デリートしてしまいました

I'm not sure why I did it, but I've gone and deleted some of the photos I've put on this blog over the past year. Most of the pictures were of scenes I found interesting while going for walks in the Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park 中正公園 area of Fengyuan (Fongyuan) 豊原. What this now means is that on a lot of my postings about Chung-cheng Park, there are references to pictures that are no longer there. I guess that's what happens when you go about doing something you haven't a clue about in the first place.

Speaking of Chung-cheng Park, I went for a walk there this afternoon. Public schools are on summer vacation now, and the private cram schools and kindergartens have adjusted their schedules accordingly. Classes start earlier in the morning, and generally finish earlier in the afternoon. The cram school where I teach sets aside Wednesdays for field trips for the kids, so my services are not required, and thus I'm free. Seeing as Amber takes a nap right after lunch, why not take advantage of the opportunity and get some exercise?

Many people might blanch at the idea of walking in the hills and mountains in the middle of the afternoon on a hot summer day. For me, there's no better time. The sweat generated walking up and down the paths makes me feel like I'm eliminating toxins from the body, and doing something about getting rid of some of the excess flab I've accumulated since marriage. But the main reason I enjoy going out at this time is the solitude. Only a fool would venture out in this heat, and there aren't too many fools in the Fengyuan area. The peace and quiet of an early afternoon hike, especially in comparison to the noise generated by the numbers of early morning walkers and the collateral damage that follows in their wake (vendors and karaoke), more than compensates for the buckets of sweat that is produced. Besides, the BO of a sweaty hiker means I'm less likely to be bothered by someone when I stop for an iced latte on the way home after walking.

The recent heavy rains have had a couple of good side effects:
Normally dry streams are full of water, which cascade down small waterfalls

and the air is so clean that the view stretches all the way out to the ocean, a rare sight in this part of central Taiwan

Taipei Times タイペイタイムズ

There are two main English-language newspapers in Taiwan, the China Post and the Taipei Times. By far, the better of the two is the Taipei Times, at least in terms of its political viewpoint. The China Post is too pro-Kuomintang (Guomindang) 国民党 and too anti-Japanese for my liking, though I do read it sometimes because it has better coverage of Major League baseball games, and a decent travel section on Thursdays. The China Post also suffers from poor translation work at times.

Occasionally, however, the Taipei Times also slips up. In an article last weekend on the Suao Cold Springs 蘇澳観光冷泉, it was written that the springs were discovered by a Japanese soldier. The problem was the name given in the story was the Chinese reading of the characters in the soldier's name 竹中信景. One of my (many) pet peeves about life in Taiwan is the fact that many people here either don't know or can't be bothered to learn the real names of Japanese and Korean people, and instead seem content with using the Mandarin readings of the characters. In a fit of pique, I fired off a letter to the editor complaining about this matter as it related to the Suao article.

To my surprise, 24 hours later I received a very polite email from an editor with the Taipei Times, assuring me that it was an editorial oversight. Furthermore, I looked up the article on-line this evening, and noticed that a correction has been made with regards to the soldier's Japanese name.

Yet another example why the Taipei Times is the best English-language newspaper in Taiwan.

Trip to Japan: Day 8 ６月２４日日曜日

The last day of my visit to Japan was a short one. Up at 6, out of the hotel by 6:30, breakfast at McDonald's, then by subway and train to the airport, arriving by 8:40, giving me plenty of time to check-in for my 11:15 flight to T'aipei (Taibei) 台北. I was back in Fengyuan (Fongyuan) 豊原 by the middle of the afternoon.

Compared to the multitudes thronging the Shinsaibashi 心斎橋 area in Osaka 大阪 just a few hours earlier, the streets were deserted at 6:30 on a Sunday morning.

My Cathay Pacific flight getting ready for takeoff at Kansai International Airport 関西国際空港.

And that was my week in Japan. I'm already eager to plan the next visit. Why? In comparison to Taiwan, Japan is (take your pick) cleaner, safer, has a longer and more interesting history, is more efficient and better organized, has a more varied topography and climate, is more beautiful to look at, is less corrupt, has a greater variety of food on offer and a generally healthier cuisine, has a fantastic public transportation system and, in general, is far more cosmopolitan in its outlook. Most of all, the people in Japan are lot more civil. Not only to foreigners (and I've met a lot of great people in Taiwan), but to each other as well.

One thing that has changed over the years in Japan is the reaction generated by the presence of a foreigner 外人 in its midst. Had I visited somewhere like Yoshino 吉野 or Dorogawa 洞川 back in 1989 (the year of my first visit to Tokyo 東京), the local kids would probably have been in hysterics and I might have received a lot of stares from the adults. These days, thanks in part to the JET program (which places a native English speaker in every public school) and a greater number of Western visitors exploring the regions outside of the main tourist spots, I hardly rated a second glance from the locals in any of the places I went. Taiwan still has a long, long way to go in this regard.

But while I may love Japan, I love my family even more, and so Taiwan will remain my home for the foreseeable future. And despite visiting a number of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples on this recently-completed trip, I never once asked the 神 for a single thing, not one favor. Rather, I am just thankful, very much so, for having a wonderful wife, a beautiful daughter and a second chance at life after the self-created cock-ups of a few years ago.

So to Japan I say また来年。

Trip to Japan: Day 7 ６月２３日土曜日

I hadn’t planned on staying in Kyoto 京都 during this trip. I’d originally wanted to base myself in Nara 奈良, and use the city to make a number of day trips in the Kinki 近畿 region. But the hotel where I wanted to stay was fully-booked during this period, and so I found myself once again at the Palace Side Hotel ザ・パレスサイドホテル, where Pamela and I had stayed when we visited Kyoto in the fall of 2003. The Palace Side is a great hotel – nice rooms with cheap rates (plus they give discounts for long-term stays), and a convenient location in the center of Kyoto. It was kind of ironic, however, that in a city famous for its Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, the view from my window was of an Anglican church 聖公会.

One of the things I’d wanted to do on that visit back in Nov. 2003 was to hike between Kurama 鞍馬 and Kibune 貴船. At that time, a combination of bad weather and my wife’s aversion to anything remotely strenuous meant we didn’t go. This time, I decided to slot the hike into my itinerary. And despite the heavy rain that fell at times on Friday, the weather on this Saturday, as I woke up at 6, was clear and sunny. Once again, the 神 had looked upon me with favor on those days I decided to take long walks.

The logistics were pretty simple: I caught a bus from Imadegawa-Marutamachi 今出川丸太町 to Demachiyanagi Station 出町柳駅, from which I got on a Kurama-bound train on the Eizan Line 叡山電鉄. It didn’t take long before the train left the urban scenery of Kyoto behind, and 30 minutes later we reached the terminus at Kurama. A short walk from the station is the gate to Kurama-dera 鞍馬寺.

There is a cable car that takes you up to the temple, but this was a hike, so I started to walk. After about 5 minutes, I came to Yuki-jinja 由岐神社, a small Shinto shrine with some large sugi trees 杉 (Japanese cedar) on its grounds. What better spot than to enjoy the can of Skal スコール that I had bought from a vending machine between the station and the gate to the temple!

Not everything was aesthetically-pleasing. Take this statue, for example. Entitled “Inochi” 命 (“Life”), it represents the three aspects of the god Sonten, the chief deity in Kurama-kyo Buddhism 鞍馬教. It looks like something you might find on a school playground. Fortunately, the scenery behind this hideous-looking thing was much easier on the eyes.

The trail soon led to the honden 本殿 of Kurama-dera. The views from here to the mountain ranges to the east were very good.

From Kurama-dera, I continued uphill to the top of the ridge, where I found the Yoshitsune Sekurabe-
ishi 義経背比べ石.

  

Minamoto no Yoshitsune 源義経 is one of the more famous figures in Japanese history, and as a young man he used this stone to measure his height to see if he was big enough to go off and fight.

The trail continued on, past a couple of attractive sub-temples, Sojo-ga-dani Fudo-do 僧正ガ谷不動堂 and Okuno-in Mao-den 奥ノ院魔王殿…

…before coming to the bottom at the small village of Kibune. On the way, there was this fuji tree 藤, the branches of which had become incredibly twisted over time.

Once on the road in Kibune, I paid a visit to Kibune-jinja 貴船神社, which turned out to be something of a letdown. The walk up the lantern-lined steps was nice, but the shrine building itself was a recent construction. There was a lot of activity going on at the shrine. One thing which I couldn’t quite figure out involved putting a sheet of paper into a trough of water. Apparently something happened to the paper once it came in contact with the water, but I couldn’t get close enough to see what was happening.

UPDATE: Thanks to an email from Mariko, I now understand what was going on. It's a form of fortunetelling called "Mizu'uranai" 水占い, which translates as "water witching". When you place the fortune slip おみくじ into the water, words that tell your fortune will appear. No wonder everyone was so excited. Thanks Mariko!

I wandered around Kibune village for a little bit, enjoying the scenery by the Kibune-gawa 貴船川.

Many of the inns and restaurants had constructed dining platforms over the river for diners to enjoy a nice meal in the summertime while escaping from the oppressive heat.

I would’ve liked to have done so myself, but the cheapest lunch course I saw was for ￥3500 ($28 or NT930). Perhaps if I’d been with Pamela, we would’ve splurged, but as a solo traveler this time around, I decided to get something cheaper for lunch back in the city.

It was a long walk to Kibune Station, but fortunately it was all downhill. I caught the train back to Demachiyanagi, and still feeling 元気 from the morning hike, I opted to walk back to the hotel rather than take the bus. Along the way, I stopped off a small diner and gorged myself on a large plate of Hamburg steak ハンバーグ and pork cutlet ポークカツ, and washed it down with a draft beer 生ビール. Then, with time on my hands to kill, I walked through the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park 京都御所. The Sento Gosho Palace 仙洞御所 was closed, but the imposing gates were an impressive site.

The park itself occupies a huge slab of real estate in central Kyoto. I walked all the way to its southern end, where there was a typical Japanese-style pond filled with hungry carp.

Eventually, it was time to leave Kyoto. Picking up my bags from the Palace Side Hotel, I took a bus to Keihan-Sanjo Station 京阪三条駅, and then rode the Keihan Line to Yodobashi Station 淀橋駅 in Osaka 大阪. The Keihan Line passes through the less scenic southern part of Kyoto, but it’s one the cheapest routes from there to Osaka. Upon arriving at Yodobashi, I transferred to the Midosuji subway 御堂筋線, and once again found myself in Shinsaibashi 心斎橋, though this time at a different hotel.

And once again, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Mariko and Sachiko. They had done some sightseeing in Kyoto while I was hiking in the mountains, and now were joining me for the evening in Osaka. Osaka is a blue-collar city (at least in comparison with Kyoto), and so for dinner we went out to an izakaya 居酒屋, a Japanese-style pub that offers great food and plenty of beer, and all at reasonable prices. I really wish there were places like that to eat and drink in Taiwan.

After dinner, Mariko and Sachiko returned to the hotel, and I wandered the streets of Minami ミナミ, mingling with the crowds out for a night on the town in Shinsaibashi and Namba 難波. If nothing else, this part of Osaka must be one of the best places in the world for people-watching. But seeing as I had an early flight to Taiwan the next day, people-watching was the extent of my entertainment for the evening.

NEXT: Back to Taiwan

Trip to Japan: Day 6 ６月２３日金曜日

The highlight of any visit to Koya-san 高野山 is arguably a walk through the Okuno-in 奥の院 cemetery/temple, preferably in the early morning. And so I was up at 6. As Haryo-in 巴陵院 is a functioning Shingon 真言 temple, there was o-inori お祈り, a Buddhist prayer service, to attend at 6:30. Following a vegetarian breakfast at 7, I left my bags at the temple and set out on foot after 7:30 for the Okuno-in.

45 minutes later, I arrived at the Ichi-no-hashi 一の橋, the entrance to the cemetery.

The scene inside the Okuno-in was like something out of a coffee-table book. Imagine walking along a cobbled path, surrounded by tall cypress trees ヒノキ and thousands of old, moss-covered tombs. For much of the time I was the only one on the path, and the threatening skies only added to the mysterious atmosphere.

One of the more interesting memorials I came across was the North Borneo War Victim Memorial 北ボルネオ没者墓所, dedicated to Australian and Japanese soldiers, and Malaysian civilians killed in North Borneo during the Second World War. Nearby was a memorial for Japanese troops who died in Burma.

At one point, a Western woman with red hair who was taking pictures in the cemetery, asked if I knew the significance of the bib-wearing Jizo 地蔵 statues that were everywhere to be seen in the Okuno-in. I did, and told her (among many things, he is the guardian of the souls of dead children, and the bibs are put there by parents who hope Jizo will give special protection to their deceased young ones). As I started to walk away, I remembered that a few weeks ago on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree page I had given some advice to someone planning a trip to Japan (you can read the thread here. My username is “Solon”). The writer singled me out for thanks, and wrote:

Solon, maybe I’ll see you in Yoshino and Koya-san – I’ll be the red head with a nicatrol inhaler.

So I asked this redhead in the Okuno-in if she had written to the Thorn Tree a couple of weeks before, and it turned out she had! We had a nice conversation. Darcy, I hope you enjoyed your trip!

The path eventually leads to the Toro-do 灯ろう堂, or Lantern Hall. Photography isn’t permitted on the other side of the Mimyo-no-hashi 御廟橋 bridge, so these were the last shots I could take before crossing over.

Just before crossing the bridge there is a row of Jizo statues that people pour water over as an offering for the dead.

Once on the other side, the first thing to see is a number of inscribed wooden plaques in the river, placed there in memory of aborted fetuses and those who died by drowning (according to the Lonely Planet guide). A short walk further on brings you to a small building housing the Miroku-ishi みろく石, a large boulder which pilgrims try to lift onto a shelf. Apparently, the weight of the stone equals the weight of your sins. I didn’t find it particularly heavy to pick up, so perhaps there’s hope for me yet. At the end of the path is the Lantern Hall, which contains hundreds of lamps. The LP guide states that two of the lamps have been burning for more 900 years, but I couldn’t tell which two they were. Finally, behind the Toro-do, is the mausoleum containing the remains of Kukai himself 空海の墓. It’s a shame I couldn’t take any pictures, because this whole area at the end of the path through the Okuno-in was very photogenic.

Eventually, it was time to leave. So after walking back to the center of town and stopping off at a café for a bowl of gyudon 牛丼 (rice covered with beef and vegetables) and a bottle of beer (ah, meat and alcohol!), I walked back to Haryo-in, said farewell to the priest, picked up my bags and took the bus up the road to the cable-car station. From there, I rode the cable-car down to Gokurakubashi 極楽橋, where I got on a Nankai Line Rapid Express 南海線快速急行 bound for Osaka 大阪. After a little more than 90 minutes, I got off the train at Shinimamiya Station 新今宮駅 and transferred to the JR Loop Line JR環状線. This I took to Osaka Station 大阪駅, where I then hauled myself and my bag over to the nearby Hankyu Umeda Station 阪急梅田駅. 40 minutes on a limited express train 特急 brought me to Karasuma Station 烏丸駅, followed by a short walk underground to Shijo Station 四条駅 and a transfer to the Karasuma line subway 京都市地下鉄烏丸線. A couple of stops later, I emerged from Marutamachi Station 丸太町駅 and onto the streets of Kyoto 京都.

Ah, Kyoto. What can I say that hundreds of travel writers haven’t written already? Depending on how you count these things, this was either my fifth or sixth time to visit. A wonderful combination of the historic and the modern (too much of the latter in some peoples’ eyes), Kyoto is a city I don’t think I could ever get tired off. So after checking into my hotel (the Palace Side Hotel ザ・パレスサイドホテル, across the street from the Sento Gosho Palace 仙洞御所 and the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park 京都御所), I hopped on the No. 10 bus and rode it the short distance to the intersection of Shijo-dori 四条通り and Kawaramachi-dori 川原町通り, Kyoto’s main shopping district.

I’m not much of a shopper, but I love to wander around and check out the sights (and the people). Two places that caught my eye were a bubble tea stand and a Mister Donut outlet. Bubble tea was a reminder of Taiwan, while Mister Donut is, quite simply, a weakness of mine. Who in their right mind can pass up a Honey Dip ハニーディップ, a Honey Old-Fashioned ハニーオールドファッション, a Custard Cream カスタードクリーム or a Chocolate Custard チョコカスタード? A branch has recently opened in Taichung 台中, so hopefully it’s only a matter of time before Fengyuan 豊原 is blessed with its very own outlet (I doubt the donuts will be a sweet as they are in Japan, though).

The day ended on a very upbeat note when I met two other former students of mine from my Yokkaichi 四日市 days, Mariko and Sachiko. These two were also a great help to me when I was planning this trip, and they took advantage of my arrival in Japan to come down to Kyoto to see me (in fact, they stayed in the same hotel). Along with Mariko’s son Takayuki (a student at Kyoto University 京大), we went out for dinner at a restaurant a short walk from the Palace Side Hotel. Called Kaji かじ, it specialized in Kyoto cuisine 京料理. I don’t have to tell you the food was very delicious. I also don’t have to tell you that it was expensive, and that Mariko and Sachiko insisted on paying, but I will. I think I accumulated a lot of 義理 on this trip – someday I’ll do my best to pay it all back!

Thank you again Mariko and Sachiko! どうもありがとうございました。

NEXT: Kyoto to Osaka

Trip to Japan: Day 5 ６月２１日木曜日

One thing I love about Japan is its public transportation. For me, half the fun of traveling in Japan is the act of getting from one place to another. I often use sites like Yahoo Transit and Ekitan to plot the quickest and/or cheapest way to get from point A to point B. That was how I determined the least expensive route from Dorogawa 洞川 to my next destination, Koya-san 高野山.

I checked out of the Daitoyo-san Ryokan 大豊 around 7am, and made my way over to the bus stop, where I caught the 7:25 bus to Shimoichiguchi Station 下市口駅, and arrived before 8:45. At 9:25 I got on a Kintetsu Line express train 近鉄線急行, and rode to Yoshino-guchi Station 吉野口駅. There, I transferred to the Japan Railways Wakayama Line JR和歌山線, and took the train to Gojo Station 五条駅. At Gojo, I switched to the Nankai Koya-san Line 南海高野山線, and relaxed on the rapid express train 快速急行, enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery all the way to the terminus, Gokurakubashi 極楽橋. The last leg was a five-minute ride on a cable-car to Koya-san, and a short bus ride to my stop, Isshin-guchi 一心口バス停, where just before noon I deposited my bags at the temple where I was to spend the night, and went off to have some lunch and explore Koya-san. Some people might've been worn out from a journey like that, but I was pumped up and ready to go.

Compared to the relative peace and quiet of Yoshino 吉野 and Dorogawa, Koya-san was bustling, especially with foreign tourists. A UNESCO World Heritage 世界遺産 Site, the town of Koya-san is centered around Kongobu-ji Temple 金剛峰寺, a temple founded in 816 by one of the greatest names in Japanese religion, Kukai 空海 (aka Kobo Daishi 弘法大師), the founder of the Shingon 真言 sect of Buddhism. It didn't take long to understand why so many people come to this place.

Lunch was katsudon カツどん (breaded pork on rice) and a bottle of beer, because I knew the temple was going to be vegetarian food and green tea all the way. Afterwards, I visited Kongobu-ji, the headquarters of the Shingon sect. The temple site is 12 centuries old, but the main hall dates from the 19th century.

Nevertheless, it was well worth the ￥500 admission ($4 or NT130) to go inside and look at all the beautiful rooms and the ornate screen paintings. Photography, unfortunately, wasn't allowed inside, but I could take photos of the lovely rock garden in the back.

It just doesn't get more "Japanese" にっぽんぽい than that, wouldn't you agree?

Not far from Kongobu-ji is Garan 伽藍, a temple complex containing a number of halls and pagodas. Of the latter, the best by far is the Dai-to 大塔.

The inside contained awesome statues of the Dainichi-nyorai 大日如來, the Cosmic Buddha, and four attendant Buddhas. Alas, no photography permitted.

Other attractive buildings in the Garan complex are the Kondo 金堂, or Main Hall, and Sai-to 西塔, or Western Pagoda.

The last bit of sightseeing I did was to visit the Reihokan 霊宝館, or Treasure Museum, which had a great display of Buddhist art.

By this time it was becoming late in the afternoon, so I walked back through the central part of town...

...and headed for the temple where I was to spend the night.

In Koya-san, over 50 Buddhist temples offer rooms 宿坊 for visitors. I chose to stay at the Haryo-in 巴陵院.

At around ￥7500 ($60 or NT2000), including two meals, it was the cheapest of the temple lodgings, and the second-cheapest accommodation option in town after the local youth hostel. The ５畳部屋

was spare but comfortable, and the bath was hot but relaxing. But the best part about staying in a Koya-san shukubo was the shojin-ryori 精進料理 dinner. Shojin-ryori is a vegetarian cuisine originally derived from the dietary restrictions of monks. Despite its humble origins, it's actually quite delicious and filling. The other guests staying the night at Haryo-in - a Japanese couple from Sagamihara 相模原, an American couple from Philadelphia, a man from London and a woman from New Zealand - also seemed to enjoy the meal. This shukubo, with its English-speaking head priest, was definitely a 外人-friendly place to stay!

Next: Koya-san to Kyoto 京都