Nikko

16th and 17th August

Tina, Steve, Marie and I headed to Nikko, 2 hours north of Tokyo where it is much cooler and there are many world heritage shrines and temples. Nikko is very mountainous and when we stepped out of the train station the view was fantastic!



The Daiya river runs through Nikko and there is a pool where you can dip your feet - being summer we thought we would give it a go but it was so cold - we could only stay in long enough for the photo and our legs were starting to get numb! I would love to come back in Winter as there would be a lot of snow and Nikko would look even more beautiful.



One of the main sites to see is the Shinkyo bridge - it is a sacred bridge which looks amazing as everything around it is blue and green.







Nikko had a lot of wildlife - we saw so many beautiful dragonflies and they would come right up to you and sometimes land on you before flying off again. Marie and I saw one eating a fly! We also saw grasshoppers and two snakes!





We spent half a day wandering around the Nikko National Park which has many World Heritage listed shrines and temples.

This is Rin-no-ji temple Taiyuin.

The sacred fence.


A cool statue at the entrance to the temple which represents the God of Thunder.


The gate leading to the temple.




A beautiful door on the gate to the temple.


A 5 storey pagoda.


This is at Futara-san shrine.

Message plaques of love!


This is Toshogu shrine which is famous for the 3 monkeys.

The sacred stable which actually has a horse in it from New Zealand!


Hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil.


We just had to do it too!


Different message plaques which people have attached 5 Yen or 50 Yen coins as they have a hole in the middle!







We also saw Sanbutsu-do which is the largest temple in Nikko with 3 beautiful, gold statues inside and Yakushi-do temple which has an amazing painting of a dragon on the ceiling. It is called the roaring dragon as if you stand under it's mouth and clap your hands you can hear jingling echoes.

Kegon falls and Chuzenji lake are about half an hour from Nikko and they are up in the mountains. We caught a bus up the very windy road and then we went to Kegon Falls. Kegon Falls is a 97 metre waterfall and you catch a lift down to ground level. You get to see the waterfall from the top and then the bottom. At the top of the waterfall it was 25 degrees and at the bottom it was 15 degrees - quite a bit cooler!





These kids were so cute - the boy is telling the girl off as she wouldn't pose properly for their Mum!


Lake Chuzenji.


I had a great time in Nikko and would love to go back there in winter to see everything covered with snow.

A day trip to Kyoto . . . by myself!

12th August 2007

Well today I woke up and while having breakfast thought to myself that I should go somewhere today! I decided to visit Kyoto as there are so many beautiful things to see there and I want to see as many as I can before I leave. So I went to Kyoto for my first day trip by myself! I went to Ginkaku-ji which is the silver pavillion. My favourite temple in Kyoto is Kinkaku-ji which is the golden pavillion. But sadly Ginkaku-ji was never covered in silver! It is an amazing old temple though and the gardens are fantastic - beautiful rock gardens, moss covered ground and bamboo forests. I then went to the street leading to Kiyomizu-dera as it is lined with shops selling pottery and all kinds of souvenirs. It was a really good day and I now know that I can get around in Japan on my own!

Ginkaku-ji


The mound in front of the temple and the ground is actually all rocks - it almost looks like sand! It is meant to represent Mt Fuji and the rocks on the ground are representing waves. The amount of work that would go into it would be huge!


This was a place to pray and if you got your coin on the rock I think you also got good luck as some people were getting very excited when they hit the rock!


The beautiful gardens.


This is the entrance to Kiyomizu-dera. It looks fantastic against the summer sky!

さよなら Chelsea! :(

11th August 2007

Tonight was Chelsea's last night in town so we went to the beer garden in Himeji! It was my second time but this time the temperature was higher and it didn't rain! It was a great night and then we headed to the local bar. I will really miss Chelsea and just wish she could have stayed longer in Japan!

Jod, Chelsea and me!


Everyone at the beer garden! You can even see the castle in the background!


Chelsea and Yoshio! - cuties!

Mitaki-ji - Waterfall temple

7th August 2007

I had read about a waterfall temple near Hiroshima in the Lonely Planet guide and I really wanted to go so on our last day in Hiroshima we set out to find Mitaki-ji. It was such an amazing place but I don't think many people know about it. There is one main temple set in a tropical forest with small waterfalls around the place. There are so many statues and places to pray throughout the forest. It was so beautiful and green and I loved seeing all the statues. There were also a lot of spiders and Marie saw 2 snakes! Mitaki-ji is such an amazing place where I could spend all day just looking around.





A Japanese lady was praying here and placing offerings to the gods and she showed me how to scoop the water and throw it over the statues.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony

6th August 2007



62 years ago today at 8:15am the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

We came to Hiroshima today to see the peace memorial service. It was such an emotional service and during the silent prayer and peace bell it really hit me how devastating it would have been and what chaos would have been happening at this time.

There were so many people at the memorial service - it was amazing to be a part of it. Doves were released, an amazing choir sang and we were all asked to make a paper crane as a symbol of peace which were collected and were to be presented to countries where they still have nuclear weapons.

My paper crane.


The Peace Memorial Ceremony.


All the wreaths and the cenotaph which is in memory of all the victims.


Many people lined up to pray, lay flowers and light incense for the victims of the bombing.



6pm

At night there was a Lantern Ceremony. Thousands of people make paper lanterns and light a candle in them as a prayer for peace and for the victims of the bombing, many who threw themselves in the river as they were burned so badly from the bomb and the fires it caused. The lanterns are sent down the river. It was an amazing sight and I am so glad I got to see such a beautiful ceremony.