Wakayama

This weekend we had another wonderful Japanese adventure. On Saturday morning we loaded a bus with a bunch of our friends and headed towards Wakayama. We had never been on a bus tour before, so we didn't exactly know what to expect. Our first stop was Shirasaki Ocean Park along the Kii peninsula in Wakayama. We got out and stretched our legs a little bit and enjoyed the beautiful ocean views. Audrey and I were starving so we snacked on some pastries and then loaded back on the bus. Our next stop was the Sandan-Peki cliffs. These cliffs were famous for housing Japanese war ships in its hidden caves but more recently for being a hot spot for suicide jumpers. YIKES. We are pleased to say that we saw none of that while we were there and getting close to the edge was enough for my stomach to do flips. So along the theme of staying away from the edge, Audrey and I had some Ume (plum) ice cream that really hit the spot and enjoyed browsing a few souvenir shops. Then it was back to the bus... pressing on toward the final destination. We were about 7 hours into our trip by this point and were getting a little restless on the bus. So in true Japanese fashion, they busted out the karaoke machine. A giant screen folded down from the ceiling of the bus and we were rockin and rollin toward our next stop, Hashikuiiwa, or "bridge stake" rocks along the Kii peninsula. It was a beautiful sight as the sun was setting and the waves were rolling in between the rocks. After some leg stretching and a few pictures we were back on the bus... next stop Urashima Hotel. Now this hotel was named after a boy named Urashima Taro. A story that dates back to the 8th century explains how a young fisherman named Urashima Tarō was fishing when he noticed a small turtle being tormented by some children. Urashima Taro rushed over and saved the turtle and let it go back into the sea. The day after a huge turtle approached him and told him that the small turtle he had saved was the daughter of the Emperor of the Sea, who wanted to see him to thank him. The turtle magically gave Tarō gills and brought him to the bottom of the sea. There he met the Emperor and the small turtle, who was now a lovely princess, Otohime. Tarō stayed there with her for a few days, then he was caught by the desire to go back to his village and see his aging mother, so he asked her permission to leave. The princess said she was sorry to see him go, but wished him well and gave him a mysterious box which she told him never to open, for whatever reason. Tarō grabbed the box, jumped on the back of the same turtle that had brought him to the Palace, and soon was home. But everything had changed. His home was gone, his mother had vanished, the people he knew were nowhere to be seen. He asked if anybody knew a man called Urashima Tarō. They answered that they had heard someone of that name had vanished at sea long ago. He discovered that 300 years had passed since the day he had left for the bottom of the sea. Struck by grief, he absent-mindedly opened the box the princess had given him. Out of it came a cloud of white smoke. He suddenly aged, his beard grew long and white, and his back bent. He was now a very old man. And from the sea came the sad, sweet voice of the princess: "I told you not to open that box. In it was your old age ..." I guess the story didn't have much of a happy ending, but it was entertaining none the less. When our bus arrived at the hotel, we had to load onto a ferry boat to take us to the island that our hotel was on. Now this wasn't just any hotel. Yes it has a cool name based upon a popular Japanese story, but even better than that it has seven onsens. Now if you are just tuning into our blog you need to know that I have been absolutely obsessed with onsen since we got here. So the idea of having seven different hot baths to choose from was pretty exciting for me. On top of that, two of the onsens were in caves that over looked the the ocean. Needless to say once I set foot in that hotel I had only two things in mind... Onsen and Dinner. There was an all you can eat buffet with everything from sushi to fried chicken, tempura to french fries. It was awesome. Once we were stuffed we headed back to our hotel room to put on our turtle yukatas and then headed for the first onsen to begin our stamp rally. The stamp rally consists of taking a map to every onsen you go to and getting a stamp for each of them. If you got all seven stamps you could turn in your map and get a prize.  By 8:00 we had begun our whirlwind tour of the onsen. Audrey went with the girls and I went with a couple of guys from Shirasagi. I was on a roll and ended up soaking in six of the seven onsens that night. It was probably the most relaxing 4 hours I have ever spent. The cave onsens were amazing. The water was warm and the cool ocean breeze was perfect. That coupled with the waves crashing against the rocks created the perfect combination for relaxation. Audrey ended up only going to three onsens but her and her friend decided to get all of the stamps anyway. We met back in the room around midnight and curled up on our traditional Japanese futons for the night. The next morning we headed back to the cave onsen, I got my last stamp and one last soak before the long bus ride home. We boarded the bus again at 9:00 am and headed back towards Himeji. Much like the bus ride to Wakayama we made many stops. The first stop was the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage path a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The scenery was incredible. We were surrounded by trees and natural beauty. At the top of the path was a shrine and many beautiful Japanese buildings. After walking around for a bit we jumped back on the bus and headed just around the corner to Nachi Falls, known as one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Japan. After loading back on the bus we stopped for a bit at a pickled plum factory and a soy sauce factory. Both were very interesting as we could learn a bit more about the Japanese culture, through food. We ended up back in Himeji around 9:00 Sunday evening needing another weekend to recover from this exciting weekend.

Sandan-Peki cliffs

Lovers in Japan

Hashikuiiwa

Wearing our Turtle Yukatas

Our traditional Japanese room

Turtle ferry to and from Urashima Hotel

Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Path

Rubbin' the belly

I love the waterfall in the background

Nichi Falls

Tea Ceremony

On Sunday, Audrey and I were invited to a tea ceremony. One of my former Shogai students, who is now Audrey's student, is a tea ceremony instructor and wanted to share one of her passions with us. While we were excited to experience another part of Japanese culture, I was pretty leery of sitting on the floor for a couple hours. For those of you who know me well, you know that I just don't do floors very well. I have never been able to sit "Indian style" or "criss cross apple sauce" whatever you want to call it doesn't really work for me. I think my thighs are abnormally large and not flexible enough to comfortably contort for extended periods of time. Now Audrey on the other hand, having danced for years has no problem with the whole floor sitting routine and finds it hilarious watching me squirm around every 5 seconds as I try not to topple over or lose feeling to my lower extremities. So after waiting in line for about 20 minutes we finally headed into our tea ceremony room. There were probably 20 little Japanese ladies in our group and me... a giant, stiff, American. Man I felt out of place. Somehow I ended up sitting next to a lady who is famous throughout Himeji as one of the most honored and revered tea ceremony ladies. What are the odds that I, the stiff giant American would end up sitting right next to her! As if I wasn't already uncomfortable enough, I had her shifty little eyes on me the whole time as I tried my best to sit still and follow the eating and drinking rules. Twenty minutes later the ceremony was over. Thankfully I had not moved around too much and followed the rules pretty well. Unfortunately, my right leg had to take on for the team as it had been asleep for a good 10 minutes. I figured that I had made it through the worst, the ceremony was beautiful now on to bigger and more comfortable things. Well, I figured wrong. That was just the first of two tea ceremonies we were going to that day. So after leaving one tea room we went deeper into the building to another room. This time there were already people inside finishing up so we had too... you guessed it... sit on the floor outside and wait for them to finish. Now this hallway was small and cramped so there wasn't much room to stretch even if I wanted to. I decided at this point that if there was any possible way for me to avoid sitting on the floor I was going to go for it. I noticed there were some small stools at the back of the room that we were entering so I figured if I could wrestle one of them away from a little old Japanese lady then I would be in the clear. I waited until everyone sat down and I had scoped out one that was not being used. I asked one of our students if it was okay for me to sit there and she said that it was fine and that I could bring the seat over next to her and Audrey. Just as I grabbed the seat and started to move it there was a large murmur of Japanese throughout the room. A bunch of these ladies were waving their arms and shaking their heads at me. After a couple minutes of confusion and discussion amongst themselves they decided that I could not move the seat and that I had to sit where I was. This was fine with me as long as it meant I could maintain feeling in my legs. I enjoyed this tea ceremony much better from my new spot. Overall it was a great experience. We love learning these small nuances of the Japanese culture.

Me and Audrey sitting (un)comfortably with our students!
Outside of the Tea house
Himeji Castle from the tea house
Beautiful pond out side the tea house

Okayama

Last weekend we made a day trip Okayama with some of our closest friends. Our first stop was a garden called Korakuen. The garden, which was built in the seventeenth century by the local feudal lord. It is ranked as one of Japan's three most beautiful landscape gardens. It contains ponds, tea houses, pavilions, woods, several small shrines and wide lawns. Okayama Castle, also known as "the Crow," stands just next to Korakuen. We spent about an hour and a half walking around the garden, enjoying our time with friends in such a beautiful setting. After leaving the garden we took a short ride to a famous old city that seemed to be almost frozen in time. Kurashiki was founded in the early 1900s as a store house town. Known as a center for storing rice form the surrounding areas. These store houses have now been turned into shops that sell everything to traditional Japanese crafts to Hello Kitty merchandise. We had so much fun just walking around soaking up the traditional Japanese atmosphere. All in all it was a wonderful day. We feel so blessed to have been able to experience such a beautiful part of Japan with our good friends.

Korakuen
Audrey and I in front of "The Crow"
Making wishes and trying to get our rocks to stay on top so that our wishes will come true
Great Friends!
Lovers in Kurashiki

Yukata's and Kimono's

On Saturday Audrey and I were invited to spend the afternoon with our best friends here in Himeji. We had told them that I wanted to learn how to tie an obi so that when Audrey wanted to show off her kimono, I could wrap her up. Well this turned into a fashion show for Audrey. The lady that came over to give us lessons brought a slew of kimonos and dressed Audrey in each of them and had her pose for pictures. She looked so beautiful and had a great time "playing dress up." In between outfit changes we had lunch and enjoyed our afternoon. For those of you who are wondering, I did learn how to tie the obi, now lets just hope I can remember how when we get home. Overall it was a great day with friends.

A couple days later, a couple of Audrey's students invited us to lunch and to play dress up with them as well. Never wanting to turn down tasty Japanese food or a chance to build relationships with our friends/students we jumped at the opportunity. This time it was just one wardrobe change but Audrey rocked that yukata! We had a delicious lunch and great conversation with Audrey's students. Just another example of how blessed we are to have this opportunity to live here in Japan.

Audrey in one of many kimonos for the dayThats right... I tied the obi... I know you are impressed!
Lovers in Japan
Audrey and her students