Kumamoto Castle and Suizenji Garden - Mar 16

We travelled to Kuamoto by bullet train.
We went to Suizenji Garden, an example of an Edo period stroll garden. It has a miniature Mount Fuji in the middle, and a large pond filled with koi fish.
Then we went to Kumamoto Castle. The photo is of the only original turret left standing, the rest of the castle is reconstructed. Large and interesting - lasted through a 50 day siege in 1877 - the castle builders had included lots of wells.
Traveled by train to Nagasaki. In Nagasaki we are staying for 3 nights in a ryokan where we sleep on the floor. We requested that they stack an extra "mattress" under our bed and that helped a lot. We had a much better sleep than the last floor we slept on.

Sakurajima volcano and Kagoshima - Mar 15

After breakfast we drove to Sakurajima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes, that has multiple eruptions several times a day. You can see it coughing up some ash in my photo. Until 1914 Sakurajima was an island in the bay, but a powerful eruption and subsequent lava flow connected it to the mainland in that year.
After viewing the volcano we took a ferry across the bay to Kagoshima.
We started in the Senganen garden, a Japanese style stroll garden that incorporates the views of Sakurajima and the bay into its garden vistas. It was built in the 17th century. Besides all the usual garden ponds, sculpted trees, rocks, vistas, etc. there was a Shinto shrine to cats. For some reason this shrine had the style of tori gate reserved for the Imperial family. I know that is how cats view themselves (as Emperors) and I guess the Japanese agree. Although our Japanese tour guide had no reasonable explanation for it.
There was a museum just outside the garden showing the clan here as one of the earliest adapters of Western technology in the 1800s.

Takachiho Gorge and Aoshima Island - Mar 14

Today we once again had breakfast in our hotel, but managed to avoid fish and rice because it was a buffet and had some more or less Western foods.
It was raining this morning, so the first part of our walk through Takachiho Gorge took place in the rain. The Takachiho Gorge is narrow and cut through the rock by the river below. There is a waterfall, we saw people out rowing to the waterfall in small rental rowboats (in one boat they were holding up umbrellas as they rowed along). We walked along the edge of the gorge for about 1 kilometer - it was quite beautiful.

We next went to see the Amano Iwato shrine for the sun goddess who hid in a cave. Because she is the ancestor (mythologically) of the Emperor, the tori gate differs from the usual in that the second cross-bar doesn't extend beyond the support posts. We had a nice young Shinto priest show us around, including the private locked back portion where you can see the cave she hid in (no photography allowed here). Then while the rest of the group walked down to the cave where the rest of the gods gathered to lure her out by dancing, Dave and I sat in a tiny spot and sampled the Shitaki mushroom broth sold by a little old Japanese lady. The rain had totally ceased while we were there, so she was busy taking in the umbrellas she had cannily been selling before while it was raining.
Then after more driving, and a stop at a roadside rest stop for lunch (Dave found a machine that dispensed french fries, I had rice balls stuffed with chicken), we ended up at Aoshima Island. It is surrounded by a unique rock formation known as the Devil's Washboard, and is covered with palm trees. It also, of course, has a Shinto Shrine (with the usual tori gate). I thought the place was one of the most interesting, geologically speaking, I had ever seen.

Travel to Kyushu - Mar 13

We got up and had breakfast at our lovely ryokan, then drove to Yawatahama to catch the ferry from the island of Shikoku to the island of Kyushu. We will be spending the remainder of our tour on Kyushu. The Japanese ferries are quite interesting. This one had a very small seating area with tables and chairs (which were handily chained to the floor), and a large area with mats and cubby holes, where you could lie down, or just sit on the floor and chat. The last ferry we were on had more seating, but it still had the area to lie down on the floor in.
The ferry landed at the city of Usuki, and just outside the city we saw Buddha statues that were carved into the stone cliffs. There are 60 statues, carved during the 12th to 14th centuries, but we had to skip a few that were under restoration (putting roofs over them, etc., so they don't deteriorate.) Quite impressive, located on a mountainside in a bamboo forest.
We then drove via expressways and single lane mountain roads to Takachiho. Takachiho is full of Japanese mythology. It is the site of a legend where the Shinto sun goddess hid in a cave to get away from her brother's cruel pranks, causing the other gods and goddesses to try to lure her out by dancing. She left the cave to see what was going on and so returned her light to the world. After dinner at the hotel, we attended a Yokagura dance performance which is supposed to be examples of the dances used to coax her out. The performance is held in a tatami mat theatre, so Dave and I found pillars at the side we could use as backs, and stuck our legs out in front of us, rather than sitting Japanese style. Interesting culturally, the music and dance totally foreign to our Western kind.

Matsuyama - Mar 12

We were served a Japanese breakfast in our groups private dining room in the ryokan.
Then we took a taxi to the temple of Ishiteji - #51 on the Shikoku pilgrimage we started the other day. It included a 3 story pagoda and a cave lined with statues.
Then we took a bus to Matsuyama Castle. We approached the castle first by a ropeway (gondola) up Mt. Katsu, part of which overlooked cherry blossoms, then by zigzag inclined paths up to the castle through high stone walls.
We followed this by a street car ride back downtown, and a visit to the Emperor's rooms in the Dogo Onsen, the first onsen (public baths in hot springs) in Japan.
Dogo Onsen was terrifically crowded, so we left Blaine and Sean there for the baths (because it is famous for anime/ manga reasons). The rest of us returned to our ryokan and bathed in its onsen, which is better equipped and less crowded. This meant Dave was segregated off by himself, and Debbie, May and I went to the women's side. There was an inside bath, and one outside with a bit of Japanese garden and fresh air (no photographs allowed in onsen so you can't see it).
We then had a Kaiseki-style dinner at our ryokan. This is a meal of many small courses made of high-end ingredients. It was very tasty! One does have to like raw fish, Japanese pickles, tofu, miso soup, etc. and not mind eating totally unknown ingredients.

Vine bridge and boat ride - Mar 11

Well, today I got the keyboard working, but for some reason the i-cloud isn't delivering my photos. Technical glitches. Edit: photos showed up, so I'll add them.
Anyway, yesterday we went to the Ritsurin Garden, a very beautiful garden that took more than 100 years to create. They worked it all to fit in with the natural mountain backdrop - they have over 1000 pines manicured precisely, streams, bridges, tea houses, a duck blind (!), and vistas everywhere. It was quite lovely. Then we had tea in a tea house - the bitter Japanese powdered green tea, which you always drink after a sweet so it doesn't taste so bad.
We drove to Kotohira, where there is the very famous Kompira shrine (Shinto). Sean saw it, because you have to go up 785 steps. Dave and I wandered around the shops in the little village instead.
Then Mike (the owner of the tour company, who had joined us the night before) drove us through the mountain gorge, a lot of it on single lane road with mirrors on the corners, and spaces where one vehicle or the other would back up to if you met oncoming traffic. We ended up at a ryokan (guesthouse) / onsen (hot springs baths) perched on a cliff. Dave and I slept on futons on the floor. Unfortunately, neither of us sleep through the night, and the rising to go to the bathroom was not done with grace by either of us.
We did have a meal served by the guest house that went on for course after course, causing us to eat a lot of things we had never heard of before. But it was all very tasty (or, mostly very tasty!)
This morning the ryokan served us a great breakfast, and then we carried on down the Iya Valley road until we arrived at the Kazurabashi Vine Bridge.  This is a suspension bridge made of vines that is 15 meters above the river - it has large spaces between the planks, so once again we let Sean do the exciting part, and we watched and took photos. At this stop we also saw a lovely waterfall rushing down the cliff.
Next we drove to Oboke Gorge (we got onto real two lane roads) where we took a 30 minute boat ride through the steep-sided narrow gorge created by the Yoshino River. This would have been lovely on a summer day, but was cold and chilly today, and we all almost froze to death out on the water. Still interesting, as the rocks had obviously been thrust up at a 45 degree angle by earthquakes, there were waterfalls, and ducks.
Then we carried on driving to Matsuyama, the biggest city on the island of Shikoku. Here Dave and I got a palatial room, with western beds in a separate bedroom. There is a traditional wooden soaking tub in the bathroom (and luckily, a shower as well). The toilet room includes a urinal as well as a western toilet - this is the first bathroom I've ever had with a urinal included. They served us some of that powdered green tea when we arrived. In this ryokan we had to leave our outdoor shoes in the lobby, and wear slippers to our room. When you enter the bathroom, you put on your bathroom slippers - Dave thinks we should start doing this at home, because it keeps your feet warm.
We went out for supper, and had sashimi and nigiri sushi, so are pretty happy campers right now.

RItsurin garden - Mar 10

For some reason my keyboard is not functioning so I have to use this on tablet mode.
I hate typing on the screen so will just post a couple of photos.

Whirlpools - Mar 9

Today we first traveled by local bus to Naruto Straits. Here, due to the narrow straits between the island of Shikoku and the main island of Honshu, as well as the underwater geography of the sea beds, giant whirlpools are created by the tides. A bridge has been built across the strait, and constructed on the girders under the bridge is a walkway to observe the whirlpools, through windows in the floor (photo on right) and on the walls (photo on left) over the main area for whirlpools. The walkway out to the viewing area has wire mesh, so you can feel the sea breezes. On a cold, rainy day like today that really meant so that the floor will be wet and slippery and a cold, damp wind blows on you.
We had lunch in a very small restaurant by the whirlpools. Then we took the bus back to Naruto, where we caught the train to Takamatsu where we are staying tonight. We had to switch trains partway, at a station with one empty little waiting room and no railway employees at all - also no convenience stores or any other sign of life nearby (except for a few schoolgirls there to catch a train). Travelling on all the local modes of transportation is quite interesting. You get in a lot of people watching, and now we can personally attest to the greying of Japan. We can also pick out the old style school uniforms (very Prussian military) and the new style uniforms (more business suit inspired). You see all types of housing and commercial activity.
When we arrived in Takamatsu we met Mike, the owner of the Samuri tour company, who is joining us for the next few days, and will drive the van we will be travelling around in. Tonight the group of us went out for an udon noodle supper, as the area is famous for udon noodles. We also tried seared bonito, cooked the way ahi tuna is cooked.
Dave is now in his robe for the night. Our Japanese hotel in Tokyo provided white cotton Japanese styled pajamas, which Dave loved. The hotel in Osaka gave us an open robe and tie. The last two nights the hotel has given us a button front robe. The pajamas we brought with us are staying clean. Unfortunately most of the slipper provided aren't wide enough for our feet.

Pilgrimage day - Mar 8

Today we were pilgrims, or almost pilgrims, on the Shinkoku pilgrimage route, following the footsteps of the Japanese Buddhist saint, Kobo Daishi. We didn't wear the white jacket and cone shaped straw hats (like the pilgrims in the photo), nor did we start at the first temple (out of 88 temples).
We took a local bus to temple number 13 - Dainichiji - (pilgrim photo) and then walked to the three following temples, a distance of about 5 miles. Each temple had a nearby Shinto shrine - Dainichiji had a large shrine across the street with two torii gates.
Between the temples we walked on a paved path through fields and gardens, past some lovely houses with manicured trees, along a highway, across a bridge, by cemeteries and through towns. We also passed a roadside shrine to dead babies and unborn babies (small photo at bottom) - the red bibs on the markers indicate babies.

The photo (left) with the large tree is temple 14 - Jorakuji, which was just past a lake and up a hill.
The photo (centre) with the weathered grey temple and "dry garden" is #15, Kokubunji. We ate our lunch looking at this view.
The photo (right) with Sean ringing the gong is #16, Kanonji.
By this time Dave and I and Debbie were wearing out, so we took a local bus back to our hotel in Tokushima.
For dinner tonight we went to a restaurant and ate lots of sashimi (raw tuna, salmon and red snapper), plus a tomato and mozzarella salad (the balsamic vinegar looked green but tasted right), crab fried rice and gyozo. Yum!

Travel to Tokushima - Mar 7

We began with a Japanese breakfast at the hotel - green tea, miso soup, rice, salmon, eggs (in a kind of cake form) and unidentifiable bits and pieces, some of which were pickles.
After breakfast we met up with our tour group, which consists of the 3 of us, a couple (Blaine and Debbie) from Ohio, and May, our guide.
We took off for Tokushima, which began with an hour on a train, then a couple of hours on a ferry, then a 20 minute bus ride.
We dropped our luggage at the hotel and went to visit the Awa Odori museum. Awa Odori is a dance festival held every year from August 12 - 15 with performances everyplace, and dance troupes from everywhere. We saw an Awa dance, then were invited to take part. Dave and Sean didn't even try - I gave it a shot, but my dancing skills are minimal.
Finally, we took the ropeway (aka gondola or cable car) up Bizan mountain for a view over the area.
For supper the group went to a ramen noodle joint.
I'm now tired and ready to crawl into my Western style bed.