Hasu Transitoire (The Transient Lotus)

I awoke at 5:54 in the morning at Koyasan to attend the morning service. It consisted of a monk chanting along with a woman (surprising!) in a beautifully adorned room full of golden lotuses and what I believe were urns of previous Shojoshin-in monks. It was refreshing and nice, as was the light breakfast that followed. With rain drizzling, we decided just to head to Osaka, the last stop on my journey. We rode the bus, then the steep cable car, and finally a long train to Osaka. After getting utterly lost and confused in the underground mazes of shopping malls that surround the Osaka station (and most others in Japan), we finally found our hotel, which was actually very close! Before checking in, though, we simply dropped off our bags and then headed up to Kyoto, where I had been storing two more big bags! It is simply ridiculous how much stuff we have amassed. I feel so sorry for the hotel clerks, often tiny young women, who check your bags in. One insisted on taking even the h

We left Shikoku bright and early on Tuesday morning, but not before a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and salad (Minshuku Ikumi’s food has really been outstanding!). Ten drove us in the minivan to the station, and we headed back up north to Tokushima. Several hours later we arrived, and I bought the funny t-shirts with nonsensical English I had been wanting for a while before we caught a bus for the ferry terminal. The private Nankai company operates a ferry from Tokushima on Shikoku to Wakayama on Honshu in the Kansai region, and although our rail passes were not acceptable, it was worth it to not have to travel all the way back up and over. Plus, I was curious to see what Japanese ferries were like. The ferry was very large, with room for many semis, cars, and then a separate area for passengers. A small shop sold obento (boxed lunches) and there were assorted vending machines, pachinko (slot machines!) and televisions. Carpeted areas for resting were everywhere, so Dan

From Mt. Domu, we took several trains down to the southeastern end of Shikoku. Cities turned into towns, which then turned into hillsides and vistas – no more people and it was great! Japan, more than any place I have been before, makes me treasure wide open spaces with no signs of civilization. I suppose I had it quite good growing up in Wyoming. Any matter, we arrived at the tiny train station in the town of Kannora and were actually quite early, so I phoned the minshuku (Japanese for guesthouse) and in about 15 minutes, a nifty looking minivan that read “Da Hawaiian Kitchen” pulled up. Our minshuku is run by Ten, who is from Osaka. He is an older surfer dude who is super nice and laid back. He also runs the Hawaiian themed burger shop/restaurant/internet café next door, thus the advertising on the minivan. Our room is a traditional Japanese tatami room with an air conditioner that works splendidly, thank god, for the temperature down here is a bit hotter than I expected. Minsh

I woke early and headed over to the Ritsumeikan campus to meet Aki for breakfast and get my other huge garment bag she had been so kindly storing for me. We ate at McDonalds (Jpn: Maku) which is very out of character for me, but the place was spotless and the food was not bad. I always kinda liked Egg McMuffins. I brought Dan breakfast and then we rushed out again for a very exciting and important appointment…I was getting my haircut! I really just wanted a trim, but lots of my friends had raved about how great the beauty shops in Japan are. I ended up with a very cute cut, and it was all done by a very stylish group of young men with very pointy cowboy/elf boots. I won’t bore with details, but I am very happy with my new cut. Dan and I spent the afternoon strolling down the “Tetsugaku no michi” which translates as the Path of Philosophy. It is a little path that goes by many temples and shrines in the hills of Kyoto. The first was spectacular – Ginkakuji. The sand structures

We spent the afternoon in Kanazawa to break up the long train ride, and to also meet my friends Eri and Shino from that area. I was under the impression that Kanazawa would be a really small town, but when we arrived it was nothing but! Huge buildings, lights everything. I am coming to realize that Japan and American views of small cities are very different. Much of Japan is like one big city and there isn’t much true open space. Any the matter, Kanazawa was a very cool town. We stayed in a little ryokan with traditional Japan rooms and even a traditional garden in a courtyard. Dan stayed to get a bit of rest and I went out exploring with Shino. We stopped by a historical samurai house (left) of one of the biggest landowners in Japan in the Edo period. It was a gorgeous complex with a fabulous garden. I could imagine the family living there hundreds of years ago – making tea in the tiny tea room on the second floor, tending to the koi in the garden (they were huge by the way!). Aft

Today we left the hustle and bustle of Tokyo (thank god for Dan, he was ready!). Despite not being able to sit next to each other at first due to a very crowded bullet train, the ride was nice. The shinkansen here not only go extremely fast, they are so smooth. You can barely tell when you are going or stopping. It is quite lovely. Once we reached Nagano city, the home of the 1998 Winter Olympics, we grabbed some ramen from a nearby noodle shop. I enjoy listening to the slurping sounds of people in these sorts of places, but Dan still thinks it is weird. Slurping noodles and apparently eating sushi with just your hands are not considered rude here. Slurping, at least, is encouraged. My technique is not up to par in the least. It takes skill to slurp a big spoonful of noodles up the hashi (chopstick) and into the mouth. About an hour later on the local Nagano Dentetsu line we reached the small mountain town of Yamanouchi. The ride up was pretty cool, since we sat in the very bac

We awoke early to check out of our room today, and head to Ueno, a very different area of Tokyo on the northeast end. The journey over was rough, with all of our luggage, but the air conditioning of the train saved us, and we made it to Ueno. This time, I was certain that I knew how to get to the hotel. However, we got lost again, and I asked a policeman for help and he said we were very far away. He hailed us a taxi, and I sank into the seat feeling I had failed again. The driver, though, was very confused at the map, and kept insisting that we could walk. After driving in what can’t be described as anything but a circle, we arrived at our hotel. I was not wrong! We were about one block away. The policeman was obviously not from Ueno. After dropping off our luggage, we headed to a nearby café to wait until we could actually check into our room. I ate some surprisingly delicious spaghetti carbonara, and we watched some sort of track event in Osaka, while being stared at by chain-sm