Levels..Japan

Hong Kong people love to visit Japan, some in my team make an annual pilgrimage, others head east during any decent long weekend.
Avicci's 'Levels' soundtrack offers an interesting analogy in this regard. The upbeat tempo and progressive beats of the song reflect a state of mind, a sense of climbing up levels. I think that the song also explains why Hong Kongers visit Japan, a place familiar in feel and mood but at the ‘next level’..

The Japanese minimalist philosophy and their relentless pursuit of perfection gives them an edge over other developed countries of the world. It is easy to notice the attention to detail and conscientiousness of the Japanese people that exhibits itself in the smallest and the loftiest undertaking in equal measure. 

This modern version of the country evolved from the conscience of a nation bruised by an aggressive war mongering past which shaped the geo-politics of the Asian subcontinent and the horrors of the nuclear bomb drop. However none of the manmade and natural disasters broke the spirit of this nation and they rose to higher levels.

The Japanese society is primarily a rules based society with a code of honour and moral conduct that goes back generations. People take immense pride in their culture, language, food and their way of life. Surprisingly in this formal framework of the society there is equal celebration of the quirky and nerdy pursuits. The anime gaming world, the Hello Kitty universe, the Manga comics and all the weirdly cool stuff that I don’t know about. The society rewards, honours and celebrates individuals who pursue their passion with utmost dedication. 

Interestingly it is this dichotomy, the coexistence of contrary forces which gives Japan a special appeal. And i am glad I was able to experience a slice of this amazing country this first week of July. While planning for the trip, I was quite anxious about-language, food, understanding public transport network not to forget the rising Yen due to the Brexit!, but with few handy resources-maps and apps it was easy to navigate around

Here is a sample itinerary and the highlights of the trip(3 days Osaka+3 days Kyoto)

Day1: Airport to hotel and then sightseeing. Long walk through the underground Namba subway shopping area. A gracious cafe host who customised a vegetarian lunch for us. A day trip to Nara- visited Todaiji temple(with the deer park) and Kofuku-ji. The light drizzle set the right mood to reflect on the architectural grandeur of these lofty wooden structures.

Day2: It was raining again, so we spent greater part of the day indoors at the Osaka aquarium and then the covered shopping streets of Shinsaibashi which are open only to pedestrians. The shopping arcade has everything from big department stores to small local specialty shops. The southern end of the arcade is at the Dotonbori River, a good place to stand and take in all the activity around with the backdrop of the gentle river.
After some good deal of window shopping and watching the Mister shop for shoes we headed for
Osaka castle. We reached after the viewing hours so it was less crowded and we peacefully explored the grounds of the castle and the adjoining parks. The sounds coming from the nearby Osaka Shudokan(Martial arts training hall) added a robust touch to the otherwise peaceful environs.
The sprawling castle grounds are a good place for an evening stroll, occasionally we came across locals enjoying a good run in the evening and cats lazing under the park benches. On our way back we stopped by Kuromon Market area to sample some Japanese fruits.

Day3: Day trip to Himeji castle-the Taj Mahal of Japan(far fetched metaphor). Himeji castle reopened to public in 2015 after extensive repair so the whiteness even smells fresh. Before Pokémon Go invaded our mind space with Augmented Reality, I was able to sample some of the AR stuff at the Himeji Castle in Japan. There are signboards located in the castle where you point your mobile phone camera to watch the reconstructed AR images of how the castle used to look in the past.  Technically I just peeked into the phones of the touristy bunch who point their camera at everything, so it was a surrogate AR experience for me, but I thought it was a cool approach to explore the castle.
Back in Osaka we explored Umeda neighborhood in the evening. The plan was to take in the sights of the city from the Umeda sky building which features a rooftop observatory for a 360 degree of the city lights. Later we had a hearty vegetarian Japanese curry for dinner at a camp themed restaurant(Curry camp) in one of the shopping malls at the Osaka station area. The food was good and also the theatrics of the open kitchen, just 4 people running all the operation with Japanese efficiency!

After three packed days in Osaka which involved a lot of walking (average 12km/day) we headed for Kyoto.

Day4: The ambience changed completely, we were out of the big commercial city into the cultural nerve centre of Japan- Japanese lamp shades, small shops, people walking around in Kimono.

It was a bright day in Kyoto and after some general strolling, we headed for Uji. It is a quaint little place with a relaxed Matcha flavored vibe,  we explored the Byodo-in temple(imprinted on the 10Yen coin) and the adjoining museum of Buddhist artifact.
On our way back we stopped by the Fushimi Inari Shinto shrine.

Again a good idea to visit in the evening when it was cooler to walk under the famous vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind the main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, and we walked up to the view point from where one can see the peaceful Kyoto sunset.
A lot of good dinner places close early so we had to do some hunting to find a vegetarian place to eat. Finally it was an Indian place-Thilaga (the Masala dosa there was right next to the best Mysore Masala dosa, I had in San Diego almost 4 years before and the Masala dosa in Munnar 9 years before). The next 2 days we were slurping perfect Udon noodles, regular and the curry version(almost like Maggie) like pros..

Day5: Temple sightseeing in Kyoto, starting in the Southern Higashiyama neighborhood. We took a bus to Kiyomizu-dera and from there we did a walking tour covering Ninen-zaka.
"Lined with beautifully restored traditional shophouses and blissfully free of the overhead power lines that mar the rest of Kyoto, Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka are a pair of pedestrian-only lanes that make for some of the most atmospheric strolling in the whole city"-Inside Kyoto guide
I am quoting this specifically for the fact that it mentions 'overhead power lines' and both in Osaka and Kyoto, i could not help but notice their ubiquitous abundance..
We stopped by a couple of temples en route to Chion-In temple(sometimes called the Vatican of Pure Land Buddhism) and took in the tranquil beauty of the scenic Marayuma park. Having completed part 1 of the temple visiting, we headed over across town to NorthWest Kyoto to visit the Kinkaku-ji temple and Ryoan-ji temple. Here our planning hit a slight nag with the buses- wrong direction, long wait so we came back for Ryoan-ji temple next day.
All the temples we visited were unique in their way, and each of them exploited the hilly terrain to its advantage-different views from different angles/height and also the carefully landscaped gardens framed the temple differently. It seemed the prayer space were specially designed to allow the gentle breeze to circulate freely(it was a particularly bright day so the breeze felt refreshing).

Day6: The plan was to explore the Arashiyama district-take pictures at Arashiyama bamboo : have a shojin ryori (Zen vegetarian cuisine) at Shigetsu, a large temple-style restaurant surrounded by the natural beauty of Tenryu-ji's World Heritage gardens and then rent a cycle to pedal along Hozu river and explore Sagano area. We didn't learn much from out busing experience the day before and so with some hiccups we accomplished our mission(bonus items: Ryoan-ji zen garden and Okochi Sanso, the attractive ''spiral'' garden and teahouse complex), but no cycling (mister's bucket list sacrificed).

Day7: time to pack, picked up some souvenirs in a morning shopping trip and took the train to Kansai airport in the afternoon for the evening flight. I cleaned up my wallet of all the small currency notes and coins at the duty free shopping area at the airport, with just a single 5000 Yen note coming back to Hong Kong. The idea is to start saving for the next trip- may be sample the Spring cherry blossom or the picturesque Autumn colors..