Books to read about Japan
Aug 3rd, 2012 | 06:13 PM
#42
Original Poster
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 947
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Thanks, HT. I was hoping that it could be found before I started over because it was THERE in the preview section and then poof. Oh well, maybe there was too much information and you all would prefer a scaled-back vsion.
Before I attempt that, today's Japan news from me is again delighted and happy. We were awoken at 5:45 a.m. by a phone call from our 22 yo. son who had just summited Mt. Fuji and toured the perimeter. (He arrived at the summit at 4:20, shortly before the sunrise which is apparently now sometime adter 4:30.) He had had a beautiful full moon and a gorgeous sunrise. He reported with great happiness that the view was exquisite and unlike anything he had ever experienced. "Mom, I can see the Pacific Ocean. "
I am eager to see him when he returns later today. He goes back to the states tomorrow, quite in love with Japan, I imagine. A priority will be getting the cherished Fuji stick with its 7 stamps back to Boston. In order to make this trip feasible, he came over on the cheapest possible fare involving 3 different flights. Did you know that you can fly from BOS to KIX via Detroit?
Yesterday's vanished report started with a nod and a thank you to Don whose comparison of Shinbashi, Kyoto, to Boston's Louisburg Square in a past Fodor's report first led me to seek Shinbashi out last Fall when we came to Kansai. Thanks to Don, I have a new favorite spot. My daughter and I arrived there on a sleepy Monday morning in time to see a group of (friendly) Maiko being photographed by the bridge and shrine. Then my daughter and I went into one of the restaurants right by the bridge where we were the only customers for most of our scrumptious okonomiyaki lunch followed by a big bowl of green tea shaved ice and red bean sauce. Fortified, we went north along the river and found a bus to the gorgeous Ginkakuji which prolonged the magic. We then walked south along the Philosopher's Trail until we could no longer manage the heat.
I also thanked HT for introducing me to Hyperdia, an uterrly indispensable research and planning tool. Can't live without it. There was lots more about trains that I won't try to replicate, but thanks for the link to passes, HT. I hope to use it for a future trip (may there be one).
I am going to post this much (I hope) and then come back and talk about Arima Onsen for Mrwunrful. I doubt that our low-budget daytrip there will prove very instructive to anyone, but who knows?
Before I attempt that, today's Japan news from me is again delighted and happy. We were awoken at 5:45 a.m. by a phone call from our 22 yo. son who had just summited Mt. Fuji and toured the perimeter. (He arrived at the summit at 4:20, shortly before the sunrise which is apparently now sometime adter 4:30.) He had had a beautiful full moon and a gorgeous sunrise. He reported with great happiness that the view was exquisite and unlike anything he had ever experienced. "Mom, I can see the Pacific Ocean. "
I am eager to see him when he returns later today. He goes back to the states tomorrow, quite in love with Japan, I imagine. A priority will be getting the cherished Fuji stick with its 7 stamps back to Boston. In order to make this trip feasible, he came over on the cheapest possible fare involving 3 different flights. Did you know that you can fly from BOS to KIX via Detroit?
Yesterday's vanished report started with a nod and a thank you to Don whose comparison of Shinbashi, Kyoto, to Boston's Louisburg Square in a past Fodor's report first led me to seek Shinbashi out last Fall when we came to Kansai. Thanks to Don, I have a new favorite spot. My daughter and I arrived there on a sleepy Monday morning in time to see a group of (friendly) Maiko being photographed by the bridge and shrine. Then my daughter and I went into one of the restaurants right by the bridge where we were the only customers for most of our scrumptious okonomiyaki lunch followed by a big bowl of green tea shaved ice and red bean sauce. Fortified, we went north along the river and found a bus to the gorgeous Ginkakuji which prolonged the magic. We then walked south along the Philosopher's Trail until we could no longer manage the heat.
I also thanked HT for introducing me to Hyperdia, an uterrly indispensable research and planning tool. Can't live without it. There was lots more about trains that I won't try to replicate, but thanks for the link to passes, HT. I hope to use it for a future trip (may there be one).
I am going to post this much (I hope) and then come back and talk about Arima Onsen for Mrwunrful. I doubt that our low-budget daytrip there will prove very instructive to anyone, but who knows?
Aug 3rd, 2012 | 08:24 PM
#43
Original Poster
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 947
Likes: 0
Mrwunrfl,
My 24 yo daughter and I took a daytrip from northern Osaka to Arima Onsen. We traveled on a variety of railways and subways through Kobe to Arima Guchi and eventually Arima Onsen. I think that there were about 5 or 6 transfers, so the pace was fairly brisk. Our schedule that day did not permit including a Mt. Rokko cable car ride although I bet that would have been fun.
We arrived at Arima Onsen and wandered up the hill a bit to the tourist office where we picked up a map. We kept meandering until we found The Gin no Yu public bath. We had selected that bath over the other public bath (Kin no Yu) purely on the basis of what the Rough Guide said about it.
Alas, the much vaunted skylight with light gorgeously streaming in and a "mesmerixing" ambiance was nowhere in evidence and the bath was much smaller than I somehow expected, but we did have a delightful cultural experience.
The Rough Guide notwithstanding, the bath is not really set up to accomodate folks who don't speak Japanese so that was part of the fun. We checked our shoes, paid the admission fee (550 ¥ pp), and used our knowledge of basic Chinese kanji to enter the correct (women's) bath. Although we had studied up in advance on proper, hygienic practice and thought we knev the drill, we did stumble a bit at first. We got inside only to discover that there were no towels available at that point. The issue isn't modesty -- you need a towel to dry off afterwards and one of the only English signs sternly admonishes you not to "dry off you body with the (electric) hand dryer." My daughter went back out and either bougt or rented some little towels for another charge. We also never figured out the system for what went in the plastic bins in the dressing room and what went in the lockers, but we did our best to copy the locals -- mostly women in their 40s to 70s, I gather. It was a relaxing and enjoyable experience.
After exiting the bath, one can relax a bit in an antechamber with vending machines, local newspapers, and massage chairs and foot massage machines. We sampled one of each treatment at 100 ¥ a pop. Then we headed out to window-shop a restaurant for lunch. I cannot recommend the little sushi place we selected -- a somewhat grim and downmarket mom--and-pop kind of place that I think may do a better bar and televised sports trade later in the day-- and I can't even remember what motivated us to choose it. Hunger maybe and a misguided judgment based on seeming curb appeal. Our sushi and tea were okay, but just that.
We then wandered some more around town, poking our head in wherever we liked and following alleys. The highlight of that part of the day was finding a little gallery with a photo exhibit of people from many countries all over the world holding canisteers of local "wind" together with a display shelf of said canisters. The exhibit had an earnest and disarming "We are all one world" quality that appealed to our scrubbed and sushi-ed selves.
We finished up the visit by sitting awhile in the town's (free) outdoor communal foot bath, smiling and nodding at everyone else alongside us. We then reversed the train journey back to Osaka. We were the only westerners we saw that July Friday and we enjoyed the day in a way that my turgid prose doesn't capture. What I would do differently is, as you have already surmised, is pick a better restaurant.
I know that there are beautiful high-end ryokans in Arima Onsen. I would love to hear of anyone else's experience of such a splurge at this venerable old hot spring.
My 24 yo daughter and I took a daytrip from northern Osaka to Arima Onsen. We traveled on a variety of railways and subways through Kobe to Arima Guchi and eventually Arima Onsen. I think that there were about 5 or 6 transfers, so the pace was fairly brisk. Our schedule that day did not permit including a Mt. Rokko cable car ride although I bet that would have been fun.
We arrived at Arima Onsen and wandered up the hill a bit to the tourist office where we picked up a map. We kept meandering until we found The Gin no Yu public bath. We had selected that bath over the other public bath (Kin no Yu) purely on the basis of what the Rough Guide said about it.
Alas, the much vaunted skylight with light gorgeously streaming in and a "mesmerixing" ambiance was nowhere in evidence and the bath was much smaller than I somehow expected, but we did have a delightful cultural experience.
The Rough Guide notwithstanding, the bath is not really set up to accomodate folks who don't speak Japanese so that was part of the fun. We checked our shoes, paid the admission fee (550 ¥ pp), and used our knowledge of basic Chinese kanji to enter the correct (women's) bath. Although we had studied up in advance on proper, hygienic practice and thought we knev the drill, we did stumble a bit at first. We got inside only to discover that there were no towels available at that point. The issue isn't modesty -- you need a towel to dry off afterwards and one of the only English signs sternly admonishes you not to "dry off you body with the (electric) hand dryer." My daughter went back out and either bougt or rented some little towels for another charge. We also never figured out the system for what went in the plastic bins in the dressing room and what went in the lockers, but we did our best to copy the locals -- mostly women in their 40s to 70s, I gather. It was a relaxing and enjoyable experience.
After exiting the bath, one can relax a bit in an antechamber with vending machines, local newspapers, and massage chairs and foot massage machines. We sampled one of each treatment at 100 ¥ a pop. Then we headed out to window-shop a restaurant for lunch. I cannot recommend the little sushi place we selected -- a somewhat grim and downmarket mom--and-pop kind of place that I think may do a better bar and televised sports trade later in the day-- and I can't even remember what motivated us to choose it. Hunger maybe and a misguided judgment based on seeming curb appeal. Our sushi and tea were okay, but just that.
We then wandered some more around town, poking our head in wherever we liked and following alleys. The highlight of that part of the day was finding a little gallery with a photo exhibit of people from many countries all over the world holding canisteers of local "wind" together with a display shelf of said canisters. The exhibit had an earnest and disarming "We are all one world" quality that appealed to our scrubbed and sushi-ed selves.
We finished up the visit by sitting awhile in the town's (free) outdoor communal foot bath, smiling and nodding at everyone else alongside us. We then reversed the train journey back to Osaka. We were the only westerners we saw that July Friday and we enjoyed the day in a way that my turgid prose doesn't capture. What I would do differently is, as you have already surmised, is pick a better restaurant.
I know that there are beautiful high-end ryokans in Arima Onsen. I would love to hear of anyone else's experience of such a splurge at this venerable old hot spring.
Sep 28th, 2012 | 10:55 AM
#44
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,522
Likes: 0
http://www.amazon.com/Japan-Season-S.../dp/0810983826
Saw this book in my public library. Beautiful book of short writings and haikus (ancient, modern, Japanese, Western) about the four seasons with lovely paintings, woodblock prints, photographs to illustrate the themes. Very nice just to randomly browse through it.
Saw this book in my public library. Beautiful book of short writings and haikus (ancient, modern, Japanese, Western) about the four seasons with lovely paintings, woodblock prints, photographs to illustrate the themes. Very nice just to randomly browse through it.
