Literally back on my feet this weekend, I was itching to get out and adventure. Unfortunately I was particularly undecided as to where I should go. After much thought I decided that I hadn't seen half of Kyoto's famous temples yet. Being the cheap-skate I am I decided to take the Hankyu train in (600yen vs. 1050yen for JR.) this deposited my in the Shijo district (North of Kyoto station.)

Looking at a map it seemed like a pretty easy walk to Kinkaku-ji. This brings me to an important point: Never Ever Trust Japanese Maps - EVER. The idea of "scale" seems to have been lost when it comes to Japanese maps. What may look like two blocks in the "downtown" section will end up being 4 kilometers on the outskirts. So, most of my morning was spent hiking half way across Kyoto, which, as it turns out, is not that small of a place.

Kinkaku-ji was pretty much everything you've seen in every piece of Japanese travel literature (see picture below.) One addition you don't usually think about is the concentration of foreigners or the presence every Japanese school kid ever (some of whom I was interviewed by for a class project.)

After the morning's walk I decided it was a good time to try the bus system again. Partly due to my inexperience in reading a Japanese bus schedule as well as my lack of a bus map it took me two buses and another half-hour hike to get to Ginkaku-ji. The main pavilion building here was undergoing major renovations but the rock garden and the moss-covered hillside were still worth the trek.

Getting a better idea of how to utilize the buses (and finding the "Kyoto Sightseeing Route" bus) my next hop, down to Kiyomizi-dera, went smoothly. The walk up the hill from the bus stop to the temple was overly crowded with shops, students, and tourists. The balcony is really a feat of engineering: the fact that it can hold so many sight-seers at once is amazing. Kiyomizu offers a fantastic panorama of Kyoto and would be a great place to watch a sunset (as it faces West.)

Lastly I headed to Kyoto station to get some dinner and photograph the sunset from the roof again. Unfortunately I forgot to charge my battery after last weekend and I ran out of juice after a few interior shots of the station building.

The definitive "Picture of Japan"
Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion.

The pavilion at Ginkaku-ji is currently being renovated.
The "moon viewing mound" in Ginakaku-ji's rock garden.Looking down on Ginkaku-ji's main hall from the mountain side.The main gate at Kiyomizu-drea.
Note the throngs of people.

The balcony at Kiyomizu-dera.
Again note the throngs of people.

The spring who's water the temple is named.Finally, a good shot of the inside of Kyoto station.
Note, it's not Halloween yet and the Christmas tree is already up.

Wednesday morning was greeted with more indecision. Eventually I decided to re-visit Nara. looking at Google Maps, trying to decide where to go, I remembered that Nara has it's own set of ancient mounded tombs.

Arriving in Nara I headed to a small tomb located near the station. After walking the wrong (read:long) way around the block all I found was a small gated-off tree-covered hill.

After lunch I asked at the tourist information booth if there was a bus that went out to the other mounds on the outskirts of town. (Ha,ha! No more map-deception for me!) Fast forward through waiting for the bus, riding, getting off, walking the extra 20 minutes because the bus doesn't actually go anywhere near the tombs. And we get there to find a wholly un-amazing place. No, I tried really hard to be amazed... I mean these tombs are hundereds of years old, they're huge man-made earthworks. Edit: the mounded tombs in Nara are some of the first "kofun" or key-hole tombs. There are about ten total in the area. They were built in the mid third century A.D. most likely to house the remains of the pre-"Japan" rulers when the country was known as "Wa". Yeah... my advice, if in Nara, skip the tombs.

Had I not read about these in Japanese history class I'd have thought it just another tree covered island.
Well, actually I wouldn't have taken a bus then walked 20 minutes to see it in the first place.

This site was slightly more interesting in that it had two moats and this gate at one end.

That was more or less my weekend. Next weekend is ANOTHER three-day-er. I'm looking to, perhaps, do something a little more long distance (rather than the day trips I've been doing.) In addition I'm taking my first Saturday off in six months this week. I also have a four day weekend coming up mid-november during which I hope to be able to get out of town. Sheesh, with all this free time, it's no wonder I can't come up with enough things to do.

Oh, you may or may not have noticed a new link on the sidebar (over there ==>) that says "More Pictures". I've created a Flickr account and uploaded some of my favorite pictures. It's not the "see all my pictures" solution I was looking for (there's a really low upload cap for Flickr) but you can see some of my non-blog-storytelling pictures. Enjoy!

Jaa Mata Ne.

Only Human

Sorry, no adventure this week. I stayed in the house all "weekend" nursing a sore throat I believe to be from the perfect storm of draining sinuses, the change of the season, and talking for a living. Not to mention the need for laundry and that it rained all day yesterday. Here to hoping I'm back at 100% by next "weekend". Until then:

Jaa Mata Ne.

P.s. It's worth noting that I passed the half-way-point in my first year's contract last Saturday. w00t!

Monday I decided that I'd head to Takedao to check out the old railway there that had been converted to a hiking path. I got a fairly early start and stopped in Motoko Town to pick up a flashlight from one of the shady electronics stores there. I hopped on a limited express JR train out of Kobe station towards Amagasaki where I planned to transfer to the Takarazuka line. Unfortunately when the train it's stop stop in Ashia (one station short) it didn't move again. After watching most of the people exit the train and carefully listening to what the announcer was saying over and over I realized there was some obstruction ahead and that the train would remain in the station for the unforeseen future. At this point I took the announcer's advice and hoofed it to Hankyu-Ashia station (thank goodness for three parallel train lines between Kobe and Osaka) and took a very roundabout path to finally arrive in Takedao.

From reading other people's blogs on trips to the Takedao trails I figured there was one or two kilometers of trail and a few old train tunnels (some long and dark, hence the flashlight.) What I actually found was the entire line was accessible complete with bridges, many tunnels (indeed very long/deep), and many many kilometers of trail. As I was expecting a short hike I took my time, going slowly and taking numerous pictures. The railway followed a beautiful river that flows down a tree lined valley. Even if the train was still in use this would have been a worthwhile ride just for the scenery. The tunnels were a challenge. Some were long/winding enough that you couldn't see the light of either end from the middle. I was glad I brought a flashlight.

After about a two and a half hour hike I came out in a semi-populated area. I wandered around wondering if I needed to turn back (no visible train/bus station to be found.) I asked some locals who advised me the next big town was another half hours walk down the road. After twenty minutes of walking and swearing under my breath about being sure I was lost in the mountains and wouldn't see civilization again, I came upon what happened to be a town I passed through earlier in the day while I was changing trains. Being fairly exhausted at this point I jumped on the first train and headed home.

Almost the entirety of the town of Takedao can be seen on the left.

The first of the tunnels. Short enough to see the other end.

Old speed limit sign.

This is what the first half of the trails look like (note the ties still in place.)
Later the trail in un-groomed and some ties have been removed.
Also, note that walking on railroad ties is a lot of work.

The biggest bridge on the trail (gee, looks like I'm on it, doesn't it...)

One of the later tunnels. Note the foliage closing in on the path.

Beautiful mountain scenery.

The river had its fair share of rapids as it twisted and turned through the valley.

The sunset reflected on a building near Kobe station.

Partly due to lingering exhaustion from the previous day but mostly due to the rain which continued to fall throughout the day: Tuesday was a write-off as far as adventure goes. I did put in 5 solid hours on my Wii and managed to finish my last William Gibson book (I've now read all of his full length novels.)

Wednesday the weather report promised another mild, sunny day. Again I got an early start, this time deciding to check out Rokko Mountain. Rokko Mountain is actually a bit of a mis-nomer. It's actually the Rokko mountain range (the highest point in which is simply called "Rokko Mountain Range's Highest Point".) Semantics aside I had seen and advertisement on the train for a "1 day pass" that covers the train to the mountain as well as transport up, down, and around the mountain itself. All in a I think I got my moneys worth out of the pass

Most of the day was spent moving around and went some thing like this: First the train from Sannomiya to Hankyu-Rokko station. Then the bus from the station to the bottom of the mountain (a short trip, but enough to put me off using the bus again any time soon- late, slow, bumpy, crowded, etc.) Next it was up the near vertical mountain side by cable car. Once at the top I went by bus to the "Rokko Mountain Garden Terrace" which has a nice panorama and a cafeteria where I stopped for lunch. After snapping a few pictures and having a nice chat with some Japanese hikers I took the rope-way down the other side of the mountain into the hot-spring town Arima. Skipping the loop bus I decided to walk around Arima (a bad choice as the rope-way station was farther from town than I thought.) Once I had seen most of what was to be seen I hopped on the train out of Arima (the same train I take to and from work on Thursdays) and came home to rest up for the work week.

The bottom cable car station.

The cable car.

View from the top cable car station. (Not what I'd call a "sunny day"... stupid weather report)

A sign in the cable car station.
The 9th exclamation point lets you know they're serious.
(Also "No, Drugs")

The lookout tower at Rokko Garden Terrace.

The observatory on Rokko Mountain.

Rokko Garden Terrace see from the lookout tower.

From the top of Mt. Rokko looking towards Osaka.

One of the springs in Arima.
The orange color comes from the iron heavy water.
(Not pictured the funny sulfur smell that permeates the town.)

Oh yeah, this is what Arima station will look like in the year 2000...

...or perhaps not...

And that, more or less, was my weekend. Looking into the future there's a whopping three weeks until my next three day weekend. Two weeks after that, however, I get a mini-vacation in the form of a "4 day weekend." And, while I'm forecasting... winter break is fast approaching... Well, anywho, that's it for now. Til' next time:

Jaa Mata Ne.

P.s. I fixed last weeks post, all instances of the place name "Ashia" were corrected to read "Akashi".

Blogging through a viewfinder.

The posting process actually starts weeks in advance with meticulous planning and research. The process carries through and ends only after a crack team of highly paid editors has thoroughly examined each post for the quality. Thus, with the utmost desire for perfection in mind... do we return to reality where we shall see that my creative process in no way resembles this.

For starters, about the farthest out my "preparations" go is a week. Generally after I upload a week's post I go check the long-term forecast for the next week. I usually keep tabs throughout the week too (though this is mostly a side effect of checking to see if I'll need an umbrella for work on any given day.) Weather is one of the biggest things I take into consideration when choosing a place to go adventuring. Hiking up a mountain in the pouring rain is just as miserable as walking a flat 10km in the boiling heat.

Now fast forward five days. It's Tuesday morning. Assuming it's not a laundry/housework weekend I'll generally be checking my e-mail and mulling over what to do/ where to go. If I'm lucky I might have received a tip from one of my students about someplace cool to go. Or maybe I've gotten some inspiration during the week and will be burning to do something special. Otherwise it's generally a throw-darts-at-a-map type decision process.

Usually by the time I've made my mind up it's late morning. Then by the time I'm showered, dressed, have my bag packed, get out the door, and am on my way to the day's destination it's about lunch time. Typically making lunch an early stop on any adventure.

The actual adventure part has changed (for the better, I think) since I first arrived in Japan. For the first few months I was only covering a few kilometers of turf each day. This had a lot to do with the summer heat (not to mention how out of shape I was.) In addition I was using my Canon IXY10 which is a pocket sized point-and-shoot digital camera which had a tendency to stay in my pocket. Since summer has slipped into fall it's possible to walk more than two meters without sweating buckets. Sans car, walking everywhere has built up my stamina (remember that hill I lived on top of for three months?) I'm now able to cover much more ground in a given day than I was before. Lastly with my new Nikon D60, a full sized DSLR camera, I have a tendency to wear it around my neck (very tourist-sheik) and since it's always out I have tend to take more pictures.

When I get home in the evening, I first plug my camera into my laptop and download all the pictures I've taken. Next I import said photos into Apple's iPhoto for ease of review. I then back-up all of the weekend's pictures to my external hard drive (unlike real photos digital "negatives" are a lot easier to accidentally delete/erase/corrupt and lose forever.) Once the pictures are safe in at least two locations I erase the camera's memory card so I have lots of space the next time I want to use it. With the addition of the D60 to my setup there's a new step of cleaning the camera lenses (which are a lot more sensitive than the little IXY10's.)

Wednesdays mornings look a lot like Tuesday mornings. Occasionally I'll have enough forethought on Tuesday to plan Wednesday as well which gets me out of the house a little faster in the morning. The main difference is what happens when I get home in the evening.

Wednesdays, once the cameras are emptied and cleaned it's time to sort through some pictures. As previously noted I've started taking a lot more pictures (I took more photos one day in Kyoto last week than I did all 6 days I spent in Hiroshima.) The nice thing about digital photography is the ability to take as many pictures as you like without having to worry about film/printing costs. That being said I end up with a lot of junk shots; pictures of things I though were interesting at the time but didn't photograph well, pictures taken with poor lighting, artsy shots taken for the sake of aesthetics. With the unusable shots out of the way it's time to find a few pictures that best represent what I did on a given weekend.

Next up is taking the selected pictures into [digital photo-editing software name here] and making them Internet ready. First, if the lighting or color of a photo is off, I correct that as best I can. Next, I have a tendency to hold my camera 1 degree clockwise off of straight so any picture with a horizon line needs to be rotated. At this point any cropping needed is done as well. Also, before moving on I try to remove any faces accidentally captured (Japan is very big on personal privacy. When in Rome...) Lastly, every picture, regardless of being edited or not, is shrunk down to about 1/6 size to make the resulting image file easily uploadable/downloadable.

Moving on it's time to open up Firefox navigate to Blogspot and get to posting. Because of the way Blogspot's interface works I usually upload all the pictures in a given post first, as adding them later is a bit tricky. By the time all the pictures are in order and uploaded I have a pretty good feel for what I'm going to write. Knowing full well this will make some of you shudder (though you've almost certainly realized it by now) but I typically write without an outline just typing whatever comes to mind as I go preferring speed over accuracy (hey it's my blog, not my autobiography.)

Once everything is typed up I give it the once over and a hit of the spellcheck button. Once any readily-visible/glaring errors are fixed I click the upload button and poof! auto-magically my post is available for everyone to see. Once I check the uploaded version for formatting errors I head to the weather site and the cycle begins again.

In the future I'd like to work on adding a few more steps to my process. For example I'd like to be tagging photos as I add them to iPhoto while the memory is still fresh so I won't be stuck going "what the heck was that a picture of again??" down the road. Also I'm searching for someplace to upload my entire photo library online. It's a little tricky to find the right place when you have a stock of 7205 photos taking up over 21 gigs.

My blogging equipment (click for larger image.)

Well, I hope this was insightful, or at very least not totally boring. As I feel motivated I'll try to add some other content besides just "what I did on the weekend" posts. Until next time:

Jaa Mata Ne.

This weekend was one of those pre-paycheck-realization-that-I-need-to-eat-for-the-next-week type adventure weekends. That being said I did splurge a bit on Tuesday and bought a ticket to Akashi (halfway between Kobe and Himeji.) Part of Akashi castle is visible from the train and I've been wanting to check it out since my first trip to Himeji. Well, it turns out there's not much castle to Akashi castle aside from two towers and a lot of foundation. The grounds inside the outer moat are a large park with a lot of greenery and a few small lakes. A nice place if you're into parks, not so much if you're expecting a castle. Anyways I did snap a few pictures before moving on.

The East tower of Akashi castle.

The West tower of Akashi castle.
(You've now seen all that remains of Akashi castle.)

Keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of castle let-down I struck out in search of lunch. On my way I decided to check out Akashi's waterfront. What I found was a nice vantage point for the Banshu-Ako bridge.

It's hard to tell but under the span there are some tiny little HUGE OCEAN GOING CARGO SHIPS dwarfed by the scale of the bridge.

After lunch I headed back in the direction of home on a local train, getting off in Asagiri to check out the mounded tombs there. Unfortunately my map was lacking in detail and I failed to locate them. Asking locals was out of the question as, being in a residential area I was getting some strong "who are you, what are you doing here, when are you leaving," vibes. I eventually found a landmark on my map and navigated myself to the next train station. From there I attempted the next set of mounded tombs down the tracks (yeah, evidently they were big on earth-works in this area.) As seen below I found the right spot this time. It turns out this set of mounds is one of the big "things to see in Hyogo prefecture" (it's shown on a lot of posters and tourist maps.)

Looking North from one end of the tomb.

Looking South from atop the dais.
Seen to the left are Awaji Island and the big bridge.

After tromping around on various ancient burial sites I headed home and rested my feet for the next days adventure.

Wednesday was sunny and warm (as opposed to Tuesday's cool cloudiness) and a great day for a hike. Continuing my theme of inexpensive adventure I decided to re-hike some of the trails behind Shin-Kobe station. The last time I attempted this climb was right as the summer heat was arriving. I failed to go as far as I would have liked to. With a nice combination of weather and preparation (i.e. bringing water this time) I headed out.

The lowest of a series of small dams below the main dam site.

Bottom of the dam pictured above.
It hasn't rained all that hard in the past few days so the river was a bit on the dry side.

Waterfall posted previously.
The sun was at a lovely angle so I took a bunch more pictures.

Really, it's a nice waterfall.

A cool observation point just beyond where I stopped my last time up.

A stone marker on the opposite side of a log-and-vine bridge.

The goal!

The Nunobiki dam, constructed in 1900 has been providing Kobe with drinking water for over a hundred years. It is Japan's oldest gravity dam and survived the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake intact (though it has since been reinforced to prevent future damage.) The Nunobiki reservoir is a tranquil body of water and a nice place to rest away from the bustle of the city.

After taking advantage of said "nice place to rest" for a while I trekked back down the mountain and headed home. And that about does it for my weekend.

Next week as yet another 3 day weekend plus payday weeks which will hopefully equal big adventure. There's rumor of a hiking tail made from a disused railway out near Sanda...

Thank you very much to those who posted feedback, it was (and is always) greatly appreciated. I'm looking into some way to put more of my pictures online. As I posted 12 out of 200+ pictures from the last two days, what you see here is the tip of a very big iceberg. When I figure out how I want to do this I'll let you know where to find them. Lastly, (if I get to typing it up) I'll be posting a mid-week "bonus" post some time this weekend (your weekend, not mine, if that makes sense.) Until then:

Jaa Mata Ne.

The post that almost wasn't

As late as Tuesday evening I was pretty sure I'd be writing a "I did nothing this weekend" post. Typhoon 15 was churning it's way North pushing a lot of rain in front of it. Tuesday was quite gray and soggy. I spent pretty much the entire day sitting around the house which, while relaxing, wasn't much to write home about.

To my great fortune, however, Tuesday evening Typhoon 15 decided to take a hard right turn and spin off into the Pacific, clearing up Wednesday's weather quite nicely. Realizing that I hadn't been to Kyoto in a while I decided to make that the day's outing. In the same vein of realization I remembered that I still hadn't seen the inside of the Imperial Palace AND that Wednesday was NOT a Sunday or a national holiday (the reason I hadn't been before.)

Continuing my current trend of taking tons of photos when I go out I took a whopping 215 on Wednesday alone. And continuing my current trend of posting is another mostly photo post.

Prelude: I arrived in Kyoto about noon and, after getting some lunch, walked up the river to the palace grounds. I almost didn't go inside (again!) Lucky for me a nice couple from Nevada asked me which gate to enter the palace from. I noted I was going the same way and offered to show them. At the gate there was a sign directing interested parties to another building to get a pass before being allowed to enter the palace. Had I been alone I would have thought it too much trouble but, in the interest of helping the tourists we walked together to where the other building was. We had to show our passports (well, I had to show my Gaijin-ID) and then we received a stamped pass which allowed us past security and into the palace proper. Much to our luck there was an English language tour starting just as we arrived. (Lucky because you can't walk around the palace un-escorted.)

A mantis (6" long!) on the gravel outside the palace.
(He stopped and posed while I took the picture, the scurried off.)

One of 6 gates to the palace.
Interesting point #1: the white paint on the ends of the boards is to stop termites.

A special gate build for the current Emperor's coronation.
This is the only building still used by the Emperor on a regular basis.

The grand hall containing the thrones used for imperial coronations for the last few hundred years.
Interesting point #2: the vermilion color on the posts (left/right of the picture) is bright so as to keep away evil spirits.

The old Imperial residence. The Emperor's room faces East so as to catch the breeze in the summer.

One of two gardens on the palace grounds.
Look closely to see a heron(?) sitting on the bridge.One little tree seems to think it's autumn already.
Interesting point #3: Such is the fear of fire in the palace that fireworks are baned in all of Kyoto. (One of the palace buildings burned down from the ember of a fire work launched over a mile away back in the 1950's)

All the pine trees on the palace grounds are cut in the same "Imperial fashion."

After the palace tour was over I parted ways with my Nevadian friends and wandered off more or less in the direction I thought I had heard there was a castle in. After a bit of a hike I got lucky and found Nijojo (Nijo Castle.) I arrived at 3:45 to an announcement over loudspeaker that the main hall closed at 4:00. I made haste and did the interior circuit just in time. The castle grounds were open til' 5:00 so I was able to take my time wandering around. There were more "no photography" signs in the main hall than there was artwork so you just get outside shots.

Outside the mail hall.

A traditional Japanese garden incorporating rocks, plants, and water to convey a sense of expansive landscape in a relatively small area.

The view from the old castle tower base (the tower being long gone.)

The main gate closed promptly at 5:00. A small side gate was left open for visitors to exit.

Just when I thought my day was over... I was in Kyoto station about to go through the gates when I happened to see a map which listed and observation deck at the top of the station (the station is quite large and had a huge empty internal space.)

Kyoto tower (across from Kyoto station) at dusk.

Ya know, there's never a taxi when ya need one.

A beautiful end to a nice day.

That about wraps up yesterday's adventure. On a parting note I'm thinking about changing my posting day to Thursday. It's getting difficult to sort through so many pictures right after a grueling day's adventure, not to mention photo editing, uploading, and the writing of the post. We'll see...

Jaa Mata Ne.

P.s. I'd love to hear some feedback as to what you (yes, you Mr./Ms./Mrs./Dr. Blog reader) think of this blog. Constructive criticism (on things other than my horrible spelling) is always welcome.