Heading into Month 9 of the Big Wait, I thought I would indulge my travel fantasies by responding to a question people often ask me that I never really know how to answer:
“What’s your favorite country?”
Japan
The Crack in Everything
Stock photo
Last week, I nearly had a melt down when the formatting in my 286 blog postings unexpectedly disappeared. This relatively trivial problem triggered something that kept me up all night questioning the meaning of life. What am I doing here? Why? Who cares? This is not my usual thing. Even while it was happening, I knew my existential angst was not about formatting.
Bye For Now, Wonderful Asia
On the path of the Temple Walk near Tokushima, Japan
Today is my last day of almost 4 months in Asia. I am feeling sentimental about it….so many special moments, beauty, pathos, fun, learning, unbearable heat and food I didn’t like. Here are a few photos that I haven’t posted previously .
Okonomiyaki, Japan’s Slow Fast Food
Street food stand in Fukuoka
Most Americans probably think of Japanese food as sushi, ramen, and chicken teriyaki. But of course, in actual Japan, there is a lot more to it. The small restaurants and street food stands serve various kinds of brothy noodle soups and mysterious pickled vegetables, breaded pork chops and barbecued meat skewers. Sweet and savory stuffed buns and dumplings, and bento boxes full of a dozen things most Americans, including me, probably could not identify.
Kanazawa and Awazu Kiyoshi
Chillin in Kanazawa’s Kenrokuen Garden, considered among Japan’s most beautiful.
History matters and the Japanese City of Kanazawa has been lucky that way. The city’s good fortune began before it was a city when a farmer found flecks of gold in Kanazawa’s water as he was digging for potatoes. Things went uphill from there. The powerful Maeda family moved in during the 17th century and, for 300 years, invested in the arts, infrastructure, and education, creating a thriving, beautiful city. Also lucky — in the 20th century, Kanazawa was spared the devastation of WW II.
The result of all that good history is a wealthy, modern city with a focus on the arts, parks, historic neighborhoods and local foods.
Kyoto Re-visited: Raku, Kasuri and Kintsugi
Quirky doll store never seen by tourists in Kyoto
I loved my first visit to Kyoto, which was before the city’s famous Nishiki Market replaced artistic displays of incredible foods and high-end craft shops with plastic-wrapped produce and cheesy souvenir stands. It was before convenience stores were on every street corner, even in the city’s most historic neighborhoods. There were not so many tourists that you felt like a dumb tourist. https://kimmie53.com/2015/02/22/less-is-more-and-more-is-more/#more-3387. My first visit wasn’t in 1970. It was four years ago.
My 12 Henro Temples. Only 76 To Go.
Temple 4, Dainichi-ji, way up in the foggy hills
The Japanese island of Shikoku is well-traveled — but not by tourists. For more than 1200 years, thousands of pilgrims every year have walked the “Henro,” 800 miles to 88 of the island’s temples. Today, about 200,000 pilgrims visit the temples every year, sometimes walking, sometimes in cars or using public transportation. The Henro and many of the 88 temples are believed to have been founded by a monk named Kukai, who is a hero to the people of Shikoku.
Embracing Your Inner Washlet
I have always wondered why women spend so much time in the stalls of public bathrooms. What are they doing in there that takes so long? I am a woman and I don’t understand it! No wonder we suffer through long lines in public places! But now, Japan has provided an easy explanation for why women spend so much time in bathrooms. Now, even men’s bathrooms can have long lines.
Camino Milagro 