Where to start?!
Japan is mad, it’s
wonderful, it’s crazy, it’s a photographer’s dream, it’s a people watchers
utopia, it’s so much fun!
Our eleven day detour here naturally started in Tokyo and we had five full days there including a lovely day trip to see Mount Fuji which is the highest mountain in Japan at over 12,000 feet and on a very clear day can be seen from Tokyo, 100km away. We wanted a closer look so took a day trip to it for an inspection. An amazing site, open for climbing only 2 months a year so no attempt by us unfortunately to do the 9-hour ascent from the fifth station we were at!
One of the main things to do in Tokyo is just to walk around. So many streets, so many alleyways, so many cafes, shops, restaurants, so many people- 38 million of them in the Greater Tokyo Area!
One of the main things to do in Tokyo is just to walk around. So many streets, so many alleyways, so many cafes, shops, restaurants, so many people- 38 million of them in the Greater Tokyo Area!
To try and grasp the number of people around, we went to a pedestrian crossing in the Shibuya area of Tokyo where during rush hour 3,000 people cross the road each time the pedestrian lights turn green- we went there and honestly it felt more like 10,000 than 3,000 but we’ll take the experts word on it. Pure madness- people everywhere! In another area, Shinjuku, 200,000 people live there at night, however during the day there are 4.3m people there. That’s a lot of commuters. The Shinjuku train station is the biggest transport hub in the world and has over 200 exits. Talk about a recipe for getting lost, dazed and confused!
We had heard from a reliable source that there were “pushers” employed in Tokyo, i.e. people employed to push commuters onto trains to ensure all space is used! Much to our disappointment, we couldn’t find any. Rush hour while containing an inordinate amount of people all seemed very civilized to us. When we asked around, it seems that there are now just much more trains so it’s no longer required. I’m sure there are a lot of disappointed tourists over this improved efficiency on behalf of Japan Rail. Incredible to see that amount of people get on and off trains without an angry word or even any word exchanged. The train stops exactly where it’s marked on the platform to stop and they form orderly queues to get on. They pack themselves in like sardines but again all very civilized. Seems to work wonderfully- my western eyes couldn’t figure out how but anyway!
The training session
took the form of a winner stays on wrestling tournament, as soon as one sumo is
thrown out of the ring, volunteers raise their hands to take on the winner.
Winner stays in until he’s dispatched. But while all of this is going on, you
also have people watching of those not wrestling- at one stage a sumo had
another smaller sumo on his back and was doing squats with him for exercise!
I’m sure they’re very strong and muscular but in many cases it’s just very hard
to tell what’s below the roles of fat!
The two biggest guys
there were both foreign sumos- one from Bulgaria and one from Georgia, both
over 400lbs, both visually disturbing. Good description I read was that they
looked like looks like a canyon seen from the air, all crevasses and folds! Sumo
has a tradition and a ranking system that dates back over 350 years and the
Japanese are rightly very proud of that history. In those 350 years, 71
wrestlers have been given the ranking of Yokozuno, which is the highest rank
someone can achieve and is awarded by a committee for prolonged success. Since
the last Japanese Yokozuno retired in 2003, the Japanese haven’t had one and
they’re not happy about it. The last five awarded have all been foreign born-
Mongolia strangely enough is a great breeding ground for them, all of the last
four are from there! 
The youngest guy there
was a trainee who was 15 years old and over the next few years he’ll be taught
the intricacies of sumo while also being fattened up so he can compete- from
the outside looking in, it’s a very strange life choice for a skinny 15 year
old to make, each to their own I suppose and in some quarters it seems like the
Japanese dream is to grow up and be a sumo wrestler.
On the fourth morning,
we took a short trip to visit the Tsukiji market, the biggest fish market in
the world. Given the Japanese appetite for all things fish, it’s hardly
surprising that it’s the biggest. Walking around it we got to see a huge array
of fish and lots of various practices for preparing the fish for sale- chopping
large fish with machetes, others with what looked like samurai swords,
descaling fish with cheese grater of sorts, gutting and deheading fish. All
really charming stuff. Their hands must perpetually smell of fish. After the
things they do to the poor fish, maybe it’s the only bit of revenge the fish
can get back on them!
So after Tokyo sent our senses into overdrive, it was time for a more sedate city so we hopped on a bullet train (not exactly a sedate start!) and headed to Kyoto. Kyoto is a much smaller city, filled with lots of temples, shrines and historical buildings. Had a great few days here.
On the first afternoon, as we didn’t have too much time we said we’d cross off a shrine called Fushimi Inari. Didn’t know much about it but as it turned out we put our best foot forward as it was one of the best sites we’ve ever been to. Slightly hard to explain but the shrine isn’t really a shrine, it’s actually an area that has taken over an entire hill in the city. On the hill various walkways have been created each marked with orange gates with Japanese writing on them for you to walk through. It’s incredible to see, thousands of these gates all the way up and down the hill with shrines dotted around them. People can commission their own gate to be made (at a cost) so it seems to be growing all of the time. Who knows what it’ll look like in ten years?
On the first afternoon, as we didn’t have too much time we said we’d cross off a shrine called Fushimi Inari. Didn’t know much about it but as it turned out we put our best foot forward as it was one of the best sites we’ve ever been to. Slightly hard to explain but the shrine isn’t really a shrine, it’s actually an area that has taken over an entire hill in the city. On the hill various walkways have been created each marked with orange gates with Japanese writing on them for you to walk through. It’s incredible to see, thousands of these gates all the way up and down the hill with shrines dotted around them. People can commission their own gate to be made (at a cost) so it seems to be growing all of the time. Who knows what it’ll look like in ten years?
The next day we rented
some bikes and set out to do a tour of some off the other sites of the city. To
see all of them would take weeks so we picked a few that we thought sounded
worth seeing and set out. Very nice way to see the city. We figured out pretty
fast that the locals don’t actually cycle on the roads, they cycle on footpaths
and weave in and out of pedestrians. Footpaths are nice and wide so it seems to
work, by that I mean we got the bikes and ourselves back to the shop without
hitting anyone!
Saw some beautiful sites
including the Golden Temple (Kinkaku Ji), Nijo castle, Ryonanji, Myoshinji and Ninnaji.
Lovely day, only issue being
that we almost had frostbite by the time we got back to the shop. This is what
happens when you come from 30 degree heat and 100% humidity and have packed on
the basis of that being the only weather you’re going to encounter! Thankfully
some local shopping wrapped us up somewhat but unfortunately our budget didn’t
stretch to gloves! So if reviewing the photos, please be gentle, it may appear
that we didn’t change our clothes for ten days but I promise you that it’s just
the outside few layers that didn’t change. At least Aoife rotated through her
scarves to vary it up!
We had seen pictures of
Japanese people wearing face-masks before but once we got here, we couldn’t believe
the amount of people walking around the streets with them on. Apparently, people
wore them when going to work sick so as to
not spread their germs but it then morphed into people also protecting
themselves from others and then as a fashion statement among young people and
for heat amongst others. Considering how cold we were, we were very close to
throwing them on ourselves, if we had we would have blended right in!
Given our helter-skelter sightseeing schedule, we decided we needed to take an afternoon out and relax. What better way to do that then in an Onsen, a traditional Japanese hot springs. Picked a lovely one to go to an hours train journey out of Kyoto that looked out onto the mountains. Thankfully due to our lack of command of the Japanese language there were many signs in English to explain how it works- the first sign is definitely the most important, men to the right, women to the left! Other signs explained that no clothes were to be worn in the tubs but do not worry, modesty towels were available if required! As is always the case, some people required bigger modesty towels then others- from what I could tell the Japanese didn’t account for this! So in summary, we spent a lovely afternoon sitting in hot tubs with rain falling on us as the clouds dropped onto the mountains. So relaxing you forgot about the modesty towels!
The following day, we took the boat out to Miyajima island, famous for its picturesque floating tori (big red gate!) that looks out onto the surrounding mountains. We spent a lovely morning walking around the island viewing the various shrines, pagodas and other viewing points. The key to getting the good view was getting there before the tide goes out as once that happens you’re photographing a big red gate surrounded by seaweed- not as picturesque!
It’s always good to be
able to claim you’re the best in the world at something- I’m not sure the
Japanese shout it from the rooftops but surely they must have the best toilets
in the world? I’m open to alternatives but from what I’ve seen nobody else
comes close to matching the comfort levels they give you while you pee!
Heated seats, check. Soothing sounds of waves crashing at the touch of a button, check. Bad smell? Just press the deodorant button. Even to make use of the limited space, they've moved the sinks into the cisterns- the tap comes on when you flush! Genius.
I think it’s fair to say the Japanese are to toilets what the Swiss are to watchmakers- we all have our talents!
I think it’s fair to say the Japanese are to toilets what the Swiss are to watchmakers- we all have our talents!
So that was Hiroshima done and dusted and along with it our Japan trip was almost done too. The bullet train was going to bring us back to Tokyo for our flight- 810 km in 4 hours. Wowzer. And so after a wonderful eleven days, we sadly bid Japan adieu. A fantastic place to visit, definitely one of our favourites. And so onto the Philippines, hot weather and Christmas we go.
Our route: Fly to Tokyo (day trips to Mount Fuji, Nikko), bullet train to
Kyoto, then to Hiroshima, return to Tokyo by
bullet train, fly to Manila
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