Eating and sleeping on the floor

We tripped along to the dining room where a low table had been set out for each of us with a cushion to sit on. Ladies had to kneel or sit elegantly with their legs to the side. Getting down onto the floor was the first challenge without sending the dinner table flying and then to sit elegantly - no chance. It proved impossible to balance upright and eat with chopsticks and as the time wore on numbness and aches set in with little chance to change position. The dinner got longer by the minute! The food was a challenge too. Being a temple we were given a vegetarian meal and I can honestly say that there wasn't a thing I recognised laid out in the little bowls in front of me. A monk came along and lit a flame under our little cauldrons and some roots and vegetables started to bubble away. I tentatively started. Most of it was quite bland and there seemed to be tofu in a number of different guises. The only things I really didn't like were the pickles. I balanced and chomped as best I could but I was heartily glad when the meal was over and I could stretch my legs!

Back in our room the monks had been busy getting our futons ready. The table and cushions had been removed and replaced by 2 sparse mattresses on the floor. I had always thought futons were meant to be comfortable but as soon as I sat down I knew I was in for a trying night. This temple futon was a thin covering on a very hard floor. Neither of us was much impressed as we had far too many creaking bones to sleep comfortably. I felt as if I was camping out on the living room floor and resigned myself to a fretful night. Before we settled down for the night there was the matter of the onsun......

By 5am the next morning we were more than willing to get up for the monks' service. Normally I would have been reluctant to rise at 5am to attend a service that I knew was going to be an hour of chanting in a language I didn't understand but by then anything seemed better than another minute on the floor. As predicted the service was a trial but I tried to clear my mind and use the time for meaningful meditation. I was only marginally successful. After the service we had breakfast to look forward to. We took our positions on the cushions again (groan, creak) and looked in vain for the weetabix, coffee and toast. It was good old tofu again, in more of its guises, with pickled vegetables. I can cope with foreign food for lunch and dinner but breakfast I need something I can recognise. Fortunately I had brought some breakfast bars with me for situations such as these so ultimately I didn't go hungry. It was interesting experiencing traditional japanese life but I can't say that I took to it!

We had time for some sightseeing around Koyasan and headed for Kongobuji Temple where we were given an introduction by the head monk - in Japanese. We tried to look intelligent and attentive but I don't know if anyone told him that none of us spoke Japanese. We went on to the local cemetery, which proved very interesting. One of the first tombs we saw had a huge rocket stuck on top of it. This was the memorial where those who worked for the rocket making company could be buried or remembered on their plaque. We moved on to the memorial to the Nissan workers and even the socks and jocks manufucturers! After that it was back down the mountain and on to Hiroshima on the Shinkansen, the bullet train. On the way we stopped off at Himeji Castle, probably the finest castle in Japan and made totally of wood. We were lucky to see it as it is shortly going to be under restoration for a few years. It certainly was an amazing sight and we had an intersting guided tour before getting back on the train and arriving at Hiroshima where we had a hotel with soft beds and our own private bathroom!
 

Traditional Japanese living

We left Kyoto and headed up into the mountains on Japanese trains which, as you would expect, are clean, comfortable and full of amenities. It took us 3 trains to reach our destination. The second train took us slowly up into the mountains across deep ravines and clinging perilously to the steep hillside. How they managed to build it I will never know. When we weren't holding our breath as we inched slowly across a high bridge we were entertained by the ticket inspectors and Japanese train staff. Every time they entered and left a carriage they bowed to the occupants and murmured something in Japanese. Checking our tickets was done with the utmost courtesy. The scenery was striking as we left the plains and the city behind. There were lots of Japanese maple trees different to Canadian maples in that their leaves are very small and delicate. I had been hoping that I would hit the autumn colours but unfortunately it was too early and there was only a hint at times of stunning autumn colours to come. After the second train came a long funicular railway to take us higher and then a bus wound its way up the mountain to our temple lodging.

We were staying in a Shinto temple and this was our first taste of traditional Japanese living. At the temple entrance we had to take off our shoes and don the brown indoor slippers. Needless to say they weren't big enough for my plates of meat but I still managed to trip along in them. We were given our instructions: brown slippers had to be worn around the temple but at the entrance to our room we had to take them off and go in our socks on the bedroom tatami (mat). If we went to the toilet we had to leave the brown slippers at the door and put on the white toilet slippers. We had to remember to change out of the toilet slippers back into the brown slippers or we would commit a social indiscretion of walking around in the 'unclean' toilet slippers. Needless to say it didn't take long for one of us to forget and she received a horrified gasp from everyone and had to hurry back in embarrassment and get the right slippers.

Our room was interesting. It was quite large and covered with tatami mats and had walls of latticed wood filled with paper screens. Fortunately they were a lot tougher than you imagine and able to withstand normal rough housing from western hands and elbows. The room overlooked one of the temple's zen gardens with its raked gravel and the odd rock. We were tired and sank into our cushions in front of the sole low table. This was a novelty at first but quickly became a trial as westerners are not used to sitting on the floor. Even with the cushions pulled so you could rest your back on the wall (being wary of the paper screens!) it was still uncomfortable. We tried to get into the Japanese way of life and donned our yukatas, Japanese dressing gowns that we were expected to wear for dinner and went to investigate the onsun. There were no conventional bathrooms and if we wanted to wash we would have to do it the Japanese way. This required us to strip naked in the communal bath house, sit on a low stool and wash ourselves in full view of everyone else and then join the other ladies in the communal hot tub. Quite a challenge for privacy conscious westerners! Fortunately this would come later as it was time for dinner.

High Tech toilets in Japan

At dinner the main topic of conversation was the amazing toilet we had in our rooms. This was a toilet like no other I had seen. You needed an instruction manual to use it. Alongside the bowl there was an array of knobs and dials. It acted like an up market bidet. I pressed the green button and nearly shot off the seat as a spray of warm water hit my rear. Other people had tried the buttons when not seated and ended up having to mop down the ceiling as they were definitely designed for a seated bottom. Once you had flushed a little spout on top of the cistern started running so you could wash your hands. Toilets were very high tech in Japan. In Hiroshima we had one with a heated toilet seat. In public toilets the flushing mechanism was a no-touch affair. You just waved your hand across the appropriate button. They also had devices on the walls to dry your hands. You plunged your hands in and hot air dried them.

My biggest surprise in Japan was that I actually liked the food. I had thought it would be like Korean food, which I hated. The first meal I had was pork and rice with a raw egg that you mixed in so that it cooked. It came complete with a bowl of miso soup and some pickled vegies (which I didn't like). You would never starve in Japan as there are food stalls everywhere and you can also buy ready made dishes in the supermarkets and convenience stores that they will heat up for you in a microwave at the checkout! If you want a coffee, you can get it from a vending machine. I put in my 120 yen and received a hot can containing milky coffee that was more pleasant than a lot of coffees sold in cafes. At the more high-tech vending machines you could choose the blend of coffee and adjust the strength of the coffee, milk and sugar - amazing!

Our second day in Kyoto was a free day and I divided it between temple visiting in the morning and shopping in the afternoon. In the evening we went around old Gion in the hope of seeing a real working geisha on her way to an appointment. Unfortunately it was raining and so all the geishas were having a night in. We had been booked in to a Japanese cultural show. The theatre was designed for small Japanese rears as I discovered as I tried to sit down. The armrests were immovable objects and there was no way my ample behind was going to fit between them. I had to push into the seat from the front and sit with my hips pinned in a vice-like grip by the arm rests.

So far I have found the Japanese incredibly polite and willing to please and they don't stick their hands out for a tip, as it is just part of doing their job. Tomorrow we are leaving the city behind and going into the hills for our first taste of traditional Japan.

A wedding in Kyoto

I was quickly off loaded at Osaka and given directions on how to find the bus to Kyoto -'you get your ticket from the machine,' said the helpful lady at the desk. Needless to say that was my first real Japanese obstacle. I found the correct bus stop and was faced with a ticket vending machine all in Japanese. I found a map that showed Kyoto and I managed to match up the Japanese characters for Kyoto with the correct button on the machine and pressed it triumphantly -  nothing happened. Fortunately someone came to my rescue, pulled the money out of my hand and stuck it in the machine. After that it was plain sailing.

My hotel was only a short walk from the Kyoto bus station and I was soon in my room meeting my room mate, Helen from Melbourne, who was suitably old, wrinkled and overweight like me.

That evening we met our other group members who were all Aussies and quite an interesting bunch. There was a retired professor of theoretical physics and his wife, a specialist in forestry who had spent a few years exposing the Suharto family's collusion in the illegal logging of Indonesia's rainforests, a retired GP who had spent his early years as part of the Russian emigre community in Shanghai and who was constantly told off by his wife for being too blunt, a fellow who had written the definitive book on bricklaying and was poised to make more millions as it was translated into mandarin and then a generous sprinkling of lawyers, CEOs and teachers. Everyone was extraordinarily well travelled and world savvy and I felt quite a novice by comparison.

Needless to say I loved Kyoto, the centre of culture and the arts in Japan. It is quite a modern city but everywhere there are hidden temples and gardens. We visited 2 zen Buddhist temples and had our first taste of a zen garden: strategically placed rocks in a sea of neatly raked gravel. We also visited Nijo Castle with its 'nightingale' floor. The castle had once been owned by the royal family and the floors were especially designed so they squeaked like a nightingale when walked on so that intruders could be easily detected.

There were plenty of people around wearing traditional dress. I thought I would be lucky to spot a lady wearing a kimono but older ladies in particular seem to wear it out shopping. We were also lucky enough to spot a bridal party. The bride looked absolutely gorgeous in a bright red kimono with a geisha style hair-do and immaculate make-up. Her groom was also wearing traditional dress and they were being pulled along in a rickshaw with a traditionally dressed rickshaw man who posed every so often for photos from their official photographer.

I went off with Helen in the afternoon and after  numerous false starts managed to find the quiet Philosopher's Path that took us through the backstreets of old Kyoto and alongside a picturesqu canal to the Ginkakuji temple, which would have looked spectacular if hadn't been covered in scaffolding for renovation. We took the bus back to the hotel through the heart of Kyoto and the main shopping district. What a fantastic area! It had all the designer shops, stores I knew from London and Paris as well as department stores and tourist arcades. I made a mental note to return the next day.

Japan here I come!

Quiet Japanese garden

I am sitting in my hotel in Kyoto having been given a scant 10 minutes to write something! I arrived her today having flown via Tokyo as there are no direct flights by Qantas to Osaka and I wanted to use my frequent flyer points. Once in Tokyo I was subjected to my first dose of Japanese efficiency and processed very quickly. I had my two index fingerprints taken and my photo in less time than it normally takes through passport control. I was quickly onto an airport bus whizzing across Tokyo to Haneda airport. We drove on the Expressway and I didn't see much as there was a high concrete wall lining the road so it was rather like driving through a tunnel with the roof cut off. I arrived at Haneda in good time for my flight and wondered whether I could get on an earlier flight. This looked easy as there was a big screen with all the flights and indicators saying whether there were any seats. Five minutes later I was hurrying to the gate as my new flight left in 20 minutes! It was all too easy.

Sitting on my domestic flight from Tokyo to Osaka I experienced my first dose of Japanese instruction giving. They are most determined that you know the rules and that you stick to them. The screen on board had the 8 major rules you were expected to obey - all the usual things like put your seat up when asked, don't leave luggage in the aisles, don't assault the pilot. Once you had read the rules you were given an elaboration of them complete with cartoon characters illustrating what not to do eg don't put your life jacket on in the aircraft, don't try to open the plane's doors. In case we still hadn't got the message we had the rules a third time with real life pictures illustrating the correct thing to do. At the end the hostess (and we all know that the Japanese have a lot of trouble pronouncing the letter 'l') bowed and said, 'Have a good fright!'