A day in Hiroshima and Miyajima

 The long day on the train was truly worth it as this gave us a whole day in Hiroshima and Miyajima.
The Peace Park is indeed that- peaceful and thought provoking.
To get there we caught a tram car- a tram car ride using a ticketing system that the Victorian Government could learn from and commuters in Melbourne could learn how to be more honest when using it :)

There are many examples as we travel around of how the Japanese continue to use implements that work well rather than trying to create more expensive implements that don't necessarily make any difference to the work or the result. Gardening implements are a good examples and this type of broom is used and sold in many places. 

The chrysanthemum holds a special place in the heart of many Japanese people. Known as kiku in Japanese, it is the symbol of autumn in Japan. It is at this time of year that the flower blooms most brightly. So I was a tad surprised to be able to capture a photo of a couple of these at the Peace Park. A little research showed me that white chrysanthemums symbolise grief while red chrysanthemums are often thought to symbolise feelings of love and affection when given as a gift to a special someone. So their symbolism at the Peace Park was significant.

 An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane. Some stories believe you are granted eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy creatures  and is said to live for a thousand years: That is why 1000 cranes are made, one for each year. In some stories it is believed that the 1000 cranes must be completed within one year and they must all be made by the person who is to make the wish at the end.

 The true story is of a girl, Sadako Sasaki, who lived in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing by the United States. She developed leukemia from the radiation and spent her time in a nursing home creating origami (folded paper) cranes in hope of making a thousand of them. She was inspired to do so by the Japanese legend that one who created a thousand origami cranes would be cured by the Gods. Her wish was simply to live.



 However, she managed to fold only 644 cranes before she became too weak to fold any more, and died on 25 October 1955 in the morning. Her friends and family helped finish her dream by folding the rest of the cranes, which were buried with Sadako. They also built a statue of Sadako holding a giant golden origami crane in Hiroshima Peace Park

What does one do after visiting such a stirring and tragic spot? Seek tranquility of course!
But in order to find the tranquil space that is the Miyajima Tori one must do a little retail therapy along the shopping strip that leads to the temple. 

Along the way to the Peace Park the cherry blossoms didn't fail to delight. 

Travelled to Takayama

 It rained yesterday and continued to rain today.
This made for lovely shots of rain slicked building but made me reluctant to get my camera out. I know where is the sense of adventure? Where is the capacity to take photos no matter the conditions?
Juggling an umbrella and an SLR and fearing that the rain will find its way into the delciate electronics of my camera all kinda stymied my capacity for the great shot.

However, Takayama does not disappoint. It is a mountain city in the Hida region so we had a two hour train journey from Nagoya earlier in the day and arrived amidst the rain at our minshuku. 

Minshuku are Japanese style bed and breakfasts, which are usually family operated. They provide a good opportunity to experience the traditional Japanese lifestyle. One stays in Japanese style rooms, sleep on a futon and have the opportunity to take a Japanese bath.

 The bath will be a great thing after today's chill and rain. The cherry blossoms are not out as much in the area as it hasn't been as warm as it had been in Tokyo (not warm when we were there though)

 Takayama has a festival which is ranked as one of the three most beautiful festivals in Japan. On a previus visit Michele and i were lucky enough to catch it. However the old town itself is well worth the effort we have made to bring Nick here.
There is a great treasure house/museum of the floats that are used and have been used in the festival for hundreds of years.

 The Sakurayama Hachimangu Shrine is an old shrine, which is thought to be the village shrine for the north part of old Takayama city, situated to the north of Yasukawa dori (street). In times of yore, prince Takefurukuma-no-mikoto was sent from the imperial court to subjugate the monster Ryoumen Sukuna, who was controlling Hida. It is said that the shrine originated when this warrior enshrined Emperor Ojin as the deity of this sanctuary and prayed for the success of the mission.

 The current shrine was rebuilt by Arishige Kanamori in order to protect the north part of Takayama castle. Its festivals are held on the 9th and 10th of October. (Takayama Matsuri). The autumn festival is known as Takayama Matsuri together with the spring festivals at Hiejinja.

 It was great weather for ducks!

 And some shopping.

Traveling a little

It was time to move out of Tokyo and head for a one night stop in Nagoya. The reason for this stop was to catch up with Kazuki and his family. Kazuki had stayed with Nick 12months ago in Australia.
 We traveled by Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Nagoya. We head off to Takayama tomorrow so we made our reservations as soon as we arrived in Nagoya.



Here is my fellow traveler and my tour guide :)

After a bit of a shop and a collapse back in our hotel we were met by Kazuki and his mother and father who drove us to Nagoya castle which has cherry blossom trees everywhere and they were at their peak.

The castle has an exhibition about its history and  opportunities to learn more about the culture of the area.

There was a photo opportunity for kids so the two "boys" posed for us.

 We made it to the top of the castle- all the practice in walking up those flights of stairs in schools in NYC came into good use.

 It started to rain when we arrived and still hasn't let up so the walk around the grounds of the castle was made shorter than one would have liked.

The lanterns were turned on in the grounds so one advantage of the rain and darkening skies.

Still in Tokyo

 A warmer start to the day- sunshine makes such a difference.
We had breakfast and then traveled to Tokyo station put Anne Marie's bags in a luggage locker and headed out to look around the Imperial Palace area.
The architecture of the convention centre was a brief stopping point

 We then walked in and around the Imperial Palace environs which included the now compulsory photographing of the cherry blossoms.

The ancient fir trees have that lovely look of spiky-ness that one sees in ancient Japanese (and Chinese) scrolls. Beautiful against the blue sky.

The moat around the Imperial Palace provides lovely contrast of rock and water. 

 The cherry blossoms are on their way out in Tokyo so there are drifts of petals in the air and on the surface of paths and ponds.

The first blooms...

We, Michele and I, are back in Japan. I have lobbed myself into the reward journey for (nephew) Nick and Anne-Marie is on her way to a conference in Tokyo and has joined us for parts of our ten day sojourn.
It is spring and the cherry blossom has arrived early in Tokyo due to warm March weather- where was that warm weather for NYC?!

We are staying in Ueno so started out the day with breakfast in a little coffee shop and then a walk through Ueno Park and the Hanami- Cherry Blossom festival.


A beginners guide to Cherry Blossom gives some advice .....

Hanami literally means "flower viewing", however, it commonly refers only to cherry blossom viewing. Cherry blossom viewing is easy: Simply enjoy the intensity of the many blossoms by looking at a single tree or a group of trees. From a distance, the trees appear as beautiful clouds, while the beauty of single blossoms can be enjoyed from a close distance.
Cherry blossoms are also especially beautiful in combination with a castle, temple or shrine. In some places the blossoms are lit up in the evening, which makes an amazing sight.

We visited Meiji Shrine later in the day and managed to see not only the lovely shrine and park but two traditional weddings 

And some not so traditional photographers.

After visiting Ueno park we went to the Shitamachi Museum- a lovely small museum
This museum was established to teach future generations about the culture of the shitamachi. The shitamachi was originally an area of Edo* where the common people lived. The word shitamachi is composed of the word shita meaning “down” and machi meaning “town,” and one can often see it translated into English literally as “downtown.” However, shitamachi is not the same as the English word downtown, which refers to a city's central businessdistrict. The shitamachi name originated from the actual level of the land in the area. In Edo, the land to the south-east of Edo Castle (now the Imperial Palace) was lowlands, and the land to the north-west was a plateau, and during the formative years of the city, the lowlands became the place where artisans and merchants lived. This lowlands area near Edo Castle became known as shitamachi.

We strolled around feeling cold much of the day and live in hope that the weather will warm up!

At Yoyogi Park we had hoped to spot some Cosplay people but only managed a couple of snaps of a few in different dress.
Cosplay short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea from a work of fiction. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered on role play.

I guess one needs to have a greater knowledge of anime and manga to recognize the costumes- I'm not sure if these two photos show just some young people weirdly dressed or whether they can be found in anime or manga pages.
We did see a couple of young women in the distance in the park dancing around to their own private tune but I don't think they completely qualified for this category on Japanese culture.