Honshu | Blue Lapis Road

DAY 4 – PRELUDE OF THE KUMANO KODO, Tanabe (田辺市), Japan

It was a rainy day. Leaving Osaka’s Tennoji Station behind, the JR Kuroshio limited express took us southwards to Kii-Tanabe. The train ride took slightly less than 2 hours. The rain stopped by the time we arrived Tanabe in the afternoon. As planned, we walked to the souvenir shop beside the station to pick up the keys of our reserved timber townhouse, where we would stay the night. The host handed us a map and a leaflet of house rules. We put on our backpacks, stepped out the shop, and found our way into the winding streets of Tanabe. Situated along the southwest coast of Kii Peninsula, Tanabe is a fishing city in Wakayama Prefecture. Throughout history, Tanabe had been the traditional starting point of the Kumano Kodo where pilgrims turned away from the coast to enter the inland mountains. Through the mountainous trails eastwards, pilgrims would wind through the Kii Mountains and reached Hongu Taisha, the most sacred shrine in this pilgrimage area in about two days. This route is known as Nakahechi Route, and has become the most popular route among all Kumano Kodo trails today. We also chose to explore Kumano Kodo via Nakahechi Route. Tanabe, therefore, became the obvious place where we would spend the night before heading into the mountains. We arrived at Kii Tanabe in the afternoon. We were intrigued by the minimalist house setback from the street on a narrow lot. No surprise, the seaside town of Tanabe is a great place for seafood. We dropped in a local restaurant called Ginchiro Ekimae near the train station. The local dish in Tanabe includes the double-decked seafood rice bowl. The lower bowl contained rice and small silver fish.The upper bowl included sashimi, cooked seafood and sour plums. Community shrine.Near the railway station there is a network of small lanes lined with restaurants and izakayas. Two security patrols sat at the central intersection of the main lanes waiting for the night to fall upon.

Finally we arrived at Konyamachiya Townhouse, the traditional two-storey timber house where we would spend the night. Konyamachiya Townhouse is a Machiya townhouse 町屋, a type of traditional timber townhouse found in much of Kyoto area.

The house was tidy, spacious, atmospheric and furnished with handmade furniture. The dining room opened to a small garden deck. The kitchenette was neatly situated behind a wall of sliding panels, which could be fully concealed when not in use.There were two tatami bedrooms on the upper level. The traditional wooden structure of the roof was completely exposed. It had been raining most of the day. There scent of the bamboo mats was very strong when we entered the room. A neat lamp made of bamboo by local artisan was a decent feature in the bedroom. A long and winding yellow street connected the neighborhood of our Konyamachiya Townhouse to the town centre.The yellow-painted street passed by shops of various kinds.Traditional shrines and temples were very well maintained in many cities in Japan, including Tanabe.This shrine near our Konyamachiya Townhouse offered a sense of peacefulness in an already relaxed fishing town. At last we stopped by a traditional soba (蕎麦) restaurant for dinner. It was already quite late in the night. The chef prepared us whatever left available for us. A simple soba dinner, including tempura shrimps and vegetables, was one of the most special meal for our trip. No tourist menu, and no sample images. A simple and unpretentious effort from the chef just before the restaurant closed its doors gave us an unforgettable pleasure of a local dining experience in a small Japanese town. From the dike of Aizu-gawa River, we looked back at the end of Konya-machi, the street where our townhouse stood. A quiet night in the sleepy town of Tanabe, we awaited the arrival of the beginning of our hike the next day.

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Read other posts on 2015 Kansai…
Day 1.0 – Kansai Japan 2015
Day 1.1 – Hanami, Mount Yoshino
Day 1.2 – Feast under the Shades of Sakura, Mount Yoshiko
Day 2 – A Day in Kobe
Day 3 – A Day in Central Osaka
Day 4 – Tanabe – Prelude of the Kumano Kodo
Day 5.1 – Takijiri to Takahara, Kumano Kodo
Day 5.2 – Takahara to Tsugizakura , Kumano Kodo
Day 5.3 – Minshuku Tsugizakura, Kumano Kodo
Day 6.1 – Tsugizakura to Mikoshi-Toge Pass, Kumano Kodo
Day 6.2 – Mikoshi-Toge Pass to Hongu Taisha, Kumano Kodo
Day 6.3 – Kumano Hongu Taisha to Yunomine Onsen, Kumano Kodo
Day 7.1 – Ryokan Adumaya, Yunomine Onsen, Kumano Kodo
Day 7.2 – Yunomine Onsen, Kumano Kodo
Day 7.3 – Kumano Hongu Taisha, Kumano Kodo
Day 7.4 – Wataze Onsen, Kumano Kodo
Day 8.1 – Kumano Nachi Taisha, Kumano Kodo
Day 8.2 – Kii Katsuura, Kumano Kodo
Day 9 – Church of Light, Osaka

May 28, 2015 | Categories: Japan, Japan: Kansai 2015, Kumano Kodo | Tags: 熊野古道, 田辺, Honshu, Japan, Kansai, Kii, Kumano Kodo, Tanabe, Wakayama | Leave a comment

DAY 3 – A DAY IN CENTRAL OSAKA, Osaka (大阪市), Japan

Day 3 was our only full day in Osaka (大阪). Started from our hotel in Shinsaibashi (心斎橋), we explored the nearby neighborhoods on foot, including Dotonbori (道頓堀), Minamisenba (南船場), and Namba (難波). Daimaru is a well known Japanese department store. The store in Shinsaibashi has been the landmark of the area since 1931. The building was designed by American architect William Merell Vories, with a mix of Art Deco and Neo-Gothic style. The food hall at the basement level is particularly a wonder to explore. Linking two of the city’s largest shopping districts, Umeda and Namba, is a 600m long covered shopping arcade, Shinsaibashi Suji. In fact, covered arcades can be found in many cities and towns in Kansai.Known for its eccentric nightlife and food scene, Dotonbori is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Osaka. Restaurants, bars, multi-storey billboards and bustling tourist shops lined up along Dotonbori-gawa Canal. The billboard of an athlete crossing the finishing line for Glico (a popular confectionery company) is one of the most iconic feature of Dotonbori. One can find many striking billboards along Dotonbori-gawa Canal, such as this gigantic Ferris wheel. This Ferris wheel is an eye-catching landmark of a duty-free shop. Osaka is a heaven for street food lovers. Takoyaki (grilled batter with diced octopus filling) is one of the most popular street food among all. There are always a queue for the make-to-order takoyaki. There are many variation to the takoyaki recipes but the main ingredients are egg batter and diced octopus. North of Shinsaibashi lies the area of Minamisenba (南船場), a former hotspot for fabric wholesaling. Since the decline of the fabric business in 1990s, many of the old office buildings and storage facilities had been converted into trendy shops, design studios and new offices. At the heart of Minamisenba is Organic Building. Designed by Italian architect Gaetano Pesce in 1993, Organic Building soon became the icon of the area. It was an early envisioning of a vertical living wall. The bright red facade is “cladded” with over 80 native plants to Japan. Perhaps, we were attracted by the simplicity of the storefront design. We walked into this little restaurant at a street corner in Minamisemb for a bowl of comforting beef udon. The interior decor is elegantly simple with a large wooden communal table and an open kitchen.It is common to find high-carbohydrate set meal on a menu in Osaka such as a combination of udon/ramen and a bowl of rice. A beautiful wall painting in Minamisemba. One of the most successful renewal projects in Minamisemba is the conversion of the former Association of Agricultural and Forestry into the trendy hub of designers, artists and bookstores. Many of the old architectural features from the 1930s remains.At Minamisemba, we walked past a shrine complex called Namba Shrine. Attracted by the full blossoms of cherry and plum trees, we decided to go in and check out the shrine. Plum (ume) blossoms at Namba Shrine.The cherry blossoms at Namba Shrine was at its peak.South of the busy Namba Railway Station lies a unique retail complex, the Namba Park. Designed by American architect Jon Jerde and completed in 2009, the Namba Park shopping and office complex was built at the site of the former Osaka Stadium. The development consists of a 30-storey office tower and a 8-level shopping mall. The shopping mall is designed as an urban oasis with extensive roof gardens in the midst of a bustling city. Much of the roof surfaces of the complex are designed as landscaping and dining terraces. The exterior scenic lifts with a glass roof take visitors to each shopping levels, topped with a Surrealist white blob.The winding outdoor mall of Namba Park resembles a natural canyon with hanging terraces and layers of stones.

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May 25, 2015 | Categories: Japan, Japan: Kansai 2015, Osaka and Kobe | Tags: Dotonbori, 道頓堀, 難波, Honshu, Japan, Kansai, Minamisenba, Namba, Osaka, Shinsaibashi, Shrine, 南船場, 大阪, 心斎橋 | Leave a comment

DAY 2 – A DAY IN KOBE, Kobe (神戸市), Japan

Before we headed south to Kumano Kodo, we based ourselves in Osaka. From Osaka, we were spoiled with options of destinations for day trips. On our first day we picked Yoshino. On our second we headed northwest to the capital city of Hyogo Prefecture, Kobe (神戸). In 1850s the port of Kobe had been opened to the world, and since then, the city had developed into one of Japan’s most cosmopolitan city. Two decades ago the city experienced one of the most devastating earthquakes in Japan in the 20th century, the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Thousands lost their lives and uncounted buildings damaged. Today, except a few spots where the damage was preserved as memorials, much of the damaged neighborhoods in Kobe has been fully restored and rejuvenated. JR is probably the most efficient transportation in Japan but may not be the most economical to cover the short distance between Osaka and Kobe. From the Kansai Airport, we purchased the 1-day Hanshin Tourist Pass for only 500 yen for unlimited rides on Hanshin trains between Osaka and Kobe. We arrived at around lunch time. We headed straight to Ishida, a teppanyaki restaurant that we found online near Sannomiya train station for lunch. It was a Sunday afternoon and the small lanes north of Sannomiya were very quiet. Inside Ishida, however, the scene was quite different, and we were lucky to take the last two seats without reservations. We sat along a L-shaped teppanyaki table side by side with other guests. The chef carefully prepared our beef and the side vegetables on the hot stainless teppanyaki table grill. We ordered two kinds of steaks: the Kobe A5 steak and a wagyu ribeye. Both were top quality but the Kobe steak with its well mixed marble texture had an exceptional buttery flavor. After the fine lunch, we headed south to the Motomachi neighborhood near Chinatown. In the area, a number of old buildings were redeveloped into atmospheric retail complexes of designer boutiques, craft shops, and artist studios. We then took a Hanshin train to Iwaya Station for Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art. The main purpose for the visit is to check out the building designed by architect Tadao Ando. Completed in 2002, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art was dominated by Ando’s signature use of architectural concrete. Concrete walls, glass halls, spiral feature stair, and thin slab roofs create a solid piece of architecture, in a way echoing the city’s rise from the devastating earthquake of 1995. Exterior spaces on various levels of the building roof are used for roof terraces and outdoor art display areas. Roof terraces of various sizes and shapes provide interesting experience for visitors. A section of the museum exhibit is devoted to the architecture of Tadao Ando. Architectural models of various scales, including this model of the 4×4 House in Kobe. The large overhanging eaves were quite visible when we exited the museum from the side facing the sea. Along the seaside promenade, Ando also designed a number of architectural features in the park adjacent to Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art. Next time, we will definitely visit the Kobe Earthquake Memorial Museum. The museum was designed to commemorate the devastating earthquake in 1995. The museum aims to educate the public about disaster prevention and to remember the city’s loss in the Hanshin Awaji Earthquake. Before we caught the evening train back to Osaka, we joined the queue in front of a local butcher, Moriya, for some deep fried snacks. It was almost 7:00pm, and the store was about to close. There were that many choices left. We ordered two kinds of croquette and just like the other locals, ate them on the street right in front of the store.

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May 23, 2015 | Categories: Japan, Japan: Kansai 2015, Osaka and Kobe | Tags: Ando, Architecture, beef, 神戸, Hanshin, Honshu, Hyogo, Japan, Kansai, Kobe, Tadao, 兵庫県立美術館 | Leave a comment

DAY 1 – FEAST UNDER THE SHADES OF SAKURA, Mount Yoshino (吉野山) 2 of 2, Japan

If one wishes to burn some calories with uphill hiking, Mount Yoshino may not be a good destination, especially during the hanami season. In fact, hiking on Mount Yoshino during cherry blossoms would likely become a journey for tasting local delicacies. This vendor was selling made-to-order imagawayaki. It is a popular Japanese snack like a thick pancake with sweet azuki bean paste. We tried a few kinds of freshly made mochi. They were perfect complement to a cup of warm green tea. A store is selling fresh amago (Angel Fish) on the sidewalk. Amago is commonly found in the mountainous rivers and streams. With its vertical strips and pink dots, Amago is highly recognizable. Grilled amago (Angel Fish) skewer was a popular snack. This store was selling sakura products of all kinds: sakura tea bag, sakura salt, sakura candies, sakura scened papers… Rice crackers, round or square… Fresh ingredients are the soul of Japanese cuisine. Spring must be the season for fresh mushrooms and bamboo shoots. During our hike, we met a vendor grilling fresh mushrooms. He waved at us and asked us where we came from. He introduced his own organic mushrooms to us. We picked up a bag of dried mushroom from him. The skewers in the pictures are fresh bamboo shoots. After we placed the order, the shop owner dipped a bamboo shoot skewer into a tempura batter and deep fried it.The bamboo shoot tempura was served with sakura salt. It was very delicious. No wonder why there was a long queue in front of the store. We couldn’t bring the local sake back home but we were lucky to have a chance to sample some local sake. It was almost sunset and most visitors had started descending. On our way back to the train station, we passed by a store selling kusa mochi, a Japanese sweet made from the leaves of Japanese mugwort. Through a side window we could see some of the preparation process. The store was near closing and the chef was preparing the dough. We couldn’t resist but bought a few freshly made mochi with red bean filling. “Persimmon leaf sushi”, sushi wrapped in preserved persimmon leaf, is popular in the Nara area since the Nara period. it can last in room temperature for about 2 days, kind of perfect for hiking. We bought a box of persimmon leaf sushi from a store near Yoshino train station. The store put up a big sign that said “自家製”, meaning “homemade”. Obviously it caught our attention. We bought a box of persimmon leaf sushi from the Yoshino station before our hike. We couldn’t find a good time to open it during our hike. Instead, we had the box of sushi as breakfast in the next morning. Each sushi was neatly wrapped. At first, we were skeptical about the taste as we never had “overnight” sushi before. They turned out to be a pleasant surprise. These sushi had been preserved with seasoned rice vinegar. A subtle aromatic flavor from the persimmon leaf lingered in the rice.

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May 20, 2015 | Categories: Japan, Japan: Kansai 2015, Yoshino | Tags: cherry, food, Honshu, Japan, Kansai, Nara, sakura, Yoshino, yoshinoyama, 吉野, 吉野山 | Leave a comment

DAY 1 – HANAMI, Mount Yoshino (吉野山) 1 of 2, Japan

After some light sleep on a 4-hour red-eye flight, we landed at Kansai International Airport at 6:30am on a Saturday morning. Our vacation officially kicked off. As we stepped out of the plane, we took a deep breath of the cool and refreshing air which reminded us of a familiar smell of the North American spring. At the airport, it took us over an hour dealing with all the business related to train passes (Haruka & ICOCA, JR West Wide Area Pass, and Hanshin Tourist Pass). At last, we hopped onto a Haruka Express and headed towards Tennoji Station in Osaka. A promising weather forecast for the afternoon prompted us to make up our mind on our first destination of the trip – a leisure stroll among the famous Mount Yoshino’s (吉野山) cherry blossoms. After dropping off our luggage at our hotel, we walked over to Abenobashi Station hoping to purchase tickets for a limited express train to Yoshino. Unfortunately, the staff of Kintetsu, the private corporation that runs exclusive train services to Yoshino, told us that all the morning limited express train tickets for the entire weekend had been sold out. Not a surprise to us as hanami (flower viewing) is very popular among the locals. We had no choice but to take the slower express train departing in 20 minutes. We rushed into a convenient store in the station and grabbed several onigiri (seaweed wrapped rice balls with a variety of salty fillings) and a can of hot coffee. The train ride took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. We arrived at Yoshino Station at around 12:30pm. The station and its forecourt were packed with visitors and food vendors. Two options laid in front of us, either queuing for the short cable car ride or stepping on the paved path that meandered all the way from Shimo Senbon section (Lower Thousand Trees) at the base, to Naka Senbon (Mid Thousand Trees), and up to Kami Senbon (Upper Thousand Trees) and Oku Senbon (Top Thousand Trees) near the top. We chose to walk. Along the way, cherry blossoms were everywhere, both along the footpath or upon mountain slopes across the valley. Despite the peak of blossoms were already over by about a week at Shimo Senbon and Naka Senbon, thanks to the cooler micro-climate, the upper sections of Kami Senbon and Oku Senbon were still at their peak. Souvenir shops, food vendors, restaurants, and ryokan, along with religious shrines and Buddhist temples lined up the uphill route. This unique combination of cherry blossoms, historical temples, and handmade local delicacies made Mount Yoshino a worthy destination inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List. Loads of visitors arrived at Yoshino Station from cities all over Kansai. Mount Yoshino has the country’s oldest surviving aerial lift. After a night of rain, much of the remaining cherry blossoms at Shimo Senbon (Lower Thousand Trees) had fallen. Some cherry blossoms still managed to cling onto the branches at Shimo Senbon (Lower Thousand Trees). The gateway signified the entrance into Shimo Senbon’s main street, where vendors lined up along the way uphill. Kinpusenji Temple contains Japan’s second largest timber structure. We were fortunate to enter the main hall and have a glimpse of the three gigantic Zao gongen statues. Clear sky finally arrived at about 3pm. As we approached Kami Senbon (Upper Thousand Trees), more lookouts allowed visitors to enjoy the panoramic views of cherry blossoms across the valley. The beauty of Mount Yoshino came from the multi-layering of blossom colours. Local Japanese, be it a group of family members, a couple or a solo visitor, usually take their time sitting under the cherry blossom to eat, drink and chat. A photographer set up a platform next to a tea pavilion offering free photo shooting for visitors at the top of the Hami Sendon section. When posing, most of the locals invariably made a “V” sign with their fingers. The owner of a tea house set up an outdoor patio in an open area where visitors could dine under tree canopies. This also turned out to be a perfect lookout for an unobstructed view towards the valley. All visitors were required to take off their shoes before stepping onto the patio’s bamboo mat. There were many small wooden pavilions designed as resting areas on Mount Yoshino. They were thoughtfully designed with low walls and large openings that serve like picture frames, capturing the beauty of mountainous landscape. There were many street vendors selling beverage and snack but this one was the most special among all. The vendor had his little stall set up at an lookout point. The vendor furnished the open area with bright red chairs, floor mats and paper umbrella. We bought a sakura flavored ice-cream and sat down to rest a bit. Sun break. Finally, near sunset.