Pics from my trip to Japan in April 2010

[Mycanid]

As requested here I am going to post pics of my trip to Japan from last month.

Enjoy!

Hmm ... I wonder how many pics per post is allowed on this forum?

No doubt I will find out soon enough.

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Pics from the Enryaku Buddhist temple and monastery en route to a visit to Kyoto....

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Some pics from the famous Ryoan-Ji Zen Rock Garden in Kyoto....

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More pics of Ryoan-ji....

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And more pics of Ryoan-ji....

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And yet more pics of Ryoan-ji ... can you tell I really liked it there?

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Some pics of the Garden outside the buildings of the Zen temple of Ryoan-ji proper....

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And yet more pics of the Garden outside of Ryoan ji....

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And the last of the pics of the garden outside of Ryoan-ji.

Sorry the last pic is kinda outta focus. It began to rain....

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For those who are curious about teh Ryoan-ji place in general here is a link from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%8Dan-ji

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Here are the beginning of some of pics I took from the Tsurumu park in Nagoya during Cherry Blossom viewing and Hanami!

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More beautiful Sakura tress in Tsurumu....

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And yet another shot of the Sakura trees in Tsurumu ... and one of a bunch of turtles sunning themselves on a rock in the middle of one of the ponds in the Tsurumu park proper.

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I think that should do for now ... maybe I will get on the ball and upload more pics later on ... but I thought this would at least give a taste of some of the places I saw in Japan.

EDIT: MERGED - Be glad that I'm in a rather good mood momentarily

[vuzedome]

One long epic post would be within regulations, not multiples.

[Mycanid]

One long epic post would be within regulations, not multiples.

Ah ha ... very well. In the future I will do such a thing. I have been on other BB where they limit the # of img files per post and so was just making sure.

Thanks for the heads up.

[flyawave]

turtles, best thing evar

[Chiyachan]

Where's the cute underaged asians?

[Mycanid]

Where's the cute underaged asians?

Sorry - didn't take any pics of them that I can remember.

BTW - Kudos to the mod who melded the whole thread together!

[harpy]

Finally some trip pictures


The sakura tree on that island like thing looks amazing...

I bet it was really nice trip, right in sakura time....I almost envy you...

[HazukiChan]

Very nice pictures, thanks for sharing them.

[Enzedder]

Mmmmm.... so beautiful...

The turtles are cute too.

I think I am going to add Ryoan-Ji to my list of places to go. ^_^

[Mycanid]

I will post more pictures eventually ... I have to edit them down to postable size and all that, and I am still dealing with the aftermath of "sys admin cleaning" here in the office from while I was over there in Japan proper.

But yes - I got there on Friday the 9th of April and spent much of my time in Nagoya - that was where the family lived that was hosting me. During my 3 weeks there I was able to visit Nagoya (of course), Handa, Toyama, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Toyohasi and Tokyo ... almost every place I visited was short (overnight at most) but with the exception of taking the Shikansen to Tokyo and back I was accompanied by the family hosting me, which was highly convenient. Food, lodging, and most transportation costs were footed by the family - I only paid for the Shikansen to and from Tokyo ... approx 120$ each way.

@ Harpy: I am told that I got to Nagoya right at the end of Sakura/Hanami time ... I think they were still fully in bloom for another 3 days after I arrived. But in higher elevations - i.e. on my way to and from Kanazawa - the Cherry Blossom viewing was around its peak period, so I was fortunate to get a little extra in!

@Enzedder: Be aware that Ryoan-Ji in Kyoto is a MAJOR tourist destination, both for the Japanese and those from outside. I was told it was ALWAYS swamped except, perhaps, in the winter seasons, when it is supposed let up some people-wise.

[moonlight]

Where's the cute underaged asians?

Not everybody goes to Japan to make pictures of underaged girls Anyway, here (hope it makes you happy XD):

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[BrownMasterV]

Where's the cute underaged asians?

Not everybody goes to Japan to make pictures of underaged girls Anyway, here (hope it makes you happy XD):

(click to show/hide)

Woohoo!

@Topic:

My eyes nommed these pictures. Damn, I didn't know Japan was so cool.

[Mycanid]

Uploading a bunch of new pics right now ... will create the links and such over here eventually.

Patience please!

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Okay, here are a few pics of the Shiraka-go village. It is en route from Nagoya to Kanazawa. Here is a link about it: http://sekaiisan.mapple.net/shirakawago/

And here are some pics:

[moonlight]

Woooo, you went to Shirakawa, nice! You did know that village was used for the anime Higurashi, right? XD

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Just curious, how did you get to that village?
Cause I remember that it was quite a remote place (although a lot of tourists around cause it's listed on the UNESCO world heritage list).

[Mycanid]

I have not heard of the Higurashi anime before now, to be honest (goes to wikipedia to take a look).

In terms of getting to the village I really couldn't tell you the details, as I was just riding in the car the family hosting me was driving. We took the road from Nagoya to Kanazawa, though, and I seem to remember our getting off at an exit and the entrance to the village being not far from the exit at all. It is roughly in a narrow valley and small mountains are all around it - so I guess it is kinda remote. That area is up high and always got a lot of snow - it was for that reason that that practice of building such tall, steep roof-pitched houses arose. Quite practical actually.

But it is quite beautiful. I enjoyed my visit, even though it was short.

[moonlight]

Ah, I see. You had a family with a car driving you around, that is much easier compared to how I traveled. Really much easier.

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For me it was take a highway-bus in Tokyo (Shinjuku bus terminal) at 7:00 AM and arrive at Takayama at 1:00PM, it's amazing how accurate Japanese travel times are. In Takayama get a place to sleep and half a day to walk around (was a nice place).
Next morning take a bus at 8:30 towards Shirakawa, think it was a 1 hour ride (not too long I guess). But considering Takayama is quite a remote place already, nearest city is probably Nagoya (2+ hours away by train). I would say Shirakawa is remote

Anyway, spent about 3-4 hours at the village (including lunchtime). Get back to Takayama at 3:10PM, take the highway-bus of 3:30PM and arrive back in Shinjuku at 9:00PM. And weekend was over XD

Keep on posting pictures! Really enjoy watching them, brings back memories XD

[Mycanid]

Yes - I can imagine the method you used to get there would make the location to be considered somewhat off the beaten track.

But I am glad you like the pictures at least.

I uploaded a few more today so here is another group of them. It is from the Zuiryu-ji Zen Monastery in Toyama. Here is their website: http://www.zuiryuji.jp/

From  http://www.japan-i.jp/explorejapan/chubu/toyama/kurobe/d8jk7l00000002ha.html:

Zuiryuji is a temple of the Sotoshu Sect dedicated to Toshiie Maeda, the second lord of the Kaga domain, who built the Takaoka Castle. Construction began in 1663 by Toshitsune Maeda, the third domain lord. It took approximately 20 years to build this temple and sources say that it looked like a castle back then with a moat surrounding it.

Even today, on the temple grounds, we can see the impressive Garan built in the Zenshu construction style. In a straight line, its corridor connects Somon (gate), Sanmon (mountain gate), Butsudo (Buddha hall), and Hodo (worship hall).

The priest’s quarters and Daichashitsu (grand tearoom) have been restored to how they appeared when first constructed, revealing the prosperity known as "Kaga Hyakunijuman-goku (highly productive province having a net worth of 1.2 million koku)" back in those days.

The Sanmon, Butsuden, and Hodo have been designated as national treasures while the Somon, Zendo (Zen hall), tall corridor, Kairo (cloister), and Daichashitsu have been designated as important cultural assets Indeed, this temple is highly regarded as a Zenshu style architecture from the early Edo period.

And as per request of the mods, etc. in here, another lengthy "epic post" with pics.

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[relic2279]

Those are some killer pictures. Thanks for posting them. Pretty devoid of females, but I'll forgive ya

[Mycanid]

Those are some killer pictures. Thanks for posting them. Pretty devoid of females, but I'll forgive ya

You are more than welcome.

It is true that there were not very many females in the Zen Buddhist monastery ... I have always enjoyed the "sparse" and "minimalist" look that some of the arts of Japan embody so wonderfully. And somehow this monastery reminded me of that in many places....

[WiiLeeYum]

Woooo, you went to Shirakawa, nice! You did know that village was used for the anime live action Higurashi, right? XD

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I just saw the picture without reading your post and thought of Higurashi. Looks amazing and reminds me that I have to go there some day.

@Mycanid: This place looks devoid of humans. o.O Still looks great though.

Note: moonlight, it's the live action, not the anime higurashi, lol.