Shubun no Hi

Let me just start by saying that I think I’m done with castle tours. They’re all around ¥600, and they are all about why local-castle reconstruction projects are important, and they all have a small cache of Edo-period architectural pieces, political documents, and weapons. It will suffice to say that I am quite sure there are some good castle-museums out there, and, when instructed, I am more than willing to go to them, but, as it stands, I think I’m done chucking cash in that direction.

With that out of the way (and all apologies to the Odawara Castle Association, I didn’t intend to single you out): Hakone.

Now, usually I have a policy of being committed to fully experiencing a scenic location: that means that I try to take my time, try to look first with my eyes (then through the lens), try to breathe through my nose, and definitely walk without ear-buds. But only a few minutes into Hakone (which was surprisingly overcast, affording not even the slightest shadowy view of Mt. Fuji) I had an immense desire to add the Joe Hisaishi soundtrack.

It felt like sights from Hakone were lifted straight out of any one of Miyazaki’s films: Nausicaä, Totoro, Mononoke, Spirited Away, Ponyo

¹ Though maybe not Porco Rosso.

¹. It was dreamlike. And, just as in the dream world of Spirited Away, no Japanese trip into the spirit world is complete without a stop in a natural mountain Onsen. It was a good decision as the next day would be another long day of touring.



Sometimes I forget that not everyone tours like my family does. So when I invited my cousin and her friends from Wasera to go to Kamakura with me, I thought a simple warning of “it’s going to be a LOT of walking” would suffice. I’ll just say that I had a list of about 7 temples in Kitakamakura, 1 shrine in Kamakura proper, and two temple sites in Hasekamakura that I wanted to hit up. I ended up having to cut out 4 temples and run a fly-by through the shrine. I’m not blaming them for anything because, even as I write this now I have to admit that maybe, with a list of 7 sites, I underestimated the size and quality of the temples in Kamakura.

I just need to keep in mind that not everyone pounds the tourist pavement as furiously as we do. I’m actually not quite sure what the compulsion is, but it is certainly not relaxing nor revitalizing.



Well, to be fair, my trip to Ryogoku to see the Fall Grand Sumo Tournament was supposed to be relaxing. And for the most part, it was. I decided not to go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum (literally next door to the Sumo Arena) and just enjoy the tournament. I arrived what I thought was a little late at around 1 (after lunch) to a very empty stadium. As I wasn’t able to sneak down to the lower levels (ticket required for admittance), I snuck my way into the Press section where I watched the next 3 hours of Sumo.

Though, at around 3:30, as the stadium started to fill for the top-tier matches, I thought that I had possibly lucked into ¥10,000

³ That’s ¥$100.

³ press-access seats. Eventually I was evicted in favor of some late-arriving free-lance press members, and scampered back to my ticketed seats which, as you’ll see, weren’t all that bad to begin with.





Everything else, of course, can be found on my Flickr.

It was pretty cool, even despite misjudging the landfall of the typhoon. I was stranded in the Ueno J.R. station for about 5 hours. But, as I said on my Facebook wall, what would a stint in Japan be if I never had the experience of being stranded in a train station because of a storm?