Those memories include many friendly Japanese we met on our trip. A number of times when we were studying our maps, people approached us and asked if they could help. Once when we got lost in Kyoto we asked a lady in front of her home for directions. Although she hardly spoke English she understood which temple we were looking for and told us that we would need to hurry as the temple was about to close. She then decided to show us the way... and started running with her slippers. We were almost shocked. However, with our bicycles it wasn’t hard to follow her. She ran 2 blocks just to show us where we would need to make a turn! On other occasions people approached us to ask where we are from. Sometimes this resulted in interesting conversations, and once (in Tokyo) a friendly lady who had approached us even invited us to a wonderful Sushi dinner. (It was the best Sushi we ever had! Each piece was different and more delicious than the previous. The fish was so fresh that it was almost scary. We had our own cook and were sitting right in front of him!) Twice we also spent a day with volunteer guides. I wonder if Japan is the only place on earth where volunteer guides are happy to guide foreigners through their cities. And each time we forgot something, someone was so nice to run after us to bring it to us. In general we always felt very save.
Of course not all Japanese are so friendly. In particular we noticed some rather unfriendly shop keepers in very touristy areas, maybe because we didn’t look like people with lots of money. But overall, the friendliness we encountered was amazing.
From all the wonderful gardens, temples, castles, old streets and everything else we saw here is a list of some of my favorites (not sorted):
* I really enjoyed the stone gardens (maybe also known as Zen gardens). One of the more famous gardens we saw is the one in Ryoanji (Kyoto). In one of the guide books it says that stone gardens are not for viewing but for thinking. The gardens are very tidy (raked gravel), very simple, very different to European style gardens, and very inspiring.
* I was also very impressed by the garden hosted by the Entsuji temple. The garden is designed to be the frame for the view of the nearby mountain. This concept is called “borrowed view” (shakkei). The emperor who originally had the garden built searched 12 years for the perfect site. The mountain itself is not so special; it reminded me of Kahlenberg in Vienna. But it was the first time I saw a garden designed merely as a frame for something bigger far away. I guess it is kind of related to the stone gardens which are somehow a frame for one’s own thoughts.
* We went to a sumo tournament in Ryogoku (Tokyo). I usually don’t like watching sports too much but the sumo culture is very interesting. The sport is very closely linked to the Shinto religion (I think that’s the oldest religion in the world still practiced today). Shinto symbols and rituals dominate the tournament. I also realized that sumo is much more of a sport than I had originally thought. And it can be very brutal. And I was surprised to see that a number of very good sumo wrestlers do not have Japanese origins.
* Calligraphy is something I never really understood. Masataka was so nice to show Gwen and me a museum which contains the works of Mitsuo Aida. I’ve never seen so simple, yet powerful brush strokes. With only few brush strokes Mitsuo Aida expressed thoughts which can deeply touch one’s soul.
* There were also countless small things which I really enjoyed such as cycling through the narrow streets of Kyoto, taking a Japanese style bath, eating many things I’ve never seen before (most of which were very tasty), traveling in a Shinkansen train (bullet train), watching people, a wonderful sunset on the last evening in Tsukuba, cooling my feet in a cold river, bamboo forests, walking barefoot on beautiful wooden floors, new and shiny red bibs tied around ancient stone statues covered in moss, all those very old trees which Gwen pointed out, walking barefoot on moss, ...
Here are some pictures (the nicest ones were taken by Gwen):
This is an insect we have never seen before. Gwen thought it was very cute.
This plant was also new to us.
In this picture you can clearly see the mosquito cultivation ponds each temple’s garden has. Some say that mosquitos are messengers of the gods. Most temple gardens had plenty of them.
Most gardens also had huge spider webs. However, some say that spider webs are a symbol of the evil forces which try to prevent the gods from communicating with the humans. Thus, most temple gardeners remove spider webs when they see them.
And this is a picture of me fighting a swarm of god's messengers.
This picture shows a typical Japanese style bath (“sento”). The bathwater is never changed. Everyone uses the same water.
In this picture you can see the Tokyo statue of liberty.
This picture shows one of the famous capsule hotels. This capsule is located in Miraikan (Tokyo) and once the door is closed it is water proof for several thousand meters. The manual says you can fit up to three people in it, but I couldn’t see how.
This is the cheapest option of getting a good rest in Tokyo. Each wagon (subway and trains) has seats specially reserved for those who need them.
This is Tokyo’s skyline:
A tree covered in moss:
A bamboo forest (in the background):
A Japanese kindergarten transportation device:
Walking barefoot on moss:
Riding on the back of a big turtle:
Statues and bibs:
Sitting on a red carpet:
A Waldfee sitting on a tree in Nara:
Some of the places we visited were crowded with Japanese tourists. In the background of this picture you can see the doors of the temple which hosts the largest bronze statue of the world.
