March, In Brief

My good friend Alison left yesterday after a wonderful month-long visit. Great to catch up with and spend some time with a fellow traveller.


In addition to the two days at the Grand Sumo Tournament, we also had a beautiful morning at Osaka castle,

several days walking many miles in Kyoto visiting markets, gardens, shrines, and temples (including Sanjusangendo, a great hall of 1001 statues of Kannon and 28? followers),

A rainy day at Amanohashidate ("the bridge leading up to heaven"), where after climbing some 700 steps to an observation platform, you can turn your back to the bay and the natural landbridge connecting the two shores, bend over with your head looking between your legs, and see the bridge suspended in air / leading up to heaven. I saw an upside down landbridge. Impressive nonetheless.



An afternoon at Yamadera (literally, "mountain temple"), a nearly 1100+ year old group of buildings built into the mountainside in Yamagata prefecture. We had a beautiful day and some excellent views of the surrounding mountains. The photo is part of our bid for a marketing campaign for Pocari Sweat (the label claims it is close to that of human body fluid), the best sports drink ever.


Also spent a couple days in Tokyo, wandering the many temples and shrines at Kamakura, including the massive Great Buddha statue, as well as a visit to Meiji Jingu Shrine where we saw part of a very formal wedding.

Plus a day snowboarding, two mornings of fishing in the snow (only three 4" fish, but we did happen upon a troop of 5 Japanese snow monkeys, an excellent surprise), and many laughs about the quirks of Japanese culture.

All good times.