Okay okay - the pressure is really getting to me now! It's lasted longer in the writing stage than it did in the doing it! Here it is... the second half of the holiday!
It was a bit difficult to leave Miyako. Even knowing that we were headed for another week of adventures and the chance to see my sister, I was sad to be leaving the "tropics" behind.
We were booked into a chain of hostels for the rest of the trip. It was really easy to like the K's House Hostels as they were very clean and comfortable and they had everything we needed - including easy directions to get "there" from "here". We followed the breadcrumbs and found ourselves where we needed to be - and my sister was already tucked into bed trying to recover from her travel ordeal (that's her story though).
Joisan continued to take excellent, detailed notes of our adventures which I'm using as the kick starter for my failing memory. Rather than get into a detailed day by day, moment by moment description though - I'm going to stick with the highlights of each city...
Tokyo
We were very fortunate in our Tokyo sightseeing day in that my mother had the foresight many moons ago to have taught a nice young man who himself had the foresight to relocate to Tokyo so he might be of use to us!! Shaun is currently teaching English at a private school near Tokyo and miraculously he had a day off of work on our only full day in Tokyo! He took us to several cool places. We started in Shibuya, where we could do some first class people watching. We parked ourselves at the Starbucks on the corner and watched while everyone crossed the street all at the same time because the traffic lights all change to red at once. Afterward, we headed to the Tokyo Metropolitan Municipal Government building to take advantage of the free observation deck on the top of the north tower. It was a beautiful, clear day and we were even able to see Mt. Fuji! There was a lot of walking through some of the unique areas of Tokyo. We had a bit of a `small world` moment in the middle of the Ameyoko shopping district when we engaged in conversation with a shop owner who's daughter had gone to high school at LCSS in the Cowichan International program! Eventually we ended up in Ueno Park where we parted ways with Shaun and headed for the Sumo stadium with hopes of getting some cheap tickets to watch the wrestling. It turns out that we would have had to line up first thing in the morning to have a chance of seeing any of the wrestling so we satisfied ourselves with taking a few photos outside as some of the wrestlers were leaving and then going back to the hostel and watching it on TV.
We had such a short time in Tokyo that we considered ourselves very lucky to find out about the huge festival that was on at the Tokyo Dome while we were there. There were booths from every prefecture in Japan, featuring the specialties of that region. We saw some dancing and drumming performances, we ate interesting things (tomato ice cream) and we bought some great souvenirs! It was awesome but a little overwhelming! When we had all had enough we headed back to the hostel to get organized for our flights to Kobe. Once we were packed we had just enough time for a quick walk to a very famous temple that was near our hostel. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to go in and look around so we had to settle for a few quick photos outside.
Hiroshima
Other than the mad dash to the gate at the Haneda airport our flight to Kobe was pretty uneventful. We went directly from the airport to the train station and took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. We were all pretty exhausted by the time we got on the train but it was still an enjoyable experience to have. We were pretty tickled to be offered something from the trolley - we felt like we were on the Hogwarts Express! We arrived at the hostel in Hiroshima and settled right into our beds. The next day was Taran's 17th birthday. We were able to find a place that served waffles for his special birthday breakfast but it was a bit of a downer birthday for him as our focus that day was the Peace Park and Peace Museum. We approached from side of the Hiroshima A-Bomb Dome which is a building that has been preserved as it was immediately after the bombing. We all seemed to feel the weight of the tragic history of the place and despite the sunshine we felt quite "low". We walked through the park, passing a memorial for the students who died in the bombing and the children's memorial where they keep and display the hundreds of thousands of paper cranes that are sent every year. We stopped and took some photos at the peace arch with the dome in the background.
We weren't allowed to use the cameras in the museum itself but anyone who is interested in it can find photos and explanations on their website here: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/index_e2.html I was very impressed by the impartiality of the explanations of the events leading up to the dropping of the bombs. The authentic artifacts were well explained and impactful. It was interesting and heartbreaking and I am so very glad to have seen and experienced it. I am grateful that we had the opportunity to go as a family and that the kids now have some context on the realities of war.
After the museum we went out for a birthday dinner for Taran before heading back to the station to catch the Shinkansen for Kyoto. Mum was sitting beside a woman on the train who had some great suggestions for things to do in Kyoto so by the time we hit the hostel we already had some plans made.
Kyoto
Kyoto was awesome. There were several special events while we were there, including a craft fair and an annual archery event that involved shooting arrows across the courtyard of a temple. We saw many of the "must see" tourist sights including Kinkaku-ji Temple (the Golden Pavilion Temple), Nijojo Castle, and the Gion District (the Geisha and Maiko district).
There were two things in particular that stood out for me in Kyoto. We went to the Kyoto Handicrafts Centre where there are 7 floors full of traditional crafts ranging from the truly magnificent (and incredibly pricy!) to the truly trashy tourist specials. On the top floor though, they have hands-on crafts that you can do. There were many different crafts to choose from - woodblock printing, cloisonne jewelery making, doll painting, etc. Joisan and my Mum both did a gold foil craft that involved brushing coloured foil onto a pre-glued background. They created amazing, original works of art! Having had a similar experience in Miyako at the basketweaving place, I think there is no doubt that a souvenier that is personally made is much more meaningful!
On our last day in Kyoto, after our walking tour of the Gion District where we caught sight of a few real Geisha, Joisan got her birthday present from Nana. She signed up for a Maiko dress-up experience. (The Maiko are the apprentice Geisha.) Girls can be dressed up and have make-up and hair done and then a photo shoot. We left Joisan to get made up and came back a half hour later. Joisan did not look like Joisan any more! Between Mum and Aurora and I we got a ton of photos and some of them are really good! I think Joisan enjoyed the experience and I certainly enjoyed watching and taking pictures! Now I just have to figure out a way to make myself actually do something with all of these pictures!
Our plane left Kobe at 8am which meant that we had to be on a ridiculously early train from Kyoto to make it to the airport on time. The sunrise at Kobe airport was a great bookend for the trip!
Being suckers for punishment, when we landed in Sapporo Mum and Aurora and Joisan and I decided to let Ian and Taran take the luggage back home while we took the train to Otaru, so that Mum and Aurora could check out the music box factory. We didn't count on the heavy snow that had fallen prior to our arrival and found ourselves inappropriately shod as we tried to navigate the snowy, icy streets. We did get to have a good look around and Mum bought a couple of stuffies to take home (coals to Newcastle!?!). After a major slip and fall for most of us we opted to cab it back to the train station and head back to Chitose. Ian picked us up and brought us home where we collapsed!
Whew! That's it! An all around awesome holiday! Now I can start working on the bits and pieces that have happened since we got back! We're gearing up for some excitement and some big changes here... Stay tuned!
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