.  It makes for a really nice day trip, one that I wouldn't mind going back in the future.

Going back to Japan

Well this is the umpteenth time for me to go to Japan.  It's mainly to introduce my son to his Japanese family and for my wife to load up on Japanese goodies that are either hard or impossible to find here.  We'll be gone for a few weeks.  We'll get to see many of our friends and family and will do and see somethings that have been on the bucket list for a long time.  Chief among these will be going to Beppu.  Beppu is on the island of Kyushu and is famous for its sulfuric hot springs.  I've wanted to go there for years, but never got around to it.

This will also be the first time for me to use the Japan Rail Pass.  It's basically a ticket that allows you to use any JR trail as many times as you want within a certain time frame.  There are some restrictions, but that's for another post.  We will be purchasing the week long pass and with it we will go to Kyushu, Kyoto and a few other places.  I certainly intend on getting more than my money's worth from it.  I wish I could convince my wife to let me get the two week pass, but it's not really worth the effort.  Besides if I were to go to more places, I'd be more tempted to spend money that I don't really have.

Another part of the trip that I'm particularly excited about is the food.  I miss Japanese food.  I also look forward to karaoke and just having fun in my old haunts.

The hardest thing about this trip is the inevitable feeling of wanting to stay.  It happens each time I go back there.  I arrive and the nostalgia and good memories of my time in Japan flood back and I begin entertaining thoughts of staying.  I know I can't, but I still feel that way at times.  I've built a life here finally so I'm not going to just toss it away on an impulse.

Anyways, this trip will be fun and we're all excited.  Well excited except for the part of taking a young baby on an international flight...

JAL

So I'm back in Japan. This time I'm visiting my soon to be in laws and the soon to be missus. So far it's been a pretty nice trip. This post is mostly about my initial journey to the country.

As is often the case with traveling to Japan (or other East Asian countries) I left in the early morning hours from Nashville. My first layover was in Chicago. I've been to Chicago's airport a couple times before. In the past, I always felt that it was confusing and overly huge. This time I felt a bit different. I didn't need to take a tram to my departure area and the signs and staff were very helpful in finding my gate. However, make sure you double check where you are departing from because I and a couple others were told by the gate agent to leave the security area and to go to a completely different terminal. I, thinking that I had heard something different on the plane to Chicago, decided to ask a security agent. Good thing I did. Turns out that international flights used to leave from a different terminal. Now, however, they leave from the same terminal (depends on destination and carrier).

After finding my gate, something I always do before doing anything else, I went about finding some food. I ended up at the greasy chopstick in the food court. I learned a long time ago that it's always best to have something in your stomach before boarding your interenational flight just in case their in flight meal doesn't sit well with you. Unfortunately I had passed all the nice places a while back and did not want to wander too far from my gate.

This was the first time for me to fly JAL (Japan Air Lines) from the States to Japan. I must say this experience was awesome! From the moment I checked in to the moment I stepped off the plane in Nagoya, everything was great.

The first bit of sunshine was when I checked in. The gate agent informed me that I had an inner seat (something that I already requested against) and asked if I wanted an aisle. I did. He also said that he could give me a special seating assignment. I could have a business seat, but with economy service. Cool I thought, big seat.

The seat was the greatest I had ever seen. I was huge. I had left over room when I sat down. Also, you could recline the seat back to a laying down position. It was awesome! So comfortable and I was able to relax quite a bit. I still wasn't able to sleep much, but was comfortable nonetheless.

Arriving in Narita was nothing special, however, my experience there has emphasized my dislike for that airport. Everytime I go through Narita I have a different and irritating experience. It also seems that the airport changes configuration each time I go. It looked really different from only a year ago. Nothing really looked the same as when I came back from the Philippines last year. Another frustrating thing was that everyone was telling me a different place to go.

I left customs and was pointed to the left in order to make my connecting flight. Then when I was stopped by airport police the first time for a passport check I was told to go upstairs. Then when I was stopped a second time for a passport check, I was told yet another place. Finally someone pointed me to the "correct" area. However, I had to recheck my bags... Most other airports merely have you load up your bags right after customs. Not in Narita. You have to go to another ticket counter and recheck your stuff. Finally with under an hour left I made it to my gate.

Though I had a few irritations in Tokyo, my trip was great. I also want to say that I was not mad or irritated at getting my passport checked twice. It was just that they took several minutes each time and I was worried about missing my flight. I know the cops were just doing their jobs. So if it happens to you, just go with the flow and cooperate. Use Japanese if you can and be nice.

Japan earthquake and tsunami

I guess everyone's heard about the events of today. It sucks that it happened and I feel for the victims. I hope the Sendai area recovers quickly and those travelers who are stranded can get home safely and soon.

I have been fortunate to have never been in a disaster like this.

Good luck everyone! I hope everyone the best.

Nara

This year marks the 1300 year of Nara. It was founded in 710 as the first capital of Japan. It only had this distinction for less than a century, but it still holds tons of important cultural treasures. The most significant of those is the Giant Buddha. It truly is a sight to see. The statue is huge. It is one of the largest statues of Buddha in Japan. This was the second time for me to see it, but it was still awesome.

Another major draw to Nara is the deer park. Hundreds of deer wander about the parks looking for people giving out deer crackers. These deer can get pretty aggressive and won't hesitate to snatch anything they can. I saw one deer grab some leaves from an old man's bag. It was pretty amusing. You can buy a stack of deer crackers for about 100 yen. It's worth to do once, but if you have small kids it's probably better not to.

The only bad thing about this trip is that my camera bugged out. It actually started freaking out the previous day. The pictures would come out all distorted and oddly colorful. I thought that it was overheating, but found that if I squeeze it it goes back to normal. I have no idea what's wrong with it. I just know that it picked a horrible time to finally die on me. I guess I'm lucky that it has lasted as long as it has. I bought this thing in preparation for my trip to Guam back in 2006. It has been a good and loyal piece of equipment, but now it's retirement time.

One interesting thing about this was that it was one of the very few times that I rode in a private car on a Japanese highway. My girlfriend drove and I navigated and admired the scenery. It was overall a nice drive. Had I been driving we would've stopped several times for picture breaks. Through most of the cities there were high walls which prevented some views, but outside the urban areas you could see mountains covered in trees and valleys and far off cities. It was neat. I definitely want to do this again.

Nara is just absolutely gorgeous. I really wish that my camera hadn't messed up on me. I won't have to opportunity to go back there for a long time. But when I do, I'm going to have a new and awesome camera to capture the beauty of this great city.