Here I am back in front of the computer, ready to take the long journeys (again)! All of these epic journeys, except the last one, required the use of our car – and quite a bit of time.

Our first journey took us to the Japan Sea side of Kyoto prefecture, to a town (Miyazu) famous for the beach area known as Amanohashidate (which basically means heavenly bridge, or bridge to heaven). Amanohashidate itself is a sandbar which is 3.6km long, between 20 to 170m wide, is covered in thousands of pine trees and spans Miyazu Bay. It is renowned as one of the three scenic bay views in Japan. There is a viewing point very close to the sandbar, accessible by a cable car, or a chairlift, so that you can get the full impact of the ‘bridge’.

The drive there took over three hours, taking us through mountain ranges (sometimes literally, with one tunnel being over 3km long) and past the many small farm areas growing Kyoyasai (Kyoto grown vegetables) and rice. It really was a very scenic drive, and we saw many traditional houses which were still being lived in. What I did notice, though, is that most of the houses which would have had thatched roofs in the past, now have metal clad roofs. They are still amazing looking houses, none the less.

Once we arrived at Miyazu, we chose to take the chairlift up to the top of the viewing point to take in the full vista of the bay before we walked down to the beach area. Apart from the viewing area there was, in fact, a whole mini theme park up there, with ferris wheels, a merry-go-round, a mono-rail pedal train and various shops.

After looking around up there, we made our way to the sandbar. We were looking for a place to have lunch and a wee dip in the ocean. Luckily we found a small concrete table area, with a roof because, just like everywhere else where there is water, there are Kites and they really want to steal your food! So we ate, then headed to the water. Craig and Triscia went out into the deeper water (with the jellyfish) and I stayed close in – however I did sit down in the water 😊. Within an hour some weather started coming in, so we headed back home, but it was really nice to see a beach!

The next day, we set off for Muko city, which is a lot closer at around one hour’s drive, to visit a bamboo park which was not like the usually very crowded Arashiyama. The other attraction at this park is a Kofun burial mound (tumulus), in the shape of a keyhole, built early in the Kofun period, in the 4th century CE. We started by visiting the Rakusai Bamboo Park, which has a museum dedicated to all things bamboo and a garden with more than 100 varieties of bamboo planted. It was really interesting walking around the lovely garden, seeing all the different varieties, with my favourite being the Buddha’s Belly, and the best part is that we had the place to ourselves!!!

After we left the garden, we then walked along the Takenomichi (Bamboo Road), which is around 1.8km long and is lined with bamboo fences, in eight different designs. There were a few people walking along the road, and, as it is a road, there were some cars, but still lovely and quiet and plenty of people free photographs. The Kofun tumulus I mentioned is along this road, so we were able to walk there to view it. This one is around 95m long and is one of five in the Muko city area. Excavations of this tumulus found it had burial chambers in both the round section and the square end section, with the round end chamber being larger. Grave goods were found in both chambers, though there were signs of grave robbery.

Over 160,000 Kofun tumuli have been found in Japan, of varying shapes and sizes, with the largest being the keyhole shaped Daisen tumulus located in Osaka prefecture, in which the mound is approximately 500m long and 300m at its widest point, while the entire tomb area is 840m long, including three moats which enclose it.

Our third grand adventure took us to Fukui, to the land of dinosaurs – the Katsuyama Dinosaur Forest Park and the Fukui Dinosaur Museum. The drive to the Dinosaur Valley area took a bit longer than the drive to Amanohashidate, but it was worth it. The route took us along the western edge of Lake Biwa and into the mountainous area of Fukui Prefecture, where they have found skeletal remains of dinosaurs and some preserved eggs. So far, no-one has decided to try to bring any to life, although it felt a bit like they had in the forest 😊.

The museum was very good, with many skeletons on display, some dioramas and some full size displays, including dinosaurs with moving parts and making noises. There was also an animatronic T-Rex!!!  This amazing creation is over 7m tall and is unbelievably life-like. I’m not sure, but I think it might have had movement sensors in it, so that your movement was registered and it reacted to you. It could move in many ways and also could roar. As I was standing there, taking thousands of photos (slight exaggeration), it bent right down and looked directly at me, I think it even sort of sniffed me. After a shortish while I found myself talking to it 😊…

Eventually I pulled myself away, we continued wandering around this huge building, went into the shop (I only bought one dinosaur friend) and then headed toward the forest. Wow!! This is truly an amazing place. It appears as though they envisaged it as a place for children, but nearly everyone wandering around in the forest was an adult. It is hard to really describe it fully, but it is huge, has many realistic looking dinosaurs ‘wandering’ about with some being animatronic, there are sounds all around the path which heighten the realistic feel, and it is just fantastic. This park, including the museum is easily one of the best experiences I have had and, as I said before, definitely worth the long drive there and the entry fee.

The next day we took a shorter trip, around an hour and a half, to a small village called Kayabuki no Sato. It is a rural village nestled (I had to say that) in the mountains north of Kyoto which is composed mainly of old thatched houses and is being carefully maintained as a cultural heritage site The day we were there a group of workers were actually in the process of re-thatching one of the houses.

It is a very picturesque place where you can wander around amongst the houses and they have a few small cafes and shops where you can have a coffee and buy some mementos, along with a restaurant. There weren’t too many visitors there on the day we went, possibly because it was the middle of a very hot summer, but I did wonder how intrusive it would be if you lived there, especially during peak seasons.

Our final outing with Triscia took us to Kobe, to visit the Kobe Art Gallery. The exhibition displayed a large portion of the gallery’s permanent collection to coincide with the Osaka Expo, along with a special exhibition focusing on two Japanese artists who left Japan pre-WWII, one going to the US and the other to Europe. Interesting over-all, though I don’t recall it as richly as the Dinosaurs 😊.

That’s all for this episode – it was very eventful and enjoyable, and a wonderful way to spend 10 days in the middle of summer. It is still hot now – 38°C outside today – and we have had a number of thunderstorms since that time. Very tropical, but that’s for the next episode…

Cheers for now!

Lovely forest, but they said there were dinosaurs…?

Oh dear…

WTF is this?

There were lots of frogs at Kayabukui no Sato

Oh…

Summer bounty

When you don’t have enough people…

Oh…

Hello and welcome to my second blog of the year (and we’re already into August!). Following my last post we have done quite a bit, including a visit to our immigration lawyer, a few visits to the Vet and quite a few outings, of varying distances and activities undertaken. As a result of all this, there is quite a bit of ground to cover (literally) and many, many photos – too much for one post, so this post will be the first of two covering June and July.

After the last guests left in early June, we spent the first week or two getting our house in order, ie cleaning, washing, ironing, etc, then after that we started winding down. The weather, on the other hand, was doing the opposite, ie winding itself up into a hot, hot summer. The June rainy season wasn’t overly wet, though there were some moments of heavy rain, but it has been hot through this time, in an unrelenting kind of way. Recently we have had a couple of weeks with every day over 36° and every night at least 27°. Hot! So, we did venture out into the furnace a few times early on but held back a bit until our friend Triscia arrived here, in the second week of July.

Prior to her arrival, as mentioned above, we ventured out to go to Osaka to see our lawyer and organise our visa renewal. The good news is that we have been approved for a three year visa this time!!! Thank goodness 😊. In another administrative activity, we have also been working towards being approved for a modest mortgage loan, so that we can have a home to move back to when we return to Adelaide. I say modest, because lenders are not at all keen to give out loans to people who are living overseas and they also don’t like lending to self-employed people – a double whammy for us. In fact, the mortgage broker who has been helping us could only find one organisation willing to take us on, imposing both a risk fee and higher interest rate. Ah well, at least there was one.

As to the June Vet visits – we had our regular Ziggy appointment, which turned into two visits, but we tried a slightly higher insulin dosage and it has brought about a positive outcome for his diabetes, which is good. We also had to take Zowie for a couple of visits, an issue with his teeth, but all the test results were very positive, and he is back to eating normally. Craig also took our friend’s dog (a Doberman) for a couple of visits, for an ongoing issue and the final visit was an emergency run for a street cat.

We have a few street cats who visit our yard, and we leave food out for them every day. The unwell cat might have visited once before (we’re not sure) but somehow, when he was almost literally on his last legs, he made his way here. He was skin and bone and very weak, staggering in from the road, when I saw him. So, I grabbed a sachet of wet, paste style food, which we keep on hand for cats with significant dental issues, and took it out to him (he is an un-desexed male).

Thankfully he ate fairly well and finished it off. Craig then got one of our cat carriers and took out some cat treat Ciao Churu (cats love it), encouraged him into the carrier and immediately took him to the Vet. He also contacted some local cat rescuers we know, with one saying they would take him on once he had been to the Vet, been checked over and the Vet thought he might survive. The next day, they sent him off to Tokyo to a Vet they trust with street cats. This was rather harrowing, as he had to go via the Shinkansen and another train, and he was still very weak, but he made it, thankfully. He is now being looked after by a foster carer, and seems to be improving, overall. We were asked if we wanted to name him since he came to us for help, so I named him Rian, an Irish name meaning little king (I figured he had the luck of the Irish making it to our place in his condition). He is now looking a lot better, is around 3.6 kgs and soon he will have some surgery on his teeth and to de-sex him.

Rian – not well

Rian today

Other than these adventures, we also went to see a Yayoi Kusama exhibition and to a temple named Hokongo-in which I read about in the local paper, known for its garden and especially the lotus pond, which comes into flower early in July. The garden was designed in the 1100s and is designated as a Special National Site of Scenic Beauty.

Triscia arrived here on 11 July and we spent that day settling her in and giving her time to recover from the flight. The sightseeing schedule started the next day, with a local adventure, starting at Hakusa Sonso, which was the home built by the artist Hashimoto Kansetsu. He designed everything from the home, to the gardens and the art gallery in the back yard. It is a beautiful place, very serene, and it is particularly lovely in July when the giant lotus plants are in bloom. To be honest, his garden, to me, is better than the garden at Hokongo-in – just a personal preference.

After we spent some time there, we walked to the nearby Philosopher’s Path for a walk under the trees, in the heat, making our way to the temple Nanzen-ji, where the large, brick aqueduct is located – a good place to sit for a while to cool down a little.

Following that, we headed over to Heian Jingu shrine, which had set up some areas with many dome shaped glass wind-chimes, as a special Tanabata Festival display. Tanabata Festival celebrates the legend of the celestial lovers – Hikoboshi (based on the star Altair), a cowherd and Orihime (based on the star Vega), a cloth weaver. Though they are deeply in love, they are separated from one another throughout the year and can only meet on the 7th of July. The night of that date is when they are allowed to cross the Milky Way and to briefly reunite.

So, we went there to see the wind chimes and enjoy the lovely garden – but, something very special happened on this visit, I finally saw a Tanuki ‘in the flesh’. In fact, we saw four Tanukis, a mother and her three cubs!!! I cannot understate just how excited I was on seeing them. I have wanted to see a live Tanuki ever since the first time we came to Japan in 2007, and all I have ever seen is photos and the ubiquitous ceramic Tanuki effigies (of which we have three). Seeing them in the beautiful garden setting of Heian Jingu, comfortable, playful and looking so healthy was just bliss for me. Normally they are nocturnal creatures, but here they were, moving around and seemingly unconcerned about us.

After this fabulous visit to the garden, we went to Toriba Coffee for a drink, something to eat and to cool down – which was helped by having a lovely kakigori, a special summer shaved ice dessert, mine with mango topping. What a truly fantastic day this was.

The next day, we took Triscia into town to buy some items she wanted and to see the floats for the Gion Matsuri. Still hot, but the floats are always worth seeing.

This is a good point to end this post before we start the really big adventures!

Cheers for now!

When guys are working, there’s always that support crew…

The flowers of summer

Tonbo