10 July, 2007

Experiencing East Japan

The day I was informed of my one month extension of deputation in Chiyoda Corp., I had decided to take the so-called "JR East" pass. The good news was that I would be eligible for the "JR East" pass as I would be on a temporary visitor visa and the pass would allow unlimited travel in all JR (Japan Railway) lines including the shinkansen (Bullet train) operated by the JR East Rail company, fondly called JE-ARU HIGASHI NIHON by the Japanese.

And as all went well, I landed in Japan on Valentine's day, which meant I had four weekends left and buying a JR East pass would meantravel on all the four weekends.Such a thought of hectic schedule, made me re-think on my decision to go for the pass and the thought of travelling alone was also not so inviting.On the other hand, letting out this opportunity means NOW or NEVER.

Due to economic constraints, I had travelled only upto a maximum of 160km fom Yokohama although there had been many such trips during my one year stay (Feb 2006 - Jan 2007).And finally on the 16th of Feb., the pass was bought and had to travel the very next day.But the excitement of travelling in the world renowned Japanese bullet train was guranteed.

Without much planning I took the Yamagata shinkansen early morning to Yamagata and then changed to a local train to reach my destination YAMADERA.Yamadera is a small town located in the center of the Yamagata prefecture in the northern Tohoku region of the central island of Honshu. Yama-dera means Mountain temple and is known for more than 1200 years for its Risshoukuji temple.

The sleeping town was filled with melting snow and a mild breeze was blowing across as I set out from the station. It was like early morning at 11 am with only a handful of people in the streets.Some of the women were selling hot Soba (Japanese noodles) while others were busy cleaning the snow from their roofs.The wide bridge across the half-frozen river gave a wonderful view of the mountain range across the sky. Having been brought up in a hot country, I could feel and experience winter in every ounce of air, in the snow clad roofs, igloos with olive branches on the roadside, snowman sculptures in front of the houses and the slippery roads - It was like somebody had whitewashed the whole town over-night.

The temple entrance was only a 15 minute walk from the station from where it would be a half hour climb to the top. Reaching the temple premises was not so scintillting as the fast life in Japan has reduced temples from religious centers to sight seeing spots.The ambience, pandemonium and the fun and frolic that one could feel in the Indian temples was completely missing.

The temple extends from the foot of the hill to the peak where-in the main temple called the Okunin is located lined with 1015 steps.The trek entrance had a fee of 300 yen, and you can choose snow boots of your size; No tokens and no advances for the boots and nobody is going to runaway with the boots - that is Japan for you. When I had set out, I knew it was not going to be a hard climb but the snow was really scary. I was accompanied by one another photographer, and after-a-while I became alone with frozen fringers clinging to my shutter button amidst towering coniferous trees. The eerie noise and sunlight piercing across the snowish cedar tees was filling the atmosphere all around and to be all alone there was such an unforgettable experience.
The place is also famous for a Haiku by poet Bashou: "Stillness. Penetrating the Rocks. The voice of a Cicada".I could exactly feel how Bashou felt centuries ago ..... alas, i am not a haiku poet !!!!


The path was lined by stone scluptures very similar to their south Indian counterparts with swords and daggers. This comes as no surprise as Yamadera was founded by a buddhist priest of the Nichiren sect in 860 AD and the Indian influence is sure to be there. I was soon joined by many Japanese, mostly the old aged when I reached the Kari-mon or the black gate - it was a wooden entrance gate en route to the main temple.A platform on that side of the montain called the Godaido gave a breath taking view of the valley ahead (see pic.),but I was truly missing the beauty of the wooden architecture of the temples and the entrance arches as they were covered with snow. The day was very sunny and there was always the risk of melting snow falling on you from the roofs. Workers were busy with their bull-dozers clearing the snow.

The main hall was also closed and after taking some pictures, I started my way down the hill. With melting snow along the steps, it was very difficult to get down and was really dangerous. More people were going up by this time and I could hear lot of `sugoi ne` (wonderful) way down.

I reached the station back by 12.30 only after losing the way back to the station before I was helped by a very old lady who came helping on her own after looking at the odd nuances of my face.Luckily there was a train at 12.45 and most of the people who had come with me in the 10.30 train were back. Bact to Yamagata, I took the Yamagata shinkansen to Tokyo with a half-minded plan to get down at the samurai town which eventually did not work out as I started snoring immediately after the bullet train left Yamagata.

The next trip was far west. Far-west does not mean Hiroshima, it means Matsumoto - thats the far west the JR East pass would take me. Matsumoto is a castle town located in the Nagano-ken. Nagano in center of Japan, is a mountainous region with many mountains towering 3000m above sea level. Nagano had hosted the winter olympics in 2002 and that was when the Nagano shinkansen started to operate; The weather forecast for Matsumoto showed a sunny day and I started my journey with some chicken masala and stuff. Come Nagano, I could clearly feel the land (mann vasanai) that was so different from the Kanto region.Nagano belongs to the Chubu region and the style of the houses and terrain was so different from what I had seen so far in Japan. It started to snow, rather heavily when the train reached Nagano . . . . No gloves and I was shivering in the Nagano station, where I bought some hot lime and burger @ the NewDays store. You can find a NewDays convenience outlet in almost every railway station in Japan. The caption of NewDays was quite catching, "Atarashi mainichi" meaning New everyday; Waiting for the Wide view Shinano limited express,

(to be continued.............)

Nagz

09 July, 2007

Anbagam - Kulipirai

Nilai - in detail

Nilai panaromic view
-Nagz

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Baroda, Gujarat, India
Nagappan Ramanathan Baroda, Gujarat, INDIA "My blog will let you know about me . . am too humble to talk about myself . ."

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