Dad's Entry

We really enjoyed our visit to Japan. It contains some of the most beautiful landscape sites I have ever seen. I’ve always preferred to capture photographic images that combine natural beauty and beautiful man-made structures. The Japanese have understood how to create locations that have that exact combination for centuries and it shows in their castles and temples. Jane took us on a tour of many of those sites in Himeji, Kyoto, Hiroshima, the mountains of Shikoku and Naruto. Between the three of us we took over 900 pictures (before thinning). Of course, many of the best images were captured by all three of us so that will probably boil down to several hundred good shots—a very successful vacation in my view.

My favorite image is that of the temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. You aren't allowed to go inside the pavilion. However, the point of going there is the unbelievably beautiful visual scene of the temple building reflecting in the glassy pond that is dotted with tiny “islands” of stone and trees pruned to perfection. The place was also arranged nicely to allow lots of people to visit without destroying the beauty. I think that’s an art in itself.


Another favorite was the Himeji Castle, a huge compound with an amazing investment in stonework, woodwork and defensive design. I loved the moat at this and other castles and palaces. I was struck by how similar the castle in Naruto looked to the Himeji castle, although tiny in comparison. We didn’t visit the Naruto castle but we could see it up on a very steep and pointy hill in the center of the community. That hill would have been a great defensive element for a fort/castle. Castle in Himeji:


We all thoroughly enjoyed the shinkansen (bullet train) visit to Hiroshima. The Peace Memorial was very interesting and to stand and stare at the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall, the domed building that has been preserved in its destroyed state, makes real the horror that was experienced there when the first atomic bomb was dropped at the end of World War II.


We found the people to be very friendly and almost always willing to help. However, there were few signs in English so we were very fortunate that Jane can read and speak enough Japanese to get around smoothly. We’re very proud of her! (side note - Dad actually took a video of me ordering shinkansen tickets!)

The food was good, for the most part. We had some very delicious meals, but I must admit that Japanese is not my favorite ethnic food. Here we are eating a full tempura meal while sitting on the floor.

My favorite snack was “Giant Corn” sold at the Lawson’s convenience store. They are very similar to Corn Nuts in the US but even larger and they have only salt and pepper on them which makes them taste great. I also found that I could buy Mountain Dew in the some of the Coffee Boss (Pepsi) vending machines that were everywhere, although most of those machines didn’t have it. Put the Giant Corn together with a Mountain Dew and I was in heaven.


In all we had a great visit. We’ll remember it for the rest of our lives. Thanks for making it possible Jane!