Japan

The Japanese are masters at catering to every eventuality. Nothing is left to chance and, because it frequently rains in Japan, umbrellas are always at the ready. Hotels, restaurants and even some stores, freely hand over umbrellas to departing customers to ward off an unanticipated shower, and the tourist information office at Kanazawa station had a whole stand to choose from…

But the Japanese don’t stop at thoughtfully providing services for human visitors. There are always accessible toilets for handicapped people so why shouldn’t there be special toilets for the dogs that assist them…

Much of our trip through the wilds of New Zealand and Australia focused on the wildlife and we were frequently amused by the many road signs directed towards these creatures. For example: we couldn’t understand why penguins needed to be told to go slowly…

Or why ducks need to be guided to a parking place…

Although this sign sensibly suggests to koalas that they should keep to the treetops…

Drive-through car washes are as common downunder as they are in Canada but we have never previously come across run-through pet washes…

However, we don’t know who determines what a ‘Select Pet’ is. Would Donald Trump’s hair qualify? Just asking!!

We are often amused by signs in foreign countries. For instance we wonder what kind of person takes a caged animal out for lunch at this Japanese restaurant…

And are the kangaroos in Nelson Bay dangerous opponents on the bowling green – or just downright dangerous?

We are now in Tokyo and after successfully dodging storms and showers for the past 11 weeks we have finally run into some rain. Fortunately the hotel has given us umbrellas so we are off sightseeing. Tonight we join the Ninjas for dinner – this should be entertaining. See you soon.

It is claimed that there are thirty thousand flowering cherry trees in the Kii mountains surrounding Yoshino in Eastern Japan, so it’s not surprising that legions of people flock from all over the world to witness the Mankai – the moment of perfect blossoming. We had already experienced that magical moment in Kanazawa and knew that Yoshino’s blossoms were past their prime, but we stuck to our plans and caught the local train from Nara…

We hit the ground early to avoid the crowds, as we do on most days, and spent two hours on three different trains before we began a tortuous bus ride up the mountain on a couple of buses. After just three hours we experienced views like this…

While the cherry blossoms may have faded, the mountains looked resplendent in their spring green coats under a perfect sky. Though we couldn't escape the crowds altogether...

Once we had the cherry pics in the bag we had to walk 10 kilometres up and down, (and back up and back down again), to visit the mountain's shrines and temples; like the Kinpusen-ji, the second largest wooden building in the world…

Here the monks were parading with their elaborate conch horns…

James was invited to play one and to everyone’s surprise played a very tuneful duet…

Every day tens of thousands make the trip up the mountainsides of Yoshino to visit the sacred places and to see the cherries in bloom. The Mankai was early this year so many people were disappointed, but there is always the roast chestnut lady to cheer folk up…

By the end of the afternoon we were beginning to flag so we started our return journey to Nara. These Japanese ladies did what so many Japanese do on trains – they slept…

All that was left for us to do was to visit the herd of deer that live in the park surrounding the Tōdai-ji temple in Nara. These deer are fed biscuits by tourists and have learnt the Japanese art of deeply bowing in order to show respect – and to get another biscuit…

No biscuits for us – just delicious tonkatsu… deep fried pork, shrimp and crab in a crisp panko crust for dinner. Will this fabulous food ever end?

It is very easy to romanticise Japan. It is, to western eyes, exotic in almost every respect. It has seemingly strange customs and there is a populace that is, in general, simultaneously demure and extrovert. These young ladies in their rented kimonos were not at all camera shy as they posed by a bouquet of flowers outside a newly opened teahouse in one of Kanazawa’s old quarters. (Yes- the flowers are real)...…

The traditional architecture of Japan relied heavily on wood and paper which, being highly flammable, led to many historic districts being wiped out in fires. Fortunately, some buildings have survived, especially in rural areas. These picturesque thatched farmhouses are in the mountain village of Shirakawajo near Takayama…

This ancient woodcutter’s hut is in Hida – Takayama in the Japanese Alps…

While this is one of the many handsome ancient streets in that small city…

However, Takayama is a extremely popular with tourists and by 9am the street often looks like this…

Parts of Japan are undeniable scenic, but there is a darker side – a side that never appears in the travel brochures featuring such beautiful sights as the cherry trees blossoming in the snowy mountains…

Japan is a heavily industrialised nation dependant on the manufacture of vehicles, ships and numerous electrical and household products with familiar names like Honda, Toyota Sony and Mitsubishi. The greater Tokyo area is home to some 37 million people and is the most populous conurbation on earth. It is therefore inevitable that there are many places that are not exactly tourist friendly. For instance: In Takasaki we were surprised by the number of people wearing facemasks until we realised that the air was heavy with industrial pollution. There are also grotty back alleys like this in sleepy Sado Island…

The Japanese customs and etiquette can also be somewhat wearing on foreigners. Sitting on the floor to eat lengthy meals can eventually dull the appetite and sleeping on a tatami mat is only marginally more comfortable than concrete. However, there are plenty of McDonalds and western hotels in the larger cities for western softies. We tolerate the discomfort and are rewarded with breakfasts like this in a Takayama ryokan. (Note the Japanese style egg and bacon)...

The mountain city of Takayama in the centre of Japan is best known for its twice yearly festivals when 300,000 visitors show up to watch a parade of floats celebrating spring and fall. These enormous Yatai floats date from the 18 century and are pulled through the streets by up to 40 men…

Only two more stops on our itinerary – Nara and Tokyo. And we have plenty more cherry blossoms in our immediate future.

As the warmth of the spring’s sun makes its way northward across the Japanese islands the last drab days of winter are shrouded in a mist of pink and white that rolls relentlessly across the landscape until it blossoms into a dense cloud of such intensity that we are left tearful by its beauty…

There are certain times and places in life that exude peace; that calm the spirits of the most restless person; that softens every heart – but there is nothing more peaceful than to stroll under the blossoming cherry trees of Japan when they are at their zenith; the moment known as Mankai…

With blue blankets spread under the blooming trees, the Japanese sit and wait for that instant of absolute perfection and then applaud as that moment passes and a single petal falls…

We sit under a tree as the petals drop like gentle flakes of snow; wafting in the warm evening breeze; twisting this way and that. Let it land on me. Let it be my lucky charm for the coming year. And then, as the sun sets on the evening of the Mankai, the lanterns of Kanazawa castle turn the blossoming canopy into a pure white coronet above the moat in the twilight…

…and as darkness finally falls the rivers become mirrors that reward us with a stunning reflection of the perfect blooms…

Our sleep is shrouded with pink organza dreams but we wake to a different world.
Storm clouds shadow the cherry trees and our windows are battered by wind and rain. The Mankai has passed in the night and a blizzard of cherry blossoms is swept into the air to lay a white blanket underfoot…

An ode to the Sakura
Now that our blossoming youth has faded into memory, and our cheeks rosy with age, we can but wait the harvester’s hand.
Unlike the cherry trees we will never bloom again but, no matter when the fruit of our lives is plucked from this earthly tree, we will forever remember that moment of perfection when we stood in awe ’neath the blossoming cherry trees of Kanazawa...

In the 13th Century, Sado Island, a few hours ferry ride off the west coast of Honshu in the Sea of Japan, was a distant place where disgraced emperors, poets and priests were exiled. Today it is best known by tourists for its taiko drummers and traditional wooden fishing coracles known as Tarai-bune…

Sado is the fifth largest island of Japan with a population that once exceeded 120,000, but in recent decades the population has nosedived as legions of youngsters fled to seek their fortunes in the bright lights of Niigata and Tokyo. Almost half the population of Sado are senior citizens today so it’s not surprising that bits of it are falling apart. The last flight left a couple of years ago and the big hotel in the port town of Ogi was abandoned when half the front fell off. The old school in Ogi is still here – inhabited only by the ghosts of the teachers and pupils...
The unlocked door invited us in and beyond the abandoned classroom we found Ogi’s skeletons - the cold detritus of everyday life stripped of its living flesh. It’s all here: the furniture; tools; washtubs; rice bowls; and even the clocks, left behind by the generations of the departed…

Room after room, corridor after corridor, stuffed from floor to ceiling with the largest un-curated agglomeration of everyday artefacts imaginable. On Judgement Day the re-incarnated residents of Sado island will have no problem re-furnishing their modest abodes with familiar objects. They will also find many of their temples much as they left them. This is the Kokubun-ji temple dating from the 8th century…

The Seisui-Ji temple is pegged as the highlight of Sado but is no more than a fuzzy memory in the minds of the locals. There are no signs and no one could point us in the right direction. Nevertheless, our intrepid guide, and excellent translator, Tom Whalley, had the tenacity of the great explorer Hiram Bingham searching the Peruvian Andes for the lost city of Machu Picchu, and there it was...

An overgrown avenue of trees at the end of a farm track led us up a long flight of broken stone steps to the decayed remains of one of Japan’s oldest sacred places…

This temple was built in 808 AD and is a replica of the great Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto, but, like many of the buildings on Sado island, it has seen better days. The nearby Myosen-ji temple, circa 1278), containing the tomb of Suketomo Hino a courtier of the Emperor Godaigo (1288-1339), has faired much better and is accompanied by an impressive five-story pagoda built in the 1830s…


As the hillsides of Sado blush pink with the awakening cherry buds we have to leave this sleepy isle to rejoin the hurly-burly of Honshu to experience one of nature’s most spectacular displays – the mankai – the blossoming of the cherry trees in Kanazawa.