The Gucciones in Aizu-Wakamatsu

We’re all back in Austin and (more or less) recovered from jet lag.  My last few weeks in Aizu were without the Diane and the kids, and I was mostly wrapping things up.  But I did get taken out to some nice Japanese restaurants by some colleagues (thanks Toshi, Jerry, Lothar and Tomo).  And also to a few izakayas, which are like bars with a large appetizer menu.  I was treated to basashi (raw horse meat), shishamo (whole fried fish) and other goodies.  On the way home I spent a few days in Tokyo where I ran into a Samba Festival near the Asakuza temple.  There were maybe a dozen or two of these samba groups with maybe twenty dancers in each, all wearing Brazilian Carnival style costumes.  Unfortunately, it was all a surprise to me, and I didn’t have my camera with me.  This will probably be the last posting on this blog, and I decided to pick out my favorite photos from our summer in Aizu-Wakamatsu and put them all together in one place.  I know the relatives enjoyed all the photos, but they were quite a lot of them.  Such is life with a digital camera these days.  But here are 70 or so of my favorites.  Enjoy.

There are two roads down the hill from Matsunaga to the University.   One is the longer road that the bus takes, and the other is the more direct route that I use to walk to te University.  But there is a third path further around the hill that is only for pedestrians.   There are steps down past a small cemetary nestled in the hillside.  At the bottom was the telltale red railing and steps up to a wooded hill.  At the top was a gate and a small temple.  Back down the hill were more rice fields that are hidden from the main roads.  One the way back up the hill I stopped at cemetary.  It is fascinating the old and new side by side.  This place seemed especially old and isolated.  On the way back up to Matsunaga, you could see the valley below and the mountais on the other side.  Just before getting home, I snapped one of my favorite pictures:  two schoolboys walking up the hill with   Mt.Bandai in the distance.

I have one more week left in Japan before joining Diane and the kids back in Austin.  Today, I got tired of cleaning and packing in the apartment and decided to brave the heat and head downtown to pick up some souvineers and perhaps dinner.  In the train station there is a table set up across from the entrance selling all sorts of Aizu-related tourist items like laquerware bowls and various akabeko gifts (akabeko is the red cow which is the symbol of the city).   As I picked up some akabeko keychains and the old Japanese woman behind the table started to talk to me.  I realized she was asking me about my children (‘kodomo’).  I guess we have become a fixture here, at least at the train station.  I told her as best I could that they were back in the U.S. for school (‘America … kodomo … gaku’).  She asked me if I was at the University and I said ‘hai’ (yes), which seemed to please her.  I tried to tell her I was also leaving in a week, but couldn’t get that sophisticated point across.  But I suspect I’ll see her later in the week when I leave and say goodbye to Aizu-Wakamatsu.

Some pics from our last day together in Tokyo.  We went to the Harajuku area where all the young people hang out.  It had a great tree lined main street (Tokyo does not have many trees) and lots of shops.  We spent some time in a big toy store and the Oriental Bazaar imports.  Harajuku even had a Shakey’s pizza, which I thought no longer existed. We also ate at a Big Boy restaurant in the Narita Airport.  Sarah had a burger and I had a rice bowl.  There was no all you can eat salad bar, though.  Perhaps Tokyo is where old American brands go to die.  From here Diane, Sarah and Zach flew back to the US and I went back to wrap up things in Aizu-Wakamatsu.  Alyssia Elissa and Maddie stayed in Tokyo for a few more rainy days and then met Di and the kids back in Austin.

We spent the day in Tokyo on a Hato bus tour with Alyssia and Maddie.  The first stop was the big Eiffel tower in the middle of Tokyo.  It has an observation tower with a 360 degree view of the city.  From here we went to a tea ceremony in a garden with 500 year old bonsai trees.  Next we went to lunch at the Four Seasons hotel where food was grilled at the table.  After lunch, we walked around the hotel garden with the usual pond, temple, statues and pagoda.  From here we made a brief stop at the Imperial Palace grounds.  It was this huge park right in the middle of Tokyo.  We could only see the palace in the distance, since our stop was short.  Next we took a boat ride through Tokyo harbor to Asakusa Temple, the oldest and largest temple in Tokyo.  There was lots to see around the Asakusa temple, and before the end of the day we took a last bus ride to the Ginza shopping district and walked back to the Shiodome hotel, with some very tired kids in tow.

Our last morning in Kyoto we decided to go to the garden across from the Higashi Hoganji temple.  We went in the gate and were sort of disappointed, but there was no admission charge, so what could you expect? Then we turned a corner, and there was this huge garden with a big koi pond and bridges and trails and all the things you find in these sorts of Japanese gardens.  Then we had to leave our beloved Kyoto train station and head to Tokyo.  After a short shinkansen ride we were back at the futuristic Shiodome area, right where we started less than three months ago.  And our massive pile of suitcases were waiting for us (in Japan it’s easy to ship luggage ahead).  Alyssa and Maddie were already in Tokyo and we met them that evening and went out for a nice dinner in one of the Shiodome restaurants.

We took the subway to the (aptly named) Golden Temple, a must-see in Kyoto.  There were some little statues that people were throwing coins at.  There are often little statues and altars in or near temples that people leave offerings of change at.  But this one was out in the open and required a good arm, or at least a good touch.  It seemed to be a poplular thing to do and we gave it a try, though I’m not sure what the goal was.

Next we went to the Sanjusan temple, which means ’33′ in Japanese and refers to the number of sections in the temple.  The amazing thing was the inside.  There are 1,001 gold statues of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside of the temple, so I don’t have any pictures of this one. It was quite impressive (1,001 is more statues than you might think).  It was another hot day so we went back to the hotel and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.

As much as I hate to admit it, I think we all found the train station even more interesting than the temples in Kyoto.  But we eventually went out and decided to get a view of the city from the big candlestick of Kyoto Tower, which was just across the street and dominates the skyline.  From here we could see the nearby Higashi Honganji temple, and we made that our next stop — after a short stop at Cafe Du Monde for begniets.  It was a hot day, so after the temple, we went back to the room to cool off and spent the rest of the day around the train station.  We even found a great conveyer sushi place for the grown-ups.

The crazy train ride to Kyoto was well worth it.  We were expecting Kyoto to be a larger version of Nikko; a cluster on temples and little else.  But it is a big city, and the train station is one of the most interesting buildings I have ever been in, with lots of good restaurants and shopping.  Best of all, there was a Cafe Du Monde (!) right in the station, serving New Orleans style begniets and coffee.  They were a bit smaller and (oddly) came in these Chinese food take-out boxes.  But delicious.  At night we even lucked into an old Japanese favorite:  a Gamera movie!  The kids loved it.

Off in the hills near our apartment you can see this big white statue.  We found out that you could go inside the statue and get a good view of the area.  It was also supposed to be surrounded by a nice garden.  I’ve learned that there is a good bit of understatement in Japan.  This ‘nice garden’ turns out to be 50 acres of manicured land unlike anything you would find in the US.  On Saturday, our neighber, Mrs. Sedukhin was kind enough to take us all there.  In the garden was a 3-storey pagoda, a giant statue of a reclining Buddha, a bridge over a big pond, and the hungriest koi in Japan (see video).  There was a waterfall, an old kiddie train that looks like it hasn’t been used in years and an Edo-period playscape.

There were also a few buildings to show how people in the area lived in the olden days.  They were filled with all sorts of artifacts and weaponry, including huge mallets to process rice.

Then there was the statue of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy that looms over the entire site.  The stairway goes up about 200 feet and is filled with 10,000 (?) little golden statues of Buddha.  The view was impressive.  It was a very nice Saturday, all the more because we were some of the only people there.

Also:  some pics of our dinner that night (not sashimi again!) and the interestingly named pucca and cream collon candies.  As well as the Hard-off and Off-house resale shops.  Seems there is lots of re-gifting in Japan.  A whole store filled with still-wrapped gifts like towels, sheets and kitchenware.  I guess these things re-circulate like Christmastime fruitcakes.