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Welcome to the spiritual home of esoteric dilettantism.
Monday, May 10, 2004
Back from the road
Exhale deeply.
I am back from a 9-day odyssey through the middle of Japan with my Mom and sister. A non-exhaustive list of places visited and things done might look like this:
Day one:
Pick up the kids at the airport. Eat at the super-good mom and pop izakaya "Wa no marutora."
Day two:
Go to Goutokuji cat temple, Ueno zoo and the national museum.
Hop the train for Nagoya. Eat famous Nagoya chicken for dinner.
Day three:
Go to Hida-takayama for their funky old village style buildings. Eat miso on a leaf for lunch. Go to creepy robotic parade float museum.
Hop a train to Kyoto.
Eat at a sushi restaurant in Kyoto that I'm quite fond of.
Day four:
Go to Sanjuusangen-do and walk philosopher's path. Go out for dinner in Gion at a nice restaurant with course menu. Got loaded on really nice cold sake.
Day five:
Woke up hungover and hating life. Hopped a train to Koya-san mountain temple complex. Walked around for one and a half pleasant hours in light rain followed by one unpleasant hour in hard rain before giving up and going back to the station. Ate at a department store and called it an early night.
Day six:
Went to Nijo castle in the morning and Arashiyama in the afternoon. Met up with Brian and Kozue for dinner at a fashionable restaurant.
Day seven:
Went to Ohara for paper-making and temple visit with Brian, then to Hiei-san mountain temple complex in the afternoon.
Hopped a train to Fukui where we stayed at a retro-disco-onsen with excitable staff and a large crab feast for dinner.
Day eight:
Went to zen temple Eihei-ji in the morning. Hopped a train for Kanazawa. Walked around town and had dinner at a restaurant specializing in Kaga-ryouri.
Day nine:
Went to Kenroku-en garden and Nomura samurai house before splitting for Nagano. Walked around Zenko-ji temple before eating vegetarian buddhist cuisine dinner at our temple lodgings.
Day ten:
Woke up very early to go to morning services at Zenko-ji. Abbess touched our heads with prayer beads as she walked by in the morning. Hopped a train for Tokyo. Saw the Edo-Tokyo Museum, watched a sumo tournament, went to go see the band Stereolab, then had dinner at a California restaurant in Shibuya.
Day eleven:
Saw mom and Sara off at Shibuya before going to work, where I sit now writing this.
So...tired...
I am back from a 9-day odyssey through the middle of Japan with my Mom and sister. A non-exhaustive list of places visited and things done might look like this:
Day one:
Pick up the kids at the airport. Eat at the super-good mom and pop izakaya "Wa no marutora."
Day two:
Go to Goutokuji cat temple, Ueno zoo and the national museum.
Hop the train for Nagoya. Eat famous Nagoya chicken for dinner.
Day three:
Go to Hida-takayama for their funky old village style buildings. Eat miso on a leaf for lunch. Go to creepy robotic parade float museum.
Hop a train to Kyoto.
Eat at a sushi restaurant in Kyoto that I'm quite fond of.
Day four:
Go to Sanjuusangen-do and walk philosopher's path. Go out for dinner in Gion at a nice restaurant with course menu. Got loaded on really nice cold sake.
Day five:
Woke up hungover and hating life. Hopped a train to Koya-san mountain temple complex. Walked around for one and a half pleasant hours in light rain followed by one unpleasant hour in hard rain before giving up and going back to the station. Ate at a department store and called it an early night.
Day six:
Went to Nijo castle in the morning and Arashiyama in the afternoon. Met up with Brian and Kozue for dinner at a fashionable restaurant.
Day seven:
Went to Ohara for paper-making and temple visit with Brian, then to Hiei-san mountain temple complex in the afternoon.
Hopped a train to Fukui where we stayed at a retro-disco-onsen with excitable staff and a large crab feast for dinner.
Day eight:
Went to zen temple Eihei-ji in the morning. Hopped a train for Kanazawa. Walked around town and had dinner at a restaurant specializing in Kaga-ryouri.
Day nine:
Went to Kenroku-en garden and Nomura samurai house before splitting for Nagano. Walked around Zenko-ji temple before eating vegetarian buddhist cuisine dinner at our temple lodgings.
Day ten:
Woke up very early to go to morning services at Zenko-ji. Abbess touched our heads with prayer beads as she walked by in the morning. Hopped a train for Tokyo. Saw the Edo-Tokyo Museum, watched a sumo tournament, went to go see the band Stereolab, then had dinner at a California restaurant in Shibuya.
Day eleven:
Saw mom and Sara off at Shibuya before going to work, where I sit now writing this.
So...tired...
