More Kamakura

When we attended the yabusame at Kamakura, we also went to see some nearby sites. The Kamakura Daibutsu is the second largest bronze Buddha in Japan. It was cast in 1252 and was in a temple but the temple was washed away by a giant tsunami in the 1600's. He is about 13.5 meters tall. I'm surprised by the little mustache that snakes around his lips!

Festivals

August and September are the time when many festivals are held. The best are in August when you can wear yukatas and watch fireworks. But a few good ones are in September too.

We attended a yabusame- archery on horseback or as the announce put it "the sacred horseback-riding." I was there to watch the riding and the archery skills but it turns out that this is a religious ceremony (I should have known since it was held at a temple). The event started at 1:00pm. They had to drink some sake, bless the riders, swear allegiance to the Shinto religion, and ride. Everything but the riding took an hour and 15 minutes!

I kept thinking that Clint Eastwood could drink a little sake, pray, swear, and hop on his pony in about 15 minutes. Anywho, I love horses and it was fun to watch once the riding commenced. I mostly enjoyed the crowd's reaction as the horses and riders thundered past. Since the Japanese are mostly city slickers who take trains, buses, and cars, they were very impressed by the motion and violence of the horses.

The priests, riders, and attendants-
Walking the riding track to check for safety-
This grey horse was magnificent but I'm partial to greys.
The actual riding-
That's the best I can do photo-wise because this was a sold-out event (so to speak since it was free). It was held in Kamakura, a slightly out of the way spot. I was floored to see how many people came! We were lucky to get as close as we got.

Road trip pt2

Here is a few pics of the countryside-

My husband's idea of a great gardening hut-
The Japanese are so inventive. These orange rings are made out of lightweight hard plastic and are rumble strips to remind you to slow down for road construction! they usually throw down 2 strips (they offset them like the Olympic rings pattern) and they are effective.
They don't seem to like hiring flaggers either. They use animated mannequins! Some of the life-sized mannequins wave their arms up and down but some go up and down and side to side (which is creepy since it looks alive!)

Rice fields

Road Trip

We went on a road trip and drove nearly to the northern end of Honshu (the largest island of Japan) to the Iwate prefecture. We went to attend a car show but we gave ourselves lots of time to explore along the way.

We stopped at Nasu first. That is the place where I took the photos in the last entry about onsens. We stayed at a little ryokan called Pension Nasuka. When you book a room in a ryokan you get dinner and breakfast. This inn was a little charmer and served French cuisine for both dinner and breakfast. The room was small but clean, the hot springs were marvelous! (this pic is shot down the narrow hall to the room.)

The next stop was on the Pacific coast in the little town of Minami Sanriku. We stayed in a hotel on the topmost floor to see the view. This time it was a traditional tatami room. When I opened the curtians to see the view, this is what I saw- and behind him, this- the lines floating in the water are oyster, salmon (squares in the distance), abalone, and wakame farms.

Still looking at me-

Public Nudity

Japan is always a mystery. On one hand they are very dignified, private people. On the other hand they do lots of things in public that Americans would consider very undignified. Take onsen culture.

Japan is basically situated on the ring of fire in the Pacific; essentially on a volcanic ridge jutting out from the ocean. There are lots of outlets for that pressure- earthquakes, lava/ash eruptions, and hot springs. There are natural hot springs everywhere and the onsen culture developed. It is very relaxing to travel to a hotel or small ryokan and sit in a hot spring.

When you're at a small ryokan (inn) you can often get the hot spring to yourself. But, if you are at a hotel, the hot spring or bath will be public. Yep, that means getting naked with people you don't know.

I stayed at a small ryokan and sat in this onsen situated on a river in the woods-
It is pretty hot and steamy-

This ryokan had many tubs to choose from. Here is a pic of a traditional wooden tub-


I stayed at 2 large hotels and I went to the public baths there as well (see note). This is where I'm baffled by Japanese behavior. In Japan, at least once a year your company will arrange a retreat or vacation to a hotel. There you will go on tours and possibly meet but in the evening, you and your co-workers will get naked and bath together. How's that for departmental bonding?

One last note: Despite the fact that the Japanese are so skinny, its nice to know that age and gravity are the great equalizers!

Technical Difficulties Over

I can finally download pictures again! Here is a shot from our front door.

The cats are healthy. This is kuro-chan-

This is Higai-chan-

The first day we went to a birthday party. My husband's Aunt's family have many members who's birthdays are in August and September, including mine.

The two sisters are my Mother-in-law in red and my Auntie-in-law in beige in the front. This is a very close family. The party was filled with good hearted teasing, witty banter and catching up. My MIL even played with the WII-

Technical difficulties

Sorry, I forgot to bring a card reader to download photos. I forgot that home computers are rare in Japan and while card readers and other hardware are easy to get in America, they are hard to get here.

My sister-in-law will borrow one from work tomorrow and all will be fixed.

I'm Here!

I'm in Japan finally and am settlng in. It is about 85 degrees out and very, very humid. My husband told me it would be humid but I didn't prepare well. I clearly did not bring the right clothes (loose and breezy)!

Damn! Everyone is skinny here.