Japan: The Land Of Rising Sun;Tokyo and Fuji-San

Blog number 16, Passage1.   02.01.2021.  nguptatravelscrapbook.blogspot.com

Japan: The land of rising sun, Tokyo and Fuji-san

COVID-19status:  While most of the UK remains under Tier 4 status's tightest restrictions, a Second Covid Vaccine by Oxford Astra Zeneca is being rolled out from 04/01/2021. 

“When you look at Japanese traditional architecture, look at Japanese culture and its relationship with nature. You can actually live in harmonious, close contact with nature---unique to Japan” by Tadao Ando.

Some book's titles that I read before embarking on the Japan trip:

Memoirs of Geisha: Arthur Golden

The Waiting Years: Fumiko Enchi

In The Miso Soup : Ryu Murakami

Lonely Planet Guide: Japan

Fusi-San with a traditionally dressed Japanese woman

Preface.

Japan was isolated from the western world for centuries, that time Europeans considered it to be of a legendry presence. Fortunately, the country is still treated with immense respect if not awe by the modern-day western travel adventurers. Japan is a place where culture and technology beautifully interweave with one another. Heritage defines this small but influential archipelago country telling centuries ago tales.

Growing up in Delhi during my school times, my youngest and the fondest memories of Japan had been the calendar images of an artistic Japanese girl draped in Kimono and wearing V-shaped top platform open toe shoes with white socks. She held a parasol lightly above her crest, with immortal Mount Fuji serenading in the backdrop. Delicate twigs of pink flowers shrouded her. I didn't know that the attire was so-called Kimono, and they traditionally wore those shoes to keep the luxurious Kimono off the ground during walking. The white socks were named Tabi with big toe separation, and the parasol, a Japanese dowry essential, was crafted out of the famous Japanese oil-paper. I didn't know the pink flowers that I admired most in those images were the world-famous cherry blossoms to add further to my unfamiliarity. I would gladly cut out these beautiful women's pictures and use them as bookmarkers or book covers!

Further on in the school, I learned about Japan's involvement in WW2 and the USA dropping two A-Bomb causing unparalleled devastation, calamities and tragedies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending WW2. I heard the name of these two cities more often than Tokyo's name and had never heard the name of Kyoto city till I was in my late twenties; I guess. Tokyo using reverse syllable is Kyoto! When I finally visited Hiroshima during this trip, I had to pinch myself to make sure my senses were intact and alive, standing in front of the war memorial. So far distant, Japan was to me!

Going back to my school days, let me divulge you to the Bollywood films' encouraging role in embracing many countries in its musical love story centred movies, including Japan, which a Delhi beginner could never think of visiting. These films enriched my real exposure to Japan and became analogous to internet learning in today's times. Three movies named Love in Tokyo (1966) Aman (The Peace, 1967) and Aankhen (The Eyes, 1968) were picturised singularly on various locations thru out Japan. I learned that Japanese goodbye was termed Sayonara thru a very hit song in the film "Love in Tokyo". Some places where these films were shot included Tokyo Imperial Palace, Tokyo Tower, Ginza district, Shinjuku gardens, Asakusa temple and Shinto Shrine, Shinkansen trains, Lake Ashi, the ropeway in Hakone, Mount Fuji, Miyajima Torii gate, Hiroshima, Himeji Castle, Todaji temple in Nara and Gion district in Kyoto. Years later, I watched the famous James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967) with great Ginza streets and sumo stadium scenes. 

Something extraordinary was observable in these films. Despite the colossal destruction of infrastructure and of the famous palaces, castles, temples and shrines, caused by Allied forces bombings, in WW2, Japan’s recovery was at a steadfast and at unmatched level, evident sharply in the films (as mentioned above) made in mid-sixties, just twenty years later after WW2!

Torii gate, Miyajima

Asakusa temple, Tokyo

Shinto Shrine and Imperial Palace, Tokyo

The renowned film Lost In Translation (2003) was mainly shot in the hotel where we stayed in Tokyo, which I learnt after returning from Japan. I contemplate myself truthfully privileged to visit many of these locations during my trip to Japan with my husband, in the spring of 2003, which I had seen through the films stated above. 

What is the story about Oshin?

Oshin was a  legendary Japanese drama series aired in Japan from 1983 to 1984 portraying Shin Tanokura during the late Meiji period (the 1800s) leading to early 1980 in Japan. 

This is a sorrowful and troubled story of a rural girl, child of a bonded labour, combatting the violating life and poverty, reaching womanhood, and her slow-growing business accomplishments rising from plain and meagre grounds. She became a woman of substance in the history of Japan. They aired the drama serial in many other countries, with subtitles ranging from English to Arabic. Vinod, my husband and I were placed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when Oshin broadcasting started somewhere in 1995. This was my penultimate and vivid exposition to Japanese culture across the board. The series painted a very comprehensive canvass incorporating, poor and constantly snow-roofed northern japan(Yamagata), stifling rural life, inconsistent family dynamics with its patriarchy and hierarchy, obedient and meek work ethos, shortage of food, unemployment, disastrous WW 2 consequences, arts and crafts, the education system, wide emphasis on Buddhist religion, language, literature and the life perspectives and philosophies.

Oshin acquaintance left me a vulnerable Japanocoholic! (Pro-Japan, Shinichi in Japanese) with a profound urge to visit Japan as the possibility arises. I became beset with its culture, shrines, technology, architecture and food, I admired it all.

Oshin Drama, Pic from a poster taken in Tokyo

From here, what aided me to create the Japan Blog, ( phased in three to four passages)

During my travels in Japan, I appreciated the essentials to keep a travel journal to recollect the names of particular places visited, which had hard words. Henceforth, I bought a diary from a local shop and began writing the travel details at the end of each day. The journal keeping was my first adventure of any writing marque. The travel keeping made my Japan experience more meaningful with an added and valuable perspective of my own. It helped me to stop to reflect and evoke my experiences in a noteworthy way. I kept the itinerary, hotel/flight info, departure/arrival times, tour company contact information, and much more along with the written travel journal. It also included keeping various entrance tickets, train and ferry tickets, local maps and heaps of contact cards. It was an unexpected treat to uncover all these minutiae I held for the last 17 years in my stash when I wrote this blog. In 2003 one used film rolls in the camera having two albums full of pictures we clicked in Japan. I have scanned the selected images thru an App to digitalise the photos posted throughout the blog. I am afraid the photos remain rustic despite my efforts to improvise through different editing modes. We followed a route designed by a Japanese Embassy staff in London ( See the map ) travelling from northeast to southwestwards.

The route we followed 

In the last ten years, there has been a surge in Japan travel journalism aided by celebrities and food critics namely Michael Palin, Joanna Lumley, Sue Perkins, Paul Hollywood, Rick stein and Hairy bikers etc. Master chef teams have boosted to the mouth-watering aspects of Japanese food culture across the world.

Tune in Tokyo

Tokyo scenes with its famous pedestrian crossing

There is a uniquely attractive phenomenon about Japanese culture, that interests people from around the world. In Tokyo, it ranges from being simple, elegant, and beautiful to the wild, loud and whacky, with everything in between, almost like a split personality. There is meditational calmness when visiting historic shrines and Zen gardens and drinking thick green tea. On the other side, there is awe-inspiring highly advanced technology folly at places like robot operated hotel receptions, the video games, Animes, Manga, frantically busy streets and crossings, sushi bars and ramen restaurants, dazzling multicoloured shop signs and mobs of people at zebra crossings, several of them face-masked even in the non-Covid times in 2003!

Soba noodle eatery in Hakone 

And then there are loads of sushi, sashimi, tempuras, miso soups, ramen noodles, bento lunch boxes and bean paste desserts wrapped up in tiny, delicate parcels with innumerable head bows! The list is virtually endless. The country speaks for itself, a landscape of outstanding natural beauty, some of the most humbling people in the world with deeply placed culture and rituals at the forefront. Almost like a boutique country!

Tokyo scenes

Since the bombing of Tokyo in WW2, when most buildings were wiped out, the city successfully built up multiple high-rises, earthquake-proof buildings in a contemporary fashion. The town grew haphazardly and is a frantic jumble of residential, business, and industrial buildings with poorly postal coded addresses. Unlike in the UK, there are no neat rows of terraced buildings or homes. It further destroyed the older and survived buildings in earthquakes and fires. The Emperor's Palace and world-famous Meiji Shinto shrine were rebuilt in the late fifties. Asakusa Temple and Uneo park area are still remnant of older and traditional Japan, which we enjoyed the most. Shinjuku, Ginza and Akhibara are neon clustered, and giant advertisement screens occupied modern parts of Tokyo. They were creating mayhem on your visual and auditory senses.  On the day of our arrival, after having a stroll near the Imperial Palace and its beautiful gardens with cherry blossom, we walked to Shinjuku area for dinner. In 2003, this area was dotted with large and small sushi stalls, very much alive and noisy with sushi-chefs creating sushi and sashimi plates on the spot which were tempting. We were not very confident about Japanese food's various terminology, but the English speaking local guests helped us select and order our food. English is widely spoken ( but hesitantly) and most of the road signs are displayed in English. Travelling in the country is easy. I have included several pictures of these sights here. 

Sensoji temple, Asakusa, Tokyo

Pictures at the gate of Shinto Shrine, Tokyo

Underground shopping complexes 

From the 1960s through the 1970s, large-scale underground shopping districts began cropping up in many places in Japan: at centre-city terminals; in bustling neighbourhoods; beneath roads and buildings; and around concourses thoroughfares in subway stations and other public spaces. We encountered such a gigantic underground shopping complex at Shinjuku railway station, which was beyond our fantasies.

The glorious Sakura and Hanami, nature's holiday.

Sakura display in Nagoya

We reached Tokyo when the country was delicately shrouded in Cherry blossom's enchanting pink hues, a symbol of the nation’s philosophical beliefs.

Hanami is the Japanese traditional custom of viewing the Cherry blossom's transient beauty's pink/white flowers called Sakura. Sakura lasts for a short time of about two weeks at a place with locals arranging Hanami parties based on the weather forecast for Sakura appearance. End of March being the financial year-end coinciding with Hanami and Sakura, one would see much Sake drinking parties under the cherry blossom trees countrywide in days and nights. The sakura was in enormous blossom thru out our travel in Japan and was a topic of discussion with fellow travellers, often marvelling at nature's most gracious and loving display. 

Tea House, Hanami in Shinjuku Gardens, Tokyo

The Sacred Mount Fuji ( Fuji-San)

As Japanese call, Fuji-San, a symmetrical cone, an active volcano, snow-capped in winters for about six months, is a well-established symbol of Japan. It is one of the three Japanese sacred mountains, a memorable scene of supernatural beauty situated 100 KM southwest of Tokyo. We witnessed the sacred and majestic Mount Fuji en route to Lake Ashi during a ride on the Hakone Ropeway, covered in overhanging clouds. But saw it clear the next day, on our way out from Hakone Park to Nagoya. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fuji-san has invigorated poets, artists, painters and alike, along with child's story-tellers who pitch the mountain as an abode to extraterrestrials! The locals visit the mountain for pilgrimages, and for many more, a mountain climbing destination (about 3776 meters high). 

Cultural events in Japan.

During our travel throughout Japan, we had enriching rendezvous of diverse Japanese traditions and customs, including the arts of Kimonos, the Tea ceremony, traditional Japanese inn ( Onsen or Ryokan) experience, Japanese dining experience, and Gift wrapping, etc. And I intend to describe these rich cultural experiences as I write this three to four-part blog on Japan travel.

Kimonos and Yukatas:

Kimono fabrics, pic taken in Takayama, factory

Few countries in the world are as recognisable for their traditional attire as Japan and its famous Kimono. Kimono is one of the most recognisable clothing article globally, intertwined in the Japanese culture and its people's character. I can safely correlate this combination as discernible as India and its ambassador, the national pride, the beautiful and traditional Saris. The term kimono roughly translates to "thing to wear" or "clothing". In current times, the Japanese no longer wear kimonos as part of their everyday wear but is reserved for special occasions. Kimono is elaborate formal wear comprising layers of robes, obi (the wide waistbelt) worn with various ornamental accessories. Traditionally the Japanese ideal beauty was a long tube style, almost a T-shape. Kimono started as a straightforward rectangular piece of clothing with loose sleeves, developing into much more elaborate clothing with time. A proverbial kimono is hand-tailored, becoming a family heirloom in times to come. Each part of Kimono has multiple patterns and shades coinciding with seasons and occasions. There are different categories of kimonos in complexities, materials used, embroideries, brocades and appliques etc. Wearing it is time-consuming, needs help,  harmonising with the elaborate rituals and precisions. 

Kimonos in different styles, pics were taken in Kabuki Theatre, Tokyo.

One of the primary reasons that the kimono style stayed in vogue for so long is its ultimate versatility. The kimono can easily be layered for cold weather or altered to suit any season. As I discovered during my kimono experience, there are endless possibilities for kimono with so many moving pieces. The heavy silk kimono can be easily worn in Autumn and winter, while a lighter linen and/or cotton kimono, the Yukata, can be worn in summer by both men and women alike. A more traditional and formal option is the Furisode Kimono, which is meant to be worn by unmarried women, characterised by its long sleeves and vibrant designs, representing youthful energy. To many foreigners, this is the type of kimono that probably looks most familiar. On the other hand, married women wear the Tomosode Kimono, a dress with fixed shorter sleeves with the shoulders' family emblem.

More Kimono styles, Pics were taken in Kabuki theatre, Tokyo.

Japan really blew our minds. We had been dreaming of visiting Japan for a long time, and our expectations were huge! We thought that this could only go wrong, but Japan fulfilled all our expectations!

My memoirs of Japan ( just a few of the pages!)

I plan next to blog on my most disturbing and affecting Hiroshima experiences with added cultural experiences. I thank you for reading my blogs and for your encouraging comments.