Wakayama, Shikoku, Okayama: Day 2

Well...today was a surprise!  I was expecting mountain scenery, a light hike, and maybe a few scattered temples. I guess I didn't do my research quite as thoroughly as I thought, because my visit to Mt. Kōya (高野山) had a lot more than that.

Houses are packed close together, even on a mountainside.
The bit of orange above the houses is a group of persimmon trees, a fruit for which Wakayama is known.

    
This morning, I woke up early in order to catch the train that would cover the first leg of the trip. A transfer to a second train got me eventually to a cable car, which took me up the mountainside and dropped me off to catch the bus! The whole journey took about three hours in total.
  

  
         

After my arrival, I realized that this was much more than a mountain excursion for most visitors: it's also the location of the head temple of a particular sect of Buddhism, and the mountain was teeming with tourists, pilgrims, and monks...not to mention the residents and shopkeepers!

A local resident

   

Pilgrims can be easily identified by their white vests and walking sticks.

  

In 2015, the monastery is celebrating its 1,200th(!) anniversary.

     
In addition to a modest tourist town, there were several kilometers of road lined by various gates, temples, and pagodas.  Walking down the main street, every few steps there seemed to be another path leading up to a religious site of some sort.

  

  

 
   
Although it was cold--I really wished I'd brought a scarf!--it was also a nice season for viewing autumn leaves, in addition to the beautiful gardens and surroundings of temple grounds.

   

Banryūtei (Japan's largest rock garden) at Kongōbu-ji, the main temple

  

   
It was the perfect opportunity to do one of my favorite things: photograph temple roofs!

Daimon, the main gate at the historical entrance to Kōya-san

Konpon-daito Pagoda

  
And of course there were also a few amusing sights:

Danger everywhere!

These people are searching for triple-forked pine needles, said to bring good luck.
All the tour guides made sure to explain this, so there were hoards of people bending over...

   

...searching through piles of these on the ground.

    
The last part of my visit involved a 2km trek uphill to a temple, through a forest lined with tombstones (supposedly over half a million!).  It was less creepy than it seems, though I'm glad I wasn't there after dark.

   
 But at least some of the deceased had a sense of humor:

  
A 30-minute walk brought me to the top of the mountain (hill?). Before the entrance to Okuno-in Temple, visitors can light incense or candles and throw water onto statues of Jizō guardian dieties.

Devotees pick up the ladles in front of each statue, fill them with water,
and then throw the water onto the statues, "for the mass of the dead".

     
At last! I made it to the temple. Okuno-in is the "central sanctuary" of this sect, and visitors are asked to respect the sanctity of the spot by refraining from photography (beyond the point where I took the next photo) or even speaking above a whisper...

   
After walking back out to the main road, a bus took me to the cable car, which took me to the train, which took me to the next train, which brought me back to Wakayama City and my hotel. :)

After dinner and a little souvenir shopping, I'm back in my room for the night.  Now all I have to do is slather lotion on my wind-burned face, and then get a good night's rest.  Tomorrow's another early morning: I'm taking a ferry across the Seto Inland Sea to the island of Shikoku, where I'll spend the next three days.

Wakayama, Shikoku, Okayama: Day 1

Day One of my autumn holiday. This time I'm ticking four more prefectures off the list, bringing my total up to 30 (out of 47) by the middle of next week.

I left Tokyo via the overnight bus last night. My longest ride to date--though I'll be taking an even longer one next month--I spent 9 hours crammed into my seat trying to get some sleep, and then another hour and a half with a bit more space once my seat mate got off.

By the time I could stretch out a little more, the sun had come up. I opened the curtains covering my window to enjoy the landscape of Japan from something other than the window of a train, for a change.

   
The bus headed out of Osaka and on to my final destination: Wakayama, about 600km west of Tokyo.  The views weren't all as nature-y as pictured above; it was mostly industrial areas, in fact, but either way it was a refreshing break from skyscrapers.

Once I'd dropped my suitcase off at my hotel, I took a bus to the castle grounds.

   

 
    
If you like cityscapes, I've found that castles are often the best (and cheapest) way to get them while traveling in Japan.  Castle entry is usually between 200-400 yen, and in many cases visitors are treated to 360° views.

    
Inside the castles there are usually exhibits of centuries-old body armor or swords, as well as miniature models of the town or historical maps.  This one also included artworks, some of them painted on scrolls.

If I'm reading this right, this scroll is basically a Japanese version of "Who are the people
in your neighborhood?" (Who else remembers that song from Sesame Street?!)

Close-up of a giant temari (also called goten-mari), which are decorative silk thread balls

  
The path behind the castle led to a small garden.

Wakayama Castle
Momijidani-teien

   

Next, I decided to bet that the rain would let up and got on another bus to a temple.  I lost the bet, but fortunately there was a woman selling umbrellas at her souvenir shop on the road leading up to the temple entrance.

Some famous Wakayama mikan (foreground) and persimmons at a market near the temple

    
By the time I got that far my shirt was wet through--and I had to be careful not to let my camera get too wet either--but it was actually a pleasant, picturesque visit.

The half-way point

    
Once I got up the stairs, that is...

The grounds at Kimi-idera include the main temple and a couple of smaller shrines, a two-storied pagoda, Japan's largest wooden Buddha, and a lookout point that affords views of the bay.

The roof of the main temple

At the steps to the main temple

"Japan's largest wooden Buddha"

    
Once I made it back down the stairs, I was ready to return to my hotel. Sufficiently wet and cold, I was looking forward to a cup of hot soy milk. My fingers weren't too cold, though, to take one more picture of a house between the temple and the station:

    
And tomorrow? Maybe a mountain...

「えんどう豆を持ってる」 or "Sunday Brunch"

Today's plan: brunch.  The first time I've had Sunday brunch in a while, in fact.

I arranged to meet my Pleasant Brunch Friend after church. But first, I made a stop to pick up a little housewarming-slash-host gift.  On the way, I spotted some new "decoration" on the pedestrian overpass:

 
Ah, we decorate the swankiest of neighborhoods with the classiest of stickers...  (And thanks to @LikesBlueBoots, I've had this song stuck in my head for most of the afternoon.)

My friend and I met up in Naka-Meguro so that I could see his new apartment and then head over to brunch at nearby Moke's Bread and Breakfast. Here are a few pictures to make you all jealous:

My eggs Benedict. The olives on top were a little creepy, but tasty nonetheless.

 

My Pleasant Brunch Friend, with his "Mexican-style"
omelette (here we go again...), and his awesome t-shirt.

     
And as if that wasn't enough, we ordered pancakes for dessert. But not just any pancakes.  We got caramel-covered pancakes (the best caramel sauce I've ever tasted!) topped with chopped pieces of sweet potato, kabocha pumpkin, nuts, and toffee. And there was whipped cream. And drizzled chocolate. And a perfect little sprig of mint.

  
I think I'll go ahead and finish this post here: since you're all drooling over photos of my meal, I'm sure you'll want to head to the kitchen and get that pancake batter started...

An attempted "Portland Festival" and a tour of Aoyama curiosities

Every weekend (Saturday & Sunday, year-round) there's a Farmers Market held in the plaza at the United Nations University, literally just a minute away from where I work. (Some of you may have seen my pics from last year.) The idea for the market itself was inspired by a visit to the Portland Farmer's Market, which I gladly brag about to my students.

    
This year they decided to designate this weekend for a "Portland Festival". Curious, I made a point of stopping by to grab some lunch during my break on Saturday. I was underwhelmed at its lack of Portland-ness (or even Oregon-ness, for that matter), but nevertheless, I headed back on Sunday--camera in hand--to document a little slice of the Japanese interpretation of my hometown.

Columbia Sportswear was sponsoring the event, and after being greeted by their tremendous sign at the entrance--paired with a wooden cow?--a person could barely walk two yards without maneuvering past a Columbia camping chair or tent.

   
Yesterday, just for kicks, I stopped by a couple of booths and asked vendors if they were from Portland.  The closest answer I got was "I wish I was from Portland". But that was satisfactory.

I will award points for color-coordinating ability...but have no idea how this display was related to Portland.

  
There was plenty of Oregon beer (including a friendly vendor for Rogue Ales) and wine along with tables of t-shirts and books, but not much else. There was Tillamook beef jerky available, also sold by a very friendly fellow, but I'd hoped for some cheese curds or ice cream instead. ;)

There may have been some musical entertainment provided by people from Portland, but that rumor is still unconfirmed.

The triangle-shaped planters were perhaps my favorite part of the festival.

   
Where were the PDX carpet stickers? blueberry desserts? plates of salmon? Voodoo doughtnuts?! What I wouldn't have paid for a Grape Ape, a couple of Dirty Snowballs, or perhaps an apple fritter...  (Blue Star even has a Tokyo location and didn't make an appearance at the festival.)

In all, the festival left much to be desired but I'll keep my fingers crossed that they try again (with improvements!) next year.

Returning to the main area of the market I decided to wander through the stalls of Japanese produce. Even though I wasn't shopping, there's always plenty to look at.

For even the pickiest of water-drinkers...

Practically any kind of pepper your little heart could desire

  
The weather was sunny and, although it wasn't very warm, I decided to walk for a while before getting on the train. It was also a perfect opportunity to document some of the odd shops in the Aoyama and Shibuya districts of Tokyo.

For example, my friend @LikesBlueBoots and I *love* that there is a shop exclusively for harps in the neighborhood near our school. Not even once have we seen a customer on the premises, but you never know when someone will have a harp emergency and need to rush right over. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

  
  
If harps aren't your thing, but you're feeling hungry, then just take a short stroll down the street and in minutes you could be feasting on a fungus rice sandwich(!).

 
  
Or you could get your hair done?

 
  
Or, if you'd like a little furry friend, how about a bunny?

 
Whatever your tastes, there's sure to be something to catch your eye here.

And last but not least, I'll leave you with the upgraded version of my favorite graffito (you didn't know I had one, did you?). Ages ago, when I first started working in this area, there were walls all over the place spray-painted with the phrase "NECK FACE". I didn't know quite what to make of it, but liked it anyways. It made me laugh.

Over the years, parts the neighborhood have been spruced up and most of the tags have been painted over. But this week, to my delight, I discovered that this brilliant street artist cannot be kept silent. In fact, Mr. Neck Face seems to be stronger than ever:

Portland friends: What do you think? What would you like to have seen at a Portland / Oregon festival held in a foreign country?