I went to Atami in Shizuoka. From Tokyo station by bullet train, it takes only about one hour.It’s famous for its hot springs.

In Chinese characters ( Kanji ), Atami is written “hot sea”

It is said that a long time ago, a hot spring emerged under the ocean. Since hot water sprung up fish swam away and fishermen were in trouble.

A certain priest prayed and his power moved the hot spring to the land!

Since then Atami has been one of the biggest hot spring resorts.

The Tokugawa Shoguns loved it very much. But the Shogun was too busy to visit Atami ( or perhaps did not travel for security reasons ) so they carried hot spring water all the way to Edo ( Tokyo )! It must have been heavy. Besides, since the water is for Shogun, they were not supposed to put it on the ground to rest. The day we stayed in Atami, the weather was cloudy. The hotel we stayed in is located on the hill overlooking the ocean. They had many guests but they were all quiet. The people working there were all tactful so I enjoyed myself staying there. The hotel doesn’t display many things. I like their style but some people might find it boring. They displayed only a few hanging scrolls and a vase made by ex-prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa (who resigned about 17 years ago) and he is often compared with ex-prime minister Hatoyama these days. I think both of them are from good families but their characters look very different to me. I don’t know them personally though. I remember the weather of 17 years ago was very similar to this year’s. History repeats and so does weather ?

Or does weather affect people’s behavior ?

I went to a concert at Maple House, a photographer’s house. When I arrived, there were already a lot of people, probably more than 50. We enjoyed three different kinds of performances.

1. Jazz : Two Japanese guitarlists and one American Shakuhachi (a traditional Japanese bamboo flute ) player performed together. I met the shakuhachi player John Kaizan Neptune for the first time in many years and enjoyed talking with him. I sometimes listened to his CD but I haven’t been to this kind of concert for many years. He is a self-made man. For example he makes Shakuhachi by himself and he made a new type of percussion. He says buying shakuhachi is very expensive so he makes them. Both the players and audience enjoyed the music. I always think that jazz can be enjoyed fully in that style, I mean very casual and in a smallish and intimate room.

2. Hula : A very beautiful Japanese woman danced hula. I tried to take a good photo of her but I couldn’t make a successful one. Her dance is very graceful. According to her hula is said to be very good for our health, too. Some doctors are studying how the dance affects people’s bodies. She is keen to introduce hula to many people.

3. Mongolian folk songs: The singer, form Mongolia, lives in Fujinomiya. He played Mongoloian violin and sang Mongolian folk music called khoomii or throat singing. He paints,too. I really like Mongolian music because it’s very powerful and mysterious. I like the costume,too. He gave us a short khoomii lesson. I had a chance to talk with him and asked a strange question. Someone told me that if one keeps singing khoomii for a long time, the person will die. I doubted it that but I asked about it.He laughed and said, “ No way, I’m going to live up to 200 years old. In fact this type of singing is very good for health. “

On 23rd of Nov. my Australian friends and I went to Ryutakuji Temple in Mishima. ( Shizuoka , near Hakone )

Honestly speaking, I was not sure if they would enjoy visiting Japanese temples but I was very happy to see they are very interested in the temple, art work and the monks who are training at the temple. They are interested in the monks’ lives because they are  almost the same generation but they are spending very different lives.

I was also amazed that they asked me very difficult and sharp questions while viewing art work. And I found myself being amused answering and thinking  about their questions. They asked many questions to the monks and I’m sure the monks felt the same as I did.

There were many surprises and discoveries. We all had a great time. The weather was lovely and it was such a wonderful day.

Feedback

#1

Hi everyone this is Rob. I’m an English teacher in Shizuoka prefecture, Japan.
I was fortunate enough to have been invited to attend the once in a year opening of Ryutaku-ji, a Buddhist temple,  in Mishima.
It was a really great opportunity to see 300 or more year old Japanese scrolls and to speak to Japanese monks about the temple and their experiences as Buddhist monks.
Also, the Autumn leaves were really nice as the backdrop to the temple.
If you ever have the opportunity you should try to visit and experience it for yourself.

#2

I went to a real Buddhist Temple, on Monday the 23rd of November, 2009.  It was a great experience.  I saw beautiful paintings and artwork from past monks from the monastery.  I saw the history of the temple and felt the calmness and tranquility of the temple.  We even got some photos with priest.  It was great.  I learnt about Buddhism, and enjoyed hearing what the monks had to say about their daily lives. 

I visited a kimono teacher’s house. She teaches how to put on kimono. You may think it’s strange but not many Japanese people can put on kimono by themselves so they take lessons. Basically you can wear whatever you want but kimono has its rules. Depending on the age, occasion and season, we need to choose a suitable kimono to wear.

People think kimono is a luxurious garment. It may be right but kimono can be handed down from gernration to generation, as long as we take good care of them. Mrs. Sudo, the kimono teacher, also helps people to have their portraits taken in kimono.

She showed me some examples.

  They are her kimono students. They chose their favorite kimono and a professional photographer took their portraits. There are some nice site to take photos around her neighborhood. This one was taken at Yonenomiya Sengen Shrine in Fuji city. At that shrine we can enjoy cherry blossoms as early as February. In this photo you can see a daughter and her mother, each of them wearing kimono suitable for their age. Of course as I said before you can choose whatever you want but I can see at any age people can show their own beauty.

This one is also her kimono student. She hs been dreaming to wear this type of kimono with a white parasol. By coordinating parts such as sashes, strings, hair style or parasol, etc, kimono enable us to create numerous possibilities.

If you are interested in trying them on or taking photos, please contact us. They have some kimono for men, too. Just trying it on costs about 5,000 or 6,000 yen. Or you can buy second-hand kimono at her place. They are very reasonable.

 Mt. Fuji is at its most beautiful in Winter, but most tourists or people living in Japan visit in Summer to climb to the summit.

At greenT Guides we believe in offering something different and we are planning a day tour to experience the beauty of Mt. Fuji in Winter. The trip will be available to people visiting or living in Japan, and it will be arranged through a licensed travel agent.

Here is our special Mt. Fuji winter experience day tour.

Group size: From 5 to 8 persons.

Fee: 15,000 yen each

Period: December to the end of February on demand.

Schedule

10:00 Shin Fuji station ( Tokaido Shinkansen )

11:00 Visit Fujisan Hongu Sengen Shrine in Fujinomiya

 Take a walk in the precincts and learn about Shintoism and the shrine      dedicated  to the god of Mt. Fuji.

12:00 Lunch  Local delicacies can be arranged

13:00 Sake Brewery ( Takasago )

Winter is the season when sake rice wine is fermented and the newest products are readied for sale.

Enjoy the traditional old warehouse and Buddhist statues that were brought from the summit of Mt. Fuji in the Meiji Era.

Sake tasting

Rice wine absorbs strong fragrances very easily so please refrain from wearing perfumes or colognes.

Local shopping.

14:00 Leave for Asagiri Highland

14:30 Photo lesson at Maple House.  Receice a lesson from a fanouse professional photographer and create some original pictures of Mt. Fuji’s winter scenery.

 This is a part of Maple House . It has such a beautiful  garden

The photos of the garden , Mt. Fuji and Sake brewery are taken by our teacher’s wife Noriko Nagatsuka.

The professional photographer is Seishi Nagatsuka. He is a leading photographer of automobile advertisements; the late Honda Soichiro, ex-CEO of Honda Motor, called him ” an amazing chap”.

16:30 Finish

 People who return home will be taken to the station.

 For those who want to stay, our affiliated travel agents can find good lodgingd or places to eat to suit any budgets or tastes though.

 If you want to know more in details, please contact us.

I bought a magic carpet. This is it. The Japanese summer is pretty hot. Every summer I can’t sleep very well because of the heat . If I turn the air-conditioner on when I sleep , I always feel terribly tired. When I come to think about sleep, it takes up rather big portion of time  every day. I can’t take it lightly. I decided to buy this to enhance my sleeping quality. And it seems very good. This carpet can be used as a bed sheet. You can’t do the laundry but all you have to do is wipe and dry it. The carpet is made of rush. The material is organic and safe to touch. It smells really good and its texture makes me relaxed and happy. In my house hold we only have this one and all of the family tried it in turn and they unanimously agreed to buy one each. I have almost made up mind to buy one for each of us instead of buying a new TV set. Instead of watching TV I would rather lie on this and read books.

May 5th is Children’s Day here in Japan. People hoist carp-shaped streamers. Why carp ? Good question! Carp are considered strong enough to climb up water-falls. So they are a symbol of promotion and power. Anyway I hope many children grow up to be healthy, both mentally and physically. This seems especially important nowadays since we don’t have as many as we used to.

By the way during this vacation, I had a chance to stay at an inn which provided us with carp dishes. It is said that carp is very good for health. It gives you a lot of energy. We tried a course specialized in carp. They were very delicious and I ate more than I should but they were all good for the digestion. That means they use good materials. Nobody can deceive my stomach since its very sensitive. This inn is surrounded by forest and river. I have checked  some guide books but I couldn’t find  this inn and I discovered it on  the Internet.  They have run this inn for about 100 years and they have small but nice hot spring.  We all had good time.

As it gets warmer, the chances of viewing Mt.Fuji clearly get fewer. From October to April is the best season to view Mt.Fuji. A friend of mine who always visits us in Summer asked me,” Does Mt. Fuji really exist ? I’ve nerver seen it.” I strongly recommended that he should visit us in Winter.

By the way, I started to take photo lessons. These photos were taken by my photo teacher Mr. Seishi Nagatsuka. He is a famous photographer. He takes photos of cars, nature and Kabuki actors, etc. He also gives lessons from beginners ( like me ) to professional photographers.

Aren’t they great ?

Mariko-Ji has been an important road since The Heian period. The Tokaido route had 53 stations from Edo to Kyoto. At each station, travelers could rest and eat something. Mariko was the 20th statiom from Edo.I went to Mariko to view its famouse plum blossoms .

There’s a big private garden with 800 hundred trees with 300 different kinds of blossoms. The owner of the garden was facinated by Korin Ogata’s red and white plum blossom painting and started to collect  plum blossoms from all over Japan and even from China. This garden has been open to the public since 1996. We can enjoy viewing blossoms from around January 20 to  around March 5th. They are beautiful and smell very good. I wish I had a special phone or computer that could send you this smell.

Mariko and Maruko ( Chibi Maruko chan, an animation character) are often mixed up. I’ll introduce the Chibi Maruko museum sometime soon. But as you walk around the big garden, you might bump into Tomozo ( Maruko’s grandfather )?!

Mariko is famous for its first black tea produced in Japan.

This is soy milk nabe. Nabe is a dish, such as a stew, that is cooked in a pot at the table in front of the people who are eating. People enjoy this style of cooking in winter. This dish is very easy to make and good for your health.

First, I steam some vegetables such as Chinese cabbage or green onions. Then, in the same pot I add soy milk and heat a little it and add some nigari. Nigari is a kind of natural magnesium. Simmer it and when the soy milk starts to firm, it is ready to eat. I don’t add any seasoning except for a splinkle of natural salt. The soy milk is very creamy and tasty. The combination with seasonal vegetables makes the dish perfect.