Splendors of Japan
Day Seven – 17 May 2014
Kanazawa to Kyoto
Weather: Sunny, 19
Oh, I forgot to mention the information Kimiko gave us about Commodore Perry. I think most of us remember the series Shogun and know that Japan was closed to outsiders for a long time. The Shogun feared that support from outsiders would strengthen the lords and they risked being overthrown. They did allow some to have contact with strict regulations. No weapons and no Christianity. For that reason, the Dutch were allowed in as they had no interest in spreading religion. China and Korea were the other two nations allowed to trade.
In the 19th Century, the US started to push for access to Japan in order to get a whaling port so Cmdr Perry showed up in 1853 with a letter from President Fillmore. At first, they refused then they realized that if they stayed isolated, the rest of the world would advance technologically and militarily and they would fall behind and be vulnerable. So, they agreed with Perry but made the mistake of not asking the emperor. This essentially triggered the civil war that would bring down the shogun. For the first time in over 700 years, the emperor got back real power.
There, that’s my lesson on this early morning.
I was ready early and down to breakfast. One thing I notice is that the breakfast buffet is always assigned seating so someone is there to take your ticket and seat you. This morning the buffet had a little sign in the napkin holder saying Free or In Use. Very helpful when you don’t have anything to claim the table. (Usually have to pick up cutlery and napkins etc so there’s no napkin to place on the seat).
The Spanish omelet was delicious and the tea hot. I was done early again so I turned in my key card and went outside to get a shot of the hotel.Everyone was downstairs by 8:30 and we were off for our morning excursion. Our first stop wasn’t far from the hotel. The gardens in Kanazawa were created to give the locals a sense of what the scenery was like outside the city since the Shogun had restricted travel. The gardens are just across the road from the Kanazawa Castle which you can walk to easily across a bridge.
I was scheduled to the do the tea ceremony here but the weather was amazing so I opted out. It was only $7 and I wanted to see both the gardens and the castle so with the 1 hour and 40 minutes we had, I figured it was better to walk the grounds. The tea ceremony took about 20 minutes (and had I done it, I would not have been able to see the full castle grounds).
The gardens are beautiful. Flowers are in bloom including the irises. There is a pond and a river running through the gardens and it’s a photographer’s delight. The castle is white with black tiles which looks different. Kimiko said later that the black tiles contained lead which means it could be used as cannonballs if the need arose.
It’s Saturday so the grounds were full of people celebrating something. As I left, an entire field of people began dancing. I had a few minutes to browse the stores on the way back to the bus and picked up an ice cream. I had vanilla but this particular store had black vanilla. I should have tried it.
We board the bus but make a stop on the side of the road and Kimiko ran across the street, came back and then we moved to another spot where she ran into a building and returned, handing something to one of the women up front. I would find out later that it was the woman’s ipad. She had left it on a bench in the park and she went back to see if it was still there…and yes, I know what you’re thinking.
But you’d be wrong.
She found a note (right) sitting on the bench held down by two rocks. The note told her the ipad was at the park store. That’s where Kimiko went on the first stop but they told her that they had passed it off to the park office – the second stop – where it was waiting for her.
Now think about it. This ipad went through at least 3 pairs of hands in three locations.
Now, try that in Chicago, Toronto or Sydney.
This is Japan. This is the Japanese people.
Phenomenal.
With ipad safe, we moved on to our next stop which is the “samurai house.”
It was actually the house of a wealthy merchant after the Shogun were defeated but it has a display of samurai armour and some swords. Kimiko said the swords have 30,000 layers (not sure if I heard that right) of a mixture of hard and soft steel. The soft steel is easier to form but doesn’t hold an edge so the harder steel is mixed in the layers. The house also has a beautiful garden in the centre.
Outside, we come across 3 girls in kimonos and everyone wants their picture taken, including our resident celebrity.
No, that’s not Sean Connery but you can just imagine all the second glances he gets walking down the street.
As we took pics, Kimiko started to walk away, telling us on the headsets that we have to maintain our schedule. We run after her before she disappears from sight since the area the samurai house is in is actually a maze of buildings meant to confuse the enemy.
And tourists.
When we got aboard the bus, Kimiko said she was delighted we were enjoying the nice weather and relaxing pace of the morning but that since we have a train to catch in the afternoon, if we get too relaxed, we will be finding our own way to Kyoto.
I don’t have to tell you that no one was late for the timings the rest of the day.
Our next stop was another food stall extravaganza.
Think of the Grand Bazaar only replace the Turkish delight with every sort of fish imaginable.There are also restaurants in the area but since I’m not overly hungry, I get a hot dog pastry at Mr. Donut and go around taking pictures.
Good thing there are no trash cans in Japan. I had held on to my Mr. Donut bag and had to use it to ask for directions in the food stall area. Turned out I was walking along one of the side alleys thinking it was the main one.
Of course, all I was thinking was ‘how am I going to get myself to Kyoto?”
We all met up and Kimiko walked us back to our bus. From here, it was a short drive to the Kanazawa Station. We said arigato gozimus to our driver and went into the station. (Our luggage is being trucked to Kyoto since it would be physically impossible to exit the train in Kyoto with our luggage where we get like 2 minutes to get off).
We have assigned seating but in bulk, so we can take any seat in the area. With three solos, it’s easy as with the TD, we make 4 for a total of 24. A nice round number. The train arrived at 2:17 and it’s just a little over 2 hours to Kyoto. The ride was smooth and had a snack service.
Getting off wasn’t as crazy as we expected. We all got off and the train sat there for another two minutes. Kimiko had said to the gentlemen to not let their western politeness get in the way as the door might close if they hesitate to let a woman go first and they’d be making their way back to Kyoto on their own. So, we were like a line of kindergardeners filing off the train.
Kyoto station is huge. Kimiko expertly shepherded us to the bus and the hotel was only ten minutes away. The Nikko Princess Kyoto is a nice spot and in the middle of downtown. Some couples have been saying they would prefer a double bed because they’ve been getting twins and Kimiko apologized for that and said the Nikko would try to get them doubles. She said it was hard because double beds are rare in Japan. She said Japanese couples prefer to sleep in their own beds.
Yeah, there were chuckles.
Not everyone got a double bed so I was going to go down at dinner and gush over the great big double bed in my room just to see their reactions. LOL
We were given an hour to freshen up before our Dinner with a Maiko. On the bus, Kimiko told us that Kyoto was the ancient capital of Japan from 764 to 1868. When the Shogun were defeated, the capital was moved to Edo and the city renamed Tokyo. Edo had already been the de-facto capital as many government departments were already located there.
Kyoto is full of temples and shrines. Some 1600 temples and I believe she said 700 shrines.
We won’t be visiting them all.
Kyoto had the first street car in Japan and was the first city in Japan to be powered by electricity.
The dinner tonight is what Kimiko calls a shabu shabu. It’s another cook your own but this time it’s beef and vegetables in boiling water. There were a selection of soy and other sauces, tofu and soy beans (which were quite tasty). She said that depending on whether we get beef or port, we boil it 3 shabu-shabu or 7 shabu-shabu. That means we say shabu-shabu 3 times and then turn the beef and say it 3 more times and it’s done (they’re strips of thin beef). With pork, it would have been 7 times. We had beef after so it was a 3 shabu-shabu meal.
The tables are absolutely full and all I can think is that it’s a full time job just clearing them at the end of the evening. And the restaurant has like a dozen of these rooms. After we have our boil-up, we are visited by a maiko, an apprentice geiko (geisha), named Tomitae. In Kyoto, there are about 100 maiko and 200 geisha. This girl is 19 and has been a maiko for 3 years. She said she wanted to be a geisha because she likes kimonos.
Kinda like someone becoming a nun because they like the habit. 🙂
The first thing she did was perform two short dances for us and then she had a question and answer period at all the tables. Tomitae told us that the maiko live in a house with a mother and there can be up to 8 maiko in a house. She is in a house with one other, younger, maiko.
She makes no money and everything is provided for her though she gets a small allowance. All the money made from her appearances go to the mother who pays for everything including food, clothes and tuition. She told us that her hair is made up once a week and not taken down so she sleeps with it up. She applies her own makeup and a man helps her into the kimono and right now it’s hot out so she is only wearing one layer.
She’s not allowed to have a boyfriend and if she marries, she has to leave. If she leaves before her training is done, her parents have to pay back the tuition. She gets two days off a month and is not allowed to have modern electronics.
So, yes, folks…I’ve found the one teenager on the planet who doesn’t have her nose in a smart phone.
When she was done giving her talk, she showed us a simple game that is played, usually after a lot of sake had been drank. I got a chance to play with her and no one who played with her won.
She bid good night to us and Kimiko was finally able to sit and have something to eat. And we were also served noodles, chicken and French fries. Which were good! An absolutely fascinating evening with a wonderful young woman. Everyone really enjoyed the chance to hear from Tomitae.
We headed back to the hotel at 9. I got in the elevator, chatting with the others when one couple got off at the 9th floor and the rest of us kept chatting up to the 14th floor and out into the hallway. Then they looked at me and asked what room I was in.
I took out my key and said 925.
I didn’t say a word. I just turned around, went back to the elevator, went down to my room and went to bed.
Go to Day Eight
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