A month in Japan with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT)
Our trip leaders: Andy – 10 years as a trade advisor in Chicago and Oklahoma City helping Japanese companies establish a presence in the US, former Japanese ambassador to Uruguay, knows his lineage back for 21 generations; Anna – a hazel-eyed Ukrainian tour-guide-in-training/ninja for the group, her English was pretty flawless and probably her Japanese also since she had to jump through extra hoops to assure OAT she could do the job as well as a native, she came to Japan to learn to be a translator and got stuck there by COVID, she was guiding tours for other companies before being discovered by OAT, she did a thorough job of quizzing me on what I thought were the qualities of a good tour guide.
Learning the basics of Japan – electronic toilets and their controls.
Every hotel had a completely waterproof shower room.
Suica cards were used for transportation In Tokyo and other cities.
This is a 1200 year old bonsai plant.
More bonsai – our guide through the bonsai was from Puerto Rico and was in Japan to study under a master.
A cat store – everything for sale was related to cats
Later in the trip, Diane found these “cat hat” machines – just the thing for Halloween!
A cemetery in Tokyo – each of these markers may contain the remains of multiple generations of a family.
At the fish market
Although the sky was often overcast, we only hhad a couple od days with any rain.
Susan, Marianne, Nancy, Doug, Ron, Diane, Deb, Faye, Andy at the Tokyo National Museum.
Parasol/umbrella storage at the museum
A brief history of Japan
Kimonos at the museum
… and also cats
Saddles from the 1300’s
Samurai outfit from the 1700’s
A dragon sculpture I liked
Horse sculpture from the 600’s
… and a tiger I liked
A finger puppet show
Custom puppets can be made from a photo of a person or animal
Andy, Faye, Marianne, Susan, Nancy, Doug, Ron, Deb, Diane at Hongangi Temple in Tsukigi
Interesting use of an old Mini
Kamakura Pig Park
Lotus at Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine
Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shinto Shrine – Faye, Susan, Nancy, Doug, Ron, Diane, Deb, Andy
Sake barrels at the shrine
Cleansing station at the shrine
Kamakura Great Buddha – Oops! Where’s Faye?
Inside the Buddha
Hasedera Protection Statues
Hasedera Buddhist Temple
Hasedera Temple Garden
Hasedera Temple View
Lunch with retired sumo wrestlers, down more than a 100 pounds frfom their competition days
Shubuya Scramble – about 2 million people cross this intersection daily
Statue of Hachiko, a faithful akita who waited daily for his master at the train station.
Taiko drumming
Senso-ji buddhist temple
Visit to a kabuki theater – thanks to Susan for getting us tickets; we were only at one segment of a multi-part performance so our seats were not the best but it was great to experience a part of the traditional Japanese culture (no photos allowed inside).
Kaisei dry rice field
Harvesting by Diane
Watermill at Seto Community House
Seto garden
Inside the Seto house
Back of Seto House
Dressed for dinner at Hakone
Mt Fuji from Hakone
A visit with geishas
Typical Japanese hotel pajamas – these were provided at every hotel
At Kanazawa Castle
Kenrokuen Garden
Parasols are in wide use by the Japanese
Ishikawa Prefectural Museum samurai and panels
At a wagyu beef dinner with Diane and Deb – my best steak in 40 years (my ONLY steak in 40 years!)
Visit to a restored/maintained traditional village
Traditional way of making Mochi – Yes! We all got to try our hand at pounding.
A traditional welcoming dance
A home visit with Michie, a retired English teacher, here showing some of her kimonos and their storage.
Michie dressed Susan, Diane and Deb in Japanese jackets and me in a ceremonial headdress that had belonged to her husband.
Michie enjoying my gift of an aloha tee shirt and macadamia nuts
Arashiyama Bamboo Grove at Tenryu-ji Temple
Kinkakuji Temple
Nijo Castle
Nidec Kyoto Tower
Kyoto Station Light Show
Todai-ji Buddhist Temple, Nara
Inside the Temple
Faye gets blessed for enlightenment in her next life
Deer at Nara Park
Samurai Sword Kenbu
Kyoto boat
Daihikaku Buddhist monastery for a meditation experience
At a sake producer
Fushimi Inari shrine – yes, it did rain this day!
Inside the gates at Fushimi Inari shrine
A visit to kofuns
View from Osaka Sakai City Hall
Wagashi sweets from a master pastry chef
Evening in Osaka
Awaji Island
Museum of 1995 earthquake
Experiencing the earthquake – the VR goggles show belongings in a room being tossed about by the quake.
Sennenichi Sake Brewery
Their Product
Views in Osaka Castle Park
Castle Park Transport
Susan again got us into a traditional Japanese experience – a Bunraku puppet show (life-size puppets with manipulators also onstage in all black)
View from a bullet train
Hiroshima remains near the center point of destruction after the atomic bomb exploded at about 2,000 feet elevation.
Before and after models of the scene above
The Peace Park
The Hello Kitty bullet train arrives in Hiroshima
Shinkansen is the Japanese word for bullet train
After the Hello Kitty bullet train, next was a boat ride at Setonaikai National Park
Art at Onomichi
On the Setodachosetoda temple grounds at Onomichi
At Shimanami Park
Imabari Ferry
Waiting for the bus at Takehara
Takehara mailbox
After traveling by Hello Kitty bullet train, a boat, a ferry and a bus, we ended the day back in Hiroshima
Anoother use of an old car, this time a Packard
Setonaki Gate
The gate from Miyajima Island
Miyajima deer
Itsukushima Shinto Shrine we were there just before the shrine was closed due to the high water level
Daisho-in Buddhist Temple – Andy joked that for the Japanese tour, OAT stood for Oh! Another Temple
Since I am always interested in cars, here are some of the vehicles I saw in Japan. There were also plenty of German cars in Japan: Mercedes, BMW, Audi, VW. I only saw three American cars, two Jeeps and an Explorer. I saw no Accords, Celicas or other American-type Japanese cars (I did see one Tacoma). I did see a Subaru Outback but it looked to be a smaller version of mine. Interestingly, I saw about as many Porsches in Japan as I saw motorcycles (plenty of motor scooters. though).
Recycling truck
Recycling Station
Farm truck
A small flat bed truck
Mini-minivans – prevalent throughout Japan
Honda version
The interesting mix of numbers on Japanese license plates – the dots represent blank numbers
To indicate an elite status, many companies in Japan use English in their signs.
In closing, I will comment that Japan is extremely clean. Although the cities were crowded, the people were quiet, reserved, helpful and respectful.
Ron's Travels 