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

Anbagam - Kulipirai

Nilai - in detail

Nilai panaromic view

-Nagz

foodies@d-12.com

Remembering my one year in Japan

Date	Location	Highlight
11-Feb-06	Yokohama Seaside	Harbour front and Yokohama Bay bridge
12-Feb-06	Landmark tower	Tallest Building in Japan and the world’s fastest lift
11-Mar-06	Kamakura – Engakuji, Trekking, Daibutsu and Yuigahama beach	Erstwhile capital of Japan 1000 years ago – Pre spring visit
18-Mar-06	Akihabhara – Electric Town, electronics shopping	Electronics and gadget town, the capital of Manga culture
21-Mar-06	Yokohama MM21	New town in Yokohama, jus 4 years old
25-Mar-06	Odaiba & Tokyo bay	The showcase of Japan, state of the art centers.
1-Apr-06	Sankein garden	Cherry blossoms in this ancient Japanese garden built by silk merchants
9-Apr-06	Hinnedecho	Cherry blossoms along the river in Motomachi, the Old town of Yokohama
30-Apr-06	Fuji Yoshida, Kawaguchiko, Mt.Fuji 5th station	2305m above sea level – climbed about two-thirds of Mt.Fuji – First time in snow
3-May-06	Hakone, Gotemba	Hill resort in the south of Fuji-san, Coniferous forests
6-May-06	Nikko, Lake Chuzenji, Kegon falls	Tokugawa shogunate world heritage temples and hill station
24-Jun-06	Asakusa, Ueno	Tokyo Downtown and the oldest temple in Tokyo
29-Jul-06	Beach and Enoshima island	Summer trip to the island dedicated to hai-ku poets
12-Aug-06	Kawasaki Daishi	A huge, serene temple in the outskirts of Kawasaki; A great getaway
26-Aug-06	Sambha festival – Asakusa	Brazilian dance festival – A treat for the eyes
10-Sep-06	Okusawa	Snake dragon festival for one whole day – A very different experience
16-Sep-06	Kamakura – Yabusame	The Samurai horse-back archery performance in the Tsurugamine Hachimangu shrine
23-Sep-06	Shinjuku, Harajuku & Tokyo tower	Metropolitan building, Meiji jingo and Yoyogi koen
7-Oct-06	Utsunomiya *shinkansen	A quiet sleeping town which is surprisingly a prefecture capital; a visit to university life in JP
15-Oct-06	Nippori, Yanaka, Nezu	Edo shitamachi – Unique experience of the past
29-Oct-06	Nishizawa Valley - autumn	A 5 hr trek during autumn to a 5 stepped waterfall
4-Nov-06	Imperial Palace, Chiyoda-ku	The home of the imperial family
12-Nov-06	Chinese garden, Singapore	Chinese temples and a serene garden with a river in-between
18-Nov-06	Sentosa Island, Singapore	A holiday resort in Singapore
19-Nov-06	City hall area and Merilion	Imperial days of Singapore
26-Nov-06	Sungei wetland reserve	A glimpse of the wild equatorial forests
2-Dec-06	Singapore expo, Buddhist temple and sivan kovil	Everyday Singapore
16-Dec-06	Kamakura – Benterai zenten, Dai butsu, Hase dara, Yuigahama beach and festival in Tsurugamine hachimangu shrine	Late Autumn visit to the town that is very much mine
23-Dec-06	Jike Furusato mura – Good old country village	A village with rice fields, thatched roof shops and vegetable farming
31-Dec-06	Minobu-san	The site of Nichiren Buddhist sect, 1200m above sea level
7-Jan-07	Skiing – Minakami / Mt.Tenjindaira	Gunma ken and all snow – Less than zero and a great snow storm experience
15-Jan-07	Utsunomiya – Pongal celebrations	Two days at my friend’s place

Nagz

5 minutes in post office

Small things make a big difference. Thats what I felt when I was returning from the post office in Tsurumi. It makes a very huge difference on how you are treated in the public and the social

respect that a citizen enjoys in his country. The public service industry especially those run by the govenment are notorious for treating the people in the most awkward way. This practice prevails

all over the world, no doubt in various proportions.
I remember an Akira Kurosawa movie of the 1950s, where in a group of common people are thrown over from the health dept to the sanitary dept to the public service dept to water works dept to

the roadways dept in a government office when they go there to report a leaking drainage leading to mosquitoes and filthy smell.
But, Japan has changed a lot since the 50s, people are respected everywhere, greeted with a "Irrashaimashe" while entering and a hearty bow with an "Arigato gozaimashita" when we leave.

I had been to the post office to send a CD to my friend in Tochigi-ken. As always, I did not take any precaution to protect the CD from damage. I had just put it in a CD case and took the

envelope with great confidence on the Japanese postal service that they would handle so nicely not to break my CD. The postal office clerk, read the destination address and confirmed if it is

Tochigi-ken and entered it to the console attached to the weighing machine. She asked me to pay 140 yen after weighing the envelope and stuck the stamp by herself. Then, she told thank you. To

be sure again, I enquired

"There is a CD inside, is that OK?"

"Should be OK, is there a CD case inside?"

I nodded and she told me that it would be better if we wrap it
with a cushion cover and then on her own, she rushed in to get a packiing cushion of the right size.
Back to the counter, she came along with tapes and scisssors.

In a minute, the envelope was opened again, CD wrapped up and packed back in perfection.

I thought, it was over but not at all. She weighed the cover back to check if its was 140 yen still.
The process over and we were greeted with a bow again - "Arigato gozaimashtha"

This incident is very usual in Japan but new to people like me.

People can go to such an extent of calling you a 'sama' (meaning emporer the highest position in the Japanese traditional hierarchy) as is the case when you visit a bank.
Getting used to this luxury, of being treated as an emperor everywhere, I was feeling awkward when I was in India for a week. The customer (or the okiyaku-sama) is the king in these developed

countries. India will also soon be following as there is lot of awareness in the past years. Hope this will follow once the purchasing capability of an average Indian increases.

Nagz