Japan: Through the Torii Gates
September 1-17, 2025
My original JAL flight was cancelled due to maintenance reasons, but I fortunately was able to get re-booked on an ANA flight. I don't know why All Nippon Air chose the Pikachu character as a mascot, but the on board videos showed us cute scenes with Pikachu and other Pokemon characters explaining the safety features, and the plane itself was colorfully illustrated.
The direct flight from JFK to Haneda was about 14 hours and arrived on time. Entering Japan went smoothly, and my eSIM from Ubigi started working instantly after powering up the phone at the airport. My room at the New Otani Hotel in Tokyo is spacious, and the only downside so far is the heat and humidity outside. Japan is experiencing its hottest summer on record.
After 6-7 hours of sleep, I found myself awake in the early hours of the morning and decided to venture out for a walk in Tokyo around sunrise at 5am. It took me 10 minutes or more to find my way out of the large hotel complex which has multiple towers and street level exits on various levels.
Outside, I was immediately shocked by the intense heat. It was already mid-80s at dawn. But, the streets were deserted and I enjoyed a short walk to nearby Shimizudani Park. Here I was able to find my first geocache in Japan and even did a little birding. This is not a birding trip, but being me, I was constantly on the look out for new species.
Shimizudani Park, although surrounded by skyscrapers is a peaceful oasis with a natural spring where one can escape the city scene. It includes a memorial to Okubo Toshimichi a notable samurai and key figure from the Meiji Restoration. After this enjoyable outing, I made my way back to the hotel and enjoyed a large breakfast buffet in the Tower Restaurant on the 40th floor.
I chose to book a group tour for most of this outing and met my fellow travellers from the MIT Alumni Association, and our Japanese tour director, at a morning orientation meeting in one of the hotels tower conference rooms. Mt. Fuji could be seen in the hazy distance through the window, and this was, alas, the best view the mountain granted as it remained "shy" later when we travelled closer. (shy = obscured by clouds)
Our day begins
with a visit to the studio of acclaimed calligrapher Koshun Masunaga.
She is garbed in a kimono which proves to be a very versatile garment with
lots of pockets. I love pockets! We gather around as the artist
demonstrates her craft and we learn a bit about her work.
Then she surprises us
each with a gift of a special piece of calligraphy representing our names.
I used google translate on mine later and it translated the character
as Rin, but it is pretty.
Next stop is Tokyo's busy Ginza Shopping district. I'm not a shopper, and the jet lag is catching up to me. A nap at this point of the day would have been nice, but I soldiered on as the group spent an eternity in a giant multi-level food court. I purchased a pretty bento box lunch and found a quiet corner to sit and eat it. Bento box lunches are traditionally eaten cold or at room temperature. While not bad, it's like eating cold leftovers. I picked the box because it looked pretty, and I'm not a picky eater, but I later used the magic of google translate to see what I actually had in there. Google translate on the phone became a regular go-to for me on this trip.
Ginza 6 had a temporary art installation called the Big Cat Bang. Great title, I should add a few more bangs !!!! Artist Kenji Yanobe's astronaut cats took over the atrium and I tried to capture it with a few photos. I was reminded of a book from elementary school called Space Cat Meets Mars though I misremembered the title as "Space Cat Goes to Mars." Big Cat Bang delivered on the space cats!
We left the Ginza area driving through Shibuya Crossing - the busiest intersection in the world. Then made a brief stop at the Meiji Jingu Shinto Shrine before returning to the hotel for dinner.
I was up early again on my second morning in Tokyo and had time to visit the hotel's Japanese Garden before breakfast. According to the hotel pamphlet, the garden is more than 400 years old and spans 10 acres. It is a lovely garden, and I was able to see and hear a few birds, though I had neither my camera nor binoculars with me.
Today we visited the Imperial Palace. A huge complex surrounded by moats and ramparts, and home of the Imperial family. We entered through the Otemon Gate with its large fishy sea creature. The fish was a talisman formerly on the roof of the original gate in 1657.
We walked a short distance into the east gardens seeing some of the hybrid carp in a pond. These hybrid of Indonesian long fin carp and Nishikigoi carp were created and released by Their Majesties in 1991. I snapped an excellent photo of a Little Grebe in the pond. I was looking forward to more exploration in the gardens when our tour guide abruptly turned us around and trooped us out after only 30 minutes. A problem with group travel, you can be stuck waiting for over an hour in a shopping area, but are rushed through visits at some much nicer spots that of interest.
We next headed to the Nakamise Street shopping arcade and given more than an hour to explore on our own after a quick peak at the Asakusa Sensoji Temple. This area proved to be more interesting than I originally expected, partly because there were dozens of geocaches and adventure labs in the area which I was able to explore and read about the area during my free time and could avoid the shops and trinket sellers. Though there was one nice place giving out free green tea.
The most interesting spot was at the OMIKUJI. Omikuji are strips of paper containing fortunes. There was a set-up with a cylinder that one shakes to release a numbered stick which corresponded to a numbered drawer with papers containing your fortune or misfortune.
I put my 100Yen coin in, shook my stick and pulled my fortune from drawer #64. Oh no! It was a bad fortune and read:
Although it seems to be quite safe everything is full of the coming danger. You meet so many sadness to be forced to leave from the people with sympathy. Wind is so hard and makes waves so high. The pair bird should be together always but they fly separate why?
Fortunately, there are wire racks where one ties the bad fortunes to leave them behind, and I did so.
After recovering from my bad fortune, I wandered around the area a bit more, found a few geocaches, and took photos of the Tokyo Sky Tree in the distance. It was too hot to contemplate getting lunch, but I had some protein bars to tide me over.
I rejoined the group and we took the bus to the Tokyo National Museum.
This museum is in the Ueno Park complex which includes a number of other
museums including the National Museum of Western Art.
The Museum of Western Art part of the World Heritage site
of historically important buildings designed by
20th century French architect Le Corbusier. I was hoping to have time
and energy to visit the latter after the group tour in the National Museum,
but between jet lag and the heat I felt wiped and only looked at it from the outside.
We headed west toward Mt. Fuji with a stop at the Dangozaka Service Area. I did a screenshot of the map to see where we were, but didn't notice the Typhoon weather alert at the time. The trip was mildly impacted by the typhoon the next day, more on that later.
Every flush can be an adventure. Japan has some sophisticated toilet technology and I found myself using google translate on my phone a few times. One that stumped me at the time was on this picture next to the little dog holding a car. Google translate says: To muffle the noise use the Otohime, but I had no idea what an Otohime was at the time.
Subsequent research:
To use the Otohime on a Japanese toilet, simply press the button labeled with the character for "sound princess" or wave your hand over the sensor. This will activate a recording of running water to mask any sounds you might make while using the toilet.
Alas, Mt. Fuji is "shy" today, which means it was obscured by clouds. But, we had ample time to explore the Fujisan World Heritage Center which was chock full of interesting displays.
I spent some time outside trying to catch a glimpse of the mountain to no avail. I was reminded of my first week living in Pasadena when I couldn't see Mt. Wilson at all due to the LA smog. Mt. Fuji is 12,389ft (3,776m) vs Mt. Wilson is 5,715ft (1,740m)
After some time at the World Heritage Center we took a 30min boat ride
across Lake Ashi
en route to a night at the Hakone Setsugetsuka Ryokan.
Due to unfortunate weather with an impending Typhoon coming our
way, Fujisan continued to remain "shy".
It wouldn't be a Salmon holiday without a major weather event, like the worst dust storm in 100 years that happened while we were in Chile, or the winter storm that blasted the Great Plains when we were birding in Nebraska. This time, travel is disrupted by a Typhoon. It's my first typhoon!
We managed to board our scheduled bullet train and begin travel, but after an hour or so the train stopped and we sat on the tracks due to Typhoon activity making it unsafe for the train to proceed. We eventually continued on to Nagoya station where we waited for a few hours and our guide arranged for a bus to come and fetch us for the remainder of the journey to Takayama.
Takayama has a beautiful old town section with buildings dating to the Edo Period (1600-1868). We are unfortunately staying just outside of it at a huge western style hotel ironically named The Green Hotel. On an early morning pre-breakfast walk from the hotel, I didn't make it past the concrete jungle of the surrounding area. I needed to go another km or so to get to the nicer section of town.
The typhoon has passed, and the tour is back in business with a late morning visit to Hida Kokubun-ji temple and the Miyagawa market. The Hida Kokubun-ji temple is an ancient Buddhist temple (dating from approx 751AD) with a 1,250 year old ginkgo tree in its courtyard. It was a wonderfully serene and peaceful spot to visit on a Saturday morning.
By contrast, the busy Miyagawa Market a few blocks away was in full swing. The market was along the side of the Miyagawa River and had many Eastern Spot-billed ducks dabbling in the water. I coincidentally bought a bird book yesterday that had this future Duck of the Month on the cover. Rather than shopping, I used my free time exploring along the edge of the river, and walked around town near the market to find a couple of geocaches.
I should have grabbed an ice cream or some other snack at the market before
heading for lunch at the Hida Cooking School
where we cooked our own meal. In the end, the meal was delicious, but we
spent over 2 hours standing in the hot kitchen before we got to sit
and enjoy the fruits of our labor. My favorite of the items we
cooked were the simple potatoes Koroimo.
See item 4 on the Hida Cooking School Menu.
The spinach in Egoma sauce was also delish!
After lunch we had a jam packed afternoon touring attractions in the old section of Takayama including the Sakurayama Hachimangu Shinto Shrine. This shrine is dedicated to Hachiman, the god of war, and is associated with the samurai class. I had a little time to explore the tranquil grounds and climb a lot of stairs on the hillside.
The group activities continued with a Japanese Tea Ceremony, visit to a Sake Brewery, and tour of Takayama Jinya complex in old town. I like tea, but not sake :-). It was a long day as we had to include some activities from yesterday that were cancelled by the Typhoon.
On my final morning at the Takayama Green Hotel I learned a problem with
the room being too "smart". All room controls (lights, temperature, curtains, etc.)
were made using a small iPad next to the bed. Its glowing light had
bothered me in the night and I turned it over disconnecting its power cord in the
process. In the wee hours of the morning when I awoke to a dark room, there was
no way to turn on the lights. I eventually managed to find and reconnect the iPad
which was completely dead and had to be rebooted after some charging.
Great day as we headed off to visit the Shirakawa-go World Heritage Site.
I became interested in World Heritage Sites
about 40 years ago when working on a project in China to protect
Buddhist Cave Temples from Air pollution
and have since tried to add a few WH visits to every trip.
The Shirakawa-go Gassho-zukuri Village was located in a mountainous region that was cut off from the rest of the world for a long period of time. This isolation led to the development of unique cultural practices and lifestyles. In particular, the villagers subsisted on the cultivation of mulberry trees and the rearing of silkworms. The Gassho-style houses are unique wooden houses with steeply pitched thatched roofs and multiple floors that evolved to adapt to the natural environment.
I only had about an hour to explore the World Heritage village which has over 100 Gassho-style buildings of various sizes. People still live and work in many of the buildings, thus I walked around the outside politely realizing that much of the village is still private residences. I toured one open for tourists, the Nagase House and took a lot of photos inside. It displayed a lot of artifacts, one display case had a sign saying "passed down in our family". There was an eclectic mix of stuff including a rotary dial phone. I still have a working rotary dial phone at home, though it is not one I use regularly.
The wood houses with thatch roofs are extremely vulnerable to fire. Fire prevention is a priority in the village and there is a system of fire hydrants tucked away in wooden housings.
We also visited a private Gokayama home about 20 minutes drive from the Shirakawa-go Village. This Gassho-style home, the Iwase-ke House, was built about 300 years ago. It has been in the current owner's family for approximately 150 years. The group was treated to a lecture and performance by the owner and family, and then allowed to tour the house.
Next, we stopped at a fried chicken restaurant for lunch, a specialty dish of the area. Better than KFC. We then had a very enjoyable hands-on experience making paper at the Gokayama Washi no Sato.
Gokayama Washi is a traditional hand made paper made from a mixture of Kozo (paper-mulberry) fibers and a viscous extract of Tororo Aoi (hibiscus) plant. We got to skip the early phases which include harvesting mulberry, steaming, peeling off the bark, bleaching, boiling, rinsing, beating and mixing with water. We began in the workshop in front of large vats of grayish liquid that had already been prepped and was ready to make paper.
We gathered in groups of 7 and were each given small cups with little bits and bobs that we would use for our later designs. I thought one of mine was a frog, but I had it upside down and it was actually a crane. A second design I thought was a weird face mask, I was also looking at upside down. It turned out to be a stylized Gassho-style house, the cutouts I thought were eyes and mouth were windows and doors, and the "hair" was the thatched roof. My third design bit was a pink dog, but we'll call it salmon colored.
My group went first and we each had a wooden rack with a fine mesh sieve that we carefully dipped into the gray liquid. Warnings were given to keep the rack vertical when going into the liquid, and rotate it just so before holding it horizontally for a minute or two before repeating the process 3 times. The thick liquid collected on our mesh rack magically began to turn into paper. Before they were dry, I carefully arranged my colored design elements on top. Fortunately, and alert pro at the shop noticed my upside down elements and we were able to right them before things dried.
Our final sheets were taken, dried, and removed from
the frames by the professionals, and we were gifted with our craft work.
I was very pleased with how mine turned out.
Kanazawa was my next destination, located on the
western coast of Japan's main island, Honshu, and facing the Sea of Japan.
The city center is not directly on the coast, and it would
be a few more days before I got to do any coastal birding.
The Hotel Nikko is much more comfortable than the last place,
and we had a lovely 9 course dinner at a place near the hotel.
Japan is very safe and ventured out alone for an after dinner walk to find a geocache near the cool looking Tsuzumi drum gate at Kanazawa Station. The drum gate towers over the station and it lit with changing colors so is worth visiting after dark.
The next morning after another giant buffet breakfast, there's no shortage of food on this trip, we head to the Hakukokan Gold Leaf Center. The city of Kanazawa is a center of gold leaf craft, and the center we visit produced the covering of Kyoto's Golden Pavilion that we'll visit in a couple of days.
The Hakukokan Center tour begins at a small museum with workers demonstrating the process of pounding and stretching gold into very thin sheets. I like the exhibit with a thin sheet that is almost as tall as me. Translating its info sign says that: A gold alloy 1/3 the size of a 10Yen coin is stretched to the size of tatami mat and it's 1/10,000 of a mm thick.
We actually get to do the gold leaf process and are each given a small plate, a small sheet of gold leaf, and a template that will define our design. I chose a fish design for mine. Ultimately, I stuck the template in a spot of my choosing on the plate and had the pros brush some type of adhesive over it. Next, I carefully placed the gold leaf sheet and poked it into place with a little stick.
I was reminded of my work in the Rococo Room of the Getty Museum when the gold leaf was being applied. The artisans doing that work had little pots of rabbit skin glue for that application.
There's was some drying time involved, and another step or two involving lacquer and more drying before we boxed up our handiwork and got to keep them. The place also had a gallery, shop, and cafe. I opted for the later where I treated myself to ice cream with an edible piece of gold for 980Yen (about $6.50). The gold leaf on my ice cream cone was quite a bit bigger than that used on my plate.
Our morning continued with a visit to a pottery place, but no hands on
experience there. We gathered to watch the craftsman throw a couple
of pieces on the pottery wheel. Afterwards, a
picture on the wall of a group of students gathered
in the same seats was pointed out. I happened to be sitting
in the same spot that had been occupied by the former emperor in the
wall picture.
We continue on to Omicho Market., Kanazawa's largest food market dating back to the Edo period. It was an overwhelming fishy extravaganza, and being named Salmon, I took a bunch of photos. Not being in the mood to eat fish, or much at all after the large breakfast and my golden ice cream, I headed across the street for coffee at a Starbucks. It was air conditioned, had plenty of seats, a bathroom, and sandwiches. Easy, one stop shopping when you're hot and tired.
I also had time to find the Omicho Market geocache and leave one of my signature fish beads behind. It seemed very appropriate to do that at this location.
The final stop of the day was the Kenrokuen Garden, a traditional Japanese Garden. It exemplifies the six qualities required for a perfect garden: extensiveness, artifice, antiquity, waterways, panoramic views, and quiet seclusion. I peeled off from the group to enjoy and photograph a Great Egret in on of the ponds, and then enjoyed a quiet serene stroll around the garden. I had time to visit the Kanazawa Castle Park across the street.
I got a geology lesson from the Tomuro stone earthcache at Kanazawa Castle. Tomuro Stone is an andesite, igneous rock formed by cooling lava believed to have formed 400,000 years ago. The castle walls are built with these Tomuro stone building blocks.
For dinner, I experienced the wonder of 7-Eleven.
Japanese 7-Elevens differ from their U.S. counterparts by acting
as neighborhood hubs with a higher level of food
quality and service in addition to handy ATM locations.
For dinner I chose some type of meat rice bowl item which the
helpful employees heated for me and provided utensils. It was actually
really good and had clever packaging.
I also got a couple of delicious drinking yogurts.
Onward to Kyoto. We boarded a bullet train, and unlike my first experience which was derailed by a Typhoon, this train made the 2-hour journey to Kyoto without hiccups.
Our hotel was within spitting distance of the train station, but it was too early to check-in. This led to an awkward hour or so for "lunch on our own" while burdened with our carry-on luggage. The big bags had been sent ahead to the hotel but we had been instructed to bring the smaller bags on the train. Had I known, I could have packed everything, including my carry-on duffle itself into the bigger bag and only brought my day pack on the train.
The Kyoto Train station includes a massive underground city with 100s of shops and restaurants. Not wanting to lug my duffle bag around, I stopped at one of the first places I came to and ordered coffee and chicken. Nothing special, but perfectly edible, and a convenient place to wait for our group to continue with the afternoon program.
After lunch we were bussed to Nijo-jo Castle. Nijo-jo Castle is one of the 17 properties selected to be part of UNESCO's Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage Site. Nijo-jo was built by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603 for the defense of the Kyoto Imperial Palace and to serve as an official residence for visiting shoguns.
We weren't allowed to take photos inside, so my memories will have to suffice. One cool feature was the squeaky floors that were made that way intentionally. Large brads are nailed under the floor boards in such a way that they squeak when you walk on them. This alarm system would alert the shogun's guards of intruders trying to sneak in for an attack. I did get a close up look at the mechanism outside where photos were allowed.
One more stop for the day at the Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design (the Furenikan). Kyoto was the old capital of Japan established in 794. It has a long history of culture and industry and this museum features the history and process for 74 kinds of traditional crafts. There are some interactive exhibits, and things you can smell or touch. I saw some powdered plant dyes that reminded me of my work with fading of plant dyes. There have been more stuff on other floors, but I myself was fading at this point in the day.
The day draws to a close, and I check into a very large comfortable room at The Thousand Kyoto. There is a cool kinetic sculpture in the lobby, and room service is delivered by a robot. I subsequently see the robot making a delivery and follow it until it gets into an elevator. I let it go on its way by itself.
Morning two in Kyoto and I dump what I thought was a creamer packet into my coffee and watch as the green matcha powder poured into my morning brew. Oops. I've tried the matcha ice cream and the matcha chocolate, so why not matcha coffee. On to breakfast which is a "half" buffet. There's more than enough food out without using the QR code to order more, but the waiter insists on helping me order one of the specialty items (stuff like avocado toast, pancakes, or eggs Benedict). The remainder of the buffet included other types of eggs, sausage, yogurt, breads, fruits, sushi, and more than enough to eat.
Our group heads out to visit several of Kyoto's cultural hot spots. I think most of them are included on the WH list and I'm looking forward to the day. One planned stop will be the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. Did someone say Bamboo? Remember our Not Quite as Big Bamboo Party for our 100th birthday bash. I still have 100s of bamboo poles from that down in the basement. It's great to have a big basement.
We pass a section of the Katsura River on the way to our first stop and it is full of birds! I'm in the bus, but I grab the camera and snap away hoping to at least get some ID shots for my bird list. The river is full of egrets, herons, cormorants, and a duck or two.
We visit another property that is part of the Kyoto World Heritage Site collection. Tenryu-ji Temple or Temple of the Heavenly Dragon was originally built in 1255 as a detached palace with a view of Mt. Arashiyama. Tenryu-ji was converted into a Zen temple in 1339.
The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is located on the grounds of the Tenryu-ji Temple complex and can be accessed through its north gate. It was planted centuries ago and is one of the oldest gardens in Japan. There's is a controlled path for visitors to walk through the garden and it is crowded today. Maybe it's always crowded. The bamboo grows straight up and it's difficult to get a sense of how vast the place actually is.
Walking back to the bus we pass Snoopy Chocolates. I'm taken with its sign that reads: "Through the World of Peanuts, you can feel the local culture of Japan."
Next, we visit Ryoan-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple with its famous rock garden. It has 15 large rocks arranged on a large rectangular plot with a 360o walkway around. Supposedly, the garden was designed such that one can only see 14 of the rocks no matter where you are standing. Ryoanji is a huge place and we walk through the gardens for about 15 minutes before reaching the temple itself. The large Kyoyochi Pond was made in the 12th century. Historically It was full of Mandarin Ducks, but alas they are no longer present today. The pond is pretty and full of water lilies and lotus flowers.
Our final stop of the morning is the Rokuon-ji Temple also known as The Golden Pavilion or the Kinkaku-ji Temple. It is one of the most famous buildings in Japan, and one of the most crowded. The original was constructed in the 14th century, but burned to the ground in 1950 and was reconstructed in 1955 covering all 3 floors of the building with gold leaf. The original only had one level of gold.
Group activities wrapped up for the day, I had an afternoon free to explore Kyoto and grab some snacks at 7-eleven. It was a hot muggy day, so I didn't venture too far, but did look around for a couple of geocaches in the vicinity of Kyoto Tower. I eventually made my way under the subway shopping area and came out on the other side of the Kyoto Station. Man is it confusing under there among the 100s of shops.
At one point I was standing around looking at my phone trying to figure out where a geocache was located. A helpful woman passerby tried to help what she assumed was a lost tourist. I decided not to try and explain geocaching and smiled and told her I was waiting.
There was a really cool earth cache that took me to a Stone Museum at Kyoto Station. On the outside on the North side of station there is an open-air stone museum. Embedded in the sides of several columns are small samples of stone from around the world, with identifying plaques. There are 288 samples in total from 35 countries. The first time I passed the area there were about 200 uniformed school children waiting lined up in orderly rows, but when I returned an hour later I was able to easily navigate and enjoy the geology samples in the pillars.
No Noh, but in the evening, our group attended a traditional arts performance with short skits from a variety of types including Koto music, Ikebana flower arrangement, Bugaku dance, Kyogen comedy, Kyomai dance, and Bunraku puppet theatre. It has clearly been set up for tourists. My favorite part were the comedians in the Kyogen skit. Even though I didn't understand the language, they performers were very expressive and had the audience chuckling with the physical comedy.
I tried the Eggs Benedict for breakfast, and it was yummy. You would have liked it. Funny, I had to come all the way to Japan to try a dish that was invented in New York City.
The first stop of the day was the Fushimi Inari Shrine which has some 1,000 red Torii gates. I had no idea the gates would be stacked together so tightly in spots that you are walking through a tunnel made of gates. I was imagining something more like Christo's The Gates in Central Park. I took time to explore on my own and went as far up the hill as time would allow, eventually leaving the crowds below. Also, greatly enjoyed a matcha flavored ice cream on a hot day.
After 1,000 Torii gates we visited 1,001 statues at Sanjyusangendo Hall. The statues are of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The temple dates from 1164, and its name literally means "33 intervals" which comes from the number of intervals between the building's support columns, a traditional method of measuring the size of a building.
I had time in the afternoon to walk to the Kamo River and do some biring. The river had some shallow spots with standing egrets and herons. I also caught a glimpse of an Eastern Red-rumped Swallow.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) was the only structure left standing in the area where the first atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945. It is the ruins of the former Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Promotion Hall. It has been preserved in the same state as immediately after the bombing. It is a stark and powerful symbol of the terrible destructive force created by humankind, but expresses a hope for world peace.
The explosion of this single bomb turned the surrounding 2-km radius circle
of the city into ashes, killing over 200,000 people.
I took 2867 photos during the trip and trimmed that down to XXX for this travel log. My Trip eBird List netted only 40 species, but this wasn't a birding trip. However, I was able to add 18 new species added to The Salmon Bird List and got a good new Duck of the Month for the curling club newsletter.
I also was able to find 37 geocaches plus 30 Adventure Labs and added 7 new World Heritage sites to my visited list.
