Lake Kawaguchi scenery under Mount Fuji
Bars at Hanami
Youth in kimono by Senso-ji Temple, most are foreign tourists
Scenery of Senso-ji Temple
JR Ebisu Station
This trip to Japan has been conducted in full accordance with daughter's travel plan. It has not been easy to complete intensive visits to more than a dozen important sights in a few days, including trying famous Japanese snacks. The result of this "cursory visits" was that we were on the tatami mat at Hakone Yumoto Hot Spring Hotel early morning while arriving at the Hanami path of Kyoto Gion Park in the evening, at the temple fair of Sensoji Temple in the morning while reaching the origin of the Genji legend of bamboo forest of Arashiyama, and remaining at the matcha shop at the path of Kiyomizu Temple during the day while sleeping at Hilton at night opposite the Park Hyatt Shinjuku hotel... Of course, this is exactly the wonder of touring.
Japan introduced Buddhism from China in the 7th century AD, featuring now as many as 11,000 shrines and temples. Most of the famous attractions are Buddhist shrines. For example, I passed several small temples on the way to the Sensoji Temple. Of course, high number of temples does not mean that the Japanese take religion seriously. They do not believe in reincarnation and evil results of evildoing.
I originally thought that Sensoji Temple should have been built in the mountains surrounded by green trees. However, it was much out of my expectation that it was located in a bustling city. The temple was originally believed as a place for worshipping Buddha, but its most lively place was the street of delicious food in front of the temple. Japan's tourist souvenirs are exquisite. The little beauty wearing the kimono, the chopsticks named as Zhu, various small lanterns and many kinds of snacks mostly represented by matcha. In the crowds of tourists, Cantonese and Beijing dialects, which are most familiar, can be heard from time to time. The wife and daughter stopped in front of a small ice cream shop as various tastes and colors were extremely attractive. However, the store owner has not forgotten to remind everyone: finish eating here before leaving! Meanwhile, a couple speaking Beijing dialect was "escorted" from the crowd by the store owner. And the young man laughed and said to us: "I didn't expect to be caught so quickly!"
Next to me was a rice cake shop, looking at all kinds of exquisite food, I could not help but want to have a taste. I paid 450 yen for a green bean. The store owner was an old Japanese lady in her 60s or 70s. She pointed at the Chinese paperboard on the side to show me: "The food in our restaurant can only be enjoyed here." I thought the "city management" in Sensoji Temple was very powerful and the store was so obedient to the hygiene regulations, surely much fine must have been submitted.
I should have brought back some souvenir from Senso-ji Temple. Those expensive could not be afforded without "approval".I spent a long time there and found an ear spoon that was small and practical. The store owner was a middle-aged man with an overweighed body. He was very enthusiastic to see me purchasing his products as if I had set him up for tens of thousands of dollars of products. He patiently took out two small paper bags, put the ear spoon in it and wrapped it, nodding his head to show his appreciation. The smallest deal in the world has occurred between the two big men!
After consecutive visits to the shrines of Meiji Jingu, Senso-ji, Tenryu-ji Temple of Arashiyama, Fushimi Inari Shrine and other Buddhist holy places, I suggested to the team head my daughter if we could visit other famous natural attractions and cultural attractions. But she said that apart from these temples, it was really hard to find other places. I said that we should visit at least one related to Japanese culture.
As a result, a group of people arrived in Nijo-jo Castle of the General Tokugawa Ieyasu's House built in Kyoto in the early 17thcentury. This is a garden looks like the Prince Kung's Mansion near Beijing's Di'an Gate Palace. The Nijo-jo Castle has complete functional facilities, the public affairs and guests' reception were handled at front. Behind them are the rear gardens, full of pine and cypress trees, rockery springs and cherry blossoms with atmosphere of tranquility. The 3,000 murals on the wall of the Gotemba have recreated the scenes of the life of the Japanese Momoyama era 410 years ago. In particular, the yellow pear floor that could send out voices of the yellow birds and the square outside the city gate that was covered with gravel to prevent enemy cavalry raids all made visitors across the world. Before entering this imposing palace, all tourists were asked to take off their shoes and walk barefoot on the yellow pear floor. Stepping on it, even if the pace is much lighter, you will always hear the "click" sound of the feet, like the oriole' tweet. It felt as if my body was flying when I walked bearfoot, traveling through time and space to 400 years ago, the mansion's owner or guards were hurrying over it because of a sudden battle. The Tokugawa family, who had ruled the Japanese nation for two and a half centuries, was such an all-powerful and insufferably arrogant.
When stepping out of this palace, which was listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1994, we were greeted by a group of Japanese junior high school students wearing blue and white sailor uniforms. Opposite Nijo-jo Castle w Ginza, enjoying a worldwide reputation. Ancient and modern echoes to each other. And the intersection was the crossroads with traffic lights, which were not wide, though no vehicle in the landscape horizontally, everyone including the middle school students are waiting for the green light. This reminded me of the way to the Kiyomizu Temple, we constantly passed through small intersection that is only two or three meters wide. If it is a red light, nobody crosses it. The sign lanterns on both sides of the road were lit up along the Hanami path, quiet, leisurely and blurred. There were various posters of song and dance performance posted at the entrance of the shop. Tourists from all countries came here with the alike mysterious expectations, hoping to see a glimpse of hiddenJapanese culture. I also glimpsed every store with the same curiosity, with the hope of witnessing the shadow of people's activities from the debauchery. It was said that all the small shops only accepted well-arranged local guests, and would not entertain visitors unexpected. Japan is a highly developed market economy. Why did these stores refuse us? It seemed that there was a lot of mysteries on the path.
It was dark. I was resting against the tree on the bank of the roadside. Between the branches and leaves, I saw the opposite tavern with lanterns. The outside was bright, but inside was full of people. It is also said that there would be Japanese geishas coming to perform shows every night on this street. Just like everyone else, I started to pay attention to every woman in the kimono who had walked by. Using Benedict's description, the geishas were "pretty and well-behaved and they had been welltrained." Upon thinking, a tall woman dressed in a pink kimono holding a fine pouch came to us. I whispered: "Look, someone is coming!" My daughter glanced over and said to me after waiting for the woman to walk through: "this is probably not, it's more like a tourist." Alas, kimono rental services were offered in various tourist attractions in Japan, ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 yen per day. After that, we saw several young kimono girls one after another who had passed in a hurry. Which is a geisha, which is a tourist, it is indeed most difficult to distinguish.
San Francisco also has a famous flower street, surrounded by trees and promising flowers with much sunlight. Whereas how could Japan's Hanami path be in another atmosphere? "Japan's quirky culture" (Words of Benedict) and its nationality are just like the Hanami path into the night, puzzling people’s eyes and minds. Perhaps for the description of "but" transitions, "toothpicks must be used even one is still hungry", the nation of Japanese often revealing extreme in a series of logical paradoxes makes people worldwide remain "questionable" all the time.
