Advertisement
Published: November 14th 2007
5 cities in 17 days...Japan, the shimmering platinum feather of Asia. To me, China is the gold and red dragon, earthy, masculine, like the clang of a gong. Japan is ethereal and mystical, like robin's egg blue and silver, like a shimmering feather in the Pacific. That's the Japan that I experienced these last three weeks.
I arrived in Tokyo and was on the subway for five minutes, when a man handed me an orange and said "Welcome to Japan"...I KNEW I was going to like this country! Oranges are my favorite and were my Dad's favorite fruit. Visited Ueno Park the next day, home to 5 museums and incredible landscaped grounds. I had lunch this day with Tomoko and AC at Brasserie LeCrin whose location was the former waiting room for the royal family at Ueno train station. After visiting the oldest temple in Tokyo, Sensoji, saw the Kubuki theater and shopped at Ginza--Mikimoto pearls, very cool--looking, no buying! Then on to the Imperial Palace, Hibiya Park and Shinjuku for more shopping and dinner--incredible first day in Japan!
Tokyo must have the most art museums of any city in the world and I visited 7 while I was
there. My favorite was the Art Deco-style Teien Art Museum with its exhibition of turn of the century Tiffany-designed jewelry and its dark and shaded garden. After 4 days in Tokyo, I had accomplished 8 of the 10 on my 'top ten for Tokyo' list and was on my way to Hakone, the mountain resort town at the base of Mt. Fuji--I spent two days here and could have spent two weeks! Saw a three second glimpse of Fuji-san from the cable car which I was told was lucky and stayed at the historic Fujiya hotel, bathed in traditional onsen and slept on tatami and futon. wonderful. Hakone also has lots of museums and I visited the Venetian Glass Museum to see the glass trees, the Lalique Museum, the Pola Museum of Art and the Hakone Open Air Sculture Museum with its Picasso pavilion--none of them short of spectacular.
On to Kyoto and again, within 5 minutes was handed a subway pass by a friendly Kyoto-an who put the ticket in my hand and walked away...I really like this country. Kyoto is like taking all the historic parts of the US and plopping them in the center of NYC--a
mix of traditional culture and modern city that works. Atsuko-San was the most gracious and wonderful hostess ever and showed me no less than 20 temples, shrines and palaces in 5 days...my favorite is Kiomizedera Shrine. The maiko/geisha make-up session left me feeling elegant and regal and was a great warm-up for our walk through Gion, the geisha district of olden days, where we saw 3 geisha walking quickly to their evening appointments. The restaurants with shoji screened rooms overlooking the tree-lined canals glowing in the evening lights are my favorite visual memory of Kyoto. I took a day trip from Kyoto to Nara, the former capital, and was relaxed by the deer grazing in the park and awed by the big buddha housed in the largest wooden structure in the world. The next day, witnessed a harvest celebration conducted by the Shinto priests of the Fushimi Inari shrine, where the orange tori gates of Memoirs of a Geisha fame are located.
Finally and reluctantly, returned to Tokyo but happily took an overnight trip from Tokyo to Nikko and I'm so glad that I did. Nikko is the home of the Shogun's Shrine, Tokagawa and is alpine-like in its
feel. I stayed at an inn overlooking the Daiwa River, where the famed Sacred Bridge is located and dined on the local delicacy trout that is caught in this river and the local beer of Nikko. I would like to come back here and explore the mountains and other areas of Nikko. I toured the Imperial Villa before the return train to Tokyo and met Price and AC for dinner in Roppongi at Tokyo Midtown where we toured the National Arts Center and the midtown park.
The last day in Tokyo was bittersweet and I walked Omonte Sando, a shopping district in Harajuku and toured the Ota Museum of Ukiyo-e prints where the originals of the most famous woodblock prints are housed. I paid a return visit at day's end to Sensoji Temple to thank Kannon for an incredible visit and the wonderful friendships (yours!) that have sustained me in my travels.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.147s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 62; dbt: 0.0599s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
AC
non-member comment
you relished it ALL!
You were the most enthusiastic visitor to Japan I've ever seen! Was fun to see you experience the Tokyo that I love! AC