Aomori

Second long travel day got me to Aomori. 4 trains to Aomori and a 40 min bus ride out of the city in to the holds, specifically Moya Hills. There was a beautiful hostel.

My room, it was a female dorm room, but I was the only woman there. There were a few Japanese men of a motor bike outing.

The owner was a self-proclaimed Ireland freak. He has been there 4 times. He even ha Guinness on tap. and sold whiskey and s scotch  by the shot. Very funny. He speaks great english. 

After a long travel day siting before the in hostel group dinner, I went for a walk. Saw this sign. no idea what t says, but it looks like a guys with a bucket to me. 

Up a hill where even in the woods you can find shrines. This one was full of crickets, quite startled by my opening of the shrine.

At the top of the hill was a ski resort and a magnificent view.

I went back to the hostel to a huge meal that required a walk afterwards as well for digestion. 

Then at 9 the owner offered tea made from flowers from his garden and cookies. We sat around and mostly they talked in Japanese but made some effort to include me and the owner translated some. 

To bed for the next day was the last of my ash pilgrimages.

Toyama

So the one person I really know from before I came to Japan was Rui. She was in a show I curated while she was a resident artist at Wheaton Village. She is a teaching assistant at Toyama glass School. After my day trip to Kanazawa I took a long bus ride to the school. It was out there, but I found it.

A beautiful studio in the quite hills. I would love to work here. There were students of all types from different place not all Japanese. Even one of the faculty was American and another, I believe, Belgium. Rui showed me about, but the best part was getting to eat conveyor belt sushi with her. So much fun!

Then off the next day for my second day of long travels to Aomori, where I got to ride on this really big train on the top deck for one section of 4 trains and a bus.

Kanazawa (a day trip)

Kanazawa is a short train ride from Toyama and it has one of the 3 top gardens in Japan. It also has a castle right next to it, which seems to be a pattern. Every times arrive in a new station I goto the Tourist Information Center. They are so helpful. They have maps and make great suggestions about things I wouldn't otherwise know. And they always speak some amount of English. This one told me of a free english speaking tour at the garden and castle. I thought this would be a novel experience as usually I look around and enjoy things but I have no idea what they mean. So I got a private tour of Kenrokuen Garden and castle. The garden was a samurai garden. Which more or less meant they put things in that they liked even if it meant moving a tree from one part of the  city to there.

It had a light house, bridge, and water that were all supposed to be reminiscent of a Japanese guitar instrument.

It had a large bronze statue of a samurai as a monument to the civil war dead when they de-sworded the samurai. Apparently this was a good samurai. 

It had dragon head rock. (I have no idea how this fits in the theme).

These three icon represent birth, marriage, and death. The report most portent things in life.

It had this really big pine. Quite beautiful and old.

This tree once it was growing they intentionally pulled the soil out from underneath so you could see through the roots.

Got to stick a picture in once in a while that proves I was really there.

It had the oldest fountain in Japan, a model for another fountain in the castle. The amazing this about this is that is uses no motor. It's all about gravity and pressure from the levels of water in the two above ponds. About 3.5 meters high. Ingenious!

It had this crazy winding tree.

Just missed the irises.

Really beautiful place.

This is the oldest building on the grounds. A tea house.

In front of it is a hollowed out petrified bamboo stump filled with water.

Guess where a mom marble went....

Someone will find this one for sure.

The castle was being restored but the tour informed me of some of the functions and the materials. I learned about the rock dropping holes. The purpose for moats. The gun ports. The plasters walls that need to be repaired every 10 years. Chosen because the samurai like the look. Earthquake proof walls. Dove tail joints in rock walls. And the different types of wood used for different parts of the structures.

All very educational.

Upon leaving Kanazawa ( for some reason the name of this place makes me think Shazam), I came upon this fountain that changes images telling the time, place, and welcome in English and I believe Japanese. So cool!

And an amazing architectural gate at the train station. Let nothing be unadorned!

Long Travel to Toyama

Kagoshima was far to the south and I wanted to get north, which meant I was going to have 2 days o long travel. It took  4 trains and a long walk to the hardest to find hotel (and only, though it was as cheap as the hostels and included breakfast). Strangely there were no hostels on Toyama. I was exhausted and needed to check my plans an make sure I wasn't heading into the on coming typhoon. Turned out I was fine going north, so I took it easy. The hotel manager recommended a sashimi place around the corner. Walking in I was confronted with 3 pretty drunk Japanese business men that wanted to buy me drinks. Quite funny.

I then successfully ordered this deliciousness.

I had a conversation with the waitress through google translate about my trip and her up coming trip to LA with her son to visit her brother. Really nice family restaurant. Very kind to a blundering broken Japanese solo traveling American.

I went for a after dinner stroll to the local castle.

And around it were cases with glass.

I walked around and then went to the hotel and listen to American tv shows dubbed in Japanese.

Last Night in Kagoshima

In Kagoshima I was staying in a youth hostel that definitely had a hippie feel to it. Male, female, and coed dorms. The lounge area had groovy music playing. Incense. There were lay down pillow mats. A bar. And a Japanese guy with dreds checked in so that makes it official. There were Japanese, Taiwanese, English, American, and a Belgium couple. 

The woman from Belgium and I struck up a conversation in the room. She told me about this program called WOOF where you go and help a family/ farm or where ever they need extra hands in exchange for room and board. She said it was tough because it was a rigorous schedule since the were practically self subsisting. But they learned so many traditional things they would not have otherwise that made it worth it. They were traveling for 2 1/2 months after a 2 week WOOF project.

I told her of my journey. And she agreed to take a marble to Belgium and place it somewhere special. She too will send me a picture once she has done so.

Funny thing....my mom's dad was traveling by boat to Europe for school with his step-mother when WWI broke out and there was a Civil War in Mexico (where he was from), so hey had to come to the states. He had to take her last name when entering he US. She was Belgium.

Thanks Eva

Nagasakibana

Nagasakibana the farther eat southern point. Beautiful black volcanic sand beach. A lighthouse to the left, a shrine behind me and a volcano to the right.

This is Kaimondake, meaning sea gate mountain.

I lit some incense, laid out half the jar I brought, and waited for the waves while reading a prayer she favored.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace

That where there is hatred, I may bring love.

That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.

That where there is discord, I may bring harmony.

That where there is error, I may bring truth.

That where there is doubt, I may bring faith.

That where there is despair, I may bring hope.

That where there are shadows, I may bring light.

That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted.

To understand, than to be understood.

To love, than to be loved.

For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.

It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.