Traveling Rockhopper

Today, I’m showing you a bit dark view of the beautiful Nagoya Castle.
I think, it’s the most interesting place in this city.
In general, I like a lot Japanese castles, they are very unique buildings!

Inuyama, another Japanese city with very old wooden castle.
Here, you’ll also find a tunnel of red torii gates (in Sanko Inari Shrine). My favorite “torii path” is the one from Kyoto, but this from Inuyama is also nice.

Nara is a beautiful city with very old temples. Definitely, you can spend there busy days visiting all sites.

In Nara, you’ll also meet many deer. They can be cute as well as aggressive (I couldn’t resist with this photo 😉 ).
Deer can be also quite persistent to get some food, so play with them on your own risk. 😉

Kokeshi, it’s a name of the Japanese dolls (a few examples presented in today’s picture).

Kokeshi are simple dolls without legs or arms, handmade from wood, with painted faces and patterns on their clothes.

If you want to have a nice souvenir from Japan – buy Kokeshi doll. 🙂

Matcha is fine powder green tea.
To prepare this tea correctly, you need a special whisk, spoon and bowl.

While being in Kyoto, you have to try matcha tea. But not only tea! Variety of desserts are flavored with matcha. I love green tea (matcha) ice cream. 🙂

I found in Kyoto many interesting places so I could easily prepare a full month in my blog about Kyoto. Maybe one day…

Today, I want to show you a very unique Shinto shrine from Kyoto, called Fushimi Inari Taisha. It’s famous for thousands torii gates. The path between two buildings of the shrine is covered with these red torii gates. It’s a lovely hike (takes about 2-3 hours to walk), however, for the next few days, I could see only torii gates when I closed my eyes. 😉

If someone asks me what’s the most beautiful city in Japan – my answer is Kyoto. 🙂

Kyoto is a lovely city with many temples, shrines, other nice buildings, etc. Just everything makes it so special!

Kyoto was so charming for me also from one more reason – I was visiting Japan in winter and Kyoto was covered with a tiny layer of snow. It looked like from a fairy tale; I have to admit it was a bit muddy and slippery, but still delightful! 🙂

There are two main religions in Japan (Shinto and Buddhism) that coexist together and complement each other.

Buddhism was introduced in Japan in the 6th century, but Shinto is the indigenous faith of the Japanese people. At the beginning, there were many conflicts between both religions. These days, it doesn’t seem to be a problem any longer; what’s more, some ceremonies (e.g., weddings) are often held in Shinto style, the others (e.g., funerals) in Buddhist style.

Apparently, Shinto is more popular in Japan. However, it looks to me like Shinto and Buddhism are “mixed” and people don’t really follow any of these two religious, but rather “follow the traditions”.

Kimono (literally a thing to wear) is a traditional Japanese outfit, for women and men.
Kimono is rather a very formal clothing for special occasions, so you won’t see Japanese people wearing it everyday.

I was lucky to be in Japan during holidays, when many Japanese were wearing kimono. It was also great to observe weddings with all of these beautiful, traditional clothes. Moreover, I met a person fascinated with a Japanese culture who let us try kimono on; of course without her help I wouldn’t be able to “tied” it correctly (it’s like an art…).
I heard, there are also stores that offer renting a kimono, dressing you up with all make-up; I guess it also can be funny.

Sakura is the name of a Japanese cherry blossom. Of course, beautiful spring flowers can be seen in many places around the world, but in Japan, watching them, painting, etc., it’s part of the culture.

The most spectacular trees you’ll see somewhere in March, however, even in December it’s possible to spot cherry blossom (depending on the region).
I was visiting Japan in winter and still had a chance to see “a few” flowers in different cities. Today’s picture was taken in Himeji, close to the great castle.

Japan is a modern and high tech country. However, the tradition (in total) still plays an important role in everyday life (at least it’s my impression…). What’s more, in fancy cities there are always nice parks and gardens, so people have places to relax and enjoy nature while still being in a city.

Today’s picture was taken nearby the Okayama Castle, but easily could be taken in any other Japanese town. I think it’s very important (and positive) to keep “a small piece of nature” in cities. 🙂

Miyajima is the name usually used while referring to this small island. However, its official name is Itsukushima.

Besides the beautiful giant torii gate you can find there many cute deer. 😉 And many other attractions. Of course, while being in Itsukushima island you should also visit the Itsukushima Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And simply take a walk exploring this small romantic island. 🙂

If you travel to Hiroshima, don’t forget to visit Miyajima. It’s a small island outside Hiroshima.
Its iconic red giant torii gate you see in today’s picture.

And tomorrow, I’ll tell you something more about this island. 🙂

In Hiroshima you can also see places not connected with the war. One of them is Hiroshima Castle (Hiroshima-jō). Well, the 16th century castle was actually destroyed by the atomic bomb, but it was reconstructed in 1958; and today it looks very beautiful.

The city of Hiroshima is probably the best known as the first city in history that was attacked with an atomic bomb. You’ll find in Hiroshima many monuments, memorials or buildings that remind us about this horror.

Visit the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima to learn a bit more about that tragic day.

I already wrote a few posts about my profession. I’m an astrophysicist and had a chance to visit astronomical observatories in many places in the world. One of them is Nobeyama Radio Observatory in Japan. Today, you see two Japanese antennas in a winter scenery.

I believe it’s not really a touristic destination, however I just want to mention that Nobeyama Observatory is a place with a huge number of telescopes and the biggest radio telescope has a diameter of 45m.

The Japanese macaque is a native to Japan monkey species.
People call them as snow monkeys, because they can be found in the north part, where it snows every year.

It’s also possible to see macaques bathing in hot springs – you can find some pictures in internet; that looks super funny.

Jizo Statues are very popular in Japan and you’ll see them in many places in the country.

On of the examples where you can find them is Kanmangafuchi Abyss in Nikko.
It’s a lovely riverside walking trail with about 70 stone statues of Jizo. A few of the statues are presented in today’s picture; aren’t they nice?

Yesterday, I promised to show you something famous from Nikko. So here it is – three wise monkeys. 🙂
“Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.”

Did you know they come from Japan?

You can find them in the beautiful Tōshō-gū shrine (one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites).

“Never Say Kekko Until You’ve Seen Nikko” – it’s an old Japanese saying, so no wonder Nikko is a popular destination for Japanese and international tourists.
(“Kekko” means beautiful.)

I’ve visited Nikko and indeed, it’s a lovely place!
There are very special temples plus amazing nature is around (mountainous, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, wild monkeys).

Tomorrow, I’ll show you something from Nikko, that I’m sure almost all of you’ve seen it before. I saw it before I went to Japan, however I didn’t know it’s from Japan…