Honeymoon Part 21: Shirakawa & Gujo Hachiman

The last day of our three week Japan roadtrip had arrived and we were amazed by how quickly it had gone…and also how much we had managed to fit in it! We had a very full last day though starting with a quick breakfast at the hostel. Then came the challenge of repacking the car! We were meeting Mark and Missy half way through the day and driving them back to Nagoya so we needed some room for two more people in the little rental.

Reorganized and ready for the day we drove the very short distance to the main parking lot of Ogimachi, the largest village (and most accessible) of Shirakawago. There is a main info building/gift shop beside the parking lot where we got a map of the houses. Right across from the info centre was an open air museum where they had transported a number of houses from the surrounding villages to preserve and showcase them. We decided to do the museum first and see the different types of buildings and learn more about the style. The buildings are made in the gassho-zukuri style, said to resemble hands together in prayer. The buildings were made of wood and thatched roofs, without the use of nails. The steep roofs allowed for protection from sun in summer and snow in winter. A number of them were open to see inside as well. The buildings were simple in design but had a surprising amount of space considering the size of more modern Japanese houses! The main area had a fire built into the floor with pots hanging from the ceiling over it for cooking. They also had traditional shoes, clothing, and even saddles on display made from straw the same as the roofs. Since we were surrounded by mountains with no large roads nearby it was very easy to imagine a farming lifestyle 300 years ago.

Between the info centre, museum, and the actual town was a large river and also a large pedestrian suspension bridge. No cars are allowed in town to help preserve it, especially with more and more tourists coming every year to see it. Most of the houses in the village are still people’s homes so it was a little funny seeing such traditional houses with laundry hanging outside or modern day gardening equipment leaning against the walls. Although we weren’t there in winter, going in summer does provide nice views of the green rice fields and koi filled streams between the houses.

One of the best preserved houses, Kanda-ke, is open to the public and we bought tickets to go inside. Much like the museum house they had a fire pit on the main floor, the smoke wafts up through the house keeping the roofs clear of insects. The design of the houses and the steep roofs provide room for multiple floors in the houses. The stairs were narrow and steep but we made our way up to see samples of tools and everyday items from hundreds of years ago. Sericulture, or silk worm farming was a popular industry and the upper levels of the farmhouses provided space for storing all the tools, silkworms, and mulberry leaves. The windows on the upper levels also gave excellent views of the nearby houses and rice fields. The gardens were in bloom and the surrounding forested mountains made it feel like a postcard. It was very impressive to see how the houses were built and how much work went into them. The roofs are rethatched every 20-30 years and it is a community effort – pictures showing dozens of men on bamboo ladders doing the work was impressive!

We strolled back through the village and across the river to our car. It was now on to Gujo Hachiman another small city in Gifu and the last major stop on our road trip. We drove straight to the train station, about an hour and 15 minute drive, and picked up Mark and Missy there who had taken the train from Nagoya. We found a convenient spot to park on a side street and headed out looking for lunch. Gujo wasn’t the most convenient place to find some food for people who don’t speak English but we made our way past lots of small shops and found the large Yoshida River that runs through town. A number of bridges cross the river and provide great views of the buildings lining the banks and events in the river themselves. The waterways of Gujo are a huge source of pride – they are exceptionally clean and many of their local events and cultural identities are linked to the water. From trout fishing, to the right of passage of jumping off the bridges into the water, to the yearly event of rinsing/fixing the dyes of the locally made wind socks, many things revolve around the rivers. There was a small restaurant beside the river so we ordered some food and watched some fly fishermen while we waited. We had a mismatched lunch of paninis, fries, croquettes, and kakigori before determining we were full.

We found our way to Sample Kobo, a food replica store and workshop a block or two away. Food replicas are said to have started in Gujo and are still produced primarily there. It is said upwards of 70% come from the town which is amazing considering just how much is produced. Virtually every restaurant in Japan has the fake food in display cases at the front of their stores. From a tourist standpoint it is incredibly helpful to get a visual of the food when you can’t read the menu! At a number of restaurants we had been impressed by how realistic the food actually looked and the things they were able to accomplish with wax. Entering the store was even more amazing as the walls and tables were lined with examples. Vegetables, meat, pasta, sushi, bowls of ramen, ice cream, and every drink imaginable. They even do ones that look spilled – drinks toppled over, bowls of ramen dumped on the table, or ice cream melting off the cone. We spent a long time in the gift shop picking out souvenirs (most things were available in magnet or keychain form!) our haul included magnets for everyone ranging from edamame, and half a clementine, to chocolate, and a piece of cooked salmon!

We signed up for the workshop and put on some aprons. The worker let us each pick out three pieces of premade items to then tempura – shrimp, pumpkin, shiso leaf, and peppers were what we ended up picking. She did a quick demonstration of the technique then let all of us have a turn. After dripping the hot wax into the water you press the item into it and press it around gently, flip it over and it looks like a tempura piece! Let it cool quickly in some cold water and it’s good to go! Next up was the lettuce, we had actually seen a video of this online years ago so being there and being able to do it was really cool. They pour green wax into the water along the top and a little white at the end and pull it through the water to make a big sheet. Then by rolling loosely in your hand it creates the shape of the lettuce by the end. We had a lot of fun doing the workshop and you end up with some pretty unique souvenirs by the end of it.

With all our fake food packed up we strolled back through town towards the car. We stopped in a couple shops along the way, stores selling geta and tea. Since it was still a little early in the day we drove to another nearby attraction, Otaki Cave. After buying the tickets, and waiting for the boys to catch some pokemon (Pokemon Go was a huge theme on our last roadtrip), we headed to the cablecar which would take us up to the entrance of the cave. The limestone cave is about 2 km long and weaves around through narrow passages and steep stairways. Like many of the caves we had been in there were sporadic larger openings with significant sites or stone carvings, and at one point a 30m tall waterfall – the tallest underground waterfall in Japan. The cave eventually spits you out still up in the forested hillside so we walked back down to the main entrance area.

There are a number of little stores there which we browsed through before going to check out a pond to the one side. They had plenty of fish swimming around and Missy was able to strike up a conversation with the man minding it. We decided to opt into the fishing and were each given little fishing rods with some flimsy string and a chunk of fish bait was plopped into Chris’ hand. As much as we tried the fish were very much not into our food. A further problem we realized was the walls to the pond were quite high, so when we did catch anything getting them up to a bucket without breaking the line was a feat. After much cooperation I was able to catch one and as a group got it onto land. Since the little grills for cooking weren’t open at that time and we weren’t much interested in eating it anyways we promptly let it back free.

We all packed into the car and headed toward Nagoya, now only about an hour drive. We decided to stop at a McDonalds on our way home for some dinner, where Chris and I were amazed to see a play place outside! Mark and Missy were then amazed that in Canada they are inside because of those pesky cold winters. We made it back to our apartment and Mark and Missy were awesome enough to help us carry our stuff inside before Chris returned the rental car. We had a nice evening of visiting and unpacking some of our souvenirs to show them before we packed them all back up again in preparation for our flight! It was a little weird to be back in Nagoya and done our three week long roadtrip – if you’ve read this far I’m sure you know how much we were able to fit into those three weeks and it provided some amazing final adventures in the Land of the Rising Sun!

Honeymoon Part 20: Matsumoto & Shirakawa

Matsumoto is the second largest city in Nagano prefecture and is most known for its castle. Matsumoto Castle began being built in 1592 and is one of the oldest original castles in Japan today. It is often listed as one of the best castles in Japan, second to Himeji Castle. We drove to the castle from our hostel and after parking, approached it on foot. The castle is one which was built on a plain instead of a hilltop so a large moat surrounds it for protection. A large red bridge crosses the moat and has become a staple in tourism photos of it. Similar to Okayama Castle, it also has a black exterior which has earned the name Crow Castle. Our visit was on a bright day with blue skies and fluffy white clouds, which almost made the views seem fake, like a backdrop almost. We took in the views of the castle, commenting how the black exterior made it seem so much more ominous, giving it an advantage that it had lost being on flat ground.

Right next to the castle was the Matsumoto City Museum. It had a large statue outside of a temari which we had also seen on the city’s manhole covers. Temari, which translates to hand ball, are balls with intricate silk and thread patterns. Originally they were made from scraps left over in the process of kimono making and were used as children’s toys. Traditionally they were given as gifts on New Years, the mothers would wrap a wish for their child in the centre of the ball while making them. Eventually it became an art form of creating intricate patterns out of silk thread and are put on display instead of played with. Some would have grains of rice or bells inside to make noise. Now Matsumoto is known for temari, and they are showcased well at the museum. We browsed the lobby and the examples of temari they had on display, and even picked up a couple as gifts before heading back outside.

We walked back to our car taking in the views of the castle once more. One day it would be nice to return in the spring when all the surrounding cherry trees are in full bloom! We headed next to the outskirts of Matsumoto to the Japan Ukiyo-e Museum. We went to a small Ukiyo-e museum in Nara the year before, but this is museum would really give us a look into the Japanese art of woodblock prints. The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum boasts over 100 000 prints and is considered the largest collection of them in the world. Also, since it is a collection of the Sakai family, amassed over generations, some reports list it as being one of the largest privately owned art collections. The museum itself was originally built as a storage facility, so the interior design and layout is quite plain, despite the modern look of the outside. Every two months or so they switch up their exhibits, which is impressive and shows how extensive their collection is. We were visiting at the perfect time, with their exhibit being Katsushika Hokusai – drawing all things in nature. That’s right, the most famous woodblock print artist and a collection of his prints focusing on nature!

The exhibit and his life is best summarized by the museum:

“This time, we present Katsushika Hokusai, drawing all things in nature.  He published over 30,000 works in his lifetime, and has influenced renowned artists around the world.

During his career, Hokusai changed his names about 30 times and reportedly moved house 93 times.

Also, he really came into his own as a painter more and more after reaching the age of 70.  It seems that at the age of 80 he lamented his poor ability to his pupils.

At the time it was rare to live to the age of 90, and dying a peaceful death, it is said that his last words were, “If only Heaven will give me just another ten years… Just another five more years, then I could become a real painter.”  This implies that he was yet aiming for further heights.

He was simply a genius that gave his life to art.  We will follow Hokusai’s artwork in this exhibit.”

We were one of only two couples in the museum at the time so we were able to take our time and really appreciate each piece as we went which was amazing. We were also surprised by their willingness to let us take photos of the pieces and the museum indoors. Around all the walls were pieces of work and then showcases in the centre of the rooms were general information about woodblock prints and how they’re made. It was very informative and a great museum for English speakers as well. The first collection of work by Hokusai they showcased was of course the Thirty-Six Views of Mt Fuji. I was surprised that I actually recognized a couple of the pieces! Despite the fact that each piece contained Mt Fuji, they were surprisingly diverse in colour schemes and content. On one of the first walls was The Great Wave Off Kanagawa in all its glory. It was amazing to see an original print of it, in great condition of course. We did appreciate that despite it being in the centre of the wall, they gave it no other distinction. It was framed and placed like every other piece.

The next collection we moved into was Unusual Views of Celebrated Bridges in the Provinces. I quite liked these prints as they showcased so many different types of bridges and areas in the country. Some bridges looked similar to ones we had seen during our travels, with depictions of peasants or geishas in the backgrounds. One in particular stood out as he had decided to depict it during a rain storm, another caught our eye as it was depicted at night with fireworks flying overhead. We were amazed by his diversity and ability to capture the images using the woodblock techniques.

The final collection was that of his Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces, an eight piece collection. This one was my favourite as the colours and styles he used to show the movement of the water was amazing. The nature side of Japan was something that continued to amaze us during our trips around Japan and this collection really showed an appreciation of the nature we had seen.

We finished viewing the rest of the pieces, which included a couple with hidden images behind a flip down section, and were amazed that this was just a small portion of Hokusai’s lifetime of work. We made our way back into the gift shop and were amazed as well by their vast amount of gifts and souvenirs available. We ended up purchasing box sets of the Thirty-Six Views of Mt Fuji postcards to use as thank you cards for our wedding, as well as the set of waterfall postcards to frame once home.

We drove further outside Matsumoto to the Daio Wasabi Farm. Established in 1915, near the city of Azumino, the farm is one of the largest in all of Japan. The parking lot was quite busy and tour buses were unloading visitors at the entrance. Surprisingly the farm was free to enter with quite a few buildings and things of interest to do. The first thing we came face-to-face with was a stall selling wasabi ice cream, which with both firmly declined. There wasn’t a lot of English information but was walked through and absorbed as much as we could. Outside we made our way to the river. Wasabi grows in cool, clean water and shade. Daio Farm converted an entire river to the growing of wasabi. The water filters down from the Japanese Alps and is clear and crisp. The entire river is covered in black cloths to shield the wasabi underneath from the sun. Wasabi is grown in stone rows, the leaves sticking up above, and the stem below submerged in the water and rocks. Wasabi is generally expensive, it takes between 1-2 years to grow and you don’t know how large the stem will be until after you harvest it. Due to its pickiness in growing conditions, it is also rare to see true wasabi outside of Japan. Combinations of horseradish and green colourings are used as a substitute instead. After it’s harvested it is also a finicky product, needing moist environments as it spoils quickly. After being grated (traditionally on dried shark skin), the flavour only lasts about 15 minutes which is why it is put between the rice and fish on sushi, to make the flavour last longer!

We walked past a couple different parts of the river, one having a large waterwheel and tour groups on raft style boats. We noticed immediately the abundance of large spiders with huge webs strung between the bushes and trees on the rivers edge, so we made a conscious effort to give them a good distance! A couple restaurants were open serving wasabi beer and noodles. One building had workers stripping the leaves and roots from the wasabi stem. A shrine was also on the premises, to the local hero Hachimen Daio, who is now said to protect the farm.

After walking most of the paths we decided it was best to hit the road and make our way to our evening destination, as we had a couple hours drive ahead of us!

We arrived in Shirakawago in the evening, as dusk was starting to settle in. The region is tucked away in the mountains of Gifu, nestled into valleys away from the big cities. The region is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995 and contains an abundance of culturally significant buildings. We went straight to our guest house where we’d be staying to check in while there was still some light. We grabbed a map of the town and dinner suggestions from our hosts and hopped back in the car to get a view from above. A winding road leads up next to the town and the view down on the old houses is a famous one – we saw it plastered all over the subways and trains in winter. The famous view is actually at night with the fires of the huts shining but the view now was quite good as well! We decided to have dinner then come back up once it was darker. The region is quite famous for its beef – Hida beef, raised in the prefecture. Much like Wagyu or Kobe beef, it has exceptional marbling and is known to melt in your mouth.

Our hosts had recommended a restaurant nearby, specializing in Hida beef served yakiniku style, named Tenkara. They had little tables with the grills in the middle to cook your meat. We ordered two different set meals of different cuts of meat and salivated as we watched the people next to us devouring theirs. The food was served with a couple side dishes and a variety of sauces to dip into. The meat was indeed delicious, the small strips melting as you ate it, there really is no comparing it to ‘regular’ steak back home!

With full bellies we hopped back in the car and drove back to the lookout point. I might add that our hosts had casually mentioned there are bears in the area sometimes and I was very aware we now smelled like beef and would be moving slower since we ate.

This time the view from the lookout was much more spectacular. The houses were lit from within by warm fires and a couple streetlights snaked down the main street. It looked like a cozy Christmas card. On top of that there was the outline of the surrounding mountains and the most stars I have ever seen. It was a beautifully clear night and being in the middle of nowhere, there was minimal light pollution to spoil the views. In winter they do illuminations of the valley with the snow piled high and I can definitely understand why it has become such a huge tourism draw for the area. The views during their off-peak were already incredible!

Everything closes down quite early since the buildings are the only attraction in the area so we headed back to our guest house to relax and finalize our plans for the LAST DAY of vacation the next morning.

Honeymoon Part 17: Noto Peninsula

At some point during our time in Japan we watched the documentary on Netflix titled The Birth of Sake (highly recommend!), all about the sake making process. That morning Chris remembered that the brewery where the documentary was filmed was in Ishikawa. We looked it up and decided it wasn’t too far out of our way and it would be cool to go pick up a bottle and support them as we enjoyed the documentary so much. Tedorigawa Brewery (or Yoshida Brewery) was tucked on a little street surrounded by rice fields. We parked the car and walked into the building which was decidedly non-touristy. There was a small display case and a little booth with some people working inside. A woman opened the window and we tried to explain we’d like to purchase a bottle before she stopped us and went and got a younger girl. Unfortunately the younger girl also wasn’t able to decipher our English so we were again told to wait. They were on the phone with someone and we were feeling quite silly thinking we could just walk into the place and expect them to be able to sell something to us unannounced. Then out pops the main guy from the documentary, Yachan (Yasuyuki Yoshida), the heir of the brewery. He introduced himself and asked us if we’d like to try some. We were a little in awe that we were actually talking to him, but agreed we would like to taste some. Now since Chris was driving I would be the only one tasting, and since it was like 10am we did not come prepared. He began to pour tastes of different sakes and explained the differences between them – unpasteurized, traditional, one with apple/citrus notes, one with a lower alcohol content, etc. It was really interesting to actually taste the difference in the sakes as he explained them and see how different each one was. We explained we were wanting a bottle to have at our wedding, to which he replied that in Japan they would have a keg. We settled on two bottles that would be able to survive the rest of our road trip and the trip home and we thanked him profusely before letting him get back to work.

With that bonus excursion done we headed out for our trip of the Noto Peninsula, which ended up being the most ‘road-trippy’ day of the trip. It was a lot of the landscapes being the most of the trip, with lots of stopping at pull off spots along the road to take photos and see quick sites, it was wonderful! The first of these was Chirihama Beach which is right at the start of the peninsula. Besides it being a beautiful beach along the Sea of Japan, an 8km stretch of it you can drive on for no charge! It felt very rebellious of us even though it was perfectly legal, and the weather was perfect for a beach drive! At the end of the beach road we emerged back onto the regular streets, right into a sand sculpture display! They had a couple decent sized sand sculptures which were quite good right at the entrance to the beach.

We drove all along the coast on the lookout for our next pit stop sight. We spotted the Hatago Iwa rocks, literally right beside the road, and quickly pulled to the side to snag some pictures. Quite similar to the Meoto Iwa rocks we saw in October, it consists of a large rock and smaller rock connected by a shimenawa. Although the rope connecting them is smaller, the larger rock has a natural tunnel through it making the views still quite impressive.

We realized if we were at the Hatago Iwa rocks we must have just passed the Ganmon Rocks which is what should have come first. Since it was only about 3km back along the road we drove back to check them out. We parked in the parking lot and followed a little path to a set of stairs leading down towards the water. The stairs were very steep but the views looking out along the coast and Sea of Japan was worth it. We could see a little cave across a little inlet so we kept walking down to get better views. Towards the bottom the ground was covered in wharf roaches that ran away every step you took. We got to the bottom and looked around a little confused. The brief information we had read online talked about it being a tunnel and you could walk into the cave. There was clearly no path leading over to the cave we were looking at. We looked online again to double check and realized we were one parking lot over – at a boat dock. Cursing our poor Japanese we turned around and suffered through the very steep steps we had taken all the way to the very bottom.

We found the correct parking lot and a couple more people walking in a more decisive way along a path. We followed a marked path, again down some steep steps, but this time into a cave. The opening we were walking through wasn’t the largest but as soon as you stepped down into it you were rewarded with an expansive view out the other side. The rocks were dark and rough, and the surrounding coastline was green with vegetation. It felt like what you would wake up to on a deserted island. We made our way along the rocks to the other side of the cave to look back at its name sake. Ganmon translates to Gate Rock and beside the cave we emerged from is a hole right through the large rock, quite like a gate. Climbing back up the other side you could get good views of this tunnel/gate and I’m sure the area around sunset is stunning.

The sky was clouded over at this point and it was starting to spit but the views were still beautiful so we pushed on. We drove for a while along the coast to our next stop, Senmaida. Translating to A Thousand Rice Fields, they are terraced right along the coast and must be cultivated by hand. Despite their name there are actually about 2000 fields with one small road weaving down between them. There was a parking lot by the road and then a couple lookout points over the fields and adjacent coast, which we took full advantage of. The fields were a bright green with some beginning to get a touch of yellow. They were quite beautiful and photos showing the different seasons proved no matter when you came the view was incredible.

We continued up the coast, taking in the sights of rice drying on large fences and people working on small salt farms. This was exciting as we were on our way to a salt farm, so seeing it in passing only intrigued us more. The Suzu Enden Mura is like a little salt museum and information centre with a functioning salt farm adjacent to it. It still uses the traditional methods which have been used for centuries. One of the first documented records of salt making comes from Japan and to this day salt is used in many rituals for purifying (like in sumo!). We arrived at the salt farm and made our way inside. They had some displays set up and little diagrams to walk us through the process. It look quite a bit of deciphering and reading over things multiple times before we finally understood the process. Around the 5^th century salt water was boiled in pots to obtain the salt, but around the 8^th century the agehama style of salt making was developed and is what is still used on the Noto Peninsula. The salt flats are man-made fields located close to the water. Sand is spread out over the flats in a thin layer. Salt water is brought up from the Sea of Japan and spread out across the sand by throwing it with buckets to create an even spread. Workers will then rake the sand as the water dries to maximize the surface area and quicken the drying process. This process relies heavily on the knowledge and prediction of weather, with the heat and wind being huge factors in how much work can be accomplished. Once the sand is dry it is shoveled into a box in the centre of the field. More salt water is poured onto the sand which filters through and collects the dried salt from the sand as it goes. This is then collected from the bottom of the box as more concentrated brine water. It is this water that is then boiled in specialized kilns to produce the salt. Centuries ago this was a huge improvement as the same amount of wood and boiling could produce more salt, meaning better for the environment and less resources needed. This boiling method takes two days and is conducted by a worker who requires a lot of skill to keep the fire and brine water just right to yield the salt effectively.

For more info check out this video I found:

We learned about this process in the buildings as well as seeing some giant blocks of salt from around the world before heading outdoors to see the process in action. It was amazing to see how hard these people were working to produce something that is now so common we take it for granted. Peeking into the large hut where they boiled the water, we saw large piles of salt waiting to be packaged.

We walked back through the museum area to the gift shop to pick up a couple small bags of salt and see the difference in types of salt produced. We never imagined we would visit such unique museums and cultural information spots as we did on these road trips!

Back in the car we were rounding our way across the top of the peninsula to the other coast. A couple of spots along the main road had little areas to pull over and look out at the view which we took advantage of. The coastline was stunning with views of the Sea of Japan stretching out forever, and looking inland was a never-ending view of mountains covered in trees. The gloomy weather wasn’t diminishing our views thankfully!

On the other coast we made our way through the town of Suzu to Mitsukejima, or Found Island. We spotted it when we parked the car and were amazed by how out of place it seemed. Known also as Gunkanjima (not to be confused with another known as this in Nagasaki), or Battleship Island it does resemble a ship coming towards shore. At 30m tall it is an impressive site with large cliffs and greenery covering the top. A stone pathway leads out to its base which I’m sure many take to explore. The wind was getting stronger and the clouds were threatening rain so we opted to not take our chances this time. A large bell to the side of the beach had a large heart at its base and promised good luck to couples so we added to our good luck in love bell ringing count before hightailing it back to the car as the rain started to fall.

The last of our sightseeing stops were completed so we continued down along the inner coast to the city of Toyama. The views were stunning as we went with the sunset adding to the already amazing scenery. As far as road trips go, the Noto Peninsula is truly an amazing one!

Honeymoon Part 16: Kanazawa

Day 16 was going to be a slightly different day for us on our final roadtrip in Japan – there would be no ‘roadtrip’ part! We were going to be spending an entire day in Kanazawa and staying in the same hostel that night so no need to take the rental car anywhere – especially with a bus route hitting most of our stops. Just down the street from our hostel was a little café so we stopped there first for our breakfast. We then continued our walk to Kenrokuen, a famous Japanese garden. On our way there we noticed a couple unusual statues which we attribute to the fact that there is a Contemporary Art museum in the city.

Approaching the park from the direction we did brought us through the Ishikawa-mon Gate, what remains of Kanazawa Castle. The rest of the castle burnt down in 1881 and has not been rebuilt. The gate itself has been beautifully restored and surrounded by flat green space makes it look quite imposing. Kenrokuen used to be the outer garden of the castle so it was not far from the castle gate. The park itself is quite large and has many big trees and a large pond. Some of these features are quite well known and have become a symbol of the park. Next to one of the ponds is Kotojitoro Lantern, a stone lantern over two meters tall. Another popular feature is the Karasaki pine tree. A large pine tree next to the pond it sprawls out over the water. In winter they use a special protection from snow which involves a pole with ropes coming out to prevent snow from breaking the branches. Many people travel to the park in winter to see this sight as it provides a unique view from your typical Japanese garden flowers.

We strolled through half the park and admired the huge trees and well manicured landscapes. The heat was becoming pretty unbearable so we took a break in the Museum of Traditional Products and Crafts, located at the far end of the park.

Sometimes known as the city of creation, Kanazawa is known for a staggering 36 different crafts or products. Many things you associate with Japanese culture are crafted and perfected in Kanazawa. Bamboo fishing rods, lures, fireworks, altars, lacquerware, gold leaf, and silk dying were all on display proving that the city was full of talented artisans. While it is very common for cities and towns to be the ‘capital’ of something, we were blown away by how many things Kanazawa had claimed as theirs. We wandered around for a little while and studied their displays and took in a couple demonstration videos. They had a workshop and gift store on the main floor which we browsed around for a while. Eventually we ventured back out into the heat to explore the second half of the park. Much like the first half, large trees and ponds dominated the landscape and it was no wonder it was so well regarded. I would love to go back and see the difference in each season!

We exited the park right at a bus stop so we hopped on to make our way to the ninja temple. Much like the ninja houses we had been in before, the ninja temple or Ninjadera, had a variety of trap doors, hidden corridors, and escape routes. While not actually associated with ninjas, it was built in this way to deceive invaders and allow the inhabitants to alert the castle in case of an intrusion. We arrived just after a large bus full of people. We discovered the wait was going to be quite long and the tours were entirely in Japanese. As much as it would be a neat thing to see, we decided to move on and avoid standing in the heat all afternoon waiting. Instead we had a quick lunch at a Subway downtown and continued our walk to Oyama Shrine.

Dedicated to Maeda Toshiie, the first lord of the Maeda clan, it was originally established in 1599. Relocated to its present location on top of the old Maeda residence in 1873 it includes outdoor gardens and many statues. We entered the Shrine from one of the back corners due to the direction we came from and explored the garden area first. The pond was designed to resemble the Japanese instrument called a biwa. It was fairly empty when we were there so we could take our time and enjoy the views. In the main courtyard area was a couple different statues – one of Maeda Toshiie on horseback, one of his famous golden helmet, and a depiction of his wife carved into a large rock. There was also one with a baby balancing on a back of a woman which was quite odd, albeit amusing to look at. The main feature of the shrine, and itself an Important Cultural Asset, is the main shrine gate. It’s quite unique in that it was designed by a Dutchman who included stained glass on the top portion above which is Japans oldest lightening rod. Deemed ugly when it was first built it now attracts many tourists and is quite a unique piece of architecture.

From there we walked along the streets of Kanazawa, beside rivers and past small shops to Kaga Yuzenkan, a silk dying workshop. You wouldn’t know the workshop was there (we walked right past it!) but a small sign points the way. The woman indoors was very friendly and was excited we had come to see it. She led us up to the display rooms and sat us down on a couch to watch a video explaining the process. We were amazed by the skills and techniques involved and the amount of concentration and detail which went into each piece. Yuzen is the process of dying the silk and Kaga Yuzen is a very famous version of it (along with Kyoto Yuzen). Kaga Yuzen is renowned for its use of Kaga Gozai (Kaga Five Colours – indigo, crimson, ocher, dark green, and royal purple) to create realistic scenes. The dying process has nine main steps which require a huge amount of skill – design, making the kimono, transfer of design onto silk, apply rice paste, paint, cover with rice paste, dye background, final wash and removal of pastes. The shortest amount of mastering time for one of the steps was three years! They don’t consider someone experienced in painting a kimono until they have completed 100 – a staggering amount of work. Since the water and streams in the area are so clean they lay the silk to wash in the streams and it’s apparently a big tourism draw in the winter months. Bright colourful silks flowing in the water would be stunning to see! When the video ended she encouraged us to walk through the display rooms which showed silk in various stages of the process and an assortment of completed works. The kimonos were beautiful with scenes of gardens and nature. One series of panels showed a large group of people walking, many of which were wearing kimonos – the amount of detail was mind-blowing. One piece we saw was a scene from Kenrokuen with its famous lantern. The woman sat us down for a photo shoot in a silk dying scene, encouraging us to look like we were painting it and everything.

We thanked the woman profusely and made our way to the bus to take us to the Higashi Chaya District. A Chaya is a teahouse where geisha would perform music and dancing for paying customers. The district is largely preserved with the houses and streets looking like we had stepped back in time. It was busy with tourists, many of which were dressed in kimonos and posing for photos alongside the buildings. We stepped first into a store famous for its gold leaf products. We succumbed to the tourist bug and went straight for the gold leaf ice cream. Literally a soft serve cone with a sheet of gold leaf on top, it didn’t add anything flavour wise, but it was refreshing and made you feel like a millionaire! We browsed the shop for a while which had a souvenir for anyone – with a touch of gold. The pieces were stunning and it was difficult not to buy everything we saw.

Just down the street was one of the preserved tea houses which is where we headed next. Certain days and times you can still pay to see performances but our tour was just of the premises. The building was old but well maintained and they had all the instruments and things out on display to show you how it would look during those times. An inner courtyard with a small garden and layers of roofs was beautiful, and with all the open doorways you could imagine the geishas walking between the rooms to go perform.

Further down the street was another gold leaf shop that also had rooms on display where workers were pounding the gold into the thin, delicate papers. Kanazawa produces 99% of Japans gold leaf, and 100% of its silver and platinum leaf. This particular store is well regarded and has a small museum type room of gilded objects. Besides the stunning divider walls and fans covered in shimmering gold, the main focus of the museum were the gold bathrooms. Unfortunately the toilets weren’t gold, but the walls and ceilings were!

After a long day of walking and exploring we were ready to head back to our guesthouse and relax in some air conditioning. We asked the workers where we should go for dinner and they suggested a yakitori restaurant around the corner. The food ended up being exactly what we were wanting (despite telling the girl to surprise us with what we might like), quite similar to the place near our apartment but with more of a chain restaurant vibe. All in all it was a nice way to end out our Kanazawa day of adventure!

Honeymoon Part 15: Fukui

This first day of our third and final week of our big summer road trip began with yet another drive. Hikone was more of a nice midpoint to spend the night to break up the drive than it was a destination. We did take a quick detour so we at least took a road alongside Lake Biwa so we could say we saw it, but besides a quick glimpse of the water we really didn’t get to experience the beauty of the largest freshwater lake in Japan!

We proceeded to drive into the interior of Japan, in the prefecture of Fukui. It was a bright, sunny day so the views were nice of rice fields and small mountains. Our destination out in the middle of nowhere was the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. We found it easily as there were plenty of signs directing the way and the large buildings would have been hard to miss. The parking lots were surprisingly busy so thankfully indoors was air conditioned.

The Dinosaur Museum is located in such an out of the way location because it is actually quite near to an actual excavation site. The Kitadani Formation has yielded many fossils including four dinosaurs named after the prefecture. It is the heart of dinosaur research in Japan and the museum is one of the top dinosaur museums in the world. As soon as we entered we were blown away by the building. After purchasing your ticket you descend down a giant escalator, surrounded by walkways on either side. Fossils line the walls and straight ahead is a huge replica of a bone bed found in Wyoming. After seeing it there you make your way up one level to see it from above and the true form of the dinosaur is seen.

We turned around and came face to face with an animatronic T-rex, a very realistic looking one! This floor was the main dinosaur fossil floor with fossils surrounding us at every turn. We were absolutely blown away by the detail and information provided – the English descriptions had flawless scientific descriptions that many native English speakers would have trouble understanding without a biology degree! Diagrams and pictures highlighted differences between sexes and ages, and also helped show what it would have looked like on a live dinosaur. Something else we thought was absolutely amazing was that for each dinosaur they not only showed a small life like replica but also one by the hand rails made of metal so sight impaired individuals could feel the shapes and structures of the dinosaurs. One section showcased the dinosaurs that were found there in Fukui and the work that they do at the site.

We moved up to the next level which focused on earth sciences, explaining how fossils are formed and other things you can find through excavations (gems!). You also began to get an above ground view of the dinosaurs, by the third floor, the views became even more impressive. The third floor was based around evolution and history. Fossils of giant turtles and sloths, long extinct species and what their habitats would have looked like. The amount of detail throughout the museum was absolutely amazing, it look us a long time to go through and appreciate each exhibit.

The final viewing areas showed workers cleaning fossils under microscope, which I would feel very intimidated by if I was one of them! We made a stop in the gift shop which was absolutely packed! They had awesome gifts though so I would recommend anyone to visit even if they didn’t have time to see the museum.

We decided to grab lunch there before moving on as we didn’t know where the next option for food would be and we wanted to avoid going back out into the heat as long as we could.

We finally left the museum and made our way to the coast. We were off to see the famous cliffs of Tojinbo. As beautiful as the cliffs are supposed to be they are famous in Japan as a suicide spot. There are a couple spots in Japan that are ‘famous’ for suicide such as the suicide forest (Aokigahara) near Mt. Fuji, and suicide itself is an epidemic in Japan. While I would typically not want to go anywhere near one of these locations I was under the impression Tojinbo was mainly a tourist attraction for the cliffs and it would not be as eerie as it sounds. Also a retired police officer has taken on the role of patrolling the cliffs and talking people down so fatalities have gone down as of late.

We arrived at the cliffs main parking area and were surprised by how touristy it actually was! Plenty of people were walking about and a whole shopping street was set up leading to the cliffs. Restaurants and souvenir shops were open and the cliffs themselves were busy with people. The cliffs are a tourist spot because they aren’t just like any other cliff in Japan, they are unique basalt cliffs which look like pillars. Much like the Giants Causeway in Ireland, these cliffs feel like you’re walking across giant stepping stones. The deep blue water below with the rushing waves made for some stunning views out across the Sea of Japan. We helped some other tourists get some photos and they returned the favour before walking back through the souvenir streets.

A tower stood just a street over which we thought might give us a good view of Tojinbo from above so we decided to check it out. With the highly creative name of Tojinbo Tower we were surprised by how run down it seemed. Turns out it was built in 1964 and I don’t think it had been updated or anything since. There was minimal fanfare going on in the lobby (surprising for Japan where everything has a bustling souvenir shop and mascot) and we were surprised by the lack of people. Nevertheless we bought our tickets and headed to the elevator where a worker punched the button for the top floor for us.

The view was decent but not quite as good as we were expecting. The souvenir street and the angle of the cliffs meant we actually couldn’t see much of them from above. The coastline and water stretching out was indeed impressive though. There was no one else on the viewing deck and not much else in terms of info posters or anything so we headed back to the elevator. We noticed a button for the level below which also had a series of windows we could see from the outside so we hit that button thinking maybe there would be more on that floor. We exited the elevator and immediately realized that we’d made a mistake. It was clearly under construction, tools and materials strewn everywhere. The elevator doors closed too quickly for us to jump back in though so we had to stand there awkwardly hoping when the elevator opened again it wasn’t full of people wondering why we were on that floor!

We made it out of the tower no problem and began our trip up the coast for the evening. Our destination was Kanazawa but there were a couple sites along the way we were hoping to squeeze in. Not too far from Tojinbo is the Kaga Onsen area. We headed straight for Natadera temple which is known for its meditation caves and staircases cut into a cliffside. Unfortunately we pulled into the parking lot as they closed so we weren’t able to do the walk. Seeing as we really couldn’t see anything from the gates either we moved on to our next potential stop in Kaga Onsen – the Matsui Hideki Baseball Museum. In English we would reverse the name to be given name first, and the name Hideki Matsui would ring a bell with many North Americans. After a successful ten year career in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants, Matsui then played in the MLB for an additional ten years, the majority of which with the New York Yankees. With the massive popularity of baseball in Japan, coupled with the hometown pride towns and cities in Japan grab on to, it was no surprise there was an entire museum dedicated to him. We pulled up to the building…and found out it also just closed. So we did a loop around the parking lot, quickly viewed the building from the outside, and just kept on driving through to our hostel in Kanazawa to finish off our day.

Honeymoon Part 13: Shodoshima

After another night of not the greatest sleep, this time due to the other people in the room being loud early in the morning, we headed to the car and the ferry terminal. We had our entire day planned out on the island of Shodoshima – affectionately known as Olive Island. The island is not somewhere most foreign tourists go it seems, but it is a popular destination for Japanese people. Only having two towns on the island, there was still plenty of nature to see and we were excited to visit many of their feature attractions. The ferry over was nice and smooth, the sun was shining offering spectacular views of the Seto Inland Sea, and high school baseball tournaments were on TV.

We docked at Tonosho Port and made our way to the nearby Angel Road. Not actually a road but a sandbar, Angel Road connects the mainland to the small island of Nakayoshima. It is revealed twice a day during ebb tide, and we made it during one of those moments. It is said that couples who walk hand in hand across the sandbar will find happiness in the future….so we did that. The views were amazing of the surrounding coastline and the water was a beautiful blue. We dipped our feet in the water and walked partially around the little island before returning to the sandbar. On the ‘mainland’ side of the sandbar was a staircase leading up to a lookout point, Yakusoku no Oka (Hill of Promise) to get a better view of the coastline. There was also a bell at the top to be rung by couples so we added some more good luck to our relationship.

We next took a road into the hills and valleys of the interior of Shodoshima to drive the road leading to Senmaida – the Thousand Rice Fields. We found a parking lot near a little community and hopped out of the car to get some better views of the fields. Now the prime time to see them is before they have grown too tall so you can still see the water in them and the reflections they grant. That being said, seeing them with the rice growing tall was also very cool! We walked along the road to see a number of different views of the fields and even a large art exhibit that looked like a giant birds nest or house of some kind. The many smaller islands of the Seto Inland Sea take part in a yearly art festival and most islands have at least one or two permanent art exhibits, so this wasn’t too shocking of a find.

The heat was getting the best of us so the air conditioned drive to our next spot was a welcome one, even if it wasn’t that long. Olive Park was our main attraction of the day and probably what the island is best known for. Shodoshima is the first location in Japan to cultivate olives and it adds to the Mediterranean vibe of the island. First cultivated in 1908 from a single olive tree, the business expanded and flourished with the conditions on the island. We walked through the pathways of the park, surrounded by olive trees and cobblestone walkways. The original tree is still there and we found it marked near the centre of the olive grove, still growing olives to this day. Further up the path is a large, white, Greek windmill. The windmill was a gift from Milos, Greece, the sister island of Shodoshima. Located on a rolling hill, the windmill was surrounded by visitors lounging on blankets and taking photos of the view. There were also many people carrying brooms and jumping for photos in front of the windmill. This was apparently a hot spot for fans of the Studio Ghibli movie Kiki’s Delivery Service. As windmills appear in the movie, fans take pictures pretending to fly on a broom at the Olive Park.

We walked some more of the paths through the olive groves, soaking in the quiet surroundings, before heading back towards the entrance and the buildings there. We walked through the gift shop and its many olive souvenirs (including candy, noodles, and ice cream!) before heading up to the restaurant on the second floor. The meals were olive oil or olive themed and we ordered some dishes for lunch – olive oil spaghetti for me and cold olive soba for Chris. The views from the restaurant were absolutely stunning, we could have stayed there all day!

We drove along the coast to the town of Shodoshima, where the soy sauce manufacturers are concentrated. Soy sauce has been produced there for 400 years, and continues to be to this day. Many of the warehouses are similar in appearance, so it took us a bit to find the one with the museum tour, Marukin. We headed inside and were given little bottles of soy sauce with our admission. There weren’t many people there so we could take our time and read the signs which were in decent English. We learned how soy beans, wheat, and salt water are brought together to form soy sauce (or shoyu in Japanese). The museum had many of the traditional tools on display that you could touch and pick up to get a feel of how workers used to have to transport the ingredients. Huge wooden barrels would hold the mixtures as they fermented, with workers stirring with long paddles. On the walls they also had old advertising posters which were pretty cool.

We left Marukin to see if any of the other warehouses were open for tours. One just down the street called Kinryo still had cars in their parking lot so we stopped. We just missed the ending of the explanation of their process but the shop was still open. We went inside and were greeted by workers with samples of different kinds of soy sauce. It was very interesting to taste the differences between the sauces – some more sweet, some more smoky. Kinryo has a specialty sauce which is soy sauce with garlic oil mixed in and it was delicious…no wonder it’s one of their best sellers!

We left the Land of Soy Sauce to start our ascent up Mt Hoshigajyo. Kankakei Gorge on the slopes of the mountain is considered in the top three of Japan, especially popular in autumn as it is full of Japanese maple trees. There is a ropeway that travels through the gorge but since we were needing to descend the mountain on the other side, we would have to drive up. This wasn’t too much of a hassle as the views from the weaving roads were spectacular. Every corner we turned was met with a “whoaaaa” or “look!!”. The surrounding mountains, deep gorge, and the Inland Sea with its islands made the whole scene seem like it was from a movie. We made it to the top as they were locking up all the restaurants and shops but the lookout points were still open which was our main concern.

We soaked in the views for a while before heading back to the car and starting the descent down the other side. We had a ferry to catch back to the mainland and if we missed it we’d be stranded on Shodoshima until the morning with all accommodations booked! The drive on the other side was still beautiful but the views were more of the forests covering the mountain. We did have a little excitement though as boar piglets crossed the road in front of us on two different occasions – we were on high alert for mama boar but never spotted her.

Once back along the coast of Shodoshima we could see huge cliffs with the rock faces showcasing why stone blocks were used from here for surrounding castles such as the one in Osaka. We arrived at the ferry terminal and purchased our tickets with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately there was virtually nothing on this side of the island in terms of sightseeing or tourism so we just relaxed in the car and watched as some other people waiting fished from the docks. The sun began to set and a bright moon appeared as the ferry docked.

The ferry ride across to the mainland, docking at Himeji, was a bit longer than the ferry that morning. Since it was dark outside by this point we stayed in and watched the Olympics highlights they had airing on the TVs. We docked at Himeji and proceeded to check into our hostel for the night. We were in need of some food so we wandered the covered shopping streets looking for a restaurant. Many were closed and our options were pretty grim. We entered a bar that was still open and took a seat at the counter. Two women were serving the bar and were very interested in our travels and our time in Japan. They would ask us questions and then translate to the other customers sitting a few stools away. It was a very weird dynamic, especially since the other customers were very adamant we try the karaoke machine hooked up at the bar (we politely declined). They didn’t have much in terms of food options, just the typical bar snacks, so after one round of those we thought it best to head home and get some sleep. Since we had to pay a seat fee at the bar I think the bartenders felt bad we didn’t stay longer so they gifted us with random things as we left – pens, lighters, cheap fans, and keychains of characters from Zootopia. It was a very bizarre encounter!

Honeymoon Part 11: Okuizumo & Tottori

Now before I begin the blog for Day 11, let it be known that we were staying in an actual hotel that night and not a hostel or guesthouse. Being in a hotel room we had the luxury of our own bathroom and telephone and all that fun stuff. We had found it amusing the night before that there were actually two telephones in our room – one by the bed and one on the wall by the toilet, how convenient! Now cut to the next morning at 7am when our bathroom phone all of a sudden made a noise like an alarm. We jolted awake, confused since we weren’t planning on getting up until nine, and went to answer the phone. We picked it up to nothing, so placed it back on the receiver. As soon as we placed it back it would ring again. Weird but we figured something must be not set up right so we left it off the hook and crawled back into bed. Then we heard this awful buzz sound clearly set up to be the notice that you’ve left the phone off the hook. So we put the phone back and the ringing started….oh no. So we called down to the main desk to explain the situation. We were told it was our wake up call! We explained we didn’t ask for one and they said it might have been still activated from the last guests so they would turn it off for us. Great! But it didn’t stop…so we called down again. They asked if we had gotten the phone wet? Nope. So they send someone up. We felt bad for the poor guy since he knew little English and seemed just as perplexed as we were. Then another man showed up who appeared to be the maintenance worker. Turns out no one knew why the phone was ringing or how to get it to stop. They offered to move us to another room but at this point we were very much awake so instead just gathered our things and headed down for breakfast.

The breakfast buffet was very Japanese, with it looking more like a lunch buffet than what I would typically consider breakfast. So with that very mediocre morning meal we headed out.

Before leaving Izumo we wanted to check out Izumo Dome as we heard you could go inside and see the impressive structure. We arrived to a very empty parking lot but even from the outside it was a cool building. Opened in 1992, it is Japan’s largest wooden building at 49m high with a 143m diameter (now you may be remembering we made that statement about the Buddha Hall in Nara as well, it is the largest wooden building by volume, the dome is the largest by height/dimensions). Surrounded by flat rice fields it sticks out like a giant white bubble, an attractive bubble though. Since there are no professional sports teams in the area it’s used for more local events and the seating reflects that with only 2500. Modelled after a Japanese umbrella I think they were going for more looks than function. We went inside and with the dome being made from white material it was surprisingly bright. The design was even more impressive from within and you got the feeling of the umbrella much more from below. The workers there urged us to go on the field so we could get an even better view and we obliged.

We had one more mid-day sightseeing stop planned before getting to our destination for the day so we headed to the town of Okuizumo. It was kind of a gloomier day with dark clouds threatening rain at any moment but the ominous mood kind of fit our pit stop – the Okuizumo Tatara and Katana Museum. One Japanese item many people know of is the katana or Japanese sword – the curved blade makes for dramatic appearances in movies and photos. Okuizumo is located in an area with an abundance of natural resources to allow for the production of these and so the Kobayashi family have made it their family business. The museum was almost entirely in Japanese with only the headings translated but through some problem solving, videos, and the life size versions of the kilns we were able to piece the process together. The iron making was labour intensive work as they built the huge kilns by hand and then ran the kilns and bellows with man power as well. The process they used is known as tatara, melting down of iron sand and producing high quality iron from it. This iron is then used to make the swords, again a long and complicated process. Unfortunately we had picked a day they wouldn’t be doing the forging demonstrations which would have been awesome to see as the family is still in the business. The family makes approximately two swords a month so the waitlist is long, especially as they make the swords to order. The price tag of 1 million yen is worth it though as the quality of work is outstanding.

Since the town of Okuizumo was a little off the main road, we knew we should probably get some lunch there before moving on as we didn’t know where the next town would be. We stopped at a small hamburger spot called Pico Pico and judging by how busy it was we knew it must be good. It was so busy in fact they ran out of their feature burger that Chris was going to order, the man beside us getting the last one.

With full stomachs and a long drive ahead of us we hit the road as the rain began to come down. The drive was a long uneventful one, with the rain coming and going the whole way. We arrived in the city of Tottori on the Western coast in the late afternoon to a light rain coming down. We had planned to see the famous sand dunes but decided we’d save those for the morning and hopefully better weather. Instead we went straight to the Sand Museum as we had just enough time to get through it before it closed for the day. We parked at the upper parking lot so we entered their outdoor exhibits first, already we were impressed. The theme for 2016 was South America but a lot centred around Brazil, understandably since the summer Olympics were currently underway there. They had a couple large outdoor displays along with small ones lining the path.

Inside the museum we were greeted with a large mural where you could pose as if you were making the sand sculptures. They had posters naming the artists from around the world (even one or two from Canada!) and showing some examples of past exhibits. We paid our entrance, got a stamp for my book, and headed up to the main exhibit room. We were immediately amazed. The sculptures were HUGE and so incredibly detailed. We took our time and tried to fully appreciate each one as we went (for photos of each exhibit check out The Sand Museum). They had everything from notable sightseeing spots, famous people, animals, cultural details, and moments in history. It was impressive that they got all this work done in such a confined indoor space too, not spread out over a beach.

After looking at all the exhibits on the main level we went to the upper level to see them from above. We were greeted with a surprise view of the hidden Machu Picchu on top of one of the sculptures!

We finished up the museum as their closing time neared, thankful we had enough time to see everything before getting kicked out. Knowing that they post photos of the exhibits on their website once it finishes is nice, so we can pretend we’re there again and see what amazing creations they come up with in the future (2017 is the US).

After our long drive of the day we were keen to check into our hotel and relax for the evening. We were staying at an actual hotel that evening which had a buffet dinner included. We checked in and immediately put a load of laundry in, seeing as we were about halfway into our trip it was time! Our dinner was not great at all but we tried to eat our fill before giving up. We went up to switch our laundry and realized everyone who does laundry there must do so after the sand dunes – there was sand everywhere! We chose the dryer without any visible sand in it and after three bouts of it we realized something must not have been working right. Instead we settled on hanging all our clothes around or small hotel room for the evening. Since we were still a little peckish after dinner we decided to make some popcorn we had packed with us. The front desk informed me there was a microwave in the basement I could use – I was expecting a large activity room or something – turns out it was dark and spooky and just a microwave on a stand and a vending machine. I survived the basement thankfully and so surrounded by drying clothes we settled in for an evening of popcorn and Netflix.

Honeymoon Part 10: Tsuwano & Izumo

We slept about as well as we expected. Between the early morning sunlight, loud cicadas, and the sounds of other guests tossing and turning we eventually got out of bed feeling not so rested. Before leaving Hagi we decided to stop into a pottery museum. Hagi pottery known as Hagiyaki is highly prized especially for tea ceremonies. We figured we couldn’t leave the city without actually looking at some if it is so highly regarded. There were a number of museums we found online but one seemed well regarded and also convenient to get to from where we stayed – Yoshika Taibi Pottery Museum. After driving by it once or twice we parked the car and walked down what I’m pretty sure was someone else’s driveway that happened to connect to the museum as well. The museum was deserted, and by that I mean even the worker had to come out from another room to greet us at first. She knew little English but gave us a brochure to look through as we walked around. While the pottery was beautiful we realized quickly that there wasn’t much English explanation anywhere. Without that background of the pieces we couldn’t take notice of particular features or get the full experience, so we went through the museum fairly quickly. Also many pieces were made by Yoshika Taibi, one particular artist, who again we knew little about. When leaving the museum the woman working pointed us down a path to view the outdoor kilns, where we also discovered the parking lot and pathway we should have entered through!

We headed out of town to the city of Tsuwano. We had a long drive that day along the Western coast of Japan so we used Tsuwano as a little pit stop along the way. Our stop there was centred around the Taikodani Inari Shrine. The shrine was built to protect the nearby castle from evil spirits in the mid-18^th century. Located part way up a hill, when we pulled into the parking lot the views back along the valley were beautiful. The sun wasn’t out but the recent rains the area had made everything so green and lush. Walking up to the shrine itself made those green surroundings pop even more as the structures were all painted in that famous vermillion colour. The main hall had the huge straw ropes hanging above the entrance that looked meticulously in order. It wasn’t a large shrine but everything felt very comfortable and welcoming.

On the far side of the buildings was a pathway leading down the side of the hill, the true entrance to the shrine. Since we had followed the signs for the parking lot we had actually gone through backwards. The walking entrance had a pathway of torii gates much like the ones we saw at Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. The gates weaved all the way down the hillside in a serpentine motion giving the whole path a red glow. We began to walk down, admiring the gates and the quietness of the path. About half way Chris went back up and picked up the car and then drove down to pick me up from the bottom of the path. At the base you could look up and see the gates weaving their way up the hillside, in summer most were blocked by the trees but looking up pictures from winter shows a much more impressive view.

Right near the base of the shrine is the entrance to Tsuwano Old Town. It is beautifully kept with white-washed walls, canals filled with koi, and wide walkways. There was also an interesting statue which we read depicts the Heron Dance that is performed during the Sagimai Festival every year in Tsuwano. The traditional dance is performed primarily by two people representing a male and female heron, and represents their mating dance. It originated in Kyoto but eventually died out throughout the rest of the country, with Tsuwano being the only place left performing authentic heron dances. We watched the koi fish briefly before the rain started to fall and we thought it best to keep going on our long drive.

We arrived in Izumo and drove straight to Izumo Taisha, the second most important shrine in Japan behind Ise Shrine. It is also believed to be the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan, so old it predates their records, meaning it was already established in the early 700s. It was very busy in the parking lot and therefore the grounds as well. The grounds of the shrine were big and sprawling making it a little confusing for us going through as there was very little English. The first building we approached had the largest straw ropes we had ever seen, they were massive! Turns out they are the largest in Japan and weigh 5 tons! Izumo shrine is dedicated to the god Okuninushi, the original ruler of Izumo province and the creator of Japan. There are many legends and tales surrounding Okuninushi and Izumo Shrine, and many are represented throughout the grounds as statues. There is one tale which involves a white hare and so we saw many small statues of rabbits during our walk through. We didn’t end up spending a whole lot of time on the grounds as we didn’t have a lot of information, many areas are too sacred to actually visit, and it is a very sacred shrine in general so not exactly a place to hang out – but I’m glad we at least saw it in some capacity.

While we were now in the city we’d be spending the night in we wanted to see a couple more sights while the sun was still out, and we knew we wouldn’t want to get back in the car once we checked in at the hotel. Less than a kilometre away is Inasa Beach which is also connected to Izumo Taisha through a ceremony that happens every fall. Before the gods congregate at Izumo Taisha they first attend a welcome ceremony at Inasa Beach and are then escorted to the shrine. The beach itself is beautiful but the true star is Benten-Jima Shrine. This tiny shrine complete with a torii is on top of a massive rock plunked down in the middle of the beach. It looks like it came out of nowhere, legend has it was pulled to shore by a god and the ropes he used turned into the beach.

We continued on along the coast, seeing some spectacular views with every small cape we rounded. One such cape has a famous lighthouse and pathways to walk and see the views. We pulled into the parking lot and decided to do the short walk first and see the lighthouse last. The pathway led right along the coast with views of the coastline and Sea of Japan. It was stunning! The water was calm and blue on our visit and the rounded rocks were perfect for exploring. The only drawback were the abundance of wharf roaches! While we had encountered them before there were so many here, and they were big! Every step you took you could see them running from you as if the ground was moving, and on the trees too! The walk was short and we rounded the path to see the stunning Hinomisaki Lighthouse. It is the tallest lighthouse in Japan and is painted entirely in white making it pop against the blue water and green vegetation surrounding it. While it was closed for the day so we couldn’t climb it, seeing it from the ground was even worth the drive.

The drive back into Izumo and our hotel was equally as pleasant and we were able to check in and get settled with ease. We had purchased a dinner set with our stay so we were able to eat conveniently in the dining room and not have to drive anywhere again for the evening.

Honeymoon Part 7: Hiroshima & Miyajima

First on our list for the day was (unsurprisingly) the Peace Park and surrounding areas in Hiroshima. Driving from our hostel we got a good view of Hiroshima Castle from across the river, a good enough view that we decided we didn’t need to see it closer later in the day. We then drove around for a long time trying to find parking. This was definitely the most difficult parking hunt of our time in Japan, Hiroshima Peace Park is a busy place!

As many readers already know, Hiroshima was the first casualty of an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 at 8:15am. This was followed by the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9^th, which we wrote about here. The bombing in Hiroshima resulted in approximately 220 000 casualties which includes deaths resulting from the initial bombing as well as radiation exposure.

We decided to view some of the Peace Park first before the museum so we could have a break from the sun part way through. The area that is now the Peace Park used to be the industrial and political centre of Hiroshima – the prime spot to target. It was decided that instead of rebuilding the area they would leave it to be a memorial to what happened and a symbol for peace. Throughout the park are many statues and monuments donated by countries and organizations all over the world in memory of those who died.

At the very top of the park is the “A-Bomb Dome” or the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, originally the Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. This building is what many people associate with Hiroshima and the atomic bombs. Although we had seen it many times in photos it was still impressive seeing it in person. The fact that it is still standing is astonishing considering very little else surrounding it survived. Seeing what the original building looked like is astonishing in the opposite way – the fact that it was wiped out how it was is terrifying.

We walked around the Dome and back across the bridge and down the one side of the Peace Park. We saw the Children’s Peace Monument which is surrounded by thousands of origami paper cranes. Atop the monument is a statue of Sadako Sasaki holding a golden crane.

Eventually we made it to the other end of the park where the huge Peace Memorial Museum stands. Half of the museum was under construction but there was still plenty to see. There was a huge line of people waiting to get inside which we joined and thankfully had shade to wait in. Even when we made it inside to the exhibits the place was crowded but we took our time and looked through the many things they had on display. The Nagasaki museum showcased many aspects of the bombing but mainly focused on the condemning of nuclear weapons and the promotion of peace. The museum in Hiroshima showcased much more the after effects of the bomb – pieces of buildings, clothing, children’s toys, and even skin. It was gruesome and awful to see but it didn’t shy away from what happened to the city and the people who lived there.

The part that had the most impact on me was the section dedicated to Sadako Sasaki. I had read the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr in school when I was younger so I was familiar with the story and as much as you are told it is a true story it really hit home when I saw the exhibit at the museum. Sadako was two years old when the bombing occurred, was diagnosed with leukemia brought on by the radiation she was exposed to, and died less than a year later at age 12. While in hospital she began folding paper cranes, a Japanese legend states that the gods will grant you a wish if you fold 1000. To this day she is a symbol for peace along with the folding of paper cranes. In the museum they have displays of cranes Sadako herself folded, including some that are extremely small. The paper cranes are such a symbol now that Hiroshima recycles old paper cranes which have been left at the memorials into paper, pens, and other souvenirs to further the message of peace.

Leaving the museum we walked up the other side of the peace park and made our way to the hypocentre of the bomb. Due to winds on the day of the bombing, it actually missed its main target and detonated above Shima Hospital which was rebuilt and is still active today. There is a small plaque marking the hypocentre on a side street, making it seem a little more surreal.

With the peace park completed we headed back to our car and began our drive to Miyajima. While Hiroshima wasn’t exactly an exciting or entertaining visit, it was something we felt we had to visit and couldn’t just drive through.

Miyajima is listed as one of the top three scenic views of Japan, is wildly popular with tourists, and is often featured in tourism pamphlets or in pictures of Japan. This was one of the places that we felt we HAD to see before leaving Japan or we would regret it. Miyajima is actually a nickname meaning Shrine Island, the actual name being Itsukushima. The drive there wasn’t long and we parked near the ferry docks with plenty of time left in the day. Miyajima’s famous feature is the ‘floating’ Torii gate and we had checked the tide schedules before hand – it would be floating for our visit that evening. We boarded the ferry and watched as the small island and torii gate got closer and closer – it was no wonder why it was so popular, it was so impressive!

We docked at the island and immediately high-tailed it over to Miyajima Public Aquarium, about 15 minutes from the ferry terminal. We knew last admission was fairly early and we didn’t have much time to make it, we had only minutes to spare! It was a fairly small aquarium highlighting the species that lived around Miyajima or were once known to. Everything was recently redone so it was new and snazzy, although most of the signs were mainly in Japanese. It was a nice break indoors and a final zoo/aquarium to visit in Japan.

Full review check out ZooCritic.
More photos check out the full aquarium photo album on Facebook.

Leaving the aquarium we were hungry so we walked back along the streets towards the main food/shopping area to find some dinner. During our walk we saw the stairs leading down to the small beach with some stunning views of the floating torii gate so we of course had to stop to soak in the sights. The Torii gate leads to Itsukushima shrine, also built out over the water to give the appearance of floating. It is listed both as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as a National Treasure, being initially built in the 6^th century. A couple other fun facts which are best copied than me trying to rewrite them:
“Because the island itself has been considered sacred, commoners were not allowed to set foot on it throughout much of its history to maintain its purity. To allow pilgrims to approach, the shrine was built like a pier over the water, so that it appeared to float, separate from the land. The red entrance gate, or torii, was built over the water for much the same reason. Commoners had to steer their boats through the torii before approaching the shrine.

Retaining the purity of the shrine is so important that since 1878, no deaths or births have been permitted near it. To this day, pregnant women are supposed to retreat to the mainland as the day of delivery approaches, as are the terminally ill or the very elderly whose passing has become imminent. Burials on the island are forbidden.” Source

So with a good view of the torii achieved we kept up our search of food, coming across a small beer garden. We ordered the only food, fried chicken, and had a drink to take the hunger edge off. We then went in search of actual food which we found in a restaurant called Bambino. Chris ordered some sort of pizza and chicken appetizer while I went for the Hiroshima-style fish and chips, whatever that meant. Well, it meant deep fried sardines. While initially I was not thrilled, after trying them they really weren’t that bad, dare I say good?!

We walked back along the shopping streets towards the shrine, looking into the many souvenir shops along the way. Besides the typical tourist souvenirs you would see in Japan there were also many momiji manju shops. Momiji Manju is a hugely popular treat which is basically a little cake filled with red bean paste (or another option like matcha) shaped like a Japanese maple leaf (Miyajima is famous for its fall leaves). Having these shops all over made the streets smell like dessert! We also stumbled upon a giant shamoji or rice spoon which was apparently invented on the island, so why not make a giant one?

We found a spot along the edge of the water, sitting along a wall to watch the sun set. The colours of the sky were beautiful and the moon appearing above the shrine itself was about half full. There were many people who were standing and sitting around us watching the sunset and taking photos so when I felt something behind me I was expecting someone to have stepped to close or posing for a photo. Instead I was face to face with one of the deer of the island. Much like the city of Nara, deer are everywhere on Miyajima and are considered sacred. They roam along the street, lay on the beach, and get their photos taken all day. This particular one thought the map sticking out of my purse looked delicious and was trying to pull it out further. After the initial surprise of a deer sneaking up behind me, I was able to wrestle the map back without too much trouble much to the amusement of everyone else surrounding us.

In terms of getting in a viewing of the torii gate of Miyajima we couldn’t have asked for a better ‘floating torii’ moment with the weather clear, the sun setting, and the water calm. We waited until dark and the flood lights illuminated the gate before walking back to the ferry to take us back across to the main island.

Our hostel was just down the street from the ferry dock and after checking in we asked for directions to the closest onsen. There was one a couple blocks down the road in a hotel so we decided to walk and enjoy the fresh air. After a relaxing soak we got little haagen-dazs ice creams from the vending machine in the hotel to enjoy for the walk back. It was a pretty perfect way to end week one of our final Japan vacation!

Honeymoon Part 6: Matsuyama & Okunoshima

After a good night’s sleep we left our hostel and walked back through the shopping streets nearby to see Dogo Onsen in the daylight. It was equally as impressive, now being able to see more details in the architecture and features we missed the night before. Our host had told us to go to the top of the neighbouring hill as the view from above was quite impressive. Chris opted to make the quick trek while I waited in the shade below. The view was indeed wonderful and the size of the onsen was more apparent from above.

Our last stop in Matsuyama was Ishite-ji temple, number 51 on the 88 temple pilgrimage of Shikoku. We heard it was an interesting temple with some neat features, not to mention some designated national treasures and cultural properties. After slathering on some sunscreen we walked along the covered entrance of shops to the main gate. While beautiful, it was nothing we hadn’t seen before at many other temples. What was different were the many statues and buildings spread out throughout the grounds. Despite having a vague map we got turned around a couple times and at one point weren’t sure if the building we were in was actually a part of the temple or a private area. Eventually we found the actual attraction we were looking for there, a cave tunnel tucked to the side of one of the buildings. It was a narrow entrance but we didn’t mind because the cool air we could feel was worth it. Inside the tunnel there were lights sporadically, and small statues every couple of feet. We eventually emerged at the other end basically right onto a street which was unexpected. We knew it led to the inner temple area but didn’t think we’d have to walk down the street to it. A gate marked the entrance and a small pathway through a wooded area ended at the actual inner temple. It was just as ‘weird’ as the other area, looking nothing like any of the other temples or shrines we had been to. It also felt kind of like we were trespassing as there was no one else there and no signs or anything. There was a big gold dome surrounded by a variety of statues – including depictions of an emaciated Buddha which are really uncommon.

We came back through the tunnel and temple grounds to the car and made our way to the coast. It was time to leave Shikoku and head back to the main island of Japan, Honshu. We would be doing this much the same as when we traveled to Shikoku, by a series of suspension bridges. This time on the West coast, we were traveling across the more famous Nishiseto Expressway, also known as Shimanami Kaido. This route island hops across the Seto Inland Sea via suspension and cable-stayed bridges. The views were beautiful of the bridges and islands dotting across the landscape in front of you. What’s unique about these bridges is they have a separate section of them for pedestrians and cyclists, with plenty of cafes and hostels scattered among the islands, making them a huge draw in nice weather for people wanting to cross off the 70km trek from their bucket list. Our original plan was to drive from one side to the other then drive down to a small town and take a ferry to Okunoshima. On a whim I decided to look up other ferry routes and discovered there was a ferry from one of the middle islands that also went there that would shave some time off for us. While being able to complete the whole of the Shimanami Kaido would have been cool, the fact we were doing it by car instead of bicycle lost some of the magic (and the views from the ferry would be just as nice!).

We made it to the ferry terminal seemingly in the middle of nowhere and bought tickets which we had no idea if they were accurate, or even if there would be enough room on the ferry! Thankfully we made it on no problem and took the time on the ferry to slather ourselves in sunscreen and enjoy the view.

The ferry ride wasn’t long and we were parked on the island of Okunoshima in no time. Now many people know of Okunoshima but not by that name, it’s more commonly referred to as Rabbit Island. That’s right, an island overrun by rabbits. As we were parking the car we spotted our first one sitting in the shade beside the parking lot, people were outside and feeding them lettuce. Since the rabbits right by the parking lot were being swarmed a bit we decided to take the path around the island and see if there were some less crowded areas with more shade. We realized pretty quickly that we picked the worst day/time to go to the island. We arrived around 2pm, so the hottest time of the day, on one of the hottest days we’d experienced in Japan. We were soaking in sweat and stopping at every vending machine to get more drinks. The rabbits were clearly hiding in their tunnels in the sides of the hills, staying out of the heat of the day. Before continuing our search for bunnies we decided to check out one of the only other attractions of the island – the Poison Gas Museum.

Probably not what you were expecting…the island isn’t all happy bunnies and beautiful seas, it actually has a pretty dark past. Initially it was a small fishing island with a couple families inhabiting it. In 1925 the island was chosen as the site of a chemical munitions plant. It was relatively isolated, easy to remove from maps to keep it hidden, and far enough away from important cities like Tokyo and Kyoto so if anything went wrong it was fairly contained. Workers were kept fairly in the dark about what was being produced and it wasn’t talked about for decades after it was shut down and cleaned up. The museum was small but very effective, they had artifacts from the island and from family members of workers. Old safety equipment was on display and descriptions of how they were not effective for the workers safety. Graphic photos showed the damage caused by chemical warfare throughout the world and incidents of accidents at manufacturing locations. It was a museum owning up to what happened on the island and condemning any future chemical warfare.

Leaving the museum we spotted some rabbits in the shade beside the building and we cautiously approached. Cautiously because that’s how you approach any animal, wild or otherwise, but these rabbits didn’t quite need it. They came hopping up to us much like those at a petting zoo, waiting to be fed. There were some pieces of lettuce on the ground that we fed to them and watched as they hopped around us. It wasn’t the hordes of rabbits following us like in the videos online, but the three or four rabbits freely coming up to us was still fun. So why the rabbits? There are some conflicting theories – they are the ones released from testing when the chemical plant shut down; they were released there by school boys; and the leading theory is that they were introduced to the island when they established a park there and have taken off from there. No matter how they got there they have become a huge tourist attraction, with the rabbits having taken over the island.

We were suffocating in the heat but we wanted to spend some more time on the island before moving on, even if the rabbits weren’t what we expected. We decided to take a trail leading up to the highest part of the island to see the view, a slow walk with plenty of shade, not that it helped much. It was quiet and no one else was apparently silly enough to exert themselves so it was easy to imagine how the island could feel isolated or secretive. Every once in a while a rabbit would come bounding out of the forest, startling us, especially since they were running towards us instead of a away. We eventually made it to the top and were rewarded with a viewing platform so we could see all the islands surrounding us. Since the platform also had no shade we retreated quickly back down onto the pathway and through the forested hills. As beautiful as the views were, it was hard to focus on it due to the heat and we decided it was time to head back to the car and the ferry. I’m glad we were able to see some rabbits but clearly it is better to go in cooler weather!

We took the ferry across to Honshu and drove down to the city of Hiroshima. The drive wasn’t too long and was fairly uneventful. We happened to see a boar wading across a stream at one point which was pretty exciting, they’re pretty common in Japan, but we had yet to see one until then!

We arrived at our hostel and checked in, it was more like a mini apartment building that they had converted into a little hotel which was nice. We walked down the street to a small ramen shop for dinner, which turned out to be quite good! Chris had the soy sauce ramen and I tried their special for the night which was tomato basil, flavours I love but hadn’t seen in ramen form, it was quite good!

Since the air conditioning was too good to pass up we ended up spending the evening at the hostel, finalizing the timeline for the next day and generally letting our bodies recover after sweating all day.