Post Card

Postcards From Japan

日本郵便 2024

3/25-26
All told, we've spent 9+ months in Japan, the most of any country except US, CA and Oz. We should visit elsewhere, but we're on a mission. The 10 Best Gardens are: Katsura Imperial (Kyoto), Kokedera (Kyoto), Ryoan-ji Temple (Kyoto), Adachi Museum of Art, Kenroku-en (Kanazawa), Koraku-en (Okayama), Kairaku-en (Mito), Shinjuku Gyoen (Tokyo), Imperial Palace (Tokyo), Ritsurin Koen (Takamatsu). We haven't seen them all yet. Plus, there lots to do in Japan.

日本郵便 2024

3/27
Arrived. Within 11 hours we felt an earthquake. No worries, our 5th floor Tsukiji Dist. 1BR apt is a concrete box, built to Tokyo seismic specs. The NASA-grade toilet, however, knows way too much about us! Out and about we discovered: A park with foot health help. The crazy Shibuya scatter corner is now branded Scramble Crossing [Wikipedia] and crazier than ever. At Tokyu Hands, our fave store, a lighted ballpoint pen + other treasures.

日本郵便 2024

3/29
The menu at Yamatane Art Museum's Cafe Tsubaki ("Camellia Cafe") reads,
"Our wagashi, Japanese sweets, are Cafe originals, based on selecting motifs--flowers, fruit, and animals--from the works in each exhibition and specially ordering them from Kikuya, a [renown] confectionary in Aoyama, Tokyo."
Seriously? Bespoke sweets inspired by this exhibit? We stopped for coffee.
J: choice, presentation, art
L: choice, presentation, art
... Ummm ... Civilized.

日本郵便 2024

3/30
Kiyosumi Garden in Shirakawa is spectacular, brilliantly designed and filled with amazing stones from all over Japan. But the BEST part is this "meeting house" can be rented. Party Time! As we luxuriated in Kiyosomi's beauty, we dreamed about the guest list. Which season's best? Can we float lanterns? And the food! Sushi? Kaiseki? Little bespoke sweets from Kikuya? It'd be so much fun to enjoy this garden together!
More on Kiyosumi

日本郵便 2024

3/31
Arriving at Kairakuen Garden in Mito for the cotton candy-stage of plum blossoming, we found we were early, by about 10 days. No worries. It's a top 10 garden with grand walks through cryptomeria and bamboo forests, and tranquil stops along promontories with impressive vistas. The gnarly trees and monster azaleas held our interest until we finally found the plum ice cream.

Photo: Japan Tourism

日本郵便 2024

4/1
Previously, on the first morning after flying into Tokyo, unable to sleep, we visited the Tsukiji Fish Market Tuna Auction at 5:30 AM; then it was raw fish for breakfast [eCard]. The auction and Inner Market have moved closer to the boats, but the retail Outer Market remains, packed w/ stalls, eateries and by midmorning tourists. It's only a few blocks away, so for tradition, it was Tsukiji breakfast today.

日本郵便 2024

4/2
teamLabPlanet is something, but what? Sensory Stimulus, Experience, Art? Remove shoes, socks and roll up your pants. Meander through 6-8 rooms of mirrored walls w/ continually changing colored lights. Wade in still and rushing water. With mirrors on all sides, light strings stretch to infinity and beyond. People on the ceiling are right side up, but your feet are on backwards. Much is unphotographable. It's all weird stuff and totally FUN.

日本郵便 2024

4/4
Tokyo's cherry trees are blooming, finally; we celebrated with friends Yo and Sayako. As before [eCard] they hosted wonderful Japanese lunch with Tatsuhiko (son), Midori (dil) and Karin, who introduced Bunny-san. Turning to the food Amuse Bouche, Appetizer, Soup, Sashimi, Shrimp with Sea Bream Entrails, "Specials": Deep Fried Bream, Icefish, and Steak, Steamed Rice, Miso, Dessert. Add Champagne, Green Tea and great conversation for a Delightful Party!

日本郵便 2024

4/6
Kyoto's Katsura Imperial Villa Garden, a strolling garden completed in 1661, shows classic Japanese Style, meaning, it's spectacular. Great views. Lovely design. Even a stork + six turtles. Our guide told how samurai and other nobles saw Katsura as primo for moon viewing. In it's 400 years, did anyone see the moon eclipse the sun here?

日本郵便 2024

4/7
As independent travelers we love wandering back streets, as when the ladies standing around this building hollar at us to come in. It's not all balloon animals, but rather Ikebana - a flower art show. As celebs, we sign in, then tour the exhibit. The designer of Cherry Blossoms wants our picture with her sensei. Engaging with the crafts and the people is a delight, despite lack of common language. Enjoyable ... and we move on.

日本郵便 2024

4/9
Nanzen-ji Temple gardens, our Kyoto faves. On each visit, the gardens seem exactly like last time. True, the rocks are unchanged, but the plants keep growing. Shouldn't they change over time despite aggressive pruning and tending? We located two pairs of pictures from 2013 and 2024 for comparison. (Download photos to compare.) They're almost identical after a decade! Wow! So precise!

Also Basin 2013 / Basin 2024.

日本郵便 2024

4/10
The Adachi Museum of Art makes a point: A garden can be a work of art. Their garden is exhibited only through the museum windows or from patios. And it's gorgeous. White gravel represents water, giving views great depth. Real water, water falls and borrowed scenery make the images impressive. Yes, we nerds want out into it and we have our gripes, but it's a masterpiece!

日本郵便 2024

4/11
Kyoto's Nishiki Market was "our" market when we lived here. It's still filled with the tasty and the curious. Tasty: cooked and raw seafood, including sea urchin, assorted squid and squid balls. Curious: the oysters are bigger than beers (???), a Snoopy Store with Woodstock 2nd Floor, assorted pet food containers and our all time favorite, the Gluten Restaurant.

日本郵便 2024

4/12
Ryoan-ji is Kyoto's most realistic sight. East of the Zen Temple is their famed rock garden: 15 mildly interesting stones set in 5 groups of 5+2+3+2+3. From nowhere at ground level can one see all 15 at once. It's Zen. Achieve Enlightenment, they say, and see the 15th stone. You try. Contemplate. Reflect. Look deeply inward. Realize it's a "Not Yet" on Enlightenment. Head around to the West of the Temple where a Tsukubai's four kanji symbols 吾, 唯, 足, 知 read: "Know only to be contented." Realistic advice.

日本郵便 2024

4/13
The plan was to give a short primer on the principles and practices of pruning Japanese Black Pines (P. thunbergii). Luckily for you, an eCard is too small. So, instead, here are five views from the Top Ten Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu: ichi, ni, san, shi, go. We'll give the full seminar later.

日本郵便 2024

4/14
When we boarded the train for Nara, it was "Wow! It's the Orient Express!" Wait! We're already in the Orient! Japan's rail system (the world's best?) has implemented our trip. It literally has layers of train lines Shinkensen to subways. Urban to rural, 11-story Kyoto Station to Itkenotani "station," fancy to prosaic, mostly kanji (9:42), ALWAYS on time. The main mystery: Why are Limited Express trains faster than Express trains? Never question JR!

日本郵便 2024

4/15
Adherents of Shingon Sect of (Esoteric) Buddhism follow the path its founder Kobo Daishi walked around Shikoku Isl. visiting 88 Temples to become a better person. "You'll be so hungry and tired," says one. "That's the point." At Ryoan-ji Temple (#1) pilgrims outfit in hat, white jacket and staff for a 1400 km trek. They get each temple's unique stamp; here's Ryoan-ji stamp. Skipping the H & T part, we walked 2.5 km to Matsuyama's Ishite-ji Temple (#51), got their stamp and rang the bell.

日本郵便 2024

4/17
Originally a farm in 1700, Okayama's Koraku-en Garden has evolved into a spectacular landscape with wide open spaces. It has a plum orchard, cherry orchard, small tea plantation, several plots of veggies, bamboo and maple groves. The evolution has produced, in our view, a near-perfect garden, as the over-whelming evidence shows. Plus, there's a massive stone bridge leading to a more massive stone.

日本郵便 2024

4/18
The Matsuyama Castle is impressive. At 400 feet above the street; getting there takes a lot of "up". For attackers that's a problem; for tourists they have paved steps, a tram or a chairlift. It's imposing outside and inside. No draw bridge, moat or portcullis,. It defends itself by location, design and size. Also, exterior walls had Stone Drops, cantilevered structures with lidded floor openings for watching, shooting, dropping stones or maybe pouring boiling miso broth.

日本郵便 2024

4/19
In her The Tales of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu reminds us:

“... the cherry trees put this truth very plainly: none of the glory of blossoms and autumn leaves lasts long in this fleeting world”

Even this glorious garden tour cannot last. As petals begin to drift, we say goodbye.

---> To Previous eCard Series