Shrine in Nikko

Shrine in Nikko
Originally uploaded by hatterasanna

An incredible day viewing shrines and temples in Nikko.
We took the bullet train to Nikko and then spent a few hours. The guide was terrific and told us everything there was to know about the shrines and the history of the area. The architecture was beautiful but the cedar trees were over 700 years old!
We even got our fortune and it was an excellent fortune. I was awarded a bamboo rake in my fortune and it is supposed to mean you are going to rake in money if you continue to carry it in your wallet. So of course that is where it resides... but I seem to be spending more right now in Tokyo and then I plan on spending more still in Kyoto.

View the collection of photos

Statue of Liberty in Tokyo?

Believe it or not a 1/4 size replica of the Statue of Liberty graces Tokyo Bay! The French also gave it to the Japanese not too long ago on reclaimed land ( a euphemism for a landfill) that now is host to multiple shops, businesses, and recreation. We took the automatic train, a lot like the air train at Newark or JFK, and went over the Rainbow Bridge to this area.

We also went to Tokyo Tower and got the birds eye view of the city....

Anna and Myron

Why don't we have these toilets in the USA?

You may ask why I bother to discuss toilets. But you have got to see this toilet in action.
The seat is warmed electrically , after doing your business, you can select the "bum" pressurized spray or the bidet style gently soaking. You can select the water pressure. ( Don't overdo it or it is an enema!) Then to top it off, you get to push another button and air dry the entire nethermost region!!! Check out the controls and the "state of the art" toilet.

Finally!

We got it figured to change the blog language to English, thanks to Myron's son Ren!
He took all of 2 seconds to change the settings! We couldn't even figure out what characters meant settings... Anyway back to blogging.

On Wednesday when we were doing the walking tour we went to the Tokyo Tower and the Shrine where they display baby figurines. The Buddhist belief is that if an infant or unborn child dies, its soul goes to the underworld to be only permitted into heaven with prayers from the parents in order to obtain the necessary spirit to help transport the baby's soul to heaven. There were hundreds of these figurines where red crocheted hats were placed on them, flowers and other child toys and colorful gifts were deposited to appease the spirits and send the child to heaven. It was terribly sad to see so many of these figurines decorated.

Issues with Japanese Characters

I have been desperately trying to post images with my narratives but have been thwarted by the Japanese god of language. Since my blogspot uses a Japanese server here in Japan, when I log on to the blogger, I see only Japanese characters! Deciphering what I have to do to post images has me totally lost. I click on all the characters and end up deleting whole posts. So even though I now know the Japanese character for exit, entrance, train, man, big ( size does matter!), mouth and bridge ( wow, I have passed pre-school), I am still unable to figure out how to post an image or to edit a post I have written. So Myron and I beg your forgiveness as we continue to try to figure out where to click to post the many wonderful images we have taken.

Anna and Myron

A Walking Tour.... and Sake!

Today was a day of walking with our guide, Eva. She was a middle-aged Japanese woman with impeccable English who seemed never to tire as we walked miles in Tokyo! First we went and viewed the Imperial Palace gardens directly across the street from our hotel, across a moat and a very samurai only scaleable wall. Off course we are not allowed on the actual grounds of the palace itself, we are only permitted on the outskirts where the commoners were permitted. Nevertheless the gardens were beautiful, the weather warm and the Japanese... so very polite.

We are off!!

Ok... on Monday morning we face the drive to JFK to take off and enjoy/endure a 14 hour flight to Tokyo. But it will be worth it because we get to see little Chikage, Ren and Hiroko and tour some of the famous sites in Japan. We have my IPOD downloaded with Japanese conversational dialogues and will attempt to learn in a mere 14 hours Japanese... :-) Anna always was an optimist!!
Visit our blog and see the images we capture.
Anna and Myron