Japan Trip Report - Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Tokyo

Kyoto

It appears that Kyoto has become a commercial dumping ground of tourists for the last few years, and I felt that it has lost its charm.

I guess it is a classic story of a town promoting itself for tourism. It first welcomes people coming to visit their town.  Then, the number of visitors starts to increase and it begins to overwhelm local people. It soon exceeds the level of hospitality and goodwill that the town and its people can offer.

There were big queues of people at bus stops at the Kyoto Station, and guys, who were working for the local bus company, didn't have any capacity left to treat customers with smile.  We also got unkindly informed by a couple of locals on buses that Kyoto doesn't welcome foreigners.

At shops, I witnessed shop assistants shaking their heads in frustration when they were dealing with their customers.

On streets, I saw signs saying things like, "please don't leave rubbish here" written in various languages which suggests there are problems with people chucking rubbish around.

We went to see temples and gardens, and they were not a good place to enjoy peace and tranquility because big tour groups were coming one after another, and the places were like  a shopping centre during Christmas Sale madness.

To finish it up, our travel agent in Australia had put us in a smelly crappy hotel, and it was the worst hotel of the tour (I suggest people to avoid Kyoto Tower Hotels).

I guess most of people go to Kyoto to enjoy traditional aspects of Japan, but for that, I really think there are better places than over crowded Kyoto.


京都は、 今回はハズレでした。

どこに行っても人が多くてがっかりしました。桜の季節というのもあるのでしょうが、同じ時期に行った以前の時と比べると、かなりの観光客の数です。

京都のバスターミナルで働いているおじさんたちには、旅行者を笑顔で迎える余裕もありませんでしたし、お店の人が、言葉の通じない外国の人を相手に嫌な顔で首を傾げたり、舌打ちをしているのを見ましたが、気分の良い物ではありませんでした。

１５歳かそこらの、オーストラリア人の女の子の生徒に言い寄って来るバカな地元の人間を追い払ったのが３回。逆に、地元の方から「外国人には、京都に来て欲しく無い」と言われたのが３回。

金沢の人たちは、とても親切でしたが、それに比べると、京都の人間のハートは小さいなあと思わされる事が、２泊の滞在中に度々ありました。

釣り場でも同じ事が言えますが、こんなにも人が増えてしまうとマイナスの部分も多くなるようです。

 

Hiroshima

We had a nice weather on the day we went to Hiroshima, and it was a good day out. According to our students, Hiroshima sits on their top three spots of our school trip.

As our previous trips, we spent a couple of hours at the peace museum where our students were learning about horror of nuclear bombs, and we had a bit of discussion on what we can do to make a world peaceful place after that.

We left the museum around 1:00PM, and we traveled West to the Island of  Miyajima. We saw a couple of black breams at the ferry jetty and they were really big.  Kids were also happy to see deers on the island.

When we were leaving the island, I noticed that the tide had turned to a rising tide. The shrine gate was going under the water, and it was the best timing to take a photo of the shrine with the sun set behind it.  It was probably my best shot of the trip.


日本に修学旅行に行く際には、毎回広島を訪問しますが、なぜかいつも天気の良い日に当たります。前回訪れた時に、バスの中で出会ったおじいちゃんとおばあちゃんは、「天気が良いのは、 あなたたちを広島が迎えてくれているからだよ。来てくれてありがとうね」と言っていたのを覚えています。

原発資料館では、生徒たちは、真剣に展示を見ていました。見学するのに一時間あげたのですが、「もっと時間が欲しい」と怒られました。

その後で、宮島に行きましたが、生徒たちは、神社よりも鹿に興味があったようです。
「ロープウェイは、高いから嫌だ」と生徒たちに言ったのですが、「乗らせろ」とうるさく言うので、全員で合計３万円も出して山の上まで行って来ました。

帰る頃には、潮が上げ潮になっていて、太陽がちょうど鳥居に重なるタイミングで写真を撮れたのでラッキーと言えばラッキーです。その時撮ったのが下にある写真です。

Tokyo

We finished off our trip by traveling to Tokyo.

The Shibuya's intersection in front of the train station was an eye-opener for many of our students. They were shocked to see so many people crossing the road at one time without hitting each other.

We then went to Shibuya 109 for girls to do some shopping.  Some girls fell in love with the shopping craze atmosphere of the place while others came to their conclusion that the Japanese word, "kawaii" is so superficial with no substance in it.

The best thing in Tokyo for me personally was that I was able to see my niece and bother's family in the Mickey Land. However, Disneyland itself was the least exciting place of the entire trip. I understand young kids like that sort of places, but I find it wired to see a bunch young adults walking around with stupid mouse hats on their head and singing and dancing while they were watching a parade.

On the last day of the trip, we went to the Science Museum to see Honda's ASIMO and other high tech stuff, but it appeared that many of us were too tired, and our thought was already with families and friends back in Australia.

It has been a month since we came back from the trip, and our students say they had a great trip which is nice to hear.  The next trip is in two years time, and I am already looking forward to that especially there will be a few students in our group who are keen photographers. I love to be able to do some photo shoots with them in Japan and I am very much interested to see my home country from their view finders.


今回の旅の最後は、東京。

途中で富士山が良く見れるようにと、わざわざ静岡で在来線に乗り換えて三島まで行ったのですが、その富士山が見えて来ると、生徒たちは、ケイタイで２、３枚写真を撮るだけ。その後は、ケイタイのゲームやFacebookに夢中で富士山はあっという間に通過。ティーンエイジャーのテンションはこんな物です。

東京の最初の晩に渋谷まで行ってきましたが、駅前の交差点で生徒は唖然。あまりの人が一斉にぶつかる事なく横断歩道を渡っているのに驚いていました。 渋谷１０９で買い物をするのに２時間程をあげたのですが、集合時間に集まった時には、買い物袋を両手一杯に持って笑顔の生徒もいれば、魂を抜かれたような顔の生徒もいました。

ディズニーランドは、個人的には相変わらずテンションの上がる場所では無かったのですが、日本にいる家族と半日過ごせたのは良かったです。

最終日は、お台場の博物館にホンダのアシモを見に行きましたが、生徒たちの多くは、既に体力と気力の限界で、心ここにあらずな感じでした。

日本から帰って来て一ヶ月になりますが、生徒たちは、疲れたけど良い旅だったと言っています。次の修学旅行は、２年後となりますが、新しいメンバーの中には、写真が好きな生徒が数人います。次回は色々な場所で面白い撮影が出来そうなので楽しみです。

 

 

Japan Trip Report - Kanazawa & Toyama

Kanazawa

This was the first time for me to visit Kanazawa, and I am glad I did. It was such a lovely place.  Good food, kind people, and beautiful locations. What more do we need?

The place had been chosen for the trip as it was a convenient location for us to base before going on a day trip to the Tateyama Mountain in Toyama. Other than that, I wasn't expecting much from it as I had no idea how good place would be.

 

I don't know about our students who were busy playing with their iPad and iPhone, but I loved a train trip from Osaka to Kanazawa.  After leaving Osaka, the train passes Kyoto, and it runs west of Biwako, the largest lake in Japan filled with feral largemouth bass (apparently the world record largemouth was caught here a few years ago).  

 

We soon went through a nuclear power station city, Tsuruga, before passing the town of Sabae, the largest manufacturing centers of eyeglass frames in Japan (it is said that the town has 96% share of glass frames in Japan and 20% in the world).  Tall mountain ranges with snow caps were coming into our sight on East as we were approaching to the Kanazawa station.

 

金沢は、今回初めて行きましたが、こんな良いところならもっと早くに行って来るべきでした。食べ物はおいしいし、人は親切、街並みも遠くに見える山の景色も良く、直島のモネの美術館と広島の宮島で見た夕日と合わせて今回のトップ３ロケーションだったと思います。

 

大阪発、金沢行きのサンダーバードの車窓からは、初めて見る琵琶湖、そして、敦賀のもんじゅ君にサヨナラすると東側の窓からは、遠くに雪をかぶった山々見えて来ました。高い山が全くない西オーストラリアに住んでいる人間にとっては、久々に見る山の景色は感動的でした。

In Kanazawa, we stayed in the hotel called Holiday INN Kanazawa Sky, which turned out to be the best hotel of the tour by miles.  Other places we stayed in Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo were cheap crappy hotels, and I wouldn't be staying if I wasn't on a budget school trip. 

The hotel in Kanazawa on the other hand was clean, located in a good place near the Kanazawa Castle, and more than anything, the view of mountains from the top floor lobby and restaurant was stunning.  I really enjoyed the view on each morning when we were having a breakfast in the restaurant.

I will be staying at the same hotel next time I come to Kanazawa which I will definitely do when I go to Japan next time.

金沢で泊まった、ANA金沢スカイホテルは、今回の旅行中の最高のホテルでした。ホテルの方の対応の良さと金沢城に近くて便利だったのも点もありますが、ロビーと朝食を食べるレストランからの山の眺めが最高でした。

金沢は気に入ったので、次回日本に行った時も行きたいと思います。その時も同じホテルに泊まろうと思います。

Our timing to visit Kanazawa couldn't be better as cherry blossoms were blooming in a full swing. They were so beautiful and we were so lucky to have a good weather to walk around the Kanazawa Castle.

On Saturday, we went out to see cherry blossom light up at the Castle after having dinner, and they appeared to be magically romantic. 

金沢に行ったタイミングは、桜が満開のベストのタイミングでした。

金沢城の桜は、昼も綺麗でしたが、ライトアップされた桜も良かったです。

今回は、時間が無くて兼六園には行けませんでしたが、次回は、金沢滞在の日数を増やそうかと思うので、この次に行く時にとっておきます。

 

 

 

 

On the day we arrived at Kanazawa, we went to a nearby fish & food market to have lunch.  Well, I love sushi, and the sushi I had in Kanazawa was just top notch brain smashing quality. It was something that I am never able to get in Perth.  I took a few students with me to eat sushi, and they had never eaten raw fish before, and even they liked sushi there.

I had usual things like tuna, yellow tail kings, etc. Red King Crab was superb, but my very best was a local deep sea seabass called Nodokuro.  After I had those, I don't know why I should bother with tuna any more. It was the best food I had on the entire trip, I would say.

金沢の市場の中の寿司屋で食べた寿司は、今回の旅行中で食べた物の中で一番。

テリヤキチキンやカルフォルニアロールではない、本当の寿司を食べるのが初めてという生徒を数人を引き連れていたので、回転寿司にしましたが、それでは、パースでは絶対に食べられない旨さの寿司を食べる事ができたので満足です。

初めて食べたノドクロは、鳥肌が立った程美味しかったです。正直、もうトロなんて騒ぐ程の物でもないと思う位の味でした。

Toyama

Our original plan was to visit the Tateyama Mountain range. We were supposed to go to the Tateyama Station on a local train, then jumped on a cable car, and get on a bus which would have taken us to a snow field.  It was meant be one of highlights of our trip as most of our students have never seen snow.

Unfortunately, thanks to a few individuals, who were walking like a sloth being chased by a mountain lion, we missed the only train which could take us to the snow field.

So, we were stuck at the Toyama Station with no place to go, but after talking to a lady at a local tourist information centre, we decided to visit a mountain village with traditional gasshou-zukuri houses.  The area t has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for that.

今回の予定では、立山黒部アルパインルートの開通前に、ルート上にある弥陀が原という所に日帰りで行く筈でした。そこのホテルで雪の上で遊んで、お昼を食べて帰って来る段取りです。雪を見た事の無い生徒に雪を見せてあげたいと思って考えたプランです。

想定外だったのは、生まれて今まで体育の授業をサボって来ただろうと思われる程、運動能力の全く無い生徒が数名グループの中にいた事でした。 チンタラチンタラと富山駅から歩いていたおかげで、乗り換えの富山電鉄の電車に間に合わずアウト。富山駅で立ち往生となりました。それにしても、敵に追われたナマケモノでももっと速く動くわい。

そこで、富山駅の中にある旅行案内所に行って、どこかに雪は残っていないかと尋ねると、合掌造りの五箇山に行けば、ちょこっと程度なら残っていると言われたので、急遽行き先変更となりました。

Well, the place would have looked more stunning, if the village was covered in a deep snow. After all the traditional gasshou-zukuri construction was made for that.  However, when we got there, there was only small piles of snow left here and there, which kids disappointingly called ice. 

I personally don't see any difference between snow and ice, both are cold and wet, something I wouldn't like to sit on unless I am falling down while I am skiing. Kids however wanted see and touch snow which were soft and fluffy. 

I told them that if they wanted to get something next time, move fast.

五箇山では、合掌造りが見れて、それはそれで、僕個人的には良かったのですが、やっぱり雪は、ちょっこと道の脇にあった程度。それでも雪は雪と、僕は思ったのですが、生徒たちには、雪は柔らかくてフワフワしているイメージがあったらしく、「これは、雪じゃなくて氷です」という意見でした。

まあ、そもそも電車を逃したのは、モタモタしていたやつらが悪いので、自業自得です。

 

Japan Trip Report - Osaka & Naoshima

I returned from our school trip to Japan last week.

It was a drag to deal with a few individuals who were behaving like two years old exhibiting their selfish and crap attitude towards others, but for those who came along with a better mind set, the trip was truly worthwhile in terms of seeing and experiencing a lot of amazing things to widen their cultural and aesthetic horizon.

We stayed in Osaka first before visiting places like Kyoto, Hiroshima, Island of Naoshima, a beautiful little gem of Kanazawa, and Tokyo.

I went on the trip with my hope to spend enough time to do photo shoots at various locations, but it wasn't realistic to do so when a bunch of teenagers were following behind me all asking the same old "are we there yet?" kind questions. 

However, I still managed to get a few shots that I like, and I have see things to inspire me for a future trip of my own.


日本への修学旅行から 帰って来ました。

自己中心的で自制心が無く、初めて見る景色や異文化よりもWiFiのホットスポットにしか興味が無いティーンエイジャーたちはともかく、探究心と洞察力のあるグループの中の数名にとっては、とても有意義な旅行になったと思います。

大阪、金沢、富山、京都、広島、そして東京と、色々動きまわり、面白い物を色々と見せたり体験させてあげる事ができたかと思います。

個人的には、もうちょっと写真を撮る時間が欲しかったのですが、飽きっぽいティーンエイジャーが後ろから付いて回るので、どうしようもありませんね。まあ、彼らのお金で、金沢や瀬戸内海の直島など、今回初めて訪れ、とても気に入った場所が見つかったので良しとしましょう。

Osaka:

Before we left Australia, we had been told that we were to late to see sakura, cherry blossoms in Osaka, but our fellow teacher in Osaka had been kindly running around to locate a place where some flowers were still blooming by the time we got there.

She took us to a little stroll around the Osaka Castle, and we were lucky enough to have a great weather as well as to see some beautiful views.

日本に出発する前には、大阪の先生たちから、「もう大阪の桜は終わった」と言われてがっかりしていたのですが、着いてみるとまだ桜がチラホラと残っていました。

今回色々とお世話をして頂いた先生の案内で大阪城の周りを歩きましたが、ここではまだ桜が綺麗に咲いていました。むしろ花が散り始めていて、風で花びらが飛んで行く景色は最高でした。

Since the recent renewal work, the Osaka Station area now looks very stylish, and it is a great place to shop around.  

The brand new Grand Front Osaka has many shops and restaurants. According to locals, it is targeted at customers in 30's and 40', so you won't find cheap crap that they sell at 100 yen shops. In stead they have high quality items, and I just loved to walk around and see cool stuff they sell.  I found a big outdoor shop there, and the store was filled with colourful clothing and all sorts of outdoor gears.  I bought a couple of titanium pots at the shop.

 

Next to Grand Front Osaka, there is a shopping complex with a huge camera store inside. I have never seen the entire Canon lens range in a display cabinet until I went to this store.  All I wanted was a lens hood for my new 28mm, a filter and filter case, but I got lost among rows of other photographic gears in the store.

大阪の梅田は、工事が終わってとても綺麗でモダンな駅になったと思います。生徒達は、「高い」と文句を言っていましたが、駅前の商業施設は、良い物を売っていて眼の保養になりました。

新しくできた大阪グランドフロントの大きなアウトドアの店で、新しいチタンのキャンプ用のクッカーを買いましたし、その横のヨドバシカメラでも色々とカメラ関係の物を買えたので、僕としては良かったです。

We also went to Umeda Sky Building, about 5 min walk from the Osaka Station where you can see a good view of Osaka from the observatory at the top of building. It is not the highest building in Osaka, but the view from the 40th floor is still great for our students. 

The building itself is interesting in terms of architecture where the observatory is sitting between two towers.  It is also relatively cheap to get in compared to other similar places.

大阪の夕日を見に、梅田スカイビルに登りました。４０階と同じく大阪のあべのハルカスや東京のスカイツリーと比べると少々低めですが、入場料が安いのと、空中庭園が二つのビルを跨いでいる建物自体の構造が、ただ高いだけ建物よりも面白かったと思います。

The Osaka aquarium (called Kaiyukan) wasn't super impressive.  I was interested to see a whale shark there, but it was a rather small one, and I felt bit sorry for him or her being stuck in a tank.  Other than whale shark, it is another aquarium, I guess. 

Having said that, I saw a monster black bream (kurodai) in there which was exciting, and watching squids hovering was relaxing.

It wasn't terribly expensive, so I would include it again for our future trip.

大阪の海遊館は、まあまあと言ったところでしょうか。ジンベイザメに期待していましたが、それほど大きなやつではなく、むしろ一人で泳いでいるの姿をみて少々同情しました。

その他は、それほど変わった目玉は無く、どこの水族館とも一緒かなあという印象を受けましたが、生徒たちには、大阪の姉妹校の生徒が一緒に来てくれたので楽しい思い出になったかと思います。

Naoshima:

While we were staying in Osaka, we jumped on Shinkansen and traveled west to visit the island of Naoshima.  

It is a small island located in the Seto Island Sea which is renowned for its collection of contemporary art galleries and exhibits including beautiful paintings of Monet.

I don't know how such a small island has managed to get hold of Monet's work, but the paintings were beyond me. They were so beautiful that I had to walk away to catch my breath when I saw them first time.

You walk through a dark hall way into a naturally lit white room, and you get hit by colours coming out of the painitings.  The sensation was too much for my brain to process. I have never seen paintings as great as ones I saw there.

What more surprising for me was that after we were out from the gallery, we walked back along a small garden as we came, and everything turned to be so rich and beautiful as they were in Monet's paintings.

Naoshima was definitely my number one pick of the trip. If you go to Japan, you must go there to see the paintings.


瀬戸内海の直島ですが、個人的には、今回の旅で一番良かった場所です。

こんな小さい島にどうやってこれだけのアート作品を持って来れたのかは分かりませんが、モネの絵は、素晴らしいの一言です。

絵を見てあんなに感動したのは初めてです。あまりの凄さに、最初に見た瞬間に息が出来なくて一旦部屋を出た位です。

あの絵を見るために日本に行ってもいいと思いました。