For The Love of Travel

Had a great night’s sleep @ the Chisun Inn Yokohama and woke refreshed, ready for the day’s new discoveries.

Good morning Yokohama! A population of 4 million, a seaport that opened to foreign trade in 1859, with many Chinese immigrants arriving and forming settlements – there is now a a large Chinatown. I like the feel of this city, lots of greenery, interesting streetscapes, water views and it has a cosmopolitan feel.

Drove into the downtown area to reconnoitre pic locations for a night skyline I’d previously researched…and had my first experience of multiple conjoined freeway loops taking you in very different directions, so if you get the ‘dismount’ instruction wrong….well…you are in trouble 🙂 Thankfully, I managed. Augurs well for Tokyo!

I had 5 spots picked and none of them had any parking areas where you could jump out, take your shot, and depart. There is a Japanese custom that only a handful of people seem to use, of just parking your car wherever, putting on the hazard lights, doing what you need to do and coming back to go on again. Very risky strategy in the areas I was choosing to take pics in….too busy. Also, my hotel is 40 mins away from these spots, so too expensive to taxi/Uber it. So I decided to just forego the drama and select a few images (that I would like to have taken) from others on the web, to share on my blog.

Took myself off for a couple of hours of walking in the Sankei-en (Three Creeks) garden. Wowser, apart from the Moss Garden in Kyoto, my next favourite! And some sunshine to boot. Yay. Sankei-en was designed and built by Tomitaro Hara (1868–1939), known by the pseudonym Sankei Hara, who was a silk trader. It opened in 1906, with 43 acres of ponds, streams, and very nice walking paths. Japanese-style architecture relocated from Kyoto and Kamakura is scattered throughout a gorgeously neat garden, producing a scene as beautiful as a Japanese painting. And I had the privilege of capturing some lovely wedding pic moments as well.

It started raining about 10 minutes after I started driving. Mountains I was passing swirled with fog. I thought museums first today and lets hope the weather improves in the arvo – as it happens, GREAT thinking and plan by me!! 🙂

The POLA group, a skin care and beauty products company, opened the POLA Museum of Art in 2002 to display the extensive private art collection of the company’s late owner, Suzuki Tsuneshi. The museum was built amid a forest of 300 year old beech trees in Hakone, and although constructed of concrete and glass, it is designed so as not to disrupt the natural environment that surrounds it. To achieve this, the majority of the building is located underground.

The museum features modern and contemporary paintings, sculptures, ceramics and glassware by mostly Japanese and European artists. Saw a lovely exhibition today “Modern Times in Paris 1925: Art and Design in the Machine Age”. In addition, some art I really liked – (1) Sonia Delaunay co-founded the Orphism art movement noted for its strong colours and geometric shapes; (2) Guerlain perfume bottle 1920’s; (3) Raoul Dufy’s ‘Paris’ in 1935; (4) Sugiyama Yasushi’s ‘Sharpness’ in 1973; (5) Mounir Fatmi’s ‘Modern Times: A History of the Machine’.

While in the area, had to visit the Hakone Venetian Glass Museum, Japan’s first art museum specializing in Venetian glass, and exhibits works from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries and also modern pieces. (1) Compote with 2 sea horses 19thC; (2) Miniature of furniture in millefiori glass 19thC.

Noticed a special exhibit of some of Dale Chihuly’s works – so gorgeous!!

On my way to see Mt Fuji, at Lake Kawaguchi, I saw this incredible row of cherry trees in Gotemba, and driving towards them, found the Higashiyamako Fishing Area. Well, what a sight, a pond surrounded with glorious cherry blossoms. Quite a few fishing persons there, enjoying the hanami.

My first sighting of Mt Fuji was when exiting from the freeway…looming impressively but shrouded in fog, concealing its upper cone.

When I arrived in Kawaguchiko, the town, was spilling over with slightly crazy tourists…doing really silly things, like dashing across the road at the last minute to greet a friend, never mind traffic. The cable car entry area was worse…people wanting to get best in queue, as it snakes a fair way down the hill and around the corner. Crowds are epic. Kept on driving until I found a quiet part on Lake Kawaguchi where I could pull over and stretch the legs, take some pics. Fog completely gone, sun is shining…yay! And some cherry trees to do some arty farty shots.

Fabulous day of art and nature!

I got up super early and was out the door at 6.45. First to launch droney over the the samurai residence, Aizu Bukeyashiki, which served as the quarters of the region’s most important and highest ranked samurai, as well as his family, employees and servants. The original complex was burnt down during the Boshin War in 1868, but has since been reconstructed and furnished to replicate its appearance in the Edo Period. Because of the high rank of its former inhabitants, this samurai residence is quite expansive. There are dozens of different rooms and sections, including gardens, guest rooms, a tea house, an archery range and a rice mill.

On my drive back to the hotel to have brekkie, saw this incredible Disneyesque-looking place with a cherry tree overload and discovered it was a wedding chapel – wow!

Onto the freeway for a 117kms drive south west to visit Kanmangafuchi Abyss, by the Daiya River, a small gorge created by an eruption from Mt. Nantai around 7,000 years ago. From the riverside path, you can see several small statues of jizo, a bodhisattva said to protect children, women and travelers. There are around 70 jizo, but legend holds that the number changes each time you try to count them.

A few minutes up the road, the Nikkosan Rinnoji Temple, founded 1,200 years ago by Buddhist monk Shodo, who served as the first head priest of Nikko. Sanbutsudo Hall, the temple’s main building, is one of the largest wooden structures in Nikko. Inside this building are three great Buddha statues which are 7.5 meters high and covered in gold leaf. These represent Amida Nyorai (the Buddha of Infinite Light), Senju Kannon (the Thousand Armed Goddess of Mercy), and Bato Kannon (the Horse-Headed Kannon, Protector of Animals). I also really enjoyed walking around the delightful Japanese garden Shoyoen.

The lovely red Shinkyo Bridge is a Daiya River crossing set on the edge of forest. I met a delightful couple and their indulged fur baby there 🙂

A full day, quite tired on arrival at Sagamihara. My first experience of congestion on the freeways at peak hour and progressive delays in getting to the destination. Oy vay! On arrival at hotel, discovered I had booked myself into a “love hotel”. I truly can’t believe this! Catalogues of scantily-dressed women greeted me at the reception counter. Too tired after a LONG day to even think about rebooking elsewhere, I stayed the night. Very comfortable bed :)!! And its a hotel that worries about discreteness for clientele…there’s a separate going-up lift, and a going-down lift. Hahahahaha.