{"id":229,"date":"2009-04-12T20:24:23","date_gmt":"2009-04-12T11:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/?p=229"},"modified":"2009-04-12T20:24:23","modified_gmt":"2009-04-12T11:24:23","slug":"a-well-timed-visit-for-sakura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/2009\/04\/12\/a-well-timed-visit-for-sakura\/","title":{"rendered":"A well timed visit for sakura"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Gosh, has it been so long since my last blog entry?\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Time does fly, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pretty sure it is going to take a couple of days to actually get this entry posted.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been very busy the past few weekends.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, Tomo was visiting and we visited Joel Robuchon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s La Table<\/a> again.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>It was very good.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Tomo took really nice pictures and I was going to do the whole foodie thing and narrate the meal.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>But I realize that I am not really a foodie.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I can say that we enjoyed the meal and the wine course very much.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

On April 1, Ben and Carrie arrived from LA for a visit to Japan.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Tomo came down to Nagoya again on Thursday, I took Friday and Monday off, and I got to go sightseeing with friends.<\/p>\n

Aichi-ken<\/a>, the prefecture that Nagoya is in, is home to Toyota<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Mondays through Fridays, Toyota offers a plant tour<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I have always wanted to go, and thought this was a perfect opportunity to visit the factory.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>You have to reserve months in advance, and there is only one English tour a day.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Cameras are not allowed inside the factory so I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any pictures of interest.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>It was interesting to see the Toyota factory in operation, especially for geeks like us who have all studied the Toyota Production System<\/a> in one way or another (three engineers and Tomo worked briefly at Hino).\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We were all impressed by the welding robots.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>They looked like animals!\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We were also impressed by the parts kit carts and their automatic delivery from the stock room to the assembly position.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The more I think about it, the more interesting it is.<\/p>\n

We went to dinner at an Okinawan izakaya called Nanpu with a colleague from work.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>She is well known at the restaurant and I am somewhat known, so we always have a good meal and a good time there.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The group picture is fuzzy, so unfortunately no picture of that as well.<\/p>\n

Tomo had to leave on Saturday, and the weather was icky, so there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not much to report.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I think we wandered around a little bit and watched a movie (Nick and Nora\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Infinite Playlist<\/a>) on AppleTV<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Basically we hit department stores in the afternoon and did something in the morning that I cannot recall.<\/p>\n

Sunday though was an absolutely gorgeous day.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>The temperature was warming up, and the sky was blue.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We, or I guess more correctly, I, decided that we would go to Seto<\/a> and visit a ceramics town.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Seto is still in Aichi-ken but is a little bit out in the country.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>It turns out a lot of places, but not all places, are closed on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Ben and Carrie enjoy the fine ceramics in a shop.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

We wandered around, and discovered an older Japan compared to Nagoya.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>We found a shop where you can buy gakuran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Gakuran<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

And we saw a restaurant (I think) with some precariously stacked empty crates.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>This is NOT an optical illusion, the crates were nearly defying gravity.<\/p>\n

\"Precarious<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

I saw something that I had not seen in a long time in Japan, an alcohol vending machine, jidohanbaiki ,\u00e8\u2021\u00aa\u00e5\u2039\u2022\u00e8\u00b2\u00a9\u00e5\u00a3\u00b2\u00e6\u00a9\u0178<\/span>.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure why the machine is so poorly framed, I promise I did not sample its wares.<\/p>\n

\"Alcohol<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luckily, Ben and Carrie timed their trip just in time for \u00e3\u0081\u2022\u00e3\u0081\u008f\u00e3\u201a\u2030<\/span> (sakura\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>– cherry blossoms).\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a nice shot from a temple in Seto.<\/p>\n

\"Sakura<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

We left Seto in time to go to Tsurumai park in Nagoya to see the \u00e3\u0081\u2022\u00e3\u0081\u008f\u00e3\u201a\u2030<\/span> and enjoy \u00e8\u0160\u00b1\u00e8\u00a6\u2039<\/span> (hanami<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the tradition of enjoying the blooming of the blossoms).\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>People celebrate hanami mostly by putting out blue tarps, bringing in food and alcohol, and getting rippingly drunk.<\/p>\n

\"Hanami<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, hanami is open to all ages to enjoy, year after year after year.<\/p>\n

\"Hanami<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Monday we went to Kyoto. \u00c2\u00a0The weather was fantastic, and the cherry blossoms were great. \u00c2\u00a0We visited Ryoanji<\/a>, Kinkakuji<\/a>, Ginkakuji<\/a>, The Philosopher’s Walk<\/a>, and Kiyomizudera<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0It was a very full day. \u00c2\u00a0I’d love to share some pictures from Ryoanji, but unfortunately I discovered shortly after our visit to Ryoanji that I was shooting without a CF card in my camera. \u00c2\u00a0In other words, a camera with no film. \u00c2\u00a0What is the biggest shame though is that it was the first day of school in Japan for the new year. \u00c2\u00a0 We passed a kindergarten just as the students were released when we were walking from Ryoanji to Kinkakuji. \u00c2\u00a0The mothers were very dressed up as were the kids. \u00c2\u00a0I took a picture of a mother in a a kimono and her child. \u00c2\u00a0I was interested to see how it turned out, to I tried to review it on my camera. \u00c2\u00a0At that point I realized the photo was not recorded. \u00c2\u00a0That’s too bad! \u00c2\u00a0Oh well. \u00c2\u00a0I reconfigured my camera so it would not shoot without a card now. \u00c2\u00a0What follows is a fairly traditional set of tourist pictures in Kyoto. \u00c2\u00a0But since this is a blog, I see absolutely nothing wrong with tourist pictures. \u00c2\u00a0After all, we were tourists.<\/p>\n

A look at Kinkakuji, or The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. \u00c2\u00a0This was the setting for a famous Yukio Mishima<\/a> book titled, you guessed it, “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

\"Temple<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

We then took a taxi across town to the area of the Ginkakuji, or the silver pavilion. \u00c2\u00a0We ate lunch at a famous udon restaurant named Omen<\/a> (which always makes me think of the movie series). \u00c2\u00a0From there, we went down Philosopher’s Walk which was surrounded by sakura. \u00c2\u00a0We continued to walk to Kiyomizudera. \u00c2\u00a0It was quite a haul.<\/p>\n

The ginkakuji was also undergoing renovation, so I took more pictures of the grounds. \u00c2\u00a0The gardens at the ginkakuji are beautiful. \u00c2\u00a0Here are a couple of shots of the rock gardens.<\/p>\n

\"Ginkakuji<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ginkakuji<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ginkakuji<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are also luscious moss fields on the hillsides.<\/p>\n

\"Ginkakuji<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ginkakuji<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is interesting is to see the variety of clothes people will wear to the temple. \u00c2\u00a0The shoe choices always get me. \u00c2\u00a0I don’t think there is any such thing as “sensible shoes in Japan. \u00c2\u00a0But are heels really the right idea for such a rough road?<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is always nice to see people out walking in traditional clothes, although the practicality can be debated as well (photo cropped).<\/p>\n

\"Kimonos<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Philosopher’s Walk, or \u00e5\u201c\u00b2\u00e5\u00ad\u00a6\u00e3\u0081\u00ae\u00e9\u0081\u201c, is lined with cherry trees. \u00c2\u00a0I have megabits of sakura photos. \u00c2\u00a0That can get a little, well, boring after a few pictures of white-pink blossoms. \u00c2\u00a0So I sampled just a few.<\/p>\n

\"Sakura<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sakura<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

We finished up the evening in Higashiyama where I took a picture of a shrine near kiyomizudera.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Night<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gosh, has it been so long since my last blog entry?\u00c2\u00a0 Time does fly, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pretty sure it is going to take a couple of days to actually get this entry posted.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been very busy the past few weekends.\u00c2\u00a0 Two weeks ago, Tomo was visiting and we visited Joel Robuchon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s La Table again.\u00c2\u00a0 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A well timed visit for sakura”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photo-content","category-vacations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}