Japan & South Korea 2012

Japan

We decided to go for a trip to Japan, after watching endless Japanese movies, and tonnes of sushi, over the years. The culture has always appealed to us, along with the unbelievable economic progress. So I took the only direct flight from Calgary to Asia. My wife, who was on a trip to India, joined me in Tokyo. The city was full of lights, and the hotel was the upper half of an office skyscraper ((Park Hotel ratings). The view from the hotel was that of Mount Fuji, a revered spot for the Japanese.

Mount Fuji view from the hotel in Tokyo

Tokyo night view

Tokyo Tower at night

Asahi Beer Headquarters

A funny event took place when I went for dinner. The next door train station had multiple restaurants, and I randomly chose one. The waitress served my food, and very politely gave me a folded piece of paper. The paper said that some of the sauces on the table were to be shared with other customers, so I should pour it into my plate instead of dipping my food in them! Service in Japan was always with gentle smiles, as I was to find out in this trip.

We also discovered the wonders of the Japanese toilet (Toilets in Japan website) - heated seats, air blower, massager! It was a unique experience, and made one want to spend as much time as possible on the bathroom throne :)

We took the services of a group called the Tokyo Free guides (Tokyo Free Guide website). We were in Japan during a national holiday weekend, and couldn't find a single tour company for our Tokyo stay. The Tokyo Free Guides have (usually) retired volunteers who took us around. All we had to pay for was their entry tickets, meals and transport. It was great to have someone to talk to. Also, they had some recommendations off the beaten track for us to do.

Our first day was the Tokyo city tour with Makita Hiro, or Macky-san. We started with the Hamarikyu garden.

We went to the imperial palace, whose grounds were once valued at more than the entire state of California! .

And then we headed to the Edo castle.

The next day we headed to Nikko and its shrines (Nikko weblink). The city is about 140 kms away, and we took the local train there. Our guide was Iijima Kenji, who was not a part of the free guides. But since there were no tours, we decided to get a private guide. He took us from the hotel to Nikko by train. Our first stop was the Toshugu shrine. It was a cold rainy day in the mountains, but the temple did make up for it. 

Yōmeimon

Kegon Falls

Five storey pagoda

We stopped over for lunch, and Iijima-san and I shared some good sake. I bought him a couple of shots, and he returned the favour. Since I am never allowed to drink on a working day, I like the Japanese culture, where one can :)

We also headed to the Kegon Falls and walked underneath it. The next stop was Lake Chuzenji, which was all stormy. All the anchored boats were shaking, so Lillian decided to skip it, and Iijima-san and I walked up to it. 

 our designated guide was Michiko. She is a housewife with a 27 year old daughter who was getting married soon after our trip. She volunteered to take us around Kamakura city, in order to be a good host and improve her English. Her suggested itinerary started with a visit to a Samurai temple, where I got to don a samurai costume, with sword et al! I think I made a very bulky samurai warrior, and not the nimble footed knights that they were supposed to be :)

The costume owners were very polite, and bowed down while sitting, with their foreheads touching the floor. Very very formal!

Our next stops was the Engakuji temple (Engaku-ji temple link).It is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa prefecture to the south of Tokyo. It was founded in 1282 A.D. The Great Bell and Shari-den have been designated national treasures!

Since it was now noon, we decided to take a lunch break. There were two advantages we had while ordering in a restaurant where no English was spoken. One, our guide was an able translator. Second, most Japanese restaurants seem to have plastic representations of their men items, on the display windows! So all one has to do is point to what looks really good! Michiko didn't seem to be much of a sake fan, but I tried a couple of new sake brands.

We then headed to see the Great Buddha statue in Kotokuin-temple (Kotokuin temple link). The statue is made up of bronze, making this one of the largest bronze Buddha statues in the world. It is also one of the standard images used to represent Japan.

Michiko then took us to the Hase-temple (Hase-dera temple link)  which was famous for housing a wooden statue of Kannon. This temple was founded in 721 A.D.

Our final tour stop was the Hachimangu shrine (Tsurugaoka Hachimangu web link). It was a lovely red coloured temple, a lot brighter than the Hase temple. The shrine was originally built in 1063 A.D. 

After visiting the temple, we took a walk towards the train station. We went to a store where they sold traditional dried fruits, which were fairly pricey. The conversation turned to kimonos, and Michiko said the really good ones can cost up to $20,000! They are treasured items, and may be passed from mother to daughter. 

We then dashed to the train station, and made it just in time for our Shinkansen high speed train to Kyoto. These trains travel at 250 km/h, and are a wonder of high tech. We made our 500 km (320 miles) journey in 2 hours! Earlier in the day, we had booked a baggage transfer service. For about $15, you can send you suitcases to the next city, and therefore don't have to drag it from train station to station.

Our hotel (Hotel Granvia Kyoto)in Kyoto was in the main train station, which had a large mall, multiple restaurants, and was where our city tour began from. As mentioned before, the restaurants had plastic models, which made ordering a lot easier (the restaurants had English menus too, which helped). One more random stop was for this ice cream sundae, with green tea flavour, and lots of add ons.

Our tour started the next day from the station. We headed to the Nara palace

The highlight of the Kyoto tour was the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku-ji temple in Japanese (weblink). The gold covered temple was fairly unique, even in Asia where a lot of gold is used in temples. It was partially burnt down by a mad monk in 1950, and so has been rebuilt twice.

After lunch we went to the Todai-ji temple (weblink), which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It also houses the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world, which weighs 500 tonnes. The temple grounds are fairly large, belying the image of Japan as some crowded Asian country.

 Our last stop of this tour was the Kasuga-taisha shrine (weblink). This is an another UNESCO World heritage site.

The next early morning we caught the airport bus, from outside the train station (taxi fares are prohibitively expensive in Japan). On our check in, the counter person profusely apologised to us for the wait. I have never been (and probably never will) be apologised to at the check in counter! Our flight was with a low cost carrier named Peach Aviation, which was a new concept here. 

We landed in Sapporo in order to see the last cherry blossoms. They have a very short season while moving north, and this is the northernmost island, Hokkaido. The city is also known for the Sapporo beer.

Our last stop of the trip was Seoul, South Korea. It was a long drive from the airport to our hotel, which was close to some of the major shopping districts. 

Our first stop in our Seoul city tour was Jogyesa Buddhist temple (weblink). It was a temple founded in 1395, and is the chief temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. 

Our next stop was the Cheongwadae, the 

Picture stories

Re-enactments of Korean royal guard at Gyeongbokgung

Geunjeongjeon (Hangul: 근정전; hanja: 勤政殿), also known as Geunjeongjeon Hall, is the throne hall where the king formally granted audiences to his officials, gave declarations of national importance, and greeted foreign envoys and ambassadors during the Joseon dynasty.

Changdeokgung (Hangul, 창덕궁, 昌德宮; literally, "Prospering Virtue Palace") — also known as Changdeokgung Palace or Changdeok Palace — is set within a large park in Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the "Five Grand Palaces" built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1897)

Our last tour of this trip was to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the border between the loony dictatorship of North Korea and the far more prosperous and open South Korea. The main highlight is the underground tunnel that was discovered over 30 years ago, which the North Koreans built for invading South Korea. The location was provided by a defector, and there may be more tunnels present that no one knows about.

The other fascinating part of this tour was the Dorasan train station that has been built, for a train journey between the two countries (weblink). While North Korea has not given permission for the service to start, this station lies in wait. It is entirely functional, except for the fact that there are no trains here!

Dorasan Train station

The station even shows train timings - for non existent trains!

Later in the evening we headed to my favourite spot in Seoul - Myeongdong market (weblink). There were plenty of souvenir shops, restaurants, bars, etc in almost European style buildings. The street vendors had some really good food, and very large stalls filled with meats, vegetables, seafood, pastries, etc.

And then, a flight home. The Incheon Airport is one of the nicest in the world.