When nature calls

I think that most travelers who visited Japan will agree with me on this: there are many public toilets, they are very clean and you don't have to pay to use them.

Basically, there are 2 models: the good old trustworthy hole-in-the-ground model and the techo model.

The first one needs little explanation: get in position, do your thing and flush:

 

The more advanced models closely resemble the Western-style toilets with the addition of a control panel:

Everything is labeled in Japanese but quite often, the basic functions are also described in English. So what's with all these buttons? Depending on the model, there is button for flushing a lot of water and another one for flushing just a little bit. Sometimes the button or lever is hidden behind the toilet or you have a big button on the wall. The more smarter toilets just flush automatically.

Note that the seat is warmed which much be great in the winter but one can do really without when the weather is warm. I only found a button to switch this off on one toilet.

Another knob sprays your behind (there is also one specifically for the feminine parts). You can control the water pressure and depending on the model, the temperature of the water, switch between a non-stop stream and an interleaved stream. Make sure that you know where the "STOP" button is before engaging the butt spray! Some toilets also have a dryer installed.

In Japan, toilet noises are a bit of a taboo. That's why there is also a button which generates sound (e.g.: running water) so that you can mask your trumpet solo and other assorted noises.

As you can see on the photos, there are many other buttons. I haven't found out what they are for and didn't dare to press them in case I inadvertently activated the ejection seat.

So all in all, using the toilet in Japan is quite enjoyable once you've figured it out.

Osaka

Well, these are our last two days in Japan. We're staying in Osaka, the third largest city of the country.

We paid a visit to the Kaiyukan aquarium, a nice outing for young and old.

The aquarium is a very popular place, so expect many people and noisy children:

The rest of our time was spent on some lazy walking, shopping and of course dining out. Our last meal here was "Kaiseki": a typical Japanese dinner with lots of different dishes.

Next post will be written from home. I'm sure you'll want to know how to operate a Japanese toilet and other facts of daily life here.

Mata kondo!

Sambommatsu

We're now in a bed & breakfast in the small village Sambommatsu. This is a bit of a resting point in the countryside.

In order to ensure a room in Nirvana with a view on hell, we visited the temple complex in Murouji, a nearby village. A lot of the statues date from the 9th century and are extremely well preserved. Alas no pictures were allowed of these statues, so you'll have to pay a visit yourself in order to admire them. 

In our zealous effort to get to the highest temple, we had to climb some stairs:

And then some more stairs...

More stairs...

Catching our breath before taking some...stairs!

We love stairs...

And crossing bridges which lead to...

More stairs!

Stairs it is

Now check out this ancient temple, wasn't it worth all these stairs?

I'm out of breath now. More news in a next post.

Koyasan

We're now staying in the guestroom for pilgrims in the Kumagai temple in Koyasan (mount Koya). This mount was first used by Kukai, the founder of Shingon Buddhism in 819. Lodging on the temple grounds also means following the rules: at 06:30 we participated at the morning ceremony followed by the fire ritual. Afterwards, breakfast was served. The rooms are very tidy and 100% Japanese. We have a nice view on the inner garden:

This is our bedroom:

And here is our dining room:

The meals are vegetarian (I even think they are vegan) in accordance with Buddhist practice.

One of the must-sees in Koyasan is the "Okunoen" cementary with more than 200.000 tombstones:

The Kongobuji temple is also worth a visit, there are some beautiful Zen-gardens:

We've now finished our evening meal and are preparing to go to the Obon festival. One of the activities is an attempt to break the Guiness world record of the longest line of candles lit in relay. Obon is a Japanese custom to honor the spirits of their ancestors which are supposed to return to their earthly homes. Here in Koyasan ten thousands of candles are placed on both sides of the long approach leading to Kobo Daishi's mausoleum.

Mata kondo!

Kumano Kodo

We're back after travelling two days on the Kumano Kodo, an ancient pelgrim road through the mountains. Our first itinerary was from Nachi to Koguchi. Luckily we didn't know in advance how difficult the road would be. Even emperors and poets complained about the hardship of the road.
We needed almost 8 hours to travel 13.5 km. The scenery is very lovely:

Although we took 4 liter of water with us, we had no problem downing another 2 liter on arrival.
The next day we went from Koguchi to Yunomine. The road was less difficult but nevertheless we were happy to arrive at our Ryokan. here is a view of the mountains:

Next stop will be Koyasan where we will see the "Obon" festival. 

Kii-Katsuura

I'll skip talking about the many beautiful tempels in Kyoto. It would spoil the fun in case you want to visit them.

Currently we are in Kii-Katsuura, a small harbor village about 5 hours by train from Kyoto. Using the free ferry, we visited the onsen at the island just across.

Every day at 07:00, there is a fish auction which is then served in the local restaurants. We already enjoyed sashimi (raw fish, served with soy sause, wasabi and an assortment of vegetables) and a dish of big prawns in a soft chili sauce. The whole got flushed down with some good sake. Note that in the small local restaurants, English is not spoken. If you don't speak Japanese, just point at a picture displaying food, smile, nod and hope for the best :-).

As we're planning to walk the Kumano-Kodo trail for 2 days, we already checked out our starting point: the Daimon-zaka, Nachi Taisha Shrine and waterfall:

Our main concern is the temperature which climbed to 35 degrees Celsius but feels like 41 due to the high humidity. As we have each have a backpack to carry, this won't be a picknick. Each day we do around 14 km through the mountains. Travelling time is estimated around 6 to 8 hours walking (rests included) and there are no restaurants on the trail. According to the locals, only tourists do this. Sensible people take the bus, snap some pictures and then head off to the nearest souvenir shop.

For the next days we probably won't have access to the internet. If we survive this ordeal, I'll post a message from mount Koya where we will participate in the "obon matsuri".

In the footsteps of Tokugaya Ieyashu

Sekigahara 1600

This was the place and time when Tokugawa Ieyasu's army beat the crap out of lord Ishisa's retainers. This lead to the unification of Japan as we know it. As a kind of afterparty, the Nijo castle was built in 1603 as the official residence of Tokugawa and duly visited by yours truly.

Alas no pictures of the inside as this was forbidden.

To keep in the spirit we also visited the imperial palace in Kyoto. Here only the inner courtyards are accessible and some beautiful gardens :

Bicycling in Kyoto

The good thing is that a bicycle is really very convenient to discover Kyoto. We found a store were it gets cheaper to rent a bike the longer you rent it. By contrast our hotel failed miserably: they charge 1500 yen/day no matter how many days you rent it. Our shop starts at 1000 yen, then 800 for the next day, etc. The last day we only pay 400 yen.

Things that suck:

• You have to drive on the walkway (where the pedestrians walk) so forget about speeding through the city. Still it beats walking.
• You cannot park your bike on the street (against a pole, a house, a fence,...) or else your risk that city workers remove your bike. You must use a bicycle parking (200 yen) and these are scarse, small and thus almost always full. Wake up Kyoto!!! A bike does NOT pollute your city. Note that if you ask it, some restaurants/shops will allow you to stall your iron horse in front of their establishment. Today we did not go to several restaurants because of this problem.
• On some walkways it's clearly marked that a part is reserved for bikes. The habitants just plain ignore this. Idem when you frantically ring your bell. 

Our own hotel refuses us to park our bikes downstairs even though there is plenty of space. That's also Japan I'm afraid...

In case you wondered how we got fed this evening: first we parked our bikes at the private parking of the rental shop. Then we walked 12 minutes back to our hotel to wash/change clothes. Some more walking took us to a Japanese restaurant where we managed to eat all this :

Mata kondo!

Kyoto

When Kannon-sama arises in your mind, 

then you are in Oneness with Kannon-sama

Kiyomizu-dera

"dera" means temple. We expected to hear temple bells and hear monks chanting or reciting. However, the temple grounds were flooded with people (most of them were Chinese) and it resembled more a marketplace than a sacred ground. If you're familiar with the scriptures of the New Testament, check out the passage where Jesus flogged the merchants and threw over their vending stalls to get an idea of the atmosphere.

Apart from that, quite a nice place to visit:

Fushimi Inari Taishi Shrine

I forgot to mention: We loaned bikes for 5 days. Since Kyoto is basically flat, this is the best way to get around without paying a lot for busses and local trains.

During the hottest part of the day,  when every sensible Japanese is staying at home, at work or at least in the neighborhood of an airco, we went to the place with the hundreds of Tori (gates). Once more way too many people, but after a bit of climbing, you get rid of the noisy crowd.

Tofukuji temple

This was the best experience of the day: a quiet Zen garden in the middle surrounded by a lot more gardens. This is the first time we experienced a bit of quitness :

Eating and drinking

As mentionned earlier, going out to eat in Japan is a lot cheaper than in Belgium. Having gone (almost) native, we eat our breakfast in front of our hotel in a typical Japanese "restaurant". On entry you have to deal with the vending machine in order to choose the meal (this can be breakfast, lunch or dinner) you want. You then get tickets which get processed by the waiter. Within minutes you can start to eat. My breakfast today was: a bowl of rice,  soup, grilled salmon, some undefined vegetables and seaweed. My wife had also a bowl of rice, a omelette, the same undefined vegetables, soup and seaweed. With that you get as much cold tea as you want.

In the local supermarkts such as the 7/11, or Familymart, one can buy ready-made dishes. Either to eat cold or else to micowave. The local beers (e.g.: Kirin, Asahi, Saporro, Yebisu,...)  all taste the same and they only have the equivalent of horsepiss: nothing above 5% alcohol and only "blond" beer although I heard that there also exists some "black" beer. I miss a good trappist, but under the current weather conditions, I must admit that a cool beer does wonders to restore one's spirit.