Kobe, Japan Day #1
Our first day in Japan! Sea legs on land mean you feel like you are still rocking with the ship… with no ship. Really crazy.
Sally travelled to Nara with her professor for a field class. There, we explored Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples, Japanese Gardens and a typical Japanese style home, and fed the deer in the parks surrounding the temple and shrine. Beautiful lanterns adorned the shrine and amazing statues of Buddha and the 4 kings from +/- 700 CE.
Bill explored Kobe with some other SASers: the tram to the top of the mountain, a delicious lunch, chocolate and coffee, sake museum and China town.
We returned downtown together in the evening for sushi dinner and a drink at a jazz club. We got into an elevator, went up 5 floors, got out and knocked on a door, were led inside and heard some really cool live jazz - piano, bass and trumpet. Of course we were the only non-Asians in there.
We learned today that they have decided that we are NOT going to China, and we are headed directly to Vietnam because of the coronavirus outbreak. Everyone is disappointed, and keeping fingers crossed we can still go to Malaysia and India.
Kobe, Japan Day #2: Arima Onsen Hotsprings
On our way to the hotsprings we saw people sitting on the edge of a foot bath on the side of the street, soaking their feet and socializing. We entered the building, took off our shoes and proceeded upstairs to the locker room. Men and women have separate baths. You get undressed, go into the hotspring room and take a shower, scrubbing yourself and your hair with soap and shampoo. Then you get into the water. Bathing in Onsen (hot springs) is more than just getting clean. It is an integral part of Japanese culture and a chance to relax. Arima Onsen is one of the oldest and most popular hot springs resorts in Japan, with a history of over one thousand years. It has two different types of thermal water (kinsen, “golden water”, and ginsen, “silver water”) are said to cure various ailments and muscle pains. The 2 kinsen tubs are 42 and 44 degrees C. The ginsen tub is cooler. We all had to take cold showers, drink water and put cold towels on our heads to be able to stay in! When you get out you shower again. We were 15 Americans and there were probably another 20 women in the baths at the same time. Interesting experience. Kobe beef burger for lunch. Delicious.
We went into Kobe China town to celebrate Chinese New Year. Walked through a covered market/mall, had some Peking Duck and mochi street food. We walked though a giant covered market and had free samples of cookies, coffee, green tea. We watched some singers and saw a lion dance before having dinner in China Town.
Kobe, Japan Day #3: Kyoto
Kyoto is a former capital and the residence of the emperor from 794 until 1868.
We began the day learning some Origami. Who would have thought that a bunch of college students and adults would love learning to make an origami frog, making the frog jump in a contest, making a box to put the frog in and getting origami treasures out of a sort of origami-gumball-vending machine! Spectacular!
Then we visited Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion), which was originally built as a retirement villa for the Shogun. After his death it became a Buddhist Temple at his request, and is now one of Kyoto’s most famous temples and a World Heritage site. The reflection of the temple in the water is so beautiful and mesmerizing, to co-existence of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples side by side is really cool. Bill took lots of artsy photos with his new camera.
Next we headed to Nishiki Market. Known as “Kyoto’s Kitchen,” Nishiki is a narrow shopping street lined with more than 100 shops selling fresh seafood and vegetables, pickles, Japanese sweets, and sushi. We found some amazing lunch: dumplings on a stick, fishcakes with vegetables on a stick (Bill had pumpkin and carrot and I had lotus), mocha with strawberries and chestnuts). We sampled sake, seaweed, fish, honey, broadbean crackers. We did not sample sparrows or octopus on a stick.
Finally, we took a stroll in the Gion District, whose streets are lined with traditional townhouses. Geisha sighting? No, but we saw a lot of Chinese women who rented kimonos and were walking around. How do we know? Japanese women in kimonos walk pigeon toed to take really small steps to avoid the kimono opening.
Kobe, Japan Day #4:
We took a local train to Osaka, a city known throughout Japan as the land of Kuidaore, meaning “eat till you fall over.” THAT IS OUR KIND OF PLACE! We took a Sushi making workshop. We made 8 pieces of sushi and had udon soup and tempura. We then walked through another amazing market Kuromon market, where we tried octopus balls on a stick. Actually really good, like a dumpling with pieces of shrimp-like meat.
Our first day in Japan! Sea legs on land mean you feel like you are still rocking with the ship… with no ship. Really crazy.
Sally travelled to Nara with her professor for a field class. There, we explored Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples, Japanese Gardens and a typical Japanese style home, and fed the deer in the parks surrounding the temple and shrine. Beautiful lanterns adorned the shrine and amazing statues of Buddha and the 4 kings from +/- 700 CE.
Bill explored Kobe with some other SASers: the tram to the top of the mountain, a delicious lunch, chocolate and coffee, sake museum and China town.
We returned downtown together in the evening for sushi dinner and a drink at a jazz club. We got into an elevator, went up 5 floors, got out and knocked on a door, were led inside and heard some really cool live jazz - piano, bass and trumpet. Of course we were the only non-Asians in there.
We learned today that they have decided that we are NOT going to China, and we are headed directly to Vietnam because of the coronavirus outbreak. Everyone is disappointed, and keeping fingers crossed we can still go to Malaysia and India.
Kobe, Japan Day #2: Arima Onsen Hotsprings
On our way to the hotsprings we saw people sitting on the edge of a foot bath on the side of the street, soaking their feet and socializing. We entered the building, took off our shoes and proceeded upstairs to the locker room. Men and women have separate baths. You get undressed, go into the hotspring room and take a shower, scrubbing yourself and your hair with soap and shampoo. Then you get into the water. Bathing in Onsen (hot springs) is more than just getting clean. It is an integral part of Japanese culture and a chance to relax. Arima Onsen is one of the oldest and most popular hot springs resorts in Japan, with a history of over one thousand years. It has two different types of thermal water (kinsen, “golden water”, and ginsen, “silver water”) are said to cure various ailments and muscle pains. The 2 kinsen tubs are 42 and 44 degrees C. The ginsen tub is cooler. We all had to take cold showers, drink water and put cold towels on our heads to be able to stay in! When you get out you shower again. We were 15 Americans and there were probably another 20 women in the baths at the same time. Interesting experience. Kobe beef burger for lunch. Delicious.
We went into Kobe China town to celebrate Chinese New Year. Walked through a covered market/mall, had some Peking Duck and mochi street food. We walked though a giant covered market and had free samples of cookies, coffee, green tea. We watched some singers and saw a lion dance before having dinner in China Town.
Kobe, Japan Day #3: Kyoto
Kyoto is a former capital and the residence of the emperor from 794 until 1868.
We began the day learning some Origami. Who would have thought that a bunch of college students and adults would love learning to make an origami frog, making the frog jump in a contest, making a box to put the frog in and getting origami treasures out of a sort of origami-gumball-vending machine! Spectacular!
Then we visited Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion), which was originally built as a retirement villa for the Shogun. After his death it became a Buddhist Temple at his request, and is now one of Kyoto’s most famous temples and a World Heritage site. The reflection of the temple in the water is so beautiful and mesmerizing, to co-existence of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples side by side is really cool. Bill took lots of artsy photos with his new camera.
Next we headed to Nishiki Market. Known as “Kyoto’s Kitchen,” Nishiki is a narrow shopping street lined with more than 100 shops selling fresh seafood and vegetables, pickles, Japanese sweets, and sushi. We found some amazing lunch: dumplings on a stick, fishcakes with vegetables on a stick (Bill had pumpkin and carrot and I had lotus), mocha with strawberries and chestnuts). We sampled sake, seaweed, fish, honey, broadbean crackers. We did not sample sparrows or octopus on a stick.
Finally, we took a stroll in the Gion District, whose streets are lined with traditional townhouses. Geisha sighting? No, but we saw a lot of Chinese women who rented kimonos and were walking around. How do we know? Japanese women in kimonos walk pigeon toed to take really small steps to avoid the kimono opening.
Kobe, Japan Day #4:
We took a local train to Osaka, a city known throughout Japan as the land of Kuidaore, meaning “eat till you fall over.” THAT IS OUR KIND OF PLACE! We took a Sushi making workshop. We made 8 pieces of sushi and had udon soup and tempura. We then walked through another amazing market Kuromon market, where we tried octopus balls on a stick. Actually really good, like a dumpling with pieces of shrimp-like meat.