Work has been keeping me pretty occupied recently so I have not been able to get anywhere for the blog so I decided to do the first in a "Best of" series. I will add to this series from time to time with a different theme or an update to an existing theme. The first in the "best of" series will be about Japanese nature.
When I first came to Japan, 16 years ago, I had the impression that Japan was a concrete jungle. All skyscrapers and neon, shiny, plastic and new. Maybe most people who come to Japan are under the same impression and there is a lot of that. But scratch beneath the surface and there is a whole lot more waiting to be found. Get away from the cities and you will be surprised. There is a whole lot of beautiful nature here and living in these big cities makes the Japanese appreciate all of the beautiful nature around them. They cherish it and protect it, wanting to maintain and preserve it for generations to come. Following are just a few photos I have taken to highlight some of the naturally beautiful places that I have been to. Let's start with Japan's 2 favourite seasons.
Spring time means only one thing in Japan. Cherry blossom time! Time to get out and enjoy the flower that has come to symbolise the country more than any other. One of the best things about Cherry blossom time is that you don't have to get out of the city to see it! The following couple of photos were taken in Yanaka cemetery, in the middle of Tokyo.
This next one was taken near the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo.
Cherry blossom season is also party time. Troops of office workers march out of offices and into nearby parks setting down picnic mats and eating and drinking to their hearts content, enjoying the beautiful cherry blossoms. Now in a city as big as Tokyo, that means a lot of people as this photo from Yoyogi Park shows.
But the crowds are never an issue as everyone is simply out enjoying the season just like the folk on the picnic mat next to them. It is a fun, festive atmosphere.
You can find some full blog posts about cherry blossom season here, here and here.
The other season that is celebrated is autumn. With autumn comes autumn leaves as everywhere in Japan is turned into a sea of reds, oranges and yellows! This first photo is at the foot of Mount Takao, within the limits of Tokyo.
You can read more about Mount Takao here.
The next 2 were taken at Nikko a beautiful town less than 2 hours by train from Ueno in the north of Tokyo. Nikko is home to an area of temples and Shrines that is World heritage listed.
To check out more about Nikko, check out some past blog posts here, here and here.
Last year in July I escaped Tokyo and headed deep into Nagano. Nagano is an area of Japan that I love and that is rich in natural beauty. Here are a couple of photos taken from that trip. This first one is a river running through a beautiful, old, small town called Tsumago. The day we visited was the day after a typhoon had passed through and there had been a little rain that had fallen.....
Just a little.....
Nearby Tsumago is the quaint old town of Magome and on the outskirts of Magome I was greeted with this view.
Stunning! This trip was made in July, just after rainy season, so the greens were so deep and vivid! You can read some more about and enjoy some more pictures of these 2 stunning towns here.
A little further north into Nagano is Togakushi, in the mountains outside of Nagano city. I went here on the same trip as Tsumago and Magome. These next couple of photos are of some huge old cedar trees in the area.
Not too far away from this area was a beautiful lake called Kagami ike, or mirror lake.
I am told that early on a still morning, the view here is spectacular! Unfortunately, I am not such a morning person...... Anyway, you can read some more about Togakushi here.
Now, not all of this stunning nature is found outside of Tokyo. The big city has it's fair share of hidden gems too. One such place is Todoroki valley, a hidden oasis of green in the sleepy suburbs of Setagaya.
On a hot summers day, a visit to Todoroki Valley is just the cure! Check more out about Todoroki Valley here.
Just a couple of months ago I had the pleasure of visiting Ise in Mie prefucture. Ise is home to one of the most important Shinto shrines in Japan. It also has a stunning river running through the town.
Please feel free to read more about Ise and it's beautiful shrine here, here, and here.
The final photos I would like to share with you come from an area just outside the beautiful old city of Kyoto. The area is called Arashiyama and is famous for its natural beauty, especially in autumn when the area becomes a patchwork of vivid autumn colours. It is, however, a beautiful place to visit any time of year. One of the other things Arashiyama is famous for is its bamboo walkway.
I was lucky enough to visit the area a day after a typhoon had stormed through the area (I swear I don't plan these things!) so it was not at all busy. Continuing on past the end of the bamboo walkway I found this little hidden gem.
This place was simply stunning and nearby was a temple or shrine as I could hear the bell sounding every 30 seconds or so. I sat here for a good 5 minutes just taking in as much of the tranquillity as I could. What a find this place was!
Also in the Arashiyama area is a river called Katsura river. I reached the other side of the river at around dusk and it proved for some wonderful photos. Here are just a couple of them.
I did manage to get another photo while I was here and this is one of the most beautiful photos I have taken, although, quite a different kind of beautiful!
If you would like to read more about Arashiyama and Kyoto, you can find their blog posts here and here.
Well, I think that will do it for this post. I hope you enjoyed that photographic tour. As I said at the start of the post, there will be more posts with the "Best of" theme so please keep an eye out for them. Thanks again for reading. Please leave a comment and share the blog with someone you know who will enjoy it.
Se you next time!
This is the 4th and final post of a recent trip to Nagano. You can find part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here.
The village of Togakushi is famous for a number of things. It is famous for it's high quality soba (with over 30 soba restaurants in the village), ninjitsu (there is a school of nijitsu there that was founded over 800 years ago. There is also a ninja museum and village to visit), and it's Shrines. There are 3 main shrines in the area, Hokosha Shrine (the lower shrine), Chusha Shrine (the middle shrine) and Okusha Shrine (the upper one). The village is nestled among 900 year old cedar trees (anyone with hay fever should stay away in the spring months!) and sits at the foot of Mount Togakushi (which, like so many mountains in Japan is a volcano). Our goal for the day was to wander around each of the three main shrines.
After breakfast on day 3, Yuuki, Miwa and her Dad, Yuji and her Mum, Reiko. We piled into the car and drove off toward the highest of the three Shrines. Being that it was a weekend day, so many cars were out and about and it proved a challenge just to find a place to park. We eventually did and walked off towards the start of the short, but (in some places) steep hike to the upper Shrine. A few people had taken the opportunity at the start of the climb to refresh with an ice cream.
It seemed like a good idea we each grabbed one (mine was soba
flavoured!)
We then set off on the walk to the top. The Shrine gate signalled the start of the walk.
It was a hot and humid day, a typical Japanese summer day, and the sweat soon started dripping, but it was nice to be in the outdoors getting some good exercise! The area we were walking through was beautiful and green, rugged and forested.
Pretty soon, we saw signs that we were at the entrance to the Shrine (although the Shrine itself was still about one kilometre away!)
You might be wondering what the stones at the base of the statues are for. I sure was. During the hike I saw quite a few examples of this.
Yuuki explained that they are placed there by mountain climbers and it represents their hopes and prayers for a safe return. I figured our climb today was not terribly dangerous so I didn't worry about adding to them.
We stepped thought the gate and the view on the other side was stunning!
I have read that these cedar trees lining the walkway to the shrine are anywhere from 100 to 400 years old. However old they are, they are certainly majestic
although this one had seen better days!
All of a sudden, the path turned into steps and the going got a little tougher (and more crowded)!
About halfway up the steps I saw a small stairway leading off to the left which required checking out!
I love little discoveries like this!
Now these ladies had made a discovery so they beckoned me down
so I walked down the steps and found a cold mountain stream!
My head certainly thanked me after I dipped my cap in it and put it back on!
Finally we were at the top!
After a brief rest and a zen moment with the local wildlife
we set off back down the path again. Going down was much easier than coming up!
We got back into the car and drove over to nearby Kagami ike, or mirror pond for a look.
There were not so many people here and I can imagine that early in the morning, when the lake surface is calm it must be spectacular. It was amazing when we were there!
Stomachs had started rumbling by this time so we headed off to one of the many soba restaurants around. We chose one of the more popular ones, so after a 30 minute wait, we were finally inside and eating!
After lunch, everyone went off to the middle shrine. I looked up and saw steps, many, many steps
and thinking about my poor lungs which had just been through a bout of pneumonia, I decided to skip these ones so I went off for a walk around the area at the foot of the stairs. Look what I found! Nestled uncomfortably in the middle of soba territory was a
ramen shop! I didn't go too near for fear of getting run out of town!
Meeting up with everyone else, we drove back down to the lower Shrine which had more steps, many more steps!
218 to be precise!
I decided to climb these ones and was rewarded with a beautiful old wooden shrine at the top.
It also meant, however, that I had to walk back down the steps. It had started raining a little so I gingerly navigated the steps being careful not to slip.
While that would have made the trip back down the steps a lot quicker, it would also have been a whole lot more painful too!
With the rain steadily falling now, we decided to call it a day at that point and saying goodbye to Yuuki, Miwa, Yuji and Reiko, I went back to my ryokan. I slept very well that night!
The next day I went back to Nagano and after booking my train ticket back to Tokyo, I jumped on a bus and went to check out Zenkoji Temple which Miwa had told me not to miss!
Zenkoji Temple dates back to 642 AD (!) and has been designated as a National Treasure. The structure was rebuilt in 1707 and is one of the largest wood structures in Japan. It was well worth a look!
There are signs all around the Temple with explanations of the various parts of the Temple grounds in both Japanese and English, so it is very tourist friendly.
There is one part of the temple where you pay 500 yen and you can go inside the temple (no photos allowed though) and also into a pitch black passage under the altar where you must find your way to the other end of the passage. It is dark, you are completely unable to see anything and you don't know how far away the end of the passage is! When I started walking along it, suddenly, from somewhere in front of me, I heard a child start crying.......then I heard the mother talking to it (okay, so it wasn't a ghost!). I still didn't know how far in front of me they were so I continued inching forward until I eventually bumped into them. I'm sure they got much more of a shock than I did!!
It was all too soon time to return to the station and make my way back to Tokyo. I had enjoyed the 4 days that I had spent in Nagano, and despite not being able to do the main thing I had wanted to do (walk along the Nakasendo) I had had a great time. Nagano is becoming one of my favourite areas to visit in Japan and I thoroughly recommend a visit to Nagano when you come to Japan or when you have some free time (if you live in Japan).
Thanks again for reading. Please leave me a comment below and a suggestion for a place for me to visit that you would like to see.
See you next time!
